Disclaimer: I am not Timothy Zahn or J.K. Rowling.

Within the forest on the Isle of Drear, Harry awakes.

Harry. You okay, Hedwig? Hang on. I'm coming."

Harry frees Hedwig from the wrecked Cleansweep.

We'd better get moving. That other broom could be back with a ground party any time.

But as Harry and Hedwig turn around, they discover that Ginny's broom has also crashed, and is in perhaps worse shape than Harry's.

Hedwig. [whistles in awe]

Harry. Wait here, Hedwig. I'm going to take a quick look.

Harry approaches Ginny's broom, where he discovers Ginny within. After a brief hesitation, Harry decides to help her - only to find Ginny completely conscious and armed with a rifle.

Ginny. I figured you'd come. Back up. Now.

Harry backs up.

Harry. Are you hurt at all?

Ginny. None of your business.

Ginny gets off the broom.

There's a case in that compartment just over the exit hatch. Get it.

Harry retrieves a survival kit from the broom.

Harry. I hope we're not going to have to walk the whole way back.

Ginny. I won't. Whether you make the trip back at all is another question.

Harry. Finishing what you started with this?

Ginny. [snorts] Listen, buddy boy, it was you who took us down, not me. My only mistake was being stupid enough to be sitting too close to your tail when you hit the trees. Put the bag down and get that droid out of there.

As Harry does as she suggests, Ginny rifles through the survival kit.

Just stay right there. And keep your hands where I can see them.

Harry and Ginny hear the sound of an approaching broom.

Sounds like our ride back is already on the way. I want you and the droid . . .

However, upon realizing their visitor is a Ministry broom, Ginny trails off. She abruptly shuts the survival kit and turns her rifle on Harry and Hedwig.

Move. Into the trees, both of you. I said move.

Holding out the rifle, Ginny coerces Harry and Hedwig farther into the trees.

Farther in. Come on. Move it. Far enough. Hide the droid and then hit dirt.

Harry got Artoo over the root and behind a tree … and as he dropped down beside Ginny, he suddenly understood.

Looking up, Harry notices the Ministry broom.

Not a move. Not a sound.

Harry nods.

Enter the Hit Wizards, who split up and search the area.

Harry frowns.

Harry. [aside] Here is Ginny's golden opportunity to turn me over to the Ministry. And yet, here we both lay, hiding behind a tree root and trying not to breathe too loudly. Has she suddenly changed her mind? Or is it simply that she doesn't want any witnesses nearby when she kills me? In which case, my best chase may be to find some way of surrendering to the Hit Wizards. Once away from the Isle of Drear, with the Magic as my ally again, i would at least have a fighting chance. If I can just find some way to distract Ginny long enough to get rid of her rifle . . .

Ginny. [to Harry] Whatever you're thinking about trying, don't. I can easily claim you were holding me prisoner out here and that I managed to snatch the rifle away from you.

Harry gulps.

Exit the Hit Wizards.

Harry starts to rise.

Harry. Well . . .

Ginny. Quiet. They'll have left a sensor behind, just in case someone comes back.

Harry. [frowns] How do you know?

Ginny. Because that's standard Hit Wizard procedure in a case like this. Real quiet, now. We get up and grab some more distance. And keep the droid quiet, too.

Harry. What now?

Ginny. We sit down.

Harry. [nods] Thank you for not turning me in to the Hit Wizards.

Ginny. Save it. Don't worry. There wasn't anything altruistic about it. The incoming brooms must have seen us and sent a group over to investigate. Aberforth's going to have to spin them some sort of sugar story about what happened, and I can't just walk into their arms until I know what that story is.

Harry. You could call him.

Ginny. I could also call the Ministry directly and save myself some time . . . unless you don't think they've got the equipment to monitor anything I send. Now shut up. I've got work to do.

Ginny retrieves a keypad and looks through it.

Three days.

Harry. Three days to what?

Ginny. The edge of the forest. Civilization. Well, Dufftown, anyway, which is about as close as this part of the region gets to it.

Harry. And how many of us will be going there?

Ginny. [icy] That's the question, isn't it? Can you give me any reason why I should bother taking you along?

Harry. Sure. Hedwig.

Ginny. Don't be absurd. Whatever happens, the droid stays here . . . in pieces.

Harry. In pieces?

Ginny. What, you need it spelled out? The droid knows too much. We can't leave it here for the Hit Wizards to find.

Harry. Knows too much about what?

Ginny. You, of course. You, Aberforth, me . . . this whole stupid mess.

Hedwig. [moans]

Harry. She won't tell them anything.

Ginny. Not after it's in pieces, no.

Harry. We need her. You told me yourself the forest was dangerous. Hedwig has sensors that can spot predators before they get close enough to strike.

Ginny. Maybe. Maybe not. The vegetation here limits sensor ranges down to practically zero.

Harry. It'll still be better than you or I could do. And she'll also be able to watch while we're sleeping.

Ginny. [raises an eyebrow] We?

Harry. We. I don't think she'll be willing to protect you unless I'm along.

Ginny picks up her rifle.

Ginny. No good. I can get along without her. And I certainly don't need you.

Harry. Are you sure you're not letting your emotions get in the way of your judgment?

Ginny. Let me tell you something, Potter. I've wanted to kill you for a long time. I dreamed about your death every night for most of that first year. Dreamed it, plotted it. I must have run through a thousand scenarios, trying to find exactly the right way to do it. You can call it a cloud on my judgment if you want to. I'm used to it by now. It's the closest thing I've got a permanent companion.

Harry. What did I do to you?

Ginny. You destroyed my life. It's only fair that I destroy yours.

Harry. Will killing me bring your old life back?

Ginny. You know better than that. But it's still something I have to do. For myself, and for . . .

Harry. What about Aberforth?

Ginny. What about him?

Harry. I thought he still wanted me kept alive.

Ginny. [snorts] We all want things we can't have. I almost wish I could drag it out a little more. But I don't have the time to spare.

Ginny raises her rifle.

Harry. Wait a minute. You said you needed to find out what Aberforth had told the Ministry. What if I could get you a secure comm channel to him?

Ginny. [suspicious] How?

Harry. [nods at the survival kit] Does the transceiver in there have enough range to reach back to the base? I mean, without satellite boosting or anything.

Ginny. There's a sonde balloon included that can take the antenna high enough to get past most of the forest damping. But it's nondirectional, which means the Ministry and anyone else in this hemisphere will be able to listen in.

Harry. That's okay. I can encrypt it so that no one else will be able to get anything out of it. Or rather, Hedwig can.

Ginny. [smiles] Wonderful. Except for one minor detail: if the encrypt is that good, how is Aberforth supposed to decrypt it?

Harry. He won't have to. The computer in my Firebolt will do it for him.

Ginny. [smile fades] You're stalling. You can't do a counterpart encrypt between an messenger droid and a ship computer.

Harry. Why not? Hedwig's the only droid who's worked with that computer in more than five years, with close to three thousand hours of flight time. He's bound to have molded it to his own personality by now. In fact, I know he has. The ground maintenance people have to run diagnostics through him to make any sense out of them.

Ginny. I thought standard procedure was to wipe and reload droid memories every six months to keep that from happening.

Harry. I like Hedwig the way she is. And she and the Firebolt work better together this way.

Ginny. How much better?

Harry. [frowns] I don't remember the exact number. It was something like thirty percent faster than a baseline messenger/Firebolt interface. Maybe thirty-five.

Ginny. That's counterpart-level speed, all right. The Ministry could still crack it, though.

Harry. Eventually. But it would take some specialized equipment to do it. And you said yourself we'd be out of here in three days.

Ginny. Your broom's sitting all alone out in the forest. How are you going to get the message back to Aberforth?

Harry. Someone's bound to check on the broom eventually. All we have to do is dump the message into storage and leave some kind of signal flashing that it's there. You have people who know how to pull a dump, don't you?

Ginny. [glares at Harry] Any idiot knows how to pull a dump. Funny, isn't it, how this scheme just happens to require that I keep both of you alive a while longer.

Harry remains silent.

What about the droid? It will take forever to get it across this terrain.

Harry. Hedwig made it through forests before. However, I should be able to rig up a dragging frame to carry him on a travois, or something like that. If you'll give me my lightwand for a minute I can cut a couple of those branches off.

Ginny. Sit down. I'll do it.

Harry. [aside] Well, it was worth a try. [to Ginny] Those two. Be careful. Lightwands are tricky to handle.

Ginny. [sarcastic] Your concern for my welfare is touching.

Ginny ignites the lightwand and cuts two branches with ease. Then she deactivates it.

Help yourself.

Harry. Right.

Harry stares at Ginny, stunned.

You've used a lightwand before.

Ginny. [cold] Just so you know I can handle it . . . in case you should feel tempted to try and make a grab for my rifle. [glances upward] Come on. Get busy with that travois. We'll need to find some kind of clearing to put the sonde balloon up, and I want to get that done before nightfall.

Exit all.