Now and Forever

Chapter 29

The next day, Harry and Ginny were walking down the boardwalk that ran behind their hotel and quite a few others. A pristine white beach dotted with blue-and-white striped sunshades stretched between them and the sea, which sparkled in the sunlight. Harry stopped and pointed toward the water.

"Look there!"

Ginny gasped. Something huge had shot out of the water and crashed back into it. "What was that?"

"A whale, I think. They winter here. I've booked us passage on a boat that will take us out to see them. Do you think you'll like that? If you don't want to do it, I can cancel it."

Ginny turned to him, her eyes wide and excited. "We can go out with them? Brilliant! Can we swim with them too?"

He smiled. He knew exactly what she meant. Pulling her close, he murmured in her ear, "I asked Merlin about that. He said our gills are freshwater only, and we might get ill if we try them in salt water. And that's not to mention the sharks and other things that can hurt us out there. I'd rather we survived our honeymoon unscathed, wouldn't you?"

She pulled back and looked up at him, a teasing glint in her eyes. "Lost your adventurous spirit, Potter?"

He chuckled. "No. I just want us to enjoy our honeymoon. I'd prefer to avoid the hospitals. Muggle medicine doesn't compare to magical medicine."

"Oh yeah, there is that. OK, we'll be careful then!"

"We can snorkel over a reef when we go on that boat trip. That's where the pretty fish are, the ones that won't bite or sting you."

Ginny laughed. "What does 'snorkel' mean? Sounds like something Luna would come up with."

"I've only seem pictures of people doing it. They wear masks and have a tube in their mouths that lets them breathe." He shrugged and gave her a crooked grin. That was pretty much all he knew about it. "When I booked the trip, they told me it was safe and quite easy to do."

Ginny's eyes sparkled with excitement. "When do we go? I'm ready!"

Harry felt laughter bubble up inside him, along with a warm glow of love. Could she be any more beautiful, any cuter, any more fun? She filled his heart with joy, and more each day than the day before. He grinned. "Always ready for fun, aren't you?"

"You do know me well, love." Her voice was warm and affectionate.

Harry gently kissed the end of her nose. "I do, don't I? And I have quite a few adventures planned for us here, but first, we need to buy some sunscreen. Your nose is already red. And you need a hat. We'd probably both be more comfortable with sunglasses, too."

"We're going shopping? Why didn't you say so!" She laughed, took his hand and started leading him down the sidewalk, skipping a bit once he got moving. "I love being married to you, Harry."

"Because I take you shopping?"

"Because you worry about my nose getting sunburned. And because you take me shopping!"

The boardwalk soon took them to a group of shops offering all sorts of souvenirs, clothing, art, jewellery, even a museum of whaling. A huge glass case in the middle of the square displayed a whale skeleton. They wandered through a few shops before finding one that offered a wide variety of hats, shirts, sunscreen and giftware. Harry plunked various hats on Ginny's head before finding a broad-brimmed one they agreed on. Ginny returned the favour, finally finding a hat for Harry that had a small brim all around and a brightly coloured fish embroidered on the front with a long, very peculiar name under it, and "Maui" embroidered on the back.

"What do you suppose that is?" she said, trying to sound out the name under the fish. "Hoomoo-hoomoo, huh?"

Harry looked up at a t-shirt on display above them and laughed. "Hoomoo-hoomoo-nookoo-nookoo-ahpoo-ah-ah."

Ginny stared at him. "Huh?"

"Look." He pointed at a shirt with a cartoon of a fish standing up with a lot of stick-on name badges going down the length of his body, as if he were attending a Muggle convention or something. Above the fish was a line of print saying, "Hi! My name is" and then each syllable of the name was on a separate badge.

Ginny laughed. "That's one way to learn to pronounce it. Can we buy presents for the family?"

"It would be almost criminal for us to go to Hawaii and not bring presents to the family. Let's remember this shop and come back to buy their presents later. We might find other things they'd like better someplace else."

As they continued browsing the shop, they learned that the fish with the funny name was a trigger fish as well as the state fish of Hawaii. Its name meant "has a snout like a pig" and the fish was used in religious sacrifices when there were no pigs available.

"One mystery solved," Ginny said when they finished reading about the fish.

* * *

"Good morning, wife," Harry said, kissing Ginny when she began to stir the next morning.

"Mmmf."

He chuckled. "You're just not a morning person, are you?"

"Mmmf."

He leaned over and nuzzled her neck, blowing warm breath on her ticklish spot. "You need to get up. I have an adventure planned for you today."

She opened one eye and gazed blearily at him. "I thought we weren't being adventurous this trip."

"We're not swimming in the sea with our gills. Other than that, we're being adventurous."

She opened the other eye and squinted at him. "So what are we doing today?"

"I'm not telling you anything except that you need to wear your jeans today."

"Why?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?"

"I'll act surprised!"

"Yeah, you will, because I'm not telling!" He kissed her again, then rolled out of bed and walked to the bathroom, whistling all the way.

"You can walk away from me naked anytime you want, Harry," Ginny called. "The view is spectacular."

He poked his head out of the bathroom. "You do realize hotels don't have soundproof walls?"

She gave him a wicked grin. "I put an Imperturbable Charm on the room as soon as we got here."

He snorted. "That explains some things. Get up, lazybones!"

She threw a pillow at him, which he repelled wandlessly, sending it back to her and bopping her very gently on the head with it, making her laugh.

* * *

When they finished breakfast, Ginny picked up the dainty purple-and-white orchids that had decorated each of their plates. When they left the restaurant, Harry cupped his hands around her orchids and sent them to a bowl of water in their room where she'd already put blossoms she'd collected at other meals.

Soon they were in the red Mustang, the top down, sunscreen on their faces and arms so they could enjoy the ride without worrying about sunburn. Harry handed Ginny a list of directions. "Help me navigate, OK?"

"Where does this take us?"

"On a drive," he said, glancing at her and making a face at her in return for the face she made at him. "You'll like this. Trust me!"

She sighed dramatically. "I trust you, but I'm not sure I enjoy you keeping all these secrets from me!"

He shrugged. "I've had secrets all my life. This is no different, except that these are fun secrets!"

After a long drive that involved winding their way up into the mountains, Harry said, "There it is!" and turned quickly into a driveway.

"There what is? Where are we?" They'd turned in so quickly, she hadn't been able to read the sign over the driveway. But then she saw the sign by the office as Harry parked the car. "This is a ranch?"

Harry felt a bubble of happiness welling inside him as he jogged around the car to open her door. "Yeah. Do you still love horses?"

She gasped. "You know I do!" She got to her feet slowly, her wide eyes locked on his face.

He grinned as he revealed the surprise. "We're going on a trail ride."

Ginny jumped into his arms and kissed him. "Oh, Harry! You take me all the best places!"

"Surprising you with them is half the fun!" He kissed her again and set her back on her feet, then led her into the office. A short time later, they were directed to a van that took them to the trail head where they found the horses waiting for them. Six other people were in the group other than the two guides who were going with them.

Harry looked at the group of horses tied under a huge shade tree. They were shaggy with winter fur despite being in Hawaii, which surprised him, and wore saddles like those American cowboys used. At least these saddles looked as if they'd help keep the rider on top of the horse. The English saddles he'd seen didn't look nearly as comfortable or secure. And the knob in the front might come in handy if he had to hang on!

When the guide asked who in the group had riding experience, Ginny raised her hand. When she saw Harry hadn't raised his, she raised it for him. As the guide separated the riders into groups based on ability, Ginny grinned at her husband. "You're silly. You won't have trouble."

"I've never ridden a horse--"

She leaned close to him and whispered, "You've ridden a thestral and a hippogriff. A horse is much easier to ride than those. You'll be fine."

The guide and his helpers soon had everyone mounted. Ginny and Harry had no problem getting on their horses. Ginny settled in with a grin on her face, Harry with a bit less pleasure. He tried to relax into the saddle the way Ginny was, but she'd grown up riding her aunt's ponies, galloping gleefully over the moors surrounding her aunt's estate. Harry, on the other hand, had ridden Buckbeak the hippogriff and a thestral only out of dire necessity. He was fairly sure that once he got used to how the animal moved, he could enjoy it, but he knew he'd have to spend some time adjusting to this animal's gaits.

"What's her name?" Ginny asked him as they waited for the guide to help the other riders mount their horses.

Harry turned to her, his eyebrows raised in confusion. "Who?"

"Your horse, silly. She's a mare. Did you find out her name?"

"Oh. Morgan."

Ginny giggled. "She isn't Morgan le Fey, is she?"

Harry laughed. "I hope not!"

"She's a Morgan. That's her breed," one of the guides said as he passed by.

"Oh, that's an American breed," Ginny said. "My horse is another American breed, a Quarter Horse. Her name is Blaze."

A crooked grin crossed Harry's face. "D'you think they'll mind carrying a couple of Brits?"

Ginny's hair glinted with coppery highlights as she shook her head. "Nah."

The guides mounted up and sorted the group out in a line along the trail. The path was rocky and uneven, the volcanic nature of the ground showing up in the black rocks littering the rough trail. The horses scrambled at times on steep inclines. Harry watched Ginny, who was riding in front of him, and followed her example, standing in his stirrups and leaning forward when the horse was struggling up the steep mountainside. Riding behind her had more benefits than just following her example. He didn't think he'd ever tire of the sight of her sweet bum. He blushed and laughed at himself for the thought, but that didn't distract him from watching her closely whenever she stood in her stirrups.

Every so often, the guide would let them trot. Harry watched Ginny again and tried to rise and sit in rhythm with the horse's stride as she was doing. Once he found the rhythm, he discovered it was a much more comfortable way to ride than sitting while Morgan bounced along under him.

The scenery was spectacular. At several vantage points, the guide lined up the people who'd come together and used their cameras to take their photos in front of tall, threadlike waterfalls visible across the valley. Harry was glad he'd bought a Muggle camera to use on the trip. He hoped Colin or Trent could make the pictures move, but even if they couldn't, at least they'd have a record of their stay in beautiful Maui.

When it was their turn, Morgan and Blaze flattened their ears and made ugly faces at each other. The guide had trouble getting them to stand still and pose nicely. Ginny patted her mare and said, "Easy, girl, it's OK."

Harry put his hand on Morgan's neck and sent calming feelings through his fingers into her, hoping they'd help. A moment later, the horse sighed and relaxed, looking at the camera-holding guide with calm curiosity and pricked ears.

"That's great! That's the best Morgan's done in a long time! You have a good touch with her, sir," the guide said as he handed Harry the camera.

Harry grinned in response to the man's praise. "Thanks."

"What did you do?" Ginny whispered when they moved away so other people could have their photos taken.

Harry raised an eyebrow and turned a cocky smile on his wife. "She likes me."

Ginny laughed. "You do have a way with females."

Some time later, the guide let the group canter. Ginny sat comfortably in her saddle, riding her horse with no problem. Harry couldn't get Morgan out of a fast trot, which was horrible to ride. Finally, he put his hand on her neck and sent an image to her of her cantering along smoothly. The next thing he knew, she was rolling along under him like a rocking horse. Harry grinned and sat down in the saddle, enjoying the ride.

Ginny glanced back over her shoulder. "How are you doing?"

"Brilliantly! This is much better than trotting!"

When their ride was over, Harry was surprised at how sore he was. Despite his career as an athlete, riding horses used his muscles in ways they weren't used to.

"You could've warned me!" he groaned as he walked stiff-legged to the car.

"You'll fix yourself up in as soon as we're out of sight, you silly man."

"Gee, I was hoping for some sympathy!"

She wrapped an arm around his slim waist and hugged him. "Oh, poor Harry. Sympathy, sympathy!" When he grinned at her, she continued, "Did you like it? That was your first time on a horse, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was, and yes, I enjoyed it once I worked out how to be comfortable at the different speeds."

Ginny nearly skipped in glee. "Yay! We'll get you a horse too, then."

"Whatever you want, sweet girl. Whatever you want." The delighted glow on her face was well worth the aches and pains he'd earned from riding.