Chapter 19: Taking Off

Harry felt bad for Minerva, he really did. When Albus had stated that they were going on a cruise for Christmas, Harry had been more than a little nervous given the fact that he had never taken swimming lessons, and had this been with the Dursley's, Dudley would have found it hilarious to have pushed Harry overboard to watch him struggle. Harry had read somewhere that fat floats, and since he didn't have an ounce of fat on him, thanks to Dudley, he would instantly sink like a rock.

Now that he was on the ship however, Harry was having the time of his life. This was from any vacation he had ever been on with the Dursley's. Instead of being locked in the cabin the entire time and fed only scraps that the Dursley's managed to bring back from the dining area, Harry was instead encouraged to spend as much time out and about as possible, and even got to attend the buffet himself and eat what he wanted.

Minerva on the other hand, wasn't faring as well. She hadn't even been able to keep down the light salad she had forced down at lunch. Instead she had been forced to empty the contents of her stomach as soon as they had gotten back to their cabin, and was now reduced to sipping little bits of any fluid she could stand the taste of just to keep herself hydrated. A stomach relieving potion had managed to take the edge off of her misery, but nothing seemed to fix being sea sick. Deciding to let her rest for the day and try to her sea legs, Albus turned Harry loose to play with his new friend Daniel.

Harry felt incredibly strange as he stood outside the door to Daniel's cabin. He had never had a friend before Hogwarts; Dudley had made sure of that. Anybody that had so much as looked at 'that strange Harry Potter,' let alone talked to him, wound up on Dudley's gang's hit list. Since Dudley's gang were the biggest boys in school, nobody really wanted to mess with them, and therefore tended to just stay clear of them, and anybody they had shunned. At Hogwarts he didn't exactly have that problem since Ron, Hermione, and Neville were the best friends he could hope for, but he didn't need to go knocking at their door asking if they could play. For one, Ron and Neville both shared a room with him, and they were able to hang out and talk anytime they wanted. Hermione, they just arranged to meet in the Common Room or Library.

Now Harry felt incredibly shaky as he raised his hand to knock on Daniel's cabin door. He was most likely going to have to talk to Daniel's parents. If not now, then it was certain to come up later on the trip if he continued to hang out with Daniel, and meeting adults wasn't exactly something Harry was entirely comfortable with. Yes Harry had grown comfortable around Albus and Minerva, but not everybody was like them. Neville's Gran hadn't exactly been friendly, and he had no idea what Ron's and Hermione's parents were like, but if the angry letters both of his friends had received after the troll incident were any indication, they weren't exactly cheerful people either. Of course, Albus and Minerva had also told Harry off for that particular stunt so he knew he couldn't go off that alone. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if all adults were intimidating like his aunt and uncle and Neville's Gran.

Taking a deep breath, Harry let his fist connect with the center of the door a couple of times before quickly withdrawing it to his side and holding his breath while he waited for it to open. He didn't have to wait long because a Daniel's little sister Rebecca answered the door after only 30 seconds, and Harry hoped she couldn't hear his heart pounding in his chest.

"Oh, hi," she stated with a bright smile. She had thick, dark brown hair that hung in waves clear down to her waist, and chocolate brown eyes that smiled when she did, and they helped Harry relax just a little bit.

"Hey Becca, I was wondering if Daniel could play." Even feeling calmer thanks to her cheerfulness, Harry couldn't help but stare at his feet as he spoke. He knew that if Minerva had been here she would have instantly poked him in the side to remember his manners, so he quickly forced himself to look up.

"Who is it Becca?" called an older female voice from inside the cabin. Harry couldn't help but scuff his shoe on the deck as a woman with the same dark brown hair and eyes as Becca stepped forward.

"Oh, uh, I'm Harry," he just managed to mumble out looking at the deck below him once more. "I met Daniel earlier and just wondered if he could play again." It sounded lame, but he didn't know what else to say. Thankfully Daniel appeared beside his mother and sister with a bright smile. Unlike the girls, Daniel's hair was a softer brown, but they chocolate brown eyes ran strong in all three.

"Hiya Harry," he stated with a hearty wave that gave Harry a bit of courage.

"Hey Daniel," Harry greeted with his first comfortable smile since showing up at the cabin door. "Minerva isn't feeling good so Albus turned me loose for the afternoon and I just wondered if you could play."

"Ah, Harry, Daniel told us about you," the woman stated with a smile and beckoned him inside and Harry tentatively obeyed. "I'm Daniel's mother Mrs. Erikson. I'm sorry, but we were all getting ready to go do some activities together."

"Can Harry join us mom?" Daniel begged quickly making Harry's eyes go wide. He wasn't sure he was up to spending time alone with the entire Erikson family.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I wouldn't want to intrude," Harry stammered backing toward the door again. "I can just go play by myself. Or see what Albus is up to. I'm sure Minerva has ordered him to just leave her alone." This brought a small smile back to Harry's face as he pictured Minerva shouting at Albus to go explore the ship he wanted so badly to get on to and let her rest.

"Why don't you go find Albus and join us," Daniel suggested determined to get his new friend to join them.

"Daniel," Mrs. Erikson said with a shake of her head. She held a smile though, and glanced once more at Harry. "Pardon my son's manners Harry. Sometimes he really doesn't know what he's doing." This made Harry's heart sink. He had no reason to have been invited to join the Erikson family, but being told it personally kind of stung.

"Oh it's alright Mrs. Erikson," Harry stated with a forced smile. He was back out in the hallway and feeling a lot more comfortable.

"If you would like to join us though, you are more than welcome to," Mrs. Erikson stated with a smile that made Harry's heart jump. "We can also look for Albus while we are out looking for Mr. Erikson and my other son, Joshua."

"Oh, say you'll come Harry," Daniel begged. "It will be loads more fun with you around."

"You won't get him to shut up and leave you alone if you don't," Becca stated shaking her head. "Mum says he's the oldest, but you wouldn't guess it with how he acts sometimes." At this Daniel stuck his tongue out at his sister and Becca just laughed. "See what I mean?"

Harry couldn't help but smile at the sibling banter. He might have grown up with another boy his age in the house, but Dudley had never been his 'sibling.' "Well, if it really wouldn't be any trouble, I guess we can try to find Albus and we can join you." Harry stated slowly, and then laughed slightly when Daniel fist pumped the air.

"Alright, well then I guess we will all head out," Mrs. Erikson stated shooing her two oldest children out the cabin door.

They found Joshua and Mr. Erikson first, but then decided to spend a little longer to see if they could invite Albus. When Harry pointed him out before running up to him, all 5 Eriksons could only stare. Albus was the strangest looking person they had ever seen, and that was with living in the heart of Miami Florida.

"That's your dad?" Daniel asked as the family approached Harry and the old man. Mr. Erikson squeezed his son's shoulder firmly to remind him of his manners, and Daniel instantly shut up.

"How old are you?" piped up little Joshua instantly making Mr. Erikson's free hand shoot out to squeeze the shoulder of his other son.

"You'll have to forgive my boys here," Mr. Erikson stated calmly releasing Daniel to offer his hand to Albus. "We're working on impulse control, and as you can see, we have a long way to go."

Albus could only chuckle as he shook the man's hand. "It's alright my dear boy, I work at a school full of children, so very little shocks me these days. As for how old I am," he stated winking at Joshua, "you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Joshua's little eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head, and Albus offered his hand to Mrs. Erikson. "I'm sure that young Harry here as told you, but I'm Albus Dumbledore, Harry's guardian."

"Emily and Samuel Erikson," Mrs. Erikson stated motioning between herself and her husband before shaking Albus's hand quickly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Albus," Mr. Erikson stated. "Our Daniel and your Harry sure seem to have hit it off, and we were wondering if the two of you would like to join us in some of the ships activities?"

"Oh we would love to join you," Albus's smile grew wider. None of the three Erikson children had managed to look away from him, so he turned his attention to them. "What are we starting with children?"

"Bowling!"

"Basketball!"

"Game room!"

There were instantly three different answers as each child shouted out what they wanted to do first, and both Mr. and Mrs. Erikson shook their heads. "Daniel, we already established that the game room would be left for individual time since most of it is electronic and we are looking at spending quality time together, not quantity time."

"Guess that leaves either bowling or basketball," Albus stated with a smirk. "What do you think Harry?"

"Well, I've never been bowling before," Harry stated hesitantly not exactly liking that he was a tie breaker.

"Bowling it is then," Mr. Erikson stated cheerfully while Becca wooped with joy and Daniel looked at Harry like he'd grown a second head.

"You've never been bowling before? What the heck to kids do for fun in England?" Daniel and Harry brought up the rear as the group made their way to the ship's bowling alley, and Harry scuffed his shoe on the deck as he walked.

"Well, normally kids do go bowling sometimes, but where I lived before I moved in with Albus and Minerva I wasn't really allowed to have fun." How did you explain something like this to someone else?

"Wait, so Albus isn't your dad?" Daniel was looking totally lost, and Harry cracked a smile and shook his head.

"No way, he's like over a hundred years old," he replied hoping Daniel would think he was exaggerating since most muggles didn't make it to a hundred, let alone well past it like Dumbledore. "And Minerva is not much younger. Nah, they just became my guardians this past summer when the school found out that my Aunt and Uncle just neglected me." Now he was repeating technological terms that he had heard Albus and Minerva use since he wasn't exactly sure what to call how the Dursley's had treated him.

"Why don't you live with your folks?" Daniel pressed looking like it was unbelievable that Harry would even need to live with his aunt and uncle.

"Th-they're dead," Harry all but whispered as he looked at the floor. "They were murdered when I was just a baby."

"Oh." Daniel seemed to sense that Harry wasn't comfortable talking about this anymore, so decided to change the subject. "Look, there is a free bowling lane. Now we just have to go get our bowling shoes and balls."

"Alright," Harry stated glad for a friend perceptive enough to change the subject. Ron would have tried to pry and get all of the details. He loved Ron, but he was glad for Hermione and Neville who were able to shut him up when he started letting his mouth get away from him.

Since the Erikson children were getting help from their parents, Harry gladly joined Albus. "Have you ever been bowling before Albus?"

"Not in my life my dear boy," Albus stated cheerfully before walking up to the shoe counter and asking the clerk if he had any purple shoes in a size 10. The clerk just raised an eyebrow as he went to look, but Becca burst into a fit of giggles.

"Why do you like purple so much?" she inquired. "It's supposed to be a girl color."

"Really now?" Albus asked looking absolutely enthralled by her comment. "How are you able to tell the gender of different colors? That is quite a remarkable skill." This sent Becca into another fit of giggles as the clerk came back with some orange shoes.

"I'm afraid we don't have any purple sir, but here are some with purple laces if you like." Albus took the shoes and the clerk took Harry's shoe size before coming back with a pair for him.

"I mean, that purple is supposed to be what girls wear," Becca continued her argument once she managed to stop giggling. "Girls like pink and purple, and boys like blue and red. Boys also aren't supposed to wear flowers." She pointed at his cargo shorts as she stated this last part.

"That is quite enough Rebecca," Mrs. Erikson stated firmly. "Mr. Dumbledore is entitled to wear whatever he likes. May I remind you that girls your age usually skip rope but you refuse to join your friends in that particular activity?"

"Nothing happens when you skip rope," Becca complained. "You just jump in place while those around you try and trip you as they chant some stupid rhyme."

"Well, perhaps Mr. Dumbledore feels the same way about things that are supposed to be for boys."

"Please, call me Albus," Albus broke in. "And I really don't mind her questions. I know that I'm a little eccentric. I have lost track of how many people have told me that over the years. As for an answer, I like to be different Becca. Where's the fun in blending in with the crowd?" This seemed to satisfy her, and the group moved to get bowling balls, and then go to their assigned lane to start their game.

Harry thoroughly enjoyed bowling with Albus and the Eriksons. His first try he felt incredibly stupid as he watched his ball go into the gutter both times. He was then highly entertained to watch Albus accidentally bounce his ball out of their lane and get a strike for someone in the next lane over. The startled looks the other players gave him just made Albus grin while Becca and Daniel doubled over with laughter and Mr. Erikson stepped behind Albus to try and show him how to control the ball as he threw it.

When Albus finished his first turn by knocking down a total of 1 pin, the Erikson family suggested they put the bumpers up. Becca and Josh both readily agreed, but Daniel looked a bit put out as if having bumpers was an insult to him. Daniel quickly forgot that idea however because when Albus's turn came around again, he made a game of seeing how many times he could bounce the bowling ball from one bumper to the other as it made its way down the lane. All four children soon took part in the game as well, and instead of knocking down the most pins, the challenge soon became to bounce the ball the most.

After two games in the bowling alley, everyone decided that they had had enough family time, and the children were permitted to go play on their own once more while the adults rested and tried to actually enjoy their vacation.

While Albus and Harry enjoyed themselves in the bowling alley, Minerva couldn't have been more miserable. She'd ordered a bowl of chicken soup, determined to get something nutritious in her system, and after sipping at that for a while, decided to lay down and try to nap off some of this infernal sea sickness. She was getting quite annoyed that magic was proving useless to her at this point, and found herself wishing desperately to land in their first port just to get a small bit of reprieve. She wasn't positive she would make it to the next morning when they were scheduled to stay docked in Nassau in the Bahamas for 7 hours. In her opinion, that wasn't near long enough; especially if she was going to have to get back on the boat and then spend the entire afternoon dealing with sea sickness once again.

Author's Note: I know this chapter is kinda short and it took over a month to get it to you, and I'm sorry. I wanted to update here so that nobody tried to hunt me down and cruciate me for updating my other story so much and abandoning this one. I'm still kinda lost as to what to do on a cruise, but I have done some research and next chapter you will see the Dumbledore family explore Nassau Bahamas. I plan on taking an entire chapter to write about their adventures there, as well as how Dumbledore takes to shuffleboard and horse shoes. On that note, I hope you enjoyed Albus's bowling experience

~Lily