Note: You have been forewarned. This is chapter isn't as great as the first.
Chapter Two: Beans and Crows
They stepped into the airport, feeling a bit odd in the midst of peculiar dressed muggles. Of course, this was precisely what the muggles were feeling themselves. Ginny looked over to Draco, who was making faces at the little kids running around their mothers, afraid of the strangely dressed people walking in front of them. It was quite amusing, and Ginny had to admit, she was a bit thankful for that tiny bit of absurdity.
"All right, we'll have to get tickets now..." the Minister mumbled as he led them to a desk where ladies with clean cut suits and neat hair sat.
"Hello Sir, how may I help you today?" the lady asked.
"Yes, I'd like three tickets to...umm...Yellowstone National Park?" Annoyance rushed through the Minister's mind. Where the heck was the stupid park? With a nod, which brought thankfulness rushing into the Minister, the young woman began tapping away wildly at some sort of rectangular object with buttons on it.
"Will you be paying with credit card sir?"
"Er, cash, please." He answered back somewhat awkwardly.
Giving the Minister a somewhat suspicious look the woman went back to the tapping, turning back the first time asking for passports, which the Minister had remembered they would need, and the second to hand him three tickets. Sighing, the Minister turned to the trio, who were all staring at him in amazement.
"What was that thing she was pounding on?!"
"Yellowstone National Park? We're going to a place that was named after a dirty stone?!?"
"I can't believe I was just excited about this trip..."
All in all, the Minister worried, worried about the trio. If they thought buying tickets was incredible, what would they think of other even worse situations?! Oh well, the minister thought, fate will just have to get better.
"Now, for the plan..." The minister said as he guided the group to a waiting area. Their plane wouldn't leave for another hour or so.
"Your first clue was left with the 'rules and regulations' and it's going to lead you to Yellowstone National Park, and no, Draco, it wasn't named after a...stone. I'm not sure what you'll have to do there, nothing was mentioned in the instructions, I suppose you'll just have to find a clue there. I must say, this 'game' is a bit vague; Voldemort doesn't give very accurate information, on your part. He must have spies or something..." The minister faded at the end, lost in thought.
"Um, sir? What's an airplane?" Oliver asked, the small uneasiness he had had in the car was haunting him.
"You'll find out soon enough. When the time comes for you to catch the plane, find gate 9A and walk in. I have to get going now, I wish you all the best of luck." With that, he stood and disappeared quickly in the crowd of people in the airport.
"That settles it, we're toast." Draco said, his voice full of doubt.
"Hey now, I bet it won't be THAT bad, we'll find your sister Draco." Ginny tried to make herself sound confident, so she could give a bit of encouragement, (to a Malfoy? Wow!), but the hint of uncertainty was still there.
"Let's not get so gloom, how about we go find that gate right about now?" Oliver suggested.
The trio made their way to gate 9A and walked in after handing their boarding passes to an attendant. They chose seats in the middle, even though Ginny was dieing to sit near the window to look outside, but no, they had to "stay together and give each other comfort due to being present with muggles," as Oliver stated. Then, after an attendant had come in and explained all the regular before-flight instruction, Oliver's fears became true, and nothing but torture for him. His eyes widened so big Ginny and Draco thought they could burst out of his face, which wouldn't be a pretty sight, considering all the vomit and such...oh you get the picture.
Ginny enjoyed the trip; she liked the idea of a way to fly without brooms, which she wasn't the best at riding. She became even more excited when she learned they would stop in the famous city of New York. New York was only about the only muggle city Mr. Weasley talked about. Draco for one didn't care. The thought that Ginny had tried to reassure him only made things worse.
A couple long hours later, the plane landed in New York. (The minister had given the kind of tickets that you use when you're heading to one place, but you have to change planes to get to.) This airport was even more crowded than the one in London; and loud too!
"Oh wow.." Ginny said, mouth hanging open as she stared around at the humungous building. It wasn't much bigger than Hogwarts, but it seemed to be because a lot of the open space.
"Shut your mouth Weasley, you look like a gaping idiot." Draco commented. Ginny quickly snapped her mouth shut and shot an icy glare towards Draco.
"Hey, where's Oliver? Wasn't he just here?" Ginny looked around for the tall man, but he was nowhere in sight. She almost panicked but remembered that Malfoy was there, and she certainly didn't want to look like a fool in front of him. Wait a second, scratch that, she didn't care what Malfoy thought.
"I should've known...well, we'd better go find him. You head that way, and all go over there." He pointed to different sides of the airport.
"No, we should stay together; getting separated even worse won't help." She spat and started heading toward the large crowd of people. Sighing, Draco followed, muttering to himself how much he hated Weasleys.
Ginny and Draco searched everywhere, or at least as far as they thought was everywhere. It was nearing time for them to board the plane, and they were getting anxious. Then, just as they were nearing a turn in the hall, Ginny thought she heard Oliver's voice. Ears assured, she practically ran, dragging Draco with her to a small café in the airport. Sure enough, it was Oliver.
"So then, I hit the quaffle...whaa!! Ginny what do you think you're doing?!" He yelled. Ginny had reached up and grabbed Oliver by the ear, giving him an annoyed yet amused look. Malfoy bent over laughing, (he's a bit out of character, don't you think?)
"Oliver!! We've been looking for you for ages!" Ginny gasped out, eyeing the small number of girls that had been crowding around Oliver. That's when it hit her. Oliver had been flirting!! With American girls!! She too doubled over laughing then. The crowd slowly dissipating, Ginny scolded Oliver once more, this time though, it wasn't as effective because of the smile on her face.
"You should know better then to be telling those muggles about Quidditch! You're supposed to be someone Harry looked up to, huh?"
Draco just stood there, the closest thing to a smile on his face.
"Don't you think we'd better be going now? The plane leaves in ten minutes" He drawled coolly.
"What?!" Ginny and Oliver spilled out in unison. (Spilled out??) Ginny and Oliver rushed to the gate, Draco walking steadily behind. Once on board the plane once more, Oliver had another "incident" and couple after that until they arrived at their destination.
**
They had taken a cab to the park, even though they had no idea whatsoever what to do there. By now, Oliver was sick of all the muggle transportation and vowed to stick to walking or riding a bike. The trio walked up to a booth that was surrounded by little clearing and woods on all sides, and found out that you had to pay to get in. Only thing was, they didn't have any money left.
"Ahh!! This is just great! We can't get in, we have no where to stay, I'm getting hungry, and even if we DID find a way to get in, we wouldn't know what to do!!" Ginny groaned. Her stomach was growling, and it was nearing night. She nor the others had had anything to eat since their breakfast in the morning.
"Quit your pathetic whining, Gin-Weasley. We'll find some way to get in, something to eat, and Voldemort isn't stupid, he knows exactly where we are and what we're doing right now." Malfoy said, realizing he had just stumbled over the little weasel's name, he hoped she hadn't noticed. And Ginny hadn't. She was wondering how Draco knew all this.
"Just how is it you know so much of Voldemort's power Malfoy?" She spat at him, annoyed that he had called her pathetic.
"Hey now, lets not get to each other's necks just yet!" Oliver put in, "We have to get in somehow, and then we have to find something to eat. That's the plan for now; when the time comes, we'll think of what to do about the next clue, all right?" Oliver suggested.
"Fine, lets get a move on." Ginny replied.
The trio moved on for a while, until Draco finally thought up an idea that would prove to be excellent in their situation. Without telling Ginny or Oliver, he slipped his wand out of his pocket and muttered, "Accio money". Instantly, a couple bills and some change flew into his hands out of nowhere. Then, sighing, he said to the other two,
"I think we should head back towards that booth. It's better than just wandering like this."
Seeming to take it into consideration, the two others stood for a moment looking at Draco, heading back towards the way they had come afterwards. At the booth, Ginny have Draco and expectant look as if saying, well, what now? He showed her what they'd do now. Draco walked up to the booth and handed the clerk there a bill, receiving a ticket of some kind in exchange.
"Thanks" he muttered to the lady, and walked into the park, Ginny and Oliver striding in after him.
"You had money all along and you didn't tell us!?" Oliver cried out. Draco gave him a look and replied.
"No, I used a spell to get some, that's all. It's a wonder YOU didn't think of it..."
Ginny started to giggle then, turning the corners of Draco's mouth up a tiny bit. Heading towards a small store before heading into the park itself, Ginny remarked, "You know, we should get some stuff and start hiking or something. Like going camping! This is going to be fun!"
Inside the small store, the trio split and met back at the counter where Draco paid for the items. Once outside, they began hiking to God knows where. The sun was starting to set and it was getting dark.
"We should set up camp for the night." Oliver suggested. They hiked for another couple of minutes through the woods and stopped in a small clearing. Draco started a small fire and Ginny laid out the blankets they had gotten on the ground. The night wasn't cold; it was a bit warm actually. They ate some candy bars that night, feeling too tired and lazy to cook anything. They would worry about breakfast when it came. Then, satisfied, they lay down and dozed off to sleep.
**
The next morning, the trio all woke up suddenly to a magnificent sound and water on their faces. Apparently, they had set up camp close to a small geyser, not realizing it the night before because of the darkness. It was a beautiful sight, to see water gushing out of the earth like that right when you wake up, if not a bit surprising.
"Let's make breakfast!" Ginny said cheerfully. She wasn't picturing this trip as a task or dangerous, maybe that was Voldemort's trick?
"Okay, sure, but we have a problem." Draco said, fumbling with a can of beans.
"There's some sort of force around the food!!" He said, getting anxious and VERY annoyed. "Do you think this is Voldemort's doing?!" Ginny cried out after trying to open the can for herself.
"No, I don't think he would leave dark magic out where muggles could easily get to it. Wait a second, what am I saying?!! Get that thing away!! It could be filled with dark magic!! I bet those things aren't even beans!! Get them away! Get them away!!" Oliver went on and on, getting more and more anxious every second. Ginny and Draco were feeling a bit uneasy now, so after giving each other a look, they started throwing the cans of beans away and into the geyser. Panicked, they didn't realize they were throwing out all their food and not dark magic stuff.
"Say, Oliver, what are we supposed to eat now?" Ginny asked, her stomach growling.
"I dunno," he replied, tilting his head back to look at the sky. "You, you don't suppose we could...yes...quick Draco get out your wand" He said, getting out his wand also. "I bet those crows taste just like chicken!" Draco was surprised, but he began to mutter spells along with Oliver, three crows falling out of the sky.
Ginny was a bit surprised, but she went along with the idea, and roasted the crows over the open fire they had made. It took a while, but finally they could enjoy breakfast, now brunch.
"I never thought I'd see a Malfoy eating crow in the middle of no where." Oliver commented.
"Yeah, neither did I..." Ginny said, watching for a reaction from Draco who didn't move or show any signs of acknowledging the remark. It was a weird sight, black feathers lay around the camp, the trio sitting silently eating their crow, and then suddenly the geyser erupted. The water spewed water high, and along with it, several cans of beans.
The trio looked amazed and amused, until the cans started coming down, the contents spilling out...down, down-right onto Oliver's head.
**
So what'd you think?! I know it was a bit long, and not as good as the first chapter, but I'm not as great an author as Mashaka!!
Starlight Nemesis (this chapter was written by me)
Chapter Two: Beans and Crows
They stepped into the airport, feeling a bit odd in the midst of peculiar dressed muggles. Of course, this was precisely what the muggles were feeling themselves. Ginny looked over to Draco, who was making faces at the little kids running around their mothers, afraid of the strangely dressed people walking in front of them. It was quite amusing, and Ginny had to admit, she was a bit thankful for that tiny bit of absurdity.
"All right, we'll have to get tickets now..." the Minister mumbled as he led them to a desk where ladies with clean cut suits and neat hair sat.
"Hello Sir, how may I help you today?" the lady asked.
"Yes, I'd like three tickets to...umm...Yellowstone National Park?" Annoyance rushed through the Minister's mind. Where the heck was the stupid park? With a nod, which brought thankfulness rushing into the Minister, the young woman began tapping away wildly at some sort of rectangular object with buttons on it.
"Will you be paying with credit card sir?"
"Er, cash, please." He answered back somewhat awkwardly.
Giving the Minister a somewhat suspicious look the woman went back to the tapping, turning back the first time asking for passports, which the Minister had remembered they would need, and the second to hand him three tickets. Sighing, the Minister turned to the trio, who were all staring at him in amazement.
"What was that thing she was pounding on?!"
"Yellowstone National Park? We're going to a place that was named after a dirty stone?!?"
"I can't believe I was just excited about this trip..."
All in all, the Minister worried, worried about the trio. If they thought buying tickets was incredible, what would they think of other even worse situations?! Oh well, the minister thought, fate will just have to get better.
"Now, for the plan..." The minister said as he guided the group to a waiting area. Their plane wouldn't leave for another hour or so.
"Your first clue was left with the 'rules and regulations' and it's going to lead you to Yellowstone National Park, and no, Draco, it wasn't named after a...stone. I'm not sure what you'll have to do there, nothing was mentioned in the instructions, I suppose you'll just have to find a clue there. I must say, this 'game' is a bit vague; Voldemort doesn't give very accurate information, on your part. He must have spies or something..." The minister faded at the end, lost in thought.
"Um, sir? What's an airplane?" Oliver asked, the small uneasiness he had had in the car was haunting him.
"You'll find out soon enough. When the time comes for you to catch the plane, find gate 9A and walk in. I have to get going now, I wish you all the best of luck." With that, he stood and disappeared quickly in the crowd of people in the airport.
"That settles it, we're toast." Draco said, his voice full of doubt.
"Hey now, I bet it won't be THAT bad, we'll find your sister Draco." Ginny tried to make herself sound confident, so she could give a bit of encouragement, (to a Malfoy? Wow!), but the hint of uncertainty was still there.
"Let's not get so gloom, how about we go find that gate right about now?" Oliver suggested.
The trio made their way to gate 9A and walked in after handing their boarding passes to an attendant. They chose seats in the middle, even though Ginny was dieing to sit near the window to look outside, but no, they had to "stay together and give each other comfort due to being present with muggles," as Oliver stated. Then, after an attendant had come in and explained all the regular before-flight instruction, Oliver's fears became true, and nothing but torture for him. His eyes widened so big Ginny and Draco thought they could burst out of his face, which wouldn't be a pretty sight, considering all the vomit and such...oh you get the picture.
Ginny enjoyed the trip; she liked the idea of a way to fly without brooms, which she wasn't the best at riding. She became even more excited when she learned they would stop in the famous city of New York. New York was only about the only muggle city Mr. Weasley talked about. Draco for one didn't care. The thought that Ginny had tried to reassure him only made things worse.
A couple long hours later, the plane landed in New York. (The minister had given the kind of tickets that you use when you're heading to one place, but you have to change planes to get to.) This airport was even more crowded than the one in London; and loud too!
"Oh wow.." Ginny said, mouth hanging open as she stared around at the humungous building. It wasn't much bigger than Hogwarts, but it seemed to be because a lot of the open space.
"Shut your mouth Weasley, you look like a gaping idiot." Draco commented. Ginny quickly snapped her mouth shut and shot an icy glare towards Draco.
"Hey, where's Oliver? Wasn't he just here?" Ginny looked around for the tall man, but he was nowhere in sight. She almost panicked but remembered that Malfoy was there, and she certainly didn't want to look like a fool in front of him. Wait a second, scratch that, she didn't care what Malfoy thought.
"I should've known...well, we'd better go find him. You head that way, and all go over there." He pointed to different sides of the airport.
"No, we should stay together; getting separated even worse won't help." She spat and started heading toward the large crowd of people. Sighing, Draco followed, muttering to himself how much he hated Weasleys.
Ginny and Draco searched everywhere, or at least as far as they thought was everywhere. It was nearing time for them to board the plane, and they were getting anxious. Then, just as they were nearing a turn in the hall, Ginny thought she heard Oliver's voice. Ears assured, she practically ran, dragging Draco with her to a small café in the airport. Sure enough, it was Oliver.
"So then, I hit the quaffle...whaa!! Ginny what do you think you're doing?!" He yelled. Ginny had reached up and grabbed Oliver by the ear, giving him an annoyed yet amused look. Malfoy bent over laughing, (he's a bit out of character, don't you think?)
"Oliver!! We've been looking for you for ages!" Ginny gasped out, eyeing the small number of girls that had been crowding around Oliver. That's when it hit her. Oliver had been flirting!! With American girls!! She too doubled over laughing then. The crowd slowly dissipating, Ginny scolded Oliver once more, this time though, it wasn't as effective because of the smile on her face.
"You should know better then to be telling those muggles about Quidditch! You're supposed to be someone Harry looked up to, huh?"
Draco just stood there, the closest thing to a smile on his face.
"Don't you think we'd better be going now? The plane leaves in ten minutes" He drawled coolly.
"What?!" Ginny and Oliver spilled out in unison. (Spilled out??) Ginny and Oliver rushed to the gate, Draco walking steadily behind. Once on board the plane once more, Oliver had another "incident" and couple after that until they arrived at their destination.
**
They had taken a cab to the park, even though they had no idea whatsoever what to do there. By now, Oliver was sick of all the muggle transportation and vowed to stick to walking or riding a bike. The trio walked up to a booth that was surrounded by little clearing and woods on all sides, and found out that you had to pay to get in. Only thing was, they didn't have any money left.
"Ahh!! This is just great! We can't get in, we have no where to stay, I'm getting hungry, and even if we DID find a way to get in, we wouldn't know what to do!!" Ginny groaned. Her stomach was growling, and it was nearing night. She nor the others had had anything to eat since their breakfast in the morning.
"Quit your pathetic whining, Gin-Weasley. We'll find some way to get in, something to eat, and Voldemort isn't stupid, he knows exactly where we are and what we're doing right now." Malfoy said, realizing he had just stumbled over the little weasel's name, he hoped she hadn't noticed. And Ginny hadn't. She was wondering how Draco knew all this.
"Just how is it you know so much of Voldemort's power Malfoy?" She spat at him, annoyed that he had called her pathetic.
"Hey now, lets not get to each other's necks just yet!" Oliver put in, "We have to get in somehow, and then we have to find something to eat. That's the plan for now; when the time comes, we'll think of what to do about the next clue, all right?" Oliver suggested.
"Fine, lets get a move on." Ginny replied.
The trio moved on for a while, until Draco finally thought up an idea that would prove to be excellent in their situation. Without telling Ginny or Oliver, he slipped his wand out of his pocket and muttered, "Accio money". Instantly, a couple bills and some change flew into his hands out of nowhere. Then, sighing, he said to the other two,
"I think we should head back towards that booth. It's better than just wandering like this."
Seeming to take it into consideration, the two others stood for a moment looking at Draco, heading back towards the way they had come afterwards. At the booth, Ginny have Draco and expectant look as if saying, well, what now? He showed her what they'd do now. Draco walked up to the booth and handed the clerk there a bill, receiving a ticket of some kind in exchange.
"Thanks" he muttered to the lady, and walked into the park, Ginny and Oliver striding in after him.
"You had money all along and you didn't tell us!?" Oliver cried out. Draco gave him a look and replied.
"No, I used a spell to get some, that's all. It's a wonder YOU didn't think of it..."
Ginny started to giggle then, turning the corners of Draco's mouth up a tiny bit. Heading towards a small store before heading into the park itself, Ginny remarked, "You know, we should get some stuff and start hiking or something. Like going camping! This is going to be fun!"
Inside the small store, the trio split and met back at the counter where Draco paid for the items. Once outside, they began hiking to God knows where. The sun was starting to set and it was getting dark.
"We should set up camp for the night." Oliver suggested. They hiked for another couple of minutes through the woods and stopped in a small clearing. Draco started a small fire and Ginny laid out the blankets they had gotten on the ground. The night wasn't cold; it was a bit warm actually. They ate some candy bars that night, feeling too tired and lazy to cook anything. They would worry about breakfast when it came. Then, satisfied, they lay down and dozed off to sleep.
**
The next morning, the trio all woke up suddenly to a magnificent sound and water on their faces. Apparently, they had set up camp close to a small geyser, not realizing it the night before because of the darkness. It was a beautiful sight, to see water gushing out of the earth like that right when you wake up, if not a bit surprising.
"Let's make breakfast!" Ginny said cheerfully. She wasn't picturing this trip as a task or dangerous, maybe that was Voldemort's trick?
"Okay, sure, but we have a problem." Draco said, fumbling with a can of beans.
"There's some sort of force around the food!!" He said, getting anxious and VERY annoyed. "Do you think this is Voldemort's doing?!" Ginny cried out after trying to open the can for herself.
"No, I don't think he would leave dark magic out where muggles could easily get to it. Wait a second, what am I saying?!! Get that thing away!! It could be filled with dark magic!! I bet those things aren't even beans!! Get them away! Get them away!!" Oliver went on and on, getting more and more anxious every second. Ginny and Draco were feeling a bit uneasy now, so after giving each other a look, they started throwing the cans of beans away and into the geyser. Panicked, they didn't realize they were throwing out all their food and not dark magic stuff.
"Say, Oliver, what are we supposed to eat now?" Ginny asked, her stomach growling.
"I dunno," he replied, tilting his head back to look at the sky. "You, you don't suppose we could...yes...quick Draco get out your wand" He said, getting out his wand also. "I bet those crows taste just like chicken!" Draco was surprised, but he began to mutter spells along with Oliver, three crows falling out of the sky.
Ginny was a bit surprised, but she went along with the idea, and roasted the crows over the open fire they had made. It took a while, but finally they could enjoy breakfast, now brunch.
"I never thought I'd see a Malfoy eating crow in the middle of no where." Oliver commented.
"Yeah, neither did I..." Ginny said, watching for a reaction from Draco who didn't move or show any signs of acknowledging the remark. It was a weird sight, black feathers lay around the camp, the trio sitting silently eating their crow, and then suddenly the geyser erupted. The water spewed water high, and along with it, several cans of beans.
The trio looked amazed and amused, until the cans started coming down, the contents spilling out...down, down-right onto Oliver's head.
**
So what'd you think?! I know it was a bit long, and not as good as the first chapter, but I'm not as great an author as Mashaka!!
Starlight Nemesis (this chapter was written by me)
