Someday, I will own something of great value. This will not be Harry Potter, as J K Rowling already owns it.

The Hotel

Ryua stepped off the small, private, air-conditioned plane onto a concrete platform, tropical sun beating down on her head, and heat waves rising from the ground. As the wave of heat hit her, the only thing she could compare it to was stepping from a cold night outside into a warm, lit entrance hall. She found herself wishing she could take off some layers, but knew Father wouldn't think it ladylike to strip down in the middle of an airfield. Fine. They'd be at their hotel soon, and she'd get into something much more comfortable for the heat and humidity. And as soon as she was out of his field of vision, she'd change into something she actually liked to wear.

The hotel was beautiful. The construction was basically similar to Hogwarts; a courtyard, surrounded by walkways topped by multi-storied walls. Of course, Hogwarts didn't have a swimming pool, performance stage, a bar serving tropical drinks at all hours of the day, palm trees, lounge chairs, open-wall construction to take advantage of all the warm sea breezes, or most of all, the east side wide open to the white-sand beach.

"Merlin's beard! This is some kind of a place." Draco seemed just as struck by awe as his twin. Mother looked openly cheerful, and even Father was much less uptight than usual.

"Children, these are the keys to your rooms. You may go anywhere in the hotel boundaries, and along the beach within sight of it. I expect you back before full dark, and if you go any farther, you will both take your wands and go everywhere together. Clear?"

"Yes sir!" they said in tandem, accepting their keys and barely not running up to their rooms. Once they were out of sight of Father, they did break into a run, up the clay-tiled staircases onto the third floor.

"This is so excellent!" Draco was bounding along the corridor like a child at his first quidditch game.

Right alongside him, Ryua was equally giddy. "I know, this is so much better than any holiday we've ever had in Britain, eh? Ooh, here, this one's mine!" she pulled up in front of room 333, sliding the card-key through the lock and opening the door.

Draco slid to a halt and backpedaled to 334, scanning his own key through. "Weird ways these muggles have of locking things, eh? Wow, look at these rooms..." his voice trailed off as he moved inside his room. Ryua eagerly started to explore her own. The bedroom was smaller than the one at home, and furnished with muggle lights, a strange console with a stack of small disks in cases beside it, and something she recognized as a TV, which she curiously poked on. After a few trials, she found the channel switching buttons, eventually settling on a music station, which played a mix of Spanish and English music videos. She tore her gaze away from the hypnotic device, and found her bags already sitting beside her bed, Parsyl quite perturbed at still being in her cage. Ryua let her out, cautioning, "Now, stay up here, or with me, alright? Someone might catch you and sell you, otherwise. Oh, and don't bite the ladies who come in here to clean. They're like our house-elves. They're supposed to be here." Opening her suitcase, she pulled out a viridian one-shoulder bathing suit and a yellow-green tye-dyed sarong, happily shedding her warm England robes. Much more comfortable now, she skipped cheerfully over to the small (although blessedly private) bathroom and twisted her hair up off of her back, using her wand as a pick to hold it in place. Slipping her key into a magically sealed sheath on her sarong, she walked out to explore the rest of the hotel.

Draco walked out at just the same moment, wearing a loose tropical shirt and shorts, also looking infinitely more comfortable out of the heavier robes. "Isn't this so unbelievably cool?"

"Yes!" Ryua giggled, "Although, I don't suppose you know what those weird things beside the TVs are, do you?"

"Video game consoles. You put the little disks in, and you can play on them. At least, that's all I could pick up from those mud-muggleborns in Foods."

"Hmm, we'll have to try those. Come on though, I have to see the rest of this place. Apparently, there's a buffet for every meal."

Draco's eyes lit up even more at the mention of food. "You don't say... Let's go find the food court, shall we?"

They were just in time for the last few minutes of the lunch buffet. Loading up plates of fresh fruit, seafood, breads, and insanely good dessert squares, the twins wandered around the courtyard. Draco noted with great interest the swim-in section of the bar, and the fact that the bartenders seemed quite happy to serve fully alcoholic pina coladas to anyone who asked. Shaking her head with amusement, Ryua dragged him away from the bar, saying, "It would make your guavas taste funny. The bar isn't going anywhere, don't worry."

There was even an entertainment group singing Caribbean music as the hotel guests dined on the outside patio. Ryua happily fed a crumb of bread to the extremely tame, well fed sparrows perching cheerfully everywhere, hoping Parsyl wouldn't eat too many of them. "You know, Draco," Ryua said, looking around their surroundings, "This is going to be some fantastic kind of a Christmas break."