Victoire and Teddy arrived later that afternoon. We were sitting outside on the porch, when the two of them apparated in the yard. Victoire looked exactly like her mom. While Dom's hair was strawberry blonde, Vic had silvery white hair. We were all excited that the last of the cousins had arrived. The rest of the night we spent laughing and playing games out in the yard. We were all having a great time. All but Sarah.

Sarah acted like she was having fun. She half-heartily laughed at the jokes Fred told. She somewhat tried to play ultimate fanged frisbee. She tried to make a conversation with Grandpa Weasley. But her heart wasn't in it. I noticed she tried to avoid situations with Albus altogether. When he came and sat by her at dinner, she told Lucy that there was room between them. When he came near at all, she turned the other way.

I wasn't the only one who noticed. I could see the wheels turning in Dom's head as she studied Sarah and Al. Sooner or later I knew she was going to do something about it.

And that is why I was woken up early that next morning.

...

I woke up to Dom poking me. "Rose. ROsee," she whispered, "get up."

I sat up groggily, "Wha-"

"SHHHHH! I don't want to wake up Sarah! Come with me..." I got up and tiptoed out of the tent with her. We walked into the kitchen where Victoire was sitting at the table drinking some tea. Nobody else was up, not even Nana and Grandpa.

"What do you guys want? And why are you up so early?" I asked rubbing my eyes.

Vic took a sip of her tea. " Dom and I got up to do some sunrise yoga. I like to do it every now and then. Afterwards we got to talking and she told me Sarah is having some trouble with Albus. Dom thought you'd be able to explain the story better than her since you two are quite close."

I sat down and told her the story. Vic was very good with relationship advice, although I hated to admit it.

"Well she's had a crush on him for some time," I begin.

"How long?"

I had to think about that. "I don't know...maybe third year?"

Vic nodded. "Go on."

"Anyways she's always liked him, and I've always told her instead of hiding from him you should just hang out with him because I know Al and he would totally date you. I mean Al never told me if he liked her or not, he doesn't talk to me about those things but I feel like he would. So then when the Remembrance Ball came around, he was trying to find a date before Missy could ask him so Sarah asked him and he said yes. They had a fabulous evening together and he even kissed her goodnight but since then nada. He isn't making any moves to take it farther."

Vic sat in silence for a moment before making her diagnoses. "I believe that Albus just needs a little nudge. Al is ignorant, anyone can see that. I propose that today we all go swimming at the lake for a bonding time, and we'll try to get Albus to get together with her on his own. If by tonight he hasn't said anything, then we can confront him. Sound good?"

Dom and I nodded in agreement. It sounded like a great plan.

...

"We are all going to the lake, whether you like it or not," Victoire announced at lunch, "Yes, even you Molly. It's a tradition."

Dom exclaimed happily, "I'll see if Will wants to come!"

Lily elbowed Fred, "And you can see if Charlotte wants to come too."

"But I don't even know if she's working today, and if she's working when she's going to get off!"

"Well we'll stop by and ask on our way there!" Lily exclaimed.

All of the cousins got ready to head to the lake. The lake was on the other side of the village. The beach always had noisy kids and rowdy teenagers, so an old friend of Grandpa Weasley, who he used to work with at the Ministry, let us swim in a cove on his property. Usually since no one came but family and friends, Teddy would bring his wand and would do all sorts of spells to make it more fun (such as turning the water into a trampoline). But since there was a chance of us bringing muggles, that was out of the question.

"And don't you even think about bringing anything related to magic!" Nana warned. "If I even here that someone thought that they saw a tree turn a lighter shade of brown, I will have you all home scrubbing all the floors and doing yard work for the rest of the week and you won't be allowed to leave. Especially you James Potter and Fred Weasley. I know how you work, and don't even think about doing anything behind my back. I will find out."

The boys promised to be good and we headed to the lake.

...

When we walked into the grocery store Will was stacking up some display boxes at the front. Will smiled and waved as Dom and I went through the door.

"Oh good!" Dom said, "I was hoping you would be here! I was wondering if you would want to go swimming at the lake with my family and me?"

"Sure! I get off in 10 minutes, if you want to wait..."

Next we stopped by the coffee shop, but Charlotte was working the rest of the day. Fred offered to take her out to lunch tomorrow afternoon instead.

As we passed to road to the beach, and headed up a beaten path along the edge of the water, Will started getting curious.

"Uhm, are we not going to the beach?"

"Too crowded for us. It's better if we are away from that many people," said Dom. We tried to introduce him to everyone while we were walking, but I doubt he would remember everyone's name.

We weaved in and out of trees until we arrived at the gate to the property. Teddy unlatched it and we walked to the edge of our cove. There was a rope tied to a tree branch that leaned over the water we put up a few years ago so we could jump into the lake. There was a wooden raft tied up in the water which Grandpa put for us so we could dive off of it when we were little. It was perfect. And it was ours.

We barely put our stuff down when James asked, "Who's doing the inaugural jump? Al?"

I turned to Will and Sarah. "It's tradition that everyone has to jump into the lake using the rope."

Sarah's mouth went agape. "I have to?"

"Sorry Sarah," said Roxy, "But it must be done."

Albus climbed up the slope, and grabbed the rope . He backed up and got a running start before jumping into the air and landing into the lake. A second later his head emerged. "It feels great! Who's next?"

"Sarah will," said Victoire.

"Oh I don't know..."

"It's not that bad Sarah, you can do it!" Albus encouraged from the water. Sarah went and grabbed the rope nervously. Al swam out of her way. She took a deep breath and then ran and jumped into the air and in one swift movement let go and landed in the water. She resurfaced and swam toward Al.

"Nice jump!" Al said and gave her a high five. I glanced at Victoire who pursed her lips.

...

About an hour later Sarah and I were sitting on the edge of the raft talking. Victoire and Louis were having a "who can hold your breath longer" contest. James, Fred, and Roxy were seeing who could do the coolest trick off the rope swing. Molly and Lucy were trying to dig up clams with their feet. Jack, Perry, Hu, Al, Teddy, and Lily were playing Marco Polo. Dom and Will were off who knows where.

I watched them as Al stumbled around in the water trying to catch Lily.

"You should go play with them," I said.

Sarah looked down at her feet kicking the water. "No thanks."

"Sarah, you need to talk to him."

Sarah looked up and stared at Albus. "If he wanted to go out with me, he would of asked already."

"You don't know that. At least try to have some fun. Maybe if he sees you having fun, then he'll realize he really likes you."

Sarah sighed. "I'm just not really in the mood to have fun."

Soon it was time to head back for supper. Dom and Will appeared, and we all got out and dried off. I put my arm around Sarah. "It'll all work out. You'll see."

...

At dinner Victoire sat by Teddy and left a space between her and Al. "Sarah! Come sit by me!" Vic called out. Sarah's face turned a little green as she sat between the two. Vic tried her best to get the two to talk. "Sarah did you know that Al is going to try out for the Quidditch team next year? How well do you think you did on your OWLs? What is your favorite movie?" Nothing worked. Sarah kept silent and Al didn't really focus on the question. Finally Vic asked, "So are you dating anyone right now Sarah? I though Dom mentioned you were seeing someone." Al's head popped up and gave a sideways glance toward the two girls.

"Uhm, no," stammered Sarah, "I am not currently dating anyone."

After awhile Vic was frustrated. She stood up and plainly said, "I'll go fetch dessert. Albus, Rose, will you help me?"

Al confused got up and followed Victoire into the kitchen, with me right behind him. When the door was firmly shut, Victoire muttered, "Silenco" at the door. Then she turned around and gave Albus a big smack on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Why are you leading that poor girl on!?"

"What are you talking about?!" Al exclaimed, rubbing his arm.

I rolled my eyes. "Sarah? You know the girl that has a crush on you and you acted like you liked her to at the Ball but then ignored her afterwards?"

"Wait..." Al said, "Sarah has a crush on me?"

Vic and I exchanged annoyed glances. "Are you daft?" I asked.

"No, I mean I don't know."

Vic sighed. "Alright Al, tell me this. Do you like Sarah? As in you would like to have her as your girlfriend.\?"

"I mean yeah, she's gorgeous...and sweet and funny and..." Al stammered.

"So if you like her then why have you been ignoring her since the Ball?" continued Vic.

"Well I honestly didn't know she liked me like that. I know we had a great time at the ball, and afterwards I was all caught up in the moment so I kissed her. But then I thought that maybe she was just being nice and I kind of blew the thought away."

Vic shook her head. "Oh my poor ignorant boy, I worry about you. This is what you are going to do. You are going to go in there and ask Sarah to go on a walk with you. Take her down the path by the trees. And then, listen carefully. You are going to apologize. And then you are going to admit your feelings to her, whatever they may be. Understand?"

Al nodded. We grabbed the dessert and went back to the table.

"Sorry it took so long! Rose had to use the restroom and we waited for her," Vic explained.

Al went over to Sarah and said softly, "Sarah will you take a walk with me?" Sarah nodded speechless. I watched as the two walked down the path until they were just a silhouette in the distance. I smiled. Those two would be alright.