mirrorball

chapter eighteen

 "Yes, and I'm sure Sirius is still alive, but I can't see how we're going to get there to help him." 

They all fell silent, looking rather scared. The problem facing them seemed insurmountable. 

"Well, we'll have to fly, won't we?" said Luna in the closest thing to a matter-of-fact voice Clara had ever heard her use. 

"Okay," said Harry irritably, rounding on her, "first of all, 'we' aren't doing anything if you're including yourself in that, and second of all, Ron's the only one with a broomstick that isn't being guarded by a security troll, so —" 

"I've got a broom!" said Ginny. 

"Yeah, but you're not coming," said Ron angrily. 

"Excuse me, but I care what happens to Sirius as much as you do!" said Ginny, her jaw set so that her resemblance to Fred and George was suddenly striking. 

"You're too —" Harry began. 

"I'm three years older than you were when you fought You-Know-Who over the Sorcerer's Stone," she said fiercely, "and it's because of me Malfoy's stuck back in Umbridge's office with giant flying bogeys attacking him —" 

"Yeah, but —" 

"We were all in the D.A. together," said Neville quietly. "It was all supposed to be about fighting You-Know-Who, wasn't it? And this is the first chance we've had to do something real — or was that all just a game or something?" 

"No — of course it wasn't —" said Harry impatiently. 

"Then we should come too," said Neville simply. "We want to help."

"That's right," said Luna, smiling happily. 

"You are going to die without us." Clara said, earning herself a glare from Harry. "What? I'm just being honest. We've all been trained, we're ready."

"Well, it doesn't matter anyway," said Harry frustratedly, "because we still don't know how to get there —" 

"I thought we'd settled that?" said Luna maddeningly. "We're flying!" 

"Look," said Ron, barely containing his anger, "you might be able to fly without a broomstick but the rest of us can't sprout wings whenever we —" 

"There are other ways of flying than with broomsticks," said Luna serenely.

 "I s'pose we're going to ride on the back of the Kacky Snorgle or whatever it is?" Ron demanded.

"Hey!" Clara said, stepping forward. Luna patted her hand and took a deep breath.

 "The Crumple-Horned Snorkack can't fly," said Luna in a dignified voice, "but they can, and Hagrid says they're very good at finding places their riders are looking for." 

Clara whirled around. Standing between two trees, their white eyes gleaming eerily, were two thestrals, watching the whispered conversation as though they understood every word. 

"Yes!" Harry whispered, moving toward them. They tossed their reptilian heads, throwing back long black manes, and Harry stretched out his hand eagerly and patted the nearest one's shining neck. 

 "Is it those mad horse things?" said Ron uncertainly, staring at a point slightly to the left of the thestral Harry was patting. "Those ones you can't see unless you've watched someone snuff it?"

"Yeah," said Harry.

 "How many?"

 "Just two." 

"Well, we need three," said Hermione, who was still looking a little shaken, but determined just the same. 

"Four, Hermione," said Ginny, scowling.