But just as they reached the majestic skyscrapers bustling streets of New York City, a pigeon fly overhead and dropped something on Hermione.
"Ewww! Ewww! Get it off! Get it off!" shrieked Hermione sa she began to shake her head furiously. "Stupid Pigeons! Couldn't you have waited two more inches before you dropped it!"
"Relax, RELAX! Chill Out Herm! It wasn't what you think! It was a piece of parchment that fell on your head. That must have been a carrier pigeon." Ron said, he was trying to sound reassuring, but he was seconds away from laughter.
Ginny and Harry were already cracking up. Hermione had thrown a fit over carrier pigeon! This was a moment to remember!
As Hermione regained composure, she was obviously very high strung. She needed to get to California quick. The hectic travel schedule was getting her down.
Ron bent down and picked up parchment from the street. It had fallen off of Hermione's head during her brief melt down.
"This parchment is from the Flying Hippogriff Travel Agency. It's a letter. It says,
Dear Hermione Granger and Three of Her Friends,
We are pleased to hear that you have arrived in New York for your
six hour layover. You should meet your Hippogriff at 8 pm at our
main terminal. We depart from JFK airport. We understand that
you might want to use the extra one or two hours to walk around New
York, but we do have a company policy that makes all costumers wait
at least four hours before they can depart, and we wouldn't want to
have to postpone your flight to sunny San Diego.
Best Wishes,
The Flying Hippogriff Travel Agency"
"Well that's a bummer." Harry said.
'Yeah, but if we go now we can make it to airport, wait for the four hours, and leave on time. If we get there late, we'll depart late. And I want to hit the beaches now!" Ginny said.
"Ok, so Hermione, are you fine with this?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, whatever." Hermione said, still a little shaken from the pigeon incident.
It took them a long time to find JFK airport. They used the muggle subway system, which is the most confusing thing if you're not used to it. They had to ask several people for directions, most of them were very nice and patient, but all the same, they reached the entrance to the airport just in time.
When they walked inside the huge building, Ginny noticed a magical picture of a hippogriff hanging on the walls.
"Guys, look at that sign, it'll tell us how to get to the terminal." Ginny said. They walked over to the picture.
Underneath the hippogriff, the poster said, "Magical Waiting room can be accessed by using the second stall in either the men's or women's bathroom on this floor. Just for your curiosity, muggles can't see this sign; they see you staring at a wall."
"ok, lets find the restrooms." Hermione said.
The restrooms were very easy to find. Harry and Ron went in to the men's, and Ginny and Hermione into the women's.
In both of the restrooms, the second stall had an out of order sign. In the men's room, Harry went first. He sat on down on the toilet, but nothing happened. Then he got an idea. He flushed it. Suddenly he was sucked down into the bowl, but he didn't get wet. The next thing he knew, he was sitting on the floor of the most beautiful airport terminal he had ever seen.
Ron, Ginny, and Hermione each quickly fell to the floor in the terminal beside Harry after they'd each flushed themselves.
The room had high, glass ceilings. The walls were a mosaic forming patterns of bright colors. Looking outside the windows they could see a large grass field surrounded by a wooden fence. Harry assumed there were hippogriffs out there, but that they were invisible, of course.
The time was around 4 o'clock. They had exactly four hours to wait. Hermione bought the latest issue of "Moody and Magical." Ron bought a sports magazine to read about the American sport, Quadpot, that he had heard about in Quidditch Through the Ages. Ginny bought "Teen Witch Vogue" and Harry bought American wizard candy.
Finally, after four hours of reading, eating, and no sleeping…
"Granger. Party of Four to San Diego." Came the voice over the loudspeaker.
"Wahooo! We are finally going there! This is the last stage of the trip!" Hermione was way excited.
The followed the signs, which led to a staircase that took them outside. There, an airport employee led them to their hippogriffs. Or at least to a spot on the grass where the employee told them there were hippogriffs.
"Alright, there are to hippogriffs. So, you go to that one," he said, pointing to Harry and Ginny. "And you two on the one over there." He said to Ron and Hermione. "Now you need to bow to them first. To show respect."
They knew this already, from Hagrid's lessons in their third year. But still, they were confused. How could they tell what direction to bow in. And they couldn't see if the hippogriff would bow back.
"We can't see where they are, sir." Harry said.
"Oh, with these you just have to bow in their general direction. They are used to tourists."
So Harry and Ginny bowed to their right, Ron and Hermione bowed to their left.
"Alright, now just put your hands out, and walk around. You'll feel them eventually."
So, feeling very stupid, they each put their arms out and walked around the grass. It was getting dark out, so they felt and looked like zombies.
Ron hit one first. Actually. He was moving foot out to take another step, when he kicked it. "Hey, Hermione, it's over here!" Hermione was relieved to hear his words. She felt so stupid wandering around looking for an invisible animal.
Ginny hit hers next. "Harry, I got it!"
Getting on to the hippogriff was funny. Even Hermione had to laugh at herself as she tried to swing her leg around it. Once Hermione was seated, she was told to wrap her arms around Ron as if she were riding a motorcycle. Hermione blushed, thankful that it was getting dark out, and that Ron was in front of her, and therefore couldn't see her face.
Ginny sat behind Harry. She wasn't being bashful; she already had a boyfriend, and didn't like Harry in that way anymore. Or at least, that's what she told herself.
Once they were all situated on their hippogriffs. The airport employee blew a whistle and they began to lift of into the air.
"Wow!" said Harry, "it's like we're flying!"
"Yeah, except we can feel the hippogriffs." Ron yelled back.
It was amazing to fly over New York City. They couldn't see the hippogriff, so there was nothing beneath them to obscure the view.
Things began to get blurry as they were leaving the city lights behind them. The wind speed began to pick up as the hippogriffs accelerated faster than they knew hippogriffs could fly. Each of them just figured that these Hippogriffs were special; that they were somehow extremely faster than the average hippogriff. They were right. These hippos were incredibly speedy.
After an hour, things became more focused. The lights on the ground grew bigger. Way off in the horizon, there were no lights at all, just smooth surface that looked black in the moonlight. It was the Pacific Ocean.
The hippogriffs descended very quickly, but very carefully. None of them felt at all unsafe on the backs of these invisible creatures.
After a while, they noticed which house they were headed for. The coast was lined with big, beautiful, expensive houses. But the one they seemed to be headed for was obviously built before the area became a real estate hot spot. It was a single story beach home. Painted what looked in the moonlight like light blue.
They landed on the sand in front of this humble house.
They jumped off the backs of the hippogriffs, and all of them, without speaking, knew what they wanted to do first.
They took off their shoes. Harry dropped the medium sized red purse he had been carrying that had all their luggage in it. They rolled up the bottom of their pants past their knees, and ran toward the water.
The first time your toes hit the ocean is exhilarating. It's icy, it's crisp. Your entire mind and body wakes up when you come in contact with such an amazing power.
Though it was night outside, the air wasn't too cold. Their feet adjusted to the temperature of the ocean very quickly.
Ron was the first one to kick the waves. A large splash resulted, leaving drops of cool ocean water on their jet-lagged bodies. It was the perfect moment; Playing in the shallow waves, on an empty beach, with your best friends in the entire world. It doesn't get better than this.