Long-Distance Wizard Transportation

[pindsvinen]

 Okay... I'm new to the group in the active-posting sense, though 
I've lurked a bit. I have one question that has been nagging at me, 
for the purposes of a fanfic which walked into my brain. No, 
rather... stampeded, actually. 

My question is this: What would the best method of quick long-
distance transportation, capable of bringing yourself (a Witch/Wizard 
type individual) and perhaps another individual, be? 
 *If this has been discussed here, and i've managed to miss it, I 
apologise.. Or if it's been discussed somewhere else, please direct 
me there!*

 The premise involves a Hogwarts professor going to Heathrow or some 
other British airport to pick up/greet Muggle family members, 
imported from somewhere-else. I'm not entirely sure where. It will 
end up with said professor bringing one of the family members back to 
Hogwarts.

 Assuming Hogwarts is in Scotland and Heathrow is (obviously) quite a 
distance away, there are a few options I have gleaned from reading 
around, both on Yahoo! groups and in things such as the Lexicon, and 
multiple other sites. It seems that the long-distance travel options 
appear to be broomsticks, Apparition, PortKeys, or the Hogwarts 
Express (or perhaps any other enchanted train lines). 

 I am hesitant about using broomsticks for said fan-fic, and 
generally apprehensive about them for long-distance travel anyway. 
Unless they can be urged to high speeds, I believe they would be 
rather impractical. Unless one is willing to cast umbrella-spells and 
things of that nature to keep off weather, and everyone in the family 
has one... They would also be rather impractical for long-distance 
trips.

 Apparition... Well, you can't Apparate and Disapparate off Hogwart's 
grounds. This would, otherwise, be a good long-distance travel 
mechanism. 

 PortKeys... I don't recall any mention of them being used on 
Hogwarts grounds. Would they be possible, you think? I believe it was 
GoF which discussed using series of Portkeys to get from point A to 
point B. However, my problem would be getting said Professor from 
Hogwarts to Heathrow, and then back again. PortKeys work only in one 
direction, or do they work both ways? (I'm up at college, and I 
haven't GoF on hand. I feel like an idjit. Please no yelling at me. 
Please?) 

 The Hogwarts Express, while properly Wizard-Like and certainly 
covers long distances, seems as if it takes quite awhile. More like 
the... well, "leisurely" trip. Like taking a train from Point A to 
Point B. I don't think it would work well. 

 Can anyone give me any input on which of the above might be the most 
plausible, or any new ideas? This is the first scene,a nd would be 
rather difficult to erase for the rest of the story. :wry grin: 
 
 Thank you!
--Darcey--