Clover Hawkings and the Triwizard Tournament

35. Promises

little darling/ it's been a long and lonely winter

little darling/it feels like years since you've been here

Artemis raised her eyebrows. "Air travel. Like, on a scale on one-to-ten?"

"More on a scale of... would you like to.." I guesterd around to the air. "Go for a spin?"

"Go for a spin?" Artemis frowned, and for a second, I thought my whole plan would fall apart, but then she threw her head back and laughed. "Sure, why not? Let's go for a spin."

"Alright, then," I said, and started edging out of the Great Hall. Lots of other couples seemed to have a similar idea, which kind of made my skin crawl. Or maybe that was the cold.

"So- air travel?" Artemis asked. She reminded me of when I was younger, trying to guess Christmas presents.

"Yup." I slip past Hagrid and Madame Maxime, heading towards the blackness beyond. 

By the time we reached the edge of the forest, she seemed a little more hesitant.

"Ta-da!" I guested into the blackness. There was a pause, then a lumbering shape stumbled towards us.

"Is that..."

"Yup."

"You're kidding."

"Nope," I said gleefully, popping the 'p'.

Grace the badger was standing there in all her glory. Those stubby white wings had grown over the last couple months, and now they were longer than me, unfolded and gleaming in the darkness.

"Wow," Artemis said faintly. The part she was surprised about was probably the harness around Grace.

"So. Want to go for a spin?"

I tossed a leg over her. (Grace, that was. Not Artemis.) My dress was better suited to it than Artemis's- maybe I should have wanted her. Eh. That would have ruined the surprise.

"This.. doesn't quite seem...safe."

"We live in a magical boarding school, locked up in a castle with thousands of underage witches and wizards who have virtually no control over their abilities, and this year other magical schools are coming so we can fight to the death."

Artemis tipped her head. "Point taken. How do I get on?"

"Hitch up your dress and ride her like a seesaw."

Artemis wrapped her arms around me. I shivered at the warmth. "Where are we going?" Her voice was in my ear, her breath on my face.

"You'll see."

"Are you sure about this?"

"It's just like a broomstick." I patted Grace's side and picked up the rein of her harness. "Mostly."

"Okay, then," she said, sounding doubtful yet still excited. "This would be a really cool way to die."

"Thanks." There was a pause. I wanted to make sure she really did want to ride Grace before I sent us catapulting off. What if she didn't? "You only live once, you know."

"Incorrect. You live every day, you only die once."

"So, better go out in a really cool way, right?"

"Exactly. Let's go!"

"Um- yeehaw, then," I told the badger. I wasn't quite as unprepared as Artemis probably thought I was- I had spent the last couple weeks training both of us, after all. I had assumed the badger would be able to hold both Artemis and myself, but just to make sure, I murmured a spell to make us lighter.