Splish Splash

Ashley sat at the edge of the lake for a moment or two, watching in amusement as the Giant Squid swam around her. During her school days she had actually befriended the crazy creature that had been around probably since the founders days. She wondered how it survived so long. It was sure magical.

"Got to go silly squid," she laughed before waving and she took off. She had a job to do after all. She did have to extract a little promise from the squid never to eat her students. What would the parents say?

Post must always be above 50 words.

Yesterday had been complete chaos such that Indiana wasn't able to get adequate rest last night. Thus, by morning, the youth was outside by the edge of the lake, hoping that the light and breeze of dawn would kick-start and wake him up.

Speaking of waking up, the new rules and regulations imposed had come into effect and the youth knew that the faculty was getting more serious due to recent activities. Points have been lost and areas of the castle had been refurbished throughout the night. The loss of points in Hufflepuff had stung a bit but the loss of access to the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the Room of Requirement had been the only thing that affected Indiana greatly. Perhaps some later years in the future, he would resume where he left off in regards to the ILP.

The sound of splashing water drew Indiana out of his thoughts and the youth looked to see the giant squid in the lake. Perhaps it was the fact that he had inadequate sleep or perhaps he had forgotten to eat some breakfast. Whatever the reason, Indiana was looking hungrily at the giant squid, who was also looking hungrily back at him after apparently sensing his presence and possible intent.

Silence blanketed the standoff of stares between the hungry Hufflepuff and an equally hungry giant squid such that one could hear a pin drop and hit the ground along with the sounds of two empty stomachs growling.

Harmony headed down to the lake, skipping slightly. Finally! The heels and collar were off her feet, and the only bad part was the rash she had on her neck, currently hidden under her tightly fastened cloak. She was barefoot, of course, simply because all other shoes were much too uncomfortable right now. She slowed her skipping to watch the squid and a Hufflepuff have a staredown contest. She briefly wondered who would win. She stood out of the squid's line of sight before sitting down at the water's edge, dipping her feet into the lake.

After a long amount of time in staring at giant squid, Indiana blinked as the moisture in his eyes ran out and, along with that, the desire to cook raw calamari over a campfire. As the youth took time to recover, he felt a lot of people walk over his potential grave and had a feeling that everyone at Hogwarts would certainly allow the giant squid to make a meal out of him if he dared to jump into the lake and hunt the tentacled creature.

"I burned the whole morning out here." Indiana muttered before looking once more at the giant squid. "Savor this victory but next time I'll come out on top!"

With that said, Indiana quickly walking back into the castle, feeling fully awake now but not aware of the young Ravenclaw at the water's edge.

Harmony watched the Hufflepuff boy leave after having his dramatic staredown with the squid. So, did the squid win? She shrugged, calmly staring up at the sky slightly. She wondered if the squid would eat her, but thought against it. She could see it just floating there. Maybe it was wondering what was going on? With a large splash, it submerged itself within the water again. And now she was soaked.

Alycia walked down to the lake and pondered if she wanted to swim or not. It looked like so much fun and it was a little bit hot out already.

She decided and discarded her robes. She'd just have to swim in the rest of her school uniform since she didn't know a spell to change her clothes. Bugger that. She took a running start and dove right into the water.

Raven walked along the edge of the lake and saw Harmony sitting there. He smiled when she got soaked from the squid submerging. He also saw another Ravenclaw girl take a running start and dive into the water. He shook his head and sighing, stopped walking to look up at the sky. He'd recieved two howlers in one day. One from his Head of House, the other from his father. He winced recalling the latter one.
His father was angry at the fact that he was part of a house that had reached the negatives within the first few days. The man didn't care that Raven had said they now had over a hundred points. It hadn't been good enough. His father raged that it didn't matter seeing as they were in last place. With him, it was you had to be first.
Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Raven continued to walk around the broad expanse fo the lake.

Alycia surfaced in the water. She sighed at the coolness of it. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about doing this earlier. She swam around a bit not caring about what anyone else thought of her swimming in the lake. She just hopped that the Giant Squid didn't decide it wanted lunch or something. It had been on Hogwarts grounds for a while so she doubted that it would, but she did have fears.

Harmony watched as the other Ravenclaw girl did a near perfect dive into the lake. With her feet in the water, it told her it was rather cool for a sunny day, but it still felt good. She brushed some wet hair out of her face and removed her sopping wet and rather heavy cloak. She covered her neck with her hand, staring out at the lake. She wondered what the squid was doing right now.

Rebecca walked down to the lake. She had her school robe on but underneath it was a bathing suit. She was glad that she had brought it. While she had swimming lessons when she was a child, she had never really gone swimming before. There was no place close to home that she would have been allowed to swim in. The lake though seemed like a wonderful place to swim in.

Rebecca took off her robe and folded it up before setting on a rock. She hadn't brought a towel with her. Instead she was going to just use her robe as a cover before she went back into the castle and showered. The water had to be infested with things.

She walked over to the edge of the water and immediatly dived in from the small dock. The water was a wonderfully cool temperature compared to the air outside.

Alycia floated along staring at the sky, her clothes were sticking to her. Maybe the idea hadn't been thought through enough. How was she supposed to dry off? She had her robes but she'd have to walk all the way up to the tower to get fresh clothes. Eh, maybe she'd just sit out here until they dried off. Too bad she didn't know a quick dry off charm that would have helped loads.

Rebecca smiled as she got out of the water. She saw another Ravenclaw floating around in the water. She reached over for her robe to put it on before she went back up to the castle.

"Meow!" a cat said. Rebecca looked around and saw her cat Jasper sitting on the ground at her feet. She was dripping on him. Jasper had been spending the past week looking around the Ravenclaw common room and surrouding areas. Now he wanted attention.

Rebecca decided to sit down and the edge of the lake and dry. When she sat down Jasper jumped into her lap. Rebecca started scratching behind his ears. It was his favorite place to be scatched.

Alycia dove back under the water. She briefly wondered what Jennifer was doing, she hadn't seen much of her even though they lived in the same dorm and were in the same house. Jennifer was probably out making tons of friends. Alycia wondered how she couldn't be more like her and just talk to everyone she came in contact with.

Alycia decided to surface and pulled herself out of the lake. She fell to the ground not few from it and just laid there soaking wet and allowed the sun to dry her. She pulled her hair so it laid out straight so it would dry as well.

Phoebe had been strolling the grounds, looking for a nice place to rest when she noticed Alycia laying on the ground next to the lake. The Ravenclaw was soaking wet like a cat and begging to be teased. "Did you trip and fall into the lake or did someone push you? By the way, you look awful," she commented with a wink. Phoebe sat down next to Alycia and pulled out her wand. "I'm afraid I don't know any drying spells, but I do need to practice levitation. Wingardium Leviosa!" She pointed her wand at a nearby rock and watched it jump into the air two inches before plummeting.

"Drats, I'm going to fail charms at this rate," she moaned.

Alycia glared at the Hufflepuff. "I jumped in." she said. "And thanks for letting me know I look stupid and awful." she shook her head lightly, she knew the girl was teasing.

"It's okay though. I didn't really think any of it through or I would have thought to have brought a towel and a change of clothes and left them at the front of the steps or at least brought a bathing suit. Buuttt....it was a last minute decision. So i'm paying for it now, by letting the sun dry me and being teased by a hufflepuff." she said turning her head to look at the girl.

Harmony grabbed some water and placed her hand back on her neck, before looking over at Phoebe and Alycia. She didn't know that Phoebe had trouble in charms. Whenever she watched her, she thought she did well...

"Try saying the incantation clearer and with a stronger voice," Harmony offered, looking at Phoebe. "It helps if you clear your mind and focus on the object you are trying to lift as well."

Phoebe stuck her tongue out at Alycia. "You love Hufflepuff and you know it," she replied. She heard Harmony who was standing a few feet away from her give some useful tips on performing charms. "Hmm," Phoebe thought. "I guess I could be a little more clear. Wingardium Leviosa!" She said again, pointing at the rock. The rock rose a little higher and stayed in flight for much longer.

"Thanks, Harmony," Phoebe smiled and kept practicing, pointing her wand at the same rock and watching it go and up down.

"Of course I like you Hufflepuffs." Alycia turned her head when she heard another voice enter into the conversation. She let her arms stretch out the wetness of her clothes feeling weird. How she wished they had learned a drying charm already. It would be so much help. Alycia looked at Phoebe to seeing that she had listened to what Harmony- that was her name right- said.

Harmony nodded and smiled. "Anything for the person who first accepted me on the train," she said, pulling her feet from the water. "I think that'll help on most charms actually. Especially the one we learned recently. Alohomora. Cheeky box of mine decided to only half unlock when I tried it. I noticed that Will has been getting better at charms as well."

Alycia tilted her head wondering what on earth Will had to do with this conversation at all. She didn't say anything though she just found it interesting though. She closed her eyes and let the sun beat down on her. It felt so good, mostly, her clothes were still damp and she probably stank from the lake water.

Raven quickly went to the Lake's edge and pulled out his pack of cards. Grinning like a mad man he turned to Dixie with his eyes sparkling. He wondered if they should try one card first or just dump the whole pack in. Decisions, decisions. Speaking of dicisions, "Should we wash up first, or cause more explosions first?"

Dixie pulled out her cards, and set them down. Looking out at the lake, she wouldn't be surprised if she and Raven blew the water out of the lake.... Actually, that might be very fun to try. Looking back at Raven, who looked a bit demented, she considered the options carefully. If they imeadiately blew everything up, then there was no fun. "How about we start off slow? Throw in a card or two, you know, to see what happens. To stay on the safe side."
Dixie thought about what she just said. On the SAFE SIDE??
she threw in ten cards.



BOOM!

Just as Raven was going to laugh at Dixie mentioning safety of all things he saw her toss in 10 cards. The resulting BOOM, he jumped. It also had the water come up out of the lake like a gyser. As the water rained down around them, he looked around to see if anyone else was around, then grinning, tossed in another five cards.

Dixie, by this point laughing like a maniac at the water raining down all around them, watched Raven toss in a few more cards. She saw a few innocent fishies leap out of the water, and decided to let them be... For now. Grinning, she threw in five more cards also, and the biggest explosion of the day resulted. "I don't think we will need to wash up now!" shouted Dixie happily as it rained water and some frogs around them.
"What's next? A deck? Twenty cards? Forty? Everything we got?"

Raven couldn't help but laugh too even more so when he heard what Dixie had asked. "I say we throw the whole shebang in! We're wet anyways, and the cards might blow up on us if we don't do something with them soon. And like you said, a shower!"
Grinning like a loon he tossed in the pack of cards knowing his crazy partner would follow suit. Crouching down just in case, he covered his head.