A dip in the lake

"So, Lyris go get our brooms, Nikki help me get some food and Sarah get a blanket and a picnic basket" Kristle delegated. Lyris ran in each room and grabbed their brooms and a quaffle. Nikki and Kristle prepared for some snacks and Sarah went in search of a basket. After everyone was ready, they left and headed towards the lake. Everyone settled under the large willow tree. Kristle and Lyris decided to fly around and play catch with the Quaffle. Nikki decided to get some sketches in and climbed on the tree branches to get a better view. Sarah stayed on the blanket and with the basket.

"Niks, you should stay down here, you might fall in the lake," Sarah warned as she took out a book to read.

"Nah, I'll be fine, I'll be careful," Nikki assured her. Not too far from them Kristle and Lyris were playing high in the air.

"Here Mom, Catch!" Lyris threw the Quaffle really hard, without noticing where it was heading. Kristle who was not paying much attention went for it. As she flew, she paid more attention to the Quaffle and less on where she was going. As she caught the Quaffle she lost her balance and went straight for Nikki. Nikki was not paying much attention either as she was trying to sketch the scenery in front of her. Both collided, with so much force that they fell in the lake. They made a huge splash and tried to float up. As this was going on Sarah and Lyris were thorn between horror and amusement, they both then started laughing. Lyris flew down and pulled Nikki out of the water and got her back on the grass. Kristle swam back sputtering and trying not to laugh. "Told you, you'd fall into the lake," With that comment they all laughed really hard. When they could contain their laughter they dried up, talked and ate.

"So the question of the day is should we inform the judges of our special powers?" Nikki asked the group as she ate a grape.

"Do we need to tell them? I mean the Headmistress knows, that good enough, right?" Ly responded.

"Well how about this, we tell them if we get chosen as the school champion. If not then we say nothing." Kristle said as they all tried to come of ways to figure out their problems. All four girls were unique and different from other witches. When they were younger, they had always felt out of place from other muggle kids. They each knew the reason as to why they were different. Sarah knew that her mom was a witch, while Kristle knew that her father was a wizard. Nikki and Lyris already expected this because everyone in their family was witches and wizards. They never told each other about their family secret, but to them it was devastating to know that they were going to be separated. They had known each other since they were in kindergarten and had been inseparable since then. They each made their own excuse as to why they were all leaving. It was when they were going to their first year in SWA that they met up once again. They all accidentally meet up at the café that they now meet every year. This to them was the greatest thing to happened.

Everything was great when they were in their first year. They had finally found people that they could be comfortable with and they no longer had to keep their family secrets from each other. It was on their second year that they noticed something different. Through out the year, the noticed some changes. They were able to perform spells unconsciously without a wand in need and they're moods did something odd. When Lyris got mad one time she started to smoke and Kristle who was frustrated made their whole room vibrate, kind of like an earthquake. There were many other incidents that showed that they we were certainly different from other witches and wizards. They informed the Headmistress about these occurrences and they were told something that changed their lives. They were told that they were Elemental. Elementals were witches and wizards that were connected to the four elements and were gifted with different kinds of magic.

When they found out, they did all they could to find out more, unfortunately, Elementals were rare. They were so rare that the last elementals were half a century ago. In a way it fascinated them, they had different powers and was developing it together. As much as it was fascinating, it was also disappointing; they were once again different from their peers. The Headmistress wanted them to develop their powers openly. In classes, people found them frightening because they could do wand less magic. They were once again seen as outsiders. It didn't help that their magic got out of hand sometimes. Lyris, who always had a temper that compared to no one, would make things burst into flames. When these things occurred Sarah had to be around to put the fire out, with water. Kristle would take her anger or frustration with tiny earthquakes or weather changes. Nikki had light breezes when she was on a good mood and she had little tornados when she was angry. Sarah when upset or frightened turned invisible/ evaporated, she did this often. It took years to get used o the powers, but they did it eventually. Their classmates soon felt comfortable with them and were fascinated with their powers. At first they needed wands as a way to stable their powers, but they soon mastered it and only had them as a habit.

They never wanted anyone outside of their school to know of their powers, because they just wanted to be normal. With this competition they wanted to be fair with the other schools, if it was necessary for them to know then they would tell, if not then even better. One of the main reasons that they didn't want anyone to know was, they didn't want to be treated differently. They don't exactly know what made them elementals, but they think that it was the elemental magic that drew them together. This explained how people so different could ever stand to be friends with one another.

After discussing the consequences of them telling others of their powers they decided that they would only do so if necessary. As the sun was setting they headed back to the tent. It would soon be dinner time and then movie night. Dinner was uneventful, well what they considered normal anyways. Sarah laughed so hard that pumpkin juice squirted out of her mouth. Kristle laughed while holding her side, just like what Lyris was doing and Nikki fell of her chair once again. The joke was not all that funny, but it brought back good times. "Hey guys… remember that time…" Lyris started and then the others continued with the memories that they had, when someone or themselves did something stupid. It was always something that made them laugh really hard. After dinner, Lyris and Nikki headed back to the tent to get the stuff ready. Kristle and Sarah waited at the front of the Great Hall for their visitors.

Harry's view

Ron, Hermione, Ginny and I were making our way to the Great Hall for dinner when I heard my name being called out, "Potter." I turned around and I was met with the sight of Zambini running. When he finally caught up with us he nodded his greeting towards the rest and all of us continued towards the Great Hall.

"Potter I just wanted to tell you that Malfoy and I won't be able to go with you guys, for that movie night thing. We have Quidditch practice."

"Quidditch practice? Tell Malfoy that it's only the beginning of the school year. He should lighten up and have some fun."

"Well, he is bent on beating you guys this year, so that means hell for the rest of us," Zambini responded and shrugged his shoulders. "Tell them we said sorry and we say hi." He waved his goodbyes and walked away.

"Well, I guess that means it's only the four of us," I commented and walked towards the table. I was really looking forward to this movie night. It felt like such a typical muggle teenager activity. I sometimes missed being a nobody muggle, instead of Harry "the boy who lived" Potter. I know that Hermione felt the same things as me because she missed being a muggle sometimes as well.

Dinner was entertaining, as it always is in the Gryffindor table. When Ron had finished everything that he could possible eat within hands reach, we made our way towards the entrance of the Great Hall. When we got there we saw Kristle and Sarah standing and waiting for us. "Aren't you guys missing some one else, actually two other people?" I asked curiously and while looking for Nikki and Lyris.

"Well we are still waiting for Draco and Blaise," Kristle responded.

"Umm… They won't be coming tonight, they have Quidditch practice.

"Oh! Ok then, we should head back to the tent," Kristle replied and started walking towards the doors that would lead outside, Sarah was right next to her.

"Wait! Aren't your other friends going to be there? Shouldn't we wait for them?" I asked without moving from my spot.

"They're already waiting there. They went ahead to get ready and clean up." They continued walking and we soon followed. On the way there we introduced Ginny to them and they introduced themselves to her.

The tents were something that I never could have imagined. We headed towards the tent at the far end on the left. The outside looked like a regular tent that most Muggles have, but I knew it would be different. My guess was right because when we walked in all four of us gasped at the sight. Inside were many muggle things and many wizard things. The first muggle thing that I noticed was the plasma screen tv. We all headed to sit towards the grouped couches. As we sat down, Nikki and Lyris came down and had a dvd in each of their hands. They had a look of confusion in their faces, but Kristle soon explained to them that Zambini and Malfoy couldn't make it. We all settled down and picked different movies to watch. We generally had a good time. Ron and Ginny were fascinated with the tv, and all the movies. We had to explain many things to them but we still had fun. During the movies we had some s'mores, which to rest of us, including me and Hermione was unaware that existed. We also did chocolate fondue and other muggle food. They also had some wizarding food like pumpkin pasties, but all in all it was Ron's idea of heaven. After the good night we all headed back before curfew, before Filch got a hold of us. We promised that we would join them for their Saturday movie night as much as we could. Ron agreed enthusiastically about this idea. Ron and I had Quidditch practice the next day so we went straight to bed.

Normal view

8:30 am

Kristle got out of bed to prepare breakfast; it was her turn this Sunday to make it. She got all the ingredients needed to make French toast. In SWA their quarters were similar to like the one that they were recently occupying. Every since they could remember they would always take turns making breakfast every Sunday morning. Half an hour later, Lyris came down followed by Sarah. They helped set the table up and slowly start cleaning the mess. Sarah went to kitchen and helped Kristle with bringing out the food and Lyris went to wake up Nikki. All of this was done without a person speaking to one another. The only way that they communicated was through grunting, which each seemed to understand one another.

During breakfast they discussed what they were all doing. By the time it was done they decided to visit Hogsmeade after lunch for about 4 hours. After dinner they were to discuss their homework and figure some things out. They cleaned up their mess and headed to what each was planning to do. This was their free time to do what ever they wanted to do by themselves. Nikki went back to sleep, as Kristle went to shower. Sarah stayed at the living room and curled up to read a book, while Lyris went to go flying for a bit. Not long after they all met down stairs to head to lunch. While at lunch they asked Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny to join them to Hogsmeade, they willingly accepted.

Hogsmeade was fascinating for the four girls. They had to complete some shopping for school, which they did together. With the help of the Hogwarts student they got their school shopping done, faster than expected. It was mainly their potions ingredients that they shopped for because it was too dangerous to bring them around in case the potion glass got broken. After they had this done they went shopping for their own things, such as candies. While shopping they met up with Blaise and Draco and decided to have some dinner together. It was a blast having dinner together. They had fun talking about the teachers and getting to know each other. The girls talked about clothes and the boys in the school. The boys and Lyris were talking about the Quidditch teams around the world and the upcoming Hogwarts Quidditch competition season.

"How can she stand talking to them about Quidditch?" Hermione asked looking at Lyris with some sympathy and bafflement.

"Well, she's always been the Quidditch freak; I guess she misses talking to someone about it. I mean we all play Quidditch, but Ly is the only fanatic about it. Sometimes we joke that she should have been born a guy, with all the sports that she does," Nikki explained.

"Well at least she can also talk about something besides Quidditch. For those guys, they eat, breath, sleep and think about Quidditch everyday," Ginny commented, which earned a whole lot of laughter from the rest of the girls.

"We should pull them apart, before we're late for the last carriage back to Hogwarts." Kristle said as she stood up and headed towards Lyris and the group of guys. The rest of the girls followed and they were soon on their way back to Hogwarts. When they got back the headed in their separate directions and said good nights.

When the girls got back to their tents they all sat around their study table.

"Ok we have to figure out our assignments. I think that we should do potions first so that we can get the potion started." Kristle started as she looked at the assignment. When it came to partner work they all knew how to decide who would go with whom. They all took out a scrap piece of parchments and wrote down their names. They gave it to Kristle and she took them in her hands and jumbled them around. After a while she held out her hand and Sarah grabbed a paper. She drew out Lyris, which meant that Kristle was with Nikki. For the rest of the night they sat and figured out their schedule.

While they were staying at Hogwarts, they had to attend only some of the classes. They were all listed down in their assignments. The rest of the work was to be done in group work or on their own. For the people the took potions they were allowed to use the potions lab as much as they pleased as long as they did not disturb the classes. All students were allowed in any of the classrooms, but they also had a class room of their own, like a study area. To hand in their work they were to give it in to the respective professors that taught in Hogwarts and they were to grade it. The tests were taken when they had finished a certain assignment and were taken with supervision. It was mandatory for everyone to wear their uniform once school started and they were inside of Hogwarts.

Lyris and Sarah figured that they were going to do the research before lunch, individually and do the actual brewing of the potions in the afternoon. All the different schools had different methods in keeping their potion ingredients. The Beauxbatons requested a room for themselves so the students would be able to use it with privacy. The Drumstrang students kept all their potions in the boat and did every class there. The SWA students chose to use the potion labs with the Hogwarts students because there were only 6 students that took potions. Each student in SWA that took potions had a locker at the back of the class where they kept all their personal potions ingredients. For the potions assignment they were required to write a 2 and a half foot essay on the Veriteseaum (?) and actually brew it. Kristle and Nikki decided to meet up with them after lunch so that they could brew it as well. Lyris was the better potion maker than the rest, because of her uncle's tutoring in the past years and since this potion was hard to make Kristle and Nikki needed all the help that they could get.

Each of them mastered a specific subject; well they were all good when it came to studies, except that they excelled in some. Nikki mastered transfiguration, Kristle excelled in Defence Against the Dark Arts, Sarah did amazingly well in Charms and Lyris was the potions nerd. However there was one subject that they all excelled in, History of magic. They helped each other out in homework so much that they tended to be always the top 4 of all the classes. They often competed in a friendly way when it came to exams, because Lyris had an uncanny way of either beating the girls in their specialty or close to beating it. They claimed that Lyris was the brainy one out of all of them because she only put as much effort in her work as the other girls, but seemed to excel more. Her excuse was that she wanted to stay on her extra activities. In SWA when someone was part of a school activity, such as Quidditch, Fencing, Archery and more, then they were required to have a certain amount when it came to school grades.