AN: I'm sorry I've left it so long to update- massive thanks for all the
great reviews I've had- keep them coming; this chapter's a bit slow to get
off, but I have to set the scene for the next lot, which I promise to be
full of surprises!!
"Can you dust yourselves off please?" Lavender said as Ron, Harry and Hermione appeared in the fireplace of an impressive room. Hermione rubbed the dust from her eyes and looked in astonishment at the room before her. A large, bay window occupied the wall opposite the fireplace, looking out onto an extensive lawn. Plush cream sofas were placed facing each other, with a small, low coffee table in the middle. To Harry, it looked pretty much like a muggle house, except of course for levitating candles and an elf.
"A house elf?" Hermione asked in dismay, "I can't believe you have a house elf!"
"Dixie's not a house elf," Lavender said laughing, "Yeah she's an elf, but she's only our cleaner," she explained, "Since my parents think there's a housekeeper staying here, I thought I should actually keep the house clean.well, Dixie should keep the house clean anyway," she added with a grin. Hermione was slightly relieved, but she still didn't see why an elf should have to do the cleaning, but she kept quiet to avoid an argument so early on.
"It's a great house!" Harry exclaimed, breaking the silence as he shook off the dust and climbed out of the fireplace, followed by Ron and Hermione.
"Yeah, it's ok," Lavender commentated, "We're thinking off moving to somewhere bigger though."
"Bigger?" Ron cried out, "This place is bloody massive!"
"Have you been here before?" Hermione asked Ron.
"Technically, no," Ron replied with a grin, "But I did sneak in once to see Lav," he said throwing a cheeky look at Lavender.
"So shall we have the grand tour then?" Harry asked taking Hermione's hand and following Lavender into the next room. For the next hour or so, Lavender escorted them around the whole place; through the library and the kitchens, the ballroom where they entertained guests; up to the first floor bedrooms where her parents had their rooms; then up to the second floor rooms where Lavender had her private study and bathroom, with her sleeping room and her dayroom.
"A 'Dayroom'?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Yep!" Lavender replied happily, as she continued to open doors to more elaborate rooms. "And finally," Lavender said pausing on the landing, "I'll show you where your rooms will be," looking at both Harry and Hermione.
"Our?" they said at the same time. "Lav, I don't think." Harry started to say, but she cut him off.
"Now they're not as great as mine, which Ron will be sharing," she said looking suggestively at him, "but I think they'll be adequate." With a flick of her wand she uttered a few words and a door appeared in the wall. "This way," Lavender commanded, opening the door and proceeding to walk down the passageway. The passage ended in an open hallway with three doors leading off.
"This is one of the five guest suites that we have, and you can change the password to suit you in case you want some.privacy," she said. Hermione glanced at Harry with a slightly worried expression on her face; 'what does she think we'll get up to?' Hermione thought to herself.
"This door on the left leads to the bathroom, the middle door is the bedroom, and the door on the right leads downstairs to the rest of the house and the pool, so you don't have to go through my rooms to get downstairs." Lavender concluded. "So I'll leave you too to unpack and get settled then," she said brightly, taking Ron by the arm and guiding him back down the passage. "Come down for a swim when you're ready, we'll see you there!" she called after her.
Harry looked at Hermione and smiled; he was really looking forward to spending the holiday with her, and the fact they got their own rooms was even better.
"Shall we?" Harry asked holding out his had to her. Hermione went to take the hand offered and was swept off her feet by him into a cradle lift.
"Whaaa.?" she cried.
"We'll do it in style," Harry said as he opened the bedroom door and carried her through. Hermione gasped at the sight that met her eyes. A huge four-poster bed was sat next to the far wall by the window; the wooden bedstead was draped with light, satin curtains, falling gracefully about the three exposed sides of the bed. A gold patterned bedspread was visible through the drapes, with pillows that frequently fluffed themselves.
"It's beautiful," Hermione sighed as Harry put her down to survey the rest of the room. He wondered over to the huge, floor to ceiling window that looked out onto the pool.
"Wow!" he breathed as he saw the Olympic-sized pool complete with Jacuzzi, sauna and sun beds, not forgetting the fully equipped gym, which could be seen next to the poolroom. Hermione ran her hand along the mahogany dressing table. She sat on the stool in front of the mirror and gazed at her reflection. To her astonishment a face, which was not her own, appeared in the mirror.
"How would you like to look today?" the face said kindly.
"Um, nice?" Hermione uttered quietly.
"Only nice?" the voice said surprised, "I'm sure we can do better than that." And before Hermione knew what was happening, invisible hands were arranging her hair and applying make-up to her face. All she could do was sit and wait. Harry watched in amusement and Hermione's unruly hair was pinned up and her face was painted.
"Hermione, you look.um, 'nice'," Harry said trying not to laugh as she surveyed her reflection. She gasped in horror as she saw herself looking like her grandmother! "I think that mirror's used to older people," Harry said laughing openly now. Hermione crossly wiped off the offending make-up and pulled all the pins and clips out of her hair, allowing it to flow freely down her back.
"Much better," Harry said drawing him to her. He kissed her passionately until breathless they pulled apart.
"Harry, I think maybe we should go to pool, we could both do with a cool off," she added, as went over to her suitcase. "Right, now I have to find where I put my swimsuit," she mumbled to herself as Harry sorted out his own things. Pulling open the wardrobe doors Harry exclaimed in wonder.
"Wow! Check out this Hermione," he said pulling her over to look. "You can walk into this thing."
"That's nice," Hermione replied distractedly, "Where is it!" she said crossly.
"Where's what?" Harry asked, taking his eyes away from the wardrobe.
"My swimsuit" she snapped, "I was sure I put it in here," she added throwing clothes everywhere. Harry was pelted with skirts and jumpers and even underwear before Hermione eventually concluded she'd forgotten it.
"Look, I'm sure Lavender has one you can borrow," Harry suggested calmly, "That, or you could go naked," he added quirking his eyebrow.
"I'm not sure the other's would appreciate that," Hermione returned, but to Harry's relief she was smiling now.
"Might I suggest you peruse my collection," a male voice spoke up. Harry and Hermione looked about them expecting to see Ron, but there was no one else in the room.
"Over here," the voice said again. The voice seemed to coming from inside the wardrobe. "Yes that's right, this way," the voice said again, extending a door towards them. They walked cautiously into the wardrobe, which was framed with mirrors and lights.
"Right now if you'll just stand there.yes that's right," said the voice as Hermione stood up onto the round platform, "And I'll measure you for a fitting; what was it you wanted, a swimsuit?" the voice asked as invisible hands held a tape measure up to Hermione's limbs to take her size.
"Hey watch the hands mate!" Harry warned as Hermione's inner-leg measurement was made.
"Right, I'll just be a minute if you'll wait over there," the voice said. Hermione stepped down from the platform and stood with Harry in amazement as chests of drawers appeared from no-where, brimming over with clothes and costumes.
"Would you give us some privacy please," the voice said as swimsuits and bikinis of all sorts appeared floating on hangers. Harry reluctantly backed out of the wardrobe. After 15 minutes he was getting impatient.
"Hermione, they'll be wondering where we are!" Harry called to her through the wardrobe.
"Why don't you go down without me, I wont be long," she called back.
"Why? What are doing in there?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'll be down soon ok," was all she said, so all Harry could do was to go down and join the others.
"There you are!" Ron called from the pool as Harry entered the poolroom. "Where's Hermione?"
"Still deciding what to wear," Harry said casually as he dropped his towel and dived into the pool, almost colliding with Ron. Lavender was seated delicately on the edge of the Jacuzzi, admiring her golden tan she'd just acquired.
"It's great this new sun bed we got," she said excitedly, "You tell it what tan you want and it does it instantly! Don't worry about Hermione, she'd probably just discovered Georgie."
"Georgie?" Ron and Harry both said in surprise.
"Yeah, he was a great tailor or something when he was alive, and now his spirit resides inside that big wardrobe in your room; he'll have her there for hours if she's not careful!" she added with a laugh, "the guests love him." Harry thought worriedly at what Hermione might turn out in, but he was distressing over nothing since a few minutes later she appeared in a perfectly respectable bikini.
"Wow! Hermione, I didn't know you had legs," Ron exclaimed as he saw her long, shapely pins.
"Ron!" Lavender cried out.
"Of course not as great as yours," he added quickly, swimming over to her. Hermione slid into the water as Harry swan over to her.
"I love the new look, can you where this all the time?" he asked cheekily, grabbing her round the waist and lifting her out of the water.
"Watch it you," Hermione spluttered as Harry dropped her with a splash.
"Hey guys, what are we doing tomorrow?" Ron called as him and Lavender swam over to join them.
"Well, what is there to do?" Harry asked, before he dived under to grab Hermione's legs. Through Hermione's cries of protest, Ron managed to catch that the house was equipped with enough entertainment to mean that they needn't go anywhere.
"Won't we get bored?" Harry asked as he let go of Hermione.
"Bored?" Lavender exclaimed in a hurtful voice, "Is that how you repay me, after I've kindly let you stay here with me?" she demanded.
"Harry didn't mean that," Hermione said quickly, seeing the hostile looks on their faces, "He meant that we might want to explore where you live a bit, that's all."
"Well it's up to you," Lavender replied huffily.
"Lav, come on, we can't argue on our first day here," Ron said trying to make the peace. She didn't reply, but a smile did return to her face.
"Tell you what," Ron said eagerly, "I'll magic some food over here, because I don't know about you lot, but I'm starving!" With a flick of his wand, plates of delicious salads and meats or all kinds appeared, and the four friends tucked in.
Anyone observing the four teenagers wouldn't have guessed that they were anything but content; and had you asked them, they would have said that same. But little did they know what surprised lurked around the corner.
'Dear Hermione,' Faith wrote as she sat on the plane taking her home to America.
'I know you won't want anything to do with me once you discover what I did, but I want you to know sorry I am. I told him in a fit of despair what you were planning. At that point I didn't think you'd ever trust me to help you out, and when you did, I realised it was too late. I wish so much that I'd never had said anything to him but you know too well how convincing Draco can be. I just hope that if he ruins anything it's your holiday and not your relationship with Harry. Harry loves you very much, don't let Draco or anyone come between you. I'm sorry if this letter doesn't make much sense, but it's all I can do.'
Faith read, and re-read the letter over and over, but when the plane landed she couldn't bring herself to send it. 'Maybe Draco won't turn them in,' she thought to herself, but deep down she knew he'd use what she'd told him in some way to hurt them all.
"Can you dust yourselves off please?" Lavender said as Ron, Harry and Hermione appeared in the fireplace of an impressive room. Hermione rubbed the dust from her eyes and looked in astonishment at the room before her. A large, bay window occupied the wall opposite the fireplace, looking out onto an extensive lawn. Plush cream sofas were placed facing each other, with a small, low coffee table in the middle. To Harry, it looked pretty much like a muggle house, except of course for levitating candles and an elf.
"A house elf?" Hermione asked in dismay, "I can't believe you have a house elf!"
"Dixie's not a house elf," Lavender said laughing, "Yeah she's an elf, but she's only our cleaner," she explained, "Since my parents think there's a housekeeper staying here, I thought I should actually keep the house clean.well, Dixie should keep the house clean anyway," she added with a grin. Hermione was slightly relieved, but she still didn't see why an elf should have to do the cleaning, but she kept quiet to avoid an argument so early on.
"It's a great house!" Harry exclaimed, breaking the silence as he shook off the dust and climbed out of the fireplace, followed by Ron and Hermione.
"Yeah, it's ok," Lavender commentated, "We're thinking off moving to somewhere bigger though."
"Bigger?" Ron cried out, "This place is bloody massive!"
"Have you been here before?" Hermione asked Ron.
"Technically, no," Ron replied with a grin, "But I did sneak in once to see Lav," he said throwing a cheeky look at Lavender.
"So shall we have the grand tour then?" Harry asked taking Hermione's hand and following Lavender into the next room. For the next hour or so, Lavender escorted them around the whole place; through the library and the kitchens, the ballroom where they entertained guests; up to the first floor bedrooms where her parents had their rooms; then up to the second floor rooms where Lavender had her private study and bathroom, with her sleeping room and her dayroom.
"A 'Dayroom'?" Hermione asked in disbelief.
"Yep!" Lavender replied happily, as she continued to open doors to more elaborate rooms. "And finally," Lavender said pausing on the landing, "I'll show you where your rooms will be," looking at both Harry and Hermione.
"Our?" they said at the same time. "Lav, I don't think." Harry started to say, but she cut him off.
"Now they're not as great as mine, which Ron will be sharing," she said looking suggestively at him, "but I think they'll be adequate." With a flick of her wand she uttered a few words and a door appeared in the wall. "This way," Lavender commanded, opening the door and proceeding to walk down the passageway. The passage ended in an open hallway with three doors leading off.
"This is one of the five guest suites that we have, and you can change the password to suit you in case you want some.privacy," she said. Hermione glanced at Harry with a slightly worried expression on her face; 'what does she think we'll get up to?' Hermione thought to herself.
"This door on the left leads to the bathroom, the middle door is the bedroom, and the door on the right leads downstairs to the rest of the house and the pool, so you don't have to go through my rooms to get downstairs." Lavender concluded. "So I'll leave you too to unpack and get settled then," she said brightly, taking Ron by the arm and guiding him back down the passage. "Come down for a swim when you're ready, we'll see you there!" she called after her.
Harry looked at Hermione and smiled; he was really looking forward to spending the holiday with her, and the fact they got their own rooms was even better.
"Shall we?" Harry asked holding out his had to her. Hermione went to take the hand offered and was swept off her feet by him into a cradle lift.
"Whaaa.?" she cried.
"We'll do it in style," Harry said as he opened the bedroom door and carried her through. Hermione gasped at the sight that met her eyes. A huge four-poster bed was sat next to the far wall by the window; the wooden bedstead was draped with light, satin curtains, falling gracefully about the three exposed sides of the bed. A gold patterned bedspread was visible through the drapes, with pillows that frequently fluffed themselves.
"It's beautiful," Hermione sighed as Harry put her down to survey the rest of the room. He wondered over to the huge, floor to ceiling window that looked out onto the pool.
"Wow!" he breathed as he saw the Olympic-sized pool complete with Jacuzzi, sauna and sun beds, not forgetting the fully equipped gym, which could be seen next to the poolroom. Hermione ran her hand along the mahogany dressing table. She sat on the stool in front of the mirror and gazed at her reflection. To her astonishment a face, which was not her own, appeared in the mirror.
"How would you like to look today?" the face said kindly.
"Um, nice?" Hermione uttered quietly.
"Only nice?" the voice said surprised, "I'm sure we can do better than that." And before Hermione knew what was happening, invisible hands were arranging her hair and applying make-up to her face. All she could do was sit and wait. Harry watched in amusement and Hermione's unruly hair was pinned up and her face was painted.
"Hermione, you look.um, 'nice'," Harry said trying not to laugh as she surveyed her reflection. She gasped in horror as she saw herself looking like her grandmother! "I think that mirror's used to older people," Harry said laughing openly now. Hermione crossly wiped off the offending make-up and pulled all the pins and clips out of her hair, allowing it to flow freely down her back.
"Much better," Harry said drawing him to her. He kissed her passionately until breathless they pulled apart.
"Harry, I think maybe we should go to pool, we could both do with a cool off," she added, as went over to her suitcase. "Right, now I have to find where I put my swimsuit," she mumbled to herself as Harry sorted out his own things. Pulling open the wardrobe doors Harry exclaimed in wonder.
"Wow! Check out this Hermione," he said pulling her over to look. "You can walk into this thing."
"That's nice," Hermione replied distractedly, "Where is it!" she said crossly.
"Where's what?" Harry asked, taking his eyes away from the wardrobe.
"My swimsuit" she snapped, "I was sure I put it in here," she added throwing clothes everywhere. Harry was pelted with skirts and jumpers and even underwear before Hermione eventually concluded she'd forgotten it.
"Look, I'm sure Lavender has one you can borrow," Harry suggested calmly, "That, or you could go naked," he added quirking his eyebrow.
"I'm not sure the other's would appreciate that," Hermione returned, but to Harry's relief she was smiling now.
"Might I suggest you peruse my collection," a male voice spoke up. Harry and Hermione looked about them expecting to see Ron, but there was no one else in the room.
"Over here," the voice said again. The voice seemed to coming from inside the wardrobe. "Yes that's right, this way," the voice said again, extending a door towards them. They walked cautiously into the wardrobe, which was framed with mirrors and lights.
"Right now if you'll just stand there.yes that's right," said the voice as Hermione stood up onto the round platform, "And I'll measure you for a fitting; what was it you wanted, a swimsuit?" the voice asked as invisible hands held a tape measure up to Hermione's limbs to take her size.
"Hey watch the hands mate!" Harry warned as Hermione's inner-leg measurement was made.
"Right, I'll just be a minute if you'll wait over there," the voice said. Hermione stepped down from the platform and stood with Harry in amazement as chests of drawers appeared from no-where, brimming over with clothes and costumes.
"Would you give us some privacy please," the voice said as swimsuits and bikinis of all sorts appeared floating on hangers. Harry reluctantly backed out of the wardrobe. After 15 minutes he was getting impatient.
"Hermione, they'll be wondering where we are!" Harry called to her through the wardrobe.
"Why don't you go down without me, I wont be long," she called back.
"Why? What are doing in there?" he asked suspiciously.
"I'll be down soon ok," was all she said, so all Harry could do was to go down and join the others.
"There you are!" Ron called from the pool as Harry entered the poolroom. "Where's Hermione?"
"Still deciding what to wear," Harry said casually as he dropped his towel and dived into the pool, almost colliding with Ron. Lavender was seated delicately on the edge of the Jacuzzi, admiring her golden tan she'd just acquired.
"It's great this new sun bed we got," she said excitedly, "You tell it what tan you want and it does it instantly! Don't worry about Hermione, she'd probably just discovered Georgie."
"Georgie?" Ron and Harry both said in surprise.
"Yeah, he was a great tailor or something when he was alive, and now his spirit resides inside that big wardrobe in your room; he'll have her there for hours if she's not careful!" she added with a laugh, "the guests love him." Harry thought worriedly at what Hermione might turn out in, but he was distressing over nothing since a few minutes later she appeared in a perfectly respectable bikini.
"Wow! Hermione, I didn't know you had legs," Ron exclaimed as he saw her long, shapely pins.
"Ron!" Lavender cried out.
"Of course not as great as yours," he added quickly, swimming over to her. Hermione slid into the water as Harry swan over to her.
"I love the new look, can you where this all the time?" he asked cheekily, grabbing her round the waist and lifting her out of the water.
"Watch it you," Hermione spluttered as Harry dropped her with a splash.
"Hey guys, what are we doing tomorrow?" Ron called as him and Lavender swam over to join them.
"Well, what is there to do?" Harry asked, before he dived under to grab Hermione's legs. Through Hermione's cries of protest, Ron managed to catch that the house was equipped with enough entertainment to mean that they needn't go anywhere.
"Won't we get bored?" Harry asked as he let go of Hermione.
"Bored?" Lavender exclaimed in a hurtful voice, "Is that how you repay me, after I've kindly let you stay here with me?" she demanded.
"Harry didn't mean that," Hermione said quickly, seeing the hostile looks on their faces, "He meant that we might want to explore where you live a bit, that's all."
"Well it's up to you," Lavender replied huffily.
"Lav, come on, we can't argue on our first day here," Ron said trying to make the peace. She didn't reply, but a smile did return to her face.
"Tell you what," Ron said eagerly, "I'll magic some food over here, because I don't know about you lot, but I'm starving!" With a flick of his wand, plates of delicious salads and meats or all kinds appeared, and the four friends tucked in.
Anyone observing the four teenagers wouldn't have guessed that they were anything but content; and had you asked them, they would have said that same. But little did they know what surprised lurked around the corner.
'Dear Hermione,' Faith wrote as she sat on the plane taking her home to America.
'I know you won't want anything to do with me once you discover what I did, but I want you to know sorry I am. I told him in a fit of despair what you were planning. At that point I didn't think you'd ever trust me to help you out, and when you did, I realised it was too late. I wish so much that I'd never had said anything to him but you know too well how convincing Draco can be. I just hope that if he ruins anything it's your holiday and not your relationship with Harry. Harry loves you very much, don't let Draco or anyone come between you. I'm sorry if this letter doesn't make much sense, but it's all I can do.'
Faith read, and re-read the letter over and over, but when the plane landed she couldn't bring herself to send it. 'Maybe Draco won't turn them in,' she thought to herself, but deep down she knew he'd use what she'd told him in some way to hurt them all.