Morgana's idea of something free and fun was unfortunately also dangerous and extremely embarrassing.
She knew that if she had told me we were skinny dipping in the Black Lake before we had already walked all the way out there, I would have said no. But now that we were here, standing on the shore as the sun was setting, I was actually looking forward to shedding my heavy dress and getting into the cool water.
"Wait," Morgana said, gesturing to clothes neatly folded on a piece of driftwood. "There's someone already here."
Arthur Plummly, a Hufflepuff 6th year, was already in the lake. He was swimming laps.
"Arthur!" I called to him. "What on earth are you doing?"
Arthur emerged from the water wearing nothing but swimming trunks. I blushed when I took a glance at his body. He had been hiding muscles beneath his Hufflepuff robes all along.
"Just out for a swim," said Arthur cheerily.
"Out for a swim?" Morgana asked with a cocked brow.
"Can't a man enjoy swimming?" He dabbed water from his bare chest with a towel and began to redress. "What are you two doing out here? The sun's almost down."
"Oh, just gathering extra leech juice for potions tomorrow," Morgana lied.
Arthur buttoned his white dress shirt. "We're not using leech juice in potions tomorrow."
I gave Arthur a nervous smile. He nodded, catching on to my nonverbal plea for secrecy.
He said, "Well, if you're going to be gathering leech juice for a while, just know that the prefects patrol that bridge at 9 o'clock sharp."
With that, he trod up the sandy banks towards Hogwarts.
When he was gone, I declared, "Oh, how I love loyal Hufflepuffs."
Morgana added, "Who knew that Arthur was so fit?" She bit her lower lip. "Chiseled by the gods!"
I gave her a doubtful look. "Did you forget you are almost engaged to Ominis?"
"Right, right." She began to undo the ties on the back of her corset. "I can look, though."
Within a minute, Morgana was down to her knickers, and even those were coming off. Meanwhile I was too shy to even slip out of my petticoat.
"How did you get so much confidence?" I asked as my hands hovered over my buttons.
"I don't know." Morgana didn't even test the water before diving in. Her head emerged, gasping. "Damn! It's cold!"
I wished I had a little of her confidence. I had bravery, and courage, sure- I needed that to make it through 5th year. But when it came to speaking with others, or presenting myself, or even just taking off my clothes to go swimming, I was as shy as a mooncalf.
From the water, Morgana removed the rest of her undergarments and tossed them on the shore. I took that as my cue to finally get over myself and commit.
"Woo-hoo!" Morgana yelled with glee as I finally dove into the lake. I shed everything except my glasses, which I held onto desperately.
The water was cold at first, but it warmed as we swam. A few times I thought I felt a tickle or brush of something below the surface, but Morgana reassured me it was just seaweed. "You would know if it wasn't," she said.
We continued to swim and play until the sun was well away. After I realized it was too dark for me to see anything farther than 20 feet away, I realized it was time to get out.
A feeling over worry came over me as soon as I stepped onto the beach. "Morgana, I can't see our clothes."
"They're right there-" she stopped. "Oh, no."
Morgana and I stood, naked as could be, on the sandy shore staring at where our dresses and knickers used to be. It became painfully obvious that somebody knew we were there and had taken our clothes. And our wands.
"We need to hide. Now." Morgana pulled me to the bushes. From the bushes, we saw the thief, hovering above the water with our clothes hanging from his broomstick.
"Everett Clopton," Morgana growled. A string of unladylike swears left her mouth.
"This is a terrible thing to do to ladies, Everett!" I yelled.
Everett laughed. "Just a bit of fun, nothing meant by it!"
"Then give us our clothes back!"
I heard the thump of our clothes and wands land on the sand. They landed just far enough away that Morgana and I would have to leave the bushes, fully naked, to retrieve them.
"Alright. Come get them," Everett teased.
It seemed Everett Clopton thought that the way to a woman's heart was through her funny bone. Right now, however, I wanted to break all of his bones.
"You have a choice, girls. Spend a few hours in the bush, or come out and get your clothes."
Morgana was white hot with anger. "I'd rather die."
We'd be in for a long night. If he was expecting to see me naked, he would be waiting a long, long time. We weren't going to give him the satisfaction in a million years.
Just as it seemed Everett was about to get comfortable, something unexpected happened.
"Flipendo."
Suddenly, the perverted thief was flipped from his broom, and sent into the lake hollering. How it happened, I had no idea.
Morgana rejoiced. "Ominis!"
From the shadows, Ominis Gaunt emerged. With Everett in the water, and Ominis being too blind to see us, Morgana and I could come out and retrieve our clothes.
"I-I can't see, it's too dark," I said.
"Prisma."
Ominis handed me my dress. If it were anyone else, I would have been mortified- and even now, standing before him naked, it felt strange. I wondered just how much he could see with his wand.
I clutched the clothes to my chest. "How did you know we were here?"
"Morgana left a note that you two were at the lake." Ominis replied. "Do you need help with your dress?"
Morgana said, "I will do Prisma's buttons, thank you very much."
The three of us returned to the castle, letting Everett Clopton find his own way back to the shore.