'Duckduckduck,' Victoire said, running over and grabbing Bill's hand. Teddy held her other hand. Behind them, Laura laughed gently.
'To the pond,' Bill said, and started walking, the two children following suit. Laura watched for a moment, and then jogged to catch up to Bill's side.
New from her last visit, a stone path ran from the patio to the vegetable patch and then along its side, made with mostly large stones and the gaps filled in with smaller ones. Not as much care had been taken as with the patio to make it smooth, though. The children walked along it, while Laura and Bill stuck to the grass.
She looked around as she walked, however the gentle rise and fall of the field hid the pond from her sight. Ahead, the path curved away, and she followed where it headed before it too was hidden behind a crest, but something that looked like fencing caught her attention. All the while, Victoire barely stopped to breathe, repeating the word "duck" at an impressive rate.
Coming to that rise which had stymied Laura so far, she could see the fencing clearly and, behind it, a patch of murky turquoise with splodges of mossy green. Another magic spell cast, the children gained a burst of speed. Bill jogged to keep up, and Laura thought he was on high alert for tripping, by how his body was turned towards the children and his free hand ready to catch any fallers.
When she reached the gate, they were already inside at the pond's edge. Teddy stared down into the water. Victoire, unsurprisingly, darted her gaze back and forth between the ducks quacking away on the far side.
Coming to join them, she found herself impressed by the pond. Definitely larger than a puddle, she estimated it as the same size as a spacious lounge, or about half the size of a school swimming pool. Plants formed a border between the stone edge and water, growing in the shallow parts. As she'd spotted before, some freely floated about too. In the gaps, she could see fish swim by now and then.
As beautiful of a sight as it was, she enjoyed the way Bill and Teddy interacted as well. Bill pointed out fish and talked about them while Teddy happily listened—and she could tell how happy Teddy was, because his hair took on a shade of ginger.
After a while of not speaking, Victoire pulled on her father's sleeve, and loudly said, 'Duck.'
'Okay, okay,' Bill said, standing up. He pulled out his wand, and gave it a tight wave in the air. 'Accio bread crusts!'
Off in the distance, a bread bag burst out the Burrow's kitchen through an open window, zooming across the field, before coming to an abrupt stop at his side. He plucked it out the air and put away his wand. Undoing the little tie, he opened the bag and took out a few crusts.
'Just a few pieces, remember? We don't want to clog up everything with soggy bread.'
'Yes, Uncle Bill,' Teddy said, while Victoire said something similar, though Laura couldn't quite tell which letters had been used.
Bill tore off small pieces, handing one each to both children. They wasted no time going down on their hands and knees and dropping the bread into the water. For good measure, Bill tossed a piece across to the ducks, who snapped at it and got the message, gliding over to the near side of the pond.
'Want a go?' Bill asked Laura, offering a piece.
She shook her head. 'No thanks.'
He left it at that.
Thinking back to before, Bill and Teddy obviously had a good relationship. Earlier, Harry and Victoire clearly did too. As though hearing her thoughts, Bill turned to face Laura, though still kept half an eye on the children.
Smiling, Laura said, 'Harry's told me so much already, but now I can really see how close you all are.'
'Well, we've seen a lot of each other the last few years. Rebuilding the Burrow, and I helped him with his house too. Owed him that after he did more than his fair share fixing up this place.'
'The cottage?' she asked.
'Nah, different place. I'm a Curse Breaker for Gringotts and it still took us a good year to clear it all up, though I was only doing weekends.'
Laura held her tongue, until she had to ask, 'Was it cursed, then?'
'Not exactly, just full of cursed things. Books, jewellery, an umbrella stand. My favourite was a Muggle cookbook.'
'What curse did that have?'
'Oh, none, just some really interesting recipes. Harry didn't want it, and Fleur wouldn't let me keep it, so I gave it to a goblin at work.'
Quite sure she was missing something, she settled on saying, 'I see.'
The children, having run out of bread, entertained themselves by lying on the grass and watching the ducks swim around. Bill sat down next to them. 'It's taken a lot to get here,' he said softly, and Laura wasn't sure if he spoke to himself or to her.
After a few minutes, he got them all up and started marching everyone back to the house. When they neared, Fleur sat by herself on the patio, the others nowhere in sight. Laura wondered why, until she noticed baby Dominique having lunch, at which point Laura tried to find somewhere else to look. For her part, Fleur looked unperturbed as she gave them a little wave, careful not to disturb her daughter.
Bill chuckled, herding Teddy and Victoire to the house. 'Let's see if granny needs help with the table.'
'Ganny!' Victoire shouted, and toddled off ahead at quite a speed. As though her minder, Teddy followed, taking her hand and leading the two of them inside. Laura giggled at the sight. With longer legs, she and Bill soon joined them.