Chapter 24
Their nice, long, romantic walk on the beach they had hoped for was short lived as the first drops a rain began to fall when they had barley began. They ran back towards the house, hands clasped, laughing like loons as the rain started to fall more steadily around them.
It took them longer than it should have since they stopped every once in awhile to share a few flirtatious kisses in the soft rain, so by the time they got to the kitchen door on the deck, they were more than slightly damp, but both were grinning ear to ear.
"Well, just look at you two." Claudia clucked her tongue. "Wet and dripping on my kitchen floor."
"Sorry," Harry said with a chuckle as he ran his fingers through his hair. "The rain snuck up on us."
"We'll go change into dry clothes," Hermione said and then winced at the trail of water they were leaving behind. "We'll clean that-don't worry."
"I'll take care of it-and have coffee waiting."
"Thanks, Claudia," Harry said before swinging the kitchen door open-and barley missed smashing it in Ron's face.
"Bloody hell!" Ron jumped and then placed a hand over his racing heart. "Scare me to death, why don't you?"
"Sorry," Harry laughed with Hermione chuckling behind him. "At least we didn't get you-would have hated to bash up that pretty little nose."
"Cut it out," Ron said when Harry reached up to tweak it. "It's too early for that and-you guys are all wet."
"You're very observant, Ronald," Hermione teased. "We went for a walk on the beach but it started raining on us."
"We were on our way up to change into dry clothes."
"Oh. It's raining? That sucks. Is it going to rain all day?"
He shrugged. "Who knows? Don't worry, we'll find something fun to do if we're stuck inside all day. Go on in the kitchen, grab some coffee-we'll be back down in a second."
"Okay, sounds good."
"How bout a hug before I go?"
"Get away from me," Ron laughed as he shoved him a way, and then playfully nuzzled Hermione's wet head before passing them into the kitchen. "Morning, Clau-Dilla."
She chuckled. "Good morning, Mr. Weasley."
"Ron," he corrected then sighed when she handed him a steaming cup of coffee. "You're wonderful." He grabbed the mug and took a hesitant first sip, testing the heat. "Perfect-as usual."
"You flatter me so I feed you," she said as she swapped him with her dishtowel.
"You see right through me."
"French toast," she stated as she got down a loaf of bread. "With bacon."
"My mouth is already watering."
"And where is your Luna this morning? Sleeping in?"
His brows arched. "My Luna?"
She gave him a knowing smirk as she began to crack eggs into a bowl. "Just because I work in kitchen all day, does not mean I'm blind."
"Obviously."
"Your eyes are on her when she enters a room." She poured a quick splash of milk into the bowl. "And when she leaves a room."
"I guess you're right. I never thought about her like that-at least I didn't realize it."
"You realize now, so that matters." She gave him a friendly pat on the hand then shooed him away. "Now go sit down so I cook without your distraction."
"Yes, mam. I think I'll go upstairs and see if my Luna is up."
"Good idea. Wait-one momento." She paused in the middle of her stirring to pour a cup of coffee and doctored it the way she knew Luna liked it. "You give this to her. She just might thank you with a kiss."
"Here's hoping. Thanks, Claud-Dilla."
He left the kitchen and carefully carried the dangerously full-not to mention extremely hot-cup of coffee down the hall and up the stairs. He had just reached the landing when Draco walked up.
"Hey-you brought me a cup of coffee? Why, Weaslebee, how sweet of you."
He slapped at his outstretched hand. "Back off, Malfoy. It's for Luna-Claudia made it just how she likes it."
Draco grimaced. "Well in that case, I'll get my own. She puts too much sugar in her coffee."
Ron couldn't help but smile. "She does, doesn't she?"
Draco lifted an intriguing brow. "Doing a little wake-up call, are you?"
"Yeah." He narrowed his eyes. "So?"
"So…nothing." He gave his arm a friendly slap as he walked past him. "Hope you get some morning nookie, Weaslebee."
"Gee, thanks," he said dryly, but couldn't help but laugh as he shook his head hopelessly. He was actually starting to get a long with Malfoy, maybe even like him, and that was-not normal. But then again, when has his life ever been normal?
He knocked on Luna's door with a smile on his face and then jerked when she opened the door. "Bloody hell."
"Good morning, Ronald."
She smiled up at him and her teeth practically gleamed against the bright green gunk that was slathered all over her face. "Luna…hi." He couldn't hold back the chuckle. Normal? Who needed normal when you had a girl like Luna? "Um…hmmm."
"What's so funny? Oh, is that coffee?"
"What?" He bit his lip from smiling and then looked down at his hand. "Oh…right. Claudia made it-just how you like it."
"How lovely." She took a sip, smacked her lips. "Wonderful…but it could use more sugar. Well, now…aren't you going to kiss me good morning, Ronald?"
"I would like nothing more," he said with a grin. "Except, I'm afraid all…" He waved his hand around her face. "…this would get in the way."
"What?" She put a hand to her cheek then, gasped when she felt the cold liquid on her fingertips. "Oh, bloody hell…I forgot this was on." She quickly turned her back to him. "Don't look."
Ron chuckled. "A little too late for that, Lunakins." He stepped inside and closed the door. "What is that stuff anyway?"
"Just something that helps my skin," she muttered as she fled to the bathroom. "Let me just wash it off."
Luna closed the bathroom door behind her and then groaned when she saw herself in the mirror. Completely mortified, she quickly washed it off as quickly as she could, and then patted her face dry with a towel. Normally, this kind of thing wouldn't embarrass her-she walked around the Ravenclaw common room all the time with that stuff on and she didn't care. But this was Ronald. The boy she had been head over heels in love with since the dawn of freaking time.
No point in freaking out about it, she thought as she ran her fingers through her hair, hoping to tame her very bad case of bed hair. If this relationship worked, he'd see her in worse conditions sooner or later. And hopefully it would.
She took a quick calming breath before finally emerging from the bathroom and found him sitting on the edge of the bed, leaning back on his hands, grinning. "Hey-sorry, about that."
"Don't be. I always thought you looked good in green."
"Ha, ha."
He just chuckled as he crooked a finger and then sat up as she walked over and sat next to him. He brushed his knuckles against her cheek. "Is that stuff the reason your skin is so soft?"
"It certainly helps."
"Then definitely keep using it," he said as he cupped the side of her face and covered her mouth with his in a deep, lingering kiss that left them both breathless. "Good morning, Luna."
She smiled shyly as their foreheads touched. "Good morning."
He tucked a swing of hair behind her ear. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah-you?"
"I slept okay."
"Just okay?"
"Had a hard time," he admitted as he lifted his head to kiss her temple. "Knowing you were sleeping just down the hall."
She smiled as she wrapped her arms around him and held him close. "Why didn't you come down and join me?"
"I imagined doing that-which was why it took me so long to get to sleep-but I didn't want to pressure you."
"You're not. Maybe I'll let you sneak down the hall and into my room tonight."
"Yeah?"
"Maybe," she repeated with a laugh as she leaned back. "For now, though, let's head down. I'm starving."
"Claudia is making French Toast," he said as he got up and pulled her to her feet. "With bacon."
"Sounds yummy." Their hands clasped together as they walked out of the room. "Any plans today? Maybe back to the pool?"
He shook his head. "Not anytime soon. It's raining."
"Raining?" She looked over at the nearest window and saw the steady rainfall outside. "Oh…well that's a big fat bummer."
He laughed as he removed his hand to slide his arm around her. "Don't worry. Harry said we'd think of something fun to do. Maybe check out that game room he's been boasting about."
"Sure-and maybe sometime we can sneak away to my room. Nothing like snogging on a rainy day, I say."
He grinned and bent his head down for a quick kiss. "That's the spirit."
XXX
Later, the six of them were all sitting at the kitchen table, their bellies full of French Toast and bacon. Harry sat at one end of the rectangular table, facing the wide window that showed off the ocean view, while Hermione sat at his right and Ron to his left. Sitting next to Ron was Luna and at the other end of the table, was Draco, which left Ginny sitting at his left.
It was funny that after a few days they managed to have assigned seating without even realizing it. Everyone seemed to always sit in the exact spot when they sat at the table for a meal or just to hang out. The kitchen had become a sort of gathering place for them-as if they were a family of some sort. How odd was it that just after a few days, they were becoming a unit. Even Draco Malfoy was starting to become less of an outsider and more of a part of their group.
It was weird how some things didn't turn out the way you planned them, he thought as he looked over at Hermione, who was listening to Ginny talk about some of her ideas for her fashion line. It was still very surreal for him that their relationship had done a complete one-eighty-in a very promising direction. He never imagined being with Hermione this way, never thought it would happen. How could it when he assumed she was destined to be with Ron?
Clearly not the case-thank Merlin-because Hermione was an absolute, unbelievably, fantastic, snog. Who knew? He sure did now and was already dying to get her alone again. Since that very passionate snog they had shared against her bedroom door, he hadn't been able to have her all to himself as much as he'd like. Maybe he'd finally take her out to his favorite spot in a few days-away from everyone else where the two of them could just-be together. He had to swallow a groan with a large gulp of his coffee at the thought of all the things he wanted to do to her. He wanted to touch every inch of her-kiss every inch of her. And when he was done, he'd do it all over again until they both…
"So, what's the plan, Potter?"
He jerked slightly and shook his head clear from the very vivid fantasy that had been running in his mind. "Hmm?" He looked over at Malfoy who looked over at him from the other end at the table. "What?"
"I said-what's the plan? Since it's raining outside?"
"Oh…right. Um…"
"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah…sure, I was just thinking of something…" He very discreetly placed his hand on her thigh under the table. "…and got distracted."
She shivered when his thumb and fingers began to softly caress her leg from side to side. "Oh…er…I see."
He just grinned before turning his attention to Draco. "We can do whatever-I was thinking we'd spend the day down in the game room. Make a game out of it, or maybe a tournament of some sort."
"That sounds super fun," Luna said and did a little clap. "Boys versus girls?"
"Isn't it always?" Draco commented with a laugh.
"I'm game," Ginny said toasting up her coffee mug. "Girl power and all that."
Harry grinned. "We can think of certain games to play and come up with rules. Each round will earn points and stuff."
"Wait!" Hermione exclaimed as she got up from the table then rummaged into the drawers of the kitchen before coming back with a pen and paper. "I thought it would be better if we made a list."
Harry smiled fondly at her. "Of course you did."
Hermione just smiled as she quickly pulled her hair back in a messy tail. "Okay, so what games do you have, Harry?"
"All sorts." He leaned forward, propping his elbows on the tables. "There's the pool table-two actually-a couple of pinball machines, some more table games, like Air Hockey and Foosball. Oh, there's a Playstation-we can definitely use that."
"I sure hope we're going to get a quick overview on how to play these things," Ron said as he reached out and snagged an uneaten piece of bacon. "Because right now? You're basically speaking Chinese to me."
"Don't worry, I'll go over everything." Harry reached over and slid the paper over to him and studied it. "Now we need to figure out how we're going to organize this-I was thinking two couples will go up against each other in each round and if it's a tie after both rounds, the third couple goes head to head to break it."
"And winner of the round gets a point," Hermione added. "I like it."
"We should end with bowling," Harry said as he grabbed the pen from Hermione and added it to the list. "That'll be the deciding factor if it's a tie, but if there's a team in the lead going into bowling-they'll have advantage of some sort-maybe a couple of extra turns. We'll figure it out."
"So what's the prize?" Draco asked as he leaned back in his chair. "What are we playing for?"
"Do we have to play for something?" Luna asked. "I mean-can't we just play for fun?"
"Aww, you're too sweet, Luna," Ron said as he patted her hand. "But, no. I agree with Malfoy on this, we need some sort of initiative here."
Luna rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with just playing for bragging rights?"
"Not one thing, Luna," Ginny said. "I happen to be a fan of bragging rights, but we should think of a little something extra-to make it interesting."
Draco lifted a brow. "What did you have in mind, Red?"
"A dare of some sort. And it has to be good-something no one will want to do."
"Huh," Harry pondered. "Intriguing. Have any ideas?"
"A few-but one comes to mind."
Ron winced. "I have a feeling I'm not going to like this."
She just grinned. "The losers-sometime be for we leave this island-have to jump into the pool. Butt. Ass. Naked."
A mixture of groans and laughter erupted. "Ginny!" Luna exclaimed, mortified. "I can't jump in the pool naked!"
"Don't worry, if we win-you won't have to."
"Oh, that's reassuring-thanks!"
She just chuckled. "We don't have to-it was just a suggestion."
"I'm up for it," Draco said with a cocky smile. "I have no plan to lose, so what the hell? And I propose that they have to jump in the pool in broad daylight. Not at night."
"You're on," Ginny said getting her back up. "And what is this `they' business, hmm? Game hasn't started yet, Malfoy."
"Okay, break it up you two," Harry said with a laugh. "I agree with the bet-anyone that isn't comfortable with it, just say so-we'll figure something else out. Ginny and Draco obviously don't have a problem with it. Who else is in?"
Ron let out a reluctant sigh. "Fine, I'm in. I look good naked, anyway."
Ginny rolled her eyes. "Oh, please."
Harry just grinned and then looked at Hermione. "Well? What's the verdict, Lumpy?"
"Oh, I'm in," she said confidently. "Bring it on, boys."
"Oh, we'll bring it," Harry assured her and gave her leg a playful tweak, causing her to jolt and then slap his arm. He just laughed and looked at Luna. "What about you, Luna? No pressure or anything-if you want to back out, we understand and-"
"Oh, I'm not backing out," Luna said as she held up a hand. "I am definitely in and I will do everything in my power to make sure it's all of your naked asses that will be exposed."
Ginny let out a war whoop and held out her hand. "All right, Luna!"
She laughed as she slapped her hand with Ginny's then smiled broadly at every one else. "Well-let the games begin."
XXX
Harry took every one down to the basement and showed them how each game worked. Hermione-being Hermione-took notes on all the rules and objectives of each game. He was patient with every question, took the time to answer a question or go into more detail on how to play.
Some games were easier to understand than others. The pinball game was pretty simple-just don't let the silver ball slip past the levers. However, the pool game was a different story and that took some time to explain the objective. Luckily, Hermione's dad had a pool table so she and Harry were able to play a quick, non-competitive game to show everyone exactly how it worked.
After he explained every game, the girls and guys separated as they each went through a trial run to see everyone's strengths and weakness on each game. This was serious business after all-there was a lot at stake and no one wanted to be jumping into a pool naked anytime soon.
It was just shy of noon when every one was confident enough that they had every game down and decided to meet back down in an hour for the official tournament to begin.
Everyone went up to their rooms to get ready for the competition and Ginny geared up by taking a long shower. She never did get the chance to take one last night, since she had been too busy giving Draco a kiss tonight-a long, very satisfying kiss good night. By the time she managed to shove him out of her bedroom, she was exhausted and didn't feel like doing anything but falling face first on her bed. After the day she had yesterday-who could blame her?
Today was a different day, she thought as she stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She was happy-for the first time in a long time and wasn't it odd and slightly wonderful that it was Draco Malfoy that made her happy? It was almost a shame that it had to end when they left.
No, don't think about it, she told herself as she opened jar of body cream and lathered herself. They both agreed it was for the best-just enjoy the time you had with him. Concentrate on the here and now-like how she was going to kick his ass today, especially if they end up playing some Pinball. She was a natural.
She quickly finished getting dressed as she imagined Draco and the guys jumping in the pool naked while she and her girls stood aside and laughed. It never got old. She chose to wear her black cotton shorts and a simple white ribbed tank-top. She had just finished drying her hair when there was a knock on the door and after a quick hair tousle with her fingers, went to go answer it.
Draco stood on the other side, practically filling up the entire doorway as he had one hand up high against the frame while sporting a cocky grin. "Hey, Red."
"Draco." She folded her arms defensively across her chest. "What are you doing here?"
"You don't know?" he asked as he leaned towards her, eyes trained on her mouth.
Ginny placed a hand on his chest. "I don't snog with the enemy."
He just grinned. "I'm not the enemy for another ten minutes."
"Hmm," she pondered as she lazily drew a finger up and around his chest. "And how do I know you're not coming here, hoping to distract me from my mission to destroy you?"
He lifted an eyebrow. "You are a vicious little thing, aren't you sweetheart?"
"You better believe it."
"Well, then-to answer your question, you don't know what my true intentions are. You'll have to risk it if you want to, so-either push me away or pull me inside, Red. Before someone comes by."
Ginny gave him a sly grin as she flattened out her palm in the middle of his chest. Draco thought she was about to be pushed out on his ass, so he mentally prepared himself for it. Instead, she gripped a handful of his shirt, yanked him inside, shut the door seconds before slamming him back into it, and before he could so much as breath, her mouth was fused firmly with his.
He gripped her hips tightly, having no choice but to hold onto her like a second lifeline while he was being shaken down by a one-hundred and twenty pound redhead. Her mouth was like fire against his, nipping and bruising while her tongue did battle with his. Her hands were buried in his hair, then they were everywhere else and Draco thought he might explode from it.
"Bloody hell," he gasped while Ginny ran her frantic kisses down his neck while her hands slipped under his shirt. "Who's distracting who now?"
She smiled against his skin, and then kissed her way back up his jaw until their lips met once more in a slower, lazier, softer kiss. "I'd say we're distracting each other."
"That's something I guess," he murmured as he tried to make himself pull away, but just kept going back for more, before finally framing her face firmly with his hands and pulled her away. "Okay, now I'm thinking it wasn't the best idea for me to come by."
Out of breath, she reached up and gripped his wrists. "Probably not-but I'm certainly not complaining."
He let out a breathy laugh. "Red-you have know idea what you do to me."
"Really?" She smiled as she leaned into him, tucking her head beneath his chin. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
He let out a defeating sigh as he pressed his lips against her hair. "Don't get use to it-it's bad for my rep."
She snorted out a laugh. "You're so full of it, Malfoy."
His lips twitched as he ran soothing hand down her hair. "Maybe you're right." He gripped strands of her hair and gently tugged until her face was tilted back for a kiss. "I better go."
"Okay."
Another kiss. "I'll see you down there."
"You bet."
And another. "And be prepared to get your ass kicked."
"Keep dreaming, Malfoy."
He just grinned, gave her one last kiss, and then reluctantly pulled away. "Get your game face on, Red," he warned as he opened the door.
She laughed. "Already on, Malfoy."
After she closed the door, Draco stood outside and leaned against the wall by her bedroom. He needed to be careful, he told himself as he scrubbed his hands over his face. Before he did something stupid-like falling in love a Weasley.
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