Disclaimer

I do not own any of the characters in this chapter, except for Patricia Andale, Sarah Gellar, Hugh Satte, Gary Diggins, Margaret Maxwell, Alex McKay, Hank Jackson, Laura Simmons, Emily Hogget, Catherine Crosby and Jim Ward.

And I got this idea from a book by Jill Barnett. Wonderful author she is; what with authors like J K Rowling, Johanna Lindsey, Jill Barnett, Dorothy Garlock, Julie Garwood… my world is almost perfect! J (my reading world, that is) haha… anyway the title of the book is "Imagine" and I suggest that u guys read it. it's simply wonderful! =)

"So how are things with Patricia?" Harry asked as he ran his long fingers through his jet-black hair.

"The usual." Ron shrugged his puny shoulders. Although he was taller than Harry, Harry was more well-built; that's probably one of the many reasons why he's at the top of the list for "Guys To Chase After".

"Do you mean the usual teasing, or the usual hugging and kissing and God knows what else?" Harry smiled, his emerald green eyes lighting up.

Ron laughed good-naturedly. "Yeah, those usual."

The two seventh graders were lazing around in the Griffindor common room, while almost every other person was out in Hogsmeade. Their exams were over, and they had pretty good grades but their grades combined still couldn't beat one person.

"So… where's Patricia?"

"Oh, with her friends. She needs her time too, you know." Harry smiled, upon hearing Ron's answer. Ron always seemed so understanding when the conversation was on his girlfriend. Ron met Patricia Andale starting this year and there's not much else to say except that she's the apple of his eye.

Just then, Hermione came in and smiled at the two boys. Ron smiled when he saw Hermione and then shook his red head. Harry suddenly looked so self-conscious and started flattening his jet-black hair while smiling nervously at Hermione.

"What are you shaking your head for?" Hermione questioned Ron.

"Nothing; just that I'm surprised that I can still see your face behind that mountain of books." He chuckled.

Hermione laughed heartily. "Yeah, I went to the library again."

"Sheesh, Hermione. The exams are OVER; why can't you relax for awhile or so?"

"Yeah, I agree." Her head was already buried in one of the thick, massive books that looked as if it was left on the shelf for years, just sitting there collecting dust.

"If you agree, then…" Ron looked absolutely puzzled.

Her head came up momentarily. "I don't want to be last in class." Then she flipped the pages with delicate fingers.

Ron sighed inwardly. He didn't want to argue with her anymore. He had done that for the past six years and the answers or results were almost always the same.

Hermione's head suddenly shot up. She cast her chocolate brown eyes on Harry, who seemed to be constantly looking out the window these few days. Maybe he has love problems, Hermione thought.

"Harry? Why are you so quiet?" She asked, as she gently placed the tip of her fingers on his arm, at the same time wondering if she was breaking his train of thoughts.

Harry's eyes seemed to be fixated on her fingers and seemed to take forever to notice that she had asked him a question. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, another voice spoke and Albus Dumbledore's, the Headmaster of Hogwarts, face appeared in the fireplace.

"Morning, everyone. I have an important and urgent matter to discuss with all of the seventh graders. Seventh graders, please come to the Great Hall now; I'm sorry if I have disrupted your activities."

"What could be so urgent?" Harry muttered to himself.

"Is he mad? Everyone else is at Hogsmeade." Ron scratched his head.

Dumbledore wasn't mad; he knew exactly what he was doing. Every other seventh grader who was supposed to be somewhere else came back upon hearing Dumbledore's announcement over Hogsmeade. Most of them were grumbling away even when Dumbledore rose to speak. Even the teachers, especially Snape, the Potion Master, looked put off with the sudden announcement.

Even Dumbledore's good-natured smile couldn't change the grumbling.

"Hello, everyone!" came a cheerful tone.

Hermione groaned inwardly. She respected the Headmaster too much to groan out loud, unlike the other students.

"I have an important announcement." The Headmaster was suddenly solemn; he was so solemn that everyone kept silent.

After a long torturous moment, Dumbledore smiled once again. "Your examination results this year were simply superb! Fabulous, I must say!"

A few looks of murder were passed around.

"Now, I have decided to let all seventh graders go on a… a… what's that word again, Julie?" The teacher for Muggle Studies, Professor Earnwood, whispered something and Dumbledore smiled, nodding fervently, like a child who had just learnt a new word.

"A field trip." He said, adding emphasis on each word, like it was the most important thing in the world.

It wasn't; but that got the students rather excited. They began chattering among themselves like bluebirds in the summer.

"Hush, now, as Professor Earnwood will describe the… the… ah… trip to you." Then he went back to his seat, muttering something about him being old already.

Professor Earnwood stood up and smiled nervously. She cleared her throat and began speaking in her rather tiny voice. Everyone leaned forward in their seats, straining to hear whatever she wanted to say.

"I- I know that not all of you take Muggle Studies, but the Headmaster has decided to make this field trip-" the Headmaster snapped his fingers. "- as normal as possible. We will be taking a cruise a week from now for two weeks. And if you don't know what that means, it simply means that we will be travelling on an ocean liner, which is also a big ship, that will be transporting us to the many fascinating islands in the South Seas in the Muggle World." The discussions among students grew louder and only subsided when Dumbledore gently placed a long finger on his lips.

"The thing is, not all of you will be going. Only a few lucky ones will be selected; four from each house, to be specific. However, we gathered all of the seventh graders so that the rest of the students wouldn't wonder where their friends had gone." She laughed nervously. No one else could see the joke; a few had, however, smiled politely.

"Ah… I will now read out the names of the people that have been chosen by the teacher faculty." She fumbled for the opening of a bronze envelope in her hand.

"For the house of Ravenclaw… ah… the names are Patricia Andale, Sarah Gellar, Hugh Satte and Gary Diggins." There were groans and shouts of joy from the boys and girls respectively. Ron beamed at the fact that his girlfriend was chosen and turned around to smile broadly at her. Hermione's heart warmed at the sight.

"For Hufflepuff… the lucky people are… Margaret Maxwell, Alex McKay, Hank Jackson and… Laura Simmons."

"Slytherin… Emily Hogget, Catherine Crosby, Jim Ward and Draco Malfoy." Turning around, Harry shook his head in disgust as he saw the infamous Draco Malfoy spit into his goblet.

"Now, last but definitely not least… Gryffindor. Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown, Ronald Weasley and well, Harry Potter." Professor Earnwood smiled serenely after finishing the announcements. Hermione and Ron slapped each other high-fives.

"Do we get to choose our own partners?" Gary Diggins asked in a booming voice.

Dumbledore smiled a weird, sort of creepy, smile. "You can choose them now, but my advice is not to get too attached to your partners now. There might be a few changes now and then." Seeing that he no longer got their full attention, he clapped his hands. "Now, everyone, you may get back to your activities. I will allow you to have an extra day tomorrow at Hogsmeade for fairness."

Everyone rushed out of the Great Hall. In a matter of few minutes, the Great Hall was left empty, except for the teachers. Dumbledore put a Silencing Charm around the room.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Severus Snape asked doubtfully.

"Yes, yes. I think it is, Severus. Now, it is time for us to make our own list…"

The week flew by, as though it was a matter of seconds ticking. The sixteen students who were supposed to go on the trip went into a frenzy. It was about time to leave and board the Hogwarts train back to the Muggle world, only to be transported quickly to another Muggle vessel. To speak of the truth, not only the students were in a frenzy; practically the whole school was busy. The teachers with the necessary arrangements; the friends sharing their last jokes, giggles, or cries of joy; the people who had the 'more-than-friends' relationship saying their last good-byes, as though the other were to be torn from them forever; and lastly, the packing. Everyone seemed unsure of what to bring or what to pack into their bags. They seemed to want to bring anything and everything; everyone seemed so excited.

Then the time came. The students bid their final good-byes as they boarded the train with the Headmaster and the Professor Earnwood. Scenes of girls sniffing and dabbing the corner of their eyes and boys laughing and betting on who would come back alive were displayed before the very eyes of the witches and wizards at the train station that day.

"Wow. This day has passed so quickly." Hermione smiled and leaned forward the railing, trying to get a better view of the blue-green and ever-so-clear sea water below her and yet at the same time pulling her skirts in order not to get sprayed by the sea foams. The students had changed into Muggle clothes so as not to arouse anyone's suspicions. Even Dumbledore had changed into a most outrageous outfit. Bright yellow slacks and an equally brightly colored green buttoned up shirt to seemingly match it. he kept saying that he looked like a sherbet lemon and that the look was simply preposterous; yet he was unwilling to change out of it.

Harry was sitting on his own lounge chair and looked as Hermione tucked one of the wilder strands of her hair back in place where it belonged: behind her tiny ears. How he longed to touch those tender earlobes gently, while telling her how much he loves her at the same time. He didn't know when he started realizing that but suddenly, one day, he just woke up and felt like she was the most important thing in the world, and his feelings had taken off from there.

Maybe it was due to a previous nightmare. Harry shrugged his thoughts off. What he thought didn't matter, what matters now is how he was going to try to get through to Hermione, and finally confess to her about his true feelings; for he was frustrated as he couldn't get past the "I want to be more than friends" barrier. Every time he came to that sentence, he gets interrupted by someone or something. Most of the time, he gets interrupted by Ron. But he didn't blame Ron, for times like this, he even wondered himself whether he could even get the simple message through.

Hermione stood up and her shadow hovered above him. He looked up and saw her smiling with the set of now perfectly straight, and no longer bucked, teeth. He blushed and chided himself silently for not noticing her presence. Then watching as she stood and glanced around for an empty lounge chair, Harry immediately stood and offered her his chair. Hermione smiled a warm smile and said, "Nay, chivalry hasn't died, I see. But you shall sit."

Harry shook his head vigorously, as if his honor was at stake. After a few moments of arguing softly about whoever should take the seat, Hermione had her arms akimbo and pronounced that whether or not, they had to stand or sit together. Harry decided that they sit, for he didn't want to stand so close to her and smell her so feminine scent. He might get overwhelmed by it, as he usually does.

It was a wrong decision to make. A very wrong one, Harry corrected himself. Instead of standing very close to her, he was SITTING very close to her.

Yeah, big difference, Harry. Harry thought. Hermione turned and showed mild surprise when she noticed that their faces were so close together. After all, they were such good friends that a little distance or space between them was almost nothing.

Hermione smiled once again when she saw the image produced in front of her. The sun was setting in a most beautiful way; it looked as if its wild and fiery flames were suddenly tamed down and it had suddenly turned into such a docile animal. At the horizon, where half the sun was already disappearing into the forever stretching sea, Hermione could already see a tinge of dark blue mixed with the slightest touch of dark purple, giving it a mysterious look. Suddenly, Hermione felt like reaching out and feel the beauty of everything.

She didn't, in the end. But Harry did. He kissed her.