A collision of events.

The water was a crystalline blue that seemed to sparkle on its own but ever brighter in the heat of the sun that baked down on the Mediterranean and the countries that flanked the body of water that was blessed with a wealth of sea life and opportunities for those that lived on it. It was from the bow of the boat that Cerelia watched the spray fizz up into the air, spattering over the deck in a light sheen that would somewhat relieve the heat of the rooms below. Animals frolicked beneath the surface of the water, in perfect view of the young woman that stood there, her long fingers curled around the wooden rail that was her protection from tumbling into the clear, warm and inviting waters. She was desperate to fold into the heat of the soothing, caressing liquid but knew that protocol, even on holiday, would mean that only stolen moments would allow her to live as she wished.

The slap of expensive shoes against the bright boards of the deck broke Cerelia’s concentration on the water and she lifted her gaze to find her father, still clad in heavy, almost winter-thick robes, beside her. She followed his gaze out onto the water and flicked back after a glance, taking advantage of his distraction to take in his profile. She’d forgotten that her father really was handsome. He was an exceptional, masculine beauty – something her brother’s had missed out on as they appeared as if they’d been given all of the rather recessive, useless genes. But her father was a man of great beauty. His jaw was strong and firm, often speckled with neatly trimmed hair. His head was crowned by a mop of full, ebony hair that was plaited down to his waist. His fingers were long and lithe, pale but gaining the colour that the sun afforded him. His eyes were large and dark, brooding but still open for company. Cerelia didn’t believe it was her company he sought – rather the silence that she would enable him to enjoy. Nevertheless, she spoke to him.

“How long will we be staying here, father?” She inquired softly, bringing her eyes to the water once more. He did not move to look at her, merely stared out over the water. “Not that I am ungrateful,” Cerelia added hastily, “but I do rather miss home. The simplicity of it I mean.”

Adolphus looked at her then; his eyes boring into her with an intensity that made Cerelia want to look away. But she met his gaze, her own struggling to match the look and the burn that lay behind his dark irises.

“Not for long,” He told her finally. “Your brothers will need to excuse themselves to begin work at the Ministry in two weeks time and I have much unfinished business to attend to. You are, of course, welcome to stay in the villa for as long as you like, Cerelia.”

The boat docked at the villa where they all tentatively disembarked. The man that had taken them down there loaded their bags onto jutting bit of rock. Cerelia watched as her father levitated them and glared openly at her brothers who were already at the top of the staircase, disappearing into the house. Cerelia took the stairs hesitantly and climbed them, hearing the boat amble away. She glanced behind at her father but he gestured for her to climb the stairs regardless, his following words almost completely missed. “Go,” he directed. “Find your room.”

The sudden sound of a boat arriving cut through the peace and quiet of the villa like a knife. Waves hit the shore more rapidly and the brunette heard the seemingly distant garble of voices drift up from the water below. The deeper tones of male voices mixed in with the sounds of the ever-flowing ocean beneath. Only the quiet motor disrupted the natural cadence of sound. But in seconds that too disappeared from ear shot - heading back out to the aquamarine blues of the sea. In this moment the brunette looked more like a veela than was normal for her. She lounged in a deck chair, her posture similar to a Greek goddess in a painting. Her deeper skin tone soaked up the sun greedily and her brown eyes took in the pristine view the same way. She wore a white bikini and the underside of her hair was just finishing drying after a swim earlier in the day. 

Gisele Delacour had fallen in love with Italy. The family had been here less than a week but she couldn't help but feeling like she belonged here. Family vacations were a pretty infrequent affair for the Delacours. Unlike the other Pureblood families they rarely found the need to throw money in everyone else's faces with expensive clothes and fancy trips. The house normally suited Gisele just fine. But this summer had been different. The large buildings walls had felt more or less claustrophobic and Gis felt the need to escape from her luxury prison. This trip was all she had been waiting for since June. 

Gisele opened her eyes and sat up to look over the railing at the villa abutting to hers. Sure enough a boat was speeding in the opposite direction and several people were piling out onto the stone docks next to the house. Several boys were running happily up the stairs to enter the house and down below a man was levitating trucks with a woman looking on. Levitating! Giseles attention of sparked when she made the obvious connection that her new neighbors must be wizards too. Maybe she would know them if she just made the effort to get up and go introduce herself. But the warm sun and soft sea breeze were making Gisele lazy so she settled for watching the woman make her way up the stairs after the boys. Her blonde hair was familiar.. 

"Cerelia!" Gisele exclaimed as it clicked. Once this simple face was recognized she saw the features in Cer's face that made her unique. Of course. With a smile Gisele got off her lazy ass and pulled a loose sundress over her head. She entered the house again, barely noticing Julien looking at her. The villa was gorgeous, full of so many plants it could have just as well been outside. The wide windows let in sunlight that made the colorfully painted walls almost glow. When she reached the side of the house at was closest to the Avery's villa (that just happened to be in Juliens room - he didn't mind) she stepped out onto a balcony identical to the one she had been on a moment before. This put her more or less at the same level as Cerelia. The pair had never been best friends but they had always gotten along just fine. However now, living with only family and the Italian muggles, spending time with Cer seemed like a lot more fun than it had back at school. 

Figuring she was just out of ear shot, Gisele waved her arm wildly to gain the second girls attention. Sure.. she could have just walked over to the other house but their only partial friendship made Gisele tentative to come over to their property. Better to stay here for now. 

OOC; and here would be the outfit.

Adolphus Avery was not a man that enjoyed locations other than those he was used to and it was clear from the grim look on his face that he did not feel at all comfortable in Italy. It was a trait that his daughter had too inherited and so it was really rather rare for both of them to be anywhere other than their usual haunts – especially together. Cerelia followed her impatient father up the stone steps to the villa inside which the boys had already disappeared. Cerelia was hesitant about entering the place and so lingered just outside on the entrance balcony where she watched as her brothers ferried around the villa, exploring with elevated interest but not forgetting to throw in a complaint or two about it where they deemed appropriate. Their main motivation for coming on the holiday was simple: girls; and so the one thing that had to be perfect were their bedrooms – and thankfully, they were.

At the sound of her name being called, Cerelia stiffened. She turned a little, searching for the caller, and her eyes fell to a surprisingly familiar face. Gisele Delacour. Now, Cerelia had not been aware that their location would also be inhabited by another wizarding family. She shielded her eyes with her hand and managed a smile for Gisele who she’d shared a dorm with since Easter. They hadn’t exactly been friends but they did not despise each other either. Really, they’d just never really spoken and so had not formed opinions of each other. Gisele seemed nice enough though and if she was willing, Cerelia knew she wouldn’t mind spending the holiday with Gisele rather than her skirt-tail chasing brothers and her incessantly depressed and brooding father.

“Hello Gisele,” Cerelia responded after a moment. “You’ve quite the tan. I didn’t know you would be coming to Italy for the summer. How are you?”

Gisele was amazed at how easily sound carried over the warm air and that Cerelia had managed to hear her at all, let alone with such ease. This fact made her hope that the residents of the Avery's villa were more or less quiet about their affairs and that she wouldn't be woken in the late night with sounds of partying and general ruckus. But for the moment the distance was beyond convenient. "I'm good." she offered with a friendly smile. "We got here about a week ago and it's been really great so far. Everything's more beautiful here." It was true, everything from the sunset to her brother's face looked prettier here in the Italian atmosphere. Gisele was so far into the vacation state of mind that she was having trouble remembering little things about home already. Like the exact smell of her garden, the way Millie's hair sometimes fell across her face, and and the feeling of warm rain splattering across her face as she ran outside to find a stray rainbow like a child. Home had it's own little moments of beauty and perfection - but here it was easier to forget the more painful ones. Because the moments that Gisele had come to cherish the most in her heart were now eating her from the inside out, ridden with guilt for what she had done. 

Don't think about it. 

With a smile that forced her to forget, Gisele spoke again. "If you don't have any plans for later, maybe you'd like to go out with me. I've been taking the boat out quite a bit and I've found some perfect places to swim." she shrugged. Gisele hadn't really talked to Cerelia much, even though the pair had shared the same dorm for all of last year. Cerelia had come to Hogwarts as a transfer and so even though their same year, same house status should have made them know each other very well by now they still knew almost nothing of each other. The time for idle 'get to know you' chitchat had just never come up. But at the very least Cerelia seemed like a nice enough girl and Gisele was glad for the opportunity to share her fun with someone else. The more the merrier. Besides.. Cerelia was a very beautiful girl.. The two of them could take over the town if the blonde was willing. Gisele looked out over he blue water, happily taking in the sight of her Italy. All hers. 

A warm smile lit up Cerelia’s face at the sight of Gisele Delacour and at the prospect of the holiday not being as dreadfully boring as she first imagined it to be. She hadn’t exactly been enthusiastic about going and her father had known it from the very beginning but it was a graduation present to her brothers and not something that Adolphus was going to do by half; so they found themselves in Italy and though Cerelia had been asked to make an effort, she couldn’t quite bring herself to do so. She didn’t want to be there and she’d made that abundantly clear to Adolphus. He wasn’t going to allow his only daughter to remain at home in Britain though and so here Cerelia found herself, optimistically hoping that with Gisele, it wouldn’t be nearly as bad as she first thought.

Cerelia looked about herself, taking in the atmosphere and the scenery and finding herself in agreement with Gisele,

“Yes. It is rather beautiful here.”

Her eyes snapped back to Gisele when the girl spoke and she found herself smiling a little bit at the offer. She straightened up a little and shrugged her shoulders microscopically.

“I’d have to ask my father but I’d love to, yes. We could go in about an hour’s time if that’s alright with you? I will go and get changed into something a bit more sea-worthy and appropriate for swimming. I’ll see you.”

With a parting smile, Cerelia walked back into the villa, determined to win her father over to the idea of her actually enjoying the holiday and, much to her surprise, he agreed to letting her go.


“I can’t actually believe it,” Cerelia admitted as she climbed onto the boat. “I was convinced he’d say no immediately!”

She removed her camera from the bag she’d brought with her and immediately looked about to see what she could take a picture of. She looked down at the camera before glancing over at Gisele. Lifting the camera to her eye, Cerelia adjusted the zoom and snapped a picture of the dark-haired girl. Taking the camera away, Cerelia peered at the LCD screen, pleased with the picture she’d taken. She lifted it up a little, smiling again.

“My father charmed the camera so it’s water-proof. We can take it into the water with us.” She explained before adding. “So where do you want to go?”

Gisele waved as she saw Cerelia making her way down the docks to the boat. The other Ravenclaw seemed quite happy to get out and away from the house (and presumably her family). She would probably be happier if Gisele had magically turned to a gorgeous Italian man, but Gis was just enchanted by her wide smile for a second. Cerelia rarely smiled like that around her and it truly made her a thousand times even more lovely. "Good!" Gisele exclaimed when she gave the news about her father letting her come. "I wouldn't have wanted to kidnap you." She laughed at her own joke, probably making herself sound even more foolish. Then she heard a click of a camera and Gisele looked over to find it pointed in her direction. She smiled at the sight. 

Gisele had always enjoyed having her photo taken. Unlike some girls she tended to take pretty good pictures.. Sometimes even better than she looked in reality. Around the holidays she and Julien had always fought silently to be the center of attention in the Christmas cards. Their mum pampered them and had always enjoyed taking way more photos than were really necessary of their family. It didn't just catch the mouth-open-about-to-take-a-giant-bite photos but also some really beautiful unposed pictures. When she was feeling sad, she sometimes flipped through the old family album of the best they had to offer. Some moved, some stayed still, depending on what he mothers artistic muse felt like that day. She gave Cerelia a cheeky wink as the blonde looked at the cameras screen to check the image. 

"There's a island about ten or fifteen minutes out with a beautiful cove. I was thinking there." Gisele had only been there once so far but it had been absolutely beautiful. A sandy beach with small rocky hills as a backdrop. She didn't know why but she wanted to take Cerelia somewhere special today.. Probably to impress her so she would tag along with Gisele for he rest of the time they were there. Willing to admit it or not, Gisele was starving for company of another girl her age. She moved back to the wheel of the sailboat. Gisele loved this boat. She had half a mind to take it back to France with her to store at the house until she needed it next. Putting a silver key into the ignition and turning it, the boat started with a low rumble. It was just a little too quiet to use the sails at the moment. The last thing they needed was so be stranded or run aground somewhere. (Gisele was admittedly not the best boatswoman in the world.) 

Below deck was the bare basics, due to the small size. However, there was room for a small bathroom, old fashioned wood powered stove, stools, tiny table, and bunk-beds (for the previously mentioned getting stranded). Gisele had never needed the boats more homey aspects but she had enjoyed relaxing belowdecks when she had been caught in an unexpected rain one day. 

With the engine running and warming up, Gisele set about untying the rope lines that attached the ship to it's dock. Immediately they started to slowly float away in the direction of the sea. Gisele hurried back to the wheel and turned it repeatedly left to pull off of the dock and straiten out, facing them southeast. The motor turned to a low setting, sending them out into open waters with relative quiet. Once a reasonable distance away, she cranked up the engines and they started moving faster and faster. The tiny waves hit the bow and sprayed white foam out to the sides. They were soon leaving a wake behind them and had wind blowing through her hair. Not for the first time, Gisele looked over at her companion with excitement and laughter in her eyes. 

The water was crystalline, the clearest of blues Cerelia had seen in the longest time. She leaned over the side of the boat, lifting the camera to her eye, and snapped another couple of pictures, catching a school of fish scuttling by in the process. She smiled a little to herself and put the camera in her lap, freeing her hands so she could push her hair out of her eyes and put it back with a few grips that were pressed onto the skirt of her dress.

She then looked over at Gisele, watching the girl for a moment as she fiddled with the boat. Then suddenly it was moving beneath Cerelia and her hand reached out to grip the side, anxiously watching as the land disappeared slowly behind them, then all at once. Cerelia’s eyes widened a little and she hastily brought the camera back to her face, snapping a few pictures of the villas before turning back to face the front of the boat, revelling in the feel of the wind brushing through her hair.

As they moved through the water, Cerelia found herself eager to get to the cove Gisele had spoken briefly about. As she watched the waves lap gently over each other and foam and fizz when the boat broke through them, she found herself becoming eager to swim through them herself, breaking their ebb and flow with soft strokes of her arms and flicks of her legs. She inhaled deeply the soft scent of the ocean and mused to herself whether she would have found adventure by her lonesome like this, or, heaven forbid, in the company of her errant brothers who were far from responsible when it came to their younger sister.

Soon enough, the girls reached the cove and the anchor, small though it was but sturdy all the same, was let loose to the boat could linger out to see a little and there would be no need to haul it up to the shore. Cerelia rose from where she was sat when the boat came to a halt and she put the camera down with her bag, taking her towels from the latter and setting them out so that she could grab them when they came back aboard. She then slid off the dress that she had been wearing and set it down, placing the camera on top before folding the skirt over it to protect it from the sun and any water just in case the waterproofing spell decided it no longer wanted to work today.

Cerelia looked down at herself hesitantly and felt the unconscious urge to cover herself up again, unused to the amount of flesh she had on show. She looked back at Gisele, smiling slightly as she reached up to unhook her earrings from her ears. She took off the hat and sunglasses she was wearing and set the items down atop the dress before moving over to the open bit of railing where a ladder was attached to the side of the boat.

Moving over to the ladder, Cerelia lifted her arms into the air, momentarily looking to Gisele, sending a small smile the girl’s way before diving cleanly into the warm, welcoming waters of the sea.

Gisele followed Cerelia's lead by slipping off her cover-up and throwing the cloth on the raised part of the deck for her to retrieve later. As she did this she heard a splash and turned quickly to see Cerelia's slender form dive from the edge of the boat and into the brilliant blue waters below. With a squeal of enjoyment, Gisele took a running leap and flew after her off the side. The poorly executed jump looked like it was going to be more of a cannonball so at the last second she straitened her legs and settled for a clean pencil dive. It sent her deep into the ocean and Gisele happily embraced the pleasantly warm water that now surrounded her. Cerelia's dive had carried her farther than Gisele's had and the darker skinned girl drove under again, swimming below the water to Cerelia's side. She surfaced by her side and flashed her a wide smile.

Gisele's arms and legs moved softly to keep her aloft as she floated. The bright rays of the sun felt stronger here and she could see the light broken in odd shapes by the water before it hit her legs. She reached up and tossed her hair as a reflex before smiling over at her new companion. She thought for a moment before saying, "I'm glad you're here, Cerelia." And she was. The blonde girl looked absolutely breathtaking like this and Gisele couldn't help but sneak an almost unnoticeable glance at her soft curves. Gisele winked, then dove back below the perfect water. Something tickled her foot, whether it was a fish or Cerelia she wasn't sure, and Gisele let out an underwater squeal, causing a stream of bubbles to fly out of her mouth and head for the surface. Paradise.