Magic Never Dies (Harmione)

Chapter 20

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It was three full hours before Hermione and Luna gave up their vigil. Harry's request had been clear enough and they had given it an extra hour. Hermione knew they had to go home to Hogwarts and get help. Fear clawed at the edges of her mind; she kept it at bay only by concentrating as fully as she could on exactly what she had to do. They made their way out of the cave and managed to help each other through the perilous climb down the rock face to level ground. Flying in with the Durmstrang dragons in pursuit they had not actually realized how high it was.

Not such a bad thing, really; Hermione found she still wasn't terribly fond of heights. It had been so different with Harry flying bravely beneath her.

Once clear of the rocks they made for the cover of the tree line and began looking for signs of the thestrals, hoping Xavier could take them beyond the apparition barriers around the school grounds.

They trudged onward through the snow in a generally westward direction utilizing Hermione's wand and a point-me spell, without a seeing a single sign of anything else alive.

"How do you call a thestral?" Luna wondered. "Other than having a nice freshly bloody carcass for a treat..."

"Hagrid does it, it's some sort of a high-pitched scream." Hermione remembered. "I might as well give it a go, I'm in a perfect frame of mind to scream. I'm sure I can give the impression I'm killing something nice and bloody. I've got an image all picked out."

Snape made excellent thestral bait; they were surrounded by a circle of the skeletal black beasts in no time at all. Identifying Xavier was slightly more difficult, but the wild ones were skittish enough that they quickly narrowed it down to two that allowed themselves to be approached. Hermione reckoned it didn't really matter if they guessed right at that point as long as at least one of the two was willing to take them where they needed to go. They clambered up onto the back of the quietest and asked to be taken beyond Durmstrangs' grounds.

The thestral galloped forward and left the ground with a mighty leap, thrusting them into the air as the leathery wings unfurled and caught the wind. Hermione was reminded painfully and powerfully of flying with Harry just the day before. Her heart felt trapped, constricted within her own chest at the thought of leaving him behind. She pushed the feeling from the forefront of her mind, forcing herself to focus again only on getting him back, quickly and safely. She began sorting through what she would have to say to Professor McGonagall, to Remus, to convince them that speed was of the essence. She didn't want to argue about why they had been portkeyed or about who knew what and when; all that could wait until Harry and Ron were safe. She just wanted them to help, quickly and surely, to step in and make it all right again. Well, as right as it ever was. She just wanted him back.

Luna sat serenely behind her, holding tight. She seemed less worried than eager to get started, to have some decisions made and some plan underway. Hermione wondered if she had some sense about what was to come, but found she couldn't bear to ask.

The thestral cleared a last band of predominantly evergreen forest and set them down beside the banks of a small stream. They slipped one by one from its back and made much of patting and petting it since they had no food with which to reward it. Hermione could sense at once the difference between Harry and the true beast; this thestral was entirely disinterested in their affections and simply raised its dragonish head, curling its nose and scenting the wind before moving off downstream.