summer

[peterxy]

Professor Spukhafte doesn't have any more advice than Hermione does, and is not as willing as the Gryffindor to help them if they're still stuck.

Which they are. Sadde's suggestion that they try focusing on shorter parts of memories for a higher happiness-per-second value helps him but not Miranda, so he ends up with a more solid fog. Still just fog, though. They continue reading books about it, and it seems to just be that idiosyncratic. Interestingly enough, some books written by alchemists also have mentions of Dementors, trying to figure out what their symbolic value is and whether it's possible to integrate it. More advanced books are in the Restricted Section, and they won't have access to it until at least Professor Slughorn gives them the go ahead.

The year passes. Willow is consistently good at the theoretical parts of classes and consistently bad at the practical ones, mostly due to being flustered by failures and not quite being able to get over that fact. Sadde and Miranda are exceptional at Potions, and the only reason Sadde isn't also exceptional at Transfiguration is that he doesn't quite care enough about homework when all that's on the line are his grades. That, plus all the time he spends between reading about Dementors, reading about Alchemy, and trying to undo the damage suffered by Slytherins because of the Dark Lord.

That last goal has the most tangible results, for a certain value of "tangible." Slytherin firsties are divided between liking him (Jacob and two of the girls) and grudgingly tolerating him (the other boy and girl). He has thoroughly dispelled the notion that he's "just another Slytherin" firsties from other Houses (except perhaps Gryffindor) might have, but of course that doesn't make the older years all that happy. Well, not that the older Slytherins actually care that much. But he has helped various of them with various things, mostly by acting like a somewhat willful minion, since there's not much more he can do to help older students beyond that, so he's at least on talking terms with most of them (Cole and Astoria have been quite useful there, as well).

Arens is not one of them, but by now he's mostly just ignoring Sadde and hoping he'll just go away.

Summer arrives.

They return home and spend a while with their respective families, but eventually...

Comments

[mswoods]

Curses! She falls facefirst onto Willow's bed.

"Come on, Miranda, aren't you gonna join us?" she giggles.

[chanuphis]

"Um, no, I would die, remember?"

[mswoods]

"The bed is really fluffy!"

Assess the battlefield before quickly standing up again and charging at Karen!

[chanuphis]

"I wouldn't have any fun because I don't like being terrible at things and I would still die."

[msmaxwell]

"Kyah!" Willow says as she charges at Karen as well.

[mswoods]

"Fffiiine," Sadde says, going two-against-one on Karen.

[chanuphis]

Miranda waits patiently, idly watching Star Wars.

[mswoods]

Eventually Sadde gets bored of lightsaber fighting - she doesn't actually really like Star Wars all that much, only lightsabers - and flops down to look around at all the stuff Willow has.

[chanuphis]

It's pretty neat stuff.

[mswoods]

Right?

[msmaxwell]

Willow's not gonna get tired of this anytime soon.

[pleating]

Karen gets worn out before she gets bored, and flops dramatically to the bed. "I am dead," she announces.

[msmaxwell]

"I am victorious!"

[pleating]

"Queen Lightsaber Lady."

[msmaxwell]

"My sister would probably still wipe the floor with me."

[pleating]

Karen hangs the lightsaber up. "Well, you beat us."

[msmaxwell]

She giggles. "Okay, what next?"

[pleating]

"Let's see the rest of the house and then swim."

[msmaxwell]

"Okay!"

The inside of the house doesn't have much more to see. There are just the bathrooms, her parents' and siblings' rooms, several guest rooms, an attic with a bookshelf and an armchair and a lantern for some quiet alone time, and a basement where random stuff is kept.

Alright, maybe there was still a bit of stuff to see.

[mswoods]

Sadde quietly admires everything she sees.

[chanuphis]

"So, I brought my bathing suit, did you guys?"

[mswoods]

"Yeah!"

[pleating]

"I have mine! Do you have to have two bathing suits, Sadde? In case you feel like swimming on girl days and boy days?"

[mswoods]

"Mmhm, yeah."

[msmaxwell]

"Alright, then, it's through here!"

There's a backdoor that leads directly to the pool, and it's a massive pool, with a little waterfall and a fountain and a small island in the middle, a few tables with umbrellas and chairs, and two small locker rooms of sorts over there. From where they are, they can see the start of the mini-golf course from a distance, but not wherever it is the horses are kept.