THREE
The commencement of autumn at Hogwarts signaled the end of new term excitement and the beginning of boredom and melodrama. By the time the leaves began to change their color, students had already decided on their favorite classes or the prospects of a new crush. And, if one were lucky enough, have already chosen one of the various extracurricular activities to pass the time in the most magical, and indeed the most peculiar, castle in all of Great Britain. One could note quidditch, Ancient Ruins Club, Potions class study groups, or even the occasionally made fan club for the most famous wizard pop group. There was, technically speaking, an endless number of pursuits of knowledge and purposes far and wide between the shelves of the ancient library and ripples of the Black Lake. And yet, at this present moment, all Francesca could find herself to do was lay in the castle grass and watch the leaves change to orange. But at the very least, she wasn't alone.
"Merlin, I'm so bored. We should have become prefects or something," Gwyn said with a deep sigh, her knuckles taking another grab of the grass beside her thigh. She pulled, ripping another spot clean off the dirt, and aimlessly tossed the shreds of grass at Francesca next to her.
"That's your idea of keeping busy? Pacing corridors and handing out detentions?" Francesca asked, genuine confusion and disbelief in her tone as she flicked each green blade off of her skirt with aggressive precision.
"At least we'd have a bit of an outlet for this feminine teenage angst," Gwyn replied, her hand finding another spot of grass beside her.
"I suppose there is something feminist about policing your peers," Francesca shrugged.
"We could just become good old-fashioned bullies. There is something noble in traditional roots," Gwyn replied, her hand rereleasing its grip on the grass as she reflected over her deeply philosophical thought.
"Can't you two just get boyfriends like normal, sane girls?" Diana asked, her words accompanied by the sharp sound of her Potions textbook closing on her lap.
"The lineup of neanderthals at this school isn't particularly spectacular, sweetheart," Gwyn remarked, earning a grin from Francesca and a raised brow from Diana.
"Suppose you're meant to problem solve, then," Diana shrugged, raising herself from her spot next to the two and dusting off her skirt, "I've got choir practice."
"You think Flintwick still has spots to let us in?" Francesca asked, although her question was more out of desperation than genuine interest.
"For you two? Maybe in the back," Diana said, grabbing her book bag and giving it a swing over her shoulder.
"I'd like to hold a toad," Gwyn said, sending a thoughtful grin to Francesca.
"Unlikely. See you at dinner," Diana said, giving her best motherly wave and turning on her heels. The two remaining girls watched her for a few moments as she gracefully sauntered up the lawn and somewhere back inside the castle.
"What's her problem?" Gwyn asked, turning back towards the castle grounds in front of them.
"She's got a boyfriend and now sees how pathetic we really are," Francesca stated with an indifferent shrug.
"We could get boyfriends whenever we wanted," Gwyn said, shooting Francesca an offended glance.
"Yes, but at what cost?" Francesca asked with a sly grin, causing Gwyn to drop her defensive look with her own broad smile.
"Surely there must be something more enjoyable than snogging," Gwyn asked, although her tone did not sound the least bit hopeful.
"Magic and mischief, I suppose," Francesca replied, although she also didn't seem confident in her words.
"Technically, we have the magic," Gwyn mulled over.
"All we need is the mischief," Francesca finished.
There was a pause between the girls as if each one began to invest in their own separate ideas of what possible troublemaking they could master to relieve the pain of their apathetic schoolgirl livelihoods.
"Flood the third-floor prefect bathroom? I'm sure we could bully the password off of Diana," Francesca offered.
"Oh, that could be fun. Especially if someone trips or something," Gwyn said, a bright smile forming on her face at the prospect of an injured peer.
"Suppose we could poison someone. I'm sure I could come up with something in Potions class," Francesca continued.
"As long as nothing we do ends up with my nan sending a howler," Gwyn shrugged, although her face grimaced for a moment at the thought of her words.
Gywn's nan was, in fact, known for sending howlers. And Gwyn had suffered far too many times from her housemates mimicking her nan's wild Scottish accent for weeks on end every time she would get a new cherry red sealed envelope in the mail.
"Gwyndolyn, the way we've heard you've been behaving, that school's going to think your unruly arse was raised with the pigs and sheep!" Gwyn's imitation of her nan was feverish and perfectly executed, leaving Francesca both delighted and slightly frightened.
"Remind me to visit next summer," Francesca said, turning away from Gwyn to contain her giggles.
Francesca watched the Black Lake now from a distance, a large ripple forming from somewhere in its center and causing the movement's reflection to expand in deep waves of various shades of blue. Although the mysterious occurrence begged questions, Francesca had no time to decipher possible explanations as movement from just outside the lake caught her attention.
A group of boys appeared from a thick row of trees beside the lake and strolled over to the water, stopping just short of the edge. Francesca could easily make out from the four haircuts and crimson-colored robes that it was Sirius Black and his usual gang of Gryffindor mates. She watched as Sirius and James Potter took turns pushing one another closer to the lake's edge. Then, when these attempts seemed fruitless, they turned to Peter Pettigrew and began the same maneuver with him, the smaller boy pushing back without much success. Francesca's attention turned to Remus Lupin, a wide amused grin adorned on his face, but his hands were on James's shoulders in what, she assumed, was an attempt to hold him back from Peter.
"Wish we could have that much fun just shoving each other about," Gwyn muttered, her attention having turned to the scene in front of them at some point along with Francesca's.
"I think we'd have to have half our brains taken out," Francesca sighed, her eyes moving away from the boys to send a playful grin in Gwyn.
"Not a very good look for Ravenclaw, I suppose," Gwyn replied, her eyes trailing back to the teenage boys, who had ended the possible drowning attempts and were now just sat amongst themselves at the lake's edge. Francesca couldn't even begin to try to develop an idea of what they could possibly be conversing about. She assumed it probably wasn't Transfiguration homework, though.
"You know, Sirius Black, he's pretty fit, isn't he?" Gwyn asked her mind seemingly on thoughts far different than Francesca's.
"Yeah, I guess, in that incredibly posh and deeply arrogant schoolboy kind of way," Francesca reasoned with a shrug. It wasn't that she hadn't necessarily thought about Sirius like that; she could recognize that he had grown to be handsome, logic was her Ravenclaw forte after all, but his personality always got in the way of any further thoughts of that manner.
"Oh, I bet the Gryffindor girls have gotten to see a different side of him," Gwyn said, her eyes scanning the lake view again.
"By different side, you mean different parts of him. Mostly, of the physical kind," Francesca replied with a grin, her words followed immediately by the view of Sirius flicking his hair over his shoulder. It really was too easy for the boy.
"I wouldn't mind just a bit of a peek," Gwyn said, her words causing giggles to erupt from both girls.
Francesca watched as Sirius and Peter spoke over the edge of the water, Sirius's words accompanied by sharp pointing and laughing. She couldn't picture Peter's face too clearly, but she assumed he had his usual amused and slightly confused grin on his face. The other two boys, James and Remus, hung back from the water a bit, finding some trees to lean against as they chatted to one another.
"What do you think of Remus Lupin?" Francesca asked, watching as James began to laugh at presumably something Remus had said.
"Yeah, he's alright," Gwyn replied, her eyes now turning to where Francesca's were, seemingly to get a size up of the boy her friend still eyed, "Quite tall, that's always nice. You know how he got those scars?"
"No idea, actually," Francesca shrugged, the question now dwelling on her mind as well. She really hadn't taken much time to study Remus's face at all, up until just recently, that is.
"It's quite manly, isn't it? Scars and such," Gwyn pondered, turning her attention to Francesca from beside her as if she were genuinely looking for a reply for such a statement. But, instead, Francesca let out a loud snort.
"I mean, if he was fighting a dragon or something," Francesca said with solid consideration in her tone.
"Yeah, I suppose it would be different if he just fell in some wood chips," Gwyn said, shrugging and turning away from the boys again.
"Don't you think we could have mischief and snogging?" Gwyn asked idly, although a sly smile crept from the corners of her lips. Francesca couldn't help but grin as well.
"I don't see why not," Francesca replied, finally turning away from the boys as well.
"Shall we go back to the castle and start our new life of crime and merrymaking?" Gwyn asked.
"Well, since my schedule is fully open," Francesca remarked, grabbing her book bag from beside her and swinging it over her shoulder. The girls got up from their spots on the grass and took their respective time brushing off their skirts and socks.
With one last glance at the Gryffindor boys below them, the girls began their walk back up the castle grounds and into the cobblestone courtyard, passing huddled groups of students, all sharing their own laughs and conversations amongst the bright orange and gold trees.
Stood at the front of the courtyard, just ahead of them, was a group of older boys, all clad in dark emerald green robes. One of the boys turned between his exchanged words, just in time to make eye contact with Gwyn as she passed beside him. He grinned at her with such an assured, confident sort of look that made Gwyn raise her eyebrow. She smiled back, but only in the slightest, just enough to make him sure she noticed him, and she turned away again. Gwyn didn't say anything until the girls had finally found themselves back inside the comfort of the castle walls. She turned to Francesca; her careful smile from moments ago now turned into a wide wicked grin.
"Well, looks like things have already begun."