Closed Tempting Fate

[Lucy Montague]

The day was slightly overcast as Lucy made her way down to the lake. Audrey was right, the stairs were ridiculous but somehow Lucy would have to get used to them. The pair had agreed to meet after hearing rumours about a large eel living in the lake - something Lucy had wanted to check out for herself. It was scientific, after all - Lucy and Audrey just wanted to make sure there really was something living in there. They were checking a hypothesis. As she waited, Lucy gathered up rocks by the lakeside. They might be useful.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

The rumours of a giant eel living in the lake were far too interesting to ignore, and Audrey was glad that Lucy shared that same line of thinking. Sure, Audrey wasn't much of an animal person (save for a toy unicorn and toy hippogriff she had decidedly left at home, deciding they were far too childish to take to boarding school), but a mysterious eel was certainly something worth investigating.

Admittedly, Audrey wasn't quite sure what eels ate, and the library had not had a lot to go off of. But a giant eel was more than likely a predatory, and as such she had half a ham sandwich wrapped in paper and stuffed in her pocket that maybe could be a source to lure it, if possible. Not that she had a fishing rod, but being on the other end of a fishing rod if they did catch the eel actually sounded like a bad idea. At least maybe they could bring it to the surface, if the bread didn't attract a heap of birds. Although she saw Lucy was gathering rocks, and maybe that could work too. "Sorry to keep you waiting," she said with a wave, seeing as that's what Polite Adults seemed to say. "You wanna skip stones and see if it says hi? Brilliant!"

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy looked up from gathering the rocks and waved back to her new friend. "Yeah! I thought maybe if we disturbed the water enough it would pop out to see what the fuss was about," Lucy told Audrey excitedly. "It's what I'd do, after all." Taking up a rock, Lucy hurled it into the calm, still lake, disturbing the surface with a ripple and a soft plop. It didn't manage to skip. Lucy put her hands on her hips and waited to see if anything further happened. When nothing did, she picked up a smooth stone from her pile and offered it to Audrey. "Here, if you want to have a go."

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey beamed, that sounded like fun. And whatever else was in the lake might pop up to say hello, too, so they could know what kinds of things were down there. She'd heard there were mermaids, but she hadn't really ever seen any before. "I brought food if the eel shows up and is hungry," she explained, patting her pocket where the wrapped, slightly warm and squashed sandwich was. She peered into the water, waiting to see if anything happened. When nothing seemed to, she took a stone from Lucy and tried to skip it along. Except, of course, she didn't really know how to, so it also just kind of fell in with a small splash. "Eh, must be in the wrist a bit more."

 

[Lucy Montague]

"Oh, that's so smart!" Lucy exclaimed upon hearing Audrey had brought food with her. "Bait is just the thing we need." She was fairly confident they'd find evidence of the eel at this rate. She watched Audrey throw her stone, and shook her head. "Wait, you have to hold it like this." Lucy picked up a flat, smooth stone and curled her index finger around it, holding with her thumb on the top. She showed it to Audrey. "Then you sort of just go flick like this." Lucy faced the water from a slightly side-on angle, then with a flick of her wrist, let the rock go. The rock skipped once, twice, then plummeted into the depths of the lake. "I'm not too good at it but I can kind of do it," she admitted.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

"Yeah! We'll draw it out for sure," Audrey insisted, knowing whichever way it worked at least getting to see it would be good. Audrey thought she might have been annoyed at being told what to do when she wasn't getting something right, but she wasn't that haughty. She could tell Lucy meant well, and it genuinely was something she hadn't done before so she was willing to hear it out. "Like this?" she asked, watching what Lucy did and trying to copy the way it was held. She tried to copy the flick motion and managed to sort of skip the rock once, though it sank quickly. "Aw, well, practice I guess," she shrugged. "What else do you think is down there?"

 

[Lucy Montague]

"That was good!" Lucy exclaimed earnestly, seeing the rock sort of skip. It had taken her several goes to skip at all so she was impressed. "Hmm," Lucy said, considering Audrey's question. "Merpeople, surely. Hopefully they aren't too annoyed by us." The stones didn't seem to be working, Lucy thought. "Maybe we should try the bait," Lucy said. "See if it goes for it."

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey nodded thoughtfully. "I don't think grindylows are in New Zealand, otherwise getting in the water would suck." She didn't necessarily want to get in the water, considering it wasn't exactly pristine and filled with all sorts of creatures, but maybe in the middle of summer it would be nice. She had half hoped to keep the sandwich for later, but now having it pulled out and seeing how it was a little warm and squashed Audrey thought that maybe it was better served for the eel. She tore off a corner and chucked it in, not wanting to throw the whole sandwich in the lake in one go, hoping that some geese wouldn't suddenly descend on the bread. "Just gotta test first, otherwise we'll waste all the bait," she said. She sounded confident, although she also clearly had no idea what she was doing.

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy nodded at Audrey's reasoning, thinking it sound. "I think eels eat live prey, so maybe if we wiggle it with a stick..." Lucy looked around the lakefront, scrouging around before finally finding one. "Aha!" She cheerfully approached where the piece of bread was and poked it but the bread was coming apart in the water. "Oh well. Hopefully that sort of looks like it's moving?" Lucy turned back towards Audrey, not noticing the bit of bread suddenly disappear under the water.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

"Maybe we should have brought a fishing line..." Audrey pondered, though how they'd even have a fishing rod and line at school anyway was another matter. That, and she had never been fishing before, and wasn't sure if Lucy had either. And maybe an eel would drag them in the water, which she supposed wouldn't be awful as long as they let go of the line so as not to get dragged under. "Oh, that seems to be working," she said, cheerfully, though she blinked and suddenly the bread was gone. "Wow. I didn't think bread sunk that fa-" she cut herself off, peering into the water. Maybe it was working? She quickly tore off another large chunk of sandwich, hastily chucking it in the same spot. "We could be on to something!"

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy looked back at where the bread had been, amazed. "It disappeared! Did you see what got it?" Lucy asked as she frantically got the stick to push down on the bread as she'd done before. This time she thought she saw something beneath the surface. Lucy leaned over to get a better look and shrieked when large jaws, as big as a small shark's but not nearly as toothy, lurked beneath the lake. She ran back further onto shore, not seeing the bread disappear once more. "I-I think we might've f-found it," Lucy stammered, scared but still intrigued by their find, "or at least its c-cousin. Maybe there are multiple eels?"

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey had to admit she hadn't been expecting that. She blinked a few times, mouth agape as she saw a flash of scales, of teeth, probably more than what was actually there. The idea of seeing something, of course, let her imagination fill in the blanks and start building up a bigger story. Something to boast about and embellish in the retelling. After all, was that not how storytelling worked? Served her parents well, didn't it? "M-multiple?" she stammered, looking between Lucy and the lake. "Cool!" It was pretty cool, even if it was a little freaky. It was a wonder more people hadn't died in the lake. She pulled out her wand, casting Lumos and pointing the wand at the water like it was a torch. Of course, it barely helped in the daytime. "I am so not going swimming in that, though. Noooooooo thank you. I like having legs and arms."

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy found himself slowly relaxing from her scare. Cool? It was pretty cool now she thought about it. It was awesome they'd found something at all. "That was great!" Lucy exclaimed. "I can't believe we found something! Not that I ever doubted us." Lucy straightened herself up, feeling proud. "And all thanks to your sandwich," Lucy added cheerily. "And eurgh, no! I would never swim in that now I know what's hiding in there. Shame, though. Swimming's fun."

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

"It was a team effort," Audrey replied, graciously. "I bet the rocks woke it up for a snack." It was often a shock to her family that Audrey did know how to be gracious and not a complete know-it-all at times, but it was possible. Though, having more like-minded people of her own age around helped. With the family it was only when Dion was around, mostly because they egged each other on with absurdity. "I wish they had a pool that wasn't full of creatures. I love doing handstands and stuff. Can't do them on the ground, though." It wasn't for lack of trying, but gymnastic feats weren't her thing. "I think in seventh year we should magic one up and have a pool party." Sure, it might not have been possible even for seventh years, but it didn't mean Audrey wasn't going to try and learn how.

 

[Lucy Montague]

Lucy smiled at hearing Audrey refer to it as a team effort. She really felt like they made a good team. "You can do handstands underwater?" Lucy exclaimed, suitably impressed. "That's really cool! I want to learn!" Lucy got even more excited when Audrey mentioned a pool party. "Oh, we have to have one for seventh year, that's too good of an idea not to. We'll surely know how to magic up a pool by then. We'll be able to do so much." Lucy looked a bit starry-eyed, thinking about themselves as seventh years. She couldn't really imagine it - not completely, the idea of being that age was just too foreign - but she definitely imagined being a competent witch by that point who could do all sorts of magic. And that magic included something as impressive as conjuring a pool.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Let it never be said Audrey's dreams let reality get in the way. Sure, she did understand logic, and she wasn't a fool, but she did have lofty ambitions. And even if conjuring up an entire pool might not be entirely realistic, it certainly didn't seem impossible. Especially with multiple people coming together on it. Lucy was clever, too, she was sure the two of them could work it out. "I'll show you sometime! It's not too hard, the water holds you up and does a lot of the work for you." She usually got told off for playing around and not doing laps, but she figured that was a kind of exercise too. "We'll probably know enough Charms and Transfiguration by then to do it, I bet."