It was strange, being in a flying car, but once you got used to the fact that it was a car... it was actually pretty cool.
The ride was going pretty smoothly, only a few bumps here or there as the car dipped to make regular checks on the train as we flew further on. My eyes were glued to the window as the foggy clouds surrounded us and the bright sunlight heated the car up.
In front of Ginny and I, Harry and Ron were chatting casually, talking about something called Quidditch... but I didn't ask what that was. Instead I turned to Ginny and tilted my head.
"So... Are you excited to get to Hogwart?" I asked her while smiling lightly.
Ginny grimaced slightly, her face flushing red as she quickly tried to hide it in her flaming red hair. "I... I guess." she mumbled, so quietly I could hardly hear her.
"What? Are you nervous?" I asked quietly, "It's ok... I mean you've probably heard so much about it from your family. I'm sure it'll be as great as they've desc-"
I was cut off as Ginny quickly shook her head and opened her mouth to speak. "No, it's not that. It's just... what if we get expelled before we even have a chance to be at Hogwarts? I mean... we're really not supposed to be getting to Hogwarts this way..."
She trailed off with a worried expression on her face, but a moment later her gaze turned to one of realization.
"We should have contacted someone with an owl!" she exclaimed, her voice louder for a second but instantly quieting when she saw Harry and Ron turned around to face her.
"Ginny, it's fine. We're not going to be expelled. We're not even doing anything wrong... It's not like any Muggles spotted us." Ron said, his words short as he ended while rolling his eyes.
Harry nudged Ron with his shoulder and raised his eyebrows slightly... probably to tell him to stop being rude.
"Not to... you know... contradict you or anything." I said while raising my eyebrows at Ron. "But remember when the car was below the clouds... and wasn't invisible."
He seemed to have forgotten that small detail...
"Erm..." Ron droned for a second before looking back in front of him. "I dunno... maybe no Muggles were looking..."
I shot him a disbelieving stare, but he didn't see it. Instead, he turned to talk to Harry again, pushing any problems with his amazing plan out of his mind.
Whatever... It's not like I actually know what's going on in this world anyway...
Several uneventful hours later, the car had become rather unbearably hot and my shirt was sticking to the back of my seat.
"Can't be much further, can it?" Ron muttered quietly, his head resting on the back of the sweaty seat. "Let's check the train again."
It was still right below us, trailing along like a snack as it curved past a mountain. The car then started moving upward again, but suddenly the engine began to whine.
Um... that's not good...
Ginny looked at me, her face full of nervousness and her fingers drummed her seat over and over again.
"It's... probably just tired..." Ron said in an extremely unconvincing tone. "It's never been this far before."
Without further comments and no more small conversations with each other, we all pretended not to notice the whining growing louder and louder as the sky became darker. It was getting cold again and I shivered, putting my hands on my arms to stop myself from shaking.
"Not far..." Ron muttered, several minutes later. "Not far now..."
He patted the dashboard with a nervous expression.
"There!" Harry suddenly shouted, causing me to jump a little. "It's just straight ahead!"
I looked in front of me and saw a huge castle silhouetted in the dark sky. It was huge, with many turrets and towers shooting high into the night.
Wow... So that's Hogwarts-
Suddenly, the car shuddered and began losing speed. Ginny let out a short cry, as Ron tugged on the steering wheel muttering, "hang on now... c'mon..."
Steam started blasting from under us and the engine groaning loudly. We all gripped the edges of our seats as we flew towards a huge lake right in front of the castle.
Then we were over the lake. The castle was right ahead and I heard Harry breathe out a sigh of relief... but suddenly there was a loud clunking sound, a sputter... and, of course, the engine died completely.
"Uh-oh" Ron said as the nose of the car dropped and we fell while quickly gathering speed.
Ginny let out a cry as we missed a stone wall by inches and soared over greenhouses and lawns.
"Stop! Stop!" Ron yelled, pulling out his wand and frantically tapping the dashboard.
The effort did absolutely nothing as we plummeted further still.
"Look out for that tree!" I suddenly shouted, quickly noticing the huge tree that the car was diving towards.
CRUNCH...
The car forcefully hit the wood, and I felt metal forcefully hit my upper arm as we plummeted to the ground in the now broken and battered car. Harry's owl started shrieking, shoving her wing against her cage that had toppled over.
Ron then let out a despairing groan.
"Are you okay?" Harry asked him urgently.
"My wand..." Ron said. "Look at it..."
Groaning slightly while holding my arm, I looked over at Ron's wand. It had snapped, its tip limply dangling, only being held together by a few splinters.
Can't imagine that's good...
"What about you two-" Harry started to ask, but didn't get a chance because something suddenly hit the side of the car, sending both me and Harry lurching sideways.
Another blow suddenly hit the roof with such force that it bent the metal. "What the-" I started but was cut off I looked looked to find the tree attacking us again.
What? Do all trees just start trying to kill people in the Wizarding World?
"Run for it!" Ron shouted, attempting to shove his door open but was shoved backward by the force of another tree branch.
"Reverse!" Harry yelled, and the car shot backward.
The tree was still trying to hit us, its roots and branches creaking violently, but we were too far away.
"That," Ron said while panting, "was close. Well done car-"
The car however, seems to be completely done with us. The doors flying open with a click. I instantly felt my seat tilted sideways. The next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the ground and the car was dumping all of our luggage out. It then started rolling, speeding up as it swerved into the darkness, disappearing from sight as Ron called after it.
"Can you believe our luck?" Ron asked, looking after the wild car.
I rolled my eyes, and got to my feet. Looking next to me I saw Ginny doing the same thing.
"You two alright?" Harry asked, turning away from Ron and looking towards Ginny and I.
I nodded, rolling out my shoulder, and determining it wasn't that bad at all.
Ginny nodded too, her face growing red again.
"Alright then." Harry said wearily, "we'd better get to the school..."
Grimacing slightly, I reached towards my trunk and began walking with the others to Hogwarts.
When I pictured this moment all summer... it definitely didn't involve flying in a car, crashing in that car, and landing in a tree that tried to kill us...