Ron and Josie linked hands and took off down the path to the small stream gushing through. It was really an incredible sight. Everything was so green; and quiet. So quiet. Harry caught up with Hermione finally, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The silence was unbearable.
"Hermione?" Harry asked softly.
She twisted her head to look at him. "Yes, Harry?" A smile appeared on her face.
"Are you alright? I mean with seeing Peter here with Cho. It was really rude of me to spout my mouth like that, and I'm sorry."
She smiled some more as they kept walking slowly down the path. "Harry, look. Now I have the proof I've been needing in order to nail his head to the wall. All those owls he had sent me this past week just didn't sound right. Yes he hurt me, but I'm also kind of glad that I'm not dwelling on it anymore."
"But why did you seem so upset at breakfast?" Harry asked, confusing himself all over again.
"Because, Harry," she laughed. "It caught me off guard. And maybe you're right. Maybe Cho really was seeing Peter all this time. It would explain his distant behavior with me. Besides, it's far too much of a coincidence that they're here together. I highly doubt they met yesterday. I mean, there's no time! We haven't even seen everyone on this ship, just a few people we actually know." Her expression dropped. "Unfortunately," she drawled.
Harry couldn't help but laugh at her cute behavior. "Well, if Malfoy comes anywhere near us, which I doubt, he'll have to put up with my mouth."
Hermione laughed at him as they walked around the bend in the path, coming to the stream that Ron and Josie were playing in.
Ron was running through the below-the-knee stream, splashing Josie with water. She squealed out of protest, prancing around in her purple bikini. Hermione laughed at the sight and turned to look at Harry. He was blushing.
"Harry, are you blushing?" Hermione teased. He slowly leaned into her.
"No. Where would you get that idea," he said casually. Hermione rolled her eyes and looked at him.
"You act as if you've never seen a girl in a swim suit before! What are you going to do when we go swimming and you see two girls? I'm not just giving up the chance to go swimming in Hawaii, you know." She replied.
Harry smiled and jutted his eyebrows at her, making her blush this time. She swatted him on the arm.
"Harry! Hermione! You two going to join us or just make eyes at each other all day long?" Ron shouted from down the stream. He and Josie stopped their battle in the middle of the water to invite them in. Josie was bent over with her hands skimming the water.
Hermione glanced at Harry and saw a smile spread across his face. "Be there in a minute," he said distractedly, staring at Hermione. She smiled back and walked to some trees to put her stuff down.
Harry slipped his shirt over his head and put it next to Hermione's stuff. With a flick of his wand, his swim shorts appeared on his lower half. He then put his wand down on top of his shirt and did a double take when Hermione untied her skirt from around her waist.
It fell to the ground smoothly and she started toward Ron and Josie who were in the water. At the last minute before stepping into the water, she turned and looked at Harry sweetly. "You coming? I've got a water fight to win and you're holding me up!"
Harry snapped out of his strange thoughts and smiled, running down the path into the water.
Ron and Josie eyed the two, finding something strange in their behavior. Hermione stepped into the water and shivered, giving Ron and Josie a secretive look as she did so. They caught on.
"This water is freezing!" Hermione said. Harry stopped dead before he went into the water.
As if in slow motion, Hermione scooped the water with both hands. Harry watched her body with respect and admiration. Then it dawned on him that the water she was scooping was intended for him. Her arms flew outward and water came at Harry, still in slow motion as he looked on. His eyes grew wide and he tried to move out of the way, but prepared for the contact the piercing cold water would have with his skin.
It hit him square in the back. He was tricked. The water wasn't cold at all, but quite warm in fact, even with the sun peeking through the trees above them. Ron and Josie also contributed. Harry was already dripping wet and turned around, water running off the top of his head and down his face as his friends continued to splash great amounts of water on him.
His strong muscular body glistened with accentuating water droplets trailing down his front. He glared at them all and without warning, charged after them. Hermione and the others picked up their feet and moved further down the stream.
Hermione was squealing at the top of her lungs; the rocks tickling her feet as she bolted as fast as she could from Harry. A little bit farther down the stream and Ron and Josie stopped.
Hermione saw trees in the distance and stopped also. Harry did the same and all three of them looked around.
"Look like we found the top of one of the waterfalls," Josie said happily.
All three of them stood at the end of the stream and looked down. The trees on the other side were just as green, if not greener, than the ones around them. Down where the water emptied, was one of the many pools that skimmed this area of the forest. It was at least a sixty foot drop to the pool from the top.
Rocks were stuck in the dirt wall that cascaded behind the gently rushing water fall. The wall gave into the passing of time and hooked back, leaving the water running over few rocks and running into the pool as a curtain of glass.
"I dare someone to jump," Josie suggested, raising her eyebrows to tempt them.
Ron, Harry and Hermione all looked at each other. "I'll do it!" Harry offered. The other three looked at him.
"I don't think so Harry. You could get hurt." Hermione said logically, her bookworm brain kicking in for the first time this trip.
He shook his head. "Hardly. I won't hit any rocks on my way down." He added with a wink, causing Hermione to smile sweetly at him again.
"Fine, but I'm next." She said, volunteering herself up to the challenge. Harry's eyes went big with surprise but nodded, accepting her decision.
"Alright then, Harry. You insist on jumping, so you will. Head first." Ron challenged, making Harry grin even more.
"Perfect," he said. "But what do I get as a reward?"
"You get to kiss me," one of the girls stated. Harry looked up and glanced between Hermione and Josie to figure out which one said it. He grinned madly at Hermione, trying not to blush.
Hermione blushed in return and cleared her throat. "Harry just jump before you lose out on the chance of kissing Josie." She said.
Harry's eyes went big with embarrassment, his face flushing of all color as he looked at Josie. "Well then, I better get on with it," he said to Josie, trying to hide his early assumption that Hermione would be the one he would kiss.
Ron tried to remain as composed as possible, but felt a little jealous that his best friend would be kissing the girl he liked, before he would.
With a loose stature, Harry stepped further to the edge, his toes dangling off the small cliff. Hermione looked on, being the only one to notice every muscle in his back tensing, and his calming deep breaths he took, she crossed her fingers behind her back and hoped nothing bad came out of this.
Harry's arms swiftly came up and folded on top of his head, each hand gripping an elbow so he could concentrate. Hermione continued to keep an eye on him as his upper body grew with that massively deep breath he needed to calm his nerves.
His arms came down and very suddenly, he lifted off the rock platform, and launched himself out and far enough away not to hit anything. The other three rushed to the edge, clinging to each other for balance as they watched Harry dive head first down into the pool below.
SPLASH!
He finally hit the water and their anticipation and anxiety melted away. Hermione was nearly drawing blood, she was biting her lip so hard. When she saw Harry rise out of the water, she felt much better.
"How is it Harry?" Ron shouted down to him. Harry spun around in the water and looked up at them hanging over the ledge.
"It's quite warm! And this pool is very deep!" he shouted back.
Ron and Josie accepted his answer and looked at Hermione. She was very nervous but it didn't show. She put on her most brave stature and readied herself for a long jump.
"Come on Hermione! I'll save you if you drown!" Harry called out in sarcasm. She laughed, her voice echoing distantly from above.
"It's not that far, it's not that far," she kept chanting to herself.
Without much delay, she brought her arms back and jumped forward, also head first into the water. Harry swam out of the way a bit and watched her come down, a bright smile on his face. A few short seconds later, and she slipped gracefully into the water; only making a small amount of water splash in Harry's face. He could hear Ron and Josie debating on who should jump next. Right then, Hermione popped up not far from Harry, gasping for air.
Harry knew he was in trouble.
"Harry Potter! You lied! This water is freezing!" she chattered fiercely.
He laughed at her reaction as she spun around to look at him, death written all across her face. He pulled on her arm bringing her to him and pressed a finger to his lips.
"Shhh. I think Ron's coming down next."
Her teeth chattered and she glared at him. "How can you not be cold! I'm freezing!"
"You'll get used to it. But keep it quiet until Ron jumps."
"So you want to fool Ron, do you? It's a little hard to keep quiet when I'm freezing!" she spat.
Harry rolled his eyes and pulled her into him. "Then I'll keep you warm until Ron gets down here."
Hermione nestled herself into Harry, his arms wrapped tight around her stomach as they both faced forward. Still, Josie and Ron couldn't make up their minds on who was going to jump next.
"Come on," Harry said, pulling her with him as he swam backward into the rock wall that lined the pool. They were in the more shallow part of the pool where they could barely touch the bottom.
Hermione sucked in a lot of air at feeling Harry move a little too far from her. He responded almost instinctively and wrapped his arms around her, this time facing her. She rested her head on his chest and felt herself begin to warm up.
"Looks like Josie's coming down next," Hermione whispered to Harry with a cold voice as Josie launched herself off the top. She came down swiftly and smacked hard on the water, creating a big splash as she tucked her knees into her chest.
Harry and Hermione laughed with the last bit of Josie's wave hit them. It splashed up in the crevice they had created with holding each other tightly. Hermione got most of the water in her face, spitting it back out when she accidentally swallowed some.
"You all right?" Harry asked, taking one arm away from her waist to move some of her wet hair out of her face. She nodded and licked her lips a bit.
"That's disgusting," she said, tasting the water all over again.
Harry laughed under her embrace and rested his chin on top of her head. Awkwardness struck once again, or was about to anyway. Hermione felt like she was nestled up against a rock face, feeling Harry's chest and the rest of his chiseled body pressed up against hers. But yet, it was soft. His skin was warmer than hers and felt like velvet under the soft water they were immersed in. Subconsciously she wrapped her arms around his waist tighter, and he moved his arms up around her shoulders, giving her a tight squeeze.
She smelled like fresh lavender even being soaking wet. Harry brought a hand up and fiddled with her hair. Just then, Josie swam over, just getting her air supply back.
"Harry, this water is freezing." She said in a bored tone. He grinned at her. Hermione pulled her head back and separated herself from Harry.
"Shhh. I wanted to surprise Ron with that information so keep it down until he comes back up out of the water."
"Okay I'm coming in!" Ron shouted from the top, adding an extra scream of excitement as he jumped head first into the water.
A few short seconds later, he hit the water, and came up rather fast, ready to kill Harry.
"You said this was warm!"
"It is now! I've been in here longer than any of you. Hermione's warmed up now too, I think," he said, glancing at her with a thoughtful look on his face.
She smiled nervously and tried desperately to find a place to put her arms against her body.
"Yeah well she's warm because you were sharing your body heat with her," Josie said with a wink.
"Oh really? Josie, are you sure he should be kissing you? Maybe he should kiss Hermione instead," he joked.
Hermione laughed nervously. "No, you made a deal. Harry kisses Josie." She said with a smile on her face.
Josie and Harry turned to each other. She moved in first and planted a sweet kiss on Harry's warm lips. Both closed their eyes. Ron and Hermione exchanged awkward glances with each other and watched Harry and Josie kiss for a few more seconds.
Josie pulled away and smiled at Harry. He was blushing a bit but it didn't really make any difference since he was warming up from the cold temperature of the water.
Harry looked at Ron and Josie, feeling embarrassed, then looked around when he didn't see Hermione smiling back at him. "Where's Hermione?" Harry asked.
Ron looked around frantically. "I don't know." He looked back at Harry and Josie. "She was right next to me, I swear."
A ripple in the water sounded from further into the center of the pool. Harry snaked his neck around Ron to see. Hermione was waving at Harry.
"Come and get me! Let's even this score!" she said, then dipped under the water again.
I'm working on more right now….what do you think is going to happen….will Harry and Hermione duke it out, or do you think something else might take place? *wink wink*. You'll find out in the next update…….and there will be that action all of you have been begging me for! That's what's to come after this one!