You've Just Defeated Lord Voldemort...

~chapter two~

Harry woke up with a start, and it took him a second to realize that the alarm was blaring right in his ear. He struggled to turn it off, and eventually the noise died. Neither of the Weasleys were awake yet. Harry decided to let them sleep while he got ready.

Twenty minutes later, Harry was showered and dressed, Mr. Weasley was stirring awake and Ron was still snoring. Mr. Weasley yawned and sat up. "'Morning, Harry."

"'Morning, Mr. Weasley," Harry answered. "Should I wake him up?" he asked, pointing at Ron, who rolled over and continued snoring.

"Let him sleep a bit longer," Mr. Weasley said. "If we wake him too early, he'll be grouchy all day."

Harry laughed. "Is that his problem at school?"

Mr. Weasley chuckled. "Well, I'm going to stop fannying around, and get ready. Would you mind checking to see if the girls are awake?"

"No. I'll go check," Harry said. He left his room and went into the parlor. Hermione and Ginny were sitting in chaise armchairs near the window, and Mrs. Weasley was in the kitchenette, fixing up some coffee for herself and her husband.

"Good morning, Harry, dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "Are Arthur and Ron awake yet?"

"Mr. Weasley's awake, Ron's still sleeping," Harry answered, moving to sit by Hermione and Ginny, who were reading a Disney travel guide. "Budge up, there," Harry said. Hermione moved over a bit, and Harry sat down next to her. "What are you on about?"

"Just talking about the park," Ginny replied, pointing to the Magic Kingdom across the lagoon.

"Morning!" Ron said, walking into the room, stretching.

"Morning, Ron," everybody chorused.

Mr. Weasley walked in, straightening his tee shirt. "Ready for breakfast?" He was answered by a round of nods, and a rumble from Ron's stomach. He put his hand over it, embarrassed. They walked out of the room and down to the first floor for breakfast. It was a simple buffet-style meal, a far cry from what Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were used to at Hogwarts. The food was typical American fare: cereals, toast and fruits.

Harry had seen a few Disney movies growing up at the Dursleys, and he was surprised to see a few characters he recognized from the films walking around. Hermione had obviously been expecting them: she had her camera, and was taking picture after picture.

"She reminds me of Colin," Harry whispered to Ron, as Hermione posed the two of them with Cinderella.

"She's obsessed," Ron replied, as Hermione made Ginny take a picture of her with Gaston.

Half an hour later, after they were done eating, they headed back up to their room to finish getting ready. Harry, Ron and Mr. Weasley were ready a long time before Hermione, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

"Girls," Ron whispered to Harry as Hermione ran a hairbrush through her hair, and Ginny checked her lip-gloss...again.

After Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mr. Weasley had grabbed their wallets and cameras, and Mrs. Weasley had picked up her purse, they were on their way. Ginny wanted to take the Monorail, so they waited about ten minutes before boarding at the hotel station.

"This is cool!" Ginny said, as they sped 20 feet over the lagoon at 65 mph.

"The things Muggles come up with," Mr. Weasley said, looking out the window. "This is even better than Floo Powder!"

"Shh," Mrs. Weasley said. "The Muggles might hear you. We can't have our own Minister revealing our existence!" Mr. Weasley looked slightly sheepish, but continued to look out the window.

The Monorail began to slow down, and eventually came to a complete halt at the Magic Kingdom station. The doors automatically opened, and Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys stepped off. They walked down the ramp towards the park entrance, past a hundred life-size Mickey Mouses. Mrs. Weasleys handed them their tickets, which were more like credit cards, with Disney characters (such as Donald Duck, Minnie Mouse and Goofy) featured on the front. Hermione got in a line with Ginny, Ron and Harry behind her. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went into another line. After running their cards through scanner machines, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys were officially in the Magic Kingdom.

There was a wall of flowers in front of them, white and yellow, with purple flowers shaped like Mickey's head in the middle. Above the wall was an old-fashioned train station, and while they were watching, an old-fashioned train pulled into the station. Hermione had picked up a few maps. She handed one to Harry (for him and Ron), one to Mrs. Weasley (for her and her husband) and kept one for herself and Ginny. "Which ride do you want to go on first?" she asked them, consulting her own map. "Splash Mountain looks good."

Harry looked at his map. "I want to try Big Thunder Mountain Railroad."

Ron looked at the map over Harry's shoulder. "Jungle Cruise."

Ginny stole Hermione's map. "Ooh! A haunted mansion!"

Hermione grabbed her map back. "What about you, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?"

"Oh, I don't think I'm going to ride many rides, dear" Mrs. Weasley said.

"Don't be silly, Molly," Mr. Weasley said. "You can ride these rides. They're harmless."

Mrs. Weasley glanced at her map. "Well, I guess I could try a few."

"That's my girl," Mr. Weasley said, putting his arm around his wife's shoulders. She raised her eyebrow at her husband's usage of American terminology. "Now let's decide where to go first." He looked at a map. "I think I agree with Ron. The Jungle Cruise looks like a good way to start the day."

"'Take a whimsical cruise through jungle rivers,'" Ginny read. "Yeah, it sounds okay. Not quite as good as 'Ride through this eerie 19^th century mansion and encounter 999 grim grinning ghouls along the way.'"

"Ginny," Ron said. "We have one ghoul back at the Burrow, and that's enough for me." Harry and Hermione laughed and they all began walking to Adventureland. Mrs. Weasley loved Main Street, especially the Emporium and the displays in the window. She exclaimed over the "quaint, little shops", the "delicious aroma" wafting out of the Confectionery, and the uniformed band marching down the street.

When they reached the end of the street, they turned left and walked over a moss-covered, wooden bridge into Adventureland. They passed Swiss Family Treehouse and were soon at the Jungle Cruise. Hermione led them into the queue.

"This is brilliant," Harry said, looking at the surroundings. "It seems like I'm actually in a jungle."

"That's the point," Hermione said. "All the lands have themes, and they make you feel like you're actually there."

"What are the other lands?" Ginny asked.

Hermione was about to answer when Ron gave a squeal of fright. "What's the matter?" she asked as Ron hid behind her.

"Spider," he whispered, pointing to a box that was holding a tarantula.

"Oh, Ron," Ginny said, peering into the box before the line began moving again. Ron walked as close to the barrier rope as possible, so as to stay away from the tarantula. "Anyway," Ginny said, turning back to Hermione. "What are the other lands?"

"Well," Hermione answered, without even looking at her map. "We're in Adventureland. There's also Frontierland, Liberty Square, Fantasyland Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toontown Fair."

"How many in your party?" a Disney cast member dressed in khaki safari clothes asked Mr. Weasley.

"Six," replied Mr. Weasley.

"Walk on up to Amazon Annie," the cast member directed. He pointed to a boat floating next the dock. Mr. Weasley led them to the boat, where a few people were already boarding. Harry, Hermione, Ron and the Weasleys boarded the "cruise ship" and sat near the front. It was set up with three rows of seats, one on either side, facing in, and one row in the middle. There was another cast member standing near a steering wheel at the front of the board. Hermione and Ginny sat in the middle row, right behind the cast member. Ron, Harry and the elder Weasleys sat across the aisle from the girls.

After the boat was full, the cast member turned towards them. "Hello," he said into a microphone. "My name is Jack, and I will be your skipper today." He reached behind himself and pushed a button. The boat roared to life. "Not only will I be your skipper," he continued. "I will be your tour guide, your bodyguard, your romantic interest..." he winked at Hermione and Ginny, who blushed and giggled. "And," Jack continued. "If you don't laugh at my jokes, I'll be your swimming instructor." Everybody in the boat laughed and Jack turned around to begin steering the ship. He continued speaking through the microphone, pointing out different flora and fauna along the edges of the river.

"There's Bob," Jack said, pointing to an Audio-Animatronic tiger on the left bank. "Everybody say 'hi, Bob!'" Hermione and Ginny laughed and waved hello to 'Bob'. "Now we're floating into the dangerous Nile region," Jack said as they rounded a bend. "But not to worry. If you have me here, nothing will harm you. As long as there are no snakes around...I hate snakes...Aack!" he pretended to scream, and hid below the steering wheel, as they passed a giant anaconda. Jack turned to Ron. "Is it all clear? Are we past the snake?" Ron turned red and nodded. "Good," Jack said, standing up. "Ah, up ahead is the beautiful waterfall, Schweitzer Falls, named after the famous doctor, Albert Falls."

They rode past the waterfall and turned another bend, where they encountered bathing elephants. Farther up the river, they saw hungry hippos, angry headhunters and even...the backside of a waterfall ("something you don't see everyday!") Then Amazon Annie went through a Cambodian temple, and soon reached the dock.

"Thank you very much for riding with the Jungle Cruise Tour Group," Jack said as he pulled up alongside the dock. "If you had a good time, I'm Jack. If not, I'm Phil. Have a nice day!" Hermione and Ginny giggled again as they got off the boat.

"What's so funny?" Harry asked.

"He was rather...good-looking," Hermione said simply, glancing at Ginny. They began laughing again.

"Girls," Ron whispered to Harry again. "They're nutters."

"Which ride next?" Mr. Weasley asked.

Hermione looked at her map. "We've got Magic Carpets of Aladdin, The Enchanted Tiki Room and Pirates of the Caribbean."

"I like the pirate one," Ron said. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley agreed to it, so they headed in that direction. The queue was fairly long, over half an hour, and Ron was "exhausted" when he sat down in his boat. "Why was that line so long?" he asked no one is particular, stretching out his long legs as best as he could in the small boat.

The boat began slowly moving forward. It went into a tunnel and they were plunged into darkness. Harry felt Hermione grab his arm.

"Are you OK?" he asked her quietly.

"Yeah, but it's...well, dark," she answered, as a small light turned on above her. It was illuminating a skull, which was telling a story about certain unlucky, cursed pirates.

"Dead men tell no tales," the skull said as everything went dark. Hermione's grip on Harry's arm tightened, when the floor dropped out beneath them. It took Harry a bit to realize that they were simply going down a drop. He felt some water splash on his face when they landed.

For the next ten minutes, they cruised through scenes of cursed pirate ships, ransacked Caribbean towns, and fierce pirate battles. When they had stepped outside after getting off the ride, Ron claimed to be ready for lunch.

"Ron, we've only been on two rides," Mr. Weasley said. Ginny, Harry and Hermione were hungry as well, although not ready for a large meal, so Mr. Weasley gave in and bought them a small snack of fruit.

Ginny passed a store called House of Treasures and wanted to look around inside. She bought a stuffed Goofy dressed as a pirate, while Harry and Ron bought a costume set with eye-patches, bandanas and "gold" jewelry. Eventually Hermione herded them out of the store and into Frontierland.

"Whoa," Ron exclaimed, looking around him. "This is wicked." The scenery had suddenly changed from a jungle in Africa to America in the Old West.

"We're riding Splash Mountain now," Hermione said, leading Ron and Ginny in the direction of the ride. Harry and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley followed. When they got the back of the queue, Mrs. Weasley held back.

"I'm going to skip this one," she said, looking up at the 52-foot drop. "I'm just going to go look around in some shops. I'll meet you back here. I won't be more than half-an-hour." She waved and walked away as Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mr. Weasley entered the queue.

The queue was even longer than that of Pirates of the Caribbean. It was almost ¾ of an hour later when they finally boarded their "logs". Harry and Ron were in the front row, Ginny and Hermione behind them, Mr. Weasley in the third row with an empty row behind him. The log began moving, and slowly made its way up a hill.

"When's the drop?" Ginny asked.

"I'm not sure," Hermione answered.

"How wet are we going to get?" Ron asked, his pants and shirt already slightly damp from the water that had been in the log when he boarded.

"Very wet," replied Hermione, right as they went over a very small drop. They were now inside the mountain, surrounded by Audio-Animatronic rbbits, bears and frogs. There were a few more small drops, and a lot more Audio-Animatronic animals, and the log began to go up another hill. It was slightly dark, with a shadow of a fox (Brer Fox, to be exact) projected on the wall. An Audio-Animatronic rabbit was tied up next to the "fox", which was clamping its teeth at it. As the log passed the rabbit, Hermione turned to Ginny and whispered, "I think this is it!"

Ginny gulped nervously and grabbed the bar in front of her seat. The log reached the top of the hill, and began to plunge down. Ginny shut her eyes, and heard the whoosh of the wind, the splash of the water and the cries of joy from Harry, Ron, Hermione, her father and herself (she wasn't even aware that she was yelling.) She opened her eyes and was awarded with a large spurt of water aimed directly at her and Hermione. She laughed as she wiped the water out of her eyes. "That wasn't so bad."

They floated back inside the mountain for one final song ("zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay...") and eventually got off the ride. Harry spotted a picture that had been taken of them at the top of the drop, and decided to buy it. He and Ron were laughing at the face Ginny was making when they met up with Mrs. Weasley. She was carrying a small bag filled with sweets that she passed around. "Oh, you are soaking wet," she exclaimed when she saw Ron and Harry, whose tee-shirts were dripping with water. "Maybe I should buy you some new tee-shirts. Yes, I'll buy you new shirts, while you ride your train ride," Mrs. Weasley said, indicating Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which was directly behind them. "Then we'll meet for lunch."

Mr. Weasley looked at his wife's map. "How about we meet you there?" he asked, pointing to Columbia Harbour House. "That way we can ride the haunted mansion ride for Ginny."

"Very good," Mrs. Weasley said. "I will see you there in half-an-hour or so." She waved and walked away again. Harry led the way to the queue for Big Thunder, where they waited for only about a quarter of an hour before boarding their trains. Harry was riding with Ron, Hermione was by herself and Ginny was with her father.

The "wildest ride in the wilderness" zipped around the mountain for about three minutes. Harry noticed more Audio-Animatronic animals (chickens, donkeys, possums and goats this time) placed around the mountain. Ron pointed out a saloon where 19^th century piano was being played. Hermione showed them an old forty-niner, who was still digging for gold.

Slightly dizzy, and even a tad nauseous, they stepped off the train. "That was bloody wicked!" Ron exclaimed. "What was that called? A roller-something?"

"Rollercoaster," Hermione corrected.

"Right. Those are awesome. How many more are there here?"

Hermione thought for a moment. "There's one more in this park, and a few in the other parks."

"I am riding all of them!"

"I'm with you, mate," Harry said. "The Dursleys never took me anywhere with a rollercoaster. I was always sent to Mrs. Figg's." They walked through Frontierland, into Liberty Square, which was decorated like 18^th century America. They reached the restaurant a few minutes later, where Mrs. Weasley had saved them a table, and was already enjoying a plate of fried fish. She had two shirts for Harry and Ron ("I Survived Splash Mountain!") and promised to buy shirts for Hermione and Ginny later.

Ginny and Hermione ordered clam chowder in a bread bowl to share, Mr. Weasley had a smoked ham sandwich, and Harry and Ron tried out the chili.

After finishing their meal, Ginny led them to the queue for the Haunted Mansion. After convincing Mrs. Weasley that it was a sit-down ride, all four Weasleys, Harry and Hermione entered the queue.

The queue was fairly long, although it moved quickly. It wound through a graveyard and the tombstones had whimsical inscriptions engraved on them. Hermione told the group that all the names on the tombstones were names of the people who had built the ride.

They went inside the 19^th century-style mansion and were herded into a large, round room, lit by lanterns, with portraits on the walls. Mrs. Weasley stood near the wall with Hermione and Ginny, while the boys opted to remain in the middle. The doors closed, and the floor began to drop. The portraits stretched, the lamps flickered and an eerie voice narrated. "There are no windows, and no doors," the narrator said. "But there is always my way out!" The lights went out (Hermione screamed and grabbed Ginny's hand) and a projection of a hanged man appeared on the ceiling. A door opened, and they were escorted into a hallway.

Harry, Ron and Mr. Weasley struggled to find the girls but caught up with them just in time to board the ride. Harry wound up sitting in the "Doom Buggy" between Ron and Hermione. Ginny was between her parents in the buggy behind Harry's. The buggies moved steadily out of the boarding area and into the ride.

There were ghosts dancing and floating everywhere (999, Hermione later informed them), a woman's head floating in a crystal ball ("can we do that to Trelawney?" Ron asked), a dead bride, a self-knocking door knocker ("we should tell Fred and George about that," Harry said) and singing statues. After about eight minutes, their buggy reached a "dead end", and they unloaded. Mr. Weasley, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley got off right after them. They exited the mansion and started walking to Fantasyland.

"Where are we now?" Ron asked as they waked under a bridge. The buildings were now bright and colorful, with a fairytale ambiance in the air.

"Fantasyland," Hermione answered. "And we're going to ride 'it's a small world' right now."

"What?" Ron asked. "The world's not small. If it was, it wouldn't have taken 6 hours to fly here."

Hermione shook her head. "It's a metaphor. The ride is designed to teach kids tolerance."

"How?" Ron asked under his breath. "By giving them incorrect measurements of the globe?" Harry laughed and Hermione glared at them as they stepped into the queue. A few minutes later, they were at the head of the queue when Harry spotted a familiar, blond-haired head getting off the ride.

He nudged Ron and pointed. "Is that Malfoy?"

Ron and Hermione whipped around. "What?" Hermione exclaimed. "Malfoy can't be here!" Ron said. "He's too evil for Disney!"

"I dunno," Harry said as he stepped into their boat. "It looked like him..." He soon forgot about the Malfoy-look-alike, however. As soon as the boat had started moving, his head was plagued with an annoying, repetitive song... "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears..." sung over a dozen times in as many languages. Hermione and Ginny, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, seemed to be enjoying the ride, but Ron's face was displaying a look of disgust mixed with annoyance, that Harry was sure was on his own. When the ride was over, Harry and Ron got out of the boat so quickly it almost flipped over.

"Well, thank God that's over," Ron said. "If I hear that song one more time, there will be pavement pizza all over the ground behind that castle."

"It's a small world after all," Hermione began singing. Ron clamped his hands over his ears.

"No! Anything but that!" he cried. Harry and Ginny started laughing. Hermione teased Ron until they entered the queue for Mickey's PhilharMagic. They were in a large room with music notes on the carpeting, and movie poster on the walls. A cast member handed them plastic, yellow sunglasses. Ron put his on. "What are these for?"

"I think they're 3-D glasses," Hermione said, examining hers.

Soon, four large doors opened, and they were ushered into a large theatre with red seats. There was a large movie screen hidden by red curtains on one wall. Another wall had one window covered by a curtain, and another through which a movie projector could be seen. The other two walls were covered with blue carpeting, matching the carpet on the floor.

Once the theatre was mostly full, the doors closed and the lights dimmed. A voice came from the back wall. Harry turned around and saw Donald Duck and Goofy looking out the window that had been covered with the curtain. Goofy was telling the audience to put on their "opera glasses". Harry put on his 3-D glasses on over his regular glasses and turned to face the movie screen. Music started as the curtains opened. The words "Mickey's PhilharMagic" appeared on the screen, and popped out into Harry's face, thanks to his 3-D glasses.

The show was about ten minutes long. It featured Donald, chasing Mickey's magic sorcerer's hat through scenes from popular Disney movies, such as Beauty and the Beast, Peter Pan, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and, of course, Fantasia. When the show ended, Harry gratefully took off his 3-D glasses (they had made him a bit dizzy) but he joined in the praising of the special effects.

"I especially liked the part with Peter Pan," Hermione said. "Flying over London like that...that would be brilliant."

"It is," Harry said. "Remember before our fifth year, when we spent the summer at Grimmauld Place?" Hermione and Ron nodded. "I got there by flying. It was cold." He shuddered, remembering the freezing night air.

"Kids," Mr. Weasley said, turning around. "Your mother and I are going to buy some snack while you ride your next ride. What would you like?"

"Candy floss," Ginny immediately replied.

"Something edible," Ron said. "I'm starving."

"I'm not hungry," said Hermione. "I'll be fine."

"Er, I think I'd like to try a churro, actually," Harry told Mr. Weasley.

"What are you riding next?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
"I wanted to try the Mad Tea Party," Ginny answered.

"Then we'll meet you at the exit," Mr. Weasley said. He and Mrs. Weasley

waved to the kids and headed off to find snack carts with candy floss and churros. Ginny led Hermione, Ron and Harry into the queue for the Mad Tea Party. "As long as I don't have to read the leaves," Ron said.

The line was surprisingly short, and it was less than ten minutes later that the four were climbing into their giant teacup. A cast member came by and locked the door. Harry stared at the steering wheel. "What does this ride do?"

"You use the steering wheel to make the cup spin until you feel queasy," Hermione replied, grabbing onto the wheel, as the floor beneath them began to spin in two different circles. Hermione started spinning the wheel. "Come on guys, help me!" Harry, Ginny and Ron grabbed the wheel, and the four spun their teacup so fast everything around them became blurry.

Two minutes later, the ride began to slow down. It stopped, a cast member unlocked the door and Ron stepped out of the cup. "Whoa," he said, stopping so suddenly Hermione bumped into him. "I'm really dizzy now."

"Keep moving," Hermione said, pushing him forward. "We're all dizzy. I think that's what happens when you spin around as fast as possible for two minutes." The exit was crowded, and Harry accidentally bumped into somebody. "Oh, I'm sorry," he said.

"It's alright," said a familiar, drawling, almost lazy voice. Before Harry could see if it really was who he thought it was, he was gone.

"Ron," Harry whispered. "I really think Malfoy's here."

"Where?" Ron said, looking around. "I can't see him anywhere."

"I don't know, he's gone. Hello, Mr. Weasley," Harry said, gladly accepting the churro that Mr. Weasley was holding out to him. Mrs. Weasley handed Ginny a cone of candy floss, and she started eating it right away.

"I bought you popcorn, Ron," Mr. Weasley said, handing Ron a bucket of popcorn. "But I expect you to share it with everyone. I'm not sure you can eat it all by yourself."

"Are you kidding?" Hermione said. "He could eat a whole zebra."

"Fresh out of zebra," Harry said, laughing.

"Antelope?" Hermione laughed, too.

"Nope."

"Hippo?"

"Nada." Harry and Hermione cracked up. The Weasleys again looked perplexed. "It's from The Lion King."

"Hey!" Ginny tried to get everyone's attention. "Look! A race track!"

"Ooh," Hermione said. "Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. What'd you say we try our hands at driving?"

Ron and Harry looked at each other and laughed. "As long as Harry does the driving this time," Ron told Hermione, remembering the last time he had driven and crashed into a tree. They entered the queue, which was the longest yet. Harry took advantage of the time in line to look around at the surroundings.

"Let me guess, we're in Tomorrowland?" he asked.

"Yep," Hermione answered. "How'd you guess?" she asked sarcastically, looking at the silver buildings and neon lights that decorated the land. Hermione took the rest of the time in line to tell the others the history of Tomorrowland, and it's evolution from a vision of the future to Jules Verne-esque city of tomorrow. Eventually they reached the head of the queue and had to decide who to ride with: Ginny and Hermione wanted to drive by themselves, Mrs. Weasley drove Mr. Weasley and Harry drove Ron. Their small race cars drove along a guide rail at a top speed of seven miles per hour. Harry and Ron somehow had a lot of trouble keeping up with Hermione, and keeping their car from hitting the guide rail. Five minutes later, they were unloading from their cars.

As they exited the ride area and began walking toward the center of Tomorrowland, Mr. Weasley looked at his map. "What do you say we do one more ride then have dinner?"

"Sounds good to me," Ron said. Harry, Hermione and the female Weasleys also agreed.

"Who wants to take a trip into space?" Hermione asked. Everyone looked at her, puzzled. "Space Mountain," she elaborated, pointing to a steel and concrete building, looming ahead of them. "Who wants to ride it?" Ron, Harry and Mr. Weasley raised their hands.

Ginny grabbed Hermione's map and read the description of the ride. "'Zip through the blackness of space on this high-speed roller coaster adventure.' Er, no thanks. I think I'll sit this one out."

"Ah, Ginny," Ron said. "Why?"

Ginny shrugged. "I don't like roller coasters."

Ron looked incredulous. "You've only been on one!"

"Ron," Hermione said. "If she doesn't want to ride it, she doesn't have to."

Ron shrugged. "Ok. Mum, Ginny, have fun doing...whatever. We'll see you later."

"We'll be in that shop there," Mrs. Weasley pointed to a shop called Merchant of Venus. "If that's OK with you, honey," she asked Ginny. Ginny nodded and they entered the shop. The others headed over to Space Mountain.

The queue outside of the building was very short, but, on the inside, wound around many times. Ron leaned against the barrier rope. "Looks like we have awhile," he said. Ten minutes later, they had moved a bit. "How long have we been standing in line?" Ron asked.

Mr. Weasley looked at his watch. "Ten minutes."

Ron groaned. "Only ten minutes?" An hour later, they were still in line, but were a lot closer to the loading area. "Why is this line so long?" he asked.

"This line is short compared to what it normally is," Hermione said. "We're very lucky the other lines were so short."

"Short? Thee quarters of an hour in line for a five minute ride?"

"Sometimes the line for Splash Mountain is over three hours long," Hermione retorted. Ron gaped at her.

"No ride is worth a three hour wait," Harry said. A few minutes later, a cast member directed them to their "space craft". Ron sat with Hermione, and Harry and Mr. Weasley were right behind them. After their seatbelts were checked, they were cleared for "take-off" and the train started moving. They went into a small, dark tunnel, lit only by red neon lights along the side. Hermione grabbed Ron's arm. "Are you afraid of the dark?" he asked, surprised at how strong Hermione's grip was.

"Can you tell?" she asked as the train got to the top of a hill and paused. Then they plunged down a drop into further darkness. To Ron's dismay, Hermione's grip got stronger on his arm. Their train whipped around sharp turns, went down steep drops and climbed up tall hills, all in the darkness. The only lights in the room were small, dim, white lights on the ceiling and the tracks to look like stars. Harry almost lost his glasses on the final drop, and Ro felt he would have been able to enjoy the ride more if Hermione hadn't been cutting off the circulation in his arm.

After they unloaded and stepped out of their train, Ron looked at his arm (which Hermione had finally let go of.) "Blimey, Hermione, look at what you did!" he said, showing her the red marks that looked a lot like her fingers.

"Oh, Ron, I'm so sorry," she apologized. "I didn't realize it would be so dark in there!"

"Did you not read the stuff in the map?" Harry asked, smiling.

"Yes, but...I don't know," she said. "It just doesn't seem...Gryffindor...like to be afraid of the dark."

"Don't worry about it, Hermione," Mr. Weasley said. "Ron's afraid of spiders, I'm afraid of enclosed spaces, Molly's afraid of heights..."

"Bill's afraid of clowns," Ron interrupted. Hermione managed a weak smile. They were in an arcade now, and Ron was distracted by a video game called Dance, Dance Revolution. "How does this work?" he asked, stepping onto the game floor.

"You put money in it, then follow the arrows on the screen," Hermione explained. "You step on the corresponding arrow, and get points for the ones you get right."

"Wicked. Harry, want to try it, mate?" Ron asked. Harry grinned, nodded and stepped on the game floor next to Ron. Ron put some quarters into the money slot, and directions came onto the screen. Harry chose a song and the arrows started appearing.

Hermione was surprised at how well they did. (She had seen them at the Yule Ball, after all.) Ron and Harry passed the first round, but got totally lost halfway through the second round. The screen proclaimed them 'failures', and they stepped off. "That was fun," Ron said. "Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being a Muggle."

"Not if you're living with the Dursleys," Harry said.

Ron smiled. "That's right." He spotted a clock on the wall. "Oh, we should probably go find Mum and Ginny," he said. "We've been ages."

Mr. Weasley glanced at the clock, as well. "You're right. Let's go." They left the arcade and headed over to the Merchant of Venus. They met up with Mrs. Weasley and Ginny at the store entrance. Mrs. Weasley had bought a tee-shirt for her husband, and one for Ginny. "I'll let you choose your shirt, dear," she said to Hermione.

"Can we go get dinner now?" Ron asked.

"Sure, I'm ready for some food," Mrs. Weasley said.

"Can we eat at the Plaza Pavilion?" Hermione asked. "That way we can eat and watch the fireworks at the same time."

"Yes, I think that's a good idea," Mr. Weasley said. Hermione led the way out of Tomorrowland, onto Main Street, and into the Plaza Pavilion. Ron said he wanted pizza, so they ordered a large cheese pizza to share. Hermione sat at a table outside, and everyone else sat down around her. They attacked the pizza as the fireworks music started. A loud explosion got their attention, and they looked up to see a large purple firework lighting up the dark sky behind Cinderella's castle. For the next five minutes, Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys stared, enraptured, at the famous fireworks display, Ron the only one eating. After the show ended, they finished eating the pizza (at least what was left of it.)

"When does the park close?" Harry asked Hermione. She looked at her Times Guide.

"About half an hour," she answered.

"Let's go shopping!" Ginny suggested. They went back to Main Street. Mrs. Weasley, Hermione and Ginny headed to the Emporium, while the boys went to the Confectionery. Half and hour later, the six met at the entrance, and walked with the crowd to the Monorail. They rode back to their hotel, and went to bed. The next day, they would be leaving early for Animal Kingdom.