Chapter thirty one.
Exams were over. The cold had come. That meant one thing.
"CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS!" Alice shrieked in happiness, running around the common room like a kid on a sugar high. Hermione made a mental note not to let her anywhere near the lollies again, Draco had warned her, but she thought he had just been joking. Hannah sat on one of the couches with an eyebrow raised in amusement, "Why are you so excited Alice? The Christmas holidays aren't that long."
Alice's smile slipped from her face and she seemed to deflate in front of their eyes. "Oh yeah." She collapsed onto the couch and stuck her feet moodily near the flames.
The boys had all left for the Burrow that morning (probably to avoid any more prank encounters, even though they had struck a truce after the whole 'Make-Draco-Paranoid-For-A-Day-And-Laugh-At-Him' thing) and the girls had decided that they'd stay in Hogwarts for the night before meeting everyone early the next morning. With Alice having run her energy out finally, she joined in their conversation that lasted late into the night before they all crashed on the couches. They awoke later then they meant to that morning, 3:30am instead of 3:00am, and rushed around, trying to gather all their things before catching the Thestral drawn carriages out of the Hogwarts grounds.
The morning after Alice had cast the paranoia dream spell over Malfoy, there was a large Quidditch game between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. When all the students arrived they found their pitch burnt out with a large pit in the middle. McGonagall, not used to those sorts of occurances and how to counter them, as no student would dare interfere with Quidditch, had called up the staff to see if they had any ideas. Alice had crept away, repaired the pitch and returned before anyone had noticed. Draco, though, was pacing a hole in the floor, pulling out his hair, crying, "Is this what I was supposed to remember? Oh dear Merlin, I hope not! What if it's a curse? What if someone is going to go crazy or something because of it?"
Alice apparated back, looking slightly green.
"Okay, hold on, last trip." She sighed. She reached out and grasped Harry and Draco's hands. She felt her face heat up a bit as she took Harry's hand in her own and secretly marvelled at how comfortable it was, so soft but calloused with work and for some reason it tickled her gently. Harry glanced down to where their hands were grasped and smiled softly, before trying to subtly rub the pad of his thumb over her knuckles just as she disapparated. That lasted in the split second it took her to work her magic and she quickly let go as soon as they arrived.
Because Alice actually had to go between New Zealand and Australia at different intervals and was now forced to live in England because of the Marriage Law, she was the only one who had a registered International Apparation Licence and therefore the one who could side-apparate everyone to the apparating location in Australia.
The Burrow stood among the fields, tall, inviting and for the first time in decades, silent.
Moments later a slim figure apparated into the fields and approached it cautiously. When it had determined that no spells were going to be fired its way, it continued up the path until it reached the door.
"Mum? Dad? I'm home for Christmas!" Ginny Weasley called smugly, clearly expecting a wave of love to emit from the household. But the door remained shut and the house silent. Ginny frowned and pulled out an old key with various charms on it to deflect the wards. She unlocked and opened the door to find a silent household.
They had all left the Burrow, two by two, with Alice and their luggage before the sun had risen and were now standing inside a large colourful room, with a soft cool wind blowing through it (what was it with these Southerners and the need for constantly moving air?). There was a man and a lady standing at a booth in front of the door that led into a winding corridor. Hermione and Luna were chatting with Molly, and Alice shook off Harry and Draco as she strode towards the Custom Guards. No-one else was there so the Weasleys, Harry, Hermione and Draco as well as Luna, Blaise, Neville and Hannah dawdled after her, still chatting excitedly, but stopped when they saw the solemn faces of Alice and the custom guards.
"Really? That is so weird…"
"I know, it hasn't been this cold in a long time."
"It's just a cold snap though, right?"
"Yeah, a huge storm blew up from the Antarctic and 's hangi' 'round the Bight. A couple a' Southerlies are just blowin' all the cold air up the coast."
"Yeah, right? So you 'reckon it'll be over soon?"
"Yeah, she'll be right mate. Give it a' coupl' a days."
"Ta."
"No worries. Passport?"
With that conversation over and once everyone had gone through, they gathered on the other side of the barrier to hear what had happened.
Alice's face was contrite, "I'm so sorry, but it'll be cold here for awhile. So cold that people are going about with jumpers and jackets, and it's the middle of summer!"
Looking surprised, no-one shrugged off the cold gear they were wearing.
"Follow me." Alice said, leading the way through a twisted maze of corridors. Eventually she led them up a set of steps and pushed open a rusty door, letting in a blast of air. They all piled out to see themselves in another field, but one of sugarcane. "Oh, she's chilly all right!" Alice exclaimed.
"You're joking, right?" Hermione asked as she hastily pulled off her scarf and layers of jumpers, "This is like, warmer than a summer's day!"
"Mate, its 23 degrees Celsius! This is cold, even in winter!"
Everyone stared at her and turned as they saw Draco coming out, already in shorts and a loose t-shirt.
He shrugged at their looks, "Their definition and our definition of 'cold' during summer is very different."
Suddenly Alice jumped up and down waving. She turned to them excitedly, "Here comes our ride!"
Bouncing through the rows of sugar cane came a dusty old ute. It pulled up and a tall brunette with the same type of jumper as Alice (which, if Hermione looked carefully at, looked a bit like her early colourful attempts at knitting) jumped out to hug her and then Draco. She looked just like Alice, only older and with a darker complexion and she turned to the large group of people. "Wow, you've made a lot of friends! I'll just grab the luggage."
Alice smiled, "Everyone, this is my sister Amelia. Amy, this is everyone."
Amy ducked her head in a quick greeting as everyone said their hellos and she pulled out her wand, levitated all the luggage onto the back of the ute, before grabbing some rope and tying it all down.
She smiled, "Okay, everyone in!" She frowned in surprise as Arthur Weasley stepped forward with reverence and began inspecting the machine, going over it like a boy with a new toy.
"Wow…Muggles certainly are ingenius…I wonder…" he began muttering.
"Will we fit?" Hermione queried.
"You're right, we'll have to draw straws on who has to sit in the back and on the roof." Amy said musingly, and everyone started to laugh.
"Let me guess, bigger on the inside than the out?" Harry chuckled along with the rest, but stopped when they saw Draco hurrying to the passenger's door. "I bags the front seat!" he said possessively.
Alice looked at Harry funnily, replying, "No. It's just a car." She then proceeded to climb onto the back of the ute, "I bags the roof!"
Hannah paled, "But…isn't that illegal?"
Amy shrugged, "Its private property. We have a fair bit to go before we get to the road, so it's either this, or walk."
Fred and George looked at each other before charging for the back of the ute. They jumped onto the top of the bags.
"This is-"
"-totally awesome!"
Their fiancées sighed and hauled themselves up besides them.
"How will we ever survive those two?" Varuni asked in amusement and Polly shrugged light heartedly.
"I think that's the idea! Frighten us to death!"
"Molly and Arthur Weasley?" the two turned at the sound of their names. Amelia smiled at them and held a door open. "You two can sit inside." They smiled gratefully.
"Thank you dear." Molly said as she shuffled in, Arthur close behind.
"No probs."
Eventually everyone managed to get themselves sorted and into a comfortable position. Hermione had gotten the seat in between the driver and the passenger seat and Luna was sitting in Blaise's lap beside Arthur. Harry was clinging to the roof beside an excited Alice, a stalk of sugar cane hanging from her lips that she chewed and the Weasley twins, their fiancées; Varuni and Polly, Charlie, Charlotte, Ron, Padma, Hannah and Neville had all managed to fit on top of the bags and the roof as well.
"All set?" Alice asked, as everyone got comfortable. When she got all positive replies she banged on the roof and Amelia started the ute and set off carefully.
Amelia wasn't kidding when she said it was a while to the road; at a slow and steady pace they hadn't even got there in half an hour. By then everyone, having got over the novelty of riding on the back of a car, were complaining of cramps.
"You're a witch Alice! Why couldn't you've enlarged the inside to accommodate all of us?" Hannah complained, holding a hand over her face to hide from the glare of the hot sun as the car slowly rambled over the ruts in the path, surrounded by tall sugar cane. Alice turned around, grinning widely.
"But where's the fun in that?"
Below in the car, Hermione and Draco were being jostled together frequently. "Oi! Amy, can't you drive straight?" Draco complained.
Amy whipped her head around and glared, "You know it's the road, not me!' she turned her attention to the road and grinned slyly. "So… Is this your girlfriend?"
Draco flushed and Hermione frowned in amusement. "Amy…this is my fiancée."
"WHAT!" the car screeched to a stop and stalled while Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Man-Who-Defeated, tumbled head over heels over the windshield and onto the dirt path they had been following. Rounds of laughter followed him, but Amy ignored them, squealing with joy.
"OH! Show me the ring! And when did this happen? Why didn't anyone tell me?"
Hermione, bemused, held up a hand and Amy grabbed it, inspecting it.
"Wow Draco, you must really love her! This is that family heirloom Aunty Cissa kept going on about!"
Hermione frowned at this and started to turn to Draco, who was avoiding her gaze, but was interrupted by Alice, hanging upside down and sticking her head through the driver's window. "What's the hold up?"
Amy turned to her, "Alice! Draco's getting married! Why didn't you tell me!"
Alice cocked her head and looked at her confusedly, her hair hanging down and swaying with her movements. "Oh I thought you'd've guessed, what with me 'avin' ta get married too."
"ARGHHH! You're getting MARRIED? WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?"
"…Did…didn't you get the notice on the Marriage Law?"
"Marriage Law? But I'm already married! All I know is that you disappear for England and come back MARRIED!"
"Oh… That's why. I'll explain later!" Alice disappeared back to the top of the roof.
Meanwhile, Harry had clambered back up to the roof and his spot next to Alice. Amy shook her head and re-started the engine, "Why does no-one tell me anything these days?" she muttered, "Married! Those two! Will wonders never cease?"