Chapter 14

"Thanks to you I'm much obliged for such a pleasant stay, but now it's time for me to go, the autumn moon lights my way."

Ramble On – Led Zeppelin

The two girls tore through the night until the large, threatening mansion was out of sight. Slowing beneath the trees, they panted heavily until they found a suitable place to stop. A tree with a great, thick trunk presented itself as the perfect post on which to lean, and the girls collapsed to the floor, giggling and breathing heavily as they adjusted so that they were sitting more comfortably.

"What were you doing up there?" Emmeline said; a frail attempt at an irritated snap that was totally abolished by her out of control laughter.

"You'll see." Morgan sighed against the tree, finally calming. For a while, the two girls caught their breath in silence interrupted only by the occasional snort or snigger at the recent memory, or the wind whistling through the branches around them, feeding them much needed air, lulling them to sleep.

"Owwww!" the two girls groaned the following morning, as bright sunshine shone into their tired eyes and welcomed them to the pain that came with sleeping propped up against a tree. Stiffly, the girls struggled to their feet and continued walking as far from the house as possible, moaning and groaning their displeasure. Emmeline knew the way to Hogwarts from her house on foot, but she knew that it would be difficult for the two of them to make the journey again, although Morgan had the advantage of magic. Still, they decided to walk until they found another place suitable to stop. That would be, somewhere with food.

"Morgan?" Emmeline inquired, part way through their long walk, "I'm curious, how did you get the key?" Morgan was a fair way ahead down the hill that they were trundling down.

"Hmm?" she said, turning back to face Emmeline. She thought that she heard a sort of put-on innocence in Morgan's sing-song voice. Emmeline did a double take, there was no way her father would leave that key unguarded, was there?

"Oh god…" she murmured audibly, "Morgan… you didn't?" though not audibly enough.

"What?!" Morgan yelled up the hill.

"Morgan… the key… my dad… you didn't?" she gabbled, finally catching up with Morgan and looking at her in horror. It took Morgan a moment to riddle out what her companion was on about. Her eyes widened and her eyebrows rose, she replied

"NO! Oh my gosh I cannot believe you're suggesting that! Why? Why on earth would I do that?!" she screeched, offended by Emmeline's very incorrect assumption, "If you must know, I waited until your parents were out of the house and told Draco that I was going to the bathroom, and I instead went and took the key from your parents' bedroom!" she was breathing loudly, but steadied herself and instead laughed Emmeline's rather rude comment off.

"I can't believe you think I'd do that!" she chuckled. Emmeline laughed as well, thinking to herself, For some reason, I do not find it so hard to believe…She shook the thought off, reminding herself that this was the girl that had saved her from imprisonment. She's also the girl who is dating your stupid brother… She shook that one off too.

Morgan turned round and put her hands on her hips, pouting.

"OK, do you have any idea where we are?"

"Nope, but is that really the idea?" mused Emmeline.

"I think it would be a good idea, even if it isn't the current one!" said an unusually sensible Morgan. Emmeline stopped next to her and took a good look around and concluded

"Nope. We're good and lost I reckon."

"Oh, well that's just bloody brilliant!" yelled Morgan, her exclamation echoing eerily in the suddenly oppressing emptiness of their surroundings. Morgan sighed a tired sigh and muttered angrily to herself while Emmeline smirked at their predicament, in fact thinking deeply of how to solve it. After a few moments puzzling, the two sighed in unison and continued walking aimlessly in the same direction they had been going the whole way.

Another hour passed wandering in this aimless manner and Morgan gasped.

"What is it? Which nail broke?" Emmeline mocked. Morgan shook her head fast, to absorbed in her plan to get the joke pointed in her direction.

"No, no! I've had an idea!" she exclaimed. Unable to stop herself, Emmeline replied

"Really? Something goes on in that head?"

"We could Apparate!" Morgan exclaimed, turning her body to face Emmeline.

"What?" Emmeline said. She had never heard of this.

"Apparate!" Morgan said, not understanding how Emmeline didn't know what this was until she realised that Emmeline had spent most of her life in a dungeon under her own house. She shuddered at the memory of the stingy little room, promptly shaking the image off and leaping into an animated description of Apparition. Morgan had only experienced sidelong Apparition a few times, but she was pretty certain that she had the idea grasped.

"So." Emmeline said, in conclusion after a long winded discussion with Morgan, "You want to take us from here to King's Cross using a spell that you have never tried yourself?"

Morgan nodded enthusiastically.

"You're insane." Emmeline said. "Although… what else are you going to do out here?"

"Exactly." Morgan said, accentuating her point with a firm crossing of her arms. Emmeline sighed, unsure, but unwilling to ramble around not knowing where she was going. "Wait. What do you mean 'you'? That should have been 'we'."

"Well, I'm not getting on that train." Emmeline said stubbornly. It was the day before the Hogwarts Express would depart from Platform 9¾ . Morgan gaped at her.

"Why? What are you going to do?" she squealed, distressed for some reason that Emmeline would not be staying with her and taking a safe route to the school.

"I don't know… and I think I'll just walk or something, much nicer way to do it." she replied, "Plus I won't have to watch you and Draco canoodle." She mumbled to herself. Morgan looked sceptical of her plan.

"You'll never get there by tomorrow." she argued.

"Actually, if I set off now, I can walk at night- I'll be fine, I enjoy it." she pointed out, interrupting an outburst from Morgan, "If I set off now, I should arrive only a little while after everyone else." She grinned, pleased with her plan.

"You'll freeze!" Morgan challenged.

"No I wont," Emmeline opened her cloak to show three more layers of clothing underneath it. Morgan racked her brains for another reason for Emmeline to stay with her, but in the silence, Emmeline bid her farewell and left her gaping in the middle of nowhere as her companion walked contentedly away. For a moment, she stood alone, knowing that it was no good to yell after Emmeline. Then after a while she shut her eyes tight and braced herself and felt the unpleasant sensation that she recognised from her previous experiences. In its duration, Morgan felt comforted by the familiar awkwardness, knowing that this meant she couldbe doing it right. After a few seconds the sensation ceased and she opened her eyes apprehensively to see a bustling train station. She blinked in a moment of shock and assessed herself. No limbs were missing. She laughed at her victory and then realised that she was alone in a nightdress in a public place… She rapidly took the long ribbon that had been holding up her hair and tied it round her waist, fashioning it as a belt. She looked down at herself deciding that that would just have to do and walked through the barrier between platforms 9 and 10; a girl in a nightdress walking through a brick barrier totally unnoticed by the muggles.