NOTES

I should have been writing more this summer…though I really didn't have any vacation in June, as I got out on the 27th. Oh well. Happy almost-August!

DISCLAIMER

Me: I was finally offered a part of Harry Potter.

Ayana: Really? Can I have it?

Me: You know what? Sure. Go enjoy Dudders.

Ayana: …Ew.

Holly

Chapter Fifteen – In the Lake

At long last, in Mandy's words, spring had sprung. Of course, poor Lisa had been gifted with an allergy Hell. A lot of random, good-hearted strangers asked if she was crying while outside, but she just smiled and said that the foliage was too beautiful for her.

Mandy thought Lisa had lost it saying that, if it was her, she'd barricade herself indoors for the remainder of the season and refuse to come out without an air-tight suit.

Mandy was really lucky that she didn't have allergies.

I hadn't seen Harry for a long while now, though I heard rumors from some random Slytherin girls chatting with each other about a dragon…and Harry. This got me thinking: did he finally get around to dying?

And I meant that in the most concerned, cousinly-love kind of way. I didn't want Harry dead. He proved to be that last connection to my father I had aside from the family he was staying with. Now, them, I did not want to meet. Or so Harry had me convinced. But, as humans, they couldn't be as terrible as he made them out to be…right?

"Lisa," I said sternly as a tossed my bag next to her on the floor. She sighed and dignifiedly put her quill down.

"Yes, Holly, Oh Great One?" Though the corners of her lips twitched slightly she kept a steady gaze.

My shoulders dropped a bit. "I don't need the sarcasm. And we haven't done anything particularly frowned upon recently."

"Because you've been short on ideas," Lisa concluded. "Aren't you normally the evil genius?"

"Good point," I muttered. "What could we get into?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. I twitched slightly.

"Some evil minion you are," I glared.

She grinned. "I wouldn't say evil, per say. I'd rather call myself a minion with a broken moral compass."

"That's way too many words. I mean I can't just go, 'Minions with Broken Moral Compasses attack!' That sounds…odd," I laughed.

Lisa pouted. "But it sounds more intelligent. Aren't we intelligent?"

"Sometimes," I agreed.

"And besides," Lisa continued, "I don't know how frowned upon it is, but my sister's kind of miffed that I haven't been to see her."

"You have a sister?" I asked. Lisa never talked about her family, actually. Neither did Mandy…or me. So who was I to judge?

Lisa nodded. "Uh huh. I think you'd like her; if you're really as bored as you say you are you can come with me. I'm going to one of the courtyards in about an hour."

I grinned. "Yeah, I'm bored. But don't take it as an insult that I'm hanging out with you and your sister because I have nothing else to do. I'd probably do it anyway if you offered to me."

Lisa chucked, rubbing her temples. "Yeah, Holly. I know."

"I mean, I love you immensely and—"

"Holly?" Lisa interrupted.

"What?" I looked at her. She didn't meet my gaze.

"Shut up," she sighed.

"Okay!" I grinned. Lisa snorted.

xXx

I went with Lisa down to whatever courtyard she was supposed to be meeting her sister. I expected to see another big-eyed and soft-spoken blonde.

And I was very, very wrong.

This Turpin girl looked like she could have been modeling for God-knows-what major fashion company. The blonde stood much taller than Lisa, but I assumed that was because of the age difference. Her blue eyes lit up at the sight of her little sister.

"Lisa-love," she grinned. "I see you have a friend."

Lisa blushed slightly. "I do…quite a few, to be honest."

Her sister raised an eyebrow. "You do not!"

"I do!" Lisa defended.

Lisa's sister rolled her eyes. "I'll take your word for it, then." She turned to me with a smile. "Hi there. My name's Andy, and if you call me Andrea, I will find a way to murder you."

I giggled. "Good to know. I'm Holly."

Andy slung an arm around Lisa. "So, you've been keeping the little one out of trouble, yeah?"

Lisa rolled her eyes while I grinned sheepishly. "Quite the opposite, actually…"

"Good for you!" Andy grinned. That reaction wasn't exactly what I expected. "You see, Lisa's a bit of a hermit. If she starts living on the wild side, a la moi, she'll probably become a more balanced woman, don't you think?"

I said "yes" and Lisa chirped "no". Andy laughed.

"To quote yet another probably-dead-or-very-old person in history," Andy began with a hint of mischief, "'Women who behave rarely make history.'"

Lisa pulled away from Andy. "And who's to say I want to make history?"

Andy's brow furrowed and she bent to touch noses with Lisa. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever; admittedly, I was waiting in silence for what the two sisters would do to each other after this glaring match.

A smirk came over Andy and she straightened back to her full height. "Fine then. I'm sure you'll love generic cubicle life."

Lisa very visibly stopped breathing. Though very obviously not a rebel, Lisa was an extreme free spirit. She would never be tied down by a ten-by-ten box.

"You… You've gone mad!" Lisa countered.

Andy winked at us. "Have not!"

"I don't think the question is whether we've completely lost it or not," I mused, "as none of us have much of it left."

Lisa ran a hand through her hair. "What is it anyway?"

"No clue, but it sounds intelligent," I shrugged. Obviously. That's what Ravenclaws kind of go for, you know.

"You two irritate me," Andy sighed. "Let's go make Lisa a little more balanced."

"That's not a good idea," Lisa sighed.

I pouted. "Come on. You've hung with Filch once or twice before, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah, but that still doesn't mean much!" she snapped.

"And you can't say no to the cute little ginger," I beamed at her.

She stared at me while running her tongue over her teeth. With a raised brow she sighed.

"Fine. But I blame you if anything – and I mean anything – goes wrong," she gave in. Score: Lisa 0, Holly and Andy: 1.

Oh Hell yes.

xXx

"I hate you," Lisa muttered continuously.

"Oh, shut up. No one's here to see," Andy defended her idea.

I pointed at the lake. Though unseen, we knew what was there. "The squid's there, always watching. Like a god!"

Lisa gave me a strange look. "So, you're secretly worshiping the giant squid?"

"Of course she is!" Andy laughed, "Sacrificial ceremonies and all!"

I rolled my eyes. "Just get in the water."

"It's not allowed," Lisa muttered. "And we're swimming in our clothes."

Andy put her hands on her hips. "What else would you like to swim in, Lisa? Nothing?"

Lisa blushed scarlet. "I'll swim in my clothes, thank you."

"Atta girl!" Andy shouted.

"Can we just get this over with?" I whined. I didn't want to stand around all day. The longer we stood by the lake looking suspicious, the higher the chance we had of getting caught. Not that being in the lake would be disastrous. It totally would be. Mind you, that's why I agreed in the first place. Lisa, in my opinion, had little to no life. That had to be fixed. Lucky for me, her sister agreed with me.

On the grass around us were everything but our shirts and skirts. We stood there and stared at each other for a few minutes. No one really wanted to go in the lake first. Though I wouldn't mind, I kind of hoped that Lisa would go first. It almost seemed to be a lost cause, but I thought it could be worth a try.

So I tried to push her into the lake.

Instead of a clean shove, Lisa just fell – face first – into the grass. Andy jumped on the opportunity to drag her sister into the water. Andy hopped in and pulled her sister under. I jumped into the water after the Turpin girls and surfaced immediately, grinning. Lisa came up a few feet away from Andy and I, glaring at us.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You could have broken my face! And Andy could have drowned me!" she accused. Andy and I looked at each other.

"It's all in good fun," Andy grinned. "Loosen up, Lisa-love."

Lisa pouted. I swam around in circles, making them larger as I went. Until I felt something cold and large brush my thigh. I gasped and kicked whatever it was. Only after I probably hurt it did I realize it was the giant squid.

"Now I feel bad!" I laughed.

Lisa rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because the giant squid definitely has fragile feelings."

"He's nice, usually," Andy began wistfully. "In my first year, some Hufflepuff boy was drowning and the squid saved him."

I looked into the water, watching for movement, but found none. Though Lisa and Andy dismissed it, I was still a little afraid. I mean… giant sea creatures? Oh my.

We swam around in the water for a period of time, of which the length I didn't care. The water still held winter's coolness, while the air around us beckoned springtime warmth.

"Someone's coming!" Lisa shouted, pointing to the pathway. I stared at the approaching figure. Though they were certainly students, they looked to be in her late teens. And that was prime age for prefects. We scrambled out of the water and tried to dry ourselves with whatever we left on the shore. The three of us dressed quickly, not caring how messy we made ourselves look.

Lisa and I stared at the girls as they passed. One was a prefect, but she was a Slytherin. I breathed a small sigh of relief.

They paid us no mind, either.

"And so, Lisa, are you better-rounded?" Andy slung an arm around both Lisa and me.

"I…well, I don't feel any different," Lisa muttered.

I snorted. "You don't feel it, you sense it," I pointed out.

Lisa stared at me incredulously. "That's just ridiculous."

"Or is it?" I countered.

"It is," she concluded. Lisa looked over her shoulder. I heard the Slytherin girls giggling, but who was to say that it was about us?

Well, my best answer to that would be "anyone with common sense."

"Ignore them, Lisa. They have no lives," Andy said loudly.

"We've no lives?" one of them shouted at us. "Who's soaking wet? What were you doing? Bathing?"

"Something you two obviously need to do," Andy replied.

I agreed as soon as I turned and saw them. One had matted dirty blonde hair and she looked plain dirty rather than tan. The other had dark brown hair that clung to her scalp and her uniform hung strangely on her.

"And are you babysitting?" the blonde grinned. "Do explain the first years, they're so cute."

"Damn right we're cute," I muttered.

"So the ginger speaks," she said with wide-eyes.

I sighed. "I do, actually – and probably with a stronger vocabulary than yours."

"The both of us," Lisa added, "happen to possess a highly superior level of intelligence. I doubt you'd care, though, as you two will no doubt end up housewives to some pure-blooded bloke at the Ministry."

"And the problem with that?" the brunette raised an eyebrow.

"Would be that it's unfulfilling, stereotypical, and… anti-modern-woman," Any shrugged. "To each her own, I suppose."

"At least we're not mudbloods or some glorified fairy tale," the blonde giggled as the two left. Of course they had to have the last word, conceited little…

"She called us… that! How obnoxious. I suppose they didn't have any better insults, though. Ah, well. Who cares what they think," Andy said in a rush.

Lisa was making a horrible face, a mix of shock and disgust. "What's a mudblood, Andy?"

Andy's eyes flashed to her sister and back ahead. "Er… nothing, nothing at all."

"No, Andy, it's something. Tell me," Lisa pried.

"Alright, alright. It's a derogative term. Think of any racial slur – it's like that. And you're apparently a glorified fairy tale, Holly. That's complete bull," Andy sighed. "I hate Slytherins."

Lisa's facial expression worsened. "That's hideous," she whispered.

"Naturally," Andy growled.

"Now I know why they're so demonized," I muttered.