Closed Fishing Up Memories

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey was a familiar sight at the lakeside at this point, but today her meditation was not on her transfiguration journey. With a sandwich in one hand and her shoes in the other, she aimlessly wandered through the shallows lost in memories. The sandwich was part of it, as she remembered with some fondness her and Lucy's attempt to fish up the golden eel. Part of her wanted to try again for the sake of it, so that she and Lucy might chance upon it once again. She knew that it was bound to fail, and would be a waste of the sandwich, but there was something within her that wanted to do it for old time's sake. Even though Audrey preferred to look forwards rather than backwards, she had to admit she missed those days of first year. Everything was simpler then.

Sometimes, Audrey felt like she was working in a different plane of existence to everyone around her. Even Lucy, who she considered one of her better friends, had a divergent path from hers. Teddy and Lucy both, really. They were head students, had happy relationships, and probably by now knew what they wanted to do with their lives. Audrey wanted to do everything, and somehow it left her inert, lost, and lonely. She was past pretending she didn't feel envy, too, and part of her looked at the badge on her friend's robes with a hideous pang of jealousy. Lucy deserved the badge, and she was thrilled for her, truly she was. And yet, when she looked at it it felt as though it reinforced the idea that she wasn't enough. Never enough. They'd move on with their happy perfectly charmed lives and forget all about her and it hurt to think about.

Seeing Lucy, Audrey put on a smile and waved with the hand holding the sandwich. It wasn't fair to Lucy to mope in front of her, and Lucy had to deal with Teddy now so that was the tradeoff. "Fancy a spot of fishing?" she joked with a light laugh, kicking some water up in front of her. "Maybe we can make it a cool thing to do, and I can prank some firsties by leaping out of the water at them. Start a trend for a long term payoff." She raised an eyebrow. "Or I can just work out how to drown Teddy if he gets too uppity. You're going to have your work cut out for you keeping him in line, Miss Head Girl. Just hire me as your personal enforcer if you need."

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy was feeling a bit disjointed by everything happening. Her parents had berated her all break for her grades last year (when they weren't too busy to) and then changed their tune almost as swiftly when they found out she was head girl. Lucy was tired of the back and forth, the conditional nature of everything with them. She knew she couldn't become a healer now and part of her felt like she was tearing off, shedding, an aspect of her future she'd always had.

She smiled back when she saw Audrey. She remembered being here with her years ago now - and the memory hit her hard. They'd been so innocent then. Or at least, that's how it had seemed. Responsibilities, relationships, prospects and time had come between both Audrey and her, and their past selves. She quickly shook it off. It was no time to be nostalgic. She laughed a little at Audrey's suggestion to go fishing, and at freaking out the first years. "I think I might lose my badge if I tried to help do that, but I'm not going to snitch if you decide to do it anyway," Lucy said cheekily. Then the comment about Teddy came, and Lucy knew Audrey meant no harm by it - well, she hoped as much. It wasn't a real threat. But it troubled Lucy a little. She quickly tried to hide it. "I might take you up on that. Not the drowning thing!" Lucy said quickly. "The personal enforcer thing." Lucy chuckled lightly. "I think he's already a bit too big for his britches. I just hope Ravenclaw wins at quidditch this year." There was a slight determination in her voice which wasn't usually there with quidditch, but Lucy had a feeling it would be more pleasant for most involved if Teddy's ego didn't become so buoyant that it practically floated away with him.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey shook her head with a laugh. "I don't think they'd dare take it off you. They let June keep hers, and unlike her you actually have a heart. You could probably get away with anything." Perhaps that wasn't the most helpful encouragement, but she was trying at any rate. She knew Lucy wasn't the type of person to abuse her power. It made perfect sense why she was Head Girl, she was calm and responsible and Audrey was the girl who hit bludgers after the whistle.

"Course we'll win. We've gotta. I just need to have a terrible game and everyone else will pick up the slack." Audrey ground her heel into the soft ground, contemplating how to win. Fairly, of course. It would look awful if she turned around and didn't play fair after the duel. "'Cept if any scouts come to watch, then I gotta play well." Audrey added that almost half-heartedly. She wasn't going to try and play Quidditch professionally if she didn't want to, but it almost felt like giving in. Even if it was only a temporary stop on her journey. "I'll be on the cover of Witch Weekly in no time. Then I'll get interviewed and say 'oh, have you heard of this incredible viola player named Lucy?'" It was easy to get carried away in daydreams as a way not to think.