Disclaimer: Not mine….. I surrender your characters JK… but one day…. Muahahaha….
Set Up: Hermione, Draco, and Blaise, are all 18 and Ginny is 17… as you might have seen in the summary… they are on a cruise.. lets see what mischief may occur. PLEASE REVIEW
Chapter 1 : Brest
Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley had been standing in a line for two hours. Passports in-hand, they queued their way up to a desk. At said desk was a large woman, whose name tag read Martha.
"Passport please," Martha said in an unexpectedly high pitched and equally unpleasant voice.
Hermione and Ginny were in the wonderful city of Brest, France. Having flown from England earlier that morning, they now stood in the vicinity of a large sea port.
This was the beginning of the two weeks they had been planning for months, as a celebration of Hermione's graduation from Hogwarts. As soon as they had gotten back to the real world, once school was done, they had begun poring over brochures and fliers for cruise ships, looking for the perfect way to celebrate.
They excitedly handed over their passports, all the while trying to contain themselves and try to look like they went on two week long, unchaperoned cruises all the time. Martha performed all the necessary transactions and such while they looked at their itinerary for the millionth time- board the ship in Brest, sail two days, spend a day in Torquay, sail two more days, spend two days in Brighton, sail three days, spend a day in Ipswich, then sail for two more days and finally end in Amsterdam.
"Girls!" Martha's suddenly demanding and harsh voice caught their attention as they sheepishly realized that they were holding up the same process for others behind them.
"Sorry, we're a little excited," apologized Hermione, flashing her smile that made all adults instantly love her and always made her a favorite.
Martha's harshness quickly evaporated, and it seemed as though the previous exchange hadn't taken place.
"That's okay girls. If you would just take your passports and walk through those doors to drop your luggage, you should be on the ship in no time at all." Martha smiled, it seemed as though it was something she didn't do very often and she must have realized this, as it quickly slid off her face, although her eyes were still warm and kindly.
The two girls continued through a few more queues getting things such as, room keys, photos, cruise I.d.'s and dropping their luggage off to be taken to their room. Finally they boarded the ship, crossing the threshold between a Brest Local Port ramp-way and into a large, slightly bulky, hunk of floating metal, that would act as their home for the next two weeks. Joy.
The Versailles was a very magnificent ship, indeed. With, as either Hermione or Ginny could tell, nine or ten decks. All including two pools, a water slide, spa, library, casino, many-a bars, lounges, and clubs, and of course places to shop.
"Merlin," Ginny gaped, as they entered into the grand staircase.
The main entryway had an extremely oversized marble staircase, leading up to the higher decks. A plethora of seating areas surrounding a small bar, elevators, and an entry to the formal dining area.
"Let's go check out our room," Hermione suggested, pulling Ginny towards the elevators. They had room 701, and so they twisted and turned their way through the mass of confusion the cruise people called a corridor until they located their room, and as Hermione slid the key card with a flourish, Ginny couldn't resist a squeal of excitement- here they were!
Unbeknownst to them, walking only yards behind them that whole time were two familiar, yet less-than-welcome faces, belonging to Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini. The boys were not having as much trouble hiding how excited they were as the girls, simply because they were used to stuff like this.
As he stalked down the hallway, always staying slightly ahead of Blaise, Draco was not paying attention to where he was going, trusting that the worker in front of him would lead him to the correct room. Normally, he would have been pushing past or complaining just loud enough for the worker to hear him. But he was too busy telling himself over and over that the frizzy brown hair he saw while standing in line didn't belong to that Hermione girl. There was no way she was here, and even if she was he was not going to let her ruin his two weeks of girls, gambling and drinks.
Blaise followed quietly, wondering what was wrong with his traveling companion. He knew something had to be, otherwise he would be making more smart ass cracks than the worker would have known what to do with.
"Here you are, sirs, room 821, with every commodity you asked for," the worker was overly polite because he could tell this kid, even in his subdued state was NOT one to mess with.
Both boys pushed passed him, Draco ignoring him while Blaise looked embarrassed for his friend's behavior and offered a muttered "Thanks."
Back on the seventh floor, Hermione and Ginny found the room they acquired to be just perfect. There was a small mini kitchen, with a sink, microwave, refrigerator, and just enough counter space. There was a door to the right with a small bathroom, holding a toilet, shower and sink. Further into the room was a small seating area with a loveseat and small chair. A bureau across the room held a television. There was large sliding glass window sat adjacent to the seating area leading to a small balcony. A door led to a bedroom with two doubles, and a small dresser. The cabin itself was much larger than the two had expected. Just perfect.
"Time to unpack," Ginny mumbled as she set her suitcase atop her bed. "I hate un-packing, all it leads to is the fact that you have to pack it all back up in the end."
Hermione laughed at her friend, she knew they were going to have a great time on this cruise. And with that Hermione tossed her suitcase onto the floor, unzipped it and opened some drawers.
"Ginny, what would you like to do first after we unpack? I mean we have to go see the embarkation, but after that?" asked Hermione, folding her pants and placing them in the bottom drawer.
"Well, after waiting in that horrid line all day, I am famished. How about we scout out the buffet and grab some dinner?" Ginny provided.
"Sounds like a plan to me!"
So they finished up their packing and attempted to navigate themselves to the main deck for the embarking of the ship. They found their way to the pool deck and went to lean on one of the railings. As Ginny looked over the edge, down at the glistening water she tried to imagine how much fun they could possibly have on this cruise. Ginny was brought back out of her reverie by a small, tan man in a Blue uniform, bearing Jose on his nametag. He was holding a tray of brightly colored beverages.
"Beverage ladies?" asked Jose extending the tray towards Ginny. "Are you 18 miss? These are alcoholic and I cant be handing them out to minors."
"Of course I'm 18!" lied Ginny, being only 17. But the waiter could not read Ginny's lie, placing the tray back in front of Ginny.
"Well than pick any one you fancy." Jose said smiling. "And have a happy departure!"
Hermione grabbed a red colored drink while Ginny grabbed a blue tinted one. They each took sips of their drinks. Each "mmhmm"-ing in their turn. They both leaned over the railing resting their elbows on the wooden banister.
Blaise and Draco unpacked, and were lounging around on their deck watching their departure. Draco had his feet up on the railing as he reclined back in a large wooden deck chair. Blaise stood up and pulled open the sliding glass door.
"So, Draco, what is on the agenda for tonight, my friend?" He asked as he casually walked inside the cabin. Draco stood and followed him into their room.
"Well I believe this occasion, being the first night on our cruise; we should celebrate it in style. How about we grab some food and hit the casinos?" Draco suggested pulling the tie off of his ensemble of black slacks, and a plain button up white dress shirt. Blaise followed suit.
"Sounds good to me, man. Let's head out."
They each brought a room key, and their cruise I.D.'s, the one thing the needed for anything. Then they headed for the elevators. Going down one floor, and heading out onto the pool deck, the buffet was on the other side of the ship across the pool deck. They saw that for the departure they were giving out free drinks. So Draco and Blaise decided to stop and grab some drinks before heading to the buffet. After that they would be heading over to the Royal Casino and Antoinette bar.
"To a splendid vacation. Cheers mate," Blaise said as he took a sip of his drink, but not before toasting Draco.
"Cheers," said Draco and with a large swig of his cherry flavored drink, he turned to look at the retreating city.
And with the sound of the fog horn, the ship erupted in cheers, hoots, and hollers. The two sets of friends, less than twenty yards away from each other and still oblivious to the fact that the others were there, watched the mainland disappear gradually as they left the memories of long lines, and the hustle and bustle in the city of Brest, France. The group was setting out on what would turn out to be one of the most bizarre, exciting, and enjoyable cruise of their lives.
AN: Well there you go… how did you like it? Friendly criticism, comments, concerns, and ideas or complaints are extremely welcome! PLEASE REVIEW coughcough.