Sandcastles in the Sand

Louis was sat in the warm sand, enjoying how it felt against his bare skin. He was just wearing his swimming shorts, it was warm enough outside, even though Louis refused to go swimming because the sea had fish. And fish were gross and slippery and Louis didn't want to risk accidentally touching one. So he stayed at the beach. He was having a great time as it is.

Louis loved building this in the sand, especially castles. Like the castles he had seen in the muggle fairy tale book he got from auntie Hermione. Though the ones in the picture were a lot nicer than the one he was building now. And when the final tower wouldn't work with him the way he wanted it to Louis huffed and sat back, refusing to look at his newly build sandcastle and pouting as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Lucy crouched down, grabbing a handful of sand and enjoying how it slipped through the spaces between her fingers. It was doing that to her toes as well, when she walked. It was quite uncomfortable and tickled her slightly, but she liked it. The sun had heated up the sand a lot so sometimes it was like walking on fire (or how Lucy would imagine walking on fire would feel), so she liked to imagine that was what it was; fire.

And she had to be able to walk this fire, all the way to the sea to cool down, or everyone in the village (she wasn't sure what village it was, but she had to save it - she had to be the hero of this village) would die.

As she made her way towards the sea, she noticed a familiar blond head in the sand and a smile spread over her face. "LOUIS!" she bellowed, before she realized that name would not work, Louis couldn't possibly be called 'Louis' in her game. "I MEAN…" she trailed off slightly. "-EDWARD!" she sprinted towards him, stopping once she was in front of him and noticed the look on his face. "Eddie, why are you frowning?" she glanced at the sand beside him, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Are you sad? Oh no! Has your castle fallen? I'm Madeline, and I promise to help you avenge your castle, we mustn't let the witch succeed!" she had no idea if she sounded like a hero, but they always used complicated words in their speech, but she didn't know many so those would have to do for now.

Louis heard his name and his head shot up, coming face to face with his cousin. Who now appeared to be calling him Edward. Louis' brow knitted in confusion as he quickly glanced beside and behind him to see if there was someone else Lucy could be referring to. There wasn't. There was only him and his sandcastle. And then Lucy introduced herself as Madeline and Louis' eyes widened.

"You're not Lucy?" he asked surprised. But she looked like Lucy. And she sounded like Lucy. But if her name was Madeline, how could she be Lucy? Lucy's name wasn't Madeline.

"There's a with?" Louis asked, his eyes widening in fear this time. "Did she take Lucy? Is that why you're here?" he asked nervously, hands folding in his lap. "The witch didn't ruin my castle though, it just won't be pretty like in the pictures. But the witches in the fairy tale books are always really mean. If they have Lucy we have to save her!" Louis said, turning to the girl called Madeline. "Will you help me save my cousin?"

Lucy placed one hand on her hip and then the other on her chest. "Sir Edward prince of… The Shell." she cleared her throat. "I, hero of The Village, Madam Madeline pledge thou my-" she was having trouble understanding herself. "-I promise to help you avenge your castle, I am most sure this is the work of the evil witch from the… Conch village!"

Louis was talking some rubbish about a lost cousin, but Lucy didn't remember any lost cousins in her games, only dragons and maybe a couple of fairies, but those were nice - Dragons were not nice, so they had to remember to keep their eyes open for those hideous beasts. Maybe the could slay a couple. "Stand up!" she ordered, offering Louis her hand. "We must go into the sea now, that is the only place where we can find the help that we need. The mermaids!"

She hesitated slightly, eying Louis. He didn't seem really Prince like, but she could take care of that. "Maybe I should give you a sword as well." She didn't actually have a sword, she was only wearing her swimsuit so there was no place to keep a sword, but she liked to pretend that she did have one and she would not hesitate to use it.

He was a prince? Merlin Louis was confused. And apparently Madeline was a hero. From a village Louis had never heard of before. But if she was a hero that meant she was good. And if she was good that meant she would help him find Lucy. Right? Louis wished James was here, he'd know what to do. The other boy always knew what to do. He wished the girl wouldn't use so many hard words, it was so hard understanding her when she used words like 'avenge' and 'pledge'. Louis just nodded.

He took the hand that was offered to him and let the girl hoist him up. His eyes went wide in fear again when she told him they would go in the sea to look for mermaids. Louis' lower lip started to quiver dangerously and he quickly shook his head. "I don't want to go in the sea," he confessed, refusing to move from the spot he was standing, as if was afraid Madeline would pull him into the water.

His eyebrows raised at the thought of a sword. "Maman says I'm not allowed to play with pointy things. She says they're dangerous. Do you really have a sword? How do you keep it with you if you're only wearing a swimming suit?" he asked curiously, trying to find the sword Madeline was speaking of somewhere on her body.

Lucy sighed, Louis wasn't really understanding the fun of the game. But that was okay, she'd make him have fun. "We have to go into the water, Edward." she said, pouting slightly. "The mermaids are our only hope to find the witch, I believe she has stolen many princesses and ruined many castles, including yours." the young girl explained. "Besides, aren't your feet burning? You're standing on the fire!" she nodded her head, wiggling her toes slightly for effect. "We have to do it."

Lucy tapped with her hand on her thigh. "I do have a sword." she confessed, leaning closer to Louis so she could whisper. "But not many people can carry a sword around here, it's only for people that are ready to slay the mean people, are you ready for that?" she moved her hand up quickly, as if she was pulling a sword from its sheath. "Look at it!" she held her arm out. "I can get one for you too! But you have to promise you'll use it only to slay bad people!" she bit her lip, thoughtfully before she added. "And the dragons."

"But the fish, what if they eat us?" he whimpered. He bit his lip into his mouth and looked at the sand beneath his feet. It was quite warm. Hot even. It might even be fire like Madeline said. Louis nervously fiddled with his fingers and then thought of something. What if he wasn't Louis like Madeline said. What if he was actually Prince Edward? Princes were brave, right? They weren't afraid of fish or water. As long as he was Prince Edward, he could do it. He bit his lip again and then nodded slowly. "Okay," he said softly.

Louis leaned closer to the girl as she started whispering, his eyes widening at the mentioning of a sword. She moved quickly, and pulled an invisible sword from an invisible sheath. Louis reasoned it was invisible so that the bad people wouldn't see it coming, which he thought was an incredibly clever idea. He whimpered at the mention of dragons, but then scolded himself. Prince Edward was not afraid of dragons, and he would slay them with his invisble sword to help Madam Madeline save her unknown village.

Louis nodded eagerly. "Yes please, but please don't tell my maman I have a sword, she'll get very angry."

Lucy giggled. "The fish are harmless, Edward." she promised. "The fishes are on our side in the battle. They only eat the… giants, cus those are evil."

Lucy clapped her hands together, excitedly when Louis wanted a sword. She turned around, deep in thought before a grin spread over her face and she bent down and pretended to grab something heavy from the sand. "Oh my Merlin!" she gasped, holding out her arm in Louis direction. "Look at it! It has rubies on it, it's yours - here take it." she giggled again. "I wont tell auntie-I mean… Queen… Flora - your mummy - anything, I promise."

The girl was grinning happily now - finally Louis was getting into the game - and she reached out for Louis' hand, pulling him towards the sea. "Be careful of the fire, we have to move very carefully!" she reminded him, biting her lip in concentration as she took each step carefully, her eyes glued on the sand. "The water might be a bit cold, though. Can you swim?"

Louis guessed that if the fish were there to help them, they would be fine. And maybe Prince Edward liked fish. So it would be okay, he was sure of it. He wasn't a giant, he was even smaller than Madeline.

Louis stared at the invisible sword that was offered to him. Apparently it had rubies. Louis loved rubies. He loved anything that shimmered. And he loved the colour red because his daddy was a Gryffindor, and red was the Gryffindor colour. He eagerly took the sword from Madeline, careful not to touch the invisible blade that was no doubt, very sharp. Louis wanted to point out his mummy's name was Fleur, but decided against it. Maybe Prince Edward's mummy's name was Flora, and he was Prince Edward now. And his mummy was certainly pretty enough to be a Queen.

Louis was dragged to the sea, still eyeing the water a little warily. He moved carefully like instructed, the sand was hot after all. He copied Madeline's movement until they reached the water. "I can swim, but not very well," he confessed, wondering if princes could swim. "Do we have to go in far?" he asked, getting worried again. He wasn't allowed to go further if the water touched his waist. And Louis didn't like getting in trouble, and he was certain Prince Edward didn't like trouble either.

Lucy thought the game was much more fun now that Louis was playing with her. Being Madam Madeline the hero of The Village was so much more fun than being Lucy Weasley daughter of Percy and Audrey Weasley. And Prince Edward of The Shell was so much cooler than Louis Weasley son of uncle Billy and auntie Fleur. Together Madam Madeline and Prince Edward could slay all the dragons, which was something Lucy and Louis could never do.

Once they were close enough to the water Lucy let go of Louis' hand. "Are you ready?" she asked, grinning from ear to ear. "We wont go far." she promised. "The mermaids will come to us if we call for them. You have to call for them with me though."

She took few steps forward, giggling loudly when the cold water made contact with her toes. She walked in further, looking over her shoulder to see if Louis was following, before she turned her attention back to the water. "Eeeh-uuhh-aaahh!" she yelled. "Eeeh-uhhh-ohhh-ahh-ohh!" she turned around to look at Louis again. "I'm talking Fish." she explained. "Mermaids only give help if you call form them in Fish. C'mon, you have to talk Fish too!"

Louis probably wasn't ready, but he nodded anyway, nervously following Madeline into the water, which was cold on his bare feet. He bit his lip nervously and took another step, letting his skin getting used to the water licking at it. They had to call for the mermaids. Louis hoped it were the pretty mermaids from the fairy tale books, and not the mermaids he had seen in Vicky's Care of Magical Creatures book. They frightened him a bit. Though, they would not frighten Prince Edward, so he guessed he would be fine either way.

Madeline started to make some weird sounds, very loud, and Louis' eyes widened. Did fish really understand that? He guessed that if the other girl said so that he believed her. He had no idea how to speak fish though. He bit his lip again, fingers nervously plucking at his swimming shorts.

"But I don't know how, I've never spoken fish before!" he confessed. It sounded really weird though, he had to admit that. "Can all Princes speak fish?" he asked, because if they could, then he could too. He was a Prince now after all. He decided to just give it a try. He copied what Madeline had yelled as perfectly as possible, hoping he was doing it okay. When he did it twice, he turned to the girl next to him, nervously nibbling on his lower lip. "Is that okay? Do you think they're coming now?"

Lucy rolled her eyes at Louis, waving her hand at him. "Of course Princes speak Fish, what kind of Princes would they be if they didn't?" she shook her head, walking further into the sea until it was well over her knees.

Clapping her hands, Lucy looked over at Louis, beaming. "That was very good, the mermaids must've heard us by-" she forced up a gasp, taking a step backwards quickly so the water splashed around her. She grabbed Louis' arm. "-Edward… They're here."

She pointed a finger forward, leaning towards Louis to whisper. "Can you see them? There are three of them, the closest one has red hair. Not like carrot-coloured like our Daddies, it's red like… like blood." she giggled again, before she let go of Louis' arm and stuck her hand out, before shaking it up and down. "I'm shaking hands with her." she explained to her cousin. "You have to introduce yourself now!"

When Madeline announced that the mermaids were hear, the water splashed around wildly. Louis yelped when the cold hit him in the chest, but he didn't take his eyes off where Lucy was pointing. He didn't actually see them, but he believed the girl if she said they were there. Three of them even. Louis wondered if he was supposed to say he could see them. Maybe Madeline wouldn't help him if he couldn't, so the blond just nodded.

Louis' eyes widened when he was told the mermaid's hair was red like blood. So she was like in the fairy tale. That mermaid's hair was red too. He liked his papa's red more. It was familiar. And Domi had the same red. And then most of his cousins and uncles and aunts did too. So he liked that more, even though he didn't like carrots. They tasted foul. He hated it when his maman made him eat those, he was always supposed to eat five. He usually secretly tried to put them on Domi's or Vicky's plate, but he was really afraid of getting caught.

He had to introduce himself too. Louis held out his hand and shook the air. "Uhm, well I'm Lou- Prince Edward from the Shell," he told the invisible mermaid, remembering what Madeline had called him before. "I was wondering if you could help me and Madam Madeline? We're trying to find my cousin and the bad witch that ruins castles," he explained nervously, glancing at Madeline to see if he was doing it right. "Do they understand? Or do we need to talk fish again?"

"They understand!" Lucy said quickly, grinning over at Louis. "Mermaids can talk over five thousand languages! They're really skilled. One day I'm going to learn all languages in the universe!" she nodded her head, turning back to the three invisible mermaids.

Lucy nodded her head, giving away a couple of a"mhm" and "aha" sounds, pretending to be having a conversation with the mermaid. "Thank you so much!" she bowed her head slightly, turning back to her cousin. "The mermaid says that the evil witch is hiding." Lucy explained. "And to find her we need to find seven magical stones on the beach." she grabbed Louis' hand again. "If we find her we can defeat her and make her pay for ruining the castle and make her give us back the cousin."

Lucy wasn't sure if there had ever been a lost cousin in her game before but Louis seemed very determined on keeping said cousin and Lucy figured she better play with. "Say goodbye and then we can go back to the fire!"

Five thousand languages, Louis thought in amazement. He didn't even know five thousand languages. He couldn't even name one hundred language. He tried, counting the ones he knew on his fingers, French, like his mum, English, like him, Bulgarian, his mum's friend Viktor spoke Bulgarian, Louis realized that apart from those three, he couldn't think of more. So he was very impressed by the fact the mermaids spoke five thousand languages.

Louis watched intently as Madeline appeared to be talking to the mermaids. Then she grabbed his hand again and said something about seven magical stones. He did want to make the witch pay for ruining castles. And he wanted Lucy back, so he was glad Madeline finally decided that Lucy was important too. Louis waved at the invisible mermaids, thanking them for their help before he let himself be lead back to the sand.

"How do we find those magical stones then? Are they special?" he asked, eyes scanning if he could see something that stood out.

Lucy winced slightly when her toes touched the dry sand again. It was even hotter now after they'd spent so much time in the freezing cold sea. She could see the Shell Cottage not too far away and her stomach growled, she hadn't eaten anything for a while and she was really starting to crave cookies and milk, but the game was more important than food, wasn't it?

Yes, Lucy decided, it's much more important. She ignored her growling stomach and turned to Louis again. "Of course they are special.These stones are both evil and good. Together they are the perfect balance but apart they are not!" she really felt like an old man when she talked like that. "Oh my Merlin! Look!" she gasped, falling on her knees next to Louis as she grasped for something in the sand, next to his feet.

"Edward! You did it! You found one!" she held up a round gray stone. "I knew you could do it, Eddie!"

Louis gloated slightly when Madeline said he had found one. He didn't really see how he had found one, because she had found it, but she seemed to be convinced he did. "But you found it," he argued, though he was glad that they had found one of the stones they needed. He looked curiously at the grey stone in her hand, it was flat and didn't look all that special, but he believed her if she said it was.

"Does that mean I can get my cousin back now?" he asked quietly. His stomach grumbled and even though he was enjoying himself, his feet were burning and he had a feeling that the sunblock spell his mother had cast on him had ended about thirty minutes ago.

"Will the stone get me her back?"

Lucy had started to regret the fact that she'd let Louis find the first stone, a little bit. That meant he had found the first stone instead of her. But it was a way to keep him interested in the game, even if when it came to the end she was going to be the biggest hero, he could be her sidekick or something.

"We need all the stones to get your cousin back," Lucy frowned a little. "C'mon! We have to look, find few more stones and then we need to start a plan on how we will fight the evil witch." she yawned a little and her stomach growled again. "I've heard the evil witch has a weakness for sweets though, do you have any?"

She stared at the ground, looking for more stones that were vaguely similar to the one Louis had in his hand. "I think I've got one!" she grabbed a couple of stones lying by their feet. "Look! Look! I found two!"