Road Trip
A/N: Hope you like this. The whole thing will not be song-ish, just this chapter for emotional effect, k? Ok. Let's go… (don't wait/this night's almost over/honest/let's make/this night last forver/and ever/and ever/lets make this last forever/and ever/and ever/ lets make this last forever… SORRY I'M A BLINK FAN!)
Disclaimer: You want to know if I own Harry Potter? (rolls on floor, hysterical… sits up) Oh, you were serious?
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"Look!" Hermione Granger squealed in delight, shielding her brown eyes from the sun and peering out from the back of Harry's scarlet Corvette with the top down. Two figures ran furiously behind the Vette, and it made Hermione laugh like a child; not like the eighteen-year-old Hogwarts graudate that she was. Actually, she had graduated earlier that day; but she felt ten at that moment. "Is that Draco Malfoy?"
"I think so!" Ginny Weasly turned around in the backseat and peered out with her. "Look, look, and is that Pansy? Pansy Parkinson?"
The girls were joined by Cho as she turned as well and leaned out the back. The breeze ruffled her jet black hair. "I believe so!" Her dark eyes twinkled, and she turned to Harry, hand cupping her mouth as the wind threatened to drown out her voice. "Harry, stop the Vette!"
The adorable car screeched awkwardly to a halt, no doubt because of Harry's inexperience with Muggle cars. "Easy, Har!" Ron shrieked from the passenger seat, almost slamming his forehead against the dashboard. The five friends--Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Cho (Ginny had skipped a grade for her excellence in herbology and Cho stayed another year to repeat Muggle Studies Advanced)--had just graduated and decided that, to experience life, they should all take a roadtrip, Muggle style. Of course, they had bewitched it to have a roomy backseat visible only to magicfolk, therefore allowing them to travel in style.*
Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were the slime of Slytherin. They reached the halted car a moment later, completely out of breath, and Draco opened his mouth into a drawl. "Can we..." he panted, unable to finish.
"Can you...?" Hermione sighed, exasperated. She didn't want to hear any Mudblood jokes.
"Can we hitch a ride?"
The five gaped at Draco, disbelieving. "Are you serious?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," Draco said. "My dad's not picking us up; after all, I refused to be a Death Eater."
"Which I don't know why!" Pansy screeched irritably.
"Oh, clamp it!" Draco scowled, then turned his attention back to the carful. "So, can we?" He spotted the magicked backseat.
"No way!" Ron laughed, but Harry hit his arm.
Ron had to consider this. Draco, since 5th year when he refused his father, had become much more bearable. "Oh fine," he muttered, knowing he'd regret it instantaneously. "But not the whole time--just to his house."
The girls and Harry seemed to agree with this. It was only a couple hundred miles or so. It was a bit of a squeeze, with Ginny (being the smallest) smushed between Harry and Ron in the front and Draco, Pansy, Hermione, and Cho sandwiched in the back, but the car gave Harry the thumbs-up sign and he sped off, rockily, down the otherwise smooth road.*
"It's great," mused Cho, "that we have no idea where we're going--just driving!" Pansy rolled her eyes, obviously a stickler for adventure, and Draco nudged her.
"Don't be such a stick in the mud!" he taunted.
She was fuming. They had only driven ten minutes, and already she was ready to snap. "Draco, it wasn't my idea to take a joyride with Wonder Boy, the poor Muggle lovers, the Ravenclaw whore, and the Mudblood!"
In less than twenty seconds she found herself standing on the side of the dusty road, luggage and all, as a scarlet Vette pulled away, its passengers howling with laughter.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Draco felt the wind ruffle his silvery blonde hair as he sat rather uncomfortably, pressed against the right door of the "imaginary" backseat of the Vette. It may have been magicked, but the back was a rather tight three-seater. He turned his head very slightly to see Hermione Granger. She was staring straight ahead, looking extremely miffed, probably because he was in the car with them. He figured she'd get over it.
He couldn't see Cho but he imagined she was in as much dsicomfort as him. "Comfortus!" he said under his breath, and he felt much more comfortable. Cho leaned forward and smiled at him. The spell must have worked on her too.
Harry began to fiddle with the radio. "And I'm so bluuuue... without youuuu..." the radio blasted at maximum volume in a sappy country voice.
"Aghhh!" Hermione shrieked. "Turn that stuff off!" Everybody's hands were pressed firmly against their ears--even Harry's. The car began to swerve without a driver. "Harry, look out!" Hermione screamed as they nearly missed slamming into a pole. She grabbed the wheel and pulled them back onto the vacant road. "Are you out of your mind?"
"Huh?" Harry removed his hands from his ears. "Oh..." He blushed, and put his hands back on the wheel as Ron pressed another button on the radio.
"And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives/Where we're gonna be when we turn 25/I keep thinking times will never change/Keep on thinking things will always be the same/But when we leave this year we won't be coming back/No more hanging out cause we're on a different track/And if you got something that you need to say/You better say it right now cause you don't have another day..."
Everyone was quiet as the song opened with a wistful sort of music. Ron glanced around nervously. It was true. This was the first day of the rest of their lives. Things wouldn't be the same.
He spotted Hermione in the back, eyes glued to nothingness, most likely trying not to listen to the words everyone heard. Cho, right beside her, trying to look like nothing was up, but a silent tear rolled down her cheek and plopped onto her lap. Harry stared ahead, straight at the road, looking like he was going to break any second. Ginny's eyes were closed, and she remained motionless. Even Draco stared out the window intently, not making eye contact with anyone. The words were hitting everyone, and hard.
"Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down/These memories are playing like a film without sound/And I keep thinking of that night in June/I didn't know much of love/But it came too soon and there was me and you/And then we got real blue/Stay at home talking on the telephone/We'd get so excited, we'd get so scared/Laughing at our selves thinking life's not fair/And this is how it feels..."
Draco's eyes stung as he stared, without blinking, out into the open air. The other five passengers may not be his friends, but he was going on. Every year, he had known he was going to Hogwarts... this year... This year he had no clue. No future mapped out. Nothing.
True, he had refused to be a Death eater and his father had disowned him. He didn't regret it, but he remembered how reassured he had felt, knowing that he had a course in life.
Draco didn't want to slip between the cracks. He wanted to do something important. He had always wanted to do great things; and then, as Draco fought back tears in the scarlet Vette, he realized: he wanted to do good things, too.
"As we go on, we remember/All the times we had together/And as our lives change, come whatever/We will still be, friends forever..."
Harry's eyes stared at the road ahead, but he didn't see it. All he saw were the memories running through his head like a slideshow. The Yule Ball in 4th year, the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric, the 5th year Quidditch school-wide competition, his first crush, his first kiss, his first detention, his first O.W.L., his first friends...
Harry swallowed hard. A particular memory rolled in his mind, over and over. 6th Year, Christmas. Ron cut himself and was bleeding bad. He had hit a vein. Madame Pomfrey was nowhere near. He and Hermione had sliced open their own hands and pressed on Ron's wound. This old spell, Redius Unitus, healed Ron and forever bound them as friends. Harry wondered how long forever truly was.
"So if we get the big jobs and we make the big money/When we look back now, will our jokes still be funny?/Will we still remember everything we learned in school?/Still be trying to break every single rule/Will little brainy Bobby be the stockbroker man?/Can Heather find a job that won't interfere with her tan?/I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye/Keep on thinking it's a time to fly/And this is how it feels..."
Hermione finally allowed herself to blink, and the tears blurred her vision. She removed her glasses to wipe at her brown eyes, but she wasn't focused. Hermione was brilliant, sure, but what was she going to do. Get married? Have kids? Pursue a job in the wizarding or Muggle world? Become a dentist, like her parents? She had never realized how much she didn't know. And it hurt.
She felt Draco stir a little next to her, and it made her angry. Draco had come on this trip, not to find himself, but for a ride. Not for togetherness or friendship or fun, but for a ride. She seethed. The car, a material Muggle thing, was all she had; it was filled with all she had.
"As we go on, we remember/All the times we had together/And as our lives change, come whatever/We will still be, friends forever..."
"La, la, la, la; yeah, yeah, yeah/La, la, la, la, we will still be friends forever..."
Cho wiped furiously at her tears, slightly embarassed. She was crying. In the midst of her friends, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, she was crying. Something twinged inside her heart and she knew it was breaking. Cho didn't have much family; her friends had become the only family she loved.
Sure, it was a little awkward, with Harry. They had dated for a few months in 5th year, but she just liked him as a friend. Of course, he had gotten over her, and they were great friends, but something nagged at her... it wasn't quite right. Whatever it was, she blinked back more tears. She'd have to be strong. Even though it felt as though the world was crumbling, she would have to be strong.
"Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?/Can we survive it out there?/Can we make it somehow?/I guess I thought that this would never end/And suddenly it's like we're women and men/Will the past be a shadow that will follow us round?/Will these memories fade when I leave this town/I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye/Keep on thinking it's a time to fly..."
Ginny kept her eyes sealed shut, not trusting herself to keep from crying when opened. Ginny had always had her big brothers at Hogwarts protecting her; making sure that Snape wasn't too mean, Neville was loyal when they had dated, her friends Lorena and Mikaila weren't talking about her behind her back, and so on, and so on...
But now the youngest redhead of the Weasly clan was going out into the world, no muscular brother peering over her shoulder or carrying a tub of White-Out to correct her many mistakes. It was just her, Virginia Weasly, all on her own. Funny, she had always wanted it that way. But now... Now that it was reality...
"As we go on, we remember/All the times we had together/And as our lives change, come whatever/We will still be, friends forever..."
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*I know there are like 2 seats in a Vette, so keep in mind it's magicked. I don't want any car-buff reviews.
**It's magicked, but for three seats in the back (sounds practical) so it was a squeeze.
Ok, so please R/R!!! I luv you all!
A/N: Hope you like this. The whole thing will not be song-ish, just this chapter for emotional effect, k? Ok. Let's go… (don't wait/this night's almost over/honest/let's make/this night last forver/and ever/and ever/lets make this last forever/and ever/and ever/ lets make this last forever… SORRY I'M A BLINK FAN!)
Disclaimer: You want to know if I own Harry Potter? (rolls on floor, hysterical… sits up) Oh, you were serious?
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
"Look!" Hermione Granger squealed in delight, shielding her brown eyes from the sun and peering out from the back of Harry's scarlet Corvette with the top down. Two figures ran furiously behind the Vette, and it made Hermione laugh like a child; not like the eighteen-year-old Hogwarts graudate that she was. Actually, she had graduated earlier that day; but she felt ten at that moment. "Is that Draco Malfoy?"
"I think so!" Ginny Weasly turned around in the backseat and peered out with her. "Look, look, and is that Pansy? Pansy Parkinson?"
The girls were joined by Cho as she turned as well and leaned out the back. The breeze ruffled her jet black hair. "I believe so!" Her dark eyes twinkled, and she turned to Harry, hand cupping her mouth as the wind threatened to drown out her voice. "Harry, stop the Vette!"
The adorable car screeched awkwardly to a halt, no doubt because of Harry's inexperience with Muggle cars. "Easy, Har!" Ron shrieked from the passenger seat, almost slamming his forehead against the dashboard. The five friends--Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Cho (Ginny had skipped a grade for her excellence in herbology and Cho stayed another year to repeat Muggle Studies Advanced)--had just graduated and decided that, to experience life, they should all take a roadtrip, Muggle style. Of course, they had bewitched it to have a roomy backseat visible only to magicfolk, therefore allowing them to travel in style.*
Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson were the slime of Slytherin. They reached the halted car a moment later, completely out of breath, and Draco opened his mouth into a drawl. "Can we..." he panted, unable to finish.
"Can you...?" Hermione sighed, exasperated. She didn't want to hear any Mudblood jokes.
"Can we hitch a ride?"
The five gaped at Draco, disbelieving. "Are you serious?" Ron asked.
"Yeah," Draco said. "My dad's not picking us up; after all, I refused to be a Death Eater."
"Which I don't know why!" Pansy screeched irritably.
"Oh, clamp it!" Draco scowled, then turned his attention back to the carful. "So, can we?" He spotted the magicked backseat.
"No way!" Ron laughed, but Harry hit his arm.
Ron had to consider this. Draco, since 5th year when he refused his father, had become much more bearable. "Oh fine," he muttered, knowing he'd regret it instantaneously. "But not the whole time--just to his house."
The girls and Harry seemed to agree with this. It was only a couple hundred miles or so. It was a bit of a squeeze, with Ginny (being the smallest) smushed between Harry and Ron in the front and Draco, Pansy, Hermione, and Cho sandwiched in the back, but the car gave Harry the thumbs-up sign and he sped off, rockily, down the otherwise smooth road.*
"It's great," mused Cho, "that we have no idea where we're going--just driving!" Pansy rolled her eyes, obviously a stickler for adventure, and Draco nudged her.
"Don't be such a stick in the mud!" he taunted.
She was fuming. They had only driven ten minutes, and already she was ready to snap. "Draco, it wasn't my idea to take a joyride with Wonder Boy, the poor Muggle lovers, the Ravenclaw whore, and the Mudblood!"
In less than twenty seconds she found herself standing on the side of the dusty road, luggage and all, as a scarlet Vette pulled away, its passengers howling with laughter.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~
Draco felt the wind ruffle his silvery blonde hair as he sat rather uncomfortably, pressed against the right door of the "imaginary" backseat of the Vette. It may have been magicked, but the back was a rather tight three-seater. He turned his head very slightly to see Hermione Granger. She was staring straight ahead, looking extremely miffed, probably because he was in the car with them. He figured she'd get over it.
He couldn't see Cho but he imagined she was in as much dsicomfort as him. "Comfortus!" he said under his breath, and he felt much more comfortable. Cho leaned forward and smiled at him. The spell must have worked on her too.
Harry began to fiddle with the radio. "And I'm so bluuuue... without youuuu..." the radio blasted at maximum volume in a sappy country voice.
"Aghhh!" Hermione shrieked. "Turn that stuff off!" Everybody's hands were pressed firmly against their ears--even Harry's. The car began to swerve without a driver. "Harry, look out!" Hermione screamed as they nearly missed slamming into a pole. She grabbed the wheel and pulled them back onto the vacant road. "Are you out of your mind?"
"Huh?" Harry removed his hands from his ears. "Oh..." He blushed, and put his hands back on the wheel as Ron pressed another button on the radio.
"And so we talked all night about the rest of our lives/Where we're gonna be when we turn 25/I keep thinking times will never change/Keep on thinking things will always be the same/But when we leave this year we won't be coming back/No more hanging out cause we're on a different track/And if you got something that you need to say/You better say it right now cause you don't have another day..."
Everyone was quiet as the song opened with a wistful sort of music. Ron glanced around nervously. It was true. This was the first day of the rest of their lives. Things wouldn't be the same.
He spotted Hermione in the back, eyes glued to nothingness, most likely trying not to listen to the words everyone heard. Cho, right beside her, trying to look like nothing was up, but a silent tear rolled down her cheek and plopped onto her lap. Harry stared ahead, straight at the road, looking like he was going to break any second. Ginny's eyes were closed, and she remained motionless. Even Draco stared out the window intently, not making eye contact with anyone. The words were hitting everyone, and hard.
"Cause we're moving on and we can't slow down/These memories are playing like a film without sound/And I keep thinking of that night in June/I didn't know much of love/But it came too soon and there was me and you/And then we got real blue/Stay at home talking on the telephone/We'd get so excited, we'd get so scared/Laughing at our selves thinking life's not fair/And this is how it feels..."
Draco's eyes stung as he stared, without blinking, out into the open air. The other five passengers may not be his friends, but he was going on. Every year, he had known he was going to Hogwarts... this year... This year he had no clue. No future mapped out. Nothing.
True, he had refused to be a Death eater and his father had disowned him. He didn't regret it, but he remembered how reassured he had felt, knowing that he had a course in life.
Draco didn't want to slip between the cracks. He wanted to do something important. He had always wanted to do great things; and then, as Draco fought back tears in the scarlet Vette, he realized: he wanted to do good things, too.
"As we go on, we remember/All the times we had together/And as our lives change, come whatever/We will still be, friends forever..."
Harry's eyes stared at the road ahead, but he didn't see it. All he saw were the memories running through his head like a slideshow. The Yule Ball in 4th year, the Triwizard Tournament, Cedric, the 5th year Quidditch school-wide competition, his first crush, his first kiss, his first detention, his first O.W.L., his first friends...
Harry swallowed hard. A particular memory rolled in his mind, over and over. 6th Year, Christmas. Ron cut himself and was bleeding bad. He had hit a vein. Madame Pomfrey was nowhere near. He and Hermione had sliced open their own hands and pressed on Ron's wound. This old spell, Redius Unitus, healed Ron and forever bound them as friends. Harry wondered how long forever truly was.
"So if we get the big jobs and we make the big money/When we look back now, will our jokes still be funny?/Will we still remember everything we learned in school?/Still be trying to break every single rule/Will little brainy Bobby be the stockbroker man?/Can Heather find a job that won't interfere with her tan?/I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye/Keep on thinking it's a time to fly/And this is how it feels..."
Hermione finally allowed herself to blink, and the tears blurred her vision. She removed her glasses to wipe at her brown eyes, but she wasn't focused. Hermione was brilliant, sure, but what was she going to do. Get married? Have kids? Pursue a job in the wizarding or Muggle world? Become a dentist, like her parents? She had never realized how much she didn't know. And it hurt.
She felt Draco stir a little next to her, and it made her angry. Draco had come on this trip, not to find himself, but for a ride. Not for togetherness or friendship or fun, but for a ride. She seethed. The car, a material Muggle thing, was all she had; it was filled with all she had.
"As we go on, we remember/All the times we had together/And as our lives change, come whatever/We will still be, friends forever..."
"La, la, la, la; yeah, yeah, yeah/La, la, la, la, we will still be friends forever..."
Cho wiped furiously at her tears, slightly embarassed. She was crying. In the midst of her friends, on what should have been one of the happiest days of her life, she was crying. Something twinged inside her heart and she knew it was breaking. Cho didn't have much family; her friends had become the only family she loved.
Sure, it was a little awkward, with Harry. They had dated for a few months in 5th year, but she just liked him as a friend. Of course, he had gotten over her, and they were great friends, but something nagged at her... it wasn't quite right. Whatever it was, she blinked back more tears. She'd have to be strong. Even though it felt as though the world was crumbling, she would have to be strong.
"Will we think about tomorrow like we think about now?/Can we survive it out there?/Can we make it somehow?/I guess I thought that this would never end/And suddenly it's like we're women and men/Will the past be a shadow that will follow us round?/Will these memories fade when I leave this town/I keep, I keep thinking that it's not goodbye/Keep on thinking it's a time to fly..."
Ginny kept her eyes sealed shut, not trusting herself to keep from crying when opened. Ginny had always had her big brothers at Hogwarts protecting her; making sure that Snape wasn't too mean, Neville was loyal when they had dated, her friends Lorena and Mikaila weren't talking about her behind her back, and so on, and so on...
But now the youngest redhead of the Weasly clan was going out into the world, no muscular brother peering over her shoulder or carrying a tub of White-Out to correct her many mistakes. It was just her, Virginia Weasly, all on her own. Funny, she had always wanted it that way. But now... Now that it was reality...
"As we go on, we remember/All the times we had together/And as our lives change, come whatever/We will still be, friends forever..."
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
*I know there are like 2 seats in a Vette, so keep in mind it's magicked. I don't want any car-buff reviews.
**It's magicked, but for three seats in the back (sounds practical) so it was a squeeze.
Ok, so please R/R!!! I luv you all!