So you know.

[alt_ron]

I might be the only person in history to get detention before the term even properly starts. (Not that I'm proud of that or anything, Mum.)

But there's all this mad stuff going round about what we did and why we did it, so I just wanted to set things straight. Harry Marvolo couldn't come to school on the train because someone hexed the barrier to the platform. Which is pretty ironic since they only put it back up last year when Harry started Hogwarts. I guess it was part of the old secrecy thing back, well, before, y'know. And then they took it down once wizards started to use the whole station and everything, but they put it back up--the barrier--last year to help keep Harry Marvolo safe from all the mad nutters who are always trying to touch him and give him stuff and, of course, from the ones who keep trying to attack him.

So, anywiz. We couldn't get through the barrier 'cause someone must have hexed it. And everyone else had already gone through ahead of us while we were there talking, so when we couldn't get through--and I mean we couldn't get through!!--we thought probably nobody could get back to help us, either. And the spell was a really rough one, too, so we thought that someone was trying to kidnap Harry or kill him or something, and anyway, it was time that the train should already have gone, so we did the only thing we could think of. We'd just been talking about how my dad charmed his car to fly and how wizard it was, and we'd just driven to the station in that car (on the roads, actually, because Mum didn't trust the spells, and anyway she said we absolutely couldn't fly to the station no matter how late we were running). It was just dead obvious: we needed to get out of there fast so nobody could kill Harry ... and there was the car!

So, yeah. We flew to school. We could see the train down there below us. That's how we knew which way to go, but I guess none of you looked out the window and saw us. (Funnily enough, I guess we made the paper because some people in London and other places did look up and see us flying along!)

And, yeah, we did crash the car into the Whomping Willow, and that's why I've got to do detention... to help Professor Sprout set the broken limbs on the tree. So if I don't live until tomorrow, it was nice knowing you all. And if I do live: Seamus or Nev, would you bring me back an extra helping of whatever they're serving for pudding tonight? I bet I'll be starving by the time we're finished!

Gotta run so I'm not late for afternoon lessons...

Comments

[alt_ernie]

Sounds like a wizard adventure!!! I wish I'd looked out of the window and seen you flying past! Yeah!

[alt_ron]

Yeah, it was really great.

Aside from the part where we thought someone was trying to kill us in the station. And the part where the car stalled out and screamed down out of the sky. And the part where the Whomping Willow almost killed us after we crashed. And, y'know, the part where my Mum sends me flaming red parchments that put out everyone's eardrums at breakfast.

All in all a pretty wizard adventure, though! You'd have loved it.

[alt_ernie]

It sounds like wizard fun, but now your in loads of trouble, I'm pretty glad I just came on the train like normal.

[alt_harry]

It was wizard. Until we crashed. Then it was less wizard.

[alt_ernie]

Haha!! Yeah I suppose the crashing bit was scary and not so fun, but the flying sounds ace!

[alt_pansy]

Some people have all the fun.

I mean, if you're going to get in trouble, at least you get in trouble in exciting ways.

[alt_ron]

'Course, if you'd been along, you might have had a good idea what to do when the car started to cough and buck and stall out like it did.

And you might have had a better idea what to say to Professor McGonagall when she caught us, too. Then I might not have to risk life and limb tonight with that dead vicious tree. Feel free to come along and have a laugh while it tries to bash my head in. If it rips off my arms and legs, you could make sure all the pieces get up to the Hospital Wing.

[alt_pansy]

Hah. I'll bring along a blanket and some food and make a regular picnic out of it.

The food might get spattered with gore, so I'll be sure to keep my distance. And that way, I could see better where all the bits of you are flying to.

Order Only

[alt_arthur]

Merlin, that's all I need now, is for him to announce to the entire school that I put that charm on the bloody car.

Yes, he's a Gryffindor through and through, goodness knows, but right now I wish he had a little more discretion. Not to mention sense.

Re: Order Only

[alt_bill]

Will it be all right, Dad? Did they give you any trouble at work?

Re: Order Only

[alt_arthur]

I got called in for a little chat with Internal Affairs, but I don't think much will be done until Sanditon gets back from his holiday later this week. I'm hoping that it will all be cleared up on a more or less informal basis. Thank goodness.

Re: Order Only

[alt_bill]

Hope so.

[alt_daphne]

Thanks so much, Weasley, for telling us about the little charm on your father's car. I'm sure lots of people would like to know about it.

A little tip: If you're going to try to do something as important as protect Marvolo, it would be wizard if you knew what you were doing first. Did you even know how to drive it?!

[alt_ron]

Of course I know how to drive it. Don't be daft.

And it flew just fine until we got out over the lake. I think maybe there are spells that protect the castle maybe and that's what knocked it out of gear. I dunno.

And anyway, it was good the car was there, 'cause if it hadn't been then Harry might've been killed by whoever it was that hexed that barrier so we couldn't get through. Imagine what could have happened.

We did.

[alt_daphne]

Pff. Either you're a fibber, or your family is so backwoods that they teach children to drive.

And do you really think the Lord Protector would have let something happen to Marvolo? Especially a divvy attempt like that.

[alt_ron]

Oh, pff yourself, Greengrass. It's not like we drove the car at all: we flew it. It's like a broom or a carpet, y'know: you tell it go up and then you sort of nudge it the way you want to go. There's the steering wheel for guiding it left or right, but it's really running on magic--you just, I don't know, think up or down, this way or that, and it does it.

Divvy? You wouldn't be calling it a divvy attempt if we'd got killed. And if Harry's Father could keep people from attacking him, it would definitely have been quieter around here last year! Hello! Macnair? Quirrell? And that was here at school where we've got all sorts of wards and protections to keep us all safe. This happened at Kings Cross station in the middle of London.

Obviously he can't keep Harry completely safe from every nutter in the country or this sort of thing wouldn't keep happening.

[alt_daphne]

Well . . . certainly I don't want anything to happen to Marvolo either. We can agree on that.

At least it's over.