Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, Harry and Hermione would be married right now.
A/N: My take on the challenge "Secrecy" by reptilia, you can find the requirements here: http://talk.portkey.org/index.php?showtopic=26369 . Hope you'll like it, and if you read, please review to let me know how I'm doing, ok? Thanks!
Secret Wizards
Chapter Four: Blending In
Trying to not raise suspicions in their target or his support network there in Sydney, Harry and Hermione had travelled as normal Muggles, thus arriving in Australia by plane.
Harry, having never been on one before, kept muttering about how sore his muscles were for the long time he had had to be seated, while they were walking outside the airport to fetch a taxi and get to the hotel they were going to stay in.
It was quite a luxury establishment, The Observatory Hotel, and Harry had to restrain himself from looking around in awe. Instead, he concentrated on the task at hand, and moved to catch up with Hermione, who was already heading for the reception.
Slipping his hand into hers, which he found oddly comfortable, and exchanging a look of understanding with his partner, he then spoke to the man behind the desk.
"Hi, I believe we have a suite booked" he stated.
"Of course. If you were so gentle to give me your name" the man politely asked, ticking on the computer in front of him.
"Oh, right. I'm Mr. John Glenson and this is my wife Alexandra" Harry said, giving the man their fake IDs.
After a few moments, the man smiled. "Newlyweds, uh?" he grinned, handing them the badge which was the electronic key for their suite.
Harry blushed, and felt Hermione squeeze his hand. She then leaned her head on his shoulder, looking up at him with a dreamy expression.
"Yes" she said softly.
"Well, I wish you the best honeymoon here" the clerk politely said. "I hope our suite will satisfy you"
Harry nodded, then moved to grab their suitcases.
"Oh, Mr. Glenson. There's no need to carry your baggage, we will see that it is sent to your room as quickly as possible" the man said.
The two of them then headed to the lifts. The trip up to their floor was long as they were on one of the highest ones in the building. Their target was just a couple floors under their own, trusting the intelligence that they had read about in their files.
As Harry turned to close the door, he heard Hermione gasp.
"What?" he said, turning.
"The view, Harry. It's breathtaking" she said, and he found automatic to slip his arms around her waist, admiring the scenery with her.
"It truly is" he whispered. After some moments, he cleared his throat, realising he was still holding her close to him, and left with the excuse to check the rest of the suite.
Hermione felt a sudden rush of cold when his body left hers.
Moving from the window to inspect the rest of the room, she noticed that there was only one bed.
"Of course, silly" she admonished herself. "We are posing as newlyweds" she reasoned, seating on the fluffy bed, and started worrying. "This means we will have to sleep together!" she thought, and blushed crimson red at how the sentence sounded.
"We will need to sleep in the same bed" she corrected herself. Suddenly she was roused from her reverie by a knock on the door.
"Your luggage, madam" a voice on the other side of the door replied when she asked who it was.
Letting the young boy in, she thanked him and gave him a generous tip. The lad bowed, then left, and Hermione closed the door.
"I guess we should start unpack" she then said. "And then go have a look around, see if we find this Frikplask guy" she reasoned, trying to not think anymore about the fact that she and Harry would be sharing a bed that night, and those who followed too, of course.
Harry, however, had been her friend for too long to not read into her nervousness. "Hermione, there's a perfectly comfortable couch in the living room, I'll sleep there" he said, and she looked up at him sharply.
"No, Harry. We are both adults, and we can share a bed without it being awkward. You need to rest well just like I do, we are on a mission here" she said with a look of determination, and he just nodded.
"Let's make a quick job if unpacking then" he grinned and winked at her. It was a good thing that he had immediately turned to grab his suitcase, because otherwise he would have spotted Hermione's face flush quite a bit at his boyish grin and wink.
Deciding to not dwell on it, Hermione set to work too.
It was one hour later that they were finally back to the lobby of the hotel, after refreshing their new appearances with a vial of Polyjuice potion.
They discreetly scanned the crowd for signs of Ethan Frikplask, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Luv, why don't we head to the pool?" Harry whispered in her ear, making her shiver as his hot breath tickled her skin.
"Seems a good idea, John" she said, kissing him on the cheek, and allowing him to lead her that way with one hand on her back, her head resting on his shoulder.
As they finally reached the area, Harry pulled his shirt over his head, showing the nice fit body of John Glenson. She wondered if he would look like that himself, and reasoned Quidditch and Auror training must have done lot s for his real figure.
"Alexandra, you there?" Harry asked again, calling her with her cover name.
"Sorry luv, just spaced out a bit, the flight from England was quite long" she said.
"Well, why don't you relax a bit then? The sun's warm and I'm sure we can start to get some tan here" he said, helping her out of her shirt, and kissing her neck.
Hermione bit on her lower lip to stop the moan that was coming out. She then stepped out of her shorts, and lay on a towel Harry had prepared for her on a deckchair.
"John, dear, will you help me with the protective lotion?" Hermione said, and he gulped.
Smearing some on his hands, he started to rub it on her shoulders, on her back, slowly and accurately moving down to her legs.
Hermione couldn't believe how skilled his hands were. He was just putting protection on her skin, and yet she started feeling aroused.
"At least we aren't failing to put a show as newlyweds" she thought, before purring at his touch.
Harry almost froze as he heard her do that.
Surely he had heard wrong. There was no way Hermione had just purred. He moved on the other leg, and here she did it again.
Poor Harry felt his swimming trunks tighten, with a not so welcomed reaction. He willed himself to imagine Snape in a tutu but even the disturbing image took some minutes before stopping the effects of seeing Hermione in a bikini and hearing her purr. Granted, her looks were different now but he knew who she really was and it was about his brown haired best friend that he was thinking at the moment.
As he finally took his place to sunbathe, or pretend to, on her right, he scanned the attendants of the pool. Their target was nowhere to be seen, and he wondered where they guy might be, when he suddenly got a glimpse of him.
"Alexandra, I'm going to the bar" he whispered in her ear, then moved to join their target there. Ethan Frikplask wasn't alone, a blonde was on his arm, and was giggling at something the man had said.
Moving closer, Harry noticed she would be considered a beauty by most males, her long legs and quite full chest being an undeniable pair of assets in that field.
"A Mohito" he asked the bartender, sitting just near the couple. While waiting for his drink, he decided to break the ice.
"Quite nice here, isn't it?" he said.
Ethan scanned him with his eyes, then smirked. "Five star hotel, and there's nothing better in town. You must have just arrived, am I right?"
"Yes, yes, me and Alexandra arrived just a couple hours ago from England. We are just starting to relax after the long trip"
"I'm sure you are" the man replied, taking a sip of his whiskey, while Harry grabbed his cocktail that had finally arrived.
He felt a bit nervous as the blonde kept checking him out in no subtle way.
"You put a nice show out there, you and your missus must really be in love" Ethan then noted. Harry blushed, but reckoned it was good for their cover that they had been so convincing.
"Well, we are on our honeymoon, we finally got married after being engaged for years" Harry said, perfectly reciting his role as it was laid in the file.
"Sydney's great for honeymoons" Frikplask nodded. "Been there myself on my first one, although the marriage didn't work out for the best" he said. "But, where are my manners. This is Michaela" the brown-haired man said, gesturing toward the blonde, who giggled as Harry looked her way.
"But you can call me Micky" she flirted, leaning slightly toward him as to give him better view of her cleavage. "Your wife is a really lucky woman, to have such an handsome man as her husband" she then said, winking at him.
"Oh, well…thanks, I guess" he flustered, and Ethan chuckled. "Micky, be good" he warned, pulling the tart, because that was how Harry thought appropriate to classify her, on his lap.
Soon after, Harry felt a pair of arms sneak around his waist.
"Hi, luv" he said, turning. "Missed me?" he said, and could see Hermione's now blue eyes sparkling.
"You can't imagine" she said, before claiming his lips in a fierce kiss. Harry went with the flow, he couldn't risk any little uncertainty because they were in front of their target and it could mean blowing their cover, so he kissed her back as hungrily, pulling her down to sit on his lap, too.
She rested her head on his shoulder, her arms still around him, and gave a contented sigh as they finally parted.
Harry didn't miss a pointed look to Michaela as the blonde and Ethan walked away few minutes later, and grinned. He felt flattered at the possessiveness Hermione had shown, if only for making their cover believable.
When they finally headed back to their suite, Hermione plopped on the bed.
"Well, it went well. We established a first contact, and you got him to invite us to their table tonight for dinner" she reasoned. "I can't believe the nerve of that wench though. You told them you were here on a honeymoon and she was openly flirting with you!"
Harry chuckled. "Upset you much, Alexandra?"
"No, John. I know you have eyes only for me" she cheekily said, swaying her hips as she went to the bathroom to change for dinner.
Harry shook his head, smiling.
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