The end of summer vacation ended to quickly. None of the children were looking forward to get back to homework so soon. Violet and Harry's month at the Burrow had been the happiest of their lives. It was hard not to be jealous when they thought of the Dursleys and what they would be expecting if they turned up at Privet Drive again.
On their last evening there, Mrs. Weasley conjured up a dinner that included Harry and Violet's favourite things. Even treacle pudding, much like the one Dobby had dropped on the floor of the Dursleys' kitchen. Fred and George ended the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks that filled the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounced around for half an hour before disappearing. Then it was time for a last cup of Hot Cocoa and bed.
***
It took a long time to get ready the next morning. Everyone was up bright and early but they still had a lot to do. Mrs.Weasley was definitely in a bad mood while looking for spare socks and quills. People were rushing up and down the stairs, half-dressed with toast in their mouths. Mr.Weasley almost broke his neck tripping over a chicken while carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.
When they were all packed into the car, Mrs. Weasley looked back. Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Violet, and Percy were all sitting comfortably side by side. "Muggles actually know more than we give them credit for, who would've thought" she said. Ginny was in the front seat, which had been stretched so that it was similar to a park bench. "Just think about that. You'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?" She continued.
Mr.Weasley started up the engine and they pulled out of the yard. Harry turned back for a last look at the house. He didn't even have time to think about when he would ever see it again because George had forgotten his fireworks and had to go back. About 5 minutes later they had successfully made it to the highway when Ginny screamed out that she had left her diary. By the time they had made it back to the highway, they were running late and Mrs. Weasley's temper was running high.
"Molly, dear----"
"No, Arthur----"
"No one will see us. You see, I installed an Invisibility booster that will get us up in the air. Then we can fly above the clouds and get there in ten minutes tops----"
"I said no Arthur Weasley"
They reached King's Cross at 10:45. Mrs. Weasley quickly got the trolleys for their trunks and they all hurried into the station.
Violet and Harry had caught the Hogwarts Express the year before. The hard part was getting onto platform 9 3/4 (nine and three quarters), which Muggles could not see. What you had to do was walk through the brick wall dividing platforms nine and ten. It was simple and painless, but you had to do it carefully so that no Muggles saw you vanishing.
"Percy" said Mrs.Weasley, looking nervously at the clock that showed that they only had 5 more minutes to board the train. Percy walked forward and vanished. Then Mr.Weasley, then Fred and George followed. "I'll take Ginny, you three come right after us," said Mrs.Weasley, taking Ginny's hand and disappearing through the barrier. "Let's all go together, we've only got a minute left" said Violet to Harry and Ron.
Harry made sure that the owls' cages were secure and turned he and Violet's trolley to face the barrier. They moved back a little, then walked quickly toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it they began to run and----"
CRASH.
Both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron's trunk fell off with a thump, Harry was knocked off his feet, Hedwig and Earwing's cages fell to the ground and began to roll. The birds were shrieking with fear. "Good heavens girl, what in blazes d'you think you're doing?" said a voice behind them. They turned around and saw a guard checking on Violet, who had collided into the barrier and gone unconscious for a while.
"Lost control. We...lost control of the trolleys," Violet spoke, sounding drowsy. The guard helped her to her feet, gave the boys 'the look' and went on his way. Ron ran to pick up the owls and put them back on the trolleys, people were muttering about cruelty to animals from the crowd surrounding them.
"Why can't we get through?" Harry hissed to Ron.
"I dunno----"
Ron looked around, a dozen people were still watching them.
"We're going to miss the train," Ron whispered, "I don't understand why the gateway sealed itself ." Violet looked up at the giant clock, clutching her throbbing head. Ten seconds...nine seconds...eight...
She walked toward the barrier and tried to stick her hand through, but it was solid, solid as a rock.
Three...two...one...
"It's gone," said Ron. "The train has left, and we haven't got any other way if Mum and Dad can't get back, do we? Have you got any muggle money?" He asked the twins.
Harry and Violet laughed. "The Dursleys haven't given us pocket money for about 6 years" laughed Harry. Ron pressed his ear to the cold barrier. "Can't hear anything. What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take for Mum and Dad to come back for us."
People were still watching them, mainly bacause of the two screeching cage owls.
"I think we'd better go wait by the car," said Harry. "Yeah, we're attracting too much attention" Ron agreed.
"Ron, Harry!" said Violet, her eyes gleaming. "The car!"
"What about it" said Ron.
"We can fly the car to Hogwarts dummy!"
"But I thought we couldn't" said Harry.
"We're stuck, right? Ad we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section seventeen or something of the Restrictions thingy----" "But Mum and Dad..." said Ron, pushing against the barrier again. "Yeah, how will they get home?" asked Harry. "They don't need a car! They Apparated this morning to get tea biscuits, so of course they can Apparate home!" Said Violet matter-of-factly. The boys' panic turned into excitement.
"Can you fly it?" asked Violet to Ron. "Of course I can, come along you guys. If we hurry we can catch up to the Hogwarts Express!" Ron said, pushing his trolley quickly back to the parking area.
•
Ron unlocked the the trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They threw all of their luggage in, put the birds in the backseat, and got into the front. "Check that no one is watching" said Ron to Harry. He peeked out of his window and looked around. The street was empty except for the traffic on the main road.
"Okay," he said.
Ron pressed a tiny silver button and the car vanished along with everything and everyone inside. Harry could feel the seat, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his glasses on his nose. But as far as he knew, he was now just a floating pair of eyeballs.
The car began to rise and in seconds, all of London was glittering below them. Then there was a popping noise and everything reappeared. "Uh oh," said Ron, poking at the button. "I think the button may be broken----" They all began to bang on the button, making the car vanish, then reappear over and over. "Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the gas pedal. They shot straight up into the clouds and everything turned dull and foggy.
"Now what?" Violet said, mesmerized by the woolly white clouds covering the windows.
"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in," said Ron.
"Dip back down again----" said Harry. They dropped back beneath the clouds and squinted at the ground. "I can see it! Right ahead!" yelled Harry excitedly. They shot back up into the clouds and burst out into clear sky.
"All we've got to worry about now are airplanes," said Violet.
They all looked at each other and began to laugh; for a long time, they couldn't stop. This, they thought, was the best way to travel. In and out of flurries of clouds, a car full of sunlight, big loads of toffee candy in the glove compartment, and the thoughts of seeing Fred and George's jealous faces when they land smoothly on the lawn in front of the Hogwarts castle.
Several boring hours later, the fun had begun to wear off. The toffees made them thirsty, but they had nothing to drink. Even though they had all pulled off their sweaters so that they were wearing their T-shirts, they were still sweaty from the heat. Ron had to stop thinking about the train below, where you could get ice-cold pumpkin juice from a trolley pushed by a sweet, plump old witch. Why hadn't they been able to get onto platform 9 3/4?
The engine had begun to whine. They pretended not to notice it growing louder and louder as the sky became darker. Stars were coming out to play in the darkness. They pulled their sweaters back on, it wad getting cold and raining a bit. "Not far, not far now" said Ron to the car, patting the dashboard.
"There!" Harry shouted, making Ron, Violet, and the owls jump. "Straight ahead!"
High on a cliff over the lake stood the many towers of Hogwarts. But the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed. "Come on," Ron said, shaking the wheel, "nearly there, come on----"
The engine groaned. Steam was emitting from the hood. The car gave a wobble as it began to lower. They were over the lake--the castle was right ahead. Ron put his foot down on the brake. There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.
The car began to fall and they were headed for the castle wall.
"Nooooo!" they all yelled as Ron swung the steering wheel around; they missed the stone wall by inches as the car turned in a sort of U-turn. Ron let go of the steering wheel and pulled his wand out of his back pocket. "STOP! STOP!" he yelled, smacking the dashboard and the windshield as the car continued to fall.
"WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!" Harry and Violet screamed, reaching for the steering wheel, but it was too late.
CRASH.
They had hit the thick tree trunk and fallen to the ground. Steam began to billow from under the crumpled hood.The owls were shrieking, Harry was holding his head which was hurting from the impact, and Ron let out a low groan. Violet, on the other hand, was wearing her seatbelt and had no injuries at all.
"Are you okay?" Harry said urgently.
"M-my wand," said Ron in a shaky voice. "L-look at my wand--"
It had snapped almost into two peices, but it was hanging on by a few splinters. Violet opened her mouth to say something but before a sound came out, something hit Harry's side of the car sending him lurching into her, just as there was another blow to the roof.
"What's happen----"
Ron gasped, staring through the windshield. A thick branch had smashed straight into it. The tree that they had hit was attacking them! Another limb punched a huge dent into Ron's door as the roof began to slowly cave in. "Run for it!" he shouted, trying to open his door but being knocked backwards onto Harry and Violet.
And suddenly, the engine had restarted. "Reverse!" yelled Violet, and the car shot backward; the tree was still trying to smash them to peices. "That was a close one! Well done car!" praised Ron, but the car was exhausted. The door flew open and the kids were thrown out of the car along with their luggage. The owl cages had opened and the two owls flew angrily toward the castle.
Then out of no where, the car revved its engines and sped off, leaving the three stranded. "Can you believe our luck?" said Ron miserably, tucking scabbers into his pocket. "Come on," said Harry wearily, "we'd better get up to the school."
Stiff, cold, and bruised, they took their trunks and began dragging them up the hill towards the big oak doors.
__________________________________________
Once they arrived, they could see the Sorting going on.
There was a long line of scared first year students filing into the hall, Ginny was among them, easily recognized by her red Weasley hair. Professor McGonagall, a bespectacled witch with a tight bun for hair, was placing the Sorting Hat atop the stool in front of the newcomers.
Each year this frayed, dirty, age old, patched up old hat, sorted new students into the four houses of Hogwarts (Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin). Harry remembered putting it on exactly one year ago and waiting for its decision. He had feared that it was going to put him in Slytherin, , the house that almost evey Dark witch and wizard had been in. But he ended up in Gryffindor along with Ron, Hermione, and the other Weasleys.
Violet had almost been through the same thing. The hat told her that she would come out as a great and powerful witch if she was put in Slytherin. He told her that she would be better off going on her own than choosing her brother's path. And before he put her into Gryffindor, he whispered to her "You and your brother will not have the same destiny, the paths may change, the roads may crack..GRYFFINDOR!" And that was when McGonagall took the hat away.
A very small boy had been called forward to try on the hat. Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, was watching the Sorting from the staff table. Several seats along, there was Gilderoy Lockhart, dressed in silk turqoise robes. And at the end was Hagrid, drinking deeply from his gold goblet.
"Hang on. . ." Harry whispered. "There's an empty chair. . . .Where's Snape?"
Professor Severus Snape was Harry's least favorite and Violet's favorite teacher. All the same, Harry was his least favorite and Violet was his favorite student. Everyone (other than Slytherin and Violet) referred to him as cruel, sarcastic, and disliked by everybody except the students from his own house and Violet Potter. Snape was a potions teacher, though he was more into the Dark Arts.
"Maybe he's sick!" said Ron hopefully.
"I hope not!" said Violet quickly.
"Maybe he's left," said Harry, "because he missed out on the DADA job again!"
"Or he might have been sacked!" said Ron enthusiastically. "I mean everyone hates him----"
Violet began to retort but was cut short by a very cold voice behind her.
"Or maybe he's waiting to hear why you three didn't arrive on the school train." Harry spun around. There, in his black robes, stood Severus Snape. He was a thin man with pale skin, a boney nose, and greasy shoulder-length black hair. He was smiling in a way that showed that the three were in deep trouble. "Follow me."
They followed Snape up the steps into an echoing entrance hall, which was lit with flaming torches. "In!" he said, opening a door halfway down the cold passageway and pointing. They entered his cold office, the walls were lined with jars full of mucky things that weren't even fit for consumption by humans or creatures. The fireplace was empty and filled with cobwebs and dust, as if it hadn't been used in centuries. Snape closed the door and turned to them.
"So," he whispered softly, "the train isn't good enough for the famous Potters and the faithful companion Weasley hmm? Wanted to arrive with a bang, did we, children?" "No sir," said Ron, "It was the barrier at King's cross, it----"
"Silence!" snapped Snape coldly. "What have you done with the car?" Ron gulped. This wouldn't be the first time Snape had given Violet the impression of being able to read minds. But a moment later, she understood, as Snape unrolled today's issue of Evening Prophet.
"You were seen," he hissed, pointing at the headline: FLYING FORD ANGLIA MYSTIFIES MUGGLES. He began to read it aloud: "Two Muggles in London, convinced they saw an old car flying over the Post Office tower. . . at noon in Norfolk, Mrs. Hattie Mae Berlusconi, while hanging out her clothes to dry. . . Mr. Andrew Fletcher, of Peebles, reported to police. . . Six or seven Muggles in all. I believe your father works in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office?" he said, looking down at Ron with a nasty smirk on his face. "Dear, oh dear. . . his own son. . ."
He continued, "I noticed, in my search of the park, that considerable damage has been done to a very valuable Willow tree." "That tree did more damage to us than we--" "Silence!" snapped Snape again. "Unfortunately, you are not in my House, which is a pity for one of you" he looked to Violet, "I shall go and fetch the people who do have the power to expel you. You will wait here."
Harry, Ron, and Violet stared at each other, pale faced. Harry now felt extremely sick. If Snape had gone to get Professor McGonagall, head of Gryffindor House, they weren't any better off. She may have been more fair than Snape, but she was extremely strict when she wanted to be.
Ten minutes later Snape returned, and sure enough he had brought Professor McGonagall along. She raised her wand at the fireplace and flames suddenly erupted. "Sit," she said, and they all backed into the chairs by the fire.
"Explain."
____________________________________________________________________
Hey! I may not update for a little while (just a little like a week at the most) because of these crazy exams. Teachers and their tests! And report cards are gonna be here on the 18th! Don't you just wish you could have an eidetic memory so school wouldn't be an issue? I know I do. Oh, btw, thank you all for reading and voting. You may not know it but it really makes me motivated to get my sorry arse up and write (because I'm a lazy bıtch, lol).
Get ready for the 7th Chappie.
Oh, I also do-
Shoutouts: Read
'50 Shades of Payne' by @AngelStylesIrwin14
'Love Me or Leave Me' by angelwoodyn a.k.a @AngelStylesIrwin14
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Fan Art (for your books)
Dedicated to AngelGirl102