FIVE

                                    

                                          
HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS
chapter five
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V E R Y   D E E P
T R O U B L E
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"In our defence, we were left unsupervised."
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The end of the summer holidays comes too quickly for the Potter twins' liking. They're looking forward to getting back to Hogwarts, but their month at the Burrow has been the happiest of their lives (even though the Weasleys ignored Lily's existence the whole time). It's difficult not to feel jealous of Ron when they think of the Dursleys and the sort of welcome they can expect next time they turn up on Privet Drive, especially after that escape.
On their last evening, Mrs Weasley conjures up a sumptuous dinner that includes all of Harry's favourite things, ending with a mouthwatering treacle pudding. Fred and George round off the evening with a display of Filibuster fireworks; they fill the kitchen with red and blue stars that bounce from ceiling to wall for at least half an hour. Then it's time for a last mug of hot chocolate and bed.
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It takes a long while to get started next morning. They're up at cock-crow, but somehow they still seem to have a great deal to do. Mrs Weasley dashes about in a bad mood looking for spare socks and quills, people keep colliding on the stairs, half-dressed with bits of toast in their hands, and Mr Weasley nearly breaks his neck, tripping over a stray chicken as he crosses the yard carrying Ginny's trunk to the car.
The Potter twins can't see how nine people, seven large trunks, two owls, and a rat are going to fit into one small Ford Anglia. They've reckoned, of course, without the special features which Mr Weasley has added.
"Not a word to Molly," he whispers to Harry as he opens the trunk and shows him how it's been magically expanded so that the trunks fit easily.
When at last they're all in the car, Mrs Weasley glances into the back seat, where Harry, Lily, Ron, Fred, George, and Percy are all sitting comfortably side by side, and says,
"Muggles do know more than we give them credit for, don't they?"
She and Ginny are in the front seat, which has been stretched so that it resembles a park bench.
"I mean, you'd never know it was this roomy from the outside, would you?"
Mr Weasley starts up the engine and they trundle out of the yard, Harry and Lily turning back for a last look at the house. They barely have time to wonder when they'll see it again when they're back: George had forgotten his box of Filibuster fireworks. Five minutes after that, they skid to a halt in the yard so that Fred can run in for his broomstick. They've almost reached the motorway when Ginny shrieks that she's left her diary. By the time she's clambered back into the car, they're running very late, and tempers are running high.
Mr Weasley glances at his watch and then at his wife.
"Molly, dear--"
"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--"