It wasn't easy climbing to the top of the cliffs. We'd looked all around for an easier path, but it seemed the kirin didn't want to be easily accessible. The funny thing here was while Addera was having a harder time climbing the cliff, I'd found something I was very good at.
Ledges that weren't wide enough to take a full human foot seemed just fine for my hooves. I was bouncing up an almost vertical cliff.
Seemingly the worst of all of us, Twilight seemed to struggle balancing on level ground, so she remained riding with Addera. Ledge. Outcropping. Literally nothing. Ledge. Somehow my hooves seemed able to get enough grip even on what seemed like sheer cliff to let me bounce upward higher than I slipped in the same maneuver.
"You may as well go to the top, Harry Potter. I'll reach there when I can."
"I still think I could have shrunk you both enough that you could have ridden on me for a change," I said. Doing like she said, however, I bounced up the side of the cliff like a mountain goat.
Reaching the peak (of peril), I looked out over the hilltop. The cliff led down to a flat bowl that was surrounded by the cliffs on all side and covered with forest. There were trees everywhere, but there was a stream far in the distance, and not all that far from the stream I could see a clearing in the forest and— "There's a town!"
I turned and leaned over the edge of the cliff without any fear. "I can see a town!"
Addera still hadn't gotten much higher than she'd been when she'd told me to go ahead. The way she moved was so different. Each ridge she found she settled a coil on it carefully and stretched herself out over as many as she could, and only gave one up when she was too high for it anymore.
Twilight must have said something, because Addera turned her head to look at the unicorn in her backpack before nodding. They vanished.
POMF
I jumped. Given the cliff I was standing beside, that probably wasn't the best thing to do, but I landed on the edge of the cliff and my hooves seemed to continue to know what they were about.
Climbing out of Addera's backpack, Twilight used her own magic to shrug my Shrinking charm off and regain her normal size. "Thank you, Addera, and thank you Harry. Teleporting is perfectly safe so long as I can calculate the destination and know there's nocreature there. I didn't want to try from the ground, but seeing you meant I could get a better guess as to how far I needed to reach."
I was about to ask her more about her teleportation (that seemed vaguely like apparating), but Addera picked then to grab me up and hug me against herself tight. I squirmed in her grip and reached my forelegs around her neck to hug back. I don't know why, but it felt good to hug her.
As she hugged me, she made a soft hissing sound that despite my parseltongue, wasn't actually words. But it was soothing. "Harry Potter, you've dragged me from one world to another, and seem fit to drag me all over this one. Let's go find your answers."
It was as easy as that. Addera put me down after the hug and we found it much easier getting down from the cliff—mostly because Twilight could just teleport all three of us down.
Again the forest was quiet around us, but I guess having Addera around meant I'd be getting used to that. My nose seemed to have a mind of its own as it twitched at all the new scents around, not the least of which I could identify as kirin.
We hadn't even broken out of the treeline when we could hear them. Happy voices, excited voiced, even singing voices. The singing one in particular had my ears perked forward—she (the voice was definitely female) had a very full sound.
"Twilight, please wait here while Harry Potter makes sure it's safe. They all have horns, and I'd as soon not like to see what kind of magic they could use on a pony who can't shrug it off." Addera looked from Twilight to me and smiled. "Harry Potter, you are a kirin, if anyone can keep them from—"
Addera had been so focused on talking to me that she hadn't noticed Twilight roll her eyes and walk out into the clear. "Excuse me? Hello?" Twilight Sparkle asked.
"What's a pony doing here?" one kirin asked, but I don't think they were asking Twilight.
"Why don't we ask them?" A kirin walked forward with a big grin on her face. "Hi there, I'm Autumn Blaze, welcome to our village!" Her voice was very distinct, like she was giving a speech.
"Hi, Autumn Blaze, my name's Twilight Sparkle. My friends and I—" Twilight paused and turned to look at the bush Addera and me were in. "You can come out."
I walked out first, but when the crowd of kirin went silent, it wasn't me they were looking at. I decided it was up to me to remind them that staring wasn't nice. "Hi!"
"This," Twilight Sparkle said, "is Harry Potter, and this is his guardian, Addera."
"Oh—my—goodness!" Autumn bounced around Twilight and right up to me. "You're adorable!" Her horn flared with blue light around its chevrons and she picked me up with her magic. While she held me before her, Autumn poked at my nose with her hoof.
"Addera! Help!" I said.
"I do not believe she intends you harm, Harry Potter. You wished to learn from kirin, I believe that is happening." The worst bit was Addera sounded so damn smug about it. A moment earlier she'd been preparing to tactically greet these kirin in the safest way possible, but now she seemed calm about it.
Autumn gasped in surprise. "You want to learn from me?" She held me closer so that our noses almost touched. "You really want to learn to be a playwright from me?!"
"Err—" I tried to tell her I was more interested in learning to control my fire, but she apparently wanted to sing instead.
Judicious use of a Tracking charm had led Rolanda Hooch to the railway station just outside the Crystal Empire. Once she'd realized that draining her magic was almost literally impossible in Equestria, it removed all barriers to recasting even large spells in order to solve the problem at hand—or at hoof, as it were.
She looked south along the direction the railway ran and let out a little sigh. I might have wings, but I don't trust them enough to fly as far as I need to. The thought was sound. Rolanda had been chosen to chase down their truant primarily because she was best on a broom of any witch or wizard at Hogwarts.
The problem for Rolanda was her broom wasn't exactly made for a pony, though it was made for a larger creature than she currently was.
Flicking out her wing, she set her broom into the air beside her and examined its slightly modified mounting system. Normal brooms had ornate curved stirrups for human feet, but Rolanda had embraced certain aspects of modern society and had a pair of BMX posts instead. In her defense, they gripped her shoes better than the normal stirrups.
But, Rolanda Hooch wasn't wearing shoes. She looked at the post nearest her and lifted her forehoof onto it. The knurling gripped her hoof well, and she leaned onto it to ensure it would take more of her weight.
"A bit lower and…" She had the broom hover just a little lower and stepped her body over it. Her back hooves properly connected with the posts and gripped well, but now she tried to wrap her forelegs around the broom—with only minimal success. "This won't do."
After a few minutes to think on the problem, Rolanda spread her wings out and slowly lowered them, then pulled them in against the broom.
Rolanda gasped as instinct took hold, as it were, and her feathers gripped the broom just like her hands would have. She stared down and back at them as a smile turned into a grin and then almost split her snout from one side to the other. Holding on as tight as she could, she launched herself into the sky on her broom with a loud shout of joy.
It had been quite a while since Rolanda had soared through terrain she didn't know. All the United Kingdom had become her playground in her younger years, and even some places beyond, but this was utterly different. This world wasn't just unfamiliar, she hadn't even seen a map of it yet.
Unlike on the ground, in the air Rolanda had a vast advantage of scope. She knew Harry had been on the train and knew it headed toward Equestria, so she simply followed the tracks.
The trains of the Equestrian Railway might be fast, but Rolanda Hooch was faster. She leaned as far forward on her broom as she could and gripped it tight with her wings. The tracks were long and slightly curved, but it wasn't until she looked up that she realized where they were ultimately leading to.
Canterlot, even from below, was unbelievable. For a witch who had lived her whole life concealing her magic from the vast majority, seeing the underside of Canterlot suspended over so much empty air was a shock.
Spiraling up the side of the mountain, Rolanda received a second shock when she reached the top. She could feel and see magic in use everywhere. There were unicorns carrying and holding things with the magic from their horns, there was pegasi soaring through the clouds above her, and there were things glowing here, there, and everywhere. It was as if Diagon Alley had come to life and spread out over a huge set of dinner plates.
Rolanda swooped down to the railway station and landed at the end of the platform.
"Excusein' me, miss, but you're going to need a ticket if you want to catch the train." Stamped Mark was the conductor for the southern rail line. He was waiting for his train to come out of the yards when he saw the strange pegasus land her contraption on the platform.
"You'll have to excuse my haste, good sir, but I wonder if you've seen this boy?" Reaching to a pocket of her broom's saddlebag, Rolanda pulled out the most recent photo of Harry—one that had been taken since his change. It was animated, showing him moving and jostling around with Ron beside him.
"Nope. Haven't seen him, and I'd know if I had." Stamped had to reach out and put his hoof on Rolanda's shoulder to stop her zooming off immediately. "But, ol' Twobit said he spied a colt lookin' just like that yesterday. Had a snake pony with him and a unicorn. He was drivin' a special run down south."
The reaction had surprised Rolanda. She'd been about to growl at the pony for touching her, but she quickly realized it had been a necessity. "You don't happen to have a map showing where that is?"
"I can go you one better. Follow me." The raw joy of helping ponies shone through Stamped's demeanor in just about every way. He almost pranced to the ticket booth and reached in to grab a rail-map of Equestria. "This here is where they got off. Spur line on the edge of nothing, if you ask me."
Rolanda left her broom floating where she'd landed and rushed after Stamped. "Could I take that map?"
"Sure! It's only—" His years as a conductor had trained Stamped Mark to know when the pony he was talking to didn't have any bits for their trip. He'd given a lot of ponies a lot of free rides, and as far as he knew the rail service hadn't had a problem with it. There was one thing he could get away with, however. "Well, how about I cover that for you today, but next time you're in Canterlot we have lunch?"
The shift from worry to surprise hit Rolanda hard. She looked at the stallion and tried to put in context why having a little lunch date would be bad. Of course, that required her to acknowledge that she would be back to Canterlot in the future.
Lunch was a small price to pay. "I believe I'll take you up on that. My name's Rolanda Hooch."
Stamped Mark turned the name over and around in his head. It wasn't an Equestrian name. "Well, Miss Rolanda Hooch, my name's Stamped Mark. If you're ever back in Canterlot, just ask around here to see when I'll be coming back next."
Rolanda took the offered map with a smile for Stamped. "Thank you."
Reaching up to an imaginary hat he wasn't wearing, Stamped Mark nodded his head. "Good luck finding your friends, Rolanda."
Looking at the map and the mark on it, Rolanda made a mental note of what rail lines she'd need to find leaving Canterlot before she jumped back on her broom and zoomed off.
The day was getting long into the afternoon. Rolanda made the best time she could on her broom, but with little warning the sun just dropped from the sky and over the horizon. Without being able to see the tracks anymore, Rolanda was at a disadvantage.
The answer was a simple one—Rolanda cast the Wand Lighting charm and swung lower on her broom. But far from her wand glowing, Rolanda's wings began to glow. So shocked at the perversion of the spell was she that she almost upended herself.
Keeping low, Rolanda followed the tracks all the way to the end of the line. The map told her this was the spot the train had stopped at.
"Just a day behind them, I think. Maybe less. Running out into the wilderness blind isn't something I'd relish. I might as well get comfortable here."
Hermione Granger wasn't sure what to expect back on Earth. When she'd been marched through the portal with all the other students, she certainly hadn't expected the tent city to be where Hogwarts had been before.
The company of Ron and his brothers was somewhat comforting, but at the same time disheartening. They were practically mourning the loss of their sister, though she was still there with them.
"Excuse me." Hermione marched up to one of the Ministry wizards and glared at them, then repeated herself.
Jenny Sparks had had enough. She wasn't an old witch—just eight years out of Hogwarts herself—but the way the students literally milled around like lost livestock was getting on her nerves. "What?!"
"So we can just go home now?" Between her crystalline nature and her clothes, Hermione found the chill of the highlands wasn't biting into her at all. Her robes concealed most of the equine parts of her, though her head was a bit of a give away.
They're just children, Jenny thought. Chanted, really, in the back of her head. "Yes, yes. Find your parents. There's only a handful we haven't been able to arrange travel for—mostly muggles."
Hermione was not prepared to take that level of stupidity, so she prepared to enlighten Jenny. "In case you haven't bothered to find out yet, you should know that the three distinct levels of equinity among us correlates directly to how much wizarding blood we have. Those who were pure-blood are completely pony, those who were half-blood are mostly pony, and those of us who could almost pass for a pony-headed human—"
It was a blow to Jenny in her most valued part—her brain. She hadn't gotten any such information because no one had been giving it out. "Right. Sorry, it's been a tough few days. If you're muggle-born, your parents won't be here. That means we'll need to assign someone to you to take care of any muggles that see you. Though, if I just got you a hooded robe, I think you'd pass for human much easier."
"So you're going to take me to see my parents?" Despite her attempts to remain as aloof as she could, some worry had crept into Hermione's voice now she wasn't lecturing.
That edge of worry hit Jenny Sparks right in her empathy. "I'm probably going to regret this, but let me go ask."
Hermione waited, and waited, and waited. She was getting close to her limit of patience when she saw Jenny walking toward her. "Well?"
"My boss wants me out of his hair almost as much as I want to be away from this place. Come on, let's get going before either of us change our minds." Jenny gestured at Hermione's luggage with her wand.
About to comment on how best to carry her own luggage, Hermione was shocked when Jenny just cast a simple Shrinking charm on her things. Of all the spells she'd thought of to carry all her things, Hermione hadn't thought of such a thing.
Jenny only stopped channeling magic when the luggage was small enough to fit in a pocket. She passed the two cases to Hermione. "Come on. We'll head to Diagon Alley first to get you something to cover your head and arms. Where's your folks live?"
"Outer-east suburbs of London." Hermione tucked her bags into one of her robes' inner pockets. "How will we get there? Diagon Alley, I mean."
"Well, let me see. Your parents were muggles and you're in third year?"
"Second."
"So you probably don't know about apparating." As soon as she mentioned it, Jenny noticed Hermione's face screwed up as if she were about to be ill. "Or maybe you have. Take my hand and don't let go no matter what."
The idea of going through an apparition again did not appeal to Hermione, but she reluctantly reached out to Jenny. "Hermione."
"Jenny. Jenny Sparks." Given the look Hermione had made when Jenny mentioned apparition, she was surprised at how readily the girl held out her hand. "Like I said, hold on, Hermione."
"It doesn't feel right," Ginevra Molly Weasley said.
'What doesn't feel right?'
Sombra's voice calmed some of the itch Ginevra felt, but not all of it. "Them." She pointed one slender arm out at the two wizards who'd been caught by surprise when she'd "found" them. "They are Deatheaters. I should be punishing them, not letting them follow me around like lost puppies."
'You are learning fast, my student. We have gained some power since starting this crusade—it is about time we started using that. Pick one, remake them into something more suitable.'
Ginevra wasn't exactly sure what was meant. "Suitable?"
"Err, allow me to make a suggestion, your wise and powerfulnesses." Bowing and scraping was harder to do as a pony, but that didn't stop Peter Pettigrew from managing it anyway—he'd had a lot of practice. When neither the scary voice of Sombra nor Ginevra told him to keep quiet, he continued, "You need a way to find the rest of the Deatheaters. Something that can move fast, freeze them in their tracks with fear—something that doesn't think about all those annoying things like disobeying. Something that's a real punishment."
"Dragon." The word left Ginevra's lips before she had really processed it. The epitome of fearful, deadly, fast… Looking at one of the Deatheaters. She reached her hand out and gestured to him. Power flowed and was infused with knowledge by her teacher. Staring into the man's eyes, Ginevra felt sure this was the right thing to do.
Igor Karkaroff would have ignored the pull of his dark mark if not for the sense of Voldemort being dead. He had felt his mark not just changed and pulled toward the new master, but he had felt a reverse pull. Traitorous and craven he might be, but stupid he wasn't—if this new master could have found him, he felt it better to go to them.
Now, Igor looked up at the young woman pointing at him and regretted his choice. The power that built behind the hand gesturing at him was greater than any he'd felt his previous lord wield. "W-W-What are—"
Just as quickly as his thick and adopted Russian accent started to form the words, they died as his face began to change. The power that had been burning in the woman was now pouring into him, and Igor entered a full panic.
What had seemed like an inconvenience when performed by another witch or wizard was impossible for Igor to fight—and he tried. He had several minor artifacts on his person that should have made Transfiguration magic impossible to use on him, yet he could feel the magic and changes flow down his body like a wave.
First, Igor's face grew nearly twice as big in every dimension, but thrice so forward. He was staring at the huge snout between his eyes while his neck lengthened and his body started to swell.
Ginevra fed more and more magic into Igor until the spell felt like it had enough. She smiled as she watched a half-formed dragon twist and writhe, but something was odd. "He's not turning into a dragon-dragon."
'No. Not the weak little dragons that exist here. You have made him into something magnificent: an Equestrian dragon.' King Sombra hadn't even expected that, but the will of magic, he knew, would often choose its own fates. He was impressed his student managed to make the spell work at all. Impressed and pleased.
When Igor's arms disjointed and lifted high on his back, he felt them change and twist into mighty draconic wings. A new pair of forelegs formed and he dropped down on them firmly. The woman who had caused it to happen was now half his size, but Igor started to feel strange thoughts worm into his head. Turning his bulk, Igor Karkaroff bent one foreleg and bowed his head down before Ginevra.
"He's not an unthinking beast, but I think I prefer this. You remember what you did to gain your mark?" Ginevra stepped closer so that Igor's breath was lashing her dark cloak with cinders.
"I—I did bad things."
Reaching out her hand, Ginevra pressed it to the side of Igor's big, red muzzle. It sizzled on his scales and she watched a white handprint burn into them. She felt exactly what he'd done and how he'd lied about feeling sorry for it all at a trial. "You will serve me like this. The day I believe you actually deserve to be a human again, I'll make you one."
Igor lashed his tail in anticipation. Not a single one of the wizards who'd put him on trial had been worthy of his time, but this woman not only had power but used it (in his mind) justly. He felt powerful, dangerous, deadly, and hungry, but most of all he felt her hand on his cheek—even when she removed it—and the promise of what she'd do if he failed her.
"I'm done with these dregs. Take me to where all the Deatheaters are." Ginevra glided up the side of Igor's shoulder and sat astride his neck. "Take me to Azkaban."
Molly Weasley was in shock. She looked between Fred and George several times, then to her Ronald. They all looked so serious. "In this book?" She tightened her fingers around the leather-bound book in her hands. "If you boys are having a lark—"
"If that book's what I think it is, dear, they're telling the truth. It's not a muggle artifact, but I can feel the darkness residing in the spells that made that book." Arthur Weasley turned his eyes to his boys reluctantly, fearing the magic of the book a little. "Are you sure it's our Ginny in there?"
"Yeah, Dad. She knows things only Ginny knows." George pointed at Ron. "Knew all 'bout Ron and Spiders."
"And George and toads," Fred said.
Momentarily sidetracked, Molly was also coming to grips with the three little horses being her boys. "And where's Percy?"
"He's staying back at Hogwarts." Ron looked up at his mother and ached to have her hug him or acknowledge him as her son. "He wanted to make up for—"
"Ron!" Fred pulled his leg back from where he'd lightly kicked his brother to shut his mouth.
"Hogwarts've got a lot of stuff to deal with, Mum," George said. "They said anyone who's graduating could stay, since they were now considered wizards and witches. Percy—He looks different to the rest of us. Got a 'orn and proper fuzzy coat 'n everything."
Molly's eyes had strayed past the book in her hands to Ron's face. She searched his eyes for her son, and found him. Crouching down, she reached out her arms first to Ron, then opened them wider for George and Fred. Her boys rushed in for the hug she'd only just realized they needed. "Well a right bloody mess this is, and you say there's no way back from this?"
Not daring to lift his head from the wet patch his eyes were making against his mother's robes, Ron shook his head.
"Well, it'll be odd having so many horses around the house. There'll be no horse-apples inside, ya ken?" Molly felt the tension drain out of her. "And now our Ginny has hit the books too hard."
Seeing his chance to take a little of the emotional burden, Arthur crouched down and took Ginny's diary from his wife. Opening it with more than a little trepidation, he saw the blank pages inside fill with words.
Da! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean for this to happen! I can explain everything!
The slightest trickle of magic that made the words appear felt at odds with the spells protecting the book. Patting at several pockets of his robes, Arthur finally dug out something his workmates would have struggled to ignore if they saw him using it.
It's really you in there, Ginny my girl?
Yes, Da!
Welcome home.
No two words could have made Ginny sob inside the book quite so much as those. She wanted to hug her brothers and parents so much, but all she could do was write "I love you" over every available piece of paper in her book. When she ran out of room, she had to erase some pages so she could write it again.
"There's something I need to tell you all that's not common knowledge yet." Arthur wrote the words into the diary as he spoke them, though he kept his voice down. "Magic is fading."
Molly turned and looked at her husband with a little confusion. "What're you mean?"
"I mean that whatever ripped Hogwarts out of this world did something to the magic here. Some of them in the Ministry think it was something in Hogwarts that did it, others seem to think Hogwarts was the core of this world's magic." Arthur looked around to see who was watching or trying to listen. "Everyone can feel it. Everything is just a little harder to cast, but no one wants to admit it. The Ministry has been doing tests, and they give magic about another year at most."
"Let's get home before we talk about this where someone can hear it." Molly knew too well her husband would try to keep things down, but wizards were a clever bunch when it came to gossip. "Don't you worry, Ginny-dear, we'll get you home safe and sound."
Looking around, Arthur reached into her jacket and pulled out a large, manila envelope. It looked no different to all the ones normally used at his work, but this one was a little more special. "Okay, all of you grab hold of this. I guess you three can just bite down on it."
Normally Molly would berate her husband for using such things, but right now she just wanted her family home. Reaching out a hand, she grabbed onto the portkey. "Where's this take us?"
"I had a few of them made for this kind of situation. There's nothing worse than getting out early on a Friday afternoon and having to drive home." Arthur waited until everyone had hold of the envelope before he flipped the end of it open.
"What now?" Lucian Bole asked.
"What do you mean? I thought you were leading this?" Helena Fowley asked. "Find Draco, help him—or her, whatever you want to be called—and get back to Hogwarts."
Lucian shook his big head and turned his attention back to Draco. "Naw. You added the last bit. So, Draco, what're we doing?"
Draco Lucius Malfoy had learned a lot in the past two years at Hogwarts, but that had been a minuscule amount compared to what she'd learned in the last few weeks from Lucian, Gemma, and life in general.
"You've both helped me…" Draco took a deep breath. "My father will probably disown me. I was his heir—was. The only way I can see that I will be able to retain that title is if I talk to Mother first. We need to get to Malfoy Manor and find her without Father finding us."
"There, see?" Lucian turned and smiled at Helena as if everything had been resolved. "Simple when you put it like that. Okay, so how would you get to Malfoy Manor without lettin' anyone know we're coming?"
"We can't. That's the problem. Father has wards to stop visitors sneaking in. Even when—when the Ministry comes, he knows." Draco bit her lower lip and let out a little whine of helplessness. "A-And call me her while I'm like this. Safer that way. No one will ask why you're talking about a girl student like that."
"Visitors." After Helena said the word both Draco and Lucian looked at her strange. Groaning and rolling her eyes, Helena pointed hooves at her two accomplices. "You're right. He keeps track of all visitors. What about enchanted horses making deliveries?"
"Enchanted 'orses? That might work. They wouldn't even suspect us when we talk," Lucian said.
Draco lifted her hoof up to rub her chin as she thought it over. "It might work. We can't look like this, though. Enchanted horses wouldn't have—clothes. They wouldn't be colorful, either."
"That's where you are both useless. Draco, if you'd gone through your first two years as a girl, you'd know all the little charms and jinxes that we need right now." Pulling her wand out of her robes with one wing, Helena pointed it at Draco and chanted a quick Hair-thickening charm. What should have left the heir to house Malfoy a shaggy little unrecognizable pony instead barely made her grow three inches of coat all over.
"Was it meant to do that?" Lucian asked. "That was the 'air growin' jinx, right?"
"Charm. We learned it as a charm." As she examined Draco, Helena realized that although it lengthened her coat, it didn't affect Draco's mane or tail. "That should have left you an indistinguishable mess of hair. It's like magic is weaker or something."
Nodding along, Lucian examined Draco and had an overwhelming urge to brush her a lot. "Why'd you think I 'ad so much trouble apparating? I had to fight for every bit of magic to pull us out without turning us inside out or somethin'."
Draco shuddered at the idea. There wasn't a lot of wizards who could fix such a problem, and all of them worked for the Ministry. It was odd to have more weight just from hair. "This will help, thanks. Now we have to find something that we'll be delivering. A cart would help, and we could hide our robes in it." She wasn't looking forward to going without clothes. Other students might have just gone with it, but for Draco there was a certain class to being well-dressed.
"Yeah. I could pull a cart while you two walk alongside as if we take turns. Might need to get somethin' to cover your wings, though. 'Orse blankets." Looking around the room, Lucian saw the linen closet and walked over to it. Opening up the cupboard, he used his mouth to pull a pair of blankets out. "These'll do. Fold 'em over a few times and sling 'em over your backs. Can hide yer wands too."
"What about your wand?" Helena asked.
The question made Lucian's teeth grind a little. "One o' you can hold it for me."
Helena took a deep breath. It was somewhat of a privilege to hold another wizard's wand for them. "I'll do it. If anything happens and Draco is discovered she might not be able to get you your wand. I'll make sure of it."
"Okay," Draco said, "let's get out of here before we have to worry about questions or anything. They might have an old cart we can… borrow."
"Draco? How far do you think we are from your home?" Helena asked.
Blushing, though the blush was thankfully hidden by her extended coat, Draco tried to forge ahead. "Father always uses portkeys…"
Reaching a wing out and over Draco's back, Helena gave her a reassuring smile. "If we took a cart from here, it would take a few days to reach Malfoy Manner. We need to use Floo to get close, then see what we can do from there. What places are nearby your home?"
"Right. There's the groundskeeper's cottage, several other muggle houses on the estate, nearby town of Ault Hucknall, I think there's a few—"
"Are any of them likely to be on the Floo network?" Helena asked, trying to push Draco to the important information.
A small flashback to when Draco was a young boy and got in trouble for something she couldn't now remember, roared to life in Draco's head. She smiled when she remembered the witch in the village hiding him for a few hours. "Yeah, I know a place."