Chapter 6

An Unusual Trip

"One of the easiest mistakes people make is thinking 'forgetting to live' means forgetting to be brash and adventurous. Sure, doing so will make life more 'interesting,' but it is not living. More often I find 'forgetting to live' is forgetting to find the joy in the simple things of life. Find joy in having your cup of tea, find joy in a simple meal with family. Laugh more, smile more. It is a mistake to get so caught up in trying to live that you forget how great it is just to be alive."

General (ret.) Jigme Dorji Wengshuk

Harriet had a lot to think about in the next few days. Between a possible revelation about one of her best friends and a more significant revelation about almost all of her friends and their families, Harriet's mind was much fuller than usual. She did her best to smile with the Weasleys for the first couple of days, but the nagging worries and questions wouldn't stop butting in.

Had the followers of Lord Voldemort targeted Kieran like they had targeted Harriet? How could she find out? She was too afraid to ask. She never liked people asking about or looking at her scar, so she was sure Kieran wouldn't like people asking about his leg. Maybe she would ask Scott? But no, that wouldn't work either. While she was confident Scott would know, it was too much of the coward's way out, trying to ask someone else about something so important.

Fortunately, in the end, the fun of living with the Weasleys won out. There was just so much to do: football practice with Ronnie and Ginny, Quidditch practice with Fred and George, playing sleuths in the garden with all the Weasley kids (minus Percy), learning how to cook with Mrs Weasley, and teaching Mr Weasley all about life with Muggles.

Harriet found she enjoyed cooking much more than she thought she would. It reminded her of Potions, which was a class she appreciated apart from the strange Professor Snape. However, while the result of most of the potions Professor Snape had them make were things like boils or shrinking body parts, cooking resulted in food. Delicious food, at that, if it was done right.

Neither Ronnie nor Ginny seemed to share the same interest, but Harriet didn't mind. She felt awkward admitting it, but it was something like fulfilling another fantasy of hers. She remembered overhearing other girls in primary school talking about things they would do with their mothers. She would never admit it, but in the few short weeks she had been here, she was starting to view Mrs Weasley as something of a mother figure, the one she'd never had.

In fact, it was how she was starting to feel about the Weasleys altogether, that they were beginning to become more than just friends. They were growing to be a surrogate family. This made it harder to think that after this year at Hogwarts she would have to go back to the Dursleys. She kept trying to push this to the back of her mind, but it was difficult at best.

The biggest excitement coming, besides going back to Hogwarts, was Ronnie's final football match the last weekend of the summer holidays. Even though it wasn't an official league tournament, Ronnie still went through a wild range of emotions in the build-up to the match. Her moods would quickly go from being on top of the world and ready to conquer anything, to utterly convinced she was going to be a failure.

About the only thing Ronnie would always get up for when she was in her down moments was "The Muggling Hour," a radio show on the Wizarding Wireless that catered almost entirely to Muggle-Borns and covered Muggle news and developments. Ronnie liked it because there was a ten-minute spot where they talked football news. Her favourite was when they spoke about Holly Cambridge, an up and coming American football talent who was also a Muggle-born witch. She had become something of a hero to Ronnie over the past summer, being almost the same age as them.

Apparently given the war going on in America, Cambridge was also something of an inspiration. Harriet supposed she could see why. With hundreds of people dying every month in a secret war, it would be only natural they would want some good news to help cheer people up.

"She should be good enough for the majors," Ronnie said in a tone that was both glum and proud as they listened to the broadcast the day before Ronnie's final match. "But the big teams don't think she's mature enough for the majors yet, or national teams."

Harriet thought about it. She supposed even though she was good at Quidditch, and she had natural talent, she had only been playing for a year. She had only just turned twelve. She didn't suppose she'd be good enough to be noticed by the big leagues, even when she did turn fourteen. However, Harriet couldn't help but see the fire in her best friend's eye whenever the subject of professional play came up.

Even if she thought it was a stretch, Harriet tried to encourage Ronnie in those thoughts, if for no other reason than Harriet hated to see Ronnie depressed. Harriet had to admit that from what she had seen of the last match and their practice sessions Ronnie was pretty good for their age.

Harriet couldn't help but notice she was having something of an impact on the Weasley household in turn. For instance, Fred and George were now allowing Ronnie and Ginny to join in their Quidditch practices. Ronnie was still learning most of the basics of flying so the most advanced practising they would do, when she joined in, was throwing apples to one another in a circle. This kept Ronnie's confidence up as her goalkeeper practice gave her good hand-eye coordination, and she was able to catch most any apple thrown her way. However, either Harriet or Ginny still had to fetch a broom for her, as she always refused to go near the broom shed.

Ginny surprised everyone in these practices. She was quick and nimble on a broomstick, and even Fred and George had to admit that Ginny had talent. Harriet thought Ginny had the makings of a Seeker, but Ginny seemed much more interested in playing either Chaser or even Beater. Fred and George thought the urge to play Beater was their inspiration, but Harriet knew better. It was because of her hero, Gwenog Jones, who was captain and Beater for the Holy-Head Harpies, Ginny's favourite team.

Harriet's nose for mysteries and secrets was continuing to get stronger as well. With the solving of the Percy mystery (which she still was keeping hidden from Fred and George), her next mystery became Fred and George themselves. No one paid much attention to the random bangs and whistles that came from their room, but the more Harriet listened, the more she was starting to detect a pattern.

She also couldn't help but notice the occasional furtive ways Fred and George would sneak up to their room before the bangs and explosions would commence. Given the loud noises that followed they couldn't be trying to hide the fact they were in their room. The only conclusion Harriet could come to was: they were taking things into their room they shouldn't.

Unfortunately, Fred and George were proving a little too crafty for her. Harriet supposed the regular Nancy Drew games with them having to be better and better at hiding things was giving them too much practice in being secretive. Once Harriet even flew her broom up to their window, but they had drawn the curtains. This just made Harriet even more suspicious, as Fred and George lived on the second floor.

Harriet tried voicing her curiosities to Ronnie, but Ronnie dismissed them point blank.

"Fred and George have always been a little secretive and love making noise; it's nothing new," Ronnie said.

Harriet was unconvinced. While she hadn't known Fred and George as long as Ronnie, there was one thing she had learned about the twins. They never did anything without reason. Harriet was sure that, having gotten to know them better, Fred and George couldn't be up to anything wrong.

She decided to focus her energy on keeping Ronnie's spirits up. With her upcoming match, Harriet knew that Ronnie would ignore anything that didn't have to do with Football. It was Harriet's job, as her best friend to keep her spirits up.

* * * *

By the time Friday night came around, Harriet had no voice. She had shouted herself completely hoarse at Ronnie's match, cheering as her best friend played the entire match. Ronnie didn't even let a goal that snuck past her mid-game get to her, and in the end, they had come out for the win scoring two on the other team.

The Lovegoods had turned up for the match again, and Mr and Mrs Weasley even invited them over for the party afterwards. Mr Lovegood graciously accepted. Harriet felt a little sorry for Ronnie, as their team was throwing a party of their own in town. Harriet knew she wanted to go too, but before she could say much Fred and George had scooped Ronnie up on their shoulders and they were off making their way towards the Burrow.

Even if Harriet knew she wanted to be with her team-mates, Harriet had to admit the Muggle party probably had nothing on the one the Weasley's threw. Fred and George shot off half of the Filibuster Fireworks they had bought during the trip into Diagon Alley. The fireworks whizzed and banged and shrieked for hours. Mrs Weasley made a giant feast for them all with a large cake in the shape of a football that had "Congratulations Ronnie!" written in bright red frosting across the top.

Not having anything to talk about, Harriet merely resigned herself to listening in on other people's conversations. Mr Weasley was talking animatedly with Mr Lovegood about the war. Mr Lovegood seemed quite knowledgeable about what was going on, particularly about the history of the natives. Percy, who Harriet felt a little more gracious to for coming to Ronnie's final match, was sitting next to his father listening in with great interest. Harriet knew Percy was ambitious and wanted to work for the Ministry someday, and so she supposed the subject of foreign affairs would be quite interesting to him.

"Well you see, Arthur, it's a very tricky issue," Mr Lovegood was saying in a resigned voice. "Many of the aborigines don't want citizenship; they want to remain their people and be recognised as their semi-independent nations, much as the Muggle aborigines are in the States. But that makes a bigger problem because in their culture they don't hide their magical members, they are a united people, so some are afraid they would not follow the Statute of Secrecy."

"But that's no excuse for treating them as third-class citizens with barely any more rights than slaves!" Mr Weasley retorted slapping his palm on the table.

"I know it isn't, Arthur!" Mr Lovegood replied and raised a hand, "I'm not saying that; of course, they deserve all the same rights as other American magical peoples, but even within their ranks there is disagreement that makes it difficult for them to start a popular support movement. The message gets confused amongst a population predisposed to discriminate against them."

Harriet felt her attention pulled away by Fred who elbowed her in the side gently.

"Mr Lovegood runs a magazine, The Quibbler. No one takes it that seriously because he does publish some pretty ridiculous stuff, conspiracies and the like, but there are lots of things you can ask him for answers about politics and cultures you can't get other places."

"Like what?" Harriet asked.

"Like how people in other places live," George muttered leaning over to look past Fred. "Mr Lovegood cares about local perspectives in news stories. The Prophet only cares about its own perspectives."

"And profitable perspectives," muttered Fred.

Harriet nodded. She remembered the copy of The Daily Prophet she saw in Diagon Alley with her friends and the contradictory headlines. She supposed it made sense now. Why sell papers to people who want to read about how long the war will last or to people who want to learn about how soon the war will be over when you can sell to both at the same time?

Harriet felt hands on her shoulder and turned to see Ronnie and Ginny smiling down at her with Luna standing beside them, though she looked more like she was only there by accident. Harriet smiled and without a word from any of them she got up to join. They went up to Mr Lovegood to thank him and Luna for coming to Ronnie's match, and to ask if Luna could spend the night. Given his genial nature, Harriet had expected Mr Lovegood to say yes at once. She was surprised when he hesitated a moment before agreeing. Luna didn't look thrilled or upset by it, but did hug her father and thanked him before they all headed into the house and up the winding staircase to Ronnie's bedroom.

"So your father runs a newspaper, Luna?" Harriet asked.

"A magazine, yes," Luna replied in her bored voice. "Daddy loves it. He gets to talk to people from all over about all kinds of things."

Harriet opened her mouth, about to remark on what Fred and George had told her, but stopped herself thinking it was rude to admit she had been talking about Mr Lovegood behind his back.

"Any more news on Snorkacks, Luna?" Ginny asked in a forced casual tone. Harriet couldn't help but notice Ronnie give Ginny a sharp look over Luna's head, but Luna didn't seem to notice. Indeed, for the very first time, Harriet had ever seen her, Luna did not have a passive and bored look on her face. Instead, her eyes had gone almost frightfully full in her excitement.

"Oh yes!" Luna said in a voice brimming with excitement. "Daddy and I have started saving up to go on an expedition to try and find them."

"Uhhhhh what are—?" Harriet started to ask before Ronnie shot Harriet a look too.

"You've never heard of the Crumple-Horned Snorkack?" Luna asked in a voice brimming with disbelief.

"Uh, n-no, sorry," Harriet muttered. She sat on the edge of Ronnie's bed. Luna sat beside her, her eyes still wide and burning with excitement.

"It's a fantastic magical creature, never been photographed before, incredibly elusive."

"Heh, sounds a little like the Loch Ness Monster," Harriet said before she could stop herself.

"Nah, the Loch Ness Monster's just a kelpie who likes to tease Muggles," Ronnie said in an ever-suffering tone.

Harriet only had a second to digest this revelation about the reality of a legend before Luna launched into a drawn-out explanation about the Snorkack. The whole time, Harriet couldn't help but notice the mischievous twinkle in Ginny's eye as she stole looks back at Harriet. Ginny was finding Harriet's overwhelmed bemusement and Ronnie's exasperation incredibly amusing.

Fortunately, Ginny came to their rescue and diverted Luna's attention with their upcoming trip to Hogwarts. She and Luna wasted little time in comparing their wands, while Harriet and Ronnie talked about the match and what their upcoming classes would be like. Harriet couldn't imagine there would be that many surprises, since most of their classes would be the same as the previous year, just harder.

The two classes Harriet was looking forward to the least were Potions with Professor Snape, who acted as though Harriet didn't exist, and History of Magic with Professor Binns. She supposed History of Magic should be a fascinating class, both because from the parts she did overhear there were lots of wars and developments that had happened in the magical world and because Professor Binns was a ghost. Instead of being exciting, Professor Binns treated History of Magic less like the history of Magic and more like someone reading a phone book. Drowsiness was guaranteed within five minutes of Professor Binns lecturing, and at least ninety-percent unconsciousness amongst the students within fifteen.

The only student Harriet had ever seen who seemed able to fight off the effect of Professor Binns' voice was Hermione. This was an asset to the rest of their little group of friends, however, as Hermione was usually good enough to at least help them study for exams. If they caught Hermione in a good enough mood, she would sometimes even let them copy her notes. Unfortunately, that didn't happen as often as they'd like, given Hermione's often stiff demeanour. But maybe after all they had gone through at the end of the summer, she would lighten up a little. She had undoubtedly seemed much more talkative and light-hearted when they had met up in Diagon Alley.

The conversation did take a slight downturn when Luna rather bluntly stated the reason her father had hesitated to let her stay the night.

"Daddy is quite sad I will be leaving though, but he pretends not to be," Luna said. "it'll just be him all alone in the house with me gone away to Hogwarts."

Harriet looked at the two Weasley girls who were wearing quite sympathetic expressions as Ginny tried to tame Luna's slightly wild hair into a braid. Harriet wanted to ask why, but somehow the look on Ronnie and Ginny's faces told Harriet where Luna's mother was. Harriet looked down at the younger girl and felt that sense of connection that she felt to her other friends, like Dora. Had Luna lost her mother to Voldemort's followers too? As much as Harriet wanted to know, she had no desire to ask a question like that.

It was another moment that made her pause and think. She thought about how the war had touched many of her friends in the same way she had, losing close family and friends, but how many other students at Hogwarts had also lost. Her mind then drifted to Malfoy, the accusation Mr Flamel had stated against his father and wondered how many other students at Hogwarts were related to dark wizards like Malfoy.

She slid under the covers when they were ready for bed. Harriet had to wonder about the new refugee students coming to Hogwarts. Sure, Harriet and her friends had lost much in the last war, but those had all been years ago, so long ago even Harriet could only remember a flash of green light and a sinister laugh. What must the refugees still be dealing with, having only experienced the attack two months ago?

* * * *

The morning of September the First came with indecent speed. The night before had been nearly as fun as Ronnie's celebration dinner. They had spent most of the day packing and getting ready and ended with another big feast. Fred and George shot off nearly the rest of their Filibuster Fireworks, which were a bit more exciting this night as they shot them off in the kitchen rather than in the garden.

That morning, in spite of all their efforts the day before, there was a remarkable amount of packing they still had to do. Harriet nearly fell down the stairs after running into first Fred then Percy. Mr Weasley almost tripped over one of their chickens in the yard while carrying Ginny's trunk out to the car. Mrs Weasley was in a terrible mood running people down to put last minute spare socks in their trunks.

Harriet's biggest worry was space. She remembered riding in the Weasley's car the night Fred, George, Ginny and Ronnie had collected her from Privet Drive. The five of them plus Harriet's trunk and broom had barely fit. However, it appeared Mr Weasley had been busy with the car since she had come to the Burrow. He had magically expanded the interior of the car and the boot. Now everyone's trunks and brooms fit neatly in the boot, and Fred, George, Harriet, Ronnie, and Percy could all sit comfortably in the back seat. Mr Weasley, Mrs Weasley and Ginny were in the front. Despite disapproving of Mr Weasley's using magic to modify Muggle artefacts, it seemed Mrs Weasley was turning a blind eye to this apparent transgression in favour of their getting to King's Cross in time.

Mr Weasley finally started the car, and they were off. Harriet had only just started wondering when she would see the Burrow again when Mr Weasley had to turn the car around to fetch Fred and George's last box of fireworks. Next, they had almost made it to the highway when Ginny began shrieking that she had forgotten her diary. By the time they had fetched it and got back on the road they were running very late, and Mr and Mrs Weasleys' tempers were quite high.

Mr Weasley even tried to suggest using the "invisibility booster" he had installed on the dash to enable them to fly the car to King's Cross instead, but Mrs Weasley wouldn't hear of it.

"Not in broad daylight, Arthur! If anything went wrong—"

They only had fifteen minutes to spare by the time they got to King's Cross station. They got trolleys for their trunks and finally made their way to the secret barrier between Platforms Nine and Ten. Despite Harriet's anxieties that they weren't going to make it in time, Harriet couldn't help but relax a little as they reached the barrier, especially when she heard the soft sound of a violin playing somewhere nearby.

"What are you smiling about?" Ronnie muttered in mixed agitation and confusion when she saw Harriet smiling to herself.

"What? Oh, n-nothing, just excited to get on the train," Harriet said quickly.

"Oh, yeah," Ronnie said and smiled.

They lined up by the barrier, and Percy strode through first. Then Mrs Weasley went through with Ginny, followed by Fred and George.

"Alright girls, you two next, I'll be right behind you," Mr Weasley said as Ronnie and Harriet lined up their trolleys with the barrier.

"Ready?" Ronnie asked with a smirk.

"As ever," Harriet grinned and they hurried forward, almost getting to a run. Harriet didn't even brace herself in her excitement as she expected to pass through the barrier just as easily as she had last year. Unfortunately, she was dead wrong. Instead of passing through the invisible barrier as she had last year and almost all of the Weasleys had done before her, Harriet and Ronnie hit the wall with a loud crash. Hedwig screeched as her cage toppled off Harriet's trunk and Harriet felt the handle of the trolley catch her in the chest, knocking the wind out of her.

"Girls!" Mr Weasley exclaimed rushing over to them and helping the two to their feet. Ronnie quickly picked up Hedwig for Harriet, who had to sit down for a moment to get her breath back and fight off the tears from the pain.

"What the devil happened, I'm sure this is the right spot!" Mr Weasley went on, putting a hand against the wall, which remained solid. "Stay right here, girls, I'll, I'll be right back," Mr Weasley said and hurriedly strode away from the platform.

Ronnie meanwhile picked up the shrieking Hedwig and set her back on Harriet's trunk as Harriet finally felt the pain subsiding and got wearily to her feet.

"What did happen? How come we couldn't get through?" Harriet asked, her voice croaking.

"I don't know," Ronnie said looking up at the big clock. "The train's gone now though, left half a minute ago… we missed it…"

Harriet felt her heart sink. In spite of all her hopes, it looked like she wasn't getting to Hogwarts after all. How could they if they weren't on the train?

To Harriet's surprise, Mr Weasley returned a moment later with Mrs Weasley in tow.

"But, how Arthur? How did the barrier seal itself?" Mrs Weasley asked as she looked Harriet over.

"I haven't the foggiest, Molly. The guard on the other side is trying to get it to reopen, but he says he's never seen it closed before, it's not supposed to close again until everyone's left the platform."

"Then how are we going to get the girls to Hogwarts? Will you take them side-along?" Mrs Weasley asked looking around anxiously. Harriet looked back and forth between Mr and Mrs Weasley feeling just as anxious as she tried to calm down Hedwig.

"I could, but it would take several apparitions, well… if we left now and kept to the highways, I could get them there in the car before the train makes it to Hogwarts," Mr Weasley said thoughtfully.

Ronnie and Harriet looked up quickly. Was Mr Weasley really going to drive them to Hogwarts?

"I-I suppose, Arthur, do you think the car can handle that trip?" Mrs Weasley asked.

"Well maybe one way, I can get a room in the Hog's Head overnight and drive back tomorrow," Mr Weasley said reassuringly.

"Alright Arthur, I'll head back to the house then," Mrs Weasley said and gave Ronnie and Harriet tight hugs. "Have a good year you two, please write often."

"I will, mum," Ronnie said smiling.

"Me to, Mrs Weasley," Harriet agreed.

"And no flying, Arthur!" Mrs Weasley said in a snippy voice.

"O-of course not, Molly, of course," Mr Weasley said.

Mrs Weasley gave out another round of hugs before they all started heading back to the car. Outside the station, Mrs Weasley stepped off to the side and around a corner. Mr Weasley followed her, and the two hugged and kissed before Mrs Weasley drew her wand and gave a little spin that looked like a pirouette before she vanished from sight with a loud crack. Harriet gaped as Ronnie gave her trademark smirk.

"Apparition," Ronnie said simply. "Mum'll already be home by now."

"Wow…" Harriet muttered, “when do we learn how to do that?"

"Not till sixth year," Ronnie said as Mr Weasley started leading them back to the car. "So, are we gonna fly to school?" Ronnie asked her father eagerly.

"Ah, well…" Mr Weasley said, his ears getting a little red again. "Probably best if we don't, actually, girls. But we can have quite an adventure anyway," Mr Weasley went on with a twinkle in his eye.

Even if they weren't going to be flying, Harriet felt quite excited. The last time she was on a car trip it was the summer before her first year at Hogwarts when the Dursleys had been trying to flee from the letters from Hogwarts that kept following them. She was quite sure already that this was going to be a much more fun trip than that.

Harriet and Ronnie hurriedly put their trunks in the boot and climbed into the front seat with Hedwig beside Mr Weasley. Mr Weasley happily started the car, and they headed off. They did stop by Diagon Alley to exchange some wizard money for Muggle money, and then they were finally off. They stopped just outside London at a petrol station to top off the tank, and Harriet and Ronnie ran inside for snacks. Ronnie seemed more excited than Harriet was at this prospect, having never had Muggle snacks before. She found liquorice ropes and Muggle crisps particularly enjoyable as they drove along.

Mr Weasley even let them turn on the radio, which Harriet was relieved to find could pick up Muggle stations as well as magical ones. She wasn’t a particular fan of wizarding music she had heard so far, which always seemed too quirky and old-fashioned for her. Ronnie seemed to share this opinion, and even Mr Weasley got quite a kick out of the Muggle music.

Ronnie gasped nearly an hour into their trip and quickly reached across Harriet to start spinning the dial. Spotting the time, Harriet knew why. It was time for the "Muggling Hour."

"There we go," Ronnie said taking a swig of her soda and grinning. Harriet knew that Ronnie was especially excited to hear the broadcast today as her idol, Holly Cambridge, had been allowed to play with a professional team, and had played in her first game the previous night.

"Hello, all, and welcome to another edition of The Muggling Hour. I'm your host, Jonathan Jordan."

Somehow, even before he said anything else, Harriet could tell that something was very wrong.

"As is well known, the war in the United States has been going on for just short of two months. Thus far, the war has managed to keep the American Muggle population away from the conflict, but that appears to have come to an end last night. The perpetrators are as of yet unknown, but during a match last night at Merlin Field in Chicago, Illinois between the Chicago Inferno and the Texas Firebrand, an explosion occurred on the Firebrand side-lines."

Harriet heard Ronnie gasp and turn the radio up louder. Mr Weasley pulled the car over and stopped, listening in.

"The death toll amongst the fans in the stands is as of yet unknown. Several of the Firebrand players were killed, and most are in the hospital for minor to serious injuries."

"Holly, come on, what about Holly?" Ronnie asked sounding close to tears. Harriet took Ronnie's other hand and squeezed it.

"Young Muggle-Born forward, Holly Cambridge—"

Ronnie inhaled sharply and squeezed Harriet's hand so hard it hurt.

"—survived the explosion but is currently in critical condition. Hospital staff announced this morning that Miss Cambridge has been stabilised and is expected to improve."

Ronnie exhaled and slumped over onto Harriet's shoulder. Harriet put an arm around Ronnie's shoulders, hugging her friend close.

"Current reports indicate that the explosion was most likely non-Magical in nature, but authorities are still not ruling out magical involvement. The state of Illinois was one that did not opt for secession when the war began early in July, and thus is considered a likely target for such an attack—"

The radio announcer went silent as Mr Weasley reached over and turned off the radio. Ronnie didn't do or say anything, and the three merely sat in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Mr Weasley broke the silence with a smile.

"You know, we're not quite making the progress I thought we would… maybe you girls would like it if I were to, say, speed things up a bit?" he asked in a strange voice. Harriet and Ronnie both looked at him.

"What do you mean, Dad?" Ronnie asked.

Mr Weasley responded by merely smiling and pushing a button on the dashboard. There was a little popping noise, and suddenly the car went invisible around them. Not just the car, but Harriet looked down and realised she had gone invisible, as had Ronnie and Mr Weasley.

"Whoa," Harriet muttered holding up her hand and trying to see it.

"Wicked," Ronnie said beside her. Even though they were invisible, Harriet could hear the smile in Ronnie's voice.

Harriet could hear Mr Weasley chuckle and start the motor to the car once more. However, the car had only just started forward when with another popping noise they all came back into view.

"Oh dear," Mr Weasley muttered, pushing the button again. Everything went invisible once more but only for a second this time.

Mr Weasley grumbled as he pushed the button a couple more times but nothing happened. Ronnie sighed and slumped a little in the seat again. Mr Weasley seemed bound and determined. He drew his wand, rolled down his window, and tapped the top of the car. A slight shimmering appeared to spread down across the windshield, and as Harriet leaned forward to watch, the bonnet of the car in front of them vanished.

"Disillusionment charm works even better in the end," Mr Weasley said smiling. "We can see each other inside now and still be invisible on the outside. Now, on to Hogwarts, as the thestral flies," Mr Weasley went on, and the car lifted up into the air.

The exhilaration of flight took over quickly. Mr Weasley made the car climb, and they were off, soaring into the clouds. Harriet had never flown this high on a broomstick before and hadn't flown in an aeroplane either, so the feeling of flying up through the clouds was an incredible one. She watched the water from the moisture vapour of the clouds beading off the windshield.

They finally broke through the cloud layer, and Harriet gasped softly. The clouds stretched on for as far as they could see in any direction and made it look as though the entire world had turned into fluffy piles of wool. Ronnie gave a little whoop, and Mr Weasley laughed and guided the car through a barrel roll. They didn't end up doing that again because their snacks dropped to the ceiling and down again scattering about the vehicle.

Harriet just managed to grab onto Hedwig's cage in time before Hedwig herself went crashing to the roof. Hedwig began screeching indignantly until they righted themselves. This caused much more laughter than anything else, and after putting Hedwig in the back seat Ronnie and Harriet crawled around a bit, picking up everything that had fallen.

Unfortunately, Mr Weasley wasn't able to keep flying that high above the clouds and had to drop back down to follow landmarks and see where they were going. This wasn't much of a problem for Harriet. As much as she liked flying high above the clouds, the sights below them were much more interesting. They flew past mountains and beautiful hills and forests as well as big sprawling cities and quaint little towns. She rather liked the look of the small towns. They seemed happier, quieter places to live. The kind of place she would like to live someday.

As the sun started setting, Harriet found her eyes beginning to get heavy too. Ronnie had already fallen asleep against the window, and Mr Weasley hummed quietly to himself as they flew along. Finally, just as Harriet was about to nod off, Mr Weasley nudged her arm and pointed out the windshield.

"There it is, Hogwarts," he said, beaming.

Harriet blinked herself awake and stretched. Indeed, there next to the lake was the unmistakable sight of Hogwarts castle. Harriet felt her excitement grow as she shook Ronnie awake.

"We'll just set down in the grounds, girls, and from there you can take your trunks up to the school. The train shouldn't arrive for another hour and a half yet," Mr Weasley explained as he started to circle the car around for a landing. For the first time all summer, Harriet felt genuinely overjoyed. She was here; she was back; she was finally back. Hogwarts was real after all. After every hurdle that had been put in her way this summer, she was here.

Mr Weasley flared the car a bit, and it landed on all four wheels with a gentle thump. The vehicle rolled a few yards before finally coming to a gentle stop.

"Well girls, here we are," Mr Weasley said. He rolled down his window and tapped the roof of the car returning to visibility.

Harriet grinned and turned to hug Ronnie when she stopped. Ronnie was gaping and pointing out Mr Weasley's window. Harriet turned and looked before gaping too. She saw the trunk of a tree out Mr Weasley's window. It was a horribly familiar, knotty, gnarled looking trunk. It was the trunk of the Whomping Willow.