open RP: croquet

[c_macaulay]

Thanks to magic brownies, Camilla was seven years old.

Thanks to insufferable slights against her gender, Camilla was also furiousShe marched right out of Gryffindor dormitory, out into the castle courtyard, calling for house elves, whom she knew would bring her whatever she wanted. "We need croquet equipment," she ordered. "Arches and balls and

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[c_macaulay]

Wholly uninterested in the prospect of whacking at a tree with a croquet mallet, Camilla led the way out of the courtyard, bemused by how everything seemed so familiar, even places she hadn't been the first time she dreamed of the magic castle. The other yelling children had run off to tilt against windmills, so to speak, except for the relatively orderly John; Henry, as ever, shadowed Camilla, probably grateful she wasn't demanding to be carried.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" she asked the other child, suddenly and without preamble.

[semper_fi_house]

John followed Camilla, not knowing where to find the lake she had mentioned. He was reconsidering his earlier pronouncement that she was just a stupid, boring girl -- she at least was civilized. And, well... she was pretty.

At her question, John nodded. "Four. Three brothers and one sister. I'm the oldest." He glanced at her. "You?"

[c_macaulay]

"I have only one brother," Camilla said. "We're twins. Fraternal twins is what it's called. A boy and a girl can't be identical twins."

[semper_fi_house]

John nodded. "Makes sense. Where's he? What's his name?" A boy almost his age who was hopefully as sensible as his twin sister sounded like a good companion. Maybe he'd want to play Soldiers (he'd have suggested this to the other children if he'd thought they'd have agreed to follow the rules).

[c_macaulay]

Camilla gave a sad little sigh. "His name is Charles and I don't know where he is. The last time I dreamed this castle he was grown up and he wouldn't tell me how he got that way."

[semper_fi_house]

John squinted, confused. "He was grown up?"

In all that chaos of the attempted croquet game and the ensuing brawl, John had actually forgotten the question of why and how he was here. He was still skeptical of Camilla's assertion that this was a dream.

"Why would he be grown up?" John wondered. "That doesn't make sense. If you're twins, you should be the same age."

John would not be happy if his own younger siblings showed up as adults and could suddenly tower over him.

[c_macaulay]

"We are twins and we should be the same age," Camilla agreed firmly. "I told him that! I told him either he needed to be my age or he needed to tell me how to be grown-up. And he wouldn't help me. He behaves much better when we're awake," she added sulkily.

[semper_fi_house]

John snorted.

He spotted a little stone in front of him in the grass and kicked at it idly, bringing it along with them on the walk. It felt very real, he thought.

"I've never had a dream like this," he commented. "If this is really a dream, we should be able to be grownups if we want to," he said then, some frustration coming into his voice. He'd have liked to be able to turn into an adult -- he'd have shown those dumb kids a thing or two then. Someone should.

"Have you ever been a grownup?" he asked, adding hastily. "I mean, in a dream." Obviously she couldn't have ever really been a grownup.

[c_macaulay]

Camilla thought about this. She thought about it very hard.

"You can't always do what you want in dreams," she said. "I've had awful nightmares that I couldn't change. I know this has to be a dream even if I can't change everything in it. It's a special kind of dream, where people who are dreaming can meet one another. But it still has to be a dream, otherwise my brother couldn't be grown up. And I ... I think I was a grown-up in another dream. But I don't know when, and I don't remember it very well at all."

[semper_fi_house]

"Hmm. I guess you're right." John didn't think about his dreams all that often. Usually they involved trying to do something, get something accomplished. A lot of the time, he was playing football. Sometimes he was at war, with his father. He certainly didn't dream about being at a weird castle like this.

"I think maybe I've dreampt of being grownup too," he said, though he wasn't actually sure. He squinted for a moment, and then shrugged, dismissing it. He picked up the stone at his feet and tossed it, watching it arch in the air.

"Is this that the lake you meant?" he asked, pointing ahead of them.

[c_macaulay]

Camilla's eyes widened. "Yes! Yes, that's the lake. I don't know how I knew it would be there, or how it would look like that, but it's exactly that."

And with that, she took off running to the water, golden hair flying in the wind behind her, exuberant.

[semper_fi_house]

John grinned as the girl took off. He threw a glance back at Henry, and then, sure that it was allowed, ran after her, trying to catch up. A few moments later, he fell into pace beside her.

"Race you!" he shouted.

[c_macaulay]

Camilla laughed. "You're on," she shouted back. "But I'm not giving up my head-start!" Then it was running in true earnest.

[semper_fi_house]

John threw himself into running, lengthening his steps and straightening his hands to chop through the air quickly with each landing thump of his feet. As always, he was absolutely determined to win.

At last, he reached the bank of the lake. He threw his hands into the air and gave a victory whoop, turning around to face Camilla. Breathing heavily, he leaned forward with his hands on his knees, grinning up at Camilla.

"I win," he panted, a bit unnecessarily.

[c_macaulay]

While Camilla could run with the best of them, she was a year younger and had legs rather shorter, and she was not unsurprised that the other child had edged her out -- though not by much, she thought matter-of-factly. So she only grinned back, inhaling quick and shallow. "You can run fast," she said approvingly, then corrected herself, because that wasn't grammatically proper. "Quickly, that is. So, you win the right to skip the first stone."

[semper_fi_house]

John smiled.

"Okay." He squatted and began searching around the shore for a nice, flat rock that would be good for skipping. He collected a couple of mediocre but suitable ones, and then found what looked to be an excellent one. "Aw, look at this stone!" He grinned and ran his thumb over its surface. It was smooth.

He held it up proudly for Camilla and Mr. Winter to see.