Dock by the Lake

Al swayed along with Parvati, amazed at how it was suddenly so much easier. "Wow. You're right! This isn't so hard all of a sudden." He continued swaying before falling back onto the dock and looking up at the clouds. "Today. Was. Awesome," he said in amazement, as if he had experienced the most amazing experience of all experiences ever experienced.

Parvati nodded when he said it wasn't hard all of a sudden. "Yeah! It's weird, huh? How things can go from hard to easy." She said nodding and then thought for a moment. "Really weird." She laughed when he fell back on the dock and she then fell back so she was laying next to him. "Today was a good day indeed." She said as she let out a sigh. "It was just such a good day." She said in a squeaky high pitch voice, and then once again she laughed and giggled.

Al giggled along with Parvati, then reached over to play with her hair because it was soft and shiny and really distracting. "Today was awesome! I wish every day could be like today. THIS IS THE BEST DOCK EVER!" He laughed and pulled his hands away from Parv's hair, instead clutching his stomach as he laughed hysterically.

Parvati laughed as Al played with her hair and nodded as she agreed with him. "I agree! I wish I could spend every day with you, shots, and this dock." She said as she reached over and hugged Al while still laying down. "I just want to spend every day with my Alllllbusssss, and we can have fun parties together and everything in my world will be Albussssss!" She sang as she hugged him. "and nothing will hurtttt!" She should be a song writer.

Al laughed and clung to Parvati. "Ohmygosh, that would be the bestest thing ever! Can we just stay here and never ever part!?" he asked dramatically as he snuggled up to his brother's girlfriend in a totally platonic way.

Parvati laughed and clung back to Al, snuggling with him but not in a romantic or sexual way at all. "Yes! Let us stay, Albus! Let us stay here on this dock and never leave!" She said loudly with another light laugh as she clung to him.

Al clung to Parvati and started thinking about how perfectly everything would work out. She would marry James and Al would marry Scorpius, and all would be fine and dandy.

And then he fell asleep...

It was great and Parvati had a lovely dream about James and how amazing he is and then they woke up later and parted ways.

Marlene sits on the end of the dock, smoking a cigarette and lazily flicking the ash into the water. There's still a chill in the air, but she doesn't mind. After a long winter cooped up in the castle, she's just glad to be in the open for a bit. Cabin fever's a bitch.

Ted completely agrees that cabin fever is a bitch. He had been taking a jog around the lake when he saw a pretty girl he didn't recognize sitting at the end of the dock, maybe she would help him take his mind off of a certain Black sister. Slowing to a walk he strolled down to the end of the dock and smiled at her, "Mind if I join you?"

Marlene glances up for a moment, taking in the sweaty, tall, and yes, good-looking person approaching her. Her face is full of disinterest and she turns her eyes back to the lake. "It's a free country," she says, taking another drag of her cigarette. "For now," she adds after a beat.

Ted sat down and looked at her for a second, "What do you mean by that? Is there some sort of new system coming in that I don't know about?" He could instantly tell that this girl wasn't like the others he knew at Hogwarts. For starters she was smoking muggle cigarettes.

Marlene gives Ted an 'are you kidding me?' look through the haze of smoke. "Ever picked up a newspaper, mate? Does the name 'Voldemort' ring any bells?" she asks bluntly.

Ted looked at her and raised an eyebrow, damn. He didn't think that death eaters smoked muggle cigs. "Why yes it does, that doesn't mean he'll win."

"He seems to be winning so far," she says darkly, using the end of her cigarette to light another one and tossing the butt into the lake. She lets it sit in the water a moment, then lazily vanishes it. "Whatever," she dismisses, shaking her head a little as if to clear the thoughts.

Ted raised his eyebrows, "I hadn't thought so." He watched the cigarette get put out by the water and wasn't pleased when she raised the second one to her lips, "So are you new here?"

"Lucky you," Marlene scoffs. Clearly, if this guy thought things were going well, he'd been pretty untouched by Voldemort and the gathering war so far. She doesn't bother wondering what that's like, because there's no point to it. Wondering and might-have-beens are dangerous things. "No I'm not. Are you? I'm a seventh year," she adds, wondering what it says about her that she's so easily slipped into the shadows and gone unnoticed. Because she's totally been here all along... >.>

Ted cocked his head and looked at her again, "Really? I'm a 7th year too. Hufflepuff," he held out his hand, "Ted Tonks. I'm sorry but just somehow I don't feel like I know you." He couldn't understand how there were still people in his year that he didn't know.

Marlene looks at Ted's extended hand for several long seconds, suspicion etched over her features. Without smiling, she eventually puts her hand in his, shaking firmly. 'A strong handshake is a sign of good character', she remembers her father saying. It was years ago, now. "Marlene McKinnon. Don't worry, I have no idea who you are either," she says, and almost smirks, almost jokes. "I'm a Claw."

Ted smiled and shook her hand with an equal firmness. "Well it's nice to finally meet you after seven years of running around the same castle." He hadn't really thought of the possibility that she wouldn't shake his hand. Though he did realize that he had to be much chiller and mellower with her otherwise she would either run or curse the pants off him.

Inner!Lene just rolled her eyes and says Ted wishes she would curse the pants off him. "Right," Marlene says, dropping his hand and turning back to the water as she takes another drag of her cigarette. She glances at Ted out of the corner of her eye, once again noting the general sweatiness, and the jogging gear thrown over a toned body. "What are you, some kind of health nut?" She wonders, not having missed his earlier look of distaste at her smoking.

Ted shook his head, "Not a health nut but an athlete, I run and play football and lots of other sports." And his body is indeed rather toned... and if she wanted to curse his pants off that wouldn't be an issue at all. He gave her a questioning look, "Are you muggleborn or pureblood?"

"Sounds like a health nut to me," Marlene mutters under her breath, not really seeing the distinction. It just seems like a waste of time to her when they're all going to die anyway, sooner or later. Probably sooner. "What, I have to be either one or the other? More shades of grey in the world than that, Tonks. I'm half."

Ted shrugged, "Most at this school fit into one distinction, listing out three is arduous and unnecessary. I'm a big one for simplicity." He rested his hands back on the dock behind him and looked out over the water, staying silent and letting her accept his presence, not trying to force anything, acting almost the way he would with a skittish animal.

Marlene laughs. "Most at this school lie. Whatever," she says, brushing it off and continuing to smoke in silence. She wonders why he's even sitting with her; she's not much of a conversationalist and she isn't the most welcoming of people. He seems painfully unjaded though, so Marlene thinks he might just be one of those people who thinks everyone not wearing a dark cloak and a white mask must be one of the good guys. Stupid. Sweet, but stupid. Marlene remains silent, not rejecting his presence but not encouraging it either.