I squeeze my eyes close as I remember once again the last time I felt so good, so free, in the middle of summer while I let the cold breeze of the night hit my face and body. It was my first summer after finishing Hogwarts and my last summer before finally living the life of an adult.
That summer me and Albus had begged my dad to let me stay a couple of weeks with his family. After all, the older cousins were coming back from different parts of the world and it was gonna be one of those rare occasions where all the Weasley-Potter cousins/siblings were together. It had taken a lot of begging and pleading for my dad to say yes, but when he did I was really excited since I wasn’t gonna spend that summer alone with my dad in the Greengrass Manor.
The whole month of August of that year felt like nothing else other than a fever dream.
In the first week of August all the older Weasley kids and James Potter II were coming back from different countries and settling down at the Burrow. Nothing much happened in that week, all I remember from then are the looks the elders were giving me and the warm hand of Albus squeezing mine when no one was looking. After the first week, after everyone had settled in it was like the Burrow was full of rebelling teenagers without adult supervision.
It was a handful of Weasley’s that weren’t seen holding cigs or alcohol in their hands. I can still remember them. Lily, Hugo, and the twins Lucy and Molly. The rest of the Weasley-Potters were always either smoking or drinking. I never truly gave it any mind, sometimes I would join while other times I would stay as far as I could from them. The second week of August was the week I saw the most famous family in the Wizarding World true colors.
The third week of August was when hell broke loose.
I barely went out during my teenage years so I didn’t know the city as well as I wanted to. It really wasn’t a surprise when we would walk from early morning to late nights around the city causing trouble and having fun. It didn’t matter how many different routes we took, we always ended up at the Beach in the Weasley-Delacour’s family house. We would undress till all that was left was our underwear and swim in the cold water, some of them would even skinny dip, something I would often find disturbing. Most of the time I would just sit or lay on a blanket spread over the sand and watch the lots of siblings and cousins chasing each other and playing around. Albus would often be besides me or smoking with his favorite cousin, Dominique.
Though I wasn’t close to any of them except for Albus and Rose I would often have long conversations with either Victoire or little Molly. It didn’t take long for me to create some kind of bond with the half-Veela Witch. She was often unbothered about what was going on around her and didn’t really gave two fucks about anyone other than her little siblings. Victoire would always walk besides me and Albus or sit with me while smoking at the beach. She was always cursing someone or supporting the bad behavior of others.
She was an amazing, cold bitch. Or that was what Albus called her.
We would go to pools all together and cause trouble. We would buy ice creams and share with each other or just throw it at each other while laughing like little kids.
In the third week of August I had my first time with Albus while hiding away from his cousins and siblings.
In the fourth week I was comfortable enough to talk the same way they did, to smoke and get drunk, and to shag Albus while being in the same place as them. By the fourth week a cigarette always found a way between my index and middle finger. I would often get high and talk about nonsense or scream at the void that was the beach.
Somewhere in between that week I had drunkenly kissed Victoire to make both Teddy and Albus jealous. It had worked but it had also caused a fight between us, the fight didn’t last longer than an hour or so. We ended up doing it in one of the many rooms that the Burrow had.
Me and James had gone quite close too. We would often play wrestling together, in which I would always lose, or share a joint inside the big tree house they had in the backyard.
But it wasn’t all fun and drugs during August. They would often fight each other to the point where at least one of them would get a purple eye and/or a broken nose. I was involved at least twice in these fights and I would often get out of them with a busted lip or a big bruise somewhere in my body.
On the last day of August we decided to dress formally as if we were going to a Ministry ball. That day we did our usual walk around the city and ended up on the beach like we always did. Louis had brought a muggle big speaker in which he played loud, cliche music.
I was wearing dark blues dress robes with silver accessories that day. Albus wore his favorite emerald green dress robes. Victoire wore a long blue dress that had a long slit on the left side with a shiny silver necklace and her short hair a mess. Dominique and James wore Gryffindor red dress robes, Teddy wore black and so did Rose, Lily, and Molly. I can’t exactly remember what colors the others wore but I can remember how long, short, soft, or itchy they’re clothes felt because we all danced with each other that night.
The next day nobody talked to nobody and the younger kids that were still at Hogwarts were taken to the platform. On September third Victoire had hugged me tightly before appearing with a *crack*, she had gone back to France where she would stay with Teddy until late October and then travel to Romania.
Me and Albus moved to our new flat in America only a week later. Albus had started working as a Potion Master and I started playing for the Haileybury Hammers quidditch team.
It’s been six years since then and I would often think about it. I think about the warm hugs of Victoire and how it felt like I had a big sister when I was around her. We wrote each other letters but I wish to see her in person.
I open my eyes and look at the ocean waves hitting my bare feet, I can feel Albus hands sneaking around my waist which makes a smile creep up my face. Six years, it hasn’t been that long but it was one of the greatest summers ever. Albus takes the cigarette from my mouth and gives it a good drag before letting the smoke out of his mouth and nose.
This summer, the summer of 2029 was gonna be like the summer of 2024 because we were all gonna be together at the Burrow in just a matter of days and it’s gonna be great.
I'm sure of it.