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They taxi ride to the Ilikai Hotel was cramped and uncomfortable, resulting in many bruises all around, from the heavy trunks banging into people and the animals getting all worked up (Pigwidgeon, for one, had never been in a car before, and Hedwig and Crookshanks were finding it very disagreeable to their liking to be cramped in a small space with a large trunk bumping into everyone everywhere). Finally, at 4:51, they pulled into the hotels loading and unloading area.
The taxi driver, looking relieved and extremely ticked off, turned around and said, "That'll be $20.75." Hermione scowled at the amount and rummaged around in the envelope that Dumbledore had given all the groups for taxi fares. She handed the money to the man, who hesitantly got out of the cab and helped them unload their trunks and animals.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione then proceeded to haul their trunks into the hotel lobby. Hermione hurriedly rushed them over to the big, pouffy couch and armchairs that were in the waiting area, said "Wait here!" and hurried over to check in. Harry and Ron sat down in the chairs, looking around curiously. In the hotel lobby there was a small little room with windows and an assortment of things showing through them, with a small sign that said "Hale ku'ai" and another, smaller, sign that said "Open". In the other end of the lobby were three gold-painted elevators (Ron looked at these with bewilderment written all over his face.) There were also many little halls leading off one way or another with little signs above them that said things like "Pool" or "Vending". A fancy sign showed the entrance to the hotel restaurant, "Canoes at the Ilikai" in another corner. Harry and Ron were looking around at everything, and Harry was just going to suggest going to check out the gift shop (he'd figured out that that was what the "Hale ku'ai" was), when Hermione came back, looking extremely annoyed.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked.
"People at the desk gave me quite a time...saying how they'd lost our reservation and that it was after 5:00 anyway." She scowled. Harry and Ron sensed she was extremely dangerous to get her even more mad, for it seemed that the hotel people had set off her already on-the-limit temper from the taxi drive.
"Er...why don't we go get settled, then?" Harry suggested, keen to avoid an explosion from Hermione.
"Yes, all right...we're in room 6432, on the sixth floor..." They all got up and dragged their trunks toward the elevators. Surprisingly enough, the animals seemed to had worn themselves out, for they were being completely silent and well behaved.
They reached the elevators. "What," said Ron, "are these?" Hermione pushed the "Up" button and explained to Ron. "They're like a room that moves up and down to get to different stories in a building. Sort of like an easier version of stairs, where you don't have to walk or anything." Ron looked slightly confused, still, but the elevator had already come, so they pulled their trunks in. Hermione pushed the button for the sixth floor, and it started to go upwards. 2...3...4...5...and finally, they reached the sixth floor. "Weird..." Ron said as they stepped off the elevator, revealing a hallway with large windows showing the ocean.
"It's so pretty..." said Hermione, staring longingly at the ocean. "I can't wait to go swimming..."
"What? S-swimming?" Ron sputtered, looking shocked. Harry looked just as bewildered by his side.
"Yes, of course we're going swimming! You didn't expect to come to Hawaii without going swimming!" Ron and Harry just stared. Harry, naturally, had never had swimming lessons from the Dursley's, and Ron had only waded in the pool in his backyard. "Don't tell me you two don't know how to swim?" Hermione groaned. Ron and Harry looked embarrassed. "Hopefully you two will learn soon enough." Still, though, she looked rather put out and Harry noticed she stressed the word "hopefully".
They made it to they're room (Ron causing a commotion when he was examining the ice machine, ice now flooded the vending room floor), and Hermione inserted the key card. Ron, curious as to what it was, was not keen on getting another lecture, an kept silent. The door opened to reveal a simply but elegant decorated rooms, with a small kitchen and a sliding glass door with an excellent view of the ocean. A door to the bathroom was opposite a closet in the small area where you walked in, and a small table and chairs were in the corner with a TV and mini bar on the other side. There was just one problem, though-
"There's only two beds..." Harry noted. They all paused a moment, then immediately jumped onto a bed, saying "I got here first!" and "The boys share a bed! I'm the only girl!" and things like "I'm a rough sleeper! I need my space to sleep! You don't want me kicking you do you?!" Finally, Harry was the only one left on the bed on the left, smiling slightly to himself when he thought of who would be sharing the other one. Hermione was leaning against the wall, quite out of breath, and Ron was half hanging on the other bed, his flaming red hair quite disheveled. Hermione finally spoke first. "Look, Harry, the boys should share a bed! I'm the only girl here and it wouldn't really be fair, would it?"
Harry pretended to dust himself off and stated. "Really, I'm sure Ron wouldn't like to spend the night with me. I steal the blankets and kick and take up the whole bed. That would hardly be fair, would it?" Harry smiled inwardly. Hermione looked stunned at the prospect of sharing a bed with Ron, who, meanwhile, was mouthing soundlessly. The silence was broken by a tap on the window. Hermione jerked her head toward the window, where an owl was waiting on a chair on the patio. Hermione rushed toward the sliding glass door and slid it open to let it in. She scanned the letter it was holding quickly, and, with the pen from the hotel on the table, wrote a reply. She gave it to the owl, who soared away.
Harry and Ron looked at her questioningly. "Who was it from?" said Ron.
"Professor Dumbledore, asking if we arrived all right and things like that. There's also a list of where the other sixth years are." She glanced at the list again. "Seamus, Dean, and Neville are in Italy...Lavender and Parvati are in France...and-" She laughed. "-Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle are in Alaska! Imagine Malfoy in a really thick parka!" At this Harry and Ron burst out laughing.
After discussing the other students and where they were, Harry suggested they go check out the beach and find someplace for dinner. Hermione and Ron agreed, and after letting Hedwig and Pigwidgeon out to stretch their wings a bit (the plane ride must have been terribly cramped in a cage), and letting Crookshanks out to wander around the room, they set off down the elevator and took the hallway from the lobby marked "To Beach ->"
Lazing around in the sand and running up to wade around in the ocean, the trio had an excellent time. They even waited to see the sunset, which was gorgeous from the beach. This, thought Harry, is excellent. He couldn't help sporting a broad grim at the thought of Malfoy getting frostbite while he, Ron and Hermione were next to a beautiful ocean with warm sand and the warm, tropical weather. He turned to look at Ron, who was grinning as well, and could tell that he knew exactly what Harry was thinking.
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A/n: next part will be up sooner than this one took, i promise. in the next one will be the trio at dinner, and their first day in Honolulu.
Disc.: Not mine!
Oh, I have never been to this hotel, so please don't sue me if its not accurate. I'm doing the best I can people.
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