𝐋𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐞𝐝 {𝐇. 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫}

74

"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE NOW, PLEASE!" Mrs. Weasley bellowed and Hermione jumped as though a gunshot went off and hurried out of the room. Johnny seized Quorra, stuffed her unceremoniously into her cage, and set off downstairs after Hermione, dragging his trunk.

Mrs. Black's portrait was howling with rage but nobody was bothering to close the curtains over her; all the noise in the hall was bound to rouse her again, anyway. Johnny appeared a moment later, bumping into Harry's back.

"Harry, you're to come with me, Johnny and Tonks," shouted Mrs. Weasley over the repeated screeches of 'MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!' "Leave your trunk and your owl, and Johnny leave your cat and trunk, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage.... Oh, for heavens sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"

A bearlike black dog had appeared at Harry and Johnny's side as he was clambering over the various trunks cluttering the hall to get to Mrs. Weasley.

"Oh honestly..." said Mrs. Weasley despairingly, "well, on your own head be it!"

She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Harry, Johnny and the dog followed her. The door slammed behind them and Mrs. Black's screeches were cut off instantly.

"Where's Dora?" Johnny asked, looking round as they went down the stone steps of number twelve, which vanished the moment they reached the pavement.

"She's waiting for us just up here," said Mrs. Weasley stiffly, averting her eyes from the lolloping black dog beside Harry and Johnny.

An old woman greeted them on the corner. She had tightly curled grey hair and wore a purple hat shaped like a pork pie.

"Wotcher, boys," she said, winking.

"Stranger danger," Johnny smirked, causing the old woman to punch him in the arm. "Seriously? I bruise like a peach!"

"Better hurry up, hadn't we, Molly?" Tonks said, checking her watch.

"I know, I know," moaned Mrs. Weasley, lengthening her stride, "but Mad-Eye wanted to wait for Sturgis.... If only Arthur could have got us cars from the Ministry again ... but Fudge won't let him borrow so much as an empty ink bottle these days... How Muggles can stand travelling without magic..."

But the great black dog gave a joyful bark and gambolled around them, snapping at pigeons and chasing its own tail. The two boys couldn't help laughing. Mrs. Weasley pursed her lips in an almost Aunt Petunia-ish way.

It took them twenty minutes to reach King's Cross on foot and nothing more eventful happened during that time than Sirius scaring a couple of cats for the boy's entertainment. Once inside the station they lingered casually beside the barrier between platforms nine and ten until the coast was clear, then each of them leaned against it in turn and fell easily through on to platform nine and three-quarters, where the Hogwarts Express stood belching sooty steam over a platform packed with departing students and their families. Johnny inhaled the familiar smell and felt his spirits soar.... He was really going back...

"Feels good seeing it, doesn't it?" Harry asked Johnny, standing shoulder to shoulder with him.

"It'll feel even better when I'm in the Great Hall with my mates," Johnny sighed. "I never felt at home with the Scaletta's, Hogwarts was the first place I truly called home."

Harry smiled at patted Johnny's back.

"I hope the others make it in time," said Mrs. Weasley anxiously, staring behind her at the wrought-iron arch spanning the platform, through which new arrivals would come.

"Nice dog, Harry!" Called a tall boy with dreadlocks.

"Thanks, Lee," said Harry, grinning, as Sirius wagged his tail frantically.