Toujours Pur (dot) Net

THE BOATHOUSE There are actually no boats inside the Hogwarts boathouse. Blame Orsen Warren in 1872, a curious Ravenclaw who took a boat and never returned. Now it's only home to unused oars and fishing nets, but students still find the boathouse a nice place to hide, relax, or take a dip in the water.

The new school year was off to it's usual start like it was every year. Riley half expected the mood of the castle to be more muted after Bailey's death but for the most part everyone seemed to have coped well enough over the summer. One definite difference from last year though were the forthcoming N.E.W.Ts she would have to take at the end of the year and the professors were letting them know well in advance just how hard they were going to be.

When she finally had time to tear away from her growing stack of homework, Riley headed out to the grounds. After walking around the lake for a bit she found herself at the boathouse. Since spending most of her summer at Shell Cottage she began to naturally gravitate towards water because it was so calming. She walked through the abandoned and dusty boat house until she reached the dock inside and looked over at the water wondering how cold it could be in September.

Despite wanting to having fun his last year, N.E.W.T classes were catching up to Louis quicker than he'd planned. He'd always been someone to focus on his schoolwork, even if he didn't particularly enjoy it, so most of his time had been spent holed up in his dorm or the library and not out on the grounds. Finally, Louis decided there wasn't much more straight studying he could take -- he wasn't a Ravenclaw, for Merlin's sake -- and decided a trip out of the castle would be better than attempting to write another line of his essay. It didn't take Louis long to wander to the boathouse, having always liked it for the quiet and of course, the water that reminded him of home. He knew the lake wasn't exactly like the salty ocean where he lived, but it was close enough for him. As he made his way toward the dock inside the boathouse, he noticed someone else already there, and as he moved closer he quickly recognized Riley.

"Thinking about taking a swim?" he asked her jokingly, noticing her looking out over the water. Louis stood beside her at the edge of the dock and leaned down to skim a hand across the surface of the water, flicking droplets off his fingers as he straightened back up. "It's a bit chilly -- I don't know if I'd recommend it," he said with a shrug, but gave her a sideways grin. Despite the many times he'd come out to the boathouse over the years, he'd never actually taken a dip in the water but judging from the temperature right now, he was sure he really wouldn't want to.

Riley turned when she heard someone speak and was relieved to see that it was Louis and not someone who would have made her time in the boat house less relaxing. She smiled as he stood beside her and watched him test the water with his hand. "I wasn't planning on it," she said shaking her head. She looked down at the water still rippling from Louis disturbing it before looking at him again. "I've actually never gone in the lake before. The giant squid really freaked me out until about fourth year." Riley laughed, glancing at the water again and wondered if the giant squid ever came up to the dock.

Louis laughed at Riley's admission about being afraid of the squad, although he nodded. "Understandable," he agreed, but then said with a reassuring grin, "I think we're safe over here though." Louis sat down then, slipping off a shoe and sock to dip part of his foot in the water. "It's actually kind of nice," he admitted, rolling up his pant leg as he let his foot dangle deeper in the water. "But I've never gone in the lake either. Don't want to push it with the giant squid, you know? He might just decide to pay us a visit. But, don't worry, I'm sure we could take him." Louis said in mock seriousness, smiling lightly up at Riley. "Wanna give the water a try?" Louis asked, holding a hand up to her so that he could help her sit down if she wanted to dip her feet in with him too.

Riley watched Louis sit down and dip his foot into the water and smiled although feeling her nerves over the giant squid start to return. She looked at his hand and hesitated for a second before taking it; now seemed like a good time to face any fears she had left over the giant squid. Riley sat beside him and carefully smoothed out her skirt before slipping off her shoes and socks.

She slowly lowered her feet towards the water and pulled the back after she felt the cool water. After the initial shock of the cold wore off she dipped her feet in completely and the water started to feel more bearable. "I guess it's not so bad after a while," she said looking over at Louis with a smile.

Louis watched Riley hesitate, but grinned when she finally took his hand and sat down to dip her feet in too. He slid off his other shoe and sock and cuffed his pants as he put his other foot into the water. The cold was always a shock, but a nice one; he was used to it, honestly, growing up by the sea. Louis returned Riley's smile as she looked over to him and nodded in agreement. "That's why I like coming out here. It's --" he searched for the right adjective but kept coming up short, "nice." He shrugged, a little embarrassed, and looked away across the water for a moment before he turned back to Riley with a grin. "So, I guess you made it back, huh?" he said jokingly, half a question and half a statement, recalling their conversation during the summer about how her parents wanted to keep her away. "I'm glad," he added, teasing gone from his voice now, and smiled softly.

Riley watched Louis as he searched for the right word to describe the boat house and nodded in agreement when he called it 'nice.' It was nice and she wondered why never took really took the opportunity before to spend more time by the lake. "I'm glad I came back too," she said with another nod and a smile. "Of course it took a lot of bribing and I didn't convince my parents until I promised to write at least twice a week. Honestly, I don't know how much I'll have to say after a while besides: 'Don't worry, I haven't been kidnapped!'" She let out a laugh, finally being able to joke about her disappearance. It still weighed heavily on her but Riley was tired of letting it get to her so much and decided that laughing about it made things easier.

Louis hesitated at laughing at Riley's joke about kidnapping until he saw her grinning too, and was glad to know how much more comfortable she was getting with the subject. The change he'd seen come over her from when he'd first met her at the start of summer until now was quite drastic, but it certainly was for the better, which he was happy about. He smiled along with her at the quip and nodded in agreement. "I suspect that's what they're looking for. But if you come up short, you could always start going on about all the work we have studying for N.E.W.Ts this year," he told her seriously. "I'm sure they'll tell you to stop writing straightaway." Louis smirked at the words, sure that she was suffering under the undue amount of work just like he and all the other seventh years were.

"Now that would be interesting," she said with another laugh. "Especially since they have no idea what N.E.W.T.s are nor are they aware of what my courses cover." When Riley was younger she had tried to share with her parents what she was learning in her classes but they could never get a grasp on it and she eventually gave up trying. "If they're not initially freaked out by it then they'll stop reading out of boredom. I'll be pretty lucky if I memorize every detail we have to for those bloody exams."