The Marriage Decree

Chapter 140: What Have We Done?

Llevant Beach - with the warm Balearic Sea lapping its golden sands - is only a short walk from their hotel resort. It's the picture-perfect beach that the British can only dream about. They arrive after breakfast and set up their beach supplies: windbreakers seal them off from other holidaymakers, beach chairs make the adults more comfortable than sitting on towels or the sand, and a pop-up tent protects the children from the hot sun.

Lauren and Craig spend over an hour (while the adults set up) building a whole castle fort with their buckets and spades. Betty keeps the twins occupied, desperate to knock down every sandcastle within reach. Sophie takes the first beach chair, opens her book and forgets about everyone else.

Once everyone is set up, Chris and David - acting like big children themselves - take the children little ways down the beach to dig a big hole, "Just for fun!" They respond when Sarah asks her husband and brother what they're doing. She leaves them alone since they're also keeping the children busy.

Draco, still feeling hungover from the night before, places his cap over his face and settles back in his chair for a nap. Hermione takes their son towards the hole to snap a few pictures.

"How are you going to get out?" Hermione asks after a quick photo shoot.

"We dug some steps in the side." David gestures to the side of the hole wall beneath where Hermione is standing.

"I'm impressed," she laughs,

"Let's fill it with water now," Lauren suggests, collecting her bucket and climbing out of the hole.

Unknown to Draco, Lauren manages to rope everyone (but Sophie) into collecting buckets of water (in an attempt to create a private pool). So everyone leaves him to protect their belongings as they disappear to the sea. It doesn't take Lauren long to get distracted by the waves. Who needs a private pool when there's a whole sea right there?

As the sun reaches its highest point, Betty and Tom announce they're going to find lunch and will return soon. In the meantime, Draco awakes from his nap, feeling much better and decides it's time to join his family in the sea and races down to the tide. Their wait for lunch is spent swimming and splashing around. Vivian digs her hands into the sand, discovering a seashell from which she refuses to part. Evelyn then becomes upset that she also doesn't have a seashell, so Sarah spends far too long trying to find an equally pretty one for her other daughter. Scorpius holds his parents' hands above his head as he jumps and stomps his feet to splash the water. His giggles are infectious, and soon Hermione lifts him into her arm because she's laughing too much at the pure joy her son is exhibiting.

An hour after they left, Betty and Tom returned with four plastic bags bulging with food. They send Sophie to beckon everyone back to their beach base.

"We found exactly what we were looking for?" Tom announces, placing the bags down in a spare beach chair.

Betty pulls out a box with a fish on the front and then opens it to reveal steaming fish and chips.

"Classic." Chris nods approvingly, helping to pass the boxes around.

The children and the twins eat in the pop-up tent, protected from the sun, while Draco sits Scorpius on his lap (beneath a sun umbrella) and feeds him small nibbles of fish, chips, mushy peas and bread.

"I still want to visit the museum in the old town," David announces to his family as their plan for their remaining days is being discussed.

"Of course you do," Sarah teases. "History is your whole personality."

"Okay, Dr Dentists, you check all your food for the amount of sugar. Live a little, eat some ice cream."

"Dad, you just don't want to go to the theme park because you're scared of heights," Sophie calls from the tent.