3:30 pm

Fridays were strange days indeed. Seto didn't have a single class after Transfiguration in the early afternoon, which meant he could spend the rest of the day wasting his time doing nothing. And that was the way he liked it. So after Transfiguration had let out he had gone back to his dorms and headed off to the lake for a quick dip. He didn't spend long in the water, however. It was a little harder to keep out of sight from the teachers during normal school days. And Seto wasn't really in the mood to get in trouble.

So after about an hour he pulled himself from the water and headed back to where he had left his towel under the shade of a nearby tree. Normally he would dry himself off and head back in but today he decided against it. It was nice out, and it beat sitting around the common room for hours on end until dinner. No, for once he'd just relax outside.

With that plan in mind he simply sat down and leaned against the trunk of the tree, content to let the water dry on its own while he waited. All Seto did before closing his eyes for a moment was push the wet hair from his face. It was only a few minutes before he felt something on his leg. Something fuzzy. Seto cracked open an eye and glanced down.

No surprise there that his pygmy puff was crawling around on him. "Where have you been hiding?" Seto asked it as it rolled around on his legs. "Did you hide in my towel again?" He smiled and slowly began petting the pink fluff ball. "Always show up when I least expect it."

September was drawing to a close, but it was still nice enough outside to merit taking a book and going to read in the grounds, instead of cooped up inside. Alex wasn't especially bothered about the healthy qualities of fresh air, but she did like the sense of distance that buildings lacked, not to mention the tedium of being confined within one building, no matter how large, for long periods of time was wearing her patience thin. So, book in hand, she walked purposefully towards the lake.

Adjusting course slightly, she headed for a tree that would offer something to lean against and was slightly surprised to see one Mr Spalding already seated in place. And not really adequately clothed, which was just a little embarrassing, not to mention the shock that Seto, who she could only ever remember being among the most lethargic of her peers, actually invested a considerable amount of time into swimming.

Deciding that she wasn't going to let anyone, no matter how inappropriate their attire, get her to run away- because that would be what she was doing, and no amount of telling herself that she was protecting her modesty would convince her otherwise, she wasn't a Victorian after all- Alex continued to walk until she arrived within normal conversational distance of Seto.

"Mr Spalding," she said , the austerity of such a greeting negated by her cheerful tone, "Is there any particular reason you feel the need to lounge around in a state of undress, other than being exceedingly vain?"

Seto looked up idly from the petting of his puff to see who was being so formal with him. He half expected it to be a teacher. It wouldn't surprise him. After all, he had gotten in trouble for not wearing his uniform before. But no, it was another student. Some Ravenclaw girl, Seto had to think a moment to remember her name. It wasn't as if he spoke to her that often.

"Sup, Carstairs," He replied as it came to him. He wondered if she was Scottish with a last name like that. "Ain' nothin' vain abou' it. I figured I'd let the air dry me." Which was for once one hundred percent true. "Besides, mos' o'the time people don' mind too much. Especially girls." Seto grinned and shrugged slightly, once more returning to petting his pet. "Could be worse though. I could be ou' here withou' my trousers on, yea?"

He gave her another grin, fully thinking that she'd have no real issue if he lacked clothing upon his lower person. After all, that was such a rare occurrence that it wasn't something he ever even considered. "Wha'cha doin' out here anyway?" Seto finally asked. "Ain'cha got class or somethin' ya're supposed to be in?"

Alex was, well, not quite speechless, but if she'd known the conversation would end up like this she certainly wouldn't have initiated it, although now she actually took a moment to think, it should have been expected. And she couldn't really refute any of his points, regrettably, apart from the first one.

"Merely arrogance then," she responded, her tone taking a turn for the sarcastic, although the effect was slightly ruined by the redness of her cheeks. Still, she reassured herself, better than staring at him, mouth agape, or stammering an ineffective denial, if only fractionally so.

Awkward standing, she sat down on the grass, facing the lake, idly picking a blade of grass and rolling it between her fingers as a means to distract herself. Her book lay unopened next to her, and she was embarrassed enough to be content daydreaming. When Seto spoke, it took her a moment to realise what he'd actually said, and another to recall why she'd come outside in the first place.

 "There aren't any lessons at the moment," she pointed out, the reminder that Herbology was looming resulting in shreds of grass falling into her lap, "So I came out to enjoy the last of the relatively pleasant weather." Turning to look at Seto, she asked, "It's so monotonous if you never go outside, don't you think?"

He shrugged slightly. He supposed it could have been arrogance. Not that it mattered much to him. After all he could tell she seemed to like it, based on the color of her cheeks. Being shirtless worked like a charm every time. Seto watched as she sat next to him... well no. She sat near him, really. Close enough to converse but not much closer. Well what ever suited her.

"No lessons, huh?" That was surprising. Seto had figured there was a class every hour or so. Weird that a Ravenclaw wouldn't be taking all of them or something. Wasn't that the point of the house? "Yea it's nice out today," Seto agreed blithely "It's why I'm out here after all. I hate being cooped up inside for long. Usually I end up out here everyday."

Seto let out a sigh and sat up, causing Puff to roll off of him and onto the grass. "Why are you wagin' war with the lawn?" he asked now that he had seen the blades of grass on her lap. "Did it kill ya're mother or somthin'? Out for vengeance?"

Alex looked at him blankly for a moment, her face carefully expressionless. "Something like that," she said eventually, the cheerfulness forced, before plucking another strand of grass. It was not, she reminded herself, Spalding's fault that he had phrased the question so badly- or rather, that he had mentioned what was, for her, a difficult topic. She hardly knew him, just a vague recollection of him from around school, and she shouldn't expect him to know that her Mother was dead. Better just to move the conversation on and pretend it never happened.

The tattered blade of grass floated into her lap, another already being selected to take its place. Alex regarded the leaf, twisting it in her hand, then releasing it without ripping it. "I'm a vengeful person," she said quietly, a crooked smile in place. The grass in her lap was picked up, piece by piece, and neatly deposited next to her.

Alex watched the lake silently, again unsure how to continue. Spalding, it seemed, had quite a talent for that, and it was not one that she appreciated. She didn't want to discuss family, but she couldn't think of anything else to say. Staring at the lake, she remembered Spalding's reason for being outside. "Do you swim often?" Alex queried, turning towards Spalding expectantly.

Seto snorted in amusement when the girl commented on being vengeful. How very nice that she had a sense of humor. And here he had figured all Ravenclaws to be rather boring, in the take the rules seriously way or insane in the hyper active, pink haired variants. Well that was good, at least he wouldn't grow bored with her anytime soon. Always a plus when it came to girls.

"Yea, I do," he said in response to her question of whether he swam often. "Every weekend a'least." Idly he wondered if that sounded weird. To swim every single Saturday and Sunday. It probably wasn't as strange as he thought. After all most everyone had their exercise routines. Swimming just happened to be his.

He gave a slight shrug. "If I can ge' away with it I show up durin' times like this." Though it wasn't often that he did. During the week it was more likely that a teacher would notice him and most likely want to stop him. No it was better if he didn't get caught and thrown in detention. If he could avoid it, at least. "I don' usually have company though. Wanna go for a dip?"

Alex wasn't entirely surprised, but that was quite a lot of effort. But then again, she had never been especially interested in physical exercise- not that she was adverse to it, but she'd rather read, and so anyone expressing a desire to regularly exhaust themselves for no real reason was always met with surprise. A little exercise wasn't bad thing, but should ideally remain a little.

"Wanna go for a dip?"

"Not really," she said, the idea of swimming in the lake itself rather off putting.  There was the squid, the grindylows, and altogether too many different species for her liking. Not to mention the not precisely pristine quality of the water. Maybe it was pathetic, but swimming in the lake was unappealing- and then there was the problem of having to fetch something to swim in.

"The water will be cold." Even if the weather was warm, she didn't especially want to freeze herself, and it would instead be warming up afterwards that presented a problem. Managing to sit around as though it was the height of summer was almost an achievement, although she wouldn't push it quite that far.

"No?" Go figure that that was her answer. It was oddly typical of a girl, along with being oddly typical of a Ravenclaw. Double trouble. Ravenclaws seemed so boring, what on Earth did they do for fun? Anyone from any other house would probably jump on the chance to take a dip with him. Still, the comment that she didn't want to because the water would be cold seemed feeble. And slightly surprising. Here he had expected it to be to keep her hair from getting wet.

"It's pretty warm today, actually. Bu' sui' yourself, babe," Seto said in a rather bored tone. Who was he kidding? It was pretty unlikely that he'd get another girl to pull off all but her undies and jump in with him in less than two weeks. Not to mention Carstairs was much less temperamental than Bellatrix was.

Seto let out another sigh and returned to laying back upon his elbows, eyes once again lightly falling upon the Ravenclaw girl and examining her slightly. Now that he thought about it he did wonder what went on in that pretty little head. Probably wit beyond anything he was capable of. Not that he cared, he didn't need smarts to woo the lovely ladies. Most of the time.

"So whaddaya think abou' the first task tomorrow?" He asked, thinking of nothing else. "Got any brigh' idea as to wha' it migh' be?"

"It's September, and we're in Scotland. Not to mention Herbology being imminent," she muttered, scowling. Her lesson was in under half an hour, if she went, which she didn't really want to do. Her group could manage without her and she would just ask Ligeia for any notes and claim that she had a headache.

Which looked to be likely, because Spalding seemed to have a knack for irritating her. She looked at him sidelong, but immediately turned back to the lake when she realised that he was returning her gaze, then realised what she had done. Fortunately, she could hide the blush with her hair.

Only slightly embarassed, Alex tilted her head, thinking for a moment before answering, "Not especially, but I suspect it'll be traditional death or glory stuff, like last time. Dragons, mazes, testing magical ability, valour, bravery and quick wit- something not especially original. It would be much better if they had to try and charm a flower to look like a teapot. Or maybe a kazoo playing competition." She smiled wistfully, well aware that kazoo playing was unlikely to feature in the tournament, which was a pity as it would be far more enjoyable to watch Sasha playing a kazoo than engaging in some terrible and difficult task.

"What about you?" she asked, curious, "Realism is not required."

Yes, it is September. And Seto had just hopped in the lake hadn't he? Clearly it wasn't that cold. But girls tended to be more... sensitive to things like that. Which was strange because he was pretty sure it was proven that girls could resist more pain than guys. How that worked, Seto probably would never know. Likely something to do with childbirth. Sounded damn painful, amazing that they could go through with it.

Her depiction of the task seemed fairly valid. He himself didn't know much of anything about the tournament himself aside from the one held in 1994, which famous Harry Potter was in. Actually, that probably was what gave her the idea for dragons and mazes. If his very fuzzy memory was correct, two of the tasks had been such things.

"I haven't put any thought into it myself," Seto said calmly. "I didn't sign up and I don't really care about it at all," he admitted. "It seems very pointless to me. One big pissing contest for the schools to try and show up each other." Not to mention it seemed to require a certain amount of energy that Seto would never want to put into something unless he was certain to get results. And by results he didn't mean being eaten by a dragon or turned to stone by a cockatrice.

"Suppose we'll see tomorrow anyways. I figure you're betting on Schalengheight or whatever his last name is? Ravenclaw pride and all that?" He wouldn't put it past her. Most of the Gryffindors seemed to be supporting that self righteous prat Harcroft while Slytherin supported Harper. "I've got my money on Salem, personally. That half giant gal looks pretty fierce."

"Actually, the official line is more along the lines of international friendship and harmony, but I'm inclined to agree with you," Alex said, "Although your lack of imagination is lamentable." The people from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons certainly seemed to think that the point was to crush all others, although Salem seemed to be a lot more relaxed about the whole scenario than anyone else. Alex was split between detachment and competitiveness, although competitiveness was taking a back seat for the moment because she had no personal interest in the first task.

Stretching her legs, Alex leant back, looking at the mostly cloud free sky. "What? No," she said scornfully. Supporting Sasha was- well, ridiculous. Ravenclaw, or at least Alex, had never been especially concerned about house pride, and having no other reason to support Sasha, or even any of the other Hogwarts students, she therefore wouldn't. "I suppose that I'd like Ravenclaw to do well, but support Schlagenweit? I think not. He's too boring." By which she meant that he was incapable of bringing his head out of a book and talking people. Admittedly, that might be a little hypocritical, but at least Alex knew what fiction was and didn't spend her entire life reading around her school subjects. And she was talking with someone now, wasn't she?

"It'd be good if a girl won, but I think that the Salem class president will be the winner. Or the Durmstrang girls, they're all very intense." Actually, Durmstrang as a whole seemed very determined. Although Alex did like the idea of a more advanced curriculum, the idea of strict discipline was more than enough to make her glad she attended Hogwarts.

"I suppose it all depends on the task though," she mused, "If it's kazoo playing, Beauxbatons will have the advantage because they've got a strong arts curriculum. Although maybe they'll be too snobby to play and loose." Alex smiled dreamily, her slightly irrational dislike of Beauxbatons shining through. The French school just irritated her- at least she could respect Durmstrang!

Seto snorted. International friendship and harmony indeed. From what he could tell Beauxbatons and Drumstrang weren't interested in that, even if Hogwarts and Salem were. Actually he wasn't sure what Salem was interested in. They all seemed rather lax about the whole thing. Kind of like him, only they planned on entering.

"I though' bein' borin' was the poin' of Ravenclaw," he commented in a rather teasing voice. After all he only half meant it. While Ravenclaw certainly would never be the house for him, and while Seto would never really see what people enjoyed about it, he did have to admit some of them could be wild. Pink haired Beatrix was a good example of that. Not to mention a few others supposedly a little more rambunctious.

Seto considered a girl winning for a moment. Certainly the best chance of that was one of the three Durmstrang girls. After all, they were probably quite ruthless. Losing probably wasn't something Durmstrang took well. But still, Taryn was where his money was on. But then Seto was betting Salem would cause a great upset and show up all the schools, taking first and make history with it. "Wha' abou' Harper?" Seto asked. "He's probably the bes' sho' Hogwarts has."

"Seein' as it's three champs from each, it'll probably be a team challenge, righ'?" At least that's what Seto figured. Why bother picking so many people to have a solo run? "So you're probably righ', it'll be some sorta obstacle course I figure." Interesting that he had just come to that conclusion now, when someone else had repeated all the information to him. But then again, he wasn't the brightest person, and intuitive leaps weren't exactly his strong suit.

Alex frowned at the slight to Ravenclaw, house pride might not be her strong point but she did approve of her house's wisdom- first policy. What was the point of being brave if it got you killed? "Whereas Hufflepuff is the dumping ground for those without intelligence, courage, or ambition," Alex retorted, silently plotting revenge.

"Quite a leap of intuition, but yes," Alex murmured drowsily, mind elsewhere. Honestly, how could he accuse Ravenclaws of being boring if he was going to persist thinking about the task in such a sensible manner. "An obstacle course is the most likely option. All of the tasks last time were about overcoming obstacles to reach a goal. All previous tournaments have featured tasks which are obstacle courses of one kind or another. A sensible conclusion." But where was the fun in that?

Inspired, she sat up again, tugging off her shoes and tights, putting them next to her unread book. Her tank-top jumper thing was next, and with that next to the book she turned to the Hufflepuff, aware that what she was about to do was more than a little out of proportion, but he had been the one to suggest swimming.

And of course, the practice of non verbal spells was always a bonus. A quick flick of her wand,[1] and Spalding was hanging in mid-air. Moving her wand, she held him over the lake before murmuring the counter- curse, "Liberacorpus." Triumphant, she pulled off her skirt and after a moment's pause her shirt, before running and dive-bombing into the lake, allowing her momentum to pull her downwards for a second before kicking towards the surface, grinning exuberantly.

"The water is absolutely freezing," she announced cheerfully, treading water, "You're completely mental. But it is a lot more fun than Herbology."

1.	Casting Levicorpus, which is supposed to be used non-verbally

Intuition... what did that mean? He knew he had heard it before, usually applied to Ravenclaws and the cleverer Slytherins, but honestly he wasn't sure what it meant. Still, considering it was generally said to intelligent people, Seto took it as a compliment, assuming she was saying something nice about his, even though he lacked it.

Seto cocked an eyebrow as the began pulling of her shoes... and tights. He wasn't exactly sure where she was going with this, but he couldn't deny he enjoyed it. But that was mostly because he enjoyed the idea of girls, and attractive men, undressing before him. He watched, grin broadening as she pulled of her tank-top.

But then, she did something unexpected. He was about to make a sly comment about her pulling her clothes off when he found himself upside down. "Wha' the-" But then he was cut off when he felt whatever was holding him up dissipate and drop him back into the lake head first. Unfortunately, Seto hadn't much time to take a breath before the plunge and quickly righted himself. Surfacing he gasped slightly and shook out his hair before turning back to Alex.

...Who had pulled off all but her under wear and was now jumping into the lake. For a moment Seto simply lost his composure, being torn between conflicting emotions of confusion and arousal. Because on the one hand a girl randomly flung him into the lake. On the other, she pulled off almost all her clothes and jumped in with him.

"You're certainly more interestin' than my average date." Apparently misquoting Sean Connery from 'The Rock' was all he could manage. But even then he was already grinning. "Bu' if ya ge' too cold now, I'm sure we could come up with somethin' to help keep ya warm," Seto said with a sly wink.