Whooooosh!  Ginny was knocked down by the first wave she took.  Although, I don't know if you could really call it a wave.  It was just the white wash after the wave had already broken, and it was only about a foot high.  She had caught it at least, but instantly fell of when she tried to pop up. 

Ron was having a little better luck.  He managed to get up on the board, but then he fell off too.

            Now, remember, surfing takes time and patience.  When you are learning it takes patience until you can stand up on the whitewash.  Then it takes patience until you can stand up on the face of the wave.  And then, once you are comfortable on the littler ones, it takes patience once you move out to where the waves are breaking. 

            Waves don't come all the time.  They come in sets, and sometimes the sets are very far apart.  So you have to wait for a set, and you may not even catch one of those waves. Or if it is crowded, you may have to let other surfers take the good waves if they have better positioning.  That's called surfer etiquette.  Simplified, it usually means that the surfer who could get the longest ride on the wave, has first priority.  It is very rude to drop in on somebody else's wave.  That could cause a rumble. 

            Harry had been hoping that surfing would come as naturally as flying had.  Flying was so easy for him, and it gave him such a rush.  He had heard that surfing can give you the same sort of elevation, and had been hoping he would feel it right away.

            But Harry found that in the muggle world, you have to start from the beginning.  He was riding the sissy waves along with all the other beginners. 

"I can't even stand up on a surf board!  What's with this?  I'm Harry Potter.  The Harry Potter." He said jokingly to Ron.

"Yeah, well, the ocean doesn't know that."  Ron replied. 

Silas came over to their group.

"Hey, how's it going?  Have any of you stood up yet?" Silas said to all of them, but was looking at Harry.

"A little bit."  Harry felt that he should be the one to reply because Silas had seemed to address him specially.

 "Well, why you try going out to the bigger waves.  Some people find the little ones to slow to stand up on.  Do you want to try them now?"  Again, Silas seemed to be talking to Harry, but maybe he was just staring; Harry was wearing a very ugly bathing suit.

"Alright.  I'm sure the Pacific can serve of better waves than these inshore ones." Harry responded.

Ron didn't want to try the bigger waves yet, he wanted to get the standing part right first. Hermione had read too much about shark attacks to go deeper than her waist on her first day in the ocean. 
But Ginny was game.  Besides, she had noticed Silas's unusual attention to only Harry and not the rest of the surf camp.  Ginny was a little bit suspicious.

"I'd like to give it a try, too."  Ginny said.

Silas looked at Ginny as if noticing her for the first time.  "Sweet.  Let's go."

Silas went and got his own board, which was not foam.  He walked back to the waves and Harry and Ginny followed him deeper.

Harry and Ginny were having trouble getting past the breakers.  Waves are harder to get past after they've broken; when it is big white wash.  Waves tend to crash in the around the same spot, this is the hardest part to get past.  Usually you wait until there is a little break between sets before you try to reach where the waves haven't broken yet (that's where you catch them), but Silas didn't tell them that.  So, Silas duck dived under them, while Harry and Ginny were getting worked.

"Ginny, here comes another wave!"  Harry yelled, Ginny had just barely come up from the last one she had been knocked by and was facing toward shore, and couldn't see the new one.  Harry let his board float behind him; the leash was still attached to his foot.  Ginny was only a few feet away, and Harry didn't know how strong of a swimmer she was.  Or if she knew that she could stand up here. 

            The wave came and Ginny ducked under it again. Harry, who had been standing, was knocked over.  They were both pulled down into the washing machine; which is really quite fun if you are not scared of the waves.  The washing machine is the turbulence under the crashing waves.  Harry was pulled all over the place, and at one point, his hand hit the sandy, shallow bottom.  Ginny did a complete front somersault under the wave, before it passed after only a couple seconds.  Waves move fast.  Harry's board leash jerked him back a little as the board was pushed by the wave, but it stayed floating on the surface next to Ginny's board.

"Ginny, stand up!  Are you ok?!"  yelled Harry.  Ginny was treading water after coming up from the washing machine.  Her face looked frightened and Harry was worried.

"Harry, come here!"  Her voice sounded shaky and Harry wouldn't have disobeyed her wish for anything. 

Harry checked to make sure that no waves were coming at them, and he moved over to Ginny.  Both their boards were floating near her.

"Harry, I'm going back to the wimpy waves, and you should too.  Silas is trying to get you killed!"  Ginny grabbed his arm and Harry went numb.  He couldn't move or speak for second. 

"Ginny, what?" Harry managed to mumble.

"He only speaks you when he talks, and a surf instructor should know that beginners shouldn't try the big waves until they are used to the ocean.  And he called Charlie's the night we got in for a camp the very next day.  It was like he had been planning it." 

"But I'm only known in England, right?  Plus, Silas is a muggle." Harry said, regaining his mind after hearing news like that.

"Maybe Silas knows English people.  And how do we know that he is a muggle? Charlie is a wizard, but you couldn't tell by the way he lives.  You should have checked with Dumbledore before you came!  Harry, your guard is down is down here, Voldemort could have spies or something here.  Silas could work for Voldemort!" Ginny said.

"I'll be careful Ginny, you don't have to worry about me.  But I really don't think that's true."

Ginny suddenly blushed and removed her hand from his shoulder.

"I was just being a good friend."  She said, not looking Harry in the eye anymore.

Harry didn't know what to say.  Ginny was his friend. but he never got nervous around any of his other friends.  So, he just smiled at Ginny very quickly in response and then turned to yell at Silas,

"Silas, we are going back!"  Harry yelled.

"Alright, you sure?" Silas yelled, turning to come in as well.

"Positive."

Harry and Ginny lied down on their boards and let the next wave that came push them all the way to the shore.

As they carried their boards to dry sand, they saw Ron and Hermione a little ways away still playing in the waves.  Harry wondered that if Silas did know somebody from England, the only people who were after him there were Voldemort and his Death Eaters.  And if Silas was in a league with them, then who knows what could happen to him and his friends on this dream vacation.

"Ginny, let's keep this our secret.  I don't want to worry Ron and Hermione.  They need this vacation."

"If that's what you think is best, Harry." Ginny said, looking straight at Harry with beautiful eyes that he had never clearly seen before. 

"It is.  At least for now."  Harry couldn't look at her anymore.  It made him feel a little dizzy and he still had to carry a big surfboard under his arm. 

As they were laying their boards down in the sand, they saw Charlie running up the beach toward then waving something in his right hand.

"Harry!  Harry!  You've got to see this!"  Charlie shrieked.  As he got closer, Harry and Ginny could see that Charlie was laughing his head off.

Ron and Hermione heard Charlie's shouts from the water and picked up their boards and began to walk over to Harry to see what the joke was.

Charlie ran all the way to Harry, and then collapsed into the sand, panting and laughing all at once.  The thing is his right hand turned out to be an issue of The Quibbler.  The Quibbler is and English Wizard Tabloid owned by Luna Lovegood's father.

"Harry, you never told me you were going to try acting!  Why did you come here?  What a waste of time!  You should have gone to L.A.! Ha ha!  You've got to read this article!" Charlie was still laughing.  Harry didn't get it, so he reached down and grabbed the tabloid from Charlie's hand.

Ginny peered over his shoulder as he read the headline

            "Harry Potter Ditches Dark Lord- Harry Potter has decided to drop out of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to pursue an acting career in California.  Says close friend and former girlfriend Parvati Patil, 'Harry didn't tell anyone he was going to drop out.  He didn't want to draw to much attention to himself.  But when I heard that he was in California for the summer, I knew that he wouldn't be coming back.  He always had a flair for drama and it seems like the acting bug has finally bit.'"

Harry was stunned by this first paragraph. How could the newspapers have gotten it so wrong?  How could Parvati lie like that?  He looked over at Ginny, who looked up at him, with a mischievous smile on her face, "It's not true you know, none of it." Harry said.  "I know."  Ginny said, "But, still, I want to read more."

            "Many people wonder what will happen to England, now that the only boy who lived has relocated.  So why did Harry give up on what had seemed to be his destiny? Dumbledore, Harry's former headmaster was not reached for commentary, as we pretty much knew that he would deny all of these rumors, and where is the fun in that? So why did Harry suddenly decide to leave? We asked instead Colin Creevey, a devoted friend to Harry to give us confirmation instead, 'Harry must have moved to California to be with his new girlfriend, American pop singer Kindora Poppe (singer of hits like Broomstick to Heaven, Muggle Lovin', Some Kinda Spell, and Love Potions,) She told him that he either had to move to America immediately or it was over.  The long distance thing was killing them'" 

"I can't read this anymore" Harry said, as he hand the paper to Ginny, who looked disappointed at not being to finish the article.  It continued on to say that Harry was having trouble at his auditions because nobody wanted to cast a boy with glasses and a prominent scar.

Ron and Hermione reached the group and read the article over Ginny's shoulder.  Ron burst out laughing just as Charlie had done.

"Man, this magazine is awesome!  Charlie, I didn't know you subscribed!" on shrieked

"Yeah, I like to keep in touch with English culture, ever since I got kicked out. Anyway, that's a long story."

"Ron, this magazine isn't awesome. It's telling horrible lies about one of your friends!" Hermione looked sternly at Ron as she said this.

"I'm sorry Harry.  But, I mean, we all know that its trash, so I just thought I'd laugh at it.  I mean, come on, Kindora Poppe, that's pretty good.  At least they didn't hook you up with Ogdine Nordster" Ron patted Harry's shoulders. 

Harry smiled at this.  He knew it was crap.  Everybody else did.  So what's the problem?

"Come on, Harry, lighten up.  You're on vacation!"  Ron had just said the magic words.

Harry laughed a little, then he met Ginny's giggling face, and then they both burst out laughing, then Hermione had to join in too.   It was pretty silly. 

"Harry, I knew you were some sort of celebrity back in England, but you must be pretty hot for them to bother making up such stuff just get a story about you." Charlie said when they had all settled down a little.

"I never thought of it like that."  Harry said, "I've never had the mindset of a celebrity."

"Well, California will change that pretty quickly.  I ought to take you guys up to L.A.  You could have a lot of fun, Harry."  Charlie said, "Most people are suckers for Europeans.  And especially one's with accents, like you guys."

Harry was laughing as they all planned his meeting with every celebrity in Hollywood, muggle and magical.  Harry completely forgot about his suspicions of Silas.  He was on the other side of the world form Voldemort.  It was sunny and the water was beautiful.  He was surrounded by gorgeous people on the beach, his friends included.  How could he let himself think of such a gloomy topic on such an afternoon?