Dahlia stood near the Black Lake, not to far from the boathouse, staring out into the distance at what appeared to be an Island in the center of the water. It was kinda hard to see but it was there. She was sure of it.

Squinting her eyes and cupping her hands around them as if that would help at all, she tried to estimate in her mind how far away the island was. All she really knew was it was far enough that she wouldn't be swimming to it. She was a good swimming but not THAT good.

Dropping her hands down from her face, blue eyes shifted over towards the boathouse. Yep. That was her best option. The only option really. If she really wanted to find out what was over there she would need to take one of the boats. Chances were she would make it over there... but it wasn't the best idea since she had no clue what was in store for her once she got there.

Was there anyone around that might want to join her on this little adventure? Or better yet... KNEW what was over there AND wanted to go there with her?! Dahlia once again looked around, only this time she was looking for someone that could possibly join her.

THERE WAS AN ISLAND IN THE BLACK LAKE?!?! SAY WHAAAT. Had this always been here?!?! HE really ought to get out of the library or arcade room more.

He was chastising himself for being a fool AND not stepping out of the library all of sixth year. Once again, the boy had spent waaaay too much time in the library helping his ex-girlfriend study for her OWLS. Welp. He didn't regret helping her study at all even with them deciding to move in different directions... He just wished that he spent more time outside of the library and enjoying his sixth year before the awful seventh year transpired. And to think... he had only been concerned about NEWTS this year... Tsk. Tsk. How he wished all he had to worry about were NEWTS.....

He hadn't realized that he had walked up next to a younger year who was also staring at the island in front of them until he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Huh. When he looked at her, he noticed her gaze upon the island out in the Lake and wondered if she, too, wanted to go explore it. Then again... these younger years were rather competitive so maybe... Maybe she'd rather race to the island.... That's what his younger siblings would have preferred, yeah? Yep.

"On the count of three- race you to the island?" he offered with a smile, breaking the silence.

Eden was full-fledged running. It felt pretty great, actually, and she made a mental note to start going on daily jogs again.

But, anyway, Eden was full-fledged, huffy-puffy running even though minutes prior she'd been peacefully writing in her journal because she saw people by the boathouse. And they seemed to have their focus directed on that teeny, tree-covered, incredibly mysterious and enthralling island that she'd wanted to explore ever since she caught a glance of it from the windows of the seventh floor. (So she'd wanted to explore it for several days.) She may notmake it to Svalbard, Reunion, Flores Island, ect. any time soon, but she could do a little bit of exploration here before she met her untimely demise.

The short eleven year old stopped for a breather when she was almost there, realizing she probably looked completely insane. Eden felt a little better, however, once she recognized her housemate, Dahlia. The other boy was older and a complete stranger. She put on a friendly? smile and waved as she approached the duo. "Are you guys" - she took another moment to catch her breath- "going to the island?"

Lia's eyes fell solely on the very much older boy with floofy hair that was coming her way. Did all the boys around here have such nice hair?! She smiled up at him when he got close enough. "Race? I- wait.." she blinked up at him, glancing out over the lake towards the very very far off island. "How? You don't think we could swim all the way there, do you?" There was noway she would make it that far, really good swimmer or not. And Merlin only knew what was in the lake that far out!

"Can we take the boats? That I can try to do." Odds were him being much bigger and older than her, he would win. It didn't matter though. A friendly competition wasn't something she wanted to completely dismiss.

Had she seen Eden dashing across the grounds towards them? Nope. Her focus had been on floofy haired guy, the island and possibly a boat. She did however hear her dormmate calling out to them. "Hey, Eden!" she called out, waving back. "Uh-huh! Wanna join us? We're going to race there!" Can they hear the excitement in her voice that hadn't been there since she had been sorted into Ravenclaw?!

...and it worked! The spell worked! Bernie was able to pull her wand in and lay down flat on the bottom of the boat as the wind spell rocketed her straight out of the boathouse and into the lake, properly zipping along with quite a bit of steam.

How LONG said spell would last... well, now, that was part of the experiment. In the meantime, while it was working, she had obviously done her best to pretend to be a dead Viking: eyes closed, hands folded over her bellybutton, body fully prone and at peace.

Bernadette just hummed a little sea shanty to herself as she careened out toward the Bowtruckle Island. Admittedly, the "empty" boat ZOOMING out there may have appeared strange to anyone onshore, but she couldn't see them and they probably couldn't see her, so.

Racing? Outdoor adventure? A chance to not feel emo as heck? Oh, it was ON. "Hey Lia! Yes, I absolutely do want to join you in racing to the island, thank you. Will we need three boats or is it underclassmen vs. upper?"

She turned towards Mr. Fluffyheaded Stranger and gave him a little wave. "Hello!"

She wasn't going to be intimidated by the fact that he was older - she could still very well win. Right?

And, also... "Is anybody in that boat right there?" The first year pointed to the boat zipping away from the boathouse.

Dahlia smiled brightly at Eden. Yessssss! Another friend to join in on the adventuring! This was going to be loads of fun. "Ohhhh! That's a good question. What do you think?" She turned her big blue eyes upwards onto the much older boy with the really floofy hair. "I'm good with racing either way." Though being much smaller and younger she might not stand a chance against the seventh year but at least it would be a whole lot of fun.

The excitement was bubbling up inside of her and it didn't take more than a couple of seconds before she was bouncing on the balls of her feet. Could they get going now?!

Huh? The mention of an empty boat had Lia squinting and cupping her hands around her eyes. Sure enough there was a boat out there flying across the water but.. she didn't see anyone inside the boat. "I'm not sure. I can't see anyone.. but something has to be steering it, right?"

He chuckled at her comment about swimming there. “If you want we could but that seems like a lot of effort,” he dramatically sighed, trying to impersonate his older cousin and all of his complaining about gaining in one sigh. “Im not sure if we’d make it.” And that was a lie out of kindness. He was fairly certain he’d put a good distance on the water but he didn’t... he didn’t want to give the young first year false hope by saying that she could and then having something awful happen. His eyebrows arched and he nodded- not once - but twice in agreement at the boat idea. That was much safer. “Boats.... Yes. Good idea!” Now where would they find them?

Noah glanced to his left when he heard the soft question drop into the silence and found a young Ravenclaw girl had approached him and the younger year. Merlin. Was it just him or did the younger years feel as if they were just getting younger every single year? It was probably him. He had been in denial of leaving Hogwarts after his final year but after the year that they had experienced thus far.... he was ready for graduation. Smiling, he looked back to the other girl on his right? Oh? The two seemed to know each other. That was good. It was good to see that the young-ins were still making friends. Friends were important. He momentarily got distracted by a familiar face zooming off. Was that Bernie? He blinked before turning to the Ravenclaw (Bryn). “Hi!” he waved before grinning. “I’m Noah.”

"By lots of effort, you mean I'd never make it," Dahlia replied with a giggle. "I didn't think I'd be able to get there either. While I do love to swim and I'm fairly good at it... that is really far off from here." Swimming all the way to the island wasn't high up on her current list of activities. So yes, they would be taking the boats. "Great! We can use the ones in the boathouse, right?" Cause that's what they were there for? Peers up at the waaaaay too tall older boy with the really nice hair.

Lia bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. Huh? Noah? Oooooh! With all the excitement of having someone, now to someone's wanting to go to the island with her, she had completely forgot to mention who she was! "Nice to meet you, Noah! I'm Dahlia and this is Eden my dorm mate. We're Ravenclaws." In case he hadn't noticed.

Introductions were done. Now could they get going?!

Eden was with Lia. Could they get. to. it. please? Please? And definitely on boats - what kind of crazy person went long distance swimming in a lake full of magical creatures? She kept her cool on the outside - kinda. But could they please go get in the boats and go to that island? She didn't care about the maybe-not-empty boat anymore.

She looked up (wow, he was tall) at Noah. "Nice to meet you. I'm Eden." Oops, Dahlia already said that. No biggie. Have a little smile. Could they go now?

"Are you guys ready to go to the boathouse, then?" Let's have a sense of urgency, guys. There's exploration to be done!

By the time Eden had spoken again, Dahlia was already bouncing back and forth from one foot to the other, attempting and failing to contain her excitement. If she had to stand here any longer she might go crazy!

"Yessss! I am!" She giggled, nodding her head quickly. Please don't make her wait any longer!

"Let's go see how many boats are there and than we can choose one. Or two? Three?" Whatever. Lia didn't much care if they all went in the same boat or separate boats. As long as they got over to that Island. The sooner the better. Standing around here wasn't getting them anywhere at all.

Turning around, she started walking towards the boathouse, glancing over her shoulder to make sure Noah and Eden were coming along. "This is going to be so much fun! Eden do you want to share a boat with me?" That was fair, right? Since they were first years and Noah was well... she wasn't entirely sure but he was much bigger than they were.