reel it in (open)

It was the warmest day of the year they'd had so far, and a lot of the students were heading outside to the grounds and lake for some much needed sunlight. Atticus had got up early and woke up his dorm mates, asking them if they wanted to go fishing. He'd managed to find an old fishing rod from the muggle studies classroom and had been reading up on the practice, now raring to go while it was still early.

After a lack of response, he'd gone to the lake by himself. Later on, after being completely unsuccessful in catching anything, he was sat by the lake flicking through a fishing book. He'd been joined by Wade who was practicing his swinging technique, and had dug up some worms in the vegetable patches. Then Lien had come along and sat by him, reading a book of his own: for once it seemed to be a fiction book, and nothing to do with studying for the exams.

"You should know the most about this Wade, you've got muggle parents. Don't they go fishing?"

Acquiring space to swing his bat around and hit stones into the lake, Wade laughed in response.

"I ain't been fishin' in my life, and I doubt my Mum even knows what a pole looks like," he said, bashing a rotten apple and causing it to explode, showering him and Lien with the pulp and juice.

Lien glared as some rotten apple flesh splattered over his book and glasses.

Thius decided to take full advantage of the weather by pulling his hair back and wearing what appeared to be a snapback hat. As he was walking around the lake to find himself a good spot to read, Thius snickered at what was going on.

"Sleeping with toads wasn't enough for you, MacKenna?"

He practically turned himself into toad food bait!

@Wade MacKenna

Unbothered by the pulp everywhere, he simply wiped off what was on his face using his sleeve and piked up some old pine cones from last autumn, catapaulting those out further than the eye could see. Really, he should be doing this with a bludger, he thought, but those things kept locked up unless you were around the pitch and asked permission to use them. Pfft.

He turned as he heard the toff kid approach and make some comment.

"Ya a fuckin' toad, fatso."

@Melanthius Burke

Lien performed a quick spell to clean up the debris, and groaned quietly to himself when he heard Burke's voice. When he was in first year, he thought that he was only going to have to endure one Burke, not another of them. He wasn't sure which was worse: they each had their annoying traits.

Unfazed by being called a toad, Thius did his usual thing of sending a stinging hex in MacKenna's direction before finding a nice, shaded area a few feet away from the lake's shore.

"What a twit..."

@Wade MacKenna

"Right. I'm going to try this again. I'm not sure if I was attaching the bait on right, because the squirming of the worm is what attracts them. When I've caught enough, I can cook them up right here for us."

He explained this to Lien, as Wade was too busy swearing at being stung by Burke. Sending the line out into the lake, he watched carefully in contemplation, trying his hardest to be very, very patient.

First warmest day of the season meant first day to work on her tan! She strutted around with a butterfly bikini under her school robes and her beach bag full of beach towels, tan lotion, and her favorite tunes.

Her eyes narrowed on Atticus, Chang, and that repugnant mudblood. Where was Macmillan for guilty pleasure eye candy?!

Chucking his beater's bat off to one side, he took out his wand and tried to summon his stupid hat towards him. The summoning spell was touch and go with Wade: sometimes it worked, sometimes it summoned completely the wrong thing and he got hit in the face with whatever that was. Still, he couldn't just stand there letting that idiot sting him all the bloody time!

@Melanthius Burke

Swiftly pulling out his wand, Thius conjured a shield charm and shook his head at MacKenna. He'd never met someone so foolish on his life.

"You really are a bloody idiot..."

@Wade MacKenna

Before heading outside, Lazar made sure to take an antihistamine and grabbed his sunglasses. At least the outdoors meant that he was likelier to avoid most of his allergens as they tended to be inside! He spotted Lien and decided to join him. "Huh, hello. Wuh-why do you huh-have that on yuh-you?" Referring to the rotten apple gunk, of course.

@Lien Chang

"Prick. Sittin' in his fuckin' shell. I'm gonna punch him in the jaw..."

Instead of doing that though, as the shield was still in operation, Wade got a big pine cone and smashed it with his club unintentionally, raining pieces of cone all over himself. He spat out a few flecks that got inside of his mouth somehow.

"Hmm. I thought my spell would have taken care of all of that," he muttered, performing it again to the stray pieces that still clung to his jacket and hair. "MacKenna felt like being a brute, as usual. How is everything going with studying, Lazar?" he asked.

@Lazar Tremlett

"Ey, cousins!"

Thalia was dressed in her royal blue joggers paired with a plain white tank top, deciding that she was going to endure any chill to the air as long as she didn't have to wear a bloody jacket or coat. Spring was in! "Lazar - that mirror I was telling ye about, aye? It's completely broken! I cannay believe et! I only had it for three whole minutes and the darn thing is about as magical as a toilet brush!"

She took it out, showing it to him miserably.

"That cow Bellona Lestrange broke it, and I thought my repairing spell would keep the magic in tact. Turns out it broke the enchantment on et!"

@Lazar Tremlett

Macmillan had slept in instead of taking advantage of Atticus' offer, so now he had to rush out with his swim trunks and surfboard and enjoy some of the best weather all term! He caught up to Atticus and threw his surfboard onto the ground, taking a seat on it.

"Hey, bro..."

@Atticus Nott

'Stuh-studying's guh-going okay..."

It was stressful, but this was going to help out with exams at the end of term! He was going to do a good job at them now that Chase wasn't around to distract him!

Then came Thalia! Lazar smiled at his cousin sheepishly before frowning at the broken mirror.

"Buh-bologna is mean... Her cat suh-sets off my allergies..."

@Lien Chang @Thalia Tremlett-Chang

"You need a good spot to lay your eggs," Lucina was muttering to one of the toads she had befriended during the infestation, "So I'm taking you to the lake. Is that okay? Is the lake okay for you? I don't know if I can find a pond. There aren't any ponds. The lake will be nice for you. Don't look at me like that, don't do that."

She bent down at the banks of the lake and set the toad onto the ground, smiling beneath a curtain of her hair at it.

Thalia burst out into a fit of giggles.

"Bologna!"

Even if it was unintentional, Lazar was very funny sometimes.

"Bologna... oh Merlin. That'll be what we call her from now on, Lazar, aye? Bit of pay back!"

@Lazar Tremlett

Now that the unruly buffoon couldn't hit him, Thius smiled and pulled out one of the books he was reading and annotating; he quite enjoyed partaking in this pastime when the weather was pleasant, especially after months of huddling inside during the winter. Something about the fresh air always had an incredible grounding effect on him.

The toad stared at Lucina as affectionately as a toad could before hopping down towards the water to get a good feel of its temperature. It croaked enjoying its newfound feast of flies.

@Lucina Lestrange

Lazar gave her a look of confusion as his cousin laughed.

"I-I wuh-was juh-just saying her nuh-name..."

What could be so funny about that?

@Thalia Tremlett-Chang

"Her name isn't Bologna, Lazar. It's beh-loner, not bol-lone-ya. Let's call her bolognese!"

She giggled.

@Lazar Tremlett

Flushing at his mistake, Lazar covered his face.

"Buh-Bellona is vuh-very mean. Her screams hurt muh-my ears..."

Looking at the mirror again, Lazar frowned some more.

"Wuh-why did she bruh-break it?!"

@Thalia Tremlett-Chang