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“Don’t make me do it, daddy, don’t make me do it,” Harry shrieked, trying to escape his father’s grip.
“It won’t be that bad,” Fleamont reassured calmly not letting up his hold.
‘No, no, no, it’s coooooold,” Harry whined as he was pulled closer to the sea, still wet from his last encounter with the waves.
To begin with Harry had been very excited about going into the sea, once the family had set up their little area on the beach, he had begun pestering his parents and brother to go in the sea with him.
“Daddy, please, come in the sea with me, please,” he begged jumping around their towels.
“Give me five more minutes, then I’ll come with you,” Fleamont replied having set up one of the deckchairs and was currently wrangling with the parasol. James had already grabbed his small plastic bucket and shade and gone to try and find the ideal location for his Hogwarts sandcastle. It had to be close to the sea for easy access to the water for the lake and moat, but not too close that it risked quick destruction by the incoming tide.
“Is it five minutes now?” Harry asked, having removed his sandals and sunhat much to his mother’s exasperation. Fortunately, she had hit all her boys with a suncream charm, knowing it wasn’t likely that hats and other clothes would stay on for long.
“Not yet, my dear, why don’t you go and check how warm the sea is?” Euphemia suggested gently.
“Yeah,” Harry shouted, “I’ll be back soon,” then he took off running up the beach, jumping over a small part of the river that ran the length of the beach into the sea. He would run past James who had already begun construction of his castle.
“Hi, Jaime. You coming in the sea with me and daddy?” He called slowing down as he approached his older brother’s construction site.
“Maybe later, Haz, I’m busy now,” James replied still focusing on the area of sand in front of him. “What are you doing?” James asked looking to his younger brother who was almost bursting with joy.
“Checking how warm the sea is,” Harry said pride in his voice at the job he had been given.
“Okay, can you fill up my bucket with water then, please?” James asked, holding out the red castle-shaped bucket to Harry.
“Fine,” Harry said, grabbing the bucket before starting to run towards the sea again. As he got closer to the sea he sped up, the waves were pulling back as he arrived, he had a big smile on his face. He shot forward, bucket still in his hands and he jumped into the oncoming wave.
“Ahhhhhh. It’s freezing,” he yelled in shock, running out of the water. Then he remembered he needed to fill up the bucket for James.
He took a breath, steeled his courage, nodded to himself, then ventured back into the freezing cold water, needing to go deeper to get enough water in the bucket. He began to jump over the waves as they approached, laughing with each jump sending water flying, the waves were still only small not going above his ankle.
“Ack,” Harry cried out after one jump over a slightly bigger wave as he splashed himself in the face with the cold, salty sea water. Deciding he was deep enough, he bent down from the waist trying to avoid getting wetter, he put the bucket on the sand facing the sea waiting for the next wave to arrive. It was bigger than the last, getting him wet all the way up to his waist. Harry breathed in at the shock of the cold water, “that’s cold,” he moaned to himself.
He grabbed the bucket which was halfway filled with water and began to walk back to James to give him his bucket with water.
“Thanks,” James said, taking the bucket, looking up at his dripping brother he asked, “how was it?”
“Freezing, Jaime. It’s soooooo cold!”
It was at that moment that Fleamont arrived behind Harry scooping him into his arms and walking towards the sea. “Ready, Bubbles?” He asked jovially, “that looks really good, James,” he complimented after looking at the beginnings of the castle and surrounding area.
“No, daddy, no, it’s freezing,” Harry exclaimed trying to squirm his way out of his dad’s arms to escape returning to the cold sea.
“It's not can't be freezing, Bubbles, there's no ice," Fleamont replied.
"It is, daddy, it's really cold," Harry exclaimed, looking up at his father making his teeth chatter for added emphasis, despite the clear blue sky above them and warm sun shining down.
"We can just jump at the edge if you don’t want to swim,” Fleamont reassured continuing on his walk.
Harry ended up enjoying himself a lot, in spite of the freezing water. He jumped over waves, raced against the waves up the beach, and even went for a swim with his dad, though they spent most of the time just floating with the waves rather than swimming.
Harry had to be coaxed away from the sea for a mid-morning snack and a subtle reapplication of the suncream charm.
***
“Jaime, Jaime, Jaime, Jaime, Jaime,” Harry chanted running up the beach, his hair flopping in all directions with each bounding step he took. “You’ve got to come and see this,” he said excitedly, tugging on his brother’s arm.
James was sat on the sand with an impressive sandcastle in front of him, he was currently adding the moat. It was going well, the sandcastle was built within a circle of sand, the centre of the castle was on a raised box of sand and had two turrets, one of which was leaning precariously due to a shell that had been plonked into its top. There were a number of small castles made from the generic sandcastle mould around the circle as defensive buildings to protect the town.
"Wow, that's really good," Harry said taking in the castle, "can I add a..." he started to ask.
"No. It takes very gentle hands," James interrupted not trusting Harry to be gentle enough.
James glanced once at his castle with its town and partly dug moat before glancing back at his younger brother whose face had begun to fall at the reprimand, “what is it, Haz?” he questioned gently trying to get his brother back on track.
“Oh, it's a surprise! Come on, Jamie,” Harry said pulling on James’ right arm which he started shaking and bouncing on his feet again as his initial enthusiasm returned. Already taking steps back the way he had come. “This way.”
James rolled his eyes at Harry’s behaviour, but nevertheless stood himself up, shoving his plastic spade into the sand next to the moat. He began jogging after Harry to catch up.
Harry bounded away happily earlier upset forgotten, glancing back over his shoulder to check that James was following after him.
“So, where are you taking me?” James asked as they headed off getting closer to the sea but going to the right before reaching it. There was a large stretch of rocky area. Almost entirely made up of black rocks which led down from the cliffs, with large rocks and stretches of sand interspersed.
“Over here, this way. It’s really exciting,” Harry said, a big smile spreading across his face. He began to scramble and climb across the rocks, James following closely behind him.
Their parents were keeping a close eye on them, whilst remaining at a distance to allow them their independence. Fleamont had been across with Harry to begin with, but after assuring himself that Harry would be safe, getting some promises from him to be careful and not to go out of sight, he left Harry to his grand adventure. Going back to their little area of the beach to enjoy the sun and take the time to read some of his book, he took a seat under the parasol in one of the deckchairs they'd set out.
They had to carefully climbed across a number of rocks, going past a few rock pools when Harry stopped. James came to stand beside him, waiting to see what it was that had Harry so thrilled.
“Look, there, Jaime,” Harry said pointing into the large pool of water in front of them.
“At what?” James asked not seeing anything that deserved the level of excitement Harry had reached.
“Here,” Harry said getting a little closer pulling James along by the arm, crouching down to point more clearly. “Here.”
James got closer to see what it was that Harry was trying to show him. Then he saw movement at the bottom of the pool. It was a crab that was scuttling across the bottom of the pool.
“That’s Colin,” Harry said to James, introducing him to the crab. “He’s really cool, he has six legs and walks like this,” he explained to his older brother seriously before walking a few steps sideways to his left then back again. Doing hand pincer movements with each step to show he was being a crab.
“Course it is. Anything else exciting in here?” James asked laughing, sitting down on the edge of the rock pool.
“Yeah, look there,” Harry said pointing to the over edge of the rock pool where a starfish was clinging to the rocks.
“Cool,” James said, impressed. “Do they have a name?” James questioned, smile on his face.
“Judy,” Harry said, causing James to burst out in laughter. Harry turned to him annoyed at the reaction. Judy was a very respectable name for a starfish!
It was at that moment that a flash went off causing them both to blink several times, their photo had just been captured by Euphemia. It would be one that would sit on the mantlepiece in the family room for many years to come. Both boys lightly tanned, sand liberally sprinkled throughout James’ hair and a streak of seaweed somehow caught amongst Harry’s.
“Come on, boys, time for lunch,” she called a bright smile on her face. Letting the camera hang from a strap around her neck, steadying Harry when he placed his foot on a slippery part of the rock and almost fell.
“What’s for lunch?” James asked as he scrambled back across the rocks, even when there were clear sandy areas which he could more easily walk across. Naturally Harry followed his example, though going at a slower pace.
“Dad’s starting the barbecue,” Euphemia replied, following closer to Harry in case he needed help or slipped again.
As they made their way across the rocks, just about to start climbing another rock James put his hand on something slimy. He pulled his hand back quickly, looking at it before looking back to the rock and examining it carefully. Spotting what he had touched he turned to his brother.
“Haz, come look at this,” he exclaimed excitedly, causing Harry to jump down from where he had been climbing to hurry across to his brother.
Euphemia continued on back to her husband now that both boys were back on the sand. “Don’t be too long boys,” she called getting nods and sounds of agreement.
“What, what?” Harry questioned, bouncing from one foot to the other waiting for James to answer.
“Feel this,” James said taking Harry’s hand and moving it towards the rock.
“No, Jaime, no. I don’t wanna,” Harry complained trying to pull his hand out of James’ grip. Harry didn’t get his hand back before it also touched the slimy but solid thing on the rocks.
“Urgh, Jaime,” Harry complained, finally having his hand free. He glanced at it, before a small mischievous smile spread across his face and he began reaching across towards James.
“Don’t Harry, don't you dare” James tried to warn, not scrambling back fast enough. He was too late, his little brother had already rubbed his smaller hand right across the front of James’ green short sleeved t-shirt.
“What is it?” Harry asked, trying to spot whatever it was that he had touched. Completely ignoring his brother’s annoyance at his actions.
“That, dear little brother, is a sea anemone,” James said before he reached forward to touch it again. It looked like a small dark purple jelly, no bigger than a small yogurt pot, stuck to the edge of the rock.
Harry copied his older brother touching another anemone, deciding it felt a bit like jelly, so he tried squeezing it which caused water to shoot out of it. The water hit James causing him to jump. Harry giggled at this surprising result.
“What did you do that for, Harry?” James asked unimpressed, wiping a hand down his face.
“I didn’t mean to Jaime. I just squeezed it and splash, the anenomenomie did it,” Harry said in his defence still giggling slightly.
James studied Harry’s face for a moment to try and see if he was telling the truth or not. Deciding that he was, in the fashion of a true older sibling he corrected his younger brother, “it’s anemone, Harry, not anenomenomie.”
“Amenonie,” Harry tried.
“Anemone,” James corrected.
“Amenony.”
“Anemone.”
“Don’t care. Anenomonies are fun,” he squealed in excitement. Squeezing another one to watch it squirt water, causing both boys to laugh.
Then Harry's stomach rumbled, reminding them both that lunch was being prepared. “Race you,” Harry said not waiting for James to reply before running off towards their parents.
“You cheater,” James shouted in outrage, having been a few steps behind Harry and facing the other way looking at the rock, checking that Harry squeezing them hadn’t damaged the sea anemones.
Harry just continued running as fast as he could, laughing the whole way. Both boys arrived as the food was ready to serve, panting for breath, having kicked sand across the blanket.
Their parents smiled at them, pleased with their family time at the beach, despite the noise reaching new levels whilst Harry shouted his victory and James shouted over him about his cheating. Euphemia smiled at her husband relishing the time they got to spend with their boys, even if they were shouting and not listening at all to each other. "I love you," she said placing a kiss on her husband's lips before taking another photo of her boys, smiling the whole time.
"Enough, boys. It's time for food," Fleamont interrupted handing them each a drink and pointing at the spread of food they had in front of them.