Near the border of the Forbidden Forest

Lauren stopped laughing as Indiana explained what Bungee jumping actually was. "Muggles do that for fun?" She asked. "What a strange thing to do." She replied... "Wouldn't it hurt when the cord stopped and therefore you stopped? I think that would hurt. Muggles are a strange bunch." Lauren said, clearly baffled that anyone would sanely throw themselves of a tower, cord or no cord.

"Well, there are Muggles that go even further by riding on airplanes and then jumping off when they are above the clouds. It's called sky-diving and they do all sorts of acrobatics while in free-fall some several miles into the sky." Indiana replied before innocently adding. "Of course, they have no cords whatsoever attached to them."

Lauren shook her head. That just sounded so bizarre to her. Why would someone do that? She asked herself. "And you say that they have no cords attached to them. How in Merlin's name do they stop flying." Lauren looked impressively at Indiana, "You sure know a lot about Muggle behaviour. Are you a Muggleborn?" Lauren asked. She didn't know half the things that Indiana obviously did. "I think I may have to take Muggle Studies when they offer it!"

"Indiana," Shelby poked him in the shoulder. "Quit giving her ideas! She's mad enough without wanting to go bungee jumping off the Astronomy tower or go sky diving."

"They wear a parachute, which is basically a gigantic piece of fabric that catches against the air creating resistance that slows them down so that they don't die," she gave Lauren a warning look. "I know what you're thinking, and no, I will not go with you if you decide to do either of those things. They're too dangerous."

"What are those for?" Shelby asked Indiana, pointing to the buckets he'd brought down with him.

Lauren smiled, "Oh you're no fun! I would love to try out the Bungee jumping idea off the Astronomy tower. Imagine Professor Spelling's face, if I did that tonight during class!! I think they'd send me to Mungo's under suicidal watch!" Lauren noticed for the first time that Indiana was carrying buckets with him. Hmm.. Lauren thought. What was he going to do with those?

"Well, I mentioned about cleaning the rust and stain marks off Elise so I decided to get what I needed." Indiana answered. "I doubt the house elves would've have obliged in lending me vinegar and baking soda along with the buckets."

The youth then set the buckets down to relax his arms. After all, making his way from the Room of Requirement down to the grounds while avoiding other people really strained his arms.

"Shelby says that you know a lot about cars." Lauren said. "I don't know anything about them! Nothing at all! But I suppose a hobby is a good thing." Lauren said. "I can help you try and de-rust her if you want. I don't mind getting my hands dirty!" Lauren said, knowing that it was definitely the contrary for many girls her age. "You gonna help too Shelby?"

"Indiana, have you ever been to the kitchens?" Shelby giggled, "The house elves would give you a hippogriff if you asked for it."

"Of course I'm going to help, Lauren. What do you say, Elise? Would you like us to try to clean off some of your rust?" Shelby asked, patting the hood gently.

The headlights flicked on.

"I don't know a lot but just enough." Indiana replied to Lauren's earlier remark.

"Just be patient, Elise." the youth spoke. "We'll be done as soon as you know it."

Putting on some rubber gloves and opening the gallon of white vinegar, Indiana poured some onto a clean sponge before carefully applying it to the rusted parts of the rims. "There are some gloves in the bucket. Also, there are two sponges in that bucket so pour some vinegar on them and scrub the rusted area for five minutes. Apply a fresh coat of vinegar to the rust, let it sit for thirty minutes. Afterward, take some of the baking soda to neutralize the vinegar and then wash it off with water. There are towels in there for drying."

Shelby nodded her head and grabbed a pair of gloves. She was glad that Indiana had told them what to do, otherwise she wouldn't have had a clue. She followed his example and put on a pair of gloves, passing another pair to Lauren. "It's a good thing you brought extras," Shelby said with a smile, wondering if he'd known that someone else would be there.

Lauren nodded. "Yeah, that's quite convenient, that you brought extras." Lauren looked at what Indiana and Shelby started to do, and did the same. Hopefully with the three of them working on her, Elise would be sparkly and look good as new, in no time!

"Elise, can you turn your radio on, so we can have some music as we work?' Lauren asked the car.

Elise obliged.

"Just in case there were others that want to help." Indiana replied as he scrubbed the vinegar over the rusted spots with the rough edge of the sponge, weakening the stain. Once the rust was soaked, he applied additional vinegar to speed the process of rust removal before moving onto the next spot.

"So, did any of you encounter the giant squid during that time you all were in the lake?" Indiana asked.

Shelby looked over at Lauren and burst into laughter at Indiana's question. She, Lauren, and their friends Hilary and Theresa had had many conversations about the giant squid that she wouldn't dare talk about at that moment. "Kind of," Shelby said. "We saw something, but it wasn't the time when Lauren jumped in and needed to be rescued, it was the time before that," Shelby slyly omitted her own near death experience.

Indiana raised his eyebrows a bit to the laughter before hearing Shelby's reply. 'So they might have seen it.'

"I've only seen the giant squid once on a dreary morning but it was nothing special. But I wonder if there is also a giant octopus that is living in the lake by chance." the youth muttered, shivering amid feeling a chill down his spine as he continued to scrub at the rust.

A giant octopus? It was possible, Shelby thought. That could have easily been what they really saw. Somehow an octopus sounded much more dangerous than a squid. She was glad that her friends had stopped her from trying to get closer to it. "There could be an octopus in there. I could ask Professor Williams, if you'd like," she offered. "She already thinks I'm crazy so I don't mind asking more questions."

(OOC: Okay, I'm watching A Very Potter Sequel right now and I am dying laughing. You guys have to watch it.)

"Depends on her definition of crazy. Perhaps she thinks you have quite an imagination in a good way that is." Indiana replied lightly while scrubbing the rust and other stains on the front of the car before leaving a new coat of vinegar over them. He could slowly see that some of the rusted areas that he dealt with earlier were slowly beginning to recede but needed more time.

"After hearing about a basilisk that used to be in the Chamber of Secrets, I wouldn't be surprised on what could also be found on the grounds, under the lake, or in the forest." Indiana remarked. "Maybe you'll find some evidence of a creature that isn't native to the Earth."

"Well, I asked her some questions that we had been wondering about when we were by the lake. First I asked her if the giant squid was a boy or a girl, then I asked if he could get cooties. She nearly fell off her chair," Shelby tried to keep her face as serious as possible so she could see how Indiana would react.

"Like aliens? Honest to Merlin aliens? Are you sure you're not my little brother in disguise," Shelby joked, "Because he loves that stuff. You two would get along great."

Indiana may have had the demeanor to remain calm and such but that moment was something he had never expected. The youth choked a bit as the issue seemed random and out of nowhere in his opinion. Despite that, it did seem amusing to a degree nonetheless.

"She probably didn't expect to be asked such a question. What was her answer?" Indiana asked, the amusement and curiosity in his voice being very obvious to the open ear.

"To be honest, she seemed more flustered by the gender question than the cooties question. All she said was that squids couldn't get cooties," Shelby replied. "She didn't even tell me that cooties aren't real. I suppose she wants us to think that they are for as long as possible," she turned back to face Elise but watched Indiana out of the corner of her eye.

"It could be just Professor Williams letting you find out the truth by not confirming its existence but also by not denying it." Indiana replied. "It's almost like allowing young children to believe that a certain Christmas figure named Santa Claus comes to drop gifts off every year in the winter to the well-mannered and charitable before they find out later on that he really doesn't exist and that it was the parents that sneak in the presents to maintain a very old myth."

"As for the talk about aliens, I always thought that magical creatures were just a myth before discovering that they were real amid being introduced to the magical world." Indiana replied. "I suppose that the discovery of a world that was thought to be the type spoken about in fairy tales and fiction leaves the question on what other elements could possibly exist on the Earth. There's always some new discovery to be found everyday."

"Well, we already knew that they weren't real. Hilary and I let Lauren and Theresa think that they were real for a while. Hilary even gave them cootie shots," Shelby laughed.

Shelby thought about what Indiana had said about aliens. She'd grown up with magic so she'd never thought of coming from the muggle world and what a shock it must be to find out that magic existed. "You could be right," she said.

Then she froze and pretended to look horrified. "And what do you mean Santa Claus isn't real?"

Indiana had just finished scrubbing a rusted section when he heard the last question. He had a feeling that he shouldn't have used the Santa Claus example. What if Shelby and Lauren believe in the existence of Santa Claus?

"Well, it seemed that one of the Hufflepuffs left a rather particular picture in the boys' dormitory long ago." Indiana replied nervously. "I honestly don't know if it was supposed to be some sort of cruel prank on younger children or something. Don't blame me. I just found this ever since I was given that whole dorm for myself."

Reaching into the inner pocket of his black sleeveless trenchcoat, the youth pulled out a picture before placing it on the hood.

(A/N Go to: http://lh5.ggpht.com/gmefmax/R_r3w91TLII/AAAAAAAAAZU/HPWXQzoE_lg/s800/SantaGrave.jpg )

Shelby glanced at Indiana, then down at the picture and began to giggle again. "You know I was just joking, right? Even Max doesn't believe in Santa Claus anymore and he's only 8. It's a pretty funny picture though. Still, it's an odd thing to carry around with you. Why was it in your pocket?" Shelby looked at Indiana curiously.

"Well, you sure took me off-guard with that expression while asking me that question about Santa not being real. Made me a bit nervous for a moment." Indiana replied.

"As for the manufactured picture, I'm still deciding on whether or not I should throw it away. A picture is worth a thousand words but seeing the expressions and reactions of other people that look at the photo is priceless." the youth replied. "Whoever made it was real good with Photoshop."

The youth then turned. "Hey, Lauren. How's everything on your side?"

Lauren looked up as Indiana spoke to her, "Yeah, it looks alright. I think," she said, not knowing how it was actually supposed to look, and if she was doing the right thing. "You wanna come over and see?" Lauren said to the boy, tilting her head to the side to look at her handy work.