Snorkeling

[Cian O'Riordan]

The sun was unbearably hot today, unusually so for Scotland. The recent dry spell was in fact rather annoying, Cian loved his plants, but weather meant having to come out and water them way more than his exams and homework would let him. He needed to get his hands on a water weed that had magical properties that could keep the atmosphere of his greenhouse damp- he had somehow managed to persuade the Professor to let him fill a whole greenhouse with just his plants. He presumed it was cause he was so overly keen on gardening that his plants had been encroaching on other students projects, there were more than enough greenhouses to go around anyway, unless he kept breeding more plants. The weed he was after was generally quite expensive, but he was hoping that he'd be able to find some in the lake, considering there were so many magical plants in there.

Standing at the edge of the lake he stripped off down to his swimming trunks, plain black ones, and stood there feeling quite exposed. Although his body was quite trim from all the pulling weeds and digging the vegetable patch, as a rule he didn't get naked. He waded out up to his torso and looked down into the water. The weed he was looking for normally floated near the surface of lakes so he couldn't be bothered with a bubble head charm. Instead he had acquired a snorkel and mask from a muggle housemate.

He looked at the see through plastic in confusion. He'd gone to a muggle primary school, but he had never come across snorkeling equipment before. He pulled the eye piece around his mouth and holding one end of the tube to his eye he submerged his head and tried peering through the tube like a telescope. The water rushed into the sides of the mask and therefore into his mouth. Coughing and spluttering he pulled his head up and fought to catch his breath whilst rubbing furiously at his eyes where the cold water had stung them.

[Nicky Bathurst]

Nicky hated the heat, it usually made him tired and cranky. Not wanting to be snapping at his friends. He decided to go down to the lake by himself.

The sun was bearing down relentlessly, Nicky wore his thinnest jeans, a light hooded jacket made of cloth, and an overly large white cotton t-shirt that he usually wore to bed in.

Making his way down to the edge he caught sight of something on the ground, walking a bit closer he noticed they were clothes. Someone must have been swimming.

Taking a seat next to them, he peered out spotting someone. They looked like they were snorkeling, Nicky had to pause a moment to remember if that was the right word for it.

The first cool breeze of the day swept by, feeling some relief he caught sight of the guy in the water struggling with the equipment.

Not resisting letting out a giggle he waved and called out. "You're supposed to put the tube in your mouth and the plastic over your eyes! ....I think!"

[Cian O'Riordan]

Cian swept his wet hair back off his forward and turned to peer at the shore as someone called out to him. He couldn't see them very well because of the fresh water still stinging his eyes. Wading a bit closer he stopped in his tracks when he worked out who it was. Nicky. He'd learnt his name since the episode in the infirmary. He scowled.

"Yeah. I know that." He said stubbornly. The colour of his cheeks started turning pink. What had happened in the infirmary he found very embarrassing, he wasn't a very touchy person and that had just been too much! To top it off he'd made a fool of himself in front of Val, whom he thought very highly of.

"What do you want, come to share some more of your candy?." He asked still scowling at Nicky. Suddenly he felt even more exposed than before. He wrapped his arms around his chest covering his nipples with his hands.

[Nicky Bathurst]

Finally, the goof in the water was walking over. Nicky just kept giggling until he noticed it was Cian, who was just wearing board shorts.

He had covered his eyes and blushed long before the Gryffindor had covered his chest with his arms. "If you knew it then why'd you put on your little coughing show?"

Not knowing where the guy was next, he peered through his fingers a bit to see. "I wanted to enjoy a trip to the lake since the sun is baking everything slowly. No I don't have any candy, which you took free of will last time."

Another strong breeze whipped by, blowing the large collar of his t-shirt to slide down over his bare shoulder. Yelping loudly, Nicky turned away quickly and closed his jacket as if he were hiding something.

"Why are you out here? It's dangerous to be out in the water alone." he called back, turning his head slightly so Cian could hear him. The Slytherin wasn't in a mood to fight or be snappy. The heat drained him of all that energy and he was a bit to preoccupied covering himself up.

[Cian O'Riordan]

Cian continued to wade out of the water and headed towards Nicky and his pile of clothes. He noticed Nicky covering his eyes and also hurrying to cover up his bare shoulder. "You're more of a prude than me." He said with relaxing his scowl a little and smirking. Reaching his clothes he pulled on his red T shirt.

He looked down at the snorkel that was still in his hands and held it up to the light so he could peer through the lenses, he held it to his face and put the tube in his mouth. "Yeah, I suppose that does make more sense." He mumbled through the side of his mouth. Spitting it back out and lowering the mask he looked down at Nicky.

"I took that candy willingly because I needed help sleeping and you said that it would do just that. How was I to know you were an untrustworthy Slytherin?" He said impassively no longer smirking or smiling. "It was a very iresponsible thing to do, and against the rules." He chastised, ever the stickler for sticking to rules.

Looking out across the lake that was shimmering serenly in the sunlight he shrugged. "It looks safe enough to me." He wasn't a rule breaker but he did have a tendency to be reckless with his own health, i.e. taking candy from strangers.

[Nicky Bathurst]

Nicky gasped quietly and blushed keeping his jacket closed, was he really more of a prude than someone who covers them self while wearing a bathing suit?

"I'm not, it's not like that...nevermind!" he nervously mumbled out while turning around once Cian had dressed.

He looked up to find the guy smirking, which made Nicky look down to the ground blushing more.

Once the Gryffindor started talking about the candy, the little Slytherin started rolling his eyes and clutched his knees to his chest looking up again.

"Well you weren't very clear on what was ailing you, And I'm perfectly trustworthy when someones my friend." he managed to smile just a bit, the heat didn't give him the strength to snap back.

Tilting his head, he looked up at Cian. He was tying to make sense of the guys personality. "It wasn't supposed to be responsible...it was supposed to be fun, And it was perfectly within the rules......my rules."

Nicky frowned a bit, a small part of him was guilty over what had happened, But the Gryffindor really needed to loosen up more.

Looking towards the calm lake, he looked back up to Cian and shook his head.

"It's calm now....what if something happen to you though? Like if you wade out to far into the water and get tangled up in some of the plants out there. Aren't you scared of being alone?....out there with no one to help if anything went wrong?"

Nicky didn't know why he was feeling concerned for the guy, they were practically polar opposites. Somehow though, Cian was a lot like Nicky in certain ways.

Looking back down to the ground, he shrugged. "Just be careful...And don't get yourself hurt, it's hard to find candy test subjects you know."

[Sebrena Abayomi]

It had been a bit since she saw Rocco and she firmly tried to convince herself that it was for the better. He was such a jerk for what he did to Angel and an even more jerk that he couldn't plainly see that Sebrena was helping him!

She felt herself thinking of the other boys she fancied, but then realized that she couldn't turn into her boy-crazed older sister Zola. It was all she ever thought about and Sebrena had bigger plans than focus on boys. However, she couldn't help but ponder over Claus' eyes and how cute it was that Drachir was always dirty...

No, NO! Sebrena stormed out of the Gryffindor common room and tried to go anyway to avoid thinking about any boy what so ever. Her resolved to be as mean as she could resonated within her as she made her way to the lake and running into Nicky.

There was a boy she still liked as her friend. However, Nicky worried her a lot that he was hanging out with the terrible twosome, the double NNs, Finn and Ethlinn. Nicky was so much better than those two.

"Heya!" She grinned at him and looked over to see Cian in the water and her eyes went wide. Who was the cute blond guy? Sebrena slapped herself mentally and resolved herself to never be like Zola.

"That's very dangerous to be in the water." Sebrena yelled out to the guy, not shaken by what he could say back. "Isn't it also against the rules?" Sebrena added, motivated that she wanted to see the boy close up.

[Cian O'Riordan]

"Well fun's all well and good until someone get's hurt." Cian said frowning down at Nicky. Slytherin's were such trouble makers! Never thinking about the consequences of their actions. He shook his head and rolled his eyes and looked back out at the lake. He shrugged as Nicky insisted it wasn't safe. Why did this guy care?

"Doesn't bother me and I like being alone." His couldn't care less attitude about his own safety stemmed back to when he lost his father and became withdrawn from all his friends and family. Being at hogwarts had improved him slightly, but mostly because he was forced into social situations such as interacting in classes. He still had no one to call a friend though it didn't bother him in the slightest.

He scowled down at Nicky when he called him a candy test subject. "Damn Slytherins..." His scowl deepened when they were joined by a girl he didn't know who was claiming that it was against the rules to swim in the lake.

"It's not...It can't be." He spluttered, horrified that she might be right, that he might have broken the rules. "I've read the rules and I didn't see mention of the lake being out of bounds. I was merely trying to find a plant." His cheeks had turned pink as he got flustered about the idea of being a rule breaker.

[Sebrena Abayomi]

Sebrena didn't want Cian, this mysterious blonde cutie to get flustered over what she said that it was against the rules.

"Er, well.. I heard it was against the rules, but it might not be!" Sebrena called after him, trying to backpedal and not seem so stupid that she just threw out a claim and not know it was true. Journalism 101, Sebrena! Getting an idea, she took off her shoes and stepped into the water with a grin.

"Wait, I think you needed two people or more in the water at a time because mermaids like to pick lone students off. So.. we're not breaking the rules!" Sebrena grinned at him. Why was she being so nice? Maybe it was because she felt sorry for the guy and she could tell he had a soft heart. She barely knew him and she felt sorry for him! She looked back at Nicky and waved frantically.

"Hi Nicky!"

[Nicky Bathurst]

Nicky was shaken by his own concern for a stranger, It didn't help that Cian was usually off and alone by himself. Something the little Slytherin identified with when he had first come to the school.

The Gryffindor scowled at the candy joke, Nicky smiled brightly. Finally things were getting back to normal, To his surprise Sebrena walked up out of nowhere.

He waved warmly to his friend and scooted a bit to the left so she had somewhere to sit. His morality crisis was over for the moment, he laughing quietly to himself as Cian flustered a shade of pink while hearing that he might be breaking a rule.

"Shame shame shame, breaking such a rule. I thought I was supposed to be the troublemaker here." Nicky's sentence was sarcastic but his tone was friendly.

Two Gryffindors and one Slytherin must equal a good time because he couldn't stop smiling.

[Cian O'Riordan]

Cian frowned at Sebrena. "Well you can't say it is against the rule, one minute and then it's not the next." He pulled a face that was almost like a pout of an immature child. He didn't do rule breaking, who was this girl to suggest that he did and defame his name! He was totally overreacting, but he still hadn't really become adjusted to social situations. So didn't know how to handle people too well. He gritted his teeth as Nicky mentioned rule breaking and troublemaking again. "I didn't break the rules." He mumbled stubbornly, though just about recognising it was with a friendly tone Nicky spoke so he dropped the subject.

He watched Sebrena as she dipped her toes in the water and decided he would get back in and try the snorkel and mask again. "Sorry Nicky, getting naked again." He said smirking at the slytherin. He wasn't sure why he found it funny considering he was such a prude himself, maybe it was because it meant he wasn't completely unlike all of humanity as his sister would have him believe. Pulling his T-shirt back off he waded out again and snapped the mask onto his face. Holding the mouth away from his mouth he pointed at it. "Like this?" He put it in his mouth and mumbled. "This feels weird" Not that anyone could understand through his mouthpiece. Plunging his head under he was amazed that he could see fairly clearly and breathe at the same time.

"Well that way makes more sense" He said resurfacing and spitting the mouthpiece out. Forgetting that he had not long just told Nicky he knew what he was doing.

[Sebrena Abayomi]

Sebrena rolled her eyes at Cian who was being stubborn and telling that what she said was wrong. Of course a rule could be broken one minute and then be easily fixable the next minute. Hence the being in the water by yourself rule!

She watched as he took off his shirt and got back into the water. He put on the mask and plunged into the water. He came up a few minutes later and noted that it made more sense. Sebrena was just plainly annoyed with this Cian character already. All attempts of pitying the guy went out the window.

"I was trying to be nice to you. But if you want to go back to breaking the rules, then I will walk my fine self out of the water." Sebrena turned herself around and got out of the water and sat down on the ground next to Nicky. She leaned back stubbornly and jutted her chin out to him.

"No, Cian is the troublemaker here. Breaking a rule, tsk tsk. I was warned about you, Cian. You are Captain Responsibility. I guess I don't have to worry about you getting me into trouble now, right? I can break all the rules infront of you because you break rules too!" She poked Nicky in the ribs with her elbow in jest, hoping he would play along with her.

[Nicky Bathurst]

Cian seemed to be handling the playful teasing rather well, which made Nicky smile.

Teasing for fun was a lot better than teasing to be mean in Nicky's book....usually. "Huh?"

Cians comment along with the smirk confused the little Slytherin until the shirt started to come off. Nicky covered his eyes blushing, mentally slapping himself for being so stupid around bare skin.

Finally taking a chance to peek through his fingers once the guy was in the water, he rolled his eyes as Cian used the snorkel correctly.

Sebrena sat down next to him and began joking about breaking the rules, Nicky laughed and put waved his hand in the air. "Yeah! I won't obey the rules if you don't Cian!"

He smiled having fun with this, poking fun at the uptight Gryffindor was fun.

[Cian O'Riordan]

Cian was starting to get angry. Were they deliberately trying to wind him up? He couldn't tell. He'd never met anyone as sassy as Sebrena before and Nicky it would seem just relished troublemaking.

"Now look here, it's not fun to joke about rule breaking. It's a very serious matter." He said waggling his finger at them. He crossed his arms stubbornly.

"I know I'm not breaking the rules, I read them. He was starting to doubt it though, what if he missed some sort of sub clause or something? What if there was a teacher watching them ready to come over and yell at them. He glanced around the grounds nervously.

"Don't call me that." He said gritting his teeth about the Captain Responsibility nickname. He still owed Lucas for that. It was just typical he was Head boy now, so there was nothing he could do about it without risking some sort of sanction.

"I always adhere to the rules Nicky so don't you start flouting them." He paused, 'start' probably wasn't the right word to use in Nicky's case.

"Just don't break any more rules, ok?" He rolled his eyes at them both and then stuck his head back under the water to try and escape them calling him a rule breaker. It was rather murky underwater, and there was definitely no sign of the plant he was after. He pulled his head back up to breathe, and he realised that he kept holding his breath underwater, despite having the snorkel in his mouth.

[Nicky Bathurst]

Cian was starting to get mad, and Nicky was finding it to be pretty humorous.

He wagged his finger back at the guy, during his rule ramble. "If you read the rules so much, surely you must be able to quote this one?"

Nicky giggled shoving Sebrena's shoulder playfully, it really was fun retorting back and forth with the responsible Gryffindor.

He rolled his eyes when Cian said he adhered to all the rules. "I'm not flouting anything, I just like calling out a bit of hypocrisy when I see it. Keep getting flustered though....it makes you look cute."

The guy was already back to snorkeling under the water, looking for who knows what. Nicky pulled his hood off and shook his head bemused, staring toward his friend. "Can you believe that guy?"

[Sebrena Abayomi]

Sebrena laughed when Cian was getting even more frustrated. Sebrena wasn't pitying Cian anymore and that made him fair game. She couldn't say anything else to him because Nicky was doing the talking for the both of them. When he went under, Sebrena shook her head.

"He really needs to get a life." Sebrena rolled her eyes at Nicky with a wink. "Though, he is cute." She joked but was half serious about it. Sebrena really needed to either get a boyfriend, or concentrate more on her journalism.