Once again here I am thanking everyone for the awesome reviews I have been getting. I hope this is a long enough update for all of you! I think it might be longer than the first chapter, and that was really really long. Let me know what you think and I might update tomorrow!
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Dinner came and went rather quickly, and, with all the buzz about sharing a ship with Cho, that made it fly by even quicker. Hermione reminisced a bit about the night's events, and couldn't shake the horrified look on Cho's face from her mind. She was just simply awe-struck at seeing the two most unlikely people in a lip lock. Though, Cho's most famous excuse for not liking Hermione was because she was 'too friendly.' If that could be possible.
The restaurant slowly emptied, leaving just a few people at their tables. Harry caught Ron's gaze and saw the surprised, yet accusing look on his face. Josie linked her arm with Ron's and strolled over to the 'pretend couple.'
"Harry, that was some display of affection you showed Cho," he said slyly.
Harry looked at him and then at Hermione, who was blushing. "It was just a spur of the moment thing and-Hermione, you alright?" Harry asked.
All their attention was turned to Hermione. She had her hands covering her face. When she heard Harry's voice, those hands came down to reveal a very red face. "Harry, I'm so embarrassed. That must have looked so awful to everyone, kissing you like that in front of Cho."
Ron started to laugh. "That was bloody brilliant! Hermione, you forget, we don't know that many people here, at least not yet. But you've got a point. You're the last one I expected to do something like that."
Hermione looked at Harry with a pleading face. "Look, I feel a little odd about it too. I mean, Cho didn't even know we were here and the first thing she reacts to is us kissing." He answered.
"Well, I think I've had enough excitement to last me a century. I'm going to go on up to bed," she responded with a sigh. Ron and Harry nodded. "It was nice to meet you, Josie," Hermione added before taking her bag off the table and heading out to the stairs.
"Hermione wait!" Harry called. She stopped and turned to look at him. He jogged over to her to catch up. "I'll walk you to your room. It's the least I can do. I mean, in a sense you were my date tonight."
With a gently smile and the color returned to her face, she walked with Harry out of the restaurant.
The cool night air coming from the cold water below, and the scent of it, cleared Hermione's mind in an instant. The only light surrounding them was that of the moon. It illuminated her pale blue dress, making it seem like she was in a spot light. She walked along Harry in silence as they casually made their way to their rooms. His hands were stuffed in his pockets, clearly sending the signal that he was thinking rather hard about something.
"Harry, are you all right?" she asked in a concerned tone. Harry looked up at her.
"Yeah fine."
Hermione looked at him skeptically and reached into her bag for her room card-key. Her skin glistened under the moonlight, catching Harry's attention as he gazed at her half exposed back. Hermione slid her card-key through the slot and the door popped open. She walked in a short distance and put her things down. Harry was still standing in the doorway, hands in his pockets, and eyes locked on the floor.
Hermione came up to him with a smile on her face and gripped the upper most part of his shirt that was unbuttoned. This brought him back to reality and he looked at her. She was fumbling with his shirt, as if to be straightening it a bit. His eyes met hers very slowly.
"Harry, I don't want this thing with Cho to bother you so much. I mean, if it's tearing you up so badly that you wish you were still with her, what are you doing, standing here in my doorway for?"
"What? Oh, no! I'm not-" he began, cluing into what Hermione was implying. "Believe me, she's the last woman on my mind right now." He scoffed the subject to the side and looked at Hermione.
"Oh?" she smirked. "Would you be thinking about Josie then?"
"Why would I be thinking about Josie?"
Hermione shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it was those incredible steely heather eyes that caught your attention. Or perhaps it was the long blonde hair. Or maybe, just maybe, it was Josie in general that's got you all-"
"No, no, no." Harry interrupted, shaking his head. Hermione took her hands away from his chest, fully realizing she got caught up in the feel of his body under her touch. "I'm just a little tired is all."
"Well then I suggest you go get some sleep. We'll be in Hawaii tomorrow, well actually, probably in just a few hours. But I'm not staying up to see it come into view."
"I agree." Harry said, leaning casually into the open door's frame and staring at her. "I wonder what we'll be doing tomorrow when the sun comes up. You up for another water fight, Noni?" he teased.
Hermione squinted her eyes at him and slugged him lightly in the arm. "Very funny. Well, goodnight Harry," she said softly, turning to walk back into her room to shut the door.
Harry grabbed her hand and softly pulled her into a hug. "Sorry if I made you uncomfortable earlier. I guess we both got caught up in…well I don't know exactly what it was. But I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear. Hermione pulled away and looked at him, a smile slowly forming on her lips.
"Harry, don't worry about it. Honestly, I'll be fine. But get some sleep so we can enjoy our day tomorrow. I want to get out of here early." She said.
Harry nodded and let go. Before he could turn to leave, Hermione landed a soft kiss on his cheek and walked into her room.
For the rest of the night, and into the early hours of sunrise, Hermione remained asleep in her room, with Harry next door to her, and Ron next door to Harry.
The waves crashed on the shore as the ship 'Pacific Dawn,' sailed to port in Hilo, Hawaii. It was around eight o'clock in the morning and the sun was shining brightly on the palm trees and clear blue ocean.
Harry was sleeping very deeply and peacefully when something brought him out of his precious slumber. A loud slamming noise was issuing from the outer deck that joined their three rooms. Harry's head snapped up as he lay on his stomach. He bobbed around a bit and looked out the back door. His head hit the pillow again when he realized it was Hermione.
She was standing out in the fresh air, soaking up the burning sun and clearly excited that finally, their vacation was about to go into full swing. Her hands were pale from gripping the guard rail in order to lean down a bit for a better view. The water was impossibly clear, with the rocks on the bottom very visible from where the ship had docked. A low rumble rolled throughout the ship as it finally came to a stop and the engines shut down. Hermione clapped her hands together in excitement and pivoted around in her spot, contemplating on which of the boys to wake up first.
Her spaghetti-strap sun-dress twisted in the calming breeze, tingling her skin as it touched her legs. A smile tugged through to the corners of her lips as she looked through the glass door of Harry's suite to see that he was awake. That settled it. He would be the easiest to get going.
Hermione grasped the golden door handle on Harry's door and slipped in quietly. His back was turned to her, his bare back, as he fumbled through something in his closet. Hermione bit her bottom lip and fought back the urge to run up to him and stroke his masculine skin. It was way too tempting for her to digest. She must have made a noise to alert him of her presence because he turned around quickly, still in his loose sleeper pants and stared at her.
"Hermione! You scared me!" he gasped, dropping the clothes he picked for the day, to the floor.
"I uh-sorry Harry," she choked out, tripping on her own words at seeing Harry's strong muscular upper body facing her. His skin glistened in the bright sunlight reflecting off the glass door.
"So, any word yet as to what the plan is?" he asked, placing his shorts on the bed to pull his t-shirt over his head.
Hermione shook her head nervously and saw Harry step out of his pants, standing there for a few moments in just his boxers. She turned around to give him some privacy. "I think they might tell us our options at breakfast down on the main deck. They're serving us outside in the open sun."
Harry chuckled. "Hermione, why are you turned around? It's not like you haven't seen me in my boxers before," he teased.
Hermione turned around, her face raspberry red. "Sorry, Harry. It's just an automatic reaction."
"Don't be sorry. And what's with you being sorry about everything lately?" he asked as he buttoned up his blue denim shorts.
She shrugged at his question. "I don't know."
"Well, it hadn't better be about Cho because we're not going to let her ruin our vacation. I'm here with you-and Ron, so don't worry about it, alright?"
Hermione smiled at him. "You're right, Harry. It's just that-"
"Shh-" he interrupted, putting a finger to her lips to calm her. "No excuses."
She smiled under his finger and willingly took in the scent radiating throughout the room from his very skin.
"Now that's settled, where's Ron?"
Hermione shrugged. "Most likely sleeping. We should go wake him."
"How do we know he even came home last night?" he smirked, earning him a back-handed slap on the arm from Hermione. He laughed. "All right, all right! We'll go get him up."
"Honestly, Harry. Ron's not the type to go off with some girl the day he meets her. We all know perfectly well how picky he is."
He rolled his eyes at her and followed her through his back door to go get Ron. What they saw once outside was something totally unexpected. Ron was sitting outside on the edge of the hot tub, looking quite bothered.
Harry glanced at Hermione and back at Ron. "Is everything all right?"
"Ron, you look terrible! What's eating at you this morning?" Hermione added. Ron took the grip he was holding on his hair and rested his hands on his knees. "I feel terrible. I totally blew of Josie last night when she wanted to go swimming."
"What? Why?" Harry chimed. Ron looked at him.
"I don't know. I got spooked I guess. And I would have kissed her too, but that's when I started feeling all funny."
"About what?" Hermione asked calmly, having a seat beside him. She draped one arm over his shoulder and waited patiently for him to slip out of his self-loathing.
"Oh I don't know! Maybe it's those pale gray eyes of hers, or that bright blonde hair! It just dawned on me how much she reminded me of someone else. You put two and two together!"
Hermione looked up at Harry, his eyes growing wider with each syllable Ron spit out. "Ron, you're just paranoid. You know that as well as we do."
"Harry's right, Ron. Besides, what ever made you think of Malfoy at a time like that?" she nearly teased. Ron shot her a piercing glare and tightened his knuckles.
"That's easy. She looks like a Malfoy! Think about it…how many people do we know that have blonde hair like that."
"Plenty. There's a lot at the minis-"
"WITH the gray eyes to match?" Ron spat, cutting Hermione off completely. "Besides, she told me she comes from a big family."
"Well, she didn't act like a Malfoy to me," Harry countered. Hermione looked at him and nodded.
"He's right. Ron you're just getting all upset over nothing. Just go find Josie and have fun." Hermione suggested, nudging Ron's shoulders in a friendly hug.
"I guess I could do that," he said in a bored tone. "And I thought we were supposed to be in Honoluwhatever today."
Hermione chuckled at his choice of words. "It's Hon-o-lu-lu. And it seems there's been a change of plans. Today, it's Hilo, and I'm totally anxious to go hiking up the hills and play in the waterfalls." She said excitedly.
Harry glanced at her for a moment and noticed a shimmery-red string connecting at the nape of her neck, tied in a bow. He realized what it was and looked back at Ron.
"So, now what? Are we going to get some breakfast?" Harry asked with a smile on his face.
The three of them proceeded down onto the main deck where some white round tables with umbrellas were arranged for the guests. It was filling up rather quickly, and Harry and the others all got a taste as to who was on the ship. Hermione's eyes widened and she suddenly felt a panic rush through her. She was absentmindedly searching for Harry's sleeve to tug on it, and when she found it, that's exactly what she did.
Harry turned in his seat and looked up. Seated not ten tables down the deck from them was Cho, and someone else with their menu purposely up high enough to hide his face. But Harry, Ron or Hermione couldn't mistake him for someone else. Harry recognized the stupid light brown hair right away.
"Peter. I'll kill him!" Harry said with a clenched jaw. Hermione turned quickly in her seat and scooted herself so that her back was to them.
She buried her head in her hands, trying to hide herself. "I can't believe Peter's here, and with Cho."
Harry still gritted his teeth and tore his eyes away from the site. "Well that just confirms my sneaky suspicions about Cho seeing someone else." His words totally fell out of his mouth and Harry wished he hadn't said anything. Hermione's eyes were red, and he knew perfectly well that's what she looked like when she was fighting back tears.
"Noni, I'm sorry. Really, my mouth just got carried away."
"Don't worry about it. So, what are we going to have for breakfast today?" she swerved the subject around.
Harry felt like wrapping her in a tight hug, but decided to leave that for another time, after breakfast. The attendant came around and prepared to take their order. Without much patience, Hermione spoke up immediately.
"I'll have a mango-star fruit aloha smoothie, and take the herbal boost down to half, thanks."
The attendant wrote everything quickly in his note pad and smiled nervously. "Sure thing miss." Then he turned to Ron and Harry.
"Uh, we'll have the same thing please, but with the full herbal boost," Ron and Harry decided. The attendant nodded and walked off anxiously, bringing back their smoothies a few short minutes later.
All three of them chugged down their refreshing drinks rather quickly, awaiting news for the agenda of the day. Just when it seemed like nothing was going to happen, a loud echoing voice filled the open deck of the ship.
Everyone listened very closely for instructions. Five minutes later, it was all over and everyone poured off the ship to go enjoy various activities.