Chapter 14: Under the Sea

Harry and everyone (In case you don't remember: Harry, the Weasleys, the Grangers, the Longbottoms, and Oliver) were having a quiet peaceful breakfast. They were up really early so they could watch the animals from the massive lobby window. Percy decided to break the silence.

"I hope everyone is enjoying themselves, for I personally feel this is truly an exciting experience," Percy said proudly. "While I have all your attention, I'd like to give you a few words on the work put in to planning the Wizards' convention. As my father has told you all, the convention began years and years ago. There is a lot of work and organization and the ministry has truly done its best this year. Being part of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, I felt I would get the job done. Mr. Bagman, although head of Magical Game and Sport, had also graciously volunteered to head the committee, which I feel was a big mistake. The man didn't know anything, and from recently dodging goblins and all that, he was not prepared to handle such a job…"

"Hermione, please!" Ron pleaded to her at the end of the table.

"As much as I'd love to curse him with the Laryngitis spell, I won't. There are too many muggles around," Hermione said.

"…and furthermore, the convention is one of the greatest events in the entire world and-"

"It really is him!" a boy said out loud from the entrance of the food court. He was with a small group of other kids.

"I told ya! I told ya I met him!" Mary Sue Greenberg said. "He knows me too! Hiya Hairy! Good Mornin'!"

Harry looked up, and gave a weak smile. He was glad though, because they had interrupted one of Percy's most insipid lectures. The group of kids, rather "tweens", rushed over to meet Harry.

"Hairy Potter!" the boy said. "I'm so happy to meet you! I learned all about you in school!"

"Can you sign my autograph book?" a girl said, thrusting it in front of Harry.

"Can I shake your hand Hairy?" another boy said, taking Harry's hand. People began to stop eating and stared.

"Wow, I can see the scar!"

"OoOoOoOo! Lemme see it!"

"Can I touch it?"

"Wow!"

"Hold it!" Percy said out loud. "We're trying to have breakfast! Please clear out of the way!" People who didn't stop eating earlier stopped eating now and began to stare with everyone else. The group of tweens cleared out and took a table nearby. They all sat down and watched Harry eat.

"They're staring," Harry said quietly.

"Just try to ignore them," Hermione said.

"How? I feel like a goldfish!" Harry said. He tried to eat, but felt so nervous and embarrassed that he dropped his fork. The tweens all got up and once and fought for the fork.

"I have Hairy Potter's breakfast fork! And there's still some egg on it!" A girl squealed.

"Oh you're so lucky!"

"Can I hold it?"

"I hope he drops his spoon!"

"Oh for Pete's sake…Would you all please go away!" Hermione said, almost screaming. She was very much annoyed with them. They all froze and looked at her.

"Hairy Potter's girlfriend!" A boy said in amazement.

"Ooo, I hope he drops her," another boy said.

"Ugh, she just wants him for herself," a girl said.

"Come on, maybe we can watch from behind those plants."

"Or we could try and blend in with that mural of monkeys."

"Yeah, let's go!" They all left and apparently, tried to blend in with the monkeys.

"I can't stay here," Harry said, getting up. Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny agreed and they all left, surrounding Harry as they exited. The fan club saw he was leaving and they shuffled along the wall.

"My goodness, these Americans…" Ron said, looking over his soldier at the fan club who suddenly stopped and posed like statues next to some tribal masks. "Looks like they're your number one fans!"

"They haven't met Colin," Harry said.

"Just ignore them," Hermione said again. "Look, the giraffes are out." They all sat comfortably in front of the large window and watched the Savannah plain come alive…

* * *

"EPCOT?" Ginny asked. "Isn't that like a small bed?"

"No, it stands for the Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow," Harry said, reading the fine print of the guidebook. "There's a lot of new technologies they show off here, as well as the World Showcase."

"Fascinating," Mr. Weasley said, reading over Harry's shoulder. The shuttle was heading for EPCOT and the group found they were the only ones on (They being: Harry, the Weasley's, the Grangers, the Longbottoms, Penelope Clearwater and Oliver).

"Here we are!" the shuttle driver said. "Have a magical day! Remember, I come back at this spot every hour if you ever feel the need to return to the Animal Kingdom Lodge."

"Thank you, sir," Mrs. Weasley said. "Come my chickies!" They all trudged down the shuttle steps and found themselves in a large parking lot. Spaceship Earth could been seen, sitting atop the trees. They headed towards the entrance, and all the wizards' and witches' heads were pointed up, for they were overwhelmed with the giant golf ball.

"Now what's that?" Percy asked no one in particular.

"Maybe it's art," Penelope said.

"No, it's the world's largest and fanciest quaffle!" Oliver said in delight.

"Spaceship Earth," Hermione said. "It's a geosphere, often confused with the geodesic dome. For a dome is only one half a sphere, while Spaceship Earth is an entire sphere. You could see that it is a three dimensional tesselation using obtuse triangles and creating a pattern of equilateral triangles."

"We don't need the geometry lecture," Ron said.

"I think it's beautiful," Ginny said in awe of the shining sphere.

"Hmmm…my guide says to ride this one at the end of the day," Harry said. "The lines should be much shorter."

"That's a ride!?" Neville said, still staring at Spaceship Earth.

"Oh how nifty," Grammy Longbottom said. "They've got maps in all the different languages."

"Is there an English one?" Neville asked.

"Of course," Hermione said, picking an English map. "See they all say the map's language…here, English, or do we get the American one…that's stupid, what's the difference?"

"Look here," Ron said, pointing at some of the attractions descriptions. "The little man and woman symbol means the 'loo' … all the sandwich menu items at the "Electric Umbrella" come with 'chips'…"

"That's odd," Mrs. Granger commented. "The park just opened and a whole section of maps is missing…" Just then, the large Chinese tour group walked by.

"Yeah, they took the last ones," a young Asian girl said to her mother when she found all the 'Chinese' maps were gone. She turned around and Penelope cried out:

"Oh my goodness, what are you doing here?" Penelope asked the girl.

"My relatives are having a reunion and I'm on holiday with Hogwarts silly," the girl said, hugging her old friend. Harry turned his head and saw whom Penelope had been talking to. Harry felt his knees shaking and his heart began to beat very fast.

"What's the matter Harry?" Ron asked. Harry didn't respond. He just kept staring at her. The one he had felt was the most wonderful person in the world (If you don't know whom the author is speaking of, stop reading my story and pick up Prisoner of Azkaban you silly goose).

"Well, I've got to go," the girl said waving good bye. "The tour group is far ahead. See you later!"

"Hi-Ch-Ch-…Hi-"

"You're too late, Harry," Ron said. "She's gone already."

"Hi Ch-Cho!"

"Harry, you all right?"

"Sorry…Let's get going." One of the sleek swift monorail trains circled around Future World, making EPCOT seem even more like the community of tomorrow. The beautiful Entrance Plaza contained large razor like structures jutting out from the ground. If you looked close enough, you could see pictures of the many guests who have visited EPCOT. This was the Leave a Legacy area from the millenium celebration.

"So much to do, so much to see, but so little time to do it all," Percy sighed, staring at the vast park that lay ahead of them. He looked at the park map and made the first decision of the day. "The Living Sea sounds interesting. We've never been to the ocean before. I suggest we try that first." Everyone agreed, for Harry's only visit to the sea was at the crumbly old shack on the pathetic island he had escaped to with the Dursleys the summer before his first year at Hogwarts.

"The Living Seas is the largest facility ever dedicated to humanity's relationship with the ocean," the cast member, who was majoring in marine biology, explained to the group. Harry read along in his guide. "The facility was designed by Disney Imagineers and some of the worlds most distinguished oceanographic experts and scientists."

"Are we going to see any fish?" Neville asked.

"Yes, of course. As you soon will see, the hydrolators will take you under the sea and through a coral reef where you'll see fish, but also turtles, sharks, and even dolphins!"

"What's a hydrolator?" Ginny asked.

"That's a very good question," she said. "They're elevators that send you down under water to our coral reef."

"What are elevators?" Ron asked.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said. "I guess you call them lifts."

"What are-"

"Oh Ron, don't be so stupid," Percy interrupted.

"If you'll follow me, I can take you to the hydrolat- hydrolifts," the cast member said, smiling. They all followed her to the long line of sliding doors. They opened and revealed small capsules with windows. They could see they were inside some kind of rocky shaft. Harry, the Weasley's, the Longbottoms, Penelope, and Oliver piled into the hydrolator. The hydrolator began to descend down the shaft and the water level rose up the window and the hydrolator was indeed underwater, where it opened into a loading area with a long continuous tram. The tram moved along the floor and through the giant aquarium containing the coral reef. The site was amazing! Fish and turtles and all that swam lazily around the reef in the clear blue water.

"Welcome to Sea Base Alpha," another cast member greeted. "Here you'll find a research facility where you can all learn much about the sea. Please take this time to explore this wonderful facility!"

"Oh look, Mummy!" Ginny said, pointing into the tank. "There are mermen!"

"Oh my, Ginny's right!" Mrs. Weasley said. "But they look awfully funny for mermen. They have some sort of giant seashell on their backs."

"Oh those aren't mermen," Harry explained.

"Is that a scuba diver?" Ron asked, remembering when they had discussed scuba gear last school year.

"Yes. Those tanks on their backs give them air to breathe," Harry said. After about an hour of learning about the ocean, they all left the Living Seas for a light snack (Yeah, I'm eating Jello today…yum!).

"The Land has a food court," Harry said, reading about the Sunshine Season Food Fair in his guide. They reached The Land pavilion and found themselves at a large building with a tall tubeish blue glass dome roof. Harry's guide explained that the entire attraction was dedicated to the most wonderful thing in the world- food!

EPCOT! YEA! I hope you're enjoying this and sorry for the late update!

Hello Putercat, I know you're reading this so…what do you mean by "It's a REAL tree"? You'll find out more about Draco and the voice soon. We'll see the writer of the letter soon. Please keep reading!

Thank you for reading my story fulvia and rainbowspy! I love that you love my story! Also, Calliope, thanx for giving me that bit o' news. Disney Magazine had said it should've opened in fall, but thanx for telling me! I read aout it in Birnbaum's Guide 2003 and hoped no one would notice the wrong date…anyway, thank you all!

Tiger Lily, Xenia, Salior Sol, and Zephyre, thanx for staying with this from the beginning! Thank you all again!