Ship of Dreams

"Damn it, damn it, damn it!" screamed Ron, kicking the empty box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans across the floor.

"Honestly, Ron, calm down," Harry said rationally, "How do you expect to date Fleur Delacour? She's an veela three years our senior!"

"She likes Bill," Ron grumbled.

"Come on, Ron, quit grieving," Harry stood up, "Hermione's come to visit, and she's waiting for us in the kitchen." Ron got out of his sit and paused.

"Parvati still think I'm scrawny," Ron said crossly.

"So ask out Hannah Abbot," Harry was sardonic when annoyed. Ron grimaced, and threw a pillow at him.

~~~

Later that evening, Hermione was clicking away on her computer.

"Ron doesn't know what he is missing out on!" she thought, and sent Harry an e-mail, asking if he thinks their class should have a five year reunion.

"You have 1 new message," the screen flashed five minutes later. Hermione opened her mailbox. It was from Harry:

Hermione--

The reunion is a great idea! Maybe even Dumbledore would like to come with us!

Harry

After finishing Harry's e-mail, Hermione whipped out her quill and began proposing a letter to her alma mater's headmaster.

~~~

After months of preparation, the Hogwarts class of 1998 was ready for their reunion celebration. They would be taking a cruise on the Queen Elizabeth II on a tour of the eastern coast of the United States.

Most of the students, except for a select few (Crabbe and Goyle were caught using Dark Magic in school and were still in Azkaban, Hannah Abbot was searching for rare chocolate frog cards, etc.), bought tickets.

Ron begged for Ginny to come so his kid sister wouldn't be alone at home. He had Harry chip in on her ticket, and soon the class of 1998--and one member from the class of 1999--boarded the Queen Elizabeth II and was on their way to a merry reunion.

~~~

The wind breezed through Hermione's hair. She turned and looked at Ron, who was showing Harry his new 'Wizard's Chess' board. "Honestly!" she thought, "After our first year, I never want to play wizard's chess again!"

She stood on the stern of the ship, watching the dolphins swim by. Albus Dumbledore passed by, wearing a sweat suit. Ron, eying his headmaster's unfamiliar ensemble, glared at his own outfit, a pair of scarlet jeans and a lime shirt. He whined to Harry and Hermione, "I can't believe these stupid Muggle clothes! Who has time to keep up with the latest fashions?"

"Ron, don't you forget, Harry and I grew up in Muggle families! This isn't strange to us!" Hermione reminded him.

"Hermione, you didn't grow up with Vernon and Petunia Dursley! Everything was normal! Everything had to be normal!" Harry argued. Dumbledore chuckled at the argument the friends. He then turned and saw a pretty little girl, Ginny Weasley, staring at Harry Potter. Albus smiled at the young love that he knew had been wasting for years in Ginny's heart. 'Ah, the good old days of yore...'

Draco came onto the deck. He gave Ron a friendly pat on the back, which was a little too aggressive for queasy Ron. He grimaced and almost slugged Draco, but then he remembered that since Draco was trained to service You-Know-Who. Ron decided that he should be nice to his peer, now that Draco's had abandoned the thought of serving the Dark Lord.

"Hi," Draco said, and Harry and Ron returned the greeting.

"Well, well, Hermione, you've grown into yourself," Draco hooted playfully and Hermione rolled her eyes, but she blushed all the same.

"Really, Draco, I bet you say that to all girls," Hermione giggled. Draco smirked and walked back over to the guys.

"Oh, chess! Can I take a whack at it?" Draco asked.

"Sure...." Harry said, but he felt a pair of eyes on his back. He turned and saw Ginny staring at him, but she turned away seeing Harry aware of her, and Harry smiled. Was there hope? Did Ginny still like him after he went out with Cho Chang during his fifth year? Harry began to head towards Ginny, when he heard a cry for help. Harry's head spun around and he saw that Hermione, who had been gazing at the dolphins, had fallen over the railing! No splash occurred when she hit the water. Harry knew that Hermione was a part-time lifeguard during the summer, so she should be okay. But the next sight he saw shocked him. Hermione had slipped under the sea's surface in a matter of seconds.

Ron, Ginny, and Draco all stared at him. "Do something!" Ron shouted angrily.

He dove into the water, crying in pain from the icy blasts hitting his body. Our hero swam to his friend. She was limp and unconscious in his arms. What had possessed her to jump overboard?

A rope was thrown over the ledge, and Harry dragged himself and Hermione back onto the top deck. All the muggles cheered for Harry, and the onboard doctor rushed to the two frostbitten friends. Ginny couldn't help but feel joy and pain in her heart. A pain, such a childish, jealous pain, because Hermione stole Harry away from her, but joy that she was saved. And had Harry had a look of interest towards Ginny in his eyes?

~~~

The night came quickly. There was a celebration in the ballroom for the onboard teens--but our wonderful cast snuck in--which there were about one hundred partiers. Dumbledore had waved his wand at Harry and Hermione to remove the chills from their bodies. The doctor was simply amazed at their fast 'recoveries.'

Hermione and Harry were allowed to go dance, as long as they stayed warm. Ron and Ginny were standing by the buffet table, while Draco was looking at all the pretty muggle women. In return, they all stared at who they thought was a god.

Draco's felt empty since he betrayed Voldemort. He longed for someone to fill his heart with love. If he were in the mood, he would fill hers as well, if she were worthy enough. It couldn't be a petty infatuation. She would have to be willing to cry for him, lie for him, die for him.

The music started playing. Harry began to dance with Ginny. Both hearts were racing, in what they hoped would be a wonderful night sealed with their first kiss together. Ron delightedly took Hermione as his dance partner, although she wished to dance with her raven-haired friend.

Draco sneered, for he felt quite alone. The first song ended, and Draco made up his mind to dance in the next one. He tapped Hermione on the shoulder and asked if she would dance with him.

Thousands of thoughts flashed through her brain. 'Me, dance with the ex-death-eater? The muggle-hater? ...Then again, he did switch sides, and he wouldn't be at this reunion, or asking me to dance for that matter, if he still hated muggles... And he was prejudiced from birth because of his parents only, so I'm sure maybe there's more to him than I know off,' she decided. Hermione, remembering how flushed Draco made her feel before her accident, agreed to dance with him. "Unbelievable" by EMF came on over the sound system, and Draco and Hermione began to dance.

"You're unbelievable..." Hermione sang along to the music, and Draco smiled. He whispered back into her ear, "I know." Hermione gave him a weird look, but as her mind processed the situation she gave a forced giggle. Draco was vain as ever. At least some things don't change!

They danced song after song. Hermione felt a pair of eyes on her, and saw Ron staring at her.

'Don't feel guilty! Draco's not obnoxious anyone, and Ron just is feeling lonely!' Hermione thought to herself. Still, she grasped Draco a bit tighter. She had abandoned Ron for Draco, the gorgeous, the witty, the wonderful Draco Malfoy, that is...

His fingertips caressed her back, and Hermione felt chills going up and down her spine. Hermione looked up at Draco. His sleek, white blonde hair that looked like something from a shampoo commercial was just begging for her to ruffle it.

"What are you doing?" Draco cried, unaware of the obvious affection Hermione was showing.

Then it hit him. She was smitten with none other than Draco Malfoy. The girl he had once called mudblood wanted him? It was too good to be true.

Draco pressed his lips to Hermione's. Harry, Ron, Ginny--no, make that every one who had attended Hogwarts student--stared. The adults also looked on, some with raised eyebrows, and the others with humor.

Hermione let her lips go of Draco and turned to see everyone watching her.

"Get a freakin' room, people!" someone yelled, causing everyone to hoot.

"I need a drink," Hermione's cheeks were crimson. She headed off to the punchbowl. Harry came up to Draco and slapped his back.

"Does she taste like that vanilla lip balm she always wears?" he asked, and Draco just shrugged.

"Eh..."

"Well, it's delicious," Harry laughed and eyed Draco. No steam was coming out of Malfoy's horns! Harry gave an apologetic laugh and turned to Ron.

Draco had been counting to ten in his head. Harry had infuriated him so. He, the great Draco Malfoy, was jealous of Hermione's Hogwarts kissing partner. Draco had known about that already, but it was painful to think that the raven-haired man opposite him had gotten to Hermione first. Still, he sighed with relief. Would Harry and Ron accept him now?

Ron just shook his head at Hermione's PDA. 'Hey, whatever makes you happy, baby, then go for it...'

Ron turned and saw a girl staring at him. She was a pretty blonde, wearing a tube top and a blue suede skirt. Ron wondered how a muggle could actually take the time to look so stylish.

"Hello? I've been waiting," she said bluntly.

"Oh..." Ron stuttered, "I'm sorry..."

"Don't waste my precious oxygen, and tell someone who cares," she rolled her eyes as she poured a drink. Ron slowly pulled out his wand to hex her, but then the thought of earning a fine from the Ministry crossed his mind. Sighing, he put his wand away.

The girl turned. "So now you're my bodyguard?" she huffed and spun on her heels.

Ron leaned against the wall in disbelief. Who did she think she was, treating people like that?

Twenty minutes later, the girl walked over to Ron in a completely new outfit--not nearly as flattering--and bid Ron good evening.

"Fuck off," Ron turned his head.

"Why so rude?" the girl frowned.

"Me, rude? You're the Queen of the Cruise!"

"What? ...Oh, I'm going to kill her! Emma!"

The girl in the tube top whirled around and stood next to the good twin.

"Emily? You're talking to that loser?" Emma snorted. Ron did a double take.

"What? If you're the evil b-tch, then you... you... you must be..." Ron passed out.

"Now, shoo, Emma, before all the boys get scared of you!" Emily yelled.

Emma walked away. She had a new prospect in mind.

~~~

Emma had been eying him for a few minutes before she made her way over to him.

"Hey stud, what's your name?" she asked.

"Draco," the pale man replied, already checking out Emma. She was definitely a fit girl, but how could he form a romance with a muggle? They wouldn't be able to go anywhere past the Leaky Cauldron! Thus, he began scanning the room for Hermione.

"Want to dance?" she asked.

"Well, I have to--" Draco began to say, and then stopped. Emma was performing Britney Spear's exact routine from her 'Boys' video. He didn't even know who Britney was, but Emma sure as hell did! She looked like a veela when dancing--maybe a long lost cousin of his?

"Oh, god, that's nasty!" the thought of ogling his cousin was too nasty for words, and he tried to push Emma away.

"Sorry, I'm waiting for my friend," he finally said.

"Well, I'm sure he'll want to dance with me, too," Emma quipped.

Hermione came back and gave Draco a long kiss.

"That would be her," Draco shrugged. Emma fumed and walked away.

"I'll be back," Emma called, looking at Hermione with disgust.

Hermione looked back into Draco's eyes. He expected her to explode with anger of being with Emma in her absence. Instead, she put her finger on his lips to hush him.

"This is the first time a guy has wanted my company," she sighed, "And I appreciate that." She rested her head on Draco's shoulder as the first slow song came on.

~~~

Harry turned and watched his friends' interactions. Ron was just dissed by one girl and soothed by her twin... Hermione was falling head over heels for Draco... and he, Harry, was dancing with Ginny Weasley.

"Could life be more perfect?" Harry thought, while softly kissing Ginny's neck.