The drunk belched at them, held out a hand, and said with dull, fishlike eyes, "Three Galleons. Guaranteed smooth sailing."
Figuring they might as well since they were already there, John and Pheobe paid and grabbed the leather shoe, which looked as though someone had just taken it off.
They held hands so they wouldn't get separated.
The moment John touched the Portkey, he felt as though a hook behind his navel had jerked him forward with irresistible force.
His feet left the ground, and he flew.
By the time he could see clearly again, he and Pheobe were already in free fall.
They hit the ground hard.
John rubbed his aching lower back. After getting to his feet, he looked around and said, "This doesn't look like somewhere they'd hold a Quidditch match."
"I'm going to kill that damned swindler!"
Pheobe's pretty face had darkened with anger. That had been an unstable Portkey.
It had dumped them straight into some unknown forest.
John felt a headache coming on. The Portkey had vanished, which meant they had been stranded deep in the wilderness, possibly somewhere completely uninhabited.
"Let's hope we can find someone to ask for directions."
Getting here had been easy enough. Getting back was another matter.
"I can't go on. I need a break." Pheobe sat on the ground without a trace of ladylike grace.
John stopped too, beads of sweat covering his forehead.
They had spent at least three hours walking through the forest, yet in all that time, they had barely seen any animals, let alone people.
John missed his Flying Boots more than ever. If he'd known he would end up in this godforsaken place, he would have brought them.
"Point Me."
His wand pointed north. John checked the direction. At least they were still heading the right way.
"Too bad I haven't learned Apparition. Then we wouldn't have to walk."
John sat down to rest for a while too. He picked some fruit that looked harmless from a tree and offered it to Pheobe.
Pheobe buried her face between her knees and said in a muffled voice, "I'm sorry, John. I shouldn't have asked you to come."
The thought that she might never get out was beginning to overwhelm her.
As the older of the two, she felt she wasn't shouldering as much responsibility as John.
Hearing her words, John wiped a piece of fruit, brought it to his mouth, and took a bite.
Its sour, astringent taste nearly made him spit it out, but remembering that this might be their only food, he swallowed it instead.
"It's all right. We'll be fine. Trust me."
John encouraged Pheobe to pull herself together. Looking at his handsome face, she felt an inexplicable sense of security that made her want to trust him.
She was a quarter Veela and possessed some of their abilities.
Her exceptional beauty was one of them, giving her the ability to make men infatuated with her.
Because of that ability, the girls didn't like her.
But she was too proud to bother arguing with them, and she didn't like the boys either, since they were drawn to her.
As a result, she had almost no friends at school.
When she first saw John at school, she hadn't intended to befriend him.
She had simply found him rather interesting. Unlike the other boys, he didn't become a fawning admirer under the influence of her charms.
Instead, as they spent time together, she had become the one drawn to him.
That attraction had nothing to do with romance. It was simply trust, the sort of pull a leader had that made people instinctively gravitate toward him.
His mere presence restored people's confidence.
Pheobe looked at John and nodded. "I trust you, John."
John smiled and handed her another piece of fruit.
Pheobe accepted it unsuspectingly and took a bite. The price of that trust was having her entire face scrunch up from the sourness.
"John!"
"I didn't do anything. Look, I ate one too."
John looked utterly innocent, making Pheobe want to throw the fruit at his head.
She raised it, then reconsidered. Wouldn't it be an even bigger loss if she starved to death here because she hadn't eaten enough? She bit viciously into the fruit as though it were John.
As darkness gradually fell, John decided to find somewhere to rest for the night.
He built a campfire, and the two of them sat around it.
"Such a huge forest, and not even an animal in sight. I'd settle for a magical creature."
John curled his lip as he complained. Pheobe rolled her eyes at him and said, "Wild magical creatures are very dangerous. Given how territorial they are, there might be something powerful here that's keeping all the other creatures away."
"Oh?"
John thought she had a good point.
Magical creatures were territorial too. If an outsider entered their territory, it usually resulted in a brutal fight.
But they had been walking for so long that anything living here should have shown up already.
It hasn't appeared after all this time. Could it be nocturnal?
As he pondered that, a sound came from the surrounding undergrowth.
Rustle, rustle.
"What's over there?" Pheobe asked, her nerves on edge.
Both of them drew their wands at the same time. John glanced at his empty pockets.
"When I get back, I'm definitely getting an Undetectable Extension Charm."
The Undetectable Extension Charm was an extremely practical spell, much like the spatial rings commonly found in novels.
It could expand the inside of a space. Although the exterior might look unchanged, the interior could become enormously spacious.
John hadn't learned the spell yet. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone out with nothing but a wand.
They watched the spot the sounds were coming from, tense and alert. John was ready to hit whatever emerged with Reducto.
The sounds drew closer and closer. Having absorbed dragon blood, John's body had grown stronger.
His senses had become sharper too.
He heard panting and heavy footsteps.
"A person?"
John's mind stirred. Judging by the sounds, it ought to be a person.
An injured person, at that, apparently fleeing from something.
He didn't relax his grip on his wand. Instead, he raised it. Meeting a person in the wilderness might be even more dangerous than encountering a magical creature.
At last, under their watchful eyes, someone emerged from the bushes ahead.
"Stop!" Pheobe shouted tensely.
It was a boy who looked about John's age, wearing blood-red robes that seemed to be some kind of school uniform.
His face was so pale that Pheobe initially thought he was a vampire.
He had black hair and a high nose bridge. If not for the golden eye faintly visible through the tousled strands covering his left eye, Pheobe would probably have attacked already.
The newcomer clearly hadn't expected to find two student-aged wizards either. He had assumed anyone who dared light a campfire here was either an Auror or a desperate outlaw.
"Run!"
The boy shouted as a mass of flame fell from the sky, setting the bushes beside him ablaze.
Pheobe looked up in horror. A black Hungarian Horntail opened its jaws overhead and breathed out a blast of dragonfire.
"Sneak attack... insult... die..."
John stared at the Hungarian Horntail in disbelief. He seemed to have heard it speaking.
Suddenly remembering his dragon language blessing, he waved his wand and used a Levitation Charm to pull the wizard out of the flames.
Although that saved a life, it also drew the Hungarian Horntail's attention to John.
"Let's run!" Pheobe finally understood why there were no other creatures nearby.
The Hungarian Horntail was the fiercest kind of dragon. With one here, no other creatures dared come anywhere near the place.
John immediately turned and sprinted, pumping his arms. The Hungarian Horntail's furious words continued to reach him from behind.
"Wizard... sleeping... sneak attack... no fair... bottom hurts..."
Hearing the Hungarian Horntail's words, John shot the fleeing wizard a peculiar look.
This kid has some nerve, ambushing a Hungarian Horntail in its sleep. And of all the places you could hit, you went for its backside.
No wonder the Hungarian Horntail was so furious. If someone ambushed John while he slept, the most he could promise was to make their death less painful.
Before you continue