Once upon a time...

Nathalie skimmed another rock along the surface of the black lake and watched the squid catch it in mid-air. She was beginning to become very disheartened, she really wanted to know how far she could skip a rock, but every time it went more than 10 feet out the stupid squid would snatch it.
"Would you at least let it get 15 feet?!"
Nathalie screeched angrily now hurling rocks at the creature no longer trying to be dainty and cute. There had been a very cute quidditch player wandering around and she had wanted to show off a bit but was having no luck thanks to this darn squid.
She loosened her blue striped tie around her neck and slid the worn sweater off her thin frame and hurled the next rock as hard as she possibly could, this time managing to nick one of the squids tentacles.
"Ahaha! finally!"
She screamed in pure ecstasy, she began to do a very native looking dance as she jumped about in circles at her achievement, only to be stopped a moment later as a rock was hurled at her head. It clocked her right in the forehead and she stood in utter shock and stared blankly at the pond...
"Has a squid just beaten me..."
She asked no one in particular

Esther had her jumper tied around her waist as she walked outside, she had been meaning to take it off before she came outside but had been half-way down the stairs by the time she had remembered she was already half-way down the staircase and could not be bothered going all of the way back to the common room to take it off. It was a fairly nice day, with the sun shining down. She headed in the direction of the lake, smiling amused as she watched Nathalie yell at the giant squid. "I don't think that's going to do much," She said walking down next to the girl, pushing her sleeves up her arms.

Nathalie jumped almost a foot in the air, her blue eyes going as wide as saucers.
"Are you out of your bloody mind!? That squid is out to get me and you're sneaking up on people!?!"
She threw a weak hit at Esther and then followed it with an even weaker smile. She then very ungraciously fell to the ground.
"Did you see the boy? he was so cute in his quidditch kit! I was trying to impress him with my rock throwing skills, I'm good like that you know."
She gave a weak laugh before falling into a depression. Throwing her arms up in a most unflattering manner she started on again.
"WHAT IF HE WAS MY SOUL MATE?! and that stupid squid ruined it...it's out to ruin lives I tell you..."
As if realizing she sounded like a total loon she shot an energetic smile up at her friend and patted the ground next to her.
"So what are you up to on this most lovely day? Boy watching? I tried to watch the quidditch practice but the captain I suppose told me I was being distracting... I thought yelling go team was helpful!"
Nathalie's eyes went huge again in confusion, she had a tendency to go a little over board with things sometimes...well....a lot of the time.

Esther looked amused at her freind as she raved. Pondering things that were probably never going to happen. Nathalie amused her, as the girl sometimes didn't really get what was going on. And tended to go overboard. "Next time, I suggest you try something other than throwing stones," She suggested smiling amused at her. She picked a flat edged stone herself and flung it towards the water watching it skip.

Nathalie stuck her tongue out bitterly at her friend, throwing stones was an acceptable method of impressing boys. It had worked before...well maybe last time her skirt was hiked abit higher... and the first 4 buttons of her blouse undone. BUT she had been skipping stones!
Her eyes shot daggers at the lake as Esthers rock sailed.
"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"
She asked outraged and flung herself up from her sitting position to question the lake as if it would answer her. She turned back to Esther and scowled deeply.
"Why doesn't the squid hate you?"
she asked in a small voice, as if it was a child asking their parent for something they desperately wanted.

"Because I'm awesome," Esther said with a wicked grin as she picked up another stone and threw it again watching it skim. "You can't deny that." She said with a wink sitting back down next to her friend and starting to fiddle with her hair, she let it out of the pony tail it was in and than started to braid it, before letting go and letting the strands fall back into place. She leaned back onto the grass, propped up on her elbows.

Thalie let a low growl echo out of her throat at the breeze caught her hair and pushed her bangs into her eyes, She shook her head and glared at the rocks.
"Awesome sure....But I think what you really mean is cheater..."
She shot a smug smirk at her friend and spun around flipping her hair around her shoulders.
"It's such a nice day out and I can't find anything worth while to do!"
She frowned in a most unceremonious way as she sat on the ground her skirt flaring out about her showing off far too much leg, but that never bothered Nathalie her legs showing was the least of her worries, plus who knew who was paying attention, maybe they'd want to giver her a bit more attention if they saw a bit more. Who knows. Nathalie is all for attention, any kind.
Her eyes lit up in a most devious way.
"Let's do something bad! I haven't had detention in a week and it's getting boring."

Esther rolled her eyesbrows and raised an eye. "Tell me Thalie. How do you cheat with skimming stones?" She sat up again, starting to pull threads of grass out of the ground, letting them drop and slowly fall. She wiped her hands together, brushing off the peices that had stuck to her fingers. She grinned wickedly at Thalie. "That sounds perfect," She said her eyes glimmering. "What do you suggest?"

Thalie stuck her tongue, she knew Esther was cheating...somehow... She had to be. She nodded her head in determination. and smiled again vowing to figure out the tactics.
"Well....you know how those one kids, the one we dislike.... in our charms class?" [/b[
She smirked knowing Esther knew exactly who she was talking about, they had charmed Thalie's chair last week to pinch her every 5 minutes and Flitwick thought she was bloody insane.
[b]"Well....they were just heading to the great hall...and I learned this lovely spell...it charms their shoes..."
Thalie smiled knowingly, charming shoes wasn't hard. Get them to magically untie themselves, tie themselves together. Childs play. But she had recently learned how to charm them into running away from the owner...with the owner still inside them...
"I was thinking about making their shoes run away...with them still inside!"
Her insides were bubbling over with excitement.

Esther's eyes gleamed as she thought it over in her mind. She grinned wickedly, getting up off of the ground. She wiped the grass off of her skirt and tugged it absent mindedly as it had pulled itself up slightly. "I like your thinking," She said grinning further. "You know what would be funny? If the shoes happened to lead them into like, waist deep in the lake ebfore the charm wore off?" She fiddled with her hair, twirling it around her finger.

Nathalie let out a deep throaty laugh as she imagined those pesky teens floating in the lake trying to run away from the squid. Then a brilliant idea hit her.
"Remember that quidditch practice I mentioned earlier..."[/b[
She turned to face Esther and walked closer to her.
[b]"What if those shoes happened to..."
She put her hands on Esther'shoulders and her eyes danced madly in the sun.
"carry them into the middle of that practice."
She jumped up and down in glee.
"I can get back at them and the jerky quidditch captain!"
She spun in circles and groped in her pocket for her wand. All of a sudden the color dropped from her face and she dead panned to Esther.
"I don't have my wand..."

Esther's eyes lit up. "That's a perfect idea!" She half shouted happily. "Imagine those poor fellows playing quiddich and BANG two people are running down the bottom." Her grin widened. "This will be amusing." She gave Thalie an amused look. "Do you ever have your wand? I swear last week you had to go the common room about five times to get it." She took out her wand, turning it around her hand. "Let's go," She said.

Thalie smiled largely as Esther agreed scarring the quidditch team would be fun. But then smiled a different smile, one of gratitude.
"Thanks...I swear I need to just glue the stupid thing to me..."
She laughed then tilted her head to the side in thought.
"Maybe I could start using it as a hair stick again, twisting it up into a bun then using my wand to hold it together...I mean the scar from the last time I did that on my neck is almost gone."
she laughed throwing her head back and the wind catching her hair.
"Remember the look on the nurses face? She was just like" You wand was in your hair? That's worse than in your jeans pocket..."
She smiled timidly and ran her hand over the scar on the back of her neck.... it was still bumpy...
[b]"Maybe...I shouldn't on second thought..."[/b[
She gave a short laugh and started heading toward the targets.

Esther shook her head amused. "Yeah no, wearing it as a hair pin is one of the stupidest things to do with your wand," She shook her head again, remembering the nurses' expression when the girls went to the Hospital wing after Thalie had hit herself in the neck when her wand had shot off sparks. It had been funny. Esther grinned, also heading in the direction of their targets who would hopefully have no idea who had fired the spell.

Thalie froze, "WAIT!" She bellowed out attracting anyone who was within a 50 feet radius attention.
"If we use you wand you'll get detention..."
Her eyes showed a slight frown. As odd as this may sound Thalie loved detention, it was attention. she loved attention.
She kicked the ground with her shoe angrily. She didn't want Esther to end up in detention alone.... then a brilliant idea hit her...
"What if after you hex them, I chase them to the pitch?!"
Her eyes glittered dangerously as she thought of the ways to herd them to the pitch...
"I know where there's this Cornish pixie peeves was hiding, he was going to let it go at the yule ball.... hm...no too easy.... what about if..."
Her mouth formed a tight line as she thought as hard as she possibly could.

Esther looked amused as the other girl pondered her new idea, she turned her wand about her fingers waiting. "Why don't I just hex them," She said interrupting the girl's thoughts. "And if we get caught out you can admit to it being your idea, than we'll both be in trouble?" She suggested, as she was tired of the thinking and wanted to put the plan into action.

Thalie's eyes danced again with the idea of trouble.
"Oh! Sounds brilliant, I didn't much feel like hunting down nargles to steal their shoe laces anyways!"
She smiled gallantly and jumped about in circles before linking her arm into Esthers.
"I'm so excited. I haven't been this excited since.... well since this morning when that 7th year told me I was cute."
She giggled loudly then narrowed her eyes and began the search for their targets.
She pointed wildly and cackled maniacally.
"There they are! oh this was so easy! ahh!"
She jumped up and down in place hoping not to give away their plan by her actions.

Esther grinned, she was excited enough as it was and Thalie's excitement was infectious. She saw the targets, and had to calm herself down so she didn't stuff up the spell by laughing half way through it, because who knows what would happen then? She calmed herself down enough to cast the spell before exploding into a serious of giggles.

Thalie's eyes danced and her laughter rung out as if a wind chime being carried by a long breeze. Her knees buckled and her stomach tightened with laughter.
"Come on, lets follow them! I want to see the look on that deranged quidditch players face!"
she smiled evilly running a hand through her thick hair pushing it out of her face. The evil look was one replaced with total innocence.
"Besides.....maybe we can yell go team some..."
She smirked and giggled lightly before tugging on her skirt so it wouldn't fly up on her trek to the pitch.
She started to skip away only to stumble on her shoe, looking around carefully she rethought her skipping idea and walked much more subtly.

Esther only started walking when Thalie thought better off skipping, after she nearly tripped and landed face first in the ground. "Careful," Esther said with a grin as she walked over to the girl. "Don't want to mess up those pretty features, than what would you do?" She smiled as the two set off to the Quidditch pitch, following the startled students whose shoes were pulling them along.

Thalie laughed loudly leaning her head back letting her heavy hair dance behind her and she began to spin in circles giggling madly before turning to Esther with a huge grin on her face.

"Don't be silly, I could fall down a million stairs and not mess up this face!"
She pointed goofily to her face and started on another fit of giggles. She loved causing trouble it was such a joy to her.

She continued running after the kids being drug about their shoes, she could hear the murmurs of students and see others point and fall over laughing at the sight. Really how often do you see students shoes getting away from them...with them still in them! It was a brilliant idea.

Once she got to the pitch she clutched her side, it was in pain from laughing so hard. The captain was busy telling off the kids when he spotted her. Thalie's eyes went wide and her body still.

"Oh no...looks like captain remembers me...notice that murderous rage in his yes? I think it's directed at me and not the kids with magical shoes..... "
Thalie murmured under her breathe to Esther. She had a feeling she was about to get in more trouble than she imagined possible.

Esther followed Thalie, amused at the hyperness of the other girl. She had enough energy that if she tried to funnel it into something she could probably run around the Quidditch pitch without tiring too much. She snickered at their class-mates getting pulled towards the Quidditch pitch, amused as the training stopped to watch the people below. Some poor person nearly fell off of their broom as a bludger swung around.

She looked at Thalie as the girl whispered to her and Esther glanced over at the Quidditch captain who didn't look like he was in a good mood. "Pretend we did nothing," She whispered back. "And just followed like the other kids did."

As the captain mad his way over Thalie's entire body went rigid. Her dark hair caught in the wind blowing around her wide horror stricken blue eyes. She nodded robotically. Got ti, pretend she did nothing. She didn't do it. Nope. Just innocent bystander who wanted to see where the crazy kids went. It was funny. And totally not her fault.

The captain glared angrily down at them. He was 3 feet away from her, staring at at the two of them. He looked as if he could tear them limb from limb.
"I DID NOT DO IT!"

Thalie screamed so loudly even the kids chasing their shoes stopped and looked at them... maybe this wasn't the best way of pretending she was in fact innocent.

Her bright eyes jerked to Esther and her face blanched. opps she mouthed to her friend trying to convey just how sorry she was in that one look.

Esther had to refrain from whacking herself in the face with her palm. She could not believe Thalie. If that's what she called acting innocent. She sighed, blowing her hair out of her eyes as the wind pushed it about. Her ear throbbed slightly, as she had been standing next to the girl as she shouted her lungs out. Esther looked at Thalie as the girl looked at her, and made a "I don't believe you" gesture with her eyes.

"Wait here a mo," Esther said quietly looking at her freind, she walked closer to the captain and gave him one of her dazzling smiles, which she kept for when she had to convince a guy to do something for her.

"Sorry about her," Esther said with a shrug of her hand, still smiling at the captain. "She's just a little jumpy, it's the heat." Esther nodded, showing that she knew that the idea sounded stupid but that it was true. "She really did have nothing to do with it, wrong place at the wrong time if you know what I mean." She played with the edge of her collar, and gave another careless shrug.

Thalie felt her heart start again when Esther said to wait here, that she'd take care of it. What would she do without that girl? She thought hopelessly. She was just such a mess sometimes. Smiling slyly she was glad to know she'd be out of trouble in just a quick moment.

running a hand through her heavy dark hair she stared at the two as Esther began making excuses. The heat made Thalie jumpy? HA. More like...you know being guilty made her jumpy...but that was a different story.

Thalie rolled her eyes dramatically when she saw Esther throw that smile out. She knew that smile all too well. Whatever, as long as it got Thalie off the hook. Watching the situation carefully and as Esther began to fiddle with her collar Thalie decided it was time to intervene.

"Well as you can clearly see, I am not at fault here. So...we"
She said elbowing Esther in the ribs gently, merely to get her attention and to stop the flirting.
"Will be on our way. Have a nice day."
She said brightly tipping an imaginary hat at the demonic captain. Her darks eyes glittering with the thought she was completely off the hook. Today was turning our brilliantly.