Harry Potter sat staring at the girls before him green eyes narrowed.
"A holiday, I'm fighting in a war and you want me to go on a holiday?"
"Lighten up, Harry" sniggered Ginny, Harry's girlfriend from beside him "You need a break from being a hero. Besides I'll be there, Ron will be there and so will Hermione. It'll be fun!"
At her earnest look he sighed "Fine then, I'll go"
The redhead giggled as she gave Harry a peck on the cheek and snuggled into him, Harry couldn't help but smile at his gorgeous girlfriend.
Hermione also had a sly smile on her face, I'd taken forever to get the two together and as much as she privately agreed with Ron, Ginny's also redhead brother, that they seriously needed to get a room, she couldn't help but marvel at her own handiwork.
The whole subject of holidays had come up when Alyssa Raepan and exchange student from Australia had invited the trio and Ginny to spend Christmas at her holiday house by the beach in Sydney Australia.
Alyssa was a seventh year like Harry, Ron and Hermione. She had hazelnut brown hair about the same shade as Hermione's but where Hermione's was bushy; Alyssa's was wavy and more often than not frizzy. On hair alone they could have passed as twins but their facial structure was very different and Hermione's deep chocolate eyes couldn't be more contrasted to Alyssa's mostly green, hazel ones. All three girls were fairly petite and of an average height.
Ron and Ginny on the other hand had flaming red hair, freckles and sea blue eyes. Harry had messy black hair which stuck up at the back and stunning green eyes which shone like emeralds. Both he and Ron sported Quidditch toned bodies; Ron's somewhat long and lanky.
"Is anyone else going to be there?"
Inquired Ron
"Some friends from my school. Apart from that? No one. We have the holiday house to ourselves. Don't worry its magically enlarged so it fits however many you want it to"
"You're muggle- born" Ginny pointed out
"I had help from a school friend's parents"
"Where is this exactly?" Harry asked pushing his glasses up the nose from where they had been creeping down.
"Cronulla area, on the shores of Wanda Beach. It's slightly south from the city centre, so not so crowded. We can use it as a base to apparate anywhere in Australia that you want to see"
Hermione perked up "I'll have to read up on it"
"Thought you might" murmured Ginny from Harry's arm "I left Alyssa forewarned, accio!"
Half a dozen books zoomed down from the dormitory, landing neatly at Ginny's feet.
Hermione picked the topmost one which had a picture of a big red rock and a strange animal on the front.
"What the bloody hell is that?" Ron yelped pointing to the animal on the front. It had a bill and feet like a duck and a body like a beaver complete with tail.
"It's a platypus"
"That is one weird creature" Harry said "And I'd thought I'd seen everything, with magic and all"
"Says here it is one of only two types of monotremes"
"English..."
"An egg laying mammal" she snapped as if it was the most obvious thing in the world
An uncomfortable silence followed, ended by Ginny. "Well I better get packing then, shouldn't I?"
They all trooped upstairs to pack no knowing what the next day would bring.
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"I can't believe you talked me into this"
Remus Lupin sighed, the four boys were sitting in London's international airport's waiting room, and waiting as it seemed for the conductor of this 'trip' to come back with their boarding passes. This conductor was Lily Evans, the fiery redhead girlfriend of James Potter who was co- leader of the four boys who called themselves the marauders.
"You know you love us, Remmy" his friend Sirius Black sniggered
"Don't call me Remmy!"
The tawny haired werewolf glared at his friend and then mussed up Sirius' perfectly sitting raven black hair, which had a habit of falling in his blue- grey eyes giving him a look of superior elegance. Sirius spluttered and pulled away.
"Don't mess up my hair! I take pride in my appearance, thank you very much! And besides, I wouldn't want to look like Prongs now would I?"
"I take offence to that" James said ignoring Peter Pettigrew's laughing. James' black hair was infamously messy, and he had a habit of running his fingers through it so it looked like he had just got off a broomstick. This trait even annoyed Lily senseless, let alone the four boys who had to share a dormitory with him for most of the year.
On top of the Quidditch star's messy black hair, James had a tall Quidditch toned body, glasses and mischievous hazel eyes.
Sirius was also Quidditch toned and tall but slightly more tanned than James who tended to freckle. His stormy blue- grey eyes never seemed to settle on the same mix of the two colours. (AN: My dad has that colour eyes)
Remus was a paradox to both the boys; he was a pale bookworm whose good looks came from his quiet soft kind appearance with soft brown eyes speckled with the telltale canine golden flecks. He was shorter than both James and Sirius but not as short as Peter. His pale body was also wracked by the silvery scars of his lycanthropy. His sandy brown hair and reserved nature made him the voice of reason in the group.
Peter was nothing special compared to the other boys; he had straw coloured blond hair, a chubby frame and watery blue eyes. Peter did always remind himself however that he was in their little group and that had to mean something.
The petite green eyed redhead of Lily Evans soon returned.
"I have the tickets, now we are boarding at gate 20, on Qantas airlines"
"Lily remind me" asked Remus "Why are we going the muggle way?"
"You know how amusing it is with these two" She gestured to where Sirius and James sat indignantly.
"But what about Sirius and the coke incident?" Remus exclaimed, to think about it, it still brought tears of laughter to James' eyes.
It had been about a month ago when Lily had been sent a 2L bottle of the dark coloured liquid from home labeled 'Coke'. James and Sirius had been fascinated at first but Sirius had been reluctant to try it.
"Does it have alcohol in it?"
"No"
"Does it have any cool side effects?"
"No"
"What's the point then?" exclaimed Sirius falling into a chair
It had ended up in fierce debate in which time James, Remus and Peter had retired to their dormitory to play exploding snap. James had just been taking bets for how long it would take when Sirius had com into the room, the bottle in his hand, yelling "This stuff's fantastic"
Sirius was drinking it at such a rate that he had to replicate it every 20 minutes. What had resulted was a sugar and caffeine high night which Sirius had spent rushing to the toilet such was his consumption. Yet remarkably Sirius still loved the stuff second only to fire whiskey.
"I admit it is a big ask to look after them for a month. But Mrs. Potter sounded so glad to be rid of them"
They finally reached the gate labeled by the large luminous '20' where Lily politely gave the nice lady their boarding passes and each received a pair of headphones.
"What are these?" James handled the object cautiously as if about to explode, taking it from the bag and put it around his arm, plug dangling to the floor. Lily kindly put then in the right position and explained as they walked along that you plugged it into a socket to listen to music or so that you could hear a movie- mind you she also had to explain what a movie is to him and Sirius as well. Remus and Peter had both been exposed to such stuff, both were half- bloods.
The entered the plane and found their seats, in first class.
"You really didn't spare any luxury did you Lily?" squeaked Peter
"Wasn't me! Mrs. Potter booked the tickets"
"That explains it" sniffed James indignantly, "My mother always wants me to have the best"
Lily glared at him, a look which said Stop with the spoilt brat routine right now!
"Can I have the window seat!" exclaimed Sirius. James had been heading for that seat and both glared at the other in a mock way as if daring the other to back down. It was a play battle however which Lily did not want to see.
Since the seats were arranged so that they had two window seats one in a row of three and the other in a row with two.
"Sirius, Peter and I. Will take the three and leave you two-"
"-lovebirds-" Sirius added
"-alone"
"I concur" Peter added
"Look who has been using the word- a- day calendar I gave them"
"HEY!"
"Note he didn't deny it" sniggered Sirius
"I've been getting help from Moony" (AN: For those who don't know already Remus is Moony, James is Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot and Peter is Wormtail…. back with the show!)
"Did he?"
"No"
"Ha!" said Sirius triumphantly
"Quiet Sirius, the safety lady is speaking" hissed James
For the next five minutes Sirius sat bored watching the lady show them how to use a safety belt (which was pointless as they were already wearing them) and a life jacket. In Sirius' opinion this wasn't nearly as interesting as most muggle stuff even if the blond lady was pretty cute. He slouched back in his leather jacket and played with the motorcycle on a chain around his neck. It was actually his real flying motorcycle magically shrunk and put on a chain but Lily didn't need to know that.
He peered out the window and was surprised to see that the land was zooming past. Glancing at Remus beside him he grinned and gestured to the window, leaning aside to let Remus have a look. Remus may have been on an airplane before but he still enjoyed watching the ground fly past or the sight looking down from above.
James on the other hand didn't look overly pleased, as he looked out the window all he felt was sick and he felt himself go white as he grasped his hand over Lily's which sat on the divider between their seats. Lily safely closed the window making James feel a whole lot more safe.
As the plane reared up Sirius was reminded of his flying motorcycle, minus the wind running through his hair of course. After a while however the plane leveled out to James' relief and Sirius' disgust. Minutes passed…
"I'm bored" drawled Sirius
"Hello bored, I'm Peter"
Sirius glared at the blond boy behind Remus' back. Lily however had a solution; she came over (able to because the incandescent picture of a seatbelt had vanished) and sat on Remus lap in order to address Sirius. James knew better than to be jealous, he knew Lily and Remus were good friends and nothing more.
"This is a good time to use those headphones"
She plugged Sirius' headphones in and fiddled with the screen on the back of the seat in front.
"Here's one you'll like" she said snapping the headphone over his ears
"What is it?"
"James Bond"
James perked up "Can I watch too?"
"Come over here and I'll fix you up nest to him in a sec"
"What if it's boring?" whined Sirius
"I doubt it, it involves fast cars, women and gun violence"
"Oooh!"
It was if Lily had turned on a light in the 3boys' heads as they settled down happily to watch the movie.
"Hmm" sighed Remus from his new seat away where he didn't after to hear the after noise from the headphones. "Peace at last… I think I might even be able to sleep"
"You do look a little worn down"
"Hmm, full moon was last week and it wasn't a particularly good one"
Lily smiled, she had figured out Remus' affliction before even the boys had and that was part of the reason why they were such close friends.
For the next few hours the boys (excluding the sleeping Remus) watch the movie with Lily read a book her skinny legs tucked beneath her and Remus' head on her lap.
The boys continued on with the James Bond theme and were halfway through their second one when dinner came. It was bearable but tasted and smelled a bit like plastic though Remus thoughtfully as he ate through it.
"Would you like a drink" the blond attendant asked them
"Any alcoh-" started Sirius and then he rethought "Do you have any coke?"
"For you cutie" she preened "Anything"
"Thanks" Sirius said accepting it, he winked at her. James on the other hand elbowed him in the stomach for such blatant flirting.
They finished their dinners and Sirius left giving a bathroom excuse, but came back his shirt and hair ruffled and a sly smile on his face, James didn't believe him.
They all managed to sleep for the rest of the journey with help from a potion, courtesy of Lily.
Remus was the first awake due to his werewolf metabolism which got rid of his potion more quickly. Looking out the window he saw not sea but buildings below him.
"Ahem" the blond attendant was back "Better wake your friends, we're nearly there"
With a crafty flick of Remus' wand the four woke, he then spoke in a very official like voice "We will soon be landing, please fasten your seatbelts"
James groaned "I wanna sit next to Lily"
Remus was more than happy to resume his original seat with the slightly tired but overall excitable Sirius and the half asleep Peter.
The plane came down much the same as it had come up, with a dip zooming down. This time James looked slightly move comfortable with Lily consoling him that it was all nearly over. She grinned and brushed a red hair behind her pale ear as Peter checked how James was doing.
They were finally dismissed from the plane and strutted proudly down into the building on Australian soil. They were pleased with themselves, or in Lily and Remus' case relieved that they had not gone insane during the trip.
Lily left the boys to get some breakfast while she got the bags. They then all left to find a taxi. James pushed the trolley with their stuff in it as they stepped from the door.
All ears heard a rushing sound as they suddenly fell through darkness, wind blowing their hair and blue light caressing their bodies as they fell.
It felt like ages in the timeless fall before they flumped into some people.
Lily had fallen on someone, aching she slowly opened her emerald green eyes and saw…. Sand?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ginny smiled as she began to unpack into a wardrobe in the corner of the girl's room. They had only been here for a few minutes and already she loved it, the warm climate and the smell of the ocean which crept into the room from the newly opened doors to the balcony which only the girls could access.
She turned to Hermione and Alyssa who were also unpacking and smiled.
"Can we go for a walk on the beach? Please?"
"Sure" Alyssa smiled "We have plenty of time before sunset to explore, and I could use a walk, long distance flooing makes me feel stiff"
"That I agree with" groaned Ginny "Coming Hermione?"
"Wouldn't miss it"
They bolted downstairs to where the boys sat collapsed on the couch.
"We're going for a walk on the beach, coming Harry? Ron?"
Harry jumped up and joined them immediately as he would never pass up time to spend with Ginny. Ron came more grudgingly not wanting to be the only one left alone in the house.
Harry smiled; this wasn't so bad, cool sand between his toes, hand in hand with his beautiful girlfriend. He should do this holiday thing more often.
Suddenly there was a flash of bright white light and a group of five people fell on them, Harry was floored by a redhead who fell on his legs. He watched as she opened her emerald green eyes and stared up at him…