AUTHOR'S NOTES:
Hey y'all! I know I haven't finished "A Flame In The Dark" yet and don't you worry, I certainly will, but I do have a lot to think about it, so I decided to post this meanwhile... Just one of those plot bunnies that wouldn't go away.
Hope that you like it!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or any of JK Rowling's amazing characters. However the plot and the new characters are all mine.
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Chapter I: DREAM OR NIGHTMARE?
"Wow," the raven haired man exclaimed. "Isn't it perfect?"
"Beautiful," Ginny smiled sweetly as they both stared at the sun, setting against the deep blue water, from the stern of the luxurious cruise, his left arm surrounding her waist while his right hand caressed her left one tenderly.
How many times had she dreamed of that moment? She had simply lost count. Ginny had imagined herself married to Harry since she first set an eye on him and, even though she forced herself to forget all about him during her last school years, when a couple years later he finally popped the question, she simply couldn't resist.
How would she, anyway? Harry had to be one of the most eligible bachelors in the entire Wizarding Community. Tall, handsome and unusually powerful, despite his young twenty-one years.
"Ginny?" Harry asked, parting a little to look at her in the eyes.
The red-head gazed back at him, her eyes glowing.
"Are you happy?" he asked, causing Ginny to furrow her brow.
"What do you mean?" she replied, her smile still fixed.
"I mean this, being here..." he added, rolling his eyes. "with me, the marriage, the honeymoon, everything!" he explained, looking away.
"Of course I am!" she mirthfully replied, giving him a soft peck on the cheek. "How couldn't I be happy being married to one of the sweetest, smartest, not to mention good looking friends I've ever had".
Harry's cheek flushed slightly and he grinned.
"And the honeymoon, wow! It has been absolutely perfect, Harry, honest! The crooz," she noticed him sniggering. "Or whatever this thing is called," she corrected, poking his chest with her fist. "is simply wonderful!" she added. "You were absolutely right; the Carubbeen is a dream of a place indeed," she observed. "And there's no one I would rather be spending this dream, than with you," she blabbed.
"God I love you, Ginny!" Harry blurted out, hugging her tight against his fit, but warm chest, that was covered by a blue Hawaiian shirt. "I'm so lucky," he added, kissing her forehead.
Ginny sighed, inhaling the humid breeze that caressed her slightly freckled face; it was beginning to get dark and she was wearing nothing but a blue halter bikini, the bottom tied at the sides, and a white cover up wrapped around her waist.
Suddenly a loud thunder was heard from afar.
"Looks like it's gonna rain..." Harry commented. "Look at those mean, grey clouds at the back," he added, pointing towards a spot in the horizon.
"No..." she pleaded. "I didn't come all the way to the Carubeen to watch the rain!" she sadly uttered, arching her brows.
"Ah... Don't worry luv," he replied, in a comforting voice. "I know plenty of indoor activities we could use our time on," he teased, winking an eye.
Ginny pushed him back, coquettely and he hugged her back, smiling.
A strong breeze strained between them and the lightly dressed red-head shivered.
"Cold?" Harry inquired.
"Just a tad," she replied.
"Let's go inside then," Harry suggested, holding her hand dearly.
They were heading towards their room, her flip-flops squeaking over the wooden deck, when they turned around a corner and collided with a person who was striding in the opposite direction.
The blonde man stumbled, nearly falling to the floor and Ginny was helped by Harry from what would've otherwise been quite a nasty fall.
"Are you alright?" Harry asked, holding her waist with his left hand and her face with his right.
"Watch out!!" the irritated blonde man scowled, straightening his navy blue polo shirt, without looking up at them. "Do you realise what could've -," he suddenly paused as he glared up at them, amazed at the image that his eyes were seeing. "Well, well," he observed, smirking at the already irritated couple. "Look what the shore brought by... A couple of stowaways, no doubt," he added glaring at them. "Isn't this a surprise... Scarface and his little Weasley bride... lovely," he pouted cynically, then glared at Ginny. "What happened, Pot head, couldn't get any better?" he snarled.
"Sod off, Malfoy!" Harry snapped at him. "What the hell are you doing here anyway?" he scowled.
"Who, me?" Draco inquired, snappishly. "Business, as usual," he answered casually.
"In the Caribbean?" Harry hissed.
"Some of us actually have a life outside England, Potter. In case you haven't realised, one of the most important International Wizards Congress is being held in the Bermudas Isles, our next stop," he snapped. "Oh, but you wouldn't know, 'cause you obviously weren't invited, were you?" he added, patting his shoulder, which Harry immediately shrugged off. "Aww, don't feel bad, Potter, It's just that sometimes the world needs a rest from the Boy-Who-Would-Refuse-To-Die!" he snarled, bluntly.
"And couldn't you just apparate? Or was it too much for you to handle, is that it?" Harry snapped.
"If it weren't for your lack of wits, you would know that the Bermudas Triangle has been charmed to avoid uninvited guest from apparating, guests such as yourself, I believe," he retorted. "But, oh well... The mob needs their buffoons to keep them happy, don't they?" he added, sliding his hands in the pockets of his khaki pants and striding away, chuckling almost sinisterly.
Harry furiously turned around, his face red with vexation and was about to unleash his rage when Ginny spoke first.
"Leave him, luv," she begun, holding his arm soothingly. "He's probably just gonna get together with the rest of his fellow Death Eaters anyway," she added purposely.
The blonde immediately turned on his heel and spun around.
"What did you say?" Draco hissed, his hair being hit by a strong breeze.
"You heard me," she defiantly replied, shooting daggers at him.
"Don't be such a mindless idiot, Weasley," he snarled, piercing her with an icy glare. "The whole world knows I didn't head that way".
"Oh, but you would've loved to, am I correct?"
"Do not even presume to know me, Weasel," he snorted, pointing his forefinger at her.
"Why, Malfoy, did I just hit a nerve there?" she snapped, not a muscle of her face affected by his threat.
"Maybe I will, when I get my hands on you," he threatened.
"Oh, you can so much as wish," she snorted.
"What is it, Weasley?" he snorted. "Afraid I would give you so much pleasure that no other man would ever satisfy you?" he snarled. "Not even this pathetic excuse of a husband you carry around?" he whispered to her ear. "No offence, Potter," he added, glaring at him.
It was then that Harry couldn't take it any longer and slammed a fist against the blonde's perfect cheekbones.
"None taken," he hissed, glaring at Draco, who had stumbled back and was wiping a thin stream of blood off the corner of his mouth.
"You'll pay for this, Pot-head..." the blonde snarled, jumping on top of him and striking Harry's face violently, while he struggled to protect himself.
Ginny screamed and soon enough there was a crew of three guards breaking the fight.
The sky had now completely been covered by dark clouds that announced with loud thunders what would, no doubt, be a heavily stormy night.
"The bastard, he was the one who started everything!" Harry defended himself, struggling to release himself from the guard's grip.
"Sir, will you please calm down?" one young guard commanded. "Or I'll be forced to take you with the Captain".
"Let it go, Harry, he's not worth it," Ginny soothed, embracing him while she caressed his reddened cheeks.
Draco sniggered.
"The git can't even defend himself without the help of his little hooker, I see," he mocked, whispering the last part so that the guards, that were busy enough trying to hold them apart, wouldn't listen.
"You bastard!" Harry struggled and grumbled, while the first drops of rain begun to wet his face.
"Leave him!" Ginny told her husband. "He's just an asshole, Harry, I don't care what he says".
"One day you'll end up licking the dirt off the sole of my shoes in the hope that I may forgive your pathetic life," Draco hissed, ignoring the red-head completely.
"I'd like to see that," Harry snapped back.
"Maybe you will," the blonde threatened, passing by him. "And you, read-head," he whispered to her ear. "You might end up selling yourself to my door for a loaf of bread in the near future," he added, threateningly.
"Maybe the same day that you kiss my ass, Malfoy!" she hissed
"Is that an invitation?" Draco inquired, removing a lock of hair that blocked his eyes, that were underlined by slightly tanned cheeks.
"Consider it more like a death sentence," she snarled, with evident disgust.
"Be my guest," he snapped, glancing away towards the dining hall, while the guards let go of Harry as well...
"Asshole!" Ginny scowled aloud, her hair sticking to her face with the rain.
"What, Gin? What did he tell you?" Harry asked. "That pillock, I swear the next time I see him, I'm gonna -"
"Nothing!" she quickly replied, trying to hide her anger. "Let's just go change clothes, Harry," she added, softening her tone. "I've had enough of this, already, that's all," she said, grabbing his arm.
"We all have..." Harry agreed sombrely, as they walked into the lobby. Then he coughed avidly and spit blood into a napkin.
"Honey, are you alright?" Ginny asked with evident concern.
Harry simply nodded, and threw the napkin to a garbage can roughly.
"What's wrong then?" she inquired.
"What's wrong?" he asked. "What's wrong?!" he repeated. "My worst enemy is taking the same cruise of my honeymoon, that's what!" he yelled. "God, I'm pissed!" he scolded.
"Hey!" Ginny interrupted. "What is this?" she added. "I thought this was supposed to be about me, about us..." she told her.
"Well, it is, but -"
"No buts!" she stopped him and then sighed. "Don't let him ruin this, Harry. This is, may I remind you, our honeymoon, and nothing can or ever will spoil it, alright?"
Harry's grave expression faded into a grin.
"Alright," he accepted. "I need a shower," he uttered.
"Me too..." Ginny admitted. "There's only one shower, though," she added.
"You noticed, huh?" Harry uttered teasingly, with a devilish grin on his wet face.
"You devil..." she uttered, tousling his already messy hair, after which she strode off screaming towards their room, with Harry running close behind her, while some tourists looked at them with evident confusion.
"Youngsters," one commented.
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They ran through the corridors, Ginny screaming every once in a while, when the thunders were strendously heard.
Harry almost tripped one time that the ship shook a little too roughly.
In a flash, Ginny slid the key card into the slit and ran into the room, where she was finally reached by Harry, who threw her over the bed, giggling frenetically.
There was a loud thunder and the cruise shook some more.
"The crooz is moving a lot, honey, don't you think?" Ginny commented, her semblance turning a little serious.
"Nah," he replied. "This things kind of happen, Gin," he told her. "Just like with the aeroplane, remember?"
"The toorboolance?" she asked.
Harry grinned at her innocent mistake.
"Yeah, that," he replied.
The rain was hitting their small, round window, when they were startled by an amazingly bright light that peeked into the room, followed by a deafening thunder, that made them both cringe.
They two stayed immobile, looking in all directions in inquisitive silence when, some ten seconds later, an alarm begun to sound.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ginny asked, jumping out of the bed.
"I don't know, Gin," he replied in a concerned voice. "But I better go and check," he added.
Not one step had he walked out of their cabin, when a voice reminding Ginny of Dumbledore while using a Sonorus spell, begun to talk.
"Dear passengers, this is your Captain speaking. We have suffered a mild inconvenient on the control tower and will be requiring you to attend to the deck though the provided emergency exits at once. Please carry your life-vests with you. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill. May I urge you to remind that staying calm at all times is strongly advised".
"Harry," Ginny uttered, almost in a whisper.
He could read the fear in her eyes.
"Let's go," he said, grabbing her hand in his left and the life-vests in his right.
"But look at me, I can't go out dressed like this!" she urged.
"Don't worry, you can change later, hun, you heard the Captain," he told her, dragging her out, but she managed to grab her beach bag that was hanging from the door knob.
They walked fast past the corridors, where they nearly tripped about a dozen times with passengers who were running up the stairs with large bags in their hands and were screaming all over the place.
"We're gonna die!" a fat lady carrying a white poodle toy squealed, while his skinny husband carried three huge cases.
The situation reminded Ginny much of a movie she'd seen one night she stayed over at Hermione's place, where an iceberg hit a huge passenger ship that consequently sank in the middle of the Atlantic.
"At least the water won't be that cold, I guess," she told herself, trying to ease her emotions.
A thought suddenly hit her.
"Our wands!" she gasped, making resistance to carry on.
Harry looked concerned for a second and his mind was blind with hesitation.
"It's too late, Gin. We can get them later," he replied, dragging her on.
A number of corridors and staircases later, they finally reached the surface, where a cloud of smoke blocked their vision.
"Look!" Harry yelled, pointing towards the cruise's prow, where wide flames of fire spread, despite the sailors' efforts.
"But it's raining! The rain will put it out!" Ginny yelled, making sure her voice was heard amidst the crowd of people.
"Doesn't seem so, Gin," Harry sadly replied. "Looks like the fire has spread too much already".
"Alright!" a plump sailor begun speaking. "I shall require all your co-operation!" he added, after which the crowd seemed to lower their voices to the minimum. "Listen, as many of you may or may not have noticed, we've suffered an emergency and, as a mean of precaution, the cruise will have to be evacuated -"
Loud complains were heard, suffocating his voice, even though he was using a speaker.
"Listen to me!" the man yelled again. "There are just enough boats for everyone, alright? So do not panic; we shall do this as quick and swiftly as we possibly can".
Ginny watched that many other sailors, distributed along side were saying the same words to their respective group of passengers, as if it were a predetermined speech, and it probably was.
"But it's cold and it's raining! Can't we just stay in the deck?" a blonde woman carrying a baby in her arms asked.
"No, ma'am," the sailor replied. "The Captain's orders are to be obeyed," he added. "Now may I require that the women and children present step to the front so they can begin to fill the first boats," he commanded. No one dared move. "C'mon!" he added, and a few shy women stepped forward.
"Go, Gin," Harry uttered.
"What?" she asked, furrowing her brow.
"You heard the man; the first boats are for women an children, that would include you," he explained, taking her to the front by the arm.
"But I don't want to be first, I want to go with you," she pleaded, resisting to be dragged.
"Now, now, Gin, what is this?" Harry asked, trying to calm her down. "You heard him, it's just for precaution, we'll be back in no time, right? This will just take a while, but for now they need you women to get on the boats first, alright?"
Harry grabbed her trembling chin.
"Don't be scared, hun, there's nothing to be afraid of, alright? It will be over in no time and as soon as we're back we'll get ourselves a cocktail and dance 'till dawn, hmm?"
"Al - alright," she stuttered, brushing her lips against his. "Promise?" she asked in a shaky voice.
"Promise," Harry replied, giving her a life-vest. "Now go," he urged.
"I need three more women or children in this boat, please," the sailor mechanically uttered. "C'mon ma'am," he said, spotting Ginny, who was walking towards him shyly as she put her life-vest on. "Let me help you," he added, taking her hand firmly, as she stepped into the boat.
Ginny felt dizzy when she put her right feet into the boat and it shook a little.
The blonde woman with the baby on her hands got into the boat and when they were all safely seated, the boat begun to move down surprisingly swiftly.
Ginny forced herself not to look down, until they reached the water.
The cruise looked amazingly tall from where they stood and some women were pointing out this same thing to their children.
The sailor in charge turned on a small engine and the boat begun moving, distancing itself from the ship by the second.
"The water is rather revolted tonight," Ginny thought, as the water became lightened by a powerful lightning yet again and soon enough, a thunder was heard.
Ginny watched how other boats begun moving from the ship and found herself wondering which one was the bastard of Draco Malfoy using.
"What does it matter," she told herself. "I hope he drowns," she angrily added.
It was in that moment that the boat violently turned around, causing all of them to fall to the water.
As Ginny fell, she automatically opened her eyes in confusion, which caused them to sting immediately with the salt. She swung her arms up, until she reached the surface again, where she took the deepest gasp of air she ever remembered taking.
Loud screams and yells were heard outside, and the voices were suffocated by the music from the storm.
All she could distinguish, was the voice of their sailor, that told them repeatedly to "stay calm", or something like that.
"Oh yes…" she thought. "Let's just stay calm while I'm being drifted away by the waves WITHOUT my wand!! Sure! Why bloody not?!"
She was avidly swimming towards the boat when a wave dragged her out about fifty feet away.
"Oh my God, Ginny!" she thought. "Swim, god damn it! Swim!" she urged, stamping her feet hard, but the waves kept dragging her away and making her swallow huge amounts of salty, warm water.
Soon enough, all she could see was the distant lights from the cruise and the faint moon shining behind thick, grey clouds.
She moved her legs beneath the sea for as long as her body would allow her, panting heavily, until she finally admitted her defeat.
"I'm never gonna make it," she uttered frustrated, as her sore eyes begun to fill with tears.
Then onwards she decided to allow herself to merely float.
"Maybe the sharks won't be as hungry tonight and they'll find me alive in the morning," she depressively told herself. "Some honeymoon," she though, snorting. "So much for my hopes and dreams..."
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She woke up to the sound of seagulls and the foam from the sea waves caressing her hair.
Ginny slowly opened her eyes.
Blue.
Deep blue.
"Where am I?" she wondered, sitting up and furrowing her brow.
Suddenly, it all came flooding back to her. The cruise, the storm, the life-boats. She must've floated by the sea most of the night, because she was now resting over solid land.
She quickly jumped up to her feet and looked around.
"Woo hoo!! I made it!" she yelled, turning around. "I'm alive!"
She looked around again. Where was she? It looked just like every other island they had visited so far, she thought, sighing with relief.
Then she looked at her clothes... Her life-vest was all torn in the edges and its bright orange colour was now kind of peach coloured. She struggled for a while to take it off and then realised there were sea weeds all over her body as well.
When she wiped those off as well, she was glad to find out that her beach bag was still on her shoulders. Even her white cover-up was still on place!
Ginny took in a full breath of humid air and grinned.
"Now all I have to do is walk and sooner or later I'll come up with a resort or a nice, little hut, where I could use one of those telephoneys Harry always carries around, to call home," she told herself, resuming her walk by the sea shore.
As she walked, she was amazed yet again by the vitality of the place. Multicoloured parrots and iguanas all over the place, tall palm trees reaching the sky, beautiful shells in the shore, coral dust for sand...
"God! isn't the Carubeen something..." she thought, in awe.
However, three and a half hours later, Ginny wasn't too impressed by the place's beauty anymore. She had walked restlessly, having the horrible hunch that she's been doing it in circles, and still no signs of life.
"Where is everyone?" she blurted out, her heart beginning to throb faster with the anguish.
Then she was relieved to see a tall man some forty feet away. He was taking his clothes off, ending up in nothing but a green and black, knee-high swim short.
"Hey!" Ginny yelled, sprinting towards the spot where the man had just risen his view. "Hey you!" the red-head repeated, feeling so much better about the fact that she had found someone.
The man gave her his back and hung his clothes carelessly over a fallen palm tree.
"Whew!" Ginny gasped, stopping by the man's side and panting heavily. "I never thought I would be so glad to find someone in my entire -" the red-head paused as the blonde slowly turned, piercing her with his silver depths.
Of all people on Earth, he was by far the last person she would've wanted to find in such circumstance.
"You!" she snapped to his arrogant face, taking back a couple of steps, that allowed her to become aware of his fit, sun-kissed abs.
"I kind of missed you too, Weasley..." he replied, his smirk deeply fixed.
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AUTHOR'S NOTES:
So, what do you think? Isn't this going to be a fun vacation or what? ::waggles eyebrows suggestively::
You Harry/Hermione buffs out there, don't worry!! There probably won't be anything on Harry/Ginny in the future, as you probably guessed, and anyway I didn't even make them make out here! I was extremely mild, c'mon... admit it... 'Cause I'm not much of a fan of the ship either... We're talking about DG!!
May I remind the people who are reading me for the first time that my first language is NOT english, so I wouldn't be surprised if you found a mistake or two =)
Okay now please post a review, alright? I need to know if this was any good or else I'll just go ahead and delete it 48 from now...
Starting NOW! lol...
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