Chapter 21
Harry had just popped the seal of the pickles when Ginny walked…no, more like stalked, through the kitchen door. "All right, I'm here…give me a chore so I can work out this frustration." She walked over and picked up a knife. "Anything need to be cut? Besides Malfoy's pe-"
"Okay!" Hermoine said loudly, cutting her off as she carefully took the knife away. "Let's just put that far, far, away from you."
Ginny huffed. "Probably a good idea."
"Ginny." Harry set the pickles down and went over to her. "Did Malfoy do anything to you?"
"Other than being a complete wanker?" she asked, just as Luna breezed in.
"I thought it might have been Malfoy that put you in such a pissy mood."
Ginny sighed and looked over at Luna. "Yeah…sorry about that."
She just waved it off. "What did he do?"
Ginny wanted to let it all out and curse Malfoy as the jackass that he was, but what good would that do? The last thing she wanted to do was cause drama in the house. "Nothing," she said shaking her head. "He was just in a bad mood and took it out on me. I'm just sulking about it."
"I have a feeling it's more than that," Harry said. "So I'm going to ask you if you want me to make him leave."
"You would do that?"
"In a heartbeat. You definitely matter more to me than Malfoy. Just say the word."
She flashed him a small appreciative smile. "Thanks, Harry…but there's no need. I can handle Malfoy's mood swings."
He nodded. "Okay, then. Just let me know if you change your mind. I'm going to go upstairs and change into my suit real quick. I'll be back to help carry things down."
"And to make your margaritas," Luna reminded him.
He pointed at her. `Right…that. How could I forget? I'll be right back."
Almost an hour later, everyone and everything was settled on the beach. Beach towels and chairs were spread out under and outside of the tent. Three large coolers were dug into the sand, filled with sandwiches and drinks, plus three large thermoses filled to the rim with Harry's famous margaritas.
Draco was hunkered down in a chair with his nose in his book, but had gotten up to help things get situated, before plopping right back in the chair. He was under the tent out of the sun-even with the sunscreen he used yesterday-he still managed to get burned.
He ignored Ginny as much as he could-and her steely stares. And when she stood practically in front of him, he tried not to watch her gather the material of her cover-up and pulled it over her head. Tried being the operative word. His eyes couldn't help but flicker to her and when she revealed her emerald green string bikini he had to bite his lip to keep back the groan that desperately wanted to escape.
It was torturous…watching her lather sunscreen on her arms and shoulders, then her chest and ridiculously toned stomach. And when she propped her leg on the cooler just inches from him, slowly running the lotion up and down her fabulous freckled decorative leg-he knew she did it on purpose. He knew, that she knew, that he knew she was doing it on purpose-and that made him even more irritable.
It was comforting to know that even though he was annoyed with her-for a reason she couldn't figure-he was still affected by her deliberate seduction of supplying on sunscreen. She didn't know what his problem was, but if he wanted to keep acting like a complete jerk, that was fine with her. She would just pretend he didn't exist, but at the same time, keep her presence known. He was trying to push her away for some reason, and she wasn't going to make it easy on him.
Since she still needed her upper back done-and since she was sure as hell not going to ask Malfoy to do it-she walked away over to Luna, who was getting sunscreen rubbed into her back by Ron. "Hey, slap some on my upper back real quick, will you?"
"Sure," she said as she took the lotion from her and then glanced back at Ron. "I think that's more than enough, Ronald."
"Aw."
She laughed. "I'll return the favor in a minute."
He grinned. "Okay." He then looked over at her sister. "Feeling better?"
"Yeah, a bit." She gathered her hair and pulled it aside for Luna. "Sorry about earlier."
He shrugged. "No big. Both you and Malfoy are in a mood…something going on there?"
"Not that I know of," she said, trying to keep it cool. "Actually, it's just that time of the month for me."
Ron grimaced. "Ugh…I'm out of here."
Luna chuckled after he fled. "Good cover up."
"Nothing makes guys more uncomfortable than mentioning our menstrual cycles. "Thanks," she added when she was done and turned back around. "I really am sorry out earlier…I'm actually happy you're finally with Ron."
Luna sighed. "One passionate kiss on the stairway doesn't make him mine."
"But it's a good start." Ginny smiled. "Passionate, huh? Didn't know my brother had it in him."
"Honestly? Neither did I." She grinned as she wiggled the tube of lotion. "I have a favor to return."
Ginny laughed and gave her a friendly poke as she walked off. "Go get him, Tiger."
Harry sat cross-legged behind Hermione on her overly large towel she had spread out, and enjoyed the simple task of applying lotion on her back. "I'm going to enjoy doing this for you every day."
With her eyes closed, her mouth tilted up. "I bet you will. Keep it casual though, Harry-and watch the hands," she gasped when his fingertips grazed the sides of her breasts.
He grinned as he lifted his hands away. "Sorry…these bad boys have a mind of their own."
She snorted out a laugh as she slapped his knee. "Behave," she warned before pushing herself to her feet.
"Can't make any promises," he said as he got up as well and casually flicked a finger under her chin. "But I'll try. Do you have any idea how badly I want to kiss you right now?"
Her heart trembled. "Do you have any idea how badly I want you to kiss me right now?"
He took a step closer. "Just give the word."
She sucked in a shaky breath as she placed a hand on his chest. "Later," she breathed.
He reached up and covered her hand on his chest. "Later." Since his back was to the others he lifted her hand and kissed the inside of her palm. "Later," he repeated and then turned and walked away.
Hermione sighed as he watched him walk under the tent and fish out a bottle of beer from the cooler. She still couldn't believe what was going on between her and Harry. It certainly wasn't planned…she never thought in a million years that Harry would feel that way about her. It was the one and only reason she made herself get over her stupid crush she had on him back at school.
It had started during third year and only escalated after their adventurous trip through time. She should have come down from the clouds during fourth year, he was too obsessed with Cho to even look at her, but even then she kept mooning over him like an idiot.
It wasn't till fifth year that she finally snapped out of it-okay, more like the end of fifth year. Even when he had told him about his date with Cho, she still had hoped he would all of the sudden realize the girl he wanted had been right there in front of her all along. And wasn't she just a tad bit excited when she heard Harry had talked about her during his date and even more excited when Cho got jealous and stormed off? It was small and petty of her, but she just couldn't help it.
It was during the summer before their sixth year that she really made herself get over him and forced herself to realize that he would be his best friend and nothing more. She even convinced herself that that was the way she wanted it. She wanted to be there for Harry in ways a girlfriend never could.
She also decided to focus more on Ron, since she knew he had liked her, and found herself-slowly but surely-liking him back. It was a pleasant surprise for her, but as the months had grown she thought less about her old and fading crush on Harry and more about her new and exciting crush on Ron. It was one of the reasons why she had been so upset when Ron hooked up with Lavender.
The stupid Harry crush was long gone by then, and she had worked so hard in playing the role of "best friend", she could barley remember what the crush had been like. She never looked back and being Harry's closest friend was the best thing she could have asked for. And as for Ron…well, he was perfect boyfriend material, was he not? Well…at the time she thought he was, and maybe he could be a perfect boyfriend…but for someone else. Not her.
She looked over at Ron who was currently getting wet and sandy as he helped Luna build a…was that a sandcastle? She wondered as she tilted her head to study the lopsided tower of sand. It didn't seem to matter, since the two of them were obviously enjoying themselves.
She smiled softly at them before finally heading towards the tent…toward Harry.
He was talking with Ginny, just like so many times when they were together, but when Harry looked up at her he did something different. In the past he would sometimes give her a quick nod of acknowledgement before returning his full attention to Ginny. This time, he looked up and kept his eyes trained on hers as his mouth spread into a slow, easy grin. And just in a quick flash, all those old feelings for her best friends slammed back into her as if no time has passed. She felt like she was thirteen again, drunk with giddiness over her adorable best friend with twinkling green eyes and lopsided grin.
"Want a drink, Lumpy?"
She smiled. Now…Lumpy was the cutest nickname ever. Merlin, she was in trouble. "Would love one of your margaritas."
"Lumpy?" Ginny asked.
"Long story," Harry said as took out a blue plastic cup from the sleeve, filled it with ice and handed it to her. "She bonked her head on the refrigerator this morning," he explained as he poured the margarita into her cup.
"Only because he snuck up on me," Hermione pointed out, defending herself and then took a sip through the straw he had just jabbed into her drink. "These are fantastic."
He grinned and then barely gave a glance to Ginny. "Want one?"
She smiled. "You bet…but I'll make it." She grabbed the cup from Harry. "Stop playing host and go have fun."
"As you wish, Gin," he said and then nudged Hermione. "Come on…let's go help out Ron and Luna on the castle…looks like they need it."
Hermione laughed. "I say we make our own…bet we can make a better one."
Harry watched a huge chunk of sand crumble from the side of the castle. "A three year old could do better."
Ginny watched Harry and Hermione plop down on the sand together as she sipped her freshly poured drink. Could it be? She wondered as she watched Harry lean over and murmur something playful to Hermione, who then laughed and shoved him away. Could the one thing she feared happening when she was in love with Harry, really be happening? If so, how did she feel about it?
She definitely wasn't angry like she thought she'd be, but then again she wasn't in love with Harry any more. At least she didn't believe so. She was confused, and maybe a little weirded out by it-a lot of things have been weirding her out lately in the last few days. Her growing attraction to Malfoy, witnessing her brother all wrapped up with Luna-twice-and now Harry and Hermione. It was all just-weird. But not exactly wrong.
"Jealous, Red?"
Ginny turned to Draco, who was still lounging in his chair with his book lying down on his naked chest. She turned back and looked dramatically behind her. "I'm sorry-are you talking to me now?"
"No one else around here, is there?" He nodded his head towards Harry and Hermione. "Adorable, aren't they?"
Ginny didn't even glance their way, only glared at Draco. "Are you trying to provoke me, Malfoy?"
"Just asking a question."
"No…no you're not." She sighed as she stepped closer to him. "Look, I don't know what got you into this crappy mood of yours, but you might want to think about getting out of it. We still have a week and a half left here and it'll be a whole lot easier for everyone if you stopped acting like such a prick."
His brows arched. "A prick? Isn't that what I've always been?"
"Yes, but…I thought you've changed."
He stared up at her with narrowed eyes. "I guess you thought wrong."
"No," she said after a moment. "No, I'm not wrong. You're just choosing to act this way." She let out a careless shrug. "You want to isolate yourself, be my guest. You're obviously a pro at it." She took a quick sip of her drink and then set it aside. "I'm going for a swim. I'd ask you to join me, but I don't want to hang around a pathetic individual like yourself."
She barely took two steps when he darted up to his feet. "Ginny."
She sighed as she slowly turned back to him. "What do you want?"
So many things, Red…too may things. "Be careful," he grumbled as he sat back down. "It's pretty rough out there today."
"Thanks," she said dryly. "But I'm sure I'll be fine. Enjoy your solitude."
Draco said nothing and took a long pull of his beer as he watched her walk away from him and towards the surf.
"Hey, Gin," Harry said as she walked by. "Want to join?"
"No thanks," she said as she kept on walking. "I'm going to cool off."
"I think we should give up, Luna," Ron said with a slight pout as he looked over at Harry and Hermione's castle. "They're making us look bad."
She sighed at her leaning tower of sand. "I know."
"They even have a moat and a drawbridge. It's ridiculous."
"It's awesome," Harry corrected as continued to work on the moat. "A thing of genius."
"Yeah, whatever," Ron grumbled and then shoved at their castle like a kid having a tantrum.
"Ron!" Luna laughed and then pushed the rest of the castle on top of him. "You just crushed thousands of lives."
"I did them a favor. Hey, what are you doing?" he said when she kept shoving sand on him. "Have you gone mad, Lunakins?"
"I have a better idea. Lie down."
He grunted when she shoved him roughly onto his back and then balked when she began to push more sand on top of him. "Luna!"
"Oh, stop being such a baby-I'm only going to bury you."
"Alive?"
She chuckled. "I wasn't planning on burying your head…just your body."
"Brilliant," Harry said when he saw what Luna was doing. "Hermione…we have to get in on this."
"Stay where you are, Harry," Ron warned when they both crawled over. "Both of you...I'll allow Luna, but-Merlin, Harry…what are you doing?" he asked when he started making two mounds on his chest.
"Making you a nice pair of breasts, Ron," he said, causing Luna and Hermione to cackle in delight.
"Humiliating," Ron moaned, but then sighed in defeat. "Can someone at least hand me my beer. I can't reach it."
"I'll get it," Luna said as she patted his stomach, which was covered by three inches of sand. "Just hang tight."
"I'm obviously not going anywhere…Hermione? What are you doing down there?"
"Making a nice fish tail-you're going to make a beautiful mermaid, Ron."
"I hate you. I hate both of you."
"What about me?" Luna asked as she handed him her beer.
He grinned. "Never."
Luna blushed with pleasure as she gave him a little smile before patting more sand on him. "Well…just wait till we're done. You might change your mind when-"
An alarming, high-pitched scream interrupted her and the three of them spun their heads towards the ocean. Another cry erupted through the air moments before they saw Ginny's arms flaring deep out to sea.
"Ginny," Ron said and began to struggle. "Ginny! Help, get me out of this…get me out!"
Hermione and Luna started to claw him out while Harry got up on his knees to help Ginny, but before he could even get his bearings, Draco blurred by him like a speed demon. He watched him sprint towards the surf as another cry for help emerged from Ginny, and just as Draco dove into the waves Ron was free and the three of the ran to the surf.
"No, wait!" Harry said holding back Ron.
"That's my sister!" he exclaimed as he tried to fight him off.
"I know, Ron, but there's nothing you can do right now. Draco's out there-we have to trust him."
"The hell we do!" he exclaimed as he pushed him off. "He'll give up to save his own skin!"
"Ron, don't," Luna said as she moved in front of him and held on to him. "You can't go out there-you could drown, too. Please…please, just-hold on to me. It'll be okay. He'll save her. He cares about her, Ronald."
Ron held onto her like a second lifeline, because he didn't know what else to do as he had no choice but to watch Draco swim out to save his little sister. "Don't let me down, Malfoy. Don't you dare let me down."
-->