The Marauders: Year Six Part 2 #Wattys2017

A Hair Out of Place

A Hair out of Place

Chuckie Alderwight was piloting his first flight. He had oft been the wingman but tonight, tonight he was the lead pilot. He flicked a couple switches, grinning as the aeroplane calmly flew through the skies, level and gloriously high in the air. He sat smiling at the monitors fro a moment, pleased because this was exactly it - exactly what he had always dreamed of doing one day when he was a small boy, flying imaginary plane about the room he shared with his brothers growing up - all of whom had said he'd never really be a pilot... well here he was! And how smooth a flight it was!

Suddenly... there was light in the darkness, glowing through the clouds ahead of them.

"What is that?" he murmured, squinting.

The copilot looked up at Chuckie's wonderment.

The lights were getting brighter. Closer.

"What is it?" Chuckie wondered, his voice twisting with concern.

"There's nothing on radar," murmured the copilot with a glance to the screen on his dash.

Chuckie's eyes were knit tightly.

Suddenly, through the clouds, broke a bright red car.

"What in the ---" Chuckie swore as the car flew directly at them.

Sure there would be an impact, the copilot looked away, terrified.

Chuckie had nothing to do to stop it, if the car was going to fly into them, there would be nothing to stop it from happening...

And at the last moment, the car was pulled nearly perpendicularly, and he watched in horror as the underbelly of the car only just barely avoided slamming against the glass.

"Bloody hell!" he gasped.

"Bloody hell!" Lily gasped, her hands shaking.

"Wait until James hears what we've done to rescue him!" Sirius crowed as he pressed his face against the back window of the Morris Mini, kneeling on the seat, trying to peer back at the disappearing blinking lights of the aero plane. "Merlin's left tit, he's going to be so jealous he wasn't in on this rescue!"

"Something tells me that the coolness of the rescue has nothing to do with why he'd rather be doing this with us than what he's doing," Regulus said darkly. He was in the front seat, pressed to the window, looking out through the wispy clouds below to twinkling lights in the far distance. He glanced over his shoulder at Lily Evans, gripping the wheel and staring straight ahead with a very serious, very somber look to her face, deeply shaken by the brush with the aeroplane.

In the back seat, Maryrose said, "Poor James." She sounded upset.

Regulus reminded himself that Maryrose had chosen him.

"I know that," Sirius said, answering Regulus, "I bloody know that." He paused, feeling his stomach churn. "I'd rather he be doing the rescusing rather than being the rescuee, too, of course." Sirius looked down at his knees.

Remus touched Sirius's shoulder and said, gently, "It is a pretty cool rescue -- as far as rescue tales go." He hated how guilt-riddled looked.

"How far is it?" Lily asked, her voice shook, "To Durmstrang?"

"Really far," Regulus replied anxiously.

"Does flying a motorcar take gasoline, like driving it would do?" Lily asked, nervously looking at the gauge.

"The motorbike doesn't seem to," Sirius guessed.