Hogwarts Explorers Club-First Meeting! Club

"Yeah, I've been trying to get it to wake up, but no luck! How deeply can a squid sleep anyway? It has to get bored of lying around down there."

Elizabeth turned her head toward the boys at the sound of a giant squid. She thought back to when she met her friend Eloise by the lake. She knew she had seen something out there, even if it had dived below the water before she could get a closer look. She stood up and walked to the boys.

"So there is something down there," she said, half a question, half a statement. "I knew I had seen something. It had come out of the water for just a moment, and then it was gone. I thought for a moment that my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but..." She picked up a rock and thrust it out to the lake as far as she could throw it. She didn't know how to skip rocks, so that would have to do. She waited a moment, but nothing happened. "Perhaps he's shy?" she muttered, a hint of disappointment in her voice, and then she asked, "Do you guys think there's a way to get down there and meet him?"

Interacting with @Elizabeth Linscott @Isaac Ambrose and @Emile Yorke

After deciding she would take Elizabeth up on her suggestion to join the Explorers Club with her, the girl changed her mind, deciding there had to be better things to do. However, when nothing better came along, she groaned to herself and made her way towards the lake to meet up with everyone, hoping that it was going to be as wonderful as her friend insisted.

Coming over the hill, it didn't take long for her to spot the blonde girl by the edge of the lake. With as much poise and grace as she could mange, the Slytherin shuffled down the hill, letting herself glide here and there when she struck mud, not wanting to take a tumble. Upon making it down unscathed, she approached her friend, finding Isaac and another student she didn't know with the Hufflepuff.

"You do realize that if you cross that squid, it'll kill you faster then you can say "whoops", right?" she pipped up in her usual dry, sarcastic tone as she came in behind them. Icy eyes looked Elizabeth up and down, assessing the girl's condition, "For the love of everything decent, what the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to get it to wake up, but no luck! How deeply can a squid sleep anyway? It has to get bored of lying around down there." The other Gryffindor told him, scratching the back of his neck. "You're right. How does it lie down there without anything to do or seeing the light of day?" Emile pondered.

"Do squids even sleep? Do you think he's just mucking about down there?" He made a confused look on his face and scribbled something down in his notebook again. "I'll try and help." Emile picked up a rock, tried to skip it but failed miserably. Maybe it would still get the squid's attention though. 

Suddenly he heard another voice, this one the voice of a Hufflepuff, who seemed to have tripped earlier. She looked a bit disheveled, but Emile didn't really mind. She seemed sweet. "So there is something down there," she said, half a question, half a statement. "I knew I had seen something. It had come out of the water for just a moment, and then it was gone. I thought for a moment that my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but..." Emile looked up at her, surprised. 

"Wait, you've seen it before?" Emile took out his notebook and started to write down everything she said about it quickly. He could write a book about a giant squid perhaps! It could make for a good horror story. "That's amazing."

"Do you guys think there's a way to get down there and meet him?" She asked. Emile stared into the water of the Great Lake. 

"Well there's got to be some way. Otherwise how would anyone ever really know anything about the squid?" Emile said. He really wanted to see this squid now. He decided to make it a personal goal. 

Suddenly, Emile heard another voice and turned his head around to face it. This time it was a Slytherin, who looked like she didn't really have anything better to do than come to the meeting. "You do realize that if you cross that squid, it'll kill you faster then you can say "whoops", right?" She said sarcastically.

Emile nodded and looked like he was weighing options. "But if he doesn't kill us just imagine the story I could write with that experience! Imagine having that experience in the first place!" He said, almost dreamily. "That probably sounds stupid." Emile said, shaking his head. 

He noticed that he hadn't yet introduced himself to the other and stood up straight. "Oh right! I haven't told you guys who I am yet. I'm Emile Yorke. A first year Gryffindor, as you can see." He said, pointing to his tie. "Sorry for not introducing myself earlier." He told them. "What are your names?" 

"You do realize that if you cross that squid, it'll kill you faster then you can say "whoops", right?"

Elizabeth knew who it was before she even looked. "Illowy! You came!" she exclaimed, grinning at her friend. "I was hoping you'd show up -"

"For the love of everything decent, what the bloody hell happened to you?"

"Oh, this?" She had almost forgotten about her tumble down the hill. "It's no big deal. I just tripped on the way down the hill." She shrugged.

"But if he doesn't kill us just imagine the story I could write with that experience! Imagine having that experience in the first place! That probably sounds stupid."

Elizabeth's attention turned back to the squid, but she was imagining hanging on to one of its tentacles as it gave them a tour of the lake. "Yeah..." she said almost dreamily, herself, before realizing his last statement. "I mean no!" she quickly exclaimed, looking horrified. "I don't think that sounds stupid at all. I think it sounds awesome! I was just imagining getting a tour by him as he swam around the lake." Elizabeth hoped he would believe her. Here I go, opening my mouth at the wrong moment, she thought, vowing to listen more carefully, like she always did when this kind of thing happened. Of course, there was the possibility he didn't notice. She watched his expression carefully, trying to decide if she needed to say more.

Donny stood and watched another group of members rushed onto the grounds, seemingly excited for the tour ahead. He flashed another smile back at Issac, just after he'd taken his hand into a friendly shake. "Whelp, here comes some more..." Donny said to himself, looking at the Boy with blonde hair rush up to him. "Yup, that's me! But, you can call me Donny, er, Emile!" he replied to him. "It should be fun, as soon as we get everyone here on time!" he finished. Just then, another member came, her hair amidst her face, flowing in the wind as she hurried down the slope of land. She mentioned being there for the meeting. "Well, yes, erm, just get comfortable! I'm Donny, and we'll start as soon as everyone's here!" Donny repeated. He'd said this about a hundred times, but it was worth all the attention. 

A few more people arrived, and instead of talking to each individually, he decided to take his position atop the boulder again, and eavesdrop a little before he spoke. Everyone's worry seemed to be on the squid "John", and he was sure that they would be having a fun time today. "EVERYONE!" he yelled over the crowd, a moment of silence following his attempt. "Um, thanks for coming, all of you. We should be getting started in approximately FIVE Minuets, which should be enough time for our other members to arrive." he stated, his hands behind his back. He was trying to be brave, but there were so many people! 

"Oh...and the squid is nothing to worry about!" he added with a smirk.

We will start the tour by the 2ND of may for all of our newcomers. Sorry for the delay, but I want everyone to be included. Only those who are mentioned on the members section on page one shall be posting! On The 30TH of May we shall start the second meeting, meaning we have one at least every month. 

So, the Slytherin's name was Illowy. He scribbled something down, probably about how he perceived her personality to be. He also wrote down the surroundings of where he was, realizing he hadn't done that yet. He then put his notebook into a pocket and turned up to the group he was talking to once again. 

"Yeah..." Said the Hufflepuff, and Emile looked over to her and smiled brightly. It seemed that she also appreciated a good story, and that was definitely how Emile felt too. After he finished talking she quickly said, "I mean no!" She looked a bit worried.  "I don't think that sounds stupid at all. I think it sounds awesome! I was just imagining getting a tour by him as he swam around the lake." She said. Emile laughed a bit and nodded. 

"I definitely agree getting a tour of the lake by a giant squid would be amazing, to say the least. And maybe he could even talk! Thanks for not thinking it's stupid." Said Emile with a thumbs up to her. He quite liked this girl's personality. "What's your name?" He asked the Hufflepuff. 

Suddenly, the leader of the club started to talk, and Emile immediately got excited. "Um, thanks for coming, all of you. We should be getting started in approximately FIVE minutes, which should be enough time for our other members to arrive." Donnovan said. Emile smiled brightly at all the group members. He was so happy he would be able to go on the lake, and maybe even make some new friends while doing so. He was hoping he could get some good material for his book, or learn some more about nature and the animals in the lake and around it. Five minutes until then!

"Oh...and the squid is nothing to worry about!" Donnovan also added at the end of his statement. This made Emile want to see the squid even more, and he picked up a couple of rocks and threw all of them into the lake. 

"Well, now that we know it's safe, we've got to see the squid!" Emile exclaimed to everyone. 

Once again, Finn had gotten lost.

"Bugger," He muttered under his breath, whizzing by student in the halls in an effort to make it at least semi on-time for his first club meeting. This was precisely why he'd joined the club in the first place. Continuously finding yourself turned around made for basic tasks quite difficult, and Finn was beginning to have enough of it. He had trouble even peeing without ending up in some sort of forbidden area he wasn't supposed to have found.

Spotting the club leader on top of a boulder, he bounded a bit faster and came to a skidding halt beside the rock. "Finn Valois, present!" He cried excitedly, breath coming out in angry, heavy bursts. After a brief moment of pause, he looked around at the others. "Um, did someone say something about a squid...?" Had he read about that in the history books he checked out? He tried to rack his brain, but he had been devouring so much history lately it was getting hard to keep track. He was pretty sure he'd read about something in the lake. 

Nevertheless, he couldn't deny how excited he felt to begin. Scanning over the crowd once more, he thought that perhaps he had one or two friends waiting to be made. He could not help but smile.

"Yeah, thanks! That would be wonderful! We will need another boat as well, I chose some of the larger ones! Could you help me drag that one over to the docs? Oh, and I'm a lefty too!"

Arc smiled at Donny’s remark and moved to the boat he had pointed. He didn’t like physical labor, but Donny had his hands way too full with the other members. How could he have said no? The dark-haired boy finally reached the boat near the tree and gawked at it.

“How in the name that is holy should I drag this to the dock?!” Arc said to himself.

Ugh. Maybe they wouldn’t need another boat. Maybe one boat would be enough to bring all of them through the lake. He looked to the gathering near the docks and it had grown twice as large a crowd as when he first set off. He hadn’t walked for that long, had he? Where did all that people come from?! Arc then looked back to the large boat. And he looked back to the HEC members. It had now grown thrice as large. Oh, for fudge sake!

Arc considered using the levitation spell, but he chose not to do so as the boat was probably too big for his level of mastery and he might need to conserve his magic for whatever that came in their first “meeting”. Reluctantly, he put the boat over his head and dragged it to the dock where everybody was already waiting. He had to stop a couple times to take a breather, but he made it in the end. God, he was so not doing that again. So much for being a good friend.

The scrawny kid arrived just in time to see a girl with dark-brown hair saying a very reasonable thing sarcastically to trio of students that were throwing stones to the lake, trying to stir John.

"You do realize that if you cross that squid, it'll kill you faster than you can say "whoops", right?"

Arc couldn’t agree more, but then they answered and…defended themselves?! Donny’s remark didn’t help as well and only sparked their curiosity even more. Oh, ignorance was indeed bliss. They knew what they said about cats and curiosity, right?

“I agree…one-thousand percent…with the young miss…here,” he tried to say with bated breath before dropping the boat at the edge of the lake, not forgetting to take rope and binding it to the post. “It is...really unwise to disturb...the Giant Squid even as nice as...he is. Would you...wake your nice Auror neighbour...from his deep sleep just for the...fun of it? Just for your amusement?”

Interacting with nobody in particular; open to interactions!

Once people started arriving, Ruka found himself sliding a bit more into the background. After some chitchat with Donny, his friend needed to focus more on keeping all the new arrivals in check.
It became more and more obvious to him, that he wasn't the most social butterfly around. He recognised faces, for sure, he saw Jade joining the group, a boy he'd seen in passing before, a couple of girls he thought he'd crossed in a corridor here or there, but nobody who immediately came his way to strike up a conversation.
Even if someone knew him, they knew someone else better, so steered their way first.
Ruka ended up sitting down by the boulder he and Donny had been at when they had gotten their detention, and he let his gaze drift across the growing crowd.
They were so close to starting their little excursion, and Ruka really couldn't wait; maybe he would feel less out of place once they properly started the meeting. He hadn't really thought of the fact that his only real friend would be busy leading the group when he first joined, but it was alright.
He was proudly watching Donny directing the group anyway. With a little sigh he took off his shoes and let his legs dangle over the water, his toes just about skimming the cold surface as he waited for the left over members to get here, so they could finally get into the boats and onto the lake.

@Illowy Magnard @Emile Yorke @Elizabeth Linscott

Auror? Isaac thought upon hearing Arc's words. He had absolutely no clue what an Auror was, but if it was like a giant squid and could be your neighbor, he figured that they had to be both a little dangerous and a little exciting to be around.

Gazing about, he suddenly realized that he had more company. Ilowy had appeared, most likely to stay with Elizabeth, imparting some sarcastic words of advice not to wake up the squid.

You realize if you cross that squid, it'll kill you faster than you can say 'whoops' right?

"Yeah, well, we won't cross it," Isaac said, already making another plan in his head. "We don't have to make noise or hit it with rocks if we can get down there." They were magical wizards. What couldn't magic do? He was sure that there had to be a charm to allow people to breathe underwater. There might've even been an underwater kingdom beneath the lake, lying undiscovered. Besides, if they got injured, it wasn't as if they didn't have an Infirmary in the school.

He pondered more deeply, chucking another rock into the water. All of them were first-years, so they probably didn't know how to do very advanced charms or transfiguration, but there could be another way. Glancing at the water, he was half-tempted to just jump in, swim to the bottom and see what was there. But there were rules..

Turning to Emile, he asked, "Do you have anything useful in your journal about underwater stuff?"