the dog days are undone

Hunched closely to her side, Lena stood by the lake. In an hour, Haze would be picking her up from here and she would attend the first party of this academic year open for the both of them. She couldn't believe it was time, already. Her throat was clogged with water, or maybe it was her own nervousness.

Taking a necklace from her pocket, Lena stared at it, and she clutched it, curling her fingers into a fist. It held too many memories, too many painful memories. Sighing, she looked back and forth and the lake, then at the necklace. Then, as if by instinct, she began to aim her fist at the water, ready to let go.

Charles held a bouquet of flowers in his hand, ready for his date with some Adele Bass. He wished that it would go well, and he hoped she wasn't insane in one way or another. A part of him felt like betraying Liddy, but he wouldn't go around telling people that.

At the edge of the lake, he saw the one face he wanted to avoid: Lena. She looked sad, though, not angry at someone or something. As she began to raise her arm, he immediately ran towards her and grabbed her wrist tightly. "Vorstenbach!" he shrieked. "What the hell are you doing?"

Lena felt a hand grab her wrist, and now she couldn't throw anything. Her hand was frozen into a tight spot in mid-air and she could do nothing about it. She heard a voice yell at her, but it was a familiar voice. Her heart pounded out of nervousness, and she tried to wriggle her hand free of his grasp.

"Let go, Prentiss!" she shrieked, "and for Merlin's* sake, you're going to make me deaf if you're going to yell at me like that!" She then smirked when she saw the bouquet of flowers in his hand. "Oooh," she whispered, "who's the lucky girl the flowers are for, huh?"

---

* I'm sure Le didn't use these words.

"I'm sorry that I care for you for the first time in years!" Charles replied. He then looked at Lena's wriggling fist and asked, "What is so crappy in there anyone you had to throw it away?" He then looked around. "In a lake, of all places?" He stared directly at Lena's fist, waiting for her to open it.

Charles tried not to laugh. "You know who these are for, Lena," he replied. "You're the one that set me up with her."

Lena narrowed her eyes at Charles. She gently opened her fist, and inside, was a heart-shaped necklace with the letters 'le' engraved on it in silver, curly handwriting. "It's just a necklace with the word 'le' on it, Charles," she snapped, "there's nothing good about it."

The Uchitel laughed lightly at her friend's (was he her friend? He was, for now, she supposed) response. "Of course I know," she smiled, "have you met her yet?"

Charles tried not to raise an eyebrow. This was Lena he was looking at. She always did things for a reason. Though those reasons were mostly selfish. 'Le' meant something, and Lena was not vain enough to get a necklace of her own name. It took him a while to connect the dots, but he did it.

"Lena," he whispered. "How drunk were you when you got this?"

Lena knew it was a mistake to open up her fist, but she had felt the need to do it. She needed to tell someone, and right now, Charles was her best shot. She looked at him and at the necklace, and she focused her stare onto him, or as much of it as she could muster.

"Not drunk, twelve," she breathed, shutting her eyes to force back tears, "I was twelve. It was in Russia, and I found this, and I needed to get it..."

Charles smirked. "You're an idiot, you know that?" he laughed, but it was not a kind one. "Whatever happened to the old Lena that was rational and did things knowing she will never regret them?" He then looked at the necklace and shut Lena's hand so it formed a fist again. "You have to keep it," he concluded. "It's a piece of you, and a large one at that."

Lena narrowed her eyes at her friend. "If I could, I would slap you," she muttered, spitting out the words as if they were dirt. She then looked at her wrist and looked back up at him. "Well then, let go of my wrist. You have a date to attend." She smirked for a second before she raised an eyebrow. "You know what it really means, don't you?" she asked, "Le?"

"So why aren't you slapping me then?" Charles asked, letting go of her wrist. "I don't want to go, Lena," he frowned, shaking his head. He then nodded. "Of course I do, but I'm not going to say it out loud."

Lena smirked, and with a swipe of her hand she aimed lazily for Chuck's cheek. "There," she replied, shrugging her shoulders, "happy, bitch?" She rolled her eyes, knowing he was trying to con his way out of this date. "No," she firmly replied, "you have to go, because she could be... I don't know, good for you." Looking her friend up in the eye, she nodded. "You. Will. Tell. No one," she whispered, looking at her necklace.

Charles received Lena's slap. It didn't hurt much, but his cheeks stung a bit as he laughed back in reply. "I'm happy now, bitch," he replied. He knew it was a weak joke. He nodded. "Why would I tell anyone? I have no reason to annoy you. And you did me a favour by getting that bastard out of my life."

Lena smirked, her eyes kinder than they were a couple of seconds ago. "This reminds me of the time when we were in Millicent's room," she chuckled, reminiscing, "and we were trying to figure out who we were because it was dark. I heard noises..." She howled with laughter for a few seconds. "And I was like, 'Who the hell was that?!' and I slapped you." She sighed. "Don't you miss those days at all, Charles?"

Charles laughed. He could remember that day. "Then you screamed 'Oh my God! I'm sorry!' and you kept stroking my hair in the dark," he added. He nodded. "Of course I miss them, but we can't have them again." He then looked in the direction of the town. "I have to go, and so do you."

Lena agreed, nodding in assent. "I agree," she replied, she then began to walk away, "I suppose this is goodbye, until next time." She then laughed and stepped towards the town and back into Hogwarts for the first sober night in weeks.