Noel Wallace was going to join her of course. Pulling his backpack closer, the sixteen year old yawned and looked for a certain gryffindor prefect. This tidal calculating thing was going to be a bore but it needed to be done.

Noticing her right away, the puff made his way to her "Yello, duck" he greeted her and dropped his bag full of supplies next to her. "You ready to do this?"

Hugs! Tora had meant it as a joke since she was soaked, but she would take a hug any day for sure. Not only was Eden taking giving out hugs, she had a bunch of extra supplies, too!
"You know, you came much more prepared than I did. I was just going to use one of our classmates many, many flags," she said, taking one of the offered flags and waving it towards a grouping of ribbons on poles sticking out of the water. She stepped a few feet from Eden and shoved her own flag deep into the sand. For good measure she waved her wand and her name appeared on the red fabric. On second thought, she tapped it and the flag turned blue. Ravenclaw, you know?

"I suggest you make your ruler resistant to water so it doesn't warp like mine," Tora nodded at the ruler in Eden's hand before struggling to remember the spell to seal her own. "Impervious," she said and a glimmer passed over her ruler. Now for the measuring... but what to measure? The base water level would probably do since this was the first time. She plunged her ruler into the water to measure how high it was. Two and a half feet. No, now it was two feet. Three feet! The waves due to the oncoming storm weren't making her job easier.

"Are you having any troubles with these bloody waves?" she asked Eden over her shoulder. "I think I'm just going to put down the average yeah? So.... like, two and a half feet?"

WAS it the way they were meant to do it? That really was the million galleon question; Toby wasn't entirely sure.

"Well, see... I figure once the flag is stuck in the ground underwater, we don't really know how much shorter the flag pole gets from the top of it to the ground. Best to measure the actual depth of the water, y'know?" Did that make sense? 'Cause sometimes Toby made jumps that were logical to him and wasn't all that great at explaining. He gestured back to his flag, rippling in the breeze. "The flag's just to mark the point so it's the same place every time. If we only measured it once-" which... Toby didn't see why they would, other than pure curiosity about how deep the shallows of the lake were "-we wouldn't need the flag at all." But anyway, YEAH, Toby had no issues with Adi following his lead. It was like helping, and Toby loved helping.

AHA! There it was. Toby eyed the parchment and self-inking quill that he'd placed in a very obvious place on the ground, ignoring the fact that it was near impossible to have missed it. While Adi redid his own measurements, Toby quickly scribbled something down for his own log. He'd do it all neatly later.



Hm? Okay? Right, leaving. Yeah. Had to go finish his run, then get all dry and everything, go take his potions and maybe get a little NEWT study in before breakfast.

"Cool stuff, Adi. See you in-" Wait what. "Uh, I think it's more like six hours. Six hours and... a weird amount of minutes." Toby thought it would definitely be wise to correct Adi on that one, but he could recheck the notice board later if he wanted. "I'll see you then."

And, after a salute and a quick farewell, Toby set off to finish his run around the ground, still holding onto his parchment and quill.

Kace got the note from Puck that she wanted to do the Astronomy Homework with him. She also mentioned Noel would join them. He didn't care the more the merrier. He brought his ruler from the classroom, he got the bright orange flags to track them and he brought his log to write things with. He brought tape and a quill to label it with. He saw the tides were really big and this was gonna be a perfect day. He noticed Puck and Noel already beat him here. "Hey guys!" he greeted them with. "You ready for this homework assignment..?" he said referring to his supplies.

Oh. It had been with Mr. Kitridge. Lux wondered if he and Professor Cassie were dating or something, though she had no real idea for sure. It wasn't any of her business of course, but she found the idea of them to be cute because they were both super nice people. "He is a very nice man. I am so happy that he made it through what happened to him." It had been terrible, and she was sure that Professor Cassie had been very worried about Mr. Kitridge the same way that she had been worried sick about Bay.

The conversation moved towards the giant squid, and Lux was happy for the change. "That's a good idea! And I wonder if he likes toast!" Maybe she could bring some to the shore one morning and test that theory out. So long as she didn't swim in the water she wouldn't be breaking her promise and it would be amazing to talk to the squid again before she graduated.

"Did strange things happen when you attended Hogwarts?" Hearing about when Professors were students interested Lux, and she had heard some pretty fascinating stories. Some were scary though, like the plant that ate a Professor. "There are a lot of things in the water. I promised Bay when I was a Second Year that I wouldn't go swimming there because he was worried something might hurt me." He was always very protective of her.

Eden snorted. "I'm always prepared." Lies. "And organized" She opened her bag wide enough to show Tora that Eden's bag was a mess. "I'm such a top notch Ravenclaw." Clearly.

Oh. Tora had a good idea! Eden waved her wand and turned the flag blue, just one bright E on her flag. Heh. Only two blue flags out here, too. "Smart." She nodded over at her friend. "And that's...smart too. Wow." Eden was always astounded that people thought of things that she didn't. It was just...Eden felt so DUMB. Heh. "Impervious--" she pointed her wand at the ruler and smiled as it was suddenly water resistant! YAY.

Eden bent over to try to measure...and...Um. UM? "WATER STOP MOVING--" she snapped. Yeah, because water could TOTALLY do that. She finally just...kind of measured, but also kind of guestimated..."Um..Yeah. I'll put that too. Since I think that seems right..." Water was a bit rocky today. "The weather...is probably what's doing it," she said about the rocky water.

Actual depth from the water. Yes, that made sense, actually. Adi nodded at Tobias. "Your brain is working better than mine this early morning,'' he said with a shake of his head. His own brain was demanding hot chocolate right now. Hehe. And it was so cool of the other Puffer not minding Adi being a copy cat/ badger.

Adi finished up adjusting his notes. Er... what? He had gotten the time wrong, too? Gosh, he was really off this morning. Thank goodness for Tobias! "Right! I got mixed up with the minutes and hours. I think it's six hours and twelve point five minutes.'' What precise timing. Meh. "Soooo, that would be about twelve oh six point five PM.'' That time sounded funny but on the bright side, it would be about lunch time so plenty of time for him and Toby to get back here.

"See ya then! And don't forget about the time!'' Adi called after his housemate as the boy took off. He on the other hand would jog back to the Castle for a nice cup (or cups) of hot chocolate.
.............................

Twelve PM! Adi was back at the Lake after a quick lunch although he did have a scone in his hand and which he was currently nomming on. Whereeeee was Toby, by the way? He hadn't forgotten had he? Gosh, if the boy didn't show up on time Adi figured he would just do the measuring for him. What Flamsteed didn't know wouldn't hurt him

Puck looked up when she heard Noel’s voice. “Yello? Are you seeing colors!? Do we need you to go to the hospital wing?” She asked a mock look of concern on her face. “Oh I’ve got this…Waddles, I’ve got this.” She grinned a devious smirk playing at the edge of her lips.

When Kace appeared she just sighed dramatically. “KACE…” she grinned, “you made it!” she beamed pulled herself off of her trusty tree. “So, you two want to get to this?” She asked grinning over to the two of them…of course, if anyone else needed help with the assignment she wouldn’t have minded it wasn’t like she was some overbearing troll of a thing.

Marsha had no idea what she was doing. Honestly, none. The lesson had been amazing, and so much fun! … but when the first thing you needed to be able to complete homework was almost as tall as you…

Well, it made the Welsh girl a little nervous… How high were they expecting the water to go?? It wasn’t like she wasn’t a good swimmer, she had grown up close to the sea and swimming a lot of the time with her Mam when they could get to the local muggle swimming pool… but, she didn’t really want to go into the Black Lake even if Bartholomew Henry seemed nice.

So, now she was standing, barely taller than said bright orange flag… measuring stick… thing… and she had no idea where to start. She had to … what?

….

SIGH.

Okay. She would give herself ten more minutes and if she couldn’t figure it out, she would go and ask Professor Airey to retell her what she had to do... Yes, that was a plan. Looking down at her notes, her frowned. Yeah, she didn’t understand this even though she had read it over ten times now.

Hopeless.

Might as well go ask Airey… although… there was Puck. Could she ask her? Would she mind? She could always tell her to go away… right? Right.

Licking her lips nervously, and picking up all of her things she dragged them over to the group of older students who were standing with her Prefect.

”Um… Excuse me..? Puck?” She said softly, looking waaaaaay wayyyyyy UP at Puck. Holy Griffins, would she ever get that tall? ”I’m a little confused with the Astronomy Homework… Would you be able to explain it to me again?” Nerrrrvouuuss.

Where WAS Toby? That really was the question.

Truth was, he had, uh... he had totally forgotten about having to do the next measurement. Like... it had been wiped from his mind completely. It wasn't until he'd curiously watched some other kids traipsing out the castle through the front doors and towards the Lake that it had clicked. And even then, it took the teeny tiny specks of flags waving in the distance to really jog his memory.

The Hufflepuff had sprinted back to his dormitory then, dropping everything. Quite literally. He'd grabbed his bag on the way back, though, and was now running full pelt around the lake to where he thought his flag was, hoping he hadn't left it too long.

Um. So. Where was his flag? All Toby knew for sure was that he'd set up right next to-

GAAAAAASSSSPPPPPP.

"ADIIIII!" The Hufflepuff kept on running, and the yell was the only warning Prefect Rehman got before Toby dropped his bag and ruler again and LEAPT ON THE SIXTH YEAR in a weird sort of... leaping-and-then-latching-onto kind of hug. HI FRIEND.

Good job Toby was kinda small, really. BUT STILL. They'd never hugged before, so hopefully he was cool with it. And, uh... prepared. Ahem.

Kace nodded and he would be the first one to do this assignment. "Alright I am ready..." he held his flag and he walked or rather waddled into the water and thought this was good enough. He stuck it into the sand and he measured it with his ruler. "Hmm I think 3 feet is good enough!" he called out to them. He now needed a piece of tape which he got from his robes and labeled his flag with his name. There perfect. Now onto measuring it. He needed to measure it from the shore to here. He got out his ruler and measured it and recorded in his head.

He walked back to shore with his feet freezing and began to scribble into his log.



He asked Puck what she thought and the others, "Hey guys what do you think of this?" when he showed his log.

Cassie thought about her first term as a professor, she couldn't help but frown at the memories. The cold was bad enough, but going to visit Leo hurt at the hospital was just torture. "Yes, Mr. Kitridge is a lovely man. He was very lucky that term." She was very grateful that Cece took such good care of him.


She looked out at the lake, could she sense him anywhere? Closing her eyes Cassie tried to hear him, but something was blocking her path. He had to be right there, though she could not find him. No she knew he didn't go too far, he had to be here. Maybe he was just at the bottom and Cassie couldn't hear him there. "You know I'm not really sure. I bet that would be an excellent question for Professor Thompson." Javy was bright when it came to many things, but especially with animals. If she didn't know any better she would have figured he was the animal whisper.

The question made her go silent, did weird things happen. "It is Hogwarts, I don't think it could be this school without weird things, but yes they did. We had an issue in the Hufflepuff dorms and ended up sharing a common room with Ravenclaw for awhile." That one she really remembered, it made her seventh year very interesting. She tried to think of the other things, she knew there was a few others. "The memories I have are the best ones of the school, I try not to keep the ones that weren't. Like Professor Glendower and I hanging out in about this same location." She chuckled picturing her best friend and her as teenagers again. "It's not a bad promise, but there are many things the lake has to offer as well. I wouldn't sell yourself short of adventures, just be careful." That's all she ever asked any of her students.

Nomming on the scone done? Yes! But Adi was STILL hungry, yo! Good thing there were Chocolate Froggies and an extra scone in his bag which was resting on the sandy shore of the Lake. Now he was removing his ruler from his pocket, wishing he could conjure Patronus to go find Toby. Seriously... where was he? "Looks like I'll have to do his measurement,'' Adi mused and started to wade off in Tobias's flag's direction.

He had gone about three or four wades in when... Someone was shouting his name. Before he could so much as turn around, the person had literally jumped onto his back. Waaaaah? Totally caught off guard with the sudden attack, the sixth year struggled to keep his balance and somehow managed to keep it. Maybe it was because Tobias wasn't all that huge.

"TOBYYY, is that YOUUU?" Hehe. Who else would it be? It could have been AJ but she didn't have that male voice. Adi minded this... hug? leap and hug? as much as he minded having Froggies everyday. "Hang on, buddy. Rehman Express will take you to your destination in no time.'' Hehe. With Tobias still clinging to him, the younger Puffer started off towards the other boy's flag. "You almost forgot about the measuring, didn't you?''

A cautious wade here, a cautious wade there lest he fell over and sent them both in for a bath. LOL. Annnnd... "Here's your stop!''

Lux could tell that Professor Cassie didn't like thinking about what happened, because she frowned. Best not to dwell on the subject. Nodding, she said, "Healer Murdoch is amazing." She had literally saved him and Bay.

Asking Professor Thompson about the squid was a great idea. [b]"We should! And maybe if we call out to him that will work too!! Clearing her throat, she cupped her hands around her mouth. "Bartholomew Henreeeeey." Hehe, would that work?? Lux was really curious to find out as she eagerly gazed at that water. If not, maybe she could start singing to him... There were loads of songs about the water and he could like one of those!

Keeping her eyes glued to the water, Lux nodded. It was true that weird stuff always seemed to happen at this school. Honestly she wondered half the time how Hogwarts was allowed to stay open. "Oh, how come you had to share a common room?" Interesting. Too bad it hadn't been Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, but it was what it was. "It's always good to think of the memories! So you and Professor Glendower have been friends all along?" Aww, that was sweet. It was amazing to have best friends and she loved hers. "And that's very true about adventures! They seem to be a very Gryffindor thing as well." But she didn't want to break her promise. There were loads of adventures to have on land!

Well, that was a sight! Tora eyed the mess of a bag that Eden toted to the shore but couldn't judge; her's was almost as bad.

"Not nearly as top notch as me- I can't ever get past that doorknocker!" Tora laughed and she trudged out of the water to grab the parchment and ink she left on the bank with her shoes. She found a flat rock nearby and carefully undid her inkpot lid. It was then that a huge raindrop fell smack in the middle of her paper. Billywig rot! Seriously, the world must be against her.

"You know what? I'm just going to remember that it's two and a half feet and write this inside." she said, quickly screwing back on the top to her ink and rolling up the parchment. "What say you we head back inside? Maybe come out tomorrow and hope it isn't raining?"

As if on cue the one raindrop turned into a million. Within a few seconds, Tora was soaked to the skin... again. Not that she'd really had the time to dry off. She tilted her head back to the rain. Why me?

Puck grinned over to Kace when he exclaimed that he was ready and promptly began wading into the water…oh wait, there was another voice. Puck turned her head and glanced around and then finally looked down at little Marsha. She was so tiny, gosh…like a little munchkin.

“Hey Marsha” she grinned down to her and slowly lowered herself so that she wouldn’t strain her neck or well…Marsha’s either. “Oh we have to wade into the water a bit and check the water levels at different times…so were going now in the morning and then tonight we’ll come back and check and see what the difference is.

“its low tide right now so it should be pretty easy to get out there” she shrugged and grinned over to Marsha. “I can show you if you want?” She offered and picked up one of the flags. “So we have to use these flags and put our names on them,” Puck explained as she wrote her own name on the orange flag. “and now I’m going to go out there, plant the flag and measure how deep the water is but sort of close to the shore” she grinned and picked up the meter-stick as well.

Taking off her shows and socks she walked into the cool water and only stopped when she was about 7/10 of meters away from the shore. “Marsha I’m about two and a half feet or 7/10ths of a meter from the shore…so I think maybe going about a foot off shore would be good? You know just incase the water levels change drastically” she nodded because well…Marsha was like two feet shorter than her and everything. “Or you know, I could if you wanted carry you out there and get the tidal changes that are deeper in the water, bubble head charms and all…” she grinned. And of course extending the stick length so that the flag would be seen from the top of the water.

Okay…she was dong this now. Puck took her meter stick and measured the depth where her flag was sitting. “Okay, so I’ve got about 3.81 centimeters,” she shrugged, and taking the meterstick back with her she returned to the shore and began to write down the notes.

SPOILER!!: Astro HW notes

Astronomy Tidal Levels;
Morning Findings:
3.81 centimeters, 7/10ths of a meter from the shoreline
Puck Greyvson,
Gryffindor

Astronomy homework.

He was so ready. The Gryffindor had actually woken up early for it and everything. Merlin, he'd better get some house points for this so he'd know it was worth it. A bit exhausted from late night homework from the day before, the Gryffindor had made sure to grab a hardy breakfast before heading out to the lake. Oh and he downed a mug of coffee just incase to help him keep awake for the rest of the day. Didn't need to fall asleep on his lunch, thankyouverymuch.

Anyways, he had already taken the liberty to stop by Professor Flamsteed's office a few days ago to grab the flag and a ruler. That was really important because Zander didn't just carry rulers around with him on the norm. Though he figured some Ravenclaws may have personal rulers of their own. Just seemed like something they'd do. Though, he was generalizing here wasn't it? Oops.

Anyways, finally he made it out to the lake. Beautiful. The lake was great. Zander LOVED the lake. Not as much as the treehouse, but it was still great. Among the top five things Hogwarts had to offer. Right after the Treehouse and right before the chocolate cake during opening feast. But he was getting sidetracked here because really he had one task: measuring the tide. Leh go.

As he made it closer and closer to the mass of water, he realized just how many orange flags there were in there. Uh oh. Merlin. There'd be no way he could find his. Well, okay, he HAD gone ahead and written his name on their ('cause sometimes he read the instructions beforehand), but still. He needed his own spot. AND OH there seemed to be a lack of flags towards the deeper (ish) end of the water. So maybe he could venture out there to find his unique spot? Yeah. Sounded great. With that in mind, the Gryffindor quickly rolled up the sleeves of his trousers so that they were above his knees and he shed his robe on the side of the lake. No need to get that wet. And then he began stepping forward into the water.

He kept going farther and deeper into the lake until finally he seemed to be a good distance from most of the other flags. And that's when he attempted to poke the flag into the ground and moved it about just until it was wedged into there perfectly. Hopefully the water wouldn't take it away... It seemed pretty firmly in position though... So hopefully, y'know? As for now though... He had to find the measurement. He did not think this through... Uh. How was this supposed to work exactly??? He just had to figure out a way to read the measure of the water.

Lining the ruler up against the flag the best he could, the Gryffindor tried to make out the measurement. Uuuuuhhhh. It looked like about.... Uh... 3.35 feet? Yeah? Yeah. Sounded pretty solid. He was gonna go for it. YEAH. Look at Zander Adair, doing the Astronomy thing in WATER. Ha. He could probably take those NEWTS right here RIGHT NOW. Forget seventh year. Zander was READY. Only kidding. Tests were the worst. Aheeeeeeem. All this water was really getting to him. Ahem.

The Prefect kept repeating the measurement to himself as he attempted to march himself out of the water. Marching only because the water came up a lot higher than he thought it would. The lake got pretty deep pretty quickly. Who would've thought? And now for homework or something. Actually, nah. As if. Zander was probably gonna go lounge around the treehouse, let's be real. He'd come back in approximate 6.5 hours or uh whatever it was that the homework called for.

HEHE.

It was a good job Adi had been READY for Toby, or at least was generally prepared enough for any eventuality, otherwise the two of them might have gone sploosh.

"Yep! It's meeeeee," the... apparently very hyperactive seventh year replied, still holding on. Appropriate greeting, right? Right. Definitely. Oh and HEY! He was getting a ride to his flag, too. Adi was cool people. "Thanks, man!" Toby beamed, hopping off the sixth year's back and SPLOOSHing into the water. It was cold, but not as cold as it had been this morning. NO BIG. "Yeeeaahhhhh... it may have slipped my mind." OOPS. But really, his memory was shocking, it was hardly surprising to Toby. "Right, let's do this. Accio!"

From the shore, Toby's ruler flew over to him, and he caught it in midair before turning back to his flag. After double-checking that that was definitely his name written on it, he stuck the ruler into the water, holding it up against the flagpole, exactly as he'd done that morning, and waited for the water to get as settled as possible.

It was more difficult during the day, for some reason, but then mornings always DID seem very still in general. In any case, as soon as the water settled as much as it looked like it was going to, Toby checked where the water level was on his ruler. HmmMMMmmMMmm... interesting.

Much like earlier that day, the seventh year marked the level on the ruler with his thumb (in case his memory failed him in the next thirty seconds or so) before picking it up properly and heading back to the shore. Toby looked over at Adi.

"Any interesting discoveries?" Basically he was asking how the measuring was going, ahem.

Kace saw Puck's measurements and he thought it seemed legit. He nodded and it sounded plausible. I mean they were close together anyways. He saw Puck also helping Marsha which it was cute. He grinned as she began to explain the assignment. He already logged his and he needed to wait till later on in the afternoon to record his results. He was just chilling in the water and scrunching his toes in the wet sand. It was a nice feeling but the water was starting to get a little bit too cold. He got out and he saw his name tag in the water. He grinned and he wore his name proud.


Then he saw his flag was tipping in the water. Bloody merlin he didn't put it in properly. His eyes went wide and he went back into the water and put it in deeper. Whewwwww. That was close, I mean it was low tide but he needed to make sure it was in right. People can make mistakes right? He walked back out and he grinned sheepishly at Puck. He put his shoes on and said, "Well I will see you back around dinner I guess?" then he packed his stuff and got his sock and shoes on and went back to the castle.

He really should get an award for this homework, because yes, DEDICATION. It was still a big surprise that he got a VERY good grade in his Astronomy OWL, and Ethan wanted to show an actual proof that he deserved the grade. Caleb helped him out during his revision sessions with him, but he would also like to give Flamsteed acknowledgement. His lessons were always engaging (and challenging) for him, therefore, he was more than prepared for the test that the Ministry placed before him.

At exactly 5:45 in the morning, the Slytherin gathered his things and headed out for the Black Lake.

Unfazed, Ethan eyed his surroundings, his wand in his hand. It was already six in the morning, but it was still a bit dark, and he knew that he must stay vigilant. Who knows what lurks during that hour, yes?

Convinced that he was alone, the Slytherin continued to observe the lake before him. The water was a bit far from the shore, and he assumed that it was a low tide.

Ethan pulled one of the flags that bore his name, and fished out a muggle marker to write down the date and current time. Capping the marker, the sixth year bent down and stuck the flag on the ground at least two inches deep, to keep it in position. The teenager then took out a small notebook from his pocket and scribbled his findings.



Satisfied with his findings, the Slytherin kept his notebook, and turned to return to the castle’s grounds. He was just in time to do a nice, long jog before his full breakfast.

Eden agreed about writing it down once they were inside, because...this was just NONSENSE. "Come back tonight--maybe right before dinner--and o--" but before she was done with her thought, rain....RAIN. The downpour drenched both of the girls almost instantly--

She yelped and quickly tried to trudge out of the water. "SNAP, TORA--" she laughed slightly as she zipped up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. "Hopefully it's not raining tonight--I don't fancy getting soaked again--" NOPE. She gestured for Tora to slosh after her towards the hopefully warm castle that awaited.

........


Homework, classes, and other various activities had Eden tired and HANGRY. But she had gone looking for Tora so they could come measure their little flags again. Merlin. "This is a pain. We should have opted for the essay option.." though, Eden wasn't as GOOD at the essays, they at least would have escaped the rain earlier.

....which, it had slackened up, but...it was still drizzling. Eden had her hood on her cloak drawn and just sighed. "This is terrible! You know what--can you impervious OUR BODIES? Or is that not possible?" she asked curiously, because....it was drizzling and they needed to wade back in the water.

More wetness.

More chances of catching a cold.

LUNCH BREAK! Which was probably the best part of the day, according to one fair haired teenager named Ethan Mordaunt. But before he could sink his teeth into some delicious Hogwarts food, the Slytherin jogged out of the castle and down towards the Black Lake to see if...his flag was still there.

It didn’t take long for him to spot his name as soon as he reached the shore. In fact, it looked like it wasn’t touched at all. The Slytherin took out his notebook and scribbled down some notes on it. He then got the muggle ruler and measured the distance from his flag to the edge of the water, which was...surprisingly calm. The teenager added some digits in his head and eyed his wristwatch. The second his watch told him that it was exactly 12:12:30 PM, the Slytherin glanced at his ruler and went to scribble down his final computation.



Keeping his findings away, Ethan tapped his flag, turned and ran towards the castle. One shouldn’t let food wait, yes?

Hufflepuffs and their NEVER ENDING energy! Tobias’s high spirits put Adi in ann even better mood because it was THAT contagious. “Gosh, you weigh a TON, Toby!’’ he kidded as his friend splashed into the water. Cue the fake huffs and puffs! LOL. “You’re.’’ Huff. “Welcome.’’ Puffff!

Chuckling to himself, Adi retrieved his own ruler from his pocket. His parchment and quill were in his bag but he would update his notes later. The important thing was to get the measuring done. As Toby did his own, the sixth year sought out his own flag. Locating it and after checking his watch to ensure that it was at least six hours and twelve minutes since the flag had been first stuck in the water, he held the ruler against it just as he earlier.

Adi peered closely at the little lines on the ruler, wanting to ensure that he got the correct measurement. You know, he was actually a little disappointed in what he saw. Even though he knew that there shouldn’t be much change but he was hoping there would have been.

He looked over at Toby. “Nope. Three point seven inches here. Point seven inch more than this morning.’’ Which would be a little over one and a half centimetre difference, yes? His calculations could be off. The Puffer made a mental note of his finding as he waded over to Toby, ruler back in his pocket. “What did youuu come up with?”

Early mornings were NOT AJ Valentine's thing. Not at all. It was hard enough getting her to actually get out of bed, but getting her to walk alllll the way down to the lake was definitely pushing it. Not to mention that food had to happen before this homework thing would be possible. After about an hour of tossing and turning and wondering how bad it would be if she just blew off this little homework assignment; AJ finally got out of bed. This was not a happy fourth year though. She popped a chocolate frog in her mouth and nomed it rather unladylike as she made her way down to her common room.

She had only made it halfway to her destination before she realized she never picked up the stupid orange flag and a ruler. This was a perfect example of why early mornings and AJ didn't mix.

Finally making her way down to the black lake, she rubbed her eyes and looked out at a sea of orange flags. Was she late or something? This was a pretty good possibility. The only good thing about this was that she was going to get wet. AJ waded out into the water and found her a spot to stick her flag in.

Now all she needed to do was measure the water. Sure, THAT was going to be easy. AJ pulled out her ruled and attempted to get a good reading on the stick. Umm... how was this supposed to be accurate when the water was constantly moving? Was their a spell to make the water stop? Where was a Ravenclaw when you needed one? Usually the lake was pretty still. It must have been Henry being a jerk. This would only happen to her.

Deciding that 2 feet and 4 inches was what she was getting she made a mental note and started to half swim, half march back to shore. When did she have to be back here? And what time was it now? Merlin... could she be any less organized. The lion looked down at her watch and made another mental note. Really, she needed to get to a piece of parchment before these mental notes took a little stroll outside of her brain.

Almost jumping out of his skin, Ethan darted out to the Black Lake, as he suddenly remembered about his pending Astronomy homework. It was already Friday, and luckily, he remembered things just in time. It was already five minutes to 12 noon that day, and he was panting from the sudden sprint as he arrived on the spot where he left his flag from days ago.

His orange flag that bore his name was, thankfully, still stuck to in the dirt, but the base was now covered with water. It wasn’t that high, but the sight was entirely different from days ago. Surely, he can base his answer from his initial findings, yes? Ethan took out the muggle ruler, which by the way, was hastily borrowed from a passing first year student, and measured the water level. Done with the reading, the Slytherin checked his watch and logged in his answer:



Scratching his head, Ethan kept his notebook away, and returned to the castle. He also needs to find that first year kid, and return her ruler...