Daydreaming
Forward date to September:
Edit: edited out usage of spells and godmodding
@Lydia WalshMaisie slowly and quietly made her way to the boathouse, bundled up in a scarf, carrying a blanket and parcels of food the house elfs were more than happy to supply --it was quite cold was her defense, and anyway, it was going to be could if your near a lake the whole night. She ran up the steps to the boathouse, before settling herself in a corner, pulling the blanket over herself. Reaching under her clock for one of the parcels, she undid the brown bag and put a slice of ham in her mouth. Opening a textbook she hid in her sleeve so it'd be easier to carry, she decided to do some homework while she waited for her friends.
The reason why she dragged herself outside into the boathouse at ungodly hours in the morning was to think and only think what exploring the lake would be like. The Giant Squid Conspiracy was one she and her friends had raved about for days. And today seemed like the perfect day to investigate think about what lied in the murky water.
Hearing footseteps approaching, Maisie quickly shut her book. And looked up just to see a figure running up the steps, cloak flapping behind her. The wind here is sometimes harsh.
Edit: edited out usage of spells and godmodding
Last edited by Maisie Fenwick Rose Williams on 27 Jul 2025, 10:35, edited 1 time in total.
Daydreaming
@Maisie Fenwick Rose WilliamsLydia rushed to the boathouse, tripping over herself, hoping she wasn't already late. She'd agreed to meet Maisie there, to try to figure out why on earth they weren't allowed to swim; it was a perfectly good lake!
And sure, it was probably a little cold in the winter, but it was September currently, and the lake looked incredibly inviting; Lydia had really been missing any sort of physical activity since coming to Hogwarts.
Stumbling in at last, she noticed Maisie was already there, somewhat in a corner and masked by the shadows, looking almost spooky.
"Maisie! Hi!"
A smile tugged at Lydia's lips, the setting was perfect for what they had started calling the Giant Squid Conspiracy. They weren't going to go in the lake or anything, just sort of take a look around, and try to determine why they weren't allowed to swim.
The giant squid was of course an obvious contender as to why the rule had to exist, but Lydia had reasoned that the squid, being so giant and all, probably needed a lot of space. And near the shore, which is where they would swim if allowed, it was rather shallow; not nearly enough room for a full squid.
Lydia wasn't sure they would actually get any closer to understanding the rule, if she was being perfectly honest. They were first years, and didn't have much knowledge or magic to help. But Lydia had brought a big stick to prod at the water, and they could at least see if anything happened to it. Taking a sniff, she noticed that Maisie had brought ham.
"Hey, perfect! Can we use some of that as bait?," she said, vaguely waving the stick to indicate the idea.
Daydreaming
Maisie smiled at the red head, and pulled out the other packages. One was meat; the other bread.
She took out a piece of the ham and poked it onto the stick. They found another stick, which they put ham on, too. Giving a stick to Lydia, she said, "Ready?"
On the count of three, she stuck their sticks into the water, and waited. When there was no obvious movement under the water, she started chucking pieces of ham and bread straight into the water. Maisie even dared to go to the farthest dock and throw ham towards the center of the lake. Still no movement. So she sat down and started eating the ham.
"Seems like the bait isn't working much." she murmured, looking sideways at the lake.
She had very nearly lost hope, and their food supply had nearly ran out, when suddenly there was a ripple. Small at first, but getting bigger, and a shadow was emerging from the water.
"Bloody hell. Think that's the giant squid?" Maisie breathed. She backed away as much as she can. Although she were fairly sure squids don't kill, they still injected rather a lot of ink when threatened.
"Hey, look. It's eating the food. See? And its...waving it's tentacles at us?" she whispered, stepping forward just a bit. Even if it was waving at them, it still had a body full of ink. And she wasn't going to take any chances.
"So...seems like it's harmless? Then what's in the water, that makes it dangerous to swim in it?"
@Lydia Walsh
She took out a piece of the ham and poked it onto the stick. They found another stick, which they put ham on, too. Giving a stick to Lydia, she said, "Ready?"
On the count of three, she stuck their sticks into the water, and waited. When there was no obvious movement under the water, she started chucking pieces of ham and bread straight into the water. Maisie even dared to go to the farthest dock and throw ham towards the center of the lake. Still no movement. So she sat down and started eating the ham.
"Seems like the bait isn't working much." she murmured, looking sideways at the lake.
She had very nearly lost hope, and their food supply had nearly ran out, when suddenly there was a ripple. Small at first, but getting bigger, and a shadow was emerging from the water.
"Bloody hell. Think that's the giant squid?" Maisie breathed. She backed away as much as she can. Although she were fairly sure squids don't kill, they still injected rather a lot of ink when threatened.
"Hey, look. It's eating the food. See? And its...waving it's tentacles at us?" she whispered, stepping forward just a bit. Even if it was waving at them, it still had a body full of ink. And she wasn't going to take any chances.
"So...seems like it's harmless? Then what's in the water, that makes it dangerous to swim in it?"
@Lydia Walsh
Last edited by Maisie Fenwick Rose Williams on 27 Jul 2025, 10:43, edited 1 time in total.
Daydreaming
Forward date to September.
@Maisie Fenwick Rose WilliamsLydia stared at the squid in awe. It truly was massive, and like Maisie had pointed out, seemed to be waving at them.
Laughing, she lobbed the last of her apples at the squid; maybe it wanted to play catch. To her delight, a tentacle swooped up, a gently batted the apple back at her and Maisie. They played three way catch for a while, but eventually the squid seemed to grow tired, and the tentacles slipped under the water with one last wave.
"Looks like we made a new friend at least!," said Lydia, grinning at Maisie. "We'll have to come back, maybe with some more people, to really get a game going."
Honestly, this might be even better than swimming -- the squid could cover a massive amount of territory, and Lydia could see where they could set up a makeshift net. And with some rackets and more apples, they could easily have a team of people play some variation of volleyball against the squid. It might be even more fun with brooms -- though Lydia wasn't sure how that would quite factor in to the game -- if they could figure out where to borrow some from.
Turning her attention back to the question of why the lake was off limits, Lydia pondered. "If it's not the squid, maybe it's the merpeople? I wonder how far their land - well, lake - extends."
Lydia knew from her muggle history classes that lots of wars had been fought over territory; maybe this was similar? She didn't actually know that much about merpeople.
Yawning, she realized just how tired she was. It was very late. Maybe they could research the merpeople and come back another day.
Turning to Maisie, she tried to gauge how the other girl was feeling: "do you want to stay? I can't think of anything more to do tonight, maybe we can research the merpeople some more, and ask around if the Slytherins have any ideas on what could be in the lake. And definitely come back later to play catch or volleyball or tennis!"
Daydreaming
Forward date to September.
Playing three-way catch was pretty good, the giant squid had a lot of power to throw the various objects they threw at it, which was fun for the two girls, as they were much smaller. Maisie was just getting the knack of it--if she threw an apple just slightly over it's head, it wouldn't react fast enough; if she feined moving to the side, then at the last second swerved to the opposite side, it wouldn't catch it. But the giant squid must've gotten tired, or at least, beaten, for it soon sank back into the waters, with one last wave of it's tentacles.
"Yeah, we do need to find more people to join. Might be the merpeople, but they're vicious. Too vicious...they'd probably kill the students if they had the chance. But who's to fight with them for territory? The fish? Although I'm pretty sure they're the reason the lake's out of bounds. But what about every year, at the start of the term? When the boats carry the first years to the castle? Do they tell the Merpeople to lay their hands off the students?" she yawned, too, "I'm tired, too. Let's come back tomorrow, maybe with more people. Darby? And let's play volleyball! I'm quite good at it, but as for tennis...well, I'm horrible. And we have to hit the library to research."
@Lydia Walsh
Playing three-way catch was pretty good, the giant squid had a lot of power to throw the various objects they threw at it, which was fun for the two girls, as they were much smaller. Maisie was just getting the knack of it--if she threw an apple just slightly over it's head, it wouldn't react fast enough; if she feined moving to the side, then at the last second swerved to the opposite side, it wouldn't catch it. But the giant squid must've gotten tired, or at least, beaten, for it soon sank back into the waters, with one last wave of it's tentacles.
"Yeah, we do need to find more people to join. Might be the merpeople, but they're vicious. Too vicious...they'd probably kill the students if they had the chance. But who's to fight with them for territory? The fish? Although I'm pretty sure they're the reason the lake's out of bounds. But what about every year, at the start of the term? When the boats carry the first years to the castle? Do they tell the Merpeople to lay their hands off the students?" she yawned, too, "I'm tired, too. Let's come back tomorrow, maybe with more people. Darby? And let's play volleyball! I'm quite good at it, but as for tennis...well, I'm horrible. And we have to hit the library to research."
@Lydia Walsh