By Your Side // Bill Weasley

Chapter XVIII "African Adventure"

Chapter XVIII “African Adventure”

Avalea and Bill were on their mission for nearly two weeks. The summer holidays just started and they just received word about what happened at Hogwarts. Only a day or two after Avalea got the letter from Arnica she got another letter from Arnica reporting on what happened. Harry and Ron apparently found the mysterious Chamber of Secrets and rescued Ginny who had been possessed by a diary version of Lord Voldemort. Arnica only briefly explained what happened since she as well only knew a little bit, mostly she reassured them or rather Bill that Ginny was fine and was pampered by Madam Pomfrey and that her brothers and Arnica visited her for every day she was in the hospital wing after it. Ava and Bill spent a few more days in Greece before they travelled to Africa to search for an Erumpent male for Etana. They started north in Tunisia, and had worked their way to Somalia. Sadly without any success so far but they only covered a fraction of Africa. They continued to Kenya next and checked in their hotel close to the beach. They decided to go relax at the beach for a little while before they would continue to search the next morning. They walked hand in hand on the beach and just enjoyed the view and the moments. After a while they went to go get some dinner before they went back to their hotel. The next morning they got up bright and early and got ready to search. They went on their way and looked for most of the day before they moved on the next country, sadly the same process repeated itself throughout the next few countries of Tanzania, Mozambique and Zambia all with no lucky result. The next destination was going to be Zimbabwe. Others would have gotten exhausted from searching and frustrated but Avalea only got more determined to look further, which was a trait Bill adored about Ava. They arrived in Harare late one afternoon, checked in their hotel and soon after went to search. After hours of searching, they decided to stop for the day and travel to a different city in Zimbabwe. They went back to their hotel after they grabbed some dinner and enjoyed the evening together. Bright and early the next day they took off on their search again, with her backpack strapped on. They travelled west in the country and took a break after a few hours of looking and sat down to eat and drink something. They talked about more destinations and plans and looked on a map for possible residential areas for an Erumpent. After their little break they continued until they finally came upon an area perfect for an Erumpent and something grey in the distance, hoping it was an Erumpent and not an Elephant. Getting closer they discovered it was indeed an Erumpent and Avalea went and inspected what gender it was and how it looked. Avalea set up her backpack and Bill helped her get the Erumpent inside after they discovered it was indeed male. The Erumpent ended up in her backpack after a little while and her an Bill went inside after it. Avalea went to inspect the male while Bill went to distract Etana to prevent her getting a smell from the Erumpent male. Avalea found nothing too bad out of the ordinary except for him being a little malnourished. She gave him the name Khari and finished her report. Avalea wanted to wait a couple of days  and see how Khari got used to the surroundings and how he behaved in general before she introduced the two creatures. She gave every creature some food and looked if everyone was present and well. Ava and Bill exited the backpack and started their way back to the hotel, Ava completely giddy and happy that they finally found an Erumpent for Etana. Bill watched his girlfriend nearly burst of joy and it filled him with happiness as he embraced her from the side. On their way back to the hotel they came across a beautiful place called Victoria Falls when the sun slowly started to set. Bill had been waiting patiently for a perfect moment since their time together in Greece and had been a ball of nerves for weeks. He told nobody about his plans and as they stood there enjoying the moment and the incredible view they stopped at he decided the moment he was waiting for had finally arrived. Fully prepared he gazed at Avalea who looked mesmerised at the view of the Falls and without Ava noticing he kneeled in front of her retrieving the little box from his charmed pocket and cleared his throat. He was sweating and he could feel his body shaking a little when Avalea averted her attention to her boyfriend who cleared his throat and gasped absolutely taken aback by Bill’s position and the little box in his hands.