Harry Potter and Claire Smith's Adventures Book Two

The New Kid and the Mysterious Diary

Chapter 4: The New Kid and the Mysterious Diary

The end of the summer vacation came too quickly for the children's liking. Claire was dreading having to wake up at the crack of dawn to go to classes. Ron wasn't looking forward to the workload they'd get. Harry, though he was looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, had the happiest time of his life at the Burrow and was dreading the sort of welcome the Dursleys would give him when he turned up on Privet Drive at the end of term.

On their last evening, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a sumptuous dinner that included all of Harry's favorite things, ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George rounded off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it was time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.

The next morning, it took a long while to get started for the day. They woke up at dawn, but somehow they still seemed to have a great deal to do. Claire and Ginny were packing their schoolbooks in their trunks.

"Here, Claire. I think this is your book." Ginny said throwing it on Claire's bed.

"Thanks," Claire put the book in her trunk before closing it. She stood up and surveyed the room to check if she was missing anything.

"Well, I think that's everything. You have all your supplies, Ginny?" Claire asked.

"Yep, I just can't get my trunk to shut." Ginny said.

Claire walked over and helped Ginny shut the trunk.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. Let's go eat." Claire said.

They went down to the breakfast table and saw Fred, George, Percy, Ron, and Harry eating already. Claire sat next to Harry and Ginny sat next to Claire. After breakfast, Mrs. Weasley dashed about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills; people kept colliding on the stairs; and Mr. Weasley nearly broke his neck tripping over a stray chicken as he crossed the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car. Claire, Ron, and Harry followed Mr. Weasley to the Ford Anglia. Harry couldn't see how nine people, seven trunks, two owls, and a rat were going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. He had reckoned, of course, without the special features that Mr. Weasley had added.

"Not a word to Molly," he whispered to Harry as he opened the trunk and showed him how it had been magically expanded so that the luggage fitted easily. When at last they were in the car, Mrs. Weasley glanced into the back seat, where Claire, Harry, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side, "Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?" She and Ginny got into the front seat, which had been stretched so that it resembled a park bench. "I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"

Mr. Weasley started up the engine and they trundled out of the yard.

"Wait! I forgot the Filibuster fireworks!" George exclaimed.

After returning to the Burrow to grab the fireworks, Fred said that he forgot his broomstick. By the time Fred came back, they were running very late, and tempers were running high.

Mr. Weasley glanced at his watch and then at his wife.

"Molly, dear-"

"No, Arthur-"

"No one would see-this little button here is an Invisibility Booster I installed-that'd get us up in the air- then we fly above the clouds. We'd be there in ten minutes and no one would be any wiser-"

"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight-"

They reached King's Cross at a quarter to eleven. Mr. Weasley dashed across the road to get trolleys for their trunks, and they all hurried into the station.