Chapter 15
This time, it was the girl's turn and they decided to do it differently and all of them went out at the same time. There was more chaos, more shouts and laughter and definitely more splashing.
Since it was so chaotic, the girls didn't even know which guys were where, so they blindly reached out, hoping to snag one of them. Hermione managed to grab an arm and then quickly held on as tight as she could while the owner of the arm started to tug.
"Okay, okay," Draco said as he winced. "You got me, Granger, now let up on the death grip."
Hermione opened her eyes and then laughed as she let go. "Sorry, I tend to get carried away."
"I'll say," he muttered as he rubbed his arm.
"Sorry," she said with a laugh as they watched the game. "Hey Luna, to your left!"
"Hermione!" Harry laughed as he tried to dodge Luna's attack. "No fai-"
His words were cut off when Luna tackled him into the water, but he came up sputtering curses. "You big, cheater!" Harry said splashing Hermione while Luna snickered beside him.
She laughed as she flinched from the water attack. "Sorry, my evil side came out."
"A side of Granger I never knew," Draco said and then grinned. "I like it."
"Looks like it's just the Weasleys now," Harry said as he watched Ron start swimming to the deep end with Ginny hot on his trail.
"C'mon, Ginny!' Draco called out. "Don't let Weaslebee get the best of you!"
Not two moments later, Ginny managed to catch up to her big brother and dunked him deep into the water. Ron came up laughing and then playfully splashed her. "Okay, you got me-damn, your fast, Ginny."
"All those summers swimming in the pond by our house certainly paid off," she said and then splashed him back before taking off towards the others.
Since the game wore them all out, after only an hour of drying off in their chairs, they decided to retire for the day and everyone one escaped to their rooms for quick naps and long hot showers.
Luna, however, couldn't resist the ridiculously large Jacuzzi that just seemed to call out to her. So instead of a shower, she went to the Jacuzzi and began to fiddle with the taps until she was satisfied with the temperature. She then rummaged through cabinets until she found some bubble bath and poured a generous amount into the warm steamy water.
She clapped her hands joyously when bubbles began to form, then did a little happy dance before she started to quickly discard her swimsuit. She loved baths, but never really could enjoy the one at her home since it wasn't very spacious. She couldn't stretch out completely and always had to fold her long legs to the side to completely submerge herself in the water.
This was much better and as she melted herself into the hot, soothing water, she let out a long satisfying sigh as she spread herself out as much as she could and found out she still had room.
"Two people could fit in here easy," she said aloud and then blushed as she imagined Ron with her.
He was so darn cute today, she thought as she let out a giggle when she remembered how he playfully tackled her in the water. Or how they talked and talked on the steps while they waited for Harry and Hermione to come out of the cave.
She had been worried that he'd be upset when they disappeared under the waterfall together. She had expected to see a scowl or a worried look on his face when she looked over at him, but instead of looking at Harry and Hermione, he had been looking over at her. It made her blush like an idiot and tried to turn away before he noticed, but he had let out a soft chuckle, which meant she hadn't moved quick enough.
When she had woken up this morning, she had told herself that it was a lost cause and it was time she got over Ronald Weasley once and for all. However, after today and after their little moments they had shared, she actually believed there might be a chance.
Maybe he did feel that way about her, but he just didn't realize it yet. Didn't he act all flustered when she asked him to put some sunscreen on her back? And he didn't really hide the fact that he was enjoying her touch as well. She knew she was affecting him and thinking of it now made her let out a delightful laugh as she tapped her feet enthusiastically against the porcelain bottom.
She wouldn't give up, she thought as she finally made herself get out once the water turned lukewarm. She never felt more confident than she did now, so it would be stupid of her to back off now.
With a satisfied nod, she grabbed the overly large terrycloth towel that was neatly folded on the counter. She dabbed herself dry before wrapping the towel around her body and neatly tucked it between her breasts. She quickly lathered herself with her body cream before lazily strolling back into her bedroom as she began to comb out her tangles with her hairbrush.
"Hello?"
She yelped at the voice and her hairbrush cluttered to the floor. "Ginny?" She looked all around the room for her but couldn't see her. "That you?"
"Whoever this is look on the wall-you see that flat looking metal box on the wall? I'm looking for Luna, sorry if I'm bugging someone-already bugged Malfoy but-hello? Anyone there?"
She frowned as she looked around, but then finally saw what she was talking about. "Oh," she said as she walked over to it and noticed a bunch of buttons next to a circular speaker. "Ginny?"
"Do you see it?" her voice cackled out of the box. "If you're there and you see it, you have to press the red button to talk. I can't hear you."
"Oh." She pressed the button and leaned her mouth to the speaker. "Hello?"
Ginny's laughter spewed out of the speaker. "Hey! I found you! Second try!"
"What is this?"
"Apparently it's all over the house. Look at the buttons. There's a kitchen button, a den button-the bedrooms are numbered so I wasn't sure who's in what bedroom. You're bedroom number three."
Luna let out a laugh. "Okay-this is kind of fun."
"Isn't it? Malfoy wasn't amused. Apparently I woke him up from a nap so he was all crabby."
"He'll get over it. Want to actually come over and have a conversation?"
"Definitely-I was just going to come over but saw this little device and couldn't resist. Avoid bedroom number four by the way-that's Malfoy's. I'll be over in a second."
"I'll be here," she said before letting go of the button. "Wonder what number Ronald is?" she wondered as she lingered a finger over one of the buttons, before pulling away. She didn't want to disturb anybody if they were sleeping.
Luna turned away from the speaker and retrieved her hairbrush to continue her grooming as she strolled over by the window to enjoy the view. When she heard the soft knock on the door, she called out for her to come in as she kept her eyes on the sun that was slowly sinking into the water.
She expected Ginny to come flying in, chattering away like she always did, but when the door opened all she got was silence. With a slight frown she turned back around, hoping Ginny was okay, but it wasn't Ginny that stood by the door. "Ron?"
Ron could only stare at her. She was in a towel. Bloody hell, she was in a towel and-Merlin, she was still all slicked up and damp. "I-sorry," he managed to choke out before quickly spinning around for a fast retreat and rammed himself right into the door-and saw stars.
"Ron!" Luna gasped as she dropped her brush and ran to him as he staggered against the door. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he said and felt the room spin. "Okay, no." He slid weakly to the floor as he pressed a hand against his aching head.
"Easy, easy," she soothed as she crouched down in front of him. "You really hit it hard."
"Uh-huh." Wow, she smelled good.
"I just took a bath."
"What?"
"You said I smelled good-I took a bath."
"Did I say that out loud?" he asked as he tried to focus.
"Yes, you did. Let me take a look," she said as she leaned up on her knees and carefully brushed back his bangs to examine the whelp that was forming on his forehead. "You're getting quite a knot, Ronald."
"Aw, man," he winced as he closed his eyes. "That's just what I need-the guys are totally going to haze me."
"Yes, probably," she said in a soft tone as she leaned back to look at him, cradling his head in her hands. "How's your vision?"
He squinted his eyes as he looked at her and then smiled lazily. "Excellent-I see two of you. That's nice."
"Hmm, I may not be a Healer, but that doesn't sound nice. Honestly Ron, why did you freak out like that? It's just a towel, earlier today I was wearing a lot less."
"How do you know I freaked out about that?"
"Why else would have panicked and smacked yourself against the door?"
"Point taken," he said after a moment and then groaned when he felt his head start to throb. "I don't know. It was just different. I felt like I was-violating you or something."
She bit back a smile as she sat back on her heels. "Well-what's done is done. For now, let's get you up-slowly," she ordered when he sat up quickly. She shifted to his side and wrapped an arm around his waist while she swung his over her neck. "Okay, up you go."
"I'm fine," he said as he managed to stagger himself up on his feet. Luna only may have helped a little. "Okay-I'm going now."
"You're not going anywhere until you're wooziness goes away. Let's get you to the bed."
"Okay, okay, but I can walk myself."
"Sure you can," she grunted as she took on half of his weight as he leaned against her. "Okay, watch the step up onto the platform."
He snorted. "Honestly, Luna, I think I can manage to walk up a single step."
But as he lifted his top-heavy foot to climb up onto the bed, his toe caught the edge of the step and pitched his body forward. And since Luna was practically wrapped around him, sent her flying as well. There was a sharp curse from Ron and a high pitch yelp from Luna as they fell together on the bed in a tangle of limbs.
Ron was flat on his back and found him staring up into very large, beautiful, startling blue eyes. She had landed right on top of him, and he could feel every inch of her pressed firmly against his body. And-Merlin help him-she still had the towel on so that didn't make it any less awkward. "Are-are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said breathlessly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?"
He could see the alarm that suddenly filled her eyes as she shifted herself up his body and started to check for more injuries. "Luna, Luna-I'm fine." He grabbed both her hands that had been skimming through his hair and across face. He let out a soft smile as he reached up and gently tucked back her damp, curling hair that curtained her face. "I'm fine."
"Well, shit."
Ron and Luna both turned their heads to see a very stunned, wide-eyed Ginny standing just inside the room. "I'm sorry-obviously I'm interrupting something. I'll go."
"No, no," they both stammered out as they scampered to their feet.
"It's not what you think," Ron said as he quickly sidestepped away from Luna. "I came in and-towel-panicked and ran into door-and-hell, I'm going to let Luna explain. I'll see you both downstairs." He shoved his hands in the pockets of his sweats and hunched his shoulders.
"Ronald-"
"I'm fine," he said stiffly before walking away from her and muttered a quick, "Shut up", to his sister when she had snickered as he walked by.
When they were alone, Ginny lifted an intriguing brow at her and slowly walked over to her. "Luuucy, you have some explaining to do."
Luna frowned. "My name's Luna---and what's with the accent?"
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Nothing-it's from an old famous Muggle sitcom. My dad went through a period where he was obsessed with I Love Lucy and-and, that doesn't matter-what matters is what I saw when I walked into this room."
Luna sniffed as she gave it a shrug. "It was nothing-like Ronald said."
"Yeah, right," she muttered as she watched Luna stalk over to her chest of drawers. "At least explain how you got to be on top of my brother."
Luna huffed. "Fine, but let me change first. I'm sick of being in this towel."
Later, after Luna had slipped into her favorite bright pink sweatpants that sparkled when she moved and a simple white tee-shirt, Luna sat on the end of her bed with Ginny and told her everything that happened from the moment she had turned and saw Ron standing in her room.
Ginny snorted out a laugh. "He ran into the wall-I would have loved to have seen that. Must have hit pretty hard-that was a huge knot."
"Can you believe he freaked out that way? I was more naked earlier today in my swimsuit."
"Guys are weird, you never know what will set them off when it comes to girls. By the way? How long have you been in love with my brother?"
Luna's jaw dropped. "I-I, never said I was-"
"You didn't have to," she said waving a hand at him. "I'm surprised I never noticed it before actually."
Luna sighed in defeat. "I'm usually better at hiding it-you caught me with my guard down."
Ginny grinned. "I sure did."
"You won't tell him, will you?"
"Of course not," she assured her. "I promise, but-Luna, what about his relationship with Hermione? Are you certain he's over her?"
"No. No, I'm not. I know they are just friends now, but that can change."
"I suppose." She frowned slightly as she reached over and rubbed her friend's knee. "I just don't want you to get hurt."
"I know, but don't worry. Whatever happens, is meant to happen, so-I'm just going to have to deal with it."
Ginny shook her head. "I don't know how you do it. Me? I get all mean and sulky when I don't get my way."
"Yes, well-you can be a spoiled brat, Ginny."
Ginny let out a laugh as she playfully slapped her on her arm. "Luna! You little shit! I'd hurt you, but you're completely right so what would be the point?"
Luna grinned. "Exactly."
"Well," she said as she stood up. "As fun as this is, I better go. I want to take a shower before I head downstairs. I'll see you down there."
"Okay. And thanks."
"Sure, no problem. Oh! Wait!" She gave Luna a mischievous grin as she pranced over to the speaker and pressed a certain button, before pressing the red one. "Oh, Malfooooy! Are you awaaake? Wake up lazy ass!"
"Red?" his voice cut viciously through the speaker a moment later. "You're really starting to become a big pain in my ass."
Ginny let out a laugh. "You'll get over it," she said and then smiled at Luna. "Isn't he charming?"
"Charming, my ass!"
That just made her laugh even harder as she stepped away from the speaker. "I just love getting under his skin-it's so entertaining. I'll see you down there!"
Luna watched her friend practically float out of her room with slight amusement. "Well, well, well," she said out loud to herself. "Isn't that interesting?"
-->