skipping stones

[Cady Berg]

Cady made her way over to the lake, enjoying the warm, sunny August day. She'd just recently arrived at Hogwarts and was a little early as classes hadn't started just yet, but she didn't mind. She felt at home on the castle grounds. She came from a Muggle town and a Muggle family (not counting one of her brothers), and she was used to having to hide who she was and discard her magical identity in the neighborhood. Not that she was old enough to practice magic outside of school anyway, but if she lived with magic folk, she could feel... well... more honest. More herself. Hogwarts meant magic and a sense of home very different from home itself, but it was still just as welcoming and endearing. And the lake had always been a comforting and familiar place to her, so it remained her first destination to visit once she returned from summer break.

Cady approached the water's edge and scooped up a rock, flat and rounded at the edges, pulled back her arm and then let it go with a flick of her wrist. The rock caught the surface of the water and bounced across and away from her before sinking into the lake. She was getting better. Her older brothers apparently thought this a sport worth investing in, and she'd been ridiculed for being a "terrible stone-skipper." Hating to be outdone, Cady had spent a lot of time practicing skipping stones. She was determined to defeat them at their games next summer, even though they'd probably be onto something else by then...

Man, the weather was nice. The fourth year wondered why there were so few people out here. She guessed it was still early to be coming back to Hogwarts; a lot of students had probably not returned yet. Still, it would be nice to have someone to share the sunny day with.

[Riley O'Connor]

Riley walked around the edge of the lake. Thinking. She'd been doing that alot lately. Mostly thinking about friends and how she should attempt to make more. It seemed the whole thing was at a stand still. She was beginning to feel the lonliness that was her existence creep back in. She didn't like the feeling. She had gotten used to the idea of becoming more of a social butterfly. Even if she was the most akward butterfly that existed.

The lake was deserted. She liked it like that generally. But today, it seemed odd. Riley plopped down in the soft grass and pulled off her sandels. She ran her feet through the green blades and wiggled her toes. Maybe this isn't so bad. She smiled to herself. She laid back in the grass and stared at the blue sky, making funny pitures out of the cottony clouds. She used to do that when she was little. With her mother. She wasn't sure why she remembered that, but she did. She didn't remember many things about her mother, and she never was sure how to feel about the things she did faintly recall. Riley closed her eyes, shutting out the memories. That was something she would rather not think about. Not today at least.

[Moki Kagawa]

Moki was enjoying the nice day. She decided she had wreaked enough havok on the building for the day (and Filch's veins were popping out just a little too much for her liking - she really needed to slow down, it was a long year, after all) and had decided to take a walk. She was feeling serenely happy, something she didn't experience often. Usually it was a devious kind of excitement that filled her, happy in its own existence, but it wasn't lasting satisfaction. Just a thrill. Her life was a series of thrills, really, but she liked it that way. She realized she liked this, though, just a little awkwardly, and turned a cartwheel out of pure delight in the grass. She giggled somewhat madly, and she took off running.

The feel of the wind against her face as she ran was exhilarating. Her feet beat against the ground as she smiled; it was warm, but not too warm - and she loved to run. Moki saw the lake up ahead, and decided it would be nice to dip her feet in. She slowed down as she neared the edge, noticing a girl slightly in the distance who was skipping rocks on the river. She'd always wanted to know how to do that. Seriously, always. But she hadn't ever been able to figure out how to do it, and the one time she'd attempted it, she'd hit an unfortunate swimmer, evoking a not-so-nice response. She approached the girl nonchalantly.

"Hey, that's awesome!" she commented. Moki bit her lip, cocking her head to the side shyly. "Do you think you could teach me...?"

[Cady Berg]

After skipping a few more stones, Cady grew bored with the whole endeavor and sighed, turning around to survey the surrounding area, arms crossed over her chest. Nope... still looked pretty deserted... oh, wait a sec.

There was a girl, apparently an older one if her first glance served to be correct, lying on her back in the grass. So, she wasn't alone after all. With a smile, Cady headed over in her direction. She didn't have a very wide circle of friends here at Hogwarts, but it wasn't because she was shy—on the contrary, she was quite a self-confidant and forward person. Perhaps people could be put off by that, mistaking it for arrogance, but the fourth year truly meant no harm. She just didn't really care much for other peoples' opinions of her. For the most part, she would do what she wanted to do, and people could like her or not like her.

Cady didn't really make too many efforts to make herself socially known, but that didn't mean she couldn't chat up a stranger, maybe make a few new friends. Finally nearing the girl's resting spot, she threw herself down on the grass alongside her, a short distance away. She watched the clouds inch by for a moment before turning her head to see the girl she'd hopefully not just disturbed.

"Hey! I'm Cady. I don't really know what to do with myself before classes start, really. You too, by the looks of it, huh?"

[Riley O'Connor]

Riley jumped a little at the shock of the girl landing next to her. Her eyes fluttered opened and she turned her head, finding her self face-to-face with a younger Gryffindor girl.

"Hey! I'm Cady. I don't really know what to do with myself before classes start, really. You too, by the looks of it, huh?"

"Yeah," Riley laughed. "I'm Riley. And I am very bored. Is it that odvious?" She hated looking needy for companionship, even if she was. She didn't want sympathy. Riley sat up and pulled her knees underneath her. She picked at a tiny white flower growing in the green grass.

[Mike Blaze]

Mike Blaze, who for the first time this year took advantage of the lake's cool water to swim. He was on the complete other side, away from the castle, he could see the lawns near the castle clearly, but he liked this part of the lake alot better. He had left his shirt, bag, towel, and shoes on the edge of the lake a few yards away from where people sat, he figured no one would bother it anyhow. He finally grew bored and swam to where his stuff lay, he pulled himself so that his arms rested on the grass, body still in the water, he laid his head on his arms for a minute, taking in the warmth of the sun on his back, he pulled himself up all the way finally, and he lay on the edge he took the towel and threw it over him to begin the drying process, he turned his head looking at the Quidditch Pitch, a few fliers, probably Slytherins because he knew today was the house of Slytherin's time for the pitch to fly or what not, he sat up, putting on his shirt, he usually wore the school's buttoned down white shirt with tie but today he figured he'd go a bit muggle and wore one of his favorite rock band shirts, with the words Avenged Sevenfold on the front. He got up and continued drying and put his shoes on.

[Cady Berg]

Cady grinned at Riley and shrugged the best she could while lying flat on her back. "Yeah, it does, but I don't look like I'm having any more fun than you, so don't worry. I actually almost want classes to start. What year are you going into?"

"Hey, that's awesome! Do you think you could teach me...?"

Cady blinked the sun out of her eyes and sat up a little, seeing a Slytherin girl who looked to be her age. Judging by the question, the girl had apparently seen her skipping stones out on the water... lying down on the grass wasn't exactly a teachable skill, or really a skill at all.

"Oh, yeah, sure!" she agreed, nodding and combing out her hair with her fingers since it had been mussed up a bit by the grass. Turning to Riley, she explained, "I was skipping stones before I came over here. You can join us, if you'd like? We'll make it a team effort." She smirked a little before rising to her feet and brushing dirt and grass blades from her clothes. As she gathered her hair into a ponytail, she noticed a boy who'd apparently come to take a dip in the water. She had no idea who he was, but hey, what was the harm?

"Hey! Guy I don't know!" Cady called, waving her hand. "Seeing as we're the only people at the lake, would you like to join us? We're just hanging out and er... skipping stones, I guess," she said with a smile, glancing at the other two girls.

[Riley O'Connor]

Riley looked up at the Slytherin girl she didn't know. She looked nice. She decided she would join in the effort to skip stones, something she wasn't gifted at doing.

"Hey! Guy I don't know!"

Riley turned her head to the guy coming out of the water. "Mike," she told the girls aloud. "That's Mike." She blushed for knowing that, she wasn't sure why. But she blushed at alot of things, so it didn't seem too odd.

[Mike Blaze]

"Hey! Guy I don't know!" Cady called, waving her hand.

Mike's attention was stolen from the Quidditch Pitch as he looked down examining the group of girls, three of them by the looks of it, two fourth years, a Slytherin and Gryffindor. The third girl was Riley. He studied the faces of the two girls he didn't know, until he turned his head, gazing in to the sky. Skipping stones... he hadn't done that for years, last time he did it anyhow, he sucked majorly at it. Sad to say, his two younger sisters were most definetly more gifted at the hobby, sport, or whatever people called it, activity even?

He rolled over and pushed himself up, rising to his feet, he put his towel inside his bag. He began his walk towards the castle. He watched the girls skipping stones for a few moments, then watched the water as the stone disturbed its surface. On his way to the castle, he was passing by the group of girls, so he figured he'd stop. "Riley," he said nodding, with a small smile, he hadn't talked to Riley much since a few nights previous on their little walk near the lake when Riley had confessed a few things.

[Moki Kagawa]

"Hey, what're your names?" Moki asked of the two girls as Mike approached. "I'm Moki... I'm in fourth year." She drifted into her own thoughts for a moment and laughed. "Good thing Mike decided to end his swim before I started trying to skip rocks. Last time, I nailed a dude with one..."

[Cady Berg]

Cady nodded, acknowledging Riley's comment. "Mike, okay. Come join us, Mike!" Turning to the Slytherin girl, she grinned. "Oh, wow. Hope he didn't get a concussion or anything. I'm Cady, by the way." As they neared the water, she began to scan the area for rocks, finally selecting one and grabbing it up from the ground. "Okay, so the first thing you gotta do is find a good rock. Flat, smooth, not edgy." She lifted it for the other girls to see and turned it from side to side. "Sort of like this one."

Cady extended her arm. "Now look, you have to hold it like this... make a C with your pointer and thumb. And try to throw it low and parallel to the water's surface. Pull back... and let go!" She released the rock and watched, face set in determination, as it skipped a few times before sinking beneath the surface.

"I'm not that good, but you just gotta get the hang of it, get the stance right and all." She glanced behind her to see Mike and Riley, whom apparently knew each other and seemed to be having a somewhat weird exchange of hello's. Interesting...

Shaking her head, Cady turned her attention to the Slytherin. "Wanna try?"

[Moki Kagawa]

"Yeah!" Moki bent over, searching the ground for a decent rock. Locating one, she picked it up and recalled what Cady had just said. "Okay... C shape...parallel, back, and... let go!"

Moki wasn't sure how she managed it, but somehow the rock found itself BEHIND her, slamming against a tree.

"Oh, good lord. Okay, I'm trying again..." she concentrated hard, this time managing to send the rock in the right direction, but it plopped rather unsatisfactorily into the water, scaring some fish. "ARGH! I fail at this!" She picked up another rock and flung it across the water. It skipped.

"Oh, that's great. That's just great. I try doing it right and I hit people in the head. Then I just chuck one and it skips like a pro. That's brilliant." She scowled for a moment before bursting out into laughter.

Moki turned around, looking at Cady, who was staring rather absently at the other girl and Mike. "Hey...... you think something's going on between them?" she whispered mischievously.

[Cady Berg]

Cady had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing when the girl flung the stone behind her. How had that even happened? "Try... try again," she managed to get out from behind her hand, taking a deep breath and swallowing thickly to recompose herself.

The Slytherin managed to get the rock into the water that time, albeit with no skipping success. "Better that time!" Cady quipped with a smirk. "Keep trying!" The girl then took up a rock in frustration and was stunned (and a little peeved) to see it skip across the water with grace.

"Good job!" Cady cheered before dissolving into laughter with the Slytherin. "Maybe you just had to learn not to try so hard... ?" Grinning, the Gryffindor took in a deep breath in an effort to dull the pain her convulsing abs were experiencing at the moment. "Moki you said, right? You just have natural, untaught talent I suppose." She smiled warmly at her. "It took me forever to learn how to do this, and I still fail when up against my brothers..." Cady pouted and glared out at the water as if her brothers were mocking her somewhere in the distance.

"Still, it's a good way to waste time, don'tcha think?" she asked, snapping out of her dark, brooding moment and scooping up a rock which she sent skipping across the water.

[Moki Kagawa]

"Indeed," Moki said. "But don't worry. I probably won't be able to do it again." She practiced a bit more standing next to Cady. While only the rare rock skipped this time, she counted it as a success that she didn't injure anyone in the attempt.

"It took me forever to learn how to do this, and I still fail when up against my brothers..."

"Well, don't worry," Moki said. "Brothers are like that... once, I went on vacation with my friend and her brother bet her ten bucks she couldn't throw a rock across the river, right? So anyway, my friend totally pwned him and then he wouldn't pay her... because he said she cheated or something, I dunno. It really sucked, though. Like, she didn't get the ten bucks! And she actually needed it, 'cause she just spent a bundle on DVDs before they went on vacation..." Moki realized she was rambling incessantly and shut up. "So, you're in my year, right?"

[Mike Blaze]

"Mike, okay. Come join us, Mike!"

Mike had been standing, watching the girls skip the rocks, with not too much interest, "No thanks, I'll pass." he said at the girl's offer. [iBrothers are like that[/i], Mike smirked at this. The story was almost exactly like himself, when it came to his two younger sisters. As he stood there, watching the girls, he couldn't help hearing the conversations held between them, this Slytherin girl, Moki, he thought he recalled from his previous meeting with her in the Hospital Wing before, she seemed to have most stories to tell.

The young Gryffindor girl, Cady, seemed to be the best at skipping stones out of all of them, and he meant all of them, including himself, he hadn't done this in years, and didn't intend to start again. Cady reminded Mike alot of Alison, the oldest of his two younger sisters, she was the best stone skipper back in Austrailia, still was, although, Mike hadn't seen her do it in a while, since they didn't live near a body of water in London.