I do not own Harry Potter or related names and characters. I own the plot and the two American characters.
Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny spent the first summer after the defeat of Voldemort and his Death Eaters on vacation at the beach. They rented a cabin and magicked it, so that no Muggles would surprise them and discover their magic. Hermione and Ginny changed into their bathing suits and went out on the beach. Hermione wore an orange two-piece and Ginny wore an emerald-green bikini. The men stared at their women.
"Finish unpacking then you can come out, too," Ginny said. She and Hermione left their cabin talking and giggling.
On the beach in front of their cabin, Hermione and Ginny ran into a couple.
"Oh, hi!" said the young woman. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and wore glasses. "You two must be our neighbors for the summer. I'm Tamara Zoller, and this is my husband, Gabriel."
"Hi. We're here with our boyfriends. They're inside unpacking. I'm Hermione Granger and this is Ginny Weasly."
"Nice to meet you. Gabriel, hun, why don't you help the other guys unpack. IF it's okay with you?" she asked the girls.
"Sure," Gabriel said, heading for the cabin.
"I love your suit," Ginny said. Tamara was wearing a red two-piece suit. Her hair was braided into pigtails and she was wearing a black net sun-hat. She wore black sandals and had a canvas messenger bag slung across her shoulders.
"Thanks. So, what's it like?"
"What do you mean?" Ginny asked
"Being the girl of the most famous wizard in the world. I read your interview in last month's Witch's Brew, that's an American gossip magazine,but they never asked you that question."
"Oh. Um, I guess it's the same as dating any other guy. Only more public attention. Um..."
"Don't worry. I'm not going to ask you questions all day. I'm not one to be starstruck... for long."
"Oh. Good."
"So, find anyone?"
"What?" Hermione asked, confused.
"Anyone who might distract your men from you?"
"No. Not yet. But we only just came out."
"There are a lot of hot women out today. But they all have body-builder boyfriends, so I doubt the guys will look at them much. Unless they're not afraid of getting buried in the sand."
"Oh, good." Ginny said. The three girls went out on the beach to find a good place to sit.
"Why do we get stuck unpacking?" Ron grumped, shoving his and Hermione's clothes into a dresser.
"Who knows?" Harry answered. "You'd probably better do that right, or Hermione'll have you do it again." Harry was hanging his and Ginny's clothes in a closet in the next room.
"It's so that they can look and see if there are any girls hotter than they are," a voice from the hall said. "If there are, they'll do everything they can to keep your attention on them." a young man with dirty blonde hair and gray-blue eyes stepped into the room. "Hi. I'm Gabriel Zoller. Your girlfriends said I could come in and meet you. My wife's out scoping the beach with them." He put out his hand. Harry crossed the room and shook it.
"I'm Harry Potter."
"And I'm Ron Weasly."
"Pleased to meet you. I've read about both of you in the Wizard Times. That's the American Daily Prophet. Anyway, I read about your girlfriends, too, Hermione and Ginny. There were interviews in the magazine Tamara gets. You guys are all pretty famous."
"Harry is, yeah. But I didn't know..." Ron began.
"You helped defeat Voldemort, didn't you? He wasn't as big a problem in America as he was here, but an American branch of his followers, they called themselves Purists, rather than Death Eaters, carried out his orders over there. Anyway, you two need help?"
"Nah, why don't you go out and join your wife?"
"Because she sent me in here. I can't come out til you guys are ready."
"Well, in that case, why don't you put the food in the kitchen?" Harry said, handing Gabriel a large cooler.
About twenty minutes later, the men had finished unpacking and were putting the suitcases in the closet.
"So how did you and Tamara get here? Portkey or Aparration?" Ron asked.
"Airplane and rental car. Tamara's a Muggle-born and hates most magical forms of travel. Actually, I think she hates all magical forms of travel." Gabriel replied. "Not that I look down on Muggle-borns. I was just explaining."
"Well," Harry said, coming out of his and Ginny's bedroom, "That's the last of it. If they don't like where we put things, they can move them. Let's go find them, shall we?"
The men found the women about a mile away from the area where the cabins were.
"So, Tamara, how long have you and Gabriel been together?" Hermione asked.
"About three years. We've been married for a year and a half. Oh, look, there they are." Tamara got up to greet her husband, who was wearing black swim trunks and a Slipknot tee-shirt. Harry's trunks were bottle green and Ron's were blue.
"Hunny, why didn't you wear your new trunks?" Tamara asked. "Those are the ones that are frayed at the bottom."
"Because I didn't pack the new ones."
"Oh."
Tamara sat back down and Gabriel sat next to her. He took off his tee-shirt and set it on the ground next to him.
"How'd you get so built up, Gabriel?" Ron asked, referring to the American man's well-built arm and chest muscles.
"Air Force,"Gabriel said.
"Actually, Air Guard. It's different from the Air Force cuz it's only part-time. He only goes two weekends a month and they can't deploy him."
"Why would they?" Hermione asked.
"Because of the problems in Afghanistan."
"What do you do the rest of the time, Gabriel? When you're not doing the Air Guard?" Harry asked.
"I'm a radio DJ."
"Yeah, for the worst station on the air," Tamara teased.
"What station?" Ron asked.
"You wouldn't have heard of it. It's a Muggle station and it only airs in Virginia. I don't remember what it's called, but they play heavy stuff. Like Slipknot and Ozzy and all the other stuff I don't like."
Harry and the others became fast friends with their American visitors.
"Why don't you four come over to our place for dinner tomorrow?" Tamara asked that evening as they packed up their beach things. "I'm making a roast."
"Sure. What time should we be there?" Hermione asked.
"Around six. What do you like dessert-wise?"
"We'll take care of dessert," Ginny said. They said goodnight and headed for their cabins.
"It was good to meet you," Gabriel said, clapping Ron n the back.
"Ow!" he yelped; he had been badly sunburned.
"Aren't you glad I made you put on sunscreen?" Tamara asked her husband.
"Yes, dear," he replied, rolling his eyes.
"Harry?" Ginny asked that night, searching in the dresser. Harry was lying in bed.
"Yes, dear?"
"Where'd you put my nightgowns?"
"They're hanging up."
"In the closet?"
"Yeah?"
"Harry, nightgowns are folded and put into a dresser. Not hung in a closet.."
"Sorry, Ginny. I'll put them away in the morning."
"No, I'm up already. I'll do it."
Ginny finished rearranging the clothes and got in bed. Harry began to rub her shoulders.
"Harry, stop it. I'm not in the mood."
"Not in the mood? But you were flirting with me and teasing me all day."
"Yes, well, I was in the mood then, but I'm not now."
"Why not?"
"I'm tired."
"So'm I, but..."
"Look, something about having to move my clothes around in the middle of the night just turns me off, okay?"
"But you didn't have to. I said I'd do it in the morning."
"Never mind, Harry, just go to sleep. We'll talk about it tomorrow." Ginny rolled over and turned off her bedside lamp.
I don't understand her sometimes, Harry thought to himself before turning off his own lamp.
Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione were having problems of their own.
Ron came out of the shower and saw Hermione laying on the bed in a pink sheer nightie.
"Her- Hermione?? What- where- huh??"
"I bought it a couple weeks ago. I hid it in my little bathroom bag because I knew you wouldn't go in there. Do you like it?"
"Yeah, I like it. Hermione, I never realized..."
"What, that I would ever wear lingerie?"
"Uh-huh. I mean, I always thought about asking you, but I thought... I assumed... I was afraid you'd say no."
"Well, that's what you get for thinking. Now, are you going to come over here, or are you going to stand there with your towel wrapped around your waist?"
Ron sat on the bed and began to kiss Hermione. Hermione kissed back. She wrapped her arms around him and began to pull herself closer.
"Ow!" Ron cried. "Watch the sunburn!"
"Sorry. I thought you had used that salve I gave you."
"Not yet. Will you help me?"
"Yeah." Hermione said a little glumly, getting up to get the jar. She rubbed it into Ron's reddened skin then began to change into her pajamas.
"What's wrong, Hermione?"
"Nothing."
"If nothing's wrong, then why are you getting ready for bed? I thought we were going to..."
"The moment's gone, Ronald. If you had worn sunscreen like I told you to, then we would be. But now the moment's gone. Good night." Hermione rolled over on her side. "Please turn the light off when you're dressed."
"Hermione, I don't understand-"
"No, you don't. Good night, Ronald."
After she was sure Harry was asleep, Ginny went into the kitchen to get a glass of butterbeer. Perhaps that will calm me down, she thought. When she got into the kitchen, she saw that Hermione had had the same idea.
"Want a glass?" she asked. Ginny nodded. "Ron just doesn't understand women. He doesn't understand that we aren't constantly craving physical satisfaction the way men do."
"I'm having the same problem with Harry." Ginny said, sipping at her glass. "I wonder if all women have that problem with men, at one point or another."
"The Zollers' living room light is still on. We could go over and ask Tamara."
So the two girls went over next door and knocked. Tamara answered the door, her hair all mussed and tangled. Hermione noticed that she was wearing Gabriel's Slipknot shirt with her sweats and blushed.
"I'm sorry, were we interrupting?" she asked.
"No, we're finished. Gabriel's just taking a shower," Tamara replied. Then she noticed the troubled looks on her new friends' faces. "What's the matter?" Hermione and Ginny each told her story.
"Does that ever happen to you?" Ginny asked.
"Not really. Most of the time I want it more than he does. Sometimes even more. But a girlfriend of mine gave me a spell to help them to understand women a little better. I'll go get it for you." Tamara went and got a leather-bound notebook from the bookshelf. "Do you have something to write with? Of course not, you came in your pj's just a sec." After fetching a quill and parchment, Tamara began to copy the spell down for them.
"Here you go. This'll help."
Hermione looked at the spell. "Don't you think this is a little drastic?"
"Nope."
Ginny took the spell from Hermione. "Actually, I think this is perfect," she said.
"Well, if you two are sure about it," Hermione said, biting her lip.
"We are," the other two said in unison.
"Oh, fine." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Let's do it tonight, then."
"Admit it," Tamara said. "You're excited about it."
"Okay, maybe a little." Hermione smiled a little. She and Ginny headed back to their cabin and huddled over the spell.
Okay, so that's chapter one. I hope you enjoyed it. Please review!