After a long climb up a twisting flight of stairs, the students found themselves at the top of the Astronomy Tower, and the sight in front of them made them rub their eyes and blink.
Around about half the circumference of the tower-top were chairs, some containing senior ministry members, and others containing students. Cornelius Fudge sat in a throne-like chair opposite the odd semi-circle of attendees to this strange meeting, and was at that moment looking pensive and wise. He had abandoned his usual pin-stripe suit and lime bowler hat for long, luxurious robes of orange and brown, and on his head he wore a finely crafted headband of gold and silver. The four students thought the whole scene was a little out of the ordinary, but stranger things than this had happened at Hogwarts, and they sat down in the empty chairs when motioned by Fudge. Harry noticed that Malfoy, Pansy, Ginny and Neville were also sitting down, looking around apprehensively.
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old," Began Fudge, standing up and spreading his arms out, obviously to welcome the strangers from distant lands who were his friends of old, thought Harry.
"You have been summoned here to discuss the threat of he-who-must-not-be-named, you will unite or you will fail."
Harry thought he was probably being a little melodramatic. I mean sure, Voldemort now had a body and he was out to wreak havoc on the world and destroy everything good, but that wasn't exactly enough to hold a council on the top of a tower on a very windy day. What about their hair? Harry couldn't speak for anyone else, but his hair was whipping all over the place, and he was sure that he would have some major knots to comb out when they got down from here.
"In the land of middle-England, legend tells of the Dark Lord, and the wand that would give him the power to enslave the world," What was Fudge rambling about? Surely this wasn't the reason they were up here instead of down in the common room playing a nice game of cards? "Lost for over thirteen years, the wand has found its way into the hands of the most unlikely person imaginable. A house elf, by the name of Hobo Staggins. Bring forth the wand, Hobo."
As Fudge spoke these words, a small creature, which Harry had not noticed before, hopped off his seat, and placed a long, dark wand on a pedestal in front of everyone. Some of the senior Ministry members gasped, and there were muffled whispers, as well as… laughing? Yes, someone was stifling a giggle. Harry looked at Hermione, who was looking at Maria next to her. Her giggles were now rather noticeable, and tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes.
"Yeah, nice one," she managed to get out, in between guffaws, "And it has written on it 'one wand to rule them all, one wand to find them, one wand to bring them all and in the darkness bind them'. Hah!" As she said this, Fudge and most of the other members of the council turned to look at her.
"You know much of the law of the wands, young one," One of the elderly council members spoke solemnly, "Therefore you will guide the wand bearer to the end of their quest." He pointed a finger at Maria ominously.
"Hold on, hold on," she put up her hands in defence 'Aha,' she thought, 'they're into role-playing. Well, not exactly my bag, but whatever floats your boat' she continued, "I'm not sure if you understand me. I have to lead some people on a quest that I don't even know how to complete. Fill me in a little please people."
The council looked at each other and mumbled, then Fudge spoke once more. "Of course, of course. The wand must be destroyed. It was forged in a fire in Dodgy Alley, and only there can it be unmade. But Dodgy Alley is a terrible place, all slimy and damp, no dry wood, and it is rather hard to light a fire there. The only way that you can light wood in Dodgy Alley is to use the Amulet of Fire. You must collect the Amulet, and then make your way to Dodgy Alley. One of you, must bear this wand." Everyone looked around at each other, decidedly worried.
"But the grimy black gates of Dodgy Alley are guarded by more than just pork." An elderly wizard wearing glow-in-the-dark armour stated morosely.
"Who will take the ring?" Asked Fudge, ignoring the statement from glowing wizard.
At once, arguments broke out among the members. Who was to take the ring? The head of the Muggle Interaction office thought that he should take the ring, and was busy trying to convince everyone that he could carry the wand in his feet, his hands having been replaced with oranges in an accident the month before. Another head of department thought that he should take it, and tried to grab it off the podium on which it stood, but was thrown away from the wand as soon as he tried to touch it.
Harry's scar suddenly burnt with a searing pain, and his face screwed up (obviously, in pain). The other students were afraid of the yelling and screaming adults, and had all huddled in a corner together to protect themselves from the paperclips that were now being hurled with great force across the tower-top.
Nobody noticed the small figure of Hobo Staggins dancing on the parapet, hopping up and down on one foot and then the other shouting, "I will take the wand, I will take the bloody wand!" in his high squeaky voice. A sudden gust of wind blew the house-elf, and he fell off of the tower, shouting all the way to the ground far below, "I will take the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand!"
Harry heard the cry from the house-elf as he fell, but he thought it was just the little voice in his head telling him what to do. 'Always the hero, aren't I?' he thought to himself, then stood up and faced the arguing wizards.
"I will take the ring. Though, I have no idea what to do." He mumbled, and the crowd turned to look at him.
"Right then," said Fudge, shaking Harry's hand warmly and placing the wand in it. "Better keep that safe for the moment, eh Harry." He clapped him jovially on the back, then went back to sitting in his chair and looking pensive.
"A fellowship must protect this wand, and make sure Harry here doesn't try to use it. Since I really can't be bothered picking, I will just say that all Hogwarts students present must go, please report to the great hall at 9am sharp tomorrow morning to await further instructions. Thank you." And with that, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Maria, Malfoy, Ginny, Neville and Pansy were thrown out of the tower by an invisible force, and the door was slammed in their faces. When Harry tentatively opened the door a few seconds later, there was not a trace remaining that a secret council had just been held there to decide the fate of the world. Well, aside from the squashed house-elf on the ground below, but that wasn't exactly, ON the tower, and nobody could prove what had happened.
The nine students made their way down the spiralling staircase and back to their respective beds, each wondering whether it was just a dream, and what would happen at 9am the next morning. All of them it is, except for Maria, who was marvelling at the depth and complexity of these wizarding role-plays. Obviously, when they did something, they did it well.
*
Harry awoke early the next morning, with Ron hurrying him to get out of bed.
"Come on Harry, our first real quest! Quickly, get up or we'll never be down there before nine!" He pulled the sheets off of Harry, but quickly put them back on when he realised Harry slept naked.
"Right then Harry, see you down in the Hall soon!" He called, backing out of the room as pink slowly spread up his neck and face.
"Right…" muttered Harry, as he got out of bed, dressed, and walked down to the Great Hall to meet the others. Everyone else was already there, apart from Maria, who appeared about ten minutes later, hurriedly apologising.
"Well, at last the fellowship is complete," spoke Fudge, back to his usual pinstriped cloak this morning, as he looked out over the faces of the teenagers. Surly expressions, yawns, grimaces, and a sneer greeted his large smile. "You have all been chosen for a reason. Do not forget that. Now, to find the Amulet of Fire, you must first pass through the Labyrinth it is kept in, and defeat the monster within. To find your way through the Labyrinth, and, more importantly, the way out again, you will need the help of it's maker. Daedalus. Now, he actually just lives inside the Dark Forest, but he hardly ever accepts visitors. Find a way to get into his house, and you will probably be able to make him tell you how to get through the Labyrinth. Follow Miss Granger, she knows where to go." With that, Cornelius Fudge swept his pinstriped cloak in front of him, tipped his lime green bowler hat to the crowd, and was gone.
"Ok everyone, I think it's this way." Hermione waved a hand in the general direction of the Dark Forest and they obediently followed her down the steps of the entrance hall and across the Hogwarts grounds.
"Don't you think it's funny," muttered Harry to Ron, "that nobody seems to disagree with going on a perilous quest to save the world. Even Malfoy, who you would think had sworn to destroy it, hasn't had a snide remark all morning."
Ron shrugged his shoulders and walked on, and was chatting merrily with Pansy Parkinson before they reached the edge of the forest. Harry also shrugged, put his hands in his pockets, and walked with the group to the forest, where the trees were growing taller and more ominous, and the shadows were more apparent with every step.
After about half an hour of weaving in between twisted trees and strange foliage, Hermione came to a halt and the group stopped behind her. She picked three round, bright blue berries off a bush to her left and threw them into a hole in the trunk of an oak tree a small way to her right.
As soon as the last berry made its way skilfully into the hole, there was a rustling in the bushes in front of them and a centaur appeared, looming over them menacingly.
"What business do you have here?" He said, trying to sound scary, although that wasn't quite possible as he looked a bit like a monkey and he looked awfully computer-generated.
"What's this dodgy CGI character doing here?" Ron muttered in an undertone.
"I dunno, I thought all the centaurs would have fled by now, but nooooo, we have to stand here and pretend they're real, AGAIN," Harry whispered back to Ron.
"We want to see Daedalus, can you please tell him Hermione is here and it's very important?" Hermione addressed the centaur as though it was as usual as eating a roast on Sunday, and Harry wondered exactly how many times she had been here before.
"Not nobody not no how," the centaur replied, pulling on green furry mittens and adjusting a tall green furry hat on his head.
Harry thought quickly. There was no way this centaur was going to let them through, so they had to find another way in. Suddenly, a plan formed in his mind, it was his most brilliant yet! Harry whispered to the others, "Run to the left when I say go," then he picked up a rock, and threw it over and away to the right of the centaur. Sure enough, it began to lumber over to where the sound had come from, Harry said "Go!" and the entire group ran to the left and down a path that Harry was sure had not been there ten seconds ago. But never mind that, his marvellous plan had worked!
Minutes later, Hermione was knocking on a great stone door and yelling "Diddy! It's me. Hermione! Let me iiiiiiiiiiiin!" It was actually quite annoying to hear her whine like that, Harry thought.
The door opened, and the group filed into a dim room, which was lit only with a few flickering candles. A dark figure sat in a chair at the far end of the room, and they anxiously began to approach it.
"No!" a voice croaked, "No closer! I'm over two bloody thousand years old, I don't want anybody seeing me!" They all stepped back a few paces, frightened by the strength of Daedalus' voice (because that was obviously who the person in the shadows was)
"So, you have come to ask how to get into the Labyrinth, I assume? Well, here is a magic ball of string, it will help you find what you are looking for." Two more of the dodgy-CGI centaurs shepherded them out of the house, but got distracted half-way through leading them back down the path and walked off, chasing a butterfly.
"That's what you get when you're part cloud, always away with the fairies," Ginny muttered.
"Part cloud?" Ron said, "Wait, I really don't want to know do I?" He shook his head and looked away.
"Exactly where is this 'Labyrinth' and how are we supposed to get to it?" drawled Malfoy, who had so far been silent.
"Easy, Malfoy, we just have to get to it, tie a bit of this magic string to the entrance, and it will do the rest."
"What about defeating the horror within, Granger? Did that little bit of information manage to slip your little mudblood mind?" He smirked, clearly impressed with his alliteration.
"No, Malfoy, it hadn't, but I thought since we have Harry here, that'll be no problem. The only problem is actually getting to the Labyrinth." Hermione looked him defiantly in the eyes.
"Where is it, Lands End?" He muttered sarcastically.
"No, it's actually in John O'Groats, but Dodgy Alley is in Lands End so we have to go there after we go to the Labyrinth." Hermione was consulting a map that Neville had just produced from inside his robes.
"Well then kiddies, we're off to see the Labyrinth, the wonderful Labyrinth of John O'Groats!" Pansy tried to sing as she skipped along the path, motioning for everyone to follow her (in the singing as well as the skipping).
"I thought it would be a little easier if we didn't use our feet, Pansy," Hermione said pointedly, and pulled out her wand. She put Neville's map on the ground and pointed her wand at it, muttering something. The map began to grow and grow, until it was the size of a medium-sized bedroom and floating at waist-height off the ground.
"A flying carpet!" Hermione gleefully proclaimed, and everyone climbed on board. Pansy looked mutinous, but stopped her humming and climbed on too.
*
Many hours later and quite a few miles north from whence they came, the Fellowship of the Wand was getting restless.
"When are we gonna get there?" whined Pansy, looking like a child who had been told she couldn't have any more sweets.
"I don't know, when ARE we going to get there, Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking up at her friend with her deep eyes, which were like pools of molten precious stones and sparkled in the light.
"Not too long, not too long," muttered Hermione, looking down at the 'carpet', which still had the map on it and also had a blinking red light that mapped their course over Britain. "We're getting close now, just have to fly over…"
At that moment, they were all distracted by a whooshing noise, and they looked up into the sky to see a blob in the sky, which was growing nearer and seemed to be heading right for them.
"We're all gonna die! Fly you fools!" Shouted Neville, and tried to run away before Ginny pulled his collar, saving him from a terrible fate by not letting him jump off the edge of the flying carpet, which was flying high in the sky, above the clouds.
"Stand back everyone!" Maria shouted, as she stood up, pulling a giant rod out from somewhere in her robes. "This is my magic rod, the dark fire will not detriment it. It is a meteor, driven by Oozera, I am going to fight it."
With that, she stood up on the carpet proudly, and held her rod high. Everyone could now see that this was indeed a meteor, a giant ball of rock and dust with something long trailing behind it.
"Begone devil! Halt! Stop!" Maria shouted, but the meteor did not stop. In fact, it drove right past the flying carpet and made a beeline for the ground, which it would surely hit within a minute or two. As it passed they could see that there was a small windscreen in the meteor, in which a manic-looking woman with dark, wild hair sat. As she passed them by in her meteor of doom, they caught a few words.
"Whip 'em good, Hajile!" she shouted maniacally, and they saw that on top of the meteor sat a small man, maybe even a boy, with bright sea-green eyes. They could also see that the long thing trailing behind the meteor was not its tail, but in fact a whip, which this 'Hajile' held in his hand. Everyone let out a sigh as the meteor passed, for they had been sure they were going to die.
Maria turned back to the group. "See, it was nothing to worry about, I told you." But, unbeknownst to her, as she said that, the end of the whip snaked up and around her ankle, pulling Maria down off the carpet and to a terrible death on the ground below. As she fell, Harry could hear her screaming and snorting, with her blonde hair whipping around her face like it was caught in a furious dust storm. Wait, thought Harry, snorting?
Around about half the circumference of the tower-top were chairs, some containing senior ministry members, and others containing students. Cornelius Fudge sat in a throne-like chair opposite the odd semi-circle of attendees to this strange meeting, and was at that moment looking pensive and wise. He had abandoned his usual pin-stripe suit and lime bowler hat for long, luxurious robes of orange and brown, and on his head he wore a finely crafted headband of gold and silver. The four students thought the whole scene was a little out of the ordinary, but stranger things than this had happened at Hogwarts, and they sat down in the empty chairs when motioned by Fudge. Harry noticed that Malfoy, Pansy, Ginny and Neville were also sitting down, looking around apprehensively.
"Strangers from distant lands, friends of old," Began Fudge, standing up and spreading his arms out, obviously to welcome the strangers from distant lands who were his friends of old, thought Harry.
"You have been summoned here to discuss the threat of he-who-must-not-be-named, you will unite or you will fail."
Harry thought he was probably being a little melodramatic. I mean sure, Voldemort now had a body and he was out to wreak havoc on the world and destroy everything good, but that wasn't exactly enough to hold a council on the top of a tower on a very windy day. What about their hair? Harry couldn't speak for anyone else, but his hair was whipping all over the place, and he was sure that he would have some major knots to comb out when they got down from here.
"In the land of middle-England, legend tells of the Dark Lord, and the wand that would give him the power to enslave the world," What was Fudge rambling about? Surely this wasn't the reason they were up here instead of down in the common room playing a nice game of cards? "Lost for over thirteen years, the wand has found its way into the hands of the most unlikely person imaginable. A house elf, by the name of Hobo Staggins. Bring forth the wand, Hobo."
As Fudge spoke these words, a small creature, which Harry had not noticed before, hopped off his seat, and placed a long, dark wand on a pedestal in front of everyone. Some of the senior Ministry members gasped, and there were muffled whispers, as well as… laughing? Yes, someone was stifling a giggle. Harry looked at Hermione, who was looking at Maria next to her. Her giggles were now rather noticeable, and tears were leaking out of the corner of her eyes.
"Yeah, nice one," she managed to get out, in between guffaws, "And it has written on it 'one wand to rule them all, one wand to find them, one wand to bring them all and in the darkness bind them'. Hah!" As she said this, Fudge and most of the other members of the council turned to look at her.
"You know much of the law of the wands, young one," One of the elderly council members spoke solemnly, "Therefore you will guide the wand bearer to the end of their quest." He pointed a finger at Maria ominously.
"Hold on, hold on," she put up her hands in defence 'Aha,' she thought, 'they're into role-playing. Well, not exactly my bag, but whatever floats your boat' she continued, "I'm not sure if you understand me. I have to lead some people on a quest that I don't even know how to complete. Fill me in a little please people."
The council looked at each other and mumbled, then Fudge spoke once more. "Of course, of course. The wand must be destroyed. It was forged in a fire in Dodgy Alley, and only there can it be unmade. But Dodgy Alley is a terrible place, all slimy and damp, no dry wood, and it is rather hard to light a fire there. The only way that you can light wood in Dodgy Alley is to use the Amulet of Fire. You must collect the Amulet, and then make your way to Dodgy Alley. One of you, must bear this wand." Everyone looked around at each other, decidedly worried.
"But the grimy black gates of Dodgy Alley are guarded by more than just pork." An elderly wizard wearing glow-in-the-dark armour stated morosely.
"Who will take the ring?" Asked Fudge, ignoring the statement from glowing wizard.
At once, arguments broke out among the members. Who was to take the ring? The head of the Muggle Interaction office thought that he should take the ring, and was busy trying to convince everyone that he could carry the wand in his feet, his hands having been replaced with oranges in an accident the month before. Another head of department thought that he should take it, and tried to grab it off the podium on which it stood, but was thrown away from the wand as soon as he tried to touch it.
Harry's scar suddenly burnt with a searing pain, and his face screwed up (obviously, in pain). The other students were afraid of the yelling and screaming adults, and had all huddled in a corner together to protect themselves from the paperclips that were now being hurled with great force across the tower-top.
Nobody noticed the small figure of Hobo Staggins dancing on the parapet, hopping up and down on one foot and then the other shouting, "I will take the wand, I will take the bloody wand!" in his high squeaky voice. A sudden gust of wind blew the house-elf, and he fell off of the tower, shouting all the way to the ground far below, "I will take the waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand!"
Harry heard the cry from the house-elf as he fell, but he thought it was just the little voice in his head telling him what to do. 'Always the hero, aren't I?' he thought to himself, then stood up and faced the arguing wizards.
"I will take the ring. Though, I have no idea what to do." He mumbled, and the crowd turned to look at him.
"Right then," said Fudge, shaking Harry's hand warmly and placing the wand in it. "Better keep that safe for the moment, eh Harry." He clapped him jovially on the back, then went back to sitting in his chair and looking pensive.
"A fellowship must protect this wand, and make sure Harry here doesn't try to use it. Since I really can't be bothered picking, I will just say that all Hogwarts students present must go, please report to the great hall at 9am sharp tomorrow morning to await further instructions. Thank you." And with that, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Maria, Malfoy, Ginny, Neville and Pansy were thrown out of the tower by an invisible force, and the door was slammed in their faces. When Harry tentatively opened the door a few seconds later, there was not a trace remaining that a secret council had just been held there to decide the fate of the world. Well, aside from the squashed house-elf on the ground below, but that wasn't exactly, ON the tower, and nobody could prove what had happened.
The nine students made their way down the spiralling staircase and back to their respective beds, each wondering whether it was just a dream, and what would happen at 9am the next morning. All of them it is, except for Maria, who was marvelling at the depth and complexity of these wizarding role-plays. Obviously, when they did something, they did it well.
*
Harry awoke early the next morning, with Ron hurrying him to get out of bed.
"Come on Harry, our first real quest! Quickly, get up or we'll never be down there before nine!" He pulled the sheets off of Harry, but quickly put them back on when he realised Harry slept naked.
"Right then Harry, see you down in the Hall soon!" He called, backing out of the room as pink slowly spread up his neck and face.
"Right…" muttered Harry, as he got out of bed, dressed, and walked down to the Great Hall to meet the others. Everyone else was already there, apart from Maria, who appeared about ten minutes later, hurriedly apologising.
"Well, at last the fellowship is complete," spoke Fudge, back to his usual pinstriped cloak this morning, as he looked out over the faces of the teenagers. Surly expressions, yawns, grimaces, and a sneer greeted his large smile. "You have all been chosen for a reason. Do not forget that. Now, to find the Amulet of Fire, you must first pass through the Labyrinth it is kept in, and defeat the monster within. To find your way through the Labyrinth, and, more importantly, the way out again, you will need the help of it's maker. Daedalus. Now, he actually just lives inside the Dark Forest, but he hardly ever accepts visitors. Find a way to get into his house, and you will probably be able to make him tell you how to get through the Labyrinth. Follow Miss Granger, she knows where to go." With that, Cornelius Fudge swept his pinstriped cloak in front of him, tipped his lime green bowler hat to the crowd, and was gone.
"Ok everyone, I think it's this way." Hermione waved a hand in the general direction of the Dark Forest and they obediently followed her down the steps of the entrance hall and across the Hogwarts grounds.
"Don't you think it's funny," muttered Harry to Ron, "that nobody seems to disagree with going on a perilous quest to save the world. Even Malfoy, who you would think had sworn to destroy it, hasn't had a snide remark all morning."
Ron shrugged his shoulders and walked on, and was chatting merrily with Pansy Parkinson before they reached the edge of the forest. Harry also shrugged, put his hands in his pockets, and walked with the group to the forest, where the trees were growing taller and more ominous, and the shadows were more apparent with every step.
After about half an hour of weaving in between twisted trees and strange foliage, Hermione came to a halt and the group stopped behind her. She picked three round, bright blue berries off a bush to her left and threw them into a hole in the trunk of an oak tree a small way to her right.
As soon as the last berry made its way skilfully into the hole, there was a rustling in the bushes in front of them and a centaur appeared, looming over them menacingly.
"What business do you have here?" He said, trying to sound scary, although that wasn't quite possible as he looked a bit like a monkey and he looked awfully computer-generated.
"What's this dodgy CGI character doing here?" Ron muttered in an undertone.
"I dunno, I thought all the centaurs would have fled by now, but nooooo, we have to stand here and pretend they're real, AGAIN," Harry whispered back to Ron.
"We want to see Daedalus, can you please tell him Hermione is here and it's very important?" Hermione addressed the centaur as though it was as usual as eating a roast on Sunday, and Harry wondered exactly how many times she had been here before.
"Not nobody not no how," the centaur replied, pulling on green furry mittens and adjusting a tall green furry hat on his head.
Harry thought quickly. There was no way this centaur was going to let them through, so they had to find another way in. Suddenly, a plan formed in his mind, it was his most brilliant yet! Harry whispered to the others, "Run to the left when I say go," then he picked up a rock, and threw it over and away to the right of the centaur. Sure enough, it began to lumber over to where the sound had come from, Harry said "Go!" and the entire group ran to the left and down a path that Harry was sure had not been there ten seconds ago. But never mind that, his marvellous plan had worked!
Minutes later, Hermione was knocking on a great stone door and yelling "Diddy! It's me. Hermione! Let me iiiiiiiiiiiin!" It was actually quite annoying to hear her whine like that, Harry thought.
The door opened, and the group filed into a dim room, which was lit only with a few flickering candles. A dark figure sat in a chair at the far end of the room, and they anxiously began to approach it.
"No!" a voice croaked, "No closer! I'm over two bloody thousand years old, I don't want anybody seeing me!" They all stepped back a few paces, frightened by the strength of Daedalus' voice (because that was obviously who the person in the shadows was)
"So, you have come to ask how to get into the Labyrinth, I assume? Well, here is a magic ball of string, it will help you find what you are looking for." Two more of the dodgy-CGI centaurs shepherded them out of the house, but got distracted half-way through leading them back down the path and walked off, chasing a butterfly.
"That's what you get when you're part cloud, always away with the fairies," Ginny muttered.
"Part cloud?" Ron said, "Wait, I really don't want to know do I?" He shook his head and looked away.
"Exactly where is this 'Labyrinth' and how are we supposed to get to it?" drawled Malfoy, who had so far been silent.
"Easy, Malfoy, we just have to get to it, tie a bit of this magic string to the entrance, and it will do the rest."
"What about defeating the horror within, Granger? Did that little bit of information manage to slip your little mudblood mind?" He smirked, clearly impressed with his alliteration.
"No, Malfoy, it hadn't, but I thought since we have Harry here, that'll be no problem. The only problem is actually getting to the Labyrinth." Hermione looked him defiantly in the eyes.
"Where is it, Lands End?" He muttered sarcastically.
"No, it's actually in John O'Groats, but Dodgy Alley is in Lands End so we have to go there after we go to the Labyrinth." Hermione was consulting a map that Neville had just produced from inside his robes.
"Well then kiddies, we're off to see the Labyrinth, the wonderful Labyrinth of John O'Groats!" Pansy tried to sing as she skipped along the path, motioning for everyone to follow her (in the singing as well as the skipping).
"I thought it would be a little easier if we didn't use our feet, Pansy," Hermione said pointedly, and pulled out her wand. She put Neville's map on the ground and pointed her wand at it, muttering something. The map began to grow and grow, until it was the size of a medium-sized bedroom and floating at waist-height off the ground.
"A flying carpet!" Hermione gleefully proclaimed, and everyone climbed on board. Pansy looked mutinous, but stopped her humming and climbed on too.
*
Many hours later and quite a few miles north from whence they came, the Fellowship of the Wand was getting restless.
"When are we gonna get there?" whined Pansy, looking like a child who had been told she couldn't have any more sweets.
"I don't know, when ARE we going to get there, Hermione?" Ginny asked, looking up at her friend with her deep eyes, which were like pools of molten precious stones and sparkled in the light.
"Not too long, not too long," muttered Hermione, looking down at the 'carpet', which still had the map on it and also had a blinking red light that mapped their course over Britain. "We're getting close now, just have to fly over…"
At that moment, they were all distracted by a whooshing noise, and they looked up into the sky to see a blob in the sky, which was growing nearer and seemed to be heading right for them.
"We're all gonna die! Fly you fools!" Shouted Neville, and tried to run away before Ginny pulled his collar, saving him from a terrible fate by not letting him jump off the edge of the flying carpet, which was flying high in the sky, above the clouds.
"Stand back everyone!" Maria shouted, as she stood up, pulling a giant rod out from somewhere in her robes. "This is my magic rod, the dark fire will not detriment it. It is a meteor, driven by Oozera, I am going to fight it."
With that, she stood up on the carpet proudly, and held her rod high. Everyone could now see that this was indeed a meteor, a giant ball of rock and dust with something long trailing behind it.
"Begone devil! Halt! Stop!" Maria shouted, but the meteor did not stop. In fact, it drove right past the flying carpet and made a beeline for the ground, which it would surely hit within a minute or two. As it passed they could see that there was a small windscreen in the meteor, in which a manic-looking woman with dark, wild hair sat. As she passed them by in her meteor of doom, they caught a few words.
"Whip 'em good, Hajile!" she shouted maniacally, and they saw that on top of the meteor sat a small man, maybe even a boy, with bright sea-green eyes. They could also see that the long thing trailing behind the meteor was not its tail, but in fact a whip, which this 'Hajile' held in his hand. Everyone let out a sigh as the meteor passed, for they had been sure they were going to die.
Maria turned back to the group. "See, it was nothing to worry about, I told you." But, unbeknownst to her, as she said that, the end of the whip snaked up and around her ankle, pulling Maria down off the carpet and to a terrible death on the ground below. As she fell, Harry could hear her screaming and snorting, with her blonde hair whipping around her face like it was caught in a furious dust storm. Wait, thought Harry, snorting?