A Picture's worth a thousand words…or a trip to Hawaii
Headmaster Dumbledore's, his ever-twinkling eyes shining brighter than usual—after all this was a momentous occasion, cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of the chaos before him.
Chaos being the Seventh Year Class of '98.
The students had, starting from their first year, been putting a small amount of money to their school account each year. This money was to be spent for their final year banquet/ball/trip…whatever they wanted.
"Why don't we have a dance?" shouted an excited Hufflepuff. He liked dances.
A snort could be heard. "Merlin, don't you have any imagination! We have Malfoy in our bloody year, there's no doubt that we could do anything we want."
"Mr. Zabini! Please refrain from such language!" reprimanded Professor McGonagall, her face set in a severely constipated expression.
"Gee, Blaise, what a friend. I like the thought of being useful for something as that."
"Well, you can't repudiate the facts, Malfoy. What? Do you honestly want another bloody ball?"
"No. Merlin knows I've had enough of Parkinson's big foot stepping on mi—Ow! Parkinson!"
Draco Malfoy glared at his friend as he tried to smooth down his ruffled coiffure. Pansy just sniggered; she lived to torment her friend.
"That's what you get, dear."
Meanwhile, Seamus Finnigan was retelling his fantastic trip at Hawaii—which, supposedly, explained why his light colored skin was so sunburnt.
"The water was so fantastic…at some places it was a clear crystal blue, others and aqua color or a deep azure blue…and the sunsets…it was bloody awesome!"
Dean Thomas, a dark-skinned wizard exclaimed, "I don't believe you went to Hawaii! Why would you go there?"
Seamus huffed at his best friend Dean. "Visiting family, where do you think I got the tan?"
Dean snickered, "'Nother rum experiment gone awry?"
The sandy-haired jokester scowled. "Why would I lie about something as big as going to Hawaii?"
"I dunno, you just want to brag about the hot girls you've quote unquote 'seen' when you actually saw them at home on your computer."
"You want proof? Fine, I didn't want to show you this but here." Seamus, overly frustrated that his good-natured friend didn't believe him, shoved a thick envelope at him.
Dean's eyes widened, glancing at Seamus he thought maybe he was speaking the truth, he eagerly opened the envelope and was stunned to see the pictures.
"Seamus? Is that a rainbow?"
Seamus grinned, glad to know his friend finally believed him—he'd been raving about Hawaii for a week! "Yup, amazing isn't it? It was nice to know that Hawaii was, though not quite as green, like home. It was bloody fantastic!"
The boy's exclamation had garnered the attention of his house, who had also heard of Seamus' raving, and scooted closer to see what the commotion was about.
"Seamus! Is that….Bloody hell she's hot!"
"Oi! Don't talk like that! She's my cousin."
"Well, as I said, your cousins hot."
"Hey! Give me, I want to see."
"No! This was the reason why I didn't want to show the pictures…bloody wankers keep your mind out of the gutters."
"Well Seam, if you didn't want us to see then why didn't you just take them out?"
"…I hadn't thought of that."
Dean sniggered. "Obviously."
"What's this? Is this supposed to be a picture, why isn't it moving?"
"It's the muggle version. I wish I had brought a compatible wizard developing camera, then you'd be able to see this really cool muggle. He has tattoos on half of his face, most of his arms and legs…he was twirling around a lit torch..It looked so cool!"
"Where'd you see that?"
"I told you! When I went to Hawaii and we went to something called a Luau."
"A Luwow? What's that?"
"It's this eat in performance. They show the island's culture with their danc—"
The Gryffindors watched as Seamus trailed off, his eyes glazed over.
"Seam? Seam! Their what?"
Seamus shook out of his stupor. "Wait. Here."
He took the pictures, sifting through them (they only went through two, marveling at the muggle's invention, and all) he yelled, "Ah ha!"
With a flurry of arms and robes, he presented his mates with the picture. Jaws immediately dropped (the boys of course.)
"Bloody Hell!"
"Hubba hubba!"
"…"
"They have girls like that?"
"Damn! Seam, why didn't you get a proper camera?"
"You should have borrowed Colin's one, I'm sure he would have been delighted to develop these."
And Neville, cute innocent Neville was quite baffled. "Is she wearing a shell for her…" he blushed… "uh…upper area?"
The girls on the other hand rolled there eyes and stated in unison. "Boys."
The offending picture, if you must know, was half a dozen girls dancing to their culture garbed with an intricate, colorful and large headdress, a poor excuse for a top (the classical coconut bra), and a thin cloth that wrapped around their thighs, rolled low on their hips, and by the way the picture was blurred… their… rumps shaking to and fro.
Uninterested in a picture like that, the girls took the rest of the pictures to rifle through them. They stopped.
…
…
…
"…Wow."
Their drool worthy picture was of half a dozen men… all looking extremely fit, some with lean muscles and others with rock hard bodies, they also were scantily clad. Wearing nothing more than a loincloth.
"Ahem… 'Scuse me, my throat seems to be stuck."
"The one on the left is gorgeous! He looks so intense and dangerous and his face…so chiseled. He's just begging for you to say 'take me! I'm a sexy devil!' I wish this was a wizard camera, I want to know what they're doing!"
"What are you talking about Lavender! They're all gorgeous…Tall, tanned and handsome. Yummy!"
An idea struck the Gryffindors, one of which the Slytherins themselves would agree with. Reluctantly.
"Headmaster! Headmaster! I know what we can do!"
"Yes, Mr. Thomas?"
"We can take a trip."
"—A trip? How pleb can you get. To where? Hogsmeade?"
"Shut up, Ferret!"
"Ooh, Potty has to defend his friends," Draco drawled with a smirk. "Thomas to wimpy to do it himself? My, how UnGryffindor, the world's coming to an end!"
"Mr. Malfoy, will you kindly let your peer talk?"
Draco sneered lightly, so like the muggle-loving Gryffindor to play favorites.
"As I was saying, Headmaster. Would it be all right to take a trip? To Hawaii?"
"Hawaii! I'm not spending my money on all of you fools for a trip all the way across the friggin world!"
"Mr. Malfoy! Language!"
"Why not, Malfoy? Too deep in the pockets for you? Afraid you'll go broke?"
"Like you're one to talk, Weasel! You don't have pockets to begin with."
"Why yo—"
"Mr. Weasley, behave yourself this once or I shall confine you to your rooms."
Ron blushed turning shamed face at the angry Professor McGonagall. "Yes, ma'am."
"Mr. Malfoy," stated Albus nicely yet sternly, "you are not the only one contributing to your year's account, though I must say your family has contributed quite a lot, there are others who have given a nice sum also. Take Mr. Potter, for one."
Draco just sneered at the embarrassed Potter who was sinking lower in his seat mumbling stupid and Sirius.
"Now, Mr. Thomas, you were saying."
"Well…" Dean blushed, noticing everyone's gaze on him, even the Slytherins—though it was out of contempt but still… He shoved Seamus to stand up. "Seamus has great pictures of his trip. I'd like to see them all personally."
"May we all see the pictures?"
Per the Headmaster's request, the Gryffindor took his pictures, quickly counting how many he had, and split it into four, giving them to each house.
Jaws collectively dropped (these pictures were, of course, during the Luau)—and no, they weren't in awe of the fire performance or dancing.
After a while, and trading pictures between houses, the students settle down.
Blaise, having a rather lascivious grin on his face spoke up, "I hate to say this, but maybe Finnigan's on to something. I'd like to visit Hawaii, even if it's the…" his nose wrinkled in disgust "muggle sites." Ooh… Especially the muggle sites.
"May we see the pictures?" Albus politely requested, wondering, although already knowing, what the students were gawking at.
Albus, Minerva, and Severus, the supervisors for the seventh year's entertainment blinked. Oh, my…
The students, who were already eager to go, felt their stomachs drop; the expressions on the Professor's faces weren't good. They were turning blue! Bloody prudes.
Albus cleared his throat. Guiltily, he too wished these were magical pictures. "What would be the purpose of this trip?"
"Well, Headmaster. None of us, save Seamus has ever seen a world quite like this. It would be nice to learn a new culture and discover the muggle world there. The Hawaiian Islands are relatively new; it would be interesting to see their developments in Magic and how they wield it. It also wouldn't hurt that it would be a form of vacation in some way." Hermione spoke proudly, appealing the trip's 'educational value' to their professors.
The seventh years, even the Slytherins, kept silent, awaiting the Professor's approval. After all, Hermione's word was law. Nobody could refute her intellect and those who dared to do so were left in the dust. The girl could be a vicious viper when it came to defending her intelligence.
The Professors did not disavow Hermione's logic. For their relations with the witches and wizards of America, much less Hawaii weren't as close as the Order wished—they could be great potential allies to the war and Hermione's reason brought a degree of interest to spark in them.
Calculatingly, Albus stared at his students. "We will tell you our decision tomorrow. A trip this large is not something to take lightly."
The students let out their breaths; the idea wasn't shot down, there still was a chance to go.
The meeting was adjourned and the seventh years left the dining hall—where the meeting had taken place.
"Alright! Who took my pictures of the Hawaiian girls dancing? I want it back no—and hey! Who took the picture of my cousin? Accio Amelia and Seamus picture—Dean?!! Ew! How could you? Stop checking my cousin out!"
Funny that their was more to it that watching Luaus and hot people dancing—the Professors would see to it. (I can picture their hands clasping together cackling with glee.)
TBC