Chapter 56: Golf, Sprinkles, and Four-Leaf Clovers

March 11th, 1994

Sailing

"YAHOO!"

Seamus watched Dean enviously as his friend surfed around on the surfboard. He seemed to be enjoying it for sure; he was grinning like mad and shouting, his arms flailing around on the board.

Because Seamus had gone to buy them tickets, he had gotten stuck at the back of the line.

It was already day six of the cruise. Seamus couldn't believe it. It was so much fun, spending so much time with his friends and not having to worry about taking classes and essays and homework. It was pretty fun to interact with the Muggles and to eat so much food.

Ah.

The food was so satisfying.

Days and days of eating anything and everything, eating whenever he wanted, doing whatever he wanted, and enjoying this entire vacation with his friends. He was glad his parents weren't here to fuss him around, but he also wanted to share these memories with his family.

"Boy!" barked a voice, jerking Seamus back to reality.

"Y-Yeah?" he asked, bewildered.

"Are you coming or not?" snapped the man impatiently. "You're holding up the line!"

Seamus glanced around and realized that he was next in line to go windsurfing on this little surfboard demo, so he stepped up to the man. "Yeah."

"Come on, boy. Put your clothes over there, take off your shoes, and give me your card." The man rolled his eyes. "You should have done this a long time back. Maybe when you were back in the back of the line. You choose now to do all this?"

Seamus bit back a retort at the rude man and dumped his clothes and flip-flops over on the bench that the man was indicating. "Ready."

"Card," grunted the man.

Seamus sniffed and handed the card to the rude man.

"There we go." He stuck a green star sticker on the card. "Now, go over there." He pointed Seamus to one of the two booths for windsurfing.

The terrains were both simple slopes. There was water pouring from the bottom to the top, and there were these boards that people were standing on, or holding onto, swerving around the gushing water and enjoying the rush of the current. It all smelled like chlorine.

"Go on, boy!" barked the rude man, pushing Seamus towards the booths. Seamus stuck his tongue out at the guy and walked forward.

"All right," said another man standing there. "You're going to hold onto the board like this." He held onto a board and gestured his hands. "Okay? And then you have to hold on. Keep your feet here. Keeping your eyes open or closed is up to you, but keeping them open will help you be more alert just in case you're nearing a wall, which you will. That's just the way it is. Okay, so take this."

The guy tossed Seamus the board.

Seamus took the board and stepped on it.

"No, no, you're supposed to do this in the water," sighed the guy.

"Oh," said Seamus, and he took his board over to the gushing water. He looked over his shoulder and saw Dean standing nearby, grinning and giving him a thumbs up.

"Great," muttered Seamus, rolling his eyes and clutching onto the board. "Here goes."

He crashed into the wall within three seconds.

He got yelled at a lot more.

Terry Boot was folding a pair of boxers when he saw a shimmery, silver wisp of mist disappear behind the bedpost.

He raised an eyebrow and went back to his boxers.

Then he heard a giggle.

Surely… Surely he was mistaken? There was no way someone else was in his room too?

The giggle again.

Terry rummaged around one of the drawers of the chest at his bedside, finding his wand, pointing it to the air around him, alert. "Who's there?"

There was another giggle, a little louder this time.

His heart was pounding against his chest. "Who's there?" he repeated, a little more forcefully, feeling nervous.

"You have four-leaf clovers on your underwear!" exclaimed a voice, cackling and floating up into the air.

Terry gasped. "Moaning Myrtle?!"

"Four-leaf-clovers!" she shrieked, laughing a little too much for Terry's comfort. "Four-leaf-clovers! Who wears four-leaf-clovers on their…"

"Shut up," snapped Terry, still not over the initial shock. "What are you doing here?! How did you get in here? You weren't even part of the prank war!"

Myrtle huffed. "I wanted to come, so I did. I don't care if I wasn't part of the prank war. Of course nobody allowed me to sign up!"

"But why my room?" Terry wailed.

"Because nobody else was in here," replied Myrtle, smiling evilly. "Except for you. Plenty of space to share."

"So… So you've been here all along?" His eyes were wide and his mouth was open.

"That's right," replied Myrtle, smirking.

"And… And you saw my…"

"All of the dances," Myrtle said smugly. "All of them. And you sing pretty badly. Gave me a migraine. I liked the snake dance, though. You're a very theatrical dancer."

Terry turned red.

"Please tell me you didn't watch me shower," he moaned.

"Oh, no, I just listened to you sing."

"WHY?!" he shouted.

"You're very funny, you know," Myrtle told him. "Better than Seamus, anyway."

Terry looked up. "Seamus Finnigan?"

"That's the one," Myrtle said in a bored voice. "The Ellas go crazy over him. I don't see why, though. He doesn't even look good. He's all scrawny. And he's Irish."

"What does being Irish have to do with anything?"

Myrtle shrugged her ghostly shoulders. "Beats me. Anyway, can you do one of your dances again?"

"No!" cried Terry, as Myrtle lunged for him. "Absolutely not!"

"Please? Please? Please?" She put on her best pout (which was revolting).

"Ew! Get away from me! And no!"

Myrtle grinned evilly as she chased Terry around his room.

Minerva McGonagall handed Pomona Sprout a golf club.

Pomona Sprout handed Minerva McGonagall a golf ball.

"Are you ready?" asked Pomona.

Minerva pulled her aviator goggles on. "Game on."

Sprout and McGonagall hobbled over to the mini-golf course. McGonagall put her golf club to the ground and took a big swing.

"You missed," added Sprout unhelpfully.

"Shut up," muttered McGonagall.

"Maybe you should try putting the ball on the ground," said Sprout.

"I know what I'm doing!" snapped McGonagall. She took the golf ball from Sprout and dropped it onto the ground. "Now am I supposed to swing it?"

Sprout shrugged. "I don't know. I've never done this before either."

"Here goes." McGonagall swung back the golf club and hit the ball as hard as she could.

This time, it made contact, and the ball went flying way out of the golf course, onto the lower deck.

"Oops," mumbled McGonagall, going to grab another golf ball.

"My turn!" exclaimed Sprout, snatching the golf ball and putting it down onto the floor. She took her golf club and took a forceful swing.

It missed the ball by a long shot; in fact, she had swung with so much force that the golf club went flying out of her hands and flew over the railing, right into the sea with a great plop!

McGonagall sniggered at Sprout, who continued to stand there with her mouth open.

"Oh no," whispered Sprout. "Am I going to be in trouble?"

"Only if they figure out," replied McGonagall snidely.

Sprout looked at her with a curious expression. "But they… oh."

McGonagall nodded. "That's right. Now, go get another golf club."

Sprout toddled over to the entrance and brought back another golf club.

"Good," said McGonagall approvingly. "My turn, now." She took the golf club and took another big swing, catapulting the ball into the ocean along with Sprout's golf club, just as someone else came into the mini-golf course.

"Hey!" shouted the person. "Be more gentle next time!"

McGonagall scowled at him and turned back to Sprout. "Maybe we aren't supposed to hit them that hard? The ball is only supposed to go until there." She pointed to the hole in the putting green.

"Oh," said Sprout unintelligibly. "We'll be gentle now. My turn."

She went and got another ball and hit it as hard as last time. The ball flew into the sea.

The man who had joined them on the golf course blinked a couple of times and left the golf course, scratching his head.

"Pomona!" hissed McGonagall. "He said to be gentle! Give that to me!" She snatched the golf club out of Sprout's hands and placed another ball on the ground, swinging wildly at it.

"Hey, I think I forgot my…"

The guy rushed back onto the mini-golf course just as the ball bonked him on the head.

"Hat," he finished weakly.

Harry peered around the corner he was heading down. No Ginny.

He had felt bad about that entire fiasco in the pool. Though he didn't like Ginny, not in that way, he didn't want to make her feel bad, especially when four of his friends were backing him up. And he didn't want to make her feel little, either, for having a crush on him. As Ron had told him the night before, he was 'crush-worthy'.

'Crush-worthy' or not, Harry wanted to find Ginny and talk things through with her. He wanted to help her so that she didn't feel ashamed of liking him, and possibly terminate that crush.

Though, in all honesty, it didn't matter. He liked Cho, but apparently Cho liked Cedric Diggory. Harry had liked Cedric enough, but suddenly he was starting to agree with Dean and Seamus. Diggory had a brain filled with sawdust.

"Ouch!"

He fell to the ground, rubbing his nose and looking over to the person he had just collided with.

It was Ginny.

"Oh," he mumbled. "Hey, Ginny."

She yanked her leg out from under him and stood up. "Go away."

"But… Ginny, just listen to me!"

"I don't want to hear it," she snapped. "What are you going to say, anyway? Apologize that I like you? Tell me why you don't like me? I don't want your pity. Just go away and spare both of us."

"Wait, but…"

"No!" she snapped. "No! I already told you, I don't want to hear it!"

"Ginny, please," he said gently. "I don't pity you. I'm not going to apologize for anything. I just want to talk things through with you."

"If you two don't mind," drawled a voice from the end of the hallway, and both of them whipped around to see Severus Snape standing there, "please get out of the way. People are trying to walk."

"Sorry," muttered Ginny, scrambling out of the hallway and into a nearby room. Harry scowled at Snape and followed her.

"Hey, why'd you come in here?" she complained.

"Look, please, can we just talk this through?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Fine. Fine. But then we're done."

"Okay," he agreed. "Okay, so, I want to start by apologizing."

She huffed. "Told you."

"No, it's not that. I'm sorry because everyone was teasing you in the pool."

"Doesn't matter."

"But I wouldn't have liked that," Harry reasoned. "So I'm sorry."

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "Are you done?"

"No. Ginny, I don't want this to be awkward for us. I mean, since you like me, and since I… don't like you in that way, can we at least be friends?"

"There's no need to," she replied snarkily.

"Please?" he asked.

"You're doing this because you pity me," she said.

"No, I…" He cut off, realizing that he was doing this because he felt bad for her.

She sighed. "Come back and ask me again when you mean it," she told him softly. "Until then, the answer is no." And with that, she stood up and turned out of the room.

"I don't know why I agreed to this," groaned James in the elevator.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad." Remus rolled his eyes. "You're acting like it's strawberry ice cream I'm making you have."

"But I'd take strawberry over this," complained James. "Who goes to the library on a cruise?"

Remus rolled his eyes again. "I'm not making you read a textbook, James. There's plenty of other nice things to read."

James snorted. "A textbook is a nice thing to read?"

Remus shrugged. "Generally, yeah. But it depends on the textbook, of course. The History of Magic ones were a right pain in the…"

"History of Magic was the worst," grumbled James.

"Come on," Remus said, tugging at his friend's arm as the doors of the elevator opened to the library on the eighth floor of the ship. "Let's go see what we can find."

"I hate you," James muttered, as Remus dragged him to the library.

The library was small, but in good condition. There was a fuzzy, green carpet below their shoes, and neatly organized bookcases that surrounded them.

"Look around, see what you want to read," Remus told him. "Then read it."

"How long do I have to do this?" asked James dreadfully.

"I don't know, maybe an hour or two?"

James groaned. "Why?"

Remus smirked. "You're acting like such a child, James. Come on."

James sighed and slumped over to the nearest bookshelf. "The Very Hungry Caterpillar. By Eric Carle. Is this a classic?"

Remus peered over to see what he was looking at. He snorted. "A classic? Oh, yeah, for sure."

James took the book from the shelf and took it to a nearby table, where he sat down. "In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf. Hey, pictures! Man, kids are so lucky they get pictures to read with! Adult novels are so hard to understand sometimes."

Remus snorted. "True."

"One Sunday morning, the warm sun came up and -pop!- out of the egg came a tiny and very hungry caterpillar.

"He started to look for some food. On Monday, he ate through one apple. But he was still hungry.

"On Tuesday, he ate through two pears. But he was still hungry.

"On Wednesday, he ate through three plums. But he was still hungry.

"On Thursday, he ate through four strawberries. But he was still hungry.

"On Friday…"

"Okay, okay," Remus interjected, trying not to laugh, "we get it. Don't read it aloud."

James rolled his eyes and turned back to the book.

Remus smirked. "Told you."

"That's only because I chose a really good book," countered James sarcastically. "Reading some stupid adult novel would be boring."

"Say what you will," remarked Remus casually.

"Why didn't you drag Tonks along, by the way?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure you two would've had a lot of fun."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but not reading."

James let out a whoop of laughter. "You admitted it! You admitted that you and Tonks get up to stuff!"

"I mean, yeah," replied Remus, who was being surprisingly open about this topic. Remus was always one to go into his shell about girls and what he did with them. "Of course we do. What else did you expect?"

"I didn't expect you to tell me that, though," James whispered in awe.

"I mean, you're my best friend," replied Remus with a shrug. "You're the only person I'd share this kind of stuff with. But yeah."

James felt a surge of gratitude at his words, and clapped him on the back. "Good to know you've still got your priorities straight."

Remus laughed. "I would thank you, except I feel like that was a compliment to yourself."

James laughed too. "Anyway, why didn't you bring Tonks here instead of me?"

"Because we're always spending time together," Remus answered. "We've gone everywhere together, and we share a room and sleep together. Not in that way," he added exasperatedly, as James's eyes widened. "But Dora and I are always doing stuff together. I haven't talked to you in a while, and, like I said, you're my best friend. So I dragged you."

"Thanks," responded James, unsure of what else to say.

"Now, get back to your caterpillar," said Remus with a slight smirk.

"Hey, everyone," greeted Lily as students started coming into her classroom. "Come on in, and sit down anywhere you get."

It was so awkward, teaching lessons in your own room. She and James had had to clean the entire place to make it neat, with no socks or t-shirts laying around anywhere. She had cleared up spaces on the bed so that people could sit. Some people just plopped down onto the floor, while she leaned against a counter top.

"So," she began, "it's not very practical to teach you guys Ancient Runes right now. Not when we're not in our proper classroom. And besides, you guys are having fun on a cruise, and I don't want to disrupt that. So instead of doing a lesson right now, does anyone want to share what they've been up to? Any questions about the cruise?"

"Yeah," said Jonathan, raising his hand. "Can I share?"

"Go ahead," Lily said, nodding.

"Well, my friend Jacques and I went to a snorkeling place," Jonathan explained, "and we saw fish."

"Oh, that's nice," said Lily, smiling. "Anything else you did?"

"Carlos and I went on a walk," offered Jonathan.

"Wasn't Carlos the one who touched the Giant Squid?" asked someone.

"Yep," replied Jonathan. "We went on a walk and took pictures with a Muggle camera."

"What's that?" asked another kid.

"Let me explain," answered Lily, smiling. "A Muggle camera is something that you use to take photos. So, it depends on the type of camera you have, but you would click a button, and it takes a button of whatever you see through your screen."

"Can I get one?"

"You need to buy them," Lily explained. "But I'm sure you'll be able to find some small cameras somewhere. It's a tourist-filled place, anyway."

"What's a tourist?" asked someone.

Lily was tempted to ask, "How can you not know what a tourist is?", but apparently she needed to explain tourism from the beginning.

Oh, boy.

"Ooooh, sprinkles!" exclaimed Kylie.

She, Liana, and Candice were at the WindJammer, at the dessert line. There were several delicious candies and chocolates and cakes and cookies to choose from, and they looked absolutely scrumptious. Liana could feel her friend drooling beside her.

"Cake!" shrieked Kylie. "Look at that cake! It's got sprinkles and chocolate chips and cherries! And there's coconut fudge drizzle and bits of banana! Mmm!"

"Yuck," muttered Candice. "I'm sticking with the jellybeans."

"I'm taking those too!" exclaimed Kylie, taking two plump slices of cake onto a dinner plate. "This looks so good! What are you taking, Liana?"

"I'll take a fudge brownie," replied Liana, taking one. There was melted chocolate fudge dripping from it, and she was in the mood for chocolate. "And maybe a chocolate cupcake." She took one of those too.

"I'm sticking with the jellybeans," repeated Candice, taking a spoonful. "Just the jellybeans. I had an overload of focaccia."

"Jellybean time!" cried Kylie, scooping a large spoonful up with the serving spoon. "Mmm, these look so round and juicy! And shiny! YUM!"

And she stuck the serving spoon in her mouth.

"YUCK!" shouted Candice and Liana, jumping away.

"Who's gonna use that after you?" Liana shrieked.

Kylie shrugged. "These are so delicious! I want another spoonful!" She used the serving spoon to take another spoonful and popped the jellybeans into her mouth.

"That's disgusting," moaned Candice.

"What do you think you're doing?" hissed a voice from behind them, and they turned around to see Severus Snape standing there. "Miss Johnson, I cannot believe this behavior from you. Or, actually, I can believe it. But this is just disgusting, with no sense of proper etiquette." He cast a surreptitious Cleaning Charm, removing Kylie's saliva from the serving spoon. "Do not do that again." Snape stalked away.

"Too bad," said Kylie cheerfully, taking another spoon of jellybeans.

A/N: Just some more cruise-time bliss. Thank you so much to all of you lovely reviewers! :)