White Wave

By Adaia Swordmaiden

Discaimer: …damn copyright…again…

Chapter 7: Quid pro quo and ice skating

"Guinivere!" Guinivere stopped walking up to the castle, turning to see Jason jogging to catch up. "Hey. You got Defence next?" he asked as he caught up. Vanessa, Lily and Alice seemed to speed up, leaving Guinivere behind.

"Uh huh," Guinivere said as she began to walk again. "You too?" Jason nodded.

"You never gave me an answer about the ice skating," he said.

"Sure," she murmured. Jason grinned.

"Great!"

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Guinivere stumbled into the Great Hall. It was almost empty at five in the morning, the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables deserted and only a few people each at the Slytherin and Ravenclaw tables. She collapsed sleepily at the Gryffindor table and rung the little bell beside her empty plate. With a crack a house elf wearing a tea towel like a toga appeared.

"How can Quinsy help Miss?" the house elf squeaked.

"Tea, toast, peanut butter and apple juice, please," Guinivere yawned, rubbing her eyes. Quinsy bowed and disappeared with another crack.

"You don't look all that great. Sleep well?" Too tired to be surprised, Guinivere turned slowly to face Jason.

"Morning, Mr Sunshine," she said dryly and sleepily.

"The ice is thick enough to go skating, if you want," he said.

"Give me an hour to wake up and eat," she grumbled. Jason laughed and sat down just as Quinsy appeared carrying a huge platter that obscured her completely. Nevertheless, the house elf quickly loaded a stack of toast onto Guinivere's plate and put a pitcher of apple juice and a pot of tea in front of it. A pot of peanut butter went between them.

"Anything for you, Master Chiron?" Quinsy asked.

"Just coffee," he said, stealing half the stack of toast off Guinivere's plate. Crack. "Tea and apple juice?" Guinivere emerged from her mug of tea to answer.

"Coffee is disgusting, tea still has caffeine, apple juice has sugar. I need a jumpstart at this time in the morning," she mumbled. "Quid pro quo. What are you doing at the Gryffindor table?"

"You looked lonely and Harry Lovegood is crazy. Quid pro quo. Why are you, a Gryffindor, up at five in the morning?"

"I spent all night on an essay for Slughorn on Felix Felicis and couldn't sleep longer than an hour. Quid pro-" She stopped. "Ah, dammit, I can't think of anything."

"Heh," Jason laughed around his piece of toast. Crack. "Thanks Quinsy."

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"Stand with your feet slightly splayed," Jason instructed. "And stand up straight." Cautiously, Guinivere straightened up. She wobbled slightly but managed not to fall over backwards. "Great, now, try to move towards me. Just like walking only don't try to take your skates off the ice." Guinivere tried to move one of her feet but she just slipped and fell backwards.

"Ow…" she groaned, trying to get up. Jason skated over and held out his hand. Guinivere took it and he pulled her up. "This is impossible," she grumbled, rubbing her backside.

"You're making much better progress than most people do," Jason said. "It's not impossible - just hard."

"Hey Guin!" Guinivere turned and nearly fell again but Jason caught her by her elbow, steadying her before letting go. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter were a few metres away, on the shore. "Learning to skate?" Sirius asked as he transfigured his shoes and skated out. "Hullo, Chiron."

"Same," Jason said. Sirius watched him for a moment before looking at Guinivere.

"So how're ya going with the skating?"

"Falls: infinite," Guinivere said gloomily. "Metres skated: one and that was a fluke." Sirius laughed and suddenly reached out, grabbing her by the shoulders. She shrieked as he began to skate out into the lake, dragging her along upright.

"It gets easier the faster you go," he laughed and let go of her. For a moment Guinivere continued on smoothly and then she slowed, wobbling slightly. Eventually she stopped and dared to look up and around. Sirius was showing off, skating backwards and doing figure-eights a few metres away. Jason was skating slowly towards her and, over where they had been before, she could see that one figure was on the bank and two others were skating. Over at another part of the lake a couple of hundred metres away there were about five small figures on the ice, skating wobblingly. One of the figures began to skate further out onto the ice. Suddenly, when the figure was only about a hundred metres away and distinguishable as a small girl, there was a great crack and, before Guinivere's eyes, the girl fell through the ice with a scream. Jason and Sirius began skating towards where the girl was struggling to stay afloat. Guinivere whipped out her wand and pointed at the ice beneath her.

"Incendio!" she shouted and the ice instantly melted beneath her feet and she fell through the ice.

Sirius yelled as, just beside him, Guinivere melted the ice beneath her feet and fell through. He skidded to a stop beside the hole and looked over his shoulder at Jason who had also stopped.

"Get the other kid," he shouted and, Vanishing his skates and casting a Bubble-Head Charm, dove in after Guinivere. He looked around to see Guinivere swimming quickly towards the other hole, where they could see a small girl drifting unconscious towards the bottom of the lake. Sirius struck out after her, surprised at how fast she could swim. Before them, Jason plunged into the water and, after a moment, began swimming downwards after the girl and Guinivere, who had almost reached her. Guinivere then reached the girl, grabbing her around the waist and striking out for the hole in the ice the girl had fallen through. Jason turned and began to swim back for the surface. He clambered out and turned just in time to grab the unconscious girl and drag her up onto the ice. Then he pulled up Guinivere, who was soaked to the skin but not at all shivering. She slid across the ice on her knees to where the small girl was lying and rolled her onto her side. Instantly, lake water began pouring out of her mouth and the girl woke, coughing and shivering.

"It's okay," Guinivere murmured, patting the girl on the back. Behind her, Jason helped Sirius out of the water. Guinivere pulled out her wand and pointed it at the girl, muttering something. Instantly, the girl's robes were warm and dry. Then she did the same to her own robes and put away her wand. Jason did the same for his and Sirius's robes before transfiguring a couple of shards of ice into skates. He slipped them on as Sirius did the same thing and the two boys stood up and skated around to face Guinivere and the girl.

"Here," Jason said shortly, picking up the girl and beginning to skate to shore. Sirius reached out and helped Guinivere up.

"Are you crazy!" he shouted, nearly shaking her. "You could have drowned! What is up with you!" Suddenly Remus and James skated up behind them. "You take walks in the grounds at night, you deliberately jump through the ice, what is with you?"

"Mr Black, Mr Potter, Mr Lupin, Guinivere." All four jumped and turned to see Dumbledore standing on the ice right next to them. His eyes were twinkling but not quite as much as usual. "I believe you should come with me." He brought out of his robes an old boot and held it out. Barely understanding, all of them reached out and touched the portkey. They all felt a jerk behind their navel and, almost instantly, found themselves in Dumbledore's office. They all fell over, except for Dumbledore. As they untangled themselves and stood up, the Headmaster made his way around behind his desk. "Take a seat," he said once they were all up, gesturing at the three chairs before his desk. The three boys sat down and Guinivere ran around the other side of the desk and hugged Dumbledore.

"I didn't want them to know, Uncle Albus," she half-cried as he patted her back. "But it's so hard to hide."

"There, there," Dumbledore murmured. "If I know these boys, they'll all understand." Guinivere nodded and pulled away, turning to face said boys.

"I guess you all want an explanation," she muttered, staring at her feet. Then she looked up. "You deserve one, at least." Dumbledore conjured up another chair, beside his own, and she sat down. "And here is it."

A/N: mwahahahahaaaaa! The evil cliffie strikes again! Don't worry - no writers block this time. I just wanted to tease you. But I will update soon.

elise bentwin: Murcus is the mermaid from chapter 3. And about the selkies, you've got it! But I'm gonna be annoying and not tell which one was right. 'sides, it all comes out next chapter.

Hippielover459: you're very 'to-the-point' aren't you? Heh, thanks for the review.