Disclaimer: I do not own, I did not create, and I do not profit.
Rating: NC-17… if you know me at all, you wouldn't expect otherwise.
A/N: This is the first challenge I have ever responded to in this category and that could actually be considered a challenge. The challenge was created by Flaky (off of and I decided to take it under my wing since I don't think any one else did and because I already had a plot forming in my head at once. This is also my first HP fanfic so I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter One: Where in the World?
It had been two years since the death of Dumbledore, – since Harry felt like he had lost another part of him that only death could bring – and one year since Harry had found the remaining Horcruxes and defeated the Dark Lord, installing peace in the wizard world for another day. But now, Harry wasn't sure what to do with himself, what to do with his life. He knew that he wasn't ready to settle down, to have a family or even begin to look for anyone in particular. Hell, he was just turning twenty in the summer. He also knew that what ever he did, his two best friends would be there to support him, Ron and Hermione. Harry was glad that the two of them had finally acted upon their suppressed feelings for one another. After Dumbledore's untimely death, they relied on each other for support and comfort. It was then that they realized that there was no shame in wanting to be together. The two of them had been going strong for two and a half years now, and they were never happier.
When Harry watched the two of them laughing together, holding hands, and smiling at each other with so much love, he longed for the same. He always wondered if Ginny would take him back but when he thought about it, he wasn't sure if he wanted her to. He had spent the summer, as always, at the Burrow and even though Ginny and him spent so much time together, he didn't feel what he used to feel any more, the sort of giddy happiness and fulfillment. She too had seemed to move on, finding love and someone who could be with her and not the face of mortal danger – Neville Longbottom. Harry was happy that she found someone who was able of being there for her and providing her with love. Harry wasn't sure that he could do that, not just for her but for anyone.
In the past few weeks before summer, when the sun shone as brightly as ever as if there was nothing that could hinder it, as if there was something worth celebrating, Harry realized that he didn't know what to do with himself. He still had thoughts about being an Auror, it was a career that Harry believed he would do well at and also quench his thirst for danger and excitement. One couldn't simply be a secretary or something mundane after facing the Dark Lord and his followers for seven consecutive years and not still need some kind of thrill that didn't necessarily have to be of them same caliber but definitely just as gratifying.
So he sat there, cross-legged, searching through brochures and travel guides from all different places over the world, both magical and Muggle. He thought that since the world wasn't in dire need of him these days that he could possibly take a vacation, maybe a cruise or something, and enjoy places that not everybody had the chance of seeing. Maybe after that, he would work as an Auror and find the big bad again.
"Where did you get all of these?" wondered Ron, sitting across from him on the living room floor, eyeing a brochure that had 'Tahiti' written across the front in large, bold, and flamboyant lettering of a very vibrant color.
Harry glanced up and then back down at the package for France. It wasn't that far away but it still held some sort of intrigue for him.
"I don't know. Some grocery store."
Ron frowned at him. "Grocery store?" he asked, trying to mimic the words that had come out of his best friends mouth.
"It's where Muggles buy vegetables and other kinds of food."
"Why would they sell packets there?"
"They sell a lot things there, Ron. Not just food."
"Oh."
"And I got the rest from a travel store."
"I don't see why you just don't Apparate from here to, I don't know, Spain. Why do you have to take a plane, as they call it, or a boat?"
"Because, I want to get away from the magic world."
"What's so bad about magic?"
"Nothing. I just want some peace," Harry answered, started to get annoyed with all of the questions Ron was asking of him.
"You can't get peace here?"
"Not with all the questions you're asking me," he grumbled, muttering the words into his lap after he picked up a pamphlet for Italy.
"Sorry, I just don't understand any of this."
"I just need to get away from everything. It's not like I'm not coming back."
"When are you leaving?"
"First, I've got to figure out where I'm going."
"Well, I can help you there," he said cheerfully, grabbing a package that was entitled 'Mexico.' "Do you want to go on a cruise or something? Or are you wanting to stay at a hotel."
"I think I'd like to try something different. I think a cruise would be nice."
"Then you might consider the Mediterranean or the Caribbean, not Ireland and Italy," suggested Hermione, sitting down on the floor space in between her friend and her boyfriend.
She started to search through the hundreds of different packages on the floor and gathered a few of the two destinations she had mentioned, handing them to Harry.
"And since when are you an expert at this?" inquired Ron, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at her.
"No, I'm not considering leaving you too."
"He's not leaving. He's coming back," Ron said hastily, looking at Harry for confirmation, who nodded on cue.
"My parents went on a cruise once. They said it's the best thing they've ever experienced. They've gone on one every year ever since."
"What's so great about it?" wondered Ron, snatching up one of the brochures from Harry's lap.
"Great, hot weather, all of the clear, blue ocean surrounding you," she began dreamily. "I can practically hear the lapping of the waves against the ship now."
"Uh oh, Ron. Watch out. She'll drag you onto one sooner than you can blink."
"Lucky me," he muttered softly but Hermione heard it all the same and gave his arm a punch.
"Bloody hell, woman, gentle!"
"Oh shut up, it wasn't that hard," she retorted.
There was a distant ring in the background and Harry took it as his opportunity to exit the room to answer it, leaving the couple to glower at each other. The two of them settled down a few minutes later and continued to look through the brochures at their feet.
"This one looks really good," commented Hermione.
"Where to?"
"Cruise just off of the coast of Mexico."
"Where's that?"
Hermione rolled her eyes and her boyfriend's naiveté and told him that it was on another continent on the other side of the world.
"Um, Hermione?"
"What is it, Ron?"
"This is a gaycruise."
"Ronald Weasley, what have I told you about being derogative? Homosexuals are people – "
"No, it says right here," he interrupted, pointing at a line that she apparently hadn't seen.
"Oh, well then. That's perfect," she said cheerfully, smiling at Ron.
Ron feigned ignorance. He wasn't about to spill the fact that he had always thought that Harry was gay. Although Harry had never told him, Ron had an inkling of a feeling that Harry preferred guys to girls. He had, on numerous accounts, caught Harry's eyes wandering and just when Ron would expect to see some pretty girl walk by, he would be astonished to see that it was a rather handsome young man that caught Harry's attention. Ron had never called him on it, allowing his friend to keep his secret if he wanted to.
"Excuse me?"
"Ron," said Hermione, leveling her eyes with his. "I think we both know why Ginny and Harry didn't work out."
"She's practically his sister?"
"No, you idiot. Harry's gay."
"Well, I could have told you that."
Hermione rolled her eyes and continued to look through the brochure.
"What do you say we call and make a reservation for him, hmm? We could send him on it as our gift to him. Besides, his birthday is in a few weeks. And maybe he'll meet someone there," she smiled, raising her eyebrows suggestively at him.
"I can picture it now: my mother practically teeming with joy as Harry describes who he met on the cruise. 'Tall, blond and fucking gorgeous.' She then nearly as a coronary when she finds out that Danielle is actually Daniel."
"Somehow, doubt that, Ron," Hermione muttered, getting up to find out if Harry was off of the phone. He indeed was and she noted that the bedroom door was closed of his and Ron's room. He was probably hiding.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm calling the place," she said. "I really am glad that your father has an obsession with Muggles or else it might be a little hard to find a phone, especially one that works."
"Are even going to tell him?"
"We'll give him his ticket as an early birthday present."
"No, that's not what I mean. Are we even going to tell him," Ron looked around suspiciously and then lowered his voice, "that it's a gay cruise?"
"That can be our little secret," she smiled deviously.
Ron nodded distractedly for a moment, gnawing on his bottom as he thought to himself, barely listening to the reservations that Hermione was busy making. A few minutes later Ron heard the click of the phone. He looked up at her just smiling at him.
"Harry got the last spot."
Letting out a rather large and unexpected sigh, Ron smiled along with the girl across from him.
"So when does the ship leave?"
"On his birthday."
"Conveniently," he muttered. "And how long is he gone for?"
"Two weeks."
"And how much is this costing me?"
"Us," she corrected and then stopped talking when she heard someone coming down the stairs unceremoniously loud. "I'll tell you later."
