Having found a suitable spot, Hermione prepares to nap leaning against a tree alone. But she hears shouting. Banishing the urge to sleep, Hermione can make out they are yelling something about Neville being out of control and headed for the castle. A moment later Harry and Ron run by. "What's happened?" Hermione cries after them.
"Harry tried to teach Neville to fly!" Ron yells over his shoulder.
In the Ford, Tonks, her hair white, closes her eyes expecting imminent death. Cayleigh puts her hands on the dash, the whites of her eyes visible all the way around her dilated pupils. Molly tears up at the thought of her children growing up without her.
With the Ford in neutral, Ceirdwyn says a silent prayer and twists the ignition key. As the starter cranks the engine over, she tickles the accelerator a bit. The engine sputters a bit and then catches. She shifts to overdrive and gently releases the clutch. The descent slows, stops, and reverses. Ceirdwyn exhales in relief. The car levels itself and it begins to move forward.
Molly slumps as she forces her muscles relax. Realizing she isn't dead, Tonks opens her eyes and stares out at the level horizon in disbelief.
At the Burrow, Molly's indicator on the family locator shifts from "MORTAL PERIL" to "IN TRANSIT."
The second Tonks realizes she's not going to become an invisible blob of protoplasm, her fury builds toward Cayleigh. "What were you thinking?! I'm a witch. I travel by broom, floo, portkey, or apparition and even I know being invisible in muggle traffic is dangerous! It's one thing if you get yourself killed, but you could have taken us with you! I should…"
Tonks hand goes to her wand. Molly grabs Tonks' wrist. "Stop… Never punish in anger." Molly explains in a motherly tone." Ceirdwyn stays out of it. Tonks slowly takes her hand off of her wand.
As they motor down the highway approaching the exit for the smaller highway leading through Devon to Ottery St. Catchpole. As the bike slows and becomes quieter, Ginny asks "Will you be leaving soon?"
"Do you want us to go?" Alex teases.
"No." Ginny says worried.
"We don't want the Watchers to get curious about your family and we have completed the things we came here to do. But you will see us again… this time of year…and possibly when you least expect it for the rest of your life."
Adam looks at Alexa and answers "I meant a typical non-magical human of course." He is terrified about what she will do when she learns what he is. "How about I get you some food and perhaps a butterbeer?"
"Butterbeer?"
"It is a popular drink with adult witches and wizards… It tastes a bit like butterscotch…with fizz and a foamy head." Alexa looks at him skeptically. "It is better than pumpkin juice."
"What does that taste like?"
"Well… if you managed to liquify the filling of a pumpkin pie…then slap some whipped cream on top… It has a somewhat gourd like after taste."
"Do they have anything normal?"
Adam chuckles. "Well, they do with the food, but with drink they are a bit…eccentric." Adam gets a sly grin and whispers "I do have a few bottles of St. Pauli Girl stashed in my truck."
Alexa looks at the door to Poppy's office, then back to Adam. "I'd kill for a real beer." She whispers back. Poppy comes through the door with another dose and Alexa looks shocked. "Can she hear us?"
"Well young lady, since you feel well enough to stand maybe you're are ready for the next dose." As she walks carefully carrying a cup of the cure towards the bed. She jumps as something too large for a bird bounces horizontally down the exterior of the infirmary windows. "Oh my!" Poppy exclaims.
"What was that?!" Alexa jumps. "For a second I thought it was a boy…but it couldn't be."
"I'm not sure, but I think that was Neville Longbottom."
"A Kid? We're… what…on the second or third floor?"
"Second…" Adam responds "…but they are tall floors..
"Is there a trampoline?" Alexa asks.
Adam shakes his head "I think he lost control of his broom."
"They fly? THEY FLY?!"
Adam nods. "On brooms… yeah… It looks very uncomfortable…sitting on a narrow stick…weight on the tender bits." Adam shakes his head.
The black object tumbles away from the building sort of flapping. Alexa watches in horror, now knowing that it is a young boy wearing loose fitting clothes. Reaching its apogee, the object zooms back toward the wall of the building gaining altitude as it comes. Neville manages to point the nose of the broom upwards to avoid smashing into the stone wall face first. Neville hits the building above the window, butt first legs straight up. Alexa gets a good view of the sweep of the broom against the window as it begins to drop. Neville peels off of the wall, rotating to face the building by the time he reaches lower part of the window.
Alexa eyes lock Neville's terrified eyes as he falls by the window separated from her by the glass. He claws at the panes pleading for help, but can find no purchase until he catches on the sill with his forearms. "Grab him!" Alexa gasps before he slips to continue his fall. "Oh no" Alexa coughs.
Not knowing how to get to the courtyard below. Grace goes to the window and begins looking for a latch to open it so she can jump down. "This way!" Jeanette calls to her. But Grace finds the latch, opens the window, climbs through, and drops. Jeanette runs out the door, followed by Poppy moving at a statelier pace after placing the second dose on a table next to Alexa.
Alexa stares at the vacated window, then looks to Adam. "How high?"
"About twenty feet?"
"Will she be okay?"
"Perfectly." Adam admits. "Alexa… There is something we must talk about…"
At the Burrow, Ceirdwyn brings the Ford Anglia in for a landing, making it visible herself when they get below treetop height. Arthur looks on in relief. Kyra and Michelle watch in awe of the sight.
Parking the car, Ceirdwyn is pleased to see they have arrived before Alex and Ginny. Tonks and Molly quickly exit the vehicle. A lavender haired Tonks kisses the ground as Molly goes to her husband.
Cayleigh cautiously gets out of the car, looking skeptically at the ruins of some sort of two-story pigsty before noticing Kyra and Michelle. She recognizes that they are likely Old Ones because they are armed with swords. Seeing Molly clinging to Arthur she decides that he must be her husband and, therefore, a wizard. She has never met a male of the wizarding world.
"I never been so grateful to be o terra-firma and I can say, the more the firma the less the terror."
"What happened?"
"We were nearly killed."
Ceirdwyn explains "We were nearly hit while invisible in traffic, dropped her directly to overdrive and floored it, she went straight up to about 10,000 feet, it was amazing."
"That was bad enough… You tell him the rest…"
"I took it out of gear to get to a more normal altitude, and we started to descend."
"Dropped like a stoe." Molly growls.
"Technically… But then I realized the engine had stalled. You could use a better fuel pick up that will work at a steeper angle of attack and probably switch to fuel injection… It has the same issue as the Spit…"
"Tell him…" Molly interrupts.
"Well, we had about a minute before we hit. So, I just turned it off and restarted in neutral. Once she was turning over, back into overdrive and we were on our way. Easy. Probably a bit scarier if you were in the backseat with nothing to do and small objects are floating in freefall with you. Molly got nervous… I thought you people were used to flying."
"We nearly crashed onto a road in front of a line of trucks." Molly interprets for Arthur.
"Nearly' being the important word." Ceirdwyn says with a smile before adding "And it wasn't THAT close. We had at least another five to ten seconds before we had interchangeable parts."
"Well, you are safe now." Arthur comforts Molly. Seeing Cayleigh, he asks "Who is that?"
"She's the one that nearly got us killed." Molly explains.
"Not on purpose." Ceirdwyn explains. "She's a bit of a train wreck in progress."
"Why is she here? Is she one of you?"
"No."
"She doesn't look like one of us."
"Definitely not." Molly confirms. "The why… We aren't allowed to say…" Arthur is confused.
"Let's just say, she belongs to Tonks." Ceirdwyn says.
"Belongs…?" Arthur says.
Ceirdwyn nods. "Belongs."
"What is Tonks going to do with her?"
"I know what she wanted to do… I would tan her bum." Molly says with a bit of an evil grin.
