A/N: For the Last Ship Sailing Competition with the prompts: seashell, splash, nervous, "I thought you weren't going to mention that again.", and childish. Bonus prompts: hat, and "I just want to know one thing."
You come upon Victoire sunbathing just off shore near Shell Cottage. A discarded Witch Weekly flutters in the wind beside her and she plays in the sand with her toes. She's watching out for her little brother who is content to splash about in the waves on his own while Dominique is in the house reading. Says she's too mature for such childishness, or something to that effect. You hadn't really been listening; Dominique is not why you're here anyway.
Victoire looks up as you approach, smiling and peering over her sunglasses, stretching out on her blanket before patting a spot beside her. You pause a moment before sitting down and you drink her in.
You swear the earth shifts beneath you every time you look in her direction. It's like standing in the shallows as the waves pull at your ankles, desperately looking to seduce you away from the safety of familiar shorelines, but you sink your feet in deep until you have taken root and yet, you're still unsteady. Perhaps you'll fall on your face anyway.
Perhaps you already have.
Perhaps it's just the world the two of you live in- summer holidays at her parents' place, sunburn and seashell collections and sand glittering everywhere. It's too good to be true. Paradise even. So dizzy and warm, and and the sand has come up to your shins and you find yourself tilting with the curvature of the earth until you are on your knees and hovering over her on her blue blanket.
She smiles at you beneath her floppy hat that protects her porcelain skin from the sun. She is perfect teeth and long legs and sunglasses too big for her face. She is preening and soaking up your attention while she can because she'll be gone soon. September first is rapidly approaching and it's the first year that she'll be at Hogwarts and you won't be.
And it kills you that you waited until now to tell her how much she means to you, that you wasted all those years at school insisting to anyone who would listen that the two of you were just friends, when all along you wanted to be so much more than that. And now you are, but your tide is rolling out and she's going with it and you? You still don't know what you're doing, besides making a fool of yourself.
And that's what this is all about, isn't it? You're afraid that this really is too good to be true. Maybe she'll get on the train in a couple of weeks and forget about you. Maybe this is nothing more than a summer fling, and maybe she's just bored and you fell for her charms like everyone else, but you thought for sure that you were different. This is different.
Right?
"I'm going to miss you," you say, and your voice shakes with nervousness. "So much."
"I thought you weren't going to mention that again," she says, pouting. "Summer's not over yet. Enjoy the moment."
"I know. Sorry."
You lean down to kiss her, waving a hand at Louis who is making disgusted noises behind you, before lazily collapsing onto your side. You take her hand in yours and run your thumb over her knuckles.
"But we didn't exactly finish our conversation the other day," you continue.
"I just don't want to think about that right now, Teddy, dear," she says. "I don't want to think about school and how boring it will be without you there. I want to live in denial just a bit longer. Okay?"
"Okay." You kiss her hand and let it rest, placing your hand next to it so your fingers are almost but not quite touching. "Can I ask you a question though?"
She gives you a dirty look, blue eyes flashing daggers over the frames of her glasses.
"I just want to know one thing," you say. "And then I'll leave it alone. Promise."
She props herself up on her elbows and takes off her glasses to better look at you. She's so intimidating when she does that. "I'm listening," she says.
"I just was wondering..." you say, clearing your throat. "Will you still want, you know... to be with me even after you leave. For Hogwarts. What I mean to ask is will you... wait for me?"
Her face softens as the words stumble over each other and fall out of your mouth.
"Of course, Teddy," she says. "You thought... Did you think I wouldn't?"
You smile, trying not to be obvious about how relieved you are. "Just making sure, is all," you say as casually as you can.
And in a moment, Louis is forgotten and she's pulled you beneath her floppy hat to kiss her again and again and whispering Teddy, dear against your lips. And when you both pause for air, all the things you wanted to say before but didn't come welling up, a wave swelling inside your chest.
"You're my best friend, you know," you say. "What will I do?"
"Write to me," she says. "Or write whatever you want. Hell, maybe you'll finally get your book written."
"Maybe so," you say. You take her sunglasses that she's discarded and try them on, wiggling your eyebrows at her, the sound of her laughter and the waves and Louis' shouting mixing together to create a symphony you'll remember years down the road.
"Just make sure you mention me in your dedication," she says pointedly, taking her glasses back and smoothing your hair.
You nod your head respectfully. "Of course, love. Or do you want me to call you mademoiselle?"
Victoire wrinkles her nose. "That makes me sound a bit pretentious. Like Dominique."
You both collapse in a fit of laughter, and she finally settles against your chest, her golden hair fanning out like a halo, eyelashes tickling your skin. And the summer rolls lazily on, September first on the horizon, but no longer the threat you once feared it would be, and Victoire is right where she belongs.
With you.