Summer Writing Series Challenge (July 8)
Challenge: The Beach...
Title: Egypt, Teeth, and a Sandy Beach
Word Count: 1,000
Mornings: Calm, serene, and peaceful... Or at least they used to be when The-Boy-Who-Lived was a bachelor. Everything changed when Hermione moved in with him after their first explosive night together. Mornings were now filled with the most beautiful woman curled up next to him, kissing his neck until he woke for the day.
"Mmm... I don't want you to stop, but I don't want to get up either..." He complained half-heartedly.
"Harry..." She whispered silkily into his ear before nibbling on his earlobe. "Let's go someplace different this holiday."
Harry rolled to his back and pulled her into a surprisingly quick hug, causing her to both squeak in surprise and laugh at the same time. "Can I pick the place this time?" He said with a hopeful smile.
"I was looking forward to going to the Louvre..." Hermione said with a pout.
"You've been there before," Harry said with a comforting pat on her back. "You want to go someplace you haven't before."
She sighed and laid her head on his chest, languidly running a finger in circles on his chest. "Where do you want to go then?" She asked sweetly, kissing him on the cheek before returning to her lazy ministrations.
"I don't know," Harry admitted with a soft chuckle. "I need to do some research, but let me pick where we go this time."
"Are you telling me that archaeological dig in Egypt wasn't fun?" She asked in mock disbelief, trying hard to hide the smile that wanted to burst out and announce itself to her scowling boyfriend.
"Let's see, we ran into that mummy, you screamed when that scarab shell landed in your hair, the sunburns we'd both gotten, not to mention the lovely smell in the air..." He smirked. "The only redeeming part of the trip was I got to spend it with you, but I have my limits with the locales we spend our time together."
Hermione let her laugh see the light of day. "It didn't really sit too well, did it?" She asked after she snorted out another bit of laughter.
Harry joined in and shook his head. "No, I don't think it did, but I did enjoy the hotel, the air conditioning, the giant bathtub..." He said seductively as he raised his eyebrows suggestively.
"Mmm... The bathtub..." A wistful, dreamy quality sidled itself in Hermione's eyes as she reminisced about their last trip and the one saving grace they'd both shared.
"I think I still have the teeth marks..." He said cheekily and tried to roll over to feel his bum.
"You do not!" Hermione shrieked and slapped his chest playfully, causing both to laugh raucously once again.
"I should get to work." She said after the laughter quieted down to bits of chuckling here and there. "I can't be late or I'll get in trouble this time."
"Arthur wouldn't punish you!" Harry said with a snort. "But that'll give me time to shop for our holiday."
"Alright, you can pick this time, but if it turns out to be anything like Ron's movie night choices, I take back over!" She scolded after a final kiss. "I'll see you tonight, Love."
"Don't bite anyone at work today!" Harry said with a mischievous grin from the bed.
"You're not going to let me live that down, are you?" She scowled after her head appeared through the proper hole in her jumper.
"I would be surprised if poor Neville had lunch with you in your office again..." Harry shook his head with mock sympathy. "Imagine, reaching for his bag of crisps and meeting a mouth full of gnashing teeth..." He ducked the suddenly flying shoe and laughed when he saw her fighting the smile that wanted to betray her attempted angry look.
"Keep that up and you can say goodbye to number four." She said in a huff, fastening her robes hurriedly. She smiled victoriously when he paled and grabbed her pocketbook. "Be good now, and watch out for that pack of girls we ran into a few months back, I hear they've gotten more desperate..." She said in a sickly, sweet voice before heading out the door. She looked back, blew him a kiss and winked.
Harry watched her leave with a grin on his face and didn't move until after a good, long mid-morning nap. Afterwards, he hurriedly got dressed and bolted out the door to the nearest travel agency. A few hours later, he emerged from the office with a handful of brochures and a narrowing list of exotic getaways. He made it back home before Hermione had and as luck would have it, narrowed the trip to two tropical paradises. A quick portkey spell was set on the pair, meant to activate when they both had hold of the brochure, and he smiled as he packed the very few items he knew they'd need, or not, depending on their mood.
"Harry? I'm back!" He heard her call from the front door. Chuckling with glee, he grabbed the lone suitcase and with a smile, set it in front of his beautiful girlfriend. "What's this?" She said with sparkling eyes.
"We're now free to go on holiday," He said, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "The plans are set, we're packed, and ready to go..."
"But there's only one suitcase," She said in confusion.
"I enlarged the insides and shrank what we needed, we'll be fine." He said with a smile. "Take the handle and I want you to choose one of these envelopes. No peeking! We stay where we end up."
She glanced at him skeptically, but did as she was instructed. With the familiar tug behind their navels and the whisk through the wind and color, they stumbled into the white sands of a beach that overlooked a clear, blue ocean.
"Harry, it's beautiful..." She whispered quietly and looked up when he wrapped his arms around her from behind.
"You sure are..." He whispered before kissing her tenderly.
A/N: Hmm, I don't know if the title does this justice *ponder* I guess I'll just have to smile and nod, waving happily as if I know what I'm doing! This was the sequel to: The Harry Potter Fan Club (Harry & Hermione deal with their fame in the wizarding world.) Hope you liked it :) I was not quite fully in the right frame of mind to warn myself that I should have acknowledged that sleep is one of the things that we desperately need but I seem to have left at the gate when I wrote this story... Perhaps if I built a large, wooden badger... *ponder* "OOOH, Look! No Cliffies!"