Philippa and Dorcas had an agreement. Philippa would sit by the pool and read a magazine or do homework and Dorcas would swim. In the autumn, Dorcas would have enough money for twice as many lessons and Philippa could be left alone in peace to sit and study, which she enjoyed and not have to do with the routine and ceremony of a swimmer's shockingly cold lifestyle. In the summer, Philippa could keep her money for entry into the pool now that the staff was well aware that she wasn't one of the children who couldn't or wouldn't pay for admission. Philippa took a rolled towel and spread it on the ground amongst the mothers and littlest siblings of the kids of the pool. She would lay on her stomach or curl her knees into her chest, rest her chin on her knees and with a book pressed to her face either way enjoying whatever she was reading and the feeling of the sun's dry warmth. Dorcas, at this point was usually still showering, with cold water which is all the local pool had which is partly why Philippa hated it. She would do a few stretches and then, still cold, Dorcas would go to the edge of the deepest part of the pool and hop right in. This was strange for several reasons. For a long time, Dorcas was one of the youngest people in that area of the pool. So young, that another lifeguard had had to assure another that he had taught her how to swim himself even as he kept a careful watch over her. This got to a point that other children noticed too and her seriousness and insistence on swimming, not splashing around or even seeming to enjoy herself, made the mothers enroll their own children in swim lessons. For several years when they were both still young, Grandpa was the only man amongst the mothers and they wouldn't let an old man show them up by enrolling his grand babies in swim lessons. He went to the pool with them until he was reasonably certain that both girls were competent swimmers. It was shortly after that Philippa could select a little something to read from her bag and Dorcas would have to partake in her rituals by herself but for a brief period of time in the summer of their 9th year, after the incensed mothers had also scrounged some extra money together for their own children's swim lessons, the lifeguards at the pool just left the buoys up from adult swim and lap time because all of the children, even Philippa swam laps. Over and over and over again all summer long. Even if temporarily, they organized themselves in the quick and efficient way that children can, divvied up lanes and all of them worshipped at the same temple. Backstroke for some, breastroke, freestyle. Some were, admittedly, not great swimmers but they became better. They were relegated to the middle lanes where they would still feel safe and included. Philippa's and Dorcas' brainstormed idea. The lifeguard tower directly above those lanes were a mere coincidence. The pool was quiet with the sound of water hitting against itself and little feet and hands. They circled back and forth the sound of their little kid breaths barely audible over the sound the little waves they made which crashed into each other on the walls. None of the adults saying anything, in fear that they might break the spell which would happen naturally of course and as calmed by the sight and sound of them all doing laps as if they would have been staring at the waves in the ocean.

It was the same lifeguard who had almost told Dorcas she shouldn't swim with the older kids in the deep-end that suggested grandpa and the girls that the pool was open in the morning. Dorcas couldn't believe it! She thought the pool only existed in the summer during the day and occasionally on the last Friday of the month for kid's night swim. She liked the idea because swimming. Philippa did not like the idea because swimming and be even colder? Why? And grandpa thought about how incensed the mothers would be to even know they had been offered, thought this funny and smiled a mischievous, sly smile. It wouldn't be until after this season, he told Dorcas, but he would drop her off at the pool himself. Just like old times. In the autumn, before school, Dorcas would kiss a still sleeping Philippa goodbye who rolled over snorting. She would head downstairs get a kiss on the forehead from grandpa who had a thermos of cocoa or honey sweetened, milk tea and toast with jam or an egg sandwich ready, one for each of them, and they would head out together. Dorcas could not have known that Grandpa's work was in the opposite direction of the pool. He would stay until she got in the pool with the adults. At first, they were curious about the strange child who was even allowed in and then in awe. In between breaths or laps they would watch this little fish glide through the water with perfect form, alternating her breathing patterns, scrunching into a ball to kick off from the opposite end of the pool until she was just another morning swimmer dropped off at the pool by her grandpa who would tip his hat to her even though she couldn't see him as she swam, happy as a clam, in the freezing chlorinated, turquoise water. It was only when someone new arrived to the pool or a guest or a visitor that commented and the regulars realized or maybe remembered that they were talking about little Dorcas, the mermaid, a child.

-

Philippa and Dorcas walked back arm in arm and renegotiating the terms of their contract. Dorcas believed that their arrangement was unfair because she took the lion's share of the money grandpa gave them to swim. Philippa insisted that she didn't enjoy swimming and it was a way to catch up on her reading or memorization for their piano lessons which Dorcas thought tedious and over long. She would have preferred to sit on the sides like Philippa did with swimming but couldn't do so because the teacher was paid ahead of time and did her job, teach. They stopped for an ice cream cone which Dorcas felt guilty about getting for Philippa.

"It's your money. I've used mine on swimming."

"It's our money." Philippa retorted.

"How do you figure?" asked Dorcas.

"Because." said Philippa.

They walked in that way arm in arm somehow balancing their swimming accessories and ice cream cones and making each other laugh with small arguments each getting sillier and sillier until they arrived home.

When they arrived they found grandpa sitting across from a slightly severe looking woman with glasses perched on her straight nose. Her hair was brushed back in the tightest bun anyone in that house had ever seen. Grandpa looked a little sad. And, as they set their swim things on the floor the ice cream cones long eaten, Dorcas thought, today is the day. Today is the day I get sent or taken somewhere else. Philippa thought, today is the day they find out that I won't let them take her away. They could feel the others arm tighten.

"This is Ms. McGonagall." Grandpa said to the two of them. They nodded. They were too polite to say anything or, rather, to say what they really thought.

"She is the head of a special academy where Dorcas has been admitted as a student." Grandpa said. Here it was. This day had been coming and here it was. Ms McGonagall smiled and it was warmer than either girl could have imagined it might have been. Her bun seemed less tight.

"I heard you are a very gifted swimmer, Dorcas." Ms. McGonagall said in a lilting almost musical voice. Philippa might have even thought it lovely if she wasn't preparing to wrestle this older woman to the ground.

"Thank you, mum." Dorcas replied. She wanted to mention that Philippa was also a very good swimmer but, if this was part of the preamble to soften her up then not only would it matter but she wouldn't want Philippa taken away from grandpa too, so she said nothing.

"This school is for very talented, young people like you. We have a big lake that I think you might enjoy. You have won a scholarship based on your swimming ability." Ms McGonagall said.
Wait… They looked at grandpa. They didn't know this woman.

"Congratulations, Dorcas." he said a little sadly.

He looked from one granddaughter to the other and it was Philippa who broke the tension in the room. Grandpa wouldn't lie about this, grandpa would never let anyone take Dorcas away, what had they ever been thinking?

"Dorcas this is wonderful!" Philippa threw her arms around a stunned Dorcas. A swimming scholarship?

"Do you have a swim team then?" Dorcas asked after Philppa had nearly picked her up, displacing the adrenaline she had felt for the woman and channeling it into excitement.

"No, but we have a lake that can be accessed by the students." Philippa pushed Dorcas away to look at her face giddy with joy.

"Dorcas this is amazing! I'm so proud of you." Ms McGonagal saw Mr. Groves relax. This is what he had been worried about. He had stayed preternaturally calm when she discussed Hogwarts nodding at all the right places. It was only when she explained that she was there for only one of the girls that he had even asked any questions at all.

Philippa brought Dorcas in for another hug and felt her tense. She could hear her breath change and a small fury rise in her but couldn't understand why until Dorcas asked,

"Well, what about Philippa?"

"Well we only have the one scholarship."

"But you don't have a swim team."

"Well no…" McGonagall faltered.

"Well then how do I get a scholarship if you don't have a team?"

Ms McGonagall looked at grandpa.

Grandpa only steadied his breath. His fingers laced loosely on his lap.

"Dorcas, this is an excellent school. Maybe you can create a team of your own." Philippa was growing agitated.

"No." Dorcas said matter-of-factly.

Philippa pulled Dorcas away from her again and a little to the side as if they were in another room but they were still in the same room with grandpa and McGonagall. She was stunned. Philippa's face scrunched into a question mark that asked what are you doing?

Docas held her gaze. "I'm not going unless Philippa goes."

Grandpa saw Ms. Mcgonagall tense. Her bun became tight again. He watched her perse her lips and sigh. He could tell she was thinking of something to do or say but hadn't fast enough. This family had caught her off guard. She would have known what to do or say if Mr. Groves had expressed any indignation or confusion that a place such as Hogwarts might exist. She would have known what to say if she could have just said what Hogwarts actually was but grandpa had insisted, she now understood, on behalf of the other grandchild, the one who could not attend. She would have even known what to do if the girls' attitudes had been reversed. How to soothe the one who was not going but she was most excited of all but none of that happened.

Dorcas turned on her heels head for the hallway and ran up the stairs. Philippa dropped her shoulders. A small young girl rage building in her too to head after Dorcas but first she turned, politeness be damned.

"Are you trying to take her away?" she asked McGonagall flatly. McGonagall was even more confused now.

Philippa turned to grandpa. Grandpa shook his head. "No, I don't think so, Philippa."

"This is a real school?" He nodded almost to himself and smiled. "Yes, I think so."

She turned to McGonagall. "Well?"

"Yes, it is." not used to being interrogated by students.

"And it's a good school?"

"An excellent school. The best school. The best we have in all of England."

"And there really is a lake where she can swim?"

"There is." said McGonagall more warmly.

Neither she or grandpa understood how they knew that they witnessed a small flame turn into a big fire in Philippa. She balled up her fists heaved a sigh through her nose and marched heavy footed up the stairs.

No one on earth knows what they said to each other or what Philippa probably said through gritted teeth to Dorcas but Dorcas was gone every year for the next seven academic school years except for summers and the holidays. Philippa had held her breath until she saw Dorcas that holiday but it was Dorcas who confirmed it was a real school. It was an excellent school. Philippa was still a little skeptical. She could tell even then that Dorcas was hiding something but she could also tell that her friend was healthy and she seemed herself. She could imagine what Dorcas could not tell her but she knew, if it had been anything bad that, certainly, hopefully, even if they were still young, that after everything, that if Dorcas hated it for any reason, that if she wasn't safe… Dorcas would have told her that, she reasoned. Dorcas did say she was making new friends but even thought there weren't many details, it was still school after all. She did mention that she could see the lake from her dorm though.

"How is it? Philippa's eyes sparkling.

"Beautiful. Perfect even." Dorcas replied, blissful and sincere.

"Do you swim everyday?"

"I try but sometimes I just can't. The water's just too cold. Colder than the pool in autumn. You wouldn't believe how much colder."

Philippa wanted to say something but she didn't have to. She only had to look at Dorcas. Eyebrows raised. And they both burst into laughter which grandpa heard from his own bedroom. He had been reading a book in bed and he glanced casually over his glasses at the door and smiled. He had been long ago convinced that Hogwarts was real but received confirmation when a letter showed up, out of thin air addressed for Dorcas as the professor said it would. He had also waited for the holidays to pull her aside but they could speak more candidly because grandpa knew. They walked in the snow towards the pool, their old route. He had held her gloved hand in his and asked question after question in his offhanded way. He had long ago been reassured by Dorcas that she was in fact safe and healthy, that she could come home at anytime she wanted and that she received all of his letters that he requested she write and send, quizzing her on their contents, checking for discrepancies in anything she said or the way she said it. There was nothing. She knew she couldn't do magic outside of school and maybe grandpa did to, she figured, since none of his questions revolved around the subject itself. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose to continue reading smiling through the crime procedural without realizing. He did not understand the way of young girls, what they would have to talk about or if Philippa knew now or not. That was not his business. All he knew was that they were reunited it was late and they found something or several things unbearably funny that evening. It was summer so there was really no point in insisting they went to sleep and that even after he went to sleep the laughter would continue long into the evening until they fell asleep, sides sore from laughter.