A Little Sun and A Lot of Water ((Jeremiah))

[Lenora Byers]

Dusting the ashes off herself Lenora stepped out of the fireplace at the Three Broomsticks. Looking around the place seemed not at all abandoned but far less crowded than it would on a Hogsmead weekend during the school year. It was then that indecision struck, though. She could stay in the pub and have a butterbeer, or go on somewhere else and come back later, or… well she didn’t know quite what she could do alone in Hogsmead this day.

Well, she supposed she could always have a butterbeer later, and so Lenora made her way out of the pub. The streets were also fairly empty compared to what she was used to and Lenora found the walk down the street rather enjoyable. The sun was shinning bright overhead – it was likely about noon. Spotting a small shop Lenora popped in and ordered a sandwich and bottle of water to go. She would picnic today – sure she could do that at home but… she had felt homesick for Hogwarts, which was why she was out in Hogsmead anyways.

When her lunch was in her hand Lenora went back out into the street and walked along to the end of a small road – off the main path. There Lenora saw the river – one that she loved but not many students seemed to know about. In the middle of the wooden pedestrian bridge Lenora sat down and dropped her feet over the side into the water. Taking out a book and her lunch Lenora slowly relaxed and listened to the town bustle around her.

[Jeremiah Baer]

It had only been a week earlier that Jeremiah turned 17 and passed his apparation test. For this reason, he was somewhat apprehensive about apparating to Hogsmeade. It wasn't going to stop him though. The weather was so muggy, and he had been looking forward to swimming in the river all day. Pulling on his swimming trunks and a white sleeveless shirt, he grabbed his deflated inner-tube and headed downstairs from his room. "Dad, I'm leaving," he shouted, unaware of his father's location in the house- not that it mattered. Hearing a barely audible grunt from the living room, he took that as his father's way of saying 'I don't care what you do. Just don't kill yourself and be back in time to do all of the work around the house this evening.' It was typical. The two never talked much, and their relationship basically consisted of them tolerating each other. Jeremiah didn't mind though. He was over the fact that he and his father would never have the typical father-son relationship that most young boys dreamed of. He had himself though, and most of the time, that made him happy enough.

Focusing hard on the three D's that his apparation instructor had taught him, Jeremiah repeated them over and over again in his head. This was only his second time to apparate after passing his test, and to say the least, his first attempt was less than successful. He apparated where he had wanted, however he appeared upside-down, crashing hard onto his head. Determination, Deliberation, Destination he thought repeatedly. He wasn't sure if they were in the right order, or if it even mattered, but he focused hard on each.

With a small pop, he felt the odd feeling he was becoming more accustomed to with each attempt at apparation. Squinting his eyes shut tightly, he waited until knowing that he had finished apparating before opening them. Slowly, his eyelids lifted and he examined the scene around him. First, he was relieved to see that everything was right-side-up. He at least managed to get that right this time. Looking closer at the atmosphere around him and then down at his body, he realized that it had been a complete success. Grinning widely, he joined the small group of people walking the almost empty streets of Hogsmeade.

Following the same path through the lightly wooded area just off the main street, Jeremiah ducked under low branches and climbed over fallen trees. For being such a small patch of woods, it was heavily masked with trees; enough to do a fine job of keeping the river from becoming too crowded with people. In all of his trips there, he had only see a few people once or twice. Taking the time to inflate his flotation device, Jeremiah headed upstream for about a mile, preparing to ride the current to the lower part of the river where he usually would go. Here at the bottom, there was a small pool of water that was usually a little warmer than the rest of the river water. He preferred that place as his location to swim, not only because of the temperature, but also because the current ended at this point.

Finally reaching his destination, Jeremiah pulled off his white shirt and folded it, putting it in his pocket next to his wand. The shirt would probably get a little wet, but he could just set it out to dry when he got to the bottom of the river to swim. Plus, the sun was shining nicely, and he thought he might get a little color to make him appear less ghost-like from being inside working all summer. Wading into the water until it was just below his waste, he hopped into the circular tube, hanging his feet and hands in the water as the current began to move him downstream. Laying his head back, he closed his eyes and for a few minutes enjoyed the peaceful floating with the warm sun shining on his face. It was very relaxing.

As he went farther downstream he could feel the current picking up. This was not normal, so he opened his eyes and looked down the river. Surprisingly, he saw some strong rapids up ahead, just before the pedestrian bridge. Gripping the tube, he tried to sit upright and brace himself for the rough water ahead. A few seconds later, he began entering the rapids. It wasn't the roughest water he supposed, but it was enough to make him work hard to keep his balance. The water somehow forced him to shift positions, and he ended up floating on his stomach with his feet being the first part of him to head down the river. He saw that the worst of the water was behind him now though, and he knew that the bridge was close by. Remembering how low the bridges edge was to the water, he thought he might be able to grab it on his way by and get himself situated again so that he was on his back and facing forward.

Just as he felt the shadow of the bridge against his skin, he made a quick turn, grabbing for the edge of the bridge. Without knowing it, he totally missed the wooden part of the bridge, and accidentally grabbed what he soon realized to be someone's leg. Before he could do anything, he felt the weight of a body fall down onto him, sending him and his tube under water. Falling from the tube, he pushed himself to the surface and grabbed its side to keep afloat. He wiped his wet hair from his eyes, and looked around worriedly. He wondered if the person was alright or if they were still underwater as well. It had been a total accident, but what if whoever it was couldn't swim? Jeremiah knew he would feel awful if he caused someone to drown! Again, he searched the surrounding water, looking for another person, all the while drifting farther and farther down the river with his tube.

[Lenora Byers]

The water rushed by under her feet as Lenora sat and read. Quickly enough she finished her sandwich and lay back. Placing the book beside her Lenora rested on the bridge – keeping her feet in the water – and watched the few clouds drift across the sky. Hearing something behind her in the water Lenora slowly sat up and began to turn around – looking into the rushing water for the source of the sound. Before she discovered it, though, she felt herself jerk forward as something caught her leg.

Lenora started to scream as she fell but soon her mouth was filled with river water. Standing up – waist deep in water - Lenora coughed and sputtered. Looking around she spotted a boy in an inner tube – one she recognized as Jeremiah – a Gryffindor in the year above her. Turning to him and pointing at the bridge she got out – amid more coughs, “That bridge… it hates me” before laughing. “That’s twice now it has used the assistance of an older boy to send me into this water. I swear I should stop spending my time there.”

Brushing her hair out of her eyes – as best she could now it was sopping wet – Lenora turned to the boy. “How’re you doing? You scared me right to death, you know that?” Without another word Lenora then lay back and floated on the water – she was already wet anyways, might as well go for a swim in her clothes now.

[Jeremiah Baer]

Shortly after surfacing, Jeremiah saw a girl emerge from the water. As he saw her stand, he laughed at his own stupidity of thinking that he needed to rely on his tub to float. This was obviously a more shallow part of the river. The girl, whom he recognized as Lenora Byers, seemed to be ok. This was a relief for Jeremiah. Had she not been alright, he wouldn't have been able to make a joke of the whole incident and laugh along with her. "You mean I wasn't the first person to pull you into the river? Darn," he said, grinning as he stood and pushed through the strong current toward the bank of the river.

"I'm doing great," he answered, just before apologizing. "Sorry 'bout that too. I really didn't even see you there. I was trying to stay balanced, and... well, you saw how that ended up," he added, rolling his eyes. He sure was good at getting himself into humorous or odd situations, but he found that just laughing at himself and his own idiocy seemed to lighten the mood in most cases. "How about you? Ready for another year at school?"

Lenora seemed to be prepared to stay in the water for a bit now that she and her clothes were soaked anyways. The pool of water was just a little farther downstream. Now at the edge of the water, Jeremiah pulled himself onto land. The sun's rays instantly warmed his skin. "Hey," he hollered out to Lenora, "I'll race ya!" He tossed his tube to Lenora and saw that she had a few things still sitting on the bridge. "There is a pool of water just a little downstream. I'll grab your stuff and meet you down there." He had to go up river a bit to get back on the bridge to retrieve Lenora's things. He had turned before seeing if she seemed up for the idea. As he grabbed her items, he glanced over the edge of the bridge, into the water, to see if she was taking him up on his challenge. She could have had a little head start by now, which was only fair seeing that Jeremiah was able to run a little faster than the river's current.

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora laughed when Jeremiah faked disappointment at not being the first to pull her into the water. “Nah, first to pull me in, yes. Do you know Edward Summers? He was a Ravenclaw but I guess he’s graduated now. Well he apparated into me or something last year – tossed me off into the river. It’s a good thing I like to swim, and this water is really shallow though I suppose it’s lucky neither time did I hit my head on the river floor.” Lenora explained; it actually was rather amusing if you thought about it. It also justified her thought that an inanimate object hated her – simply because… what are the chances of either of those things happening? Never mind both in the same spot over the course of a year.

The water was wonderfully cool – a bit of a shock when she first landed in it and not just from the temperature – but Lenora certainly would not complain. As she floated along she saw Jeremiah get up onto the land. A challenge… she could do that. “You’re on!” she shouted back guessing where he meant to go and ducked under the water – re-surfacing with her head poking out the middle of the inner tube.

Remembering her book, water, and purse Lenora turned back to the bridge. She saw Jeremiah heading towards them and so turned back. Kicking her feet as fast as she could Lenora headed down the river trusting Jeremiah to follow soon behind with her things.

[Jeremiah Baer]

As he glanced over the bridge's edge, he heard a shout from Lenora, indicating that she was accepting his challenge. With her items in hand, he sprinted off the bridge and back down-stream toward the water hole. Jeremiah wasted little time watching to see where Lenora was in respect to himself, and when he came to a certain spot on the river-bank, he entered an area that was heavily covered with low trees and shrubs. He couldn't see the river too well, and thus was unable to see Lenora out of his peripheral vision. He knew though that the pool was close by. A sharp turn to the right set him off balance and he fell backward onto his butt, sliding a little on the dirt path. He luckily managed to keep Lenora's items from falling as he cradled them against his stomach. As he laughed at his own clumsiness, he stood up and brushed himself off.

He was now at the edge of land that dropped off into the small pool below. It was about a four-foot jump into the water that he quickly made after safely setting Lenora's things on the bank. He took no time to check for her before plunging into the refreshing water. When he surfaced, he didn't see her right away, but he did notice that the water around him had a slightly pink tint. Realizing right away that it was most likely his own blood, he instinctively reached behind himself and felt his lower back with his hand. Sure enough, he could feel where the rocks had torn his flesh. The pain wasn't bad, now that he even realized that he was wounded from the fall, but he wasn't able to see for himself how bad the cuts were. "Uh, Lenora?" he questioned, looking around again to see if she had made it yet.

[Lenora Byers]

Letting the river determine where she went Lenora simply kicked as hard as she could – she didn’t want to steer lest he chose the slower path but she was sure going to do her best to speed up any path the river might take. Soon, though, she noticed the figure of Jeremiah sprint past her on the land, before disappearing into some shrubbery and trees. As Lenora finally made it into the pool she guessed they were racing to she heard her name called. “Yes, I know, I know, you won. Congratulations.” Lenora said with a slight laugh looking around for the source of the voice.

Turning to the side Lenora found Jeremiah in the water – only there was something queer about the whole thing. Even the water by him didn’t appear just right. “Umm… Jeremiah… you alright?” Lenora asked still cheerily but with a bit of question in her voice. She didn’t want to overreact if it was nothing but… well something could be wrong.

[Jeremiah Baer]

Lenora shortly arrived, laughing a bit as Jeremiah searched for her. He noticed however that her laughing stopped, and she looked concerned. She must have noticed the red swirls of blood in the water, he assumed. Swimming toward her, he found a shallow part in the pool so that his back was above water level. "How bad is it?" he asked, glancing over his own shoulder to try to get a better view of the wound. "I kinda fell on the way here," he said, biting his lower lip. He wanted to laugh at his own clumsiness, but the pain was getting increasingly worse as the air swept over the open wound. He back felt wet, but he wasn't sure if the most of it was water or blood.

Rummaging through his pocket, he pulled out his wand and a sopping wet white ball- his tank top that he had on previously. "Arefacio," he said as he tapped the shirt with the wand. The water evaporated, and he was left with his tank top dry again. He folded it into a rectangular shape and put both hands behind his back, pressing the cloth firmly against the wound. It made the pain a little worse, but he had always heard that pressure was the best way to stop bleeding. After a few seconds of pressing, he released the blood-stained shirt and looked at it. It wasn't horribly covered with blood, but he could tell that he was bleeding worse that what he had thought. At least now that the wound was dry, he figured that maybe he could bandage it up. The only problem was that he wasn't able to get a clear look at it. "Lenora," he said, turning back to his fellow Gryffindor. Do you think you could give me a little help here?" he questioned kindly. "I'd bandage it up myself, but I can't get a clear look at it. And, while you're at it," he added with a grin, "why not make the bandages water-proof. I'd hate to let my stupid klutzy nature stop us from enjoying a nice swim." He was about to summon her purse, assuming that she had her wand in it, but waited- just in case.

[Lenora Byers]

When Jeremiah came into shallower water and showed Lenora his back she gave a little grimace. It wasn’t too bad and she certainly wasn’t afraid of blood – but still it was quite the unexpected wound. “Well… it could certainly be worse.” Lenora answered when Jeremiah asked how it looked. To be honest, she had seen much worse, but she had seen much better as well.

Jeremiah asked for help bandaging it and Lenora came up behind him. “Sure, but I’m not 17 yet so it will have to be done the muggle way; better than nothing. Won’t be as tight as it would be if I had my wand and I can’t exactly make it waterproof but I know how to do it at least.” Taking the shirt from him Lenora proceeded to wrap it around and do the special knot she had been taught for it ((OOC: my guess at how she would do it? I don’t know let’s pretend she did it right)) “My dad is a muggle and so he taught me how to do stuff like this back when I was young and we went camping. My mum is a witch so it was never the most important thing, but we needed to know how to dress wounds and thing if she wasn’t around and we fell or something.” She explained.

“I suppose if you know how you can make it waterproof and tighter if you wish. Is that alright? I mean it’s not hurting you… the bandage that is.”

[Jeremiah Baer]

From the look on Lenora's face, Jeremiah could sense that it wasn't good. At least she said it wasn't terrible though. Hopefully it wouldn't become infected because he hated going to St. Mungo's. The place creeped him out with all the weird cases that they treated there, and as far as a muggle doctor, Jeremiah didn't completely trust them. Magic was the best medicine in his opinion.

He totally forgot about Lenora not being of age yet, and had already started assuming that just since he was now 17 that everyone was able to do magic all the time just like him. How quickly he was happy to get rid of the rule of no magic when not at school. Lenora talked about learning to fix wounds the muggle way, and to his surprise, she did a great job at it. Feeling the bandage with his hand, he shrugged. "Not too bad," he said with a smile. Your dad taught you well."

Waterproofing the bandage shouldn't be too hard he thought as he put his wand behind his back and pressed against the shirt. "Impervious," he muttered, using the charm that he learned to use for repelling water. "That should do the trick," he said in a happier tone. The pain was dying down, and it looked like he would get to swim after all.

"Well, now that my clumsiness has deprived us of some of our swimming time, lets enjoy this refreshing water!" He put his hands in front of him and dove forward into the shallow water, swimming back toward the middle of the pond. "I was swimming before I could even walk," he explained to Lenora. It was true. When he was less than a year old, his grandfather had taken him swimming, and from what he was told, he loved it. Since then, he had always enjoyed the water. "Do you have a swimming pool at your house?" he asked, curiously. "I don't, but my neighbor does. Often times I will sneak over late a night and just enjoy the stars while relaxing in the pool. They claim they don't mind, so I guess its no harm, right?" He laughed a little and then splashed underwater again, resurfacing a few seconds later to see what Lenora had to say.

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora smiled when Jeremiah commented that her father had taught her well. It had been awhile but she was glad she still remembered how to do it – and if it felt all right on him that was great. Jeremiah easily made the impromptu bandage waterproof so they could swim and not worry about it. When he finished Lenora flopped back down so that she sank under the water for a few moments before re-surfacing a little ways away from him.

Jeremiah talked about how much he enjoyed swimming as Lenora floated in the water nearby. “Nah, we don’t have a pool. I was told I was singing before I could talk, though. When I was a toddler everyone swore I was going to be an actress; and look at that, they were right. So I guess what you did when you were little really is indicative of what you will do as you grow. Sounds really relaxing though, swimming around looking at the stars; that is something I can certainly see myself doing.”

[Jeremiah Baer]

"So you love to sing and act?" Jeremiah concluded after Lenora's comment on being able to sing at such a young age and becoming an actress. Just by being around her, he could tell that she would be good at it. There was just something about her that made it seem plausible that she enjoyed the performing arts. "Do you like singing in front of crowds?" he asked immediately. Often he noticed that those who had talents like singing, or something similar, would sometimes be shy or apprehensive about letting others see their talent. He figured it was either an all or nothing type thing. They were either completely willing to show off, or very selective about who they let see their talent. Of course, with the way so many people are willing to judge, he didn't blame those who were less willing to preform in front of others. Jeremiah wasn't like this though. He would pretty much do anything in front of other people. He liked attention, good or bad. The only problem was, he didn't have any talents like singing or acting to show off. His only talent was his humor- and sometimes even that was questionably a talent.

"It is," he said, in reply to her comment about swimming and stargazing. "You know, it's usually when I talk to my mom, too," he added. "She's dead," he put in quickly, so that Lenora wasn't confused about what he meant. He had already accepted that as reality, and honestly, it really didn't even sadden him anymore. When he was younger, he would get depressed thinking about it, but now, he knew his mom was in a better place, and just talking to her sometimes was nice. He hoped he hadn't made Lenora uncomfortable. He didn't mean it- the conversation just came unexpectedly.

"Sorry," he finally said, "we don't have to talk about that. I wasn't looking for pity. I really don't even know where that came from." He shook his head and began swimming around a bit. "So what do you want to do in life Lenora?" he asked, rather abruptly. It would change the topic at least, and the issue was something that had been surfacing in his own mind a lot lately. "Do you want to be an actress?" he questioned. "I mean, I've never seen you act, but I don't see why you wouldn't be good at it," he said truthfully.