Racing with the Enemy

Official disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter series or The Amazing Race.

A/N: The Amazing Race is used merely as a plot; any of the rules from the program are subjected to change by the authoress (me).

Chapter Eight – Boarding the Plane

"Ergh," Ron said groggily as he stood by the door in the Entrance Hall at 6:15am in the morning. "Hermione, tell me again why exactly we are half an hour early. Not even Dumbledore is here yet!"

"Hmph. It's not my fault that my alarm clock was twenty minutes"

"Well, why on earth was it twenty minutes fast?"

At this, Hermione began to blush. "I uh… thought it would be a good idea to wake up earlier… but I forgot that it was fast this morning, so I thought we were going to be late."

"What about your watch then?" Ron demanded, spying it on her wrist.

"Oh, the battery's run out; I just put it on because I'm used to doing so."

Since Ron was rather annoyed at being up at this hour of the day, and was still only half awake, he didn't ask what a battery was. All he could muster was a half audible groan, before slumping down on the cool, stone ground, next to a snoozing Harry.

Fifteen minutes later (according to Harry's running watch), Professor Snape arrived, yawning widely and showing off his brilliant yellow teeth.

By that time, Harry had just woken up, but the odour that emitted from the Professor's mouth was enough to awaken the dead, let alone him.

"Hermione, what is that awful smell?" Harry asked, sitting up straight.

Hermione gave a nervous chuckle. "Hehe, well…" she looked uncertainly over at the Professor, who was still yawning largely.

A look of understanding dawned over Harry's face. "Oh, I see," he said with a grin. He looked down at Ron, who was still snoring away peacefully, unaffected by the invasion of rotting smelling eggs. "I should wake him, shouldn't I?" Harry mused aloud.

Hermione merely gave him a shrug before turning her attention to more important things, such as the arrival of the carriages with no Headmaster appearing.

20 minutes later… (ten minutes until 7am)

Hermione almost fainted with relief when she saw the long white beard of the Headmaster's appear around the corner. She nudged Ron and Harry, both who were trying vainly not to laugh at Snape's mouth odour, and debating as to whether they should offer him breath mints. Their train of thoughts were rudely interrupted by Hermione's frantic gestures to pay attention to Dumbledore.

"Ah, here we all are. I was presuming that you three may have already arrived." Dumbledore smiled at Hermione. "I had a little trouble rousing the rest of the students up," Dumbledore said, indicating to the ragged group of students behind him. Turning to the group, he called, "Shall we move on now? Up into the carriages; they'll take us to Hogsmeade Station."

As every moved to clamber into a carriage, Dumbledore drew Hermione, Ron and Harry aside. "Now, I know the three of you have been through a lot, so I hope you will use the opportunity to really relax and enjoy yourselves. Especially you, Harry. Please try to keep house rivalry outside of this race."

0o0o0o

"Are we there yet?" Ron groaned miserably, "I'm hungry."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "You'll be able to buy food at the airport."

"Really? I thought there was only those air-plane thingies there."

"Right…"

Two minutes later

"Are we there yet?"

Hermione sighed. This was going to be a long trip. "Ok Ron. I have a question for you. Just to ease your boredom a little. A professor prepared a paper for his class with the following question: 'What is the definition of ignorance and apathy?' He had to award the highest mark to a seven word answer written by one of his laziest students. So, what was the answer the student wrote?"

Ron's face changed from boredom to confusion. "Um…"

Harry piped up. "I know, I know! Wait, I'll let Ron figure this out for himself." He turned away with an evil grin on his face. Whispering to Hermione he asked, "So, what's the answer?"

Hermione gave him a dirty look. "Figure it out yourself, genius."

The rest of the train trip was silent, unless one counted the grunts emitted from Ron's mouth in an attempt to figure out the answer to the question.

0o0o0o

"Harry, Ron, wake up! We're at the airport!" Hermione cried excitedly. Really, she thought, how can they sleep so much? It's not like they didn't sleep enough when we were waiting for Dumbledore to arrive.

"Come on Harry, get up," Ron said sleepily, "We're finally there."

The speaker crackled and Dumbledore's voice was heard. "All students please stay in your seats. To avoid confusion ensuing in the airport, we will first pair you up with your partners. On a side note, there has been a slight change with the transport of aeroplanes. You will find out when you board. For the mean time, please listen as I allocate you to your carriages."

Ten minutes later, Hermione found herself alone in Carriage E, waiting for Blaise to appear. Nervously, she glanced at her watch. The train had gradually emptied as the other students found their partners and walked into the airport. Not knowing Blaise all that well, she wasn't sure what to expect from him.

About to give up on waiting, Blaise finally appeared. Hermione sent him a glare and walked in front, leading the way into the airport. All Blaise did was shrug. After all, he had waited for her to come in Carriage T and went looking for her when she didn't appear. And now she had the nerve to be annoyed at him.

0o0o0o

Airport, Exit 9 – One hour until boarding

"Students, please settle down. We are now going to attach the camera devices onto you, so that you will be under our watch 24/7. I now ask one person between each pair to come up and receive the camera. Professor Snape, if you'll help me hand out the devices."

After much confusion, each student had a camera attached to them. With only fifteen minutes until boarding time, they chattered excitedly amongst themselves.

"Hey Draco," Blaise called, "Want a Mars Bars?"

Draco looked blank. "What in Merlin's name is that?"

"It's a muggle sweet. Found it in one of those shops. It tastes pretty nice."

"Sure," Draco muttered, before grudgingly taking a bar off Blaise's stack. "Not…bad, I guess."

Blaise snickered. "That's must mean you like it, coming from you."

Draco only glared at him before grabbing another one.

All passengers in Exit 9 are able to board the plane now. Please have your passports out ready in hand.

"Er…Hermione?" Ron asked tentatively, "What are passports?"

"OH! I can't believe I forgot about that! I wonder if Dumbledore's thought of something to cover us. He can't expect everyone to have passports, only muggles have them."

"Miss Granger, it is all looked after, I have already organised for us to board." Dumbledore said softly. "Now if you would please follow me."

0o0o0o

"Wow! I can't believe this is actually so comfortable!" Harry exclaimed from his seat next to Draco. "Oh yeah, do you guys have any idea where we're actually going?"

Hermione frowned. "I don't think Dumbledore mentioned where we were supposed to go…and normally, exit signs tell you the destination."

Students of Hogwarts, this is your captain speaking. For safety reasons only, during the whole of your race will only be flying on Ministry aeroplanes. However, be aware that this is the only part of the race where you will be able to talk freely about magic. In all other places, you are asked to speak carefully, and to think before you speak. A sheet on that matter has been provided. Look through it carefully, as disqualification will result if any of actions are not undertaken. Now please, enjoy your flight.

0o0o0o

Guidelines to take not of:

Please ensure you speak carefully in public as you will be asked to go to many muggle places. The only place you are allowed to talk unguarded is on the aeroplanes. All other forms of transport will be by muggles.

When at a counter in the airport (and only at the airport), present your passport to be scanned so that you may board the especially marked planes provided to you.

Remember: GUARD YOUR TONGUES

A/N2: I apologise for the late update. I've been really busy with school work, and on top of that, I was stuck with what to write for this chapter. I know it seems a little sloppy, but I wanted to put up something, as it has been QUITE a while.