Dear Wizarding Britain
Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I probably wouldn't be playing around on fanfiction. Also, I've never been on a Disney cruise, nor do I own any of the Disney characters. I also don't know for a fact that the employees that play the characters cannot break character, but that is what I've read on the internet, lol.
Disney Cruise, Day 1 Snippets:
"So, Mr. Duck," said Fred seriously, while curiously poking 'Donald Duck' with his index finger, "are you by chance an animagus who got himself stuck?"
"Please excuse my friend," Hermione said quickly, as she grabbed Fred by the arm to drag him away, and adding by way of explanation, "he was quite nervous for the trip and may have had one too many drinks."
The muggle wearing the Donald Duck suit, just shrugged his shoulders and turned to allow pictures with a family with small children.
"So why is there a weird looking duck walking around?" Blaise asked curiously, as he followed behind Hermione, who was dragging Fred.
"I'll explain later," Hermione started to say, but then George exclaimed, "Forget the duck. Why is there a weird looking dog wearing clothes?!"
Before the matter of 'Goofy' could be explained, Luna made a casual comment about 'Tinkerbell', "That pixie is entirely too big to be real."
"Why doesn't the duck have on trousers?" Blaise wondered aloud.
"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Hermione grumbled, as she continued to try to navigate her friends through the crowded ship. "Harry, a little help would be appreciated."
Harry rolled his eyes, shifted James into a more comfortable position, then said, "Let's go you lot. We're in First Class and I've arranged for all of our suites to be connected to the same private dining and sitting rooms, so you can ask us your questions there."
"Even the dog has trousers," George pointed out, while ignoring Harry completely.
"Can we all just get settled in our rooms without drawing attention to ourselves?" Hermione pleaded.
"Oh, is there going to be a ball later? There's so many girls dressed up like princesses," Daphne wondered.
"There may be a ball later, babe, but think of those gowns as more of wearing a uniform for a job," Harry replied softly, as he placed a hand at her lower back to help guide her through the crowd.
"Are we going to be safe here?" Neville asked as they walked past 'Captain Hook' and 'Smee'. "That pirate doesn't really look all that friendly, even if the small one looks a bit silly."
"Oh, look, that one has a hook for a hand, that's so sad. Maybe we can transfigure it to a hand for him," Luna said thoughtfully.
Harry and Hermione exchanged equal looks of amusement and exasperation at their pureblood friends' reactions, as they continued to herd them away from the crowds and to their suites.
"Merlin, I thought we had already covered all of these questions before this cruise was even decided on," Harry complained under his breath.
"Oh! I remember, you said that dog is a 'person' inside a 'costume'?" George clarified dubiously.
"Yes, I could already tell the pixie was a fake," Luna nodded.
They had made it halfway to their suites, but with all the different sights and distractions, it was a slow-going endeavor.
"If the others are just costumes, that means those pirates must not be real," Neville replied in relief.
"But why would they wear a ball gown, if they weren't going to a ball?" Daphne wondered.
"Why would a person pretend to be a duck?" Blaise asked in confusion.
"Have you been living under a rock?" A passerby snarked, having heard some of the strange questions after he had gotten within hearing range.
Everyone momentarily stopped along the walkway.
"I believe you have a wrackspurt infestation, sir," Luna told the stranger, looking at him in concern. Then she started checking her pockets, "I believe I have a bottle cap necklace that should help you with that."
"Bottle cap necklace? Are you on drugs?" Said passerby asked worriedly. "There are children on this cruise."
"What are drugs?" George wondered.
Harry sent a wordless/wandless confundus charm at the muggle in order to get him to move on, then suggested to his friends, "Perhaps we can save these questions for when we are not surrounded by hundreds of nosy muggles." Adding in a hissed whisper, "Or are you all just asking for someone from the closest ministry to come here to investigate the possible breaking of the Statute of Secrecy?"
The twins mimed locking their lips with a key, while the rest of the group wisely fell silent.
"I'm beginning to question my intelligence in agreeing that a Disney cruise would be a good idea," Hermione mumbled sideways to Harry.
"You and me both," Harry replied, as he began bouncing a fussy James up and down in his arms to try to sooth him.
Disney Cruise Day 2 Snippets:
"So, 'Princess Jasmine'," George said using exaggerated finger quotations that he learned about recently, "what say, you and I leave 'Aladdin' to entertain the children whilst we go have some drinks at one of the bars?"
Unfortunately for George, he didn't understand the rules that required 'Princess Jasmine' to remain in character, so she had to stifle her giggle and her desire to whisper that she'd find him later when she was off duty. Instead, she called the 'sultan's guards', who came running and escorted George away, though after a few quick confundus charms, he had made his escape to cause chaos somewhere else.
Luna, talking to 'Rapunzel', "Your hair is so wonderful. I love all of the flowers weaved into your braid. I like to weave flower crowns, but I haven't tried weaving the flowers into my hair."
'Rapunzel' smiled and said cheerfully, desperately trying to stay in character, "Well, when Eugene helped me leave my tower, there were some young girls in the village we traveled to that fixed it for me. It's so long, because Mother used to use it to climb the tower to see me."
"Oh, dear. That must have been dreadful for your scalp," Luna replied in concern. "Surely, there should have been some stairs or a ladder that your mother could have used? It's a good thing you're taking this cruise, your scalp could use a break from your hair being used as a climbing rope."
'Rapunzel' thought it strange how Luna, a seemingly older teenager, was taking her story so seriously. Surely, she couldn't be so naïve to have come on a Disney cruise knowing nothing about the characters' stories or the fact that it's all make-believe?
"If you're a dog, shouldn't you be walking around on all four legs?" Blaise asked 'Goofy'.
'Goofy' shrugged.
Blaise shook his head and said as he walked away to find Hermione, "Muggles are weird."
'Goofy' wondered what a muggle was.
Rather than babysit all of his friends, Harry invited Daphne to sit by the pool. Though James was still a bit too young to enjoy anything like the splash pad, they could still sit in the shallows of the kiddy pool to allow James to feel the water on his toes while Harry held onto him. A wandless, self-adjusting warming charm kept James comfortable, while a glamour charm prevented the muggles from noticing when he changed his hair color.
Harry and Daphne spoke quietly as they sat next to each other, while Harry kept a soft, but firm grip on James as he explored the feel of the water on his toes.
"Would you like to go out together tonight?" Harry asked Daphne.
"What about Jeremiah?" Daphne asked, being careful to use James' public name. "What if one of the guests notices both of us out without him and gets nosy?"
"Well, I was just going to call Dobby or Winky to keep him in my room while we went out," Harry replied. Adding thoughtfully, "I suppose if someone starts nosing around our rooms looking for him, I can give Dobby and Winky permission to confund and/or obliviate anyone who comes knocking."
"I suppose that will work," Daphne replied with a smile. "I was just going to suggest we ask if Luna and/or Neville wanted to stay and watch him for us."
"Well, I suppose we could use that option, if Luna and Neville are so inclined," Harry stated.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Harry started to roll over at the sound of the knocking at the door, only to notice that there was a wonderfully naked body half laying on top of him, which made him remember how much he had enjoyed the night before. He tightened his arms back around the beauty in his arms before he almost started dozing again, only to be startled back awake when the knocking started again.
Groaning, Harry tried to slip away without disturbing Daphne, which was quite difficult when certain parts of their bodies were touching each other in interesting ways.
The knocking had started up a third time, before Harry was finally able to extract himself from the tangled limbs and sheets.
He'd just gotten a bathrobe tied around himself when he heard the door handle start to jiggle.
Dodging around the clothes that were tossed onto the floor in the heat of the moment the night before, Harry finally made it to the door saying, "This better be important."
"Well, considering that your son has been crying for you for at least an hour, I'd say it's important, Harry," Luna replied cheerily from the other side of the door. She tilted her head to the side as the door swung all the way open, before looking him up and down and said, "Wow, I'd almost forgotten what you looked like."
That made Harry wake up faster than having a cup of tea might have and quickly fixed his appearance, thankful he had added a charm around the camera the ship had for security purposes that should distort the image enough for no one to have noticed his appearance. "Jeremiah, I'm sorry, mate, did you miss us?" Harry cooed as he stretched out his hands to take the fussy baby. The moment James was settled in Harry's arms, he started to calm down.
"Thanks, Luna. I'm sorry if he gave you too much trouble," Harry said softly, as he patted the baby, who now rested comfortably on his shoulder, on the back in a soothing rhythm.
Luna just smiled and said, "Oh, he was a perfect little darling last night, but I suppose he's used to his daddy being there first thing as he wakes up, and he was not happy to see it was me this morning and not you."
By the time Harry came back into the room with James, Daphne had gotten out of bed and was in the bathroom. So Harry called out to let her know that Luna had brought James back, which he heard her acknowledge, before he laid James down in the playpen, before he removed the robe and hit himself with a freshening charm and grabbed some clothes to change into.
He had just buttoned his shorts, but was still shirtless, when he felt soft hands wrap around him from behind and felt tantalizing lips pressed into his back.
"I had a great time last night," Daphne said softly.
Harry turned around so he was facing her. Then he cupped her face in his hands and bent down to give her a slow, soft kiss before he pulled away and said, "I had a wonderful time too. You're not too sore, are you? I didn't get too rough?"
Daphne grinned and said cheekily, "It was wonderful and even better than any of the fantasies I'd had of my first time. I was quite hoping for another go this morning."
Chuckling, Harry said, as he rubbed his hands up and down Daphne's back, "Believe me," *kiss*, "I was definitely up for another go this morning," *kiss*, "and surely would have woken you up, *kiss*, "if I hadn't been woken up by Luna knocking on the door so early. *Kiss* "It seems James did not appreciate seeing her instead of me when he woke up."
They gave each other one more quick kiss, before they broke apart, so Daphne could go pick up James for morning snuggles.
Harry pulled a t-shirt over his head, then stood there admiring Daphne making goofy faces at James. Ever since she had come into his life, his feelings for her had definitely moved far beyond the crush he had from afar. Now, he could positively identify his feelings for her as love, and his love for her only grew stronger, the more time he spent with her and watched her spend time with James.
Another thing he was sure about, Harry was going to propose to Daphne before the end of the year. He'd propose sooner, if he wasn't worried about it being entirely too soon. Even he realized that falling in love in a matter of a couple of months was considered crazy, but then again, they spent hours together every day for weeks, when most new couples were lucky to see each other for a couple of hours every few days for months.
Disney Cruise Day 3 Snippets:
Blaise was having a blast on this Disney cruise, even if the concept of muggles willingly dressing up as something as ridiculous as a trouserless duck still baffled him. He was also enjoying his courtship with the lovely Hermione Granger, who he was currently admiring in a fabulous bikini that was the same color as the dress she'd worn to the Yule Ball.
Almost from the moment Blaise and Daphne arrived at Harry's island, Daphne was spending almost all of her time with Harry, which left Blaise free to spend all his time with the object of his affection, Hermione Granger.
At first, he'd intended to take things extremely slow, considering her sudden panic attack that first time they all sat down at the island to plan their vacation, but that next day when Blaise saw Hermione, she had a look of determination and fire in her eyes before he found himself pushed down onto the seat behind him with a lap full of Hermione snogging the hell out of him. They'd been together, so to speak, ever since.
"Are you going to stare all day, or are you going to do something about it," Hermione asked Blaise with a smirk, bringing him out of his memories.
Blaise gave her one last slow look up and down and said, "I'd take you right here, right now, if we weren't surrounded by children who are too young to even think about what I'm thinking of doing with you."
Grinning flirtatiously, Hermione said, "I was thinking about calling it a day," as she stretched out, allowing all of her tantalizing curves to work their magic on Blaise's eyes.
Licking his lips, Blaise replied, "If that was an invitation, I'd follow you to the ends of the earth, babe."
Hermione winked and stood up, grabbing her towel, "I guess you'll just have to follow me and see." And laughing when Blaise scrambled up to follow her.
George was sitting at the bar with Fred, his eyes widened when he saw a familiar woman sashaying up to them. She looked back and forth between the two, before turning to meet George's eyes with confidence.
"I'm sorry that I was unable to accept your invitation for a drink yesterday, when I'm in costume, I have to act the part, it's in my contract. If I didn't, it would ruin a lot of children's childhoods to realize that I'm just a paid actor," 'Princess Jasmine' explained to George.
George was baffled, it was rare that anyone could tell him apart from his twin, much less a muggle who he'd only spoken to one time.
Getting the wrong idea from George's silence, 'Princess Jasmine' said in embarrassment, "I'm sorry. I should have realized you were only playing yesterday, that you weren't serious. God, this is embarrassing." She tried to play it off with a small giggle, "I'll leave you and your brother to your drink. I hope you enjoy the rest of the cruise," then she turned to leave.
"Wait!" George exclaimed as she turned away to leave. "I'm sorry," he said, as he gently took her hand in his, tugging her gently back towards the bar, "it's just that you took me by surprise because not even our mum could tell us apart, and you were able to tell the difference between us after just one meeting."
'Princess Jasmine' smiled in relief as she took a seat on one of the empty bar stools, "Oh, well, it's quite easy to tell twins apart when you know what to look for. It's especially easy when one is also one half of a set of identical twins." What she didn't add was that she and her sister were magical no-maj twins, and she'd already determined from their odd behavior over the past few days she'd observed them that they and their friends must be magical too.
Fred perked up a bit at this point, "Twins?"
"Identical?" George asked in excitement.
'Princess Jasmine' smiled mischievously, holding a hand up for a drink and said, "I swear to Merlin."
"Blimey," Fred and George said together, causing 'Princess Jasmine' to laugh, as she could tell they understood her hint.
"Oi, where are me manners?!" George exclaimed. "I'm George, the better looking twin, and this here's Fred."
"Oi, I thought we agreed I was the better looking one?" Fred complained.
'Princess Jasmine' laughed, amused, "Well, my name is Skylar and my twin's name is Samantha."
Fred looked around and frowned, "Is there any chance we'll get to meet this Samantha whilst on this cruise?"
The newly identified Skylar replied, "Well, it's going to be quite difficult to see the two of us together during the cruise, because when I'm playing 'Princess Jasmine', it's her time off, but when she's playing 'Princess Jasmine', it's my time off. And when either of us is in costume, we are not allowed to behave out of character."
Fred frowned and asked quietly, "Do you and your sister accept owls?" He wasn't sure, since they were on a muggle cruise ship.
Skylar giggled and said loudly enough for both to hear, but quietly enough to not be overheard, "Communication by owl is getting outdated, our country figured out how to adapt using no-maj cellular phones, with just a few runes added, they work perfectly around magic."
"Is that like a fellytone?" George wondered aloud.
"I think you mean tellytone, my dear brother," Fred said.
"You're both wrong," Skylar said, "it's telephone. And, yes, it would be similar, but a cellular phone is a device that is mobile. She took hers out of her bag to show them. "Now, mind, it's still quite large, but I do know they're working on ways to get the technology to work on smaller devices."
"You'll have to excuse us," George explained quietly, not joking around for once, "we were raised in a purely magical household."
"And while our father loved muggle plugs and rubber ducks," Fred continued, "we don't know much about muggles."
"We're learning, as the muggle world is safer for us right now," said George.
"But this is our first extended stay in the muggle world," Fred concluded.
"By muggle, I assume you mean no-maj?" Skylar clarified quietly.
George shrugged and quietly replied, "If that means folks without magic, then yes. No-maj actually sounds a bit less silly than muggle, I suppose."
"I can tell from your accent that you're from Britain," Skylar said, "I imagine you're part of the ones that managed to escape before they started locking down the borders."
"You could say that," George agreed.
"Well, Neville," Luna said softly, "I think we've gained some new family."
"You mean in addition to Daphne and Blaise?" Neville asked. It was nighttime and they were sitting out on the decks, enjoying the night sky.
"Hmm," Luna hummed.
After having a couple of drinks at the bar, George and Skyler left to find somewhere more private to speak, and perhaps snog; however, they didn't say goodnight until after Skylar had given George her contact information, after having given clear instructions on how to find his own cellular phone.
Disney Cruise Day 4 Snippets:
"Well, I don't know about anyone else, but I definitely had a great time," Harry said, with his arms around Daphne, who was standing with her back to Harry's stomach, while she held James. They were all packed up and waiting for the ship to be tied off so they could disembark.
Daphne sighed and leaned into Harry, "Yeah, it was wonderful. I almost don't want to go back to the island and back to my own bed." She blushed when she realized the others had overheard her, then turned and buried her face in Harry's chest.
"Shh, it's all right," Harry told Daphne only loud enough for her to hear, ignoring the woof whistles from the twins. "Just because we're going back to the island, doesn't mean you can't stay in my bed." He felt Daphne relax, then he added teasingly, "If I had my way, I'd never let you out of my bed." Causing Daphne to giggle.
Skylar and Samantha:
"I hope you're right about these twins," Samantha told Skylar, as they were packing up their room, now that the cruise was finished.
"Trust me. You're going to absolutely love Fred," Skylar said. "Merlin, I feel halfway in love with George already."
"And you're sure they're not part of that lot that are said to be terrorizing Great Britain?" Samantha queried.
"I'm sure they fled from there to escape the bigots that took over," Skylar replied. "I know they're what's called purebloods over there, but I guarantee they will have nothing against us for our parents being no-maj."
Samantha smiled and said, "Then I can't wait to meet Fred." Then she looked around their empty cabin, "And I can't wait to get off this ship."
A/N: Okay. So I've only proofed this chapter once, so if there's anything that's in glaring error, let me know. I didn't start this chapter with the intention of Fred and George finding girlfriends, but sometimes things just line up and they happen. I don't have a clue how often they may or may not show up in the rest of the story. More than likely they will stay just as much in the background as the twins and the rest do.