What If? Year 2

Chapter 4

"Hurry up, Goldie!" Ginny shouts, through the bathroom door. I open the door and point to the ties on the back of my swimsuit. 
"Tie me up." She does, tying it as tight as possible. 
"Ready?"
"Yep! Are the others already down there?" Ginny nods and we walk to the pond together. As we get closer I notice that there are more people there than I thought. 
"Hey, Goldie!" George Weasley shouts, from the roof. His twin, Fred, runs up to me and picks me up. I kick my feet, knowing exactly where he's taking me. 
"Fred Weasley, put me down this instant!" He chuckles and jumps right into the pond. He lets me go and I whack him. 
"Oh, come on, Golds! You were going to get in, weren't you?" he asks, innocently. I swim back to the dock and get up. 
"I didn't need you throw me in, thank you very much." I see Harry laughing and I stick my tongue out at him. Ron floats up to the surface lake and waves to me. 
"Hey, Ron." I look over to Hermione, who is sitting next to Harry. Ara hands me a towel. 
"Thanks, but I'm good.. I think my brother needs to have a meeting with the pond too." I walk over to Harry and grab his hands. 
"How was your visit with the Weasleys?" I ask, innocently pulling him up to stand. 
"It was very fun," he answers, "how was it having all your friends over?" 
"They are still here, you know?" I tease, "but it was very nice. I think we gave Dad a heart attack with one of my presents." Harry laughs. I tighten my grip on his wrists and throw myself into pond, taking him with me. 
"What the frick, Goldie?" he shouts, "my hair's going to get all frizzy and go all over the place!" I laugh. 
"You mean, it will look the way it always does?" he splashes me and laughs. Ara jumps in next to us, splashing us both. 
"Hey, guys! Watch this!" Fred shouts, flipping off the roof into the pond. George and Ara clap as Fred comes up to the surface. Ginny is up there now, her hair blowing in her face. 
"Come on, Gin!" Fred shouts to her, "the water nice!" Ginny smiles and jumps in. Ginny swims up and gasps. 
"It's cold!" she whines. Ara and I laugh as Rachel jumps in beside Ginny.  Heather is stand on the dock, with Ron standing behind her. 
"Are you gonna get in, Heather?" Ginny asks, laughing as Ron picks Heather up. 
"I guess I am now." Heather screams as Ron throws her in. Heather's tight curly hair immediately frizzes up as she surfaces. 
"This is going to take hours to fix!" she complains, while laughing, "Ron, you better get in now!" Ron smiles and jumps in besides her. Rachel is up on top of the roof with Evie. Rachel throws Evie off, getting her to the middle of the pond. Evie gets up to the surface, her face red from trying not to laugh while under water. Rachel jumps in next, doing an aerial in the air. My mouth opens in shock.
"Where did you learn to do that?" I ask her, as she surfaces. 
"I was in gymnastics when I was younger," she answers, shrugging her shoulders like it was no big deal, "I can do all sorts of things." Ara is already on the dock, jumping up and down with glee. Her hair is going through all the colors of the rainbow.
"Can you show me how to do something?" she asks, almost like a child. Rachel looks at me and smiles. 
"We should probably start on the dock, Ara," she offers, swimming to Ara. Ara nods and listen intently to Rachel's instructions. I swim over to Fred and George, who are over in a corner chuckling. 
"What are you two scheming?" I ask, grabbing both of their shoulders. 
"Oh, nothing," Fred answers, far to quickly. 
"I don't believe that, even for a second." 
"Alright, we're trying to figure out how to get Miss Granger into the pond," George confesses, "but we have to get her to let go of her book." 
"When have you ever cared about not destroying a book?" 
"Hermione's going to be angry no matter what.. but if we ruin her book, we might as well be dead." I laugh and nod. 
"Okay.. be ready." I get up at the dock just before Ara tries to flip off the dock. She does almost a full rotation, but hits her back straight on the water. I wince for her. 
"I'm alright!" she shouts, "That wasn't to bad! I just needed to jump higher!" She gets right back on the dock as I grab a towel and go over to Hermione. 
"What are you reading?" I ask, wrapping myself in the towel. Hermione shuts the book and hands it to me. 
"It's about elf rights in the wizarding community." 
"You're still stuck on that?" I ask, as I open to the front of it. 
"It's terrible! They are forced to work until they are given clothes to be let go.. even if a wizard is treating them horribly!" I sigh. 
"Hermione, you should ask my dad about his house elf, Lilac. She loved working! Most do, of course there are some wizards that shouldn't have elves, but you can't tell that sometimes." Hermione grumbles something, but is soon scooped up by the Weasley twins. She doesn't even fight it as she is throw into the pond. 
"Oh, you two better be ready for a world of hurt when we get back to school!" she shouts. I laugh and set her book down far enough from the pond that it won't get wet. I jump in after her. 
"I wouldn't challenge them to a prank war, if I were you." 
"No pranks.. just going to refuse to help them with anything." I laugh again and watch as Ara attempts a flip again. This time she is successful. Her hair is bright yellow when she gets back to the dock. She hugs Rachel and they both laugh. 
"Can I do it off the roof now?" she asks. I bite my lip and shake my head. 
"Maybe.. make sure you can do it a couple times first." I nod, agreeing with Rachel's terms. Ara frowns, but continues to do a running flip into the pond. Evie watches her, gleefully. I smile at her as she cheers for Ara. 
"You wanna try, Goldie?" Rachel calls. 
"I don't think I could even jump off the roof.. let alone flip off of it!" Everyone laughs.