Some would say holidaying in the same place every year would be boring as hell. It wasn't for me. Mainly because my family is large enough to be able to spend every day with someone different. She was another reason.
Marlene Blackwell. Muggle. Tall. Sarcastic. Wicked sense of humour. One of the nicest people on the planet. And I guess it helps that she is drop dead gorgeous. Pair her tall stature with her waist long dark hair, piercing blue eyes and mile long legs. Yep, she was total model material.
I suppose meeting her all those years ago at the age of 5 was a blessing of sorts. Teddy had just gotten back from his first year at Hogwarts and the family thought we could use some time together. To remind Teddy that no matter what, he was a part of the family, whether he wanted to be or not. We always stayed in the same house on the Cornwall coast right on the beach. As Potters and the owners of the place, we stayed there all summer long. The rest of the family would visit in groups and then we would all spend the last week there together.
Marlene's family owned the house next door. They lived there, all year round. She went to school for talented kids in America and so when we met at the ages of 5, she was ecstatic to have people to play with. We would see each other most days, there was rarely a day we wouldn't be in each other's company. There was always one week in the summer she would go off to some sort of camp, her parents always said they wanted her to make more friends. Sometimes we would go for Christmas when it was our turn to host the family. Those were my favourite years. I loved spending Christmas with her. It wasn't too difficult for me to act as a muggle. We Potter's went to muggle Primary School before Hogwarts so we were used to it.
I suppose I started to really notice her when I came back from my first year at Hogwarts at the ripe old age of 12. She seemed to have really grown up. She had had a growth spurt, we had been the same height, but not from then on. The next few summers were the best so far. We seemed to really get to know each other better. Dare I say it. We connected. But I knew I couldn't start anything with her. One, although she knew I went to boarding school, she didn't know which one. Two, she didn't know I was wizard. Three, I knew I couldn't start a relationship with a muggle while still at school. And four, I didn't want to have something with her that couldn't be more than a summer fling. I wanted more.
I was 16 when I finally thought fuck it. I had to do something to show her what I felt. I had returned from my 5th year and upon my arrival at the summer house she had burst through the gate and flung herself into my arms. As per tradition I lifted her up and spun her around. Then I strayed from tradition a bit. See due to more quidditch training and having a growth spurt, I had gained some muscle. So, I flung Marlene over my shoulder and marched straight round the back of the house to the pool. I then threw her in. She came up for air coughing and spluttering while simultaneously cursing me. So, she swam to the side where I was buckled over laughing and pulled at one of my arms. Needless to say, I wasn't ready for it and toppled in making a splash as I hit the water. She then ducked back under the water with me and we started making faces at each other. See this was another one of our traditions. We would try and make the other laugh so much that they needed to come up for air before the other. As I splashed my way to the surface she glided gracefully through the water and rested her head on my shoulder.
I missed you. That whisper in my ear was all it took. I turned in the water to look at her properly, my breath caught in my throat as her eyes glanced between my eyes and lips. I took her face between my hands and started to lean in. She sensed what was happening and moved her own hands to rest on my shoulders. We both leaned in a bit further, our noses touched as our breath started to mingle. I looked straight into those beautiful blue eyes and told her I missed you more. Just as our lips were about to touch Al and Lily cannonballed into the pool making us jump apart.
I hate siblings sometimes, really, more than anything the world. They have a sixth sense of when to butt into a moment. Marlene and I didn't really know how to act around each other now. When we parted, there were awkward glances and meaningful looks for the rest of the day. I wanted to talk and sensed she did too. Neither of knew how to go about it. So, she said her goodbyes that night with a promise of visiting again tomorrow for Lily.
Tomorrow came and went with no mention of what happened. The cousins all came and went for their weeks at the summer house. Something must have seemed off, I got a talking too from Fred, Molly, Dominique and even my Dad. I mean if Dad noticed something, it must have been obvious. He may be the Boy Who Lived and The One Who Defeated the Dark Lord, but he really is the most oblivious person when it comes to anything. He's worse than Uncle Ron if that's even possible. As much as I love my family, and I really do. I do not want to talk about my love life to any one of them. That would just be plain awkward and frankly I think I would rather go without.
That being said, I could think of one person in the family who didn't share my blood and had been in a similar situation. Teddy. Although the situations were slightly different, they were similar enough for me to be confident that he would know what to do. I mean, he and Vic grew up together and when they finally got together when he was 19, the whole family was happy for them. Aunt Audrey especially because she won the betting pool. There were a lot of galleons riding on when those two would finally see they were perfect for each other.
So, I went to talk to Teddy one night. It was the week Marlene was at camp. I didn't have to worry about how to act around her and I was grateful for the time. I needed to figure out what to do. It had been a month since the summer holidays had started and a month since our almost kiss. The most excruciatingly awkward month of my life. Anytime she was around I was hyper aware of everything I was doing. When we went swimming in the sea I had stop myself from running my hands all over her bikini clad body. She really was stunning. Whenever I heard her laugh I had to stop myself from searching her out just to see the sparkle in her sapphire blue eyes. I couldn't stop thinking about her and it was killing me.
Teddy managed to help me with my situation. He talked to me about how his feelings for Victoire changed over the years. How he worked up the courage to tell her how he felt. It really helped me. I knew what I would do.
The day Marlene got back from camp, I formulated my plan. Obviously just about the whole family knew about my situation now and so I managed to con Teddy, Al and Lily into getting her over and putting the plan in action. She would always get back around late afternoon. We would always have a BBQ on the beach to welcome her home. Us kids would always stay on the beach and talk till the early hours of the morning. I wanted to change that last point.
She arrived home right on time. We wondered over to her house to say hello and then left her to get settled and washed up. We get settled on the beach around 6pm and the Dads and I were left to wrestle with the BBQ trying to get it lit. Once we got everything set up and Marlene's Dad was in charge of the BBQ, we were all sat on the logs surrounding the fire pit. We had purposely sat so that when Marlene made her way down to the beach, she would have no choice but to sit next to me. The evening was pleasant enough and no one made it too obvious that they knew anything about mine and Marlene's situation.
The sunset is always gorgeous during the Cornwall summer. We watched it in near silence, with the crackling of the fire and the occasional whisper. Once it got late, the parents decided to retire to bed, but not before I got a knowing glance off Every. Single. One. Of. Them. So, it was just us kids, sat around the fire. Teddy cracked open a bottle of firewhiskey and we just chatted. It was nice. Really nice. It was back to the way it was in previous years. We were laughing and teasing and enjoying each other's company without worry. I had forgotten how carefree a summer in Cornwall could make me feel.
It got to the early hours of the morning and Lily was asleep, lying spread out on both Al and Teddy. They decided they would take her inside to bed. One carrying her top half, one carrying her bottom half, my brothers carried little Lily up to the house. Either of them could have managed her themselves but this was all part of the plan.
Marlene and I fell into a lapse in conversation. Damn, this seemed way easier in my head. I couldn't think of what to say. Luckily, Marlene has always been good at breaking the tension.
"Can we talk about the start of summer James?" she looked at me expectantly. I could get lost in those blue blue eyes.
"What of it?" I was going for nonchalant. I think I just pulled off constipated.
"You know what I'm asking James" she was right, of course I knew what she was asking. She always did know me better than I know myself.
"I missed you Mars" the nickname sounded almost foreign "I don't know what else to add to it" The statement was almost true. I knew what I could add. I missed you more than words can say. I missed your smile, your laugh, your bloody beautiful eyes. But I couldn't tell her. I couldn't say it out loud.
"Well since I already told you I missed you, I guess there's nothing more to add." She looked at me deeply, challenging me to say something to her. "Goodnight James". She leaned towards me and kissed my cheek. It felt like I'd died and gone to heaven.
"Mars, wait." I caught hold of her wrist as she went to stand. She sat back down and stared into the fire. "I don't know how… how to do this, how to… say it right."
"Just say it." She looked at me cheekily. Her eyes danced with excitement. Those damn expressive blue eyes. I had to stay focused, I couldn't get lost again in those pools of sapphire.
"How about I show you instead?" I was toying with her and she knew it.
"Alright, show me." She was enjoying my nervousness. She started playing with her lip in her teeth, catch release, catch release. Her eyes were darting between my eyes and lips, just like that day in the pool.
I swung one leg over the log so I was straddling it. She did the same. I shuffled forward a bit, edging closer to her. Again, she mirrored the action. I missed you. Her words came back to me. I looked into her eyes and realised she was looking at me expectantly. She had said it aloud. Just like that day in the pool. I didn't have to think hard to remember what I had done that day after she said that. (I had only thought about that moment every time I saw her since it happened). I shifted forward so our knees were touching, I moved my hands up to cup her head in my hands. Like that day, she moved her owns hands so they were on my shoulders. We both inched forward at an agonizingly slow pace. I couldn't bring myself to speed up what was happening, I wanted to savour this moment. As our noses touched and our breath started to mingle I repeated what I said that day in the pool. I missed you more. I moved my head forward, bridging the gap between us as our lips finally touched.
When people talk about fireworks my automatic reaction is bullshit. But fuck, they were not kidding. It can really happen.
Our lips touched tentatively at first, almost as though we weren't sure the other wanted to be in this situation. But fuck me her lips were so soft and inviting. I could taste the firewhiskey on her tongue as I pulled her closer to me and crushed our lips together. She kissed me back with just as much enthusiasm. I moved one of hands from her cheek to her hip and started rubbing circles underneath her top. She gasped and I took the opportunity to sneak my tongue into her mouth. She sighed into my mouth as our tongues fought for domination. Her hands were moving away from my shoulders. One went around the back of neck to play with my hair while the other arm shifted so her elbow was circling my neck pulling me closer. A groan was pulled from the back of my throat when she pulled hard on a piece of hair. My hand moved from her hip to cup her bum and pull her into my lap. She straddled my hips and pushed her body impossibly closer to mine. I couldn't think of anywhere I would rather be.
We ended up sleeping on the beach that night. Nothing further happened but I had a feeling it would at some point. I wanted it to happen, but I didn't want to rush into everything. I wanted this to be special.