meant to be

♦ 002 ♦

The Goblet of Fire

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Lynn felt as though she had barely lain down to sleep in Ginny's room when she was shaken awake by Mrs. Weasley.

"Time to go, Lyn, dear," she whispered, moving away to wake Ginny. Lynn sat up. It was still dark outside and she saw Hermione was already awake and getting ready. Ginny muttered indistinctly as her mother roused her.

"'S time already?" said Ginny groggily.

They dressed in silence, too sleepy to talk, and then, yawning and stretching, the three of them headed downstairs into the kitchen. When they got to the kitchen, Harry, Ron, Fred and George were eating their breakfast with Mr. Weasley while Mrs. Weasley was stirring the contents of a large pot on the stove

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny said, rubbing her eyes and sitting down at the table. Thea shrugged as she sat down next to her, yawning.

"We've got a bit of a walk," said Mr. Weasley as Lynn tied her long hair into a messy bun.

"Walk?" said Harry. "What, are we walking to the World Cup?"

"No, no, that's miles away," said Mr. Weasley, smiling. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup. . . ."

"George!" said Mrs. Weasley sharply, and they all jumped.

"What?" said George, in an innocent tone that deceived nobody.

"What is that in your pocket?"

"Nothing!"

"Don't you lie to me!"

Mrs. Weasley pointed her wand at George's pocket and said, "Accio!"

Several small, brightly coloured objects zoomed out of George's pocket. He made a grab for them but missed, and they sped right into Mrs. Weasley's outstretched hand.

"We told you to destroy them!" said Mrs. Weasley furiously, holding up what were unmistakably more Ton-Tongue Toffees. "We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!"

It was an unpleasant scene. The twins had evidently been trying to smuggle as many toffees out of the house as possible, and it was only by using her Summoning Charm that Mrs. Weasley managed to find them all.

"Accio! Accio! Accio!" she shouted, and toffees zoomed from all sorts of unlikely places, including the lining of George's jacket and the turn-ups of Fred's jeans.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred shouted at his mother as she threw the toffees away.

"Oh a fine way to spend six months!" she shrieked. "No wonder you didn't get more O. W. L. s!"

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All in all, the atmosphere was not very friendly as they took their departure. Mrs. Weasley was still glowering as she kissed Mr. Weasley on the cheek, though not nearly as much as the twins, who had each hoisted their rucksacks onto their backs and walked out without a word to her.

"Well, have a lovely time," said Mrs. Weasley, "and behave yourselves," she called after the twins' retreating backs, but they did not look back or answer. "I'll send Bill, Charlie, and Percy along around midday," Mrs. Weasley said to Mr. Weasley, as he, Harry, Ron, Lynn, Hermione, and Ginny set off across the dark yard after Fred and George.

It was chilly and the moon was still out. Only a dull, greenish tinge along the horizon to their right showed that daybreak was drawing closer. They trudged down the dark, dank lane toward the village, the silence broken only by their footsteps. The sky lightened very slowly as they made their way through the village, its inky blackness diluting to deepest blue. Lynn's hands and feet were freezing. Mr. Weasley kept checking his watch.