It was something they had been talking about for a long time, but that neither of them actually thought was going to happen.
Will had always teased that he would show up in France to visit Renee during the holidays. Neither of them took it seriously. That was just the way Will was, poking and prodding at Renee. He had never been to France, and she always spoke so fondly of it.
When his mother got word of the fact that he was friends with Renee, however, things started going off-track.
“Riviere… I knew a Riviere, back at Hogwarts. He was a Slytherin, a few years older. Benjamin.”
Will shrugged. “Renee’s dad was in Slytherin, I think.”
While his mother pondered it, Will moved on. He did not expect anything to come of it. It was just another weird coincidence.
Two weeks later, his mother walked into Will’s bedroom, a letter in her hand.
“I KNEW they were related!” she said, proudly handing over the letter to Will. “Renee’s father is an old friend of mine. I sent him an owl after you mentioned his daughter, and we’ve been talking since. He invited us over to visit him and Renee in France, to spend the weekend with them.”
Will looked at her. “Seriously?”
She nodded. “Seriously. You should begin to pack so that you will be ready to go. I know Ms. Riviere is your friend, but being late is rude, no matter how close to a person you are.”
Rolling his eyes slightly, Will said, “Whatever.”
However, he was grinning when he quickly penned Renee a letter. He was excited; his jokes were going to come to fruition.
He was crashing Renee’s house in France.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Will and his mom arrived right on time, of course, traveling with their luggage to the Riviere house by floo powder. When they arrived, Renee and her parents were sitting in the middle of the living room, Renee and her father looking excited and her mother looking rather bored.
There were lots of hugs before the Rivieres showed Will and his mother around the house. The tour was longer than Will expected, but he was pleased when it ended with Renee and him crashing in her bedroom. Will had a room of his own while he was staying, but neither of them really wanted to stay there.
“So,” Will said. “We’re in France. The others should be here, but since their mother isn’t psychotic, it seems they aren’t. It’s just you and me.”
“Yup,” Renee agreed.
“How long do you think it will take before we’re bored out of our wits?” Will asked, grinning.
Renee frowned. “You are only here for two days. That’s not enough time to get bored.”
“I’m me, Renee,” Will reminded her.
“Bother. You are you,” Renee teased. “You’re too much of a Gryffindor.”
Will’s grin widened. “It’s better than being too much of a Slytherin. We should start doing stuff, though, so I don’t drive you insane. Sound good?”
Renee only nodded.
“We should go into the city!” Will announced.
“Erm…” Renee looked at him. “Two teenage wizards wandering around the city…”
“Sounds absolutely bloody brilliant,” Will decided. “We’re doing it! You can pick where. It’s your city, so you surely have some favorite places.”
Renee looked at Will. She had known her friend for a long time, and from the look on his face, she could tell that he was absolutely serious.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll talk to my parents.”
__________________________________________________________________________________
An hour later, the two were running around France, visiting all of Renee’s favorite places. Will liked walking around France with Renee—although they were friends, he really spent the least amount of time with Renee. He did not really know her as well, and it was nice getting to walk around, talking and exploring and learning about the places that made Renee happy.
Renee often wished she had some sort of leash for Will, who had a tendency to wander off when she wasn’t paying attention. Will was having fun exploring alleyways and other places that he probably should not have been.
By the end of the day, they were both tired but happy. They settled in on the beach to watch the sunset.
“Renee!” a voice said, and the two turned around to see a blonde running up. “Who is this?”
“Celeste!” Renee said, getting up and walking over to her friend, a giant smile on her face. “This is Will.”
“The obnoxious flirt from school?” Celeste asked.
“That’s the one,” Renee said.
Will opened his mouth like he was going to protest, but he changed his mind. “Renee, this is the French girl?”
Renee blushed slightly, and Celeste grinned. “Awe, you talk about me?”
“More like he wormed it out of me,” Renee said under her breath.
“She’s got the biggest crush on you,” Will said, ignoring Renee’s protests.
“I know,” Celeste said. “Thanks for the heads up, though.”
Will stood up, offering his hand. “I like you already, Renee’s French girl. I’d hit on you, but that’d probably be in poor taste.”
“Not like that usually stops you,” Renee muttered.
“It was nice meeting you,” Will said. “I’m going to leave you two alone.” He wiggled his eyebrows at Renee, who blushed slightly. Then, he took off.
“He seems… lively,” Celeste said fondly. “He seems like he’d be a good friend, though.”
Renee nodded. “He may be an annoying Gryffindor male, and he may have his priorities a bit screwed up, but he is a good person. He takes care of people.”
Celeste walked in front of Renee, holding out her hands for Renee to grab. “It’s good to know that someone is looking out for my girlfriend when she’s all the way over there in England.”
“I can take care of myself…”
“I know you can,” Celeste said. “But having a boy around to do your bidding never hurts.” She winked, and Renee laughed.
“Will’s not the best for doing people’s bidding, but he’s around when it counts.”
“And that’s all you really need.”
The two walked down the beach, holding hands, for a while before it started to get dark. Renee started to walk back to her house when she saw Will sitting on a bench.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were going back?”
Will shrugged. “Your parents would be suspicious if I came back and not you. So I decided to hang out here for a while and wait so you didn’t get nailed for spending time with a muggle.”
“Thanks.”
Will stood up. “Anything that involves two girls making out on the beach is a-okay with me,” he teased, but Renee could tell he wasn’t really serious.
She whacked him over the head anyway.
__________________________________________________________________________________
The rest of the weekend passed in a blur. They were forced to stay indoors the next day, since Will’s mother did not want him wandering around the city again, but they managed to entertain themselves.
When it was finally time to go, Will gave Renee a giant hug and told her to look out for herself. Will’s mother and Renee’s father agreed that they should arrange another get-together like that, which made both of the teenagers rather pleased.
Overall, the weekend had been lots of fun, and Will couldn’t wait for another weekend just like it.
