Six Summers.
by: Lovelyrubberboots
Disclaimer: if you recognize it I don't own it...
FOR: Bealen, my most avid reveiwer, who loved the idea for this.
BASED OFF: A drabble in my Fic, It Must be Summer.
Thanks in advance for reveiws!
For the majority of Hugo's youth Sara was his least favorite of the Longbottom's four children. It wasn't that she was mean, or terribly boring or anything, it was just that her other siblings outshined her in almost every possible way, and Hugo was more fascinated with them than with her.
His favorite was Paul, who was six years older than Hugo. Paul had all the charm and confidence one would have expected from the son of a bartender and snake-killer. Hugo could hardly imagine anyone cooler than Paul.
Then there was Lizzie Louise Longbottom, who was two years older than Hugo. She always spoke quickly and there seemed to be an exclamation point at the end of each of her sentences. Lizzie was the funny one, even funnier than Roxanne, or Lucy or Uncle George.
And, of course, there was Amelia, who at times seemed to know even more than Rose. Amelia was a year older than Rose, and though she was annoyingly smart, Hugo liked her. He couldn't imagine how someone could be so bright and so smart. It almost made up for her slight lack of social skills. Hugo's main goal in life was to understand her.
And then there was Sara, the youngest of the bunch, Hugo's age. She was kind, but she wasn't as kind as Paul, nor was she as confident and sure of herself. In fact, Sara was rather shy, content to melt into the background. And Sara was not as funny as Lizzie. Hugo had heard Sara tell the occasional joke, of course, but they were always formulaic and common. Unsurprisingly, Sara was not nearly as smart as Amelia. Again, it wasn't that Sara was dumb she just was nothing in comparison. Looking back Hugo's not surprised that he ended up liking her so much. They were the same person, weren't they? The two perfectly lovely kids, who people who have liked and noticed were it not for their exceptional families.
The summer after their first year at Hogwarts was the first time Hugo had ever really noticed her. Sure, they'd been in the same house for a year, but they hadn't really talked or hung out much. Not by any means. Sara had her friends and Hugo had his. But at Paul and Dominique's graduation they were all each other had. Sort of.
Technically, they' actually had a lot of people. Hugo had his whole family and Sara had hers, but neither was inclined, on that day, to be associated with their families. Hugo was, once again, embarrassed by his cousins and families antics. And Sara, well, Hugo never really found out what the problem was that day.
All day they sat together, not talking. It was awkward, Hugo thought at the time, but when he'd gone home that day Hugo decided he rather liked the silence. He was, therefore quiet happy when one morning, in August, an owl from Sara came asking if he'd like to go come to lunch. He'd replied in his usual, nearly illegible handwriting that he'd love to come. She'd had to spend another note asking whether it was a yes or a no – she couldn't quite read what he'd written. Hugo, somewhat embarrassed, asked Rose to write a response for him
After the lunch of sandwiches and apples he and Sara had decided to go walking around London. Hugo would have almost preferred to walk around Diagon Alley, but Sara had spent so much time there, she'd almost gotten bored with it. On their way back from one of the art museums, he and Sara had gotten to talking.
Hugo learned that she liked potions. It was his favorite class too, and they made plans to meet up at the apothecary a when they went school supply shopping.
The next year at school, whenever potions class requires it, they are partners. They work well with each other, really well. At first they both think that it's because they are both good at potions, but when they are assigned to work together in charms class one day, they realize that they are each other's perfect match. Academically speaking, of course.
By February the only class they don't work together in is Herbology. Professor Neville is very nice, but he is also a father, one with a watchful eye.
That summer they arrange to meet up to discuss their summer assignments and upcoming classes. They are both very excited for arithmancy. They spend ten days together, three times as many days as the summer before. When Sara turns thirteen she is finally given permission by her father to take the floo places all by herself. The first place she goes is to Ron and Herminone's house. She and Hugo spend the whole day pouring over his mother's old arithmancy books. While reading their hands accidently touch. Hugo cannot decide if he's more confused by the arithmancy or why his hand tingles for almost a day after she touched it.
Their third year at Hogwarts is fun and gradually they become closer, but nobody seems surprised. All the Gryffindors in their year are becoming closer. Their fear of the opposite gender is disappearing and suddenly, they're going out to Hogsmeade in a large group. Hugo Weasley, Sam MacMillian, Jack Williams, Andrew Davies and Harry Jefferson all agree that the Hogsmeade trips would be less fun without the girls in their year. Hugo, in particular is happy the girls come along because it saves him from having to ask Sara out specially. When it comes to girls, Hugo is no Gryffindor.
When, once again, summer comes around Hugo can't be more excited. While he enjoys his school friends, he likes the break from them in the summer. He also likes that it means spending more time with Sara – and more time is exactly what Hugo thinks he needs. Just when Hugo thought he'd learned everything about Sara she'd changed. Not dramatically, and not in any specific way, but just enough that Hugo noticed. She was suddenly more content to stand out from the crowd. Amelia hadn't been made prefect, and Lizzie had graduated. No longer was Sara the youngest Longbottom, the least recognized Longbottom. She was Sara Longbottom. Cute, smart, reasonably funny and very tall. She was even learning to play quidditch. This, of course, was to the delight of Hugo.
The Weasleys were always happy to have another quidditch player, particularly if they were willing to play keeper, which Sara was. Three or four times a week, when she wasn't studying, vacationing or spending time with her family, Sara came up the burrow or Hugo's house or the Potter's house or whatever Weasley's house the game was being played at. A bit of blackmailing Lucy (who, because she was bossy and fairly good at the game, picked the teams) ensured that Hugo was always on a team with Sara. She didn't seem to mind too much, except when Hugo accidently hit her in the nose with a quaffle.
The summer ended much too soon for Hugo's taste, but, fortunately, another summer was just around the corner. Ok, several corners, but the several corners were filled with classes, adventures and a warning from their Arithmancy teacher that if they were serious about getting the O required to move on in the subject then they needed to study in the summer. And who better to study with than each other?
"So if seven converges with nine, it means that potions can't form properly," Rose was in lecture mode. Having gotten the necessary O in the subject she'd taken it upon herself to teach Sara and Hugo the ways of numbers. After a few weeks they switched to studying in the corner booth at the Leaky Cauldron. Professor Neville checked in often, under the pretext of showing them new plants he'd acquired for next year. Paul and James would also stop by often. Lucy stopped by once, but the mere mention of arithmancy made her flee.
They sat next to each other, sharing a book. Day after day their legs touched, his burning by the end of the day, and feeling empty when he went home to sleep, eat and see his family. But the oddest thing was that, a few times that summer he woke up remembering nothing from his dreams except that someone was there, near him, leaning against him, her body warmth comfortable, despite the extremely hot weather. He shoved the thought that it was her in his dreams to the back of his mind. It was a silly thought. It was probably someone else. Someone made up, perhaps.
On those summer days when they were apart he often thought of her, except when the distractions were great enough that he could push her from his thoughts. Victoire's wedding in France managed to do it, especially since he was sitting next to a second cousin of hers, who was part veela (as much as he tried to ignore this fact he couldn't). The day after Victoire's wedding he sent a post card to Sara.
His fifth year passed too quickly. Most of it was spent studying. He had the legacies of all his cousins to live up to, not to mention his sister who had managed to get better OWLs than their mother. He knew he wasn't going to fail, but he couldn't but wonder what would happen if he did. The exams, more than Victoire second cousins', more than anything else distracted him from her. The month before the exams was spent without her, for the most part. The occasionally came together for arithmancy, but for the most part they studied apart, each focusing on their weaknesses, preparing for the hours of hell that laid ahead.
And, after exams were done, they fell back into their usual patterns, which tended to overlap even more than Hugo remembered. The summer fate their fifth year started soon after that, and again it was spent at the Hogwarts graduation. Hugo practically had the speeches and program memorized for them; he'd been to eight (nine, including this one) so far, and it felt weird to him that this would be his last until he graduated in two years. He and Sara sat together, just like they had at every other graduation they'd both been at. They also stayed together at the reception, joking with each other, talking about exams with friends and more.
It was several weeks after that that they were sitting in the garden of his house, a gnome digging up his mother's attempt at growing tomatoes. They were simply enjoying the sun and waiting for OWL results which were due any day.
"James Caudwell asked me out," she said, nonchalantly, "I said no," it was equally nonchalant. His heart skipped a beat, as he looked up to the sky. He nudged her with his leg.
"I don't know Sara, James Caudwell is a catch. He probably got, oh, three, maybe four passing owl grades," he laughed, and Sara joined in.
"Exactly what I was thinking," she responded, leaning her head against his shoulder. It fit perfectly on his. She was tall, but he was taller thanks to his father.
"Oh Sara, you're so…" he laughed, "Will you marry me?" he asked, almost joking, but not quite. She didn't respond and he didn't mention it again (though he would lose sleep over it that night, tossing and turning, and wondering why he was so dumb as to have even said something like that – what if she had said yes?). The rest of the summer they say each other, still not mentioning what he'd asked. Their sixth year started without much fuss, and passed with even less fuss. It was the lull between to waves of exams, and though they had to study hard they still had time to do whatever they wanted, still had time to enjoy things like the lake and Hogsmeade. Without a word between them they met up there on Valentine's day, wandering the shops together; all their other friends were out on dates. It was the perfect time to buy some new quills. And, Hugo didn't mind that she was wearing his scarf, having forgotten hers back at the castle.
The first day after they got back home from school they spent part of the day together, after unpacking. They wandered around Diagon Alley, for a few hours, catching up on all the new products they'd missed while away at school.
The second day after school ended they went to a party, hosted by one of their mutual friends. It felt weird to see so many people so soon after the year ended.
The third days of summer they spent at the burrow, in the garden. They picked raspberries, and sat together on porch swings. All of Hugo's cousins had disappeared or, rather they'd grown up, gotten jobs and moved on. Lily might have been there, had she not been off with her Hufflepuff friends. And so it was just Hugo and Sara discussing their families, when suddenly Sara changed the subject.
"You know how last summer you asked me to marry you?" she asked, and he blushed. "Yes." She said, digging her heels into the dirt.
"Really?" he asked, his eyes growing wider than they ever had been.
"Unless you don't want to," she blushed again, slouching down as far as she could.
"No, no, no! I do. I just didn't think you'd remembered,"
"How could I forget?" she asked, sitting up straighter, a twinkle in her eye.
A wide smile on his face, Hugo hugged her. He'd always wondered why he was in Gryffindor, why she was in Gryffindor. And now… he knew. Though he couldn't help but feel fear at the prospect of telling Professor Neville. Why had he decided to continue with NEWT Herbology? Curse his thirst for learning.
"Hugo? What are you thinking about?" she asked him. Their hug now broken, he was staring at the Burrow's kitchen window.
"Your dad's going to kill me. Probably with a plant," he sighed.
"I don't think my mom will let him," she smiled, taking his hand and resting her head on his shoulder again.
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