Emma Potter; Going to War

50: Department of Fucking Mysteries

I wound my hand tightly into the mane of the nearestthestral, placed a foot on a stump nearby, and scrambledclumsily onto the horse's silken back. It did not object, but twisted itshead around, fangs bared, and attempted to continue its eager lickingof my robes.

I found there was a way of lodging my knees behind the wingjoints that made me feel more secure and looked around at the others.Harry was adjusting himself on thestral beside me, Neville had heaved himself over the back of the next-to-next thestral andwas now attempting to swing one short leg over the creature's back.Luna was already in place, sitting sidesaddle and adjusting her robes asthough she did this every day. Zoe,Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, however,were still standing motionless on the spot, open-mouthed and staring. 

"What?" Harry said. 

"How , exactly, are we supposed to get on?" said Zoe faintly. "When we can'tsee the things?"

 "Oh it's easy," said Luna, sliding obligingly from her thestral andmarching over to her,Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "Come here. . . ."

She pulled them over to the other thestrals standing around andone by one managed to help them onto the backs of their mounts. All four looked extremely nervous as she wound their hands into thehorses' manes and told them to grip tightly before getting back ontoher own steed.

 "This is mad," Ron said faintly, moving his free hand gingerly upand down his horse's neck. "Mad . . . if I could just see it —" 

"You'd better hope it stays invisible," said Harry darkly. "We allready, then?" 

We all nodded and I saw six pairs of knees tighten beneaththeir robes, Harry had also ditched his though. 

"Okay . . ."I looked down at the back of my thestral's glossy black head andswallowed. "Ministry of Magic, visitors' entrance, London, then," I said uncertainly. "Um . . . if you know . . . where to go . . ."

 For a moment my thestral did nothing at all. Then, with a sweeping movement that nearly unseated me, the wings on either side extended, the horse crouched slowly and then rocketed upward so fastand so steeply that I had to clench my arms and legs tightlyaround the horse to avoid sliding backward over its bony rump. 

I closed my eyes and put my face down into the horse's silky mane as we burst through the topmost branches of the trees and soared outinto a bloodred sunset. I did not think I had ever moved so fast: The thestralstreaked over the castle, its wide wings hardly beating. 

The cooling airwas slapping my face; eyes screwed up against the rushing wind, U looked around and saw my six fellows soaring along behind me,each of them bent as low as possible into the neck of their thestral toprotect themselves from its slipstream. 

We were over the Hogwarts grounds, we had passed Hogsmeade. I could see mountains and gullies below us. In the falling darkness I saw small collections of lights as we passedover more villages, then a winding road on which a single car wasbeetling its way home through the hills. . . . 

"This is bizarre!" I heard Ron yell from somewhere behind me, and I imagined how it must feel to be speeding along at thisheight with no visible means of support. . . . 

Twilight fell: The sky turned to a light, dusky purple littered withtiny silver stars, and soon it was only the lights of Muggle towns thatgave us any clue of how far from the ground we were or how veryfast we were traveling. 

My arms were wrapped tightly around my horse's neck as I willed it to go even faster. How much time hadelapsed since I had seen Sirius lying on the Department of Mysteriesfloor? How much longer would he be able to resist Voldemort? All I knew for sure was that Sirius had neither done as Voldemortwanted, nor died, for I was convinced that either outcome wouldcause me to feel Voldemort's jubilation or fury course through my own body, making my scar sear as painfully as it had on the night Mr.Weasley was attacked. . . .