An: I know, I know, it's been months and I'm really sorry for the wait but on the bright side, here's the new chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Chapter 12 - Paintball
Delinda arrived at the Montecito bright and early becuase Mary had asked for her help in organizing a paint ball event in the morning for the Hogwarts Reunion. She walked through the back corridors of the hotel and entered the Event Coordinator's office. She found Mary in the company of Lavender Brown, the organizer of the reunion. Knowing Mary as well as Delinda did, she could tell that Mary was very harassed by the young woman. As soon as the brunette realised that Delinda had entered her office she used it as a distraction to get away from Lavender.
"Delinda!" Mary said as she rushed from her desk over to her. "I believe you met Ms. Brown already. She's enquiring about the arrangements for today. I need to go do … something and I will be right back. Go ahead and fill her in on the arrangements" Mary said as she rushed out of the office.
Before Delinda could muster a reply, Mary was out the door. Delinda glared at the open doorway, and resented being stuck her with Lavender Brown, Miss. I can't make up my mind.
"Delinda, I am concerned about the paint ball event today. I hear it is rather ….messy. Are there special clothes we need to wear or are you providing us with clothes? About the poolside dinner tonight, I think a seafood menu should do. I think the colour scheme of the decorations could change to a more …" Lavender went on.
Delinda rolled her eyes and stopped listening. Lavender would change her mind about the dinner in the next five minutes and her mind started wondering back to the events of yesterday. She actually felt really guilty, which was quite unusual for her. She enjoyed playing with men but what happened between Draco and Ginny yesterday really nagged at her. Draco hadn't even been paying attention to her. He just wanted her opinion on a ring for his girl. The only unfortunate thing was that his girl was jealous of her. She couldn't blame her she was a super beautiful woman after Draco but the redhead had a good man that she could trust.
Something about Ginny's face when she broke it off with Draco bugged her. She looked incredibly hurt and she could tell it affected Draco deeply. Sam ranted at her all yesterday for upsetting her whale and she insisted that it was Delinda's fault for flirting intensely with Draco. Delinda then pointed out that Sam was the one holding the bad and the one that the Weasley girl had assumed was with Draco. Sam of course just brushed the comment by and insisted that Delinda fix the situation.
Delinda had no clue how to fix this mess. She guessed locking them in a broom closet wouldn't help. His girl might actually kill him. She did appear to have quite a temper streak. Delinda decided to approach Draco on the matter and see what could be done about it.
As she came out of her thoughts Delinda realised that Lavender was still standing in front of her ranting about the menu for tonight's poolside dinner. Delinda groaned and tried to come up with a suitable excuse to get rid of her.
-*-
Mary and Delinda were now outside the Montecito. They had arranged for a bus to carry the Hogwart's group to the paintball field and were currently watching them unceremoniously pile into it. One would think from their reactions that they had never seen a bus much less travelled in one.
"Hey ladies," Mike greeted as he joined them
"Hey," They both replied.
"What are you doing here?" Delinda asked after some time.
"Ed sent me down to assist with the paintball."
"Sent you to assist or watch us?" Delinda said with a knowing look.
"Maybe a bit of both." Mike replied with his usual charming smile.
Delinda knew her father was a bit edgy about the Serial Killer incident yesterday. When she got home he had given her and her mother a long lecture about safety. He was especially worried because the women killed so far had nothing in common. He appeared to be killing people at random.
"Oh no here comes Lavender." Mary said as she watched her walk through the entrance of the Montecito.
"Quick the bus." Delinda declared as both she and Mary boarded quickly.
Mike looked after the two women curiously. He watched the petite blond march straight into the bus and take the seat in front of Mary and Delinda. The woman then turned around and proceeded to start up a conversation with them. Mike laughed as both girls looked like they were in hell.
-*-
Ginny was half listening to the instructions on how to use the paintball gun. Her eyes occasionally drifted to Draco and that blonde ditz, Diddy or something like that, standing next to him. Anger flared inside of her. She had been with Draco for the last two and a half years and it really hurt her that he dropped her without a second thought. They just broke up yesterday and he barely looked heart-broken. Was she that easy to forget?
Harry dumped her right before her sixth year. His excuse at the time was that it was too dangerous for them to continue their relationship. She was hoping that after the war they would have picked up where they left off but that never happened. Ginny had gone out of her way to make sure she was around Harry after the war. She had hoped her presence would remind him of what they had and encourage him to ask her out again. But that never happened. Instead she somehow ended up going out with Draco.
Her relationship with Draco had been a surprise to everyone but strangely it was working or at least she thought it was working. Things had been going well until they came here. She looked over at her ex again. The blonde was whispering in his ear. What could she possibly have to say to Draco! She is a muggle for crying out loud. What happened to Draco's superiority complex over muggles? Draco had been spending too much time with her father.
The blonde idiot was now touching Draco causing Ginny's blood to boil. If Draco could flirt so easily with that, she could very well find a man of her own. Her eyes searched the crowd and fell on a tall black man with a bald head. She remembered him from the first night at the poker table. He seemed good enough and she made her way over to her unsuspecting target.
-*-
Ron was currently fussing over Luna. After nearly losing her yesterday he had barely left her alone. It reached the point where Luna was literally asking permission to use the bathroom. She had always been very patient with Ron and had yet to reach her breaking point with his current doting. Luna was more concerned for her friend, Ginny. Draco was talking to Delinda and she noticed Ginny make her way over to Mike. This was not a good sign. Luna wondered how things could fall apart so fast and it scared her.
She and Ginny always spoke about how happy they were in their relationships and how they hoped Hermione would find the same happiness. Of course they wanted that happiness to be with her best friend. That would be perfect for their group of six. They had decided that they would give gentle shoves in that direction during this trip. That was the plan until Danny and Mary came on the scene and messed everything up.
If Ginny's relationship could fall apart so easily, could the same happen to her and Ron? She loved Ron dearly and he was the only person that truly understood her. He accepted her with all her eccentric flaws. She knew her ideas were different and that it was that difference that kept her from making friends in school. She was repeatedly teased but Ron was the first person to really take an interest in her. The thought of Ron leaving her was unbearable.
The situation with Draco and Ginny had to be fixed. The first step would be to stop Ginny from attempting to do whatever she was about to do with Mike. She couldn't let her do something foolish that would prematurely damage her relationship with Draco. Luna was about to head in that direction when she noticed that Harry and Hermione had already beat her to it. She smiled to herself. They worked together so well on so many levels she couldn't wait to see what would happen when they finally took that step into a romantic relationship.
-*-
Mary was giving instructions on how to play paintball in the centre of the circle that everyone had formed.
"We are going to break up into three groups. Since Delinda, Mike and I have played before, we will each be in a group to assist you." Mary explained as she turned in a circle to make sure that everyone understood.
"Who won in the last game you played?" Harry asked casually
"Believe it or not, Mary did" Mike responded while he received a vicious glare from Mary.
"Really, I definitely want to be on Mary's team!" Harry exclaimed.
Mary blushed slightly and Hermione frowned.
"I was going to suggest that Delinda, Mike and I each select people but I'll take first pick. Come Harry, you're on my team." Mary said with a brilliant smile.
Harry left Hermione with Mike and Ginny and headed over to Mary in the centre of the circle. Hermione glared at his broad back and she couldn't believe he would just ditch her like that. Did he forget that they had to watch out for Ginny?
"I take Draco." Delinda said cutting off Mike before he could pick. The Slytherin gave his trade mark smirk which served to annoy Ginny further.
Ginny furrowed her brow. "Mike pick me, I really want take those two down!" She whispered threateningly as she held his arm in a fierce grip.
"Uh I pick Ginny." Mike said hoping he would be able to retrieve his arm from the crazy redhead as he was sure she was cutting off his circulation.
It was Draco's turn to frown and he mentally marked Mike as his first target.
It was back to Mary again and on Harry's insistence she selected Ron.
Delinda was next and she found Lavender peering at her quite hard and under the intense scrutiny she blurted out the annoying blonde's name. She felt Draco give her a hard pinch in disgust. She knew she deserved it.
Mike went next and Ginny gave him no option. Hermione was called to his team. This time it was Harry that glared. Hermione was his next choice but Ginny beat him to it.
Mary called Luna next as Ron really didn't give her an option, Delinda got stuck with Parvarti and Ginny made Mike call her ex-boyfriend, Dean Thomas. Again Draco was glaring but this time it was at Dean. Draco knew Ginny's romantic history quite well. They had an open and honest relationship or at least he thought they had.
They went through picking until they were finished. Delinda's team was very unusual for her as she was surrounded by females with Draco being the only male on the team. She would have personally preferred to have a team with only guys to dote on her and protect her from paint balls.
"We need team names and colours." Mary started to explain.
"Slytherin and Green," Draco blurted out. Of course several of his teammates glared at him. Their team had members from all the houses but strangely enough Delinda liked his suggestion and agreed to it.
Harry obviously followed suit and went with Gryffindor and Red. That left Mike's team. Hermione and Ginny didn't want to go with Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, even though Hermione could definitely identify with certain aspects of Ravenclaw. No they needed a new name. They toyed with names such as "The Assassins," "The Samaruai Warriors," "The Collective," "The Triumvirate," "The Praetorians" until eventually Dean suggest "The Borg." Most of the group having watched Star Trek immediately agreed. The Borg were difficult to defeat and they mainly liked their slogan "Resistance is Futile."
"Ok got a name, The Borg, and our colour will be black!" Mike said. "Resistance is futile." They chanted together as a group.
Harry arched an eyebrow at Hermione. She loved science fiction. He also remembered Dean had been a huge Star Trek fan. The idea must have come from him and seconded by Hermione. It had been a long time since Harry worked against his female best friend and he thought it would be interesting to see how he faired. At least Danny wasn't here. He could enjoy torturing Hermione without Danny trying to make a good impression on her.
Mary proceeded to give further instructions and then each team broke away for a half an hour strategy session before the game started. You could feel the excitement in the air and everyone knew it was going to be a very competitive game with the way the teams were distributed.
After the half an hour session both Mary's and Mike's team had come up with a strategy for the game. Delinda's team however, was unable to come up with a strategy because Lavender insisted that no strategy was needed and that they could just go with the flow of the game. She then proceeded to pull out a compact and determine if her hot pink dress stood out enough from the background. Delinda rolled her eyes. The point was to blend into the background not try and stand out from it. She pegged Lavender as the first person to be shot. How wrong she was!
Five minutes into the game there was a howl of pain from Draco. Ginny shot him in a very manly spot and he was on the floor for a long time. Eventually, after a few of the other guys were out they were able to pick him up and take him off the field. After that Ginny shadowed Delinda and she got the distinct feeling that Ginny was aiming for her head.
Hermione was trying to track Harry. She had done quite well so far. She had successfully hit Susan, Parvarti, Padma and Ron. She saw a flash of a red armband ahead and she was hoping that it was Harry. She really wanted to nail his Auror butt. Ginny was still stalking Delinda hoping to get a clear shot but there was always some tree in the way. Harry had hit Mike early in the game and he was out.
Hermione circled round to see if she could determine whom it was she saw. If it were Harry she would have to be very careful. He was good at setting traps. That was a technique he mastered during the war. Hermione heard movement to the right and saw Delinda running from Ginny. She briefly wondered if she should advise Ginny to turn it down a notch or two but then decided to let her blow it out of her system. She returned her attention in front of her and saw the outline of a person moving threw the bushes. She took aim and fired. She had a direct hit. She advanced carefully and discovered, to her disappointment, that it was Seamus.
"Nice shot Hermione." Seamus said "You sure you're not an undercover Auror agent or something?" He said with his Irish accent.
"100% healer, now if you excuse me I really need to take out a certain Auror!" Hermione said.
"Good luck with that. He's a hard one to pin down." Seamus said as he left the field.
Hermione continued circling around till a paint ball was fired at her. She ducked behind the nearest obstacle and returned fire.
"Give up Hermione! I have you pinned," said Harry's cocky voice.
"Are you sure about that!" Hermione hollered back
"Positive," Harry said as he moved forward to the obstacle Hermione was hiding behind.
He moved around it slowly, prepared to shoot and found she was not there. He quickly looked around but as soon as he saw her she had shot him in the chest quite painfully.
"Guess you didn't have me pinned?" Hermione said in a sing song voice.
"You sure about that" Harry said as he indicated behind her.
As soon as Hermione turned around Mary nailed her. Hermione groaned. Harry set her up.
"Damn you Harry." Hermione said as she lightly cuffed his chest eliciting a painful groan from him.
"Hey there, you already shot me through the heart. What more do you want to do to me?" Harry protested.
Hermione's head snapped up to look him in the eyes. All sorts of erotic images passed through her mind before she got a grip of herself.
"Harry, I can abuse you all I want, Best Friend Privileges." Hermione said as she threw a glance at Mary who had moved to join them.
Mary was about to open her mouth to say something when Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and declared that they had to get off the field.
"Hermione, why don't you like Mary?" Harry asked curiously as they walked back.
"Huh what?" she asked. It was at times like this, when she was trying to hide her feelings from Harry, that she hated that he knew her so well.
"You don't like her. Every time she's around you get defensive." The raven head wizard said as he stopped her and turned her around to face him leaving his hands to rest on her shoulders.
"I don't get defensive." Hermione objected as she tried to release Harry's grip from her shoulders.
"You're defensive right now." He said as he held her firm.
Hermione looked away from him and he moved one hand from her shoulders to under her chin and forced her face to face him.
"What's wrong?" Harry asked never taking his gaze off of her pretty face.
"Harry, nothing's wrong?" Hermione said as she looked into his eyes.
He stepped closer to her till his body was inches away. He could feel the heated being radiated from her and it only served to draw him closer to her. She was the perfect height for him and she fit so well in his arms. He leaned forward and whispered in her ear. "You can trust me Hermione."
His voice was smooth, calming and Hermione thought she heard a husky undertone to it. His breath on her ear caused a shiver to go through her back and she unconsciously clung to him letting her arms snake around his back.
"Are you cold?" Harry asked feeling her shiver against him.
Hermione nodded. She couldn't speak. The proximity of Harry's body was all she could think about. He was wearing her favourite cologne and his smell was overloading her senses. His face was inches from her and she couldn't help but glance at his lips. She involuntarily closed her eyes and her tongue darted out to moisten her lips. Oh how she had dreamed of this moment!
"Harry?" Mary called from in the distance.
Harry jumped apart from Hermione and she immediately missed the closeness of his body.
"Mary," he said questioningly.
"Hey, I thought I might catch up with you guys. Ginny just got me." Mary said as she came into the newly formed space between Hermione and Harry.
Hermione crossed her hands in front of her chest and glared at the back of Mary's head. Of all the time, why did Ginny choose that time to shot Mary!
"Did I interrupt something?" Mary asked Harry innocently. She noticed Harry seemed a bit flustered and his eyes were slightly glazed over. The look was quite sexy on him and he briefly reminded her of Danny.
"No, no not at all. Just a bit surprised. I thought you would have won." Harry said as he was trying to focus on Mary but his thought kept returning to the almost kiss with Hermione.
"Guess luck's not with me today. Let's get back to base and see who's still left in the game." Mary suggested.
Harry tried to catch Hermione's gaze but she had already gone striding off in front of them.
"What's up with her?" Mary asked
"She's just a bit peeved with me right now." Harry said as he watched her go.
On the way to base a fuming Ginny joined them followed by Luna.
"Can you believe Luna shot me!" Ginny said angrily as she pointed to Luna who was standing a safe distance away from her.
"It's a game Gin. The point is to shoot people." Harry explained to her.
"Who shot Luna?" Mary asked curiously as she observed the paint mark on Luna's outfit.
"She got what she deserved!" Ginny exclaimed. "Is that Hermione in the distance?" sje asked as she squinted forward. Before Harry could respond she went striding forward to catch up with Hermione.
Luna soon stepped up to take Ginny's place. In the distance Ginny could be seen wildly flinging her arms about as she vented to the brunette. The fiery redhead sent a cross look back at the group and Harry had no idea if it was directed at him or Luna.
"So who shot you?" Harry asked Luna
"Delinda, Ginny was getting a bit ridiculous with her stalking so I shot her. Delinda then realised that Ginny wasn't rushing her anymore and she shot me. Some thanks I got." Luna said.
"Delinda's like that." Mary said.
"I wonder if there is anyone from our team left" Harry said as he talked to Mary.
"Lets get to camp and find out." She told him.
They arrived at camp to find a shouting match going on between Draco and Ginny. Ron had sided with his sister and Hermione was desperately trying to get Draco to calm down.
"You broke up with me!" Draco emphasised.
"You cheated on me!" she screamed back.
"Ginny, nothing happened. When are you going to learn to trust me?" Draco screamed back.
"Would you both calm down!" Harry shouted above them. "I think you both have created a scene worth of the daily prophet. Ginny, Draco didn't cheat on you. We both know that. Let's just concentrate on the game for now. Who's left?" Harry asked
"Delinda and Lavender are left. That means the Slytherin team wins." Mike said.
Draco gloated proudly and Ginny shot daggers at him.
"Since the two of them were left, I told them to duke it out till one of them is left." Mike further explained.
"I am sure Delinda would enjoy that." Mary said under her breath.
Harry threw a questioning glance at her and she just shrugged him off. He knew she had been trying to shoot Lavender for the entire game but some how Lavender had managed to avoid being shot so far. Harry briefly wondered if she was using magic but then he remembered her spell work at school and quickly discounted that idea. Maybe all those divination classes were paying off and she knew who was going to shoot at her before they did?
After a while Delinda came stomping into the camp.
"Guess you lost." Mike stated light heartedly.
Delinda grunted at him and Lavender came strolling in after.
"That was easy. It wasn't as messy as people have said." The blonde winner declared.
Everyone stared at her. Everyone else was hot and sweaty and most people wanted to jump in the nearest body of water but Lavender looked like she just stepped out of the nearest beauty salon.
"I thought we specifically said no magic." Hermione whispered to Luna.
"Let's get going we have the dinner this afternoon." Parvarti declared excitedly.
Everyone gathered up their stuff and piled into the bus. Harry sat with Draco at the back of the bus where as Hermione and Ginny sat at the front of the bus leaving Ron and Luna to claim the middle.
"Luna, is anything going on between Hermione and Harry?" Ron asked. He had noticed that Hermione had been avoiding Harry since she came back to base camp.
"I don't know but I'm worried about Ginny and Draco." Luna said
"I know sweety." Ron said as he kissed her temple.
"Ron, promise me, if we ever have any disagreements, we will sit down and talk it out." She said seriously.
"I promise," he said to his girlfriend. She seemed satisfied and she cuddled into his chest for the ride back to the Montecito.
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