Bat-Bogey Hexers

41

Year Two
Boggart In A Jar
1993

Ginny was in the middle of wrestling Fred's broom into the broom shed when she heard a scream from the house.

Ginny looked around in alarm. That scream had most certainly belonged to her mother.

She raised a hand over her eyes to shield her freckled face from the August sun, so she could peer at the pile of stacked up boxes which happened to be her home. The front door was hanging open by a pile of Wellington boots, the chickens were scratching about the yard and nothing appeared to be out of place.

Ginny locked the broom shed, then trooped across the overgrown yard to the the house her family called the Burrow.

Upon entering her family's cluttered, and warm colored kitchen she found her mother with her arms about her father.

"Oh Arthur!" Molly Weasley said in a muffled voice. "This is wonderful!"

Ginny paused in the doorway. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked her parents.

Arthur Weasley looked around at his daughter. "Ginny! Of course not. Take a look at this!"

He tossed Ginny a rolled up copy of the Daily Prophet. Ginny caught it with ease and unrolled it.

"Page five," said Arthur, while Molly let go of her husband to watch her daughters reaction.

Ginny flipped to page five and read the first article.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE
Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw. A delighted Mr Weasley told the Daily Prophet, "We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our oldest son works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank."
The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.

Ginny looked up from the paper with a broad grin. "We're going to Egypt?"

Arthur grinned. "Well, that's what we planned on doing when I entered the draw!"

"We'll get to see Bill! And I can spend my birthday there!" Ginny said excitedly.

"It's going to be wonderful," said Mrs Weasley, smiling at father and daughter fondly. "We haven't been on vacation for longer than I can remember. I'll make some breakfast, then I'll start packing."

"Molly you don't have to-" started Arthur, but the woman was already bustling away from the door and over to the stove. Arthur shrugged at Ginny. Then he took the paper back and went to sit at the table. Ginny followed him.

"What were are you doing up so early, Ginny?" Arthur asked as he adjusted his glasses and spread the Daily Prophet out in-front of him. He appeared to be rereading the article, possibly to make sure it was real.

"I was using Fred's broom," said Ginny.

Arthur looked up at her, mildly concerned. "Does, er, Fred know about this?"