Hogwarts in France

Chapter Seven

Thursday

Disclaimer: Nothing you might recognise belongs to me.


Dear Professor Dumbledore,

First at all, thank you very much for letting us go on this holiday to France. We are really enjoying ourselves and we have all grown much closer. The journey to get here was long but very interesting and the gite in which we are staying in is very nice. So far, we have visited Paris, a local town and Beauxbatons. Beauxbatons has to be the best day yet. We made friends with six French students of our age and had a very good day, which included an excellent game of Quidditch and swimming in the Mediterranean Sea. The weather is hot and sunny. We hope you are well and look forward to seeing you soon.

Thank you again.

Harry, Hermione, Ron, Draco, Neville and Ginny

(and the professors)


Dear Gran,

I am very well and I hope you are too. I am enjoying this educational trip to France. We have visited the capital city of France, Paris and gone up the Eiffel Tower. We went to Beauxbatons Academy of Magic on Tuesday and it was incredible to see how foreign witches and wizards study magic. We come home on Saturday and I will owl you then.

Love Neville.


Hi Mum and Dad!

Even though I've been to France before, I'm still having a wizard time (excuse the pun) with my friends and my two favourite professors. We visited Beauxbatons- you know that other magical school I told you about and it was amazing. I made friends with a girl named Céline who is very friendly and loves books too! We've also done a sort of scavenger hunt in the local village and gone to Paris for the day, which involved an embarrassing moment where Harry and I showed the others how the Can-Can dance goes like and Remus and Professor McGonagall saw us! Ron and I have got closer and so have Harry and Ginny. It's great. Can't wait to see you.

Lots of love and hugs

Hermione


Hello Mum, Dad, Bill, Charlie, Fred and George,

It's Ginny writing because Ron's still in bed. Not a surprise I know. We're all having a fantastic time and I can't wait because Remus let slip that today we're going to this Muggle theme park called Disneyland. When Hermione heard, she squealed very loudly and then told me all about these theme parks so now I can't wait! I've been learning a lot about Muggles in the past few days and I honestly don't know how they survive! Remus bought a Muggle camera and he says he will develop them magically and copy then when we return to Hogwarts so you can see what we've done. Ron and Hermione are finally going out, you'll be pleased to hear and me and Harry… well, we've got closer.

Harry, Hermione, Remus and Professor McGonagall say hello. Ron just snored at me when I asked him if he wanted to write anything on this postcard. He better get up soon as we're leaving in fifteen minutes!

A tout à l'heure (that's French for see you later!)

Love Ginny and Ron


"Ooooooh!" said everyone as they stood just outside the gates of Disneyland Paris, waiting for Remus to come back with the tickets. They gazed up at the tall pink building with the covered archway leading through it which was the entrance to Disneyland Park. All around them were colourful flowerbeds and clever hedges in different shapes. Harry particularly liked one of an elephant up on its hind legs and its trunk in the air. He took a photo.

Once Remus had arrived back, he handed them a red ticket each and they slowly moved through the ticket barriers. Ron, Ginny, Neville and Draco got a bit muddled and had to be helped through. Ron had stared in horror as the machine swallowed his ticket and then gasped in relief as it suddenly popped up again. As soon as they were all through, they had their hands stamped by a Disneyland official.

"I can't see anything!" said Draco, inspecting his hand,

"It's ultraviolet," explained Remus, "If you go out of the park anytime during the day, you have your hand scanned with ultraviolet light when you return. It's useful."

"Cool," nodded Harry. He looked ahead of him along Main Street. The famous Sleeping Beauty Castle was sitting grandly in the distance and along both sides of the street were busy cafes and shops. It looked very exciting.

"Right then guys," said Remus, "Here's a map each of the park. On each I've circled the area in which we're going to meet every couple of hours throughout the day. You must remain in groups of at least two people and if you get lost find a Disney Official and they'll be able to contact me. Do you all understand?"

"Yes," replied everyone,

"Very well, we will meet you at half past one. Go and have fun now!"

The students cheered and moved off up Main Street chattering noisily. Suddenly Hermione squealed.

"Look! Look! It's Goofy!"

"What?"

"Goofy! He's a famous cartoon character. Harry, you've heard of him, haven't you?" cried Hermione.

Harry nodded and she continued. "Good! I want to get his autograph, come on!"

She dragged Ron's arm and the others followed curiously.

"Is that the real Goofy?" asked Neville,

"Oh no, he's only an actor dressed up," said Harry, quietly, "Getting autographs from the Disney characters is kind of like tradition in the Muggle world."

The others nodded and waited in line for a little while until it was their turn to meet Goofy. They walked over and as if by magic- it probably was magic, Harry thought- produced an autograph book and a pen.

"Can you sign it six times for each of my friends?" Hermione asked, shyly, "Six fois… pour mes amies?"

Goofy nodded and took the pen and autograph book. He placed the book on Hermione's head forcing her to bend down slightly while he signed the book. The other students grinned and were attracted by a familiar laugh. Harry spun around and saw Remus taking a photograph of it, he laughed while Hermione blushed.

When Goofy had finished, he spread his arms out and gestured.

"Oh! Let's have a photo taken with him!" said Hermione, in excitement. She stood by Goofy and he put his arm around her. Ginny took his other arm and Harry went to stand next to her, taking her hand. Ron did the same with Hermione while Draco and Neville crouched down in front of Goofy. The watching tourists laughed as Goofy pretended to kick Neville and then Remus took a photo of the seven of them.

After waving goodbye to the professors again, the six Hogwarts students gathered around Ron's map which he was holding out.

"How about we head over to Adventureland first," suggested Hermione, "There are supposed to be some good rides there."

It was decided upon and the gang made their way down the wide paths and past all the happy tourists until they arrived at their destination.

"Can we go on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril; Backwards! first?" asked Draco, eyeing up the rollercoaster on their left,

"Oh, do we have to?" asked Neville, queasily,

"Come on, Neville!" said Ron, dashing into the entrance.

As it was still quite early the queue wasn't very long at all and the students whiled away the time talking about which rides they wanted to go on. Finally, it was their turn to get on.

"Will you sit by me, Harry?" asked Ginny,

"Of course," said Harry, clambering into the rollercoaster cart after his girlfriend and removing his glasses.

"Here we go!" hollered Ron, from the cart in front of them. Behind them, Harry heard Neville whimper quietly.

"Just close your eyes," said Draco, "And we'll go on a ride of your choice later."

The ride suddenly plummeted after the initial ascent and everybody opened their mouths and began to scream; some in enjoyment and some in terror. The wind was rushing into Harry's eyes so he was forced to close them. When they had stopped watering, he opened them again only to find themselves upside down on the loop-the-loop. "Oh my God!" he yelled.

In no time at all, they arrived back at the start of the ride and climbed out.

"That was excellent!" said Ron,

"Yeah!" said Draco, his normally pale cheeks flushed.

"Let's do it again," Ginny said,

"Not right now," Hermione said, "Maybe later once we've been on the other rides. Say, are you alright Neville?"

"I just feel a little sick," Neville replied,

"Oh. We'll let's go on a slower ride this time," said Ron.

Everyone agreed and they wandered around Adventureland looking for a suitable ride.

"What about Pirates of the Caribbean?" suggested Harry,

"Good idea. It's only supposed to be a water ride- kind of like the ferry but much, much smaller," said Hermione,

"OK," granted Neville and they went to queue up.

It was dark and dusty inside and they could hear the echoes of the pirates laughing and the water splashing. Once again, it was a short queue and as the ride boats were large, they managed to fit all six of them on; three in front and three behind.

The ride started slowly and the group contented themselves with looking at the moving models of pirates. They were very amusing and interesting. As the passed under a bridge, Draco laughed and pointed at a pirate that was hanging drunkenly over the bridge with a bottle in his hand. "Hey, it's you Harry!"

They all laughed. Professor McGonagall hadn't been exactly pleased with the state of Ron, Harry and Draco last night but once they'd sworn to never do it again or at least not on this holiday, she had been willing to forgive and forget. They had learnt their lesson when they had woken up that morning, all with pounding headaches and slight nausea and discovered there was no hangover potion to hand. Professor McGonagall had been kind enough to stop at a grocer on the way to the park and buy them a banana each, which apparently helped a hangover. Harry reflected that it did actually seem to help. Remus, on the other hand, had been very cheerful about the episode. He told Harry in private that James and Sirius used to get drunk regularly during his own school days and he supposed they would be very proud of Harry today.

"Erm, Harry?" said Ron, suddenly, "Harry? There's a dip coming up!"

Harry looked to see and sure enough there was a slight dip ahead of them into blackness. He turned around and winked at Hermione.

"Oh no! What are we going to do? We might sink!" he gasped.

Hermione caught on immediately. "Take a deep breath and when we go under, don't let go of each other!"

Ron, Neville and Ginny looked terrified but Draco was smirking. It appeared he had caught onto their little joke.

"Goodbye everyone!" he said, dramatically and took a deep breath as the boat went over the edge. They all screamed: three for real and three only for fun.

However, before they even finished screaming, the boat had reached the bottom of the very short dip and they were floating along once again.

"Hey!" said Ron, indignantly, "You tricked us!"

Harry, Hermione and Draco burst out laughing at the other three's faces and slowly Ginny, Neville and Ron saw how amusing it had been and laughed as well.

Shortly, they reached another dip and that was disappointingly short as well and when they turned the next corner, it was to find themselves back at the start.

"Well, that was a bit lame," said Draco,

"Yeah," agreed Harry, "the models were alright though,"

"Where shall we go next?" asked Ginny, blinking as her eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight after the dim interior.

"It's one o'clock," said Hermione, checking her watch, "How about we go and get one of those Fast Passes for Space Mountain and then we have to go and meet up with Remus and Professor McGonagall."

That plan was agreed upon and they left Adventureland behind and made their way to Discoveryland. They saw a giant dome with the words Space Mountain written on it. To the right of it were a number of booths with Fast Pass printed on them. Everybody pressed a button on the machine and a fast pass for Space Mountain came out suddenly.

"Excellent," said Hermione, "We have to be back here between two o'clock and half past two,"

"OK," everybody said, "now, let's go to lunch."


The group spent lunchtime telling the two professors about their morning. They laughed heartily when Draco told them about the model they had dubbed as Harry. At that point, Remus started choking on a piece of baguette and after a bit of wheedling he explained that that was the exact position he'd once seen James in- on James' stag night in fact. Harry smiled in remembrance of his father.

They had to rush back into the park at ten past two to get onto Space Mountain using the fast passes.

"Look, here's a door you use for fast passes," said Ginny, once they had reached the ride. They entered it and walked down the lino covered floor and joined the end of a short queue.

"I must say fast passes are extremely useful," said Hermione, "That queue outside looked terribly long!"

In a matter of minutes, they separated into a group of two and four. Harry and Draco climbed into the front of the rocket shaped carriage that was behind the one that everybody else was in. They sat down and the safety bar came over their head.

"Hold on," grinned Harry, "I hope you're not scared of the dark!"

"Erm, why?" asked Draco,

"'Cause apparently the entire ride is in the dark! My cousin Dudley came here once with my Aunt and Uncle and he was boasting to me about the rides," said Harry, as the carriage began to move.

The other carriage had disappeared by now so they were on their own. They followed a track around a bend and then they slipped back in their seats as they began to ascend a steep hill.

"Yeah!" they screamed as they went into pitch blackness save for flashing lights. Harry tried to work out which direction they were going in but they were moving so fast, it was impossible to tell. Suddenly, the bottoms dropped out of their stomachs as they plummeted into darkness.

"Argh!" they both yelled. They could hear the echoes of other screams as they raced around the circuit. They were now going so fast that even the lights were blurred. Harry enjoyed every second of it.

After they had walked back into the sunlight on rather wobbly legs, they found the rest of the group and joined up.

"That was amazing!" Ron gasped,

"Yeah," said Neville, "Shall we go on again?"

"OK," Harry said, "Let's get another Fast Pass while we're here."

Everybody agreed and they went to the machines. While they were there, they noticed a booth with lots of pictures on screens.

"On-ride photographs!" cried Hermione, "Let's go and look!"

They eagerly ran over and searched for their faces. Everybody burst out laughing at Ron's face. He had his mouth wide open in a scream and his eyes were popping.

"Draco, do you want to get one?" Harry asked, scanning a list of prices.

"Yeah!" said Draco, "Look, we can get this one with two key rings for three euros, fifty."

They made their purchase and the others bought what they wanted. Then, they looked at one another.

"What shall we do now?" asked Ginny, taking out her map,

"Neville, is there anything you particularly wanted to go on?" Draco asked,

"Erm, yeah," said Neville, blushing slightly, "I saw this ride when we were coming through Fantasyland called "it's a small world". It looks good."

Hermione groaned for some reason but refused to say why. "You'll find out," was all she'd say.

With their decision made, everybody trooped over to Fantasyland and got into a long queue which appeared to comprise of young children and their parents.

"Is it just me or are we the oldest people here who aren't with little kids," asked Draco, slowly,

"We are," said Hermione.

Harry looked around as they waited in line. It was very airy, clean and colourful. There were little rowing boats in a queue with people being helped in and out and a wide passageway of water that disappeared behind a curtain. There was also a faint sound of music playing.

Before long, it was their turn and they all managed to squeeze into a blue boat. A Disney official gave the boat a push and they floated off and were immediately carried towards the curtains. Just before they were about to crash into them, they swung apart and they entered a dim but colourful world. There were lots of pictures and more models of different nationalities all doing things. As they passed the English scene there were little models dancing around a maypole. And they were all singing the same repetitive song. In high pitched voices.

"I wanna get off," said Ron, in a small voice.

The ride seemed to never end and that awful song pounded away at Harry's brain, burying its way inside so he'd never forget that…song.

About a million years later, or so it seemed to the gang, they reached another pair of curtains which swung open and they sailed into daylight once more. As they climbed awkwardly out of the boat and out of the ride, Ginny shook and said "I think I'm permanently brain damaged."

"Tell me about it," said Draco, rubbing his ears, "I really feel sorry for those ride attendants having to hear that over and over again,"

"I bet they commit suicide after a while," chortled Ron.

"Told you," said Hermione, smugly,

"You never told us anything," said Harry, "You just said you'll find out and groaned!"

"Whatever," sniffed Hermione, "Anyway, has anybody else got any rides they want to go on?"

"I saw this ride called Star Tours," Ginny said, "It said it was a stimulator on the outside,"

"Don't you mean simulator?" snorted Draco,

"That might have been it," said Ginny, trying to cover up her embarrassment.

"It's in Discoveryland," said Harry, after consulting his map,

"Excellent, then we can go on Space Mountain again," said Hermione.

They retraced their steps back to Discoveryland and located Star Tours. It had just finished and people were pouring out so the group quickly went inside and waited in the loading bays as they were dubbed. After about thirty seconds, a loud klaxon went off and the doors slid open with a soft hiss.

"Come on!" said Ron, bounding in and grabbing a seat in the back row. Everybody piled in after him and they settled down in the comfortable chairs. They had a great view of the screen and they watched it eagerly. The safety bar fell onto their laps and everything went dark.

A female voice came into the simulator and words and images appeared on the screens as they felt the simulator rise into the air. After the briefing, the room tilted and shrieks were heard. The mission had begun.


An hour later, it was half past five and they had been on Space Mountain again and bravely attempted Phantom Manor. They had exited that ride bent over double in laughter because of a number of factors. Firstly, none of them had found it at all scary. Neville even said it was so not frightening, it had been funny. Secondly, Draco had them all in stitches by putting his finger in the air when they had passed some enchanted mirrors that made ghosts appear on the back of the carriages they were sat in. Draco's finger was in such a place that it was sticking right up the ghost's left nostril.

"That's an insult to Nearly Headless Nick, those ghosts I mean," giggled Hermione, "He would be deeply offended!"

Everybody laughed again and headed for Autopia which was back in Discoveyland. Just as they were about to enter the car ride, Ginny clutched Harry's arm and pointed at a sign nearby. Harry read it:

Honey, I shrunk the Audience

Show Times

On the hour and half hour from 9am to 9pm

"Hey, that looks good!" he said to the others,

"Shall we go after tea time?" asked Neville.

This was agreed upon and they entered Autopia with light hearts.


"I so won!" said Harry,

"No, you didn't Potter!" argued Draco,

"Guys, I think you'll find it was actually me who won the race!" Ginny declared and quickly ran as her boyfriend and Draco charged at her in outrage.

Ron, Hermione and Neville laughed as they strolled along on their way to Main Street and dinner with their professors. The race they had had at Autopia had been very heated between Harry, Draco and Ginny. Hermione and Neville had taken it slowly at the start and Ron had calmed down after crashing into the side of the track and chosen to drive with his girlfriend and friend.

Main Street was very busy when they finally arrived and after a little bit of searching, they located Remus and Professor McGonagall at the Plaza Gardens Restaurant near Sleeping Beauty's Castle. They noisily crowded around a table and ordered drinks and food. Unsurprisingly, Ron wanted a coca cola.

"So, what have you all been up to?" asked Remus, gazing around.

Everybody launched in, describing their day and waving the Space Mountain photos underneath their teacher's noses. Remus laughed and in turn, they told the students what they had been doing.

"Well, we've been on some of the rides and we watched one of the parades this afternoon, which was excellent. There's supposed to be a superb parade tonight here, which is worth watching followed by fireworks," said Professor McGonagall,

"Cool. So, we want to watch Honey I shrunk the audience after dinner," said Hermione,

"Ah yes, that sounded very good," Remus said, "Do you mind if we tag along?"

"Sure," everybody said.

At that moment, their food arrived and talking was irrelevant for a while.

Everybody had finished their meal, the dishes had been cleared away and everybody was just quietly talking when a glow caught Harry's attention. He turned his head and saw one of the Disney waiters making his way over to their table with a cake that had many candles on it. He looked over at Remus who winked and then nudged Ginny and Ron who were sitting either side of him. When they saw, they nudged Hermione and Neville and on cue everybody burst out with:

"Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday to you,

Happy Birthday dear Draco,

Happy Birthday to you!"

Draco stared and gaped in astonishment. A large portion of the restaurant had sung with them and was now watching Draco keenly.

"Draco! Blow them out!" Harry hissed.

Draco took a deep breath and blew all the candles out and everybody in the restaurant cheered. Draco turned bright red.

"Happy Birthday Draco," said Remus, handing over a card, "We did know and thought we'd surprise you,"

"You did surprise me," said Draco, taking the card and opening it, "I don't think I've ever been so surprised or embarrassed in my life!"

Everybody laughed and took a slice of the birthday cake.

"You've come of age now, haven't you?" Harry asked, when they were on their way to Honey I shrunk the audience.

Draco nodded and raised his eyebrows in question.

"Well, you don't have to do what your parents tell you anymore," said Harry, "In the eyes of the law, you're no longer a child so you don't have to do what your father says. Hell, you don't even have to return home!"

Draco's eyes lit up. "You're right, Potter! Thanks."

"You're welcome and happy birthday," replied Harry, happily.


They caught the seven o'clock show of Honey, I shrunk the audience and after about five minutes of waiting, they entered a large theatre with many rows of seats. They quickly bagged some seats right in the middle, put on their funny 3D glasses and waited patiently for the curtains to open at the front.

Soon, they swept open with a swish and everybody watched as Professor Szalinski arrived on screen to present his famous discovery: the shrinking machine. They all shrieked with laughter as they all appeared to get shrunk and admired all the special effects. Suddenly, everything went dark and a voice echoed over the auditorium.

"Where are all the mice? Oh my God! They're going towards the audience!"

Neville, Ginny and several other people screamed out in surprise and Harry jolted with surprise as something thin and whippy felt like it was running past the back of his legs, under the seat.

Draco laughed when he realized what was happening- a lovely sound that Harry wished he could hear more of when they returned to Hogwarts.

Towards the end of the show, a dog on the screen accidentally got enlarged and just before the curtains closed, it sneezed and the Hogwarts group felt moisture fly onto their faces.

"Eww!" said Hermione, wiping her face with her sleeve.

"I was sitting right in the line of the hose or whatever it was!" said Ron, with drips running off his nose.

Everyone laughed and got up to leave the theatre. On the way out, they had to drop their 3D glasses into a bucket.

"I want to keep them. They make me look cool," said Draco, with a pout,

"Oooh! Me too!" cried Harry, entering into the joke.

"Oh, I'm sorry boys but you can't keep them," said Remus, gravely, "We'll see if they're sold in any of the gift shops."

"OK," sighed Draco, reluctantly dropping his glasses into the bucket and following everyone outside. He winked at Harry who was beside him.

"Let's go on Big Thunder Mountain!" cried Ginny, "I saw it from Phantom Manor, and it looks so good,"

"I don't really want to," said Professor McGonagall,

"Oh come on, Professor," wheedled Harry, "Remus is coming on, aren't you Remus?"

"Oh...erm," stuttered Remus,

"See!" said Ginny, "Please?"

"Gryffindors are meant to be brave!" stated Ron, ignoring Draco's small snort,

"Oh, very well," conceded Professor McGonagall.

Everybody cheered and marched towards Frontierland.


"How long is this queue? We've been queuing for ages!" Ron moaned, shuffling his feet,

"We've just passed the sign saying we have fifteen minutes left," said Neville, pointing back to a sign,

"But we've already queued for half an hour!" Ron whined,

"Do you want some cheese to go with that whine, Ron?" Remus asked.

The others laughed.

"I've not heard of that before," remarked Hermione, "Oh, look only ten minutes to go!"

Twelve and a half minutes later, they were all seated in the rollercoaster carriage. Harry was sat with Ron and Draco, Ginny was with Neville and Hermione and Remus was sat next to Professor McGonagall, each looking white faced and nervous. They all gripped the safety bar in front of them and with a grunt the carriage took off.

Sixty wild and rocky seconds later, they were all back where they started, red cheeked and smiling. They clambered out and went to see the on ride photograph.

"That's a very nice photo," Remus commented, as he studied the screen where all eight of them were being thrown about and looking happy about it.

"It's two for six euros," Neville said,

"OK, we'll have eight copies then," Professor McGonagall said, fishing her purse out of her bag.

By the time all of the photos had been printed, paid for and placed in their special Big Thunder Mountain frames, it was twenty to nine and as Remus said, it was time for them to head back to Main Street for the big parade.

They made it in five minutes and the two professors secured places on a balcony overlooking Main Street that was by the Disneyland Railroad Main Street Station. The students had disappeared into the shops, where they were having great fun.

"Look at this cute Tigger toy!" squealed Ginny, cuddling it,

"I will buy it for you," said Harry,

"You don't have to…" began Ginny,

"Gin, you're my girlfriend. I will buy you whatever you like. I can afford it," said Harry.

Ginny smiled and kissed Harry in gratitude.

"Will you buy me something too?" asked Draco, grinning,

"Actually, you're supposed to find something you want for your birthday from us," said Harry,

"You're getting me a present as well as a cake and a card?" asked Draco,

"If you want one. Remus ordered me to ask," Harry answered, "Oh cool, look at this hat!"

He had picked up a baseball hat that had Goofy's head shaped onto it. The ears hung down over the wearers ears.

"Are you going to buy it?" asked Neville, flicking one of the ears,

"Absolutely!" laughed Harry.

Ron and Draco also decided to buy one: Ron had a Winnie-the-Pooh version and Draco had a Tigger one.

Just before nine o'clock, the students rejoined the professors up on the balcony. They laughed at the ridiculous hats that Harry, Draco and Ron were wearing and told Draco that the navy Disney t-shirt he had decided he would have for his birthday looked great. Just before the parade was meant to start, Ginny was pushed out of the way by two ladies.

"Excuse me," said Harry, loudly, "Ginny was standing there." The ladies ignored him only to talk to one another in another language.

"Leave it to me," Draco said, his eyes narrowed. He leant on the railing next to the ladies and began to speak a torrent of another language that certainly caught the ladies attention and made them blush and move away.

"What did you saw to them?" asked Harry, incredulously,

"Oh nothing much. Just that they shouldn't push other people out of the way and then ignore them," Draco said, smoothly,

"Thanks Draco," said Ginny, reclaiming her space,

"Yeah cheers Draco," said Ron, roughly,

"You're welcome Ron," Draco said.

Harry took a deep breath. Maybe a friendly relationship between Draco and Ron wasn't so impossible after all.


"One, two, three!"

"SNOW WHITE!" the students roared, as the parade cart with Snow White and her Prince rolled slowly past their viewing point. Snow White turned around, looked at them and waved, smiling.

"Alright!" grinned a chuffed Ron.

Harry grinned back at looked out for the next parade cart. It was Beauty and the Beast.

"Crikey!" said Neville, making everyone chuckle, "Is he real?"

"No I expect it's just an outfit," said Hermione, "The actor must be absolutely sweltering under there!"

"Yeah," said Ginny, before turning to Harry, "You're my Beast," she said, softly.

Harry pretended to look offended before relaxing into a romantic smile and saying, "You're my beaut."

"Oh please!" Draco said, from Harry's other side, "Don't go all icky on me. I'll drown in it!"

Harry mock punched Draco and returned to watching the parade. All of a sudden, everything stopped and the music playing changed slightly. The parade cart with Aladdin and Jasmine had stopped right in front of them.

"Look!" Hermione gasped, "The platform with Aladdin on and Jasmine is rising!"

It was true and now that Harry listened, the music playing was A Whole New World from the film 'Aladdin'.

"That's so clever," said Ginny, "I suppose it's meant to be the magic carpet?"

Harry nodded. He and Hermione had filled in the others on the varying Disney characters during the day. The parade set off again and the last float appeared with Minnie the Mouse on. They waved at her and she waved back. There was a loud round of applause as the street lights suddenly came back on and the buzz of conversation started again.

"That was amazing," Ginny sighed and Neville nodded in agreement,

"It must be very expensive doing that every single night," said Hermione, "You know with all of the lights."

Everyone nodded and Remus spoke up. "Soon, there will be a firework display and then we're going to return home. We won't be back until midnight so I hope you're not desperately tired."

"Nope," said Ron, bouncing around, "I feel like I could go on for hours!"

"That would be because you drank about two litres of coke," snorted Hermione, "I feel sorry for you guys having him in your room tonight. You'll never get to sleep!"

"Are you sure you don't want to swap Ginny for Ron?" Draco asked, slyly, "Then both you and Harry will be happy."

"I think that's enough of that, Mr. Malfoy," said Professor McGonagall from along the rail, "Anyway, the firework display is beginning."

Everyone fell silent as the first firework flared into the air and music pounded out of the speakers. The fireworks were very beautiful and the music made them even better.

"It's like loads of spells being cast at the same time," breathed Neville, never having seen a firework before,

"Yeah and then exploding," sniggered Ginny.

They watched with awe until the last firework slowly faded towards the earth and the hundreds of watching tourists began to move.

"Come on," said Remus, "Let's go home."


Many thanks to Queenlover who was the ONLY person to review chapter six. Boo! This is my longest chapter yet so I expect lots of reviews lol.

I've updated some things in chapters five and six when my French grammar was rather shoddy but Clopinette helped me out so thanks.

Review please. Constructive criticism is gladly received.