Sunday, Nov 27 9am

It was that time of year where the rains came quite frequently. But within the past couple days, those rains had turned into the snow.  As it was a Sunday, most of the students had finished their homework, or were taking this day to do the rest.  It was a particularly chilly day, but Mysti decided it was a good time to go out and take a snow walk, as she had finished her work for the weekend. It was her favorite time of year.  Snow was a pretty magical thing, in her opinion. It would coat the trees and everything in a beautiful blanket of the pristine white.

The Hufflepuff girl made it out a little later than she had wanted, and some others had already started disturbing the fresh coat from the previous night. Of course, it was still falling, and there was plenty of fresh snow to walk through.  It was a silly thing that brought her joy. She loved hearing the crunch of the snow beneath her feet, and even that snow-crunch feeling under her boots. 
As she continued her walk, she made her way out towards the lake. Mysti made a few circles, creating various designs in the snow with her footprints.  A favorite pastime.  As she crossed back over the walking path, she slid a little on a small patch of ice. 

Looking around, she noticed a bit more. She smiled to herself and took a couple steps back.  She then ran towards another patch, and upon reaching it, steadied herself and allowed herself to slide across the ice, nearly losing her balance.  Somewhat ungracefully, she caught herself as her feet gripped the ground at the end of the ice patch.  Laughing to herself, she looked forward to find another patch.

This time, however, she did not catch herself.  Instead, the girl found herself falling and then rolling into a snow pile nearby.  Unhurt, the Hufflepuff started laughing even more than she had been before.  With all the stress already from being in her 7th and final year at Hogwarts, there was something so silly and fun about slipping and sliding, and of course the falling. Mysti hadn’t realized how much she’d needed to laugh and just have fun. She also hadn’t even noticed or cared if anyone else was around to see it, or what they would think to find her laughing laying on the ground as the snow fell. Because she’d found a little moment of peace and fun.

Contrary to popular belief, Heliotrope LeJean did not get cold. As in, she did not have the shivers nor the shakes nor the risk of hypothermia, at least at the tempertures for what regular humans and magic folk considered cold. Cold was a relative term and for a Hufflepuff that had grown up at the brackish bottom of a Scottish loch in the middle of winter, the aquatic environment was a different errata of cold in consideration.

If anything the cold made Heliotrope slower. Her body trying to adjust to temperatures that were survivable provided she spent less engery. Which became a convoluted problem over the course of the winter months at Hogwarts. The common rooms were warm, yes, with their hearth fires. But on the way to classes there were drafty corridors. Warming spells or hot stones in her clothes only lasted so long, as was wearing every layer of clothing she owned so Helio ended up looking closer to a seal than the gillyweed-like half-selkie she was from genetics.

And that was before she self sabotuged her core temperature again by plunging back into the icy lake. Again.

For the denizens of the Black Lake depths the chilly times also suggested increased caution and lethargy. Though it wasn't the giant squid or the merrow village Heliotrope was after on this Sunday morning where she should have been appreciating a hot breakfast like her roommates.

Ever since her dare to dive off the footbridge over that inlet from the lake, Helio had found something. Something she didn't quite know what it was but the entrancing object had become a permanent focus in her mind. It was a large stone, perfectly rounded but like no mineral she had ever encountered before. Oddly metallic with a mirrored sheen, in the aftermath of the dare she had brought the stone back to her room in the castle. Only to keep it for a few days and then return it, considering that it must belong in the lake.

So every few days to a week-and-a-half she'd bring the stone back from the lake, tell no one, return it again before curiosity beckowned and the cycle continued. Heliotrope wasn't even this regular about returning books to the Hogwarts Library.

Such was a return trip, finding the mirrored stone again in the inlet where she laid it back to rest, as Heliotrope made her way landwards from the shallows of the lake. Irregardless of how much colder (read: that much slower) sopping wet clothes in the middle of snowfall was going to make her be. They'd be lucky to see her at the castle after lunch.

Still, for Heliotrope LeJean and her metaphorical veins of antifreeze the concept of time wasted was not a present thought in her mind. Probably as her mental processes were slower than a trout migration at this point. With the smallest of sloshes first her head bobbed out of the water, followed by clothes ready to ice over as she kept the shiny rock bundled in her front. This continued until she was fully out of the water, shuffling on the ice, up until she came across the upperclassman that was busy giggling in the snow.

Dripping on her with frigid lake water was probably not appreciated.

Mysti hadn’t been expecting the area to be completely empty, but neither did she expect the person who came up towards her.  More like, she didn’t expect the state of that person. Sure Mysti had somewhat been in a world of her own with the ice sliding and falling, but you usually don’t expect a sopping wet girl to come walking up to you in winter. She also didn’t think she’d be dripped on with the rather cold water from the lake. But then again, she probably should have been laying on the ground on a walkway.

“Ahhh!” She exclaimed after feeling the cold water dripping on her, moving into a sitting position. “Merlin that’s cold.”

It took a moment, but then Mysti realized who was standing over her.  She recognized the younger girl as a Hufflepuff, and one of peculiar origins. There weren’t many part-mermaid people, and definitely not at Hogwarts. Mysti wasn’t sure if it were mermaid or if they preferred merfolk, but she supposed either should work.  Either way, despite her being part mer-something, the lake was still really cold. It probably affected her a bit differently, but Mysti thought she looked rather cold.
 
“Here, let me help.” She said, while standing up, then performed a hot-air charm to dry the girl’s clothes. “Better? I hope you don’t mind. But was there any particular reason you were sopping wet?”

Of course, it was most likely she was in the lake. People don’t usually get that wet from just lying in snow.  It has been known to happen, but given the girl’s background it was probably the lake.

One of the older girls from Heliotrope's house, Kettle-ridge something (probably the part of the kettle they stuck the lid over) had shrieked from from being splashed with the frigid drops. Heliotrope meant to apologize to the other student she had recognized but all that came out when she part her lips was a breath of air.

From Kettle-ridge's spell Heliotrope's robes started flapping, forcing out excess water from the front. It made her a little drier, barely warmer at all but at least Heliotrope wouldn't be spilling on anyone else.

"SSSSSSSSSssss--" now that attempts at verbal sounds could be made. "--aaaawwwwrrrrrrreeeeeee." If anything it was funny how speaking in English was slower in the cold, unlike Mermish, but if Heliotrope had tried speaking in mermish there would have been a nice headache for Kettle-ridge to go with her freezing forehead

Well, at least the younger girl was dry. It wasn’t very fun being in the snow when you were all wet.  She still seemed cold, but that was what happened when you were outside in the winter.  The girl had opened her mouth to say something, but didn’t. Mysti wasn’t sure if it was due to the cold, but either way the younger student looked rather… frozen. 

Even after performing the charm, the girl still looked like she was struggling. But if she’d been in the lake, that would do it. That water there was a lot colder than the air outside. She must have also still been fairly cold by her very slow, almost hissed “sorry”.

“Are you okay? Maybe it’d be best to go to the hospital wing? They could get you something to warm you up. It seems like that’s what you need. Were you really in the lake?” Mysti asked

She didn’t mean to make everything seem like a question, but she was a little worried about the girl.  Mysti certainly wouldn’t want to go jumping into the lake at this time of year. Maybe if it was for a really good dare. But who knows what could have tempted the younger girl in. Even if she was part-mermaid.