It was late on Sunday night that Draco and Hermione got an international port key, which took them from Sydney to Blaise's hotel in the south of France. With the time difference between the two countries it meant they arrived in France around midday. The pair touched down, with their luggage in tow, in a room specially designed for portkey transportation.
"Ugh." Hermione groaned as she regained her focus. "I hate port keys."
"I know." Draco chuckled. Every time Hermione headed off on holiday she complained about using port keys, but they were the easiest way of magically moving from country to country.
"I still say we should have flown." Hermione said. She had suggested they travel the muggle way, but Draco hadn't been keen.
"And I still say, there's no way you're getting me in one of those metal boxes muggles fly in." Draco retorted. "There's no way, that's a safe way to travel."
"This coming from a guy who flies around on a piece of wood for fun." Hermione shot back.
"There's nothing wrong with my broomstick." Draco argued. "Besides, it's not as if I'm flying for hours on it, and certainly not over any oceans."
"Okay, I get it, you're scared." Hermione grinned mischievously at Draco.
"I am not scared, I just value my life." Draco huffed.
Hermione laughed at Draco, as she picked up her case. "Come on, we better be going. Didn't you say Blaise would be waiting for us?"
"Yeah, he's meeting us in reception." Draco answered. Picking up his own case, he then plucked Hermione's out of her hand. "I'm just being a good boyfriend." He explained when she looked at him in bewilderment.
With Draco carrying the cases, Hermione moved to the door and they exited the port key room. The couple emerged into a short hallway, with another three doors beside the room they'd just exited. On the wall directly opposite the doors was a sign pointing them towards reception. As they headed in the direction the sign pointed, Draco explained that the other rooms were probably also equipped to handle port key arrivals or possibly people apparating to the hotel.
The reception area of the hotel was light and welcoming. The light wooden reception desk was directly opposite the large double doors, which were standing wide open and letting in the sunshine. Near to the door where Hermione and Draco had exited, were several more doors, leading to other parts of the hotel. On the wall opposite them stood three white marble fires and a few more doors. There was also a few comfortable chairs situated beside the front doors, and that was where a tanned Blaise Zabini was sitting waiting for his guests.
"Draco." Blaise grinned widely and jumped up the moment he spotted his friend.
"Hey Blaise." Draco was equally as pleased to see his friend as the two wizard exchanged greetings. "You remember Hermione, don't you?" He said, making sure not to forget his pretend girlfriend.
"Of course I do." Blaise said. Turning his attention towards Hermione, he gave her a wide smile. "It's nice to see you again, Hermione."
"It's nice to see you too." Hermione smiled back at Draco's friend. She immediately liked the handsome wizard, and could see why Draco referred to him as a charmer. "And congratulations on your wedding."
"Thanks." Blaise replied. "I still can't believe I'm settling down. This time next week I'll be a married man."
"I've got to admit, I never thought I would see this day." Draco told his friend. "I didn't think you had it in you to settle for just one witch."
"Neither did I, not until I got together with Daphne." Blaise confessed.
"Speaking of Daphne, where is she?" Draco asked.
"She's on the boat." Blaise replied. "I'm the one ushering the guests down to the harbour."
"Boat?" Draco frowned. "What boat?"
"It's called Daphne's Delight, it's my latest venture." Blaise answered. "It's a luxury yacht that I've had outfitted for special events. The wedding is the test run."
"Are you telling us we're spending the week on a boat?" Draco questioned his friend.
"Yeah, we're cruising the Mediterranean." Blaise nodded. "Did I not mention this in my letter?" He asked innocently.
"No, you bloody well didn't." Draco snapped. "I can't believe you expect me to spend a week out at sea with Astoria. I'm likely to chuck the annoying cow overboard."
"Such a charmer you've landed yourself there, Hermione." Blaise grinned at the brunette witch. He'd expected such a reaction from Draco, which was why he'd accidentally forgot to mention it when he wrote to his friend.
"He is, isn't he?" Hermione chuckled, placing a soothing hand on Draco's arm.
"Sorry, I was just taken by surprise." Draco said. "I was expecting to spend the week exploring your new hotel."
"Instead you get to explore my new boat." Blaise grinned. "Come on, I'll take you down to the harbour and Daphne can get you settled in."
As Blaise turned and headed out of the front doors, Draco and Hermione shared a worried look before following him. They hadn't prepared for being shut on a boat, out on the sea for a week. Even if the boat was large, which it would undoubtedly would be, it would still mean more contact with the other guests. In such close proximity to other people it would be easier for them to mess up and reveal the true status of their relationship.
"Do you think we can still pull this off?" Hermione whispered to Draco.
"Yeah, we'll just have to be even more careful." Draco whispered back. "Even if it appears there's no-one around we'll still have to act as though we're together, we don't want someone popping up unexpectedly and catching us out."
"You're going to owe me one hell of a favour for this." Hermione muttered.
"Don't worry, I'll make it up to you." Draco grinned.
Hermione smiled back at Draco as the pair continued to follow Blaise down to the harbour. As they walked Blaise pointed out a few local sights, and after about a ten minute walk they arrived at the harbour. The harbour was quite full of boats of various sizes, but Blaise's vessel immediately stood out. It was a brand new white boat, with emerald writing on the side. It was also at least twice the size of the next largest boat.
"It's almost as big as a cruise ship." Hermione commented as they approached the boat.
"Daphne's Delight is far better than any cruise ship." Blaise boasted. "Like my hotel's, it's exclusive and luxurious."
"From down here it looks amazing." Hermione said as they arrived at the side of the boat.
"It's ever better when you get aboard." Blaise grinned happily. "Come on, let's get you two settled."
Blaise led the way up the ramp, which was connecting the boat to the harbour. When Draco and Hermione arrived on deck of the boat they found Daphne waiting for them. Unfortunately she wasn't alone, her sister Astoria was with her, wearing the tiniest bikini possible.
"Draco." Astoria called, running forward and flinging herself at the blond. Draco almost dropped the cases, trying to stop himself from falling over as he was pounced upon. "I've missed you so much. We're going to have so much fun this week."
"This is Hermione." Draco told Astoria as he pushed her off him. "My girlfriend." He added, placing the cases beside his feet and wrapping his arm around Hermione.
"It's nice to meet you, Astoria." Hermione smiled at the younger witch as she looked at the couple in disbelief.
"Girlfriend?" Astoria repeated, totally ignoring Hermione's greeting. "How long have you had a girlfriend?"
"About two years now." Draco answered smoothly. He and Hermione had already decided on what to tell people about their relationship. Basically they were going to tell the truth about how they re-met and became friends, the only lie was telling people they'd started dating two years previously.
Instead of responding, Astoria visibly scrutinised Hermione before turning around and stalking off. Once Astoria had disappeared through a door, Daphne stepped forward to greet her guests. After hugging Draco and greeting her old friend, she turned to Hermione.
"Sorry about Astoria." She said apologetically.
"Don't worry about it." Hermione smiled at the other witch.
"Thank you both so much for coming." Daphne gushed. "We really appreciate it."
"I wouldn't have missed it for anything." Draco reassured his friend.
"Right, I'll leave you two in Daphne's capable hands. I've got to get back to the hotel, we're expecting some more guests to arrive." Blaise said.
"When do we depart?" Draco asked.
"This evening." Blaise answered. "By then everyone will be here, and we'll be off out into the open waters."
Quickly saying goodbye, Blaise headed back down onto the dock and started to head back to the hotel. On the deck of the boat, Daphne pulled out her wand and tapped at the two cases sitting beside Draco's feet. The two cases disappeared, and Daphne explained she'd sent them to their cabin.
"I thought I could show you to your cabin now." Daphne said. "I'm guessing with the time difference you're both pretty tired. I thought you might appreciate a nap before this evening."
"That would be great, we are a bit tired." Draco admitted.
"We're all having dinner in the dining room at seven." Daphne explained. "I'll take you to your cabin via the dining room, so you know how to find it. After that we're launching the boat and Blaise wants to make a big deal of it, so there's fireworks and cocktails up on the main deck."
"It sounds lovely, Daphne." Hermione smiled, as Daphne led them down below deck.
"I hope so." Daphne sighed. "Blaise will be so disappointed if this week isn't a success. He wanted to give me the perfect wedding, and he thought this would be pretty unique."
"It is that." Draco said. "And I'm sure the week will be great."
Daphne smiled appreciatively at Draco as she pointed out various rooms to the couple. After heading down a second set of stairs, Daphne led them into a vast dining room. The room was massive, with a long dining table already set up and laid out ready for dinner. Both Draco and Hermione were impressed with the room and after complimenting Daphne, who admitted in having a say in the décor of the entire boat, they continued on with their tour.
Another set of stairs led down to the sleeping quarters, and Daphne explained that the cabins had been extended so they were larger than normal. Daphne led the couple to a door in the middle of the corridor and producing a key from her pocket, she opened the door.
"I'm afraid at the minute we've only got one key." She said as she handed it to Draco.
"That's fine." Draco said. "I'm sure we can manage."
"I'll leave you to settle in." Daphne said to the couple. "If you do want to explore the boat, feel free. See you at dinner."
After saying goodbye to Daphne, Draco and Hermione stepped inside the cabin. Daphne was right, it was larger than you would expect a cabin on a boat to be, but it was nowhere near as big as the suite they'd been planning on sharing. Sharing a room was something they'd been expecting but Draco had insisted the suites at Blaise's hotel were so big that sharing wouldn't be a problem. However they would be in much closer proximity in the cabin, and apart from the bed there was nowhere else to sleep. The only other seat was a chair in front of the vanity.
"This looks nice." Draco commented, as he looked around. Despite not having much in it the whole room looked and felt expensive and luxurious.
"Nice bathroom." Hermione said, opening the door that led to the bathroom. The bathroom wasn't massive, but there was a small bathtub, a shower, toilet and sink, all of which were spotless and were of the highest quality.
"Do you want to unpack now, or later?" Draco asked, gesturing to the two cases that were sitting at the bottom of the bed.
"Later." Hermione said, stifling a yawn. "If I'm actually going to be alert tonight, I need some sleep."
"It looks like we're going to have to share a bed." Draco remarked, eyeing the surprisingly large bed up. In all their previous discussions about the trip, Draco had been planning on sleeping on a sofa in the hotel suite, but that was no longer an option.
"I'm sure we can manage." Hermione said as she sat on the end of the bed and pulled her socks and shoes off. "Just keep your hands to yourself."
Draco nodded as he sat down on the other side of the bed and removed his own shoes and socks. Setting an alarm on his wand, he then settled back on the bed and was joined by Hermione. Neither of them bothered to get undressed or get under the covers as they were just planning a quick power nap before the evening's activities.
As they lay in silence, each of them trying to drop off to sleep, they both thought about their new sleeping arrangements. They were both acutely aware of the other one lying inches away and they were both struggling to keep their hands to themselves. All Hermione wanted to do was roll over and curl up next to Draco, and all he wanted to do was wrap Hermione in his arms. Eventually the tired pair drifted off to sleep, neither of them realising they had subconsciously moved towards each other.