magnifique

        viv grinned at louis as he sighed and drank, always delighted at bringing about a drink in this game. “all right,” viv crowed —- at least until she heard the story, at the end of which she started laughing. “it sounds terrible,” she observed, before adding, “but at least it was at the beach, right? no risk of kissing the giant squid. unlike with your ask, which…” she took a sip, sighed. “you know how gryffindor dares can be,” she said with a shrug, which was probably true, even if louis hadn’t engaged as much in the nonsense as the rest of them —- responsible, to be honest. “like, right after last exams? so it was fucking cold, or like, colder than usual.” she made a face. “i don’t rec —- but, i mean, it’s not the great lake, but there’s a lake right there,” she said, raising an eyebrow as she nodded her head towards the lake they were sitting beside. “and… never have i ever gone to madame puddifoot’s on a date, much as i love pen.”

     louis shook his head in a mock display of disapproval, trying his hardest not laugh.  “you know that giant squid is probably a peeping tom.  what were you thinking?”  he glanced at the makeshift lake that uncle george had created.  “i mean, at least it’s gotta be a whole lot warmer now than when you had your little dip.”  he raised the cup to his lips, pausing right before taking a drink.  “wait, are we talking like a romantic date or a lily has been asking to spend more time with me date?  because those are two very different things.”

        molly turned in delight to her cousin, scrunching her nose as she grinned. “well, of course i did,” she said, in a tone that suggested it was the obvious and only correct course of action. “it’s a great photo and, ‘sides, your mother’s the one who tracked it down for me, so.” she pecked a kiss on his cheek. “anything for you,” she said, absolutely earnest and laughing all at once. then her eyes lit up. “oh my god, lou, we could totally recreate the bathtub one!! except in the lake uncle george helped us with, obviously, not in a bathtub, you’d only get half your height in —- but just think!”

“what can i say?  mum and dad really messed up.  they definitely should’ve signed me up to be a baby model.  i mean, come on!”  he pointed at the slideshow as the picture changed to one of him as a baby, clearly a fan of the attention.  “the evidence is right there!”  jokingly and on instinct, he wiped his cheek where she had kissed it.  “i’m going to need several more drinks before i’m caught dead recreating that photo, molls.”  but it wasn’t a no.

“alright, alright, it’s a hell of a feeling though / it’s a hell of a feeling though” pippa’s voice harmonized with the lead singer of liquid mercury’s voice. their smile was wide and their hair was flying around behind them as they moved to the rythm of the song before jumping both physically and into the next lines, “Champaign, cocaine, gasoline / and most things in between / I roam the city in a shopping cart / A pack of camels and a smoke alarm / This night is heating up / Raise hell and turn it up / “Saying “If you go out you might pass out in a drain pipe” / Oh yeah, don’t threaten me with a good time.” pippa took a few step backwards, smiling at the crowd of people that had come for the birthday party which they… certainly had not expected, but had been quick to fall into steps with. they smiled at the lead singer and gave them a hug, thanking them for letting pippa upstage them and giving them the mic back before descending from the stage, the thrill that they got from performing rushing through their veins and making them giddy and excited. 

     “you sounded great up there!”  louis said, practically shouting over the crowd.  it felt like he’d hardly seen pippa — one of his fellow birthday bash-ers — all night, and then suddenly he looked up and found them on stage.  with his favorite band, no less.  it was a wild night, but . . .  what a wild night.  “happy birthday, by the way!”  neither his nor pippa’s birthdays were for a couple more days, but now was as good a time as any to wish it.  that was the purpose of the party, after all.  

where: at a bonfire pit by the lake when: 9:35 pm, the end-of-summer birthday bash who: open to all u babes

“Okay, okay!” Viv laughed, taking a drink. “It was like, one time, and he was a bad flier as well as being twice my size so it worked about as well as you could think—-honestly, he’s lucky we didn’t crash into the fucking Whomping Willow, that’s how useless he was, and inconveniently big for me to get the broom to follow my movements. Anyway, yeah, I’ve done the drunk-tandem-broom-flying—-though, he was drunk, I was just… buzzed.” She drummed her fingers against her thigh, then said, “All right… never have I ever kissed someone underwater.”

     louis listened intently to her story, laughing along.  he’d tried tandem flying once — who hadn’t? — but not drunk.  not yet, at least.  maybe now that he was going to be sixteen, things would be different.  he wanted to take more risks, do more stupid stuff.  really let that weasley side of him shine.  “oh, come on.”  with a sigh, louis took a quick drink and suddenly felt the need to elaborate.  “okay, fine.  i was on a date a few weeks ago, we went to the beach.  thought it’d be romantic, but i just got water in my eye and it sucked.  alright?  let’s see . . .  never have i ever gone skinny dipping in the great lake.”

where: inside the burrow, in the kitchen when: 10:02 pm, the party who: open & i’m sorry

“I reckon,” Mia said, eyeing Rose’s father calculatingly, “that he’d be pretty easy to get to sputtering stage. He must’ve had to learn how to handle some things that normally mess with parents, just looking at all of his relatives, but still… there’s an easily-aggravated tomato of a man just waiting to pulp out.”

“uncle ron?”  he asked, clarifying which she was talking about amongst the gaggle of adults in the distance.  “that’s . . .  a graphic description.”  louis suddenly felt the slightest bit nervous on behalf of his uncle.  more than once, his parents had mentioned how much of ron had somehow ended up in his own personality.  it was still baffling to all of them, louis most of all.  “you’re not wrong, though.”

where: the projection reel of photos of the birthday trio when: 8:12 pm who: as open as molly’s heart !!

“Ahhh, I’m so glad! They’re Lou’s favourite ba—oh my god, doesn’t he look adorable?” Molly suddenly exclaimed, cutting herself off as a picture of tiny Louis popped on the side of the shed, his smiling six year old face filling up the wood (and her easily pleased, sentimental, family-loving heart).

     “i’m just waiting for one of me in the bathtub.  i know you threw it in there,”  he said, the slightest hint of concern in his voice despite the very large grin on his face.  louis had run out of ways to express his gratitude.  still, he threw an arm around molly, admiring the picture of himself before it flashed to the next.  “you really outdid yourself.”

    louis would be lying if he said he hadn’t teared up a little bit when he had finally seen what molly and victoire and everyone else had pulled together.  so many guests!  the photo reel!  his favorite band!  he’d thanked them only about a thousand times, and it still didn’t feel like enough.  “this is all so much!”  he said — rather loudly, due to the loud music.  and maybe attributed to the fact he was a couple drinks in.  but it was his party, and after o.w.l.s and a year of prefect duties and the bloody internship  ( stressful and difficult and wonderful and valuable ) , well.  he deserved to let loose for a night.  “i really can’t get over it.”

    the tension was thick enough to slice with a knife.  louis was on fire, and if he managed to sink this last cup, he’d win his third game in a row.  his slight buzz had reached a fantastic intersection of lowered inhibitions and increased focus.  his traditionally lackluster hand-eye coordination  ( save for quidditch, the exception to all his other athletic mediocrities )  was en pointe.  he figured if he could live his life in this exact sweet spot, things would be so much easier.

    louis silently said a quick prayer to those deserving — merlin, the inventor of butterbeer, whomever had created beer pong — and lined up his shot.  one.  two.  “yes!”  he jumped up and down in a celebration of victory.  it came as no surprise to the competitive, cocky, alcohol-fueled part of his brain;  the rational, grounded portion, however, was in complete disbelief.  maybe he was a pong master, or maybe it was just luck since he was the birthday boy.  who’s to say?  “merlin, i can’t believe it.  uncle charlie’s gonna shit himself when he hears!  can you believe it?”

Eyes scanned the mannequin for a second, eyebrows creased in thought. Lysander wasn’t MUCH of a fashion-fan, but they had the feeling they had a good sense for aesthetics, but yet … something seemed off about the combination of secondhand clothes on the mannequin. “You,” they said, gesturing at a passerby. “Help me out here — what does this handsome young dummy need? Something’s missing, but I can’t for the life of me figure out what it is … a hat, maybe?” They wanted this to be perfect. This mannequin represented the junk shop, and they’d be damned before they let their workplace be misrepresented. 

     “definitely don’t think i’m the best person to ask,”  louis muttered, though he came over to assist anyway.  “i mean, look at me.”  he had done mildly better making something out of his dad’s clothes today, but it was still an ongoing struggle.  he’d stopped by the shop on his way home to see if he could start the process of overhauling his wardrobe with better-fitting clothes.  “maybe try . . . ”  he thought back to advice that vic had given him that morning.  “cuff the pant leg?  scrap the hat, i think.”

who: louis weasley ( @mcgnifiques ). where: the burrow’s kitchen.  when: august 10th, 2023. 16:43. 

chopping carrots into cubes was not what first came to lucy’s mind when she thought of fun, but the repetitiveness of the movement was somewhat calming, which really couldn’t hurt her. she and louis had been assigned to chopping some vegetables by their grandmother, and she was glad it gave her a chance to talk to her cousin without other people hearing. after all, it wouldn’t do for them to know how nervous she was about becoming a prefect. “so, like… how do you go about giving detention to older students? they know so many curses and jinxes that i don’t know and i feel like if i try to tell them off for doing something wrong they’ll just laugh in my face. should i focus on the younger students instead? but then what if the teachers think i’m not doing my job properly and take away my badge?”

     louis had almost immediately zoned out when they began chopping carrots, letting his body take over as he worked through the menial task.  so he was momentarily jarred when lucy began speaking.  “oh.  uh, i mean it sounds super cheesy, but they’ll listen to you as long as you act confident.  even if you’re not.  fake it till you make it, right?”  he blinked, trying to figure out better advice to give.  “i mean, you can definitely focus on younger students.  that’d be an easy strategy.  leave the older kids to older prefects.  it’s up to you, honestly.  but look at it this way — uncle ron never got his badge taken away.  i think you’ll be fine, lu.”

“it’s not a problem,” she smiled up at him and took a step back, examining her work. if she’d dressed him herself, he would’ve looked much better, but she could say that the slight modifications she’d made were definitely improvements. “fashion can always be learned, though. well, if your mum doesn’t mind, I’d be happy to take you shopping some day after work and share my tips and tricks with you, if you’d like.”

     “oh, no, that’s . . . ”  louis trailed off, reconsidering her offer.  not that fleur was out of touch, necessarily, but.  she’d never really had to concern herself with teenage boy fashion, had she?  anything was better than rummaging through his father’s vintage clothes.  except, maybe, his own clothes that he’d grown out of.  they were too small and not in any sort of fashionable or salvageable way.  “actually, that’d be fantastic.  i trust your taste.”

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[ louis → lachlan, 5:01pm ] : thx for your help earlier!!! life saver!!

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