MARRIED IN PARADISE
When Hermione finally gets sick of everything happening in her life, she runs away to the idyllic Felicia's Isle. Here she meets the last person she thought she would ever see, under the weirdest circumstances. Have they been pining for the wrong people this whole time? With some magical hijinks, questionable people, a lot of booze, and a beautiful island, they may just find out.
Disclaimer: XXX Harry Potter is not mine XXX
CHAPTER 2: TEQUILA AT SUNSET
Hermione's arm slid from under her pillow to across the bed. There was no warmth. No soft breathing. Just bedding. Upon realizing that there was only an empty bed next to her, she opened her eyes. She was lying beneath an unfamiliar billow of white. There was no Ron at her side. It slowly hit her, she wasn't in London, she was somewhere over the Caribbean…Felicia's Isle… and she was there alone. Hermione did not know whether or not Ron's absence was a sad thing or not, but it was all very new to her. Of course it would be sad, Hermione, you've been sleeping in one bed for three years now, she thought, a little dejected at the turn of events. Work was easy though. Hermione filed her leave via owl mail and sent Higgins, her superior, a note personally, saying that she wouldn't be in for the next ten days. That it was immediate and necessary. Though his reply was more of a grumble regarding her unprofessionalism, he agreed that she needed a break and let her be.
Wanting to divert her thoughts from the major disappointment that was Ronald Weasley and her life, she picked up the activities guide sitting on the bedside table and started to read. There were a lot of things she could do: Snorkeling, deep sea swimming, lounging by the sea with rented hammocks, or cocktails at the Coconut Bar. As of the moment though, nothing felt very inviting, not when she was still in the mood to mope. Finally, she picked up the phone and pressed on the service button. "Hello, is this room service?"
She decided she did not want to leave her room at all that day.
(A whole morning and afternoon later)
A mental battle stirred inside her mind. She had finally descended to the ground floor, every minute wishing she could just turn back and curl into a ball in the confines of her room. Staying in and moping did not go as good as she had planned. Soon she was sobbing into her blanket, feeling all sorry for herself. She passed a mirrored hall and paused, looking at her reflection. There was no way that that person in the mirror could be Hermione Jean Granger, the constant fighter for non-wizard creatures' rights. Her eyes were still a little puffy. Her hair was set in a loose knot, looking every bit that she had given up on it. She had at least decided on a little gloss, but she wished she had put on a little concealer as well, so her eye bags wouldn't look as prominent. She looked…tired. All throughout the war against evil and all her classes at Hogwarts, she had never looked this tired. This dejected. She sighed. Finding that she had stood in front of the mirrors long enough, she pressed on. Tears were threatening to fall again, and she didn't want to mope in her room anymore.
The Coconut Bar was set on an outdoor patio behind the hotel. It had a wooden deck dotted here and there with tables and slouchy chairs, tables encircling colorful umbrellas, and a long bar stationed under a pretty little thatched roof. There was a floor for dancing too, lit up with little white lights.
Hermione stepped inside and headed for the reception, where a cheery local hostess was welcoming everyone in the local tongue. "HELLO! Welcome to the Coconut Bar" she said, her dark eyes sparkling as she greeted a very embarrassed Hermione. Then looking around, she asked, "Alone, miss?"
"Err, yes…" Hermione replied, brooding over the fact that she hasn't sat alone in a club since she got out of Hogwarts "Could I have a secluded table? I just came down for a drink"
"No party plans? A pretty lady like you shouldn't hide in a secluded little corner, you should—and the host made a little wave with her body—"get up and dance"
Hermione smiled but insisted on the secluded table. Finally, the hostess grudgingly gave her a table on the outermost edge of the Coconut Bar, isolated from all the others. There was a low glass balcony at the edge, overlooking the beach "Oh and, if anyone comes and bothers you, just come to me, okay?"
"Thank you—Hermione glanced at the girl's name tag "Luella"
"Pleasure's mine, have fun!" and with a last wave, Luella had left her to care for other incoming guests. Hermione made her way to her table and sat down, ready to drink away her pitiful present state with one—or maybe three—bottles of the strongest alcohol they've got.
Draco Malfoy could have disapparated directly to his destination, but what was the point of learning to hail the local cab—which, he was pleased to find, was a good time to think—when he wasn't going to use it?
Upon arriving at The Carmen, he deposited his luggage to the boy near the entrance and walked straight to the front desk. The receptionist beamed at him "Welcome back, Mr. Malfoy! The Carmen is pleased to see you again". He allowed himself a smile, for he really did miss the place—and Felicia's Isle in general—terribly. But his present situation did not put him in a mood to enjoy.
"Thank you. Um, Maria, I have a favor to ask you…" he said, and wished with all his might that the girl could help him. She nodded, ready to give one their best clients any request she could "I need to transfer rooms. Are there any vacancies? Any room would be fine. I'll still pay for my booking on the suite, but I really want to be in another room" He sounded a little pathetic to his ears.
Maria's smile faltered. She gave her computer a glance before turning back to Draco. This did not help. "I'm sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but today we are fully booked, and, umm, there are no vacant rooms for you to transfer to, but—
"But?" Draco said, willing her on.
"But you have booked a fine room, sir. Room H1 has the finest view—
"There is no other room?" he said, knowing deep inside that it was not her fault. He had not called in earlier. He supposed he could just stay at another hotel, but The Carmen had always been his go-to choice. Maria shook her head. His hand twitched on his wand, suddenly tempted to just hex the receptionist into kicking another guest out of the hotel, but he reminded himself that he did not do that anymore. He sighed. "It doesn't matter, then. Could you please ask someone to take my bags to the room? I'll be at the bar"
Maria nodded a bit too enthusiastically, obviously so relieved that she did not disappoint one of the hotel's most regular patrons. Draco gave her a swift nod and walked away from the front desk, intent on getting himself hopelessly drunk.
"Your order, pretty lady?" Hermione blushed at being called pretty by the utterly hot waiter that was standing in front of her. His Hawaiian-style button down was completely unbuttoned, revealing a muscled chest. He smiled coyly at her, not bothering to hide the fact that he was checking her out. She wanted to say something witty, flirty or a mixture of both but what came out was –
"Tequila, please" which sounded alcoholic and was not was she was going for at all. "A—a bottle of it" if the waiter was surprise at her odd order, he didn't show it.
"How about the local tequila brand?" he offered.
"Great, thanks." And she smiled—with no hint of a flirt—as he walked away. What was wrong with her? "Great, a good-looking man comes along and I give off the impression of an alcoholic" She muttered, wishing a black hole would just swallow her whole.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Coconut Bar, Draco had just slumped down into the nearest empty bar stool. A bartender approached him. "Anything to drink, sir?"
"A bottle of anything you've got. Something strong please" he muttered, scanning his surroundings for a quiet place to mope.
The bartender returned with a big bottle of premium-distilled tequila. "Drinking alone, sir?"
"Hmm? No…" Draco answered absent-mindedly, still looking around "Put it on my tab please, room H1"
The bartender's eyes widened "A Newlywed! Ah, Congratulations!" and he took off for a few seconds, returning with a small bottle of Rose "Courtesy of the Coconut Bar, enjoy your evening" The bartender placed two glasses, his bottle of Tequila, and the Rose in front of Draco and smiled jovially. Draco returned the smile with some sort of grimace. He mumbled a thank you, took his bottles, and got up to walk to the isolated part of the bar.
Hermione opened the bottle served to her by the handsome waiter and poured down her first glass. She looked around. Everyone except her looked like they were having a good time. It made her feel sort of lonely. She wasn't used to sitting alone, pouring her own tequila.
For something to do, she gulped down the shot. Her eyes watered and she wildly threw her arm out to reach for the lemon slices. It hit a candle.
"Ouch! Damnit!" she cradled her hand. It didn't hurt that much. Finally she reached out, quite carefully this time, for a lemon slice and popped it in her mouth.
Draco looked over the balcony and breathed in the warm, salty air. He was still holding his bottle of tequila and the complimentary bottle of Rose the bartender had given him. It was hard to resist the temptation to just chuck the bottles off the balcony, just to show his anger at the world. He felt rejected. Nothing had gone according to plan. If it had, he would've still been here, at the Carmen, but under wildly different circumstances. It's as if his whole world had suddenly fallen apart.
One moment he was excited, giddy, a little sick, and yet extremely optimistic of the days to come and everything after that, then the next moment he was staring down at a small piece of parchment given to him by her sister, about two weeks before, which held nothing but five words: 'Sorry Draco, I'm not ready' –T
His mother all but imperiused him to make this trip, and even his father agreed that looking like hell was not the Malfoy way. So here he was, with his complimentary bottle of tequila and his Honeymoon Suite, alone, angry and rejected. Things were never fair.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard someone exclaim "Ouch! Damnit!"
The voice had come from a woman sitting at the secluded table he was planning on occupying. She looked as if she was just as alone as he was. He had barely registered that he had decided to walk to her when he noticed his feet were already taking the few strides to the table. He didn't really know what he was doing, or why. He supposed he just craved human interaction all of a sudden.
"Are you okay?" The woman looked up, and in that instant he knew that her expression was mirroring his own right then. For there was Hermione Granger, one of his former archenemies, and she was sucking hard on a piece of lemon that was inside her mouth. She spit it away, her face crimson.
He couldn't think of anything to say but "Granger, you're here"
Her shocked expression gave way to something that made her look more like the haughty, stuck-up witch he had known for a long time. It was as if they were back in the confines of Hogwarts and he had just offended her "Well spotted, Malfoy"
Draco smirked and took the seat across her without her invitation "I meant no offense with that, Granger"
"I didn't ask you to sit, Malfoy" She retorted. She poured another measure of the tequila and grimaced as she gulped it down.
Draco opened his own bottle. "Why? Your weasel hubby might get jealous?" Speaking of which, and he turned to check out the bar, expecting Ron's red hair and freckly face to appear any moment. Of course, if there was a Granger, there was bound to be a Weasley. Sometimes even a Potter. Everyone at Hogwarts, including him, had bet that they were going to get married first.
"He's not here, I'm alone" Hermione said quietly, and as Draco turned back to her, he saw a little bitterness on her face. Maybe he had just lost the bet. His eyes wondered down to her bottle of tequila.
"And you're drinking all that?" he pointed to the bottle.
Hermione shrugged. "Well, you've got two bottles, or are you drinking all that with your girlfriends?" Draco did not miss the plural and smirked. He didn't know why he was still sitting there, having a semi-genial conversation with his former enemy, and watching her drink. The whole ordeal had left him insane. He supposed he found it comforting to be with someone who was just as lonely as he was. Granger did not seem to mind anymore, she hadn't asked him to leave again.
"No. Just me as well" he said, opening his own bottle and taking his first gulp. Hermione rolled her eyes. "What? You think I'm lying?"
"No. I couldn't care less. It's just that you're drinking an entire bottle of tequila too, not to mention a second bottle of wine. That's all, hypocrite"
Draco shrugged "It's kind of normal for me, I drink entire bottles of booze all the time. You, on the other hand" He gestured to her person and smirked.
"Oh so you don't think I could drink all this?" she pointed to the bottle, looking at him with a mixture of defiance and amusement. She never liked being second best to anything.
"I know you can't" Draco teased, making them even by drinking his second shot.
"You're on" Hermione grinned. So did Draco, and they both filled their own glasses.
"So, what do we toast to?" He asked. Hermione pursed her eyebrow. What was there to toast to with a former enemy who still wasn't exactly a friend?
"I don't know" she replied.
"That's good," and he raised his glass to her confused face "Cheers to not knowing"
Still a repost. I got up to 2 chapters last time, next one will be completely new. Hope you like it - Asha