CHAPTER FIVE
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 cavernous trunk with a series of taps from his
wand. They heaved their luggage back in, put Hedwig on the back
seat, and got into the front.
“Check that no one’s watching,” said Ron, starting the ignition
with another tap of his wand. Harry stuck his head out of the win-
dow: Traffic was rumbling along the main road ahead, but their
street was empty.
“Okay,” he said.
Ron pressed a tiny silver button on the dashboard. The car
around them vanished — and so did they. Harry could feel the seat
vibrating beneath him, hear the engine, feel his hands on his knees
and his glasses on his nose, but for all he could see, he had become
a pair of eyeballs, floating a few feet above the ground in a dingy
street full of parked cars.
“Let’s go,” said Ron’s voice from his right.
And the ground and the dirty buildings on either side fell away,
dropping out of sight as the car rose; in seconds, the whole of Lon-
don lay, smoky and glittering, below them.
Then there was a popping noise and the car, Harry, and Ron
reappeared.
“Uh-oh,” said Ron, jabbing at the Invisibility Booster. “It’s
faulty —”
Both of them pummeled it. The car vanished. Then it flickered
back again.
“Hold on!” Ron yelled, and he slammed his foot on the acceler-
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