I'm so sorry that this chapter has taken so long to write. I've had the first part written for about a week but have had a really hard time getting the rest of it written. I've probably rewritten parts of it 3 or 4 times. So, I'm sorry you've had to wait while I've dithered, but here it is, finally. I hope it doesn't disappoint. It's a bit shorter than some chapters, but there will be more coming up and hopefully it won't take as long next time.

Just as a disclaimer, all of the Disney characters naturally belong to Disney. I've tried to describe the park based on Disneyland as I have never been to Disney World, but any errors or bad descriptions are solely my own fault.

Enjoy! And again, I'm sorry for the long delay!

Into the Park

"We've been here for four days. I think today is the day we should actually go into the park." Cassie smiled at George as she knelt behind him on the bed and slipped her arms around his neck. He didn't reply immediately and Cassie leaned to the side so she could see his face. He bent over and pulled on his second trainer and tied it before he said anything. Cassie laughed because she was now supported almost completely by his broad back. When he sat back up, she once again braced her weight on her knees and then kissed his shoulder.

"I can think of much more enjoyable things to do here. In the room."

Cassie stood up and pulled him up into a standing position. "Well, we can't do that 24 hours a day, although we've made a valiant effort at trying. I don't understand the problem. Don't you want to go? You've had a good time when we've walked around and looked at the shops and things. And I know you loved the restaurant last night. We can go into the park for a couple of hours and then we'll have lunch there again, if you want."

George grinned and looped his arms loosely around her waist. "Ah, trying to bribe me with food, huh?" He kissed her mouth sweetly and then trailed his lips over her jaw and down the side of her neck. Cassie's breath caught. He was so good at this. He nudged aside the neck of her T-shirt and kissed her neck right where it met her shoulder and she shivered. They had just barely showered and dressed but he was trying to convince her to come back to bed, obviously. Not that she wasn't tempted. . . . .but she really wanted to go into the park and ride a few rides.

"You're trying to bribe me, too, George." His only answer was a mumbled groan as he nuzzled further under her shirt. She pulled out her last and most desperate weapon."You can't tell me that you're frightened."

He stood up instantly, eyes flashing indignantly. "I'm not frightened of any Muggle contraption." Cassie just met his eyes steadily.

"Prove it, then. Come with me."
"You really want to do this?"

"Yes. I really do. And I know you're going to have a great time."

"Maybe. But we can have a great time with just the two of us. Here. In bed." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

"We'll do that later. If you come with me." He groaned.

"Fred warned me about this. 'She'll threaten to never sleep with you again if you don't do everything she wants, George. Trust me on this' he said, but I didn't believe him." Cassie raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't threaten to never sleep with you again. I just offered you . . . an incentive, so to speak. If you really don't want to go . . ." she let her voice trail off. "We could go swimming or something instead." They had managed to make it downstairs to one of the pools the day before and they had had a wonderful time frolicking in the water. George was a strong swimmer and it was fun to be in the pool with him. He had only made one complaint and that was the one-piece swimming costume she had worn. She had a bikini with her that she had worn into the hot tub and he wanted her to wear it again. She had declined, however, saying it was for his eyes only. That had led to some delay before they actually made it down to the pool.

"All right. I'll go with you. For two hours."

"Or so."

"Or so. And then we'll have lunch."

"If you want."

"And then we'll come back here."

"If you still want to. Maybe you'll be having such a good time that you won't want to."

"Do you really think some rusty Muggle machinery is going to do anything for me in the way of excitement? I can fly by myself."

"You need a broom, which is not so different, for all your arrogance, George Weasley. Besides, you don't 'fly' on these rides. You do all sorts of different things. And how do you know you won't enjoy it unless you try it?"

"Fine, then, two hours. We'll try it for two hours. Then we eat. Then we come back here."

"That's the plan."
It took them about 30 minutes to get out of the hotel room and down to the monorail stop. For one thing, Cassie had to convince George to wear sunscreen. He didn't like the idea, saying that he was a wizard and he never sunburned. Cassie just scowled at him, saying that as a wizard from Britain he didn't have a clue about Florida sun. Finally, she managed to get him to put it on although he kept saying that if it was this much work to go outside, they should just stay inside. She also had to get together their money and tickets as well as the guide she had bought at the gift shop the day before. George was trying to be helpful, but he wasn't quite sure how to. He insisted on taking his wand although Cassie tried hard to discourage him from the idea. "It might get lost, George. Or someone might steal it. Pickpockets are always a big problem when you get a lot of tourists together." George just looked at her and shook his head.

"No one will touch my wand. And it won't fall out of my pocket, either. Don't worry about it."

"I don't know why you want it."

"I'm a wizard. I like my wand with me."

"Well, all right. If you're sure. Let's go."

It was only a few minutes later that the two of them disembarked from the monorail car and showed their tickets to the man at the park entrance. He smiled at them and then said, "Have a Magical Day!" George stopped and looked at him.

"What do you know about Magic?" Cassie tugged on his hand.

"They say that to everyone, George. It's their motto."

"Is that true?" George asked the rather shocked-looked employee.

"Yes. That is our motto. She's right." Cassie tugged harder on his hand and George followed her, glancing back at the man who was now greeting the next person in line.

"Did you know they believe in magic here when we came?"

"Well, it's a different kind of magic, but yeah."

"I already like this place better. I should go back and show him my wand. I bet he'd find it interesting."

"George . . . " He got the hint, apparently, and they set off down the street. They walked hand in hand down the sidewalk past all the little shops that made up the Main Street of Disney World, George looking around at the various little food shops and commenting about all the stuff he wanted to come back and eat eventually. Cassie knew that if they really stopped and ate at all these places they would both be seriously sick, but it was nice to dream. She did make note of the fudge shop, though, and also one of the ice cream parlors. They looked particularly tasty. They had been down this street the day before for just a little while as they walked to the restaurant for dinner and George had been really impressed with the little shops. They had gone into a few to see how they were set up and George had even spoken to a few of the employees asking about traffic flow and crowd control and everything. They had even managed to stumble upon a wondering Donald Duck which Cassie knew was a rare occurrence. She had insisted in waiting in the rather long line and having George take her picture with the life-size creature. George, who was unfamiliar with the Disney characters, kept trying to talk her out of it, but she would not be dissuaded.

"It's a duck, Cassie. And a rather strange looking one at that. I've never seen a duck that wears clothes."

"It's not just a duck, George. It's Donald Duck. And you just don't run across him every day. You can wait." Cassie gave him a quick lesson on using the "Muggle camera" and the picture taking had been semi-successful. Some of the kids in line had looked at George a little funny because he called him Ronald the Duck but Cassie was able to laugh it off.

Today, though, they didn't see any of the characters as they walked through Main Street and into the main parts of the park. George looked impressed at the lines of people and at the various landscaping. They were both just sort of drifting, not really heading toward anything in particular when he suddenly came to a sudden stop and looked at the sign in front of him. "What's this, Cassie?" She looked over at where he was looking and smiled.

"It's a ride of some sort, I'm sure."

"What is it like?"

"I have no idea." She looked at the people in line. There were quite a few little kids standing there along with the regular teenagers and adults. "It can't be too scary, though. There are little kids in line."

"I'm not worried about being scared. I was just curious, you know, so we would know what to expect."

"Uh, huh. Come on. The line starts way back here." "They walked for a while before they found the end of the line. As Cassie had expected, George was not too thrilled about waiting.

"This can't be the line for that ride. It must be something else." George tapped the shoulder of the 10-year-old boy in front of him. "Excuse me, what are you in line for?"

"Haunted Mansion."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Positive."
"The line seems kind of . . . long." The boy just grunted in response and George scowled.

"It's okay, George. We can wait."

"There was no reason for him to be so rude."

"He's young, like a first year. Kids like that don't really talk well to adults."

"I'm not an adult. I'm . . . ." He stopped talking, as if something had just dawned on him.

"I hate to tell you this. But you're an old married man, now." George grinned and pulled her close, then kissed her passionately on the mouth.

"I guess you're worth turning into an old married man for."

"Thanks, I think." As Cassie had expected, George got quite impatient waiting in line, but they managed to pass the half hour or so by people watching and looking around at the various landscaping. From a distance, they saw one of the Chip 'N Dale chipmunks and Cassie thought she saw Winnie the Pooh, although George laughed so hard at the name that by the time she managed to convince him that he was a really cute little cuddly bear from a kids' story, the character was long gone. Shortly before they actually got into the spooky-looking mansion, Cassie opened up her guide book and read the description of the ride. "Okay. This is obviously supposed to be a haunted mansion. Hence the name. There are all sorts of ghosts in here and you ride through in something called a Doom Buggy. Okay, that's corny. It's rated four out of five stars in this guide and it says it's suitable for children. So you'll be okay." George groaned but he looked rather thoughtfully at her.

"So, there are ghosts in here?"

"Well, I . . . don't imagine they're real ghosts." She whispered this quietly but the kid in front of them laughed and Cassie thought he had probably heard her.

"Oh. Why not?" He looked vaguely disappointed and Cassie had to smother a laugh of her own.

"No such thing as ghosts, George. Stop kidding around."

"Right. Of course there aren't. I just keep hoping I'll run into one somewhere. I've always been curious about things like ghosts, vampires, ghouls, goblins, uh, you know. Things like that." The boy in front snorted again like he was trying to muffle his laughter.

"All right, sweetheart. It's good to know that for future reference. But probably Disney World is not really the best place to be looking for them. These are, I'm quite sure, fake ghosts."

"Hmm." He seemed to be content to let the subject drop, but Cassie suspected that he had something going on in his brain. After all, he was not a mischievous genius for nothing. But short of confronting him right there in line, there wasn't much she could say. A few minutes later they were in the cool shade of the mansion and the old trees. It was blessed relief after the heat of the morning and Cassie lifted her hot sweaty hair off her neck and fanned herself.

"That feels good."

"Yes, it does. It's really amazing how they set the mood around here. It's like you really are at a haunted house. In fact, it reminds me a lot of Grimmauld Place. Before we cleaned it."

"It does look a bit like it, doesn't it? That's what Disney does best. Sets the mood." It wasn't too much longer before they were actually ushered into the mansion. The door shut behind them and Cassie looked around a little nervously. She wasn't really frightened. After everything she had seen in real life, it took a lot to scare her, but she wasn't quite sure what to expect and wasn't quite sure what George would do, which added to her disquiet. A voice suddenly came into the large room and she grabbed George's hand as the floor started dropping beneath them. George, fortunately, just squeezed her hand back and they both laughed at the corny pictures on the wall which got longer and longer as the room got taller and they descended to the actual ride.

The Doom Buggy was plenty big for the two of them, but they snuggled close together as they started through the supposedly haunted house. The ghosts were quite well done, Cassie thought, a bit corny but they had captured the sort of translucent whiteness of them pretty well. George whispered in her ear at one point, "Kind of makes me wonder if this Disney guy ever met an actual ghost. These are a bit overdone, but not too bad." Cassie just nodded, then laughed as they went into a haunted graveyard where all of the ghosts were acting very funny. They both jumped as a projection of a ghost sat in their little carriage with them and they both laughed as the ride came to an end.

"That was great!" George helped her out of the car at the exit and Cassie glanced out at the line, trying to judge whether it was longer or shorter than it had been before. She glanced down at her watch. It had been a little more than an hour since they had walked through the entrance. So, they could probably do this again, if he wanted to.

"Yeah. It was good. Want to go again?" George didn't answer her and she turned to find out where he had gone. He was over talking to one of the employees, a boy who looked to be about 18 or maybe a little older. Cassie's stomach clenched and she hurried over to him.

"I'm just saying that I realize this is not your decision to make or anything, but I'd really like to speak to a supervisor. You have a few things in there that are just totally not ghostlike. Like that crystal ball with the head . . . They're just not like that. Anyway, for a small fee, I . . ."

"George! What are you doing?"

"Offering expertise. Consulting work."
"We're on our honeymoon."

"It wouldn't take long. Maybe a day." The boy was looking between the two of them like he was wondering whether they were both insane or if it was just the redheaded man who had just offered to help make the ghosts look more realistic.

"We're on our honeymoon. And you already have a job." Cassie smiled nervously at the boy. "He's got a great imagination."

"Hey! I resent that."

"Do you want to go again?" George looked at Cassie, realizing that he had probably gone too far and that if he pushed it, she would be unhappy.

"Sure. Why not?" But when he found out they would have to wait in the entire line again, he changed his mind. "Why don't we do something else for a while? We can always come back here later." Cassie didn't point out the fact that they were supposed to go to lunch in 45 minutes. If he wanted to do something different, she wouldn't complain.

"What did you tell the boy?" she asked as they walked away from the mansion.

"Just . . . I didn't mention anything about being a wizard or anything. I think I was very subtle. I'm sure he didn't think anything strange about it."

"Okay. I appreciate that. What specifically did you tell him?"

"I told him that I happened to be familiar with some actual ghosts and could make his look a little more realistic."

"Muggles don't believe in ghosts, George."

"Most do. You can't argue with me about that. I've seen some Muggle movies and Dad's told me that they do."

"You're right. I don't want to argue about this. But I'm sure he thinks you're insane."

"No, he wouldn't. Not for that."

"He'll be telling his roommates tonight about the crazy man who talked to him like he really believes in ghosts." George flushed bright red.

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah. I do."
"Great. Sorry. I thought it would be all right."

"I know. He doesn't know your name or anything. It's no big deal. Just, uh, well. Never mind. Let's find something else to do." The next area they went into was supposed to be sort of a fantasy area and Cassie looked at her guidebook. "It looks like there's a lot to do here. There's a jungle cruise and something called the Tiki Room. Ooh, and Pirates of the Caribbean. That's supposed to be pretty good."

"What is that one, the pirate one?"

"Don't know. Let me see what the guidebook says." She started flipping through the pages when someone sitting near them on the bench spoke up.

"It's a great ride. You ride boats and go through scenes of these pirates raiding a town. They sing. You see skeletons and everything. I think you two would like it, although it's a bit intense for really small kids."

"No kids. Just us." The woman smiled at Cassie.

"I bet you'll both like it. It's one of my personal favorites."

"Thanks for the recommendation. We'll go." They walked over to the ride and George groaned as he saw the line.

"All we do around here is wait in line."

"Stop complaining. It's not that bad." Cassie had planned on having them use the handy Fast-Pass feature so that they wouldn't have to wait in line, but she had read in the guidebook that usually you had to wait 2-3 hours before your scheduled time to come back. That might work for another day, but not when they had such a short time in the park.

"Can we make out?"

"George!"

"It would keep my mind off the line."

"Good thing you're kidding." He took her hand and pulled her close to him.

"Who says I am?" Cassie just grinned and they found the back of the line, waiting patiently to see what this ride was like.