Daria Ravenclaw: The Legend of Sporting Joe:
A New Camper at Camp Craig

DISCLAIMER: The world of Harry Potter was created by JK Rowling and is the property of JK Rowling, Wizarding World and Warner Brothers. I don't own it. Daria was created by Glen Eichler. Daria and its characters belong to MTV Viacom. I don't own either franchise, but I do lay claim to my original characters.

This story was written for my amusement, not for profit. If you are enjoying it, please write and post a positive review.

Daria Ravenclaw: The Legend of Sporting Joe* Daria Ravenclaw: The Legend of Sporting Joe* Daria Ravenclaw: The Legend of Sporting Joe

Julia:

On Monday Julia got up, put on shorts and a tee, then sat down to wait for her mother. Her mother was dressed casually, or at least what was considered casual by the tabloids. They then went downstairs for breakfast. Only a few people were seated in the dining room: a couple of them looked like they were waiting for a waitress while the rest looked like they'd chosen the breakfast buffet.

"Ready for breakfast?" said her mother.

"I can't believe that you're sending me to summer camp," said Julia. "I'm twelve, for God's sake."

"And you're still a child," her mother replied. "I think you need more structure at your age than being left to your own devices."

Julia clenched her teeth. Unlike Derrick, she could make good use of her time. She could stay in and catch up on her summer reading, go to the movies, or use the Floo, at least if she knew where the public Floo terminal was.

She frowned. Where was the public Floo, anyway, she asked herself reproachfully. Highland was bound to have one somewhere. She should have asked at the locals' get-together but didn't. Now it looked like she was going to pay for it by being sent to a local Muggle day-camp.

Daria:

Daria took her being sent to day camp more philosophically. Unlike Julia, she was a veteran of Camp Craig and she also knew that she wasn't going to get out of it this year. Still, she didn't think she'd be completely bored. She'd already promised herself that she'd put in time at Camp Craig's archery range. Her Hogwarts schedule had blocked her from either trying out for the Ravenclaw house team or for target practice. She was still irritated about it. She knew that she'd never be as good as the centaurs, but she was certain she'd be better than most of her schoolmates.

She also wanted to use the pool. True, the water was tepid and the pool was chlorinated, but it didn't seem as dangerous as the Long Lake. The lake by the school made her uncomfortable: not only was the water cold, but she didn't really like sharing it with the merfolk. Despite reassurances from Hagrid and other members of the school staff, Daria wasn't entirely convinced that they didn't occasionally drag people down to the bottom.

She wondered if Camp Craig still had any crafts activities and if they did, what sorts. They might have drawing or even painting, which wouldn't be too bad, at least if her pictures didn't move like the jackelope drawing she'd made for Dad the week before. She also thought she'd heard a couple of counselors discussing arrow-making: that might be interesting. She drew the line at lanyard-making: she thought of it as stupid and inane.

Julia:

The production company sent a car around and Julia and her mother got in. Julia rode in silence. I still can't believe that she's sending me to day camp! she thought indignantly.

The car turned onto an unfamiliar roadway. Julia wondered if she and her Mum would get there or if the driver would take a wrong turn somewhere and she and her Mum would have to ride around for hours lost on some obscure road our in the back of beyond. She was soon disappointed to learn that the driver was either a local or knew how to read maps because she first passed a sign with an arrow pointing the way to Camp Craig, then rode under it as the driver slowed to a stop near what looked like the camp's parking main gate.

"I guess this is it, then," Julia thought irritably.

It took only a couple of questions from easily-awed teenaged camp counselors to send Aurora and Julia to a structure that looked like a cross between an open-air pavilion and a tent. There was already a crowd there and two lines: one for parents and children who'd either filled out the paperwork or were returning for another session, another for new enrollees. Julia frowned in discontent as she and her Mum were directed to the line for new enrollees. Julia noted that while there weren't so many parents and children in the new line, t it moved more slowly than the returnees. This was going to be a long wait, she thought grimmly.

Most of the people in her line sounded like they were looking forward to day camp. One girl's voice sounded discontented. "Da-ad, I don't see why we have to wait in this pokey line just because Daria didn't have her stuff ready!" she whinged.

She turned around and saw a tall, brown-haired man who could only be Pater Morgendorffer and three girls who could only be his daughters. She recognized Daria and Veronica from Los Girasoles, but she didn't recognize the third one. That had to be Daria's younger sister Quinn.

Daria caught her eye and grinned. "Look who else is here!" she said sardonically.

"Did your parents also decide to send you to camp?" said Julia.

"Yep," said Daria.

-(((O-O)))—

Daria and her sisters went through check-in relatively quickly. Daria's sisters had a minimum of form-signing and paperwork: they'd already been enrolled for another session at the day camp even before they arrived. Daria took a little longer for her registration, but then this was the first time she'd enrolled this summer.

It took Julia a bit longer to register. Not only she but her Mum had to fill out the admission forms. The woman processing her balked briefly when only her Mum signed the forms for approvals and waivers: her resistance ceased when her Mum told her that she had sole custody and that her father didn't have to sign anything. That sticking-point dealt with, Julia and her Mum went back to answering more questions. About twenty minutes after Julia and her Mum finished filling out the first couple of pages, Julia Darling was a new enrollee at Camp Craig. Her Mum told her that the production company would send a car and driver to pick her up that evening, then kissed her goodbye.

The morning was the better part of half-over by the time that Julia finished her paperwork. Julia had just enough time to wonder what sorts of activities she'd be shown to busy herself before one of the senior counselors led her to a group of other new arrivals to tour Camp Craig's facilities. Such as they were, Julia thought sourly.

Daria, the traitor, was neither in the orientation tour nor waiting under the awning to take her in hand. Julia wondered where she went as she was shown: the volleyball court, the rifle range, the small horse stable, the craft and dance pavilions, or the spot by the small pond where the camp kept a few metal canoes? She did find Daria at Camp Craig's archery range: Daria was using one of the camp's fiberglass bows and shooting at a large round target at what even she thought was ridiculously close range. Julia looked at Daria's target and saw that most of Daria's target had arrows sticking out of the inner three rings. Daria saw her and shrugged. "I'm out of practice," she said. "If I was where I was at last summer, I'd have all of mine either in the red ring or the bull's eye." Julia briefly wondered if the producers might need a good archer for Indian attacks but remembered that Daria had light skin and auburn hair.

Julia was not impressed with Camp Craig's lunch selections. The choices were mostly very American: hamburgers, hot dogs, and fried chicken, with token maize and potato salad for the vegetarians. Camp Craig also offered some Mexican food: ground-beef tacos and cheese enchiladas. There was also beans and rice, which for some reason or other were boiled instead of being fried like the Mexican food she'd been exposed to earlier. Once she'd made her selections, he tracked down Daria and sat next to her. "So this is day camp," she said.

"Exciting, isn't it?" said Daria.

"Crashing bore," said Julia, "although I say you looked busy at the archery range."

"It's one of my interests," said Daria. "I would have liked to join the club at school, but they had scheduling conflicts. I hope I can do it next fall."

"Will you be back?" said Julia. "I'd thought that your grant was good for only one year."

"It's good for next year," said Daria. "Otherwise I wouldn't have bought those two magical plants from Mrs. Huerta."

"Who?" said Julia.

"Mrs. Huerta," said Daria. "One of the ladies in our community. We need those plants for that assignment Sprout gave us just before school let out."

Oh, yes, the magical plant assignment, Julia remembered.

"Thank you," said Julia. "I suppose one of those is for me?"

"Yes, after you pay me twenty bucks," said Daria.

Despite her being in Texas for little over a week, Julia had learned about West Texas summers. "Would they survive in this-heat?" asked Julia.

"Yeah," said Daria. "That's one reason I went to Mrs. Huerta. Most of the stuff in the school greenhouses would die in agony after a day or two outside."

Daria's quip made Julia giggle. "So what else is there to do here?"

"Canoeing, folk dancing, crafts," said Daria. "And the pool." The pool sounded lovely.

"Now if you'll excuse me," said Daria. She picked up the remains of her meal: rice and beans doused with sinister-looking red sauce, and headed for the rubbish bin to dispose of the remains.

Camp Craig had a nap session in the early afternoon. Despite her being English, Julia decided to bend her stiff upper lip and take a siesta. She then went to folk dancing, which she shared with Daria's younger sister Quinn along with a couple of dozen other Texas Muggles. She didn't see Daria again until late afternoon at the swimming pool.

"So where were you?" she said.

"Crafts," said Daria. "One of the counselors is teaching rock-carving."

"What for?" said Julia, then stopped. Rock carving was a useful skill for making rune stones, even if they probably didn't teach anything beyond the basics.

"Planning on carving any runes?" she said.

"Probably just English letters," said Daria. "I'd like to do some of the Mayan signs, but I don't know which ones are loaded and which ones aren't."

Julia was briefly puzzled by what Daria said, then realized that the Texas girl had a point. Pre-Columbian Central American ruling clans often mixed magic with more physical forms of power. Some of the Central American symbols and ideograms were supposed to be fraught with power. Best to start with something harmless.

"You seem to be adapting well," said Julia.

Daria glared at her. Are you asking me why I'm not in open revolt, she wondered.

"I don't see the point of running the mutineer's flag up the main mast just now," she said. "I'm still a kid and I don't have enough tools to make enough trouble. Yet."

-(((O-O)))—

Julia:

The pool closed for the afternoon, the campers showered and changed back into their shorts and tees, then began moving towards the main gate. Julia saw her Mum waving at her and walked over to her car.

"So how was day camp?" asked her Mum.

"Bearable," Julia replied. She would still rather not have had to go.

"Did you see much of your friend?" asked her Mum.

"Not that much," said Julia. "She and I are interested in different things. I think I saw about as much of her younger sister Quinn as I did of her."

"Who is Quinn?" asked her Mum. "Did we meet her at that restaurant?"

"No, that was her youngest sister," said Julia. "Quinn's the middle sister, the Muggle."

Her Mum took the news non-committally. "Changing the subject, I do have some good news," she said.

"What?" said Julia.

"Oswald has made contact with that local historian your friend told you about," said her Mum. "We'll be having dinner with him the day after tomorrow."

Author's Notes:

Camp Craig is based loosely on a couple of summer camps the author attended many years ago. My camp didn't include stone-carving or lanyard-making ac