"Ooooooh! Harry got you good on that last splash!" Hermione giggled at Ginny as she reached down to splash more water on Ginny.
"What is this? Pick on Ginny day?" Ginny was laughing too though, as they all were getting wet, not just her.
Hermione had picked a bad time to reach down toward the water, she wasn't paying attention to the ocean and was caught off guard by a small wave that knocked her off her feet.
"AAAAAAHHHH!" I'm all wet!" Hermione shrieked, though she stood up with a smile. The ocean wasn't too bad; and though she was tired to the bone, she suddenly felt more alive than she had felt so far this sleepy summer.
"Hermione, you had that coming!" Ron was smiling, too. Hermione looked cute with wet clothes and hair. Her hair was messier than usual. He had never seen her this vibrant or this silly before.
"So do you, Ron" Hermione stretched out her arm and knocked him in.
Harry looked away from the two of them, who were now both sitting on the ocean floor, letting the waves wash over their backs. He turned to notice Ginny, who was now kicking up water with her feet, not aiming it at anyone, just watching the drops fall into patterns on the sand.
Harry wondered why she didn't like him anymore. He had known that when they were younger, Ginny had had a huge crush on him. He wondered, as he watched her dig her toes into the mud, what made her have a change of heart.
Suddenly, a shadowed figure coming out of the beach house called to them, interrupting their ocean fun. "Hello down there! One of you must be Hermione Granger, the contest winner! I was told you'd be gettin' here about now!"
The four of them stopped their thoughts and splashing to look at the thin middle aged man as he came closer.
"Yes, I'm Hermione" she didn't stand up though, she was hoping he'd go away so she could play in the waves with Ron some more. Plus, once she had remembered why she was here, what she was escaping, she remembered how tired she was.
"Well, Congratulations, that must have been one lousy school year for them to fly you all the way out here."
He swaggered closer until his toes were getting run over by the cool waves. He stopped moving, and rested his hands on top his head.
"My name is Charlie Plunk. I live in that blue house. That's where you four will be staying, too. It's a pretty nice location, if I do say so myself. I get offers daily form millionaires trying to buy it. They want to build a nice mansion on it. But no, I always say. I've lived in this house for thirty years, ever since I got kicked out of England. Well, that's a long story. Anyway, I like it here. I usually rent it out over the summer; I make the big bucks doing that. But this summer, I was offered to be paid to stay here with you guys, and I took it!"
Charlie sure was a talker. The four of them had listened to every word, but still, they looked at each other when he'd finished, all thinking, "Who is this guy? Is he seriously in charge around here?"
"Well," Charlie continued, "I noticed you only have one piece of luggage. Is that it or are you guys doing some sort of magic thing. I don't really do magic anymore. I only use my wand for plastic surgery. Anyway, if it is your only piece of luggage, I know of some quick ways to get money so you guys can buy more stuff."
"No, no, it's magic. It's a magic medium sized purse. I bought it in New York. You can fit anything in it." Harry explained.
"Oh, right." Charlie didn't continue talking; he stared out past the four of them, assessing the waves. His hands were still resting on his head, and he had one knee bent, looking very comfortable. His absence of words was unexpected and left a heavy silence.
"Right, I'm getting a little cold. We should go inside. You know, sleep a little." Ron said. He stood up from the waves, and then reached to help Hermione do the same.
The four them walked toward the beach house. Harry picked up the medium sized red purse.
The front door opened to reveal wood floors covered by several, colorful rugs. The furniture was a mix of wood and stainless steel. The room was an odd mixture of clutter and empty space.. The house was disorganized. Nothing really matched, and nothing really was sparkling clean. It was the kind of house that you had to get used to living in.
"I've got two extra bedrooms. So, I'm going to say boys in one and girls in the other. No funny business. The bathroom is down the hall near the bedrooms. I'll let you four get settled. Are you hungry?"
They hadn't thought about it before, because they had been on an invisible hippogriff for goodness sake, who's going to think about food? But, yeah, now that their minds were drawn to it, they were starving.
"Yes!" yelled Ron.
"Oh, well I don't cook. I'll order a pizza. Does anybody have topping requests?"
"Just cheese." Ginny said.
"I like pepperoni." Ron said.
"Oh I don't like pepperoni. I like it with bell peppers." Hermione said.
"I prefer olives." Said Harry.
"Um, ok, I'll get two pizzas, with half toppings on each." Charlie said, as he turned to pick up the phone.
"Oh wicked! Is that a TELEPHONE?!" Ron cried.
"Uh huh," said Charlie, looking confused.
"Whoa. Can I watch you use it?"
"Oh I get it, you're from a pure wizard family. Do you just want to make the call yourself?"
"No, I'd be too scared. I think I'd better watch the first time."
"Ha ha! Dude, you crack me up." Charlie said, as he dialed.
Ron grinned, and turned to Harry, "He said I'm a DUDE!"
They pulled their luggage from the purse, which was a lot harder than stuffing it in. Everything was very hard to see inside the thing. Ginny and Ron stared in awe as Hermione held a flashlight so Harry could see.
"What will these muggles think of next?" said Ginny as played with the spare batteries.
Hermione and Ginny pulled their things into a room with a bunk bed. ("I got top bunk" yelled Hermione) Ron and Harry found their room to have two air mattresses.
Each room had a window, though they did not face the ocean. Instead they had few of their neighbor's garage; which didn't look too much different at night.
The pizza guy came; Charlie let Ginny count out the dollars to give to him; which she had difficulty doing because the money was foreign and muggle.
"Come on Ginny, it's not like its calculus!" Charlie said as she tried to tell apart the one from the twenty dollar bills.
"Wow, you know calculus! I never got to learn that at school. All of my muggle friends say it's the best!" Hermione asked.
"Well, it is pretty inteGREAT! Haha, get it?"
"No." Hermione said,
"Well, I love math jokes, but I guess they can DERIVE you crazy!" Charlie was laughing to himself.
"Man, we got stuck with a nerd!" Harry whispered to Ron.
"Who, Charlie or Hermy?" Ron joked.
At the dinner table, they ate and found out that Charlie was very easy to get along with.
"We've got a brother whose name is Charlie also!" Ron said.
"Well, I do too. My mom though it would be funny. Boy is she a nut-case." Charlie rolled his eyes at the memory.
The phone rang as they were loading the dishwasher. Charlie picked it up. They could only hear one end of the conversation, but it sounded like Charlie had just made a deal for them. When he hung up, he turned back to the four of them who were now sitting on the couch.
"That was a very fortunate phone call. Some guy named Silas is holding a surf came and was wondering if I'd be interested. Well, I'm not, but I signed up you four. You can start tomorrow."
The camp sounded fun. They all wanted to surf, but it seemed a bit a odd for a guy to be calling so late at night to a stranger about a surf camp the next day. But, they figured maybe people in California are used to that.
That night they all went to sleep immediately after falling into their beds. They were so exhausted. They also couldn't wait to fall asleep because the sooner they did, the sooner they would wake up, and the sooner they woke up, the sooner they could start having fun in the sun!