Ron-Weasly book 2. part 3

Summer vacation ended too quickly. Of course, I missed Hogwarts, but the month I spent with Harry was the best of my life. We walked around the neighborhood of the burrow without going far into the magical world. My friend was interested in everything. The twins were in their room, cooking something. Jeanie kept a diary for herself and constantly wrote in it.

On the last night, my mother had a huge dinner: She cooked, fried, and baked all of Harry's favorite dishes. There was molasses pudding for the sweetmeat — you can lick your fingers! The evening ended with fireworks, George and Fred lit sparklers, and for almost half an hour red and blue stars danced on the walls and ceiling. Then everyone had a cup of hot chocolate and went to bed.

We gathered for a long time in the morning. And even though we woke up with the roosters, it seemed like we wouldn't have time to do anything. Mom was in a bad mood, rushing around the house in search of feathers and clean socks, the other inhabitants of the "Hole", half-dressed, with toasts in their hands, bumped into each other on the stairs, munching on the move, and my father almost broke his neck, tripping over a chicken as he hurried across the yard to the car, dragging Ginny's heavy suitcase.

Bulky suitcases easily fit into the trunk. Finally, everyone was seated, and Ginny and Mom sat in the front seat, which was as long as a garden bench. Turning back to where Harry, Fred, George, Percy, and I were comfortably ensconced, she was surprised:

Muggles aren't as stupid as we think they are. Such a roomy car! But you'd never tell by the look of it.

My father turned on the ignition, and the overloaded Ford rolled heavily out of the yard. Harry turned back, apparently wanting to take a last look at the house. Before I could say goodbye to the house, the car backed up: George had forgotten the box of firecrackers.

Five minutes later, there was another stop, and Fred took off after the broom. Finally, they reached the highway safely, and then Ginny threw up her hands: she had left her diary at home. I had to go back for the diary. We looked at the clock, and it turned out that we were late for the train. The situation in the car was tense.

My father looked at my mother pleadingly.

"Molly, dear..."

"No way, Arthur!"

"But no one will see us. This is the little button from the invisibility device, I inserted it myself. Let's turn it on just for the duration of takeoff, then we'll bury ourselves in the clouds. And we'll be there in ten minutes. No one will know anything..." my father swore to my mother.

"I said no, Arthur. Especially in broad daylight!"

At a quarter past ten we stopped at King's Cross Station. My father rushed across the road to get the luggage carts, and soon our whole company was almost running to the platform.

"Percy goes first," Mom ordered, nervously glancing at her watch.

There were five minutes left before the train left, and there were eight of us, plus this barrier.

Percy took a sharp step forward and disappeared. Dad followed, followed by Fred and George.

"I'll take Ginny," Mom said, "and you're right behind us."

Grabbing Ginny's hand, she rushed forward. And in the blink of an eye, she and her daughter disappeared. Harry and I followed them.

"Let's go together," I suggested, "there's only one minute left."

Harry made sure that Hedwig's cage was firmly seated on the suitcase, and steered the cart straight at the barrier. We walked bent over the cart, aiming at the barrier and increasing our pace by the second. A few steps before the barrier, they started running, and...

boom!

The carts hit the barrier and bounced back. My suitcase fell with a crash, Harry was knocked off his feet, the cage bounced on the floor of the platform, and Hedwig flew out with indignant screams. The surrounding people stared in amazement at the incomprehensible incident.

"What are you doing!" One of the station attendants attacked us.

"I couldn't handle the cart," Harry thought up an explanation, getting to his feet and rubbing his bruised side. I rushed to catch Hedwig, which caused the indignation of onlookers who were outraged by the cruel treatment of the bird. Harry's cage is really too small for such an owl.

"Why didn't we manage to break through the barrier like everyone else?" Harry asked me in a whisper.

"I can't imagine..." I looked around in disbelief. Half a dozen onlookers were still staring at us.

"We're going to miss the train," he said in a sinking voice. "I don't understand why the entrance didn't open...."

I tried to break through again. He aimed accurately, rolled the cart to the barrier and pushed it forward with all his might. The metal barrier did not budge.

"That's it," I said, stunned. "The train left. What happens if Mom and Dad come out on the wrong side and we part ways? Do you have any Muggle money?"

"About five pounds." Harry said gloomily. "Do you remember when we went to the bank? But I wanted to buy lenses in the summer, as that healer advised."

"Is that a lot?"

"It's definitely enough to live for a couple of days."

I pressed my ear to the cold metal of the barrier.

"I can't hear anything," I muttered, confused. "What should we do now? How long will the parents be looking for us?"

We looked around — we're still attracting attention, mainly because Hedwig keeps screaming loudly.

"It's probably best to get back to the car," Harry suggested it. "Everyone's looking at us here"...

"Harry!" I exclaimed, and the joyful lights flashed in my eyes again. "The car!"

"What is a car?"

Exactly. Most of the road will be in the magical world, so the main thing is to fly through London, and then we'll dive for the train.

"We can fly to Hogwarts in our car!"

"But I thought..."

"We're in a desperate situation, aren't we? We have to go to school! In an emergency, even underage wizards are allowed to use magic. Paragraph nine of the Code, I think...."

"Can you drive a flying car?" Harry asked.

"Easily." I turned the cart towards the exit of the station. "Let's go quickly! Let's hurry up and catch up with the London-Hogwarts express. And we'll get on his tail."

We pushed the carts through the crowd, went out onto the forecourt and turned right into an alley where an old Ford Anglia was parked.

After tapping my wand a few times, I opened the roomy trunk, and we loaded our suitcases into it, put Hedwig's cage in the back seat, and settled ourselves in the front. Grimacing, I took out a package of sandwiches. Damn, beef again. What about Harry? About the pork leg. We exchanged packages of sandwiches made by Mom and got into the car.

"Make sure that no one notices anything." I said, and with another stroke of my wand, I turned on the ignition.

"It's all right," he said.

And I pressed the tiny silver button on the dashboard. The Ford disappeared into thin air, and so did we. I could feel the seat vibrating beneath us, hear the sound of the engine, feel the steering wheel in my palms. Apparently, I turned into a pair of pupils hovering two meters above the ground in an unattractive alley filled with cars.

"Let's go," I said.

And the alley, along with the reddish-brown buildings on both sides, fell through somewhere. In a few more seconds, the whole of London lay in plain sight below us, partly sparkling with lights, partly shrouded in smoke. No one seems to have noticed our takeoff.

Suddenly, something fired softly, and the car gained visibility along with us. I pressed the button with all my might. Damn it, what the fuck? Everything worked last time.

"It's stuck somewhere," I said, confused.

They hit the button one at a time. The car disappeared again. And then she reappeared, as if nothing had happened.

"Hold on!" I shouted and pressed the accelerator pedal sharply: the car soared up, got inside a dense layer of clouds and flew blindly, as if in a thick fog.

"Where to now?" Harry asked, peering into the milky whiteness that enveloped the car from all sides.

"Now we need to find the train."

"Come on then hurry down..."

The car broke out of the cloud zone, and we twisted in our seats, each in his own direction, hung down.

"There he is, ahead! I can see him!" Harry was delighted.

I looked in the direction where my friend was pointing. The London-Hogwarts express was writhing below like a long crimson snake.

"It goes due north," I determined it by the compass on the control panel. Which is logical. The school is located in the north of Scotland. In one of the corners of the magical world of Earth. "We will check it every half hour. Now hold on tight..."

The car pierced through the clouds and found itself in a haze of sunlight. The world has been transformed. Under the wheels there is an endless sea of puffy snow-white clouds, boundless blue all around, and a dazzlingly bright sun above everything. Well, the charms of a temperature pleasant to people are installed in the car. My brothers and I checked. It's the same in the sun as in the evening.

"Here," I said, "you only have to be afraid of airplanes."

I remembered my experience of flying on a broom when I almost crashed into an airplane that flew into us through the passage in the village. It's not clear who was more scared. Me or that girl.

Harry and I looked at each other and started laughing nervously. They laughed and laughed and couldn't stop for a long time.

It was like we were in a magical dream. Towers and domes of cumulus clouds float by, the car interior is flooded with hot radiance, a pot-bellied bag of toffee with a bag of sandwiches in the glove compartment. And ahead is a triumphant landing on the green lawn running around Hogwarts Castle, and the envious glances of the twins Fred and George.

We flew north, dived down every half hour, checked the direction. And each time we saw more and more new paintings below. London had long been left behind, well-tended green fields had gone, which were replaced by pinkish-purple moorlands, here and there villages with old toy churches could be seen. A huge city floated by, with tiny cars scurrying through the streets like colorful ants. Damn, it's been a long time since we've been diving into the magical world. We don't want Muggles to notice us. I thought the train would leave the Muggle part of the world sooner.

A few hours of monotonous flight, however, noticeably reduced our enthusiasm. The toffee made me very thirsty. I looked only at the front and checked the compass. Harry offered to hold the steering wheel while I ate the sandwiches, but I didn't dare. How great it would be to ride now in one of the cool carriages that rolled along the rails far below, and drink a glass of icy pumpkin juice delivered by a kind chubby witch! But why couldn't we get to platform nine and three quarters?

"We're probably coming soon, aren't we?" I croaked, a few more hours later. The sun was already sinking into the cloud fields, brightening them with all shades of red. "Should I go down again?"

The train was still below us, crawling down the side of a snow-capped mountain. It was much darker under the clouds that hid the sun.

I stepped on the accelerator and the car took off again, but then for some reason the engine howled ominously. Damn, did she run out of gas? Or are we just flying too long?

Harry and I exchanged nervous glances.

"He's probably tired," I suggested. "So much work without a break!"

We pretended that nothing special was happening, and the howling grew stronger. It was getting dark fast, and the stars were already starting to light up in the dark. The wipers on the car began to shake for some reason. As if they were expressing dissatisfaction.

"We're very close now," I said, more to the car than to Harry. "At all." He tapped the panel lid with his fingers. Soon they began to descend again, peering into the darkness, looking for familiar signs.

"Look at that!" Harry suddenly shouted. "Right ahead!"

High on the cliff overlooking the lake, the towers and turrets of Hogwarts Castle stood out against the dark night sky. Well, finally. Now the main thing is to reach the castle. But the car was already shaking violently, and it was rapidly losing speed.

"Just a little more," I begged her, yanking on the steering wheel. "We're almost there."

We've never ridden it for so long. The engine was roaring. Thin jets of steam flew out from under the hood. We were already approaching the lake.

The car rocked violently. I gripped the steering wheel tighter, so that my knuckles turned white. The car rocked again.

"Just a little more," I breathed. We were flying over the lake, right at the castle. I stepped on the pedal.

There was a loud clang, several exhaust emissions, and the engine finally stopped.

"Yeah," I said into the silence. The hood of the car dived down. We started to fall, gaining speed, and in another minute we would crash into the solid castle wall.

"Wait a minute!" I yelled, twisting the steering wheel.

A couple of centimeters from the wall, the car turned into a high arch and flew inside the castle. The greenhouses were dark below, followed by garden beds, and then the lawn began. The car continued to descend. I let go of the steering wheel and took my magic wand out of my back pocket.

"Stop! Stop!" I shouted, banging on the windshield with my wand, but the car kept falling vertically to the ground.

"Be careful, tree!" Harry yelled, throwing himself on the steering wheel. But it was too late.

Kr-rak!

With the heart-rending sound of metal hitting the bark of a tree, the car crashed into a thick trunk and fell to the ground, bouncing like a ball. Thick steam was pouring out from under the flattened hood. Hedwig was screaming in a horrified voice. Harry slammed his forehead into the windshield, and an egg-sized lump popped up. I crashed into the steering wheel. Damn, not again! I let out a cry of despair.

"Are you alive?" Harry asked, startled.

"My wand," I said shakily. "Look what happened to her."

The wand split into two pieces, held back by a thin splinter.

Harry opened his mouth to comfort me: the magic wand can be repaired at school. At the same moment, something hit the left door with the force of a cannonball.

"What's happening?" I looked out the windshield and gasped. A branch as thick as a good python whipped against the glass. The tree we crashed into was striking back. The glass is well enchanted for impenetrability, and the body of the car is reinforced with magic, otherwise it would have crushed us already.

Another twisting branch lashed at the right-hand door. The windshield shook with the rattling of knuckle-like branches, and one huge branch, twisted like a ram's horn, struck violently at the roof.