| Details for Mud Club Lake Party |
| Summary: | The Mud Club decides that it's meeting will be about relieving some of the tension going around Hogwarts lately…with a lake party! |
| Date: | October 4, 1938 |
| Location: | Lake Shore, Hogwarts |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
        |
Hogwarts Lake Shore
This narrow crescent of grainy sand and smooth small beach stones spans east to west between the cliff face to the east and the large fortified stone campus perimeter wall to the west that runs north to south until it runs many yards into the water of the Black Lake itself and further off to the north. The only spot along the shore that isn't given completely to a topography of rocks and roots, the latter of which extend right out into the lake, it's a commonplace sight to see students hopping about on the rocks or skipping stones across the water.
A warm well kept fire pit has been created on the shore. A couple of long tables have been brought down as well, one has quite the spread of treats: tea, tea sandwiches and little tea cakes and cookies, it pays to have a Hufflepuff at the Helm of the club! On the other table are towels and robes that have a warming charm on them and a lotion that can be worn that will keep a swimmer warm in the Scottish Loch in October at. It also has some slight Grindylow repellent in it as well. The lotion lasts for about an hour. There are long sticks on a smaller table a safe closeness to the bonfire and a platter of fresh home-made marshmallows. Some large throw pillows have also been brought down along with mats and towels as well for people to sit more comfortable around the fire. There are also a couple of driftwood 'benches' as well. Quite the spread!
Kimiko skips excitedly down to the lake shore, a large towel tucked under one arm, and a small basket under the other. Her robes are thrown over her shoulders for warmth, as she is otherwise wearing only sandals and a scarlet one-piece swimsuit with a pleated skirt. "I brought more biscuits. Where would you like them, Crocker?"
Niko comes down the way, a piece of paper in his hand, with his horrible scribbling on it, he looks around and nods, the warm smile on his face, "I think I have the time and place right…" he says softly to himself, as he makes it over to the tables and looks at everything slowly, rubbing his chin, be quiet for now.
Adam is one of the first to arrive… another good thing about having the club's leader in your house is that you hear about these things before anyone else! He's sat down on one of the benches and waves to those who approach, while munching on a sandwich. "I'd say you do," he says to Niko.
Briar beams at Kimiko from where she's standing in the center of it all do that pointing and calculating and pre-party once over to make sure that everything is where it needs to be. "You look so cute Kim! Over there on that table, thank you for bringing them! Never such a thing as too many cookies." Yes COOKIES! Take that Brits! The American import gives her one big smile and gestures about explaining to all, "Help yourself to whatever, and just make sure not to swim past the buoys. We'll be having campfire time in an hour or so. Hey Niko, welcome."
Kimiko giggles softly, echoing, "Cookies. That's so cute." She finds a clear spot on the table, opening up the basket just in time for a few younger students to come raid the sweets. She beams a smile over at Niko, waving. "Hey, Denholm! The Gryffindor contingent grows."
Niko smiles softly, "Ah well not planning to swim." he says slowly with a nod, "Not really my thing, but glad to be here to support the club, though dunno how long I will actually be around today, might need to slip off, got some studying to do on potions." he says softly with a nod, "Oh, Hey Saito!" he says offering her a small wave in greeting as he picks up a a cookie and takes a bite, "How are you doing?" he asks softly, the warm smile on his face.
Josie is just a few moments late, running down to the lake shore pretty fast, only slowing as she gets closer to the tables. She, too, is wearing a swimsuit under her Gryffindor robes, though hers is a simple red one. Smiling, she waves to Briar as she arrives, "Hi!"
Soon after classes dismissed on the afternoon, Chris wandered discretely, and with a casual air, toward the lake. He is still fully dressed, even wearing his robe. Although the club is new, it already has attracted some atttention, both good and bad, throughout the school, especially because it appeared soon after the formation of the Magijugend, and almost certainly as an answer to it. Perhaps he is merely curious. Perhaps he is there to spy. Perhaps he has opinions that would be at odds with his pureblood status. The only certain thing is that he lurks far enough away to observe without drawing attention to himself for now.
Adam nods. "Me neither… Didn't bring any swimming clothes," he points out, before looking toward Josie as she shows up. "Hello… it's getting to be like Africa here with all these lions," he adds with a laugh. "Though it's no problem, is it?" he asks, turning toward Briar. "Of course not."
Kimiko beams a bright smile back at Niko. "Well, I was doing fine, until you said you're not going to swim. Come oooon, Denholm. It's a lake party. You have to swim." Josie and Christmas gets an excited wave as well. Kimi's Gryffindor pride is threatening to burst again.
Niko brings up his hand and rubs the back of his hand softly, with a chuckle as the comment about all the lions comes, "Well I like to think of it as a good deal of good people." he says softly, with a warm smile at Adam, he picks up another cookie and moves and pours himself a cup of tea adding some sugar and cream to it, before taking a small sip, his attention turns back to Kimiko, "Well…" he says softly, looking around from person to person, "I do not know how to swim." he says slowly with a nod.
Briar grins over at Josie when she arrives though a moment later she's crack up laughing that Kimiko thinks the word 'cookies' is cute. "You know, never thought about it, but you're right! It is a pretty cute word." Bobbing her head with a smirk she then waves off the boys, "Bah, I'll make sure you get dry, it's a simple charm and POOF all dry. Hate to see you guys want to swim but not because of a little thing like not having swimwear."
Josie waves back to Kimiko too, and smiles, saying again, "Hi." She looks to Niko then and says, "Stay in the shallow area then. If you stay shallow enough, you don't have to worry, but it can still be fun."
Kimiko blinks in surprise at Niko. "Oh…well," she glances over to the lake, then back to the young man. She keeps her voice soft, offering with a hopeful smile. "I could teach you? Not that I'm some great swimmer. But it's a good skill to have. You know, just in case."
Chris had not expected for someone to spot him so soon, but when Kimiko waves, he does edge nearer and answers with a smile and a wave. When other Gryffindors arrive, he meanders closer to the table and eyes the selection of biscuits, the pot of tea and its entourage of cups, and the other items waiting.
"You can do that?" Adam asks, surprised at Briar. "…I mean, of course you can. We just haven't gotten to that yet," he adds, looking toward Chris as he approaches. "I'm sure I'll learn it sometime."
Niko looks down at the cookies and tea, taking another sip of his tea he sighs softly, the always present warm friendly smile on his face. "Well I suppose, I could give it a try." he says taking another bite of his cookie looking at Kimiko, "Though I lack a swim suit." he notes, with a chuckle, "Maybe another time?" he says softly, before noticing Chris, "Oh, Hey Weaver." he says softly with a nod to him, "The tea is excellent if you were wondering." he says with a smile.
Briar gives Chris a big warm and welcoming smile, "Welcome! Thinking about joining our little support group?" To Adam she gives a wink, "Yep! You should consider joining the Domestics Club if you're interested in these little tricks. I nearly died of joy when I first learned that I never had to hand fold my clothes again!" With a chuckle she gives the first year another wink and then picks up one of the cookies Kimiko brought for a big bite and swoon. "MMmmm Cookies." She says the word again for Kimiko for cute factor.
Kimiko shrugs off her robe, folding it up to place it safely on a stone. She shakes her head firmly at Niko. "Oh, come now. We can fetch you something from the Club Room. The Athletics Club does swimming, doesn't it? I'm sure they have spare swimwear. That goes for you, too, Christopher Weaver." She puts her hands on her hips, grinning at both boys…and giggling softly when Briar says "cookies" again.
Josie nods quickly and says, "Athletics does swimming, yep! That's why I have my suit, but there's more up there I think." And, thanks to the club, she recognizes the lotion to protect against the cold lake water, putting some on quickly before leaving her robes behind and running into the water.
"Ohhhh," Adam says, with a slow nod, looking up toward the castle. "I need some too," he adds to Kimiko. "Don't want to be left out after all," he says, grinning as Josie heads out to the lake.
Chris steps closer to the table when he sees Niko. "Denholm!" he greets, "You guessed well enough. I was thinking about the pot and the biscuits," he admits with a chuckle. When Briar greets him as well, he looks to her and smiles. "AFter all of the talking about such things, I thought that I should look into it." Then he looks to Kimiko. "I wasn't sure, but—" he starts, but then he grins when she mentions finding spare suits. "Why not? It's a good way to start a Hogsmeade Weekend, eh?" He leans against the table and starts to pull off his shoes.
Niko sighs deeply, defeated. "You win, Saito." he says softly, "I will be back in a second let me run off to the club room…" he says trying to look depressed, but the warm pleasant smile on his lips says otherwise. He hooks his hands behind his head and starts to make off back towards the castle, only to take a wrong turn and get locked in an old classroom on accident for hours.
Kimiko puts her hands to her mouth, calling after Niko. "Grab some for Weaver an-…bother. I don't think he heard me." She turns to a nearby Third Year, smiling sweetly. "You've still got your shoes on. Could you be a dear and tottle up to the Club Room and fetch some swimming suits? Bring extra, in case more show up without them. Don't worry about sizes, they should be self-adjusting." She gives the younger boy a grateful smile as he heads off. "There. Now everyone can swim."
Chris has almost finished with his second shoe when he hears the call. "Saito-san, I can go so that he can stay and enjoy more swimming," he offers while he begins to pull his shoes back onto his feet. "How many suits do you want? I should think that a dozen might be good to start."
Kimiko nods happily to Chris. "A dozen should be more than enough. Thank you!" Having successfully goaded her Gryffindors into swimming, it's time to take to the water herself. Bounce down the shore, Kimiko hits the water…squeaks…and rushes back! "Forgot the warming lotion!"
Josie giggles as she looks back to Kimiko, "Gotta have that! This lake's always cold." She seems to be having fun, swimming out and diving under the water. She stays within the area Briar said to, of course, but otherwise she's energetic and highly mobile as she swims around.
While he waits for the swimsuits to get here, Adam starts taking off the outer part of his robes, laying them carefully beside him, then rubs the warming lotion on his arms while watching the others.
Briar pops up from under the water and lightly starts splashing about towards Josie and Kimiko once she's back in the water. "Maybe play a game of Marco Polo?" She asks and looks about to see what sort of reaction that gets. "Or we can do Chicken Fights, so long as it's kept clean and fun!"
Kimiko rubs down the remainder of her arms with the lotion as she approaches the water again, this time with a bit more trepidation. "Chicken fights? I assume you don't mean with real chickens." One never knows, between the strangeness of Americans and the strangeness of Hogwarts.
Adam grins. "If we ended up fighting chickens, I'd probably do better than any of you," he says. "Unless the rest of you've spent more time on the farm than me. But I doubt that!"
Chris returns to the lakeside with a veritable mountain of swimits in his arms, along with his own robe and clothes folded on top of them. He is already dressed in a swimsuit. He finds a good spot and leaves the spare suits there. He removes his own shoes and clothing from the top of the pile, and places them off to one side. "That should be enough," he calls to Kimiko. He steps to the table and takes a small bottle of the lotion to slather over his arms and legs before he strides toward the water's edge. He hears Adam's words and queries, "What are you going on about fighting chickens, Irving?"
Briar laughs and shakes her head, "No, it's when people pair up and one person gets up on the shoulders of another person and the people up top wrassle around trying to knock over the other team. It's fun if people don't get all overly competitive and too too forceful." A smile is angled over to Adam, "You are from a farm? Very nice. Our girl Jojo lives on a farm too." She points out in a manner that is aimed at pointing out something in common between two friends that don't know each other well. "Marco Polo is a much less contact game. But it's very fun. One person is selected it, I can do it to start off. I keep my eyes closed and call out 'Marco' everyone must then call out 'Polo'. I then try to swim and tag someone else, if I tag them then they are then it. Because we're in a lake and not a pool, there'll be no 'Fish out of water' meaning everyone must stay at least waist deep in the water. So, should we? Or does someone else have a suggestion."
Josie grins to Briar as she wipes wet hair from her eyes, "Yeah, I've played both before, they're fun." Then she nods quickly to the mention of living on a farm, "Right over there," and she points across the lake to Hogsmeade. "Used to live in London, though. Learned to swim in the Thames. Made things a lot harder than this lake."
Kimiko's eyes widen at Josie. "You swam in the Thames? Brave girl." She eases into the water, smiling as the lotion staves off most of the lake's chill. "Oh, that's niiiice. So, those games sound like fun. I don't think I could hold many people on my shoulders, though."
Adam rushes to the swimsuits as Chris returns. "Thanks for bringing them," he says as he picks one out. "I love swimming you know… Just didn't think I'd be doing it in October," he explains with a laugh.
Chris is wading into the water while Briar explains the games to everyone. "You wouldn't, Saito," he calls with a shake of his head. "You would sit on someone else's shoulders, like mine, almost as if you were riding a broom." He reaches to pat his own left shoulders while he explains. He turns and nods to Adam. "I wasn't expecting this either, but I'm glad for it, and glad to bring the suits." Then he looks around at the others. Then he nods to Briar and assures, "I'm game for either, or if someone else has a better idea, we'll see about that."
Briar is wearing quite the style of the age black one piece suit with the attached skirt. Her prefect badge is secured on the strap and her hair is worn up. "So all in favor of Marco Polo say, Polo! All in favor of playing chicken say, Bawkaw!" She bawkaws like a chicken and can't help but chuckle at herself.
Josie thinks a moment, looking around at the others and then says, laughing, "Polo bawkaw!" In other words, she doesn't really care but just wants to play.
Once Kimiko gets over the giggle fit at all the chicken sounds, she can't help but add her own, "Bakaw!" She grins over at Josie. "I could play either…but I really wanted to shout BAKAW!"
Adam ran off to find a safe place to change into his own swimsuit before returning. "It doesn't matter to me what we do," he says. "But I guess Kim just wants to play chicken impressions," he notes with a grin. "That'd be fine by me."
"I think that the school is missing a mascot with all of these would-be chickens," Chris laughs. Then he looks at each of the others. "I would be happy with either," he repeats. "I'll vote for Chicken as long as we agree to include the sounds." With that, he looks at Kimiko, and grins. Then he looks to Briar, and suggests, "So, she probably should pick partners and head for the waist-high water."
Briar hmms and nods, "Shame Niko had Potions… How about first round, It'll be me and Josie, Chris and Adam? Then whoever loses will be under Kimiko. Yes, sound affects required." Wading in deeper she waves over Josie, "Kim, if you would officiate?"
Kimiko blinks. "Officiate? Um…alright. Well…we need rules, then. No punching, kicking, eye-gouging, or other unnecessary roughness. Just…what, grappling? I'm sorry, I've never done this before."
Josie giggles and nods quickly to Chris, but then says to Briar, "Ok!" She swims over closer to Briar, and looks to Kimiko at the rules, nodding again, "Yeah, it's mainly pushing and pulling."
Adam thinks. "Sounds good," he says, approaching Chris. "You're older, so… I suppose you'll have to carry me then," he notes. "So up we go."
Chris nods to briar and then steps further into the water, but not too far. He crouches and waits, giving a nod to Adam. "All aboard, Adam!" he calls. "We have a challenge to meet! BAWKAW!"
Briar grins and gives Josie a wink before she plunges herself under the water and lifts her arm above the surface to help Josie get perched on top of her shoulders like a child upon a parent's shoulders at some parade. Soon as Josie is situated, hopefully as quickly as possible! Briar comes popping up out of the water with a mightily bellowed, "BAWCAW!"
Adam climbs up onto Chris's back, giving a dramatic call of "Bu-CAAAW!" as he points towards the others. "Let the battle begin!"
Josie takes hardly any time at all to settle on Briar's shoulders, her excellent sense of balance helping here. "Bacaw!," she calls as well, laughing.
Kimiko is having some difficulty controlling the fits of laughter, but finally manages to signal the competitors to begin with an arc of her arm and a loud, "BAKAW!"
Briar wades closer to the stacked up boys clucking with every step and her elbow flap about splashing the water around her. "BaaaCAW!" Is angled up at Josie, translation: 'Get'm!'
So Elise brought her own bathing suit — an old-fashioned sort of thing that's rather like a short sleeveless dress. It's a bright blue with white ribbon trim around the bottom half — not that anyone's had a chance to get more than a glimpse. Matching blue ribbons keep her hair up in curling pigtails behind her ears. She's been here the whole time, really, rather shyly hiding beneath her fluffy white towel, with just her feet in the water. She's grinning, watching all the antics.
On the shore Professor Viridian is watching the goings on in the lake with a peakly arched up single eyebrow. He watches for a few moments just to make sure that, "No killing each other, that would entirely make the Headmaster's day. Good form children. Good form." There's a tick of a quirk to one corner of his lip before he returns to his portable lap desk where he's working on his new book.
Chris rises once Adam has settled on his shoulders, and strides forward into the water. He circles slowly around Briar and Josie, watching them carefully and keeping Adam as balanced as possible while he studies the opposition.
Adam looks focused as well, though he also seems somewhat impatient as he waits for things to actually get physical. He's not about to let the girls beat him, after all. He notices the professor and smiles, making sure to be on his best behavior while the professor was around.
Kimiko bounces in the water, waving her arms in the air. "Come ooooon, Davies! Show them what a girl can do!" Not to show favouritism, she roots on her other fellow Gryffindor. "Go, Weaver, go! Hold him tight!"
Waiting for just a moment, Josie watches Adam, sizing him up. And then, when they're close enough, she reaches forward, going on the 'attack'. She's careful not to scratch or the like, but once the 'battle' is started, she's playing to win, trying as hard as she can to knock Adam into the water.
Adam presses forward; he definitely wants to win, but also tries to not hurt his opponents. But he seems to shove pretty hard this time- maybe harder than he expected!
Chris glances once up to Adam, and then grips the boy's shins tightly to keep him in place. Then he braces with his feet wide apart to improve the balance. After Adam lunges, Chris recoils slightly with his own body to counteract the forwrad motion and keep his rider on his shoulders.
Briar is foiled by plants! How apropos! A bit of lake grass tickles the back of her knee just when Josie is getting a good shove. The thought that it's a Grindylow or something else getting a bit fresh down there makes her becaw out like the sound of a cartoon chicken that's just laid a massive egg! But the exclamation turns burbled because said tickled knee buckles and bloop! Into the cold drink she flops.
Kimiko squeals with delight, clapping happily. "Adam and Chris are the winners! And let's hear it for Josie and Briar! Good sports!"
"Meep!" Elise squeaks, yanking her towel up to cover her mouth when Briar's team loses so quickly. She's got knobby knees.
Josie lets out a yelp as she suddenly finds herself falling into the water. She swims away from Briar quickly so she doesn't keep her from surfacing again, and then starts to laugh, "Almost had you!"
Briar spurts a bit of water out of her mouth when she resurfaces without incident and then baccaaawwwws sadly. But then she smiles and reaches to shake the other pairs hands. "Good job." She then gives a regretful expression towards Josie, "I'm sorry Jojo! I thought a Grindylow was getting fresh."
"Good show! Jolly good show!" Chris calls with a laugh when Josie falls into the water. While balancing Adam on his shoulders, he looks to Briar and nods. "Well done," he congratulates her while he reaches to shake her hand.
Adam gives a hearty "Cock-a-doodle-doo!" of victory. "That definitely was fun… you're not hurt at all, I hope?" he asks the girls. "I think I pushed harder than I was thinking I would. I guess my arms wanted to win!"
"No harm done, I think," Kimiko surmises. "So, how does this work now, Crocker?"
Briar shakes her head as she pats her hair into place. "Not hurt at all. More so tickled. You did good Adam!" Then she smirks over to Kimiko, "You get to pick either Jo or I, decide who's on top and try to beat the champions, Oh Elise! Hey! Or you can team up with Elise." She shrugs grinning, for a game with rules, Briar's very cavalier about all of this. Whatever will make it fun for others.
"Sure," Elise says. She ever-so-carefully sets her towel down and wades deeper into the water. With her arms crossed over her chest, while she bites her lip.
"Oh! I could manage Elise on my shoulders…I think." Kimiko is fairly tiny, even for a Sixth Year. She crouches down in the water to make it easier for Elise to get on her shoulders. "We'll show these boys a thing or two!"
Chris looks toward elise when she sets aside the towel and wades into the water. Her crossed arms and the biting of her lip prod his eyebrows to rise. "Did you put some of that warming lotion on yourself?" he asks. "If you're cold, you definitely should do that. It held much!" Then he grins at Kimiko's taunt, and he coutners, "We'll see about that, but even so, it's all for good fun!" He glances upward again to Adam, and then he adds, "This should be interesting."
Josie grins and cheers as Elise agrees, "Go Elise! You can get him." She swims back to be out of the way, but mainly just treads water, staying in place to watch this second round of the game.
Adam nods. "This'll be easy though," he says. "Shouldn't be much harder than last time anyway…" Of course, we'll see.
"I… I have the warming lotion on," Elise says. Her cheeks are a bit pink. Finally, she uncrosses her arms in order to climb up on Kimiko's shoulders - she's awfully tiny, herself, and skinny. She keeps her shoulders hunched, looking awkward. Oh, look, there's teeny tiny bumps on her chest. Awwwwkaaaaarrrrrrrddd… Just… so awkward. But clearly, despite her self-conscious slouch, she's ready to play this game and at least try to win.
Chris nods to Elise and smiles. "You'll be fine," he encourages. Once more, he glances upward and advises Adam, "Watch out for those little ones. They can be more than you think." He looks toward Kimiko, waiting for her to give the signal, When she does, he braces for the next round.
Elise trusts Kimiko to keep her up, and reaches out with her hands, fingers spread, ready to grapple. It's a short, wobbly battle, and soon enough Elise is flying backwards off of Kimiko's shoulders. "Eee—" SPLASH!
When Elise hits, for one so small, she exerts surprising force, causing Chris to reel backward. He struggles to maintain his balance, but his foot finds a slippery rock. His legs flip forward and his torso flips backward, sending both him into the water with a loud splash of water. He reacts quickly, rolling onto his stomach, only to bob to the surface several feet away. He grins and looks around him, counting heads. Then he swims toward the shore.
Adam laughs as he reemerges from the water. "Hey… looks like a tie!" he says. "That was a good one… I thought we were about to lose, so a tie works fine for me."