Disclaimer: As always I own nothing but the original characters and the situations all characters find themselves in. Everything else belongs to someone else and that's the way it's gotta be according to the lawyers.

Fun At The Beach

Domi skipped happily beside her maman's side, not even annoyed that she'd been ordered to hold her little brother's hand so that he couldn't wander off. They were at the beach! She'd made a kite to fly, and she was finally going to get to show off her new bathing suit which had been the most beautiful bathing suit in the whole store. It was even better than her big sister's no matter what Victoire said. Her bathing suit was a tie-dye two piece with all the colors of the rainbow! That was way better than just purple, which her sister had picked because it was Teddy favoritest color.

Giggling at the thought of her sister's crush Domi sent a mischievous look in Victoire's direction, knowing the girl hated to be teased about the fact that Teddy just treated her like a cousin.

The little blonde lost her grin moments later though when a strong gust of wind blew her kite out of her hand, sending it whirling away from her as she gave a yelp of distress.

Victoire smirked. "Well at least you know it will probably fly now."

"Go get it, Domi. Louis, you will stay here with us."

Dropping her brother's hand, he wouldn't dare disobey their maman, Domi took off after her kite, yelling at it as it kept blowing out of her reach. Stupid kite!

She was so busy muttering at it that she didn't notice the kite had landed on someone's foot at first. Then the kite was rising up and Domi got a look at the little boy holding it, her eyes going huge.

He looked to be about her age, but there were horrible scars on his neck and cheek and he had the saddest golden eyes she'd ever seen in her almost eight years of living.

When he silently held out her kite to her Domi blinked and then hurried over to take it from him, embarrassed to be caught staring. "Thank you very much for grabbing my kite for me. It just kept getting away from me. I'm Dominique Weasley. What's your name, and how did you get those scars?"

The boy opened his mouth to answer her and then closed it again, looking down at his feet.

"Hello there, Miss. Dominique. This is my son Christopher Worden." A man said as he came over to join them, dropping a hand on his son's thin shoulder. "And he can't talk to you because of the scars on his throat, I'm afraid. I'm sure he's very sorry he can't, you being such a pretty girl and all."

Beaming at the compliment Domi decided she liked both of them. "My papa has scars all over his face and neck too." She told the boy, thinking he might be embarrassed about them. "He gots attacked by a very bad werewolf. He's not a werewolf though cause the guy that hurt him wasn't a wolf at the time. Did a bad man hurt you too?"

"Actually...it was a group of werewolves that did this. His mother was killed."

Eyes going wide at the thought Domi opened her mouth to ask if the bad people had made the boy a werewolf too but she somehow knew, in her gut, that they had. They'd made the poor boy a werewolf and killed his maman too.

Tears welling up at the thought Domi dropped her kite and moved forward, wrapping her arms around the startled little boy's waist. "I'm real sorry they hurt you and took your maman away from you. They were big, dumb, stupidheads and I hope they gots fleas!"

Slowly the boy's arms came up and hugged her in return, unable to express his thanks any other way.

"DOMINIQUE!"

Jumping at the sound of her name being called, she knew that tone of voice, Domi let the little boy go. "That's my maman. That's her 'You better get over here right now' voice."

Picking up her kite from the ground Domi studied it for a moment and then looked back at the boy who was shyly looking at his feet again. Making a snap decision she moved closer again and held it out towards him. "I want you to have my kite. I made it myself and it will make you happy. And next time, maybe we can play with it together, kay?"

Eyes wide the boy accepted the gift with a smile and nod.

Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek good bye Domi said good bye to them both and then took off running towards where she'd left the rest of the family, not wanting to keep them waiting any longer.

She hoped she got to see the little boy again someday.

He'd seemed really nice.

)

Walking at his mother's side as he helped her look for the ideal place for them to sit Rory frowned, disappointed that the beach was so crowded already. He liked it best when there were very few people, but it was so hot out that maybe most of them would stay in the water. That would suit him just fine. He didn't like the beach because of the water, what he loved was making sandcastles and sculptures. Even though he was only five he was better at both than a lot of the bigger kids, which he liked too.

And then a piece of luck had him focusing on one particular spot as the sun rays turned a familiar blonde head into something truly beautiful. It almost looked like the other little boy had a halo, Rory thought with a grin, and such a thing would never suit this classmate of his.

"Mum, can we sit over there? I see a friend from school."

Unable to deny her baby anything because he so rarely asked for anything, Mrs. Goyle nodded her head and followed her son as he ran over to join a child whose gender she wouldn't have known was male if not for the fact that she recognized him as Louis Weasley.

"Hi, Louis."

Looking up from the sand he was compiling Louis's face broke out into a wide grin. "Wotcher, Rory! You've come to play with me, then? Or are you just stopping by?"

"I can play with you, my mum's right over there." Rory pointed to where his mother was setting down her towel and beach bag. "What about you? Who are you here with?"

"I'm here with my maman and sisters." Louis pointed to where three identical lawn chairs were set up, three nearly identical blondes, if you discounted the difference in ages, were stretched out on them. "They're working on their tans while I build my castle." Plus they wanted to show off their bathing suits, which was why they hadn't just stayed home.

"You're building a castle?" Rory stared down at the large pile of sand in front of the boy that was patted down in some places, but definitely didn't resemble any castle he'd ever seen.

"It's a work in progress." Louis sniffed, his bottom lip sliding out in a pout. "And I just started cause I had to gather lots of decorations first. See?" Grabbing his bright blue bucket Louis showed the other boy that it was full of feathers, shells and pretty rocks.

Sensing that he was in potential hot water with the very volatile blonde Rory asked if he could help him with the castle, knowing that it would probably end up looking rather weird, but it would be a lot more fun to make one together.

"Okay." And knowing his strengths Louis informed the dark haired boy that he would put him in charge of building the castle, but he was in charge of decorating.

Happy with that Rory accepted the deal and soon the boys were working away at their shared castle, Louis absolutely delighted with the emerging results as he'd never had that much luck building castles that didn't require a lot of decoration to look good. Rory obviously knew what he was doing and Louis just plain liked the other boy who didn't talk a lot but was always nice to him.

They were well into their project when a group of older looking boys approached them, the way they were looking at the castle making it clear that they had every intention of stomping it to bits in front of them. And both having a lot of experience with such people Rory and Louis moved in tandem to stand in front of their creation, informing the other boys that they wouldn't let them wreck it.

Unfortunately said boys seemed to see this as a challenge, moving forward as a pack, coming to a grinding halt the same way.

"Wow, aren't you boys so big and strong." More developed then most girls her age twelve year old Victoire Weasley was quite the sight in her bikini as she smiled at the four boys who were close to her age but nowhere near smart enough to sense the danger she posed. "And so tough, walking around threatening to kick in little boys' sandcastles. Your mothers must be so proud, you pathetic, cowardly trolls."

And with that the girl began to tear the now terrified boys to verbal shreds as she berated them for even thinking of bothering her little brother, informing them that she would stun them and then bury them in the sand close to the tide if they didn't leave before she really gave them what they deserved.

"I want to be just like her when I grow up." Louis whispered to Rory, his pride in his sister's badass-ness obvious on his face.

Somehow, that didn't surprise Rory one little bit.

)

Sev stared at the contents of the tide pool, fascinated by the creatures that were hardy and strong enough to exist in such a precarious environment. The bucket at his side was already filled with specimens he'd liberated from some of the other pools and this particular pool had a lumpsucker he was determined to get his hands on. The problem was that the fish's coloring allowed it to blend in very well with the bottom of the pool and it had disappeared from his sight when he'd turned to get his little net to capture it.

"What are you doing?"

Looking up in surprise Sev stared at the little girl who stood on the other side of the pool with a questioning look on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Tidal pools are very educational." Rosie Weasley informed him as she walked over to see what was in the bucket at his side. "Why do you have all these guys in your bucket? Were they stranded and you're putting them in this pool?"

"Course not. I'm taking them home with me."

Rosie frowned. "You can't do that, they'll die. These pools are their homes."

"They won't die right away."

"That's not the point!" And snatching up the bucket before he realized what she was going to do Rosie quickly dumped the contents into the pool in front of them.

"HEY! THOSE WERE MINE! I caught them!" Furious with her Sev glared as he got to his feet, going nose to nose with the girl when she did the same. "I don't like you anymore!"

Tears welled up in her eyes but Rosie glared right back at him. "Well I don't like you either! You're mean and nasty to pick on creatures who can't fight back! You're probably so horrible you have a house elf you're really mean to all the time. And I'm a member of SPEW, I'll have you know!"

"You're a member of a throwing up club?"

"I am not! It stands for Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare, Stupid!"

"I'm not stupid, you're stupid!"

"You're stupidest!"

And on that note Rosie whipped her head around, smacking him in the face with her reddish brown hair as she marched off in the direction of her parents and little brother. Her exit was ruined however when one of her bright blue water shoes slipped into a crevice and she fell forward, crying out in shock and pain as she hit the rock's surface.

Forgetting that he was mad at her Sev raced to her side to help her sit up, unbearably upset at the sight of tears streaming down her freckled cheeks as she cried over her skinned knees, hands, and sore ankle. Holding her hand Sev called over to her family, who were already on their way having heard her cry out.

Leaving the fussing to her husband Hermione quickly and efficiently dealt with the minor injuries, rolling her eyes at the way Ron was eyeing the little boy holding their daughter's hand so suspiciously. They were only five, for Merlin's sake. But that was Ron for you.

"You ogay?" Three year old Hugo asked his sister gravely, sympathy tears in his own eyes as he watched from their mum's side.

"I'm okay." Rosie assured him, working up a smile for her sensitive little brother before looking over at Sev shyly, her cheeks pink. "Thanks for holding my hand. I'm sorry I called you stupid."

"I'm sorry I called you stupid too. You're the smartest girl in our class."

Rosie beamed at him and Sev couldn't help but smile back.

Ron scowled.

)

Once everything was okay with her daughter Hermione asked Sev where his parents were, not at all pleased when he informed her that his mother knew where he was and that she had said she'd come to get him in a bit. Apparently the woman thought nothing of leaving her five year old to play on the potentially dangerous rocks and Hermione made her mind up then and there that she was keeping the boy with them until the woman appeared so that she could give the twit a piece of her mind.

Her anger tripled ten minutes later when Ron nudged her and pointed behind them, Hermione turning to see a little boy who couldn't be older than Hugo walking nimbly towards them, not an adult in sight.

What the hell was wrong with parents these days?

Ordering her husband to watch the children Hermione hurried over towards the boy, recognizing him when he got close enough for her to make out his features.

Oh dear heavens, it was that boy who refused to play with Hugo at daycare.

Shaking her head at this turn of events Hermione forced a smile onto her face as she got closer, crouching down once she'd reached him. "Hello, Alexei. You really shouldn't be out here without an adult, Sweetie."

"Aunt Callista sent me to get Sev. We're going now."

The kid was related to Sev, Hermione surmised. That so didn't surprise her. And she was so going to give Sev's mother hell as soon as she got her hands on the woman. "I see. Well take my hand now and we'll go over and tell Sev, shall we?"

"I don't need to hold your hand." Was his stubborn answer. "I'm not a baby."

"I don't want you to trip and fall." Hermione pointed to the group of people coming towards them, Sev obviously having recognized who their visitor was. "My daughter did just a few minutes ago and you don't want to get hurt too, do you?"

The little boy's scowl deepened. "She fell cause she's a stupid girl. I'm not a girl."

"Don't you call MY Rosie stupid." Sev informed his little cousin as he pointed his iced lolly at him.

Hermione watched Ron's face darken that much more and prayed for strength even as she took note of the fact that her husband had decided to give the kids the iced lollies they'd packed in their cooler before leaving home. And since she knew very well that Ron had eaten his earlier that meant her darling hubby had given hers to Sev which technically was okay, but he still should have asked first.

He'd probably been trying to distract them with the treats.

"Hi, Alexei." Hugo chirped from his father's arms, looking sad when the boy pointedly ignored him.

Sighing, Hermione paused for a moment to look up towards the heavens and then scooped Alexei up into her arms before the boy had time to realize what she was doing. "Ron, give me Hugo and I'll carry them both off the rocks. Rosie, hold your father's free hand and Sev, you hold Rosie's other hand. No arguing, I'm the boss."

All the children and Ron recognized that tone of voice, immediately accepting that her word was law if they hoped to avoid being tossed into the Atlantic.

Quite content to be carried by his mum Hugo studied the boy who never played with him at daycare or ever said anything nice to him. He'd tried and tried to make friends but Alexei just didn't seem to like him at all. It made him very sad, the curly haired boy thought as he licked his melting lolly, the cold treat suddenly giving him an idea.

"You wanna lick?"

Alexei really wanted to ignore the other boy…but he really wanted a treat too. Looking over at the woman carrying him Alexei gave her his best, most imploring eyes. "You don't have anymore?"

"No, I'm sorry, Alexei, that's it. Why don't you share Hugo's?"

Pouting Alexei briefly considered asking his cousin to share his but knew that wasn't going to happen. Sev never shared anything with anyone unless someone made him.

And then, just to taunt him, Alexei saw Hugo hold out the iced lolly towards him. Drat.

Sighing in resignation Alexei leaned over and took a lick, Hermione adjusting her hold to bring the two closer together as they licked the lolly from either end.

"Hermione, why am I the only one disturbed by the fact that our daughter is holding hands with a Slytherin in the making while our son licks an increasingly smaller lolly with the potential for his tongue to meet the tongue of another soon to be Slytherin who is also male?"

"Oh, Ron, they're only children."

"They're only children NOW, Hermione."

"Really, Ron, I worry about you sometimes."

"Yeah, and someday I'm going to be able to tell you that I told you so."

Hermione smirked. "Anything's possible, I suppose."