Quickly, Euphemia made her way up to the lake, trying to get there as soon as possible without seeming like she was in a rush to get anywhere. If she was seen running to the lakeside at lunch, Lyall and Hope would undoubtedly question her on who the ‘special guy’ she was clearly so desperate to see was. She smiled to herself when she caught a glimpse of black hair, tied in a tight bun with a few whisps lurking around her shoulders. She crept up behind the girl and put her arms around her shoulders, tilting her head to yell directly into her ear. “Hello, darling!”
Instantly whipping around, Walburga grabbed her shoulders and pulled her behind the tree, out of everybody’s sight. “Goodness, Euphemia! You can’t be so shamelessly loud! People could see us and then I would get into terrible trouble with so many people!”
She felt her heart drop slightly but kept smiling as much as she could. “Oh. The full first name? I really must be in trouble, mustn’t I? I apologise, my lady, for disappointing you so terribly.”
“Don’t be childish. You know what I mean, Eff. We can’t be caught together.” She knew it was a serious topic but wasn’t giving up on her teasing just yet, desperate to at least somewhat brighten the mood.
“Why? Scared to be seen with your Hufflepuff girlfriend? Wow, Bugs, I never would have thought of you as the kind to discriminate based on houses. What happened to being better than the rest of them?”
This earned her a small smile, it was hardly there, but still worth it. “No, I’m scared to be reported hanging around and being intimate with anybody other than my fiancé.”
Euphemia sat down slowly and gently took her hand, holding it close to her chest. “Fiancé? Your parents are making you get married, aren’t they? I know you wouldn’t choose that for yourself. Don’t tell me it’s one of your cousins.”
“He’s my second cousin, actually.” Euphemia felt sick. Genuinely, physically sick.
“I know, it’s not exactly ideal, but family tradition and all.” She looked out across the lake. “Well, it definitely is family tradition this way, isn’t it?” She caught the way Euphemia’s expression turned bitter and tried to change the subject slightly. “I wouldn’t worry about it though,” she said with a grin. “He won’t steal me away from you, he just so happens to…not feel attraction towards the fairer sex.”
The beam she received was enough to outshine an angel. “He’s like us?” She asked, shuffling closer and placing a hand on Walburga’s shoulder excitedly.
“Well…yes but the other way around, I suppose.”
The happiness only lasted a few moments, however, as Euphemia let go and slumped back against the tree. “That’s not what I am most worried about though,”
“No?”
She looked almost pitiful. “No, Bugs. It’s the fact they are forcing you to marry your cousin. That’s…that’s…”
“Horrible, I know. But it isn’t like I have a choice. It’s the way of the family. Whilst I am married to him, we must keep up public impressions but don’t think that I will ever stop loving you.”
“I know. Neither will I. But I don’t like the way they’re making you marry a family member. You keep skipping over it like it’s no big deal.”
She sighed and leaned back against the tree in line with Euphemia, taking her hand back and gently running her fingers along the creases that covered her palm and around the part that faded into a lighter colour. It was something she had started doing a while ago to comfort herself and had become a habit by then.
“I know it’s disgusting. That’s why I’m trying to avoid talking too much about it. I would rather not think about it at all if I am honest. Do you understand? Please tell me you understand me, Effie, or I’ll feel hysterical.”
“No, no, of course. Of course, I understand. It’s a topic nobody wants to discuss, I understand that. It’s just horrid that it’s a conversation people need to have anyway. The morals in it are so abysmal, that it’s likely they have completely disappeared. Nobody should have to even think about that happening to them, tradition or not. Blood status is all a lot of waffle and prejudice anyway, I don't understand why they think that inbreeding is a way to make the world a better place, it just causes countless issues in the health of children, as well as pushing long outdated traditions and practices and creates an even larger rift between different groups of people instead of actually solving anything.”
She found herself looking at Euphemia, her eyes swimming with awe and love as she clung desperately to every word like this girl in front of her was God herself speaking truths nobody else could ever know.
“What? Did I start rambling again? I’m sorry, I got a bit carried away…”
She smiled and lifted a hand, brushing her finger across Euphemia’s cheekbone and feeling her shiver slightly under the touch. “I love it when you go all smart and philosophical,” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the face before her, admiring every part of it. “If my parents heard any of what you said, they would have heart attacks but…I love hearing you talk about it. You get so passionate, it’s adorable.”
She swatted Walburga’s hand away and laughed. “Stop it, you’ll make me go all mushy, you lovesick fool!”
“Never! I have sworn an oath to make you all bashful and cute until the day I die. That is the agreement, Mia, I must stick to it.”
Euphemia turned to face her and placed a hand on either side of her face. “Did you just call me Mia? You’ve never done that before.”
“Don’t you like it? I just wanted to test it out, so if you don’t like it, that is okay.”
She smiled and shook her head, leaning in to kiss her girlfriend’s nose twice and keeping their faces close together afterwards when she whispered just loud enough to be heard. “I prefer Effie but it’s okay. You can call me that again if you like, I don’t mind.”
“Yeah? I will. I like it.”
Euphemia nodded and rested their foreheads together, breathing slowly and taking in the moment.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, Euphemia’s hands resting on Walburga’s hips and Walburga’s making their way around Euphemia’s neck. They held each other happily, thinking things over with the other keeping them grounded when the thoughts got out of hand. They wanted it to last forever, they prayed to whoever was out there to let this last. It had to. They couldn't live if it didn't.
“We should run away.”
Euphemia opened her eyes and frowned, pulling back slightly and tilting her head. “What do you mean ‘run away’?”
Walburga smiled and sat up, grinning madly. “The day of the wedding! We’ll tell Orion of course, he can come with us and find a sweet boyfriend at the local bakery. When they’re waiting for me to walk down the aisle, we’ll leave out the back and they’ll have to cancel! We can wait for him in the car and then we’ll move to a big muggle city where they’ll never find us and we can adopt ten dogs and a million babies!”
She couldn’t help but smile and bury her face in Walburga’s chest to smother her laughter. “Darling, we are not having a million children.”
“Ah, that’s what you think!” She prods Euphemia’s chest, still smiling like a madman. “I’ll adopt them all when you’re not looking and I’ll name them all after book characters.”
“The worst thing is that I actually believe that it is something you would do!”
They both continued laughing, clinging to each other as they did. “You know me too well, Effie, you really do.”
“Let me guess the names…child one is named Dracula.”
He snorted and shoved Euphemia playfully. “No, that’s the second one! And Dracula is a silly name, he’ll be James.”
“Why James?”
Smirking, she put on a serious expression. “Because that is Dracula’s first name, of course.”
“I really don’t think it is, sweetheart.”
She fake gasped and held a hand to her heart in an offended gesture. “Of course it is! I decided on it all by myself. He seems like a James, don’t you think?”
That made Euphemia shake her head and change the subject, unable to hide her smile. “So what is the first one going to be named, then? Romeo? Basil?”
“Toby.”
Euphemia paused and blinked. “Toby?”
“Yes, Toby. After the dog in the Sherlock Holmes stories. I do read more muggle literature than you may think, you know, I just hide all the books well.”
“Toby is…a terrible name. Why don’t you pick something that won’t embarrass the poor child? Perhaps something that means dog?”
Now it was Walburga’s time to frown. “What sort of name means dog? Isn’t that some form of child abuse?”
“Well, I don’t know! Surely you can think of something in time. Come on, what will the other nine hundred thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight be called?”
She sighed and shuffled around, sitting between Euphemia’s legs and leaning back against her chest, smiling as she felt her arms wrap around her middle. “We’ll figure that out later. We have time.”
Euphemia smiled and leaned down to kiss her and they both knew that they would do whatever they needed to in order to keep this forever.