[Lake] The Submariner

[Loren Hayes]

June was upon Hogwarts, and so far it was the hottest day of the year. Students had abandoned their common rooms and the toasty Great Hall to spread among the grounds, soaking up the good weather on the grassy lawns and under the shade of the larger oaks. Exams were only days away, but as of yet no one had had the energy to begin revising. The most anyone had done was to borrow books from the library simply to fan themselves with.

Loren had slipped a t-shirt and a pair of shorts over the top of her bathing suit, and she was now marching down toward the lake shore where the grounds keeper kept tied a few boats to a wooden stump. The boats were, of course, off limits to students - but it had come to Loren's attention that all of the teachers were in the staffroom for an emergency meeting, and so the Ravenclaw had taken the opportunity to gather some much needed aquatic potions ingredients that were usually not given to students without a good reason.

Dumping her home-made net bag and pen knife into the bottom of the boat, Loren had only just climbed in when someone spoke...

[jimmy]

The weather was disagreeably warm for Jimmy as he slaved away revising underneath the hot ryas of the sizzling sun. He wrote feverishly on a piece of parchment propped up against his knee. He had been underneath the boughs of a great weeping willow beside the lake, since the break of dawn seeking solitude from the raucous cries of the students who stubbornly refused to knuckle down to their revision for the fast approaching exams. Whereas Jimmy was working hard day and night were set aside to revise thoroughly for his exams. He hoped these would go as well as the past years, with high grades in all subjects, except for flying as he refused to even mount a broom most lessons.
Fellow students wandered around apparently aimlessly, he had the effective will to ignore even the loudest of noises erupting from them, not always human like either.
Stopping a moment to allow his hadn to rest and recuperate, Jimmy gently unscrewed the cap of his water-bottle, and took a quick but long gulp of the refreshing liquid. Feeling ready once more for work he was disturbed by a young lady passing quickly by; heading for the quay, as Jimmy had named it, of all places, she then proceeded to board the rickety vessel and seemed determined to set off; out into the vast lake. Remembering these boats were strictly forbidden to all students Jimmy anxiously stood not wanting the young lady to recieve a severe reproach from the professors. Wondering why he hadn't seen a single professor for some time, he quickly gathered together his few personal effects, his plastic water bottle, parchment and quills which he placed gingerly into his bag, he rose swiftly then walked down to the lakeside.

Jimmy raised his voice in an authratitive tone and declared
"those are strictly off limits to students," not wanting to make to bad an impression he continued a slightly mischeveous side coming through
"Unless you've a pass, signed by a professor of course." He disliked rule-breakers with a passion little did he know he might soon become one if he didn't take control of the situation.

[Loren Hayes]

Loren peered over her shoulder at the pale Gryffindor boy. She looked him up and down for a moment before standing upright in the boat. 'And what are you? A prefect?' She asked a little sardonically. 'I know they're off limits. I'm a Ravenclaw for Merlin's sake - I'm not stupid.' Loren knew she was being a little defensive, but as of late she had had very little patience for do-gooders.

The boy was carrying the usual pre-exam gear, and also something else: a water bottle. She frowned in annoyance, realising she had forgotten to bring along any of her own clean water. As fresh as the lake was, she did not fancy drinking it over some genuinely clean water. 'Can I... have that?' She asked unsubtly, pointing at the water bottle in his hand. 'I think dehydration is a lot worse than detention to be honest.'

[Dax Simmons]

Dax was bored. In fact bored did not sum up how bored he was. He had reached the point were there was no grass left ob his right foot, every ant that crawled past was squashed under his foot and even the sight of a groups of female Gryffindor 7th years could not make him smile. As he thought about how much he needed to do something he noticed Loren pass by with an interesting combination of stuff.

Standing up he followed her as she went closer to the lake and watched as she climbed into one of the boats. However a Gryffindor got in his way and started acting all pompous. It was a Gryffindor Dax knew all to well. Tapping him on the shoulder to move out of the way Dax walked past and smiled at Loren.
“Good afternoon my dear.” He gave Loren a wink remembering the first time they had met. Jumping into the boat Dax took hold of her hand and kissed it lightly before spinning around to look at Jimmy with a small chuckle.

“My Lady asked for water. And water is what she will be given.” Dax reached forward and took hold of the bottle and pulled it out of the grasp of Jimmy. “I will pay you back and I will even return the bottle.”

[Loren Hayes]

Loren grinned shamelessly as Dax waltzed onto the scene, swifting disarming the Gryffindor of his water bottle and handing it to Loren with an apologetic but slightly cheeky expression. 'Hello, Dax,' She smiled as she unscrewed the bottle. 'It's nice to see you again at last... haven't spoken to you in ages!' She took a swig of the water. It was slightly warm and tasted strongly of chlorine, but decided it would be better than the lake.

The boat had drifted away from the shore a bit with her weight, and she sat down, taking hold of the ores. 'While everyones occupied I'm going to go on a scavenger hunt... are you two just going to stand there or are you going to help me?' She asked with a raised eyebrow and half-smile.

[Dax Simmons]

As Loren talked about going on an adventure Dax could not help but let of a cheer of excitement.

"You can count me in sweetheart." With a laugh Dax pushed themselves away from the barge and waved at Jimmy. "See you soon, if you care to join us there are more boats!"

Dax sat down in the boat and slipped off his shoes and leaned back looking out over the lake.
"So what are you...I mean we looking for?"

[jimmy]

Jimmy had been about to comply rather reluctantly with the young ladu's wishes of the water bottle, though he deeply disliked the idea of going out onto the lake, he couldn't help but acquiese to her request, being a gentleman of the highest order. He had pointedly refuesed to listen to her former comments about those who obeyed rules to the letter and surmised that he must only have encountered her on a bad day, though she should remember he thought, that first impressions make the largest impressions, and count for a lot.
But then the uncouth youth had arrived on the scene bustling to and fro acting like he was making advances upon the lady, much as he had been about to do, well in the case of the formal register he always used. Perhaps he thought the boy was making fun of him at his own expense.
At each turn when he had been about to speak the rude boy had jumped in first, almost grinding his teeth in frustration he only managed a word in edgeways after the boat had begun to float away.
Not bothering to even waste words on the pair of miscreants he sat down with a sigh, rather disappointed in fact that he wasn't joining them. Also he didn't fancy his chances rowing such a flimsy looking vessel.
"Toodles" he mearly called and walked away feeling particularly annoyed. He resumed his seat now fuming inwardly and plotting his revenge. Within moments he had the answer, it was almost foolproof, he allowed a small smile, almost a smirk, at the evil plan he had in mind. Whispering the words of a spell to destroy making a tiny hole in the very vessel that the two had set sail in. The boat would likely fill with water by the time were some distance from the shore and safety. That would teach that uncouth lad, though he felt a little remorse for the young lady.

[Loren Hayes]

(( Oh, that's clever... good plot point, yay! ))

Loren giggled, amused, as the two of them pushed away from the shore, quickly sitting down in the boat so as not to capsize it. For a moment she was blinded by the sparkles glaring off the surface in the middle of the lake, but quickly looked back toward the shore at the rather disgruntled Gryffindor. 'Goodbye!' She called, although slightly mockingly. She did appreciate that he had not gone to fetch a teacher to reprimand them, but she still did not like his attitude.

Turning to Dax she gestured toward his wand tucked in his belt. 'Do you know how to do a bubblehead charm? I need gillyweed and you have to dive for that...' She tossed her net toward him. 'We'll put it all in this.' Loren shifted now so that she was sat on one side of the boat, Dax on the other. Two rusted ores rested in the bottom, and the Ravenclaw scooped one up, indicating for Dax to do the same.

[Dax Simmons]

Dax smiled at Loren and nodded at the mention of the bubblehead charm.
“Yeah I know it luckily….but looking for gillyweed.” His voice trailed off as he picked up the other ore at the bottom of the boat. As he hocked it up and started to row he looked at Loren. His eyes brows were raised high up into his forehead and his nose was wrinkled up.

“Why do you need that? And where in this fast space of water I’m I going to find it?”

As Dax pulled on the ores he felt a sensation in his feet. Looking down he noticed a hole in the bottom of the boat with water bubbling through it.

"Oh no...that was not there before."

[Loren Hayes]

'Hmmm?' Loren stated absent mindedly as she faffed about pulling her hair into a ponytail, only half paying attention to what Dax was saying. Her interest was perked however when she felt something chilly and wet begin to lap out her toes. She looked down, startled, to see a small hole the size of a knut cut cleanly in the belly of the boat. 'I swear it wasn't leaking when I pushed it out!' She groaned defensively, quickly leaping up and scanning the floor frantically. There wasn't a single thing that could plug the leak.

The water was coming in much faster now and was getting deeper by the second, as if the hole was growing - and to Loren's horror it was. Through the water she could see it slowly and steadily expanding, and she realised it must have been cast there by magic. With furious eyes she glared toward the shore where the Gryffindor sat. He was merely a dot in the distance by now, but the satisfied little smirk on his face revealed all.

In mind to cast Finite Incantatem, Loren fumbled for her wand. Suddenly the boat began to tilt on one side with their disproportioned weight and the added water. This caused Loren to throw one arm out to steady herself: sending her wand spinning out of her hand and land in the lake with a gentle splash.

'No!' She cried, taking a deep breath and diving head first into the dark blue loch.

[Dax Simmons]

As the boat slowly began to fill with more water Dax looked at the bottom of the boat with a panic struck face. Feeling like he needed to do something eh got down on his knees and tried to cover the hole with his hands. It was not working and the boat was tipping sideways. Getting ready to brace himself for the capsize he heard Loren groan and then there was a load splash.

The boat rocked for side to side and took on more water. Pulling off his shirt Dax wrapped everything he could fit into it and tied it up into a little bundle. By the time he had done all of this the boat was sinking as water reached up to his chest. Dax stood up in the water filled boat and looked around for Loren. His heart was beating fast as he saw no sign.

Pulling his wand out of his pocket and holding tight to the bundle of goods he dived into the lake swimming lower and lower. With a flick of the wand he cast the bubblehead charm and swam lower looking for Loren.

[Loren Hayes]

Loren swam down deeper and deeper, her arms and legs flailing achingly to fight the water's thrust and to keep up with her wand. No matter how fast she tried to swim, it was always just a foot or two out of her reach, gently tumbling in slow motion as it descended into the eerie depths. Although the weather was warm, the sudden coldness of the water hitting her skin had been a paralysing shock. In her haste Loren had only managed to swallow a small amount of air before submerging, and as her arms desperately swiped just out of reach of her wand, her lungs began to feel crushed and tight...

Pinching her nostrils together with her fingers to fight the desperate need to breathe in, Loren turned back toward the surface and kicked furiously, her chest heaving the terrible constricted pain of her lungs. She broke the surface suddenly, choking and gasping with such effort she threatened to sink all over again. 'Dax!' She gargled, seeing that he andthe boat had vanished completely into the lake. 'My wand! I've lost it!' She sobbed forlornly to no one in particular.

[Dax Simmons]

As Dax swam deeper the cold air hit him in the face causing him to squinted in pain. He suddenly regret taking his shirt off, as he continued to look for Loren. Suddenly out the corner of his eyes he could see something shoot up towards the surface. Twisting around in the water he saw a blurred silhouette of Loren heading up. He felt relived that she was safe and that no harm had come to her and a smile crept across his face. Dax thought he best follow her just to make sure she was ok.

As he swam upward he could feel the weight of the bundle weighing him down but he fought his way to the surface breaking free. As he looked to find Loren he noticed she looked rather distressed. Swimming over he reached for his wand and removed the bubblehead charm so he could talk to her face to face.

“Loren.” Dax was breathless. The cold water was stinging him and the weight of the bundle was getting heavier by the second. Ignoring the pain and weight he swam closer to Loren looking at her closely. He took hold of her arm and spun her around so that her face was clear of the water, her placed himself behind her back and rested her gentle on him to keep her afloat and able to catch her breath back.
“We shall get a move on once you have recovered.” He said cheekily smiling to himself almost trying to keep his own moral up.

[Loren Hayes]

Loren breathed in relief as Dax broke the surface and began to swim over her. It appeared that he had cast a bubblehead charm on himself, and he quickly got rid of it so that he could talk to her. Loren was still choking on the small amount of water that he got up her nose, the burning so painful it was making her want to sneeze. Dax swam behind her so that she could use him as a float while she regained her composure, and she smiled at him appreciatively in between the remaining small coughs.

'No, we won't go back,' She replied. 'I don't want to see that stupid Gryffindor's smug face when he sees the state I'm in...' Her eyes were full of determination. Loren felt almost completely normal again now, and gently pushed from Dax to bob on her own. Although she did not much trust the lake water Loren gulped a small amount to sooth her stinging throat. 'We'll get my stuff, find my wand and then get him back. Don't you want to get him back?' She mused, a devilish gleam in her eyes.

[Dax Simmons]

As Loren pushed herself away Dax felt a twinge inside almost as if he did not want her to go. Trying to ignore this fact he took a deep breath and looked at Loren with a sideways smile. As he looked into her eyes the determination they showed was incredible.
“Yeah I think we should get Jimmy back” She spat the boys name thinking about the numerous occasion they had crossed each others paths. Trying to not show his annoyance at the thought of the boy it suddenly dawned on Dax that he in fact had almost all of Loren’s stuff. With a slight chuckle he summoned up as much strength as he could and pulled the bundle out of the water. As it broke the surface water ran out from it and trickled down creating many mini waterfalls.

“I took everything I could before the boat sank to the bottom of the lake. I’m sure I got everything.”
He shot Loren yet another smile, only for a shiver to pass down his spin. The coldness of the water was bizarre as the air temperature was so warm. Dax felt something was up in the depths of the lake. He took a short breath in and looked down into the dirty water. As he raised his head out of the water he looked at Loren. He wrinkled his nose and his wet locks of hair flopped over his eyes.
“I think we need to go looking in the deep of the lake. I will; cast the bubblehead charm on you and then we can go exploring”

Dax raised his wand and with a few flicks the spell had been cast and he was under the water in seconds waiting for Loren to follow.