A/N: YAY! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY EVERYBODY! TWO MONTHS AGO YESTERDAY I POSTED THE DELAY IN A/N.
First of all, terribly sorry for the wait. Real Life got too much in the way. I just got back from Europe… I was in Sweden for a memorial service for the anniversary of my mother's death which was June 18th. And I'm going back to England again as it says later on for a few things.
Second, thanks to all the mounds of support I received from everyone. You don't know how much it meant to me. The emails were great, too. (Amanda…she dedicated one of her chapters of What Goes Around… to my cousin. Thanks.)
I received so many amazing responses to what I wrote. I received stories of grief and pain. I almost cried. I received support. Telling me to keep on going. I received understanding. For some it may seem like forever since I updated. Its not just the shootings that kept me away, real life got in the way! Some of you have to understand that as a teenager my aunt-mum doesn't always want me on the computer for massive amounts of time, and I had vacations…I had to go home to England, which I'm going to in a few days to see the World Premiere of OotP and go to the benefit concert for Princess Diana. My mother knew her quite well and since my mother can't be here to share it, I will be, I already rsvped to Will and Harry. So there's no updating that week but I Promise if I can update before I leave I will.
Few Things before you read:
**I responded a ton of reviews. SO if you reviewed, go back and check, I'll get the rest done later. Sorry about that.
**Some of you are complaining about the slow pace of this story. May I remind you this is taking place during a 10 day cruise. If I did it any faster this story would be over and done with before you knew it. I'm trying to make this a more descriptive, fun, longer story. The book drags it out too. You have to! However, do to the overly excessive slow pace, I'm going to pick it up a notch. I never intended this to go beyond 15 chapters. But I think it will.
**There Soon Will Be Seven!** (have u preordered yet?!)
~*~*~*~*~
Like a cat in heat, stuck in a moving car
A scary conversation, shut my eyes, can't find the brake
What if they say that you're a climber
Naturally, I'm worried if I do it alone
Who really cares, cause it's your life
You never know, it could be great
Take a chance cause you might grow
Oh, ah, oh
--Gwen Stefani, "What you waiting for"
~*~
I was dressed pretty casually, considering I was going `clubbing'. I wanted to come off as young and pretty, but it wasn't me to be dressing, well, lets say…showy. I was wearing a white skirt that ended in ruffled pleats and a black halter top. My ears now suited mid-sized silver hoops and her hair, smooth and silky, cascaded down my back into soft curls. I applied just the tiniest hint of make up to my face.
Satisfied with my appearance, I slipped my card and my wand (which I had neglected to carry around with me lately) into a well hidden zipper pocket in my skirt and headed out the door.
I met Lavender outside the MAX a few minutes later. When I caught sight of her, I noticed she was wearing a (very) low cut baby blue short sleeved shirt and a white skirt that matched mine. Her beautiful, straight blonde hair was let loose around her shoulders, looking ruffled and laid back.
"Hey girl!" Lavender said. "Ready to party?"
"Totally," I replied as we walked in.
The room was dark with multi colored lights flashing all over the place. Loud dance music blasted throughout the club
"This is amazing," I told Lavender.
"What?!" She yelled, not hearing me over the music.
"I leaned over closer and yelled, "I said! This is awesome!"
"Yeah!" Lavender smiled and yelled back. She scanned the room for a table and dragged me towards the only one left on the other side of the room. "Here we are." She said right in my ear.
We took our seats and not too long after a dark haired waitress approached us and asked for our orders. She didn't even bother with ID's when we asked for margaritas.
"Here you are…" she set the two drinks down. "Flag me down if ya need anything else," she finished with a wink.
Taking a sip, I said, "So…you seen anyone yet??"
Her eyes intently went around the club until a smile spread across her face. "Check it out."
I turned my head over my shoulder and saw a table of guys sitting, drinking beer, staring at us. They grinned when they noticed us looking at them and one motioned for us to come over. "Lav-"
"Come on." She pulled me. "Let's go meet us some hot blokes from Hogwarts!"
"Ron!" She cried running towards a red headed boy and smiling.
"Lavender…hey, how's it going?" he scanned her body, as if to check her out.
"Just fine. Hey Seamus!" She greeted another dark haired boy.
"Hey Lav…who's the tag along?" Seamus asked.
"Oh, this is-" Lavender started.
"Hermione?" Harry's voice came from beside her, as he just walked up.
"Harry?" She questioned.
"Harry!" The group of guys bellowed.
"What's up, mate?" Ron asked.
"Nothing'." He said.
"What are you doing here?" I asked Harry.
"Same thing you are. Hanging out. These are my friends from Hogwarts here for the wedding." Harry replied, smirking.
"Oh," I said, deflated.
"So, guys, this is Hermione Granger. Daughter of the woman who married Sirius." Harry introduced me.
"Good Old Sirius," Ron chuckled. "Nice to meet you, Hermione."
"Ya, real nice." Seamus added, scanning my body.
I saw Harry's eyes narrow in their direction as if telling them to back off, but they didn't notice and continued to stare at me. Their gaze was a little intimidating but I saw them shift to Lavender and almost thanked Merlin for the distraction.
"Oh, excuse me guys…" Harry muttered walking in the other direction.
I looked the way he was walking and was almost disappointed to see a very beautiful raven haired girl waiting for him.
"Who's she?" Lavender asked.
I shrugged. "Who knows?"
"You're jealous." She said as more of a statement instead of a question.
"Am not." I rolled my eyes, coolly.
"Sure, Whatever. Hey, Seamus, wanna dance?" Lavender asked.
Seamus hopped up like he was being called off to deliver a message to the queen and grinned. "Sure, lets go!" Lavender followed him out to the dance floor and suddenly felt very lonely.
Well, lonely until I saw Dean standing by my side, quirking his eyebrow. "So, do you want to dance with
me?"
"Uh, sure," I replied politely, not really knowing what to do or say. Its not like I was a great dancer.
Well that didn't matter because he wasn't a good dancer either. He was kind of a spastic dancer, doing all these weird movements. He would bend down and touch the ground and stand up and do this weird thing with his arms then repeat it over again. It was kind of awkward, but at least he was having fun; and I had fun laughing at him.
A few minutes later, I saw Seamus walk over, "Hey, let's switch." He switched partners and started to dance with me.
"So, you don't go to Hogwarts, do you? I think I would've noticed you…" He questioned.
"Oh, no. I go to Beauxbotons. My mother liked it there and she knew a professor there." Hermione answered.
"Really... well, that's cool. You guys probably don't get into nearly as much trouble as we students at Hogwarts do," He smiled.
"Not nearly." I agreed, with a smile as well.
The way he was looking at me made me feel powerful. I was never much of a flirt, like the vixen Lavender, but by the way they were looking at me was still pretty intensive. Must have something they want.
Seamus was soon interrupted by Ron, who also wanted to dance. We were dancing like crazy, just dancing the night away. We went over my life story, where I go to school and such. But when it got towards the end of the song, I noticed Harry dancing with the raven haired beauty off to the side. The lights flashed over him and illuminated him in different shades. Red, green, blue, yellow, then red again and on throughout the pattern. I watched his smooth movements and began to feel a hint of jealously in me. I didn't know why, but the raven haired girl had him. And I didn't.
I didn't even noticed I had slowed down until Ron asked, "Hey, why are you stopping?"
"Hmm? Oh…I like to, uh, wind down before the song ends." I managed to think up.
He nodded his head and seemed to think it was a good idea because he started to too. I glanced back over to sneak a peak and Harry and his gorgeous `friend' but I couldn't see them anymore.
I excused myself from Ron and walked back to the table. "Dean, where's Lavender?" I asked in near panic
of her abandoning me.
"Oh, Lav…she uh…left a little bit a go with Seamus," he said, quirking his eyebrow to suggest something.
"Oh…okay." Dang that girl works fast. She was already sleeping with him. Sure I mean they'd known each other for a bit, but they'd never been romantically involved. Lavender would've told me.
All I knew now was that Lavender was no where in sight, doing god knows what with Seamus and I'm here. All alone. I had no idea what to do. As I was about to walk out, I heard Harry call, "Hey, where's your friend?"
"Where's yours?" I countered.
"Getting a drink," He eyed me. "Where's Lavender?"
"Off with Seamus." I announced.
"Really?"
"I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it." I said annoyed.
"Sorry," he put his hands up in mock surrender. "But I told you this would happen. Not in so many words but,"
"More like not in any words." I rolled my eyes. "And nothings wrong, I just want to leave without any one. You know, Dean offered to leave with me and he's nice and all, but…"
"Dean asked you to sleep with him?" He questioned, with a dark look.
"Yeah." I lied. "Is there a problem?"
"You shouldn't be like Lavender." He said. "She's not a great role model."
"Whatever, I'll see you later, Harry." I rolled my eyes again.
He shook his head and walked the other direction.
I sighed and continued my way, pressing the buttons on the elevator. I ended up in an elevator with an elderly couple. So that's where I was now. In ranks with them. While all the kids my age were partying and hanging out, I was going back up to my lonely suite. All by myself.
Once I got back I slipped my key card in the slot and slowly opened the door. Cruise ship doors need a little extra
strength to open, they were really heavy. I tried to flick on the light, but it wouldn't turn on. I groaned and
muttered, "Just what I needed."
I fumbled around in the dark trying to find where I kept my wand. It then occurred to me it was in a secluded pocket of my skirt. I exhaled a frustrated breath, reached inside and revealed my wand. I mumbled a quick spell and threw my wand down as the lights came on. Sirius had told me not to use much magic on the cruise ship because you never know who could be on board. And there were a lot of muggles on, so he didn't want to risk it. But I doubt fixing a light will do anything.
I looked at the clock… 11:30; we must've been there a while. I then changed into more comfortable clothes. An old tank top that fit me just perfectly, and really comfortable soffe shorts. I pulled my hair up into a loose and low ponytail and quite truthfully, I was ready to go to bed.
That's when a knock sounded at the door. I was almost reluctant to answer it, but got up anyways and called, "One second," unlocking the door and opening it. Lavender stood on the other side.
"Hey girl. I went back to the club and you weren't there. Harry said you'd left. Why?" She asked.
I shrugged, "I guess I just wasn't having too much fun and you had left with Seamus…by the way, why are you here instead of…"
"Oh!" she exclaimed. "No, No, No, No. I wasn't doing that with him. We hung around and talked. He even kissed me but it was kind of sloppy. Gross, I'm telling you. We just went back and that's when I saw you'd left."
I laughed. "That's cool. Uh, wanna come in?"
"Sure," she walked in. "Were you about to go to sleep?"\
"Actually…yeah. I had nothing else to do," I admitted.
"Well, I can leave if you-"
"Shut up and get inside Lav. There's no way I'd rather be sleeping," I laughed.
She laughed too. "Okay…"
"You can just stay over if you want." I suggested.
"That'd be wise. I think I had too much margarita to realize how to open my door with the key." She giggled.
Once she stepped further inside, she examined the room. "Whoa. Nice digs…someone's high up."
I shrugged. "Sirius said he wanted me to have the best."
"Best of the best." She commented. "You have a really nice balcony…and your room is huge!"
I laughed at her. "Yeah, I guess."
She shook her head. "You don't know how lucky you are to have Sirius as your god father."
Just as we stepped out onto the balcony, another knock sounded at the door. "Oh, stay here, I'll get it."
She nodded and I walked to the door, answering it. "Harry?" I said in surprise.
"Hey, I-" Harry started.
"Harry…?" He heard another voice say.
"Lavender?" He questioned.
"She's here. We were just about to talk. Wanna join us?" I asked, feeling gracious.
"Thanks but no thanks. I don't think I want to be here when you talk about eye shadow, toe rings and unbelievably handsome blokes…" He said.
"Such as yourself..?" Lavender joked. HE winked.
"Toe rings?" I said, amused.
He shook his head. "Just wanted to make sure you got back alright. You know I'm next door if you need me. I'll see you tomorrow."
"You sure?" Lavender said.
"Positive," He said strongly. "See ya."
"See ya!" Both girls called after him.
Hermione closed the door and turned around to face a shocked Lavender. "What?"
"Next door?" I nodded, wondering where this was going. "Next door?!" She said again.
"Yes!" I exclaimed.
"You have a hottie like that…RIGHT next door! How do you sleep alone at night?!" She laughed.
"Under the covers with my eyes closed." I murmured. "Come on, Lav, les go."
She followed me outside and we took our seats, staring out into the darkness, where you could only see the twinkling lights of the ship and the dark ocean ahead.
"This is nice," She said softly.
"Yeah it is." I agreed.
"Sometimes it's nice just hang out in the quiet night…with your friend." She said.
That surprised me. "Really? You like this kind of stuff?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"I dunno, I took you for more as a party-all-the-time girl." I shrugged.
"Well," She started. "Don't get me wrong, I love that. But…you can't always be living like that. I used to not jump from guy to guy. I used to have one steady boyfriend."
"Really?"
"Yeah. His name was Chris. I think I loved him. I dunno…that sounds crazy to love someone this young."
"No it doesn't," I told her. "A lot of people fall in love this young."
"He was good, you know?" She said. I nodded, understanding what she meant. "But that wasn't all.
He was nice, and funny, passionate, romantic…just a great guy."
"What happened?" I asked softly.
"He, uh…He cheated on me. I guess it was too good to be true. He was a good guy at first, I just don't think he felt the same way I felt about him. He told me he had always liked me and he never meant to hurt me. It just…happened…and that's what ended it with us." She told me.
"Oh, wow. I'm sorry." I apologized.
She shrugged. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Things all happen for a reason. I wish I could get him back…but I know it's over. I just have to move on."
"Yeah, I know. That's tough." I agreed.
"You ever been serious?" She asked.
I shook my head. "No. Never. Not once. Quite truthfully, I don't think there's any guy in his right and sober mind that would want me."
She sighed. "Don't be ridiculous. I wish you wouldn't talk like that. You're beautiful. Harry certainly seems to think so."
"Oh, no, this again?"
"I'm not kidding, Hermione! You should see the way he looks at you. And I'm telling you he's always near you."
"He's just doing that because Sirius told him to. He doesn't like me like that. Or in any way." I ended it.
"Fine. Whatever. I think he does." She shrugged. "But I'll drop it."
"Thank you." I said.
"In that case, we need to find you a man." She laughed.
"Oh dear," I sighed.
"You said you wanted one. You want adventure," She reminded me. "It's time now."
"I guess." I agreed. "So, we're docking tomorrow. You excited?"
"Totally. We'll go shopping and hang out. It should be fun," She said.
"Good." I smiled.
We talked for at least another hour before deciding we were really too tired to continue. She changed into old comfy clothes of mine and we went to bed.
While lying there, I couldn't help but think Lavender and I had gotten somewhere tonight. For once we didn't only talk about guys, seducing and partying. We talked about life. Our past. Our struggles. She's one person I know I'll still call a friend after this, because underneath that party girl, boy chasing exterior is a teenage girl; in some ways, just like me.
~*~
A/n: Whew. It took me two months to write this and I know it sucks. But please, I tried and I got kinda bored on this chapter. I'll try to pick up the speed of the story next chapter, but I cant promise ya anything. I'll try to update soon. Really soon, I promise I'll try. I still have to update LPB and work on some of my 7 `fore 7 ficlets!
Okay, this has been bugging me, does anyone know what story it is where Hermione is walking down the hall and she is pulled into a closet by Harry, who kisses her and she says something like they shouldn't be doing it and he says `its not my fault your so enticing' and she asked what she does that's enticing and he said something like, `walk, talk, breathe...pretty much anything you do is enticing.' And she threw her head back and laughed and he said, `you can add laughing to the list'.
I remember that scene SOO much and I remember liking that story. Just give
me a buzz in the review if you know! Thanks!
Review please!
-->