[Lake] The Scale of Men (Prue)

[Dante Nikolas]

Friday rolled around, a day he both loved and hated. He loved it because the weekend was about to start, but he hated it because he had double Potions with Vaid last thing in the afternoon. Dante and Will never really saw eye to eye due to Dante's behavior, Will didnt exactly like the young Ravenclaw, though which teacher would like him if Dante told them he had burned his homework in favour of better things to do? Rose had told him that and now he had detention tomorrow with Vaid instead of being able to go out into Hogsmeadeand before Will could remind Dante about tomorrow, he had already fled, leaving Alice and Rose behind and just running through the corridors, dodging the other years, raising his hand to a few but his feet didnt stop moving, even though now he was far enough away from the dungeons. Balling forward, his hands on his knees, the Ravenclaw tried to catch his breath which kept catching in his throat. When he could he usually avoided running, but his want to get away from the Potions Master made his legs run, even if his mind was telling him to stop.

Finally, when he was able to, Dante stood up straight and began to walk around outside. Despite his fear of all things that fly, he figured he may as well enjoy the outdoors today since he was going to be knee deep in potion muck tomorrow. Ducking through people's flailing arms and people trying to pull Dante into a hug, he finally made it past the mass of crowd standing just outside the doors and onto the lawns. Everybody now was more spread out, lay on the grass and enjoying the rest of their Friday afternoon, Dante on the other hand didnt feel like just lazing around. He wanted to do something, preferabbly that involved no birds or riderless broomsticks however, but that was just him. You couldnt help what you feared could you?

Well, maybe relax for a little while would be okay.

He headed down towards the Lake, a favoured spot of his. But unfortunatly it was not void of people. With a sigh, Dante made his way down the lake side and nearer the Forest, which was not a favourite place of his. Hey, if he was known for his bravery he would be a Gryffindor. He knew of a secluded spot further up the lake, but the problem was you had to cut through the forest to get there. His elder brother Sam had shown Dante this spot when Dante was a little first year and Sam was a grown seventh year. He had only ever been there a couple of times during his education and as far as he knew, nobody else knew about it but he could be wrong. Clinching hold of his bag strap tighter, he took a deep breath and wandered into the trees of the forest.

The air inside the forest was thick, musty and damp. Dante didnt like it very much so he picked up his pace, not really minding when some of the tree branches decided to take swings at him. With the pace he was holding, it didnt take long before Dante was out of the forest and onto the Lake bank again. In his secluded spot. The mountain area surrounding the lake blocked the view from the mainland so the students wouldnt see him there. Placing his bag down, he walked to the edge of the lake and peered into the water. Holding his fringe out of his eyes as he did so, he couldnt see anything down in the murky depths so he stood upright again and shrugged off his robe and shirt, replacing his school shirt with a t-shirt and his jacket.

As he walked back to sit on the ground, something caught his eye from the lake. For a split second he could swear he saw a tentacle, but he couldnt be sure. Standing back up, he walked to the bank and strained his eyes to try and see whatever it was he had saw, but whatever it was, he was either imagining it or it had gone. Shame, this could have turned out interesting for him. In all his years here, he had never seen the supposed giant squid that lived in here.

crack

Dante spun around to see the source of the noise, though as he did his foot slipped on some of the moss, "Whoa--" He half cried as he felt himself falling backwards. He knew he was going to fall right into the lake but he was going in slow motion, or so it seemed to him. His body collided with the surface and he heard the splash before he felt the water, once he felt it the wind was knocked out of him and he submerged under the water. After a couple of seconds, Dante's head popped back up, spluttering and flailing his arms. Running a hand over his hair to remove the waterlogged fringe from his eyes he looked to the bank and saw none ofther than one of the Russo sisters, the blonde one. Prue. Was it her who made the cracking sound which had made Dante jump? He couldnt be sure if he was honest. "Are you trying to give a man a heart attack?" He asked as he scrambled for the bank and pulled himself out of the dirty water, spluttering more water onto the floor as he did, "Because if you are, congratulations you're well on your way to success." Coughing a bit more, he was on his hands and knees, looking at the ground and now, not only soaking, but his hands and knees were a bit muddy. Well, this rated a minus ten on the manliness scale now didnt it?

[Prudence Russo]

<sub>If essays could write themselves, Prue would have many hours of her life back. Because with every essay assignment, and apparently those were the favorite assignments of the professors, there was a period of wasted time where she sat there just staring at the blank parchment with no idea of what she planned to write about. Not to mention that she had a serious case of attention deficit disorder which made any place with people a no-no for writing.

So here she was, the parchment with only 'Prue Russo' written on it rather one sentence about why you shouldn't go near Kelpies if you want to live shoved rudely into her bag and her eyes fixed on the lake that was far ahead of her. "Maybe if I take just a couple minutes out here.. no wait, I'll write by the lake.. yeah, that should work." Was the internal debate behind the decision made while her eyes skimmed over the trees for one that she could easily scale and yet still have a good view of the waters. There was no possibility of her getting anything done there, but that's where she headed anyway. The paper was only due the next day, she'd cram in some time in the common room later. Her direct course was interrupted by a group barely intelligent 'fellow Gryffindors', who found it quite funny to purposely stuck their foot out to trip her.

Prue just managed to keep her balance after a bout of hystarical squealing and arm flailing, much to the guys amusement who she guessed to be none other than seventh years, with Caleb mixed in the bunch. In fact, he was the one who had tripped her.

"Caleb! What was that for!?" She shouted, only to be met with a bored look.

"Aren't you supposed to be, oh, I don't know, doing something productive?" He said with a raised brow and a small gesture towards her bag. Drat, surely Addy must have mentioned how she wasn't doing too hot in some of her classes. But it was obviously the teachers fault, they took off points for spelling errors and other minute details.

"Um, um, uhmm..." She stuttered, trying to stall. "Nope, don't think so!" She said finally, without a better excuse, before taking off in a run before he could give her any of his supposedly wise advice. But she didn't get away before she heard a light sigh and mutterings that sounded oddly like 'there's something wrong with that one'. Silly brother, he definitely needed to loosen up around them like he does with his drunkard friends.

Maybe it was possible for Prue to actually make it to the lakeside and start out on some of her work, only to be distracted a few minutes later, but it seemed that fate wasn't going to allow that today. Because as soon as she was about to toss her much-abused bag onto the muddy bank, she happened to notice someone sneaking off into the forest. 'Honestly, some kids think they're so coo--woah, wait a second, that's Dante. What the hell is he up to?' She mused, watching his back disappear into the dark woods. This was too good to pass up, she could so easily sneak up behind him and imitate bird calls.

But no! She had work to do and that was.. mean, yes, sure, that was mean. But awfully tempting. Too much so as she slung her bag up into the nearest tree for her to find later and took off after him. Stealthily weaving through the branches, making a big effort to not tromp through it like a troll and wake up every creature around, her progress went by slow and he quickly disappeared from her view. 'Uh-oh.. where'd he go?' Just as she took a step forward to try and see around a large trunk, one of the branches behind her gave in to the pressure and swung forward, slapping her across the back. Expecting it to be a person, specifically a murderer hiding in the forest, she shot forward in freight, snapping a few branches with loud cracks until she reached the clearing only to see Dante disappear into the water.

"What the..?" She said, clearly confused as normal people didn't jump in back-first when they planned on swimming. Prue hastily brushed a few stray leaves off of her person, glancing between the forest and Dante as he dragged himself out of the water like a drowned rat. Well, at least the kelpies hadn't dragged him in, if there were even any in the lake. As soon as she was detected, she felt quite awkward and just stood there quietly for once, feeling like her arms were hanging there uselessly without the usual arm flailing and tracing circles in the dirt as he yelled some nonsense at her about trying to scare him. Yes, she was planning that, but she hadn't gotten to do it yet. What was his problem? Sighing a bit as he continued to cough and splutter pathetically, she regained her social skills and moved over to where he was. Kneeling in the mud, she smacked him on the back, perhaps a bit too roughly as revenge for the heart attack comment. She wasn't that heartless. "But I'm not successful yet, you better watch your back." She teased, remembering that she better not let that comment go down unchallenged.

"Don't drown on me, mister," She said, sticking her tongue out a little bit only to realize a few seconds later that 'drown' wasn't the right word. Oh well, he knew what she meant.. probably. Feeling moisture on her knees, she looked down to have it click in her head that she was sitting in the mud. "Oh.. gross." She grumbled, pulling her knee out with a nasty muck sound. Was this a literal version of being knee-deep in mud?</sub>

[Dante Nikolas]

Well Dante supposedly didnt have a bad enough day. Not only was he in Care of the Magical Creatures for the first two lessons studying some form of Magical Bird, which of course, made him cringe and he had the worse case of shakes anyone had seen because of it. Not to mention when it was his turn to look at it, he whimpered like a little girl, tried not to get too close to it, but for some reason, probably his bad luck, the bird took a liking to him and flew at him. This of course was not a good thing, Dante screamed, threw his books in the air and was running around the classroom, bird in toe until it eventually cornered him and landed on his shoulder. The poor boy almost hyperventilated. His last two lessons, Potions. Nightmare. Will Vaid loved torturing Dante with anything he could, his latest project was trying to make a potion which would help them understand birds. Dante didnt want to understand them, he wanted to stay away from them.

Yes, that was mean. It was harsh to even think it but people often did. Thanks to this year and working a lot with birds, his secret fear was nowhere near so secret now. Rosalie and Alice had a lot of fun torturing him with it too, He couldnt help what he was afraid of, it just so happens thanks to a childhood trauma, he really didnt like flying things. Anything with wings should be made illegal in his mind. If he was an Animagi, it would really be just his luck to be a bird. Imagine that, being scared of a bird and being a bird animagi. No, Dante didnt even want to think about it. He refused to think of what it would be like to be a bird. Of course, when Dante heard the snapping he was pulled from his thoughts, another crack nearer sent him jumping, he was jumpy today, more so than usual and he expected a hippogriff or something with wings, which was why he lost his footing and fell backwards into the water.

"I didnt plan this." He said as he heard her speak, his head bobbing over the water before he climbed onto the bank, spluttering and murmering something about having a bad day and how he would have been safer staying in bed. His hair clung to his head, his clothes were drenched and he smelled like the lake now. He had swam in the lake before, but usually he was more prepared for the cold plunge, this time he was not. He looked up at Prue, expecting her to say something or to see her animatidly acting out what she had just saw. But no, she stood there looking awkward, and now Dante felt awkward. He was used to Prue's arm flailings and nonsense ramblings, the silence was weird. Usually one of them was speaking. Somebody needed to break the silence because this was far too awkward for him to take. However, he started to cough again and he closed his eyes, his chest was burning now and his eyes stung. Feeling a sharp clap on the back, he coughed once more and he seemed to be fine, muttering a rather throaty thankyou, he straightened up. "Consider my back watched." He commented back as he tried to regain control over his breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Remembering how to breathe after a traumatic day was difficult.

"Dont worry," He smiled as he stood up, mud covering his knees and his hands. He swilled his hands in the lake and turned back to look at her, "I think all danger of me drowning has passed now." The mud wasnt that thick and it was only wet because of Dante being in the lake then scrambling out. Laughing at her she was a typical female, bothered by a bit of mud. "Its only mud, it will wash off." He spoke as he turned back to the lake. Now he was wet it didnt really matter if he fell in again, of course it hadnt been his intention but it happened, today. Bad day. Nothing went right for him and he decided to unload.

"I got chased by a bird in Care of the Magical Creatures, like literally chased. All around the classroom, I was yelling for someone to stop it but nobody did then it cornered me then it landed on me I thought I was going to die it was horrible, Then Vaid decides lets try a potion which makes us understand birds, I dont like birds I dont care what they're saying I dont want to know birds should stay far away from me never come near me I dont like them they scare me and and and... and ive had a day full of them and im a little freaked out because of it and now im soaked because I fell in the lake and I shouldnt have gotten out of bed this morning I really shouldnt have. Its been a ba----d day. Like.... Really. Really. Really. Bad." He put a hand on his chest and began to breathe again before looking back to Prue. "I feel better now. I've vented. And now I'm fine." He made a sound which sounded like 'phew' before flashing the Gryffindor a wide grin.

(Sorry Chellie... It pooped)

[Prudence Russo]

<sub>Luckily, besides getting an obscene and unreasonable amount of homework, Prue's day had been pretty good so far. She'd avoided her brother all day and managed to stay out of the common room much more than usual and he hadn't beaten her up yet. Good thing too, since apparently Drea taught him a new take down that involved sitting on his victim, as she's already figured out multiple times. Prue never learned never to mess with Caleb, since it was just too amusing.

But now she was stuck in a rather awkward situation, one that actually involved her not being the clumsy person but the other role. It was odd and foreign and for a bit Prue's mind worked slowly for a comment that usually came out as nonsense, but easy nonsense none the less. Smiling as he seemed to get a bit better, well, except for the slight hyperventilating, Prue giggled a bit before tilting her head to the side and raising a brow before breaking out into a sheepish grin. "Yeah, well... yeah! You better watch it because I'm just that evil and you know that I'll get you eventually." Yes, she said stuff like that. Much more than the average person, but then again, the more stupid things you say, the less people remember them.

As he laughed at her overreacting, she just gasped and shook her head. "No way, man, it's not just going to disappear." She said, throwing her hands in the air at the mere blasphemy of it and completely forgetting cleaning spells for the moment. With a jerk of her thumb towards her back, she lifted her leg and pointed at the stain that would currently be the root of all evil in her life. "First it'll dry up and turn into brown, crusty nastiness that I'll have to walk around with on my legs because I can't go back to the common room without getting beat up by Caleb." Which she definitely deserved, but she was still going to avoid at all costs. "And I'll just be roaming the grounds all like 'Dirt pants, yay.' And people will be like 'Oh, you're cool, not.'" Of course, the recount of her grim-ey future was recounted with a couple different voices and the rapid changing of expression as well as her typical arm movements in a large v-motion.

Though she stopped in usual movement to listen to his sudden ranting, and couldn't help but laugh at bits. His fear of birds was a bit irrational, though she knew from personal experience that there was probably a reasonable reason behind it. Maybe he got chased by a pack of wild geese as a little boy.. oh, that would be so amusing. "Feel better now, or do you need to cry it out too?" She said sarcastically, though it was hard to tell as her expression didn't change from the same smile it had before. "And see, that's why I don't take Care of Magical Creatures. There's a whole lot of danger and nonsense in that class that would probably be just too intense for me." And most anything canine-related made her cringe and the prospect of writing a paper on werewolves would probably kill her.

"And, if it makes you feel any better, I, I mean, Caleb totally got owned last night. Someone, might have left something on his on his pillow that might've turned his hair green." She said, not really noticing that halfway through it turned into a hypothetical situation as if Dante wouldn't be able to figure out that she was the one to do it.

[It... pooped, dan? Lols, that's awkward.. like my random post.]</sub>

[/sub]

[Dante Nikolas]

Well obviously a blast ended skrewts day would have been better than Dante's, even if the end of the skrewt was indeed blasted off in a most vulgar and rather painful (or so Dante would imagine) way. It seemed this day was going to be a day for him that would only get worse and not better, he could not wait to be in his bed, to sleep, and be taken into the land of dreams free of any flying beast and forget all about this day. Tomorrow, he would pretend this day had never happened at all. That would be his plan, and he would make damn sure it worked. Even if that meant hunting Alice down and letting her decide what to dress him up as, hell, he would probably let her dress him as a fairy princess if it meant avoiding a day like today.

He was usually more careful than this, true. Dante was not an over-careful person, he never usually had to be but because of the day he had had, you could hardly blame him for being careful. Well, in this case being a total bag of nerves and losing all of his common grace, not that he had any, and his sense of balance and basically becoming a bit of a mess. Both in the mental and physical area. "Believe me Prue," He began, "I do not doubt that for a second, but can I please ask you to leave it for like... Next week or something? I dont think my mind or body could handle any more today. I think I'm close to having a nervous breakdown or something which by the way, is not a plesant feeling." Wasnt it the other way around? Its the stupid things you say which are remembered because they're the funniest?

Dante managed a smile, he was soaked through to the bone and it was a wonder he was not shivering. He found Prue's antics quite funny, she was someone who amused him a lot, but right now he was still too shaken about the day he doubted he would find a Slytherin being stuck in a hole amusing. "I never said it would dissapear," His attempt at a smile failed and instead looked like a grimace, "I meant it would wash off. Or, if you knew any vanity spells you girls normally know I'm sure you could just... poof it off." He watched her now as she began to rant at him, the sides of his mouth flicking upwards into a smirk at the mention or tormentious brothers. "What did you do to Caleb this time?" This was something that would never fail to amuse him, he found Prue and Caleb's relationship quite funny to behold. He just never understood brother/sister relations much since he didnt have a sister himself only brothers. "Well a plan then," He spoke, "We'll hang out here until way after nightfall, and only go back when we know everyone else is fast asleep."

There was a logical explanation to why he was so afraid of birds and other such things. But he wouldnt tell anybody the reason behind it, Rose and Alice knew but they had found out purely by chance and he had made them swear they would never tell anybody. Seriously, if he could he would make them both take an unbreakable vow to make sure they never told anyone, but he couldnt make his friends do that so he had to trust them. His rant was over as soon as it began more or less, and soon found himself breathing at a rapid pace, holding a finger up as his hand was on his knee, bent over he caught his breath again. "I feel much better." His brows furrowed at the mention of the word cry, he hadnt cried since he was six. "No, I dont need to cry. Im not a baby you know." He listened to her as she spoke again and pff'ed at it. He wouldnt have taken Care of the Magical Creatures if he could avoid it, but his mother insisted on it to try to get him over his abnormal fear, it only increased it. "Sorry, I'd take a... room full of Hippogriffs and insult them all before I would like a bird near me." This was half true. Though he wouldnt go that far, as far as he knew he didnt have a death wish anyway.

"Ah, I see." Came Dantes voice, slightly sounding better and with a bit of his usual enthusiasm in it. "So you mean, you owned your brother last night and put something on his pillow turning his hair green, which is the reason he is going to be waiting for you in the common room tonight?" It wasnt really a question, more of a statement, "Well that certainly clears a few of my previous questions up."