When she was young, there was always the sea. In the well-loved Weasley house just outside of Ottery St. Catchpole, Ginny would pass the time waiting for summer with the youngest of her six brothers, Ron, as her only playmate. The family had lived in the aged house for years. Shutters in disarray clung to the hinges they did not want to leave. Paint color faded on the door and the porch step creaked every time you stepped on it. For the time and place such a well loved house was not unusual. That area of Ottery was full of families in the same working class with similar lives. The best luxury Ginny's family could afford was summer at the sea. The entire family went and it was always to the same one-story rented house with back steps that lead over the dunes to the sea's shore. It was not only Ginny's favorite time but the single time a year Mr. Weasley got to drive the Muggle car hidden in the shed. Molly always gave him this little indulgence lest he try to turn it into something, or Merlin forbid, add something to it. Every year without fail the drive seemed to always take forever, crammed in the back of the family's car Ginny was begging to smell that salty air which meant everything to her.
It was the summer just after her sixth birthday, and she seemed to know this summer would be more special than all the others. For one she had gotten two very special birthday presents. The one from her mum had been a brand-new yellow dress. For a girl that only wore hand-me-downs from her brothers, this was certainly a very big deal. She had nearly worn it her entire birthday month, even would have slept in it if her mum had let her. The other very special gift had come from her Dad. She remembered sitting on his lap while he held a handkerchief, folded into a small square in his hand. She very much wanted to know what was in there, as it was most certainly for her. She had tried her very best not to stare at it to much as her Dad had told her a story. On a trip to the Isle of Mann, he had stopped in a shop that was a mix of everything, just like their family, he had said. He opened up the cloth to show a small mass of dirty, old metal. Ginny had been very confused and slightly disappointed because that was not a pretty birthday present. It soon became much clearer as her father explained and taken her to clean the metal until was as bright as it had been the day it was made. What Ginny saw was a pretty necklace with a small silver pendant of an intricately carved design that over all took the shape of a lower case 't'. She remembered her father saying some people put meaning in the letter and saw it as protection and love. That day she learned there are good things in even the most unlikely of places
The car jumped over a bump, and Ginny blinked a few times, not ready for the jolt that had thrown Ronald's elbow into her side and out of her daydream.
"Ow! Stay on your side Ron!"
Ronald only stuck his tongue out at her and went back to playing 'Eye Spy' with their oldest brother. Her eyes went out the window again as they passed some very large houses. Each year she remembered a bit more detail and began wondering what sort of people lived in them. Usually this thought was quickly passed over by the houses dropping away to reveal the sand dunes and the ocean that sparkled like gems from the sun overhead and beyond them. She took a breath of air and pressed her face to the window as if this would make her closer. Her feet were itching for that warm seawater, and her hands the sand for her sandcastles.
The hours before dinner were spent playing with Ron and making sandcastles with moats and towers. The only argument that had broken out was on how to decorate all of it. She had wanted to find shells and he had wanted to leave it the way it was and not be so "girly." Ginny gave her brother a glare and push, then did not talk to him through most of dinner. Their second to oldest brother, Charlie, was putting her in a much happier mood with his jokes and she forgot all about the disagreement that had given her a stale mood earlier. She was in such a good mood that even before everyone was finished, she declared she was going to play on the beach once more, rushing out the door and down the steps, only hearing half of what her mum had said about someone going with her. She soon heard footsteps following her and turned to find Ronald with her favorite blue bucket in hand.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a tilt of her head to the right.
"Coming with you. Mum said. Where are you going?"
"On a walk," she said simply and turned to continue on her way
"Why?"
"Because I want to."
"Well, how long are we walking? How far?
"Till I get tired. Do you have to ask a bazillon questions?"
"No." He looked at her like a whipped puppy, begging not the be struck again. "I was just wondering is all. We got some fireworks for later, remember? I want to see them."
"Well, you can still come with me, you know?"
"I know."
"Then stop looking at me like that." Ginny turned to see him start to walk again. His longer legs only had to take a few big steps to get to even with her once again.
"I brought a bucket for us to put the shells in." She remembered the disagreement that had about the sandcastle towers and knew this was his way of apologizing for fighting with her. He offered her part of the bucket handle to her to hold with him and smiled brightly as her hand clasped around it knowing he had been forgiven and that she was sorry too. They didn't talk during the walk away from the house. Their eyes scouted for the best shells and each one was placed safe inside the bucket waiting for more to join. From time to time one or both of them would stop to pick up a shell, being careful not to get to far into the water. Their mother would be unhappy if they came back soaking wet in their clothes
"Oh look at this, Gin!" Ron exclaimed as the waves rolled out again. He gave no notice to it coming in once again walking the water until it was about ankle deep, holding the bucket in his left hand. "It's a huge sand dollar!" He set the bucket to his right as the waves rolled out once more and began to dig in the sand to pull the rest of the treasure from its place.
"Ronnie look out!" she cried.
He jumped back just in time as a large wave came in, but the bucket and shells were as good as lost, being carried out into deeper water. Ginny screwed her face up to fight the tears that wanted to come from the loss of the shells and the hard work they had done to collect them. "Ron how could you?" Her eyes started to mist more. Her brother, however, just stood there dumbfounded, staring at her trying to come up with a reply to her question.
She turned from the wordless wonder that was her brother and ran down the shore away from him. She ran and ran until she couldn't see him or the house anymore. Feeling wetness on her cheeks, she wiped the tears she hadn't realized had fallen and crouched on the edge of the shore letting the water lap at her feet as she sniffed her tears further away. It was then she felt something hard poke her leg. Ginny reached into the pocket of her dress and found a few shells that had been hidden there.
Pulling them from her pocket she started to throw them one by one into the sea as far as she could. Why should I have these if I can't have the others to go with them? One by one, they left her hand and plopped back into the sea they had come from. After about the fourth shell, Ginny felt a hard poke in between her shoulders.
"Go away, I don't want to talk to you." Another jab, harder this time. Annoyed that she had gotten no answer, Ginny stood to see a boy that was most certainly not her brother.
"What do you think you are doing?" came a snotty drawl that made her cringe and feel angry at the same time. This boy couldn't talk to her like that. She hadn't done anything to him. These weren't even his shells! Then again, she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, so she thought it better just be silent, clutching the remaining shells in her hand.
"Well... what are you doing on my beach?" he spoke again, more impatiently.<
"Your beach? This isn't your beach," Ginny snapped, forgetting he was a stranger and she was not to talk to him. "You can't own the beach."
The boy thrust his little pointed noise into the air and motioned to a very large house looming off down the beach with a pale finger. "Yes. I. Can." He grinned triumphantly. "That is my house, and this is my beach. My Daddy owns it."
"Well it's your Daddy's beach then and not yours," she retorted smartly and crossed her arms after throwing the last of the shells into the ocean with a show of frustration.
The boy's eyebrows furrowed, and Ginny thought such a pale blonde boy seemed out of place at the beach. "Why do you keep throwing things?" He asked, changing the subject. He looked as if her were growing more bored by the second and thinking of leaving.
>She shrugged, "I didn't want them anymore." Her brown eyes looked at his face and she tilted her head. "Why do you care?"
"I don't." He answered in that snotty tone again as he tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. After a time of silence and eyeing one another she spoke up, "Do you want to play?"
"I don't play tea party."
"I don't either, you git." Her face went pink with irritation as she crossed her arms and glared. He returned her glare and stood there silent.
"We can play over there." He pointed to a bend in the beach while his grey eyes were still glaring at her.
"Fine." She tossed her ginger braid over her shoulder and stomped away.
He followed her, but soon strode past to lead the way with his nose in the air like he had practiced it in a mirror. Looking out of the corner of his eyes to make sure she was watching. After a short walk they found the small cove he had pointed to. It was nothing extravagant but for Ginny it was wonderful. Rocks came up out of the sand and began to make a natural shelter. An inlet had been created by years of waves beating against the shore. Crabs and other small fish swam and lived in several pools of water. She bent down in front of one of the pools and stuck a couple of fingers in, creating small ripples.
"What's your name?" There was a silence as if he meant not to answer her or had not heard at all. Perhaps he had forgotten it. Or maybe it was a stupid name. At any rate he seemed to be thinking very hard.
"Lucas." He gave her hand a smack. "You're going to hurt them if you stick your hand in there."
She stood up again making a face at him for slapping her hand. "My name's Ginny."
"Ginny?" His face screwed up like something smelly had just been placed under it. "I don't like that. Don't you have another name?"
Instead of being offended she thought for a moment. No one had ever asked her that question. "My middle name is Marie." She looked at Lucas who seemed to be considering this new name's worth.
"Okay Mia, how about we go play over there?" He took her hand and pulled her over to the far side of the cove careful, not to fall in the pools of water. There they played in the sand, with seashells and starfish for hours until they heard a woman's voice calling her son in. They hadn't even realized the time had passed so quickly. They left the hidden cove, and Ginny could see a tall wispy form of a blonde woman at the railing on the back patio of Lucas' house. Her hair shimmered in the setting sun and flowed down her back like sparkling water. She was the kind of beautiful Ginny had never seen before. The blonde woman called again in a light voice that rang like bells restrained with proper manners.
Lucas ran for the house but turned around. "Will you come play again tomorrow?"
"Sure." She smiled and ran in the direction of her own house as he ran in the direction of his. She hadn't noticed how the beautiful woman had watched her go or how she had ushered Lucas inside like he had done something wrong.
Once she got home, her mum fussed over her for an hour. Ginny had tried to explain she had only been playing. She was sternly told that if she wanted to play alone or farther from the house she should tell someone so they would know where she was. Ginny hung her head and agreed, though she was quickly trying to think of ways to get around this new rule.
The next morning Ginny picked up any shells or bits of shiny rock that caught her eye on the way to Lucas' house. She squinted from the bright sun overhead to see Lucas coming down the stairs of his house. Ginny didn't see that pretty woman anywhere. She did see the top of a man's head, just as white blonde as Lucas', somewhere on the house's large patio. She hurried on her way to meet her friend. "What are we playing today?"
"I don't know. We can play in the cove again, find some shells or play some games."
They headed to the hidden cove, playing in the pools where the sea life wouldn't be harmed, finding shells and shiny rocks to use on later castles and thinking up games to play. They soon came up with one they called "Saved." The game consisted of someone pretending to be lost and in trouble and the other having to find and save them. This was a very great game considering they had found a small cave along the cove's edge. The cave would probably be gone at a higher tide because it was half way in the water already. It was Ginny's turn to hide; she knew the cave would be the perfect place to go. Neither of them had noticed the slowly gathering storm clouds. She was far enough from Lucas to only hear his counting as a quiet noise against the waves coming into the caves mouth. She had to stifle her want to laugh with her hand. She wanted to get a look around the cave wall and moved just a little bit, trying to crane her neck around with out being seen. Her foot slipped and dipped into the water that should have been farther away. She heard Lucas yelling but couldn't hear all of it. Ginny answered while cupping her hand around her mouth only to get a splash of seawater to her face. With a few small coughs she quickly realized the path she had come in on was smaller than it had been. She knew she had to leave quickly and did her best to stay on the path that was growing smaller and smaller with each incoming crash of wave. There was a dark blob at the cave's entrance.
"Lucas? The water is getting higher. Don't come in."
"Mia it's going to storm. Hurry up!"
The problem with hurrying was that her footing was not as firm as it could have been. Fear rose in her when she was only half way out of the cave. The seawater rising, the path became even harder to travel. Her hands gripped the wall as much as possible, helping for nearly the rest of the way. Ginny let out a surprised and very loud scream when a wave crashed making her slip. Something else grabbed her and she nearly screamed again until her eyes opened to see Lucas holding her hand and arm.
"I said hurry!"
"I was!"
Both of them were soaked from the waves and looking rather unhappy until they caught better sight of one another, bursting into shining laughter. Lucas suddenly went silent. There was a third shadow on the sand, tall and menacing. Her heart jumped to her throat as she wheeled around so fast she nearly slipped again despite being on the sand. A very tall man with broad shoulders stood staring at them. Unlike Lucas' grey eyes that laughed when he laughed this man looked as if he would never laugh or find anything funny. He had Lucas' hair too, only much longer, nearly all the way down his back and tied back in an elegant fashion she had never actually seen before and seemed kind of funny. She didn't dare laugh now. Instinctively she took a step backward from him and toward Lucas who was staring straight faced and seemed to be a different boy entirely. He looked more like a scared mouse that was trying his best not to show its fear of a swooping hawk.
"Son. Your Mother heard screaming." If he had not looked so much like Lucas she never would have thought him to be her playmate's fathe
"We won't do it again Father. I promise." Lucas' back straightened as if a hand had suddenly pushed it.
"Let us hope not." The sharp gaze shifted to her. Her hand fiddled with her wet clothes, her toes scrunching and stretching in the sand under them trying to take away from the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She wanted him to look away more than anything in the world. He raised a blond disapproving eyebrow at her. Perhaps dying would be better; he wouldn't look at her like that anymore. "Return home soon, Son. You're mother will want your story and a look at you."
A collected sigh released from both children once the blonde man was gone. Ginny snuck a look at Lucas who seemed sulky now. The only thing she could think was to give him a poke in the side with a small smile on her face.
"You look funny all wet."
Lucas gave a small shrug. A smile slowly broke onto his face. "And you look like a wet rat."
"Do not! You look like a... snufflemunger."
He gave her a look that said he did not believe that to be an animal of any kind, let alone one that he looked liked
"It could be an animal!"
"In crazy land."
This ended up in a round of sticking out tongues and the mood was severely lightened from what it had been before. Ginny left soon after that to head home still wet. At first she was able to avoid her mum's questions but soon caved in to give some answers. Ginny only told her mum that she had found a new playmate down the beach and they had been playing to close to the water and fell in. This was not exactly a lie and so she felt better and her mum was happy to have an explanation as to where her daughter went and why she kept going off to play alone. Ginny had made her mum promise not to tell anyone as she just wanted to be the one Lucas played with and no one else. They had such fun; it would be less if other people kept butting in.
Vacation had been going for nearly two weeks now. She had put on her yellow dress along with her necklace. Her mother had tried to convince her to play with one her brothers but it was only Lucas she wanted to see. So when her mother looked the other way Ginny had run quickly down the steps and toward Lucas' house. When it came into view she saw him playing with a dark haired girl who had yellow ribbons in her hair. She looked around to see where this girl had come from but only saw Lucas' father high above them on the house's patio looking like he was reading though she felt watched. Ginny was unhappy this new girl was stealing her playtime and did not want to play with her at all. Lucas met her with an annoyed and equally apologetic look on his face.
"Sorry Mia, Mum and Father invited her over and I have to play with her." His eyes shot the first truly cold and hated look she had ever seen at the girl, who seemed oblivious to the fact Lucas was even gone
"I guess I'll just come back tomorrow."
"Mum says she's staying for a few days. I wish she wouldn't. I'd rather play with you."
"It's okay. I'll just come by then and we can play again."
They both turned and went their separate ways. Ginny had tried to seem bright but she couldn't help feeling a bit upset her plans had been ruined.
The few days she could not play with Lucas passed quickly enough. She eagerly traveled the strip of beach to the back of Lucas' house but he was not there. This confused her, as that is where they met all the times before. She didn't dare go up to the house. The other place she could think of to look was the cove. She didn't have to look far to find him near the back end looking unhappy again.
"What's wrong Lucas?" She took a seat next to him and placed her head in both of her palms.
"Nothing," he said defensively. A moment of silence followed before he spoke again. "My Father said that we are leaving in a few hours if not sooner. Business or something like that."
"What?" Ginny looked as if she would never see joy again.
Lucas was looking at his feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world. One of his hands went into his pocket and pulled out two yellow ribbons. "Here. These are for you. They go with your dress."
"Thank you Lucas. They're very pretty." Ginny took them in her hand trying to remember if she had seen them before or just imagined the thought. She knew she wanted to give him something too. Nothing came immediately to mind but when she tied a ribbon to each of her braids, the end caught on the clasp of her necklace. Trying to be very careful, she detached it from the end of the ribbon at the cost of the end of the ribbon being torn. She frowned not wanting to rip up her new present. A thought struck her in how she would be able to return his thoughtful gift. The necklace in her hand was important to her. He could remember her better if he had it. "Here. You can have this." Her open palmed hand held the small chain and pendant out for him to take.
He looked at the necklace; he knew his father would not like it, even more so if he knew where it had come from. That didn't stop him from receiving his gift with a smile. "Thank you Mia." He held it up to the sunlight and watched it glint happily. "I'll keep it safe. I promise."
Ginny smiled, pleased that he had liked her gift as much as she had liked his. Something else seemed to be bothering him. It sounded like it was the last time she would ever talk to him. "So I'll see you next summer?" she said with hope in her smile only to be crushed by the small shake of Lucas' head.
"I heard my Father say this was our last summer here." Another crushed look came to Ginny's face as she looked to the ground. Silence hung between them like a black cloud until a squeaky voice interrupted. "Young Master!" a servant called for him. "It's time to go." Her heart sank; he was leaving even sooner than she had hoped. Ginny wasn't to sure about it but she thought she saw tears in Lucas' eyes.
"Bye Mia," he said in a voice that tried to not seem upset yet failed miserably at the task. His legs took him quickly away from her, the cove and the beach all together. Ginny merely sat and watched, sad for reasons she did not really understand. Only feeling like she had just lost a best friend. "Bye," she said quietly to herself, the small tidal pools around her and most importantly the boy that was not there to hear. She did not leave the cove for some time, maybe hoping he would come back. He didn't and she was forced to go home. She had cried a little on the way and promised herself she would never forget Lucas. The Weasleys did not return to the beach again after that summer. Those times were over, things seemed to get harder, and she over heard her parents talking about the economy. They would just have to sit tight and hope for the better. Childhood playthings were put away and Ginny didn't wear ribbons in her hair anymore. She broke her promise.
It was the summer just after her sixth birthday, and she seemed to know this summer would be more special than all the others. For one she had gotten two very special birthday presents. The one from her mum had been a brand-new yellow dress. For a girl that only wore hand-me-downs from her brothers, this was certainly a very big deal. She had nearly worn it her entire birthday month, even would have slept in it if her mum had let her. The other very special gift had come from her Dad. She remembered sitting on his lap while he held a handkerchief, folded into a small square in his hand. She very much wanted to know what was in there, as it was most certainly for her. She had tried her very best not to stare at it to much as her Dad had told her a story. On a trip to the Isle of Mann, he had stopped in a shop that was a mix of everything, just like their family, he had said. He opened up the cloth to show a small mass of dirty, old metal. Ginny had been very confused and slightly disappointed because that was not a pretty birthday present. It soon became much clearer as her father explained and taken her to clean the metal until was as bright as it had been the day it was made. What Ginny saw was a pretty necklace with a small silver pendant of an intricately carved design that over all took the shape of a lower case 't'. She remembered her father saying some people put meaning in the letter and saw it as protection and love. That day she learned there are good things in even the most unlikely of places
The car jumped over a bump, and Ginny blinked a few times, not ready for the jolt that had thrown Ronald's elbow into her side and out of her daydream.
"Ow! Stay on your side Ron!"
Ronald only stuck his tongue out at her and went back to playing 'Eye Spy' with their oldest brother. Her eyes went out the window again as they passed some very large houses. Each year she remembered a bit more detail and began wondering what sort of people lived in them. Usually this thought was quickly passed over by the houses dropping away to reveal the sand dunes and the ocean that sparkled like gems from the sun overhead and beyond them. She took a breath of air and pressed her face to the window as if this would make her closer. Her feet were itching for that warm seawater, and her hands the sand for her sandcastles.
The hours before dinner were spent playing with Ron and making sandcastles with moats and towers. The only argument that had broken out was on how to decorate all of it. She had wanted to find shells and he had wanted to leave it the way it was and not be so "girly." Ginny gave her brother a glare and push, then did not talk to him through most of dinner. Their second to oldest brother, Charlie, was putting her in a much happier mood with his jokes and she forgot all about the disagreement that had given her a stale mood earlier. She was in such a good mood that even before everyone was finished, she declared she was going to play on the beach once more, rushing out the door and down the steps, only hearing half of what her mum had said about someone going with her. She soon heard footsteps following her and turned to find Ronald with her favorite blue bucket in hand.
"What are you doing?" she asked with a tilt of her head to the right.
"Coming with you. Mum said. Where are you going?"
"On a walk," she said simply and turned to continue on her way
"Why?"
"Because I want to."
"Well, how long are we walking? How far?
"Till I get tired. Do you have to ask a bazillon questions?"
"No." He looked at her like a whipped puppy, begging not the be struck again. "I was just wondering is all. We got some fireworks for later, remember? I want to see them."
"Well, you can still come with me, you know?"
"I know."
"Then stop looking at me like that." Ginny turned to see him start to walk again. His longer legs only had to take a few big steps to get to even with her once again.
"I brought a bucket for us to put the shells in." She remembered the disagreement that had about the sandcastle towers and knew this was his way of apologizing for fighting with her. He offered her part of the bucket handle to her to hold with him and smiled brightly as her hand clasped around it knowing he had been forgiven and that she was sorry too. They didn't talk during the walk away from the house. Their eyes scouted for the best shells and each one was placed safe inside the bucket waiting for more to join. From time to time one or both of them would stop to pick up a shell, being careful not to get to far into the water. Their mother would be unhappy if they came back soaking wet in their clothes
"Oh look at this, Gin!" Ron exclaimed as the waves rolled out again. He gave no notice to it coming in once again walking the water until it was about ankle deep, holding the bucket in his left hand. "It's a huge sand dollar!" He set the bucket to his right as the waves rolled out once more and began to dig in the sand to pull the rest of the treasure from its place.
"Ronnie look out!" she cried.
He jumped back just in time as a large wave came in, but the bucket and shells were as good as lost, being carried out into deeper water. Ginny screwed her face up to fight the tears that wanted to come from the loss of the shells and the hard work they had done to collect them. "Ron how could you?" Her eyes started to mist more. Her brother, however, just stood there dumbfounded, staring at her trying to come up with a reply to her question.
She turned from the wordless wonder that was her brother and ran down the shore away from him. She ran and ran until she couldn't see him or the house anymore. Feeling wetness on her cheeks, she wiped the tears she hadn't realized had fallen and crouched on the edge of the shore letting the water lap at her feet as she sniffed her tears further away. It was then she felt something hard poke her leg. Ginny reached into the pocket of her dress and found a few shells that had been hidden there.
Pulling them from her pocket she started to throw them one by one into the sea as far as she could. Why should I have these if I can't have the others to go with them? One by one, they left her hand and plopped back into the sea they had come from. After about the fourth shell, Ginny felt a hard poke in between her shoulders.
"Go away, I don't want to talk to you." Another jab, harder this time. Annoyed that she had gotten no answer, Ginny stood to see a boy that was most certainly not her brother.
"What do you think you are doing?" came a snotty drawl that made her cringe and feel angry at the same time. This boy couldn't talk to her like that. She hadn't done anything to him. These weren't even his shells! Then again, she wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, so she thought it better just be silent, clutching the remaining shells in her hand.
"Well... what are you doing on my beach?" he spoke again, more impatiently.<
"Your beach? This isn't your beach," Ginny snapped, forgetting he was a stranger and she was not to talk to him. "You can't own the beach."
The boy thrust his little pointed noise into the air and motioned to a very large house looming off down the beach with a pale finger. "Yes. I. Can." He grinned triumphantly. "That is my house, and this is my beach. My Daddy owns it."
"Well it's your Daddy's beach then and not yours," she retorted smartly and crossed her arms after throwing the last of the shells into the ocean with a show of frustration.
The boy's eyebrows furrowed, and Ginny thought such a pale blonde boy seemed out of place at the beach. "Why do you keep throwing things?" He asked, changing the subject. He looked as if her were growing more bored by the second and thinking of leaving.
>She shrugged, "I didn't want them anymore." Her brown eyes looked at his face and she tilted her head. "Why do you care?"
"I don't." He answered in that snotty tone again as he tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. After a time of silence and eyeing one another she spoke up, "Do you want to play?"
"I don't play tea party."
"I don't either, you git." Her face went pink with irritation as she crossed her arms and glared. He returned her glare and stood there silent.
"We can play over there." He pointed to a bend in the beach while his grey eyes were still glaring at her.
"Fine." She tossed her ginger braid over her shoulder and stomped away.
He followed her, but soon strode past to lead the way with his nose in the air like he had practiced it in a mirror. Looking out of the corner of his eyes to make sure she was watching. After a short walk they found the small cove he had pointed to. It was nothing extravagant but for Ginny it was wonderful. Rocks came up out of the sand and began to make a natural shelter. An inlet had been created by years of waves beating against the shore. Crabs and other small fish swam and lived in several pools of water. She bent down in front of one of the pools and stuck a couple of fingers in, creating small ripples.
"What's your name?" There was a silence as if he meant not to answer her or had not heard at all. Perhaps he had forgotten it. Or maybe it was a stupid name. At any rate he seemed to be thinking very hard.
"Lucas." He gave her hand a smack. "You're going to hurt them if you stick your hand in there."
She stood up again making a face at him for slapping her hand. "My name's Ginny."
"Ginny?" His face screwed up like something smelly had just been placed under it. "I don't like that. Don't you have another name?"
Instead of being offended she thought for a moment. No one had ever asked her that question. "My middle name is Marie." She looked at Lucas who seemed to be considering this new name's worth.
"Okay Mia, how about we go play over there?" He took her hand and pulled her over to the far side of the cove careful, not to fall in the pools of water. There they played in the sand, with seashells and starfish for hours until they heard a woman's voice calling her son in. They hadn't even realized the time had passed so quickly. They left the hidden cove, and Ginny could see a tall wispy form of a blonde woman at the railing on the back patio of Lucas' house. Her hair shimmered in the setting sun and flowed down her back like sparkling water. She was the kind of beautiful Ginny had never seen before. The blonde woman called again in a light voice that rang like bells restrained with proper manners.
Lucas ran for the house but turned around. "Will you come play again tomorrow?"
"Sure." She smiled and ran in the direction of her own house as he ran in the direction of his. She hadn't noticed how the beautiful woman had watched her go or how she had ushered Lucas inside like he had done something wrong.
Once she got home, her mum fussed over her for an hour. Ginny had tried to explain she had only been playing. She was sternly told that if she wanted to play alone or farther from the house she should tell someone so they would know where she was. Ginny hung her head and agreed, though she was quickly trying to think of ways to get around this new rule.
The next morning Ginny picked up any shells or bits of shiny rock that caught her eye on the way to Lucas' house. She squinted from the bright sun overhead to see Lucas coming down the stairs of his house. Ginny didn't see that pretty woman anywhere. She did see the top of a man's head, just as white blonde as Lucas', somewhere on the house's large patio. She hurried on her way to meet her friend. "What are we playing today?"
"I don't know. We can play in the cove again, find some shells or play some games."
They headed to the hidden cove, playing in the pools where the sea life wouldn't be harmed, finding shells and shiny rocks to use on later castles and thinking up games to play. They soon came up with one they called "Saved." The game consisted of someone pretending to be lost and in trouble and the other having to find and save them. This was a very great game considering they had found a small cave along the cove's edge. The cave would probably be gone at a higher tide because it was half way in the water already. It was Ginny's turn to hide; she knew the cave would be the perfect place to go. Neither of them had noticed the slowly gathering storm clouds. She was far enough from Lucas to only hear his counting as a quiet noise against the waves coming into the caves mouth. She had to stifle her want to laugh with her hand. She wanted to get a look around the cave wall and moved just a little bit, trying to crane her neck around with out being seen. Her foot slipped and dipped into the water that should have been farther away. She heard Lucas yelling but couldn't hear all of it. Ginny answered while cupping her hand around her mouth only to get a splash of seawater to her face. With a few small coughs she quickly realized the path she had come in on was smaller than it had been. She knew she had to leave quickly and did her best to stay on the path that was growing smaller and smaller with each incoming crash of wave. There was a dark blob at the cave's entrance.
"Lucas? The water is getting higher. Don't come in."
"Mia it's going to storm. Hurry up!"
The problem with hurrying was that her footing was not as firm as it could have been. Fear rose in her when she was only half way out of the cave. The seawater rising, the path became even harder to travel. Her hands gripped the wall as much as possible, helping for nearly the rest of the way. Ginny let out a surprised and very loud scream when a wave crashed making her slip. Something else grabbed her and she nearly screamed again until her eyes opened to see Lucas holding her hand and arm.
"I said hurry!"
"I was!"
Both of them were soaked from the waves and looking rather unhappy until they caught better sight of one another, bursting into shining laughter. Lucas suddenly went silent. There was a third shadow on the sand, tall and menacing. Her heart jumped to her throat as she wheeled around so fast she nearly slipped again despite being on the sand. A very tall man with broad shoulders stood staring at them. Unlike Lucas' grey eyes that laughed when he laughed this man looked as if he would never laugh or find anything funny. He had Lucas' hair too, only much longer, nearly all the way down his back and tied back in an elegant fashion she had never actually seen before and seemed kind of funny. She didn't dare laugh now. Instinctively she took a step backward from him and toward Lucas who was staring straight faced and seemed to be a different boy entirely. He looked more like a scared mouse that was trying his best not to show its fear of a swooping hawk.
"Son. Your Mother heard screaming." If he had not looked so much like Lucas she never would have thought him to be her playmate's fathe
"We won't do it again Father. I promise." Lucas' back straightened as if a hand had suddenly pushed it.
"Let us hope not." The sharp gaze shifted to her. Her hand fiddled with her wet clothes, her toes scrunching and stretching in the sand under them trying to take away from the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach. She wanted him to look away more than anything in the world. He raised a blond disapproving eyebrow at her. Perhaps dying would be better; he wouldn't look at her like that anymore. "Return home soon, Son. You're mother will want your story and a look at you."
A collected sigh released from both children once the blonde man was gone. Ginny snuck a look at Lucas who seemed sulky now. The only thing she could think was to give him a poke in the side with a small smile on her face.
"You look funny all wet."
Lucas gave a small shrug. A smile slowly broke onto his face. "And you look like a wet rat."
"Do not! You look like a... snufflemunger."
He gave her a look that said he did not believe that to be an animal of any kind, let alone one that he looked liked
"It could be an animal!"
"In crazy land."
This ended up in a round of sticking out tongues and the mood was severely lightened from what it had been before. Ginny left soon after that to head home still wet. At first she was able to avoid her mum's questions but soon caved in to give some answers. Ginny only told her mum that she had found a new playmate down the beach and they had been playing to close to the water and fell in. This was not exactly a lie and so she felt better and her mum was happy to have an explanation as to where her daughter went and why she kept going off to play alone. Ginny had made her mum promise not to tell anyone as she just wanted to be the one Lucas played with and no one else. They had such fun; it would be less if other people kept butting in.
Vacation had been going for nearly two weeks now. She had put on her yellow dress along with her necklace. Her mother had tried to convince her to play with one her brothers but it was only Lucas she wanted to see. So when her mother looked the other way Ginny had run quickly down the steps and toward Lucas' house. When it came into view she saw him playing with a dark haired girl who had yellow ribbons in her hair. She looked around to see where this girl had come from but only saw Lucas' father high above them on the house's patio looking like he was reading though she felt watched. Ginny was unhappy this new girl was stealing her playtime and did not want to play with her at all. Lucas met her with an annoyed and equally apologetic look on his face.
"Sorry Mia, Mum and Father invited her over and I have to play with her." His eyes shot the first truly cold and hated look she had ever seen at the girl, who seemed oblivious to the fact Lucas was even gone
"I guess I'll just come back tomorrow."
"Mum says she's staying for a few days. I wish she wouldn't. I'd rather play with you."
"It's okay. I'll just come by then and we can play again."
They both turned and went their separate ways. Ginny had tried to seem bright but she couldn't help feeling a bit upset her plans had been ruined.
The few days she could not play with Lucas passed quickly enough. She eagerly traveled the strip of beach to the back of Lucas' house but he was not there. This confused her, as that is where they met all the times before. She didn't dare go up to the house. The other place she could think of to look was the cove. She didn't have to look far to find him near the back end looking unhappy again.
"What's wrong Lucas?" She took a seat next to him and placed her head in both of her palms.
"Nothing," he said defensively. A moment of silence followed before he spoke again. "My Father said that we are leaving in a few hours if not sooner. Business or something like that."
"What?" Ginny looked as if she would never see joy again.
Lucas was looking at his feet as if they were the most interesting things in the world. One of his hands went into his pocket and pulled out two yellow ribbons. "Here. These are for you. They go with your dress."
"Thank you Lucas. They're very pretty." Ginny took them in her hand trying to remember if she had seen them before or just imagined the thought. She knew she wanted to give him something too. Nothing came immediately to mind but when she tied a ribbon to each of her braids, the end caught on the clasp of her necklace. Trying to be very careful, she detached it from the end of the ribbon at the cost of the end of the ribbon being torn. She frowned not wanting to rip up her new present. A thought struck her in how she would be able to return his thoughtful gift. The necklace in her hand was important to her. He could remember her better if he had it. "Here. You can have this." Her open palmed hand held the small chain and pendant out for him to take.
He looked at the necklace; he knew his father would not like it, even more so if he knew where it had come from. That didn't stop him from receiving his gift with a smile. "Thank you Mia." He held it up to the sunlight and watched it glint happily. "I'll keep it safe. I promise."
Ginny smiled, pleased that he had liked her gift as much as she had liked his. Something else seemed to be bothering him. It sounded like it was the last time she would ever talk to him. "So I'll see you next summer?" she said with hope in her smile only to be crushed by the small shake of Lucas' head.
"I heard my Father say this was our last summer here." Another crushed look came to Ginny's face as she looked to the ground. Silence hung between them like a black cloud until a squeaky voice interrupted. "Young Master!" a servant called for him. "It's time to go." Her heart sank; he was leaving even sooner than she had hoped. Ginny wasn't to sure about it but she thought she saw tears in Lucas' eyes.
"Bye Mia," he said in a voice that tried to not seem upset yet failed miserably at the task. His legs took him quickly away from her, the cove and the beach all together. Ginny merely sat and watched, sad for reasons she did not really understand. Only feeling like she had just lost a best friend. "Bye," she said quietly to herself, the small tidal pools around her and most importantly the boy that was not there to hear. She did not leave the cove for some time, maybe hoping he would come back. He didn't and she was forced to go home. She had cried a little on the way and promised herself she would never forget Lucas. The Weasleys did not return to the beach again after that summer. Those times were over, things seemed to get harder, and she over heard her parents talking about the economy. They would just have to sit tight and hope for the better. Childhood playthings were put away and Ginny didn't wear ribbons in her hair anymore. She broke her promise.
Author notes: I have changed Ginny's middle name to a varient of Molly to keep it more canon. Somehow little Draco calling Ginny Mol is not as cute as him calling her Mia. Lucas I felt was close enough to Lucius with out being to obvious. The game they are playing was inspired by the song "Cure My Tragedy" by Cold.
The End.
Cinnamon is the author of 2 other stories.
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