Sitting at the vanity, Hermione watched Draco through the mirror as she put the finishing touches to her own outfit. After a couple of hours sleep the pair had risen feeling brighter and ready to enjoy themselves. After unpacking, one at a time they had used the bathroom, before Draco had gone back into the small room to dress while Hermione was in the cabin. Once Hermione was decent, Draco returned to the cabin and the pair had finished getting ready together.
Even though they expected the evening's to be dressier than during the day, Draco was still confident there would still be a slightly less formal atmosphere and they wouldn't have to dress up too that in mind, Draco was wearing black trousers and a light grey shirt, although he'd decided not to bother with a tie. Hermione meanwhile was wearing a sapphire blue one shouldered dress that ended just above her knees. She'd also pinned her hair up, leaving just a few tendrils framing her face.
Once Hermione had spritzed herself with her favourite perfume, she decided to add some jewellery. She put in a pair of deep blue teardrop earrings, and slid a silver and blue set of bangles onto her wrist. When she reached up to put a necklace on that matched her earrings, Draco appeared behind her and took the necklace out of her hands.
"Allow me." Draco fastened the necklace around Hermione's neck, before leaning down and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "You look beautiful."
"Thanks." Hermione smiled at Draco through the mirror before turning around to face him. "You're looking pretty good yourself."
"I know." Draco grinned cockily, before holding out his hand and helping Hermione to her feet. "I guess we better get going."
Hermione nodded and grabbed her blue clutch bag. After leaving the cabin and locking it, Hermione put the key in her bag before the couple made their way to the dining room. On the way there they met an older couple who Draco introduced Hermione to as Daphne's parents. The Greengrasses seemed like perfectly nice people as they greeted Draco in a friendly manner and made Hermione feel welcome.
When the two couples reached the dining room, Blaise and Daphne were already there. While Daphne spoke to her parents, Blaise approached Draco and Hermione. Leading them into the room he handed them both a drink from the bar in the corner, before introducing them to a few other guests. Most of the people they were being introduced to were family members of Blaise and Daphne, as Blaise had already explained it was a smallish affair. After talking to Blaise's mother and her latest husband for a while, Draco turned around and spotted a familiar figure entering the dining room.
"Theo." Draco declared, happy to see his friend. Since moving to Australia he hadn't seen his old friends much, and he hadn't heard much from Theo either.
"Draco." Theo Nott grinned as he approached his friend. "It's good to see you, mate."
Following behind Theo was a redheaded witch, and Hermione gasped when she spotted who it was.
"Ginny."
"Hermione." Ginny cried, rushing forward and embracing her friend. "You look great." She declared, pulling back and looking at the witch she hadn't seen for years.
"So do you." Hermione said, getting a good look at her friend. Ginny was wearing a long, flowing green dress and looked much more sophisticated than the last time Hermione had seen her. "What are you doing here?" She asked.
"We're here for the wedding. Theo's my boyfriend." Ginny grinned, looping her arm around Theo's as he chatted with Draco.
"What happened with Harry?" Hermione questioned. When she'd left Britain, Ginny and Harry had been very much a couple.
"We split up a few months after you left." Ginny admitted. "We're still great friends, in fact I think we're better friends than we've ever been."
"So how did you end up with Theo?" Hermione asked.
"I was injured during a Quidditch match and Theo was my healer." Ginny answered. "We flirted as he fixed me up, and then when I was ready to go he asked me out for a drink."
"That was three years ago, and we've been happy together ever since." Theo added, joining in the conversation as his own catch up with Draco had ended. "And how about you two?" He asked. "How did you end up together?"
"When I bought my penthouse in Sydney, I discovered Hermione was my neighbour. We became friends and things just progressed from there." Draco answered. As he was talking he slid his arm around Hermione's waist, and she moved closer to him.
"I'm so pleased for you." Ginny smiled at Hermione. "You two look so happy together."
Hermione was just about to respond when she spotted another couple entering the dining room over Ginny's shoulder. The witch in the daring red dress was Pansy Parkinson, but Hermione was shocked to find the wizard at her side was Harry.
"Draco." Pansy squealed excitedly as she rushed forward and embraced the blond.
"Hey, Pans." Draco hugged Pansy back, before releasing her from his arms. "You're looking good."
While Draco and Pansy caught up, Hermione turned to Harry, who was just standing looking at her in bewilderment.
"Are you not saying hello, Harry?" She teased.
"Of course." Harry smiled, before rushing forward and hugging Hermione. "I've missed you, Hermione." He whispered.
"I've missed you too." Hermione replied. "Although I didn't expect to see you here."
"I never expected to see you either." Harry said.
As Pansy returned to Harry's side, Draco once again recited their fake story of how they got together. Pansy and Harry then told how they'd been set up on a blind date by Theo and Ginny about eight months ago. Even though both Harry and Pansy insisted their relationship was still early days and was nothing serious, it was obvious that they thought the world of each other.
As the group were talking, Blaise and Daphne moved to join their friends. Blaise made sure everyone had drinks and were all getting along, while Daphne told them about the boat and what there was to do on board. The group were still happily chatting when Astoria came swanning into the room. She was wearing a skin-tight gold dress that just say covered her backside and was ridiculously low cut.
"Could she wear any less?" Blaise muttered to Daphne as the group set eyes on Astoria.
"I've warned her about dressing like that." Daphne sighed.
"It would appear she hasn't listened." Theo chuckled.
"Who hasn't listened to what?" Astoria questioned as she made her way over to the group and manoeuvred herself so she was standing next to Draco. "Hello Draco." She turned and fluttered her eyelashes at the blond, not bothering to wait for an answer to her earlier question.
"Astoria." Draco nodded politely at the younger witch, before turning to Blaise. "What time is dinner due to start?"
"Actually, we should be taking our seats." Blaise answered, knowing exactly what Draco wanted him to say.
"All the seats are marked with your name cards." Daphne said. "I intend to mix things up every night, so you'll get a chance to mingle with everyone."
"Just make sure I'm not next to Astoria at any time." Draco whispered to Blaise as the group headed towards the table.
"Of course." Blaise nodded.
Luckily for Draco he wasn't seated next to Astoria that evening. However she was sitting almost directly opposite him, and kept leaning over so he could see down her dress whenever he glanced her way. Not that he glanced her way that often, he was more than happy talking to Hermione, who was on one side, and Blaise, who was sitting on his other side.
Once dinner was over, Blaise made sure to announce they would be launching the boat soon and he'd organised for cocktails on the main deck. Daphne led the way to the main deck, where a cocktail bar was set up. Everyone grabbed a cocktail, and made their way towards the sides of the boat, as Blaise prepared for their launch.
The launch went smoothly, and once they were underway Blaise announced that fireworks would be going off soon. The firework display was actually coming from his hotel, but they would be able to see them from the boat. As they waited for the fireworks to start everyone remained on deck, chatting to old friends and making new ones.
While Hermione was catching up with Harry and Ginny, Draco was standing at the back of the boat, watching as they slowly made their way out of the harbour. Draco was rather caught up in his own thoughts, so he failed to notice Astoria approaching him. It was only when he felt a hand on his arm that he looked down and found Daphne's sister, snuggling up to him.
"It's so romantic out here, don't you think?" Astoria asked dreamily, all the time stroking her hand over Draco's arm.
"It is." Draco replied. "Providing you're with the right person."
"I can be the right person." Astoria offered, batting her eyelashes at Draco.
"I don't think so." Hermione's voice said from behind Astoria. Astoria turned round and glared at Hermione, but the brunette witch just ignored her as she looked at Draco. "Blaise says the fireworks will start in less than a minute. I was thinking we could watch them together."
"Of course." Draco smiled at Hermione as he reached out and took hold of her hand. Pulling her towards him, he settled her in front of him and wrapped both of his arms around her waist. "Thank you." He whispered as Astoria turned on her heel and stalked off.
"That's what I'm here for." Hermione replied.
"I'm pleased you're here." Draco said softly.
"So am I." Hermione admitted.
Anything else the pair might have wanted to say had to wait as the others started to gather beside them as the fireworks began. The fireworks display was pretty impressive, with the coloured sparks magically forming into things such as hearts and wedding bells. The big crescendo to the display included a bride and groom, before a large red heart ended the display.
"They were great." Daphne smiled at Blaise, and wrapped her arm around his waist. "Thanks, Blaise. I loved them."
"They were pretty impressive." Draco told his friend. "Very intricate and detailed."
"It took me quite a while to mange to find them." Blaise admitted. "In the end, Harry helped me out. He hooked me up with someone who can create specialist fireworks, and those were the result."
"George." Hermione exclaimed. He and Fred were the only people she'd ever seen create detailed fireworks like the ones they'd just witnessed. Their exit from Hogwarts at the end of Hermione's fifth year, which included a firework display, had been a major event and it had been talked about well into the following year.
"Yes." Blaise nodded. "He was more than willing to help. He's a bloody genius."
"He is rather clever." Hermione agreed. "It's nice that he's still working on his inventions and keeping the business going."
"I think we're going to head back below deck." Daphne said, shivering slightly. "Are you two coming?"
"Actually, I think I might head for bed." Hermione said. "The nap earlier was enough to get me through dinner, but I'm getting rather tired."
"Of course." Daphne nodded understandingly. "You go to bed, you want to be raring to go for the rest of the trip."
"Come on, let's go back to the cabin." Draco said, letting Hermione out of his arms but immediately taking hold of her hand.
"You don't have to come with me, you can have a drink if you want." Hermione offered. Just because she was tired, she didn't want Draco to think he had to accompany her back to the cabin.
"I'm pretty tired myself." Draco admitted. "I think an early night's in order for both of us."
After saying goodbye to their friends, Hermione and Draco headed back to their cabin while the others drifted off to one of the many lounge areas on the boat. The pair walked in silence and didn't speak until they were back in the cabin and the door was locked behind them.
"I'm not really sure this master plan of yours is working." Hermione told Draco as she removed her jewellery and sat down to take her make-up off. "Astoria doesn't seem overly bothered you supposedly have a girlfriend."
"She is pretty persistent." Draco conceded. "We'll just have to be more convincing tomorrow. We might have to act a bit more touchy-feely with each other. Are you okay with that?"
"It's fine." Hermione replied, finishing up at the vanity. Walking over to her chest of drawers, Hermione pulled out her pyjamas. "Do you mind if I use the bathroom first?"
"Go ahead." Draco said, perching on the bed.
Hermione smiled at Draco, before disappearing into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes later she emerged wearing a pair of lavender pyjamas, which consisted of a pair of thin bottoms and a vest top. While Draco headed into the bathroom, with his own nightwear, Hermione settled in the bed. She was slightly nervous about sleeping next to Draco, but at the minute she was too tired to really dwell on it. When Draco re-entered the bathroom he was just wearing a pair of dark green pyjama bottoms. Hermione had seen Draco topless on numerous occasions, but she couldn't help but check out his toned frame.
"I'll set an alarm on my wand for the morning." Draco said as he placed the piece of wood on the bedside table.
Hermione murmured an approval as Draco slid into bed beside her. Making sure not to encroach on each other's space the pair set about getting comfortable. No doubt if they hadn't been as tired they would have spent longer thinking about their sleeping arrangements, but as it was they were so tired that they both drifted off to sleep within ten minutes of settling into bed.