Harry Potter: The ghouls awakening

Chapter 74

No one's POV

"So, of course, they were stuck, couldn't move either way, had to wait for the accidental magic reversal squad to sort them out, meant a fair old bit of paperwork, I can tell you, what with the Muggles who spotted the body parts they'd left behind." Mr Weasley said, now spooning large amounts of treacle onto his porridge.

Harry stopped eating for a moment and thought about what that may look like.

"Were they okay?" Jessie asked a bit startled.

"Oh yes." Mr Weasley said matter-of-factly.

"But they got a heavy fine, and I don't think they'll be trying it again in a hurry, you don't mess around with Apparition, there are plenty of adult wizards who don't bother with it, prefer brooms – slower, but safer."

"But Bill, Charlie and Percy can all do it?" Kyle asked.

"Charlie had to take the test twice." Fred said grinning.

"He failed the first time, Apparated five miles south of where he meant to, right on some poor old dear doing her shopping, remember?"

"Yes, well, he passed the second time." Mrs. Weasley said, marching back into the kitchen amid hearty sniggers.

"Percy only passed two weeks ago." George said.

"He's been Apparating downstairs every morning since, reason being he said now he didn't have to walk down them."

There were footsteps down the passageway as Hermione and Ginny came into the kitchen, both looking pale and drowsy.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny asked, rubbing her eyes and sitting down at the table.

"We've got a bit of a walk." Mr. Weasley said.

"Walk?" Harry said.

"We're walking to the World Cup?'

"No, no, that's miles away." Mr Weasley said smiling.

"We only need to walk a short way, it's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention, we have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup –"

"George!" Mrs. Weasley said sharply, and most of them jumped.

"What?" George asked in an innocent tone that deceived nobody.

"What is that in your pocket?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't lie to me!"

Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket.

"Accio!"

Several small, brightly coloured objects zoomed out of George's pocket, he made a grab for them but missed, and they sped right into Mrs. Weasley's outstretched hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" Mrs. Weasley said furiously, holding up what were unmistakably more Ton-Tongue Toffees.

"We told you to get rid of the lot! Empt your pockets, go on, both of you!"

It was an unpleasant scene, the twins had evidently been trying to smuggle as many toffees out of the house as possible, and it was only by using her summoning charm that Mrs. Weasley managed to find them all.

"Accio! Accio! Accio!" She shouted and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at his mother, as she threw the toffees away.

"Oh, a fine way to spend six months!" She shrieked.

"No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.s!"

All in all,the atmosphere was not very friendly as they made their departure.

Mrs. Weasley was still glowering as she kissed Mr Weasley on the cheek, though not nearly as much as the twins, who had each hoisted their rucksacks onto their backs and walked out without a word to her.

"Well, have a lovely time." Mrs. Weasley said.

"And behave yourselves."  She called after the twins' retreating backs, but they did not look back or answer.

"I'll send Bill, Charlie and Percy along around midday." Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as he, Harry, Jessie, Daphne, Kyle, Ginny, Hermione and Ron set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.

It was chilly and the moon was still out.

Only a dull, greenish tinge along the horizon to their right showed that day real was drawing closer.

Harry, thinking about how so many wizards could be going to the Quidditch world cup so he sped up a bit.

"Mr Weasley, how does everyone get there without all the muggles noticing?" He asked.

"It's been a massive organisational problem." Sighed Mr. Weasley.

"The trouble is, about a hundred thousand wizards turn up to the World Cup, and of course we just haven't got a magical site big enough to accommodate them all, there are places muggles can't penetrate, but imagine trying to pack a hundred thousand wizards into Diagon Alley, or platform 9¾, so we had to find a nice deserted moor, and set up as many anti-muggle precautions as possible." Mr Weasley explained.

"The whole Ministry's been working on it for months, firstly, of course, we have to stagger the arrivals, people with cheaper tickets have to arrive two weeks beforehand, a limited number use Muggle transport, but we have to set up safe points for them to appear, well away from Muggles, I believe there's a handy wood they're using as the Apparition point, for those who don't want to Apparate, or can't, use Portkeys."

"What are Portkeys?" Kyle asked curiously.

"They're objects that are used to transport wizards from one spot to another at a prearranged time, you can do large groups at a time if you need to, there have been about two hundred Portkegs placed at strategic points around Britain, and the nearest one to us is up at the top of Stoatshead Hill, so that's where we're headed."

Mr. Weasley pointed ahead of them, where a large black mass rose beyond the village of Ottery St Catchpole.

"What sort of objects are Portkeys?" Harry asked curiously.

"Well, they can be anything." Mr. Weasley said.

"Unobtrusive things, obviously, so Muggles don't go picking them up and playing with them.... stuff they'll think is just litter..."

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