I sent the following note to Amy the next day.
Amy,
My twin brothers overheard my parents talking about the World Cup. Apparently my dad did Ludo a favour by smoothing out some kind of trouble your dad would have gotten into, and therefore, we have tickets for the final! Can you elaborate on that? Also, what an embarrassment that was from England last night, 390-10 to bloody Translyvania! It was a nightmare to listen to, but I bet it was a million times worse in person, I feel sorry for you and every other England fan that was there!
See you soon,
Ginny.
Amy's response arrived within an hour
Ginny,
Yes that did happen. Dad somehow managed to put an Owl Order in for a magically modified lawnmower, and then escaped his room to use it in the dead of night! He attached a magical megaphone of all things to it, and that blasted the sound out to all the Muggles in Wimbourne town centre a mile away!
The lawnmower then started cutting the grass by itself of course. You know how Dad is, his mind's gone, so of course he was gonna do some crazy shit like that! Naturally, some Muggles investigated, found our house eventually, and called their "police". Your dad arrived in the nick of time however and obliviated all the Muggles, and then helpfully didn't report the incident to his office, despite being legally required to do so! I guess he saw Dad's mental condition and thought it would be unfair.
We're transferring Dad to hospital now. We can't have incidents like that occurring again. Their security will be watertight so they'll make sure he's kept in check, clearly he knows us far too well for us to be able to control his movements.
To say the England game last night was embarrassing would be a massive understatement. It was incredibly painful to watch, I'm not sure how I managed to make it all the way to the end! Our players looked like they'd had Confundus Charms put on them! It would certainly explain a lot if they had, but if they hadn't, I can't understand what went wrong!
Anyway, it's brilliant that you've got tickets for the final, hopefully I'll see you and D there!
Amy
Dad confirmed officially that we had tickets a few weeks later, enough for everyone plus Harry, Demelza and Hermione. I wrote to the latter two right away, as did Ron to Harry. Here was my note to Hermione.
Hermione,
Mate, we've got World Cup tickets, and for the final nonetheless! We have enough for all of us plus yourself, Demelza, and Harry. Well, Mum's not going, so almost all of us anyway. You've got to come and stay with us, we're gonna get Harry on Saturday and then we'll head off on Sunday morning! I can't wait!
Ginny.
This was Hermione's response.
Ginny,
Of course I'll come, I've missed watching Quidditch, it's been difficult to keep up with it here in the Muggle world, especially as my parents STILL won't let me have my own owl! Honestly, I don't know what's gotten into them, they'd never expressed such a dislike for them before I started at Hogwarts. But thankfully they agreed to let me come as soon as I asked, as they know the wizarding world is my real home!
Attending the World Cup is going to be spectacular, I'm very excited! My parents say I can come tomorrow, I'll head down to the Leaky Cauldron and Floo over!
Hermione
Demelza said she would floo over the next morning too, to spend time with Hermione and I until Sunday. She said she'd stay over even though she only lived on the other side of the village. In her words, she wanted to "escape her Muggle house for a bit". Amy would be going separately with Ludo, so we'd meet them there.
I went downstairs after reading Hermione's reply, to discuss the arrangements for collecting Harry with everyone else. Bill and Charlie were both there.
"So how exactly are we going to get Harry here then?" asked Ron
"I've arranged to have the fireplace at 4 Privet Drive connected to the Floo Network" said Dad "Just for a couple hours. Muggle fireplaces aren't really supposed to be connected, but I was able to pull a few strings to make it so. Ginny, you'd know this already with your mate Demelza"
I nodded. Demelza lived in a Muggle house at the insistence of her mother, and Dad had arranged for a permanent connection to the Floo Network for their fireplace, thanks to his work with Steve Robins, Demelza's father.
"A few of us will go to Privet Drive at around 5pm on Saturday. We need to make sure Harry actually does get to come and that the Muggles don't delay him"
"Harry said that they're letting him come anyway" said Ron
"Even so, I wouldn't trust them one bit" replied Dad "We know how they treat him, I wouldn't put it past them to get his hopes up and then try and ruin it at the last minute"
"I agree with that" I said "and I'll certainly be one of the people going! He's my boyfriend as you all know-"
"Wait what?!" said Charlie suddenly
"Did I just hear that right?" added Bill "Did I just hear my little sister say that Harry Potter is her boyfriend? Ginny, we know you've fancied him since you were a kid, but come on, you don't have to make things up like that just to go and get him!"
I felt both stupid and very angry at these words. I had completely forgotten to tell Bill and Charlie about my relationship, but for the former to accuse me of making it up, now that was unacceptable!
"It's true!" I said hotly, my cheeks flushing. "We got together after the Quidditch final last year! Gryffindor won, and we'd been flirting all year and well, the emotion of the victory made everything perfect and well, then we kissed and became a thing" I finished slightly lamely.
"Don't try and intervene guys!" Ron added quickly "believe me, I learned that the hard way!"
"That you did, Ronald" I said, and then I turned back to Bill and Charlie, raising an eyebrow.
They glanced at each other uncomfortably, then back to me.
"Ok, look, we won't intervene, despite feeling like we should. You do have a right to date anyone you want" said Charlie
"That I do, and seeing as you two are abroad most of the time, it would be pointless for you to even try anything. Right, so, as I was saying, I will be one of the people going to Privet Drive, and nothing any of you say will stop me! I am the one with the most right to be there, seeing as it's my boyfriend we're getting!"
No one dared argue.
"Who else is going then?" I asked
"Me" said Ron immediately
"Obviously. Anyone else, apart from Dad?"
"We'll go" said Fred and George.
"That settles it" said Dad. "5pm, Saturday. Don't forget it"
We all dispersed back to our activities. I walked up to Bill and looked at him right in the eye, up very close.
"Don't EVER accuse me of making something like that up again, do you understand? I know the Bat Bogey Hex, and I won't hesitate to use it!"
Perhaps Bill was taken aback by my bravery to stand up to him like that, because he simply nodded and remained silent.
I then headed upstairs to my room. A couple minutes later, the twins joined me. They made sure no one else was around, and then let me in on a secret.
"We've thought of the perfect victim for the Ton-Tounge Toffee" said Fred
"Harry's cousin" added George
"Oh my god, you're right, that would be perfect!" I said, laughing "he's a fat, spoilt bullying git on a fruit diet at the moment! He'd easily take the bait"
"Exactly!" they said
"Oh boy, I cannot wait for this!" I told them excitedly!
