Precipitancy: headlong or rash haste.
July 26, 1994
The sun baked down on them, a sweltering July heat. The sand burned their hands and feet as they scrambled along a long-forgotten path winding through the cliffs, sinking up to their wrists and ankles with each step. To their right glittered the sea, a deep, rolling sapphire blue. To their left a smooth rock face jutted upward into the clear, clear sky. Seagulls squawked and circled on the breeze above their heads, and below them waves crashed in foamy eruptions against the boulders.
"I told you we'd make it!" Justin Finch-Fletchly exclaimed triumphantly when at last he was kneeling on the small rocky lip that hung out above the ocean. From that point on it was a straight vertical climb to the cliff peaks where the water birds kept their nests. Justin turned, grinning, to the person behind him, who happened to be Susan Bones. "I told you a little hard work pays off, didn't I?" he said excitedly, taking her wrist and helping her up the last steep ledge.
Susan rolled her eyes, tossing her long red braid over her shoulder. "About a hundred thousand times over the last three years, yes," she agreed, laughing.
"Is he back to his motto already?" came Hannah's voice from below.
There was a grinding of rocks and a sharp squeal as her footing shifted.
"Alright, Hannah?" Susan called, peering anxiously back over the ledge to the path.
"I'm fine," Hannah squeaked. "What were you saying about us all making it?"
"Yeah, what was that about telling a bunch of Hufflepuffs what hard work will get them?" Ernie puffed, the last one to round the final bend.
The girls snickered as Justin scowled down at his best friend. "Can't you ever let me have a moment, Ern? I lead us to a victory, here."
"Go on, Sue, give him a moment to gloat to the rocks!" Ernie called, giving Hannah a leg-up.
It took a bit more hard work, but finally the four of them stood at the edge of the cliffs, looking out across the bay. Emerald green hills and yellow beaches peeked through the mist that hung across the water, and even Ernie had to admit it was a view worth half a day's climb through smoldering sand and sharp rocks and a blazing sunburn.
"It really is something, isn't it?" Justin said proudly, looking with satisfaction at his friends' slightly awed expressions.
"I can't believe I'm a step away from plummeting thirty feet into the ocean," said Hannah, eyeing the drop and tightening her white-knuckled grip on Susan's elbow.
"I can't believe your parents let you do this," Susan said, backing up a little to press herself against the firm wall of rock behind her.
"Who says they know?" Justin smirked, edging a little closer to the drop-off and chucking a stone out into the water.
"Careful Finch," Ernie warned, lying down on his stomach to peer out over the edge (being sure to lock his foot around Susan's ankle). "You'll be competing with the Gryffindors if you get any more daring."
"Gryffindors don't have a patent on daring," Justin said indignantly.
The others exchanged looks.
"Maybe not officially," Susan allowed. "But come on, Justin. How many loyal, dependable, responsible people would do something idiotic just for the rush?"
"So you think we're a bunch of pansies?" Justin demanded, his voice cracking with indignation now.
"Let's just say if you were the sort of person who'd leap off this cliff, Potter, Weasley, and Granger'd be with you instead of us," Ernie told him.
"Is that so?" Justin had stepped gingerly to the very edge of the ruck, barely an inch away from open air. They barely had time to realize what he was about to do before Justin had launched himself off the cliff.
The girls screamed. Ernie's vision flashed a sickening red as he watched Justin plummet into the sea below, landing with a great splash that was lost in the roar of the waves.
Justin uncurled his body in the white-out of bubbles, the shock of the freezing ocean seeping through him. What the heck did I just do? He kicked toward the surface, somewhat amazed that his limbs were all still in working order. When his face broke into the hot air and he'd shook the salty water and sodden bangs out of his eyes, gasped in a lungful of sweet air, he looked up. Three horrified faces gaped down at him from thirty feet above his head.
He tried to shout something up to them, but his voice was breathless and hoarse from the effort of keeping afloat in the rolling waves. It was, he realized, probably only thanks to ten summers of swimming off his father's boat in this bay that he wasn't drowning right now. He waved up at his friends instead, grinning.
"You are the biggest idiot I've ever met, Justin Finch-Fletchly!' Hannah screamed down to him.
"But at least we're not all pansies!" he shouted back.
A/N: I'm so sorry this is late! Ah, I meant to post it yesterday, but things have been utterly crazy at my house. My grad party is on Sunday, so you know, family pouring in, scrubbing out house top to bottom, weeding and painting and otherwise scrambling to make our house look respectable….
Anyway, this is a birthday gift from Snatching at Dreams to her friend, whose birthday was the 26th and who I hear is a fellow Hufflepuff! :) Happy birthday, and I hope it rocked and that you liked the story!
And thank you to everyone who has donated a little bit of their time to my review goal! You guys are amazing!