Gens Gentis Figularis

"I'm HOT! I'm TIRED!" Ralphie cried out on the top of his lungs.

"Okay, okay!" Annie told him, trying to soothe the small boy.

"Oh yes, it is SO tiring riding on Annie's back," Jim muttered, rolling his eyes.

"I'M TIRED!" Ralphie yelled, his face going red. He wiggled and Annie had to reach behind herself to hold him so he wouldn't fall.

"I got that," Annie told him. She twisted around and did a bit of an acrobatic act, turning so Ralphie rested on her hip.

"AND HOT!" he added, in case she didn't get the full extent of his discomfort. Annie took a deep breath before addressing him.

"Why don't we go over to Drew's house and play in his pool," she suggested to the small boy who quieted down right away.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" he chirped, bouncing up and down on Annie's side.

"So, I take it we are going to my house?" Drew laughed, leading the way with a ceremonial march. Sarah handed her bike to Annie to let Ralphie ride it again.

"Thanks," Annie said earnestly, lifting Ralphie from her side and onto the seat.

"Hey, can I see your cube?" Drew asked, reaching over to Jim. Jim lent Drew the cube, before giving Ralphie a slight poke in the side.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" Ralphie repeated with a squeak, egged on by the poke.

"He sounds like Scabbers," Jim mused, giving him a pat on the head.

"Well we better keep him from the dark side, that way he doesn't turn on us," Annie said, glancing at Jim.

"Hey, Slytherin isn't a synonym for Evil," Jim said defensively, lifting his hands up in an innocent fashion.

"Yeah, its a synonym for slim ball," Drew whispered loudly. Jim narrowed his eyes at Drew and Sarah rolled her eyes at their childish behavior.

"Hey, we can play pool Quidditch when we get to your house," Sarah suggested, not wanting Jim and Drew to start arguing.

"What's... pool Quidditch?" Drew asked, looking sideways at Sarah, Jim also looking questioningly at her, forgetting his feud with Drew.

"Well, I've been trying to think of a real way to play quidditch, and I figured that swimming is like flying. And I've been working on a way to make a quidditch game work," Sarah started to explain.

She paused slightly when Ralphie began to cleanse his nostril with his finger. Annie quickly tried to discourage him, and felt relieved when he pulled his finger out. And then groaned when snot began running out of his nose and Ralphie grinned and stuck his tongue out to slurp it up. He beamed at Annie's disgusted face.

"Get on with it Girl," Drew commanded to distracted everyone, thwacking Sarah on the head with his cube.

"Hey, if you continue to show disrespect like that I'll just not tell you," Sarah said undignified, making a slight face at Drew.

"PLEASE!" Annie and Jim said in unison.

"Don't let that guy's utter display of incompetent disrespect stop you from explaining to us your plan to reenact quidditch in our fellow magic lover's pool," Annie added dramatically. Jim raised an eyebrow at her before turning back to Sarah.

"Yeah. What she said," he told her. Sarah giggled.

"Well, before I was interrupted," Sarah continued, casting an eye toward Drew before speaking again. "I was saying that we could make two teams of two. And two people would be the keeper slash chaser, using Drew's pool beanbag ball thing as the Quaffle. The other two would be the Beater slash Seeker. They would sit on the side of the pool with hoses, spraying at the chaser slash keeper people who will be swimming around, riding the noodles and trying to score. The hoops I haven't figured out what to be yet, but I figure we could fine tune the game when we got to the pool." The others all walked in silence, considering this.

"But what about the seeker part?" Jim asked finally.

"That's where my genius shows," Sarah said proudly. Jim snorted.

"Sarah, if genius was skin you'd be labeled a slut how much you try to show off it," he muttered, giggling. Sarah blushed and smacked him before continuing.

"We let Dobby play in the spa for a bit, because it shallow enough for him. But at the start of the game we give him a yellow diving ring. Then at any random moment he gets to throw the ring into the pool and the two Seeker slash Beater... people dive in and try to get it first," Sarah told them all. Ralphie, hearing his name, let out a squeal.

"I wanna play, I wanna play," he told them, hitting the horn on the bike handle.

"You will, you will," Annie told him, reenacting his excitement.

They finally got to Drew's house and they were all ready for a good swim. They each grabbed their swimsuits, which they kept at Drew's house, as he was the only one of them that had a pool. Changed, Annie helped Ralphie into his Swim Pull-Ups that Drew's mom insisted he wear.

"POOL!" he yelled, trying to get away from Annie, not caring if his Swim Pull-Ups where on all the way or not. Chasing after him, Annie finally got them on him all the way before he ran outside.

"Owie! Owie! Owie!" he cried as his bare feet hit the hot concrete. He jumped his way to the pool and put his feet on the first step.

"Get back here," Annie called, slipping on the old sandals that were kept by the back door to use on the hot ground.

"No. My feet hurt," Ralphie told her; adding a 'humph' that made him look like a midget Snape.

"Well don't you want to put on your invisibility potion?" Annie asked in a singsong voice.

"Help me over," Ralphie commanded, lifting his arms up to Annie, whom picked him up and brought him to the bench were she started to apply sunscreen. She had finished rubbing in the last bit on his arm when Drew came out with a stack of towels for them all.

"Hi," Ralphie said gleefully at being invisible.

"Oh Hi Dob-" Drew started to say but saw Annie shaking her head and pointing to the children's sunscreen. "What, who said that?" he injected, pretending not to be able to see him. Pleased at the reaction Ralphie ran to get his towel.

"AHH the towel is flying," Drew said, feigning shock as he backed away from Ralphie who laughed with delight as he ran around with the towel flying behind him. As he got back to the hot concrete he jumped and ran back to Annie.

"The floor hurts," he complained, his eyes beginning to brim with tears.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it," Annie said, grabbing the hose and turning it on. Spraying down the concrete, she glanced at Ralphie, whom had put his towel on the bench before started to walk towards the pool. As he walked onto the now wet ground, Annie sprayed him with the hose.

"Ahhh!" Ralphie cried with delight. Twisting the nozzle so it was a mist now, Annie turned the hose on herself, cooling off. It felt nice after the long walk.

"No. Mine!" Ralphie complained, reaching for the hose. Trying her best to signal to Drew to turn off the water, she gave Ralphie it. Drew apparently got what she was trying to say because as soon as Ralphie pressed the handle, nothing happened.

"It broke," Ralphie cried out, swinging it around.

"Why don't you play with this?" Drew suggested, tossing him a bubble gun.

"Yay!" Ralphie squealed, picking up the gun he had missed in catching and shooting bubbles around the backyard, leaving the hose forgotten.

"Thanks," Annie mouthed to Drew who smiled proudly. By then Jim and Sarah had come out in their suits.

"So where are the noodles?" Sarah asked, closing the door behind her.

"In the kitchen," Drew told her. She blinked at him.

"The pool noodles," she added.

"Oh, those noodles." Drew commented, pretending to be surprised. "In the shed," he said, pointing towards the dulled red shed. Letting out a sigh, Sarah went and pulled two noodles out along with two floating chairs.

"Can't you give me a hand guys?" she called out over the stuff. Drew and Jim began to clap profusely.

"GUYS!" she yelled, almost dropping the things. Shrugging, Drew and Jim went to help her.

"What are the chairs for?" Jim asked, grabbing one before it fell.

"I figured it would be easier for the Beater slash Seeker to sit in these than to just sit on the edge of the pool," Sarah explained, tossing the noodles into the pool. Drew and Jim followed suit and tossed the chairs in too.

"So who's going to be what?" Drew asked, stepping onto the first step of the pool.

"I guess we could just flip for it or something," Sarah suggested. She hadn't planned that much to the game.

"I got an idea." Annie said suddenly, coming over. "We all turn around, our backs to everyone. And reach one hand backwards and grab the first hand we touch. Those will be the teams."

"I guess that can work until we figure out something better," Jim replied.

"Okay, everyone turn around," Drew commanded. Turning from the group, they each stuck a hand out and groped around. Finally Jim grabbed Annie's hand and Sarah grabbed Drew's.

"Yes," Drew cried, "Got the person who invented the game."

"She might have invented the game but she can't throw for beans," Jim told Drew, sticking a tongue out at Sarah, who stuck her tongue right back at him. Annie snuck behind Jim and before he could have noticed, pushed him into the pool.

"Hey!" Jim sputtered as Annie and Sarah high-fived each other.

"Always watch your back. Isn't that the golden rules for you Slytherins?" Annie asked innocently. Jim glared at her before splashing water up at her. Grabbing the hose, she set it on jet and sprayed it at Jim.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jim protested, trying to block the water from hitting his face. Drew ran up to the house and grabbed an umbrella. Seeing him move away, Annie started to turn the hose on him. Before he could get wet he opened the umbrella.

"Impervious!" he cried out, laughing.

"No fair," Jim called, getting out of the pool and running over to Drew, knocking the umbrella from his hands and causing them both to be sprayed with the water.

"Impedimenta!" Sarah yelled. It took a moment before the others realized what she yelled and stopped, turning to look at her. "We were planning to play a game of Quidditch, remember?" Drew, Jim and Annie dropped what they were doing; Annie, turning off the hose before joining them in the pool.

"Okay, get back into the teams," Sarah instructed. Drew joined Sarah and Annie and Jim went to the steps.

"I'll get Dobby," Annie said, getting the small boy whom was busy being entertained by the bubbles.

"Hey, you want to play in the pool?" Annie asked, trying to guide him to the spa.

"No. I wanna keep playing with the bubbles," Ralphie said, squealing at the bubbles.

"Hey, how bout we turn on the bubbles in the spa," Annie suggested. Ralphie turned around and eyed the spa, looked back at the meager gun, back to the spa until finally turning to Annie.

"Okay. Only if you turn them on," He told her as if it was his own idea. Putting the gun on the bench, he went over to the spa and jumped in.

"The second button from the right!" Drew yelled at Annie as she went to turn the jets on. Ralphie giggled as he hopped around the Spa.

"Now, whenever you want, I want you to throw this into the pool," Annie said, handing him the yellow diving ring. As soon as it was in his hands, Ralphie threw it into the pool. With a groan, Jim got it and gave it to Ralphie.

"Not yet!" he cried. Ralphie smirked and threw the ring back into the pool. Annie took the ring before he could hand it back to Ralphie.

"Okay. If you don't want to play with the big kids," she said, turning from the spa.

"No. I wanna play. I wanna play. I'll do it good," Ralphie protested.

"Okay," Annie said with a sigh. "But only if you wait till we are playing for a while," she instructed as Ralphie clutched the ring and looking at her with big eyes.

"Okay, so teams, pick your positions," Sarah said in her best announcer voice.

"I'll be Beater slash Seeker," Jim said at once, grabbing the hose that had fallen near the pool.

"Me too," Drew said, grabbing the other hose that lay forgotten under the bushes. They had two spigots in the backyard, one hidden behind the large shrubbery against the wall.

"Okay. Um... we need goals." Sarah admitted, looking around. Annie climbed out and Ralphie looked at her expectantly.

"Can I throw it now?" he asked eagerly.

"No. Why don't you play with this till then," Annie suggested, grabbing a floating turtle from the shed. As she went to close the door she spotted the netted rafts that leaned against the wall.

"Why don't we use these as the goals," Annie said, pulling them out.

"Yeah, you and I could even use them as the brooms instead, so it would be easier to guard them." Sarah said, grabbing her own and straddling it.

"Yeah. Hey Dobby, throw this in when I count to three." Annie instructed, putting the ball next to him. Barely noticing it, he did as told and when the ball landed the game began.

Sarah grabbed the ball, and tried to guide the raft over. Throwing it to wards Annie, she groaned as the ball, hit by Jim's jet of water, missed. Annie went to grab it but Drew hit it with his jet, pushing it back to his team member. Sarah grabbed it again and hurled it to Annie, hitting the girl in the face but missing the goal. Rubbing her eye, Annie threw it back. Sarah tried to block, but missed and the ball fell behind her into the make shift goal.

"One Nothing!" Jim cried proudly as Sarah began the game again. Before she could throw it though, Ralphie tossed in the golden ring.

"The snitch has been spotted!" Sarah cried as Drew and Jim both jumped from the chairs and dived for the ring. Drew came up first, holding the ring proudly above him.

"One hundred and fifty points!" Drew yelled out proudly. Ralphie climbed up onto the side of the spa, yelling excitedly. Jim yelled at Drew.

"It shouldn't be one fifty, it should be less," Jim complained.

"Yeah. It should," Annie admitted. "How bout five points."

"That's fine with me," Sarah said.

"We still won," Drew bragged. Ralphie, whom still couldn't swim, fell forward in his excitement. Annie cried out in alarm as he splashed around frantically, the ground to far for him to reach.

Jim, closest, grabbed him and Ralphie held onto him with a death grip. Crying, Ralphie was helped out of the pool. The other three rushed out to help.

"Lets dry you off," Annie cooed, wrapping him in the towel. Ralphie still was red faced, breathing hard.

"Come on big man. Your okay now," Jim said, giving him a slap on the back. Ralphie looked at him with big loving eyes and Jim backed away.

"Why is he looking at me like that?" Jim asked Annie.

"You saved his life," Annie answered, amused. Sarah giggled from where she stood.

"Seems we have a Colin on our hands," Drew mused, ruffling Ralphie's hair. Ralphie ducked from the male's hand and hid behind Jim's leg.

"Eh...." Jim said, unsure if that should please him.

"It's getting late anyways. I say we go home," Sarah suggested, drying herself off.

"'Kay. Here is you cube," Drew said, handing Jim the bag.

"Go get the ornament," Sarah instructed. When he stopped dripping, Drew hurried inside and brought out the prize, along with all their clothes. Inspecting the object and taking her clothes, Sarah nodded and bid adu before heading out the gate with her bike.

"Come on Dobby," Annie said, heading the same way.

"NO!" Ralphie cried, gripping Jim's hand. "I wanna go home with Jim."

"You can't. You have to come home with me," Annie said, trying to cox him her way.

"NO!" Ralphie yelled stubbornly.

"Come on Dobby. Your daddy will miss you," Jim said, trying to help.

"You're my daddy now," Ralphie said proudly. Jim raised a brow at that.

"Ralphie. If you don't come over here this minute, we are going to sell your room to circus clowns," Annie threatened.

"I don't care." Ralphie told her, swinging on Jim's hand.

"But what happens when you finally do go home and have to sleep under the bed with the monsters..." Jim asked, trying to pry him from his hand.

"Will you come visit me if I go now?" Ralphie asked, starting to loosen his grip.

"Yeah. Sure," Jim confirmed before Ralphie skipped over to Annie, who let out a relieved sigh. She pretended to bow at Jim before picking up Ralphie and carrying him on her back home. Once they were gone, Jim grabbed his stuff and left too.

Drew waved good-bye, and snickered.

"Have fun when you visit your son," Drew called out to him. Jim just flicked him off from over his shoulder.