Purple Rain.

Chapter Nineteen.

(Y/n) grimaced at the sound of Molly's and Mrs. Black's screams. Heaving a sigh, (Y/n) slipped on her headphones and plugged them into her walkman. She turned it up decently high and put in a cassette tape before clipping the walkman to her jeans. Just as she was about to press play, Hermione called for her.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked.

"Hm? Why wouldn't I be?" (Y/n) said, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know... we've just... really never had the chance to sit down and talk about it, right?" Hermione said slowly. "You've been really closed off the closer the start of term came... And now you'll be going back to Hogwarts where you'll see him."

"It's fine, 'Mione," (Y/n) said shortly, offering Hermione a rather strained smile. Hermione frowned and stared after (Y/n), who left the room with two of her trunks. Shaking her head, Hermione went in search of Harry and Ron.
(Y/n) was rather disappointed over the fact that Fred and George had bewitched their trunks to fly downstairs in order to save the bother of carrying them. This resulted in them hurtling straight into Ginny and knocking her down two flights of stairs.

"—COULD HAVE DONE HER A SERIOUS INJURY, YOU IDIOTS—"

"—FILTH HALF-BREEDS, BESMIRCHING THE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS—"

"All right there, Ginny?" (Y/n) asked, momentarily pausing her trip back upstairs to check on Ginny. Ginny smiled and held a thumbs up from where Bill held an ice pack to her head. (Y/n) smiled shortly back and played her walkman, successfully blocking out a good majority of the sounds she was used to hearing. Things seemed a lot louder down in the streets that day, but this was likely due to a lot of Muggle schools also starting their term. Her walkman blocked out most of the street sounds, but not the sounds of the household.

"WILL YOU LOT GET DOWN HERE, PLEASE!" Molly bellowed. (Y/n) grabbed the last of her suitcases and locked her mum's trunk, opting to check in with it more during the winter break. She quickly joined the crowd downstairs.

"Harry, you're coming with me and Tonks," shouted Molly over the repeated screeches of "MUDBLOODS! SCUM! CREATURES OF DIRT!" "Your parents are meeting us there. Leave your trunk and your owl, Alastor's going to deal with the luggage... Oh, for heaven's sake, Sirius, Dumbledore said no!"
A bearlike black dog had appeared at Harry's side as Harry clambered over the various trunks cluttering the hall to get to Molly.
"Oh, honestly..." said Molly despairingly, "well, on your own head be it!"
She wrenched open the front door and stepped out into the weak September sunlight. Harry and the dog followed her. The door slammed behind them.

"Who am I going with?" (Y/n) wondered.

"Hermione and Ron are going with Dad; Ginny, Fred, and George are going with Remus," Bill explained.

"And me?"

"Me," Bill answered simply.

"My personal escort? Grand," (Y/n) mused. Bill snorted and Ginny groaned in dismay. The sound of the front door slamming shut reminded them that Hermione, Ron, and Arthur had taken their lead.

"Later, Gin," Bill said. "I won't be there to see you off, just to drop her off." He nodded at (Y/n).

"See you for winter break then," Ginny said. Bill nodded in confirmation and Ginny went off to join Remus, Fred, and George. Around thirty seconds later, the door closed again and Bill and (Y/n) got ready to leave. Bill looked up from his watch and walked forward, holding the door open. The second they were outside and the door had closed, Bill tapped his wand to the door, making sure it locked. The two set off along the streets, making for King's Cross. Bill glanced repeatedly at (Y/n) during their walk.