Ch.20, Hide and Seek

After a while, the group got bored of splashing each other. So they made a game. It was sort of like hide and seek, but not only one person was it. The girls would run off and hide, while the boys counted to one hundred. When the boys found the girls, they would have to dump them in the pool. But, if the girls got to the safe point, which was box of pool toys for the quintuplets, they would win. If all three girls were in the pool at the same time, the boys won. As soon as the boys started counting, the girls turned to Melissa for a strategy.

"Okay, here's what we do. Lily, your the most recognizable animagus, so you show yourself near the west common room. Be sure you've transformed. That will make them think that we've all transformed. Don't be human Lil. Len and I will go to the north common room, and hide there. Hopefully you can distract two of them. (Lily runs off) 'Kay, Len you go to the North end, but not the common room. There is a small wooded area just outside, and it didn't seem to have any other animals. (Len opens her mouth to ask something) And the reason we're not telling Lil the new plan is because if they get a hold of her, they might tickle her for info. You know how ticklish she is. (81...82...83) GO!"

Len ran off, and saw Melissa running with her until she crossed the common room. There was no sign of her, then Len saw a few stuffed ravens over the fireplace. One had black talons.

Lily got to the west and transformed. She knew the boys would be done counting by now, and probably making a strategy. She flew out the window, and saw that James and Sirius had got out thier brooms. She grinned. Melissa was right in assuming that the boys would assume that they had transformed. Then James spotted her, and called to Sirius.

"I see Lily! I'd bet anything the others have transformed! You go find Melissa and Len!"

Lily thought. Normally they would send Remus after Len. They must have done the smart thing and left him as a guard. She flew away, giving James a run for his money. She was pretty fast, and though his broom was the best onthe market, the market was just as fast as her. She did have a dissadvantage. She used energy to fly, he didn't. She decided to fly in the window, and return to human form. Then, she would run for it.

Sirius was having trouble finding Melissa. He then smacked himself. Lily wouldn't let herself be shown like that. Mel was a good strategist, and he realized that he was on a wild goose chase. Mel and Len wanted them to believe that they had all transformed. He landed, and went on on foot.

He entered the North wing, and decided to search it. He checked the dinning room, the area around the pool, and the common room. He sat down, thinking where they could be. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move. He glanced without moving his head, and saw a few stuffed ravens. I must be imagining things, he thought. He wasabout to move onto the next room, when he saw that one of the ravens had black talons. When Melissa saw he recognized her, she cawed, and flew out the open screen door, out into the small wooded area. He followed. He heard another caw, and she showed herself above the trees. Sirius summoned his broom and went after her.

Len could understand Melissa's last message. When he passes her, she was to run for the room. Since her bathing suit (the girls had stayed in bathing siuts in case they got tossed in the pool) was yellow, she blended in perfectly with a patch of flowers. Her hair almost gave her away, but Sirius was to set on getting to Mel. While he was distracted, Len surprised herself with how quietly she crept away.

She ran lightly to the pool room, and saw her last chalenge. Remus was sitting on a lawn chair, beside the box of toys. She quietly ran to the girls' changerooms, wondering how to get past him. But no matter how quiet she tried to be, her bare feet padded on the wet tile. And he had heard it. Oh great, she thought, he's alert now. She then got an idea she labeled 'genius' and got her camcorder. She played back the short tape she had there, and found a part where she sneezed. She turned off visual, and turned up audio.

She lightly ran again to the large box opposite the one that they were supposd to be going to. She placed her camcorder down there, and set a timed release. It gave her just enough time to get to the area closest to the box.

The second she reached her destination, the sound of her sneezing rang through the echoing pool room.

"Len? Is that you?" Remus called. He didn't really expect an answer, but he went over to check behind the large box anyway. He cursed as he saw her camcorder there. He turned around to see Len waving at him, one hand on the box.

Lily was running out of energy. She was human now, and was lightly running across the dinning room. She had a stitch in her side from running so much, and she decided to use the lamest hiding place in the world until she had her energy back. She sat underneath the table, lucky about the floor-raching table cloth. There, she rested.

Lily held her breath as she saw the siloueted form of James entering the room. Then, it dissapeared, and she thought he had just glanced around. She cried in surprise as arms closed around her waist, and lifted her from under the table, and up on his shoulder.

Lily tried to get away, but seekers tended to have strong arms. As James dumped her in hte pool, with Len 'boo' ing, and Remus cheering.

"How did she get passed you Remus?" James shouted, from his position beside the pool.

"She used a very smart plan of setting her camcorder on a timed reliease. It distracted me, because she had placed it on the other side of the room. While I was making sure it wasn't actually her, she ran to the box." Remus explained, looking to Len, who was smiling and sitting on the box.

"So, now it depends on if Melissa gets caught or not. If she does, you guys win. If she gets past you, we win." Lily said, as she came up from the water. James offered a hand to help her, and realized his mistake to late. She yanked him in, and he fell in.

"Ha! Your in the pool now, you can't leave!" Lily teased. James cursed, then resorted to tickling her.

Sirius was flying after Melissa, who was just faster than him. Of course, a broom wasn't really made for flying in between trees, and that's why she was faster than him. She then flew around a very large tree a few times, and he followed. He got dizzy enough to realize that she wasn't there anymore. He saw the door to the east wing close.

Melissa had returned to human form because her wings were getting sore. But she had chosen the wrong wing. She didn't know the east, just the west. And Sirius had lived the summers here for 5 years, he knew this place like the back of his hand. She jogged to the common room, wondering how the others were doing. She heard the door she had used to get in the east end close, so that was her cue to leave this room.

She came to a long hall, with several doors. But none of them led to the pool, she guessed. So she sprinted down hte hall, hearing Sirius about 15 meters away. She came to the area where the Norht wing started. She set of in the direction of hte pool right away, and hid in the changerooms. She heard talking outside, and realized that she was the last one. She risked opening the door a crack, and saw that, to her dissapointment, Lily was in the pool.Then, to her happiness, she yanked James in. She looked a bit more, and saw Len sitting on the box. She was the tiebraker.

She was trying to decide how to get past them, when Len mouthed to her 'above'. She then transformed, and flew out the window.

James had seen Len mouth something, but he couldn't tell what it was. He realized that Melissa was here, most likely in the changerooms.

"Hey Remus, your girlfriend just told Melissa what to do! She mouthed it at her! And I can't rally do anything, so you have to guard!" he called.

Len smiled sheepishly. Then, Sirius came into the room, and saw the situation.

"Prongs, how'd you get in?" he asked.

"I was being a gentlman, and offered Lily a hand. She, yanked me in." he explained.

Sirius had trouble not laughing. "Has anyone seen Melissa?"

"She was around here just a second ago, but then Len mouthed instructions to her, and we guessed that she left." James replied.

Just then, Sirius spotted a raven diving for the box from above. He pointed, shouted, and barely stopped the dive before she reached the box. He then tossed the bird in the pool, and she immeadiatly transformed. She scowled.

"All right, all right, you win." she said. The boys glanced at each other and smiled. They then glanced at Len, and Remus picked her up, and dumped her in aswel. But she had grabbed his arm just before, and he came tumbling in with her. Now, Sirius was the only dry one, and was bragging about it. He regreted doing so, as his girlfriend then levitated a bucket of water over to him.

After a while, the girls got up and left the pool. They entered the changerooms, and Lily put a locking charm on it. Much tothe dissapointment of James and Sirius. They came out in normal clothes, and the boys offered a game of truth or dare.

"Okay. Who go's first?" Len asked. They decided to draw straws for it, and Lily won.

"Okay, um... James, T or D?"

"Dare!"

" Okay, you have to jump in the pool, fully clothed." she said with an evil grin.

James shrugged. " 'Kay. Padfoot, T or D? Why am I asking, I know you'll pick dare."

"Of course!" Sirius said.

" 'Kay, you have to eat fifty sherbert balls, and not hurt yourself."

"Easy! When?"

"Anytime you want." James said.

Then the little house elf came up to them, and said, "Tot would like to inform master and his friends that lunch has been served." she said, with a little curtsy.

"Thank you Tot, we will be right there." James said, as he got up and offered Lily a hand, making sure he was not near the pool.

Remus offered Len a hand too, and so did Sirius to Melissa. They walked to the dinning room, everyone except Sirius laughing at his dare. Len had once done 20 sherbert balls, and she hit her head on the roof rather hard.

They entered the large, esquiset dinning hall, and sat down at a table about the size of a house table. Tot brought out several platers of sandwhiches. There was ham, baloney, bacon and tomato, and, Len's favorite kind of sandwhich, lettuce and tomato with mayonaze.

After lunch, during which a small food fight broke out, Lily and Len insisted that they clean it up before Tot had to. Len used a cleaning charm, and had to do it three times to clean the mess. By the time they were done, there wasn't much to do.

"We could go swimming again?" the boys suggested, eager to see them in soaked bathing suits again.

"Nah, lets save that for tommorrow. I say we find a game to play in the wooded area." Lily said, and the other girls nodded in agreement. The boys shrugged. They went out to the approximatly one square kilometer woods, and started to walk in the thick trees.

" I know it sounds childish, but how about tag? It would be fun to play, dodging in between the trees." Len suggested.

"Sound great, but you girls can't transform!" Remus said, with a smile.

The girls glanced at each other. They nodded, and ran off, shouting "Catch us if you can!"

Each boy cursed at the head start the girls had gotten. Each went after thier girlfriend, and saw the dissadvantage that they were at.

Sirius saw Melissa just cross a small clearing. He ran after her, and saw that she had dissapeared. He walked off, but then heard leaves rustle. Sudenly, an idea popped into his head, and he looked up to a rather large tree. He could just make out the shilouet of his girlfriend. She saw that he saw her, and shouted "You can't tag me from down there!" in a teasing voice.

So then he started to climb the tree. Melissa looked at her situation. It was to far to jump down, so she climbed higher, hoping to discourage him. Unfortunatly, that just showed that she was out of options, and he climbed after her.

When she reached to top, she hid in a large cluster of leaves, hoping to slide down when he got up. But then a pair of arms wrapped around her waist, and Sirius whispered in Melissa's ear, so that it sent shivers down her spine. "Got ya." The writer refuses to decribe what happens next.

Len jogged through a clearing, and unfortunatly she wasn't a good runner. She already had a stitch in her side, and decided that her best bet would be to hide until she had more energy. She blended in perfectly with a bunch of plants near the edge of the clearing. She saw Remus come through the clearing and look at a mud puddle just before the exit. Len scowled. He saw no footprints there, so he knew she was still in the clearing. He looked around, and paused on the spot she was hiding in. Len thought about running for it as he walked her way, and when he was odviously about to tag her, she sprinted. He grinned and ran after her. But after about 30 seconds, she tripped on an overlarge tree root, and fell. She didn't get up in time, because Remus grabbed her around the waist, and kissed her cheek.

"Tag!" he said, laughing. Len turned around to face him, and kissed him back. The writer refuses to describe what happens next.

Lily was running silently through the trees. She came to a small spring, and decided to catch her breath here. She heard James just a short distance away, and decided to hide at the bottom of a hill on the other side of the spring. She crouched there, and saw James comming her way. He had seen her. She got up, laughing, and sprinted to a tree and started climbing. She didn't climb far though, because she wanted to double back once James climbed up after her. Which he did. Lily looked down and realized that she had climbed a little higher than she had hoped. Or, at least it looked that way. But as James was only about a foot from her, she stuck out her tongue at him, and jumped down.

James was a little surprised she was so competitive. But he jumped down right after her, and missed her by a hair. She was running back to the spring, and he followed. When he got there, he saw her catching her breath by the water. He grinned at the perfect opportunity. He sneaked up behind her, and pushed her in, saying 'tag' when he did.

Lily shrieked and fell in the water. Whe she came out, her clothes stuck to her. She scowled as she realized that he was staring at her.

He came up to her. "You know, you look really good like that." he said, placing his arms around her waist. Lily didn't get a chance to respond, because he then started kissing her.

After about an hour, the couples started returning to the house. Lily and James were the last to arrive, and they all had dinner. After which, they went to bed.

The next morning went by pretty normally. Sirius found out how to block the morning sunlight from entering hiswindow, and so he was asleep. All other group members spent their morning canging on his door, but he had put a charm on it so no sound could be heard from the outside. But then, James got the bright idea of calling Tot to make breakfast. As soon as the smell of bacon and eggs reached his door, he was out and fully dressed.

"Um, why are you all outside my door?" he asked.

"Sirius, we've been trying to wake you up for the past hour! How could you sleep with the racket we made!" Melissa asked.

He smiled. "It helps when trying to sleep in, if you know how to sound proof your door. Anyway, I smell bacon!"

The group sighed in defeat. They all went to the dinning room, and discussed what they wanted to do today.

"How about we play some quiditch? Girls vs Boys." James suggested.

Melissa snorted into her drink. "Yeah, right! You haven't seen Lily and Len attempt to ride brooms!"

"What, The Birds can't fly! I never would've thought!" Remus said sarcastically.

"Oh no. I can fly perfectly well, but these two, (she pointed her thumb at a blushing Lily and Len) are hopeless." she finnished.

Lily and Len blushed red as the others laughed at them. Then, Remus suggested that they more thouroughly explore the wooded area. Even though James and Sirius already had, they were out voted.

Okay, I would really appreciate some T or D ideas. As I am sure you can tell by the lame dares going on, I'm completely out. Also, I have decided to take a break from writing to read a bit. I will start again when I start again.