The next day at the Burrow, just before noon,
"Is everybody holding onto their luggage?" Hermione asked.
"Oh, you should talk Hermione," Ron said. He had only one suitcase, as did Harry. Ginny had two. Hermione, the one who told everyone else to pack lightly, had three full suitcases, and a fourth one that was empty: to be filled with purchases.
Hermione opened her mouth to defend her excess baggage, when Harry, who was used to Ron and Hermione's useless fights, interrupted.
"Guys, it's almost time to use the portkey." Harry said, "Everybody, grab a hold of the pen."
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny each put a finger on the pen, and waited.
And waited.
"It's five minutes past twelve." Ginny said nervously. "Do you think there was a mix up?"
"Well, let's hang onto to it for a little longer. Maybe the company's clock is a little slower than ours." Hermione said. She was not giving up her dream vacation this easily.
Sure enough, two minutes later, they each felt a lurch at their belly button. They were jerked out of the Burrow and dropped on to the sandy English sea shore.
"Well, that wasn't too bad." Ron said.
"Yeah, it was just a shaky start." Harry agreed.
"Hi! I'm Biff!" said a big, fat man wearing a blue striped shirt and a straw hat, "Are you four lookin' to sail to New York?"
"Yes. We are the contest winners." Hermione said.
"Sure you are. Well, let's get going." Biff said with a wave of his hand, "Follow me."
They followed Biff down to waters edge, all the while carrying their luggage. This was not easy, as they were not allowed to use magic outside of school to bewitch their trunks to make them lighter.
They walked to a tiny dock that was very far down the shore. There were only four boats parked there. And of course, Biff led them to the most sinkable looking one.
"Are you sure that thing can carry us?" Ron asked Biff.
"Of course it can. I built it myself."
"Have you ever sailed it all the way across the Atlantic?" Hermione asked.
"Well, no, but I've got a map. I'm sure I can find the coast. It's pretty big target." Biff chuckled at his own words.
The four of them looked at each other. All very nervous.
"Let's load the luggage, shall we?" the luggage was piled up high and tied to together with a rope.
Then they all began to climb in. At first, each of the children had hoped the boat would have been magically expanded, like some of the cars wizard's use. But they all found out very soon that this hunk of wood Biff was calling a rowboat was just as cramped as it looked.
"How are we supposed to sit like this for the entire trip? It's been ten seconds and I'm hurting already!" Ron complained
"Yeah, I'm having a bad feeling about this mug-magic style of vacationing." Ginny remarked.
"Just give it a chance, come on, think of the beaches, think of the shopping, think of the movie stars..." Harry pleaded.
"Oh, no Harry, we are going to San Diego, not Los Angeles. No movie stars there." Hermione corrected him.
"Oh. Well maybe we could take some day trips."
Biff climbed in last and scrunched in between Harry and one of Hermione's suitcases. He pulled out two big, wood oars.
And he started to row.
At first the pace seemed to be normal for a rowboat. But then Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny each started to notice that they were moving too fast. Much too fast for one man to row.
"Hey Biff, how are you rowing so fast?" Harry finally asked the question that had been forming on all of their minds.
"These oars aren't the muggle kind. They are top of the line water pushers from Water Wizards, made special to look like the muggle kind. I had to get them engraved with my name on it; I kept mixing them up with real muggle oars. In fact, one time I grabbed the wrong ones on the day I had to row the Minister of Magic to Greenland. Oh boy, was that awful. I had to make whooshing sounds with my mouth to make it seem like we were going faster." Biff said.
They were moving so fast that the wind prevented them from speaking to each other. They forgot all about their seating discomfort as the oars magically pumped miles and miles of ocean behind them.
Until remarkably, just two hours after they left England…
"Wow! There's the statue of liberty!" Ginny exclaimed as she pulled a camera out of her pocket, "Everybody Smile!" She took a great picture of Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Biff; each with wind blown hair and huge smiles.
They had made it to America!
Now they had to make it through Customs…
Biff pulled up to a dock that had materialized between two muggle ones. This new one had its own special Magic Customs. A security wizard came immediately to check up on them.
"So, you've just arrived here, is that right? Where from?" The guard asked. He was a clean shaven man wearing a clean uniform, and carrying a polished clipboard.
"Yes sir. We came from England." Biff said. "These four are here for a vacation to California."
"Alright, are you staying in America as well?"
"No I just rowed the boat."
"Oh alright, well, you can turn around whenever you like. The four of you should take your luggage, put it on the first moving security thing and then pass through the metal detector. Once, you've done that, retrieve your luggage and put it on the second moving security thing, and then answer some questions. Then put your luggage on the last moving security thing, and show your passports to the old lady behind the desk. Then just get your bags again, pass through one more metal detector, just to be safe, and you'll be on your merry way!"
Customs didn't take as long as they'd dreaded. The questions were rather simple, "Are you a Dark Wizard? Have you ever been a Dark Wizard? Are you sure?" The moving security things sped the luggage right along and the metal detectors were a piece of cake.
"Now how do we find the hippogriff?" Ginny asked the group.
They all looked to Hermione, who had as little of a clue as the rest of them.
"Let's ask somebody." Hermione turned around and looked for anybody to ask.
She found a security witch with black hair, about thirty years old standing at the entrance to the Customs building and walked over to her.
"Excuse me, ma'am." Hermione said politely to the woman.
"yes?" She said, turning around to face Hermione.
"We are supposed to catch an invisible Hippogriff to California. I was wondering where we should go to find him."
"Oh, it'll find you."
"Really? So can we just wander around the city?"
"Oh yes, I'd recommend that. I love your accent by the way. English, am I right?"
"Yes."
"Oh, I knew it! I am so good at this!"
Hermione just smiled and thanked her, then returned to Ron, Harry, and Ginny.
"According to her, the hippogriff will find us."
"So does that mean we have only six hours to see New York?!" Ginny screeched.
"Let's move." Ron said, as he began to run towards the big towers.
"Oh, wait, the luggage!" Hermione said.
"I've got it, don't worry." Harry said, he went back inside the Customs building and came out with a medium sized red purse. "I noticed they were selling these at vending machine while I was getting my passport stamped. You can fit almost anything inside of them and they always weigh as light as a feather. However, it did cost Ten Oggles."
"Ten what?" Ron asked.
"Oggles are American Wizard money. 1.5 Oggles is 1 Galleon." Hermione explained.
Harry passed around the purse and they all stuffed their luggage into it.
It still weighed just as light as a feather as the gang crossed the street into New York City.