Author's Note: Another Hogwarts challenge fic! Still working on TLWA, don't worry. Have some Helga/Rowena for your summer.
Prompt: https . /pin/AXz4ISUSU1Edwv_Cq87TbzAXylfdouUwC4UZCs9EESutvhLimPXO65k/
Summer
It was a summer romance, a whirlwind of emotions that had started in the sweet summer heat. They weren't supposed to last- no, they just never lasted. She had tried, before. She had held hands through the months and watched as they walked away. She never did anything; she was sweet, soft. Delicate. If they wanted to be gone, she just let them go.
This was different. This summer had started in a rush of sweat and laughter, sweet humid air that clung to warm bodies. This summer she was a counselor at camp.
Helga had applied months before, and she had spent her winter wondering and waiting to see if anything would happen. She had two interviews and a background check before it was approved, and she spent the end of spring packing and wishing and waiting.
She drove her yellow beetle three hours to get there, the backseat riddled with empty coffee cups and sugar packets. When she got there, she was greeted by twelve teenagers who promptly announced her promotion to 'Head Counselor'.
There were three others that had been moved up, and they all met under the sweltering sun with visors and smiles. Helga liked them well enough; they were an interesting lot.
Godric, tall and broad, his lips curled into a grin at every moment. He was the leader of the red team, and his eyes were bright with the glimpse of war. He was tanned and uncollected, and looked at Helga with pride as he proclaimed they were going to get along well- they had the same card. He wanted the brave kids, the ones who were going to take the trophy with no fear.
Salazar was his opposite, cool and confident as he introduced himself. She thought slick at first, oily and kind, but his attitude was unwavering as he spoke. He was cunning, ambitious... She knew his father, who was running for Congress. He had strict ideals, but he was kind to his friends and quick with words.
And lastly, Rowena… The other girl, the one who made them laugh moments after they met. Her eyes were clear and her face was round, her red hair flicking around her as she giggled. She was just as witty as Salazar, but in a different way. Blue was her team; it was her favorite color, she insisted. She was strategic and smart. She and Salazar came up with the rules, and she had found the most creative way to display them.
The first week went well; there were no fights, the kids came to adore one another. She got tan under the summer sun when she was a lifeguard, and she and her fellow leaders teased one another during the weekly dodgeball tournaments. Capture the Flag was just as brutal, and she ended up with skinned knees and a smile as bright as the sun.
Little Ezekial got stung by a wasp in the third week, and his arm swelled up with welts. Because this was her camper, Helga had to take him to the hospital, but Rowena came along 'just because'. They spent that evening laughing gently in the room, and they held hands as they walked their way out, Ezekial trailing beside.
They laughed their way through the fourth week, and kissed through the fifth, fingers entwined in hair and lips sticky with ice cream. It was nice, it was different. She liked the way that she felt; loved and warm and cherished. She didn't want it to end, but it always did.
Two figures nestled in the back of the yellow bug, kicking aside sugar packets and coffee cups. "I don't want you to go."
"Summer doesn't last forever, Helga," Rowena whispered. "It can't. Leaves have to fall and then it gets cold. It's just the natural way of things."
"Will you leave me?" They always left. It was more important to ask now that she might get hurt, now that she was certain she had found it.
She shook her head. "I won't, I promise. We'll go home, but I'll write. I'll always write."
Their eighth (and final) week was spent with wistful words and promises, and Helga felt her heart ache with nervousness. The green team won, finally, and Salazar bought them all a bottle of wine to drink on the final night, an insistence that they had all done their best. They raised their winnings to the sky under the constellations and the moon, sad smiles all around.
"To summer," Salazar said, looking sideways at Godric. They had been fighting for the past week, but they seemed to be getting over it.
Godric grinned- and it was feral, dangerous. "To endings."
"To beginnings," Rowena insisted, casting a sideways look to Helga. Their fingers were braided together, and their eyes were shining.
Softly, gently, Helga added, "We did it."
They said farewells with their heads bowed together, foreheads touching. They couldn't come up with the words, so they didn't speak. They were scared that they would ruin the solitude with a word. It was silence, just soft breathing and heavy emotions. They did it. They made it through the summer with no problems, their teams fought valiantly.
"I'll see you next summer, okay?"