Updated: September 27th, 2017
Chapter 9: On the Hogwarts Express
The end of summer was pretty gloomy figuratively and literally. Heavy rain coated Ginny's window as I woke the two girls I shared a room with. Hermione, Ginny and I changed in silence; the events of the last few days still reeling in our minds. When we reached the kitchen, the boys were already seated and eating. Molly prepared three plates and let us eat while she busied herself. Arthur had taken off earlier; Bill mentioned something about magical dustpans so I didn't bother with asking anything else.
While Bill and Charlie came with us to King's Cross, Percy made up some stupid excuse not to be there. Molly called up three No-Maj taxis to take us to London. The journey was very uncomfortable. I did not like being squished in the back of a car with Harry, Ron, Hermione, our pets, and our luggage. Even though we got soaking wet as we made our way across the station, I was glad to be out of the taxi. Don't get me wrong, I love my three friends…I just have space issues. Today there seemed to be more of the No-Maj at King's Cross than I had ever seen so Molly made us go through the barrier in groups of three. I got stuck in the middle of Fred and George. Talk about awkward. We leaned against the barrier casually, then slid sideways onto our platform.
As soon as the Hogwarts Express came into view, I said my goodbyes to the twins as I waited for the trio. I helped Hermione with her abomination of a cat as she walked through with Ron and Harry trailing behind her. The four of us went off to find a compartment on the already crowded train. There were some open spots near the front of the train so we placed our luggage and animals in it. Then we hopped back onto the platform to say goodbye to Molly, Charlie, and Bill.
"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," Charlie grinned. We all looked at him with curious expressions, but Charlie kept his mouth shut after that.
The whistle blew and Molly pushed us to the train. Hermione and I thanked her for having us stay over. We boarded the train, headed to our compartment, and pushed the window down so we could talk to her more. Harry, Hermione and I thanked her again for having us over. Molly smiled and told us to stay at school for Christmas break. This confused me because Molly would never turn us away…ever. What is going on? Harry was about to ask Molly something, but she turned and left with the others.
The rain refused to stop as we went back to our compartment. Ron opened his trunk, grabbing his Gryffindor cloak for extra warmth. As the train moved onwards, the rain got darker and heavier. The lunch trolley came rolling down the corridor just as Hermione and I finished a game of Checkers. The trolley lady's head popped in our compartment as she asked us if we wanted anything. As always, Ron got up first. Harry and I followed him out of our compartment.
"Packet of drewbals and a liquorish wand," as Ron took his money out of his pocket, his face fell. "On second thought, just the drewbals."
"It's alright," Harry spoke up, passing me. "I'll get it."
"Thanks, mate," the tips of Ron's ears were red as he went back. I knew Ron was sensitive when it came to money.
I grabbed some money from my own pocket. Before I could ask for a chocolate frog and a cauldron cake, someone beat me to it. "Two pumpkin pasties please."
Harry and I looked up to see Cho Chang. She nodded at me and then looked right into Harry's eyes and smiled. Smiling back at her, Harry seemed to be in a daze. The trolley lady had asked him what he wanted twice and Cho left before that. I nudged my friend in the side.
"Anything sweet for you, dear," the trolley lady asked.
"Oh, no thanks. I'm not hungry," Harry told her. I was going to ask for my sweets when I was dragged back into the compartment.
I sighed exasperatedly. My three friends did their own thing as I complained about not having anything to eat. I blamed Harry for dragging me away from food, Cho for distracting Harry, the trolley lady for being the trolley lady, and Ron for having food. Either out of the goodness of his heart or annoyance, I had no idea, Ron handed me a drewbal. I popped it in my mouth, fully satisfied with myself.
Hermione set down the paper she was reading, a look of concern passed over her face, "This is horrible, how can the Ministry not know who conjured it? Isn't there any security or…?"
"Loads according to Dad," Ron managed to say with a mouthful of drewbals. "That's what worried them so much. Happened right under their noses."
Harry was looking out the window, rubbing his scar. Ron, Hermione, and I shared a look. "It's hurting again, isn't it? Your scar," Hermione asked.
Harry sighed, telling us he was fine. I rolled my eyes, "You know…Dad will want to hear about this. What you saw at the World Cup…the dream…" Harry sighed again but didn't answer. He started writing a letter moments later.
As the hours passed, several of our friends popped in to say hello. Seamus Finnegan was still wearing his Irish rosette when he stopped by. Some of the magic was wearing off. It was squeaking the players' names instead of yelling them. We talked Quidditch for about a half an hour before Hermione got tired of us and buried her nose in The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4. Neville, who joined us just after Seamus, was jealous that we went to the match. He told us his Gran didn't want to go so Neville couldn't go. Ron showed our clumsy friend his souvenirs, making him more envious.
When Hermione and I went to the bathroom to change, we ran into George. He was just about to set off some kind of prank item into an unsuspecting Slytherin compartment. Hermione huffed, muttering something about decency towards fellow students, then walked off into the bathroom alone. I watched in amusement as our rivals squealed and ran out of the compartment, coughing and shielding their eyes from the thick yellow smoke.
"Enjoying the show," a voice from behind made me jump. Fred was smiling at me as I let out a deep breath.
"Don't do that."
"Do what," he asked innocently. "I didn't do anything."
I smirked, "Whatever, Freddie."
"Freddie? Really, that's the best you could come up with?"
"Well I hadn't planned on giving you a nickname," I told the twin as I tried to maneuver around him. "Do you want one?"
Fred stuck his arm out, blocking me from leaving. My chest hit his arm and I took a step back. I narrowed my eyes at him, placing my hands on my hips. "Move, Freddie. I need to change," Fred sent me an indecipherable look. I tried to lift his arm up but it wouldn't budge. When I tried to go under it, he blocked me with his hip. "Freeeeed moooove. I need to change."
Fred placed his other hand on the wall, trapping me. My chest heaved more than it normally would. I looked up at my friend, his eyes shining. There was something about him; his warm brown eyes, his long ginger hair that fanned out, or maybe it was the thought of being trapped by his Quidditch arms and toned chest. Fred's head dipped lower, my head instinctually turned to the side. "I like you just the way you are."
I was about to say something when, yet again, another voice took my own, "Fred? Cora? What are you doing?"
Fred and I looked to our left to see Ginny and Hermione staring at us with an open mouth and wide eyes. I felt like groaning in annoyance (I also felt like grabbing Fred by the back of his head and kissing the living daylights out of him) but I held it back. To my confusion, Fred smiled at his little sister and my best friend.
"I was just telling Cory here about my new prank idea for Snape, wasn't I?"
"Yeah, yeah he was," I said a little too fast. Why the hell was I covering for him? I lightly pushed Fred away from me (more like across to the other wall) and chuckled. "And I agree. I like the idea of Snape's hair bubblegum pink."
"What," Ginny looked at Fred incredulously. "That's a stupid idea."
"Uh yeah, you know what, I actually agree with Ginny," I sputtered, backing away down the corridor. "Now I'm just – well I gotta go."
With that I dashed down in the direction of my compartment. When I reached it, I slid the door open and slammed it shut. I was still facing the corridor as I tried to catch my breath. When I turned around, Harry was staring at me and Ron looked like he was going to bust some heads or whatever. I asked Harry what was up with Ron, but Ron's evil eye stopped me. When Hermione entered the compartment, I couldn't look at her. I was too embarrassed.
When the Hogwarts Express slowed down, the rain had stopped. Still, it was so dark at the Hogsmeade station that I literally had to hold on to Harry's shoulder so I wouldn't get lost. As we ran to the carriages, a gigantic silhouette stood at the end of the platform. Hagrid had two lit up cone thingies that were found at airports. Just as we climbed into a carriage, Harry and I looked out the window to see four huge horses flying through the air. Trailing behind was an even larger carriage that came to a nice landing thanks to Hagrid.
"Now that's something you don't see every day," Harry smiled. With a great lurch, the carriage began rolling up the hill, taking us to yet another year at Hogwarts.