Free Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling Page A

Mr. Weasley went next; Fred and George followed.
          “I’ll take Ginny and you two come right after us,” Mrs. Weasley told Harry and Ron, grabbing Ginny’s hand and setting off. In the blink of an eye they were gone.
          “Let’s go together, we’ve only got a minute,” Ron said to Harry.
          Harry made sure that Hedwig’s cage was safely wedged on top of his trunk and wheeled his trolley around to face the barrier. He felt perfectly confident; this wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as using Floo powder. Both of them bent low over the handles of their trolleys and walked purposefully toward the barrier, gathering speed. A few feet away from it, they broke into a run and —
          CRASH.
          Both trolleys hit the barrier and bounced backward; Ron’s trunk fell off with a loud thump, Harry was knocked off his feet, and Hedwig’s cage bounced onto the shiny floor, and she rolled away, shrieking indignantly; people all around them stared and a guard nearby yelled, “What in blazes d’you think you’re doing?”
          “Lost control of the trolley,” Harry gasped, clutching his ribs as he got up. Ron ran to pick up Hedwig, who was causing such a scene that there was a lot of muttering about cruelty to animals from the surrounding crowd.
          “Why can’t we get through?” Harry hissed to Ron.
          “I dunno —”
          Ron looked wildly around. A dozen curious people were still watching them.
          “We’re going to miss the train,” Ron whispered. “I don’t understand why the gateway’s sealed itself —”
          Harry looked up at the giant clock with a sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach. Ten seconds…nine seconds …
          He wheeled his trolley forward cautiously until it was right against the barrier and pushed with all his might. The metal remained solid.
          Three seconds…two seconds…one second…
          “It’s gone,” said Ron, sounding stunned. “The train’s left. What if Mum and Dad can’t get back through to us? Have you got any Muggle money?”
          Harry gave a hollow laughed. “The Dursleys haven’t given me pocket money for about six years.”
          Ron 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.
          “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 —”
          “But your Mum and Dad…” said Harry, pushing 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 turned suddenly 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 —”
          And they 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