Eleanor Snape- Book 5, Part 2

Navigating Italy

"How about we just go find this place." Draco finally broke the silence. I shook my head yes, and Draco moved his hand from around me, to holding my hand.

"Yeah, lets do that." Gregory agreed, and began looking at the paper again.

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It took us fifteen more minutes of wondering to finally find the resturant. By the end of the mean, I kind of wished we had never found it.

First of all, the place was crawling with Muggles. They were everywhere. We had to be the only Wizards in the place. It was disgusting, having to eat in the same establishment as them. But I couldnt' say anything in fear of Gregory yelling at me again.

The second thing was the food: I had never really been a picky eater (although the stay in St. Mungo's had turned my appitite a little more juvinille), and I couldn't stomach my meal. The whole menue was in Italian, so we didn't know what any of it said. We just had to order and hope for the best. Luckily, Draco's tasted a little better than mine, and I ate out of his plate. My appititte wasn't large enough to make a dent in his plate, anyway.

The only thing that was nice about it was the dessert. It was some kind of fruity icecream, and it was delicious. It was too rich for me, though. It started to make me sick to my stomach, so I could only eat a fourth of what I was served. Gregory really like it though: He ate his, and what was left of mine, and ordered another serving. When the waiter brought out the check, he asked what it was. It was apparently called Gelato. Gregory wrote it down so he could buy more later.

"Well, I feel like I need to shower." I mumbled to Draco as we walked back down the streets. The sun was going down now, and most of the crowd that had pushed us was gone.

"I know. Stupid Muggles..." He looked to make sure Gregory, who was a few steps infront of us, hadn't heard us: He hadn't.

"What do you guys want to do now?" Gregory stopped for us to catch up. We stopped once we got to him.

"I don't know." Draco looked over at me. "Is there anything you want to do, Elle?" I blushed as they both looked at me: I was starting to get tired, which meant I was getting more emotionally sensative.

"I... I want to go to Venice...If that's where it was..." I Looked down at my feet.

"Oh yeah, you wanted to ride the Gondola." He put an arm around me. I pulled away, but not to far. He kept his arm on my upper arm.

"Venice? Is that the place with all the water?" Gregory asked. Draco nodded.

"Yeah, we can see it from our balcony." He explained. "And I told Elle we can go for a Gondola ride."

"That sound wicked!" Gregory exclaimed. I jumped a bit, but not enough for him to notice. "But... we have to find it..."

"ISn't it on your paper thing? It has everything else."

"It only has stuff that has to do with the Quidditch try outs. They didn't tell me any sight seeing stuff. Just eating and living." Gregory shrugged. I looked up at Draco.

"So... are we going to try to go?"

"I mean, do we have anything else to do?" Draco shrugged.

"I guess not." Gregory agreed. "We can just walk around until we find it. That's how we found the resturant." He laughed. Draco laughedwith him, but I just blankely stared.

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It took us thirty minutes to find Venice. By that time, I was ready to give up, until I actually saw the city, or, what I could see of it not on the water.

It was beautiful: with shining water and tall, colourful buildings on either side of the water. Streetlamps left reflections across the water, along with the shining moon.

I grabbed Draco's hand, leaning forward, trying to take everything in.

Near the side was a long boat that rose up on either end. A tall man in a stripped shirt and a mustache stood on the end, holdng a long stick in the water. He seemed to be doing nothing, so he might have been taking a break. Gregory nudged Draco and pointed to him.

"Do you think he'll give us a ride?" He asked. Draco nodded.

"If we paid him."

"I'll ask!" Gregory voulenteered and ran towards the water. We watched. He went up to the man and started talkling to him. After a couple sentences, he pointed ot Draco and I, then the boat. A few more phrases were exchanged, then Gregory motioned for us to come forward. We did.

The man seemed very happy, the opposite of what I thought he would be.

"Ciao. You wanted ride?" Like the bus driver, his English was a little broken. I looked at Draco, who answered for us.

"Yes."

"Molto bene." THe man smiled at us, and motion towards the boat. "A seat for the bella donna." He grinned at me. I felt another blush creep up my neek, then looked at Draco. Draco got into the boat, then helped me in. Gregory followed us. The main motioned to the one bench that was close to the end of the boat. "Sit, bella donna. Sit." I bit my lip as Draco lead me to it, and we sat. This left no room for Gregory. He looked around.

"Umm... what about me?" He asked. The man in the striped shirt just shook his head, then pointed to a small stool infront of the bench. Gregory looked from it ot the man, then shrugged and sat down.

"Andiamo!" The man exclaimed, then used the long paddle to push the boat off of the side.

We began floating into the middle. I looked on either side of the boat in wonder. It was even more beautiful from the water.

As we floated on, I began to relax. I yawned, and leaned against Draco.

"This is nice..." I quietly commented in his ear. He smiled and turned to kiss my cheek. I was so tried and relaxed that I just let him. The boat was gently rocking back and forth, making my eyelids heavey. I closed my eyes, taking in the soothing motion.

All of this was so nice, and I actually felt at peace.