Harry Potter And The Prince Of Slytherin 122 Car.

Draco was thinking about what was going on when he felt a tap on his shoulder to find Harry staring at him. "What?" He asked.

"Have you got any Muggle money with you?" Harry asked looking desperate.

"I have Galleons but I don't have any Muggle money." Draco said, realizing why Harry was panicking.

Harry sighed in worry as Ron walked up to the wall and pressed his ear to the cold barrier.

"Can't hear a thing," he said tensely, "What're we going to do? I don't know how long it'll take Mum and Dad to get back to us."

They looked around. People were still watching them, mainly because of Hedwig's continuing screeches and Draco's look where still pulling in some attention.

"I think we'd better go and wait by the car," said Harry. "We're attracting too much atten —"

"Harry!" said Ron, his eyes gleaming. "The car!"

"What about it?"

"We can fly the car to Hogwarts!"

"But I thought —"

"We're stuck, right? And we've got to get to school, haven't we? And even underage wizards are allowed to use magic if it's a real emergency, section nineteen or something of the Restriction of

Thingy —" Ron said looking at Draco as if he was hinting something.

"But your Mum and Dad…" said Harry, pus.h.i.+ng against the barrier again in the vain hope that it would give way. "How will they get home?"

"They don't need the car!" said Ron impatiently. "They know how to Apparate! You know, just vanish and reappear at home! They only bother with Floo powder and the car because we're all underage and we're not allowed to Apparate yet…"

Harry's feeling of panic suddenly turned to excitement. "Can you fly it?"

"No, problem," said Ron, wheeling his trolley around to face the exit. "C'mon, let's go. If we hurry we'll be able to follow the Hogwarts Express —"

Harry was about to storm off but stop as he looked at Draco, "You can come with us, since the train has already left, staying here would be pointless."

Draco thought about it for a while, it was indeed true that the train had already left and staying here might prove to be fatal in case the person who sealed the train dares to attack him. Sending a letter to his father would be quicker and easier but again it would be more bothersome to explain these things to Lucius. "Are you sure?" Draco asked looking at Ron who was looking at them from a bit far away.

Harry looked at Ron who sighed, "It's fine." he said as he headed outside the station. Harry and Draco too marched off through the crowd of curious Muggles, out of the station and back onto the side road where the old Ford Anglia was parked.

Ron unlocked the cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back seat, and got into the front.

Draco got in the back seat as he looked at Ron, "Do you know how to drive?"

"I do." Ron mumbled.

"Check that no one's watching," said Ron, starting the ignition with another tap of his wand. Harry stuck his head out of the window: Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their street was empty.

"Okay," he said.

Ron pressed a tiny silver b.u.t.ton on the dashboard. The car around them vanished — and so did they. Harry could feel the seat vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees and his gla.s.ses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become a pair of eyeb.a.l.l.s, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy street full of parked cars. Draco sat back in the seat, ready to take action in case anything goes wrong.

"Let's go," said Ron's voice from his right.

And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away, dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of London lay, smoky and glittering, below them. Then there was a popping noise and the car, Harry, and Ron reappeared.

"Uh-oh," said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. "It's faulty —"

"Give me your wand." Draco said hurridly s.n.a.t.c.hing over Ron's wand and pointing it at the Invisibility booster, waving his wand in a particular direction, Draco chanted, "Reparo" and the Booster was fixed once again, turning the car completely invisible.

Seeing the car fixed again, Ron and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Draco sighed in relief as well since these days to avoid having Ryan predict his movement, he needed to get out of being in the newspaper for a while.

"Hold on!" Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator; they shot straight into the low, woolly clouds and everything turned dull and foggy.

"Now what?" said Harry, blinking at the solid ma.s.s of cloud pressing in on them from all sides.

"We need to see the train to know what direction to go in," said Ron.

"Dip back down again — quickly —"

They dropped back beneath the clouds and twisted around in their seats, squinting at the ground.

"I can see it!" Harry yelled. "Right ahead — there!"

The Hogwarts Express was streaking along below them like a scarlet snake.

"Due north," said Ron, checking the compa.s.s on the dashboard. "Okay, we'll just have to check on it every half hour or so — hold on —"

And they shot up through the clouds. A minute later, they burst out into a blaze of sunlight. It was a different world. The wheels of the car skimmed the sea of fluffy cloud, the sky a bright, endless blue under the blinding white sun.

"All we've got to worry about now are airplanes," said Ron.

They looked at each other and started to laugh; for a long time, they couldn't stop. They only stopped as Ron's wand was thrown back to his lap again, as both of them finally remembered that Draco was with them there too. Harry turned to look back at Draco who was seemed to be writing something.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Writing a letter to Theodore and the rest as they might be worrying about me." Draco said a simple answer as he folded the letter and put it inside a cover. Taking out a wax stamp from his suitcase, Draco sealed the letter. "Can I use your Owl?" he asked.

"Sure." Harry answered looking outside the car's window. Ron and Harry as though they had been plunged into a fabulous dream. This, thought Harry, was surely the only way to travel — past swirls and turrets of snowy cloud, in a car full of hot, bright sunlight, with a fat pack of toffees in the glove compartment.

"Want some?" Harry asked Draco who had just sent Hedwig off with a letter, who started flying down towards the train.

"No thanks." Draco said shaking his head.

"By the way, I've always wondered, where's your owl and luggage?" Harry asked again, "Aren't books enough to fill the suitcase?"

"I don't remember being on such friendly terms with you." Draco said as he folded his arms, raising his eyebrows, "And also are you sure that this is a good way to reach Hogwarts."

Ron who was silent till now looked at him making a weird face, "What's wrong with it?" he asked

"Well, the fact that we are breaking laws and especially breaking rules that your father helped implement, the law about enhancing muggle items with magic which is clearly illegal. Even if you don't get trouble with this stunt, I am sure your father will."

Ron had just come to the realization, that his father, especially his mother would kill him if his father lost his job because of him.

"What do we do Harry?" Ron said.