HPHM SUMMER CAMP AU: CHAPTER 3
Summary: Muggle!AU. Verna stumbles upon a secret and a party.
Pairings: OC/Merula Snyde, background OC/Bill Weasley, and others as the story progresses
Word count: 1.8k
Warnings: Alcohol
A/N: I’m not a horror writer so this might be a complete mess. Also I did zero research for this and I refuse to be held accountable for any camp-related falsehoods I might perpetuate.
MCs used:
Colette Belrose by @gcldensnitch
Jules Farrier by @cursebreakerfarrier
Indigo Silverwood by @indigobackfire
more to be added in future chapters!
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[From the Beginning]
Chapter 3
That night, Verna was walking back to her cabin from the showers. She was still in a sour mood after what had happened with Merula. She knew that if she hadn’t hit Merula, maybe the camp director would’ve taken her accusation more seriously but sometimes she couldn’t control her temper. Penny had been in a state when she returned from the main building. She had been sure Verna would get fired but when Verna told the others that instead she got paired up with Merula as counsellors, they all seemed to agree that that was an even worse punishment. She was annoyed, sure, but not as annoyed as she would’ve been if she’d lost the job.
~
It had gotten dark while Verna had been trying to wash her hair, and Penny had already headed back earlier to get ready for a little bonfire meetup amongst the counsellors. She shone her torch around to see where she was going. The sounds of the forest were somehow louder this late, once most of the day-time noise was reduced to minimum. It was a bit of a trek back to their cabin. The cabins were built a good distance from each other and from the main building to apparently give off an authentic experience but right now Verna really hoped it would be a bit closer. Suddenly she heard movement from the direction of the woods to her left. She peered towards the sound but saw nothing. Against her will, the story Charlie had told the first night came to her mind. This really was the perfect place to scare kids out of their mind. And unwitting camp counsellors as well, apparently.
“Hello?” she called, and the sound started to resemble footsteps. Verna resolved to follow. It was probably just some of the other counsellors messing around, but she didn’t want to take the chance that there was an intruder. Shutting off her torchlight, she left the path and, as silently as she could, followed the sound.
~
For a while the footsteps continued without a pause, and then came to a sudden stop. Verna hid behind a huge tree and waited. Seconds later she saw the person she’d been following step out into her field of vision, accompanied by someone else. Verna wasn’t sure if there’d been two of them all along, or if they were meeting out here. The pale moonlight shining through the canopy didn’t illuminate enough of the forest for Verna to make any sort of guess as to who these people were. She thought for a moment that the one she’d originally being following was wearing a camp counsellor t-shirt. She nearly breathed a sigh of relief and started to head back, when she heard something that made the hairs on her neck stand up.
“Something’s different this year,” a voice was saying. Maybe a girl’s. She was whispering. “That girl almost drowned and it’s not even the end of orientation yet.”
Another voice replied, also in a hushed whisper: “Something must’ve gone wrong.”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” the first one spoke again. Verna dared to peek from behind her tree ever so slightly more to see who were talking. In her eagerness to have confirmation, she stepped on a twig, which snapped in half a little too loudly in the quiet forest. The two people immediately looked her way, and Verna, not wanting to get caught eavesdropping, hid completely behind the tree again. She heard two sets of footsteps beginning to close in and so she made a decision to run for it. Neither of the shady people had a torch so they might not be able to tell it was her. She was also fast, and she knew it. She could make it back to her cabin using a detour to set her pursuers on the wrong trail.
~
It had seemed like a good plan at first, but after running for what felt like several minutes and still having not had made it out of the woods, she begun to think she was lost. On a positive note, she didn’t hear anyone following after her anymore. She stopped to catch her breath and look around, still not daring to switch her torch back on. Had those really been counsellors? And what the hell had they been talking about? There was something deeply unsettling about it’s not even the end of orientation yet. Verna shivered, even though it was a warm night. At random, she chose a direction and begun to walk towards it. She had no idea where she was, but soon she started to hear music. She headed towards it, hoping it came from one of the buildings at the camp. She had not walked for long, when she saw firelight, and heard people talking and laughing. When she emerged from the forest into a small clearing, it was packed with people chatting, dancing, and drinking beer. For a few seconds she was taken aback by all the noise and excitement that she didn’t notice Colette and Rowan heading her way.
“Verna! Where have you been?” Colette asked, throwing a hand around her shoulder. Verna was suddenly very self-conscious about her shower-damp hair and the soggy towel she was still holding.
“We tried to find you from the showers when you didn’t come back,” Rowan said.
“Oh, I just got lost, I think…” Verna muttered.
“Are you okay?” asked Rowan.
Verna didn’t know what exactly to say. Rowan and Colette seemed to be having fun and she didn’t feel like spoiling their night by sharing something that might’ve been nothing in the first place.
“Well, you’re here now! Jules is around somewhere, I saw her earlier with Charlie and Bill,” Colette continued when Verna didn’t make a reply.
“Penny invited us all here and then almost stayed behind herself,” added Rowan.
“Weird,” Verna said absent-mindedly.
“She’s a stickler to rules, but maybe she’ll come around during the summer…” Colette mused and then started to drag Verna towards the cooler bag holding a bunch of beer bottles.
~
Several hours and beers later, Verna had pretty much convinced herself that what she saw in the forest was her imagination playing tricks on her. She was sitting on a big rock, talking to Charlie and Jules, when Merula and her dark-haired friend appeared into the clearing. They were both dressed for the party, as well as one could in the middle of nowhere, too. The other two noticed Verna staring.
“I can’t believe you punched her,” Charlie said, but he sounded impressed.
“She deserved it for messing with Rowan,” said Jules.
Verna turned her eyes back to her friends and grinned. “Glad to be of service!”
“No but seriously, the way she acts like she owns this camp is ridiculous,” continued Jules. “She has to be over eighteen to be a counsellor here, right?”
“She’s nineteen, I asked Penny,” Verna explained.
“I guess some people never get over secondary school…” Charlie mused and took a swig from his beer.
~
Verna wound up dancing with Indigo and Colette for so long her feet ached and she felt dizzy. The three girls looked for somewhere to sit and Verna walked straight into someone while not looking. That someone being Gael from Charlie’s cabin. He spilled some of his beer all over his t-shirt, and gave Verna an annoyed look.
“Hey, do you mind?” he asked, irritably.
“Oh, whoops, sorry…” Verna said and heard giggles from Indigo and Colette behind her.
“For fuck’s sake…” Gael muttered, clearly not impressed by the situation.
“Oh c’mon, she said she was sorry,” Colette interjected. “And it’s a party, after all!”
“A shitty party,” replied Gael and left without another word. Verna turned around to the other two and they all burst out laughing.
“That was awkward,” said Indigo.
“It’s the first week and I’ve already made like, three enemies,” Verna laughed.
“Merula, Gael, and…?” asked Colette
“The other girl, Merula’s friend.”
“Ooh, you mean Ismelda,” Indigo realized. “She and Merula seem to be doing everything together so that checks out.”
“Ismelda. I have to remember that,” Verna said. “I’ve been calling her The Dark-haired One in my head this entire time.”
They burst into giggles again, and Verna had the vague feeling that none of this would’ve been half as funny if they hadn’t been emptying beer bottles left and right. She wondered where the beer had even come from, as it was sternly forbidden. It was probably better if she didn’t know.
~
It was nearly 2am, when Verna and Colette saw it fit to start heading back. Rowan had left shortly after midnight, but Jules must’ve still been around. The girls split up to look for her, and after ten or so minutes Verna found her deep in conversation with a certain Head Counsellor. Neither seemed to notice her.
“Hey,” she said cheerily, as she walked up to them. Jules and Bill looked up. “Am I interrupting something?” Verna asked, just to be a bit of a twat.
“No, not at all!” Bill said bashfully.
“I just thought I’d let Jules here know that Colette and I are heading back.”
“Okay,” said Jules. She didn’t seem that drunk or ready to leave yet. “I’ll stay for a bit.”
“Gotcha,” Verna replied and started to head back to look for Colette. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” she called back to the two.
“Shut up Verna,” Jules laughed back.
It didn’t take as long to find Colette, who had forgotten all about finding Jules, and was instead talking to Jae Kim from cabin six. Verna rolled her eyes, amused. “Ready princess?” she asked Colette.
“Oh, hi! Yeah,” Colette exclaimed. “Did you find Jules?”
Verna nodded. “Hi Jae,” she said to the boy.
“Hi Verna,” Jae replied politely enough, though he didn’t seem particularly thrilled to be interrupted.
“Sorry Jae, gotta go. Good night,” said Colette and Verna echoed her. Then the pair headed away from the clearing towards their cabin. Verna didn’t have her torch or her towel with her anymore and wondered where they had gotten to, but she was too lazy to turn around and get them.
“Hey Verna?” Colette asked after a while.
“Mm?”
“I left my torch at the clearing…”
“Motherfuck---”
“It’s fine, we can make it,” Colette said and continued on with determination.
“We’re going to fall and break our necks,” Verna laughed, jogging after her.
“Oh, that would be really bad.”
“Yeah, very bad indeed.”
“Do you think that Penny’s cute?” asked Colette, changing the subject on the fly.
“Uhh, does it have something to do with breaking necks?”
“Oh no,” Colette said, giggling. “I just think she’s pretty.”
“Yeah, sure,” Verna agreed. “She is.”
Colette, seemingly satisfied with the answer, started to sing something in French under her breath and Verna tried to focus on staying upright. As they walked through the deepest, densest part of the forest the path ran through, she could’ve sworn she saw someone or something from the corner of her eye. But when she stopped to look, there was nothing there. In the end, both girls made it back to the cabin without an incident and as quietly as they could, crawled to their bunks.