HARRY POTTER Book 4: Chapter 6
Chapter 6
THE PORTKEY
It is still dark when Harry wakes up. Mrs.Weasley touches his shoulder and whispers, “Time to go.” Harry puts on his glasses and gets up. Ron also wakes up slowly. Soon they get dressed in silence because everyone is tired.
Downstairs in the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley cooks breakfast. Mr. Weasley checks some large Quidditch Cup tickets on the table. He wears old jeans and a sweater to try to look like a Muggle. Harry smiles and tells him he looks fine.
The twins, Fred and George, yawn loudly. They ask why Bill, Charlie, and Percy are not coming with them. “They are going to Apparate, so they get to sleep longer,” Mrs. Weasley says. Harry knows Apparition means to disappear and appear somewhere else, but he also knows it is difficult magic.“Why can’t we Apparate too?” Fred asks. “Because you are not old enough and you don’t have a license,” Mrs. Weasley says.
Mr. Weasley explains to Harry that some people try to Apparate without passing the test and get “splinched”. That means that they leave part of their body behind. Harry imagines legs or an eye left on the street and feels sick. Mr. Weasley says the people are fine in the end, but they must pay a lot of money to the Ministry as punishment.
Hermione and Ginny enter the kitchen looking sleepy. Ginny asks, “Why are we up so early?”
“We have a long walk,” Mr. Weasley says. George tries to hide something in his pocket, but Mrs. Weasley shouts his name, “George Weasley!” With her wand she pulls out several small, colorful sweets. “Tongue-Tied Toffees!” she says. “We told you to destroy them!” Fred shouts that they spent six months making them, but Mrs. Weasley is too angry to listen.
The twins leave the house without a word, and everyone feels the tension. Outside, the sky slowly turns from black to a dark blue. They walk across the cold field and down a narrow road toward the village. Harry walks next to Mr. Weasley to ask a question.
“Mr. Weasley, how do all the wizards get to the World Cup without Muggles seeing them?” Mr. Weasley explains that it is a huge problem. “Around a hundred thousand wizards come, from all over the world,” he says. “We need a large empty place far from Muggles. It would be a disaster if the Muggles discovered us.”
“But we do not have a safe magic place just for us that is big enough. So the Ministry has been working very hard for many months. They have set up many anti-Muggle precautions. We have to bring people in small groups. Some come by Muggle transport. Some Apparate to safe points.”
“For the witches and wizards who do not want to Apparate, they can use a Portkey.” Harry asks what a Portkey is. “It can be any object,” Mr Weasley says. “It transports you to a set place at a set time. The nearest Portkey for us is on top of Stoatshead Hill.”
When they reach the base of the hill, they start to climb. The grass is wet and slippery. Every breath feels cold and sharp. At the top, Mr Weasley checks his watch. “Ten minutes early,” he says. “Now we just need to find the Portkey.”
