Astoria Greengrass (2)

Five years have passed since the second wizarding war ended, with Hogwarts getting rebuilt, the remaining death eaters getting arrested and given proper punishments instead of slaps to their wrists, and the ministry getting de-corrupted. In other words, no job at the ministry was going to be dished out due to favouritism and instead be given to those who were not only qualified, but rightfully deserved it. It was a special moment at Greengrass Manor due to a new addition to the family, not in the form of pregnancy but one of the Greengrass girls getting married. The girl in discussion was Daphne Greengrass and she was getting married to Draco Malfoy, with the engagement ring on her finger being concrete evidence. Draco served three years in Azkaban out of a ten-year sentence due to good behaviour and was now engaged to Daphne. All of the party guests were happy for the couple, but there was bound to be some who didn't approve of Draco as Daphne's choice for an eventual husband. One of them was Daphne's sister, Astoria (who had bright-green eyes, shoulder-length blonde hair in an elegant bun, and was in some purple dress robes), and she was glaring at Draco intensely with her arms folded across her chest.

'How could Daph fall for that arrogant prick?!' thought Astoria, outraged. 'Can't she see that he always saw beautiful ladies as eventual trophies rather than human beings?! Even the ponce eyed me with lust, I know what kind of person Malfoy is!'

Astoria, or Tori as she was known to her friends and family, felt her body trembling with rage, but kept her cool for her sister's sake. There was a wide belief that older siblings were always the smartest and wisest, but that wasn't always true (same with the belief that the younger siblings were always more slow and dim-witted). Tori knew that you should always pay attention to your intuition, which could explain why she was almost sorted into Ravenclaw House when she started her education at Hogwarts. Tori was only sorted into Slytherin because her sister and best friend were sorted into that house and she wanted to be closer to them. If anybody paid attention to Tori's bright-green eyes, they would also see fire in them in some way because she never believed that Draco genuinely changed for the better and was only sucking up to the family just to get his hands on Daphne and treat her like an object. Tori turned around and headed outside onto a balcony to avoid the temptation of giving Draco a mouth full of broken teeth. Not only that, but going onto the balcony and getting a good look at the trees had always been one of Tori's methods of thinking things over. Tori was even leaning against the rail, with her elbows resting on top.

"I'll say one month into her marriage will be when Daph files for divorce." Tori guessed as she spoke to herself, momentarily unaware that somebody else came to join her on the balcony.

"Excellent guess, Miss Greengrass!" an unexpected voice complimented her.

Tori jumped in surprise and turned around. Standing before her was Harry Potter, given his untidy black hair, emerald-green eyes hidden behind a pair of black-framed full-moon glasses, tall stature, and in a set of green-dress robes. Harry had the famous Potter smile, which was rumoured to make any girl cream her knickers. However, Tori was still outraged by Daphne's engagement to Draco to even get such thoughts. Nevertheless, Tori still acknowledged Harry's presence with a smile.

"I didn't think I'd see you here at my sister's engagement party, Mr. Potter!" said Tori in a surprised voice.

"Well, Daphne invited me, since I've been helping her out in getting new defensive spells invented." Harry informed Tori. "It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. We've even been coming up with stronger versions of older defence spells."

"I see," said Tori. "But where do you go? I've heard that you haven't been seen here in England much since the second wizarding war ended."

"I tend to travel the world as much as I can," Harry explained. "After having that target painted on the back of my head for the longest time, I figured that visiting other countries was an excellent thing for a long-earned vacation."

"By yourself?" asked Tori in surprise.

"Pretty much," Harry admitted. "Aside from visiting other countries, there are times where I'll just stay at one of the private islands owned by my family."

"I thought you'd take the weaselette with you." said Tori.

"No, Ginny never has been interested in that," Harry revealed. "Shortly after the second wizarding war ended, I told the Weasleys I'd be going on a long vacation and travel the world. Needless to say, Mrs. Weasley wasn't very supportive and neither was Ginny. Mrs. Weasley tried pressuring me into getting back together with Ginny and make love to her so she could pop out some grandkids. I refused and decided to stick to my plan to travel the world, so Mrs. Weasley kicked me out of the Burrow until I change my mind, but I won't be. Ron has also gotten himself in a huge debt after I took him to the first casino in our world, called McLaggen Casino and Gambling. Ron just bets huge amounts of money, which I paid for him three times. It was after that when I warned him that I wouldn't do it anymore because I getting tired of it. Nevertheless, he ignored my warning and now he owes the casino like seven-point-five million galleons in debt. He occasionally sends me letters begging for help, but I ignored it because he needs to learn that he can't rely on me."

"Great job on standing up for yourself, Mr. Potter!" Tori complimented.

"Thanks!" said Harry. "You can just call me Harry if you wish."

"Okay," said Tori. "You can call me Tori if you'd like. I often go by Tori because calling me by my given name sounds like a mouthful, considering it's four syllables."

"Hey Tori!" Daphne (who was in a set of silver dress robes, had ice-blue eyes, and had armpit-length blonde hair in a bun) greeted as she walked out onto the balcony. Then she asked in an excited voice, "Isn't Draco so handsome?"

"Yes, he is, Daph!" said Tori, being as polite as she could. "I'm happy for you."

"Yes, congratulations on your engagement, Daphne!" Harry told her, also being polite.

"Thank you!" Daphne replied enthusiastically. "I'd better get back to the party." Then she strolled back inside to keep her guests entertained.

"Anyway, traveling the world is pretty intriguing," Tori admitted. "Especially since I haven't been outside Britain for years."

"If you'd like," Harry offered. "You can tag along with me when I'm ready to leave Britain again. We can even go to one of the private Potter estate-owned islands. This could be a wonderful time for us to get to know each other better."

"Are you serious, Harry?!" asked Tori, taken aback.

"Positive!" assured Harry. "I'll even let you pick first."

Tori couldn't help but cover her mouth in excitement at Harry's offer. She gave him a hug as a way of saying thank you and accepting the offer. Feeling the warmth, Harry slowly returned the hug with a smile on his face. Tori knew the first thing that she needed to do was let the ministry know she was going to resign from her position in the Department of Magical Transportation, at the Apparition Test Centre.

"Do you think Granger would approve of us, Harry?" Tori responded in a semi-tense voice. "Daph told me how she and Granger were fierce academic rivals."

"Hermione and I aren't that close anymore," Harry revealed. "Ever since she left for Australia, we haven't been able to stay in touch. Luna Lovegood and Cho Chang are my best female friends, while Neville is now my best mate since he's alot more responsible than Ron ever would be. They'll be more than willing to accept you. since they're some of the nicest and kindest people I ever met. Cho and I did have a fight near the end of that year the toad ruled Hogwarts with that iron fist, but Cho and I made amends once everything cooled down and we decided to just stay friends."

Tori felt a smile forming on her face. She already knew Luna and Cho because Luna was in her year while her father and Cho's mother worked for the ministry (Tori would occasionally see Cho at ministry formals), especially Luna because they both started Hogwarts at the same time and would occasionally share classes. Tori decided to try to get to know Luna better anyway, since Luna was pretty fierce if anybody pushed her to the limits and she was also known to defend Harry's honour. Since Harry didn't care much for parties (especially having already been at Draco and Daphne's engagement party for a while), Harry politely grabbed a hold of Tori's hand and gave the back of it a peck before telling her goodbye while reminding her to send a letter to him when and if she was ready for the vacation. As Harry walked away, Tori felt some of the sensation leaving her limbs, especially the back of her hand that Harry kissed. She even felt her heart beating with excitement as she sat down on a nearby chair with a big smile on her face.

/Scene break\

Three weeks have passed since the offer to tag along with Harry to travel the world and even stay at one of family-owned private islands. Tori was finally away from the stress of working for the ministry at the Department of Magical Transportation. After putting her blonde hair in a low ponytail, Tori checked over herself in a full-length mirror in her bedroom back at her family manor. She was dressed in a green sleeveless shirt, a pair of white capri trousers (since it was early July), and a pair of brown leather sandals. Then after she grabbed her suitcase and shrunk it to pocket size, she headed for the living room to floo over to the Leaky Cauldron to meet up with Harry. Upon arriving there, Tori spotted Harry sitting at a table near the entrance to Diagon Alley and walked up to him.

"Are you ready?" asked Harry.

"Yes, I can't wait!" said Tori with excitement.

Then she followed Harry outside and over to an abandoned alley, where Harry called for Piper (one of the female Potter house elves) to apparate himself and Tori onto a Potter private island, this one being located somewhere of the northwestern coast of Ireland. The house was a decent-sized one-floor building. Inside was a cozy living room, a big kitchen with a counter island, two bedrooms that connected to a master bathroom, while a second bathroom was located close by the living room.

"So far so good?" asked Harry.

"Uh huh!" Tori responded in a high-pitched voice.

Tori entered one of the bedroom while Harry entered the other, where they both got their suitcases out and returned them to normal sizes. As part of the plan, Harry and Tori decided that swimming in the water was first, so they changed into swimsuits. They both exited their respective rooms and Harry felt his jaw drop to see Tori in a blue bikini. This was the first time he got to see a girl in a bikini, like actually see it and not view pictures of such. Tori also got a good look at Harry's muscular torso and reacted the same way as Harry. Coming to their senses, Harry and Tori walked to the front door, with Harry opening it to let Tori outside first due to being strictly adamant on the ladies first policy. Once he was outside, the two cast some spells to protect them from sunburns (but still allow them to work on their tan) and began jogging towards the water and jumped in, deciding to have a playful splash war.

The End!

Author's note: I'll leave it up to you to decide which country Harry and Tori will visit after their time on the island.