Originally posted by dirkdirden
They announce the book comes out on 7-21-2007. Which confuses me because in her book she always says 7 is the most magical number so wouldn't it make sense to release her 7th book on 7-7-07.She missed an opportunity to look like she planed the last books release date from the start.
well i mean she cant base EVERYTHING around the release date of the book though, it was probably because they wanted the movie to come out first, idk but there had to have been a good reason
Originally posted by H. S. 6
[...]As it turned out, Hermione was just about spot-on in her assumption. One late night at dinner in the Burrow, only several days before the 31st of August, a visibly haggard Mr. Weasley explained the situation. “Minerva’s said the staff has agreed it’s important for you seventh years to understand what’s going on with Hogwarts. They want you to be looking out for the younger students.” He said, addressing Ron, Harry, and Hermione.
Gingerly placing a steaming bowl of vegetables on the table, Mrs. Weasley added, “Good idea, if you ask me. Who knows how long the school will stay open? Might as well keep it safe while it’s there.”
“But hasn’t it been quiet, recently?” asked Ginny. “I mean, Voldemort hasn’t done anything in a while, has he? Besides the Dementors, of course.”
There were a few moments of silence before Arthur answered. “Correct. But if Voldemort is in any way predictable, that only means he’s planning something. Something big,” he stated grimly. Standing up, he shoved a half-eaten biscuit in his mouth, kissed Mrs. Weasley, and said, through a stuffed mouth, “Gof to gef back to the offish.” With a crack, he Disapparated.
The rest of the dinner was eaten in relative silence. George and Fred were working, Bill was showing Fleur a “particularly beautiful dragon,” who “wasn’t stubborn; she only knew exactly what she wanted and when she wanted it,” according the Bill himself. The only ones left in the house were Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, Ron, Harry, and Hermione.
It remained that way for a few days—quiet, almost still. The day before the 31st, Mrs. Weasley, accompanied by Ginny, went to Diagon Alley to retrieve the necessities for the upcoming year. Nothing overly notable happened, although Mrs. Weasley did remark that the Alley seemed to be much less crowded than normal.
That night, Harry tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour; they’d be leaving for King’s Cross Station at the crack of dawn the next morning. However, the sleep wouldn’t come. He kept tossing and turning throughout the night, admitting to himself that he was oddly apprehensive about returning to Hogwarts the next day. After all, he wasn’t even sure he would be acting as a student this year. Wasn’t destroying the Horcruxes more important than learning some book-taught lesson?
Almost immediately after he closed his eyes, it seemed, he was awoken by Hermione. “Time to go,” she murmured in the morning semi-light. Once she had gone down to breakfast, he dressed, and began to pack his things.
“Ready to go home, Hedwig?” he asked in a hushed voice. She hooted, and he imagined she sounded rather concerned. With a flick of his wand, the trunk and cage rose several inches above the ground, and he maneuvered his way down the stairs of the Burrow.
In the kitchen, Hermione was doing her best to help Mrs. Weasley with breakfast. Ron was sitting at the table, drooling slightly onto his plate, mouth opened slightly. Looking out the window, Harry just barely noticed a light rain falling in the morning dimness.
“Sit down, Harry. We’ve got some time,” offered Mrs. Weasley, forcing a smile. She looked to be even more exhausted than Ron.
Once the breakfast of bacon, eggs, and buttered toast had been set on the table, and Ron’s head had landed flatly on his plate (which only succeeded in increasing the volume of his snores), Hermione noticed him napping and hissed, “Ronald!”
With a start, he picked his head up, looking about wildly. Half-mumbling, half-shouting, he said, “He’s there! I saw… it… he…” Realizing where he was, he closed his mouth and slumped back into the kitchen chair.
“I want you to eat something, Ron. You’ve got a long ride ahead of you,” ordered Mrs. Weasley.
Harry observed all this while forcing down a few strips of bacon and some slices of toast. He wasn’t really hungry—the knot growing in his stomach seemed to be stealing his appetite—but what Mrs. Weasley said was true.
Once breakfast was over, Mrs. Weasley informed them they’d be Apparating directly to Platform 9 ¾. Concentrating on the platform, Harry turned, and stepped forward. He felt the familiar squeezing sensation, but by this time he had become used to the experience. Opening his eyes, he found he had successfully Apparated to Platform 9 ¾. Seconds later, Ron, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley, accompanied by the three trunks, Crookshanks, and two cages holding Hedwig and Pigwidgeon appeared around him. The extra items that Mrs. Weasley had brought seemed to have stolen some of her energy. She told them she’d wait a few minutes before she Disapparated.
“Well, go on, then. I expect they’ll be departing soon,” said Mrs. Weasley, urging them towards the train. While the trio gathered their belongings to bring on the Express, they noticed some familiar faces. Justin Finch-Fletchley waved to them from the other end of the platform, and several other students motioned greetings to them. The platform seemed so barren; after all, the vast majority of students would be departing for Hogwarts tomorrow. On top of that, as Hermione pointed out, not every parent would feel comfortable sending their children to Hogwarts this year, because of the possible danger. A thick feeling of sobriety lay upon the station.
They loaded their things into a compartment (it wasn’t hard to find an open one), and the train gave a loud whistle, announcing imminent departure. Mrs. Weasley called to them, “Listen to what they tell you. You’re going to need to help each other out this year.” She wasn’t smiling. Her face was one of grim resignation.
Once all the seventh years had come aboard, the train whistled three times in quick succession. The trio waved to Mrs. Weasley, she waved back, and the Hogwarts Express was off.
* * * * *
After a short visit to the prefect’s carriage for Ron and Hermione (in which Harry, Neville, and Luna sat in a rather awkward silence), they returned with the information that a patrol was unnecessary, according to the conductor.
“D’you think what my mum said was true? That Hogwarts won’t stay open for long?” asked Ron, after a half an hour of traveling through lush green landscapes, dulled only by the gray, threatening skies above. It had been raining when they had left, but it was now still outside. None of them spoke much, Ron’s words being some of the first since they had departed.
Harry didn’t answer, only looked out the windows, deep in thought. Hermione spoke up, “I don’t know. I expect they’ll keep it open as long as they can. Besides, I’m more curious to see how many students attend this year…” She trailed off, and the uneasy silence returned in the compartment.
By the afternoon, the gray skies had become nearly black, and a steady rain was falling. Outside, the surrounding landscapes had been completely obscured by darkness, the rain, and a thick fog.
Ron was just about dozing off when the train unexpectedly came to a grinding halt. Once again, he looked up with a start, and cried, “He’s there! I saw… there…” He realized where he was, and then asked the obvious question, “Why did we stop?”
Immediately, Harry was reminded of when, before their third year at Hogwarts, Dementors had come aboard the train in search of Sirius Black, unknown at that time as Harry’s godfather. Standing up, Harry said, “I’ll check it out.”
He slid the compartment door open, and stepped out into the narrow hall. Students his age were peeking out, all of them bereft of a reason as to what was happening. Harry made his way to the front of the train, only to find fellow classmate Seamus Finnegan stepping out of the conductor’s compartment. “Says it’s the weather,” explained Seamus. “Dunno’ why. Train’s never stopped for weather before.” He shrugged, and then added, “Good to see you, Harry.”
Harry grinned and said, “You, too.” Seamus returned to his compartment, and Harry, figuring the conductor wouldn’t want to be bothered again, returned to Ron and Hermione.
“What’s going on?” inquired Hermione.
“Conductor says it’s the weather.” Harry looked again out the window. The fog seemed to have thickened, and sheets of rain continued to batter the countryside, but then again, the Express had gone through some pretty bad conditions before and kept on rolling.
“The Hogwarts Express has never stopped because of bad weather before,” Hermione said pointedly, echoing Seamus’s own thoughts.
Harry sat back down. After several seconds, Ron said darkly, “Reckon they’re lying?” His features took on a grim quality, resembling the look Mrs. Weasley had worn when she had suggested Hogwarts wouldn’t stay open for long.
Harry shrugged, but Hermione, ever vigilant, asked, “But what would be the point? Why would they?”
Ron thought for a moment but didn’t say anything. He knew he’d been defeated.
The train remained stationary for some time. It was nearly an hour before the Express started up again with a lurch, having undergone nothing out of the ordinary, so far as the trio could tell. Harry was reminded all the while of his third year at Hogwarts, and his first experience with Dementors on this very train.
The rest of the ride to the school was rather uneventful, although, oddly enough, the snack trolley didn’t pass by the compartments again. When they arrived, the rain had stopped, but a thick layer of cloud remained hanging above Hogwarts. The castle loomed off in the distance, familiar and yet somehow coldly different. The only illumination coming from the castle, Harry noted, was from the Great Hall.
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Kind of an odd place to cut it off, I suppose, but I didn't want to inundate you with too long of a post.
Thanks. 🙂
And golly gosh, I just realized I lost a good page of writing. I don't know what happened to it, only that where I left off in this Word document is certainly not where I left off the last time I was writing. It's actually kind of frustrating. disgust
EDIT: Nevermind. I saved it to my hard-drive, not my flash drive.
And thank you, Thorinn. 😛
Originally posted by Barker
Timeframe for next update? vin
Quite soon. I've already got the next post typed, and then possibly the post after that, and I know exactly what's going to happen (exciting) in one of these upcoming posts, so I'd like to get to that, so I've been writing more, ya' know, like run-on sentences, and now I've completely lost my train of thought, however I think the original point was that the next update would be soon.
Follow me? 🙂
STOP ACTING BEING RETARDED IT WAS BETTER THAN THAT.
I just wanted to use that quote. vin
It is of teh funny. w00termm
Originally posted by H. S. 6
Quite soon. I've already got the next post typed, and then possibly the post after that, and I know exactly what's going to happen (exciting) in one of these upcoming posts, so I'd like to get to that, so I've been writing more, ya' know, like run-on sentences, and now I've completely lost my train of thought, however I think the original point was that the next update would be soon.Follow me? 🙂
Follow me? 🙂
Oh, and why does the text in your sig change colors while mine doesn't? nahuh
Originally posted by H. S. 6
It is of teh funny. w00termm
Originally posted by Barker
Yeah. Do you... type up a, for lack of a better word, rough draft (vin), and revise? Make it better? Fill it in? Make it feel special? Wash off the grime? Sprinkle it with Sentence enhancers? Sauceize it?Follow me? 🙂
Oh yeah. I rub all my sentences up and down until each and every one feels special. naughty
Oh, and why does the text in your sig change colors while mine doesn't? nahuh
Ha ha u r a liar I c different colors. shock_happy