The Fourth of July in the wizarding world was a lot more exciting than Bryt could have imagined. They were on Drakescale, which was a beach lined by a row of small shops(the largest being the South Carolina branch of Gringotts), all of which seemed closed for the day. Hermione had been curious how they kept Muggles from wandering onto the beach, or seeing it when out at sea, and Julio explained that, to Muggles, the beach looked like a dangerous, rocky shore and it kept them away.

It was a good thing, too, because the celebration seemed to be a cross between a massive picnic and a beach party. Bryt, Sofí, Julio, and Hermione went on their own, as Mr. García was staying with his wife—Bryt had learned a few years before that Mrs. García wasn't completely comfortable with the wizarding world, which was the main reason the family lived as Muggle as possible.

The four did meet the Jonner siblings and Richard shortly after arriving and Sandra had seemed just as interested in Hermione's accent as she had with Bryt the day before. Eager to avoid where that conversation might go, Bryt changed the subject to the planned events and discovered the Jonners, Richard, and Sofí were eager for the games that would be scattered throughout the day.

The games themselves were odd, fascinating variations of active Muggle games. Bryt was confused by some, so preferred to stay on the sidelines, cheering on Sofí with Hermione and Julio. Though, when the last game planned before a break for a massive picnic lunch was announced, Bryt decided she'd join in. It seemed as if it would be simple—a broom race that would go out to a marker some distance out in the water, then back again. Even Julio was planning to join in the race.

"Is this a good idea?" Hermione asked as she looked out over the water, squinting to try and find the marker.

"Yeah, we have this race every year," August said, "We've never had problems before."

"Besides, there's a few out in boats 'round the edge of the racin' field," Julio pointed out, grinning at Hermione, "They make sure that if any Muggles accidentally get too close, that they're sent on their way, none the wiser. It don' happen often, though. We don' fly too high over the water. After all, half the point of the race is to knock everyone else off their brooms to better yer own chances."

Hermione didn't seem pleased with that bit of information. Still, she nodded, scanning the surface of the ocean in front of her. She knew from Quidditch at Hogwarts, and watching the games up until now, that the Wizarding games could often be competitive and violent. Hermione wished the group luck as they headed off for the starting point where about seven other witches and wizards, most of whom seemed older than Bryt and her friends, were waiting. Once they arrived, they were each given identical brooms, charmed to resist spells so no one could cheat by modifying the brooms and it would be on level ground, no one having the advantage from having a faster-model.

Bryt looked back over to Hermione and noticed Julio had lagged behind, saying something to her. Julio suddenly glanced up and Bryt ducked her head, pretending to check over her broom as she watched from the corner of her eye. Once Julio seemed sure that no one was watching, he leaned closer to Hermione and Bryt swore he had just kissed the girl. Her thought was confirmed as Julio turned to catch up to the others, leaving Hermione grinning and—as Bryt noticed even from this distance—blushing.

Bryt began smirking as Julio caught up, stopping next to her. She couldn't resist and leaned a little closer to her friend while he took his assigned broom.

"It's about time you two got together," she whispered, fighting back a laugh as Julio's face went a bright shade of red and he looked down at her.

"You...you saw?"

Bryt nodded. "Don't worry, I won't say anythin', I'm sure you don't need Sofí findin' out about this."

"God, no!" Julio said, looking frightened over the thought of what his sister would do with this little bit of information. Bryt couldn't hold back her laugh this time.

"What's so funny?"

Bryt and Julio looked up to see the others were staring at them, obviously attracted by Bryt's laugh. Julio went redder and Bryt cleared her throat, giving the first reasonable excuse that came to mind.

"Julio thinks he'll beat us all in the race," she said, resting her assigned broom over her shoulders.

"Oh, really?" Sandra got a smirk on her face, propping her free hand on her hip, "Why don' we..." Sandra paused, looking over to Sofí. "What's that Muggle sayin', Sofí? Stick our money in our mouth?"

"Put yer money where yer mouth is," Sofí corrected, grinning herself, "And a good idea. We all pitch in and winner takes all."

"I vote a Galleon each," August said.

Sofí seconded the vote, but no one else agreed.

"Too high for a race," Richard said quietly, "One Sickle each."

"That's more like it," Julio said, glancing at Bryt sideways and giving her a grateful look for distracting the conversation. Bryt grinned in response. After all, she had gotten quite good with coming up with quick excuses. She had to do it a lot the past school year when helping cover for Hermione, who had been dangerously overworking herself with the help of a Time Turner, a necklace that allowed her to go back in time and take several lessons at once.

With the bet set, everyone turned to the race announcer as he called for them to mount their brooms and take to the air. Bryt hovered on her own broom between Richard and a tall brunette she didn't recognize, focusing her gaze in front of her and leaning forward on her broom, itching for the whistle to blow.

Once it did, Bryt pushed forward, enjoying the wind whipping around her ponytail. It took her a couple of seconds to get used to the broom, as it wasn't a Nimbus model, but once she had a good handle on it, she was enjoying the race immensely, especially how rough and competitive it got. Bryt had nearly dodged several ram attempts before they had even reached the turn. Even then, there were attempts for people to knock each other off their brooms. Bryt had just dodged an attempt from the tall brunette when August suddenly came up from the side and rammed into Bryt. She smirked in response, managing to keep on her broom, and rammed him in return. August was caught off guard, not expecting the retaliation, and gave a yell as he fell sideways off the broom, landing in the water not too far below. Bryt glanced over her shoulder to see one of the boats Julio had mentioned was helping August out of the water, and another one nearby was helping out a racer Bryt didn't know.

Bryt turned her attention back in front of her, concentrating on finishing the race. After several more attempts from others to have her thrown from her broom—and her attempting to do the same to others—Bryt finally landed on the sandy shore, the fifth of eight people to actually finish the race. She was disappointed that she didn't win—or even come into the top three (the winner was the brunette woman, another person Bryt didn't recognize made second, while Richard got third place)—she was at least grateful she wasn't one of the racers who ended up being knocked from their brooms, unable to even finish the race. Aside from August, there had been four others—Julio, then three people that Bryt didn't know. Bryt looked over and noticed Hermione was near the edge of the shore, watching the boats coming in. Bryt figured she wanted to make sure Julio was okay.

"I'm never lettin' August live down that you knocked him from his broom."

Bryt turned to see Sandra grinning at her. Sofí was with her, and Richard was making his way over, the cheap, bronze-colored third-place medal hanging around his neck.

"He rammed me first, I was just returnin' the favor," Bryt said with a grin.

"He deserved it," Sandra said, laughing, "He was sure he'd be able to show yah up in the race."

"He underestimated how rough Bryt can get," Sofí said, "I guess he didn' believe the stories I told him 'bout her violent streak."

Bryt just grinned sweetly in response as Hermione arrived with a soaked August and Julio, though their clothes and hair seemed to already be drying in the summer heat.

"Congratulations, Richard," Julio said, "I guess everyone owes you a Sickle now."

Richard gave a small grin, nodding and holding out his hand as everyone paid up, Bryt having to dig down into her small backpack that Hermione had been hanging onto for her. Then, to Bryt's surprise, Richard pushed all seven of the Sickles into her hand.

"Er...You won the race," she said, holding the money out, but Richard shook his head.

"Y'knocked August from his broom," he said with an amused grin, "I'd pay anythin' for somethin' like that."

Bryt grinned at the compliment, then put away the money when Richard, again, refused to take it.

"I'm guessin' it doesn't happen often," Bryt said, looking over to August, who had his arms crossed over his chest, but he was grinning. At least he was taking the incident good naturedly.

"Not really," August said, "But I've got a lot of respect for a girl who can hold her own. Doesn't hurt when she's good-looking, either."

Bryt crossed her arms over her chest, watching August, her gaze narrowing slightly has she noticed the boy looking her up and down slowly.

"I have a boyfriend," Bryt said, using a tone that made it clear she wasn't going to welcome any more attempts to flirt.

August gave a sigh, shrugging in an 'oh well, I tried' way and said "Lucky guy."

Richard, Julio, and Hermione shook their heads in such perfect time with each other that the others broke into fits of laughter, leaving the three confused. No one bothered to explain what had been so funny.

Not too long after, the group was sitting on at one of the tables that had been set up, enjoying the barbequed ribs, corn on the cob, and baked beans that had been prepared. Bryt was glad that this was one of the traditional meals that spanned from both Muggles and Wizards, as she had often loved eating barbeque in the past. It was also a chance to poke a bit of fun at Hermione, who seemed unsure about the mess that eating ribs caused.

As the rest of the afternoon wore on, Bryt sat with Hermione and Julio to watch the various competitions, and occasionally joining in a few, though she never won any until a partnered competition where Sofí insisted on using Bryt as her partner. The competition itself involved one person—in their duo, Sofí—to be blindfolded while carrying their partner on their back through an obstacle course. The partner being carried had to give commands, though they weren't allowed to speak lowly. They had to shout, so the blindfolded person not only had their person's commands, but hearing commands from others as well. Not to mention the race was made even harder as each person's course crossed over the others at various points.

Now, though, the race was over and day had given way to night. Bryt was stretched out on her back, the medal she won from the race hanging around her neck as she watched the colorful display of fireworks exploding overhead. Julio had told Bryt and Hermione that the show wouldn't be a normal Wizarding fireworks show, as it would attract far too much attention from Muggles if they went too extravagant with their show. Bryt didn't mind, though. She enjoyed the show, enjoyed lying back on the blanket with her friends after a long, eventful day of celebration. All in all, this year had been the best Forth of July Bryt ever had.

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A/N: Once again, sorry about the hiatus. A mixture of several different things at once (most of which linked to the holidays) kept me pretty busy. I do plan to, this time, finally get back into swing and not go on another long hiatus. After all, I already have most of the next chapter done to go up on Friday.

On a side note, I hope everyone had a great New Year, and a very late Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.