Disclaimer: I own nothing put the things you do not recognize. Credits for things you may recognize go to JKR and various books I may have read.
Summary: An exciting summer, in a different place, the chance of a lifetime. Love, romance, and happiness…what more could a girl ask for? Besides the fact that I keep running into none other than, Draco Malfoy. This is supposed to be my summer of romance and he isn't helping any…or is he?
Summer Abroad: Carpe Diem
Chapter One: Inner Smile
You gave me something
Like loving
And took me in so soon
You took my feelings
from nothing
Came back at noon
Just meet me
I'm ready
To show myself to you
If you have never experienced flying in an airplane, I must suggest that you do try it, at least once. At first I was a bit frightened, when we took off, I wasn't sure if we would hold up or not. We did, and the flight was mostly smooth, just a little turbulence. Another new Muggle word I learned. It's where the plain bumps a little bit. Anyways, I sat next to a father and daughter who were going to Ireland also.
I got off the plane when instructed to and went out of the exit and into the airport. I was trying not to look a shocked as I really am. Where the hell am I? Ireland, I know that much, but…where am I supposed to go? I looked around the airport, my heart speeding up as I grew more and more afraid.
"Ginevra? Weasley?"
I looked to where my name was being called from and let out a shaky breath. I walked towards the two people standing there, holding a sign with my name on it. "Hi." I said, unsure of what else to say.
"I'm Tymora," the girl said, holding her hand out, which I shook. "I'm so glad you're finally here! I've been waiting for this day forever. This is my mum, Nicolette."
Tymora, I noticed, was about the same height as me, maybe an inch or two shorter. She had long dark brown hair, it was beautiful. It seemed more like the color of mahogany wood than dark brown, actually. Her eyes were a sparkling hazel color, much better compared to my boring brown ones.
"Hello, Ginevra, come along, we'll get your bags and take you to the house."
I nodded my head slowly, dead excited to be in Ireland, and hoping that we would all get along, but I'd said not more than one word to them so far. "Ginny," I said, as we stepped on and eskee-lat-or. Or, so I think it's called.
"Beg pardon?"
"Ginny, no one calls me Ginevra, except my mum when she's angry with me. It seems so medieval, I prefer Ginny or Gin," I told Nicolette, smiling slightly.
"Alright then, Ginny, watch your step," she told me as we stepped off the eskee-lat-or. I was new to these things, and I didn't want to find out what happened if you didn't watch your step. It seemed that with the way the machine worked it would suck you in or something.
"Which bag is yours?" Tymora asked as we reached the baggage claim.
"Erm, the scarlet ones," I said, taking a step towards the spinney thing and grabbing one and Tymora took the other. I had packed light by some standards; the only other bag I had was my carry-on bag.
"Now to the car," Nicolette said, walking in front of us. As soon as she was in front of us I felt Tymora linking her arm through mine. I looked over at her, unsure of what she was doing.
"Finally, now we can really talk, if you're not too tired from the flight that is…"
"No, we can talk," I said, smiling at her, already feeling some sort of connection between us. Tymora seemed nice and open, and very excited to see me.
"Good," She said, smiling widely at me, "Devon is at home, he was still sleeping when we left," she rolled her eyes, "It's going to be great to have you at the house, a girl that I can talk to, Devon's eighteen and is over protective of me, it's awful."
I nodded, "I know what you mean, but you think Devon is bad? I have six older brothers, top that," I said as we exited the airport.
"You two wait here, I'll pull the car 'round."
"Alright mum," Tymora said, waving at her mum as she walked away from us. We stood to the side of the doors while we waited. "Anyways, you have six older brothers? I don't think I'll be able to top that one, I don't think I'd want to be able to, either. One is too much for me to handle. Are any of them hot?" She asked, winking at me.
"Ewe," I scrunched up my face, "Please do not ask me that again." I shivered, I hated hearing about my brothers in the common room, and being asked if they were hot wasn't so spiffy either.
"Sorry," she said, still smiling, "It's alright if you think Devon is hot, all of my friends do. It gets annoying though, you know? How girls are only friends with you because of your brother?" She shrugged slightly, "Oh, there's mum."
I looked onto the street and saw her mum in a black car, I don't know name brands so, me trying tell you what it was or describe it would be useless. Tymora and I put my bags in the boot before getting into the car.
For the duration of the ride I looked out the window, observing my surroundings. There was a lot greener here than in England, though I had already expected that. A small part of me was hoping that I'd see Oliver Wood walking down the street, but I knew it wouldn't happen.
"We're here," Nicolette announced as she parked the car.
"Did I miss something?" I asked, unable to believe my eyes, "Are we stopping at a mansion?" I over exaggerated, just a little. But the house was huge. Compared to what I was used to. Sure, the burrow was tall, but it wasn't very wide. This house was two stories high maybe with an attic, but it looked like it never ended. There was even a white picket fence around it. And there was an additional thing out in the distance. Wait, It wasn't an additional thing it was a barn. "Wow…" I said simply awestruck.
The door I had been leaning against was opened, causing me to nearly fall out of the car. "Come on, Gin, let's get inside, I want to show you your room!" Tymora grabbed a hold of me just before I fell out. "Mum'll call Devon out to get your bags." She told me as I stood up straight and we started to walk towards the house.
We walked in through the front door and it was even more extravagant than the outside. The floor was wooden and there was a large rug lying on the floor with a table on top of it. The table holding what looked to be fresh flowers.
As Tymora and I walked up the stairs, they seemed to never end. Finally, we got off at the second floor landing and walked down a fairly wide hall. We stopped in front of a door and Tymora nudged me softly, "Go on, this ones yours, mine is right next to it."
I slowly reached out and put a hand on the door knob. I could even begin to imagine what my room would look like, but I guessed that I would probably love it and not want to leave it by the time this was over. I opened the door and immediately took my shoes off, not wanting to dirty up anything.
Upon entering the room I was afraid to touch anything. It all looked so tidy, and clean. The carpet was a gray color and felt downy soft beneath my feet. There were a lot of things in the room that I did not recognize, but the bed and mirror rang a bell. The bed had wonderful framework and it looked soft and inviting, but I was too excited to be able to take a nap. There was also a wardrobe, two right next to each other with designs to match the bed frames…along with a dresser. Wow, I wondered if I had enough clothes to fill them up.
"There's a balcony outside…you can see everything from it, there's a really great view of the ranch too," Tymora said, walking to the left to a door before opening it. "There's a door to here from my room too."
I quickly followed her and tentatively took a step onto the balcony, "It won't fall, right?"
"Not unless you way a metric ton," she joked, and I laughed before walking over to the edge, it was very spacious. You really could see everything. There were mostly a lot of trees off in the distance, but if you looked hard enough there were more trees and way far out buildings, streets things of the like.
We stayed out on the balcony for a few more minutes before going back into my room. I stopped walking and momentarily wished I had a mirror to check if I looked alright. In front of me stood a boy, whom I guessed to be her brother, Devon.
"Where do you want these?" His voice sounded so smooth, like he always knew the right things to say, and never got tongue tied. It was deep and mellow, quite soothing.
I then noticed he was carrying all three of my bags, as though it were nothing. "Uh, anywhere is fine. He set my two suitcases on the floor and tossed my carry on bag onto the bed.
"Aren't you even going to say hi?" Tymora said, glaring at her brother.
"Hello," he said, shortly before glaring at his sister and walking out the room.
I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders when he left. I didn't feel the need to grab a mirror or anything like that. Devon just seemed, man pretty. He was very tall probably about 6 feet. His hair was shaggy and black, it looked nice on him. Like he washed it regularly but didn't really bother to get it cut and the front fell into his eyes sometimes and he'd jerk his head to get it out of the way.
I think he had a muscular build, but I couldn't really tell right now. He was wearing a pair of baggy black pants and a black shirt, and when he had turned around to walk away, I noticed his boxers were showing…with what appeared to be little green frogs on them. Childish, yes, cute, yes, but it all seemed to work with his dark green eyes. I mentally smacked myself, he had barely been in the room for a minute and I had already memorized so much about him. I could only hope to know more.
"Wow," I muttered to myself before turning back to look at Tymora who was grinning.
"Just say it."
"Say what?" I asked, a little confused.
"Tymora, I think your brother is hot. Just say it."
I scrunched up my face, "No…" I said stubbornly. She rolled her eyes and we walked out of my room, passing by her room.
"Mum and dad's room is on the first floor, and Devon's is on the second too but he has another room in the attic, God knows what he's doing up there."
"Do you two get along well?" I asked as we walked down the stairs.
"We get into fights like every normal brother and sister, but yeah…we get a long pretty good."
"Your house is so bloody big I'm afraid I'll get lost one of these days."
"Don't worry about it, the maid will help you out."
"You have a maid too!?" I asked, shocked.
"No," she laughed lightly, "I'm kidding, we do all the chores by our self, so don't be shocked when you're asked to do some too."
"It's alright…I'll need something to bring me back to reality…I already feel like I'm living in a palace."
"A palace?" She said, looking back at me, "All of it isn't really ours; you know…most of it we just look after, like the ranch…"
"Whose is it?"
"I'm not really that sure, a Wizards, that's all I know."
I nodded my head, not thinking much of it at the time. We walked past a game room, I'd never seen those kinds of games before, but my stomach grumbled and it was a good thing the next stop was the kitchen.
"Grab anything you want," Tymora told me, and I was only too happy to oblige. She opened the door to their pantry and I was in food heaven.
"What's…Top Ramen?" I asked, reaching for a pack of it.
"Its noodles, you've never had them?"
I shook my head, "How do you make them?" I was more than a little curious as to how something in this pack that felt brick hard could be made into noodles.
"You're supposed to put them on the stove in boiling water, but Devon and I, lazy arses that we are, put them in the microwave, they taste better that way anyhow." As she talked she walked around the kitchen, grabbing a bowl and fork as she did. "Open it up and put them in here, then poor water in it." I didn't exactly comprehend what she said and she spoke again, "Gin. Open pack. Put in bowl. Poor in water. Insert in microwave."
I rolled my eyes and did as told, "What and where is the microwave?"
"It's a device that warms things up and it's above the stove," she pointed it out and told me how to work it.
"Spiffy," I said as I put my elbows on the island and rested my head in my hands as the food cooked, "What're you having?"
"I'm not that hungry, a poptart should do." She pulled something out that was in a silvery wrapper and opened it. "Cinnamon's my favorite."
"You do know you'll have to explain everything to me…"
"Yeah," she said grinning at me, "As long as you tell me everything about the Wizarding world."
"Of course." Then something clicked and I had to ask, "Well, shouldn't you know? I mean…I don't think you go to Hogwarts but…isn't one of your parents a…?"
"Yes, my dad is, but I never received a Hogwarts letter and so…I'm a little left in the dark about most of everything. I think they even have a name for people like me…a squib?"
"A squib, yes…but you could have fooled me…What about Devon?"
"He goes to Durmstrang, of all places I don't know why he picked there but…at least he didn't pick up one of those awful accents," she said, breaking off a piece of her poptart and eating it. I jumped, hearing something beeping behind me. "Chill, it's just the microwave."
I nodded and opened it up, seeing steam coming from my bowl of noodles I grabbed them and carried them to the island, shaking off my fingers. "Hot," I said, picking up the package that came with them and poured it around the bowl, stirring it with a fork.
"What sort of things do you do at home for fun?" Tymora asked, taking out two pouched things from the refrigerator. She handed one to me and took a yellow straw from the back of hers, hitting it on the island top to slide the wrapper off. She then placed the straw through a hole on the thing as I watched, bewildered. "It's a caprisun." She then took mine and showed me how to do it too.
"Well, we play exploding snaps…quidditch, degnoming the garden but that's not exactly fun."
"Is that it?"
"No, but all I can think of right now, a bit sad. I bet there are a lot more fun things that you all do."
Tymora nodded, "From the sounds of it. Have you ever played football? Gone to the cinema? Rode a bike? Skateboarded?"
I shook my head, "Football, I've heard of, but never really played."
"By the end of the summer, you'll have learned so much. After you eat, we'll go play some football, I'll even ask Devon if he wants to join, he's wicked at it."
"Yeah, that all sounds great." I blew on my noodles before placing them in my mouth, instantly loving the taste. Needless to say I ate it all pretty fast, drinking the caprisun with it. "Football?"
Tymora was staring at me, wide eyed. "I don't think I've ever seen food consumed that quickly."
"6 brothers, 7 if you count Harry…eating contests, I've had great mentors."
"Whose Harry?"
"I'll tell you about him later, but I'm sure you've already heard of him, let's go play football!"
I put the bowl in the sink and threw the caprisun into the trash can. "Devon! Gin and I are going out to play on the pitch, come down if you want to!"
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Tymora and I walked out the front of the house, she picked up a round ball on our way out, and it was white with black dots on it. She put it in front of her and kicked it as we walked up to the pitch. "The game is pretty much running and kicking, gives you a good work out too."
We both looked back when the back door was shut again, out walked Devon, "You two gonna play or what?"
He walked passed us kicked the ball the rest of the way over the pitch. Tymora and I quickly caught up, each of us taking turns to hop over the white fence.
"Do you know how to play?" He asked me and I shook my head, "right…we don't eve have enough people to play a game so we'll just kick it around. Tymora, get in the goal."
"Why me? Why don't you?"
"Because, you suck at kicking, you're better at blocking. Get in the goal."
I laughed at the two; it was nice to look at a brother and sister fighting, when I wasn't the sister. Tymora pushed Devon as she ran pass him and down to the goal at the other end of the pitch.
Devon kicked the ball towards me and I stopped with my foot, "Kick the ball, try to get it pass me and into the goal, basic rules of the game, we can go over positions another time, if you even care to learn to play."
"I do…" I said, looking up into his green eyes. He didn't seem the type to play football, but maybe Quidditch just wasn't his thing, and he looked more Muggle than Wizard anyways. "Will you be able to play in those pants?" I asked arching an eyebrow. I didn't know what came over me but I suddenly felt comfortable around him, like I didn't have to impress him. I know I didn't have to because it'd just be weird to get involved with him, "They're so low your arse is hanging out over them."
"But you like it, don't you?" He said, smirking.
"Come on you two!" I heard Tymora shout.
"Yeah, you wish," I joked, pushing him out of my way as I gave the ball a hard kick and jogged down the pitch after it, he quickly caught back up with me, taking the ball out from under my feet and he himself kicked it into the goal. "Cheater," I muttered softly, I hated loosing.
I don't know how long we played, but it seemed as though we were out there forever, until we were all breathing hard and sweating, but we laid down on the grass and the sprinklers ended up coming on and I screamed, jumped up and started to go back into the house, Devon and Tymora following after.
We got into the house, Nicolette just staring at us, "Up and into the showers, all of you. Come back down for dinner when you're done."
We were all laughing as we squished our way up the stairs, everyone going into a separate bathroom to shower. I hadn't even been here for twenty four hours, but I was already fitting in with the family. Nicolette treated me like I was her own daughter, Tymora as though I were a sister and Devon…well I wasn't too sure about him, but a small part of me hoped he didn't think of me as a little sister he had to take care of.
After I got out the shower, I dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a tank top, before going downstairs and sitting at the table the food was on. Tymora and Devon were already down there, along with a man I guessed to be their father.
"Ginevra, Ginny, it's nice to finally meet you." He was tall, I guess that's where Devon got it from, and he didn't look so old, he didn't have a beard or anything. His hair was too short to do anything to and it sort of stood up on its own.
"Nice to meet you too Mr. Leahy," I said, smiling warmly at him. Devon and Tymora began laughing.
"Mr. Leahy? Dork. Call him Ben or Mr. L," Tymora told me. I nodded my head as Nicolette sat down and we all ate dinner. That night they had spaghetti, my favorite, and it tasted delicious. I would say it was better than my mum's but, no one cooks better than my mum.
"Could I use your telly-phone, thing?" I asked, bringing chuckles from them all.
"Of course, love, it's on the wall."
I nodded and stood up, I had remembered the number my mum had told me to call and quickly punched it in. "Hello? Mum?" I spoke into the receiver.
"Ginny? Is that you? Mum! Ginny's on the phone!" It was Ron, "How are you? Is everything alright there? Is the family treating you well?"
I was surprised that Ron learned not to shout into the phone, "I thought mum would be asking me those questions."
"Well she is, but I figured you'd tell me the truth."
I rolled my eyes, even though he couldn't see me. I heard the phone being moved around, "Gin? How are you?"
"I'm good, mum, how is everything at home?"
"Just fine, we all miss you."
"I miss you too, but mum I've not been gone for a full day yet."
"Well, I know, but no one is here to argue with Ron and it keeps the house quiet." She said, laughing slightly.
"Would you like me to send a howler everyday?" I joked.
"I think that would suffice. How is the family? They're treating you good, yes?"
"Yeah, they're great. Would you like to talk to Nicolette, I'm sure there are some things you two could converse over."
"Yes, dear, that would be lovely."
"Alright," I put my hand over the receiver, "Nicolette, my mum would like to talk to you." Nicolette stopped putting the plates in the sink and walked towards me, "Okay, mum I'm going to go up to bed now, talk to you soon. Love you." I passed the phone to Nicolette who gave me a kiss on the cheek and bid me goodnight.
I ran up the stairs, in search of Tymora who was lying in her bed, watching telle-vision. "Going to sleep already?"
She shrugged, "Football wore me out so I'm a bit tired, sorry."
"It's alright; I was on my way to bed too…what's on the agenda for tomorrow?"
"I'll phone my friends around noon to see what they're doing…maybe we'll go see a film or something," she stifled a yawn.
"Wicked, well, goodnight then."
"Night," she turned onto her side and closed her eyes. I quietly closed her door before walking the few steps into my room and lying on my bed. This was the first time I actually got on it since I'd been here and it was just as soft and comfortable as it looked. I climbed under the covers and clicked the TV on with a remote. I didn't know what channel was what, but I found something, it was a music veedio channel. I could easily fall asleep to music at night and so I left there. As I closed my eyes I knew that if one day was this fun, I couldn't begin to fathom what would happen the rest of the time I was here, but I knew it would be an awesome experience.
Cause you make me feel
Cause you make me feel wild
You touch my inner smile
You got me in the mood
So come and make your rule
And free me
Inner Smile by Texas
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Sadly, this is one of the longest chapters I have written in a long time. I hope you all enjoyed the second chapter of this fic. Again, bare with me on the first place thing, ha-ha, it's seemed to confuse me more than normal. I would have updated sooner but I went on a random trip to California Thursday afternoon and just got back Sunday night and so, I don't know how long it'll take for the next chapter to come up as I haven't had anytime to write.
Also, I'm not sure how people talk in Ireland. I live in America and I know our lingo and so if anyone happens to live overseas and would know of some useful things I could say, that would be great. IM me or Email me, something like that… HybridExplorer08 is my AIM and missmonet@msn.com is my email address.
I'm not sure if they say awesome or chill or anything like that, so, anyone that could help me with that would have my love, forever. I'm also thinking of changing my name to Miss Monet instead of That's So Raven/Captain Pirate Jack Sparrow, just because haha. But if it'd be less confusing for you all if I left it the same, I will. Here are where I got the ideas for rooms/house designs and stuff, I'll have some with things that I try to describe, but sometimes I'm awful at it so here they are:
Ginny's Room: http://www.locationworks.com/library/pix/49/02/1/1/2/45/14.html
The House: http://www.locationworks.com/library/pix/49/02/1/1/3/12/01.html
Balcony View: http://www.locationworks.com/library/pix/49/02/1/1/3/12/16.html