When Myths Meet Magic || 4

4|| Piper

"Come on!" Piper rapped sharply on the boys tent as she ducked under her conjured umbrella out of the rain. "Up and at 'em!"

"Five more minutes," Percy groaned back. Piper rolled her eyes.

"Don't make me use my charmspeak," she warned. "We have to get to King's Cross for Hogwarts, remember?"

"Just collapse the tent with us inside it and bring it on the train," Nico called out. "Reyna kept threatening to do that to me and Hedge when we were moving slowly."

"That's not a bad idea," Piper mused. "But if I do, you can't come out until after the feast. And by then I'll be in the Slytherin common room, so..." she let the sentence hang before retreating to the sound of sudden scuffling inside the tent.

"We're taking the mortal taxi," Hazel said as Piper walked down from the hill. The girls were already inside the Burrow, helping out with last minute preparations. "Mr. Weasley couldn't get any ministry cars... so this was the solution."

"But don't they know Harry's with us?" Thalia asked. "I mean, if that really was Voldemort the other night, and Harry defeated him before, wouldn't they make his safety a priority?"

"Until the Dark Lord officially rises, there won't be any special treatment to Harry," Hermione said firmly.

"Pity," Thalia sighed.

The rain was pouring down harder than before, and they got soaked just carrying their luggage to the four taxis that waited for them on the street. And as soon as they dried off somewhat in the squished taxi, they all had to clamber back out into the pouring street again as they pulled more luggage to King's Cross.

"I wonder," Piper said as they navigated their way through the crowd. "You know how this is the entrance to the Hogwarts Express?"

"No, it's the doorway to Narnia," Nico said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Piper shot him a look, and he withered away.

"It's the entrance to the Hogwarts Express," Piper repeated again, daring for anyone to interrupt. No one did, so she continued. "And the number of students at Hogwarts isn't any small number. So why is it that there isn't a long line of wizards to run through a brick wall? I mean, every time we entered through this way it was deserted of all other wizards. Do they all come an hour early or what?"

Frank paused. "That's a good question," he said thoughtfully. "There are probably other entrances here and there that all teleport us to the same place, all between platforms 9 and 10..."

"That's true though," Jason said as they all tried not to watch the Weasleys taking their time as they tried not to draw attention while running head first into the brick wall. "And why isn't Hogwarts just swarming with cats everywhere? Nico and Hermione can't be the only students with cats. I mean the number of owls isn't the same as the number of students, even when subtracting the amount without any pets."

"I feel bad for the students who are allergic to owls." Percy grinned.

Hazel tilted her head. "There are people allergic to owls?"

"There are always people allergic to owls," Percy said seriously as they casually walked into the barrier.

"Goodbye now," Mrs. Weasley said as she pulled Ginny into a hug, obscuring the tears that threatened to spill every time at this part of the year. "Take care, don't go into the Forbidden Forest, and don't binge on the Honeydukes."

"Who, us?" Fred and George looked innocently at Mrs. Weasley. She laughed and pulled them into a hug as well.

"I might be seeing you all sooner than you think," Charlie said in a low voice as Mrs. Weasley let them go.