The Irritable Tonks

The next morning, everyone stood at the entrance of the Burrow, ready to head to King's Cross Station.

Soon, a blue car drove up from a distance.

At this time, the department was in short supply of vehicles, but when Fudge learned that Harry was also there, Fudge immediately ordered that the best vehicle be brought over.

This could be considered a reciprocal gesture.

After returning from the Ministry of Magic that day, Harry stayed at the Burrow and did not reveal anything about his assassination attempt, thus saving the Ministry of Magic a lot of trouble.

In return, borrowing a car to the station was hardly worth mentioning, and Fudge had no reason to disagree.

This is also safer.

They have confirmed that the Ministry of Magic staff member who tried to assassinate Harry was indeed struck by the Imperius Curse, and to prevent any further accidents before Harry returns to Hogwarts, Fudge even assigned an Auror as his driver.

This Auror seems a bit unreliable.

With his fiery red hair, Tonks was clearly in a bad mood. He hadn't stopped talking the whole way, swearing at people and cars, and even Bill, who was sitting next to him, wasn't spared... because he hadn't joined in swearing at the guy who jaywalked.

Ginny sat behind her, hugging her arms and trembling, barely daring to breathe, afraid that Tonks would turn around and take her along too.

The start of the school year is never a happy occasion, and with a driver with such a bad temper, the car was eerily quiet the entire way.

Fortunately, they finally arrived at King's Cross Station half an hour later.

Tonks was the first to get out of the car, and the moment she opened the door, her hair changed from red to a bright, bouncy pink.

We've arrived.

She patted the car door and said with a smile, "Get out, everyone. Remember to take your luggage and don't forget anything."

Everyone got out of the car without saying a word, took their luggage from the trunk, and then walked quickly towards the station.

No one spoke during that time; even Fred and George, who were usually noisy, were unusually quiet.

Only after passing through the wall and entering Platform 9 did Fred finally breathe a sigh of relief and say:

"Merlin testifies that I will never ride in Tonks's car again, never!"

"If it happens again, I'd rather walk from home!" George said.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Alright, let's go." Mrs. Weasley said from the side, "The Tonks are a nice guy...of course, as long as we don't drive." She added silently to herself.

Mrs. Weasley was also surprised to learn that Tonks, who was driving, could be so irritable; he seemed like a completely different person.

She tried several times to remind Tonks to be mindful of his image, but couldn't find a chance to interject. When she finally managed to say something, Tonks was too angry to hear her.

In the end, she could only sigh silently and pretend she hadn't heard anything.

The Hogwarts Express was already parked on the platform.

"Ah, I really wish I could go back to Hogwarts this year," Bill said, his hands in his pockets, looking at the crimson train with a wistful expression.

"Why...?" George asked.

"You're going to have a lot of fun this year," Bill said, his eyes gleaming. "I might even take some time off to watch part of it..."

"A part of what..." Fred was getting impatient.

It's been like this since the holidays started; Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy... everyone's been playing dumb.

But no matter how he asked, Bill just smiled and said nothing.

Kyle knew this was just another of the wizards' wicked quirks, like the sorting of the new students... the so-called surprise.

"Tsk, it's just Triwizard Tournament, no big deal..." So when George looked over, he shrugged and said, "Don't look at me, I don't know either."

Just then, the whistle blew to signal departure.

They hurriedly boarded the train and leaned out of the window to speak to Mrs. Weasley and Bill.

"Thank you for letting us stay, Mrs. Weasley!" Cho said, waving.

"Oh, I would love to, dear," said Mrs. Weasley. "I would like to invite you to our home for Christmas, but... I suspect you wouldn't be willing, for... one reason or another."

Ron wanted to ask more, but the train had already started moving, and his words were drowned out by the sound of the whistle.

Mrs. Weasley smiled and waved to them, then Apparition with Bill before the train even turned the corner.

Kyle and the others returned to the private room, where Fred and George continued to complain that everyone had kept them in the dark.

Cedric's lips twitched, but he suppressed a laugh and turned his face away. Clearly, he knew too, but he also had no intention of telling them.

Actually, it's quite amusing to see Fred and George like this now.

After the train had traveled some distance, it started raining again. The dense raindrops pounded against the glass windows, making it difficult for them to see the scenery outside.

Where is Kanna?

Suddenly, Qiu asked, "Didn't she get on the train?"

"I think she should be in another carriage now," Cedric said, glancing at Kyle. "Hurry up and get it; we should get over there too."

"What did you take out...?" Fred asked instinctively.

Then he saw Kyle pull an envelope out of his pocket.

"Bite!"

As Kyle opened the envelope, a round object fell onto the table.

"Oh, damn it!" Fred and George's faces immediately turned even uglier, as if they had eaten a handful of Bertie Bott's Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans.

They were very familiar with this thing; Percy had shown it off countless times in the past two years.

Prefect Badge!

"Oh, we have another Prefect, that's great..." George said, drawing out the last syllable.

"No, there should be two." Qiu smiled and pinned her Prefect Badge to her robe.

Looking at Fred and George, their faces had turned a deep purplish-red.

The two had always believed, and firmly believed, that they would never want to be Prefect, but now that idea was wavering.

Who would have thought that, apart from those two, everyone else in the group of six was Prefect?

That's a bit much, isn't it? Will we still be able to hang out together in the future?

But that wasn't all. Kyle and his friends, as if deliberately showing off, lingered in front of them for quite a while wearing their Prefect Badge, refusing to leave.

Furious Fred and George grabbed their luggage and stormed out of the private room to find Lee Jordan.

The Prefect is really something! Can't they just leave?

A burst of cheerful laughter erupted in the private room.

"Aren't we going a bit too far?" Honest Qiu asked in a low voice.

"Don't worry, they're not that petty," Kyle said, patting his suitcase. "Besides, I have a way of making them forget today's unpleasantness and willingly call us Prefect."

The three of them laughed as they left the private room and headed towards the Prefect's carriage at the front.

Kanna was indeed there. Upon seeing Kyle and Qiu, she immediately relaxed considerably, despite her initial nervousness.

"Why did it take you so long to arrive?" she asked.

"Of course, it's to surprise Fred and George," Kyle said. "You really should have come with us; it would make things more organized."

"What?" Kanna didn't understand.

Qiu stepped forward and whispered something to her, and soon, Kanna couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Aren't you afraid they'll change your badge to 'Big Head Boy' too?" Kanna asked. "Like Percy did."

"Don't worry." Kyle waved his hand confidently. "They have no chance."