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edenfallingThis is kinda-sorta a belated birthday present for ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
askerian, who asked for more Ginny/Harry/Draco threesome fanfic.
"New Horizons" is post-DH, epilogue-compliant, and, despite appearances, not actually intended as crack!fic. Time will tell if I'm able to stick to that plan. Currently, I have four chapters planned. Time will tell if I can stick to that, too. *grin*
(Minor edits as of 1/11/10)
---------------------------------------------
New Horizons: Chapter 1
---------------------------------------------
"Forty-eight is a perfectly reasonable age to retire from professional sport," said Harry, for what felt like the thousandth time, scrubbing a hand through his hair. Actually, it was unreasonably old, but he knew better than to say that aloud. "You've more than earned a holiday."
"It's age discrimination, that's what it is," grumbled Ginny, also for the thousandth time. "'We have to make room for new players, Mrs. Potter,' they said. 'Fans like to see new faces on the pitch,' they said. Backstabbers, the lot of them -- I can still play perfectly well, can't I? -- and I won't be fobbed off with silly trips I could perfectly well pay for myself."
But she shouldered her bag and joined Harry in the line for the international Portkey to Athens. This one was scheduled to leave at eleven sharp, and the Ministry flunky was busy arranging all the travelers into a circle and handing them fine chains that linked back to the abstract bronze sculpture serving as the transport spell's medium.
Once they were in Athens, they would rent a carpet and fly out to Themyscira, an entire island kept secret from Muggles. It was reputed to have spectacular views, good hiking, and excellent beaches. The hotels were also highly recommended, and very expensive once you started venturing beyond basic room and board. Harry reminded himself to point this out to Ginny once they arrived; she'd enjoy running up the Harpies' bill.
Until then, there were other ways to defuse her temper.
"Think of it this way: it's an entire month without any chance of James, Al, or Lily interrupting," Harry suggested. "When was the last time we had even two days to ourselves, without matches, cases, children, or other crises getting in the way?"
Ginny squinted up and to her left, frowning in concentration. "Oh, lord, I can't remember. Maybe when I was twenty?" She leaned slightly back, settling against his shoulder and lacing her fingers between his.
"No, you were starting for the Harpies by then," said Harry, adjusting the strap of her bag with his free hand. "Just after the war?"
Ginny grimaced. "You may be right. Which is awfully depressing. Grab the chain, Harry; it's almost eleven."
Reflexively, Harry obeyed. Twenty seconds later, the Ministry's echoing marble halls dissolved with an inside-out jerk from behind his navel.
---------------
Athens, what little they saw of it, was loud, hot, and bright in a hard-edged way very different from the softer summers of Great Britain. The Greek Ministry of Magic was situated underground near Mount Parnitha, and the carpet rental desk was hidden at the back of a bicycle shop, one of the Ministry's more roundabout entrances.
Ginny handed her bag to Harry, unrolled the carpet, and ran her wand over the patterned fabric the way Bill had demonstrated in Egypt. "The fringe is falling apart and there's a hole by the rear port corner, but the spellwork seems solid." She turned back to the young woman staffing the rental desk. "Does this come with a rain and smog shield, or will we have to cast our own weatherproofing charms? And if so, will they interfere with the flight spells?"
"All Ministry carpets come with protection, yes?" the rental agent said, stealing sidelong glances at Harry. Ginny squelched a frown; she had no reason to be jealous, even if she and Harry were so busy they hardly saw each other these days. Harry wasn't interested in stupid girls with celebrity crushes. She knew that from personal experience. Really.
"They stop rain, stop wind, stop smog, and stop falling off the sides," the young woman continued. "Childproof carpets even stop tipping over. But, you are good flyers, yes? This is a sport carpet -- it has a Sticking Charm, so you can turn upside-down or other tricks."
Ginny considered that for a moment. Stunt flying was more Harry's thing than hers, despite their respective careers, but...
"We'll take it," said Harry, winking at her as he stepped up to the desk and began to sign the rental paperwork. "So tell me, what's the best flight path to Themiscyra from here?"
Ginny watched his fingers shift deftly on the quill, thought about wind rushing through her hair and his hands around her waist as they flew, and decided that this enforced holiday might not be nearly so interminable as she'd feared.
She might even leave the Harpies some money in their expense account.
Well... no. But she'd send them a note of thanks and if they asked very politely, she'd break her hex on the manager's position. After all, she might want that job someday.
Humming to herself, Ginny wrapped her arm around Harry's waist and led him into the brilliant midday sunshine.
---------------
The Hotel Delphi -- as stupid and pretentious a name as Draco had ever heard -- perched on a cliff right over picturesque azure water and a strip of white, pebbled shore. The rooms were spacious and bright, with comfortable beds, wide windows, and generous balconies. The sheets were satin-soft, the pillows shaped themselves to his head, and three bottles of ice-cold vodka had been waiting at his bedside when he woke that morning. It was perfect.
Draco knocked back another shot of vodka and wished he were dead.
"'Go to Greece and have fun,' Pansy says," he muttered, flipping the empty shot glass from hand to hand. "Iris bloody left me. Left me! How is that, in any stretch of any idiot's imagination, conducive to fun?"
He threw the glass out the balcony door and over the rail. It crashed musically on the rocks at the water's edge.
"Look out below!" he called, belatedly. Then he snapped his fingers. "Elf! Bring me a new glass."
A tiny figure conspicuously failed to appear.
"Elf! I need an elf! What kind of service do you call this?"
Someone in the room next door pounded on the wall. "Shut it, you bastard!" a woman snarled. "If you'd read the bloody brochure, you'd know this place only has human servants. It's supposed to be a sign of class or something."
"No, it's a sign that Hermione's taking over the world," a man disagreed. "The elves probably all have hats and Ministry sinecures by now." The woman laughed.
Draco blinked. He knew that voice. "Potter?"
There was a sudden, tense silence in the other room. Then, "Malfoy? What are you doing here?"
"Getting very drunk after my wife threw me over for some Brazilian pillock," said Draco, before his mind caught up with his tongue. He winced. "Erm. I did not just say that." Bloody vodka. Why didn't getting smashed ever seem to solve his problems?
Ginny Potter laughed. "Trouble in paradise, is it? This I have to hear about. Are you up for guests, Malfoy?"
She wanted to mock him to his face. What the hell. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do with his time, and at least Potter and his wife might distract him from Iris for an hour or two.
Draco raked one hand through his hair to straighten it, tugged his bathrobe into a slightly less disheveled state, and drank the last vodka from the bottle. "Our balconies connect," he said, over what sounded like a furious whispered argument next door. "Come on in. My room is yours."
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 1
Continue to Chapter 2
Read the final version on fanfiction.net
---------------------------------------------
In random real life news:
1. I will NOT be sitting my landlords' dog this coming week; they've decided to kennel him instead. But I will be bringing in their mail and watering their plants while they're in Rhode Island, so that's something.
2. Regular fall services start next Sunday. I am not at all sure what's going on with RE -- I have not received any notification about teacher ingatherings or schedules, or even my co-teachers, but hopefully that will get straightened out before Saturday.
3. I saw The Dark Knight a second time this afternoon, and I may or may not write up a review/reaction post sometime in the next few days. For now, I'll just say that it's a very interesting film, it made me think about a bunch of ethical, social, and political issues, and I have a burning urge to figure out a number of loose ends and minor plot holes. I suspect I will either end up writing a story or an essay to that end.
askerian, who asked for more Ginny/Harry/Draco threesome fanfic."New Horizons" is post-DH, epilogue-compliant, and, despite appearances, not actually intended as crack!fic. Time will tell if I'm able to stick to that plan. Currently, I have four chapters planned. Time will tell if I can stick to that, too. *grin*
(Minor edits as of 1/11/10)
---------------------------------------------
New Horizons: Chapter 1
---------------------------------------------
"Forty-eight is a perfectly reasonable age to retire from professional sport," said Harry, for what felt like the thousandth time, scrubbing a hand through his hair. Actually, it was unreasonably old, but he knew better than to say that aloud. "You've more than earned a holiday."
"It's age discrimination, that's what it is," grumbled Ginny, also for the thousandth time. "'We have to make room for new players, Mrs. Potter,' they said. 'Fans like to see new faces on the pitch,' they said. Backstabbers, the lot of them -- I can still play perfectly well, can't I? -- and I won't be fobbed off with silly trips I could perfectly well pay for myself."
But she shouldered her bag and joined Harry in the line for the international Portkey to Athens. This one was scheduled to leave at eleven sharp, and the Ministry flunky was busy arranging all the travelers into a circle and handing them fine chains that linked back to the abstract bronze sculpture serving as the transport spell's medium.
Once they were in Athens, they would rent a carpet and fly out to Themyscira, an entire island kept secret from Muggles. It was reputed to have spectacular views, good hiking, and excellent beaches. The hotels were also highly recommended, and very expensive once you started venturing beyond basic room and board. Harry reminded himself to point this out to Ginny once they arrived; she'd enjoy running up the Harpies' bill.
Until then, there were other ways to defuse her temper.
"Think of it this way: it's an entire month without any chance of James, Al, or Lily interrupting," Harry suggested. "When was the last time we had even two days to ourselves, without matches, cases, children, or other crises getting in the way?"
Ginny squinted up and to her left, frowning in concentration. "Oh, lord, I can't remember. Maybe when I was twenty?" She leaned slightly back, settling against his shoulder and lacing her fingers between his.
"No, you were starting for the Harpies by then," said Harry, adjusting the strap of her bag with his free hand. "Just after the war?"
Ginny grimaced. "You may be right. Which is awfully depressing. Grab the chain, Harry; it's almost eleven."
Reflexively, Harry obeyed. Twenty seconds later, the Ministry's echoing marble halls dissolved with an inside-out jerk from behind his navel.
---------------
Athens, what little they saw of it, was loud, hot, and bright in a hard-edged way very different from the softer summers of Great Britain. The Greek Ministry of Magic was situated underground near Mount Parnitha, and the carpet rental desk was hidden at the back of a bicycle shop, one of the Ministry's more roundabout entrances.
Ginny handed her bag to Harry, unrolled the carpet, and ran her wand over the patterned fabric the way Bill had demonstrated in Egypt. "The fringe is falling apart and there's a hole by the rear port corner, but the spellwork seems solid." She turned back to the young woman staffing the rental desk. "Does this come with a rain and smog shield, or will we have to cast our own weatherproofing charms? And if so, will they interfere with the flight spells?"
"All Ministry carpets come with protection, yes?" the rental agent said, stealing sidelong glances at Harry. Ginny squelched a frown; she had no reason to be jealous, even if she and Harry were so busy they hardly saw each other these days. Harry wasn't interested in stupid girls with celebrity crushes. She knew that from personal experience. Really.
"They stop rain, stop wind, stop smog, and stop falling off the sides," the young woman continued. "Childproof carpets even stop tipping over. But, you are good flyers, yes? This is a sport carpet -- it has a Sticking Charm, so you can turn upside-down or other tricks."
Ginny considered that for a moment. Stunt flying was more Harry's thing than hers, despite their respective careers, but...
"We'll take it," said Harry, winking at her as he stepped up to the desk and began to sign the rental paperwork. "So tell me, what's the best flight path to Themiscyra from here?"
Ginny watched his fingers shift deftly on the quill, thought about wind rushing through her hair and his hands around her waist as they flew, and decided that this enforced holiday might not be nearly so interminable as she'd feared.
She might even leave the Harpies some money in their expense account.
Well... no. But she'd send them a note of thanks and if they asked very politely, she'd break her hex on the manager's position. After all, she might want that job someday.
Humming to herself, Ginny wrapped her arm around Harry's waist and led him into the brilliant midday sunshine.
---------------
The Hotel Delphi -- as stupid and pretentious a name as Draco had ever heard -- perched on a cliff right over picturesque azure water and a strip of white, pebbled shore. The rooms were spacious and bright, with comfortable beds, wide windows, and generous balconies. The sheets were satin-soft, the pillows shaped themselves to his head, and three bottles of ice-cold vodka had been waiting at his bedside when he woke that morning. It was perfect.
Draco knocked back another shot of vodka and wished he were dead.
"'Go to Greece and have fun,' Pansy says," he muttered, flipping the empty shot glass from hand to hand. "Iris bloody left me. Left me! How is that, in any stretch of any idiot's imagination, conducive to fun?"
He threw the glass out the balcony door and over the rail. It crashed musically on the rocks at the water's edge.
"Look out below!" he called, belatedly. Then he snapped his fingers. "Elf! Bring me a new glass."
A tiny figure conspicuously failed to appear.
"Elf! I need an elf! What kind of service do you call this?"
Someone in the room next door pounded on the wall. "Shut it, you bastard!" a woman snarled. "If you'd read the bloody brochure, you'd know this place only has human servants. It's supposed to be a sign of class or something."
"No, it's a sign that Hermione's taking over the world," a man disagreed. "The elves probably all have hats and Ministry sinecures by now." The woman laughed.
Draco blinked. He knew that voice. "Potter?"
There was a sudden, tense silence in the other room. Then, "Malfoy? What are you doing here?"
"Getting very drunk after my wife threw me over for some Brazilian pillock," said Draco, before his mind caught up with his tongue. He winced. "Erm. I did not just say that." Bloody vodka. Why didn't getting smashed ever seem to solve his problems?
Ginny Potter laughed. "Trouble in paradise, is it? This I have to hear about. Are you up for guests, Malfoy?"
She wanted to mock him to his face. What the hell. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do with his time, and at least Potter and his wife might distract him from Iris for an hour or two.
Draco raked one hand through his hair to straighten it, tugged his bathrobe into a slightly less disheveled state, and drank the last vodka from the bottle. "Our balconies connect," he said, over what sounded like a furious whispered argument next door. "Come on in. My room is yours."
---------------------------------------------
End of Chapter 1
Continue to Chapter 2
Read the final version on fanfiction.net
---------------------------------------------
In random real life news:
1. I will NOT be sitting my landlords' dog this coming week; they've decided to kennel him instead. But I will be bringing in their mail and watering their plants while they're in Rhode Island, so that's something.
2. Regular fall services start next Sunday. I am not at all sure what's going on with RE -- I have not received any notification about teacher ingatherings or schedules, or even my co-teachers, but hopefully that will get straightened out before Saturday.
3. I saw The Dark Knight a second time this afternoon, and I may or may not write up a review/reaction post sometime in the next few days. For now, I'll just say that it's a very interesting film, it made me think about a bunch of ethical, social, and political issues, and I have a burning urge to figure out a number of loose ends and minor plot holes. I suspect I will either end up writing a story or an essay to that end.