Chapter 4
First Day At Sea

When Harry woke the next day, it took him a couple of minutes to realize where he was. If it wasn't for the humming of the engines below, he could have easily been in one of the finest hotels in France. Harry got up and woke Ron. They got dressed and when Harry was fixing his hair there was a knock at the door. Harry opened the door and found two people standing outside in the hallway; Hermione and another girl were there. Neither boy knew who she was, although they had seen her board in Cherbourg. She was very pretty with green eyes and dark hair. "Hermione," said Harry, hoping to sound casual, "and who is this?"

Ron came over to the door and totally ignoring the girl, said, "hello, Hermione."

"Hi, Ron," Hermione said, "this is Lily." Hermione pushed aside the two boys so that she and Lily could get inside.

"Hello, Lily," Harry said.

Ron, who was still looking at Hermione said, "second-class passengers aren't allowed in first-class areas."

"I know that," Hermione replied, "we met in the library, and I asked her if she wanted a job. She said yes, so Lily is going to be our personal maid."

"Hermione, we don't need one."

"Will you excuse us for a minute?" Hermione asked Lily.

"Sure." Lily closed the door as she left.

"Hermione, did you even think about asking her if she was a witch?" Ron said.

"Yes, and besides, she was asking me if she could have the book I was reading after me."

"Which was?" Harry asked.

"Standard Book of Spells, Grade Six."

"Alright, have you told Fred and George yet?" asked Ron.

"No."

"Well, you can tell them at breakfast," Harry said, opening the door. Lily was waiting patiently outside in the hallway.

"Hermione, where is she staying?" Ron asked, quietly.

"In the cabin beside you," Hermione replied. They walked along the hallway and into the main hall.

"Where are we going?" Lily asked.

"To the dinning salon," Harry replied. Lily stopped in mid step, all the others did too, except Ron, who continued for a minute, then stopped and turned around.

"What are we stopping for?" he said.

"Look at what I am wearing!" Lily said, "I can't go in there like this." Harry just then noticed that Lily's robes were old and frayed.

"Here," Hermione said, pulling out her wand, "repairo." Lily's robes looked almost new. They were no longer frayed, or torn.

"Don't you usually wear dress robes to meals?" Lily asked.

"No one bothers to dress up for breakfast," Ron said. They walked into the dinning salon. Lily looked around with wide eyes. They led her over to the table that Fred and George were already at.

"Hi, guys," said Fred.

"Who's this?" said George, eyeing Lily.

"My name is Lily Halliwell," she said.

"I am Fred Weasley and this is George, we're Ron's twin brothers."

"You're a Charmed one, right?" asked George.

"Yes."

"Where are your sisters?" Fred said.

"The power of three was broken nearly sixteen years ago, when Lord Voldemort killed them."

"How come you didn't die too?" Ron asked.

"Because I managed to escape, although narrowly, I almost was killed."

"Why would he want to kill you in the first place?" Harry asked, "I mean there is a reason why he wants to kill me."

"He wanted to break the power of three, to kill at least one of us, because it was the most powerful thing working against him. It always will."

"No, it won't always," Harry said, quietly. Not looking at any of them. "I am the most powerful thing working against him."

"Harry, I know you like to think that, but nothing is stronger than the power of three," Hermione said.

"Yes, there is," he said, Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Harry cut him off. "No, listen to me, there is something that I haven't told anyone yet. Last month in the Ministry of Magic, we found a prophecy with my name on it. It smashed when I was trying to escape from the Death Eaters, and none of us heard it. But I know what it said because Dumbledore was the only person that heard it. He told me about it in his office."

"What did it say?" asked Ron.

"It said that the one with the power to destroy the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies to parents who have thrice defied him and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. One must die at the other's hands because neither can live while the other does." Harry finished.

"But that could mean any wizard that was born sixteen years ago at the end of July," Hermione said.

"Yes, there was one more wizard who was born sixteen years ago at the end of July to parents who have escaped Voldemort three times," Harry said.

"Who?" asked George.

"Neville."

"But the prophecy could also be referring to him," said Fred.

"No, you're forgetting the next part, the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal," Harry said, "Voldemort's servant only heard the first part of it and Voldemort sought out to kill me, believing that he was fulfilling the prophecy. He was wrong, however, and the curse that was intended to kill me, backfired. It didn't kill him because he's not entirely human."

"But why did it backfire?" Lily asked.

"Because, my mother died to save me. Don't you see? Her love for me saved me, probably more than once. If there is one thing that Voldemort doesn't understand, it is love." No one spoke for the rest of the meal.

After breakfast, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Lily went down to the squash court on G-deck. On the way back up, Fred and George left them to go swimming, and Hermione and Lily went to the library. Harry and Ron spent the morning playing chess in the smoking room. Harry and Ron walked into the dinning saloon four hours later to find that the others weren't there yet. They looked around and found a table in a far corner lit by candles. A waiter came over to the table and asked, "What can I get you, gentlemen?"

"Nothing, at least not yet, we're waiting for our friends," Harry said, then he saw them coming through the many tables. "Oh, here they come now." They sat down and gave their orders to the waiter.

"Lily, could I ask you if you would iron my robes later?" Ron asked. Harry looked at her; she nodded and smiled. Harry gave her a smile too. Ron realized what Harry was doing and kicked Harry under the table.

"Ouch!" Harry said, finally taking his eyes off her and turning to look at Ron. "What did you do that for?" Ron glanced at Harry and smiled. They finished dinner and went up to the boat deck.

Harry and Ron were walking down the starboard side when Malfoy came around the corner. "What are you doing here, Weasley?" Malfoy sneered, "third-class passengers aren't allowed to be here."

"What's a matter, Malfoy, jealous?" Ron said, "jealous because your father couldn't afford first-class and we could?"

"Shut up, Weasley."

"You know what, Harry? I think Malfoy should be a bit more respectful don't you?" Ron said.

"It's time for you to leave, Draco," Harry said, pulling out his wand.

"What if I don't?" said Malfoy, "going to curse me, Potter?" Ron pulled out his wand too, and took a step toward Malfoy.

"Then we're leaving, come on Ron," Harry said, pulling Ron away from Malfoy, "wait, we don't have to leave, this is our part of the ship. You leave!"

"No. This not your part of the ship, this a private promenade deck, that surely doesn't belong to you," he said.

"This is where you are wrong, Malfoy, this is our promenade deck. Check the passenger list if you don't believe us," Ron said. Malfoy said nothing; he just stood there, both Harry and Ron's wands pointed at him. Then he turned and walked way.

Harry and Ron spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat deck. After dinner when they returned they found that the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees. So, instead of watching the sunset, they all went the lounge and played games until about eleven when they went back to their cabins. As Harry was climbing into bed, Ron said, "I've been thinking about you said at breakfast, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you said that the prophecy said that neither can live while the other does."

"Yeah."

"Well, does that mean that there will be a final duel between you and You- Know-Who, one day?"

"Yes."

"It also said that one would have to kill the other, right?"

"Yes." Ron fell silent at this and Harry didn't say anything; he just lay there until he went to sleep.

Lily handing a cup of tea to each him and Ron wakened Harry the next day. They got up, dressed, and on the way down to breakfast, Hermione stopped them in the reception room. "Breakfast is over," she said, "but we could go to the café if you like."

"There's a café on board?" Ron asked.

"Yes."

"Where?" Harry asked, walking over to the Grand staircase.

"On C-deck, near the smaller staircase," Hermione said.

"It'd be faster to apparate, than to walk there," said Ron.

"All right, where should we apparate at?" asked Harry. Ron took out his map.

"See, there it is," Hermione pointed to a room labeled: Café Parisien.

"Ok, how about we apparate right outside the door?" Ron said. Harry and Hermione nodded. They appeared a second later just outside the café. As they went in and sat down, Harry noticed that the restaurant resembled the real ones found on streets of Paris.

"So, have you two gotten your invitations to the dinner party in the a la carte restaurant?" Hermione asked.

"What dinner party?" said Ron, looking mystified.

"No, when is it?" said Harry also looking baffled.

"Tomorrow night!" Hermione replied.

"As far as we know, there is no dinner party tomorrow," Harry said, "anyway, why would they invite me?"

"Because you're famous Harry Potter!" Hermione said.

"Yeah, but only to our world," Ron said.

"But, this party is only for witches and wizards," Hermione told them.

"How do you know?"

"Because it says that you can't bring any Muggles with you," she said.

"Where is the restaurant?" Harry asked.

"It's on B-deck on the other side of the ship," Ron said, putting his map away. The door to the café opened and Lily walked in. She saw them sitting at a table and went over to them.

"I've been looking all over for you guys," she said, sitting down. "Where are Fred and George?"

"I don't know," Ron said, "Why were you looking for us anyway? Wanted to give us our dinner tickets, did you?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about those. Here," she gave them the invitations, "I wanted to tell you that they're giving tours of the ship and I thought that it would be interesting, to check out these Muggle inventions."

"Sure, why not?" Harry said, staring at her again.

"How much does this tour cost?" Ron asked, squashing Harry's foot.

"Two Sickles a deck," Lily replied.

"So that eighteen Sickles," Harry said.

"When do we have to pay?" Hermione asked.

"Before lunch today," said Lily.

"Who do we pay?" Harry asked.

"The purser will take care of everything," Lily said, turning to smile at Harry, but he had gone.

He apparated a couple of minutes later at the table. "We got the last tour of the day," he said.

"Well, we'd better get to lunch."

After lunch Harry, Ron, Fred, and George went to play a couple of games of Exploding Snap in the smoking room. Lily and Hermione had gone to the library. Before they knew it dinner came and went. They spent their evening in the lounge playing chess and some more Exploding Snap.