Chapter 15
Paradise
They had decided to go the entire Muggle route to Hawaii. They flew out of Heathrow Airport at around 9:15 p.m. that night and were to arrive in Honolulu around 7:30 the next morning. It had been a long flight and more than once they'd both commented that it'd been a lot easier if they'd just apparated there. They had decided to have a totally Muggle vacation and that meant traveling the Muggle way---by airplane.
They had enjoyed the flight so far. Hermione had gripped Harry's hand as the plane had taken off and had held onto it tightly until the plane was safely in the air. She'd never really liked flying---be it on a broom or on an airplane.
"It's not that I don't like flying," she had told him after the plane was in the air. "It's just the taking off part and the landing that gets me nervous."
They had both opted to watch the movie the airline was showing, "Sleepless in Seattle." The movie had driven Hermione to tears and Harry to laughter.
"I don't see how you couldn't cry over that movie, Harry," Hermione had said between sobs.
"Well, they ended up together, didn't they," Harry said. "That's the important thing."
"Yeah," Hermione said, wiping away her tears. "Kind of reminds me of us in a way. You know, this woman is engaged to marry someone else, but she can't get this other guy out of her head and though her head tells her she should stay with her fiancee, she follows her heart to meet this man that she's never met who's touched her soul."
"Yeah," Harry said. "I'm glad you decided to follow your heart, Hermione."
"Me too," she said, smiling. She put her head on Harry's shoulder then and drifted off to sleep. He
followed suit a couple of seconds later.
They had spent the rest of the way to Hawaii asleep. Harry had woken up first when he heard the captain come over the speaker announcing that they would soon be landing. He leaned over Hermione, who had the window seat and looked out the window. He saw a clear blue sky and an even clearer crystal blue ocean. It was amazing. He nudged Hermione awake and silently pointed to the window. She rubbed her eyes and looked out the window and gasped.
Beaming at Harry, she turned to him and said, "I've never seen something so beautiful."
"I have," Harry said, putting an arm on her shoulder.
Hermione felt her face go red. "Harry!" she said, playfully turning around and hitting him on the shoulder.
"Ow," Harry said. "You think you'd be able to take a compliment."
It took awhile to pass through customs and to get their luggage but they were finally on their way to the hotel. It was one of the smaller resorts on the island and they spend the majority of the ride to the hotel looking gleefully out the window.
"I know these people can tell we're tourists," Hermione said to Harry in the car. "We've got that mouth open thing down pat; gives us away everytime."
"Just promise me we won't wear fanny packs and carry huge cameras," Harry said.
"Oh, I didn't tell you this, but I invited Colin Creevey along to serve as our official photographer. He'll be joining us shortly," Hermione said, turning again to look out the window. She wanted to check out the sights, but she also wanted to hide her laughter.
"Don't joke about that, Hermione," Harry said. "You are joking, right? Because I could see him doing that."
"Okay," Hermione said, busting out in laughter. "I am joking, but you should have seen your face when I said that. Priceless."
"You will pay for that one, Granger," Harry said. "You won't know when, you won't know where, but you will pay for that one."
"I'm shaking in my boots, Harry," Hermione said.
Harry couldn't help yawning as they continued the ride to the hotel. Hermione saw this and snickered. "Jetlag, huh?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "A little. You seem fine, though. What gives?"
"I made up a potion before we left that does away with jetlag. When I went in the bathroom earlier, I took some of it," Hermione said with a smile. "I feel 100% better."
"You've been holding out on me," Harry said, yawning again. "You gonna let me have some of that, too."
"Well, it's the least I can do," Hermione said. She took a small flask out of her purse and gave it over to Harry.
"This smells terrible, Hermione," Harry said, taking a whiff.
"Well, it's either that or sleep for two days fighting off jetlag. Your choice," Hermione said, smiling at him.
"Okay," he said, taking a quick swig from the flask. His face contorted into a grimace as the taste of the potion hit his tongue. "Yum."
"You have to admit it does taste better than the Polyjuice Potion," Hermione said, smiling at him.
"I don't think I'd go that far," Harry said. "You know you could have added some peppermint or some chocolate to it to make it taste a little better."
Hermione laughed. "Yeah, but then I couldn't have seen the look on your face when you took a drink of it. That was pretty priceless, too."
Harry just looked at her and smiled. He couldn't remember when he'd been this happy. He impulsively reached down and took Hermione's hand in his. She looked surprised at first, but smiled at him and rested her head on his shoulder. She, too, couldn't remember when she'd been this happy. It had been a long time.
The hotel was amazing. It was perched right on the sands of Waikiki Beach. The desk manager gushed about how every room had either a partial or full ocean view from the room's lanai. He assured Harry and Hermione that their room had a full ocean view. Hermione couldn't help but feel nervous as the bellman led them to their room. Their room. She hadn't said anything, but she hoped Harry couldn't tell how surprised she was. She'd been sure that they'd have had two separate rooms.
"Here you are, Mr. Potter," the bellman said. "Room 1023." He opened the door up and ushered Harry and Hermione inside.
"Where did you want the bags, sir?" the bellman asked Harry.
"Which room do you want Hermione?" he asked her.
Hermione smiled. "It doesn't matter."
Harry shook his head. "Yes it does. You're choice. And this young man here isn't going anywhere until you choose."
Hermione laughed again. "Um, I guess this one."
"Great choice, ma'am. It's the one with the ocean view," the bellman said. He went into the room and placed Hermione's suitcases inside. Hermione followed him and had to agree. It was a beautiful room. There was a huge queen size bed with a brightly colored duvet. She clapped her hands when she saw the large television and stereo system that were also housed in the room.
"You're bathroom is right through those doors, ma'am," the bellman said. "And you have a spa sized bathtub in there, as well. You'll also find a robe and towels. You can call down to the desk if there's anything you need."
"Thanks," Hermione said. "Wow."
The bellman smiled. "I hope you enjoy your stay."
Hermione followed him out of the room. Harry had already gone ahead and placed his bags in the other bedroom. She watched as Harry gave the bellman a tip and showed him the door.
"So what do you think?" Harry asked her when they were alone.
"What do I think?" Hermione said. "This is amazing. How did you find out about it?"
"Sirius," Harry said. "He said that this was the place to stay. I was kind of upset actually that he
went to a place like this and didn't tell me."
"Well, we get to experience Hawaii together," Hermione said, smiling.
"Yes, we do," Harry said. "So what did you want to do first? What?"
Hermione had begun to laugh.
"Nothing," she said, trying to stifle her giggles. "It's just that I thought we'd be staying in the same room. I had no idea that you'd arranged for two bedrooms. It's just nice, that's all."
"Well, of course," Harry said. "I'm not trying to seduce you or anything."
"You're not?" Hermione said, pretending to be shocked.
"Yeah, if I was planning to do that, I'd have probably checked us into the cheaper hotel with mirrors on the ceiling and vibrating beds and stuff like that," Harry said.
"You know that's what I really wanted," Hermione said, smiling. "I guess this dump will have to do."
"Good to hear," Harry said. "So, as I was saying, what do you want to do first?"
Hermione thought. She'd never been to Hawaii before and she knew that there was a number of things that they could do. She noticed for the first time that there was a guidebook on the coffee table.
"Oh my gosh," Hermione said, thumbing through the book. "Harry. We have to go to the aquarium. And look at this, the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial, you know Pearl Harbor? And the Iolani Palace."
"The what?" Harry said, sitting down on the couch.
"the Iolani Palace," Hermione said, excitedly. "According to this, 'The 'Iolani Palace, built in 1882 by King David Kaläkaua, is a beautiful blend of European-style architecture and native Hawaiian artistry. The palace served as a royal residence first for Kaläkaua and later for his sister and successor, Queen Lili'uokalani, until she was overthrown by a group of American businessmen in 1893. Afterwards the palace served as the Capitol Building for the Territory, and later State, of Hawaii before being restored in the 1970s and opened for docent-guided tours'. Oh, we are so there."
Harry laughed. "Leave it to you to turn this into a historical field trip."
Hermione sat down on the couch and closed the book. "I know. I'm sorry. I just get excited about stuff like that."
"I'm kidding," Harry said. "We can do whatever you want."
"Really?" she said, looking up at him and smiling.
"Yes," he said. "And it might be really cool."
"Yay!" Hermione said, clapping her hands together. "And we have to go snorkeling. I have always wanted to do that."
"Now that definitely sounds doable," Harry said. "So, what are you waiting for, Miss Granger? Let's get started."
They spent that first day doing a little bit of everything. They grabbed a quick brunch in the hotel restaurant before heading off to go snorkeling. They both enjoyed this immensely. What Harry enjoyed most was seeing the look of excitement, enjoyment and exhiliration that this activity brought to Hermione. He could tell she was enjoying every minute of this and he had to admit that he was, too.
They were in Pawai Bay, a protected marine reserve. After a quick instruction class, they took a boat out and dove into the crystal clear water and saw a thousand brilliantly colored tropical fish, sea turtles and dolphins. They'd even had the opportunity to swim with the dolphins, which Hermione and Harry enjoyed immensely.
"I can't ever remember having so much fun," Hermione said, afer they'd arrived back on the mainland. "That was amazing."
"I know," Harry said. "It's good to see you smile like that."
"Well, how could you not?" Hermione said. "That was the most amazing experience. I never in a million years imagined that I'd get the chance to do something like that. We have to dothat again before we leave. Promise me."
"We will," Harry said. "Remember this is your world, I'm just lucky enough to live in it."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, we can't just keep doing what I want. We have to do something that you want to do."
Harry laughed. He stepped a little closer to Hermione and wrapped a towel around her. "We are doing exactly what I want to do. Be with you. Nothing could be better than that."
Hermione smiled. "Well, there is one more thing I'd like, if it's not to much to ask."
"What's that?" Harry asked her with a smile.
"This," she said. She leaned in and kissed him softly.
"Wow," he said, when they finally broke away from the kiss.
"Wow," Hermione echoed.
They stood there for a few moments just looking at each other. An island man came up to them and offered to take their picture.
"You should remember this moment," he said, holding up his camera.
"How much for the picture?" Harry asked.
"Five dollars," he said.
"Do you want to do it?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yeah," she said. "I definitely want to remember this. Come on."
They stood there on the beach posing for the picture. Hermione, with her navy blue bikini and sarong and Harry in his green swimming shorts, with their arms wrapped around each other, awaiting the man to take their picture. At the last minute, Hermione took off her sunglasses and urged Harry to do the same and they smiled brightly as the man put the camera to his face.
"Say abracadabra," he said.
They both began to laugh and never-the-less said those words and smiled brightly as the flash from the Polaroid camera went off. The man presented them with the photo a couple of seconds later and exchanged money with Harry for the photo.
"You make a great couple," the man said. "Enjoy the rest of your vacation."
They watched him leave and Harry laughed. "I think we were just taken advantage of. You know, the whole tourist thing."
Hermione was still looking down at the picture. She watched as Harry gathered up their belongings and smiled at him and looked back down at the picture. "It was worth it, though. Look."
He dropped their bag and looked at the picture. "Yeah," he said. "Best five dollars I've ever spent. Now the only thing we have to decide is who gets to keep the picture."
"Well," Hermione began. "We'll discuss that later."
"So you ready to go on to the next tourist attraction?" Harry said, picking the bag back up.
"Yeah," Hermione said, taking one last look at the picture before placing it in her tote bag. "I'm with you."