Cabin: McGonagall
Task: Fire Pit - 50 points: Don't get burnt! Write about a late night beach party
WC: 1083
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The moon hung low in the ink dark sky, blending the horizon with the shimmering ocean until the two were indistinguishable. Light spilled across the gentle water like a silver pathway, stretching out to unknown destinations and for a moment, the world seemed to hold its breath in anticipation.
The night was broken by a crack of sound similar to a gunshot before it fell back into silence.
On the beach — protected by a winding path meandering down the otherwise sheer cliff face that curled protectively around the small alcove — heads snapped up, staring with unbridled suspicion at the world around them. Silence greeted their wary glances and excitement soon overtook any temporary doubts, losing themselves in building a crackling fire — lavender and blue flame twisting up towards the dark sky — before the call was put out to others to join them. Excited chatter rose up to the two figures waiting silently on the top of the cliff, hands clasped tight enough to turn their knuckles pale, unable to keep nervous yet excited grins from their faces.
"Are you sure about this?" Victoire muttered, twisting a lock of silvery blonde hair round and round one perfectly manicured finger as she watched the group of teenagers below them. Teddy watched her. Her hair was the same sheen as the moonlight blurred with the crackling flames and already falling out of the plaits Molly Junior had insisted on trying out, tied with multicoloured bands and beads from Molly Senior's knitting basket.
"Teddy."
He blinked back into their current reality to Victoire's raised eyebrow and knowing grin curling her lips.
"I love you," he told her instead, knowing he didn't need to explain where his thoughts had wandered, had murmured compliments into her ears until she was pink with laughter and twisting in his arms to croon them back into his ear.
"I love you too," she said, shifting their interlocked fingers just enough so she could tap his knuckle with her thumb, once, twice, three times. "But the party?"
"It's just teenagers, just like us," Teddy reassured her, leaning forward to inspect the slowly growing group far below them, a line of careful pilgrims picking down the path, moonlight bright enough to steer their way. "And we can leave at any time."
"Promise?"
"Promise." Teddy leant forward to kiss her cheek, breathing in the floral scent of her perfume — lily of the valley, to match the tiny delicate tattoo hidden just behind her ear.
Victoire sighed, eyelashes casting shifting shadows on her cheeks, before moving to stand up, bracing herself on Teddy's shoulder. She dusted off her knees, knocked a few loose twigs from her shorts — carefully patched back up in a riot of neat squares until barely a scrap of the original garment remained and tied loosely at her waist — before extending a hand to Teddy. He took it, sliding his hand through hers to grasp her wrist, and she pulled him to his feet.
Their hands remained interlocked, feeling the faint flutter of the other's pulse in the jut of their wrist as they picked their way down the path, stifling laughter as excitement bubbled through them, the enjoyment lying heavy in the air almost intoxicating.
Time slipped away from them, delighting in the sheer normalcy of everything, flitting from one conversation to the other like hummingbirds. Teddy delighted in Victoire's enthusiasm, her previous nerves slipping away the moment her foot touched the soft silken sand, eyes drawn to her like a goddess of old reborn and revitalised. She caught his eye as they circled the fire, moths drawn to its warmth, as lavender sparks filled the air, and she grinned, deliberately blinking at him, once, twice, three times.
"I want to go swimming."
Teddy caught Victoire easily as she hopped over the large curled driftwood branch he was sitting on, settling her onto the small gap next to him. Her bare feet curled into the gap between his loose cotton trousers and his skin, Teddy drawing in a tight breath as he barely suppressed a yelp.
"Your feet are freezing."
"Then it won't make any difference if we go in the water or not," she pointed out, wriggling her feet further up his leg, curling into his side, "The party is nearly over anyway."
Teddy tilted his head back, blinking in the sudden gloom as the fire was abruptly extinguished, smoke coiling from singed wood. The final stragglers began to move back up the pathway, lit only by the light of the moon beginning to bleed into the fiery reds and purples of sunrise.
"Come on then," Teddy laughed, pulling his hoodie over his head as he stood, stumbling as he slipped off his oversized trousers to reveal the trunks beneath them. Victoire laughed, the sound beautiful and clear, and added her own shorts to the pile before they ran for the water.
Their feet slipped on the sand, the taste of salt lying heavy on the air, and the water was freezing, goosebumps erupting on their skin the moment they drew near, but their hands remained intertwined.
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"I like your hoodie," Victoire told him, jaw cracking as she yawned, words beginning to slur with exhaustion. Teddy inspected the garment —grey fabric made soft from years of wear, patches on the elbows that had made Uncle Harry's eyes gleam with tears when he first saw Teddy with them — and sighed, pulling it over Victoire's head in one swift motion.
"Mind my hair!" she squawked, stumbling, disoritenated before she wriggled her arms through the sleeves, face appearing with her hair fluffy and askew.
"And what, my love, am I going to wear?" Teddy asked her, pulling his trousers on before she could claim them instead of her shorts, catching the beginning of a gleam entering her eye.
"I did bring a sarong," she said lightly. "What's mine is yours, remember?"
"It's not very warm," Teddy complained, twisting the tie dyed fabric before tying it round his neck, smoothing the now halter neck dress down as it fluttered in the breeze. He didn't mind, not truely, comfortable in his own skin and whatever clothes he wore. But he was freezing, goosebumps pebbling on every inch of exposed skin.
"We'll be home soon," Victoire offered as consolation, pulling Teddy closer for a kiss in the first light of a new day. He sighed and complied, grinning against her lips, love warm and steady in his chest.