august || james sirius potter

chapter nine

August 2021, The Beach
"What? No." James said, puzzled.

"I can feel it on your breath. Let's get back." she said and took James by the arm and dragged him up. "You can walk right?" she asked and James started to walk slowly back to his hotel room.

"I'm glad you take after me and not your father." she mumbled. "Do you want help?" she asked Ava. "No, I'm good Mrs Potter." Ava said with a smile.

-

When Ava woke up was she hungover. Very hungover. Light hit her face and she buried her face under the covers. Her head was aching from last night. "Wake up, darling." her mum said.

"No!" she whined.

After a half hour she had made it out of her bed and to the breakfast buffet. She could not see any Potters or Weasleys yet. She took a few pancakes and a glass of ice tea.

Martin cleared his throat, "That James boy, how is he?" he asked. "Is he nice? Treating you well?" he continued.

Being hunger over was not funny but having her dad ask her about her love life was worse. "He's... nice." she said slowly. "Not trying anything funny with you is he?" Martin asked.

"No, he's not." Ava said and sighed.

Right as they left the two families came into the buffet. Ava spotted James clutching his forehead in pain. He was hungover too. Ava smiled at him. Then Rose waved enthusiastically and Ava gave a half hearted smile back.

They got back to their bungalow and Ava stayed there for a while. She read her book and watched Netflix on her phone. Then she took a long deserved nap. She woke up by somebody knocking on the door.

She slowly got up to open the door. She noticed that her family was elsewhere because their bungalow was empty. When she opened the door she saw James standing there and smiling. "Come on let's go and play pool." James said.

"I have never played that. Is it something wizardy?" Ava asked as she slipped into her slippers.

"No. I'm sure you've played it before." James said and took Ava's hand.

It took a while before Ava got how to play. It took her some time to learn how to use the cue and to hit the white ball correctly.

Rose joined them for a match but she was too good so they didn't let her play more with them. It was really fun, especially since nobody was really good.

A match could take up to half an hour. But it was still very fun. The sun was setting yet again. Which meant that they were closer to going home. Something they both dreaded.

"Want to go to the beach?" James asked and looked at Ava. "Of course." she answered and they put their cues back. James put his arm around her waist and gave her a quick peck on the lips.

They started to walk towards the beach but they got stopped by Rose and Albus. "Come!" they shouted while walking towards their rooms.

James looked at Ava and she shrugged. So they went up to Rose and Lily's room. "Let's play go fish." Lily said. "You like it?" Ava asked and sat down on the floor. James had given her his hoodie and she wore it proudly.

They played a few rounds of go fish. James tried to not think about how tomorrow is the last day in Croatia before they are going home. He wanted to enjoy this moment and not think about going home. But it was so hard. He really liked Ava. They could make it work right? They could owl each other or he could get one of those phones.

Ava was laughing hysterically with Rose about something. James smiled at them. "I think I should go back now." Ava said as she put her cards down. "I'll follow you." James said and stood up. He reached out with his hand and Ava took it and stood up too. "We'll see you tomorrow." Rose said and waved at Ava.

"Absolutely." she answered. "Bye."

They were walking back and they took their time. James held a tight grip on Ava's hand. They didn't say anything.

-

The next morning when James woke up he rushed to go down to eat breakfast. He was gonna make the most of his last day with Ava. They were gonna okay pool and tennis. Swim in the ocean and eat ice cream. They started to play tennis together with Albus and Rose.

The only reason Jame won was because he was with Ava. She was really great at tennis. Rose and Albus were good but she was simply better. "Final match, losers pay for ice cream." Rose said before she served. It was an intense match. They had almost always the same points.

"Last ball." Ava said before she served. James went hardcore for this one, which unfortunately meant he got in the way of Ava so she couldn't send the ball back over the net. "Sorry." James apologised when he realised what he did. "You're the one paying either way." Ava said with a shrug.

Together the teenagers went down to eat ice cream. Ava took the same thing she did two weeks ago, a strawberry ice cream and James took an strawberry popsicle. "I got the girl." he whispered proudly to the ice cream man as he payed.

"Congratulations."

James smiled widely as he sat down next to Ava. They enjoyed their ice creams in the sun. James started to melt and unfortunately left a stain on his shorts.

-

After lunch they changed into bathing suits and jumped into the ocean. The rest of their families were there as well. James threw little Charlie in the water a bunch of times and he was still laughing as much. "Do it again!" he said, laughing uncontrollably.

Lily and Hugo played sharks and swam under the water and took a grip on everyone's legs. James wouldn't admit it, but he screamed like a little girl the first time Hugo did it on him. "You sound like a little girl." he said with a big smile. Everybody else laughed as James looked away dramatically.

After it they went to the bar and tried some non alcoholic drinks. Rose drank a strawberry smoothie with lime. It was quite good and by the time everyone had tasted it she barely had any left so she had to order another one.