Chapter Fourteen: Regrouping

"You don't suppose we ought to tell anyone about what we saw do you?" Nymphadora asked as they walked back towards the Tarzan Tree. She was still clutching the Captain Jack Sparrow statue as if her life depended on it. Little did Remus know she had also purchased him a gift, which was at the very bottom of the bag. A wig and hat, just like the pirate. Afraid of him seeing it with the purchase, she had very wisely charmed it to shrink. Oh how he was going to just love that.

"Well, I thought we clarified that it really wasn't Draco at all…" Remus replied with a raised eyebrow, looking down at her as she chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully. Her grip tightened on his hand and she nodded slightly.

"Oh yeah. I forgot." She shrugged and grinned as they reached the base of the gigantic faux foliage, she leaning against whatever part she could whilst Remus stood up straight, looking at all of the gift shops surrounding the area. "Oh look! It's Minerva and Dumbledore!" She began to wave frantically, but stopped as soon as she saw the look on the headmistress' face, and the way the ghostly man was 'trudging' along behind her. Obviously something had happened, and judging by the behavior of those two, it was something that was not good.

"Hello Minerva, Albus…how was it?" Remus asked, and, being so obviously male, he was completely oblivious to the tension between the older couple. Nymphadora elbowed him in the side, but he didn't notice at all, merely kept on smiling happily as he looked from Tonks to Minerva, and then severely sobered his grin as he actually felt the friction in the air, now between everyone.

"Hello." Minerva replied, tone quite abrupt and curt, probably due to the fact that 'It's a Small World' was swirling around through her mind, making her dizzy and feel the need to vomit. Not to mention the fact that whenever she closed her eyes she was staring into the faces of a dozen wooden children. She clutched at her stomach and made a face, which caused Dumbledore to wince.

"How was the ride?" Albus asked, a hopeful glint in his eye as he tried to change the topic of conversation over to the other two rather than them, "Was it—" He was going to say, 'as good as ours?' but figured that that probably wouldn't go over very well, so he refrained (and judging by the looks that he was receiving from Minerva, he was probably choosing a very safe route indeed).

It was then that the rest of the group started coming back. Ron and Harry, Sirius and Arthur, Kingsley and Alastor; each talking animatedly amongst their group as they all met back up at the tree. They must have looked quite a sight; Ron and Harry in their Fedora's, Minerva looking like she was going to retch, and Nymphadora clutching at her bag as if someone was going to grab it and take all of her newest treasures (more importantly, the hat and wig for Remus).

"I'm starved!" Sirius proclaimed, arms wide as if going to embrace all of them at once. They weren't paying attention, and kept chattering wildly amongst themselves. "I said I'm hungry!" He repeated, far louder and with his hands on his hips. This got their attention and they all looked up at him with expectant smiles. "Well I didn't say I knew where I wanted to go!"

Nymphadora sighed quietly, shaking her head. "Well, we could go to one of the restaurants here?" She suggested, even though they were wildly overpriced. She looked down at the map in front of her and sighed dramatically before Moody looked over her shoulder (mentally noting that she hadn't noticed him sneaking up behind her) and exclaimed,

"The Enchanted Cottage!"

Which made everyone exchange weird looks before shrugging and then nodding in agreement. It sounded good enough. With that, they linked arms and began to make their way across the theme park. They took big steps, and tried to match them, taking out their cameras an snapping shots of everything that they could in order to scrapbook it at a later Order Meeting. Fun!

"Let's sing!" Albus suggested as they strolled merrily along; it certainly seemed as if they ought to do something to up the 'tacky, early American musical' ness of it all. He looked to the others for their approval, watching Minerva eyeing him closely.

"As long as it's not 'Small World.'" She hissed underneath her breath as they trod to the restaurant, smiles on their faces.

"What about…?" Arthur looked at everyone and they grinned a knowing grin, squeezing each other's arms before belting out:

"Oh you may not think I'm pretty…but don't judge by what you see…for I will eat myself if you should find a smarter hat than me…" They may have thought that they sounded quite fantastic as they strolled, but the rest of the park was thinking the opposite. Especially with Sirius howling away (well, actually he was doing more of a barklike tone, Remus was the one howling, which was embarrassing Nymphadora no end), Arthur singing tonelessly, and Minerva glowering, mumbling out the words as she kept confusing them with 'Small World'. The lyrics were a bit on the odd side as well of course. Who had ever heard of a song from a hat's point of view before? Let alone one that would eat itself. That just seemed a rather silly notion, and they wondered just what these people had been smoking, or where exactly they hailed from.

After a very long trek indeed, they made it to the Enchanted cottage, everyone with a wide smile upon their happy faces (everyone but those innocent bystanders forced to listen to their atrocious voices). Getting a few of the picnic tables out front, they went in and ordered what seemed to be German cuisine. They sat down in little groups, eating their food cheerily as they talked about their experiences on the rides they went on, Nymphadora showing everyone her statue proudly. Sirius adored it, and exclaimed that he was going to order a matching pair as bookends for his living room. Remus rolled his eyes and merely sighed, knowing he would never win if it was he against his lover and her cousin. He just chewed silently, nodding at all the right places and smiling as if he agreed wholeheartedly. Which he adamantly did not, any man that wears fifteen layers of kohl and dreadlocks had issues; little did he know that Nymphadora seemed to have a thing for pirates, and that if he wanted to stay alive, he would accept the gifts she had purchased with a smile.

"Too bad we can't stay longer." Ron sighed, shaking his head with a wistful expression, Harry too was beginning to miss this place already, the bright lights, the sounds, the smells (even if it was a sweaty man who had stood behind them in line at the Indiana Jones ride), it was all so incredible; like nothing they had ever experienced before. He wouldn't like to live there persay, but it was an awfully nice place to visit. Perhaps they would have to take some vacations more often, maybe they would even find some places more exotic? More interesting? Harry smirked, NOT POSSIBLE.

All of those sitting at the benches thought for sure that they had found a Heaven on earth.

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Two chapters out! yey for me!