Come and Chill With Me

With a laugh, Eloise nods. Pointing her wand once again at the pencil, she flicks her wand, slower this time, so that Elizabeth could see what she was doing. She recited the incantation. "Reparo!" The pencil pieces flew back together. "Do you think you have it, or would you like me to show you again?" Eloise breaks the pencil pieces in half again, placing them the same way they had sat before. Side by side, vertical, on top of the dock.

Eloise enjoyed teaching Elizabeth her spell. Hopefully they would get to learn many more spells together. She truly enjoyed the girl's company. She wished that they would have classes together. But they would both figure out whether or not that was true tomorrow, when they began going to classes. Eloise was beyond excited to begin learning new things, especially since they were things she had little to no prior knowledge about.

'Tomorrow I'm going to explore the grounds. After my classes, of course.' she thought to herself, watching as Elizabeth readied herself to try the spell once again. 'Maybe Elizabeth would like to join me...' She thought about asking the girl. She would, but only after she'd finished attempting the spell again. Eloise didn't want to distract her or deter her concentration.

"I-I think I've got it," Elizabeth said, frowning, her eyes focused on the broken pencil. She imagined it snapping back together several times. Elizabeth's heart raced even faster and it felt like little butterflies were fluttering madly in her stomach, desperate to get out. I've got to do this, she told herself. I have to prove I can do magic!

"Reparo," she said, following the wand movement Eloise had shown her. A spark with a bluish hue shot out from her wand and hit the pencil. With a small "click" it snapped together again. Elizabeth just stared at the pencil for a moment, and then a large grin grew on her face. "I DID IT!" she shouted. "I ACTUALLY DID IT!"

Without thinking, the girl threw her wand in the air. Her excitement turned to horror as the wand fell into the lake. "Oh, no," she exclaimed, immediately jumping in after it. She couldn't let it disappear! Her parents would kill her! Those things cost a lot of money.

Once in the water, she desperately reached down, hoping to grab the wand, but all she retrieved were clumps of seaweed. She tried again, this time almost in tears. Please! I have to find it. She tried again, this time submerging herself completely in the water. She opened her eyes, looking around the murky water. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a tiny glimmer of light, and quickly turned her head. There it was! Quickly, she reached over and grabbed it and came back up to the surface.

"I found it," she gasped when she broke the surface. She held it up, then lifted herself out of the water. "That was close," she muttered, wrapping her arms around her. It was suddenly very cold. She shivered as another small gust of wind blew.

Everything seemed to happen in a blur. First, the wand was flying through the air. She'd been excited that Elizabeth had been able to correctly cast the spell. But then her wand went flying, and then she was panicking. Eloise was shocked, rooted in place at Ellizabeth jumped into the water. "Elizabeth!" she yelled, searching for her friend. She would jump into the water if she had to, but for now she searched for her from the dock.

Seconds later, Elizabeth resurfaced, holding her wand. Eloise let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "You must be freezing!" Eloise helped her friend up onto the dock once again, taking off her robes and putting them around her friend. She had worn a jumper and leggings underneath her robes today, because she hadn't been sure of the weather. But now she was thankful that she had. Elizabeth could now begin to be slightly warmer and she was still fully clothed.

"You're crazy!" she exclaimed. Eloise could only imagine how freezing the water must have felt against her friend's skin. Elizabeth must be especially cold now that the sun was beginning to become absent. She saw Elizabeth shiver and immediately felt bad. She knew that there was a spell to bring things to the caster, but she hadn't learned it yet.

”Th-th-thank you,” Elizabeth said through chattering teeth. She wrapped the robes around her tightly, trying to prevent the wind from blowing at her damp clothes. It was still quite cold, but she was slightly less cold than she had been. And she had her wand, so that was good. She smiled gratefully at Eloise.

“S-s-so, d-do you th-th-think we could g-go back up to th-th-the castle?” she asked. She really could use a warm fire fire to warm up by.

Suddenly, Elizabeth was sad that Eloise wasn’t in Hufflepuff, nor she in Gryffindor. Elizabeth had really been enjoying herself as they were getting acquainted by the lake. It was a shame to have to cut that short on account of Elizabeth getting wet. And besides, Elizabeth hadn’t even asked her if she wanted to explore the castle. She had overheard some older boys talk about hiding something in some strange room that only appeared if it was needed. Of course, they might have just been Messing with her. They had been talking about something interesting, and had caught her looking over her book at them several, before finally asking her to go “scram.” They might have just been trying to trick her. Still, maybe Eloise would want to look for it, too. She turned her attention back to the Gryffindor.

“W-we co-co-could me-et up and d-do s-s-something after I-I get w-warm. If y-you w-want,” she added, not wanting to be too pressuring.

Eloise smiled and nodded. She'd been thinking the exact same thing. "That would be wonderful. Where would you like to meet up?" Eloise knew that people from other houses couldn't go into her common room, it was like that for all houses, so Elizabeth couldn't come and meet her there.

"Maybe we can meet outside the Great Hall?" There would be plenty of traffic going in and out of there. It was almost like a sort of rec room for students of all ages and houses. Although Eloise didn't plan to stay just inside of the Great Hall. She wanted to explore more of the castle. She'd barely done any of that upon arriving, and she was only growing more curious by the second.

The two began their stroll back towards the castle as they talked. The sun had almost completely disappeared at this point. 'No wonder she's so cold...' Eloise thought, trudging along next to her friend. She was slightly upset that most of her new acquaintances, and some she could even go as far as to call friends, were not from her own house. Only one was sorted into Gryffindor. But all of the students were sorted into their house for a reason, so she couldn't really complain.

"O-Okay. The g-great h-hall sounds g-g-good." The sun had nearly set now, and most of the birds she had heard earlier had stopped chirping. Instead, their sound was replaced with the sounds of other creatures. It made being outside a little more sinister, though Elizabeth couldn't help but feel a little intrigued. Perhaps she would come out here one night (when she was warmer) and check it out.

Elizabeth began walking up toward the castle. It's bright lights emitted a welcoming glow, and Elizabeth was looking forward to entering it. She was especially excited to be sitting by the fireplace in her common room. It was cozy there. She wondered what the Gryffindor common room was like. She filed the question away to ask Eloise later. Right now, her only objective was getting back inside the castle.

"I'll m-meet you in the g-great h-h-hall later to-tonight. P-perhaps by the f-fireplace," she said, as she began walking faster. "Then w-we can m-make p-p-plans about wh-where to go from th-there." Elizabeth decided to take her mind off the cold by sorting through the possibilities, but largely kept silent, and in no time, she had arrived at the doorway of the castle. Finally, she thought with relief, and pulled open the heavy doors. A warm blast hit her and she could hear clanks of silverware against plates and busy chatter as students ate in the great hall. A couple students eyed her curiously, but kept walking.

"I'll s-see you soon," Elizabeth waved at Eloise once more and then hurried down to the Hufflepuff house.
[exit RP]