Fish Sticks

[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi couldn't remember the last time he went to the lake. Of course he had seen it from a distance and knew it was there but he had never walked up to the water and explored the area which was most peculiar for the adventurous boy. As soon as that occurred to him, he used his lunch break to pay the lake a proper visit. It had to be his lunch break so that he wasn't breaking that stupid, Gryffindor wide, curfew.

He had heard stories about the lake, about mermaids and the sorts living under the surface, and he believed them. Stories like that weren't strange in a place like Hogwarts and he had met magical creatures himself, encountering a centaur several weeks ago. He was keen to re-enter the forest to find that centaur again but held off until the recent trouble he caused had all been forgiven and forgotten.

Hemi walked up to the water edge with his hands stuffed in his pockets. He lent forward only slightly to glance expectantly at the surface water, he was hoping to see a creature of some sort, hopefully the Giant Squid but he'd settle for a Mermaid on this occasion.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

The lake was definitely one of Hogwarts' most mysterious places. Charlotte had been there once before but she had never seen what exactly lived in the depths of the waters. She knew that mermaids and other magical creatures lived there but she had never actually seen a magical creature before and thought that she'd make her way down to the lakefront again to have a further look.

Upon arriving to the lakefront, Charlotte started to make her way over to the lake until she spotted a familiar Gryffindor friend leaning forward into it. He seemed to be looking for what was in the water too and Charlotte chuckled at herself as an idea had popped up into her head. She wasn't sure exactly how it was going to turn out but thought that she'd try it anyway.

As quietly as she could muster, Charlotte tiptoed over to the boy and waited until she was directly behind him before making a sound. "BOO!" she yelled. Without looking for a reaction, Charlotte laughed loudly, almost falling onto the ground from laughter. If there was ever a funny moment at Hogwarts, this one had to beat it.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Today was the day that Kasper would finally go to the infamous lake on the Hogwarts grounds, he had never seen or visited the lake before, so decided that today was a perfect day to change that. He had been looking forward for this ever since he planned to go to the lake. In his excitement, the young Hufflepuff almost forgot to finish his Potions essay due for the next lesson. Once he was done writing his essay, Kasper took off his black robe and yellow and black tie and left the Hufflepuff common room.

When Kasper reached the ground floor he stopped running and walked out of the castle, onto the grounds. He liked being outside. The smell fresh air and the animal noises reminded him of the woods of Hackfalls Arboretum, it also made him feel a little less homesick.

Once he arrived at his destination, Kasper saw two people - a boy and a girl - standing close to the water egde. He smiled and ran over to the two of them. ''Hi!'' Kas exclaimed happily with a broad smile on his face when he was standing behind them. ''I guess the two of you had the exact same idea as me.'' He said while looking passed them at the water.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Spending time outside was Maddie's favourite past time, inside the castle was stifling. She felt like she had explored the complete inside of the castle but not much outside of the castle really. Of course, she had been to the main place, the forbidden forest, which was extremely fun. Maddie and Hemi had met an important friend in there and she had a insatiable need to go back there. Though, maybe she would wait for the curfew to be lifted... which was kind of her fault anyway.

She made her way down the lake, it was nice and peaceful there and it was always filled with students. Today was no disappointment, three first years she instantly recognised were gathered by the lake. Two were good friends of hers and one was a new boy who she had met only recently. Maddie wondered if Kas would have his cat with him today, he was adorable. The cat. Not Kas... Right?! she shook the thought from her head and she got closer to the group. She waved to them as she reached them. "Hey everyone! Fancy seeing you guys here!" she grinned. Her friends were her lifeblood, they were so important to her.

 

[Hemi Te Rua]

Hemi was noticeably disappointed that a mermaid, one preferably resembling Ariel from the Little Mermaid, did not poke her head up from beneath the surface to say hello. He shrugged, trying to convince himself he wasn't that bothered and was about to walk on when several things happened at once. Firstly, he got a fright. He swung around, instinctively reaching for his wand but had to abandon at last minute as his left foot slipped on the saturated grass, setting him off balance and into the icey lake. He fell into the shallow end, the freezing water reaching halfway up his shins. He let out a yelp, then, faster than a lightening bolt jumped out of the water and back onto dry land. It may have just been his lower leg which was soaked but at this time of year, that was enough for him.

Meanwhile, he could hear hysterical laughing from Charlotte who had witnessed/caused the whole thing. He smiled but didn't find it as funny as her. "Good one! Now it's your turn!" He said, diving to push her into the lake but changing course last minute, he wasn't that mean.

Hemi straitened when he realised they had company. The boy, Hemi recognised from his year but didn't know personally, whilst the girl Hemi knew very well indeed! He chuckled as the Hufflepuff said he had the same idea, "You were planning to fall in the lake too?" He jested, "I'm Hemi by the way, what's your name?"

He didn't need to introduce himself to Maddie, "Hey Maddie! What's happening?" Maddie was awesome, Hemi always liked having her around, but he was distracted by his wet trouser legs which he had no way of drying. Lack of magical ability was a common First Year problem.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Hemi did not look at all impressed with Charlotte scaring him and falling into the water. She watched as he quickly jumped back out and almost did the same thing to Charlotte before changing his mind last minute. She continued to laugh but felt a pang of guilt as she saw his saturated trousers, wishing she could help him somehow. She shrugged it off as two new intruders started walking towards them. The first one was a Hufflepuff boy who Charlotte had never met before and the second one was Maddie who she knew very well. "Hey!" she exclaimed to the both of them as they arrived. "I'm Charlotte." she added to the boy. Charlotte watched as Hemi looked excited to see Maddie and forced a small grin. She was glad that they were all making friends but she couldn't remember the last time someone had been excited to see her. It was a small world and it felt like everyone already knew one another so she wasn't surprised to see that they were probably the best of friends. Charlotte was happy for them anyway and with a little bit of luck she'd be able to make her own best friend at Hogwarts that she'd be able to tell anything to.

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper smiled when Madeline, the girl he had met recently, approached the three of them at the water edge. ''Hey,'' He replied to her, wondering if she still had her drawing of the two cats. His head turned towards the other two when they introduced themselves. ''Nice to meet the both of you!'' Kasper said while looking at the boy named Hemi. ''I'm Kas. Well, Kasper, actually. But I like Kas better. And no, I wasn't planning on falling in the lake, I was planning on touching the water and maybe go for a swim. But thanks to your yelp I think it's for the best if I don't.'' He smiled and sat down onto the hard ground. Kasper looked at the three fellow students and started wondering if they would let him draw them the next time he would meet them. ''Don't mind me asking, but why are you three here? Got anything exciting planned for today? If so, could I join?''

 

[Madeline Walden]

With all the excitement of seeing her friends again she hadn't noticed that Hemi's trouser legs were completely soaked! "Decide it was a good day for a swim Hemi?" she teased. Charlotte seemed to just be recovering from her giggling fit and Maddie could imagine who was the culprit. She tried to catch Charlotte's eye and when she did Maddie gave her a wink of approval, she wished she had seen the whole thing happen. Playing with Hemi was one of Maddie's favourite things to do, he was always a good sport and they always had lots of fun together.

"Introductions are now out of the way i'm guessing?" she said smiling, she was lucky enough to have known all of them previously. She hated introducing herself all the time. She couldn't wait for the time when she wouldn't have to do that anymore.

She shrugged at Hemi's question "nothing much, I couldn't stand to be in the castle any longer though. The longer the curfew goes on the more I get sick of being stuck inside. So I thought i'd take advantage of the lunch break to spend some time outside. I had no idea you guys would be here too!" she explained. Kas mentioned swimming was his reason for being outside and Maddie shook her head furiously. "I'm not sure about swimming either, it looks so cold in there!" she commented as she examined the water. Maddie touched the surface of the water with her finger and gasped "yep, definitely freezing!". She then decided to join Kas, who was now, sitting on the ground. She waited for the others to explain why they decided to visit the lake.

 

[Hemi Te Rua]

Even though his trouser legs were soaked he didn’t do much to resolve the situation, what could he do? Take them off in front of two girls? Ha, sorry ladies but that wasn’t going to happen for a few more years. He laughed when Maddie asked him if he had decided to go for a swim, “More of a wade!” He joked, he harboured no malice towards Charlotte because he accidentally slipped and landed in the lake. Although now he did have an excuse to pull a prank on her.

Hemi was surprised how quickly everyone had congregated at the lake and became familiar. It was fair of Kas to assume that they had arranged to meet there, but they hadn’t. Hemi had been all by himself a few minutes ago and now he had himself a gang to keep him entertained. He liked being around people and causing trouble, trouble making was his forte at Hogwarts. The only problem was he was good at getting caught as well. “We didn’t have anything planned, I was just checking the lake out. I reckon we could find something interesting around here though!” Hemi replied, like Maddie he was sick of the castle and the stupid curfew which had been forced on all Gryffindors for several weeks.

He watched as Kas and then Maddie sat down on the grass, he didn't feel like sitting down so didn't join them, the grass would undoubtedly stick to his damp trousers like glue.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

The boy introduced himself as Kasper or 'Kas' was what he liked to be called. He seemed to look like he already knew who Maddie was and Charlotte chuckled at her popularity. The whole school had seemed to know her which implied that she was probably an extremely nice person. After all, knowing a lot of people (especially if they are in older years) can really be helpful at times. Charlotte watched as she winked at her and attempted to wink back but only managed to crinkle her face up awkwardly. She sighed, hoping that Maddie was the only one that saw that and sat down next to her.

"Yeah! There are probably heaps of things in the lake! But I guess that if they really wanted us to see them then they'd pop out and introduce themselves. We should still find a way to catch them though!" she exclaimed, hoping that everyone was just as interested as she was. It probably wouldn't be a good idea if they just leaned over the lake and tried to see what was under there. Besides, they could be hiding anywhere. But how else would they be able to find out? "Any ideas on how to meet the creatures inside the water? I know it sounds stupid but I'm really curious!"

 

[Kasper Snowhill]

Kasper's head turned to Charlotte as she was talking about the creatures in the lake, and about how they would get their attention. ''We could all throw stones into the lake?'' the boy suggested. ''Maybe that would get their attention, and if it that doens't work we could try to cast spells or scream and shot.'' Kasper added, looking at the three of them. He was sure that one of the tactics that he suggested had to work. ''And if that doesn't work we could, well.. We could always throw Hemi in the water and use him as bait to see if - whatever is in there - will swim to the surface. You wouldn't mind it, right? I mean, you're already wet so I see no reason to throw myself, Maddie or Charlotte in the water.'' Kas said to Hemi with a big smile on his face. He was obviously joking.

 

[Madeline Walden]

Maddie chuckled as she watched Charlotte's attempt at a wink back to her, she moved over slightly so Charlotte could sit next to her comfortably. To accompany Charlotte's failed wink Maddie turned to her friend and shot her a funny expression that she tried to manipulate from her face. Her nose was scrunched up, her eyes were crossed and her tongue was sticking out. She hoped the boys hadn't watched this exchange between them, she giggled at what the boys would have seen if they had been watching.

It was interesting to hear everyone's ideas on what they wanted from the lake and how they would go about achieving it. She nodded along with what Charlotte was saying "I don't think we should force whatever is in the lake to come out and talk to us" she said to the group "But then again, if we don't do anything we could be waiting a long time before we see anything from the lake" she debated.

She laughed along with what Kas was saying "I vote we throw Hemi in the water and see which creature fancies him the most" she joked.

 

[Hemi Te Rua]

The conversation about how to explore the lake didn't have Hemi's full attention, he didn't know any spells or tricks to make them amphibious so let others talk it out until they realised it was impossible. That was until his name came up. He was horrified. When did Hemi become a joke at Hogwarts? People were supposed to think he was awesome and respect him as a troublemaker who plays epic practical jokes, not consider him an idiot they could plot to throw into the lake whilst he's standing in front of them, listening to every word.

"Screw you guys, I'm not going in the lake." He replied, his tone playful but honestly, he could take them if they tried anything. He was small, yes, but agile, and he knew like, five spells already and he wasn't afraid to use four of them.

 

[Charlotte Owens]

Charlotte laughed when Maddie tried to copy Charlotte's ridiculous facial expression. If that was what she looked like when she was trying to wink then she was never going to try that again. Thankfully, the exchange was only between the two and the boys were completely oblivious about it. Merlin knows what would've happened if the boys saw Charlotte's embarrassing side.

The ideas about how to see the creatures inside the lake were bazaar, especially the one about throwing Hemi into the lake. She wasn't sure how exactly that would've turned out and thought that maybe they shouldn't be bullying him like that. Sure he was already wet but he seemed as if he really didn't want to do it and they couldn't force something like that onto him. She chuckled along anyway, not saying a word.

"I guess the only way to do it is if we jump into the lake together and go looking for them ourselves." she said frustratingly, crossing her arms. She really didn't want to get her uniform wet and she was sure that if her mother found out that she jumped in the lake to find some stupid creatures she'd be grounded all holidays when she arrived back home. But there was no other way to do it and her friends weren't really helping. "So, what do you say we jump in together?" She looked up at her friends. If they all did it together it wouldn't really matter, right?