We're all going on a Summer Holiday
It started as a stray thought. Laid in bed, enjoying the rare silence of the household, Harry absentmindedly told Ginny how he'd never been on a muggle holiday, that the Dursleys had gone every year, but he had been left with Mrs Figg.
This random thought, murmured in drowsiness, was the cause of everything to follow.
It was several days later when Ginny sat heavily at the table waiting for her husband to put down his quill. He was working, again, on a weekend.
"Harry do you think you're owed some time off?"
Harry wrinkled his brow, "I know I've been busy lately Gin but this goes to the Wizengmort next week and then it will be business as usual." He smiled grasping her hand, but she huffed.
"No, Harry, you see I was thinking about what you said about never having a proper family holiday and the thing is I've never had one either." Harry stared at her, blinking in confusion. He wasn't proud to admit this, but very often, you could say frequently, he had trouble keeping up with Ginny's pointed glances and bright eyes. Usually, when this sort of thing happened, he ended up having to do something he wasn't so sure on. Last month, it had been tango lessons. The year before Ginny had convinced him that it would be good for the kids to have a dog and that of course the kids would look after it and that it would be great for their development. Shadow, the dog in question, was sat on his feet waiting for his second walk of the day which, no matter how much Harry tossed the ball or how far they walked, would fail to tire the pampered pooch. So while Harry loved his wife, he tended to remain sceptical of her ideas.
"Right, so you want to go away for a weekend?"
"Not a weekend Harry, a proper family holiday. Abroad. The kids are getting older and it's only a year till James goes to Hogwarts and then we won't be able to do these things."
Harry frowned, "if we went on holiday the attention would be ridiculous, we wouldn't get any peace." He knew this for a fact. When James was a year old they'd gone to a small wizarding village in France with Teddy. Word had got around and they'd ended up leaving after three days with two sobbing children.
At this Ginny smiled, "No, I'm not thinking of a wizard's holiday- I want a muggle holiday. The flying machines and everything. Do it properly." Harry blinked at Ginny, who was almost vibrating in excitement. "We can invite Ron, Hermione and the kids as well. They'll love it."
Harry couldn't think of anything to say. Yes they deserved a holiday, but a muggle one? Harry could only imagine how terrible this could go. James would be a nightmare… and little Lily was prone to accidental magic- especially when she was in a close vicinity to Hugo.
"Stop it," Ginny said firmly, "We are going, I'll talk to Hermione and we will sort it out."
"Stop what?"
"Worrying about international incidents and James being James, and Teddy being moody and Lily killing Hugo and Albus getting left out, and the ridiculous amount of work you do. It'll be fun," Ginny kissed him softly on the cheek and almost skipped out of the room. Harry had thought he and Ginny had a similar idea of fun… but now he wasn't so sure.
It was only a month later and here they were, at an airport. Five children, ranging from five to ten and four adults, only one of which had ever travelled on an aeroplane. Ron caught Harry's eye and together they shared a look of abject terror.
"Come on," Hermione said gesturing to the check-in desks, "let's get checked in and then we can relax."
Checking in went fine, there was only one hiccup when Ron loudly asked what a passport was before Hermione shushed him and plastered a rather scary toothy grin and aimed it at the bamboozled worker.
"Do you reckon they'll let us have a muggle beer?" Ron asked quietly as their cases sailed out of sight and Hermione reorganised the pink folder and stuffed it in a rather small rucksack. Teddy led James by the ear as he'd just attempted to pull Albus' trousers down and Lily hung of Teddy's other arm as she stared at his in admiration.
"Think we might need it," Harry whispered back, wincing as James started talking loudly to Hugo and Albus about the latest quidditch game while Ted tried and failed to shush him. Before they knew it they were at security and Hermione was taking liquids out of everyone's bags and stuffing them into plastic bags. "Mum, why can't we leave toothpaste in our bag? Why did we pack everything if we have to just take it out again?" Rose was asking a stressed Hermione.
"Sir, if you could just empty your pockets and place it in this tray," Harry jumped, but placed his wallet and keys in the tray and skid it back to the man. "And walk through the scanner," Harry stepped through the scanner and it let out a shrill beep. Harry jumped again, wary of the various onlookers (mostly his own family).
The man stepped forward, "please raise your arms, I'm just going to pat you down." His face was burning, the flush of embarrassment stinging his cheeks. Ron was bent over laughing but Harry couldn't see why he was laughing since Ron was holding his belt in one hand and was completely shoeless.
The man patted him up and down and when he patted the top of his leg and paused, Harry knew he was screwed. "Empty your back pocket, Sir". Harry flushed again and knew, without a doubt, that Hermione was going to chew him out over this. You see, he'd never taken Mad-eyes advice. Sure, on missions he would wear a holster, otherwise it… "What is this sir? Why do you have a piece of … wood in your pocket?"
Ron howled harder than ever before and he was sure he heard Teddy cackle, "Cos' he's pleased to see you!" Ginny swotted Ted on the back of his head but it didn't wipe away his godsons smile.
"It's just a… keepsake."
"Pardon?" Said the man in confusion, staring at him as though he had grown another head.
"You know, to remember… my favourite tree! You know, everyone has a favourite tree…" Harry babbled.
"Right." The man glared at him, holding Harry's wand between his forefinger and thumb as though it was contaminated. "Well since wood is not restricted you can take it through. Next time you would be better to declare it."
He muttered his apologies, grabbed his belongings and fled to wait for the others.
"You idiot!" Hermione hissed.
"What? I had to bring my wand."Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry looked beseechingly to Ron, "Come on Ron, where did you put your wand?" Ron pulled it out of his back pocket, grinning like a cheshire cat. "Wha-"
"Well I wasn't stupid enough to leave my belt on. You see I listened to Hermione," he said smugly.
"Yeah Daddy, Auntie 'Mione always knows best!" Lily piped up. The adults laughed again, Ron patted him on the back and Ginny cupped his still burning cheek fondly. The group was gathering reproachful stares as Teddy and James were pulling faces while Hugo and Albus laughed and Rose looked almost as embarrassed as Harry.
"Come on let's go, people are staring," Ginny whispered.
Harry only hoped the rest of the holiday was less eventful. He hung his head, he'd never been that lucky.
A/N Just a little fun snippet. If you want to see more let me know! For anyone following my other stories, I'm on holiday currently but I've handwritten two more chapters for The Last Hurrah that just need editing through you can expect an update in the next couple of days.
Thanks!