chapter fifteen

                                    

                                          
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
They had an excellent view of the village of Ottery St. Catchpole from the breezy hillside to which they Disapparated next morning. From their high vantage point the village looked like a collection of toy houses in the great slanting shafts of sunlight stretching to earth in the breaks between clouds. They stood for a minute or two looking toward the Burrow, their hands shadowing their eyes, but all they could make out were the high hedges and trees of the orchard, which afforded the crooked little house protection from Muggle eyes. 
"It's weird, being this near, but not going to visit," said Ron. 
"Well, it's not like you haven't just seen them. You were there for Christmas," said Hermione coldly. Clara looked at her in shock. Surely Ron had told her where they had been for the past weeks?
"I wasn't at the Burrow!" said Ron with an incredulous laugh. Apparently Clara had been wrong. "Do you think I was going to go back there and tell them all I'd walked out on you? Yeah, and Fred and George would've been great about it. And Ginny, she'd have been really understanding." 
"But where have you been, then?" asked Hermione, surprised. 
"Bill and Fleur's new place. Shell Cottage. Bill's always been decent to me. He—he wasn't impressed when he heard what I'd done, but he didn't go on about it. He knew I was really sorry. None of the rest of the family knew I was there. Bill told Mum he and Fleur weren't going home for Christmas because they wanted to spend it alone. You know, first holiday after they were married. I don't think Fleur minded. You know how much she hates Celestina Warbeck." 
Ron turned his back on the Burrow. 
"It should be a few miles up this way," Clara said, leading the way over the top of the hill. They walked for a few hours, Harry, at Hermione's insistence, hidden beneath the Invisibility Cloak. This was not a great suggestion for Clara's comfort however as she seemed to be getting tripped up by things that she couldn't see, and she was certain that Harry was behind it. 
"Aha!" shouted Clara, as the wind whipped their hair and clothes. She was pointing upward, toward the top of the hill on which they had appeared, where a most strange-looking house rose vertically against the sky, a great black cylinder with a ghostly moon hanging behind it in the afternoon sky. "We're here!"
"It looks like a giant rook!" said Ron, a goofy smile on his face.
"It's nothing like a bird," said Hermione, frowning at the tower. 
"I was talking about a chess rook," said Ron. "A castle to you."
Clara began to walk forward, bending her knees more to prepare herself for the small downhill they had to travel before getting up to the hill where Luna's house sat. She felt her feet hit something for the hundredth time this walk and nearly fell down the path.
"Honestly!" she cried, pushing hard in front of her and making contact with something. A great 'oof' could be heard as Harry came rolling out of the Invisibility Cloak and tumbled down the path. Ron laughed at Harry, who had stopped rolling and was now waiting for the group to reach him at the bottom of the two hills. 
"What the hell, Clara?" he shouted as the group met him, Hermione handing him the cloak again.
"Oh, so you're talking to me now?" taunted Clara with a smile, her giggles at Harry's fall still coming in random bursts. 
"Whatever, let's just get this over with."
Harry turned away and began walking up the large hill to Luna's house. Ron gave one last snicker and they followed behind Harry.