A/N: Hi guys! Here's the next chapter :) Enjoooy. And thanks for your reviews :D
Chapter 3
Gilderoy stepped out of the hotel, full of enthusiasm. He was wearing a white shirt and short khaki pants, as well as matching brown shoes. In one hand he was holding a large camera, in the other a big bag, which seemed to be crammed to its top.
Trailing behind him was Minerva, clothed in a plain cream coloured dress, which went down to her ankles. To hold off the sun, she dragged a large umbrella with her. She too was wearing a large bag.
"Oh, look at how these people are all staring at me! Too bad I can't join them, right, Minerva?" Ignoring her master's stupid laughter, Minerva rolled her eyes and turned her attention on the people passing by.
"Yes, you're right. They really are looking." 'Because you look like a total jerk in these clothes,' she thought, while returning his narcistic grin with a sarcastic smirk. Of course he didn't notice.
Turning away from Gilderoy, who was dazing off into his own world, Minerva walked back to the hotel entrance. "Hermione, where are you? We need to go, hurry up!"
Minerva squinted her eyes, when she saw a movement behind the corner next to her. "Hermione? What's wrong, come out. We're all waiting for you." Looking back over her shoulder, she corrected herself. 'Well, at least I'm waiting for her.'
After another few seconds of silence and nervous movement, Hermione shoved her head out of the door and quickly shot a few glances around, before stepping out entirely. Minerva's eyes widened in surprise, when she took in the girl's appearance.
Hermione was wearing the traditional clothing of the Chinese, the so called Cheongsam, a form fitting clothing, made of silk. Hers was a pitch black, which barely covered her knees and showed off her feminine curves. It was a nice contrast to her pale skin, Minerva noticed.
But obviously Hermione herself wasn't aware of how stunning she was looking, as she was fidgeting with her fingers nervously and her face was lightly flushed. "Hermione, you look wonderful! Where did you get this dress?"
"Uhm…the maid, which was assigned to me kind of forced me into this. I really didn't want to wear it, it's embarrassing and not suited for a trip in the jungle and –" "And it really looks great on you, Hermione, " finished Harry his friend's sentence, as he appeared behind Hermione, who blushed even more at his compliment.
Harry himself was also wearing a Cheongsam, which was a dark grey, matching his ever so unruly black hair perfectly and accenting his green eyes. Thankful, that the attention was diverted from her, Hermione quickly eyed Harry up and down, before giving him a thumps up and a lazy smile.
"You're looking good yourself, Harry." Now it was the boy's turn to flush and he quickly left the two women, strolling over to Gilderoy, who was now waving at random passengers, who gave him strange looks in return.
"Sorry I'm late, I just couldn't find my lucky charm, "said Luna, who seemed to have popped out of nowhere and was now standing next to Hermione, a dreamy smile on her lips.
"Luna, this dress looks extraordinary good on you!" Like Hermione, Luna was wearing a black Cheongsam, only that hers was decorated with colourful dragons and little clouds. Her long blond hair was flowing down her back and just like Minerva she held a slightly pink umbrella above her head.
Harry coughed loudly next to Gilderoy and broke him out of his reverie. Finally noticing that everybody had arrived, he waved them over to him and Harry. "Oh, Hermione you look so beautiful in this dress! For a second I've thought that your moth- "
A loud trumpeting noise interrupted Gilderoy and he visibly flinched. Hermione sighed, relieved that he couldn't finish his sentence. It did bother her that her father always compared her to her mother, but it was useless to tell him that, for he would do it again.
Minerva cleared her throat, breaking the silence and pointed to something behind her master. "I think we're ready to depart."
"What?" Confused, Gilderoy turned around, only to be greeted by something wet and hairy, which poked itself in his nose. He started to panic and flailed his arms madly around, the bag making strange clashing noise in the process. "No! Take it away, it wants to kill me!"
A boy's voice said something in a foreign language and the thing retreated from its prey. Instantly Gilderoy raised his arm and started to wipe around in his face frantically, trying to get rid of the sticky substance, which clung to his skin.
"Amazing! I never knew that elephants were this big!" Hermione stared at the giant, grey animal before her in awe, taking in the long beak, the pearl white tusks until finally stopping to look into its black eyes, which seemed to glow with gentleness. Apparently the elephant had taken a liking in her father, as his beak now groped his hair, ruining his staggering hair style, on which he usually spent several hours a day.
"Bao, stop this. You're scaring the poor man." It was just then, that Hermione noticed the small boy, sitting on top of the animal's head with his legs crossed. He only held a long wooden stick in one hand, which he was know tapping lightly on the animal's skull, which reacted instantly and lowered itself to the ground, making it easy for its master to jump to the ground in a swift motion.
The boy patted the elephant's head affectionately and in response it gently caressed his cheek with his beak, making him laugh. "Hello, my name is Muthu. I am your tour guide through the jungle. It's a pleasure to meet you, Mister Lockhart." And he politely bowed down in front of Harry, who quickly grabbed the boy's shoulders and pulled him up again. Glancing nervously at Gilderoy, who was too busy with keeping an eye on the elephant to notice what was going on around him, he turned Muthu around, pushing him lightly. "This is Mr. Lockhart."
Muthu's eyes widened in both, shock and surprise, as he quickly bowed down again, even deeper than before. "Err…I hope you'll enjoy today's journey, Mister."
Absent- minded, Gilderoy only nodded, before taking a few steps back to bring a safety distance between him and Bao, whose eyes were now resting on his already tousled hair, as if the elephant was considering to play with it again.
Shoving her father out of her way rather forcefully, Hermione walked up to their little guide and smiled. "My name is Hermione, and these are my friends Harry and Luna. The woman over there is my chaperone, Minerva." She stretched her hand out towards the boy, who eagerly took it, astonished by Hermione's beauty.
After everything was represented and Muthu had succeeded in convincing Gilderoy to trust Bao, he tapped the side of his elephant again with his wooden stick and when Bao kneeled down on the ground again, the boy quickly used his leg to climb on its back, where something like a stage with seats on it was fastened to the elephant with strong strings, which run around Bao's middle, making sure that the passengers were safe in their seats.
Harry gathered their entire luggage and then held it up to Muthu, who locked it away in a big box at the end of the stage. When Muthu tried to lift Gilderoy's bag, he nearly dropped it due to its weight.
"Father, what the hell have you put in this bag?" Minerva instantly scolded Hermione for her bad language, who just shrugged it off.
Gilderoy put a finger to his chin, trying hard to remember what was in his bag. "Hmm…Toothbrush, hairbrush, manicure set, pedicure set, make- up, - "
"Okay, I understand. The usual stuff." Hermione rolled her eyes yet again, wondering why her father would want a toothbrush in the middle of a jungle.
Suddenly Luna was there by her side and looked at her with a concerned expression. "You know, it's really dangerous to role your eyes like this all the time. They could get stuck."
"Thanks for you advice, Luna, I'll try to remember it, " frowned Hermione and intended to climb onto Bao, already reaching for the ladder, which dangled at the animal's side, when Harry stopped her, also giving her a concerned look and pointing at her front. "Watch out! Wrinkles…" Hermione responded by whacking Harry over his head.
They spend the whole day riding through the jungle in a slow but steady pace, Bao carrying their weight without problems. Every now and then Muthu would give a command with his stick and the elephant stopped for a moment, so that he was able to call our attention to an exotic animal, or special plants.
Before they knew it, the sun started to set and Muthu stopped at an ancient looking temple. "This will be our sleeping place. Wild animals don't like this place, so we'll be safe during the night. Besides Bao will watch over us during the night, so you don't have to worry."
Bao was released from the stage on his back and Muthu led him to a near river, letting the elephant satisfy its thirst. In the meanwhile, Gilderoy and Harry had started to build up their tents. Or at least they tried.
"Boy, could you give me this pole over there? I think it belongs in here. See it's longer than the others." Harry furrowed his brow and cocked his head. "Are you sure, Mister Lockhart? I think this bar belongs down there."
'Relax. Relax. Take a deep breath…Good.' Hermione forced a smile on her face, then walked over to the two. "Let me help you." She snatched the bar from Harry's hand and took another one, sticking them together. "See? Like this."
Gilderoy smiled proudly at his daughter and walked over to his bag. 'Indeed, I have a wonderful daughter. Intelligent, just like me. And of course good looking. Oh, how I love myself.' He took out his hairbrush and got to work, a goofy grin adorned to his face.
Minerva just knew what he was thinking about and quickly turned around to Luna, before she lost her temper and said something she'd regret later. "Since the strong sex is so busy with putting up our tents, we'll take care about diner."
Together with Luna, Minerva conjured them a delicious meal, consisting of several fruits and berries, which Muthu had collected for them, while Hermione put up the tents all by herself with Harry firing her on and Gilderoy brushing his already perfect looking hair.
After they were done with eating and discussing the next day, Hermione and Luna excused themselves and slipped into the tent they shared. "I'm so glad that I can share this tent with you, Hermione. Harry really is sleeping soundly."
Hermione smiled and changed into her pyjamas. "Come on, Luna. It's getting late and tomorrow will be very exhausting. Better get enough sleep before then."
Luna nodded and laid down next to Hermione, who was already dozing off. The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was Luna telling her about werewolves the blond was sure to be hearing tonight, because it was full moon. "As long as they let me sleep, anything can come tonight." Unluckily for Hermione, she wouldn't get to rest long tonight…
In case anybody's interested in the exact looks of their Cheongsam: Here are the links :)
www.ewis.no/fashion/images/cheongsam/cheongsam-1-redigert.jpg - Hermione
img./photo/11394266/ChineseTraditionalMensLongCoatMensCheongsam.jpg - Harry
retnodamayanthi.files./2008/05/cheongsam2.jpg - Luna
img./albums/v396/Joplox/australiacrocodilehunter-thumb.jpg - Gilderoy (I think he somehow resembles the Crocodile Hunter )
/northyorkshire/content/images/2007/01/24/creamdressfull300x400.jpg - Minerva
Omake:
Harry: -points at Hermione's furrowed front- Wrinkles! Oh my God, they are everywhere!
Hermione: … -whacks Harry over his head- Jerk. – starts climbing up the ladder-
Harry: - laying defeated on the ground, blood trickling from his head-
Luna: - pokes Harry with stick- I think the gnome got him after all.
Harry: - wakes up due to Luna's continuous poking- Where am I? - looks randomly up-
Luna: Oh, it moves! – skips away-
Harry: - gets nose bleed- Pink… -faints-
Hermione: -looks down on Harry, confused- What?
…
Hermione: Pervert! – jumps down on Harry and starts bullying him-
Gilderoy: My, my such energy.
Author: -nods wise- Inherited it from her mum. It's not her fault.
Hermione: - jerks up her head- DID YOU JUST MENTION MY MUM??
Author: -sweat drop- … RUN! – grabs Bao and flees into jungle-
Oh my gosh, my very first Omake squeals I hope you like it. Personally, I think it's funny, but dunno if my taste is good or just weird :p
I really apreciate reviews, even if they are only 'Good' or 'Bad' lines. It's kind of depressing if you have over three hundred readers and only 8 leave a comment. Give yourself a push and review please puppy eyes Err..I have cookies for these who do :D