Melting || July 2, 2024 || Open

[Deleted]

Victoire delicately turned the page of the new paper, a stack on unread ones sitting at the corner of the one she had stretched out over the metal table, her quill scratching maroon ink around in circles of wanted ads she wanted to follow up on. She was careful not to let her bare skin touch the table, or the metal chair, sitting ramrod straight as not to press her pale, freckled skin against the hot iron. She adjusted her sunhat out of her eyes again, tapping the quill against the margin of the newspaper; a mostly-liquid glass of former-ice cream was left abandoned to perish in the heat of the day.

Luckily she had several other papers with pages and pages of wanted ads because looking through the Daily Prophet yielded only positions she wasn't qualified to apply for or was far too overqualified or jobs she had already had. There were only two among the hundreds in the papers she was even remotely interested in: one as a liaison for Gringotts, and another as a hostess for a new restaurant supposedly opening soon.

What she longed to do is run back to Paris, to her aunt, and her apartment over the Seine. She longed to wander the streets like veins pumping life and light and laughter, pounding against her ears it muffled out her own heartbeat and replaced it with that of Paris' own. Racing down St Germain at three in the morning, the city still wide awake and buzzing with electricity and magic alike, a magic that even the muggles could feel and grasp in their hands like fireflies.

Even the summer was more bearable in Paris, unlike muggy, humid London. But Victoire's family remained here, and she must make a life here, a real one, rather than wandering around the continent for the rest of her days, as appealing as that sounded.

[Louis Weasley]

Louis had been doing nothing in particular. Diagon Alley was hot and busy, but Louis liked it and had simply been sauntering through it after a trip to Uncle George's shop (neither Fred nor Roxie had been around, but he had browsed the shelves for a while and made a couple of purchases), trying to decide where to stop for something to eat. He didn't have much money left, which was disappointing. He'd fancied a burger or an icecream. Or both.

He glanced wistfully at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour as he passed it, and then moved on, thinking maybe he could afford at least a drink in the Leaky Cauldron. He was old enough to buy his own alcohol now, although maybe alcohol at this time of day wasn't the best plan. It took his brain a few moments to register what he'd actually seen at one of the tables outside the ice cream parlour. Then he stopped dead (causing a small witch to run into the back of him) and swung round, searching the crowd for a few moments before his eyes lit again on the sight that had stopped him. No, he had not been wrong. His oldest sister was indeed sitting at a table in Diagon Alley when he had thought she was in France.

An indignant scowl on his face, Louis swung back towards the ice cream parlour and headed for her, as directly as he could through the throng of people. How could she be back in England? Where was she staying? She couldn't be staying at home - he did tend to get up very late in the holidays, so he hardly saw his parents as they were out at work, but he was sure he'd know if Victoire was living in the house. Did Mum and Dad even know she was back? And if they did, why had they not told him? Louis was fond his sister, and had missed her when she was away - he felt cheated by the idea that she might have been back for a while and he had not known.

His indignation rising, he arrived beside her, his arms folded as he stopped on the other side of her table.

"Oi!" he announced himself. "What are you doing here?"

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Victoire jumped when he shouted, freezing like a startled deer. She looked him over with big eyes, and turned back to her paper, then back to him. "I'm having ice cream," she said, indicating to the glass. "Or I was. What are you doing here?"

She pushed the chair opposite her out with her foot, waving for him to sit down. "How have you been? It's been, what? A year and a half?" Victoire hadn't returned for Christmas, instead going south with Aunt Gabrielle, but she'd made sure her gifts to her family had been on time for the holiday. "Are you here collecting things for school? Is Mamon with you?"

[Louis Weasley]

"You're having ice cream?" Louis repeated in tones of great outrage, as if having ice cream was the most shocking crime she could have committed. Which, in his opinion, it was, since she was having ice cream in London, without having told him that she was even in London. "What are you even doing in England? Why didn't you come home? Why didn't you tell me? Have you seen Mum and Dad?"

He paused in his barrage of questions to take a breath, and she started asking her own questions, so he unfolded his arms and sank slowly into the chair she offered, still staring at her as if he couldn't quite believe his eyes. "Yeah, something like that," he agreed vaguely, not answering the question about how he'd been, since his emotional state over the last year and a half had been somewhat complicated. He made a dismissive noise at her mention of school. "No, it's the start of the holidays, why would I be thinking about school? And I'm seventeen, I can come to Diagon Alley by myself."

He looked her over, his annoyed attitude fading in his genuine pleasure at seeing her. "It's great to see you anyway! But seriously, Vic. How did I not know you were back in England?"

[Deleted]

Victoire smiled gently at him, amused. "Yes, I am. Would you like a cone, too?" She reached for her purse, handing the coins over to him. "Get whatever you like, alright?"

"I'm in England for job hunting. Tis the season and all of that." She sighed, closing and setting aside her paper. "I have a room at an inn, while I look for an apartment. I've seen Mamon at her work, but I haven't seen Papa at all. Or Dominique. I hear she's joined a professional Quidditch team?"

She shook her head at him. "No, I don't believe it. You are still the nine year old little snot always getting into trouble. I refuse to think otherwise. And I suppose you wouldn't have known if we hadn't run across one another now, now would you? I'm not really here for good, just popping around Europe looking for a more permanent position at the moment. What are you up to this Summer? Aunt Gabrielle would love to have you for a while if you want to visit France."

[Louis Weasley]

Louis hesitated. He was genuinely quite cross and hurt that his oldest sister could have been in England for some time without apparently wanting to contact or see him. But on the other hand, she was offering him money for ice cream, and ice cream could make most things forgiveable.

"Thanks." He grinned at her and reached over to take the money, announcing dramatically: "All is forgiven between us! Well, sort of. I'm still angry that I didn't know you were here, okay? Anyway, why not come home and stay for free?" he added. "I can move my stuff out of your room, if you want?" He considered this quite a generous offer, as he'd been enjoying the extra space, but he supposed that now Dominique had moved out, he could edge into her room instead.

"Yeah, she's playing for Puddlemere," he agreed. "As a reserve. And she's living with Roxie and Ricky Jordan."

He shrugged, not really minding her opinion of him. "Well, I'm not nine, but that's pretty much still true." He shook his head at her. "Did it not occur to you I might actually want to hear from you? Anyway, what kind of thing are you looking for?" He craned his neck to try and see which ads she was looking at, before glancing up again at her question. "Not a lot. Summer stuff. Sleeping, eating, drinking." He shook his head again. "Nah, I'm good. My friends are all here, and talking French is too much hard work..."