MY SWEET CASSABANANA

Chapter 6


Alright so their plan was to get her to the Ministry, where they would meet up with Malfoy, board the portkey to Italy and then he'd just wait around for Malfoy to dump her. It was only a matter of time before he did; he was just that type of bloke

They reappeared in an abandon alley just a block away from the entrance that Malfoy had instructed him to use. He and Pansy made a mad dash pass a muggle newspaper stand and then straight out into the London traffic. Squinting into the brightness of the morning sun, Harry spotted the bold red color of the phone booth. Pansy was getting really upset; she didn't understand why Harry felt they had to use this particular entrance into the Ministry.

A breeze molded the dress she was wearing to her legs; he caught his breath in appreciation. At that moment he hated Draco for setting her up like this. Harry took his advice and purchased an entire new wardrobe of designer clothes. After today this was supposed to be his big breaking moment of making this Pansy Parkinson his forever. He even got a haircut. He couldn't blame her for not paying any attention to a guy like him, when a guy like Malfoy showed up. And he couldn't blame her for missing the flaws in Malfoy's character, either. For all he knew Pansy had flaws in her character, flaws that he was just too befuddled with lust to notice.

"Hey, We're here." He said as they descend downward in the booth and the clear view of the Ministry Atrium came into view. He flashed her a smile that read everything was going to be just fine.

Pansy was beginning to feel a bit nervous. "Where is he?" she asked Harry and released his hand. She stepped out of the doorway and ran into the center of the Atrium. "He should be here."

Ten minutes later. . .

The two of them found their way to the sixth level of the Ministry, it was the only idea Harry could come up with at the time. "Goodmorning, sir." said a young woman standing behind the counter as they entered the office. "Welcome to the Department of Magical Transportation, how can I help you?"

They were both looking over their watches. Everything was set as planned neither of them were late. "Yes, we were schedule for a port out with a Mr. Draco Malfoy."

"At this porting station sir?"

"Well yes, this porting station, well, I suppose so. How many are there?"

"thirteen sir!"

"You dumbass!" Pansy fumed at him.

"Alright, alright. Yes, yes ma'am this porting station."

"Are you certain sir?"

"Just check your bloody charts or schedules or whatever you have there would you. . . .Just do your job!"

The woman gave him a snappy look. The minutes hung like hours as the clerk left the counter to check the time and schedule of their port.

"The Porting call for this departure was announce ten minutes ago sir." She said and Harry's blood started to boil. She seemed almost delighted to be telling him that.

"Ten minutes but we've been standing her for ten minutes!" he shouted, and then he glanced around in the area to where Pansy had gone too. "Pansy, What have you done with your suitcase?" he asked, then immediately turned his attention back to the lady at the counter. "Ma'am, would you mind checking again. You've seen us; we've been standing here for every bit of ten minutes."

"I understand that sir. The port for a Mr. Malfoy was scheduled to depart at eight'o clock this morning." She pulled out a blue brochure of some type and pushed it out onto the counter for Harry to take. "However, it clearly states that all parties are expected to arrive at their porting station fifteen minutes prior to departure sir. I'm sorry but that scheduled port out has already been taken."

"On whose instruction?"

"Harry!" Pansy came up beside him and called his name.

"I'm not sure sir; if you wish to file a complaint please see the desk clerk around the corner at office marked number twenty-nine. I'm just doing my job" she cracked a smile, then lowered it twice as fast.

"Harry!" Pansy voice called him again.

"Look I'm sorry if I seemed rude earlier, I don't wish to file a complaint with anyone, can we simply schedule for a new portkey to that exact destination. How long will it take?"

The woman eyed him and then flipped through several pages on her clipboard. "To schedule a port for two to Italy, exact location. . .well it appears it was scheduled for a hotel privacy suite. Let's see. . .that will be twenty-three hours from now, give or take a few based on approval, possible cancellation due to weather and trafficking and priority take-offs."

"HARRY POTTER!" Pansy looked a downright pale. No in fact she looked scared to death. Maybe it was just her nerves building. He considered offering her a chance to sit down and calm herself while he got everything sorted out. He couldn't mess up this one chance with her. It may have been a crappy idea to begin with but so far it had been his only shot at getting close to her.

"What is it Pansy?"

She stomped her heel into the floor."Someone has stolen my suitcase! And you've already proven how great a job you can do at ruining my life for me, let's just go." She turned and started headed along the marbled hallway that led to the exit door of the porting office.

Now he felt heat sliding down his spine "How?" He blurted aloud. He was pretty sure that he could pull a few strings in no time to get them there. Desperation wasn't in the cards but at this moment he could tell from the look on her face that he was blowing his chances with her big time."Look all I need to do—"

"No. All you need to do Harry Potter is too think of a way to get me there quickly! Not in twenty-three hours, not in twenty, not even in ten." She scowled at him and continued walking towards the door. If he ever thought anyone or anything was particularly sexy at their maddest it was her, but she hadn't spared him even a second to live in the moment. She was already heading out of the door. He had to think fast.

"I can do it in one hour."

"That's even better!" she said, stopping again to turn on her heels and face him. He got a clear view of something he knew had to be a figment of his imagination. Was Pansy wearing glasses?


She didn't spare him a moment of sympathy as he raced along the back roads of London as fast as his BMW Z3 would allow them to go. Dudley had talked him into buying it a year ago to please his Aunt and Uncle. It wasn't the latest line of sports cars but it came in useful whenever he wanted to pay his family a visit during the holidays. Aunt Petunia and his Uncle Vernon still didn't take well to him just popping in without a solid reason as how he got there, and a broom wasn't considered as solid transportation. He was still forbidden to perform magic whenever they or his cousin Dudley were around, although Dudley was a bit more forgiving of it now.

And this entire arrangement of past events he had to explain to one highly upset Misses Parkinson as they raced along the country roads. Harry tried not to think poorly of her for taking that kind of crap from Malfoy, but he couldn't help being a little disenchanted with her. If it had been his call he would have never taken the port without her by his side. Oh well, he needed to squeeze whatever enjoyment he could from this short amount of time he had with her.


They were speeding past a wide open plain surrounded by a fence that stretched for miles, as a plane taxied down a runway and took off over head, its belly came into clear view. Harry was driving faster than he'd ever driven before in his life and with the top to his car down. Pansy voice rose above the roar of the jet overhead; screaming so loud that he nearly curved off the road. Harry looked up, and sure enough a private jet was screaming past them in the sky. He'd been so engrossed into telling her about his Aunt and Uncle, and their being the main reason for him owning a muggle car, that he forgotten to mention that his cousin was a pilot and that they were about to board a plane straight to Italy.

They had finally made it and his cousin greeted them in the lobby. Dudley was a great deal taller, his chest was thick and broad like his fathers and he was dresses in his full pilot's uniform. Black trousers, white shirt, black coat with yellow shoulder marks and patent-leather black shoes.

"Thanks Dudley I really owe you one." Harry said as he shook his cousin's hand.

"Don't mention it Harry, now we're even right?" He gave Harry a strong, friendly pat on the back. "Would love to take you two myself. If I'd have gotten your call only a few hours earlier. . . . but Jackson is a great airmens been with the company for years, and did I mention that today is his anniversary with us? Fifty-five years and counting." Dudley stopped talking and looked at the woman walking beside Harry. "Have you ever flown in a private plane before?"

Pansy shook her head.

"Well, it's like I was telling Harry here, you'll be fine. Jackson is a really good pilot." The words tasted like garbage in his mouth, but he made himself say them, so she wouldn't be so scared. Besides He owed Harry this favor for saving their lives and Jackson was a good pilot from everything he had heard of. In his younger days with the company, Jackson was A1. The guy might have a knack of blacking out at a certain altitude now, but it didn't mean he couldn't get the job done, and besides, word has it that the company Doc., upped his dosage in heart medication recently so now he was a lot better at staying conscious during full flights. "You'll be in Italy before you know it."


A gray haired seventy-year old man greeted them outback. He had a slump in his back and he looked every bit of his years "All righty then. Let's get her cracking. So you're cousin to Pilot Dursley is that so son?"

"Yes, My name is Harry Potter and this lovely lady with me is Miss Pansy Parkinson."

"All righty, all righty then, my boy, me oh my don't you two make a good pair. Dursley tells me she's not used to flying. No problemo, Harry you take the copilot's seat and Miss Parkinson here can sit behind us."

"Okay!" Harry clapped his hands together and felt excited almost immediately, he'd been on a few flying expedition with his cousin. Dudley had even gave him a beginner's course once before, so he wasn't about to turn down a chance to be in front where the action was. He'd love to take a crack at flying the thing, plus it was likely to earn him a few cool points with Pansy watching him in action.

Pansy looked a little pale as she climbed the small ramp and walked into the plane. Harry starting thinking that she must really want this overnight experience with Malfoy if she was this afraid of a muggle airplane.

He followed her, helped her into her seat and gave her an encouraging smile before heading back to the copilot's seat. He considered offering to sit in back with her and help to calm her fears, but then he remember what Malfoy said about getting too emotional with her before the big dump. Malfoy was the only reason she was attempting any of this at all, so he thought better of it and left her alone.


The plane took off.

"Er, Harry what's these things in the seat next to me?"

Harry turned around to look, and sure enough there were three white bundles with red and black labels on the seat next to her. "They're what muggles call parachutes."

"What's a pair of shootes?" she asked.

"What's a muggle?" asked Jackson.

They both looked in his direction.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head sweetie; those parachutes are just in case." Jackson said. Then he picked up his earpiece and started talking to the tower.

Harry thought it was kind of weird to have a bundle of parachutes sitting there like that, and it wasn't making things any easier if he had to explain to her what they were and why they had to have them. She refocused her glasses and her eyes grew wide with fear as she began to read the precautionary warnings label on one of the parachutes.

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!

THIS IS A HIGH PERFORMANCE PARACHUTE. EVEN NORMAL USE MAY RESULT IN SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH.

TRAINING AND/OR EXPERIENCE ARE REQUIRED TO LOWER THE RISK OF SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH!

LOWER THE RISK OF DEATH, SERIOUS INJURY, CANOPY DAMAGE AND HARD OPENINGS BY NEVER EXCEEDING

THE LIMITS SHOWN ON THE WARNING LABEL.

READ AND COMPLY

ALL MANUFACTURER'S MANUALS, RECOMMENDATIONS. PROCEDURES.

PLACARDS AND LIMITATIONS.

PARACHUTE SYSTEMS SOMETIMES FAIL TO OPERATE CORRECTLY, EVEN

WHEN PROPERLY MANUFACTURED, ASSEMBLED, PACKED AND OPERATED.

YOU RISK SERIOUS INJURY AND DEATH EACH TIME YOU USE THIS SYSTEM.

TRAINING AND PROFICIENCY REQUIREMENTS:


DO NOT USE THIS PARACHUTE SYSTEM UNLESS YOU HAVE:
A. RECEIVED INSTRUCTION IN THE USE OF THIS SPECIFIC PARACHUTE

SYSTEM AND OPERATE IT WITHIN THE STUDENT OR NOVICE

LIMITATIONS LISTED BELOW:

B. PERFORMED AT LEAST 50 RAM AIR PARACHUTE JUMPS AND AT

LEAST I0 SOFT STAND UP LANDINGS, WITHIN THE TARGET AREA.

USING A CANOPY NO MORE THAN |5% LARGER THAN THIS SIZE.

C. EXPERIENCE WITH THIS EQUIPMENT AND ARE HIGHLY FAMILIAR

AND PROFICIENT WITH THE OPERATION, FLIGHT AND LANDING

CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS MODEL/SIZE PARACHUTE AND SYSTEM.

"Pansy, are you okay with this?" He turned towards her as much as his seat belt would allow.

She nodded, but she didn't look okay. She looked completely freaked out. Then she shook her head. She squeezed her eyes shut, dug her perfectly polished fingernails into the arms of the seat and held her breath.

To hell with what Malfoy said, Harry could stand seeing her like that. He reached out to her. "Here hold my hand."

Her eyes popped and she stared at his outstretched hand. Then she leaned forward and grabbed it. Her hands were clammy and her nails dug into his palm.

He didn't care. He'd put up with the pain if it helped her. She needed him right now, and maybe she'd need him later, after all of this was over.

Jackson must have been aware of her distress because he lowered the altitude of the plane almost immediately. "See." Harry said then. "He has it under complete control, piece of cake."


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