Skipping

[Caro Taylor]

At the dawn of her third year at Hogwarts, the shine was well and truly gone for Caro. She felt trapped here, even more so than she had at home. All her life she had listened to stories of people's fantastic adventures around the world, the amazing travels they went on and exciting places they visited. All her life, dreaming of going those beautiful, exotic places, but stuck at home. And now Caro was stuck at school, and she didn't even have the stories to placate her. School had been exciting for the first couple of years, though Lizzie's popularity put a bitter shade on it, but now it wasn't a new and exciting place to explore anymore, just the same old school with the same old places and the same old things to see and nothing new to experience. The world was so vast and huge, and Caro felt like she was wasting her life just sitting here and not seeing any of it.

Frustrated with it all, Caro stood and stared out over the lake, trying to imagine it was another lake entirely, on the other side of the world, and the people here were new and exciting people, with amazing experiences ready to whisk her away as soon as she finished her moment of lakeside contemplation. Picking up a smooth, flat stone, Caro sent it skimming across the water, trying to live her daydream. But it was just a daydream, and she was trapped here for years and years to come, with no way out to adventure and no new stories to look forward to except for during the holidays. What a waste of years.

 

[Sawyer Warland]

Sawyer needed to breathe, it wasn't that bad. She'd only spilled a little ink on herself, but it wasn't coming out and she began to fear she'd ruined her favorite blouse. The second year didn't know the spells well enough to feel comfortable doing them on herself, but she also didn't have many older friends she could ask advice from. The raven haired girl sighed in frustration and decided to let her shirt soak in water with some cleaning solution a house elf gave her - as she wanted to wash it herself and not have a filthy house elf touch it - and took her geography book and strolled outside. She had been looking over the map in hopes of travelling to Calgary in Alberta Canada. It was considered a very clean city. She wondered if that was the case. As she stepped into the sunlight she squinted, opening her book and briefly glancing over the map. There was no world geography class and for that Sawyer was saddened. She thought even as people of magic they should learn about the world around them, where they were going - magical safe havens for travelers.

The girl finally stopped at the soft plopping of a stone by the lakeside and looked toward the girl whom had thrown it. She grimaced, there were so many idle germs and so much dirt, was she not worried about getting it under her nails? Was she not concerned with whatever was in the dirt? "You look bored." She remarked, drawing the conclusion that was the only way the girl would play with dirty stones. "Are you waiting for someone?"

 

[Caro Taylor]

Cracked as it already was, Caro's fantasy of a lakeside holiday was shattered when she heard someone speaking to her. A little irritated at the distraction, Caro looked over to see a younger girl she vaguely remembered having seen around the common room. A housemate, then, but not one Caro had ever spoken with. She sighed, picking up another rock. "Nope. Just bored by myself." She mumbled, sending the rock skimming across the lake's surface. "What're you doing here?"

 

[Sawyer Warland]

Sawyer got a distinct feeling she wasn't as welcome as she first thought she may be. So the girl laid down an enchanted blanket given to her by her mother that made sure no dirt soaked through it. The brunette sat with her book in her arms still, watching the rock which made splooshes as it danced over the surface of the lake. "I couldn't get a stain out of my shirt" She spoke, though didn't further elaborate. "You're really good at that." She remarked, talking about the stones. She'd never been one to skip stones. It involved getting her hands too dirty. She hated the feeling of dirt beneath her nails after all. "Did someone teach you that?" She inquired.

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro glanced over as the girl laid out a blanket, a little surprised to see her settling in, though she was more surprised by the girl's explanation of what she was doing out here. "So you came to wash it in the lake?" She asked, confused. "You do realise there are house elves to do that stuff for us, right?" Caro knew some people liked to do things themselves, in ways that felt more natural, but she couldn't imagine the lake actually getting a stained shirt clean. Surely it would wind up dirtier than it started. She smiled a little as the girl complimented her rock skipping skills and smiled, sending another sailing across the lake. "Thanks." She said with a small smile. "My dad taught me. We live near a bunch of lakes, so there's plenty of time to practice."

 

[Sawyer Warland]

Sawyer laughed slightly and shook her head. "No it is soaking in the dorm right now. The lake is so dirty I can't imagine washing things in it. I came out here so that I didn't tear it up in frustration." The brunette slytherin made herself comfortable of the plaid material, putting her legs in a cris crosses position to sit more comfortably. "I know but the house elves seem so dirty. Have you seen their hands?" She commented. Even her family didn't own house elves - though she was sure the family her brother was marrying into did. "Really? It must be lovely to get the breeze off the water." She remarked, Hogwarts own air still for a moment, not blowing in the smell of seaweed as Sawyer would have liked. "Where are you from that you have a lot of lakes?" She inquired - ever interested in the world around her.

 

[Caro Taylor]

Caro raised an eyebrow. She couldn't fathom why someone would go to all the work of washing something themselves, when that was what House Elves were for. She didn't really want to make the girl uncomfortable though, so she shrugged and nodded. "I guess so." She said idly, sending another stone flying across the water's surface. When the girl asked about Caro's home she shrugged. "I'm from Queenstown, so Wakatipu is the main lake, but there are a bunch of other ones around." Caro glanced at the other girl, more interested in the homes of others than her own. "Where are you from?"

 

[Sawyer Warland]

Sawyer smiled when the girl gave a sentence close enough to agreeing. The brunette liked it when people did not argue with her strange methods, it often made her feel more accepted. She then moved her head to the side, doe eyes watching the stone and counting how many times it bounced off the water's surface, before it settled into the water with a plunk. It was fascinating. "Oh! I'm from Wellington, but i lived in England until i was around eight years old." She remarked. "So how exactly do you even skip one of those?' She asked, pointing at the rock but careful to keep her well manicured hands off of it so as to avoid dirtying them. After all if she messed up she'd have to wait another weekend to have her hands dipped in parafan and cleansed and manicured - not to mention the money it cost. Her mother would be livid.