Chapter Seven
"Ooohhh…" I sighed as I dipped my toes in the water. "This is truly spectacular," I said, lookin' 'round. At first I'd thought the little elf was crazy when we'd stepped in front of a brick wall and he'd told me this was where their pool was. I was just tellin' him I thought so, too, when a door appeared out of nowhere, scarin' the livin' daylights outta me and shuttin' me up.
"Ha-ha," I'd told him. "Now you're getting' a sense of humor, tryin' to play tricks an' such on me."
"No, Misses Evelyn. Wattie plays no ticks." His voice was just so darn sincere it scared me.
"Okay, I'm sorry. No tricks; got it. But remember you said you'd call me Evelyn, not Misses."
"You said call Misses Evelyn, so Wattie calls Misses Evelyn."
"Yeah, but— Oh forget it," I sighed, and he opened the door, revealin' somethin' I had not expected.
The whole freakin' room (if you could call it that) was like a huge shoreline with the massive amount of water stretchin' out for miles and miles in all directions. The water was a bright, clear crystal blue and really calm with the occasional waves here and there to show the water was actually movin'. The sky (yes, there was even a sky!) was clear of clouds and a baby blue and I could smell salt in the air and hear the cry of seagulls. The sand was a warm brown color and felt great on my bare feet. Wait…bare feet?
I looked down and saw that my clothes and shoes had melted away and were replaced with my favorite swimsuit from home. I had on bright orange workout shorts that had a teal blue trim and a dark purple streak that ran down both sides an' a tie-dye black an' grey bikini top that had metallic colors that made these weird designs that I loved. I had missed the feel of the sand between my toes and the hot sun on my back.
Despite everythin' that had happened, I laughed an' took off runnin' towards the water. When I was close enough, I jumped in the water, splashin' water everywhere, laughin' gleefully, lettin' my worries and sorrow drift away with the tide.
I waded out a bit farther, then dove under, swimmin' for as long as I could before I had to come up for air. When I finally resurfaced, I looked on the shore at Wattie, who was standin' there dutifully.
"C'mon in Wattie!" I yelled.
"Wattie cannot, Misses Evelyn," he called back solemnly.
"Why not? It's fun!"
"Wattie cannot swim."
"Oh," I said, frownin'. "Well, I can teach you!"
"Wattie does not think that is a good idea."
"C'mon! Don'tcha trust me? Besides, it'll be fun!" I dove back under, swimmin' back to the shore. When the water came up to 'bout waist-level, I held my arms out to him.
"C'mon!" I called to him like I would to a small, scared animal. "I won't hurt you."
"Wattie is not worried about Misses Evelyn hurting him. It is the water Wattie is worried about."
"But Misses Evelyn won't let the water hurt Wattie, so Wattie has nothin' to worry 'bout." Wattie thought 'bout this for a minute, then took a careful step forward.
"That's it!" I said encouragingly. He took another, then another, until the water was up to his ankles."
"Wattie does not want to go any farther."
"That's okay. We'll just take it one step at a—" Just then the door opened, and in walked a girl 'bout my age with bright, fiery red hair pulled back in a ponytail.
I sank into the water, tryin' to hide as Wattie rushed outta the water towards her, tryin' to distract the girl, but she'd already seen me.
"Ahoy out there!" she yelled, smilin' and wavin'.
"Hi," I called back, tryin' my best at a British accent, but failin' miserably.
She giggled and walked closer, then threw her stuff down on the sand an' waded in til the water reached her shoulders. "The water feels so nice after a long day of classes, huh?" Her tone and voice were welcoming and sweet, and her face showed that she was probably friendly.
"Yeah, I guess ya could say that."
She took a closer look at me. "I thought you looked different. You're not from around here, are you?"
"Do I look weird or somethin'?" I asked, lookin' down at myself.
She laughed. "No! Of course not! You look normal, but you sound—"
"Funny? Yeah, I know. It's a dead give-away."
"Are you from…" She seemed to think 'bout it, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! I know! You're American, from the south, right?"
My eyes widened. "Ya hit it right on the dot! How did ya—?"
"Same way I was able to picture this place," she said, gesturin' 'round us. "I visited Hawaii once."
"I lived there for awhile," I said. "It's beautiful."
"It is," she agreed. She offered me her hand. "I'm Lily Evans."
"Evelyn Steele," I said, shakin' her hand. I liked this girl, for some reason.
"Nice to meet you—"
"Misses Evelyn must leave now!" Wattie squeaked from the shore.
"Relax Wattie. I'm fine." Lily looked at the house elf, then at me with a confused look, but she didn't say anythin', which boosted her up a notch in my book.
"So, Evelyn," she said, floatin' on her back, "what house are you in?"
"House?" I asked, swimmin' out a bit deeper, as if the distance would hide my secrets better than I could. "Oh! House! Gryffindor," I said, quickly rememberin' the word, the type of student Wattie had changed me in to. I really needed to start readin'.
Lily sat up and looked over at me with a surprised look. "Really? Me too! What year?"
"Erm…" I looked over her head at Wattie, who was jumpin' up and down, tryin' to get my attention. I looked back at her and said honestly, "This's all so confusin'…"
She laughed. "It is. They must have a different system in the U.S."
"They do," I agreed, going along with that. Wattie kicked the sand in irritation an' plopped down in the sand, watchin' us carefully. "I'm sixteen, if that helps."
"Sixth year, then," she said. "Same as me! I've never seen you before, though."
"I just got here."
"Well that makes perfect sense! So how do you like it here?" Again, I was so happy she didn't ask what the hell I was doin' all the way over here.
"It's…different, for sure."
"Oh I bet," she said sympathetically. "I bet the time-change is the worst."
"You're not kiddin'," I groaned. "I just wanna find a nice dark corner and sleep for a day."
"And the jet-lag… Ugh!" She shuddered. "You poor girl."
I chuckled. "Thanks. But this place is a nice get-away, so I'm getting' better." I dove back under and did a couple of backflips before I resurfaced.
"It's nice to find someone else who likes the water; most of them are so damned obsessed with Quidditch."
"It's stupid an' I still don't understand," I nodded, pretendin' to feel the same way. But I hadn't gotten to that book yet, so I wasn't sure how I felt 'bout the…sport yet. "I mean, in the muggle world—"
I almost feared I'd used a really bad word by the way she reacted. "You've been in the muggle world?" she asked. "Well of course you have! You knew what a plane and jet-lag were. I'm so stupid!" She shook her head at herself. "Are you a muggle-born, too?"
I went out on a limb and said, "Yeah…?"
"Whoa. I am too! This is so cool. I'm so happy we met, Evelyn."
"Yeah. I haven't had a friend in awhile," I agreed. I was on a roll; all within a week I had made enemies with probably the most dangerous group in the world, and made my second friend. How cool was that?
"I can help you there," she said, her smile brighter than before. "I can show you around if you want, help you out, too, if you need it."
"Erm…well, that's really nice Lily, but I…I won't be goin' to actual real classes for awhile."
"Oh." Her face fell a little.
"Ya see, the schools back home were farther behind, so Dumbledore said he'd get me caught up before he released this unholy ball of terror on this poor lil' school," I lied.
"Well, if you can bring other unholy balls of terror down, then I'd say you'd be good for this school."
I grinned wickedly, and I told the truth, even though she couldn't possibly guess what I meant. "Oh trust me; that's exactly what I plan to do."
A/N: So…what'd ya think? Again, I'm so sorry I didn't get one more measly chapter done, but I'm unsure of where to go from here. So, any ideas? And if not, I'm sure I'll come up with something.
So, continue reviewin' guys! Next chapter(s) will be comin' two weeks from tomorrow!
Nike