Disclaimer: Ownership for the Harry Potter characters is non-existent, nor is it implied. We do not own Lucky Charms, though i do own a box, but not the company...you know...gah!
"Ali, are you sure we're going the right direction?" a girl of about 18 asked her blonde friend, who was turning a map in every direction and trying to figure out how exactly her compass worked. The blonde, presumably Ali, mock glared at her friend, and pft'd.
"Psh. I know exactly where I'm going. The lady at the cute little bed and breakfast we stayed at last night told us that the lake is this way, and she gave me precise directions." Her brunette friend, rolled her eyes and shrugged, hunching her shoulders in a tired manner.
"Why are we going to this friggin' lake anyway? We can't exactly surf on flat water," she said, emphasizing the word flat with a motion of her hand. Ali shifted her pack and her board on her back, trying to find a more comfortable spot that wasn't pressing directly on her thoracic vertebrae.
"We're going to a lake 'cause its closer than the beach and we thought we'd just go for a swim and maybe throw a ball around, remember?" she asked, raising her eyebrows, hoping that her friend's memory would be jogged by the mere movement of her eyebrows. Katelyn (the brunette) crossed her arms and narrowed her green eyes at her friend.
"All Iremember is you suddenly talking about some hike or something to some godforsaken lake while I was freakin' sleeping."
"Oh yeah. Well...you don't hafta be so pissy about it," she said, "you know we came up here to have fun."
"Dude, you woke me up in the middle of the night for something that didn't hafta do with the kick ass waves I thought I was gonna get in the morning...err...late morning." she said, remembering her tendency to sleep in.
"Man, for a surfer, you sure aren't a morning person..."Ali said, her sapphire eyes sparkling as she laughed. While they were having this cute little conversation, they actually came upon what they were looking for: the lake. Katelyn had to admit, it was well worth the "hike." It was a big, sparkling lake (a/n your mom's a big lake), surrounded by green trees and flowers. They could hear birds chirping in the background and Katelyn realized it reminded her of more that one Disney movie.
"Whoa!" Ali exclaimed, while simultaneously, Katelyn shouted, "Dude!" The two slightly overheated teens quickly put down their packs and stripped off their clothing, revealing there swim suits. Ali walked cautiously up to the lakeside, checking to see if it was super scummy. Katelyn looked over at her friend (whom she shared a small dislike for lakes) and smiled evilly, drumming her fingers together. Stealthily, almost ninja-like, she sprinted toward her friend, screaming a shrill Valkerie war cry and tackling her best friend, bringing her friend into the cool lake water, which, to Ali's delight was scum free.
"Dude, this water isn't even running and it doesn't have scum and gross stuff." She said, amazed.
"Yeah, almost like magic!"
The two girls swam for what felt like hours, and it probably was, for when they got out, they were...RAISINS! They grabbed their towels and began drying off. While Katelyn was drying off her hair, she looked to the East and saw...a rainbow, a full one.
"Dude! Check out that rainbow, it's huge!" Ali turned to regard said rainbow, and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, and it's really close! Let's go see if we can get to the edge of the rainbow and find the leprechaun gold!" she joked, attempting pathetically to do an Irish jig. Katelyn laughed, but they both continued to dry off and throw some board shorts and tank tops on over their suits. Expecting the rainbow to be gone when they were done, they looked towards the East again, and there it was...just as bright as ever...seemingly mocking them, as if to say, 'Just try to get to the end of the flippin rainbow.'
"We could get to the end of that flipping rainbow. Let's do it," Ali said, a sudden determination that coursed through her legs, willing her forward, closer to the rainbow which, to her surprise, stayed exactly where it was.
"You know they're just prisms of light. Remember back in elementary school we were chasing that one rainbow around until we fell asleep," Katelyn said, her total scientific nerdy-self starting to surface, while still packing her stuff.
"Yeah, but, this one isn't moving. I'm actually getting closer to it." At this, Katelyn's head shot up, and her eyes narrowed.
"Whaddaya mean you're getting closer to it? Did you eat some 'shrooms on the way up here or something?" Ali turned to glare at her friend, and snorted.
"Just follow me, man. Maybe we'll find some Lucky Charms." Katelyn reluctantly followed her suspected high friend, mumbling about her and her damn lucky charms.
"Hearts, stars, horse shoes, clovers, and blue moons," Ali began chanting.
"Pots of gold, and rainbows, and the friggin' red balloons," Katelyn continually sang the Lucky Charms chant, and Katelyn pondered out loud why none of the cereal characters shared/or got shared with they walked with their packs up to the actual rainbow.
"All I'm saying is that these commercials are like 'It's okay to steal some random man's cereal.' Its just whoa," she said. Katelyn looked up at the sky, expecting to see freakin' Skittles falling from the sky or something, Ali looked at her friend.
"What're you doing?" she asked, quirking an eyebrow.
"Watching to make sure I don't get impaled by killer skittles." she said. While Katelyn was watching for the lethal skittles, Ali was doing some exploring of her own, and she found...
"Oh my effing god! Katelyn, I think I did eat some 'shrooms, 'cause what I'm seeing should not be real.,"she said, pointing to the unbelievable object.
"What is it? Lucky? Is he actually gonna...SHARE?" Katelyn, as she turned around, was not met with the sight of a stingy leprechaun, but with a heaping, large cauldron of what looked to be gold coins.
"No flippin way!" Ali ran over to it, while Katelyn searched for booby traps (and hidden cameras). When she found none, she too sprinted over to the huhungouns pot.
"Should...should we take it?" Katelyn asked. Ali looked at her friend as if she were crazy.
"Are you nuts? What else would it be here for? For decoration?" she said, motioning her arms dramatically to the pot and the surrounding area.
"I donno. Maybe for people who need it." Ali looked at her friend, wishing to smack her upside the head.
"Do I need remind you that we are almost completely broke? Zoom in on my empty wallet, my friend," she said.
"Touché," Katelyn replied, "Ok, we'll take some under one condition." She held up one eyed her friend nervously, waiting for the condition.
"We only take a handful. I doubt anyone would actually believe that we have leprechaun gold anyway..." Ali eyes drooped and pouted her lower lip.
"Oh, alright." With that, both girls grabbed a handful of gold, and stuck it in their bags. Katelyn once again turned her gaze to the sky, this time, not looking for mutant Skittles, but to look at the sun, which was setting quickly.
"Dude, we need to head back. It's already dusk and I don't wanna be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere at night." They headed back towards the lake to find it...not there. The two girls looked around dumbfounded. Katelyn looked at Ali, Ali looked at Katelyn. Both girls looked at where the lake was supposed to be.
"Did we go the wrong way?" Ali asked, again trying to figure out the damned compass.
"We must've. Come on, let's turn around. It's gotta be in the other direction." They walked back in the direction in the rainbow and Ali's beloved pot of gold to find it also...not there.
"This is trippy. Which way do we go?" Ali asked her nervous looking friend.
"I don't know, I don't care. I just wanna get moving. I'm not gonna die in this frickin forest in frickin england at frickin night!" Katelyn took off in a direction, totally unaware of where she was going. Soon, the girls began to tire, and Katelyn's grueling pace slowed to a slow crawl. Ali let out a whine, and reached for her canteen. Katelyn and Ali decided to rest at the next comfy (if you could call the damp and misty forest comfy) spot they found.
They found one sooner than expected, and sat down to rest, and soon dozed off. Katelyn was startled awake by the sound of foot steps, but not of a person. She quickly glanced at the moon, and guessed it was around 3 or 4 in the morning. She shook Ali's shoulders, attempting to rouse her lightly snoring friend.
"Ali..." she whispered. No answer, "Ali, wake up," she said in a sort of stage whisper. Still no answer. By now, Katelyn was growing impatient.
"Oh my gosh! Isn't that Johnny Depp?" she whispered, glancing sideways at her friend, who shot up at the pronunciation of the name.
"Whe-" she began to shout, until Katelyn's hand covered her mouth. She looked her friend in the eyes, trying to signal to her that she needed to be quiet, which apparently didn't register in the blonde's mind for she continued to make muffled words through Katelyn's hand. Katelyn sh'd her friend.
"We are being watched. I need you to be as perfectly quiet as you can, understand?" she whispered, her hand still clamped over Ali's lips. Ali nodded, and stuck her tongue out to lick her friends hand. Katelyn pulled her hand away, her nose slightly wrinkled in disgust, and a smirk crossed her lips. She took her thoroughly saliva-damp hand and wiped it across her friends face.
"Eeeeeeeeew." Ali said, wiping her face. A howl of a wolf broke through the chilled night air, causing both girls to go rigid with slight fear. Katelyn put a single finger up to her lips, trying to signal her best friend to stay quiet as they tried to wander away from the chilling noise. But footsteps behind them grew faster and louder as they walked, jogged, and eventually began to run. Katelyn glanced behind her to see a wolf about the size of a tiger pursuing them at a great speed, gaining slowly upon them, it's mangy fur rustling in the wind and saliva running from its mouth due to it's ravenous hunger.
"So," Ali cried over to her friend, "What's the plan?" Katelyn glanced behind her again and quickened her pace.
"Run faster!" They ran for what seemed like hours, though it was only a few minutes. Tree branches, leaves, and thorns reached out to grab them, ripping into their flesh, slowly them slightly with pain. Katelyn was the first to realize that the damn wolf was toying with them, waiting for them to slowly tire and collapse from exhaustion, at which point he would pounce upon his prey devouring them. She shuddered at the thought. They soon began to approach another clearing, and noticed a figure. Of what, the girls couldn't answer. Ali could not believe what she was seeing; it looked slightly like a griffin, only there was an absence of any part feline. Katelyn looked to her friend, who just looked , neither girl knew exactly what they were going to do, so they kept running. Ali began to slow. She was amazed at the fact that she was able to keep up with her comrade up to this point, Katelyn being an unsurprisingly swift heard a growl behind her, and felt a nip at her heels. Slightly distracted, he tripped on a root, and flew with speed towards whatever creature was ahead of her, hoping her death would not be a painful one.
Katelyn reeled on her heel to turn and defend her best friend, switching her direction and trying to bring her speed back to involved in the game of cat and mouse seemed to be completely unaware of the winged creature, who seemed to be agitated at the disturbance the three brought. Katelyn felt a wind rush past her, while Ali felt one rush over her form on the ground with a force that could have brought her backwards had she not planted herself firmly to the ground. The bird-like creature picked up the wolf flung it into a tree with such force, that the old tree toppled over the aloud creek and crash. The wolf now turned it's fury onto the creature, rushing it, teeth and Ali watched the battle with interest, their fear buried slightly beneath their intrigue.
The creature did not flinch as the wolf sprinted towards it with the obvious intent to wolf distributed a attack upon the suspected wannabe griffin, which of course it dodged with grace, and swiftly administered a counter attack, catching the wolf between it's front legs, and flung it high and far. The only noise they heard was a yelp and, eventually, a dense thump.
The creature turned it's attention onto the girls, who had risen to their feet. The girls froze, and Katelyn, hoping to disappear, began to lower herself to the ground, and Ali followed her lead. They kept their unwavering eyes upon the awesome creature, never letting their eyes leave his, even when confused as the creature, too, began to lower himself to the ground. Curious to see his reaction, Katelyn rose again, only to see the creature do so as to Ali, who also began to rise to her feet. Katelyn, swallowing her fear, though still a bit nervous, walked toward the creature, stretching out her arm, bringing her hand upon it's neck, watching his eyes, looking for any sign of agitation of irritation. Seeing none, she began to stroke its broad neck in long, gentle strokes, marveling at the softness of his feathers. She looked over her shoulder to Ali, he stood plastered to her spot, eyes still upon the griffin-thing and her crazy best friend. Katelyn smiled to her friend and held out her hand in an inviting matter, smiling at her friend.
"It won't hurt you. Just don't be afraid of him," Katelyn only assumed the creature was male, and assumed he let her touch him because she had shown no fear. Katelyn watched as her friend came over and boldly scratched the creature on the top of his head. The creature let out sort of a purr, and the girls giggled. When he began to move, the girls paused in their petting, as he crouched down, back exposed looked at her friend who began to approach the large creature, and put her hands upon his shoulder blades, putting pressure downwards with her that the creature was comfortable with her weight on it's back, she slowly, hesitantly climbed onto his back, pulling on her pack as well. She looked to Ali, as did the creature, as if he was expecting her to clamber upon his back as well. Though Katelyn was usually the logical one, she had to admit to herself that Katelyn must have gone completely insane or that this was all just a dream. She pinched her arm, and let out a small yelp, for she was not expecting the pain of her pinch, nor was she expecting the now undeniable friend had always had away with animals, so it was not surprising that she was so comfortable around (or on the back of) the dangerous animal.
Shrugging, Ali followed her friends lead, and clambered onto the back of the creature, behind it's wings, seeing as the pack of her friend took up a lot of the space behind her. Once they were both situated upon the back of the magnificent animal, Ali looked around expectantly, waiting for something to happen. She was caught off-guard as the animal suddenly shot straight up into the sky, and her friend let out a delighted yelp. They took off through the sky and flew, Ali and Katelyn eventually getting used to the speed and the feeling of the early morning air upon their eyes. Katelyn noticed a gleaming sparkle ahead of them and recognized the gleam as the failing moonlight and the peeking sunlight upon, to her delight, water. Her face lit up as they neared an even larger lake. It was HUGE.
"Hey, Ali, look at that," Katelyn said, pointing, Ali looked ahead, past her friend and she too smiled excitedly. They gained ground upon the lake quickly and were soon at the edge of it. The winged creature dipped low, down to the surface, making waves spray up and out at the speed of the air breezing past.
"Ali, hold this real quick. I've got an idea," Katelyn requested, handing her pack to Ali, who was already having enough trouble balancing as it was. Katelyn, laid on her stomach across the back of the creature, and popped up quickly into a crouch. Ali's smile broadened as she realized what her friend was doing: she was surfing on the creature's back. The creature flapped his wings and gathered altitude quickly, making Katelyn sit down. It was Ali that spotted something this time as Katelyn got herself comfortable on the back of the creature.
"I didn't know that England had chateaus," Ali commented, scratching her head. Katelyn looked back at her friend, wondering where that particular random comment surfaced from, and then replied to her friend.
"Well, they wouldn't be called chateaus, 'cause that's totally French. They'd just be called castles."
"Oh yeah." Katelyn once again turned to regard her friend, who sat currently mesmerized by something ahead and slightly left of them. Katelyn looked in the direction her friends eyes were gazing.
"Whoa," she gasped, "Is that where we're going?" She asked, leaning forward near the griffin's ear. As if to answer her question, the creature swooped toward the castle, making the girls cling on tighter as not to fall off. The girls watched as they flew down towards a small shack next to the castle, near the edge of the forest. There, they saw a gathering of a small group of people.
"Oh," Ali started, "he must be taking us to humans for help. What a clever animal." Katelyn patted the creatures neck, thanking him as they landed in front of a group of kids who seemed to be around thirteen and fourteen years old (a/n: 3rd years learning about, you guessed it, Hippogriffs). There was an extremely large man, a bushy beard on him chin, and an equally large hound near his side. The children watched them approach, and the man had turned his back for a moment to speak to them. They landed relatively smoothly, as small bump jolting the girls here or there. They began disembark from the animals back when they heard a series of gasps.
"Yes, the hippogriff is beautiful, ain't 'ee. This one's name is Buckbeak," he said, absolutely oblivious to the two girls who had climbed off of the hipogriffs's back. Though as he turned, smiling at the magnificent animal, his smile fell, and he held a very confused expression. Katelyn and Ali on the other hand were ecstatic.
"Whoo! What a ride!" Ali exclaimed throwing her hands in the air.
"Oh my god, I know, especially when..." Katelyn's reply was interrupted by a clearing of someone's throat. Both girls looked over, realizing they were the center of attention, everyone, including the man looking totally flabbergasted.
"Er...Hey!...What's Up?" Katelyn started, waving her hand, scratching the back of her head with the other in slight embarrassment.