Closed Lately It's Been a Little Bit Wild

Hunter had to agree with Harper, from the train station to his house it was only a few minutes and he didn't need to do exhaustive trips to get back home but unlike what she thought he wasn't going home for the holidays "Not really. My moms went on vacation and their flight back was canceled due to the weather and I don't have house keys. A think I might need to have soon though" he said with a chuckle.
Hunter had no idea about what Harper had just asked him, but he loved the idea that Kraken might be real "As a magizoologist I'll try to figure that out" he told her with a wink. He was actually kind of meaning it as his dream job after Hogwarts would be that one.
"WOW! You were willing to expose the magical world for likes and followers?!" he asked teasing her "Harper's true colors showing up" he added laughing.
"Yeah, writing letters is not my favourite thing to do either" he said with a disgusted face. Owls were actually kind of fun but letters were so old fashioned.
 
Harper listened as Hunter explained he'd be staying at Hogwarts during the break. On one hand, spending time at school and visiting Brightstone without the stress of classes or exams sounded like fun. But she missed her family and friends badly and wanted to go back and celebrate the holidays with them. Hunter didn't look too upset at the idea of staying on campus though, and she guessed the whole attending boarding school thing was probably easier for him since his parents lived so close by.

A magizoologist? Harper had never heard of those before, but it made sense that they would exist. It occurred to her that wizards probably had a completely separate set of jobs, which was a bit overwhelming to think about. There was still so much she didn't know about the magical world. "I don't know if you can be a magizoologist if you're scared of mermaids that live in ponds," Harper said with a grin. She actually could kind of see Hunter being one. It was pretty clear that he liked magical creatures and found them fascinating.

At Hunter's accusation, Harper laughed, holding her hands up in surrender. "I was just saying. If you wanted to get followers, photos of magic would definitely work. Obviously I'd never do it." Besides, she'd never been big into Instagram or social media for that matter. She liked keeping up with her friends' accounts, but she didn't really have any desire to post about herself. Hunter agreed with her about the pain of letter writing, his face twisting in disgust, and she giggled at his expression. "Guess you'd better get started inventing magical cell phones."

The sun was now fully up, and Harper averted her eyes from the horizon, appreciating the way the trees and foliage around them were now completely lit. The only problem with sunrises was climbing temperatures, and she could already feel the sunlight warming her skin. Harper tucked a sweaty strand of hair behind her ear and plucked at her shirtfront a couple of times in an attempt to get some air and cool down. A cold shower would be so nice, but she also didn't really want to move. Besides, she liked talking to Hunter. Glancing over at him, she asked, "Did you have any big plans for this morning?" She recalled he'd brought a large backpack — one she'd almost tripped over at the start of their race — as if he'd planned on spending the entire day outside.
 
Last edited:
Hunter wondered if Harper was right about the mermaids thing. If they studied mermaids at Hogwarts at some point he would definitely need toget over his fear of being drowned by them. Hopefully he would learn some spell that would let him breathe underwater until then.
"I've heard of a thing called Apparition in transfiguration that lets you travel to certain places. Maybe instead of cells phones we could just go home and come back real quick, just to deliver the mail" he laughed at his own not very bright idea. It was actually smart but he doubted other people would see it as brilliant as he did.
Hunter shaked his head, he actually didn't have any plans. At least he didn't remembered anymore if he did "Not really. Why? You wann do something else?" he asked. Maybe Harper had another surprise in store. He just hoped it wasn't another run, his legs were still aching and he could barely stand from how weak his knees were.
 
Harper's eyes widened in excitement when Hunter mentioned apparition. Marlow had also mentioned the magical mode of transportation, but Harper hadn't heard anything about it since. She had been starting to wonder if it was a real thing. "I heard about that too! It'd be so cool to just be able to teleport anywhere you want," she said wistfully. Harper considered Hunter's idea and smiled at the thought of just being able to pop over to her friend's house for a quick chat at a moment's notice. "Better yet, get rid of the mail so you don't have to write letters. Instead, just teleport to your friend's house and throw rocks at their window until they come down and talk to you," she joked. Though she preferred talking to her friends in person over letters, texts, or calls, she could see how apparition-as-communication could be a bit intrusive.

Harper shrugged at his question. "Oh, I was just asking since I remember you brought a giant backpack with you, like you were planning on taking off to go camping in the Forbidden Forest." She grinned. "Remember? The one you threw at me to slow me down?" Okay, that was maybe a slight exaggeration. She paused, considering her own plans for that morning. There was nothing on her to-do list aside from studying for her exams. But the good thing about waking up so early was that she still had all day to do that. "I didn't really have anything planned for today other than studying." She made a face. "But that can wait. I'd rather do just about anything else." She was getting tired of reviewing potions ingredients.
 
"Oh that!" he said with some chuckles "I just like to be prepared for everything. Those are all the things you might need in a run. I brought a tiny medical kit, a water bottle, extra clothes, a towel, a raincoat, a switchblade, some snacks, anti chafing, a little light and a bag of frozen peas. Don't worry I took precautions that in case the ice melts they don't soak my bag." he finally said, he had just realised how much time he had been enumerating all the things he had brought but he still didn't regret bringing any of those "Everything serves a purpose on that bag" he added.

Hunter made a weird face at Harper "Ew, studying" he said. He also did study but it wasn't something that he particularly enjoyed. He wondered how many kids liked to study, probably no one since it forces you to be stuck in a desk looking at a book. Hunter liked to do crazy things but even that was too crazy for him.
 
Harper stared as Hunter started listing all the supplies he had brought. And he kept going. And going. "You bring bags of frozen peas with you on your runs?" She had a lot of questions about his extremely long list of supplies, but the peas were a whole other level of preparedness. Even her mum, with her seemingly bottomless purse, did not carry half the stuff Hunter did. "I can't believe you've been letting us stand here, hot and sweaty, when you've had ice in your bag the entire time!" she laughed. Oh, what she would do to have a chunk of ice to press to her neck right now. "Are you always this prepared? Don't you ever get tired dragging all that stuff around with you?" she asked curiously. Harper liked carrying as little as possible when she went out. She hadn't even brought her wand with her.

Harper laughed at Hunter's expression. "Ew, studying," she agreed. Though she liked learning and found her classes interesting, she still wasn't a huge fan of revising. It turned out that studying for magical exams could be just as painful as studying for muggle exams. "You're lucky you don't have Potions this semester. I've had to memorize a lot of plants in the last few days." Hopefully this was not a preview for Herbology next semester. Harper gazed out over the water. "We should make a run for it through the Forbidden Forest or swim away through the lake," she joked. "They'd never catch us in time for exams. And you probably have enough supplies for us to last several days," she added with a grin.
 
Hunter laughed, frozen peas did seem ridiculous "Yeah cuz you might need them in case you twist and ankle or hit you head" he clarified. Having two moms had that sort of effect, they taught him to always be prepared and always carey stuff he thought he might need, probably that preparedness of theirs came with being a mom and they were passing it to Hunter.
"Well, not going to lie, I try to get rid of my heavy backpack sometimes but it's good to know that you are ready to face everything that comes your way" he shrugged, his backpack was indeed heavy and it was kind of lame to always be the mom of his group of friends but he didn't trade that for anything.

Hunter grinned "I had Herbology this semester so I kind of know my way around plants, besides, I kinda do like plants a lot" he said rubbing the back of his head with some embarrassment as it was weird for someone with their age to like such thing that most people consider boring. He chuckled, Harper have the craziest idea he ever heard "Well, yeah, I definitely know how to make fire to cook the peas and I still have actual food that we don't need to cook. We could last for at least a month or two out there if we rationalised the food" he said. Maybe that idea wasn't so crazy after all. He would never do something like that but it was fun to fantasise.
 
Harper shook her head in disbelief as Hunter explained why kept frozen peas, along with a million other items, in his bag. "I used to think I was prepared for most situations." Even if she didn't lug around a ton of stuff, she liked to think she was prepared to handle any situation life threw at her. "But now I know I'm just an amateur," she said with a laugh. "Maybe you could use magic to make it weigh less?" She didn't actually know any spells for that, but she figured one had to exist.

Hunter mentioned he knew a lot about plants, and Harper glanced at him. "Well, if you know how to tell nettle apart from every other leaf out there, please let me know." They all looked... leaf-shaped. She really hoped they wouldn't have to identify any potions ingredients during the exam. "I like plants too, but memorizing facts about them isn't fun. All I need to know is whether a plant is poisonous or not." For someone who spent so much time out in nature, she wasn't actually that knowledgeable about plants. She hadn't ever really seen the point.

Harper was pleased that Hunter continued on with her joke instead of just shutting it down. "And we could use your knife to cut down branches and build a shelter! We wouldn't even have to lift anything. We'd just Wingardium Leviosa it!" One summer she and her brothers had tried to build a fort outside, but it had mostly been a disaster. Magic would've been very useful back then. "We might not be able to actually run away to the Forbidden Forest, but we could go swimming now," she pointed out. It was finally warm enough, and jumping into the cool water sounded wonderful. She hadn't gone swimming at Hogwarts before because she didn't have a swimsuit, but the t-shirt and shorts she was wearing right now felt like they were made out of a similar synthetic material. Besides, it didn't matter if she got them dirty. She was planning on washing them anyways since she'd just finished a run in them.
 
Hunter laughed, he was well aware that he wasn't like most boys of his age who were not usually as prepared as him but he liked being the way he was, his preparedness never failed him once in his life "I was thinking of buying one of those bottomless bags. I presume they don't weight a thing" he said to Harper.
He laughed at her comment about nettles "Well, I actually do. It has a lot to do with the colour and other things that I can't pass to you. It is hard to explain, just a thing in your gut that tells you that that's a nettle" he said half laughing as the words failed him, he never thought Herbology was such a difficult thing to explain.
He loved when Harper said they could go swimming, he had a towel, extra clothes, it was like he left the dorm knowing that this would happen. He nodded his head yes took off his shoes and his shirt and started running "Last one arriving has to check if the mermaids are real!" he said laughing, he knew he'd arrive first and he was thankful for that. He did not wanted to check on the mermaids.
 
"Well, that's real helpful," Harper said dryly when Hunter gave her advice on nettles. "All your Herbology expertise, and the best thing you can tell me is to just guess?" she teased. "I'm already doing that." Yup, she would be in trouble for the exam. And Herbology was probably also going to be a challenge next semester. Maybe that was why the Sorting Hat had placed her in Gryffindor. It knew she'd never be able to identify a nettle.

Harper was a bit surprised that Hunter actually agreed to her suggestion to go swimming. Before she could process what was happening, he was already running towards the lake, leaving her to laugh. "Wait!" She pulled off her shoes and socks and ran after him to the shoreline. Of course, he had reached it first, but she didn't mind. She still didn't really think mermaids were a thing, and if they were, she assumed they wouldn't be dangerous. "Coward!" She stuck her tongue out at him and dove into the lake, shivering at the shock of cold water. It was a bit strange swimming in her running clothes but not as bad as she had thought it would be. Besides, the cold water was a welcome relief.

Harper paddled out a bit before turning and treading water to wave at Hunter. "Come on! The water's nice. Or are you still scared?" She assumed he'd come in soon enough. After all, he was the one who had agreed to go swimming in the first place. But she figured a little goading wouldn't hurt.
 
Hunter laughed, it was hard for him to explain Herbology. It was a thing he knew but didn't knew exactly how to explain, like riding a bicycle. You know how to ride a bicycle and you know you need to learn how to balance yourself but you can't exactly explain someone how to balance themselves on the bicycle.
As soon as he entered the water he could tell it was freezing, the sun had just appeared on the horizon so it had no time to warm up the water. Harper got ahead of him as she was almost with water up to her neck. The Hufflepuff boy had stopped in the zone where the water was up to to his knees "Nice?!" he said surprised "This water is nice for polar bears and penguins, not human beings, at least not for this human being!" he added poiting to himself, he wondered if the fact that Harper had all of her clothes on helped her keeping some of her body heat.
 
Hunter lasted all of maybe two seconds before stopping, knee-deep in water. His comment made Harper laugh and shake her head. "This is the part where I tell you I'm not actually human but secretly a mermaid. I can't believe luring you into the water was so easy." She bared her teeth, trying to look intimidating, but ended up laughing lightly. She didn't know how to act like whatever vicious mermaids he'd seen in the movies.

Harper swam a little closer so that she could put her feet down instead of having to tread water. "You gotta dive in at once and get it over with. Then the coldness won't be so bad," she advised. "Besides, it beats being hot and sweaty." Harper didn't feel quite as grimy as before though she knew that would change as soon as she got out and had to make the long walk up to Gryffindor with her clothes soaked in lake water. She pushed at the water in front of her, sending a gentle wave towards Hunter. Nothing big enough to actually splash him — if he didn't want to go any deeper, she'd respect that — but hopefully enough to make the water slosh a bit higher around around his knees.
 
Hunter suddenly open his eyes wide at Harper's comment of being a mermaid but then realised he was being dumb if he believed Harper was a mermaid "Very funny. First of all mermaids can't become human when they are in land and only be mermaids in water. Second, even if that could happen mermaids wouldn't know how to walk or wouldn't have enough strength on their legs to stand up, miss marathon runner" he said looking at her with a defying look, she could be a lot better than him at a lot of things but if there was one thing she would never be better than him was magical creatures. He had his whole house filled with books on every single creature and he had almost read them all, there was no way she could know more than him on the subject.
Harper did make a point, being in the water was a lot better than being hot and sweaty so he decided to follow her advice and just dive in. Once he emerged from the water he looked for Harper "You know, it's highly probable that there's some kind of animals in the lake since it's so big. If any of them catches me and tries to drown me I'm counting on your Gryffindor bravery to save me" he said half joking and half serious.
 
For a second, Hunter seemed to have believed her, and that only caused Harper to laugh harder. She just shrugged — or tried to, considering she was treading water — as he explained that it was impossible for mermaids to grow legs on land. "That might be true, but you totally believed me," she said with a grin. She did a couple of dolphin kicks for good measure.

Hunter finally dove in, and Harper let out a small cheer when he surfaced. He seemed to still be concerned about getting eaten, and she laughed lightly as he told her he'd expect her to save him. "I mean, there are probably fish in here, but don't worry." She held her head up high, jutting out her chin. "I'll save you from any evil minnows that might be lurking." It was easy to be brave when she didn't really expect to encounter anything larger than a turtle. Growing up, her dad had taken her to loads of swimming holes and ponds during the summer, and she'd never faced any trouble. She couldn't understand why Hunter was so worried.

"Haven't you ever gone swimming in a lake before?" Harper asked curiously. "Or an ocean?" They lived on an island. She couldn't imagine growing up here and avoiding natural bodies of water. But maybe he'd only just moved to Wellington or had stuck to pools his entire life. "At least there are no sharks or jellyfish in here."
 
Hunter couldn't help but laugh as Harper told him she would save him from anything in the lake. And to a certain point she was right, it is not like there were sharks or jellyfish in there. He took a step forward in the lake but suddenly he stopped feeling the bottom of the lake and that made him take a step back to where he could still feel the bottom. Swimming there was way easier as he wouldn't need to worry about drowning as he could always put his feet back on the ground and just rest if he got tired of swimming. "Of course I did. We live on an island Harper, pretty sure every person in New Zealand has gone swimming in the ocean." he said with a chuckle and added "Well yeah but at least you know how to deal with sharks or jellyfish. If there's some sort of magical creature here that bites you, you won't know what to do". He glanced at his bag in the shore "Besides, even I am not prepared for a magical bite" he chuckled. he kept on swimming and splashing around, looking down at his legs every time something touched him, mostly just seaweeds and algae, but he couldn't help but jump a little.
 
Harper smiled as Hunter confirmed that he hadn't lived life as some kind of landlocked recluse. "Well, just checking." He explained that magical creatures were more scary than sharks, which Harper had a hard time believing. She'd never actually been afraid of sharks — shark attacks were rare after all. But she definitely didn't want to run into one in the wild. "You're telling me you'd rather get bitten by a shark than some magical creature that lives in a peaceful school lake?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. "Sharks, with their rows and rows of pointy teeth that could snap your leg off in one bite?" She'd seen the movies. She knew what they could do.

Now that she could feel the bottom of the lake, Harper lightly bobbed up and down, pushing off of the bottom. "How big can a magical creature in a lake this size be? Surely it wouldn't be any bigger than a shark?" she asked, thinking aloud. The surface of the lake was still, and in the morning light it looked positively tranquil. If it weren't for the fact that it was still a touch too cold to be completely comfortable, she could probably spend the entire day out here.
 
"Peaceful?!" he added a bit shocked. Surely Hunter wasn't the one hearing rumors in the common room, Harper must have heard them too "Rumor has it that a kid drowned here" he told her just in case. Hunter thought a bit before answering the girl but he wasn't really seeing how could one regain a lost limb "Maybe there's a spell to regrow a leg?" he said, almost sure that there wasn't but it was a guess as good as any other.
Hunter looked at Harper thinking about the size of the creatures that could be there and then it hit him that sometimes bigger creatures don't mean more dangerous "Well it can certain have Grindylows, water demons, you don't wanna find one trust me" he said giving her a warning look. Those little things were dangerous, more dangerous than they appeared to be and had just the right size to swim in the lake depths unnoticed.
 
Harper decided to lift her feet so that she was floating on her back. But at Hunter's next comment, she immediately righted herself, splashing the water a bit as she gaped at him. "Someone drowned in here?!" The lake's dark waters suddenly took on a more sinister quality. "No way, that has to just be a rumor." Hunter had to be joking. The water was relatively calm, how could someone drown in here? If it really was that dangerous, the school would have at least fenced the lake off, right?

Harper frowned slightly. "Water demons? What do those do?" She looked down at the water around them, but aside from some tiny fish, there was nothing. "Well, we've been in here a while, and we haven't been attacked yet," she pointed out. If there was something that really wanted to get them, wouldn't it have reached them by now? They were basically sitting ducks for any lurking predators. Harper took a breath before submerging herself and opening her eyes. She stayed under for a few seconds before surfacing and taking a breath. "There's nothing as far as I can see."
 
As much as Hunter wanted to confirm or deny that fact he couldn't. It was a rumor and tumors are not always true but they always have a bit of truth so he just shrugged and gave the girl an uncertain expression. It was something he would try to know more about, for Harper's sake.
Hunter rolled his eyes a bit at the girl, how fould she not know what water demons did. Demons meant bad creatures both in the muggle and wizards world. "Well, what they do depends a lot on the type of demon they are. There are three known types of water demons." he said "In my opinion Grindylows are the most harmless ones but they do tend to grab you and try to drown you. They are similar to...." he said trying to remember something that reminded him of a Grindylow "Ursula! Ursula the sea witch from little mermaid! You know her?" he asked.
He watched as Harper scouted the water looking for them or any other danger, clearly taking her responsibilities of keeping him alive very seriously. Hunter couldn't help but relax a bit when she said that there wasn't any danger. The boy suddenly remembered that Grindylows were native from Great Britain but he could never be too careful.
 
Hunter just shrugged when she asserted that the drowning had to be a rumor, which only convinced Harper that he had been joking. He was probably just trying to scare her to get back at her for claiming to be a mermaid. Talk turned to water demons, and Hunter rolled his eyes. "Hey, don't roll your eyes at me," she said with a laugh, splashing water at him. He explained that water demons were like Ursula, a character she was familiar with. "Yeah, but I thought she was just an evil mermaid? Like, instead of a fish half, she had an octopus half." She suddenly realized that she had contradicted her earlier claim that mermaids were nice. Maybe Hunter was right and evil mermaids did exist. "Why do all magical creatures that live in the water want to drown us? Aren't there any nice ones?" Like, what was the magical version of a dolphin? Surely there were cute and friendly magical lake creatures out there.

All the talk of magical aquatic predators had made her uneasy, though she wasn't going to show that. Nevertheless, Harper checked underwater for any lurking dangers. Hunter seemed to relax when she mentioned that there was nothing in the water, and Harper wasn't quite sure how to feel about that since it meant he had been definitely telling the truth about all these dangerous creatures. But she could worry about that another time. "I guess that means I can float in peace now," she said, moving so that she was floating on her back. Harper faked a dramatic yawn and closed her eyes. "Wake me up if I start to fall asleep so that I don't drown," she joked. Despite the cold of the water, it really was nice to just float here with the sun on her face.
 
Hunter laughed as Harper splashed him, he try to turn his face away from the splash but he was too slow. "Yeah Grindylows are half octupus too. You also have Kappas which are said to feed on human blood and Kelpies which are shapeshifters, usually tend to look like horse made of water, they try to take you to the bottom of the see to drown you and eat your flesh" he said to Harper, a bit to make her more paranoid and another bit because he enjoyed talking about magical creatures "Hippocampus are nice though, at least I think so." he said with a small pause to think if he ever read something bad on hippocampus "They are mermaid horses" he clarified just in case Harper didn't knew what they were.
Hunter nodded, he doubt that something more dangerous than a Grindylow lived there so he was also a bit more relaxed. The water was making him shiver a bit so unlike Harper who was floating, Hunter tried to move a bit to warm up. The sun was getting higher and that meant they should get out of there soon before some other students got there and ruined the silent and quiet morning.
 
Hunter went on to describe several water-dwelling monsters, and Harper stared at him, trying to figure out if he was making up creatures to scare her. At least the hippocampus sounded nice. "Can you ride hippocampuses? Hippocampi?" she asked, guessing at the plural form. "Maybe there's one in here," she said excitedly. If Hunter thought mermaids lived in the lake, she didn't see why a mermaid horse couldn't as well.

For a few minutes, Harper just floated, gently moving her limbs to keep herself afloat. At one point, her fingers brushed against something, and she opened her eyes to see Hunter swimming back and forth. She frowned slightly, lifting her head up. "Are you cold? We can go inside if you want or at least get out of the water," she offered. She would feel bad if he was still cold and miserable and was only out here because of her. Besides, she supposed that at some point they would have to leave and actually start their day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top