Harry Weasley

Chapter Twenty-Five: Wizardring Road

August 31 found Harry sitting in the makeshift stables that Lightning had been using that summer. "Hey girl, we head back to Hogwart's tomorrow. You have grown so much in the last few months. I am so proud of you, and hope that your travels are safe tomorrow. I don't know yet, but I'm going to talk to mom and Charlie to see if I can travel with you tomorrow, maybe have the others join us in our travels. I know that Ginny, Fred, George and Percy will be taking the train, but maybe I can convince them to allow Hermoine, Ron, Draco, Pansy and Neville to travel with the three of us tomorrow. I really want to check out that road that you traveled on to get here. Charlie says that it is an ancient road that was used by the Roman Wizards when they occupied this part of England way back when. Well I will let you know later today if we're able to travel with you, take care Lightning girl." Harry petted her and gave her a hug before heading out and back to the house.

When he got back to the burrow, he found his mother and older brother sitting in the kitchen with Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid. "Good morning Professors, what brings you around today?" Harry had a smile on his face when he saw two of his favorite people at Hogwart's in his kitchen.

"Well Harry, we had a couple of things to discuss with your mother, and the one thing that we didn't need you here for, is done being discussed. Will you please sit down Harry, and we will start this meeting. How is Lightning doing Harry? Is she growing big, and hearty? Are you taking good care of her?"

"She's doing good, growing like a normal unicorn should at her age. I am taking really good care of her sir. Now that is one of the things that I wanted to talk to you about mom and Charlie. I was wondering if Hermoine, Ron, Draco, Pansy, Neville and I could travel with her back to Hogwart's tomorrow? I know that she didn't really know Pansy when we left, but she has grown to love Lightning like we all have. Percy, Fred and George would be traveling with Ginny and Luna of course, maybe the two of them could travel with us starting next year." Harry looked over at them with hope in his eyes.

The adults looked at Harry like he was a bit hyper-active, but they knew he had a lot of love for the young unicorn. They weren't going to deny him his request, but weren't sure about the others traveling with them. "Harry, we don't have a problem with you traveling with Lightning back and forth between the school and here, but why the others?"

"Well I have a few good reasons. 1. They have also bonded with Lightning, and she would feel more comfortable if all her family traveled with her. 2. It would be a great learning experience for everyone both in the care and transportation of unicorns, and the history of the wizardring road. 3. It will also show you that we are responsible enough to handle this trip in the future, so that Charlie won't have to keep coming from Romania to travel with her." Harry smiled at them, showing that he had thunk out everything already.

"Well Harry, you have given us three good reasons for allowing you and your friends to travel with Lightning. You have our permission to travel with them. You should know that you will be leaving awfully early tomorrow to make it to the school in time, so you and your friends should get to sleep early tonight, and make sure that Lightning is ready for the trip before you do." Mrs. Weasley was proud of her son, and was going to let him go anyway.

"Thank you mom, Charlie, Professor Dumbledore and Hagrid, we won't disappoint you." With that, Harry ran upstairs to tell the others that they needed to be ready to leave early tomorrow, because we were all going to travel with Lightning on the Wizardring Road. He then went off and made sure that Lightning was ready to go tomorrow, and had all her stuff ready and packed for the trip. "We're all going with you tomorrow girl." Lightning gave him a nuzzle on his cheek, and neighed her affirmative.

The rest of the day was spent packing all there stuff, and making sure that they were ready for traveling the next day. They had an early dinner, and all went to bed early that night to excited about traveling the way they were. They all had pleasant dreams that night, and slept pretty much peacefully.

The next day found the Ron, Charlie and Harry Weasley, Hermoine Granger, Neville Longbottom, Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson sitting down at breakfast with Mr and Mrs. Weasley, and Hagrid early on September 1st. They were discussing what they were going to find when they started on the road, and how long it would take them to get there. "While it only took us a couple of hours at the beginning of the summer to get here Harry, that was with only myself and Lightning. We won't be getting to Hogwart's til about two hours before the sorting feast tonight because we're going in such a large group. We will be taking a picnic lunch with us on the way, and have fun traveling the road. You all should feel privileged, this road is usually only open for Auror's, Hit wizards and ministry business. We have been given special permission from the magical creature department and the head of the wizarding law enforcement agency to use it twice a year. Now I have a question for you all. I have been in touch with Professor Binns and he was wondering if you all would like to work on a project for his class on the history of the road for his class?"

Ron gave a groan when he heard this, but gave them a smile.

"Well it sounds like a lot of fun to do. What is he expecting for the beginning of the school year on this, anything?"

"Well he wants to talk to you all after the first class this year about this, but he isn't expecting anything on it right away. He says that you might find some interesting things going on with the road, like sightings of magical creatures, and ghosts. He said that he knows of at least two ghosts formally of Hogwart's that travel that road all the time. Well I think that we should get going." With that, the group got up gathering there trunks which the adults had shrunk for them to be able to carry easily and the picnic basket.

They headed out towards the barn and put the reins on Lightning to get going. "We are also leaving this early, so that we won't be seen by the muggles in the area. Once we get on the road, we don't have to worry about it. Come on Lightning, are you ready to go?"

They headed out towards the edge of town, and out towards the edge of the local forest. :"The road starts here in the middle of the forest, and we won't be having any problems anymore. Now that we're here, it will go faster now."

Lightning nuzzled her head in Harry's hand and nudged him towards her back.

Harry looked at Charlie and Hagrid, and wondered what was up with the unicorn.

Both Hagrid and Charlie were looking at Harry with surprise on their faces. "Looks like she wants you to ride her for a while Harry. You should do it, it will further the bond between the two of you, and it is also a privilege that most people don't ever get the chance to do. You're the first one that she has had any inclining to let ride her, not that we have been trying, for she has been to young until now. Go ahead, you should be able to ride her for awhile, but I wouldn't recommend doing it for longer than a couple of hours." Harry beamed and climbed up on her back, and took her into a walk.

While they were walking they came across pixies and other small magical creatures, and also they came across Hagrid's old friend Firenze and a group of Centaurs that were on their way back to the forbidden forest. "Firenze, it is good to see you again. As you can see, Lightning is doing great." Harry smiled at the young Centaur and shook his hand.

"It is good to see you too Mr. Harry Wesley, I am glad that you and your unicorn are getting along good. Are you all heading back to Hogwart's now?"

"Yah, it seems that they wanted to travel with Lightning back to school." The group said their good byes to the Centaurs and were back on the road to school.

Three hours later, they were all getting a bit hungry, so they decided to stop for lunch. When they stopped, they found a small clearing that was the perfect size for them to have lunch in. When they were all settled in for lunch, they were approached by a couple of ghosts, who asked if they could join them for their lunch, well not to eat but to chat.

After they said that it would be all right, they explained that they were the ghosts that their Professor had said was traveling this road, and that they were happy to meet them. They spent about an hour with them giving them a history about the road and what kind of creatures and people that travel it. They enjoyed their lunch, and company before starting off again. Lightning let each of the students a chance to ride her for a while on the way there, and they were all happy. They got back to Hogwart's just in time to settle Lightning in and make it up to their dorms to put their stuff away and come down to the Great Hall in time for the rest of the students to get there.