Early the next morning, everyone stood at the door of the Shabby Residence, ready to head to King's Cross Station.
Soon, a blue car came driving over from a distance.
At this time, cars from the Ministry were in high demand, but upon learning that Harry was there, Fudge directly ordered the best car to be dispatched.
This was probably returning a favor.
After returning from the Ministry of Magic that day, Harry stayed at the Shabby Residence without mentioning the assassination attempt, sparing the Ministry a lot of trouble.
As a return, borrowing a car to the station was no big deal, Fudge had no reason to refuse.
It was also safer this way.
They confirmed that the Ministry employee who tried to assassinate Harry was indeed under the Imperius Curse. To prevent any accidents before Harry returned to Hogwarts, Fudge even arranged for an Auror to be the driver.
But this Auror didn't seem that reliable.
Tonks, with her head of fiery red hair, was in a foul mood, muttering nonstop along the way, whether cursing people or cars, even Bill sitting beside her wasn't spared... because he hadn't helped curse the guy who walked across the street.
Ginny sat behind her, arms wrapped around herself, shivering, not daring to breathe loudly, fearing Tonks might turn back and include her in the scolding.
Going back to school wasn't a happy occasion, and with such a hot-tempered driver, the car remained eerily quiet along the way.
Luckily, half an hour later, they finally arrived at King's Cross Station.
Tonks was the first to get out of the car, and as she opened the door, her hair changed from red to a bright bubblegum pink.
"We've arrived."
She tapped the car door and smiled, "Everyone, get out and make sure to take all your luggage, don't forget anything."
Everyone silently got out of the car, retrieved their luggage from the trunk, and quickly headed into the station.
No one spoke along the way, not even Fred and George who usually loved to make noise, managed to restrain themselves.
It wasn't until after they passed through the wall and entered Platform 9¾ that Fred breathed a sigh of relief and said:
"Merlin testifies, I'll never ride in Tonks' car again, not ever!"
"If there's a next time, I'd rather walk from home!" George said.
Others nodded in agreement.
"Alright, let's go quickly." Mrs. Weasley said beside them, "Tonks is not a bad person... Of course, as long as she's not driving." She silently added to herself.
It was the first time Mrs. Weasley realized Tonks is so irritable when driving, like a completely different person.
Several times she wanted to remind Tonks to pay attention to her image, but never found the opportunity to interrupt, and when she finally spoke, Tonks was too angry to hear.
In the end, she could only sigh quietly and pretend she hadn't heard anything.
On the platform, the Hogwarts Express was already stationed there.
"Ah, I wish I could go back to Hogwarts to study this year." Bill said, hands in pockets, looking at the deep red train with a somewhat melancholy expression.
"Why..." George asked.
"You all will have a very interesting year." Bill's eyes gleamed with warmth, "I might take time off to watch a part..."
"Watch what part..." Fred impatiently asked.
Since the holidays started, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy... all of them have been playing dumb.
No matter how much he asked, Bill only smiled without saying anything.
Kael knew it was wizard's mischievous thrills, like sorting new students... it's all about surprises.
Well, isn't it just the Triwizard Tournament—what's the big deal... Kael shrugged as George glanced at him, "Don't look at me, I don't know."
At that moment, the whistle blew for departure.
They hurried onto the train, leaning out the window to speak to Mrs. Weasley and Bill.
"Thank you for having us, Mrs. Weasley!" Cho waved.
"Oh, I'm happy to have you, dear." Mrs. Weasley said, "I want to invite you to spend Christmas at our house, but… I doubt you'd want to, for… various reasons."
Ron wanted to ask something but was drowned out by the noise as the train started moving.
Mrs. Weasley waved with a smile, disappearing with Bill in a Disillusionment before the train turned.
Kael and the others returned to the compartment, with Fred and George still grumbling about being kept in the dark by everyone.
Cedric turned his face away, suppressing laughter, evidently in the know but equally unwilling to inform them.
Honestly, seeing Fred and George like this was rather amusing.
After the train had traveled a distance, it started raining again; the dense raindrops pattered against the glass, making it hard to see outside.
"Where's Conna?"
Then Cho suddenly asked, "Didn't she get on the train?"
"I think she might be in another carriage now." Cedric said, glancing at Kael, "Come on, take it out, we should go over as well."
"Take out what..." Fred asked instinctively.
Then Kael took a letter out of his pocket.
"Ding!"
As Kael opened the envelope, a round item fell onto the table.
"Oh, damn!" Fred and George's faces turned much darker, like they had eaten a handful of liver-flavored Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.
They knew this item too well; Percy had bragged about it countless times in the past two years.
Prefect Badge!
"Oh, another Prefect among us, wonderful..." George drawled.
"No, it's actually two." Cho laughed and pinned her own Prefect badge to her robe.
Watching Fred and George, their faces had indeed turned liver-colored.
The two always believed, and firmly were convinced that they'd never want to be Prefects, yet this thought was now shaken.
Who could have imagined, in their group of six, all but them were Prefects.
This was a bit much, how could they ever play together again.
However, it wasn't all, as if deliberately flaunting, Kael and the others lingered with their Prefect badges before leaving.
Angry, Fred and George packed up their luggage and pushed open the compartment door to find Lee Jordan.
Being a Prefect is really something, oh please leave if that's the case?
The compartment burst into joyful laughter.
"Are we being a bit too much?" The earnest Cho quietly asked.
"Don't worry, they aren't that petty." Kael said, tapping his suitcase, "Besides, I have a way to make them forget today's displeasure and willingly call us Prefects."
The three laughed and left the compartment, heading to the frontward Prefect's carriage.
Sure enough Conna was there, and upon seeing Kael and Cho, she visibly relaxed.
"Why'd you take so long to come?" she asked.
"Of course, to give Fred and George a surprise." Kael said, "You definitely should have been with us, we would've been more unified."
"What?" Conna didn't understand.
Cho leaned in and whispered, soon Conna couldn't help but laugh.
"Aren't you worried they might change your badge to 'Big Head Boy' like they did to Percy?" Conna said.
"Not worried." Kael confidently waved his hand, "They won't have the chance."
…