A Girl in a Bikini

A girl in a bikini is like having a loaded pistol on your coffee table - There's nothing wrong with them, but it's hard to stop thinking about it

-Garrison Keillor

The moon shone brightly through the window of the hotel room. Harry sighed and rolled over to face the wall. He couldn't sleep. It wasn't the fact that there was a beautiful woman in his bed. It was the fact that it was Hermione and he was just now seeing her as a beautiful woman.

'When did things change?' he thought to himself as he glanced back over his shoulder at her sleeping form. Her back was to him and he could see her body softly rise up and down rhythmically as she breathed. Her hair splayed over the pillow, haloing her head. She looked like a goddess. Maybe he was imagining things.

Hermione sighed deeply in her sleep and cuddled closer to the warm figure of Harry. He smiled softly and rolled back over. Loosely placing one arm over her waist, on top of the comforter, he closed his eyes. He was determined to forget these feelings ever happened and he was going to be damned if he would say anything to her about it. As he joined her in the realm of sleep he inadvertently pulled her closer, and she unconsciously relaxed her body into his own.

Hermione stretched, trying to wake up her limbs. She glanced outside and saw that the sun way shining and she also saw a disgruntled Harry sitting on the edge of the balcony with a plate of breakfast in front of him. She grabbed a white terry robe that the hotel provided and clumsily walked over to the window. He looked over at her when he heard the door open and raised an eyebrow.

"You're a cover hog." He said simply. She laughed.

"Am not." She went over and leaned against the balcony, grabbing his offered fork and digging into the pancakes in front of her.

"Yes you are. I was up all night shivering while the comforter was pooled on your side of the bed." He said his voice with an angry tinge to it. She smiled innocently.

"Atleast I'm not a bed hog." She said her mouth full, the close lipped grin still shining on her face.

"Not true. You are a bed hog. You snuggle really close to me and push me all the way over until I'm on the edge of the bed, about to fall off." He said, holding back his own smile. "I had to lift you up in the middle of the night and move you over." She looked down at her feet, slightly embarrassed.

"Sorry." She mumbled, wiping crumbs off her lips. "I guess I'm just not used to sleeping in a bed with someone." He started laughing and she looked up, shocked.

"Harry Potter that was not funny." She said, trying to stay firm while a smile was pulling at her lips. He just kept laughing and returned inside. He grabbed a pair of board short and quickly pulled them on. Hermione returned inside just in time to see him pull them up quickly.

"Hermione!" He said, suddenly embarrassed she had seen his bare ass. He'd never been embarrassed about that before. He just couldn't shake the strange feelings he'd gotten the night before. She turned to face him, looking confused.

"What? It's not like we've never seen each other naked before Harry." She walked over to the wardrobe and grabbed her own bathing suit and a pair of short. "But since you seem to be so uncomfortable with it I'll change in the washroom." She said curtly before walking to the door on the left. He sighed.

"It's just…different now." He said loud enough so she could hear him through the door.

"How's it different. It always has been and always will be strictly plutonic." Her voice was muffled by the door and he was suddenly glad she wasn't in the room. 'Strictly plutonic' didn't seem like a good explanation anymore. Why should he be destined to stay 'strictly plutonic' with her. Why did he suddenly not want to hear those words anymore?

"Hermione I'm going to go down to the beach. Finish up the plate and then join me. Anything you want me to bring down for you?"

"Just a book or two. Thanks Harry. See you down there." He heard through the door. He grabbed a bag and placed a couple of the hotels signature anti-sand yellow towels and a couple books in it.

The walk down to the beach was uneventful. The day was glorious; the blue ocean was even more breathtaking then the last time he had been there.

"Harry." He turned to face Ginny as she ran down the sand. Her red hair was pulled up into a bun and her pale skin looked overcooked. "Harry I have a terrible sunburn!" She whined as she sat down beside her.

"Gin it's not that bad." He replied, looking cautiously at her back. She moved the strap of her bikini aside and he cringed. Okay…maybe it was that bad. Where her bathing suit had sat you could see her normally creamy white skin but the rest of her back looked like Bill and Fleur's two year old daughter Amelie had been given a new set of red markers. "I'm sorry. Why don't you go see the hotel's apothecary? I'm sure she's got something for sunburns."

"You know I don't like to take potions to fix every little thing. I've gotten some after-sun from the chemist at one of the muggle resorts. They said that's the best way to fix it without medication." He looked at the green goo she had in her hands. He remembered aloe vera gel. It was sticky, stinky but gave some relief.

"Ginny, you shouldn't be out in the sun with a burn like that."

"I'm going to stay under the umbrella all day."

"Are you sure that's the best idea." He asked tentatively. She looked over at him with fire in her eyes.

"Of course I'm sure! I said it was, alright? Merlin Harry, when did you turn into my father?" He looked sheepishly down at the book in his hands.

Time crept along slowly and although he was greatly enjoying lying in the warm sun with an entertaining novel in his digits, whenever he glanced over at Ginny she looked bored. Really…really…really bored.

"Want to go for a swim?" He suggested, giving her a small smile. She turned her face to him, an unimpressed look distinctly on it.

"I hate the ocean." She snapped.

"We could go for a walk."

"I don't like the feeling of sand between my toes."

"Oh." He felt so rejected. All he had wanted was a nice vacation to rekindle their dying romance. A little sun, surf, sand and sex were his noble intentions. Ginny had been thrilled when he had told her about a vacation. The feeling had obviously waned when he told her where they were going to be portkeying to. The sun burnt her, she didn't like the ocean, hated the feeling of sand and he definitely hadn't been getting any sex since they'd arrived. In fact it felt as if he were sixteen all over again. No sex and no fun. He sighed. "I think I'm going to go get a drink do you want something?"

"When I drink in the sun I get dehydrated." He stood up and walked away, shaking his head resolute to try and enjoy the rest of his vacation, even if his fiancée was determined not to.

Harry sighed happily as the hot sun lapped at his skin. He had been smart enough to cast an anti-UV spell before he had left the room. The novel in his hands was one in a series he had been reading. It was about a muggle reporter who had discovered the Wizarding World and what he was going to do with the information. It was terribly thrilling and from the moment Harry had picked up the first book from Hermione's coffee table he had been hooked. The pages seemed to turn quicker and quicker as the story continued. He didn't notice the familiar figure walking down the beach towards him.

Hermione was ecstatic to be on the beach. The last time she had been on a beach had been in the French Riviera with her parents the summer before third year. It had been long overdue. Her skin was unusually pale for her, but she attributed it to being stuck in the lab day in and day out recently. She knew she was going to gain some colour on this trip. She walked slowly, enjoying the feeling of her feet in the soft white sand.

She had pulled her hair up into a loose ponytail, strands still framing her face. She had been amazed to find that Harry had done a wonderful job packing for her. Not only had he picked her most recent swimwear purchase but he had managed to pack all her best summer clothes. She was currently wearing a green bikini, but Hermione is still Hermione and for a bikini it was fairly reserved. The bottoms were by no means thong or string of any kind. The top however, was a little on the sparse side. She thought it nicely accentuated her modest bust. She wore her most comfortable pair of khaki shorts and juggled two margaritas, sunglasses and a book in her hands.

"Oi, Potter! Feel like helping a girl out?" She called when she was a few feet from him. Harry slowly raised his eyes from his book and was very glad to have done so. Even in the darkness caused by his sunglasses, the sight before him caught his attention.

Harry gulped and jumped up to help her. He grabbed her book and one of the drinks and placed them on the sand beside his towel.

"Margaritas…this early?"

"It's five o'clock somewhere." Hermione said with a grin on her face. She put her sunglasses on and carefully pulled her shorts down. Harry had to look back at his novel.

'This is strange.' He thought to himself as he read the same paragraph five times over. He had seen Hermione in less then this before. He had packed the bathing suit for her for Merlin's sakes. Why hadn't it mattered when he packed for her? How come it had to matter now? He slowly took a sip of the margarita and felt the wonderful mixing of the cool lime ice with the warming tequila. He sighed contentedly.

"Did you know that it was in this very spot that I told Ginny I wasn't ready to get married?" He said offhandedly. She glanced up at him from her own book, her margarita in her hand. He noticed there were already a few sips gone.

"I'm sorry Harry."

"Nothing to be sorry about." He shrugged his shoulders. He and Ginny had seemed so perfect to everyone but him. There was always a part of him he couldn't give to her fully. And she didn't deserve to marry a man who wouldn't give himself wholly to her. "Things just don't work the way you have planned."

"I thought for your whole life you'd wanted a family?"

"I did. I do. It's just… I see marriage as a great institution, but I'm not ready for an institution yet."

"I know exactly how you feel." She said nodding. "It feels as if all the people we went to school with are suddenly pairing off. I mean, what's the big rush. We're only 24."

"I don't think it's that simple. I mean, we all saw horrible things during the war. You said it yourself Hermione, we had to grow up. Growing up means getting married, starting a career and having kids. Ron and Luna are bound to have kids soon if any of the other Weasleys are a blueprint." Hermione nodded thinking of the twins and the two eldest Weasleys who were all now fathers.

"Times they are a changing." She said a smile on her face. They both returned to their books but Harry kept glancing over at her. Her skin was so smooth; her hair looked so perfect even though it was so simple. She was just Hermione and he was starting to realize how he really felt about just Hermione.

"Let's do something." He said whining a little. She laughed.

"You sound like you're five."

"I feel like I'm five I can't sit still."

"Well then 'Chosen One' what did you have in mind?" He scowled when she said chosen one. He hated when people called him that. But he also knew that she had said it just to get a rise out of him.

"Let's go swim." He offered his hand as he stood up. She took off her sunglasses and placed them beside her book.

"I can manage that." She said as she took his hand and he helped her up. He couldn't help but notice how her breasts pushed against the thin fabric that retained them as she jumped up. 'Stop it.' He told himself. 'Just stop it.'

He grabbed her hand and they ran into the water; laughing and splashing each other. The beads of water ran slowly along her skin, tantalizing him. He smiled and she grinned mischievously. Before he knew what hit him, he was dunked under the water. He surfaced to her glorious laughter ringing out around him. He growled and chased after her. He caught her quickly and lifted her up over him head and dropped her into the water. When her head came out of the water she was still grinning. She jumped up and gave him a big hug. He could feel her warm wet body pressing against him. Her nipples were taut from the chilly water. His breathing increased and he leaned his mouth down, inches from hers.

"I just want to say thank you again." She said in a low voice, her eyes traveling from his eyes to his lips. "And say how much this trip means to me."

"You're very welcome." He said huskily, feeling the return of the longing from the night before. Only this time it was much stronger.

He leaned in closer, his lips almost against hers. Neither one could move. He could feel her sweet breath against his mouth and after an agonizing pause he closed the gap.

A/N Well that happened much quicker then I'd imagined. Some hot Harmony action on the way folks I promise. Please review; you know how much it means to you when you write something to hear what people thought of it. I'm very impressed with myself getting another chapter up so fast. Don't expect it…I'm a busy 2nd year uni student who practically lives at school. Anyways, enjoy. Cheers.

K