"Hey Gin," Hermione said opening the door wide enough to let her friend inside. "Again, thanks for watching Crookshanks while I'm gone."
"It's no problem, Hermione. Crookshanks is no bother. What are you up to?" Ginny walked inside and went straight into Hermione's bedroom. She had her hair pulled up into a ponytail and was wearing blue workout clothing. Ginny was still in training to be on the HolyHead Harpies team. She had six a.m. practices every weekday morning.
"I'm just trying to pack," Hermione followed the girl into her room. Ginny was digging through her suitcase making small clicking sounds at different items.
"Hermione, your going to the beach and you aren't even packing a swimsuit," Ginny went to Hermione's drawers and pulled a few out.
"I'm not really planning on swimming. I think I'm mostly going to just catch up on some sleep, fill up on food, and read a few books," Hermione tucked the swimsuits she was handed in her suitcase anyway.
"Hermione I am going to put my foot down on that. If you don't come back at least two shades darker I swear you will come home with all of your books mysteriously missing. Oh, are you packing this?" Ginny grabbed the dress Hermione had laid out and neatly folded it up.
"That's what I was trying to decide on, but I guess I will take it considering you are already folding it up," Hermione went to her bathroom and grabbed her remaining cosmetic items.
Ginny sat down on Hermione's bed and out of no where began to give her a very stern look as if she were her mother. "Hermione, I've been thinking you know."
"Yes, people tend to do that," Hermione said, zipping her suit case up. She could sense a lecture coming on.
Ginny frowned slightly but continued, "Well this is serious Hermione. It has been over a year now since 'you-know-what' happened and you have yet to go on one date."
After Tilly's birth, the whole Weasley family had begun to act like that night never happened. It was their way of keeping the child from knowing she was a mistake.
Hermione groaned, "Ginny, you now I'm not ready for that stuff. It's still very hard for me to see the man I loved married to a woman I hate and fathering her child," Hermione and Ron were still friendly with one another, but for Hermione it was in the kind of forced way. She just couldn't act like she felt normal around him.
"But Hermione, don't you see how it makes Lavender feel like she won. All she ever wanted throughout school was Ron and when you took him from her she was livid. Now your just making her seem like she has stolen your life from you."
"Cut to the chase already, Gin?" Hermione shot the redhead her worst dagger eyes.
"I-I am just saying that well, you need to date, Hermione. I have found the perfect guy that I just know you would get along with and I have kind of arranged a blind date for you when you get back," Ginny began to cower as she saw the red flush rising in Hermione's face.
"I'm so sick of you Weasley's telling me how to run my life!" Hermione grabbed the handle of her suitcase, turned on the spot, and apparated out of her room. Her crack was so loud as she left it shook her furniture.
She appeared on a stone path of a small garden that led to a familiar peach colored house with blue shutters and covered with vines. She felt very remorseful for leaving the way she did. Ginny was only trying to help. Hermione vowed to mail her a postcard apologizing the next day.
She walked inside the house and was surprised to see the interior had not changed since her last visit. The interior design of the whole house screamed that it was done by her aunt. It was very busy and full of odd antiques and warm colors. The living room/dining room was the first room of the house and it had two large red velvet couches in an 'L' shape under the windows that overlooked the front yard. The walls were painted yellow and there was at least one brown bookshelf on every wall. None of the furniture matched and the beautiful stone floor was covered with an ugly, worn out rug for some reason.
Hermione sighed and headed up the white painted wood stairs with her suitcase dragging behind her. It was not her ideal place to stay for relaxation, but she could make deal since it was free.
There was only two bedrooms in the house. The master was painted white with yellow sponged on. The second was the room she used to stay in and just the thought of its ugly pink striped walls made her want to vomit so she didn't step foot near it. The plus side of the master bedroom was that it had a large white marble tub with windows that overlooked the pool in the backyard and the Mediterranean Sea.
Hermione decided that would be the best first thing to do to start her relaxation trip and so she grabbed the book she had been reading and turned the faucets on. She poured some of her aunt's gardenia scented bubble bath into the tub and gently placed her body in.
Her mind was completely gone when she began reading her book where she had left off. The girl in it was spending some alone time playing in the sand of the beach in front of her rental house. When she finished creating a large sand mermaid, she rolled out her towel and began to sunbathe topless, enjoying the feeling of freedom it gave her. This was quickly interrupted when a four wheeler plowed over her creation and almost herself if she had not jumped up. It was a very attractive, tan man about her age. Her grabbed her towel and handed it to her to cover herself up as he apologized. She just kind of mumbled something as she was completely entranced by his shining white smile. He offered to make it up to her by taking her to dinner. She only nodded her head and he took off again after telling her his name was Daman.
Hermione was pruned as the ended the chapter. She changed into her pajamas and went to the kitchen to look for a small bite to eat before she went to bed. There was nothing but eggs and a jar of olives in the fridge, but Hermione did find a bag of popcorn in a cabinet. She heated it up with her wand and poured a glass of water before calling it a night in the overly orange sheets of her bed.