Pairing: Elizabeth Potter/Victor Krum
Warnings: always a fem!Harry Potter, nudity and some Bulgarian for which the translations are at the bottom
Words: 1 765
Prompts:
2. (word) transformation
7. (picture) preview/16-09-5/Rough-Sea
11. (poem) The Poet to Death by Sarojini Naiju
Wake up or You'll Miss the Sunrise
"No, no, not Elizabeth, please, not Elizabeth!"
"AVADA KADAVRA!" red eyes and malicious laugh.
"Cedric, we have to go! Cedric! We have to go now!"
"Kill the spare!"
"AVADA KADAVRA!"
"Potters do not beg for anything, Eliza, while Blacks take whatever they want. And you, my sweet goddaughter, you are both and the world is yours… even if it doesn't know it yet."
"AVADA KADAVRA!" Bellatrix cannot stop laughing.
"Eliza! Eliza! Elizabeth!"
"Elizabeth, sweetheart, wake up!" someone is shaking her and whispering softly in her ear.
What is happening? Where is she? She had to… she has to… do… what?
"Sluntse, come on, Slunchitse, please wake up. It's just a dream."
A… dream?
"Victor?" she blinks slowly several times and looks up to see the blurry shape that's probably her boyfriend's face.
"Yes," he says softly. He gently cups her face with one hand and leans in to press a soft kiss on her forehead. "The same dream again?"
"Yes."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
"Yeah."
"Do you love me?"
"More than anything, Sluntse moe."
Victor shifts their position and now she is lying on his chest and listening to his heartbeat. He is holding her, his arms encircled around her waist and she's never felt safer.
"I do too," she whispers sleepily moments before falling asleep. His arms tighten for a second before he too relaxes enough to be lulled to sleep.
TARRY a while, O Death, I cannot die
While yet my sweet life burgeons with its spring;
Fair is my youth, and rich the echoing boughs
Where dhadikulas sing.
In the morning, Eliza gently untangles herself from Victor's sleepy form and with quiet steps makes her way to the balcony. The house they are staying in has been in Victor's family for several generations and has certainly been built with privacy in mind. While the building itself is not particularly large (though small is hardly a fit description), it has enough rooms for both of them, huge garden and is right next to the sea. There is no one else for miles in either direction.
One of her most favorite things in Bulgaria (not that she has seen much of the small Balkan country) is watching the sun rise from behind the sea. While it is indeed rather early in the morning (according to Victor it is still night), Eliza always feels as if she cannot miss that particular sunrise and wakes at the crack of dawn to watch it. Some days there are clouds that obscure the view, but other are like today. The sky is crystal clear and the sea is calm. The only sounds are the screams of the seagulls and that soft sound the small almost nonexistent waves make.
Eliza closes her eyes for a second, enjoying the cool feeling of her silk morning gown brushing on her naked skin because of the morning breeze. She opens her eyes again and the sky is just a little brighter, the color closer to orange than the previous pink; soon the sun will rise. There is little time for her to marvel at the amazing transformation the sky goes through every morning, the quick way the colors change and making it look as if it's on fire the first moments the sun disk shows, before it makes its way higher in the sky.
She leans against the metal ledge and green eyes take in everything they can see. This is almost like Heaven.
What they do not see, however, is Victor leaning against the doorway leading to their shared bedroom. The smile on his face is softer than any the cameras have captured through the years.
Tarry a while, O Death, I cannot die
With all my blossoming hopes unharvested,
My joys ungarnered, all my songs unsung,
And all my tears unshed.
"Wake up, Sluntse," Victor shakes her up gently. Reluctant to abandon the amazing dream she was having (though she cannot remember about what precisely) Eliza does her best not to stir. "I know you are awake," an amused voice says, which she promptly ignores and rolls on her stomach.
Eliza hears a quiet chuckle and a rustling sound. Suddenly Victor pulls up the shirt she was sleeping with (one of his most likely) and starts pressing feather-light kisses on the length of her spine. She makes a sound that may or may not resemble that of a purr and relaxes even further, going nearly boneless.
"Do you want to get up now?" he whispers in her ear, his hot breath tickling a little.
"No," she manages to mumble through her pillow. "Keep going."
"What if I tell you I have a surprise for you?" Victor asks instead.
"It can wait," Eliza answers, but still turns around to face her boyfriend for nearly a year. She leans up and kisses him slowly. Before their kiss can turn into something more she pulls back and smiles. "Dobro utro," she fumbles through the words, but manages to say them more or less correctly. She never thought that learning another language would be so difficult.
"Good morning," Victor says and kisses her once more. It is brief and chaste and moments later he is the one pulling back and sitting on the bed. "Are you sure you want to miss your surprise?"
"In the middle of the night?" she asks as she looks out of the window. The sky is dark and fro her position she can see the brightest stars despite the low light in the other side of the room.
"It's five thirty," he says instead of answering. "And if you don't get dresses in the next half an hour, you'll miss your surprise."
An amused (and a little intrigued) Elizabeth leaves the bed and makes her way to the bathroom door. She turns around and smiles slightly at the sight of Victor looking her over with appreciation. Her smile widens as she observes his reaction when she takes off the too-big flannel shirt.
"You can join me if you like."
After another longing look over, Victor shakes his head sourly. "Then will be late. Now get in the shower you little tease or you can forget about that surprise."
Tarry a while, till I am satisfied
Of love and grief, of earth and altering sky;
Till all my human hungers are fulfilled,
O Death, I cannot die!
She is still laughing when she exits the bathroom with her hair a little damp and an incredibly soft towel wrapped around her body. Victor, unfortunately, is no longer in the room, so she quickly dresses up with a simple white summer dress and puts on a pair of red slippers.
The Bulgarian is in the kitchen, drinking coffee at such a speed as if his life depended on it.
"Stull asleep?" she says teasingly. In truth, she could have used a little more sleep, but during her Auror training and the year before that, she became accustomed to waking up at every hour of the day (or night). Even after a year some habits are hard to break.
"Not at all. I am wide awake," he claims even after he finishes the rest of the cup with one big gulp and pours himself another one.
"We can go back to bed," Eliza suggests. She is standing in front of him now, close enough to place a few kisses on his neck and chin. She sees his pupils dilate and feels his pulse quicken when she reaches his jugular. Eliza does not do anything more, though, and waits for his answer.
"Then my waking up so early would have been for naught. No! We are going!" Victor says decisively and puts down the now empty mug on the table.
"Going where?" she can't help but ask.
He only smiles mysteriously and wraps his strong arms around her. The two disappear from the kitchen with a pop…
… and reappear on the edge of what appears to be a cliff. The witch screams and nearly jumps when she realizes how close to the edge they are standing. The roaring waves appear so close to them that despite that they are several meter above them. She Victor's rumbling laughter is no help at all.
"Where are we?" she asks breathless and clings tighter to him for a moment until she realizes what she is doing and lets go. She takes a few steps away from the edge and takes a look around. Behind them there is the silhouette of a fortress and the mainland seems far away. It is still too dark to see properly, though.
"Cape Kaliakra, the eastern most point."
"And why are we here?"
"To watch the sunrise," Victor answers, as if it is supposed to be obvious. Then he sits on the edge of the cliff, his feet dangling several meters above the sharp rock and the roaring waves crushing into them. "Do you want to join me?" he pats the place on his right. "Or are you scared of heights?"
Having no desire to appear scared (even if the idea of sitting there was a bit terrifying) she takes the place on Victor's left, which prompted an eye roll from him, and leans into him. He loops his left arm around her waist and pulls her closer.
"I'll always catch you if you fall," he says in her hair.
"I trust you to," she answers.
They do not speak after that. The silence is not at all uncomfortable and the two wait patiently as the sky brightens from navy blue to purple and pink and finally fiery orange. None of them says a word when they watch the sun disk make its way up the sky or when several dolphins decide to play not too far from them.
Even years later, Eliza will not be able to remember how much time they spend there, sitting on the edge of a cliff watching the sunrise and the waves and the dolphins.
"One day I will ask you to marry me," Victor speaks up at last. This revelation should scare her or faze but instead of freezing in place, Eliza turns her green eyes to him and says:
"And one day, I will say 'yes'."
His grip on her waist is tightens, but he does not comments.
This, she thinks, this is Heaven.
Sluntse – sun (the celestial object and a term of endearment)
Moe – my, mine (in this case 'my')
Slunchitse – sunshine (again used as a term of endearment; diminutive from 'sun')
Dobro utro – Good morning