Disclaimer- I still don't own them, as you should well know by now.

The Return of the Camping Trip

Chapter 5: Swimming and Planning

When George and Hermione woke up the next morning, they kicked back in their tent, deciding what to do for the day. "Oh, I know!" George said excitedly.

"What?" Hermione asked, a rather large yawn escaping her.

"Let's go swimming!" he told her, already reaching for his backpack and pulling out his gray trunks.

"My, someone is enthusiastic!" she commented, shaking her head. George was now stripping off his pajamas and pulling on his suit.

"Well, swimming was one of my favorite parts of our last trip," he said slyly, a large grin decorating his face.

"Okay, loverboy," Hermione said jokingly, now searching for her bathing suit. "Go get everything set up by the water, I'll be down in a minute." George quickly gathered several fluffy towels, a bottle of sunblock, a canteen of water, and the rest of the beach necessities, blowing a kiss to Hermione as he ducked out of the tent.

Settling everything down on the sandy shore, George sat down on a towel and waited for Hermione to appear. When she did, George's lips curled upward in a huge smile. She was clad in the navy-blue bikini he had seen her pack, with a matching wrap tied loosely on her hips and Hawaiian-print sandals adorning her feet. Letting out a low wolf-whistle, George grinned as Hermione let her hips swing wider than usual as she approached.

"Hmm," he said appreciatively, "you look good enough to eat."

"I know," Hermione replied nonchalantly, as she stretched out on the towel beside him and placed her sunglasses on the bridge of her nose; her quiet laugh told George that she'd just been kidding. "Hand me the sunscreen, would you?"

As soon as Hermione was satisfied with both of their protection from the UV-rays, George ran to the edge of the water, quickly jumping in, as per his usual reaction to swimming.

After swimming alone for ten minutes, George became immensely bored. "Aren't you ever going to get in, Mione?"

"I'm tanning right now," she drawled lazily, removing her sunglasses and closing her eyes. "Maybe later."

Immediately giving way to his mischievous impulses, George quietly snuck out of the water. Approaching very carefully, he stopped mere inches from Hermione's prone body. Without a word, George bent down and lifted Hermione's body from the towel, slinging her over his shoulder.

"George Weasley!" she shrieked as he walked waist-deep into the water, her fists landing on his back, "You put me down this instant!"

George smirked broadly when he felt Hermione tense up at the realization of what she'd said. "Whatever you say, love," he said, quickly tossing Hermione into the water. She came up glaring and spitting out mouthfuls of water.

Letting a fit of laughter escape his lips, George nearly doubled over. "That was not funny!" Hermione cried, brushing wet locks of hair out of her face. George immediately relented with his laughter.

"Not even a little, teeny bit?" he asked timidly, placing his thumb and forefinger centimeters apart for emphasis.

Hermione sighed heavily. "Okay," she said exasperatedly, "maybe it was a bit funny." Suddenly a look of shock hit her face. "What is that?" she asked loudly, pointing across the lake.

George quickly spun around and peered in the direction she indicated, squinting. "I don't see anything Mione. What is i-" He was immediately cut off as Hermione jumped on his back and sent both of them underwater. Struggling to escape from Hermione's clutches, George eventually had to resort to tickling her so he could take a breath.

"You know," Hermione said through her laughter. "This is two times now that you've fallen for the oldest trick in the book. 'Look over there,' honestly!" George simply sneered at her and swam out in the water.

"If you want to be that way, then fine!" he said, sniffling jokingly.

Hermione's incessant laughter halted. "I'm sorry, George," she called as he swam further away from her. "Please come back." George quickly Apparated by her side.

"As you wish," he said, leaning in to kiss her. Or so Hermione thought. Just before their lips met, with his arms wrapped around her, George dunked Hermione under the water.

"Hey!" Hermione yelled just before she was submerged again.

"Mwahaha!" George laughed evilly. "You shall never defeat me!"

"Oh yeah?" she asked pausing as she was sent under again. "We'll see about that." Hermione quickly wrapped her arms around George's neck and kissed him deeply, deterring George from sending her under any more.

Pulling back minutes later, George stood in the water with a dazed expression. "I guess I was right. You do taste pretty good."

"Shut your trap," Hermione teased, pushing George under again, their mutual laughter filling the air.

******

Around the fire that evening, George and Hermione took to discussing the future. "So, how do you see us in ten years?" Hermione asked, turning her head to look at George.

"What do you mean?" George replied, giving her a puzzled look.

"Well," she replied, turning her whole body now, "What we'll be doing, the house we'll live in, how many kids, what pets; that sort of thing."

"Oh," he said, smiling whimsically, "Well, we'll be out of our flat by then, into a huge, two-story place, with six bedrooms and a study and a den and a huge back yard for lots of Quidditch."

"Sounds good so far," Hermione said, "What else?"

"The joke shop is going to be doing great by then, and you'll only have to work so you aren't bored all day. Me and Fred will have another location in Hogsmeade, and maybe a couple other places. And we'll hire people to work, so all I'll have to do is manage things. Maybe we can both stay home all day and be all over each other all the time.

"And we'll have three kids. The oldest will be a girl, Kaylen, and she's going to look almost exactly like you. And then we'll have twin boys, named Thomas and Nathan. They're going to look a bit more like me, but all three of them will be as smart as you."

Hermione stared at him, shocked. "So you've really thought about this, huh?"

"Sure," George replied nonchalantly. "Oh, and we're going to have a cat named Tessa, and a tawny owl we'll call Geno, and maybe a nice big Labrador dog to play fetch with in the backyard."

"Wow…" Hermione said, blinking rapidly.

"What, you didn't know I thought about all of that?" he asked, surprised.

"Well, I figured that you'd thought about it, but not that much! I hadn't thought names for our children yet, much less our pets," she said, grinning.

"I just wanted to have a good idea of what our life will be like, I guess," he said almost defensively, pushing a rock on the ground with the toe of his shoe.

"I like it that you've got such a good picture," Hermione told him, placing a hand on George's back. "That tells me that you're going to be a wonderful husband and father."

"You think so?" George questioned.

"Of course," she replied, "And you know, I'm going to be a nervous wreck when you start teaching our kids to play Quidditch. I got nervous enough watching you play at Hogwarts!

"And then, I know how sad I'll be when they go to Hogwarts. It'll be awful for me, and you'll pretend not to laugh while I cry, but I know you will. And when we'll get home and you'll see how empty the house is, your eyes will water, too."

"Oh, really?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "How do you come to that conclusion?"

"Because you are a really sentimental guy, even though you try to hide it and act all macho. I saw you get all teary when we watched Titanic at my house over the Christmas holidays my last year at Hogwarts!"

"I did not!" he cried indignantly, his face quickly coloring. "I did no such thing!"

"Sure, sure," Hermione said, waving him off. Them, very quietly, she began to sing under her breath. "Every night in my dreams, I see you, I feel you..."

"Shut up, shut up!" George yelled, placing his hands over his ears.

Of course, Hermione wasn't to be deterred. "Near, Far, Wherever you are, I believe that the heart does go on…"

"Ack!" he called, collapsing back onto the ground, clutching at his throat. "Can't… breathe! Must… stop… awful music!"

"Once more, You open the- hey cut it out!" she shouted, laughing profusely as George's fingers dug into her ribs, effectively tickling her.

"This is proper payback, I think!" he said, grinning maniacally as he continued his tickling.

"NOOO!" Hermione yelled, struggling to free herself from his grip; her breathing was now labored from laughing so hard. George continually tickled her sides with his left hand, moving his right down and pulling off one of her shoes and a sock. As he began to tickle her foot, Hermione lost it. Pulling her wand from her pocket, she hastily cried "Rictusempra!"

George crumpled onto the leafy ground as he was hit with the Tickling Charm, letting out shrieking laughs. "No, Mione! I'm sorry!" he choked out.

"And you aren't going to do it again?" she asked, pointing her wand threateningly.

"I won't! I promise!" he managed through the laughter.

"Finite Incantatem!" Hermione said, George's body straightening out.

George glared. "You are evil," he said, his breath slowly returning to normal.

"Yes, but you love me anyway," she said as she laid down beside him, resting her head on his chest, staring out at the stars.

"Yeah, I do," he said, softly kissing her forehead and turning his attention to the stars, as well.

******

(A/N- I can't even begin to apologize for the lateness of this chapter! I just got so caught up in The Consequences of Alcohol and Depression and finishing Hermione's Hero that I didn't even have time for this! This chapter is a bit longer than the others have been, and once again I apologize.

To my wonderful, lovely, perfect reviewers:

angelsmelody13- hey, thanks a lot!

PunkyPrincess13- yeah, I updated quick for a while! Sorry about that again!

HPFFG- thank you!

PracticalPrincess- thank you very much!

Mandy Moo- aww, thanks!

Uberscully- it wasn't so confusing to me! And you are correct, that was from the Simpsons!

Kate- now does that angsty stuff sound like me? I don't think so… and Happy Birthday again!

Eiljahsbaby1981- yeah, sorry bout the 'not updating soon' bit! Just read the next chap to Love Comes Quickly… it was quite good (mushy kisses, * sigh * Okay, it wasn't mushy, but there was kissing nonetheless)

Megaroni- well, they're young, in love, and on vacation, so of course they're, um, yeah… thanks to you very mucho!

As I said, I'm sorry, and I hope I can get out the next chapter much sooner. Sorry again!)