Breakfast on Sunday was a bittersweet affair for the group of friends. Everyone was obviously pleased that Blaise and Daphne were now married, but they were acutely aware that their marriage meant the end of the trip. Since Blaise and Daphne hadn't attended breakfast the group were slightly unsure when exactly the trip was going to end. They knew that they would end up back in the South of France, but they didn't know when they would dock.
"So is everyone packed and ready to return to reality?" Pansy asked.
"Unfortunately, yes." Ginny sighed. "After this trip I'm not sure I want to go home. I want to carry on cruising."
"Maybe we should do this every year." Theo suggested with a chuckle. "Get a group of us to hire a ship and spend a few weeks cruising the open waters."
"Actually that sounds like a great idea." Harry said in all seriousness. "I think it's something we should consider."
"Would you two be up for that?" Ginny asked Draco and Hermione, who looked rather caught up in one another.
"As long as you don't invite Astoria. We'll come on another cruise." Draco replied.
"Who would invite her?" Pansy snorted. "Even Daphne wouldn't have invited her if she wasn't her sister."
"Enough about Astoria." Theo said. "Why don't we decide how to spend our last few hours together. For all we know Blaise could show up any minute and announce we're nearly ready to dock, so we don't want to waste time sitting about here talking about Astoria."
"Theo's right." Draco nodded in agreement. "I say we all head up onto one of the decks and grab some sun."
"Why don't we try out the sun deck." Ginny suggested as the group got up to leave the breakfast room. "Its position is designed to make the most of the sun, and we haven't used it yet."
"You may not have, but some of us have made use of it." Draco remarked.
"What's it like for the sun?" Pansy questioned. "Will it help finish off my tan."
"I don't know, the sun wasn't actually out when we used it." Draco replied, shooting a wicked grin in Hermione's direction, who blushed and lowered her head.
"You two are terrible." Harry chuckled, shaking his head at the couple.
"We were just making use of the facilities." Draco shrugged. "On a boat this size, you'd be mad not to take advantage of the space and indulge in a bit of alfresco fun."
"He does have a point." Pansy said to her boyfriend. "We used the large pool earlier in the week."
"Ginny and I had a bit of fun on the back deck a few nights ago." Theo added.
"See, we've all done it." Draco laughed.
"If Blaise finds out he'll never let any of us on his boat again." Pansy laughed.
"I bet Blaise and Daphne have christened the entire vessel." Draco replied. "That's probably where the name Daphne's Delight came from, knowing Blaise he wanted to commemorate all the pleasure Daphne had on board."
Laughing about Draco's potentially accurate theory the group arrived at the sun deck. Grabbing a lounger apiece they all settled down to enjoy a bit more of the warm Mediterranean sun. As they sunbathed they spoke about the future and several preliminary plans were put in place for visits between Hermione and Draco and their friends. Around mid-morning the group got a surprise when Blaise and Daphne appeared and settled down to join them. They'd fully expected they wouldn't see the newlyweds until the trip was drawing to a close.
"We'll be back in France by late afternoon." Blaise told his friends. "From there we'll head back up to the hotel and I can arrange your portkey's."
"I wish we didn't have to leave." Pansy sighed. "This has been the best week ever."
"Sorry Pans, but you're not staying on our honeymoon." Daphne grinned at her friend.
"I'm sure we can all do this again sometime." Blaise said.
"That's just what we were saying." Theo excitedly told Blaise.
Blaise immediately latched onto the idea and decided it was something they should do every year. By the time he'd finished he'd even suggested he could find a new boat and everyone could pay for a share in it. Blaise's idea was that they could all have one big holiday a year together, but any couple could use it privately as they wished. The more Blaise talked the more people were interested and finally it was decided that if he could find a suitable vessel, everyone would consider being a part owner.
At lunchtime the group headed down to the lunch room, before heading in their separate directions after eating. Even though they were all packed everyone wanted to double check that they hadn't missed anything. Blaise and Daphne meanwhile wanted to check on their other guests to make sure they were also ready to leave the boat.
As the afternoon progressed people started bringing their luggage up to the main deck. After touring the entire boat, Blaise had settled on the main deck and he was encouraging people to stay and enjoy one last cocktail on-board the ship. By the time Daphne's Delight pulled back into the port from which they started their journey everyone was up on deck. Even Astoria was on deck, smiling and laughing, although she steered clear of her sister's friends.
When it came to disembarking, Blaise and Daphne's family left the boat first. Once it was just the newlyweds and their friends, they also grabbed their cases and disembarked from the boat. The walk back up to Blaise's hotel was slow as neither of the eight friends were in a particular hurry to say goodbye to one another. Draco and Hermione would especially be missed as they lived so far away, whereas the other couples saw each other on a more regular basis.
"I'm sure the eight of us can meet up pretty regularly." Hermione said, when Ginny mentioned how much she would miss them all being together. "With magic it really isn't that big a deal travelling to and from Australia. I bet we could all meet up at least one weekend a month."
"I'd like that." Ginny smiled. "Let's do that."
"We will." Theo reassured his girlfriend as he wrapped his arm around her waist.
Talk of meeting up continued as they walked the final stretch to the hotel. Once they arrived at the hotel, Blaise and Daphne headed off to check their family were managing okay. The rest of the group headed into the bar and settled down for one final drink together. It had already been decided that they would be leaving last, giving Blaise and Daphne time to sort everyone else before dealing with their departure.
The group's last drink was a fun filled affair, with plenty of laughter. Instead of dwelling on the fact they wouldn't see each other for a while, they'd instead concentrated on having fun. In fact they were having so much fun that once Blaise and Daphne arrived they had another few drinks, before finally it was time to go their separate ways.
Back in the lobby of the hotel everyone said their goodbyes, with hugs being exchanged all around. Hermione ended up hugging everyone, even the Slytherins, but by this point she really did consider them to be good friends. While Draco just hugged the girls, he shared a friendly handshake with Harry. By now the two wizards were quite friendly and they were looking forward to seeing each other again. After giving everyone a hug, Hermione found herself back in front of Harry and Ginny.
"We're going to miss you so much." Ginny said quietly.
"I'm going to miss you too, Gin." Hermione smiled at the younger witch, before turning to Harry. "I'm going to miss you as well, Harry."
"I'll miss you too." Harry replied. "But this time it's going to be different. We're going to keep in touch and we'll see you regularly."
"Yes, you will." Hermione nodded.
"Are you ready to go?" Draco asked, coming up behind Hermione and placing a hand on her shoulder.
After sharing one final hug with her friends, Hermione took hold of Draco's hand and the couple grabbed their cases and headed off to catch their port key.
"It feels weird to be home." Draco said, collapsing onto the sofa in his penthouse.
The couple had arrived back in Australia less than an hour ago, and after making their way back to their block of apartments, Hermione had dropped her case off in her place before they headed into Draco's penthouse. Because of the time difference from France it was the middle of the night, but neither of them were particularly tired.
"Yeah, it does." Hermione agreed, settling down beside her boyfriend. "Do you think things will be different between us now we're home?"
"I don't see why they would be." Draco replied. "You're not worried, are you?"
"A bit." Hermione admitted. "What if we don't work in the real world? What if these last few days have just been a result of the being on the boat in such a romantic setting?"
Draco turned so he was facing Hermione. "Were your feelings a result of being on the boat?" He asked her.
"No, they've been there for a long time."
"And have they vanished, now we're home?"
"No." Hermione shook her head. "They're still there."
"Then we'll be fine." Draco reassured Hermione with a smile. "I'm sure some things will take some getting used to, but most things won't change between us. We already spend the majority of our free time together, only now we get the added benefit of amazing sex."
Hermione chuckled and shook her head at her boyfriend. "You're incorrigible."
"Thanks." Draco grinned as though Hermione had complimented him. "Now speaking of this amazing sex, do you want to see if it's as good in Sydney?"
"Why? Are you worried you're only a sex god in the Mediterranean?" Hermione teased.
"Sex god, eh?" Draco raised an eyebrow at Hermione's choice of word.
"You know what I meant." Hermione chuckled. She suspected her slip up would be something Draco brought up on a regular basis.
"I do." Draco conceded. "And to answer your question, no I'm not worried about my performance back home. I'm confident wherever we are in the world I can ensure you have a good time."
"I'm sure you can." Hermione admitted. "But I do think I should take you up on your offer to try you out. I don't want to be disappointed, do I?"
"You won't be." Draco grinned.
Standing up, Draco pulled Hermione off the sofa and into his arms. Connecting their lips he gave her a searing kiss, before dragging her off into his bedroom. Barely able to keep their hands to themselves, the couple hastily undressed and tumbled naked onto the bed. The couple proceeded to spend almost the rest of the night making love, before falling asleep in each other's arms as the sun rose on their new life together as a couple.
The End.
A/N – Thanks to everyone who has left such great feedback on this story. And thanks to all those who followed and favourite the story. I'm pleased so many people seemed to have enjoyed the story.
I do actually have more planned from this universe, exploring Blaise's idea of the group buying a boat. I've actually written a one shot where the group buy the boat and have several more stories I want to write. However I have lots of ideas and I'm currently working on other stories so I don't know when I'll be getting back to them.
If people are interested I can post the one shot on the end of this story and when I write more I'll transfer them into a separate story. Or I can post the one shot as a separate story and add to it when I write more. Or If no-one is interested in more, I'll just leave the story here and not publish the bit I've already wrote. Feel free to give your opinions, and I'll decide before the end of the week what I'm going to do.