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The Oath | ||||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Harry/Ginny Genres: Comedy, General, Humor, Romance Warnings: Extreme Language, Intimate Sexual Situations, Negative Alcohol Use Story is Complete Rating: R Reviews: 231 Summary: Things are looking up for Harry Potter. He’s engaged to Ginny, he has some good friends and he’s finally learning how to have fun. But what adventures must he go through before he can finally recite his wedding oath? Sequel to my previous story ‘The List’. I suggest you read that one first or much of this will be confusing. Hitcount: Story Total: 91091; Chapter Total: 8169 Awards: View Trophy Room Author's Notes: I've always put them at the bottom and I'm not going to change now! |
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Chapter 12 — Stags and Hens As the masseuse fingers dug hard into her back, Ginny groaned in pleasure. She couldn’t remember when she had felt more relaxed and, frankly, she could stay like this all day. Despite her slight resentment at Gwenog dictating exactly what she was allowed to do for her hen night, she had to admit the first part of her manager’s plan was working like a dream. They had arrived at the luxury hotel just before lunch and had immediately been showered with champagne and strawberries. The group was then split into three and whisked off to enjoy various forms of pampering. Ginny had already spent time in the steam room, followed by a leisurely half-hour in the spa pool. She was now being massaged into a state of bliss by a small woman with the most powerful hands she had ever encountered. Ginny was currently wondering if she could convince Harry to hire the woman on a full time basis. Turning her head slightly, she could see Hermione laid out on the table next to her; and beyond that was Linda who had an extremely contented expression on her face. As if aware Ginny was looking at her, Hermione opened her eyes slightly and smiled at her friend. “We should do this on a regular basis,” Hermione said in a dreamy voice. “Definitely,” Ginny agreed. “We have the manicure and facial next,” chipped in Linda. “Although it may take a small army to prise me from this table.” “Excuse me, Miss,” interrupted the masseuse “but have you recently injured yourself?” “Why yes,” admitted Ginny. “I broke my arm and put my shoulder out. Why?” “I can feel the muscles all bunched up here,” the small woman replied. “If you can just hold still for a second…” “OOOOwwwOOOO,” howled Ginny. “Oh, sweet Merlin! That feels sooo good!” “I’m not surprised. I’m afraid your healer didn’t do a very good job. You must have been quite uncomfortable,” the masseur sniffed. “Well, it feels wonderful now. Can I keep you?” Ginny asked while her two friends sniggered. “Sorry, Miss. I’m under contract with the hotel. But you can book as many sessions here as you like.” Ginny did a mock pout. “I wonder how the boys are doing?” Hermione asked casually. “You know, I was quite jealous when I heard they were going to Ibiza, but at this exact moment I think we got the better deal,” Ginny grinned. “I quite agree…oh, a little to the left!” moaned Hermione. Ginny closed her eyes and let herself fall into bliss. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP “Oom ph!” Nine men all hit the ground hard as the Portkey deposited them unceremoniously in a small grove of trees. Harry untangled himself from under someone’s leg while he tried to get his bearings. On inspection, he was pleased to see they were exactly where they were meant to be. Through the trees he could see their hotel shining brilliantly in the hot sun. Despite the lateness of the season, it was still very warm; and Harry was glad he was just wearing shorts and a t-shirt. “Nice landing, Bill!” he heard Charlie moan. He was glad the man had managed to get time off from the Rumanian dragon reserve to join his stag party. After all, there was nothing like the presence of a dragon handler to make things go with a swing. “Hey, I didn’t create the bloody thing,” Bill shot back at his brother. Ministry-issued Portkeys were notorious for their rough landings. Harry always suspected that this was a deliberate policy instituted by bored civil servants who were jealous of people going on holiday. He picked himself up and dusted himself down while the rest of the group struggled to do the same. “Right, here’s the plan,” said Bill, taking control again. “First, we check in at reception and dump our stuff in our rooms. Then, I want everyone in my room for a brief meeting before we hit the pool. We have a couple of things we need to sort out. And remember everyone, we are in Muggle territory! No magic!” They all grunted their agreement and ambled towards the hotel. Bill seemed to have a good grasp of Spanish, as did Simon, so they managed to check in without problems. They were sharing three to a room and Harry found himself lodging with his fellow Aurors Robbie and Malcolm. After a brief examination of their room they went next door where Bill was sharing with Charlie and George. When they had all arrived Bill started to address them. “Right, guys, the fun starts here. The plan is that in a minute we all get into our swimming trunks and indulge in some quality loafing round the pool. There’s a pool-side bar so we can all have a few beers, but don’t get rat-arsed too early! We have a long night ahead of us, remember. For those of you who are hungry — Ron, I guess that means you — there’s a small café which does sandwiches and cakes near the reception. Dinner is served around five, so we’ll have a good feed to provide a cushion for all the booze we’re going to drink later. After dinner we’ll get changed and head into town. Percy has agreed to look after the drinks kitty for the night.” The plan met with general nods and murmurs of approval. “Just one thing,” Bill stopped them before the group headed off to get into their swimwear. “As I said earlier, we are among Muggles. Now, alcohol is likely to be a major feature in tonight’s entertainments and, to be honest, some of this group are not the most responsible of individuals.” He paused as George protested his innocence. “Now, I think it would be best if we avoided an international incident and put temptation out of everyone’s reach. You will see that this room is equipped with a small safe. I want everybody to hand over their wands, which I’m going to lock in this safe until morning.” The group howled in protest, but Bill was adamant. Harry definitely didn’t like the idea of handing over his wand, but he could see the wisdom of the idea. With a sigh, he pulled out his wand and handed it to Bill. Seeing this, the rest of the group had little ground to argue and followed suit. As soon as he had everyone’s wands, Bill added his own to the pile and placed them in the small safe, which he then locked. The group looked around them nervously, all feeling somewhat vulnerable. “Right, now that’s out the way, everyone into the pool!” Bill yelled, instantly restoring the party spirit. Harry went back to his room and changed into his trunks. He grabbed a towel, and minutes later he was lazing on a pool-side recliner with a bottle of ice cold Spanish lager in his hand. His friends all either followed his example or dived into the pool, the exception being Ron who decided to check out the cafe. As the sun beat down, Harry decided that Bill was a genius. He felt a brief stab of guilt at the thought of Ginny being stuck back in Britain, but the feeling was soon gone. The afternoon passed in agreeable fashion with Harry alternating between sipping cold beer, lounging about or swimming in the pool. The water was deliciously cool, and the sun delightfully warm. This was definitely the life, he decided, and seriously started to consider quitting his job and moving to a tropical island somewhere with Ginny. He had just started drifting off into a very agreeable daydream which involved Ginny wearing a grass skirt and nothing else when a shout brought him out of his trance. “Hey, boys, I thought we should all try the local beverage. I’ve got us a jug of sangria,” called Robbie who was indeed holding a tray with a large jug full of the drink and a stack of glasses. The members of the stag party all shouted their approval and gathered round to grab a glass. Soon they all had a glass of sangria which they sampled with appreciation. “That was nice of Robbie,” commented Charlie who was sat next to Harry at that moment. “Yeah, it was. I’ve never tried that before and it was really…err.” Harry stopped in the middle of his sentence. He suddenly felt rather strange. He was beginning to think that having fantasies about his beautiful fiancé when he was only wearing swimming trunks was not a good idea. Just as he shifted his position to make himself more comfortable, he noticed something. All of the stag party had suddenly gone very quiet. Percy, who had been laid out on a recliner reading, suddenly spread the book over his lap. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Charlie reach over for his towel which had been lying on the ground and wrap it around his middle. Ron pulled his knees up to his chest and refused to look at anyone. With a growing feeling of horror, Harry looked down at himself and realised he was doing a very creditable impression of a tent. Quickly he grabbed his own towel and threw it over himself. Almost as one, the entire group looked up at each other with comprehension suddenly coming to them. “ROBBIE!” eight voices shouted as one. “What?” he asked innocently. “Did you put something in that bloody drink?” asked Bill who happened to be closest to Robbie. “No,” denied Robbie, “no,no,no,no,no…err, well, yes.” “What did you do to us, you prat?” spat Malcolm who was sat awkwardly with his legs crossed. “I just thought we could use a little boost for later, you know? Something to get us up and running when were out chasing the ladies tonight,” he answered. The group looked at each other disbelievingly. “Okay, so what exactly did you give us?” asked Bill who was clearly struggling to hold his temper. “Oh, just some pills I got during a raid, nothing to worry about.” As soon as he heard this Harry exploded. “You took pills from that place we raided?” Harry yelled incredulously. “For starters those pills were evidence! You illegally removed evidence from a crime scene. And secondly, we raided that factory because they were selling FAULTY pills and potions. Who knows what those bloody pills could do to us!” “Um…” said Robbie. “And one more thing,” Charlie spoke up. “If these pills were to ‘give us a boost’ tonight then why, in the name of all that is magic, did you give us the sodding things at four o’clock in the afternoon?” “Well, in my experience, these things normally take a few hours to kick in,” Robbie explained lamely. “I’m going to bloody well kill him,” yelled Ron, lunging at the Auror. He then had to rapidly sit down again when a couple of attractive young women in bikinis walked past. The girls eyed him suspiciously. “No, Ron, you’re not going to kill him,” Bill stated calmly, “because once these bloody pills wear off, we’re all going to kill him.” Robbie sat nervously as the rest of the group glared at him menacingly. The effects of the pills should last only a few hours and he was becoming aware that this might well be how long he had left to live. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP Ginny licked her fork, savouring the last of fresh cream from her desert. The three course dinner had been delicious and not quite the health conscious fare that she was expecting. Normally, Ginny wasn’t a fan of high class cooking, but everything was so good and fresh she couldn’t find anything to complain about. Even the portions were generous. To add to the experience the hotel, when they learnt that they were Harpies, had thrown in several complimentary bottles of champagne. No doubt they were thinking about repeat booking, but the gesture was very much appreciated anyway. The whole afternoon had been a massive hit with the hen party. After being pampered for hours, they had been treated to this wonderful meal. Already most of the girls had vowed to return, and the staff had done a roaring trade in handing out membership forms. Soon the girls would head back to the Harpies ground to change for the party that evening, and Ginny was really looking forward to it. Her lingering jealousy of the boys’ foreign trip had long since vanished. She just hoped Harry was having as good a time as she was. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP It was a rather grumpy group of young men that finally headed out into town. It had taken about three hours for the effects of the pills to wear off, and they were all rather sunburned from sitting outside for so long. They were also rather late for dinner, and all of them had been starving. By the time they had finished eating and got changed, they found they were heading out much later than they had intended; and the town was already getting busy. Surprisingly, Robbie was still alive and part of the group, although most of the others had taken to randomly slapping him over the head. After having numerous flyers for various clubs and bars thrust into their hands, they eventually decided to head for one that took their fancy. It turned out to be a large sea front bar which was open to the elements on two sides. A large dance floor dominated the place and was already full of people dancing. “Okay, this is more like it!” yelled Charlie over the music. A couple of attractive young girls then caught his attention and he disappeared into the mass of people. “Right, before we all start vanishing, someone has to be designated as an escort for Harry. We don’t want any ladies of dubious virtue taking advantage of him!” Bill yelled. Unfortunately, half the group had already drifted away. “Oh, thanks,” laughed Harry. “I can look after myself, you know.” “I’ll stay with him,” offered Ron. “I’ve got no interest in any of the birds here. Hermione would know in an instant if I got up to anything. She can read me like a book.” “Come on,” Harry called to Ron, “let’s get a drink.” In truth, Harry was a bit annoyed that everyone had disappeared as he had expected them to stay as a group. Unfortunately, the bar was so crowded and loud that was impractical. He and Ron pushed through the crush and made it to the bar. After a considerable time spent waving Euro bank notes in the air, they were eventually served. Taking their bottles of beer, they retreated to a quieter bit of the bar. Ron was delighted to find bowls of complimentary peanuts and he tucked in. Left to his own devices for a second, Harry scanned the bar. He was looking around to see if he could spot any of the group when he was startled by a female voice in his ear. “Ello darling, you all by yourself then?” said a voice with a thick Birmingham accent. Looking round Harry found himself looking at a slightly overweight, underdressed young woman who was wearing far too much makeup to be attractive. “Err, no I’m with my mate, here,” Harry replied, indicating Ron who was busy with his bowl of peanuts and was paying no attention. “Never mind him, gorgeous. Come and have a dance with me,” the girl said, grabbing his arm. “Umm, no, I can’t, I…err, have to…err, find my friends and…err,” Harry stuttered. “Don’t worry about that, love,” the girl said lustily. “You’ve pulled!” Desperately Harry looked over at Ron for help but he was still devoting his attention to his savoury snacks. The girl had started to press right up against him and, in a near panic, Harry started backing up. In his haste to avoid the girl Harry suddenly found himself backing into someone and he stumbled. Turning quickly he found himself looking into the angry eyes of one of the largest men he had ever seen. The man must have been six foot five at least and had a shaved head. He was covered in tattoos which covered his huge muscular arms. He was also holding a half empty beer glass and had a large wet patch forming on the front of his shirt. Harry gulped. “Oh, sorry, mate,” he said apologetically. “Can I get you another pint?” If Harry had hoped to placate this ogre of a man, he was out of luck. The last thing he remembered was the man’s large meaty fist heading rapidly towards him. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP Ginny tossed her hair in time to the music and nearly fell over. Linda grabbed her as she stumbled, and both of them ended up in a heap, laughing their heads off. Seeing them rolling around the floor, several other of the Harpies threw themselves down as well which everyone thought was hilarious. Sweet Merlin, she was pissed. Everybody seemed to be having a whale of a time. Of course, the free bar probably had a major influence on this, and the Harpies had made the most of the opportunity. It was now two o’clock in the morning, and they were in serious danger of drinking the bar dry. The party had been a right laugh. The drink had flowed and everyone was up and dancing from the start, with the only interruption occurring when the male stripper was brought out. The poor bloke was nearly out of his depth as Ginny doubted he ever had to perform to such an aggressively feminist audience as the Harpies. Several of the girls had felt that he wasn’t removing his clothing fast enough and jumped on stage to help. Sam definitely shouldn’t have conjured up that tape-measure either. Still, the man had taken it in good spirit and everyone had enjoyed themselves, even if there was rather a lot of whipped cream all over the place now. As Ginny made a concerted effort to get up off the floor, a mass of bushy brown hair came in focus as Hermione plonked herself down next to her. The girl looked absolutely off her head. “Can I just say that this is the bestest party I have ever been to,” she slurred, “I’m having a great time.” Ginny giggled at her drunken friend. “Me too! Who needs boys to have a good time?” she yelled. “Well, that naked one was alright,” Hermione grinned foolishly. “Do you know, he made me squirt whipped cream all over his…” “GIRLS!” Gwenog’s voice boomed a voice over the P.A., “you’re letting the side down. I’m told there is STILL booze left at the bar. Are you lot Harpies, or what?” “Woo-hoo!” Ginny and Hermione yelled simultaneously. They joined the general rush to the bar in a final effort to drink it completely dry. They did, after all, have a reputation to live up to. HPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHPHP Harry opened his eyes and instantly wished he hadn’t. His head thumped and the side of his face felt like it had been hit repeatedly with a beater's bat. He was also aware that he was laying on something very hard and uncomfortable. He groaned as he tried to move. “He’s awake,” a voice said, and a second later Simon’s face appeared above him. Interestingly, he didn’t look any better than Harry felt. “Morning, slugger,” Simon greeted him. “How do you feel this morning?” “What do you mean, morning?” Harry asked groggily. “And where are we?” Simon’s face vanished and was replaced by Malcolm’s. “Ah, that’s the interesting thing, Harry,” Malcolm replied, and Harry noticed he had a large gash over his eye. “This wonderful stag-do of yours just keeps coming up with new experiences for us all. This time, you get to experience law enforcement from the other side, as we are currently all locked in a cell in Ibiza’s main police station waiting to be charged.” “What!” yelped Harry and sat up. Looking round he saw that he was indeed in a large cell with his entire stag party in with him. All of them appeared to be in a rough state with ripped clothing and various injuries. Harry took a large gulp and asked the question he wasn’t sure he wanted an answer to. “What happened?” he asked. George cackled. “I think we should let pummelling Percy, Ibiza’s new middleweight champion, answer that,” he grinned. Harry looked over to where Percy was sat propped up against a wall with a sour expression. “Well, I’m afraid things got a little out of control last night,” Percy began before being interrupted by numerous snorts of derision. He battled on. “It obviously began when we were in that seafront bar. I noticed you and Ron had just bought your own drinks and, as I was holding the kitty, I started to head over to where you were standing to reimburse you. I then saw that, err, young lady making advances at you and you backing up rapidly.” Percy paused and scowled at his youngest brother. “Ron, you were supposed to be protecting Harry from that sort of thing!” he accused. “I only took my eyes off him for a second!” protested Ron. “Hmm, well, be that as it may, I think this situation is largely your fault. Anyway, Harry. I saw you retreating from that girl and back into that large, bald man. I even heard you apologise and offer to buy him a drink to replace the one you spilled, but then that…yob…just punched you without warning! It was a disgusting and cowardly attack. He looked like he was going to start kicking you when you were down, and I just had to do…something.” He finished lamely. “Something?” George cried in delight. “He only knocked the bloke out with his first punch! Bam! And that great ape was out cold. It was brilliant, Percy! Absolutely brilliant.” “Okay, so if Percy flattened that idiot — thanks for that, by the way — then why do the rest of you look like you’ve just picked a fight with a griffin?” Harry asked. “Ah, well, it appears that the fellow I hit had rather a lot of friends who took exception to my actions. Obviously, all my brothers rushed to help me, and it turned into rather an altercation,” Percy explained. “Altercation?” Robbie said in disbelief. “It was a full blown riot! Apparently half the island's police force was called in to quieten things down. The bar was nearly flattened!” “Oh, sweet Merlin, no!” Harry groaned. “Do you know what this will look like on my Auror records? What happens if the press get wind of this? Harry Potter in bar brawl! I’ll never hear the end of it. Oh bollocks, what will Ginny say?” “Hopefully, no-one will ever have to hear about this, Harry,” Malcolm assured him. “I’ve some experience with small police forces like this. I’m sure we can smooth things over but it might take a ‘financial contribution’ for their trouble.” “Bribery?” Harry nearly shouted. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” “Just let us deal with it, Harry,” Bill interrupted. “We’ll keep your name out of this.” It was half an hour before the guards came to check on the group. Bill, Malcolm and Simon (who spoke the best Spanish) all went forward and had an animated chat with the smartly dressed police officer. After a while, a second officer appeared and the three were let out of the cell to continue the discussion elsewhere. After another three quarters of an hour, another officer appeared and let the remaining group out of the cell. They were then all officially cautioned and unofficially told to get the hell off the island fast and never return. The group then hurriedly left the police station and made their way back to the hotel. After grabbing their things, they once again congregated in Bill’s room where they were reunited with their wands. Simon then immediately went around the group trying to heal their various wounds and injuries with some success. Now they just looked like they had been beaten up by a group of mountain trolls, rather than being killed outright by them. Bill then addressed the group. “Alright, we are due to take the Portkey home in around half an hour so we had better get our story straight for when we get back,” he said. “Just how did we manage to get out of the police station without being formally charged?” Harry interrupted. “Well, we were lucky. It appears the group we had the run in with were known trouble makers and the police were quite happy they had got roughed up a bit. It also helped that we ‘forgot’ that we had all that kitty money with us which was just enough to convince the local plod that we weren’t worth the paperwork. I also had to promise that we would be off the island by this afternoon, but that’s no hardship,” Bill explained. “Great,” moaned Robbie, “all our beer money, gone!” “Better that than having to explain to your angry boss why an Auror was arrested and charged with being drunk and disorderly in a foreign country,” snapped Harry sharply. “Point taken,” Robbie sheepishly agreed. “Right, thanks to Simon none of us look in too bad a shape, Harry’s black eye aside. When we get back to England we just tell our significant others that there was a bit of minor trouble which we just got sucked into. No-one was in a fight and no-one got arrested, okay?” Bill looked around the group and was rewarded with muted nods. “Good,” he said approvingly. “Remember, whatever happens on tour, stays on tour.” Half an hour later and the group was roughly deposited in a heap on the cold stone pavements of London as the Portkey again decided the ground was something to be avoided. There was a muttering of low-key farewells as they all went their separate ways. Harry, feeling somewhat stiff after lying on the concrete floor of the police cell all night, decided to walk home. After stopping for coffee, it was nearly an hour later when he wearily dragged himself through the front door at Grimmauld Place. He dumped his bag in the hallway and went into the kitchen in the search for food. He was greatly surprised to find Ginny there, still dressed in her dressing gown and cradling a mug of tea. “Hi, Harry,” she greeted. “How was your…bloody hell! What happened to your eye!” Ginny immediately put down her drink and hurried over to him to examine him in more detail. She drew him in and sat him down on one of the chairs before standing in front of him with her arms crossed. “Okay, spill. What happened and why do you look like hell?” she growled with her best ‘don’t screw with me’ expression on her face. Harry considered Bill's words before they left the hotel about how they should keep what happened under wraps. He also considered the expression on his fiancé's face and calculated what was likely to happen to him if Ginny thought he was lying to her. He gulped. “Well, it all stated to go wrong when Robbie had this hare-brained idea…” he explained, preparing to sing like a canary. Author notes Oh, poor Harry. But seriously, are blokes actually meant to enjoy their stag nights? I mean, most people end up chained naked to lamp posts or dumped on the last train to Edinburgh. I think I got off lucky in mine. I do remember having to down a pint of Jack Daniels at one point, and I nearly got thrown out of a club for biting a lap dancer on the bum, but that was about it. Waking up covered in my own vomit wasn’t too nice though. Oh, well. Apologises to my beta Tom for falling back into bad habits with my sentence structures. I sort one thing out and then I just start cocking something else up. One day I will submit a chapter where there will be nothing wrong! Hell will then freeze over, the Armageddon will rain down on us and Liverpool FC will win the league again. Sigh. Only one more chapter to go but it’s a good one and has Luna in it. |
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