Open Watching the Water

[Leia Hume]

Leia had not quite found the friendship group that she was hoping for, but she knew that she was not without friends. She had to just work on it, make it better and easier for that to be achieve. She already had little plans for it, she just knew it might not work. The slytherin had come to the grounds, and sat at the lake front because of how nice a day it was. She liked how it seemed, like how warm it still was and how much she could just enjoy the weather. She had a few books in front of her but she was mostly just playing with her wand, making the flowers move with the simple magic that she could do. It wasn’t too hard to do and it wasn’t that bad either. It was nice, the sun was shining so brightly and she was just enjoying the peace of the day. Leia hadn’t really taken much time to just appreciate the school, she hadn't taken much time to just enjoy the place. There was always something else to do, someone else to speak to, some piece of work to get done. ​

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus enjoyed spending time at the lake. There were interesting creatures there, living in or around the water, and it tended to be quiet. He was wearing his rain boots so he could wade into the water and hopefully find an interesting frog or lizard, something he could show his cousins. They were often distant and a little cold to him, but he knew he was going to miss them. As Augustus searched for any interesting creatures around the lake, he spotted a girl sitting nearby. Augustus winced as he saw who it was, staring at her for a moment before looking away. He stepped into the shallow water, crouching down to look at a nearby fish. He remembered what she had said at the dance, and she probably thought he was being weird now too. He glanced at her again nervously, though he thought it was likely that she would ignore him.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia looked up and spotted that there was that boy, Augustus or something, the one who had taken the time to stare at her, who she had briefly spoken to at the Dance, before Luxen had swooped in. She didn’t want to say or do anything, hopeful that she might figure out how to deal with him. She felt bad about what she’d said about him, perhaps he had or hadn’t heard it, but he’d heard what Luxen said. She wanted to apologise but if Luxen heard her say it, he probably wouldn’t be too happy. Likely thinking that she was being nice to someone who didn’t deserve it. She wondered if she should say anything. ”I heard there’s a giant octopus in there,” she said loudly hoping that he would hear it. Maybe it would be easier to speak towards the lake and not really towards him. If Luxen came along she could just say that she wasn’t speaking to anyone.​

 

[The Golden Eel]

It was warm here, up near the surface and the eel basked in the rays of light filtering through the water. It didn't dare stray too close to the shores now that it had awoken, well aware of the constant rumble of feet and stones and noise from the creatures on land, but it would spend time here, if for a moment further in the depths of the lake, enjoying the sun. But the day was dragging, and the eel grew tired. Deciding to descend, it flicked its long, golden tail, breaking the water for a moment with a soft splash before drifting downwards into the dark of the lake. The ripples drifted slowly across the surface of the lake, the only sign that the eel may have been there at all.

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus tensed when he heard the girl's voice, and he glanced around to make sure it was meant for him. There was no one else around, so it seemed like Leia was talking to him. Nervously, Augustus glanced in her direction. "A squid, actually. They are not the same thing." He corrected her, glancing away again. "But that's at Hogwarts in Scotland." He added, though he wasn't sure if she would be able to hear him. She was talking pretty loudly. His gaze moved back to the lake, where something made him freeze in his tracks. There was something in the water, something huge. The boy immediately stepped closer, stepping into the shallow water to peer into the depths of the lake. He had seen something, something golden. There were ripples in the water that confirmed he hadn't made it up. He turned back to Leia, his eyes wide. "Did you see that?" He asked her, before turning his attention back to the water. He stepped a little deeper, the water now nearly touching his knees. "What was that?" He added, under his breath.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia wasn’t sure how to be around the boy. But she listened as he corrected her, and she felt herself roll her eyes a little at him. The squid was the other school and not this school. She kept her gaze solely on the water and was a little surprised as ripples were suddenly created in the water, she watched and frowned, the lake had never done that. It was steady, and nothing moved in it, but something had been there, and something had moved. She looked at the boy, ”I saw that,” she could see that the boy was physically in the water, stepping forward towards the depths. She felt a little concern. ”Be careful,” she told him, though rather than her tone being sharp there was some concern in it. ”That couldn’t have been a giant squid…” She said, thinking about it. ”Whats your name?” she then called to the boy, they shared classes and this hadn’t been the first time they’d interacted but she had never taken the time to learn his name she was sure it was Augustus or something close, but if he went deeper into the water or something happened, she should refer to him as something other than the staring boy. [/B]​

 

[Augustus Westwick]

While Augustus was relieved to hear he hadn't been seeing things that weren't there, he didn't really understand why the girl wasn't trying to see it better like him. Didn't she understand this was something amazing? A new discovery? He ignored her warning to be careful, taking a step deeper without caring about his pants getting wet. He shook his head. "That was not a squid." He agreed. He frowned when the girl suddenly asked his name, but didn't turn his head away from the direction of what they had seen. Why was she asking that at a time like this Didn't she care about the creature they had seen? He also didn't understand why she didn't know his name already. Augustus had observed his classmates in class, and now knew all the names of their year, he was pretty sure. It felt like important information to have. But he supposed he himself wasn't very important. "I'm Augustus." He said distractedly. "Do you think it looked like a serpent?"

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia found herself nodding in agreement. It was certainly no squid, it hadn’t moved like she’d thought a squid would, it had been far more fish like, something long. She knew that the loch ness monster wasn’t going to be living here of all places, but she couldn’t help but think it was probably a lot closer to that than anything else they had heard. She nodded as he said his name, she had thought it was that, but she’d not really bothered learning people’s names in class, that always seemed rather pointless. But knowing it now was probably better. ”It seemed to move more serpent like,” she agreed remaining where she was and unlike him not bothering with the water. ”I think its gone though,” she commented, she couldn’t see anything like they both had when the creature or thing had swum close to the surface and she could admit perhaps it was just a fairly large fish and nothing more interesting. She also knew that unlike Augustus - whom she was assuming would tell people about what they’d seen - Leia would not. She couldn’t have the slytherins thinking she liked that sort of thing or that she spent time with Augustus at the lake. ​

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus reluctantly took a few steps back, though he kept his gaze forward until there had been no ripples in the water for a while. He nodded when the girl agreed it had moved serpent like, but truly didn't get her seemingly casual reaction to this. "You don't know if it's gone." He argued, glancing at the water again before frowning a little at her. "This could be a new discovery, we could be the first to ever see this." He told her, wondering if she grasped this. "Why aren't you more curious?" He asked her, staring at her in confusion, blinking. He almost seemed offended by her lack of interest, staring at her unnervingly.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia was a little surprised when after he agreed that this was gone, why she wasn’t curious. She frowned at him, meeting his gaze, just because she wasn’t in the water and because she wasn’t reacting like he was that meant she was less curious. She rolled her eyes at him, making a great show of it, ”Maybe I can’t swim,” she said back, she could swim, but a large lake this without supervision wasn’t exactly safe, he probably didn’t care. ”I can be curious without getting close to it,” she folded her arms in front of her and was suddenly remembering why she disliked Augustus, she had felt bad for how Luxen had spoken to him but she was quickly feeling less bad about it. She was trying to hold his stare as much as she could, but she knew she was looking away more than he was blinking. ​

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus hadn't meant his comment in a bad way, but it was immediately clear he'd said something wrong. He winced at the girl's tone. "Oh." He said, shrugging. "I... I suppose." He didn't get it. If she was really curious, surely she would try to catch a glimpse. He quickly turned away from her again, looking over a the water. He figured whatever the monster was, it was safer to focus on right now than Leia. He remembered now how she had talked about him at the dance, and remembered she wasn't his friend. At least, he didn't think she would ever want to be. "Sorry." He said softly, though he wasn't sure if she would be able to hear him.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia felt perhaps a little bad for being a little short with Augustus in her reaction, but in her mind he had been short with her so why not be short with him. She felt pretty good that he seemed to immediately take back the initial annoyance and just agree. She was curious she wanted to get closer but didn’t entirely see the need for her to do so. She didn’t need to be any closer to see what she needed to. The slytherin smiled a little as he turned away, she didn’t really hear the sorry but she was satisfied anyway with it. She was still looking at the water as she could see that he was too. ”Maybe you should throw some stones towards where it was?” she suggested, perhaps the way to bring the weird creature back was to disturb the water further and at least she was at the safety of the shore. ​

 

[Luxen Silverback II]

Luxen had reviewed his Potions notes in class and had wanted to practice a few of his more advanced spells in private somewhere on the grounds where the rest of the sheep would likely leave him alone. They all whined and complained whenever he was around and it was quite annoying considering that such energy would have been better spent improving themselves. Walking along the grounds he noticed something that caught his eye, Hume was by the lake with the Ravenclaw Freak and the pair of them actually seemed to be having a conversation. He had intended on practicing his full body bind curse on a few unsuspecting animals, however this seemed like too good of an opportunity to let pass by.

"Well don't you two make the cute couple" Luxen called out as he began walking over towards them. "Hume and the Freak, and here I thought you had better taste in friends" Luxen smirked at Hume ignoring the other boy as he pulled out his wand. He had heard Hume mention something about throwing stones at the lake but knew of something that would make a bigger splash. "I know something better than a rock, Everte Statum!" Luxen called out, his spell hit the water causing a large splash towards the pair as though someone really fat had just performed a cannonball from high up above. The water reached far enough to splash his own shoes despite Luxen not being as close to the lake as the other two were. With another wave of his wand he summoned blue flames that were quickly able to dry them before disappearing leaving his shoes only slightly singed.

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus was relieved when Leia no longer sounded mad at him, though he was having trouble understanding why she had been angry in the first place. He nodded at her suggestion, bending down to pick up a stone. But he looked up in alarm as he heard someone call out, and his eyes widened at the sight of Luxen. His face flushed a little at his words, and he shook his head a little. "She's not my... friend..." He said hesitantly, stepping back a little. He yelped as the boy cast a spell into the water, and got completely drenched. He flapped his arms a little, trying to get the water out of his sleeves before he realized there was no use. He hesitated for a moment, and then realized that there was nothing good that would happen from staying here. He wanted to look at the monster in the lake more, but Luxen had ruined it and probably scared it away anyway. He bit his lip for a moment, decided to simply... run away. He rushed back to the castle, robes and hair dripping from the lakewater as he went. He didn't want to talk to Luxen, especially if he couldn't be sure that the next spell the boy would cast wouldn't be aimed at him. He hurried to the castle without looking back, shivering in his drenched clothes.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia was very surprised by the voice, and she couldn’t help bbut cringe heavily at who it was. Luxen. Of course it was. She felt her cheeks blush deeply at the comment, but at least, Augustus was quick to say that she wasn’t his friend. She knew she would’ve said the same, but it didn’t feel like he’d really believe it. She watched a little nervous as Luxen took out his wand and cast it upon the water. It mostly hit Augustus, soaking him to the bone. Leia had reflexively turned most of her body away, so while her back and some of her hair was wet, she wasn’t quite as soaked as Augustus was. She felt a little bad even as she watched the boy run away. Leia looked back at Luxen, unsure what to do next, ”I told him there was some giant creature in the water,” she said, taking a quick moment to think about what she was saying, ”I was encouraging him to go deeper into the water and then I was going to cast a trip jinx,” she told Luxen, ”He’s such a freak that he believed someone he dislikes and did it anyway,” She was trying to cover her tracks, she wanted to be liked by Luxen and she certainly couldn’t have him believing she was friendly towards Augustus. ”I kinda wish you’d given me enough warning to not get wet though,” She then ended up, deciding to force a slightly frustrated tone, to act as though she was frustrated with him for getting her wet. Perhaps that would distract from it. ​

 

[Luxen Silverback II]

Luxen smirked as the freak ran off, he at least had enough sense not to try and pick a fight he would definitely have lost. "Apologies then Hume, didn't mean to interrupt your plan" Luxen responded with the rare kindness in his tone, though he suspected she was not being entirely truthful. "If you want my bluebell flame can help you dry off" Luxen offered. The flames couldn't really burn anything and therefore made for an excellent surrogate towel. "I still haven't quite mastered Everte Statum so it can have a bit more force than needed" Luxen lied. He had fully intended the spell to work the way it had though he had been honest about not having mastered it quite yet as his wrist tingled from the pushback it still have. "Least the freak is gone" he added as he walked over towards the other Slytherin.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia had to stop her shoulders from sagging a little in relief as he seemed genuinely kind about what he had done which had in her lie interrupted her. She didn’t know if he believed her but he seemed to buy it enough that she could perhaps relax a little. ”We got him anyway,” she said to Luxen with a conspiratorial tone, ”That’s what matters,” she felt a little bad, she’d tried to be friendly with Augustus but she had always know no matter how friendly she was towards him, she’d always throw it away if others came along. ”Sure,” she said, ”Thanks for the little jar of it,” she hadn’t had time to thank him in the class itself, but now seemed like a good opportunity to bring it up and tried to remind him that they were friends - or friend enough. ”I think you’ve got it pretty good, that was really impressive Luxen,” she stepped a little closer, since he was walking towards her a little too. She nodded along with his statement. She too was pleased the boy was gone, that it hadn’t been drawn up. ”I wonder if his housemates think he’s as much a freak as we do,” ​

 

[Luxen Silverback II]

"I'd be surprised if they didn't" Luxen said as he took a step closer so that he was only a couple feet away from her. They had been closer during the two dances and yet this seemed a bit more intimate for some reason. Perhaps it was because they were out in the open and alone whereas during those times they were in a more formal setting. "Now hold very still and you might want to close your eyes" Luxen said in a lower tone. He wasn't trying to be romantic in the slightest, it would just be easier if Hume wasn't moving around since his flames might not burn her skin they could easily singe her clothes if she moved around too much.

Luxen was actually more interested in extending his bluebell flame so that it was a simply ball of fire. Using the curve of his wand to his advantage along with moving just his wrist as he'd been practicing for dueling, Luxen said the enchantment but focused his mind so that the flames that emitted from the end of his wand moved around the Slytherin girl's clothes in a spiral. It actually took all of his concentration as he allowed the flames to disappear as they traveled from the top of her clothes towards her shoes, drying but not burning any of them. He could actually feel the beads of sweat forming on his own brow despite the cooler weather as he felt his control begin to slip. Luckily, he was able to extinguish them and leave her dry and without any damage though the process had left him more drained than anything else.

It was a complicated motion that would leave him vulnerable afterwards if he didn't practice it more in the future. He was pleased with his success and even he had to admit that it had looked quite as impressive as it had been considering he'd never tried making them as complicated before. "There now only the freak is wet" Luxen said with a smirk though he had to suppress a yawn as he made a mental note to try the maneuver again when he was alone. Perhaps he would go closer to the forest and see if he could wrap the blue flames around a tree without singeing any of the leaves as a way to further practice it.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia nodded in agreement, though really she hoped he had a friend somewhere. She noted that he took a step closer to her, she was half worried he’d notice that she hadn’t really been telling the truth but her worries weren’t very founded. He told her to hold still and close her eyes, so she did so. She felt him cast the spell and then with a little time she felt herself quickly dry off. The Slytherin waited, not daring to open her eyes until he said that it was done. She couldn’t help but quickly glance at her own clothes, not really to check if they were dry - that she could feel but more to check if they were burnt in any way. ”You’re really good at that spell,” The slytherin told him, she was being truthful, he was both good at it and seemed to use it a lot. The jar with the blue flames on her bed side were a testament to that. She hadn’t used the spell though she felt now vaguely aware of what it did. ”Can you show me how to do the spell? ” she asked him, she wanted to learn the spell and she hoped it would be a good way to continue to hopefully be in good favours with Luxen. She didn’t really know why she wanted it so much, but he seemed so slytherin - and she wanted to be that. ​

 

[Luxen Silverback II]

"I just study and practice a lot, not worrying about friends gives you a lot of time to become more adept at learning different spells" Luxen said with a casual shrug. It was the truth since he'd spent the majority of the year learning more about magic and had even put off his own quest to find out more information about his father in the process. He didn't think his father would mind, if the man was still alive than he would need his son to be knowledgeable in the magical arts before he attempted to actually find him. If he was dead than it wouldn't matter how long it took for Luxen to get the knowledge about where he was or what had happened and then he would need the skills to get the proper revenge. He found himself actually surprised that Hume actually wanted him to teach her.

"I'm not a professor but I guess I could show you how it's done" Luxen said as he looked around and made sure there was nobody snooping. He didn't mind showing Hume how to perform the spell he'd practiced but he didn't want anyone else learning it. "It's a cold flame meaning that it can burn the grass and clothing but not flesh so you have to concentrate on those aspects when saying the incantation, if you think about it like it's fire than your going to fail. At the same time it's still a flame and you have to make it appear as such which is where it can be tricky" Luxen explained. It had taken himself a bit of time to create a flame that wasn't fire. He figured it would be best for her to see for herself what he meant as he held out his hand. He focused his mind on the blue flames warming his hand but of course not burning his flesh as he used his other hand with his wand to create a small blue ball of fire. It landed in his palm as he held it out for the other Slytherin to see.