"Is it ok to hate you yet Harry?"
"Another twenty minutes yet Nev, I said after eight and Hermione claimed before then. We can't let her win again or the insurable know-it-all might resurface."
Both girls were shoulder to shoulder with their boyfriends and knew that the banter was in jest; as soon as they could get their lungs working properly jibes would be returned when breathing allowed.
Emma listened to the exchange between the boys with a smile on her face; she now understood where Hermione's newfound sense of humour came from. Emma thought she was a prime candidate for a heart attack as she jogged along wet sand at the water's edge, occasional waves washing over her feet and inviting her to stop and use the sand for it's original purpose, lying on while tanning.
Emma looked at her husband jogging beside her and could have smacked him, her legs felt as if they were turning to jelly yet Dan seemed to be running effortlessly and she could feel how happy he was through their wonderful bracelets.
Dan couldn't remember being happier, he awoke this morning with a beautiful naked woman in his arms and was now jogging along a private beach with her at his side. Daniel Granger could safely say that he enjoyed dentistry but he adored his new life, new wife, new daughter and soon to be son-in-law. He had the Mediterranean Sea on one side and his gorgeous wife on the other, his body might be sore later but at the moment Dan was feeling no pain.
Sirius was in trouble; the exercise he had done was already more than at any other time in his life. His vacation in Azkaban may have left him physically weaker but had equipped him with a will of iron which was the only thing keeping him upright.
His casual defeat at the hands of Hermione had cemented his view that this was something he simply must take part in, they had started jogging along the sandy beach then returned via the wet sand. A few circuits later and he was dead on his feet, the thought of a hot shower, large breakfast and spending the day lying beside the pool trying to change his skin colour from grey was more than he had to look forward to in over a decade and this kept him moving.
The cliff signalled the end of their beach and Harry called a halt, everyone was in need of a breather so he gave them ten minutes before calling on Dobby. His little friend started handing out small bags and the all felt better after the elvin energy drink did its work.
"We have another hour to exercise but we're going to try something different now, each bag should contain a watch, please put it on and follow me." Harry waded into the sea before gathering everyone around him, "Set your watches for one hour then take out the piece of gillyweed that's in your bag, this will cause a slight pain for the first minute but will then allow you to breath underwater for an hour. Stay together and plan on finishing up at the other end of the beach when the time is up."
Emma ate the gillyweed and thought the pain wasn't to bad until she realised she couldn't breath, she was starting to panic when Harry pushed her head under the water.
Harry ate his last after ensuring they were all ok, their were a lot of excited people under the water and he led off for the strangest and most wonderful game of 'follow the leader' any of them had ever played. Harry and Hermione could still communicate through their rings and managed to keep everyone more or less together.
The fish and plant life were a lot more interesting and certainly more diverse than the bottom of the Black Lake in February. They noticed Neville and Luna slip away for an underwater kiss, they deliberately didn't notice mum and dad doing the same, Sirius and Remus were giving that experience a wide berth until accompanied by a female of their choice.
As the hour was almost up the group moved into shallower water and only had to stand up when the effects wore off. It was a very excited group who made their way back up the cliff towards showers and breakfast, only Harry had experienced this before but all wanted to do it again. The fact that they had just spent an hour swimming and using just about every muscle in their body was forgotten in their enjoyment of the time spent underwater.
Harry and Hermione were studying in their library for exams they planned to take; between their shared knowledge and Tom's library in Harry's head they would have no problems. Their objective was to knock Tom Riddle off the leader board for most OWLs and NEWTs, they planed to sit all the exams he had with the addition of Muggle Studies.
Neither regarded this as cheating as they would never need to use these results to get a career, the Potter name and fortune pretty much guaranteed every door in the magical world was open to them. It was one in the eye for Riddle and Dumbledore, as Potter Institute students would hold the record. Before the end of August they would be married, emancipated and a fully qualified witch and wizard removing any legal wrangling options of being underage used against them.
They were disturbed when Dobby appeared, "begging your pardon but the elves have told me that Bones is in Malfoy Manor and not happy, she is demanding they tell her who this mysterious new master is. I think she was at Gringotts first and that added to her bad mood."
"Could you bring her here please Dobby?" Harry asked.
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