Hey, so I'm back! Sorry for the long delay. I'd like make announcement though…
WE HAVE REACHED FIFTY REVIEWS!
Thank you to everybody that submitted a review in. It means a lot. I'd like to give a special shout-out to the fiftieth reviewer, dopey4dobby! Thanks so much! I'd also like to mention my first reviewer, StarKid McFly! Thanks to you, too. Now on with the chapter!
If you can remember correctly, the Marauders, Neville, and Ginny have just figured out that Ginny's brother Ron has been discovered as one of Harry Potter's accomplices and they need to smuggle her off the train. If you can't remember correctly, Neville just threw a birthday party for Remus, but Sirius ate all the cake. Let's hope you can remember correctly. (*)
"So," James said. "The Death Eaters may come on the train, just like they did for Luna. We need to be prepared for that."
Ginny nodded her head. She looked calm, but everyone could tell that there was immense fear under her façade.
"And then we'll need to get her onto the platform," Remus pointed out. "We can't very well hide her there."
"Good point," Neville muttered, waving his wand about at random.
They were all silent for a few moments, until Sirius made an interruption. (Wow, who could have guessed?)
"I got it!" he cried triumphantly.
"What?" Remus asked, looking at him a bit exasperatedly. Most of Sirius's ideas ended with a certain victim (usually Snape) trapped in some kind of inescapable bubble. As Remus so often had to point out, there was no such so spell. Sirius usually ignored that.
"We need to shrink Ginny!" Sirius grinned as if he had just found out all the secrets of the world.
"Did I here you right?" Neville asked, looking at Sirius oddly.
"No, really!" Sirius said when everyone looked at him blankly. "We shrink Ginny so she'll fit in one of her pockets, and then we'll carry her around 'til we can get back to Neville's place and reverse it!"
"In no way will I be put in one of you four's pockets," Ginny said, staring at Sirius with an expression mixed between exasperation and….well, more exasperation.
"Come on!" Sirius whined. "It's a great idea! Right, guys?" He looked hopefully over at Neville, Remus, and James.
"Sirius, mate, that's crazy," Neville said, wondering how on earth Remus and James had survived with him all these years.
"Sirius, that's your worst idea yet, and I haven't forgotten your suggestion of stuffing all the Slytherins' mouths with toilet paper," Remus said incredulously.
"Padfoot, even I know that something like that will never work," James said, shaking his head.
"Well I thought it was a good idea," Sirius grumbled.
"Which is why we know it's a bad idea," Ginny grinned. The boys roared in laughter, sans Sirius, who was still pouting.
"Anyone have a halfway decent suggestion?" James asked.
They all pondered this for a moment. Then Neville snapped his fingers. "I got it," he said, sounding excited.
"What?" Ginny leaned forward, anxious for an idea that came from a mouth other than the one belonging to the dim-witted Padfoot.
"Undetectable Extension Charm," Neville said, sounding excited.
James, Sirius, and Ginny looked at him blankly, but Remus looked excited now as well.
"That's brilliant, Neville," Remus said, grinning ear to ear.
"Will someone please enlighten us on what that is?" James asked, indicating himself, Sirius, and Ginny.
"We can expand one of our trunks to fit over twenty tons of objects," Remus said. "We could put Ginny in there and no one would be the wiser."
"I like it," James said, smiling now.
"I still like my idea better," Sirius said, still a bit grumpily. "But I admit, that's pretty good."
Everyone turned to Ginny for confirmation. It was her they were talking about, after all.
"Well," she began, tilting her head. "It's better than Sirius's idea. Will I be smashed in with all that other stuff?"
"No, there'll be plenty of room," Neville said. "We should do it now, though, just in case the Death Eaters come by."
James and Sirius kept watch while Remus performed the spell on his trunk. The suitcase glowed a soft orange before returning to normal.
"Here," Neville took Ginny's arm and helped her step into the trunk. Soon enough, her entire body had disappeared from view.
"You all right in there?" Sirius called into the suitcase, which would have looked a bit ridiculous if anyone else was watching.
"Just fine," Ginny's muffled voice came out of it. "This ride better go fast."
The Death Eaters never showed up on the train, much to the relief of the four boys. But trouble arose as they exited the train onto the platform.
There were between forty and fifty hooded figures there when Remus stepped off the platform, clutching onto his trunk that contained Ginny.
At once, one of them was upon him and his friends.
"Where is Ginny Weasley?" the voice hissed. Remus was pretty sure it was male, but it could have been a woman.
"No clue!" Remus did his best to look surprised. "Why do you want her?"
"Check the Prophet, boy," the voice hissed and shoved Remus aside to question Sirius.
Remus was puzzled, however, by this Death Eater's obvious stupidity. He thought that the Death Eater would force him to take Veritiserum, at the very least! Maybe he (or she) was just particularly dimwitted. Or maybe….maybe it was something else.
"That was easy," Neville muttered to Remus as they all regrouped after the questionings were done.
"I know," Remus muttered back. "I thought we were goners."
"Well, let's get this suitcase back to my house," Neville said with a grin. "I think it wants to be opened."
Remus grinned back as they ran through the brick wall.
Augusta Longbottom greeted them on the other side. The four boys, (And Ginny, in Remus's suitcase) quickly hurried to Neville's house with her. Along the way, Neville explained the situation to his grandmother. She nodded curtly to show she understood. Then they finally arrived.
"Alright," Mrs. Longbottom said. "Where's Ms. Weasley?"
"In here," Ginny's angry voice came out of Remus's trunk. "Get me out of this bloody bag before I throttle someone."
"Here," Neville laughed. He reached his hand into the bag and Ginny emerged, looking shaken and tired, but there, and completely intact.
"Now how do I get to my parents?" Ginny asked her usually soft brown eyes wide with fear. "They can't be at the Burrow, because the Death Eaters would have looked there first."
They all thought for a moment before Augusta asked a question.
"Ginny, do you have any close family that your parents would stay with at this time?" Mrs. Longbottom asked curiously.
"Well," Ginny pondered. "We've got a ton of cousins on my Dad's side, but I can't imagine we'd stay with them. No, it would have to be someone with a big house to fit us all in. Hmmm…"
Then she snapped her fingers. "Auntie Muriel!"
"Who?" James asked a bit blankly.
"My crabby old aunt on my mother's side. She'd be the perfect one to stay with!"
Ginny hurried over to the fireplace. She grabbed a bit of Floo Powder and tossed in the flames. "Muriel Prewett's home!" she called into it. The flames turned bright green.
Ginny turned around. "Thanks, guys, for protecting me in the station. And thank you, Mrs. Longbottom, for helping as well."
Then she turned specifically to the Marauders. "I may never see you three again, so there's something I should tell you." She grinned. "James, your son Harry is my boyfriend."
And with that, she disappeared into the fireplace.
And done! Review, please!