Slippery Slope

[Raylee Lagowski]

By the age of seven, Raylee Lagowski had already in fits of rage broken a small tricycle, several garden gnomes, an entire chess board, and two pretend wands; so it came as little surprise to her family when, following the death of Reagan, she had fled upstairs and demolished nearly every demolishable object in her bedroom. It was fortunate that her dad had rushed after her and taken her into his arms to calm her down, or else her real wand would almost certainly have been next to succumb to her wrath. It was unfortunate that he had not been quick enough to keep her from tearing up the homework she'd worked so desperately hard on. Her professors had been less than pleased when she'd walked into class a week later empty handed; and so Ray's term had begun on the lowest low she had ever believed possible.

That had been over a fortnight ago, but still Ray was feeling sullen and foul-tempered. The money her parents had saved for her new school robes had gone towards the costs of the funeral, so she wasn't even foul-tempered and good looking. Rather, her robes hung stupidly several inches above her ankles, making her feel as if she were the least fashionable student in the whole school. Merlin - just the other day, when her hair had been tied up under a hat, someone had asked her whether she'd been a girl or a boy! "Curse growing," she muttered as she swung a long stick at a fern, decapitating it. What she wouldn't have given at that moment to have been short like the twins! Nobody would have guessed the redhead to be a year younger than her brothers, for she already towered over them in height and breadth. Thinking all of this very unfair, and her life completely and utterly ruined, she sat down on the bank of the lake for a rest.

Sitting there, her eyes drifted up to a willow tree, whose curved branches hung out over a steep incline towards the lake. Stretching her eyes farther, she saw that a length of rope had been coiled around its longest branch. It was difficult to spot through the leafy tendrils, but Ray had an eye for trouble, and that definitely looked like somebody's failed attempt at a rope swing. Spontaneously recovered from her rest, Ray jumped up and made for the trunk of the tree, scouting it for a way to climb. She had plenty of practice from the trees in the forest near her home, and so despite the bark being a little slippery, and the footholds difficult to find, she made short work of hoisting herself up and reaching the start of the rope-swing-branch. Maneuvering onto her stomach, she belly crawled down to the rope and untied it. "Terrible," she said to herself, hoping she never would meet the insult to knot tying that had tied that atrocity. Then she set about fixing it. Her hair kept getting in the way, and she didn't have enough hands, so she had to keep putting the rope in her mouth to hold it still; but she persevered, trying again and again to secure the rope properly to the branch. In this determined state of mind, she didn't hear the sound of an approaching student down below, and worked on oblivious to her presence.

 

[Rosalina Starling]

After an hour of attempting to study, Rosalina couldn’t bear the thought of forcing herself to finish another chapter. Her heart just wasn't into school. Her sister and brother were the top dogs in their school when it came to grades and being a part of the school. Rosalina would much rather be outside, or go exploring. "Maybe I should write Tanner? Gracelynn tends to lecture me too much. But big brother, he always has good advice." When he wasn't playing jokes on her at least. Pretty soon his jokes were bound to no longer affect her, or so she hoped. Smoothing out her t-shirt, the young Gryffindor started towards the lakefront, hoping to find something interesting enough to keep her mind off of the school work she was currently attempting to ignore. Too bad her best friend Chacen Chevalier was nowhere to be found. That boy knew how to have fun.

Pausing a mere foot or two from a large willow tree, copper brown eyes quickly noticed another person already occupying it. From what she could see, it was a girl about her own age, doing something with a rope? Being in the large tree itself was pretty reckless, but Rosalina couldn’t help but wish she was up there as well. "What are you doing with that rope?" Rosalina asked curiously. Despite the fact that Rose had very few friends, she wasn't in the least bit shy. Usually her problem arose from her feistiness or her mouth. Depending on how the girl reacted to Rosalina's interference would decide whether or not she would climb up and take a peek herself. As reckless as she was, she didn't fancy getting knocked down from a tree because she wandered into someone's personal bubble. Some kids were more approachable than others, hopefully this girl was one of them. ​

 

[Raylee Lagowski]

Thinking that she might have been caught by a professor, Ray startled so violently at the sound of a voice down below that she nearly fell right out of the tree. A piece of rope still clenched between her teeth, the Slytherin shot the girl a scowl, indignant at having been disturbed. But her curiosity seemed innocent; and sensing no malicious intent in her words, Ray's forehead softened. Owing to having lived in a cramped house full of boys, she was disposed to expect that anyone who showed interest in what she was doing merely wanted to rattle her out to higher authority, or to spoil her fun in any other way they could manage.

"Making a swing," she said matter-of-factly, after she'd removed the rope from her mouth. Her jaw ached a bit from being clenched for such a long time, and her robes were damp and torn where she'd snagged them on pointed bits of bark, but these facts only served to energize her further. She sat up and sighed. "I know there's a type of knot that pulls tighter the more weight there is on it, but I can't remember what it looks like!" Ray switched her eyes from the rope in her hands to the girl standing on the grass. She was prettier than she'd realised at a glance - much prettier, in fact. She certainly didn't look like the sort to willingly muddy her robes. But Ray was fast running out of ideas, and she really wanted to swing out over the lake. So she gave her an expectant look and said: "Are you coming up then, or what?"

 

[Rosalina Starling]

Making a swing? Although Rosalina knew better than to think that such an idea would come without consequences, the part of her that thrived on fun and adventure forced any common sense she might have had out. Rosalina listened in carefully as the girl began to talk about knots. Hopefully the statement wasn't directed towards her, as she knew she would be of no help to the other student. Rosalina had difficulty just tying her own shoes at times, let alone any of those fancy knots the girl was likely referring to. "Don't ask me, I can't even remember how to tie simple knots!" Rosalina could tie a bow, but that was about it. Somehow she doubted that a bow would be able to hold that swing together, no matter how small the two of them were. If Tanner were here, he'd be able to do it. Tanner knew how to do just about everything.

When the girl asked if she was coming up or not, Rosalina snorted softly. "Yeah give me a second." Unfortunately, Rosalina wasn't very tall, so climbing trees always took a bit more effort on her part. Jumping upwards, her tiny hands took ahold of the branch above her, where she dangled for a short moment before throwing her legs up to wrap around the tree. Rosalina then hauled herself up onto the branch, before climbing up the next. After a few moments, Rosalina was standing on the same level at the girl, and found herself staring at the knot that the girl had been attempting before she came up. "I don't know a lot about knots, but I bet if we make a bunch of loops and stuff, it's bound to make something like a knot." Rosalina was too much of a girly girl to know proper knot-tying techniques, and this girl would be a an idiot to listen to her, but the least she could do was offer to help the girl any way that she could. ​

 

[Raylee Lagowski]

Ray gave a devilish grin as the girl agreed to come up, shifting herself to the other side of the rope so that they could sit either side of it and work it out together. This thought surprised her: being so fiercely independent and bossy usually disposed her to place herself at the head of any group, or to work alone on her projects. It was easier that way - people were just so uncooperative! But, as the girl hoisted herself up onto the branch, Ray couldn't help but feel a sense of comfort at her companionship. Perhaps it was the loss of her brother, or the confident, feisty demeanour of this girl. Whatever it was, it was unnerving her. She didn't even like sharing a bedroom with her cousin Stella, let alone a rope swing with a complete stranger.

"Hmm," said Ray, picking the rope up again and letting it lie limp across her palm. 'Something like a knot' didn't sound very safe at all; but then Ray wasn't presently incline to care too much about her safety. She was miserable, really, and still mourning the death of Reagan. Besides, most injuries could be healed with the swish of a wand down in the hospital wing - Ray had discovered that a few months ago when a spell she'd tried out with Kaia had backfired - so what was danger? "OK. I'll hold this bit, and you loop it around there." As they worked, Ray asked curiously, and as if it were more important than introducing themselves by name: "What house are you in? I'm in Slytherin."

 

[Rosalina Starling]

From what Rosalina could gather, the other girl didn't know how to tie a knot either. How hard could it be though? Just loop the rope around a few times and you've pretty much managed to make a knot of sorts. Not a very good one, but it wasn't like there was anyone around to be super critical of their work anyways. Rosalina did as she was told and frowned when she noticed the knot didn't look strong enough to support anyone's weight. "Maybe we should loop it around a few more times? Or do you want one of us to test it first?" If they tried it out and they found that it could support their weight, then the knot might be good enough and could be left alone. Rosalina was willing to try if need be, the worst that could happen was falling, and Rosalina certainly wasn't afraid to fall on her butt every now and then.

Rosalina glanced over at the girl when she asked what house she was in. The fact that the other girl was in Slytherin made it a bit awkward. That house seemed packed to the brim with people who despised people that had muggle born in their family. Rosalina's mother was a muggle born, which seemed to cause more issues than not the past few years. "I'm a Gryffindor. My name is Rosalina. What's yours?" The honey blonde asked cautiously. Hopefully this girl could see past the house differences and continue knot-tying with her, but if she didn't, it wasn't like Rosalina couldn't find something else better to do. Most people her age didn't let the differences be an issue, but lately she noticed a lot more people getting into fights because they were from different houses. How silly was that?​

 

[Raylee Lagowski]

Ray sat up straight and considered both the half-hearted knot and the girl's question. She'd been very helpful so far, and Ray didn't really want to push her luck by asking her to do anything more; from the redhead's limited experience, people didn't generally tolerate being told what to do for very long. So even though the rope didn't look capable of holding so much as a toddler, Ray shrugged and said, "We should try it now." Though she wasn't one to shy away from danger, she did hope the blonde might offer to give it the first go. It had been such a long time since Ray had gotten along with anyone that she was reluctant to risk humiliating herself should the rope break.

Brushing her hands together to loosen the damp bark from them, Ray smiled one of her rare smiles, her round features lifting brightly. She couldn't have minded Rosalina being a Gryffindor if she'd tried - how could she, when her elder brother Rudolf was in that very house himself? Personally, Ray refused to believe that a crest could define a person. She wasn't cruel or judgemental in the slightest: it was her sly manner and determination to get what she wanted that had made Ray a snake. "I like that name," she said, swinging her leg over the branch, lowering herself until she was dangling from it by her hands, and then letting go. She dropped to the grass in a crouch before rising again. "Mine's Raylee-" there was some obvious revulsion in the way she said this- "All of my brother's names begin with R, too. One of them's in Gryffindor." Ray gestured to the rope, which looked just about long enough to swing over the edge of the lake. "You first?"

 

[Rosalina Starling]

Rosalina didn't think the swing looked too sturdy, but apparently Raylee thought otherwise. "Well it's not like I'm an expert in knot-tying or swings, so what the heck do I know?" Rosalina knew she liked going on the swings whenever her brother or sister took her to the park, but those were often made of metal or study looking rope, not vines. All the young Gryffindor could do was shrug her shoulders. Tanner would likely scold her for being so reckless, but it wasn't like he was here to stop Rosalina either. Like he has room to talk though, he was the one who tried to organize family trips to go rock climbing or kayaking, knowing fully well that both of his sisters were too girly to ever do that sort of thing without any complaints. Nodding in agreement, Rosalina wondered who was going to go first to test out the vines.

Rosalina smiled when Raylee told her that she liked the name Rosalina. Though Rosalina had to resist the urge to tell Raylee that she liked her name as well. Now was not the time to brown nose, they had a swing to test. "What's his name? Maybe I've met him. I have an older brother and sister, but they go to different schools." Tanner went to Durmstrang while Gracelynn went to Beauxbatons. When Raylee asked if Rosalina was going first she bit her lip. Might as well. After a deep breath, the brunette lowered the swing so it was hanging down, and lowered herself onto it. The vines held, but the swing felt unstable. The vines holding the swing up creaked every so often as well. "Well I'm still alive, but the swing feels unstable." Plus they were so high up! Maybe they should have used more vines instead of multiple knots to secure the swing into place?​