Don't Threaten Me With A Good Time

[Howell Merrick]

"If they're wizards then they might be connected to the Floo network. We could just sneak in, find it and use it," he suggested with a shrug. They had already kidnapped a woman, what was a little crime spree if it meant getting them all home safely. "Or we could send the young woman home that way, at least. Or just enlarge the carpet."

  

[Reuben Crouch]

Ben hadn't found anyone in his short jaunt around the little farm, beautiful woman or not. This was arguably a good thing, because it meant that no one was around to hex him, trap him, interrogate him, or do any of the other things people sometimes did when they found strange men trespassing on their farms. Not that Ben would have known from experience--except that he absolutely knew from experience, he just tended to avoid talking about that.

On the down side, though, it meant that he had no idea where they were. The more he walked the more the setting did look vaguely English, though--it was the clouds that gave it away. After peering into the dusty windows of the house he found and seeing no one, he headed back to the barn. "It looks abandoned," he reported brightly--breaking into abandoned barns to sleep there was probably not illegal, at least. Then he caught sight of the carpet Art was holding, which definitely wasn't his. Ben had borrowed it a time or two, and he knew Art's carpet fairly well. "Where'd that come from?" he asked, tilting his head at it inquisitively.

  

[Elmer Macmillan]

Elmer was getting tired of the uselessness and stupidity surrounding him. Granted, he hadn't done much towards helping their situation since they'd woken up. His desire to go home was growing, as was his headache.

"Maybe its owner fell off it on our way here," Elmer suggested to Crouch. That would actually be pretty ironic. It would also mean that they would be semi responsible for someone's death. Elmer wasn't sure if he wanted to return to Hogsmeade on the stolen flying carpet of a dead man. He was all for doom and gloom, but he'd rather not end up in prison. Azkaban was too depressing even for him.

It occurred to him, then, that he owned a wand. He tapped on where he usually kept his wand and he was relieved to find it there. "Well, I think I'll just apparate home," Elmer commented. Was apparating 'home' at his state a good idea? Probably not. "If anyone's interested to side along?"

  

[Reuben Crouch]

Ben tended not to trust apparting except under the optimal conditions. Aldous had splinched himself once and now he walked with a cane, and being somehow deformed or disabled was, in fact, Ben's greatest fear--not that he would have ever admitted that out loud to anyone. In any case, he only apparated when he knew both where he was going and where he was, and was relatively familiar with both place, and this didn't really fit the second criteria. He also never trusted anyone to side-along him anywhere--particularly not idiots.

"And leave my arm behind? I think not," Reuben said dismissively, straightening out his coat. "I'd rather take my chances scuffling through the house down there and looking for a floo than having you decide which piece of me you're leaving behind here."

  

[Elmer Macmillan]

Crouch wasn't being unreasonable in his hesitations. There really wasn't any safer way for them to get home, however. The flying carpet could be just as dangerous if Elmer's theory was right - and it would be five people on it. It didn't seem to be extra family sized.

"Alright," Elmer said with a shrug.

He envisioned some room in Lunarbridge Castle and apparated away. He made it in one piece because his destiny wasn't to die that day.

Elmer out!