[September 11, 2016: Sunday, Week 2. It's (finally) the end of the second day of Eliana's detention with Professor Sykes. The good professor has kept her pretty busy with cleaning out various supply closets - emptying them out, checking the materials, cleaning everything, and then putting all the supplies back neatly where she found him. He seemed moderately surprised that she didn't once need to ask him where anything went, or make any mistakes.] [And for part of the first day, he set her to practicing transfiguration, since her early exit from class on Thursday prevented her from getting as much in then. He even helped her with it, and now she can actually transfigure a decent needle out of a piece of straw - which might just put her ahead of most of the class, if *they* haven’t been doing their practice. And now he’s seeing her out, and saying he’ll see her in class this Thursday.] [Begin!] 06* Luke is standing just outside the door, waiting for Eliana to come out. She said she'd be done around now...he scuffs his shoe against the floor a little as he waits. 01<@Eliana> [The door opens! And out steps Eliana, looking none the worse for wear despite having detention for a whole two days, followed shortly by Professor Sykes. Eliana seems to be talking to him: "So I'm done?"] [Professor Sykes nods. "Yep." And then he notices Luke standing there and stops for a moment, blinking in surprise. "Oh, hello, Luke. Were you waiting for Eliana?"] 06* Luke nods and smiles up at his head of house. "Yeah." And then he squirms a bit, not knowing exactly what to say. 06* @Eliana turns at his voice and brightens. "Luke!" [Sykes smiles back down at Luke. Honestly, it's kind of hard not to, especially since that's the happiest he's seen Eliana basically ever. "All right. I'll see the both of you in class. Go on, have fun and enjoy the rest of your weekend. Go outside." He waves at the two of them and heads back into his classroom.] 06* @Eliana waves at Sykes. "See you Thursday, Professor!" 06* Luke waves back at the professor and then turns to Eliana, smiling. "Hey. So, um, what do you want to do?" 01<@Eliana> I don't know. 06* @Eliana thinks for a few moments, then asks, "Do you want to go outside? I think Professor Sykes let me go an hour before dinner." 06* @Eliana , for the record, is in thoroughly muggle clothes, much like the ones Luke saw her in when he first met her. She's got her backpack strapped cross-shoulder. 06* Luke thinks about it for a moment. "Hm. It'd be better if we didn't have to come back in for dinner...I wonder if the house elves would give us sandwiches or something we could take with us, if we went down to the kitchens. I guess we could ask. Y'wanna?" 01<@Eliana> Oh, yeah! That's a great idea! Um... where are the kitchens? Are they near the dungeons? 06* @Eliana blinks. "I have to get my hoodie, too." Um...sort of but not that near, I think. But we're closer to the dungeons - we can go get your hoodie and then go to the kitchens. 06* Luke pauses uncertainly as a thought strikes him. "Um, I guess I can not look where the entrance to your common room is, or something." 06* @Eliana shrugs. "I don't care if you know." She heads for the dungeons, then! And talks as she walks. "So what'd you do this weekend?" 06* Luke follows, with a skipping step every so often to keep up with Eliana's longer legs. "Um, some homework. And I hung around with the other Hufflepuffs in my year. Zan wanted to go watch the quidditch team practice, so we went there. It was sort of fun, actually, I hadn't really seen Matthew play for real, not just with Mark and me and Aunt Jackie." 01<@Eliana> Oh, yeah? Is he really good? Pretty good. I mean, I don't really watch too much quidditch, so I don't know that much. But Mark says he's pretty good - when he's not around - and the other kids on the team were having a hard time scoring against him. 06* @Eliana smiles. "Cool." 06* Luke grins. "Yeah. We can go watch a game together, whenever they start up the real games." 06* @Eliana starts down the stairs once the flight steps moving so they can get on it. "I guess. I mean, I'm not that interested in quidditch, but hanging out sounds like it could be fun?" 01<@Eliana> Though they might be kind of loud, like football games. 06* Luke grins wider. "Yeah, they can be. I didn't think you'd want to go to a bunch of them, but maybe one just so you can see what it's like." 01<@Eliana> Sure. 06* @Eliana takes the stairs quickly while the staircase keeps still. Gotta maximize time before it starts moving again! 06* Luke hops down the stairs after her. Once they reach the bottom, he gives her a sideways glance and asks hesitantly, "So, um, how was detention with Professor Sykes?" 01<@Eliana> It was okay. 01<@Eliana> I mostly cleaned and reorganized supplies and closets and stuff. 06* @Eliana gets to the bottom, glances around, and then starts down another hallway, to more stairs. "I also got a lot of practice turning straw into a needle, which was cool." 06* Luke brightens. "Really? Cool! Can you do it all the way now? I can't get the shape right yet." 01<@Eliana> Yeah! 01<@Eliana> But I practiced for *hours*... um, I can show you, later? 06* Luke grins. "Sure, that'd be great! Maybe after class tomorrow or something." 06* @Eliana smiles back, a little shyly. "Yeah." 06* @Eliana turns and starts down more stairs. "Thanks for waiting for me today." 06* Luke gives her a bright-eyed smile. "Sure!" I didn't get to see you all weekend, it'll be fun to hang out. Plus I only got to see a little of the grounds, they're huge. 01<@Eliana> Are we allowed in all of it? I heard the forest is off limits, and the big tree out front. 06* Luke nods. "Well, yeah, but there's still a lot of it left. Like, I've been *on* the lake, but not around it yet!" He grins at her. 01<@Eliana> Oh, yeah! 01<@Eliana> There are some really neat fish and stuff in that lake. 06* Luke blinks at her. "Yeah? Like what? Did you read about it in a book or something?" 01<@Eliana> Like eels and fish with really long noses, they're sharp and silver, and a lot of little colorful ones, and even a giant squid! I saw it outside my window last night. 06* Luke 's eyes widen. "You can see the lake outside your window?" That's so cool! 06* @Eliana grins. "Yeah! The Slytherin rooms are under the lake." 01<@Eliana> The girls in my room think the squid is gross, though. It's dumb. 06* Luke laughs. "I dunno, if I saw a giant squid outside my window I might be kinda scared. But I guess Hogwarts is magic and strong enough so it couldn't break the glass or anything. It'd be neat to be able to see it up close like that." 01<@Eliana> Yeah. I mean, I don't wanna go swim with it or anything. 01<@Eliana> But it's *really* cool to see it up close. I wonder if I can take a picture or something. My phone won't work here, but... 06* Luke tilts his head. "There are cameras. I mean...*someone* in the school must have one, I would think. Maybe you can ask Professor Slughorn?" 01<@Eliana> Yeah! Or Vesper. He'd probably know, too. 06* Luke nods. 06* @Eliana arrives, some time later, at a dead end in the dungeon halls. She walks up to the wall and says something quietly, and with a little rumbling, it slides open and Luke can see the Slytherin common room - all dark woods, silver fixtures, and green furniture - looking back at him. He can even see the windows on the far side, and Eliana was right: It *is* the lake, the sunlight filtering through it to make rippling patterns in the room itself. 06* @Eliana glances at Luke. "Be right back," she says before darting in and heading for her room to grab the hoodie in question. 01<@Eliana> [The wall slides shut behind her. Now Luke is alone outside of the Slytherin common room!] 01<@Eliana> [If Matthew could only see him now.] 06* Luke gazes at the lake in wide-eyed fascination, largely ignoring the common room. Then he realizes he's staring and looks away as the door closes. He's blushing a little even though no one can see him. 01<@Eliana> [After a while, the wall parts again and Eliana steps out as she pulls on a dark blue hoodie over her t-shirt. Her backpack's still with her, though it's mostly empty now. "Okay, ready," she reports.] 06* Luke nods. He had managed to get his bearings while Eliana was retrieving her hoodie, and now he heads off down a hall towards where (he's pretty sure) the kitchens are, with a smile for Eliana. "Okay, let's go find out if we can get sandwiches," he says cheerfully. 06* @Eliana smiles. "Yeah." She follows along. "What're your rooms like?" 06* Luke smiles at Eliana. "More yellow and black. Lots of really comfy furniture, and the windows are mostly to fields and stuff. There's plants everywhere, too. It's nice." He considers. "Not as pretty as yours, I guess, but...cozy?" 01<@Eliana> That sounds neat. I dunno if our rooms are *pretty*, like... we don't have flowers or anything, and sometimes there are skulls and snakes carved into things. I don't know what's with the skulls, unless Salazar Slytherin just thought they were really cool. 06* @Eliana thinks. "Maybe they've got some kind of magical significance." 06* Luke blinks. "That's weird. I dunno." 01<@Eliana> I should ask someone about that, too. 06* Luke nods, then grins. "Good thing you have a good memory. You've got lots of questions to remember!" 01<@Eliana> Yeah, it's too bad I can't get the answers all at once. There's so much stuff to learn! 06* Luke grins at her some more. "It'll be fun! 'Specially if you can get a picture of the giant squid. That'd be really cool." 01<@Eliana> Yeah. Oh, I bet there's stuff about it in a book somewhere. Maybe it's in Hogwarts, A History. 06* Luke nods. "Probably somewhere. But still. And they might not have a picture of it!" I bet it'd be hard to get. 06* @Eliana smiles. "Yeah." 06* Luke continues to wend his way through the hallways of Hogwarts, up a set of stairs, down another, around a strange bend that *seems* like it ought to have brought them back to where they were before, but somehow didn't. However, he must be leading them in the right direction, because the air is starting to smell of deliciousness. They're getting close to the kitchens. 06* Luke inhales deeply and smiles. "It always smells good down here." 06* @Eliana sniffs the air. "Wow, yeah. Did you just sorta find it before?" 06* Luke shakes his head and says cheerily, "The entrance to our common room is in the kitchens. It's pretty neat, actually, you can see all the cooking and stuff." 01<@Eliana> That is neat! Bet you can learn a lot about cooking that way. It'd make me hungry all the time, though. It's actually sort of hard to watch, there's so much going on and they move so fast. It's still fun though. And I guess you get used to it - at least, Matthew never says it makes him hungry. 01<@Eliana> I *guess*. Can you smell it from your common room? 06* Luke shakes his head. "Just when someone opens the entrance, really." 06* @Eliana thinks. "That doesn't sound like it'd be so bad, then. I mean, good. ... It's hard when you're talking about tasty-smelling food." 06* Luke laughs as he turns a corner, and suddenly the entrance to the kitchen is right there! He steps inside, presumably with Eliana behind him. [Luke wasn't kidding; it is *really* busy in here, with dozens of little - what *are* those creatures? - bustling about with enormous pots and sacks of potatoes or salt or less readily identifiable things, stirring and measuring and - did one of them just disappear?] [The kitchen staff are all even shorter than Luke, and look far too spindly to be able to manage the enormous platters some of them are hurrying to place on four long tables like those in the great hall. The staff all have enormous eyes and pointed, floppy ears. Even stranger, they seem to be wearing tea towels instead of clothes.] 06* @Eliana walks in and looks around; her eyes go wide upon seeing the creatures, and she stares at them for a few moments before asking, hushed, "Luke? What are they?" 06* Luke blinks at Eliana. "Oh! Um, they're house elves. They do the cooking and I think the cleaning and stuff around Hogwarts." 06* @Eliana blinks. "Elves?" And then, more excited, "For real?" 06* Luke smiles at her. "Yeah, for real. C'mon, let's see if we can get one of their attention." He steps a little way into the room, careful not to actually get in anyone's *way*, but clearly there and possibly needing something. He looks around, trying to catch one of the elves' eyes. [One of the busy little elves notices them and veers over after depositing an enormous bowl of mashed potatoes on a table. It - she? - he? - pulls up in front of them and squeaks energetically, "Yes, sir, miss! Do you need help? Can we get something for you?"] 06* @Eliana freezes upon the elf noticing them, and her eyes flick from him/her? to the mashed potatoes and back. "I- we- um- I'm sorry, I never saw an elf before. Like not a real one." [The elf smiles at her, perfectly cheerful and still apparently full of boundless energy. Even standing still it looks like it wants to bustle. "That's quite all right, miss! We're very quiet, except in the kitchens. And very speedy! Can I help you with something else?"] 06* Luke is a little nonplussed himself - he hasn't actually *talked* to the house elves much, they always seemed too busy to interrupt. "Um, we think we might miss dinner and we were hoping we could get a couple sandwiches..." He trails off uncertainly. 06* @Eliana blushes a touch, but at the question, she can't help but ask a pile of her own: "Are you a boy or a girl? Do elves even differentiate between genders? Is cooking a full time job? Do you live at Hogwarts, like us? I... oh, I'm sorry, um. You're probably very busy and-" She blushes harder, as she realizes she just talked over Luke, and not even about what they were setting out to do. [The elf blinks a little at Eliana, but doesn't seem to mind the questions at all. It answers just as rapid-fire as she asked them. "Yes, we differentiate, and I'm female. We all work full-time, but not always at cooking. We all live at Hogwarts, and are very happy here!" And then she turns to Luke and bounces up onto the balls of her feet, apparently so excited that straightening up alone isn't enough to contain it. "Of course, sir! Pl ease wait right here for just a moment!" And then she *zooms* off, quickly disappearing into the bustle of the kitchen.] 06* @Eliana watches her go. "Wow." And then she looks at Luke. "There are elves outside of Hogwarts too, right? Do they usually do the cooking and stuff for wizarding families?" 06* Luke blinks after her, then looks back up at Eliana. "Mmhm. For some reason they really like doing that stuff, I dunno why. They're not that common, though. I don't know anyone who has one." 06* @Eliana looks around at the bustle in the kitchen. "Well, Hogwarts has a *lot*." 06* Luke nods. "I guess because it's so big and there are so many people here, it's a lot of work." He pauses to think for a moment. "Though I dunno what they all do during the summer time, there must be way less to do with all the students gone." 01<@Eliana> Maybe they clean the whole place. 06* Luke considers. "Maybe. It's awfully big, and there are parts that don't get used much. I bet they get really dusty." 06* @Eliana nods. "Yeah." 01<@Eliana> And like the library alone would take effectively forever. 06* Luke nods. "That's true." 01<@Eliana> How come I never saw any until now? There's a lot of them. 06* Luke considers. "Well, like she said, they're really fast and quiet. And I think they do a lot of the cleaning and stuff when people aren't around." 06* @Eliana nods, thinking about that, too. "Yeah, that makes sense." [The little elf returns faster than seems physically possible, zooming up to them with a covered basket. She seems to have taken into account their size as well as what a normal human can typically carry, so it's pretty manageable despite clearly being stuffed to the brim. She hands it to Luke, beaming. "Here you are, sir, miss! We hope you enjoy it! If you need anything else, please tell us!"] 01 You're really fast! Is that normal for elves? <@Luke> [The little elf bobs a bow at Eliana and squeaks, "Yes, miss! The better to do our work!"] 06* @Luke takes the basket, smiling back at the elf. "Thanks!" He barely has time to get the word out before the elf squeaks out a high- pitched, "You're welcome, sir!", bobs a bow at him, and then zooms back into the controlled pandemonium of the kitchen. 06* Eliana watches her zoom off, then says, "We didn't find out her name." 01 I guess it's not *that* important, but I mean, if we wanted to do something like this again, she was really nice... <@Luke> Huh, you're right. Well, I bet we could ask, if we want to. Only, not right now, 'cause I'd feel bad interrupting them again so soon. ^^; 01 Yeah. Maybe later. Let's explore outside! 06* @Luke nods enthusiastically. "Yeah!" And he heads for the exit. He can't nearly match the house elves' speed, but he's pretty energetic for a human, almost skipping along. 06* Eliana keeps up easily, as she's pretty excited, too. "She gave us a lot of food," she comments, then grins. "I wonder if it's all sandwiches." 06* @Luke grins. "I dunno! I guess we'll find out." 01 Yeah! Do you think people do this a lot? 06* @Luke thinks about it for a moment. "I dunno. I dunno if many people outside Hufflepuff House know where to find the kitchens." 06* Eliana nods. Certainly, she didn't even think to ask where the kitchens were before. 01 [Eliana and Luke navigate the halls of Hogwarts, heading out into the expansive courtyard: outside but still within castle walls. The weather's quite lovely, if a touch chilly, as it's getting later in the day. Some other students mill about outside, too, and no adults are presently in sight. There are a number of extremely tall, sturdy trees, which may be older than even the oldest wizards in Hogwarts (excluding possibly the ghosts).] 06* @Luke grins at Eliana as they make their way across the courtyard. "So, where d'you wanna go?" 06* Eliana looks around, considering. "I dunno. We can't go into the forest, obviously, or by that tree, so..." She points a direction, east of Hogwarts proper. "That way?" <@Luke> Sure! 06* Eliana leads the way, then! To... wherever they're going! 06* @Luke starts hiking, boundlessly cheerful. It's Hogwarts, there's sure to be *something* interesting. 01 [For the most part, the hike is not all that interesting: very English countryside sort of deal. Still, the kids find a dirt path that starts along the lake - they probably spent a little while trying to spy the squid but didn't manage to do it - and winds off through a grove of trees; they decide to follow it since it's very not in the direction of the forbidden forest, and well, a path has to go *somewhere*. Or it usually does, anyway.] 01 [After maybe a fifteen, twenty minute hike, which ends up along a brook that feeds into the lake farther back, they hear the sound of water splashing into water. A waterfall?] 06* @Luke tilts his head at the sound and cranes his neck to try to see it. Completely pointlessly, since the path and stream bend around a hill just ahead. Maybe the waterfall is coming down the hill? He glances back at Eliana with a cheerfully inquisitive expression, then hurries up (as much as he can while still lugging the basket). 06* Eliana scurries after Luke. "Sounds like a waterfall, maybe," she says as she hurries. <@Luke> Yep! <@Luke> * Luke grins at her as they round the bend - given her longer legs, she caught up with him easily - and then turns to see what they've found. It is indeed a waterfall. It's not a very large one, but it trips prettily from rock to rock down the slope of a hill before splashing into a small, shallow pool and then continuing on back the way they came. <@Luke> (/me that. I don't know why I did that.) <@Luke> (Also probably "the hill" rather than "a hill".) 06* Eliana grins. "Awesome! Do you wanna sit here?" She looks back at Luke. 06* @Luke lets out a whoop. "Yeah! We can eat dinner here. But I wanna go splash, too." He grins at her. 01 Well *yeah*. 06* Eliana heads over to the bank, getting there ahead of Luke, and starts clearing a few of the sharper pebbles from the area so they don't dig into them too badly when they sit down. 06* @Luke comes up behind Eliana with a bright "Thanks!" He sets the basket down a little less carefully than usual in his eagerness and plops down beside it to strip off his socks and shoes and roll up his pants legs. 06* Eliana throws the rock she just picked up into the pool with a plop. "I bet the water's really cold." <@Luke> Yup, probably. But we can go in for just a bit. 06* @Luke looks back at the basket. "Maybe that elf gave us some napkins we can use to dry our feet when we get out." 06* @Luke opens it up to check! 06* @Luke finds the promised sandwiches, neatly wrapped, as well as a few apples and cookies and two bottles of pumpkin juice. And yes, tucked down the side are plentiful napkins. 06* Eliana looks in, too. "Is that... a pie?" she asks, pointing out the covered pan underneath everything else. "Did they give us a whole pie?" 06* @Luke looks more closely. "...yeah, I think they did. Man, there's no way we can eat all this." Yeah. * Eliana thinks, then says, "I bet there's a spell to keep food cold. Or just preserve it! Can wizards preserve food without keeping it cold? That'd be awesome!" 06* @Luke frowns, thinking. "Yeah, there's spells to keep things fresh, but I don't know them. I guess we can just take it back and share it with other people when we're done." * Eliana nods. She starts pulling her own shoes off, too. "Are you friends with your roommates?" <@Luke> Yeah, they're nice! Oh yeah? 06* @Luke nods cheerfully. "Indra's sort of shy, I think because he stutters, but he knows a bunch about plants. He even has a Venus fly trap. Barry's nice, too, though sometimes he loses track of things... And Zan's fun. We were jumping on the bed the first night." He grins. * Eliana smiles a little. "That sounds fun." She starts removing her socks, stuffing them into the shoes. <@Luke> Yep! What about your roommates? * Eliana wrinkles her nose. "I don't like them." She looks at her toes. "I guess the one that's most okay is Gwen. She brought my stuff to my room after Professor Sykes sent me to the dorms. But I think she's really scared of me." Which is okay, but. * Eliana shrugs. "And they're always giggling about boys or shopping or something, and I can't read when I'm in our room because they're always talking or they need the light off to sleep." 06* @Luke 's mouth twists up regretfully. "That's too bad. Maybe it'll get better, though - Gwen does seem nice." He very much refrains from commenting on Giulia. * Eliana shrugs again, now picking at some grass. "I guess. She's nice to Giulia and Portia, anyway." 06* @Luke watches Eliana picking at grass for a bit with an unhappy expression, but after a moment he hops up. "Well, I can take you to meet Barry and Indra and Zan when we get back. C'mon, let's walk in the stream!" 06* Eliana starts a little. "Okay." She starts rolling up her pants legs. "I don't think they'll like me very much, though," she cautions. 06* @Luke shrugs. "Well, we don't have to if you don't want to." And then he yelps and jumps a little as he steps into the cold water. 06* @Luke laughs at himself. "You're right, it is cold." 01 It's okay, I'll probably meet them eventually anyway. Um, right? 06* Eliana gets up and goes to the edge of the pool, dips her foot in, and jumps back. 06* @Luke grins at Eliana in turn. "Yeah, probably. We have classes together and stuff. C'mon, it's not so bad when you get used to it." 01 Well *yeah*, I just need to get used to it. 06* Eliana steps in again, grimacing, and stays that way for a moment before going in with her other foot. 06* @Luke wades a little deeper, careful not to get his pants legs wet. He gets his balance and sends a small experimental splash across the pool, away from Eliana. 06* Eliana watches the water splash away, still working on keeping her balance. She's not the best at it, really, as she nearly slips, her arms pinwheeling to keep her balance. <@Luke> Oh hey, you okay? 06* @Luke doesn't offer Eliana a hand at the moment, because his balance isn't actually good enough to steady her if she does fall. He'd just go over with her. 06* Eliana laughs as she regains her balance. "Yeah, I'm okay!" 01 I've never walked in a stream before. 01 I didn't know the ground was so slippery. 06* @Luke blinks at her in surprise. "Really? Do you live in the city or something?" 06* Eliana starts making her way to the center of the pool carefully. "Not really." 01 Close to London, yeah, but not *in* London. 06* @Luke considers this. "Maybe there aren't many streams there. My family lives right near this big park thing - kind of like this - so I got to do it a lot." He grins. 01 Yeah, we don't go outside a lot. As a family, I mean. Charles likes playing football, so he does that. 06* @Luke perks at the mention of Charles. He hasn't heard much about Eliana's family. "Is Charles your brother? Is he older or younger than you?" 06* Eliana uses her foot to splash some water, cautiously. "Younger. He's nine." <@Luke> Is he magic? 06* Eliana shakes her head. "Nah. Not as far as we know, but I mean, we found out about me when I was eight." 01 So he's not *that* much older. 06* @Luke nods. "Probably not then." 06* @Luke looks up at the waterfall. "I wonder where this comes from, and if we could follow it all the way up there." <@Luke> It's probably too far, but it'd be neat. 01 Yeah, we should check it out! Maybe not now, though. 06* @Luke nods. "Yeah, it'll get too late. Maybe when we have a whole day." 06* Eliana splashes some water in Luke's direction, not quite hitting him. "Why wouldn't he? Is it because non-magical families don't usually have magical kids anyway?" 06* @Luke grins a bit at the splash and leans down to shove water in Eliana's direction, creating a brief ripple to lap against her legs. "Mostly not, yeah - I mean, there are *some*, obviously, 'cause you're here, but there're loads more mu- um, non-magic people than magic people, and there're still way more kids here with at least one magic parent than two not-magic parents." 06* Eliana nods. "Gotta be genetic, then," she says. 01 I mean, it'd only make sense anyway. Everything about us is genetic, right? 06* @Luke blinks. More stuff he doesn't understand. "Um...what's that?" 06* Eliana blinks back. "Genes? DNA? Um... you know how in science class they teach you about how if your parents have brown eyes, you'll probably have brown eyes, too?" 01 But you might have blue eyes because some of your ancestors had blue eyes, and the gene for blue eyes was carried to your parents. And then you get both genes for blue eyes, and your eyes are blue. 06* @Luke digests this for a moment. "So magic is like that. Makes sense, I guess." 06* Eliana smiles. "Right!" 01 So maybe some of my ancestors were magic, and then they had kids that weren't, and that went on for a while until I got the right genes for magic again. <@Luke> Huh. 01 Or maybe it's a mutation! 01 Or maybe *not* having magic is a mutation. 06* Eliana hums as she leans over, splashing water through her fingers. 06* @Luke wades back to the shore and flops down with his feet in the water, still thinking. "Magic's not common. Even less than blue eyes, I think - mutation?" 01 Yeah! Like sometimes DNA changes, a little bit. At a museum once I read that everyone has small mutations but usually nobody even notices. 01 But sometimes there are big ones, like an extra finger. Or a hair color nobody's ever had before. Stuff like that. 01 And then over time, when you have enough mutations, you get stuff like whole new species of animals and plants and things. You know, evolution. <@Luke> Oh. 06* @Luke tilts his head. "But we're definitely not different species. So...a big mutation, but not *that* big. How do you know if it's magic or not-magic that's a mutation?" 06* @Luke stumbles a bit over the unfamiliar word, but manages. 01 I don't! But... 06* Eliana hesitates, thinking, then says, "If it *is* genetic and not like something else... but like, genetic from birth..." 01 Then it'd make sense if magic's the mutation, because magic's a desirable trait, right? Like having magic is better than *not* having magic. 06* @Luke blinks. "Can it be not from birth? I mean, your eyes don't change color, or anything..." 06* Eliana smiles, excited. "Yeah! Like from radiation!" 06* @Luke blinks more. "...so you could make someone's eyes change color or make them magic with - radiation?" 01 Well I dunno about *that*, but radiation apparently makes some things mutate. It usually just kills them if there's too much of it, but sometimes animals can get bigger and stuff... <@Luke> Huh. <@Luke> I don't know if we study about that or not. <@Luke> Maybe you could ask one of the teachers. 01 Yeah. I should start making a list. 06* @Luke grins. "Probably." 01 Which teacher do you think would know? Maybe Professor Sykes? He knows a lot about magical theory and stuff. 06* @Luke tilts his head, thinking. "Maybe. If not, I bet he'd know who *could* tell you." 01 Yeah. 06* Eliana splashes at Luke again. 06* @Luke yelps and laughs at the same time, then splashes back - carefully, 'cause the water *is* cold and he doesn't want to get Eliana too wet. 06* @Luke 's stomach growls audibly. He blushes a little and says ruefully, "Um, you wanna eat dinner?" 06* Eliana is sprinkled with water, and she grins. "Sure!" With that, she heads to the bank. Carefully! No falling this time. 06* @Luke twists behind himself to reach for the napkins in the basket, so he can dry his feet off without them getting dirty. He hands a couple to Eliana, too. As he's drying, boisterous voices echo down the path from a little farther on than they walked... * Eliana settles down and takes the napkins. She's about to start drying her feet when they hear voices, and she starts, alarmed, and looks up towards them. * Luke looks up, too, but he's more curious. Plus, one of them sounds like it might be Mark. He cranes his head around to try to see who it is. * Luke finishes drying off his feet, though, because whoever it is, he still needs to get his socks and shoes back on! [One of them is Mark! He's laughing with a trio of other boys about his age as they toss a quaffle at each other. He spots Luke and Eliana and stops, and gets beaned by the ball. "Ow!" he says reflexively, at which his friend laughs, putting a hand to the back of his head. "Sorry, he apologizes. "What's got you distracted?"] * Luke manages to get his shoes on and scrambles to his feet just as Mark gets beaned with the quaffle. His face lights up as he spots his brother. "Mark!" ["Hey there, Lucky!" Mark calls, waving with a grin. "And the batty Slytherin girl!"] * Eliana scowls. * Eliana has an eleven year old scowl, but it is still a scowl. * Luke flushes with a mixture of outrage and mortification. "MARK! Her name's Eliana!" [Mark laughs, a little uncomfortably. "Sorry, I forgot."] * Luke frowns a bit more at Mark, but he glances at Eliana to see if she accepts the apology. * Eliana , for her part, has let out a small snort and is now drying her feet. * Luke is not quite sure how to take that. He tilts his head to look up at Mark. "Were you practicing for the quidditch tryouts?" His voice is uncertain. ["Yeah, Marcel's got a really good chance of getting in this year, so we decided on a few practice runs with him..." Mark trails off, then says, "What're you up to?"] * Luke shrugs. "Just wandering around the grounds. Exploring a bit." He grins a little. We were gonna have a picnic... * Luke looks back at Eliana again. * Eliana looks a little uncomfortable, even as Mark says, "Oh, sweet! Did you get the house elves to give you stuff? I swear they've got pies just for picnics." ["Hey, Mark?" says one of the guys, maybe Marcel. "We're gonna go on ahead." "Sure!" Mark replies with a grin. "See you at the common room!"] [With that, they head back towards Hogwarts Proper.] * Luke relaxes slightly as the people he doesn't know (and most of the crowd intruding on Eliana) make their exit. He still looks concerned about Eliana, though. "Yeah…they gave us one, but we haven't checked to see what it is yet..." * Eliana relaxes slightly, too. She's still a little scowly and intent on her feet. [Mark grins. "You should find out!" He approaches and looks at the basket. "Hmmm. I'd gueeeess... a fruit of the forest pie." This without seeing the pie at all.] * Luke tugs the basket over to Eliana's feet, since that's where she's looking right now, and opens it up. He sets aside the sandwiches and apples on some napkins and picks up the pie to try to figure out what it is. * Eliana perks and goes to look at the pie, too, trying to peek in the little holes at the top. [Mark walks over, !looming behind the other kids. "Well? You gonna get a slice?" he asks, prompting them to eat their meal out of turn.] * Luke looks closely, but he's careful not to bump heads with Eliana. He sniffs. "...I think it's blueberry." And then he smiles up at Eliana. "You want pie or a sandwich or something else first?" * Eliana blinks in surprise. "Um..." she starts, and then frowns at herself. "Pie's fine. I'll get it." She takes the pie and starts looking for serving utensils and plates and other necessary pie equipment. * Luke plops down next to the basket and helps as much as he can without getting in the way. ["One of the best parts of being at Hogwarts is you can eat dessert first," Mark agrees, settling nearby. He makes no move to take or help with the pie if Eliana's so determined.] * Luke looks from Eliana to Mark and back again. "Um...Mark? You want a piece of pie? We were saying before we couldn't eat all this stuff anyway..." ["Sure," he says, "I kinda worked up a huge appetite playing quidditch." His stomach grumbles in agreement. He looks at Eliana. "You got that?"] Yes. * Eliana manages to get a slice on a plate, though a bit messily, and she hands it to Mark. "Here," she says. [Mark takes it. "Thanks, baaaa- Eliana!"] * Eliana looks at Mark strangely, because he is strange. At least she's not scowling anymore. * Luke watches this somewhat anxiously, but giving people weird looks is pretty nice for Eliana, so he relaxes and smiles a bit at the both of them. * Eliana gets two more slices of pie on their plates, though, the first one going to Luke. Look! She has some manners! Mark... only kind of does, as he's already devoured half of his slice. * Luke smiles more at Eliana. "Thanks!" * Eliana smiles back. "Sure." She takes her plate and has a bite, her eyes going wide. "This is *really* good!" ["See?" Mark says. "Ancient picnic recipe."] * Luke grins and starts eating once Eliana has hers. "Yeah, it is!" he says with enthusiasm. "But everything the house elves make is, really, guess I shouldn't be surprised." The grin turns rueful. * Luke looks around at other foodstuffs. "They only gave us two bottles of pumpkin juice, but I can share with Mark." He offers a bottle to his brother. I wonder why they're so good at it. Do they have to learn how to cook when they're really little? Is there some sort of house elf magic that only applies to cooking? If there is, do you think we can learn it? Making food like this whenever I want would be awesome. [Mark was about to say something to Luke, then Eliana started chatting, and he switches his attention to her. "I dunno, Bats. But all the house elves I ever met are really great cooks, so maybe there's something to the magic idea."] * Luke tilts his head, blinking. "Huh. I never thought about it." And then he blinks again at the "Bats". * Eliana is so busy thinking about house elves and pie that she doesn't respond to the nickname. "Is house elf magic different than wizard magic?" she asks Mark, as he is the resident expert on magic at the moment. ["Uh..." Mark says, intelligently. "Kind of? Like, their magic's actually really strong. Stronger than most wizards. They cast a lot of the same spells we do, but I bet it's different somehow."] * Luke pipes up, "I don't think they use wands, at least." [Mark nods. "Yeah. Never saw them use one."] * Eliana makes a small "huh" sound, and she chews on her pie thoughtfully. * Luke finishes his pie and grabs a sandwich. He's hungry, and blueberry pie isn't that substantial. Mm, turkey. * Luke chews a bit - and then swallows, because his parents taught him not to talk with his mouth full - and then says slowly, "I guess we could ask them, but they always seems so busy I feel bad interrupting...we could ask the teachers, I guess." House elves aren't exactly magical *creatures*... Yeah! * Eliana adds a mental note to her ever growing list to ask a teacher. Or Vesper. He's so old, he's almost like a teacher. * Eliana polishes off the rest of her pie and moves in for a sandwich herself. And the pumpkin juice! [Mark, for his part, seems shockingly content with just hanging out and letting the younger kids interact.] * Luke eats more sandwich, trying to figure out what to say. Talking to Eliana isn't the easiest, even when it's just the two of them. I heard there's merpeople in the lake. I wonder if *they* use magic. * Luke blinks suddenly. "Hey, have you seen any of *them*, Eliana?" * Eliana blinks. "No!" I didn't even know there were merpeople in the lake, or even that there are merpeople! Maybe they avoid the windows. [Mark looks over. "Windows...?"] Yeah, that makes sense. * Luke looks over at Mark. "Oh, um, the Slytherin dorm has windows that look into the lake." Anyway, the merpeople probably wouldn't want a bunch of people staring at them. Unless maybe they wanted to come stare at us. * Luke grins. * Eliana makes a face. "Then I'd know how animals feel at the zoo." * Luke shakes his head. "If you haven't seen them, they probably don't. I mean, it's rude, anyway." Yeah. Oh, but maybe we can find one and talk to them! Then we could ask it all sorts of things! * Luke nods. "I wonder if people have already. I mean, if they're there they've probably been there for a while. Maybe there're books in the library. We looked in there a little the other day but we couldn't *really* look at even half of it." Yeah, 'cause there's so *many*. Wanna check next weekend? I bet they've got a whole merpeople section. * Luke nods enthusiastically, grinning. * Eliana polishes off her sandwich and reaches for a cookie. * Luke grabs an apple. Because balanced meals are important. Even if cookies are delicious. Maybe he'll have a cookie later. * Eliana will have an apple when she wants! She's not a part of your system! [Mark's stomach growls again. He has the decency to look sheepish. "Maybe I should get back to Hogwarts."] * Luke chomps his apple. Mm, crunchy. He blinks at Mark around the apple. "Oh, sorry! Um...you want to take the pie?" ["What? No!" Mark actually looks shocked Luke suggested this. "It's your pie. You guys should have it."] * Eliana looks over, considering Mark for a moment, then says, "You can at least get another piece." * Luke laughs. "We can't eat all of it. And, um - " he gets quieter - "I don't think Eliana wants to share with her roommates." * Eliana frowns at Luke, which admits that she doesn't want to share as much as her just saying so. [Mark, for his part, got up to go, but he hesitates at Luke's statement. And then his stomach growls again. "Okay," he says, admitting defeat. "I'll take another slice, but then you guys had *better* finish the rest."] * Luke smiles at his brother. "Okay, deal." * Eliana cuts Mark a really big slice. "Here you go," she says, giving it to him without really looking at him. ["Thanks, Bats!" Mark says cheerfully, and he waves. "See you guys around!"] * Eliana starts, actually hearing the nickname this time, and she turns to glare at him - but he's already turned away, happily heading off down the path and eating PIE. * Luke waves at Mark…'s back. Then he looks back at Eliana glaring. "Um. Mark...doesn't call people by their real names, much. He barely *ever* calls me Luke." Yeah, he called you Lucky. ... Are you lucky? * Luke blinks. "Um...I don't think so? It's just a nickname for Luke. My parents called Matthew Matty when he was younger. My Aunt Jackie still does." Well yeah, but that's pretty normal. Not like... bats. Yeah, but... * Luke blushes a bit. "He calls me squirt and pipsqueak and pip, too." * Eliana makes a face. "That's 'cause you're shorter than him." Pause. "He's not mean about it, is he?" * Luke shakes his head vehemently. "No, never. Even when he's mad he's not mean. And he almost never gets mad." * Eliana nods, relaxing. "Good." He sounds really nice. * Luke smiles. "He is. He's really silly a lot of the time, but he's nice." * Eliana smiles. "Yeah. It must be cool having a brother like that." * Luke nods and tilts his head, looking at Eliana, but he doesn't ask the obvious question. She doesn't smile that much. Instead he smiles at her more. "Yeah. He would always play with me, when I was younger. Matthew would, too, but he's not as good at pretending as Mark." * Luke grins in memory. * Eliana draws her legs up, resting her chin on her knees. Good thing she's wearing slacks, or that could be awkward. "What'd you pretend?" Different stuff. I liked being a curse breaker, discovering stuff, secret treasures, breaking curses and fighting monsters. Mark would pretend to be a monster and jump out at me. Well, curse breakers don't usually find *real* monsters - alive ones I mean - more moving statues and stuff like that. So he was a moving statue of a monster? * Luke nods, smiling. "I'd find a stick and pretend it was my wand and fight him off. Only I didn't know any spells, except the ones I heard my parents use, so I mostly made stuff up." * Luke laughs. "Or I'd pretend the ones they used worked on him. Stuff my dad puts on his furniture to make it tougher would freeze the statues, or something." * Eliana looks interested. "Did it work?" Well, it worked 'cause Mark pretended it did. * Luke thinks for a bit. "I don't know if it would in real life. I think it depends how the spells my dad uses work exactly, and I don't know." If we ever run into a moving monster statue, we'll have to try it. * Luke frowns. "I don't think I can *cast* them for real. Not yet, anyway, I could get my dad to teach me." * Luke blinks. "Or maybe Matthew, Dad's been teaching him." Is he, um, gonna do the same thing? Maybe, I don't know. But he's learning how, right? What does your dad do, anyway? Makes furniture. Some of it's just normal furniture, only enchanted to be sturdier and stuff, and some of it has more enchantments, like wizard chess sets. Oh yeah? Wizard chess sets? * Eliana shifts to a more comfortable position. "Do you cast spells to move the pieces?" Are the rules different from normal chess? * Luke nods, then shakes his head. "Nah, that's what the enchantments are for - they move on their own, you just tell them where to go." He grins. "They talk, too, and old sets can kind of learn and get to know their owner so they work together." Oh, that's cool! So like the pieces will know where to go before you tell them! But that's got to be frustrating if you're trying a new strategy. * Luke nods. "Yeah, and they aren't as smart as people - they *don't* try new things on their own. So you still gotta tell them what to do." * Eliana frowns. "Then what's the point?" * Luke shrugs. "Don't know, I don't really play." * Luke smiles. "It's fun watching Dad make them, though. I've been hanging out in his workshop more since Matthew and Mark came to Hogwarts." * Eliana nods. I know how to play chess. Maybe we can try sometime! Really? Huh, okay. Maybe I can borrow a set from my dad when we go home for break. * Luke smiles. "A *little* one, so I can fit it in my luggage." Yeah! And I'll get chemistry books! Yeah! [And so Luke and Eliana continued to eat the super amazing picnic food packed just for them. Any leftovers went with Luke to his roommates – not Eliana's.] [The end!]