2.3| gotta get back to Hogwarts
The summer ended too quickly for anyone's liking. Soon came the day they were going back to Hogwarts. Alex sat on the floor of her room, backing her trunk. She couldve easily packed it earlier, but of course Alex being Alex, procastinated until the very last moment. Emptying her school books from her tote bag, to put them inside her trunk. She found a leather diary, the corners gold edges in the corner, it looked old yet very fascinating. She opened it and it was blank inside. A name in gold shinned on the bottom of it; TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE.
Tom Marvolo Riddle? Alex thought. She has never heard the name. She doesn't remember buying it either. She shrugged. Thinking of looking into it later on, she kept it inside her trunk. Shaking her head, she continued her packing.
_
"Oh Alex dear there you are!" Mrs Weasley said as Alex stepped inside the burrow. The Weasleys and Harry have been waiting for her so that they could leave. They were already running pretty late. "Did you have breakfast?" She asked and Alex nodded.
Mr. Weasley has enchanted the Ford Angila, so that 9 people could fit in it. The boys sat on the back, whilst Alex sat with Mrs Weasley and Ginny on the front. Mr Weasley kept checking his watch, glancing at it.
"Molly dear—" he started but Mrs Weasley cut him off.
"Absolutely 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 the wiser—”
"I said no, Arthur, not in broad daylight —”
Mr Weasley sighed and kept driving to kings cross. When they reached there it was already 10:45. Hurrying past the muggles they reached platform 9 and 10.
“Percy first” said Mrs. Weasley, looking nervously at the clock overhead, which showed they had only five minutes to disappear casually through the barrier. Percy strode briskly forward and vanished. Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.
“I’ll take Ginny and you three come right after us” Mrs. Weasley told them, grabbing Ginny’s hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone. The three of them looked at each other.
"You two should go together" Alex said. "I'll be right behind you" the two of them nodded. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and; CRASH
instead of going through the barrier, they crashed right into it. Ron’s trunk fell off with a loud thump, Harry was knocked off his feet, and Hedwig’s cage bounced onto the shiny floor, and she rolled away, shrieking indignantly; people all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, “What in blazes d’you think you’re doing?”
"They lost control of their trolly!" Alex said, helping Hedwig back inside her cage and helping the boys to their feet. "What happened!" She asked in a whisper. "Why can't you two get through?"
“We’re going to miss the train,” Ron whispered, looking at the clock. It striked eleven. “I don’t understand why the gateway’s sealed itself" Alex tried to get through too, but she couldn't either.
“It’s gone” said Ron, sounding stunned. “The train’s left. What if Mum and Dad can’t get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?” Alex shook her head.
"The Dursleys haven't given me pocket money for about six years" Harry said. "Maybe we can get back to the car?" He said and Alex's eyes sparkled with an idea.
"The car!" She exclaimed.
"What about it?" Ron asked, confused.
“We can fly the car to Hogwarts!” she said. Ron grinned but Harry was still not sure.
“But your Mum and Dad…” said Harry, pushing against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. “How will they get home?”
“They don’t need the car!” said Ron impatiently.
“They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we’re all underage and we’re not allowed to Apparate yet…” Alex added. "You can fly it Ron, can't you?"
"Not a problem"
Alex unlocked the car and they loaded their luggage into it. Ron and Harry sat on the front while Alex jumped into the back seat. Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car around them vanished—and so did they. Harry could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his glasses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars.
“Let’s go” said Ron. And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them.
Then there was a popping noise and the car, the three of them reappeared. “Uh-oh” said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. “It’s faulty" he clicked it, but it flickered back again.
"Now We need to see the train to know what direction to go in" Alex said and Ron nodded. They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their seats, squinting at the ground.
“I can see it!” Harry yelled. “Right ahead—there!” The Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet snake. It was as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream. This, was surely the only way to travel—past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment, and the prospect of seeing Fred’s and George’s jealous faces when they landed smoothly and spectacularly on the sweeping lawn in front of Hogwarts castle. They made regular checks on the train as they flew farther and farther north, each dip
beneath the clouds showing them a different view. London was soon far behind them, replaced by neat green fields that gave way in turn to wide, purplish moors, a great city alive with cars like multicolored ants, villages with tiny toy churches.
Many, many hours later, they could finally see it. Hogwarts stood tall on the cliff near the black lake. The sun has set down long ago, the moon illuminated the sky, along with stars. Sighing in relief, Alex smiled.
Ron put his foot on the accelerator and drove them upward again, but as he did so, the engine began to whine. “It’s probably just tired” said Ron. “It’s never been this far before…” he said. But it sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than the Alex and Harry. they pretended not to notice the whining growing louder and louder as the sky became steadily darker, even the windshield wipers were now waving
feebly, as though in protest.
"We're almost there" Ron said, probably to the car. “not far now” and he patted the dashboard nervously.
“There!” Harry shouted, making Ron and Alex jump. “Straight ahead!” But the car had begun to shudder and was losing speed.
“Come on" Ron said cajolingly, giving the steering wheel a little shake, “nearly there, come on" The engine groaned. Narrow jets of steam were issuing from under the hood. The car gave a nasty wobble. Glancing out of his window, Harry saw the smooth, black, glassy surface of the water, a mile below. Ron’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel. The car wobbled again. They were over the lake, the castle was right ahead. Ron put his foot down. There was a loud clunk, a splutter, and the engine died completely.
“Uh-oh” said Ron, into the silence.
The nose of the car dropped. They were falling, gathering speed, heading straight for the solid castle wall. The three of them screeched. Ron yelled, swinging the steering wheel around; they missed the dark stone wall by inches as the car turned in a great arc, soaring over the dark greenhouses, then the vegetable patch, and then out over the black lawns, losing altitude all the time. Ron let go of the steering wheel completely and pulled his wand out of his back pocket.
“STOP! STOP!” he yelled, whacking the dashboard and the windshield, but they were still plummeting, the ground flying up toward them.
“WATCH OUT FOR THAT TREE!” Harry bellowed, lunging for the steering wheel, but too late; CRUNCH.
With an earsplitting bang of metal on wood, they hit the thick tree trunk and dropped to the ground with a heavy jolt. Steam was billowing from under the crumpled hood; Hedwig was shrieking in terror; a golfball-size lump was throbbing on Harry’s head where he had hit the windshield; and to his right, Ron let out a low, despairing groan. Alex covered her head with her hands, she has fallen down in between the gap of the seats
“My wand” said Ron, in a shaky voice. “Look at my wand—” It had snapped, almost in two; the tip was dangling limply, held on by a few splinters.
"Be grateful it wasn't your neck!" Harry said. Alex slowly rose up. At that very moment, something hit Harry's side of the car with the force of a charging bull, sending him lurching sideways into Ron, just as an equally heavy blow hit the roof.
"What in the—" Alex started.
“Aaargh!” said Ron as another twisted limb punched a large dent into his door; the windshield was now trembling under a hail of blows from knuckle-like twigs and a branch as thick as a battering ram was pounding furiously on the roof, which seemed to be caving in. “Run for it!” Ron shouted, throwing his full weight against his door, but next second he had been knocked backward into Harry’s lap by a vicious uppercut from another branch. Alex grabbed Hedwig's cage closer to her.
"Oh we're done" Alex said. Suddenly the floor of the car was vibrating. The engine had restarted.
“Reverse!” Harry yelled, and the car shot backward; the tree was still trying to hit them; they could hear its roots creaking as it almost ripped itself up, lashing out at them as they sped out of reach.
“That" panted Ron, “was close. Well done, car—" The car, however, had reached the end of its tether. With two sharp clunks, the doors flew open and Harry felt his seat tip sideways: Next thing he knew he was sprawled on the damp ground. Loud thuds told him that the car was ejecting their luggage from the trunk; Hedwig’s cage flew through the air and burst open; she rose out of it with an angry screech and sped off toward the castle without a backward look. Then, dented, scratched, and steaming, the car rumbled off into the darkness, its rear lights blazing angrily.
“Come back!” Ron yelled after it, brandishing his broken wand. “Dad’ll kill me!” But the car disappeared from view with one last snort from its exhaust.
"I don't think your car likes you Ron" Alex said getting up from the ground, brushing her clothes.
“Come on" said Harry wearily, “we’d better get up to the school"
_
Hermione waited for her three friends. For 15 minutes, for half an hour. For even an hour. But they were nowhere to be found. Her heart was beating fast in her chest.
Maybe they didn't want to be her friend anymore?
She got up from her seat and looked through the compartments. She found Cepheus Knight sitting alone in one of the compartments. She knocked on it, he looked up from the book he was reading.
"Granger?" He asked.
"Hey Knight" she said and entered the compartment. "Have you seen Alex?" She said.
"No, I thought she was with you three?" He asked and Hermione shook her head.
"She isn't" she said. "I can't find Ron or Harry either"
"What?" He asked confused. "Are you sure they aren't in any other compartment?"
"Yeah I'm sure" she said. "Even Ron's sister doesn't know where they are!"
"Let's go and double check" He said and she nodded.
_