"There's the ramp!" Harry shouted. "You missed it!"

"No, I didn't!" Hermione said shrilly as she slammed on the brakes and turned the steering wheel sharply, making the car roll over the curb and Ginny and Harry fly toward the left side of the car.

Hermione pressed the gas petal to get to freeway speed but quickly hit the brakes again, as there were cars waiting at the meter light in front of her. Ron flew toward the dashboard and Harry and Ginny hit the seats in front of them.

"Oh dear," Hermione said, looking at the packed freeway. "We're at the end of rush hour."

"Wait a minute," Ron said. "Its 10:20 A.M. now, isn't it?"

"Yes, why?"

"We left at 10:05! If we're in California, this should be a completely different time zone."

"Yes, you're right Ron. But even though it didn't seem like it, it actually took us eight hours to transport ourselves here. It should be about 6:20 P.M. back home."

Harry was impressed. "Where did you learn that spell anyway?"

Hermione blushed, and to nobody's surprise she named a book, "Magical Means of Long Distance Transportation." Ron snickered.

The meter light turned green and Hermione merged in between two SUVs. The traffic crawled at 15 MPH. Hermione made a noise of impatience.

"Where were we?" Harry asked Ginny slyly. They leaned in and promptly began kissing again. Ron looked disgusted and began humming to block out the noise.

"Aren't they so cute?" Hermione whispered. Ron crossed his arms and began humming louder.

Half an hour later, they had only gone about seven miles, but as they reached the town of Livermore, the traffic started clearing. Hermione sped up. "We're not too far from the interchange now."

The trip went rather uneventfully. Hermione was grumpy, Ron was annoyed, but Harry and Ginny seemed to take no notice of anything except themselves at all, much to Ron's displeasure.

"I'm hot," Ron complained. "Why don't you open the ceiling?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at Ron's choice of words but put the top down all the same. The wind whipped them all pleasantly.

"Augh, Hermione, it's too windy for us back here," Harry said, pushing more of Ginny's long hair out of his face again.

"Too bad," Hermione snarled. Finally getting onto Highway 5, she accelerated and moved over to the left lane.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Ron whined.

Hermione literally snarled this time.

"That sign says that there's a rest area a mile ahead," Ginny said.

"Fine! We'll go to the stupid rest area!" Hermione accelerated angrily and cut across about four lanes so that she would be ready to turn into the rest area. Ron gripped his seat tightly.

Less than a minute later, Hermione turned on the turn signal and slowed down. Upon entering the rest area, they saw several trucks pulling in and backing out, causing dust to fly everywhere. They started coughing as the dust swirled around them. Hermione pushed the button to make the roof come back up, and, after swearing profusely, muttered "Scourgify!" while pointing her wand at the car. The dust that had settled disappeared instantly, and the dashboard gleamed with a strong smell like Pledge. Ron started coughing again.

Dust swirled around them as they pulled into a parking spot and the four friends got out of the car.

"It is really hot here!" Harry exclaimed, pulling on his shirt and fanning himself.

"Stop complaining; it's only 88ºF."

"How do you know that?" Ron asked.

"The dashboard has a temperature gauge in it."

"Well, I agree with Harry. It is really hot here."

"We're in California, it's supposed to be like this."

Harry and Ron set off toward the bathroom on the right, while Ginny and Hermione went to the one on the left. As Harry entered the bathroom, he noticed the smell of urine and the sight of rude graffiti on the stall walls.

A few minutes later, they all met back at the car. "Can I drive now?" Ginny asked.

"Sure!" Hermione said, smiling for the first time since they had arrived in California.

"Can I sit in the front? I've been sitting in the back for the last hour and a half," Harry said.

"No," she said at once. "She needs a competent driver in the front to take over the wheel during an emergency."

Harry grumbled and opened the left car door and sat behind Ginny. Ron sat on his right, behind Hermione. "Fancy a game of chess?" he asked, pulling out a battered wizard chess set and placing it in between himself and Harry as Ginny pulled back onto the freeway, closely monitored by Hermione.

"All right," he said. Ginny pulled the car into the left lane and the chess pieces toppled off of the board. Grumbling darkly, Harry and Ron picked up all of the pieces and placed them back onto the chessboard. "Polarize," he said, tapping the chessboard once with his wand. The chess pieces sprang magnetically into place.

"Brilliant! Okay, let's play."

Within the next half an hour, Harry and Ron had to endure Hermione yelling at Ginny when she caught her accelerating sneakily towards 90 MPH before Ron, with a satisfied smirk, proclaimed, "Checkmate!" Harry swore under his breath, as this was the 300th time he had lost against Ron at chess. Yes, he was counting. He glared malevolently at Ron as he pulled out his notebook and wrote '300'.

"I'm hungry," Harry said in a bad mood. "Let's stop for lunch."

"Well, Harry,"Hermione said sweetly but sarcastically, "We're in the middle of nowhere." They were, in fact, traveling through the Central Valley and the only life they saw besides the other cars were cows grazing through brown, rain-deprived grass along the side of the freeway.

"Actually," Ginny said brightly, "There's a city about ten minutes from here!" She pointed towards a green sign up ahead, which read Kettlemen City . . . . 14 miles.

Harry grinned and hugged Ginny from behind her seat. Ron looked out of his window.

"Harry, what do you think you're doing?" Hermione exclaimed. "You're going to get us killed!"

Harry glowered at Hermione and was reduced to massaging his girlfriend's shoulders as she drove.

Harry looked around as they pulled into the Kettlemen City exit. Besides the fifteen or so gas stations, the rest of the 'City' comprised of fast food restaurants. He looked at them all as they drove on: Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Burger King, Jack In The Box…

"We're going to need to get some gas," Hermione said. "Pull into that Chevron over there."

As Hermione scolded Ginny for not using a turn signal and not slowing down enough, a thought occurred to Harry. "Hermione . . . all Ron, Ginny, and I have are Galleons, Sickles, and Knuts. How are we going to buy lunch? We'll need American money."

"Oh, don't worry about that Harry. This vacation is part of my birthday present so my parents have decided to fund the trip."

"That's awfully nice of them," Harry said. Ron nodded in assent.

"You guys should put on a hat or something before you get out," Ginny said. "The dashboard thermometer reads 97ºF."

Ron gaped in horror. "Ninety-seven degrees?"

"California has a much hotter climate than home. I read that in my book I got for Disneyland: Popular Vacation Destinations of Southern California."

Harry and Ron both put on a ball cap and got out of the car after Hermione and Ginny. Hermione was right, Harry realized. It was hotter outside than he could ever remember it being back at home or at Hogwarts.

Hermione pulled out the gas pump and put it in the car tank. Ron looked on inquiringly.

"It's a gas pump, Ron," said Hermione, sighing. "The car runs on gasoline, but after a while, the gas runs out. Whenever you press the gas pedal, which makes the car go, gas goes into the engine and the car moves."

"Wow," Ron said rather stupidly.

"Harry, why don't you clean the windshield while I do the gas?"

"All right," Harry said. Making sure no Muggles were looking, he pulled out his wand from the back pocket of his shorts and muttered "Scourgify," pointing the wand at the windshield, which immediately became sparkling clean.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, Harry, I meant with the windshield cleaner." She pointed to a blue bucket filled with soapy water with a squeegee sticking out of it. "But I guess that'll do."

Harry decided to take advantage of the newly pointed out water bucket. He walked over to it and splashed some of the cool, soapy water onto his face. The feeling was great. He rubbed some of the cool water into his hair, enjoying the feeling of it trickling down his neck.

"Good idea!" Ron said. "Budge over, mate, I want some too."

Harry grinned wickedly. "You want some do you?" He splashed some into Ron's face, leaving him wet and spluttering.

"Harry!" Ron and Hermione exclaimed at the same time.

"You're getting water on my new car!" Hermione shrieked.

"What's going on out here?" Ginny asked, getting out of the driver's seat.

Harry grinned wickedly again and splashed some soapy water into Ginny's face. Ginny stood rooted to the spot, water dripping down her front.

"Harry, stop! You're acting like a child!" Hermione exclaimed.

"That's the thing Hermione: though you may be turning eighteen next month, I still have almost a whole year to act like a child."

Hermione could not think of any retort to throw back at him, so she glared at him instead.

"You're next, Hermione. . . ." Harry said, going over to the water bucket once more. Both Ron and Ginny followed him, identical smirks on their wet faces.

"No," Hermione said, dumbfounded. "Oh no you don't!"

Harry and Ron both splashed water at a squealing Hermione, while Ginny charged after her with the squeegee.

"Come on, Hermione, it feels really nice in this weather," Ron assured her.

Hermione shrieked when Ginny tossed water from the squeegee at her. "Ginny, you're getting my car wet!"

Ginny giggled and Hermione pulled the pump out of the gas tank with a noise of annoyance. Before getting into the driver's seat, she preformed a simple charm to remove the water droplets from the car.

Hermione pulled out of the parking lot rather recklessly just as Harry and Ginny began to get cozy in the backseat again.

"Would you guys cut that out for once?" Ron said, highly annoyed and disgusted.

Harry and Ginny ignored him.