There was a definite end-of-the-holidays gloom in the air when we awoke next morning. Heavy rain was still splattering against the window as I got dressed in jeans and a jumper; we would change into our school robes on the Hogwarts Express.
We had just reached the first floor landing on our way down to breakfast, when Mum appeared at the foot of the stairs, looking harassed.
"Arthur!" she called up the staircase. "Arthur! Urgent message from the Ministry!"
Dad came clattering past with his robes on back-to-front and hurtled out of sight. When we entered the kitchen, we saw Mum rummaging anxiously in the drawers — "I've got a quill here somewhere!" — and Dad bending over the fire, talking to Amos Diggory. I saw Harry shut his eyes tightly then open them again, as if he was making sure he wasn't dreaming.
"Never seen a Floo call before?" I asked him. He shook his head.
". . . Muggle neighbours heard bangs and shouting, so they went and called those what-d'you-call-'ems — please-men. Arthur, you've got to get over there —"
"Here!" said Mum breathlessly, pushing a piece of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a crumpled quill into Dad's hands. "— it's a real stroke of luck I heard about it," said Mr. Diggory's head. "I had to come into the office early to send a couple of owls, and I found the Improper Use of Magic lot all setting off — if Rita Skeeter gets hold of this one, Arthur —"
"What does Mad-Eye say happened?" asked Dad, unscrewing the ink bottle, loading up his quill, and preparing to take notes. Mr. Diggory's head rolled its eyes.
"Says he heard an intruder in his yard. Says he was creeping toward the house, but was ambushed by his dustbins."
"What did the dustbins do?" asked Dad, scribbling frantically.
"Made one hell of a noise and fired rubbish everywhere, as far as I can tell," said Mr. Diggory. "Apparently one of them was still rocketing around when the please-men turned up —"
Dad groaned. "And what about the intruder?
"Arthur, you know Mad-Eye," said Mr. Diggory's head, rolling its eyes again. "Someone creeping into his yard in the dead of night? More likely there's a very shell-shocked cat wandering around somewhere, covered in potato peelings. But if the Improper Use of Magic lot get their hands on Mad-Eye, he's had it — think of his record — we've got to get him off on a minor charge, something in your department — what are exploding dustbins worth?"
"Might be a caution," said Dad still writing very fast, his brow furrowed. "Mad-Eye didn't use his wand? He didn't actually attack anyone?"
"I'll bet he leapt out of bed and started jinxing everything he could reach through the window," said Mr. Diggory, "but they'll have a job proving it, there aren't any casualties."
"All right, I'm off," Dad said, and he stuffed the parchment with his notes on it into his pocket and dashed out of the kitchen again. Mr. Diggory's head looked around at Mum.
"Sorry about this, Molly," it said, more calmly, "bothering you so early and everything . . . but Arthur's the only one who can get Mad-Eye off, and Mad-Eye's supposed to be starting his new job today. Why he had to choose last night . . ."
"Never mind, Amos," said Mum. "Sure you won't have a bit of toast or anything before you go?"
"Oh go on, then," said Mr. Diggory.
Mum took a piece of buttered toast from a stack on the kitchen table, put it into the fire tongs, and transferred it into Mr. Diggory's mouth.
"Fanks," he said in a muffled voice, and then, with a small pop, vanished.
"Anyone know who this Mad Eye bloke is?" asked Ron, once Dad had left.
Mad-Eye Moody?" said George thoughtfully, spreading marmalade on his toast. "Isn't he that nutter —"
"Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody," said Mum sternly.
"Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" said Fred quietly as Mum left the room. "Birds of a feather . . ."
"He definitely sounds like a bit of a nutcase to me" I said "Hopefully we don't ever have to encounter him"
"Moody was a great wizard in his time," said Bill.
"He's an old friend of Dumbledore's, isn't he?" said Charlie.
"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he?" said Fred. "I mean, I know he's a genius and everything . . ."
"Who is Mad-Eye?" asked Harry.
"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry," said Charlie. "I met him once when Dad took me into work with him. He was an Auror — one of the best . . . a Dark wizard catcher," he added, seeing Harry's blank look. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though . . . the families of people he caught, mainly . . . and I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere."
Bill and Charlie decided to come and see everyone off at King's Cross station, but Percy, apologizing most profusely, said that he really needed to get to work.
"I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment," he told us. "Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me."
"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" said George seriously. "I reckon he'll know your name soon", to everyone's amusement.
Mum ordered three Muggle taxis to take us to London. Thankfully, Dad had a supply of about 400 muggle pounds in the garage, so we were able to afford it by using these. We lived in Dorset, so it was obviously going to be very expensive. He had tried to borrow Ministry cars, but there hadn't been any spare.
"Oh dear, they don't look happy, do they" she said, pointing at the taxi drivers, who were heaving our trunks into their cars.
I rolled my eyes
"Mum, isn't it obvious why? I'm pretty sure a Muggle taxi driver doesn't often transport owls, nor do they expect fireworks to suddenly go off!" I said the last part as Fred's trunk sprang open which caused this exact thing to happen.
"Just get inside Ginny" Mum replied, blushing and ushering me towards a taxi door.
It was pretty cramped, as we were squashed in with all our trunks, but I didn't mind, as it meant I was right up close to Harry, who seemed to share the feeling. We both made a conscious effort not to create more space around us, and shared a few flirty remarks and actions, but Mum soon put a stop to it. She was doing the typical strict mother thing of not allowing teenage couples to show affection around her, yet another bad aspect of her parenting.
We were very relieved to get out at King's Cross, even though the rain was coming down harder than ever, and we got soaked carrying our trunks across the busy road and into the station.
As Charlie hugged me good bye on the platform, he said ""I might be seeing you all sooner than you think,"
"Why?" said Fred keenly.
"You'll see," said Charlie. "Just don't tell Percy I mentioned it . . . it's 'classified information, until such time as the Ministry sees fit to release it,' after all."
"Yeah, I sort of wish I were back at Hogwarts this year," said Bill, hands in his pockets, looking almost wistfully at the train.
"Why?" said George impatiently.
"You're going to have an interesting year," said Bill, his eyes twinkling.
"I might even get time off to come and watch a bit of it. . . ."
"A bit of what?" said Ron. But at that moment, the whistle blew, and Mum chivvied us toward the train door.
We all got on board, and as the train moved off, the twins and Ron tried desperately to get the information out of Mum, but she only smiled and waved until the train rounded the corner.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and I found our usual compartment, in which, Demelza, Stefan, Amy, Andrew, Magda and Luna were already sitting, divided into their pairings. I laid down on Harry's lap, grateful that Mum was no longer there to interrupt our intimacy. My short height meant that Ron and Hermione could easily sit together just beyond my feet, with plenty of space for them both. Harry started stroking my hair.
The thick rain splattering the windows made it very difficult to see out of them. Ron undid his trunk, pulled out his maroon dress robes, and flung them over Pigwidgeon's cage to muffle his hooting.
"Ludo wanted to tell us what's happening at Hogwarts," he said grumpily. "Amy, do you know by any chance?"
Amy looked like she was about to answer, but I moved my hand up in a very subtle warning motion. Only Amy saw this, so she said bitterly "No. I've spent too much time being silenced by my Uncle to even ask!"
"He still messing around with money then?" asked Demelza
"Sadly, yes" said Amy, sighing.
"Don't worry mate, we'll work something out in regards to that soon" I said
"Shh!" Hermione whispered suddenly, pressing her finger to her lips and pointing toward the compartment next to ours...