Meeting the Family

I was surprised, to say the least.

Over the course of mine and Lexi's friendship, I had never been to her house. I'd heard plenty about her family, how her little sister bugged her or how her older brother teased her.

I thought they were a normal family living a normal boring life. Even their street name was boring.

Birkley Avenue, seriously?

But that was far from the truth, and this I realised as I stared at the massive house in front of me. I assumed that the limo and the chauffeur were just things to impress me, or a little treat paid for by Lexi's parents since they knew she was bringing a friend.

But I was wrong, they were loaded!

The house, more like a mansion, had three floors. I stood in front of the huge black gate, Lexi stood beside me with her suitcase in hand.

'Stop staring and let's go!' she told me, walking forward and opening the gate, rushing to get to her front door and see her family again.

Of course I understood her excitement, seeing your parents after a long year at Hogwarts was great, especially with the combination of the long summer holiday and the summer sun.

I'll take a moment to explain the situation. We had decided to go to Lexi's house for the first half of the holiday, then we would go to mine for the last half. Then, we would get on the train to Hogwarts, prepared and ready for our fifth year at Hogwarts.

Lexi knocked on the door and rang the doorbell relentlessly as I walked up to her at the front door, pulling my suitcase behind me.

The door opened, making the sound of the doorbell cease. The woman at the door, obviously Lexi's mother, was very pretty. She had Lexi's blonde hair, or, I suppose Lexi had her mother's hair, and blue eyes. She was wearing a large light pink jumper and a long white skirt, reaching just below her knees.

She enveloped Lexi in a hug, which Lexi returned with equal enthusiasm. Her mother swung her from side to side in her embrace, telling Lexi how much she had missed her.

When they stepped away, her mother turned to me, holding her arms out for a hug, 'You must be Elle.'

'Yeah' I responded, smiling at her as she walked forward to hug me, thankfully with much less enthusiasm as she did with Lexi.

'I'm Alexis' mum, you can call me Jean' she greeted, stepping backwards into the house, 'Come on in, both of you.'

Lexi walked in and I followed her, mouth dropping open as I looked at the inside of the house. Sure, my house had a grand staircase and a ballroom, but I'd heard that muggles had smaller houses.

Still, I knew I could feel right at home here.

I was roaming Lexi's room, it looked a hell of a lot different than I imagined it to be.

Her walls were pretty bare, only a few posters on one wall of people posing. When I moved closer I read that the two men on the wall were, 'John Cena' and 'Randy Orton.'

I had no idea who they were.

'Who are they?' I asked, pointing a thumb at the two men on the wall and giving her a questioning look.

She blushed slightly, 'Well, there wrestlers' she explained, 'Really… really hot ones.'

I laughed at her. 'Seriously!? Wait… what's a wrestler?'

We sat at the table, me, Lexi and her family. After Lexi had thoroughly taught me in the ways of 'wrestling', which I had to admit looked kind of awesome, it was basically just beating people up with a bit of drama thrown in.

Hey, I could beat their asses any day, so I suppose there not that good.

I looked across the table. Sat there was Lexi's little sister, Zoe. She wanted to be a ballerina when she grew up, and she just wouldn't stop talking!

It was, 'Elle this' and 'Elle that.' I couldn't keep her away!

I sent Lexi a 'Help me' look as Zoe started to talk again, talking about something I didn't care to listen to.

She shook her head, greeting her brother who sat down in front of her. He was a couple years older than Lexi and I, another piece of information I cared not to listen to.

His name was David… that's all I know on the subject.

Lexi's mum, or Jean as she forced me to call her, told us that Lexi's dad wouldn't be joining us today. Something about a business trip? Maybe?

I really should start listening.

I ate the food in silence, watching as Lexi chatted and laughed with her family, feeling a little bit foreign and strange sat here, eating my pasta.

Yep, we ate pasta.

It was good.

'So, Elle, what do your parents do?' Jean asked me with a small smile.

All eyes turned to me, making me gulp my food down and awkwardly respond. 'Well, Dad works for the ministry' I told her, 'And Mum… she doesn't work anymore'

Jean nodded with a small smile, 'Oh… that's nice' she told me, grasping for something to talk about. It was painfully obvious.

Lexi cleared her throat, 'Elle's on the quidditch team, you remember? I told you about it' Lexi told her mum.

Her mother clapped her hands, 'Oh yes! Quidditch!' she said, remembering how her daughter had explained it to her, 'That must be interesting?' she asked me.

I was so not in my element right now.

'Yeah, it's pretty good, I get to beat people with sticks' I replied.

Everyone looked at me wide-eyed as Lexi banged her head on the table.

Was it something I said?

I followed Lexi back to her room, 'I don't understand' I told her, letting me drag her up the stairs.

Lexi sighed, 'You can't just be completely open about your homicidal tendencies Elle! It wasn't appropriate to talk about how much you wanted to transfigure Yates into a snail and feed her to an acramantula' she explained, 'It's etiquette 101!'

'Okay! Sorry!' I apologised… what? There's a first for everything.

Lexi just chuckled to herself and pulled me to her room.

The next morning, I woke up. Obviously.

Lexi wasn't there.

Oh joy! Now I have to wake up and go downstairs for breakfast in somebody else's house, without that somebody!

God damn!

I crept out of the room, in my pyjamas, and snuck up to the staircase, listening to the sounds of laughter and cooking downstairs. I followed the sound to the kitchen, peeking in to observe the scene.

Lexi and her mother were stood in the kitchen, baking pancakes together and having fun, obvious by the grins on their faces. Like me, they were both still in their pyjamas.

I watched as Jean flipped a pancake, getting it stuck on the ceiling. Lexi burst out laughing, along with her mum, as they just looked up at it.

'Oh dear' Jean chuckled, 'That will be mine' she joked, watching it drop onto the floor. Lexi picked it up and threw it away.

'And nobody will ever know' she chuckled.

'I will' came a voice from behind me, startling me beyond belief. I looked around to see Dave, Lexi's older brother, in his pyjamas, grinning at them.

I guess stalking ran in the family?

Lexi laughed, 'Good morning Dave, Elle' she greeted, 'we're making pancakes!'

The pancakes were pretty good, much better than my own mum's.

I grinned as I walked from Lexi's room, dressed for the day. I felt like I could take on the whole damn world!

Of course, I couldn't take anything this family could throw at me.

Zoe was there, waiting for me as I exited the room, dressed in her leotard and tutu with her hair tied up into a bun.

'Elle! Elle! Come watch me dance!' she grinned, tugging on my arm and pulling me towards a part of the house that I hadn't ventured down yet.

Ugh, kid germs.

Zoe took me to a big room, mirrors on one wall with a piano in it. The mirrored wall had a long bar on it, it looked like a makeshift dance studio.

And so I watched, with resignation and boredom, as Zoe twirled and danced around the room to no music.

No bloody music!

That was until Jean walked in, 'Oh! Elle! Lexi was wondering where you had disappeared to' she smiled at me, 'Zoe got you huh?'

I nodded with a sheepish smile, 'Yeah.'

'Go on, I'll make sure she doesn't bother you for the rest of the day' she chuckled, taking my place at the small piano chair.

I fled

'Sorry about that' Lexi apologised as I told her where I had been, 'Zoe can be a bit… selfish.'

I chuckled, 'Just stick with me from now on and we'll be fine' I told her, patting her on the shoulder.

Obviously, at this point, something completely unpredictable happened.

Dave walked past, holding another guy's hand as they headed towards his bedroom.

This shit just didn't faze me anymore and, by the look on Lexi's face, she was used to it as well.

'Well, it was lovely having you over' Jean smiled to me as I stood, with Lexi, at the front door, our suitcases at our feet.

'Thank you for having me over' I thanked her with a nod of my head, 'It was lovely meeting you all' I smiled and gestured to the family, even if I didn't get to meet Lexi's dad.

They all smiled and gave me, 'You too's.'

I smiled and opened the door, unexpectedly being stopped from a hug by everyone. Lexi and I were crushed as Jean enveloped us in her arms, followed by Zoe clinging to my leg and Dave hugging us from behind Jean.

'I'll see you soon guys' Lexi laughed, smiling at them, 'It's not like I'll be gone forever.

They all chuckled and let go, with a little bit of persuasion for Zoe.

I smiled and waved at them as Lexi and I walked towards the limo, the same one we had arrived in. This would take us to the Leaky Cauldron, not that the driver knew what or where it was, then we would floo to my own house.

'Bye!' they all smiled, waving at us from the front door.

'Goodbye!' Lexi cried from beside me as our bags were put into the boot, 'I love you! See you soon!' she shouted as I slipped into the limo, followed by her.

She continued to wave her hand out of the window as we rolled away from the house, until they were just small specks in the distance. She then brought her hand back in, winding up the window and pulling her arm back inside.

'So, what do you think?' she asked me with a nervous smile.

God, where do I begin?