Playtime!

Whamwhamwhamwhamwhamwham........WHAM!

Keith Nicholas, 2nd year extraordinaire, hit the bottom of the stairs with a nearly bone shattering thud after leaping into the air halfway down. Despite the cold outside (which was leaking through the magical defenses, making Hogwarts itself rather chilly) he had already stripped his shirt and wore only a baggy pair of shorts. He was barefoot, and nearly killed a teacher as he burst through the large doors to the grounds.

The towers had attracted them from the common room - Keith's room in particular had an excellent view of the lake - and he had immediately been intrigued. Then people had started jumping off the towers, and Keith's mind was officially blown.

He tore over the ground to the lake, (he figured to himself that he must've set some kind of record with that sprint) and hit the water full force with an ear splitting cry of "WHOO-HOO!"

Now, Keith had never been the best swimmer. But what he lacked in technique he made up for in sheer enthusiasm, reaching the tower and immediately beginning the climb. Whoever had constructed the towers had layered the things in protective enchantments, making a normally impossible climb fairly simple. Keith's wet hands stuck to the rock in mind bending ways, giving him a very spider-man-esque feel as he scaled the tower until he reached the top.

He could see for miles (or at least, he imagined he could) Amazingly, he wasn't cold, the lake must've been enchanted to keep at a warmer temperature than was normal for this time of year. Keith stuck both fists in the air in an expression of victory, grabbing a free rope on the opposite side of tower as Brienne had jumped off. He wrapped it around his waist and leaped.

The wind rushed through his hair, making his eyes sting - Keith would've screamed from the awesomeness of it all if there was any air in his lungs. Instead he hit the water (something that from this height really should've killed him) and felt the rope tighten around him as it reached it's limit.

Keith opened his eyes underwater, and for a brief moment was treated to a picture of a school of fish staring at him in shock. Then the rope contracted, and Keith was pulled out of the water, flying into the air like some kind of rocket. He whooped in victory before hitting the water again, this time staying much closer to the surface as his momentum disappeared. He surfaced, spitting water out of his mouth and laughing. "Again! Again!"

Leslie heard about the winter lake party that was happening down at the lake and smiled at the thought of it. Leslie knew if Doyle found out they were going to get SO busted but she was sure it was going to be worth it. Running out of the common room she headed towards the lake and smirked at the sight that was before her for it was great but she knew they were going to get in trouble if anyone ratted them out. Detention or not Leslie wasn't going to miss this for the world. Yes indeed goody-two-shoes Leslie was out having fun now Sam and the others can't say she nevered has fun!

Everyone was at the lake. It was hard to miss the amazing turrets that had risen up seemingly out of nothing. Philippa wanted to join in on the fun so she dug out the summer gear that wasn’t meant to be touched until the appropriate season. That didn’t matter though. After donning the appropriate wear, Philippa left the Hufflepuff dungeons and made her way up towards the main level of the castle. She emerged from the castle not five minutes later and broke into a run down to the lake. It looked amazing. It was amazing. She wanted to join the party. She had a feeling she knew who was behind it all too. Elijah Krum.

Philippa spotted the Slytherin swimming in the lake and she set her things down on the grass out of the way of the people that had gathered. She unlaced and discarded her shoes before pushing the shorts down over her thighs and onto the floor. Philippa made a small pile of clothes before dumping her sunglasses and hat on top before breaking out once more into a run. She headed towards the second turret that had been left untouched by most of those there. She ran under the arch and sprang up the steps of the stairs towards the very top where she could dive off of the highest board.

She didn’t even wait to dive properly; Philippa ran out onto the board and jumped, throwing herself off of the edge and into the air. She pulled her legs to her chest and allowed herself to career down towards the water, a scream of delight leaving her mouth. Philippa hit the water, penetrating the surface and sending out a way on impact. She opened her eyes, finding herself submerged from head to toe. She smiled and looked about herself, spotting a boy with the bubblehead charm disappearing down into the water. Philippa kicked her legs and brought herself back up to the surface. She gasped for air and pushed her hair out of her eyes as an involuntary giggle left her mouth. “That was awesome!” she shouted, pushing herself onto her back.

Sam grinned as more and more people arrived, and as a few more disappeared. "Hey everyone," he said, waving to the various people as they came, and as they jumped. Sam looked over the ledge and thought to himself whether this was a good idea. In all reality, he was mildly afraid of heights, but he was a good swimmer. Hesitating, he mulled these facts over in his head, then came to a decision.

With a huge scream he ran straight off the edge of the tower and dived into the water, somersaulting a few times on his way down, before landing in the water feet first, managing not to belly flop, thank god. "Oh my god," he said, when he resurfaced, close to all his friends. "let's do that again," he said after a pause, before swimming back towards the shore

Jack skidded to a stop at the giant doors of Hogwarts. He heard about a few of the students swimming around in the lake, and he wanted in on some of it. He didn't bother wearing any swim gear, or anything in particular, in fact. He just filled his pockets with some junk food from his stash under his mattress. He walked down and ran down, and stopped himself. He wasn't a very social person at times, and he notice any farmiliar faces yet. He had his sleeves rolled up, with his dress shirt. He sighed and reached for his Rat from his shirt pocket. and he scuttered around Jacks shoulders, squeaking the whole time.

He hadn't thought about who might come or not, the idea had just struck him as Hey, other people are coming, why don't you go? He had decided to follow the thought. and lowered his head, sighing. He slumped down, sitting on the ground and running his fingers through his hair.

Parties were juvenile, just like the young man that was running this particular one. Ariel’s foul mood was attributed to the fact that no one was around and when people were they were talking about the up and coming party down at the lake. It was a wonder Doyle hadn’t already found out. Ariel was half-tempted to tell the Headmaster but then Ollie showed up at the portrait entrance dressed ready to go swimming. It was then that Ariel decided to go down to the lake; if only to watch his ditzy friend in case he decided he was going to drown. So the Slytherin followed his friend out of the dungeons and down to the lake having been thrown into the swimwear that Ollie had produced. Apparently he was well equipped for such occasions. Ariel didn’t want to find out why. Still, the lake-party-thing would be a chance to observe the female population in skin-tight bathers. It would be all of Ollie’s fantasies come true at once.

Ariel couldn’t wait.

The two wandered out into the grounds just after the ditzy Hufflepuff threw herself off of one of the towers. Ollie lumped Ariel with the bags and such before taking off towards the tower the Hufflepuff had jumped from. Shaking his head, Ariel dumped the bags and slipped his shoes off. He pulled his shirt off and threw it on top of the bags before wandering towards the water. The water parted easily as his legs cut into it and he continued to wade until he was up to his chest in water. Ariel stepped off of the sand bank and let himself drop underneath the water. He broke the surface once more and began to tread water as he looked around for a familiar face. Ollie didn’t count and Elijah most certainly didn’t. Apart from the two idiot and the Hufflepuff, he didn’t know anyone and he only knew the Puffer because she’d run into him before and told him he had a nice hairline. Odd girl.

The water was warm, though, and the sun was out. It was all good.

Andrew had been underwater, exploring. He had seen some things that he had heard Professor Wilson talk about in Defense Against the Dark Arts lectures during his Andrew's first two years at Hogwarts. He wasn't sure, in the murky waters, whether he was seeing a merperson or a grindylow, but it certainly didn't appear to be very friendly.

He had decided to go closer, for a closer look. He'd gotten into a skirmish with one who had decided it wanted to take him captive and had tried to bite him. Well, that settled it for Andrew. He figured out by the ugly long fingers it had been a grindylow and a grouchy one at that. But, Wilson had more or less said grindylows were always grouchy.

In desperation, he had picked up a rock from the lake bottom and smacked the grindylow on the head with it. He watched the creature sink heavily to the bottom, either stunned or dead, one or the other. About that time, his bubblehead charm wore off, leaving him without air.

He kicked hard and swam as quickly to the surface of the lake as he could, gasping for air and coughing and sputtering as he surfaced. With a little luck, Wilson wouldn't find out and make him write some bloody paper on it.

Sam emerged out of the water and saw a few newcomers arrive, clearly all of them were looking for fun. "Hey," he said, waving over at Jack, a fellow in Ravenclaw, and in the year above his own, "You should come join me in the fun," he said, continuing over to the tower and climbing to the top. "It's a real blast," he shouted down, before noticing another two people arrive. "Hey," he shouted, before jumping again, and this time landing in a magically enhanced canon-ball, drenching everyone within a 100m radius. "Sorry," he said, the look on his face showing that he clearly wasn't.

She didn't even know what was going on outside. She was reading her books in the common room when she finally felt an urge to go outside to breathe some fresh air.
Putting on her leather coat, she walked slowly through the cold corridors, not even noticing the students who were excited about something. Maybe there was a new student in hogwarts, or maybe there will be a new test. Didn't matter, though. When did she actually care about the exams? She did well by passing all of them, and she studied hard, though, sometimes it didn't pay off and she didn't remember anything on the day when she actually had to use her brains.

When she finally was outside the castle, she could breathe. Thanks to winter, the school grounds were almost like forbidden to Mis. Not that she was afraid of getting cold, no, she didn't like to go around, and avoid all the kids who played war with those little snowballs.
While looking around, she saw a group of students near the lake, and her curiosity started to grow. Many students already were going this way so she followed them, reaching soon the lake. Then she heard Elijah's voice, and a grin appeared on her face. She didn't know him that well, but she was sure that he was the one who actually started this thing. "Hey," she greeted him. He was probably the only one who would inform her about what was going on here. "What's going on? And please don't tell me that you're throwing a party."

Tish decided to follow up on the rumors she'd heard of a "pool party" down at the Black Lake. She put on her swimsuit and put on, over it, her skinny jeans and a henley style shirt. She shoved a few necessities into a backpack, grabbed her winter jacket and her shoes and made the trek across the snowy school grounds to the lake.

She was delighted to find that there was indeed a party going on. She went and joined the others. Some of them she knew, and some of them she didn't. However, in looking around, she saw a Slytherin that she somehow had missed. And wasn't he just the most delicious piece of male she had ever seen?

So, of course, she ignored him. At least for now. She took off her jeans and the henley and the shoes and left them with her winter jacket and her backpack. She was grateful now that she had used that portkey last weekend instead of going to Hogsmeade. She had slipped off to Paris and from there had gone to the Riviera to work on her tan on the beach. No British pasty white skin for her! And a swimsuit always looked better with a tan, did it not?

She saw that swimming was the main attraction, so she decided to just jump right in. Paricipate. She took a dive into the Black Lake.