The next day was full of final preparations at Bethany's house. The plants were given a final dose of fertiliser to help them through the year, the furniture was covered over with dust sheets and protected with charms to keep moths and rodents from nibbling on her furniture. By sunset nearly everything had been completed. Maeve had become less suspicious of Lupin, although she wouldn't allow him to get too close to her.

After dinner Bethany and Lupin settled down in front of the fire with mugs of tea as they discussed their travel arrangements for the next day. Lupin was teasing Bethany by suggesting that they flew the length of the country on broomsticks. He was well aware that Bethany had never mastered flying, even after hours of Harry and Ron trying to coach her. Every time she got more than two feet up, the broomstick would start shaking and her would lose her nerve, preferring to jump off then while there was no danger of broken bones. They were currently debating the only two options left to them: apparating and the train.

"The train's going to take forever Lupin, I know you travelled that way when you last taught there but I just don't think it's practical. Can you imagine the two of us rattling around in that huge train on our own? It would be a ridiculous waste of time and energy for too many people to make it a viable method of travel. We have to apparate, it just makes so much more sense." Bethany was determined on this idea, she failed to see there being any advantages to taking the school's own train to Hogsmeade, it just seemed ridiculous. Lupin however,

"I'm still not overly comfortable apparating, and before you start, yes I know I apparated here last night, but that was only from about twenty miles away. This is going over several hundred. What if I miss Hogsmeade altogether and land on top of the giant squid in the Hogwarts lake by mistake? Do you really want me to be human sushi?!"

Lupin's discomfort at the use of this magical means of travel was more than understandable. For many years, Lupin was strongly discriminated against. His 'illness' that Maeve had scented made people very nervous, even though it was controllable. It had resulted in laws being passed that reduced him to a second-class citizen. He was more-or-less incapable of being employed anywhere decent for nearly all of his adult life, if it hadn't been for Hogwarts' headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, Lupin would probably have disappeared completely a long time ago. As part of these laws, he was also forbidden from using many forms of magic, including apparating. He had personally felt that it was a miracle he was even allowed a wand. But these laws were revoked four years ago, when the nearest thing to a cure was discovered. The ghastly potion he had to drink several times every month was now a thing of the past, now he needed to get injected once a month instead. As far as he was concerned it was a much better option.

Bethany was staring into the fire, trying to think of a solution that wouldn't cause any extra aggravation but would keep her friend happy. As the flames danced and crackled, the beginnings of an idea appeared in her head.

"Lupin, we could always split the journey up. How far are you happy apparating in one go? Fifty miles? Sixty? We could split the distance into blocks that size, maybe find a country pub to have lunch at. Alternatively, there's the Knight Bus."

Lupin shuddered at the idea of the Knight Bus, the double-decker bus that served the magical community. It's drivers had never understood the concept of a smooth journey, which resulted in being thrown around a lot during the journey. He had only travelled by the Knight Bus when there was no other method for him, now that he didn't need to set foot on it, he had no intention of doing so. Which brought him back to the only method left. Taking a deep breath he nodded his consent to Bethany's suggestion, knowing that she was actually right on this one.

"We're going to have to work out where we're putting in our journey breaks then. I've got a map somewhere, give me a minute to look for it" Bethany heaved herself out of her large armchair and wandered into the kitchen. She returned minutes later with a large map of the country. Producing her wand from the recesses of her robe, Bethany tapped the map with the words "Locus Invenire". Small sparkling dots appeared on the map marking the locations of her home in the Sussex Weald, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade next to the school. Which a second tap of her wand, other areas began glittering, The location of Diagon Alley and other wizard shopping lanes appeared on her map, along with the homes of her wizarding friends. Lupin watched in interest as a silver glittery line appeared between Bethany's house and Hogsmeade.

When no new dots appeared Bethany looked up at Lupin. "What size distances do you want to cover then? It's about 250 miles in total, so five blocks of fifty? Or four blocks of about sixty? Your choice on this one." Lupin looked at the map with apprehension, it didn't look like a long distance on paper, but he knew there was a lot that could go wrong apparating over such a large distance. Four journeys would be safe though, he was sure he could guarantee where he landed over that size distance. "Four blocks of sixty, I can cope with that."

Bethany chewed the inside of her lip as she looked at the map. "Dividere Quattro", with another tap of her wand the silver line became red, blue, green and gold in four equal lengths. A small coloured dot appeared where the line changed colour, giving the location for apparating. Bethany glanced up at Lupin to see if he had any thoughts on the chosen locations. None of them were in large towns, unfortunately one was in the middle of the M1, and another appeared to be in a lake. Once more her wand was placed on the map, she placed the tip above a misplaced dot, and with a "Mobilius", she slid the dot to a more sensible location.

Bethany and Lupin spent nearly a hour arranging the dots into locations that had few people. With all of the luggage that they were going to be taking with them, they would have great difficulty appearing from thin air anywhere that was populated. When they were unsure as to how discreet the location was, Bethany tapped the spot with the word "Populus", and a silver number would appear sparkling above the dot. Numbers under 600 were considered worth the chance. They had chosen their final route as the clock chimed eleven.

"Memoria! Right, the map has our route saved. I think we should get to bed now and make a start tomorrow morning. We should be in Hogsmeade for lunch." Bethany rolled the map up again and put it by the front door with her travelling cloak.

* * *

The next morning, Lupin woke to the smell of fried breakfast. He quickly threw his robes on and followed his nose to the kitchen where Bethany was stood over the stove cooking.

"That smells perfect, Bethy. Exactly the right kind of food to travel on!" Lupin sat down at the table, as Bethany turned to grin at him.

"I woke up before my alarm went off, and had a craving for a fry up. It'll keep us going for a while if nothing else, I think I may have cooked too much!"

"Doesn't matter, I'm starving."

After a very large fry up, which both Bethany and Lupin demolished in complete silence, Bethany set the dishes washing themselves as she finished her last minute pieces of packing. She and Lupin carried their trunks and Maeve's cage into the front garden, so that Bethany could perform the necessary charms to protect her house while she was away. Once the charms were complete, Bethany produced the map from the previous night.

"Ok, you remember where we're headed first? Yeah? I'll see you there then" With a loud pop, Bethany disappeared with her trunks and Maeve. Lupin took a deep breath and followed her, leaving Bethany's house empty for the next nine months.

Lupin and Bethany stopped for a while at the second place they stopped at. They were on the top of one of the hills in the Peak District and Bethany wanted to take in the view before they moved on. She produced her camera from the top of her trunk and began taking photo after photo of the scenery. As there was no-one else around for miles, Bethany and Lupin decided to have a cup of tea and some cake while they watched the world turn. After nearly an hour sat on the hill, they decided it was probably time to move on.

The fourth journey brought them to just outside the village of Hogsmeade. Bethany had thought it would be nice to walk the final section of the journey, as it was a warm August day and the view was always spectacular. She could see Hogwarts Castle on the hill above the village. As they got nearer to the village, Bethany could make out the shops she had spent so much time in over the years. The sign on the Three Broomsticks pub was obscured by a banner proclaiming "Welcome Hogwarts' Professors!" in large glowing letters. Bethany knew she was home.