Heylo! I suppose your expecting me to say something super snazzy that'll knock you off your feet and make you think I'm the greatest joker alive… well I'm out of stuff, so please, ignore this… I'm becoming crazy. Hahaha… I know what's going to happen and you-u don't! Okay, well now is your turn to catch up and find out. See, I'm a fair player… I win fair and square at Quidditch. I'm the best beater around! BOO YEAH! So… if you were playing quidditch, what would you be? Seeker, beater, chaser? Huh? Huh? What'd you be? Tell me in your review… I'll try to remind you later.

Yayforgredandforge- yeah, Fred and George are very skilled! MUAH HAHAHA. Do you have a URL or do you just sign everything with the same name?

Valentines-hater- why thankie! Hehehe…

Crystaltearl- MUAH HAHAHA… water balloons. Keep them in a bucket, cause I LOVE buckets!

Lauren- thanks! I hope I wont let you down! Hehehe… great review!

HPFanatic04- Hehehe, I loved the Firebolt thing, awesomeness! Hehehe… anyways, I hope that you do update soon, and don't worry! Life has a way of getting better.

TheNash- yeah, hippogriffs are awesome. LOL! Thanks for the review; I hope to hear from you again.

Calypso- hey girl! Thanks for the review, my stuff isn't that great. Ding-dong… Hehehe…

Disclaimer- me no own, you no sue. Hey! Didn't I say I'd probably forget that? Guess what? I DIDN'T! My dreams are so clear now… I can look into my crystal ball (hey Treelawney, look over here, I'm going to get an A in this fake class right now!) I see… I see… well look at what I see here! A chapter… and people reading… oh! Could this be? I see that you'll read the next chapter very soon… like now. HA! I rule at this stuff!

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Chapter 20 – A Midnight Ride

(A/N: Wow! 20! CHAPTER 20! I'm doing good… keep going Kit, keep going!)

They were absolutely amazing. Alicia held her breath. A beautiful grey Hippogriff, a marvellous golden-brown, and a very handsome and stunning black. They blinked their wide yellow eyes at them and scratched at the ground with their talons on their front legs.

"That's a good lad, Buckbeak." Moody said, bowing to the grey Hippogriff. It bowed back, and he put his foot in the crease of the wing, lifting himself up onto the creature.

"Buckbeak? Isn't that-…" Alicia began.

"Yeah." Nodded George. "Hagrid's."

Fred walked up to the black Hippogriff and bowed. It angrily scratched its talons into the earth and reared on its hind legs, scratching at the air. Fred jumped back immediately, pulling Angelina with him.

"Oh… that one is a bit hard to get at. I had to keep him far away from me when I was riding him beside Buckbeak… he doesn't like me." Explained Moody.

"Oh great… so I get stuck with the evil one." Muttered Fred.

"Not unless you take Lappine, over here." Moody said, pointing to the golden-brown girl.

Fred's hand shot up. "MINE! I CALL HER!" He yelled. He ran over to Lappine and bowed. She stared at him for a moment, and slowly bowed, keeping an annoyingly close watch on Fred. "Angelina, wanna try bowing to her?" He asked.

She nodded and bowed. The Hippogriff happily bowed to Angelina, and she walked over and patted Lappine on the beak. "She is cute…" She stated.

Fred walked closer to Lappine and she squawked, making it clear he wasn't aloud any closer at the moment.

"Why do they hate me?" Asked Fred, crossing his arms.

"That leaves us with this one, I guess." Said George.

Alicia nodded. "Yeah…" She said slowly.

"Oh… you have to get on with Eclipse there." Moody growled, walking Buckbeak over to the entrance.

Alicia backed away slightly.

George walked forward, his confidence fading. He bowed, not breaking eye contact. Eclipse let out an almighty screech, and reared on its hind legs, scratching the air and yelling. It landed and scratched the ground.

"George, watch out! Come back here, it's going to hurt you!" Alicia said with the only voice she had left.

"Don't worry about me… we're never going to get anywhere if I don't win this thing over." George said, staring into Eclipse's dark eyes. It reared on its hind legs again, moving forward and scratching at the air. Eclipse's talon scratched through the fabric on George's robes at his arm, spraying blood everywhere in the reach of two feet.

Alicia screamed. "George, are you all right?"

George winced but did not come out of his bow. "I'm fine…" He managed to say.

Eclipse landed on all fours again, and stared George straight in the eye. It snorted and moved closer, its beak close to George's face, smelling him.

Eclipse blinked.

George's eyes were beginning to water from staying open so long. His arm was bleeding heavily, the hollow sound of blood dripping on the floor echoed through the room, with the occasional gasp for air. Everyone was holding they're breath. 'Remember what Hagrid said… they don't like you to blink… don't blink.'

Slowly, Eclipse placed a knee on the ground and bowed its head, so its beak grazed the floor. Then it rose up from the ground and nodded to George.

George sighed and walked away from it, blinking and closing his eyes for a minute. He could feel Alicia run to his side, grabbing him around the waist and pulling him close.

"YOU COULD HAVE DIED! WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING, GEORGE WEASLEY!?" Alicia yelled, the loudest he had ever heard her speak before.

He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow, giving her an in-famous Weasley grin.

"Oh, don't you give me that." She snapped, taking her hand and whacking the back of his head.

"Ow!" He said, rubbing the back of his head, but still smiling at her frown and her flushed cheeks.

Alicia sighed. Her face softened and she hugged him again. "Are you okay? Is your arm all right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, it's okay."

Alicia softly placed her fingers to his cut and he took a deep and sharp intake of air, filling his lungs. He closed his eyes and heard a rip of fabric. He opened them to see Alicia, ripping some material off the bottom of her nightgown, and wrapping it around his arm. He was cut in-between his elbow and shoulder. She tied it into a knot and he felt a jab of pain as she tightened it, so he quickly shut his eyes again.

He could feel her soft lips against the fabric that was now wrapped around his arm. Then, she pressed her lips against his.

"I'm glad you're okay." She whispered.

He smiled. He opened his eyes and stared into hers, wrapping his arms around her waist as her arms found his neck.

"Ahem…" Moody growled. "No need to tell you that we're in a hurry here." He said, peering over at them.

"Right." Alicia said.

George wrapped his arm around her and brought her slowly toward Eclipse. They bowed together, and slowly, Eclipse bowed as well, as he watched George with his stunning black eyes.

"Right then, I think he'll let us ride him." George said.

"W-what? We're going that fast? I mean… shouldn't we get to know each other over a cup of tea or something?" Asked Alicia as George grabbed her sides and began lifting her onto Eclipse's back.

"He's a Hippogriff, Alicia." George stated.

"Okay, a nice lunch of mice or something?" Alicia asked, squirming in his arms.

"Kick your leg over." George said with a sigh.

Alicia squirmed harder. "You can't be serious can you…?"

George smiled. "As serious as I'm going to get. Leg, over." He ordered.

Alicia sighed and closed her eyes, finally cooperating with George and throwing her leg over the Hippogriff.

"Good." George said, letting go of her waist and still keeping his arms close to her, making sure she had her balance.

"Oh… Okay… get on…" She quivered.

George watched Eclipse stare at him for a moment, it's eyes blinking. Then, it lowered its wing so that it was outstretched and covering a bit of the ground. George placed his foot in the crease between its body and wing, and pulled himself up, swinging his leg over Eclipse's back and landing in behind Alicia, pressing up against her body.

"You ready now?" Moody asked, his eye swivelling to Fred and Angelina who were trying to get a hang of moving Lappine, who seemed to loath Fred.

"Yes." Answered George. He put his arms forward, on either side of Alicia, lightly grasping the feathers on its neck. He then wrapped the front of his cloak around him and Alicia, pulling her body in with his and buttoning the front of the cloak up, so she was wrapped in with him. "Just so you're not cold." He whispered in her ear, leaning forward with her for better support.

Moody tapped the entrance of the small cavern three times with his wand again, and Buckbeak took flight, flying ahead of them.

"Tell me again…" Said Fred as Lappine began to lift of the ground. "Why is it that we are not Apparating?"

Moody smiled. "Remember… it's secret headquarters. You can't Apparate in it if you tried; 'cause you and George were doing it so much we all got fed up with it. You two are banned from Apparating in there, leaving me to have to ride with you two idiots on these Hippogriffs. As well, Voldemort is most likely monitoring whoever is Apparating at the moment. At least until we… well, that can be explained later. Mostly, however, its because of you idiots."

"Right, so it's our fault." Said Fred, Lappine now fully in the air.

"Yes." Moody growled back.

Eclipse began to move when Lappine and Buckbeak were a bit father away. Its hips went from side to side as it placed each back leg forward, walking out of the cavern. Its talons were scratching against the ground, and its wings spread out making it look four times as big as it was before.

Alicia let out a tiny yell, and George held her closer to him.

Eclipse bent his legs, pushing off from the ground as his wide and mighty wings, strongly flapped in one smooth motion, lifting them from the ground. He tucked in his front and back legs, moving his head forwards and flapping his wings slowly, each time gradually getting higher and gaining speed. Soon, Moody and Fred and Angelina were visible in the distance. Eclipse kept a fair distance from them, so that he didn't get angry with Buckbeak or Lappine.

"Oh my god… this is amazing…" Alicia whispered softly.

George smiled and pressed his lips against her neck. "Your amazing." He whispered.

She smiled and turned her head slightly, so their lips touched. She softly kissed him, her mouth opening slowly as he returned this kiss, sliding his tongue into her mouth and moving one hand onto her stomach, the other hand still gripping Eclipse's feathers.

Alicia broke from the kiss and smiled at him, looking forward at the fluffy grey-black clouds that were barely visible through the blackened sky. The stars lit up the edges of the clouds, including the full moon that beamed heartedly down on them.

"Its so beautiful." Alicia said, sighing.

"Yeah." George answered, resting his chin on her shoulder.

She looked down and gasped. "This is higher than I've ever flown on a broomstick!" Alicia said. "In Quidditch, I wouldn't fly much higher than the stadium… I mean, why would I need to? I was just a chaser."

George nodded. "It's crazy up here, isn't it? I bet in the daylight it would seem like it wasn't even real… the tiny dot's being homes to muggles and wizards."

Alicia nodded. "Its so dark, you cant see the homes…" She whispered.

Eclipse lowered from the sky a bit, then flapping his wings again and raising as high as he was before. Then, he lowered again, and then heightened.

"What's he doing?" Alicia asked.

George smiled. "Sounds like he's catching dinner. Probably eating some sort of Willbonken."

"Willbonken… aren't those that bat-like creature? Except they are small and green? And they fly much higher…" Alicia said, moving her fingers into Eclipse's feathers and holding on to them.

George nodded. "Yeah… that's them."

"Ugly little things, aren't they?" Alicia asked.

George laughed. "They're face is a little hard to look at… it doesn't exactly resemble anything I've ever seen before."

Alicia laughed. "Well I'm glad Eclipse is able to feed himself while he's flying." She stroked his feathers, moving her hand down its thick neck and then back up to the top of its head and down to the middle, where she re-gained her grip on it's feathers.

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It had been a long time riding, about three or four hours, until Eclipse started to slow down and lower itself. He closed his wings tighter to his body, and then began to descend at a high speed, until Eclipse flung out its large wings and caught them like a parachute in mid-air, lowering and flapping quickly until they reached the ground, where it stood on its hind legs for a short moment and then landed fully, all four feet on the ground.

Moody descended off of Buckbeak, and quietly pulled the Hippogriff into a small corner. He looked around, taking the light out of the street-lamps and making sure no one had seen the Hippogriffs.

Angelina slid off of Lappine, landing gracefully on the ground and walking over to Moody, talking with him. Fred was about to get off Lappine, when she reared and caused him to fall to the ground. He got up and rubbed his butt a bit, and then frowned at Lappine and stalked over to Angelina's side.

George swung a leg over Eclipse, and landed on the ground, patting the Hippogriffs neck. Then he took Alicia by the waist, and she put her arms on his shoulders. He lifted her up and put her safely on the ground, as she took his arm and held it close to her.

Eclipse walked behind George, and nudges his shoulder affectionately. George put his hand on the beak of Eclipse and kept it there for a minute, and then lowered his hand to his side. Eclipse gave an affectionate squawk and walked over to the corner Moody was standing in.

Moody went to grab Eclipse and he nipped at his fingers, causing him to withdraw quickly. He looked around and took a slip of paper from his pocket; reading aloud, "Number twelve, Grimmauld Place."

A very old mansion appeared out of thin air, pushing the two city houses aside and making itself a large door. There was a small pop and everything was quiet.

"We're back." George sighed.

"Welcome," Moody growled with a smile, "To number twelve, Grimmauld Place."

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Yay! I'll leave you there… good cliff-hanger I think. Not too cliff-hangy, but just enough. You won't die from a terrible fall, but you wont exactly live in one piece if you do fall. MUAH HAHAHA! Hang on to that mountainside; cause your next chapters coming! (Stupid, I know…)

I said I'd remind you what to tell me in your review. Me? I'm interested to know what you'd be if you were in a place on a Quidditch team. Here is my example:

I would be on Griffindor, and I would be a beater. Yay!

There… now you try… I hope it's not too hard! Well anyways, review, review, and review! Yay!

-Kit