Ice Cream Is The Best Treatment For Summer Blues

This thread is mostly for Matthew Bennett and Victoria Campero, but if you wanna join then go ahead!


It was a beautiful day. Oliver often had those. The sky was bright blue like a jolly rancher and the clouds were made of marshmallows and the air was just so cool and it made Oliver want to dance. Their father was going to take some time off to take to Hogsmeade, because Ollie missed the smell of butterbeer and Matthew….well, he wasn’t sure exactly why Matthew was going. Oliver grabbed his money and shoved it inside his pocket. He knew that as soon he got to Hogsmeade, he was going to get White Truffle ice cream and then he was going to get himself a butterbeer. He was really trying to spend sometime alone, to figure out why he was significantly shorter than most boys his age. All the guys he knew had already been stretched enough to pass as older kids, but Oliver was probably destined to be forever five feet tall. He wasn’t going to tell Matthew to leave him alone, though, so Olive had a plan.

He was going to lose Matthew. That was reasonable, right? But no. What if some creepy pedophilic wizard took his little brother and never returned him. No, Oliver couldn’t do that. Well, he COULD, but he wasn’t going to. Now that Oliver had suddenly changed his mind about losing Matthew somewhere between the many bodies of Hogsmeade, he followed his dad to their chimney so that they could all be magically transported with that powder stuff Ollie kept forgetting the name of. He took a handful of the powder and told it where to take him, and his brains almost flew out of his eyes because that was one hell of quick trip. He landed in front of the Quidditch shop, and waited for Matthew and his father to show up before walking the few shops down ahead of them. He was determined to getting that ice cream. He’d been waiting FOREVER for it.

Finally, after a few minutes of walking and listening to his brother and father talk behind him, he saw the Florean Fortescue sign above and he turned to look at them, gave them a huge grin, and darted inside. He was so ready for this. So ready.

It took a lot of effort for Victoria to get here and she would therefore decisively savor every minute of her victory. After weeks of begging her mother to honor her promise of an ice cream treat in Diagon Alley, Victoria decided it was time to take drastic actions. Such a promise was too important to be delayed over and over again! Putting the idea of ice cream into a young girls head and then just taking it away - well that was cruel beyond measure! But this Ravenclaw had a plan in mind. She decided to go on a chore strike. Yes, a chore strike - how brilliant! No more washing the dishes, making her bed or even picking up her clothes from the floor. Her mother tried to bribe her of course, to just forget about her stubborn plan in hopes of continuing a semi normal life in the household. But Victoria knew, as any decent revolutionary would, that persistence was the key. Such a tyrannical regime would not stand for long. Viva la France! Okay, so she wasn't exactly French - but she had made her point.


After a full three days of protest, Victoria's mother agreed to settle this dispute out of sheer desperation and annoyance. The negotiations went smoothly and both sides seemed to get what they wanted. Victoria promised to make her bed and help her mother with the dishes every single day, while her mother promised to take Victoria out for ice cream at least twice before school started. The end result was a great personal victory and the brunette skipped down Diagon Alley that day with a certain springy nature in her step. The grin off her face simply wouldn't subside. Not just because she managed to out-stubborn her mother, but also because she planned to stuff her face with as much ice cream as her stomach could handle.


Seeing that Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour was just a few steps away, her heart began to flutter. Finally her demanding craving for things that taste like heaven would be met. She rushed to the entrance with excitement until she saw a dark haired boy walking in the same direction. And he was even a few steps ahead of her! Oh no - Victoria could not allow that. She stretched out her step and raced the boy to the entrance, almost crashing into him as a result. But proximity made Victoria realize that the dark haired boy wasn't a stranger at all. "Ollie!", she grinned as she hugged him the moment she realized who he was. "It has been forever.... How was your summer? I wasn't trying to knock you over or anything, I promise", she apologized with a chuckle. Although who could really blame her of being overly competitive when it comes to ice cream?

Matthew was so excited, because finally school was coming back around, and that meant that he got to go shopping with his dad and his awesome-cooler-than-everyone-else-even-him-but-only-by-a-little older brother Ollie! And this time, Matthew was determined to do actual fun things and not be stuck with his father the entire time. Matthew was so tired of stupid rules that involved him not being able to run off and do whatever he wanted. But since his mum wasn't there, it might be a bit easier for him to get away - or maybe, they'd actually do some fun things, since his dad was kind of fun compared to his mum. Or maybe he and Ollie could go off and do awesome brother things by themselves and their dad would just tag along behind and pay for anything they wanted.

Obviously Matthew loved traveling by floo powder more than anything else. Because it involved fire! Matthew actually got to travel in fire, and if there was anyone who didn't think that was the absolute coolest way of traveling then they had some serious problems. After a particularly enjoyable floo powder experience, Matthew found himself bounding along beside Ollie, talking his brother's ear off. " - and I'm going to learn all kinds of cool new spells as a second year, won't I Ollie?! It's going to be great! You know, I really want to learn the water spell so that I can shoot Ariadne with it whenever she tries to talk to me! She's really annoying, and she bothers me all the time and - Oh, Icecream!"

Ollie always had the best ideas - ice cream being one of them. His brother took off inside before Matthew could even blink, and Matthew scowled. How could Ollie forget his amazing awesome little brother?! With a sigh, he traipsed in after Ollie, and raised his eyebrows when he saw that his brother was not alone. He was with a girl! And she was hugging him. Matthew narrowed his eyes and darted from his fathers, interrupting them rudely. "Ollie, great choice! Ice cream is the best! What flavor are you going to get? There isn't a fire flavor - I know, I looked last year - but I could get a smoke flavored one! I think it's even warm, Ollie! Even though it's ice cream! How cool is that?!" Much cooler than this girl who was trying to steal his brother away from him! And Matthew wouldn't have it! If she wanted Ollie, then she got Matthew, too.

"Hi, I'm Matthew!" he exclaimed, turning to her. "Ollie's super awesome little brother who he thinks is cooler than anyone else," he added, emphasizing the word "anyone," and hoping the girl understood that Matthew was talking about her.

Running, running. Yes, ice cream. Iceeee creaaam. Oliver was really only thinking about that sweet, glorious white truffle ice cream. Just the words, simple and unimportant to others, created a heavenly image in his brain. Yessss. Then he swore he heard the scratching of a record player, and he was being hugged - yes, hugged - by a pretty girl with dark hair. It took him a second to recognize the voice. Oh, it's Victoria. He realized, then he actually took everything in. It's Victoria!!! Grinning, he hugged her back, because she was cool like all those older kids in school. "Victoriaaaa!" Ollie said as he realized that he was hugging her and quickly stepped back awkwardly. Girls were nice and everything, but hugging girls because he was glad to see them was way different than hugging Matthew for his birthday.

"Yes, the whole summer!" He exclaimed, grinning. Oliver was about to say that it was okay, that he most likely wouldn't mind being knocked over by her because she was a friend and she was AWESOME, but suddenly he heard Matthew talking like a maniac. Uh-uh. Ollie gave Victoria a nervous smile, he had completely forgotten about his brother for few moments. "Heh." Oliver rubbed the back of his head, Matthew was talking too fast and too much, probably annoying Victoria. And he was bringing his pyromaniac self along, talking and talking about fire-flavored ice cream which was probably the strangest thing he had ever heard. It wasn't impossible, though.

When Matthew introduced himself as the one Ollie thoughts was cooler than anyone, Oliver blushed massively. His cheeks were very warm and he was going into a little panic mode. Nooo, don't embarrass me. Not right now. Not in front of Victoriaaaaa. He was pleading silently for Matthew to stop talking for a little bit, but it didn't seem like he was going to stop. Suddenly, Oliver put his hand on his brother's shoulder and pushed him inside, "Yeah, Matthew. Come on. Let's go." he said as he tried his best to get Victoria's attention away from his little git of a brother. “Hey, Victoria? You can join me if you want.” he called out as he walked inside, the smell of awesomeness hitting him right away. There was something about ice creams shops that smelled wonderful, not like butterbeer which sometimes got tiring, but it was a unique smell. Oliver couldn’t even describe it. It just made him feel like he had walked into the warmest igloo in the history of igloos. “What do you want?” He asked Matthew, checking his pockets to see if he had enough for the both of them. Of course he had.

As Victoria stepped away from her hug and waited for her friend to describe in the greatest detail possible how he had spent his summer, they were interrupted. A younger boy, who bore a striking resemblance to Ollie, started passionately talking about his new flavor of ice cream - fire. Or did he say smoke? Something like that. He introduced himself as Matthew and Victoria quickly realized that they were brothers. How was it possible that she did not know Oliver had a sibling? "Hi Matthew! I am Victoria", she introduced herself with a kind smile.

His enthusiasm and over-attachment to Ollie actually reminded her of a younger version of herself. Having an older brother as well, she knew what it was like. When  Victoria was younger, she had a tendency to cling to her brother Anthony like crazy person. She followed him around constantly, always wanting to be in his presence. In her eyes he could do no wrong because, obviously, he was the coolest brother ever. This type of behavior naturally drove Anthony mad, but even that didn't discourage her. She was quite persistent back then. But now, well some things have changed since then. Victoria was painfully aware that her brother was no superhero, at least not in her eyes. Not anymore.

Victoria couldn't help but giggle as she saw Ollie nervously blush, trying to ignore his little brother's erratic behavior. But she didn't mind at all. It was nice to see two brothers hanging out with each other. Family should be close after all. "Sure", she nodded her head at Oliver's proposal and walked into the Ice Cream Parlor. Inside, a magical array of flavors and colors seemed to be waiting just for her. Her eyes danced at each section, trying to find a preference of any kind. But even presented with such a wide variety of choices, Victoria couldn't help but gravitate towards the safe ones. As always. She wasn't exactly the adventurous kind, not even when it came to her food. "I suppose picking vanilla would be considered a crime here", she joked, only half serious.

No, she thought determinedly. This time she would try something different and exciting. Or at least something more exciting than Vanilla. "Umm... Hi. I would like the sweet corn gelato please", she asked the lady as she took out her money out of her pocket. "You have to tell me everything about your summer. Was it fun?", she asked turning to Ollie as she waited for everyone else to make an order.

Why was Ollie looking at him like that? Matthew's brother got flustered way too easily. He should just own the fact that he was the coolest person in the world. If this girl made him not want to be the coolest person int he world, then she was obviously not very good for him. Whatever, it didn't matter. They were getting ice cream. Matthew let Ollie push him into the ice cream parlor, but looked over at his brother in surprise when he actually pushed him away. Away! "Hey!" he exclaimed indignantly, but his brother didn't seem to be paying attention to him. He was paying attention to her!

Speaking of her, she was nice. But she was obviously faking. She was either pretending to be that nice, or she was really that nice but she was completely boring. When she asked about ordering a vanilla ice cream, Matthew decided that it was the latter. Boring. Not cool enough for his brother. Ollie wasn't doing a good enough job telling her that she was making a stupid decision, so Matthew jumped in. "You can't order vanilla!" Matthew told her patronizingly, as though he were teaching a small child something very important. "You might as well be a muggle. They have a hundred flavors, and you want to pick vanilla?" This girl clearly had to reprioritize her life.

Matthew eagerly followed Ollie up to the counter. "Which one are you gonna get Ollie - oh, the chocolate frog one?!" That one looked good! Only apparently Ollie didn't think so. His brother was so stupid sometimes. "The frogs aren't alive, Ollie," Matthew told him, rolling his eyes. He knew it wouldn't matter to Ollie - actually, his brother didn't look so well. "You might want to stay back," he said in a casual tone, looking up at Victoria. "Ollie's really sensitive - he might throw up." Thankfully though, his brother didn't throw up. That was good, because if he did Matthew probably wouldn't have wound up getting any ice cream.

But then, Ollie said the unthinkable, and Matthew turned and shot him the angriest glare he could. "She is NOT my girlfriend!" he retorted, looking between Ollie and Victoria as though daring them to contradict him. "Don't ever say that again!" But Matthew's anger died quickly because it was finally time to order ice cream! His eyes widened in surprise when Ollie ordered Smoke ice cream, the exact kind Matthew had been wanting! "That's great Ollie! Now I can order something different and try some of yours!" Then, he turned to the lady behind the counter and made a quick decision. "Can I try the Turkey Dinner please?"

Victoria listened as they both agreed that ordering vanilla in a parlor like this would be considered a crime against humanity. Well clearly not everyone was so afraid of taking risks like she was, especially when it came to silly ones such as choosing the flavor of your ice cream. But sweet corn was way better than vanilla, right? I mean it was a much bolder choice and something that she had never tried before. Which was a huge progress for the Ravenclaw. The last thing she wanted is for Ollie and his brother to think she was boring - or vanilla like. So with all the little courage she could muster, she took a large bite of her ice cream and let the taste swirl in her mouth. It was actually good! Not life changingly disgusting at all! "This is great", she mumbled as she continued munching on her treat. 


"Frogs??", she asked, suddenly moving the ice cream away from herself and turning her gaze to Matthew. Sure she had expected some strange things but the flavor called 'frogs' was worse than anything she could imagine. Even if they were only magical frogs, Victoria couldn't stop herself from imagining tiny frogs legs twitching in the ice cream. Just the thought made her gag and she had to look away to try and clear her mind. "That sounds... disturbing", said Victoria as she shook her head. Who on earth would even order that? Glancing at Ollie, she noticed that she wasn't the only one who felt this way. "I'm sure he will be fine", the Ravenclaw giggled when Matthew suggested Ollie might throw up. In all honestly, Victoria was very near that herself. But she had a plan: just look away and focus on something else.

Thankfully, the conversation turned to their summer experiences. "Oh you have a girlfriend Matthew?", she asked with an excited grin thinking that was the cutest thing she had heard in a while. But his reaction to the word 'girlfriend' made her hide her silly grin, for propriety's sake. "That's okay, she can be your very best friend instead", Victoria encouraged. Which was actually sort of the same thing in his case, seeing how he was twelve, but that didn't matter. "That is adorable. And you shouldn't tease him! You should, you know, help him out", Victoria said in a lower voice as she playfully hit Ollie with her elbow. Wasn't that what big brothers were for? To give you advice about girls and dating and all silly things like that.

"What does smoke taste like? I imagine sort of ash like", Victoria thought out loud as Ollie ordered his ice cream. Well smoke sounded a lot cooler than what she had ordered. Maybe there was a book about this - how to order the proper flavor and still look cool. There ought to be. She decided she would look it up when she found the time. "Are you trying out for the Quidditch team this year? I know you said you would practice during the summer. Because I am totally doing it this year. No backing out this time. So we should totally do it together!", Victoria exclaimed in excitement. How awesome would it be if she wasn't all alone during the try outs. She felt very nervous about the whole thing already, but having a friend there for support would make things a lot easier.