Getting Caught in the Rain

[nm_megan]

I am reading my book when I see a note flutter from above me and land softly in my lap. Sparrow...Fancy a long romantic walk or a broom ride tonight? I can bring a picnic. Not too many warm nights like this left before I have to go back to Hogwarts. Your odd coloured raven. I look over the top of the book and see Charlie smirking at me, his

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[nm_charlie]

She nods and leaves, coming back a minute later with a blanket. "Now we are ready."

"Excellent." We hold hands and apparate to an island I know on one of the many lakes in the Highlands. I turn and look at Megan. "The sunset should be beautiful here in a couple hours."

"You want to coma back in a few hours?" she asks.

"We'll be here... let's set up the picnic here and do some flying, then we can come back here when we're done."

"Sounds good," Megan smiles as she unfolds the blanket and then shakes it out to lay it over the ground.

I set up the picnic.. "Hungry now, or wait until after we've flown a bit?"

"Let's have it now," she suggests. "Besides, we already have it set up."

"All right." I pull her down on the blanket beside me and offer her my lap if she wants it. She sits down on my lap, getting comfortable.

We eat slowly, enjoying the closeness of each other, talking about our day . . .

We clean up the picnic things but leave the blanket. "Ready to fly?" I look at both brooms. "Up!" I say with both hands extended. Both rise and I hand Megan hers.

She gets on hers then looks at me. "Ready?"

We take off into the wind, flying side by side. I make sure I don't do anything too tricky, since Megan is a less experienced flyer than I am. She's plenty athletic though. We fly over the lake and through a hollow between the mountains. The view is spectacular.

"This is great," Megan grins, diving down a few feet before rising again.

"Ever brush the tops of the trees with your feet?" I ask.

"No," she answers. "I usually stay at least a few feet above the trees."

"It's not so fun with evergreens, but if you brush along the tops, then birds fly up all around you as you go."

"Let me practice a bit more before I try that."

"All right." But I show her and go into some maple trees, just letting my toes brush the tops of them. All around me starlings take flight.

"It works better than a spell," Megan laughs.

"Want to give it a try on that cluster of oaks there?" I ask once the birds clear.

"I can try it," she answers.

I watch while she flies towards the oak cluster. She slows slightly and then lets one foot dangle and it brushes the top of the trees. Several sparrows fly out of the tree. Brilliant. "Sparrow, looks like they found one of their own." I call to her while they fly around her.

She laughs. "It appears so."

We continue speeding through the canyon and get to the other side of the mountain in about an hour. Some deep grey cumulonimbus anvil shaped clouds seem to be forming in the east. "We'd better start back, looks like the weather is about to change."

Megan nods as we turn back. "I hope we make it before it rains."

A large drop hits me and thunder rattles off the distant hill.

"We might want to hurry," Megan says and starts to fly faster.

Soon we are getting decidedly wet and the lightning is getting closer.

Megan pulls closer to me. "I think we should land," she calls to me.

"All right. We can apparate home from there if the storm doesn't let up soon." I point down at some large rocks leaning against the slope. "Maybe there. Looks like we can avoid the storm there."

Megan nods and tries to tuck the wet strands of hair behind her ears, the other hand keeping her steady before she starts to descend near the slope. We land carefully and climb into the small cave created by the rocks.

Megan brushes the rain off her face, then reaches for her wand. Then she frowns and touches the pocket. She looked at it and frowned, now slightly panicked. She tries to find it, checking her other pockets. "Charlie...I can't find my wand."

"Do you have any idea where you lost it? Maybe I can summon it . . . of course, with the storm, it might interfere a little."

"I don't know. It could be anywhere. I know we had it when we took off."

"With as bad as this storm is getting, I can't guarantee the summoning charm. I can't guarantee the wand won't get it caught in a tree or struck by lightning. We'll have to wait it out here." I kiss her softly. "But I can think of a few things to do while we wait out the storm."

"Like what?" she asks, shivering against me.