Chapter 29

Moments

A few months after their return from Britain found the trio of Potters and Park sitting quietly in the school cafeteria at the Academy. They were joined by a small segment of the popular set as so frequently happened; while they were not terribly close to the group, they did consider them friends. Christmas vacation was coming up in a few weeks, and they were discussing their respective plans.

"What are you guys doing?" asked Libby, turning a curious gaze on the three of them.

Ginny blinked. "We don't have any plans yet," she frowned. "Just spending time together I guess."

It was fairly well known by now that Emily was living with them for some reason, though nobody knew why. They all seemed to think that she was just a very shy girl, and that something had happened to her parents. None of the three were terribly interested in explaining the truth, either.

"Oh," frowned Libby, before she then turned to Rebecca. "You?"

Rebecca winced. "We were supposed to go to Catalina," she frowned. "They had it all reserved and everything, but the company called a couple days ago and cancelled the charter for some reason. They haven't been able to get another reservation yet, so I don't know."

"Catalina Island?" asked Ginny curiously. "They were going to charter a boat?"

"Yeah, we do it every couple of years," nodded Rebecca. "I was going to invite everyone this year actually. It's a lot of fun."

Ginny could feel Harry's sudden interest, and caught an amused look from Emily, who probably knew what was going through their heads. It was an unusual coincidence, but they were used to that by now. And, in a way, it might actually prove useful to them if they could pull it off.

They were rather ambivalent about their upcoming graduation, mostly because they had no idea what they wanted to do afterward. Careers in magical society just seemed pointless to them. And there wasn't really much outside of it that they were interested in either.

The two possibilities they'd come up with so far were purchasing and renovating yachts to sell at a profit, or operating a small charter business.

She wasn't surprised to find that Harry was staring at her, probably thinking the same thing she was. One of their concerns about running a charter business was that they didn't know if they would even like it. But what if they could do a test run of sorts? This had potential.

Yeah? she sent to him.

Yeah, he replied simply.

Ginny turned back to the table to find everyone staring at them.

"What?" she blinked.

"You were a million miles away again," smirked Bruce.

Ginny shook her head and ignored Emily's amused giggle, instead looking at Rebecca. "Are your parents still wanting to do the cruise?" she asked directly.

"If they could get one," the girl shrugged, "but they can't."

"How many passengers?" asked Ginny seriously.

Rebecca blinked. "Dunno," she frowned. "With all of us too? Maybe a dozen or so?"

Ginny thought for a moment. "It's, what, maybe a four or five hour trip if I'm remembering the local charts correctly?" she mused, looking at Harry.

"About that I think," he nodded. "We'd need to rent a dock or something, though, and one that size might not be so easy to come by over a holiday."

"Go call them," she suggested. "Worst case, we'll use it ourselves anyway."

"Good idea," he nodded.

There was a long silence as Harry stood from the table, already digging in his pocket for his cell phone, and wandered off to find a quiet corner. Everyone else was baffled by this turn of events, which seriously amused Ginny. Emily's eyes were dancing, too.

"Okay, I think we missed something," frowned Rebecca. "Renting a dock?"

"Or something," shrugged Ginny. "Not sure what they have out there that would accommodate us. We've not been to Catalina before."

"Wait, are you saying you have a boat?" frowned Bruce.

Emilly giggled harder, and Ginny blinked slowly back at Bruce as though he was being obtuse. She was very well aware that only Emily knew where they lived, but she was having far too much fun acting like it was common knowledge or something. She took her fun where she could get it.

"Yeeesss," she confirmed with a slow nod.

Libby snorted, though. "I doubt a ski boat is going to take a dozen people out to Catalina," she snarked.

"Who said anything about a ski boat?" frowned Ginny. And then she derailed them all by turning back to Rebecca. "So who all usually gets invited?"

"Just family and friends," shrugged Rebecca. "I don't know who was on the list this year, but it's usually mostly adults. Us kids end up wandering the island, which is pretty fun."

"Do you stay on the boat or get a hotel or something?" she asked.

"Oh, hotels, big time," snorted Rebecca. "The charter boats aren't big enough to actually stay on."

It was at that moment that Harry strolled back over and sat down, a thoughtful look plastered on his face. Ginny had been keeping tabs, but emotionally he was just thoughtful too, so there wasn't much to go on. She raised an eyebrow at him in silent query.

"We'll have to moor in Two Harbors," he told her. "They don't have anything else, really. But it's only a bit over a hundred bucks a day for the mooring, so I got us reservations for the week leading up to Christmas."

"If we're mooring in a harbor, how do we get the passengers to shore?" she wondered.

"They have shore boat rentals," he shrugged. "That shouldn't be an issue, we just call on the radio when we're ready."

"That works," she nodded. And then she turned back to a very surprised Rebecca. "We need to talk to your parents," she told the girl. "If they agree, then we're set."

"Wait, you're serious," breathed Rebecca.

"Completely," nodded Ginny.

"Okay," said Libby slowly. "I guess we know what we're doing for Christmas now. And isn't that a surprise?"

===[~]===

Rebecca gave them contact information for her parents, and they stopped by over the weekend to discuss things with them. Amusingly, Rebecca herself was off with Libby doing something or other, and thus she missed out. Her parents were ecstatic, though, once they realized that Harry and Ginny truly were serious.

On the day, Ginny made her way up the stairs from the dock to find a fairly large group of people in the parking lot of the marina. She was a little nervous — they'd never had so many people on board, let alone strangers — but endeavored to keep that off her face. Bruce was the first to spot her and alerted Rebecca and Libby, but she didn't give them the chance to rush over.

"Everyone?" she called out, drawing everyone's attention. "We're heading for that big yacht down there at the end," she told them, pointing it out. "If you'll follow me please, I'll escort you aboard." With a grin, she added, "And don't forget your luggage!"

A number of them chuckled, and Ginny led them down the dock. Emily, who had been waiting at the bottom of the stairs, brought up the rear to ensure they didn't lose anyone. Meanwhile, Rebecca rushed up to talk to her.

"That's where we're going?" she breathed, staring out at the Escape Artist.

"Yup," grinned Ginny.

Rebecca's subsequent stunned silence was highly entertaining. None of their friends had known about the Artist, and not even because they were hiding it. It truly just hadn't come up before; they didn't tend to invite people over because it was their sanctuary. This was a first.

She guided them up the gangway and back to the aft salon, which was one of the few places on board where they could gather this many people all at once. As big as it was, the yacht wasn't really large enough to accommodate twenty passengers if they were staying for any length of time, but fortunately they weren't. They would be disembarking as soon as they got to the island.

Harry was waiting for her at the front of the salon, and had placed a step ladder there so she could see over the crowd. She immediately stepped up to the top of it, and waited until Emily slipped in and closed the door, which told her that everyone was here. Now it was time to get things started.

"May I have your attention please?" she called out.

The extensive murmuring dropped off, and she looked out over the sea of faces. True to Rebecca's prediction, it was mostly adults, but there were a few younger folk there. And their friends were standing in a knot off to one side.

"Thank you," she finally said. "My name is Ginny Potter, and I'll be your First Mate today." Pointing Harry out she added, "This is my husband Harry, and he'll be our Captain. In the back by the door there is Emily Park, she's our deckhand."

Turning remarkably serious, she laid down the law. "Regardless of our age, all three of us are fully qualified and take our jobs very seriously, and on these decks our authority is absolute. Please bear that in mind when interacting with us."

Ginny scanned the crowd and met a few gazes to drive the point home, and while there were some skeptical looks, she didn't see anything that looked like a brewing problem, much to her relief. Being as young as they were was annoying: adults tended not to take them seriously. Fortunately it wouldn't likely be a problem with this crowd.

"Also be aware that this is our home, ladies and gentleman. Please don't poke into private areas." With a grin she explained, "We won't take it any better than you would if we snooped in your master bedroom."

That got a few chuckles out of her audience.

"The pilothouse up front, the flybridge up at the very top, and all engineering spaces are absolutely off limits unless one of us expressly invites you. This is a very large yacht, and operating it is very serious business, so please respect that. We don't want any accidents."

She wasn't surprised when she got some approving nods. Part of the purpose of giving the speech was to impress upon their passengers that they took the job seriously, in order to make them more comfortable. And they needed these people to take them seriously.

"As you know, our destination is Two Harbors at Catalina Island. We expect the journey to take just over five hours at our normal cruising speed. Once we arrive we will moor in the harbor there, which will take a short while. After that we will call for a boat to come out and take you all to shore, and one will bring you back when the time comes."

Ginny smiled brightly at her silent audience. "Please feel free to explore at your leisure. There are drinks and snacks aplenty in the galley amidships. It's a beautiful day out, so my personal recommendation is to enjoy the upper decks. And above all else, ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard the Escape Artist! We hope you enjoy your trip with us today!"

She actually got a round of applause for that, and with a grin, headed for the door. They were pretty much ready; they just had to pull the lines in, start the engines, and off they would go.

Ginny was truly looking forward to it.

===[~]===

They were two hours into the trip when Ginny went wandering to see how their passengers were doing. She received a lot of complements during that time; they were impressed. Most of the adults probably realized just how much the thing was worth.

She found their friends sitting in the forward salon as she headed back to the pilothouse.

"Having fun?" she grinned at them.

"Oh. My. God, Ginny!" burst Libby. "Why didn't you tell us you had a yacht like this?"

"It never came up," she shrugged.

"Do you have any idea how much fun we can have?" asked Bruce seriously. "You totally should have told us! We could go everywhere!"

Ginny slipped into an armchair; Harry had things under control right now. Navigating open waters was the easy part. The fun would come when they got to the harbor.

"Yeah, no," she snorted.

"Why not?" frowned Rebecca. "I mean, he's right! We could go to San Diego, or up north, or…"

Ginny just shook her head. "Do you know how much fuel we're using right now?" she asked in a seeming non-sequitur.

"Uh, no," frowned Libby.

"I didn't think so," said Ginny. "Those big engines are sucking down a hundred fifty gallons of diesel every hour, give or take."

"No way," frowned Bruce.

"Way," nodded Ginny. "This boat has a ten thousand gallon fuel tank, Bruce. Do the math on how much it costs to fill it up."

"Holy shit," breathed Rebecca.

"Exactly," nodded Ginny. "Mainly, this is our home. We live here. We only very occasionally take it places. If we wanted to do things like this regularly, we would need a much smaller boat."

"You didn't tell us it was that expensive," came a voice from the side.

Ginny turned to see Rebecca's father frowning at her. She could understand where he was coming from, but then he didn't know just how well off they were. They made more than enough in interest alone to cruise a few times a year if they wanted to. Not that they were careless about it.

"Because we're not worried about it, Mr. Chambers," she smiled. "Like we told you, we wanted to see if this is something we would enjoy doing for a living. And we would have gone to Catalina anyway, it's been been on our list for a while. This is just killing two birds with one stone."

He didn't seem all that convinced, but she wasn't too terribly worried about that. If he spent any serious time with them, he would learn soon enough.

===[~]===

Catalina turned out to be a beautiful place, and they enjoyed themselves thoroughly. Everyone else stayed in a hotel on shore, but Harry, Ginny, and Emily returned to the yacht each evening, which was also something of a relief. The place was busy, and it was peaceful on the water, which gave them a chance to rest in the evenings.

The trip back was just as uneventful as the trip there.

Their friends were still stunned by it all, which amused them to no end. Emily found it hilarious actually, not that most could tell. Libby especially was one of the "big fish" on campus, and to learn that the relatively reclusive Potters outstripped her in every meaningful way was an eye-opener for the girl.

Libby was Emily's least favorite of their friends, and she thought the girl might have deserved being taken down a peg, however subtly and unintentionally.

Now having returned home, they were pulling into the marina, and Emily was waiting on deck next to Harry getting ready to tie up. Ginny was rotating the yacht so she could back it into their spot. Most of the passengers were also out on the deck, but Emily was ignoring them as much as she could.

Having discussed the future with the Potters, she knew that they were thinking about a charter business. While she was aware that such a job would not always be smooth sailing so to speak, she found that she actually rather enjoyed the work. If they started the business she would likely sign up, even if it was just as a deckhand or something.

Besides, for all that she now knew they wouldn't kick her out just because she turned eighteen, having one more reason to stay with them was fine by her.

The yacht swung ponderously around, and soon the dock came into view. It would just be a few more minutes. And then she saw Harry stiffen, his eyes sharpening into a laser-like focus. Worried, she followed his gaze.

Her eyes landed on a man standing at the railing above the dock. She had no idea who he was, but Harry very clearly did. And whether he was happy about it or not was oddly difficult to determine. He was certainly wary, though.

"H-harry?" she prompted.

He glanced at her only briefly. "Later," he said quietly. "Let's get everyone off board and then we'll deal with that. He's not dangerous as far as I know, I just don't know why he's here." With a frown he added, "Or how."

Emily frowned, but nodded just the same. The man was just standing up there, and she noted that he looked fairly run down. It was difficult to truly see his expression at this distance, but she thought maybe he was smiling about something.

Ten minutes later, after a few extra minutes of effusive thanks from Rebecca's parents to all three of them, Emily escorted the passengers off the Artist and back to the parking lot. It was just courtesy, really; they could have found their way on their own. But all three of them wanted the job done correctly, so here she was.

And as the last of them thanked her and wandered away, the man she'd seen earlier approached. She couldn't help that she stiffened up; she didn't like strangers. At all.

"Hello," he said politely. "I don't suppose I could speak with Harry?"

Emily stared at him for a long moment. "W-who a-are you?" she asked.

"My name is Remus Lupin."

===[~]===

A/N: Three hundred reviews! Yow! Thank you all so much for your support!

I'm pleased and amazed by Emily's reception; I'm glad that you all enjoy her as much as I do. She's one of those random characters that just resonated. This scene was random, written just for amusement and to set up the next chapter, along with providing a tiny insight as to the current life of the Potters.

On the topic of Molly & Dumbledore, there will unfortunately be no scenes with them. I think I already addressed Molly; her mental state would be very difficult to write, and I doubt I could do it justice. Dumbledore, on the other hand, is probably too busy enduring forced memories of Ariana's death or something. He is, after all, a guest of the dementors. If I ever do an extended edition, showing a visit to Molly from Ginny's perspective might not go amiss.

Here's your second chapter for today, to make up for yesterday! Just a few more chapters to go…