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Author: hewithnoname Story: How do they do that? Rating: Everyone Setting: Pre-DH Status: WIP Reviews: 6 Words: 20,088
Two dishevelled figures suddenly appeared onto a runway. They both looked around, trying to collect their bearings, both suddenly aware of the sudden exposure and vastness of such a place. The taller of the duo sighed as he looked around. “You sure this is the right place?” “Yes, it’s called an Airport, look over there; you can see the Aeroplanes.” The tallest figure pointed over to the terminal. “All I can see are by the looks of it are tin cans with wings on the side.” “Yes well that’s basically what they are. I, for one, can’t wait to go up in one.” Once more his face was threatening to split in two. “Well you can count me out. I didn’t agree to this, and I can’t see why Sid isn’t here with you now.” “I told you, he’s got a jippy tummy. Came on all of a sudden, strange really, he was okay this morning when I flooed him to tell what we were doing today.” “Strange my foot. It’s obvious he doesn’t want to go up in one of those things. And I, for one totally agree with him.” The smaller figure sighed and looked down at the bag. “So what do I have to do again?” “Well, just follow me around, pressing the record button and stop button, while I narrate and tell the listeners, ‘How do they do that?’ “And they pay you to do this?” The smaller figure smiled and rolled their eyes. “Yes, good isn’t it?" “Why can’t you carry the bag and hold the mic?” “Because I have to move around and explain. You didn’t have to come with me you know.” The taller figure scowled. He looked to the floor and kicked a stone. “I just thought it would be a nice to spend the day together.” The smaller figure smiled and placed a comforting hand on the other's arm. “Yes it would be, I just didn’t think I would have to work though.” “Oh look, someone is coming over to greet us.” Both looked over to see a Land Rover racing towards them, lights flashing and its horn blaring. “Seems in a hurry, I wonder why?” “Probably heard about your stunning charm. Either that or he wants to know the ending of your only joke about the wizard with the exceedingly large-” “No! I can’t tell that one, well not yet anyway. Well he does seem persistent, look his waving.” Both started waving back to the Patrol Guard. “He’s shouting something; can you hear what it is?” “Not really, all I can make out is. Get and Way.” “It’s suddenly got very load around here.” “Yes, I thought that was just me. I wonder why? It was at this point that a Jumbo Jet screamed overhead and landed no more than Fifty feet away from them. Both yelled and fell to the ground. Over the noise of the engines he could still hear his companion. “ARTHUR WEASLEY, YOU TOTAL BAFFOON. WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN HAVE YOU GOT ME INTO NOW?! YOU TOLD ME IT WAS SAFE. YOU TOLD ME NO HARM WOULD COME TO US. THE FIRST THING YOU DO, IS PRACTICALY GET AN AIR-UP-PLANE TO LAND ON US. THIS IS THE FINAL STRAW-“ Arthur pulled his wife up of the tarmac and tried to calm her down; they didn’t see the Patrol Guard come over to them. Molly was cut off by a rather large Officer frowning at them. “Can you please come with me?” “Yes certainly!” Arthur walked on, grateful of the rescue. Once they had climbed into the vehicle, they drove off. “Mr Weasley, I presume, and you must be, Mrs-“ “Weasley, soon to be ex-Weasley.” The Guard chuckled. “Well I can safely say that took care of the telling off I was going to give you.” The Guard looked over to Molly. “Would you like a job with security?” “If it’s anything like looking after his lot, it would be a walk in the park.” Molly smiled to the Guard and scowled at Arthur. The Guard blew out his breath. “We were quite puzzled you see, on how you got onto the runway. It’s all fenced off see.” “We took a wrong turn, and ended on the runway. Sorry.” Arthur was looking down at the ground. Molly just couldn’t be angry with him, not when he pulled a face like that, and what was clearly a misunderstanding. But she would get a new dress robe and a slap up meal out of this, that much she was certain. “Well, let’s get you off to the office and we’ll all have a brew, how does that sound?” Molly leaned in to the Guard. “That sounds lovely dear.” Once back in the safety of the Security Office, and with a cup of tea in their hands, they both sat down and went over the finer points of the tour. They met a very nice lady, who had a striking resemblance to Fleur; she introduced herself as their tour guide. Molly looked at the tour guide with careful scrutiny. No wonder he likes all these trips, if all the tour guides look like this. Molly smiled and held out her hand to shake. “Hello there, my name is Meg, and I’ll be your tour guide, any questions then please ask away.” Meg looked at both Arthur and Molly, smiling and showing genuine kindness. “Well, Arthur, Molly, do you mind me calling you by your names or would you prefer Mr and Mrs Weasley?” “No dear, Molly will be fine.” Molly had to admit, Meg was one of those people that glowed when they walked into any room. She was suddenly thinking about George. “Excellent, now where do we begin? Let us first start with the science of how do planes stay up.” Arthur was bouncing on the balls of his feet, he looked over to see Molly rolling her eyes and sighing. It was fair to say that most of this just flew over Molly’s head, but the last part brought her down to Earth with a bump. “I’m sorry dear; I didn’t quite catch that last part. Are you saying that the only way these things stay up, is because of the air going over the top part of the wings is greater than the air going over the bottom part. But because of the difference in air pressure, it creates lift?” Meg thought that for someone not to understand and describe the physics almost to perfection, clearly got it, they just didn’t want to believe it. “Well, and the engine pulling us through the air, yes.” Meg was sure she heard Molly mumble. “Merlin help us.” Molly looked straight at Meg and gave her the look. “So dear, can I ask you a question?” Arthur held his breath, this was going to be a big one, he just knew it. Molly took a deep breath. “What happens when something goes wrong? What happens when the plane falls from the sky?” Meg smiled, “Well, Molly you usually have time to bail out.” “Bail out, what do you mean, bail out?” “Well you bail out with a parachute.” “A parachute.” Arthur sat up excitedly. “Yes. It basically lets you glide down to Earth safely.” Arthur looked over to Molly and gave her the look. The very same look that got them seven beautiful children, the very same look that got them the car. The very same look that got Molly to go with Arthur on this dammed fools crusade, only to see how Muggles fly. But Molly was ready for it this time. “No, Arthur, absolutely not. I’m not going up in some Aeroplane, just to jump out with nothing but a large blanket and a piece of string. NO!” One hour later, Molly was standing on the runway watching Arthur getting strapped into a harness with Meg. She had put her foot down; she wasn’t going up in the plane. Arthur on the other hand had wholeheartedly agreed. “Where do I sign?” Molly watched as they both got into the plane. He was going to be strapped onto Meg’s harness. “Honestly, he’ll do anything for a pretty face,” Molly mumbled. She gave him a quick kiss goodbye and watched as the plane taxied to the runway. The only thoughts going through her head were. What will I tell the children, and, I hope the life insurance is up to date… * * * Arthur got into the plane after kissing his Molly goodbye, his first thought upon getting was. It’s more spacious than I thought. Arthur thought he’d go with an easy question first. “Where are the seats?” Meg chuckled. “We don’t need seats on this plane; they’d get in the way.” “Oh, right you are then.” Arthur looked out of the window and waved to Molly. Arthur then got himself comfortable as the plane taxied to the runway. Meg sat down next to Arthur and patted him on the leg. “You okay, Arthur?” Arthur looked slightly troubled. “Yes, Meg, it’s just my first time on an Aeroplane, that’s all.” Meg looked startled. “You mean to tell me that your first time on an Aeroplane, is also the first time you are jumping out of one?” “Yes, good isn’t it.” Meg had to explain that not all planes were like this one. That this one was obviously stripped down to save on space, and that they were generally more comfortable Arthur thought it was time to narrate when Meg excused herself to talk to the pilot. “Well listeners, here I am, ready to take off. The noise you can hear is the engine, very much similar to a petrol engine you will find in a car. Only it has a propeller at the front. We are slowly taxiing to the runway. We are now ready to go; we are picking up speed now.” Arthur gripped onto the floor as the plane rose. “We are lifting off now, we have done it, were off, good Lord, I’m flying. That was smooth, were climbing at quite a rate listeners, the ground is falling away from us. It’s not dissimilar to riding on your broom, only you are inside, and no wind is blowing around your face.” Arthur sighed, this was another thing he could tick off his list. “This is marvellous listeners; it hardly feels like we are moving. There is no sense of speed, just the sight of the ground, which is falling quite fast now.” Arthur finally got what his sons had been on about. He had never got the chance to fly his car, and truth be told, he was very jealous of their little adventure. Arthur carried on with his narrating. “This is clearly the way to travel, listeners. It’s a shame we don’t have anything like this.” He was going to tell them about his car, but once again realised he wasn’t supposed to have had the thing in the first place. “Well listeners, we have the Hogwarts Express, and other much smaller trains, maybe it’s time we got ourselves a few Aeroplanes.” With that Arthur signed off and thought about his jump with Meg. After a while Arthur’s enthusiasm got the better of him. “So, Meg, do you mind if I talk into this, and ask you a few questions?” “No, not at all, carry on.” Arthur took out his dictator phone. The twins had bought him from a Muggle shop; they also charmed it to work without batteries. They also explained how it worked and that it would be a useful tool in his new line of work. Arthur smiled and pressed down the record button. “Well listeners, this is a strange turn of events! I have just boarded an Aeroplane, and very shortly, I will be demonstrating what happens when something goes wrong, which will involve having to bail out. I hear you ask, ‘how will you survive?’ Well we shall have with us a Parachute. This will enable us to gently glide back down to Earth." And hopefully not a bloody pulp, withering on the floor. Arthur finished in his head. “So, Meg how high will we be flying?” “Well, Arthur we shall be climbing too roughly 25,000 feet, before we open the door for the jump.” Arthur gulped; he really did get himself into these situations. Arthur was brought back to his last meeting with his boss. “Arthur old man, the listeners are loving the series. They’re asking you to be more daring, more adventurous. So go to it man, enjoy the success.” As they climbed to 25,000 feet, Arthur’s eyes kept on looking to the two lights, one of them was red, and the other was green. Meg came over to check his harness. Arthur blushed as she checked his straps and then got behind him to strap her to his harness. They were both going tandem, as this was Arthur’s first jump. Arthur thought it would be a good idea to keep the record button pressed as they descended. Arthur noticed that the lights had changed from red to green. Meg started to shuffle them both to the edge of the plane, to the now open door. How did that open? Arthur suddenly realised. A great and not unexpected feeling of panic washed over Arthur, as his feet were dangling over the edge of the plane. This was it; he was going to do it. He was going to jump out of a perfectly good Aeroplane. A calm feeling of clarity came upon Arthur, he was not going to jump out of the plane, he was going to kindly ask Meg to shuffle back to the seating area, and then he was going to enjoy the flight down back to earth, to his loving wife. He turned his head to Meg and nodded, in what was clearly, ‘Not on your nelly lady, take me home now!” to, Meg it meant “GO GO GO!!!” Arthur couldn’t figure out why the plane was getting smaller, until the brutal, shocking reality hit him across the face, with a smelly wet fish. He was in free fall, this was unbelievable, this was breathtaking, this was going very fast and the ground was coming up very fast. Arthur felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up, he saw, Meg give him the thumbs up, the next sight was so beautiful and heart stopping, Arthur had a tear in his eye. “I’ve never been so glad to see a Parachute, listeners it’s-" Arthur was stopped mid sentence by the sudden decrease in acceleration, which caught him once again by surprise. The sudden constriction around his harness and nethers didn’t help as well. Arthur cried out in obvious discomfort, causing Meg to chuckle. She was certain she heard the words. “My tators”and “it’s a good job I’ve got kids.” This caused Meg to laugh out loud. She had to admit she really liked Arthur. Arthur tried to carry on with his commentary, but with his current predicament, and the feeling of being slightly ill, he thought he’d give it a miss. After a while though, when the blood and feeling started to come back, Arthur finally saw the world in a different light. They were gliding down to earth peacefully, birds were singing and flying past them, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, the only sound was the slight breeze in the air. Arthur decided he had to describe this feeling. “Well listeners, this is wonderful, we are gently floating down to Earth, almost soaring through the air, the ground is a patchwork of fields and hedges. I must say nothing we do is akin to the feeling, it’s all peaceful, quiet and simple, and at the same time marvellous.” Meg tapped him on the shoulder to tell him they were about to land, Arthur could see Molly running towards them, the only thoughts Arthur had was, My goodness, I do love my wife. They gently touched down on the ground where he promptly fell to his knees. Arthur tried to get back up, but he still had, Meg strapped to him, he heard Molly shouting his name. “Well listeners, that’s a first, and I hope not the last. This is, Arthur Weasley, signing off for now.” With that, Arthur fainted. ~*~ Molly watched as Arthur took off. “See you later my love.” Molly whispered. Meg’s assistant asked if she would like a cup of tea, and to sit in the car. Molly graciously accepted. “Will he be safe?” Molly asked. “Yes, Meg has done this hundreds of times, she’s quite the expert.” Meg’s assistant smiled. “You mean you do this all the time?” Molly spluttered. The assistant laughed. “Yes, it’s really good fun.” Molly smiled her famous, ‘of course it is, dear,’ smile. “You can watch their progress with these, if you wish?” The assistant gave Molly a pair of binoculars. “Thank you, dear.” Molly got out of the car, once they found the plane, both watched with mixed feelings of panic and excitement. Molly was surprised that she could see the door opening and two figures getting ready to jump. “My word, he’s going to do it. Of all the stupid things, I thought the Twins were the silly ones, well this outdoes them. Oh my he's falling! That’s quite fast, is that supposed to happen?” “Yes, Molly, look their Parachute is opening.” Molly gasped; she looked into the binoculars again, to see Arthur’s face. He was smiling and looking around in awe. He was a brave man, a brave stupid man with totally mad idea’s, but a brave and noble man, but more importantly, her man. Molly had a flood of excitement course through her, she also had visions of Arthur dressed in black with a box of chocolates. Well a lady does like Milk Tray. She also chuckled at the memory of Arthur trying that particular adventure, if she recalled, it also ended with Arthur spending a night in St Mungo’s with a slipped disk and a bruise that still makes him blush... She saw Arthur look at her and wave. The assistant ran over to them, and didn’t notice, Molly place a cushioning charm, on the ground. Molly half walked, half jogged over to Arthur, calling out his name when Arthur fainted. “Arthur, oh my, Arthur.” Both ladies smiled and sat Arthur up. “He’s ok, Molly, just overexcited. I think a stiff drink and some food; he’ll be right as rain.” Meg chuckled. “He really is a sweetie, isn’t he?” “Oh, he’s something, my dear, something else.” All three ladies chuckled as Arthur got up. “Did you see that, Molly? In all my life. Ha, the twins are going to be so jealous.” Arthur sorted himself out, and asked Molly to record something. “Well listeners that was a first. I hear you ask, ‘How could you possibly top that?’ Well we shall now go and see a normal Aeroplane, to see. ‘How do they do that?’” Molly’s eyebrows rose up to meet her hairline at this particular statement Meg walked up to both of them. “Well then, Arthur, Molly, do you have your passports?” Molly looked at Arthur, her eyes widened in shock. Arthur spoke up, “Hang on a bit, I have them just here, I’ll just get them.” “No need, Arthur, I’m just checking you have them. Just make sure you have them when we check in, okay?” They all got into the car, and set off to get changed and showered. * * * They arrived at the Airport, and made their way over to the departure lounge. Molly leaned into Arthur “Arthur we don’t have any passports, well not Muggle ones anyway.” She whispered. “Not to worry my love, I took care of it.” Arthur said confidently, not wanting anything to interrupt his chance to fly again. “How?” Molly looked surprised. “I transfigured some parchment into Muggle ones.” “Let me see then.” Like most things her husband said he had done, Molly had to see it to believe it. “Okay then, here you are.” Arthur handed two passports over to Molly. “Oh, Arthur you could of used a decent picture of me, and yours.” Molly snorted. “You have hair on your head, how old are these pictures?” Molly couldn’t stop giggling. “Well they’re supposed to look old, so I used old photos, and were not supposed to smile for some reason.” Arthur looked around. “Well this seems like a good a place as any, Molly are you ready?” “Ready for what dear?” Molly looked around confused, until Arthur pointed to the recording equipment. “Oh, right you are dear, you go ahead.” Arthur smiled at his wife as she looked around for the record button. “Well listeners, we are now in the checking in area on the way to the departure lounge. This is where we hand over our tickets and show our passports.” Arthur handed his passport to the checking in assistant, who by all accounts looked utterly bored. She took one look at the passport, frowned and looked at Arthur, who stopped smiling and tried to recapture the pose in the photograph. She gave a hint of a smile and passed Arthur on. She then looked at Molly and held out her hand. Molly shook it and smiled. “Hello dear, how are you? You must get bored at looking at silly pictures all day?” The clerk just looked at Molly and huffed. “Oh right you are, her you are DEAR.” Molly handed over her passport to the clerk. Who once again looked at the passport, then once again at Molly. She gave the briefest smile and passed her through. Molly gave her a very sharp look. “Well, a smile is not hard to perform, is it Arthur? Honestly, you’d think she was one of those, Ribbits you saw the other week.” “Ribbits, dear?” Arthur looked confused. “You know, that make all them cars, honestly Arthur, it was only the other week.” “Oh you mean Robots, yes dear, I see now.” “Yes, that’s what I said, Robots, now where are we going again?” “That my love is a surprise.” Both walked down to the departure lounge gently bickering with each other. Molly kept trying to make Arthur tell her where she was being taken, and Arthur trying to keep the surprise. Meg was a safe distance behind them chuckling. * * * They proceeded to the departure lounge, and sat down in their seats. Molly looked around and was surprised to find themselves in the First Class lounge. “Would Madam care for a glass of champagne?” Molly looked around to see a very pretty waitress looking down at her. Molly decided to use her very best speaking manner. “Yes dear, that would be splendid. Thank you so much.” The waitress smiled and walked off to fetch their drinks. Molly looked over to Arthur and whispered; “Champagne? No wonder you like this job!” Arthur smiled. “Well you know me my love. One has to suffer for one’s art.” Molly snorted and tried to cover it up as a sneeze. “The upper class just don’t snort, don’t you know.” Molly thought to herself. Arthur pointed to the microphone and then the recorder. “Oh yes dear, right you are.” Molly pressed the record button and mouthed, “Now dear.” Arthur smiled. “Well listeners, we are about to board the Aeroplane, let us hope that it goes smoother than my last one!” Molly choked on her drink and mumbled. “It better had do, Arthur Weasley.” Arthur looked over to Molly, who raised her glass and smiled. “Well I see that they have opened the door, we are now going to board. I shall see you all later.” With that Arthur stood up and walked over to his wife. “Molly dear, shall we be off then?” Molly sighed. “Yes dear, let’s get this thing over and done with” Arthur held out his arm, which Molly took, and both said their goodbyes to Meg, and made their way to the plane. Meg watched them walk down sighing at the sight of two people still very much in love. * * * As Arthur and Molly walked along the gangway, Molly’s grip on Arthur’s arm had tightened. Arthur looked down at his wife and smiled reassuringly. “It’ll be fine, my love.” Molly got to the entrance of the plane; she took a deep breath and stepped into the plane. Arthur walked up to Molly, and placed his arm on her shoulder, they both walked down to their seats. Molly gave Arthur the seat by the window as she just couldn’t face the thought of it. Arthur sat down and started playing with all the buttons. Molly was forcibly reminded of her children in a toyshop; she tried to tell him off, but he kept going backwards and forwards, up and down. “Arthur, will you stop that! You’ll break it, and then what will you do?” Arthur looked sheepish and stopped. She huffed, and noticed that Arthur was moving the seat inch by inch, so as not to upset her. Molly felt a giggle coming, so she grabbed the first thing to hand and started to read it. ‘In case of feeling unwell, use this.’ Molly thought for a second, looked at the little bag again and then realised what it was for, she stuffed it back into the seat in front, looking around to see if anybody had seen. Molly leaned over to Arthur. “Arthur, I can’t get comfortable.” Arthur smiled. “Well just adjust your seat then.” “How?” “Well you see those buttons I was pressing, press those and see what happens.” Molly went forwards, she went back, she went up and indeed down, she was just getting comfortable when there was a slight bang, and a grown. Molly whispered to Arthur as she was being lowered into a lying down position. “Arthur, it’s broken!” Arthur looked over to Molly and seeing her not there looked around. “Arthur, I’m down here, it won’t move and look at me.” Arthur looked down and he was really trying not to laugh. “What do you mean it’s broken?” Arthur asked innocently, still trying to hide his smile. “Don’t you dare laugh, Arthur Weasley, don’t just stare at me, help me up!” “Yes dear, of course dear, just lie tight and I’ll sort it.” Arthur pulled out his wand, looked around and muttered a quick ‘Repairo.’ The seat moved back to its original position. Molly gave him the famous ‘Don’t you dare say anything to me, and don’t you dare tell anyone,’ look. Arthur took hold of Molly’s hand, he raised it to his lips and kissed it. Both broke out into fits of laughter and only stopped when more drinks were brought round. Arthur and Molly eventually settled down. Molly noticed a pair of headphones in front of her, she looked around and saw that other passengers placing them on their heads, Molly decided to try them out. She found the radio channels and started to press the button for the different stations. She was so immersed in listening that she missed the Captain talking them through their flight, this suited Arthur, as he still wanted to surprise his wife. Molly looked over the seats, still with the headphones on. “ARTHUR DEAR. WHY IS THAT LADY WAVING?!” Arthur made a shushing sound. Molly’s mouth tightened and smiled. “Sorry dear. Why is that lady waving her arms?” Molly asked again, this time more quietly. “Well, Molly, she’s showing us the escape exits.” “Oh I see.” Molly was suddenly brought back down to earth, which is not what you want, when sitting in an Aeroplane. “What escape exits? What have I missed?” Arthur placed a caring hand on Molly’s arm. “Nothing dear, just calm down.” he said, looking out of the window. “Look we’re starting to move!” “Arthur I don’t know about this. I want to get off.” Arthur was concerned to see that Molly looked genuinely upset. He held out his hand. “It will be fine my love, come here give us a cuddle.” Molly buried herself into Arthur’s embrace. “I must narrate, Molly, is that okay?” Molly nodded her head. “Well listeners, we are taxiing to the runway. We are about to take off, I can hear the roar of the engines and feel the power, there is a definite increase in speed, sweat Merlin, it’s pinning me to the seat…..were rising……and…….. were off!” Arthur started clapping. “That was smooth, they certainly know their stuff! Well apparently, we can now walk around and have drinks. So its bye for now, listeners.” With that he pressed the stop button and looked down at Molly, who was smiling. “It wasn’t that bad.” Molly muttered. “So why you still hugging me then?” “I just want a hug.” Molly smiled and snuggled deeper. Arthur smiled and hugged her tightly. After a while the air steward brought drinks around. “Careful, Molly, you’re not used to Muggle drinks… some can be potent.” Arthur said, dreading what might happen. “Nonsense, this champagne is lovely.” Molly smiled as her cheeks had a rosy glow to them. * * * After Molly’s sixth glass of bubbly, she started giggling and decided to listen to more music. “Oh Arthur, there playing Glen Miller, what happened to him now?” Arthur got out his little book on famous Muggles and thumbed through the pages, after finding out, Arthur’s face paled. “Oh he, erm, that is.” “Tell me, Arthur.” Molly stroked her fingers along Arthur’s arm. “Well he, erm, he died in a plane crash.” Molly’s bottom lip started to wobble. She decided to watch one of the on board films. She decided on a film about an airport, apparently it was a classic called Airport 79. She read more about the film, and found that it was something called a disaster film, all about a Plane crash. She switched channels, to a film called Alive. Once again she read the description, which made her eyes practically pop out. “Sweet Merlin! Mad, the lot of them! To film something like that! Of all the films to show, oh what’s this, Excalibur, I like the sound of that.” With that Molly put her headphones on and settled down to watch the film, which gave Arthur the chance to explore the plane. Arthur was about to get up, when an air steward walked up to Arthur. “Hello sir, I’ve heard that you are making a programme of some sort. May I ask you what it is about?” She flashed him a dazzling smile. “Surly those can’t be real? They’re so white. That nust be some charm on them.” Arthur thought. “Yes, it’s about how Aeroplanes stay up and fly.” Arthur’s smile got bigger when asked if he wanted to have a tour of the Cockpit. “Oh that would be marvellous.” The steward took him to the front of the plane, where he met the Captain, and co-pilot. His first thought was: ”It’s a bit cramped.” He then saw all the buttons and dials, which made his eyes light up. “Hello, Mr Weasley, I’m the Captain, and this is my co-pilot, and this fine fellow is the Navigator.” Arthur shook hands with all of them and was shown around. “Would you like to sit in the Captain’s chair?” Arthur smiled. “Yes please, would you mind if I narrated as I sit down?” “No, not at all, carry on.” The pilot moved aside and motioned for Arthur to sit down. Arthur sat down and pressed record. “Well listeners, I am now in the Captains chair. I hear you ask, who is flying the plane.” Arthur’s eyes bugged out. “Actually Captain, who is flying the plane?” The Captain laughed. “You are, Mr Weasley, and you’re doing a fine job.” The Co Pilot tapped Arthur on the shoulder. “The Auto Pilot is, sir, the plane flies itself.” Arthur gulped. “Well listeners, it would appear that the plane has something called an, Auto Pilot, which is basically, itself.” Arthur could feel a very small panic start to rise, just a wee one; actually it was more a semi large worry. The captain laughed out loud. “Not to worry, Mr Weasley, you’re in the hands of Engineers now.” All laughed along, although, Arthur’s was a nervous guffaw. To be honest he really didn’t know what an Engineer was. “Well, I must be getting back to my wife, thank you gentlemen.” With that Arthur made his way out of the Cockpit and hurriedly made his down the isle, with a new glowing respect for Muggles. “Really brilliant, but quite mad, the lot of them.” Arthur thought. * * * Arthur walked back to Molly, who was still watching the on board film and giggling along. “Hello my love, what are you watching?” “Hello dear, I don’t know, but it’s got Dragons in it, and Merlin and Arthur-.”Molly snorted. “Look Arthur, Merlin’s beard.” Molly’s giggles got louder. “He hasn’t got a beard, Molly, not in this film.” “I know! So how can they say, ‘Merlin’s beard.’ When he clearly hasn’t got one.” Molly’s laughing got louder. “How many of these have you had?” Arthur picked up the empty Champagne glass. “Oh I don’t know, they just kept bringing them to me. It seemed rude to say no.” Molly giggled some more, and waved her hands around. “Well no more dear, we’re not on here for long.” Molly leaned over to Arthur and snuggled up to him. “Comfortable, my love?” “Mmmmmm, yes.” Molly closed her eyes and fell to sleep, muttering something that sounded similar to ‘loving Muggle drinks.’ Arthur thought it was time to narrate some more. “Well listeners, I will now tell you what you can do on a plane. One can walk about, watch a film, listen to music, chat, there’s food to be served in a moment, and there are even toilets, but are in need of a few enlargement charms, as the larger individual would find it a wee bit cramped. I must be honest with you listeners, I haven’t felt this refreshed on a long journey, since, well never. You get no nasty dizziness, no rough landings; basically you get on, sit down and enjoy the ride. Granted it takes a lot longer, but you also don’t have to sit for three hours getting over Portkey sickness, or wipe soot of your clothes. The benefits are almost endless. Well that’s it for now until the landing!” Arthur pressed the stop button as a steward handed him a glass of whiskey. * * * Molly woke up and groaned. “Oh, I’m still on this sodding thing.” She felt Arthur chuckle next to her. “How long have we been on, Arthur?” Arthur looked at his watch. “Oh, about three hours, you’ve been asleep for half the time. I was going to wake you, as were landing in a bit.” “Drat! I was hoping to sleep through that.” Arthur smiled at his wife. “Well, I’m going to freshen up.” “Okay, my love.” After Molly’s return, Arthur had to sit through fifteen minutes of, Molly’s ramblings about small facilities and tight spaces. The one that got Arthur chuckling, was the one about, ‘swinging a Kneazle around.’ “Well, they don’t get assistance on that one, my love, they have to keep space and weight down to a minimum.” Arthur carried on oblivious to Molly’s scowls. “Sorry love, it’s time to narrate again!” “Hello once again listeners, I can see the seat belts light has come on, signaling that we are about to land, I can sense the change in altitude, and as I look out of the window, I can see the Airport and the runway. You can hardly notice the decent-” “Oh, you can, Arthur Weasley!” Molly interjected. “As I was saying, you can hardly.” Arthur put emphasis on this word. “Notice the decent, were nearly there, listeners…..we have landed safe and sound. Hurray!” Both Arthur and Molly started clapping, as well as a few green looking Muggles. “This is, Arthur Weasley, signing off.” Arthur got up and grabbed, Molly’s bag for her while she straightened herself out. Both walked of the plane thanking the Air stewards, and to finally reached the arrival lounge. They were both passed through without any incident, so they made their way to the lounge. “Admit it Molly, it wasn’t that bad, was it?” “Oh, okay, Arthur it was fine.” Arthur raised his eyebrows. “Okay, it was nice, I don’t feel tired or drained, it was very pleasant.” Molly said reluctantly. “I told you.” Molly smiled and stuck her tongue out, which made Arthur chuckle. “Molly, I have to do this, can you look out for our guide?” “Yes dear, who is it?” “Oh, you have met them before.” “Oh, okay then.” Molly started looking around as Arthur pressed the record button, as they both walked to the exit. “Well listeners, Airports have made the world a much smaller place, with technology today, a trip that would have taken three days, has now been shrunk to one day, down to three hours. It is a place for holidays, business, and…” “HELLO MUM.” Molly looked around and gasped. “Charlie!” Charlie ran over to his mum and picked her up and spun her around. “For meeting family.” Arthur finished his sentence. “This is Arthur Weasley, at Bucharest Airport in Romania, seeing just exactly ‘how do they do that?” Arthur walked over to his son and hugged him. “So you got mum on one of them planes then?” “Yes I did” Arthur said proudly “I also got to jump out of one as well!” Molly laughed, wiping tears from her eyes. “Oh you should have seen him, Charlie, so brave.” Molly started crying again as both father and son embraced her. All three turned around and walked out into the open air. “You know mum, you’re going to have to go back on the plane again.” “Not if I have my strength about me, Charlie boy, not if I have my strength.” “Come on my love, let’s go shopping.” Arthur started chuckling as Molly started asking Charlie all about the nearest shops and what time the restaurants open.
I would like to thank Ari for her prebeta-ing work – much appreciated! Thekillerpie, my beta, would like to apologise for the delay in the production of this chapter – he’s been busy moving back to University this month, but all the same, I would like to thank him for his work!
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