Chapter 11: Flight, Part 2

Hermione looked down at her watch for a fifth time in half an hour and Harry gently caught her wrist in his clawed hand. When she whirled towards him, he whispered, "He'll be here."

She frowned at that and said, "It's weird for you to have faith in him. What with…"

"How we acted around each other. And how I thought he'd killed the old man."

"Yes."

Harry sighed, saying, "I can't bring myself to care about our petty squabbles now. My problems…our problems…are far greater than that. And he never killed the old man."

He then bared his fangs as he added, "I've got someone else to hate now."

The young woman looked sad at that and gripped his hand, causing him to smile tightly at her.

"I'm not about to go after him. You know that."

"I know. But hearing you talk about him…there's just so much hate in your voice that it scares me."

Harry frowned and said softly, "It's the same for me when you talk about him, Hermee."

"That's still a horrible nickname," she stated with a grimace.

"Oh, you know you like it," he joked back, tapping her chin with his knuckles.

She shook her head at him then jumped up from her seat on her packed trunk at the flicker of a light within the trees of the Forbidden Forest. "That's his signal!" she exclaimed, hurriedly shrinking her trunk down and tucking it into her pocket.

"Hmm," said Harry, looking around. His wolf-like ears flicked to and fro then laid back flat against his head as he let loose a low growl. "The old man's on the grounds."

Hermione hissed and peered over the brick wall that ran around the outside of tower they were in. And sure enough, standing far below them in bright green robes in the snow, was Dumbledore. McGonagall was right beside him and she turned her head slightly to spare them a glance. Harry focused on her and saw her hat dip in a brief nod before she turned back towards the old wizard.

"She gave us the nod," he said, clambering up onto the wall. "C'mon."

With a nod, she climbed up beside him, angling herself to she was sitting with her legs dangling over the outside part of the wall. Harry moved carefully around behind her and pulled her close to his chest as he wrapped his arms around her waist. His breath tickled her ear as he pressed his head against hers.

"Ready?"

"Just a minute," she replied, carefully pulling out her wand. He stiffened behind her and she felt a shudder run through his body but he didn't move away as she gave it a wave. Charm done, she tucked it away and nodded. "Okay."

Harry frowned and lifted her slightly, asking, "Feather light charm?"

"I thought it would help."

"It will. Now hold on."

Clamping her arms over his, she tilted her head back as he flared his wings above them. Moonlight gleamed off the feathers for a moment then they were falling and she barely held back a shriek. Harry's arms tightened about her and she just barely heard him breath, "I'll never drop you."

Those words reassured her a little but she still preferred to have the ground directly under her feet rather than far away.

Harry flapped his wings once, fighting to keep high enough that Dumbledore wouldn't see them until it was too late for him to do anything. He grunted at the strain along his back that that one motion caused and knew he still had far to go before he was doing any real flying.

There was a quick flicker of two lights within the trees and Hermione hissed, "We've been spotted!"

"Damn," snarled Harry. He quickly judged the distance between where they were and the ground that was safe, saying, "We're going to have to dive to make it in time."

"DIVE!"

"Dive."

Hermione's grip tightened on her arms and she swallowed hard before saying, "Go!"

Dark feathered wings slowly tucked together and they picked up speed, gliding downward at a much sharper angle. Harry's skin began to tingle as magic swarmed into the air about them and he spared a glance back over his shoulder.

Dumbledore had his wand in the air and was mouthing words quickly, obviously trying to get the stronger wards before they could get out. Behind him, McGonagall had her own wand in the air, doing everything she could to slow him without him knowing just as she'd told Madam Pomfrey she would.

Turning his head back around, he folded his wings more, causing the two of them to pick up even more speed. Hermione did shriek now, her fingernails digging into the flesh of his arm but he could ignore the pain screaming from his nerves. Next to the pains of the transformation he'd gone through and the pain of the spells during the years before that, it was nothing.

The magic in the air lessened then swelled in such sudden intensity that he cried out himself, all of his senses abruptly overrun by the entirety of it. Most of it had a feeling that he recognized well – after everything Dumbledore had put him through, he could have caught his magical signature from miles away. Underneath it all was another signature, one that was much cleaner that the other. Obviously McGonagall's.

Hacking, he finally tucked his wings closed and allowed their forward momentum to continue to propel them out of the wards. He felt them snap up just as his foot passed through and then there was pain as he hit the ground on his back, having rolled so he was on the bottom and Hermione on top.

They skidded along the ground until they slid sideways into a tree, which showered wet snow down onto them. Moments later they were staggering to their feet and off into the woods in the direction they'd seen the lights at, which was where Snape was supposed to be.

"Quickly!" he called as he saw them, flipping his own cloak around a shivering Hermione's shoulders. "We have to run."

"No portkey?" asked Harry as he slid his hand about Hermione's.

"I have much better," replied Snape with a small smirk. "But we must hurry!"

Hermione nodded and they were off, sloughing through the snowdrifts and continually listening for the sound of someone following them. When Harry saw Hagrid's hut flash through the trees, he asked, "Where are we going!"

"There are several well-trained rideable creatures on these grounds, Potter," replied Snape. "You've made use of them before if I don't recall correctly."

"Thestrals?" gasped Hermione before they slid to a wet halt in a small clearing. A dark, draconic head reared up at their entrance then snorted and turned back to poking into the snow in search of grass.

Snape gave a smile that was more smirk than anything and said, "Indeed. Now quickly! Grab one and hop up. Albus is no doubt right behind us!"

Harry drove forward through the snow at that, dragging Hermione with him towards the Thestrals. One of the beasts sniffed at him then made a noise that seemed to be part growl and part neigh. It thrust its head under his free hand and he grinned before releasing Hermione's hand and clambering onto it. He then reached down to her and said, "C'mon."

Hermione bit her lip then grasped his hand, climbing up onto the Thestral's back behind him with his help. As she slid her arms about his waist, his wings between her and his back, Dumbledore burst into the clearing with McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey right behind him.

Harry snarled, eyes flashing, and underneath him the Thestral reared, reacting instinctively to the anger laid deep into the sound. The young man gripped at the creature's neck then pressed his knees into its shoulder, causing it to come down on all four hooves again.

"Go, go, go!" shouted Snape as he ploughed past, heels dug into his mounts sides.

Dumbledore shouted something and Harry let loose a howl full of rage that sent the Thestral charging forward towards him. It came up short before it struck the old wizard full on and spun to the right, kicking up a cloud of snow as Harry turned it with his knee, sending it plunging into the woods after Snape. A spell winged after them and clipped a tree as they passed it, turning part of it into a smoldering husk.

Hermione turned slightly, drawing her wand in a fit of anger, and sent a barrage of spells back towards Dumbledore. He batted them aside easily but that left them the opening they needed and they were gone, running the two Thestral's deeper into the Forbidden Forest.

As she spun back around, she took a deep breath and released it in a short bark of laughter. Collapsing against Harry's back with her cheek resting against the soft feathers of his wings, she murmured, "We're free. Oh thank God, we're free."

She felt Harry's hand clutch at hers then she completely lost it. Since they'd found Harry and she'd gotten him back, every step of the way she'd been trying to be strong. She hadn't really let herself cry any of the times that she had wanted to.

Now all those tears came in a torrent and Hermione cried into the dark glossy wings, staining the feathers with her tears. And all the while Harry clutched at her hand, keeping her anchored through her tears, until she finally ran out and fell asleep against his back.