"So I need a date."

"What?"

"For Molly's wedding – I need a date. She told me if I don't find a date, she will find one for me."

"And you don't want her to?"

"Well I don't particularly mind but James told me if I dated a Slytherin he would murder me in my sleep."

"You realise he was joking, right?"

"Yeah but I also don't want to date a Slytherin so I'm running with his threat." There was a silence then before she continued: "Well?"

"I thought this conversation was over."

"Don't be a knob, Wood."

"That is not how people get dates."

"Ally…"

"Don't Ally me, Lily."

"Look, Wood, if you don't take me then I am going to be stuck with either some pompous twat Molly knows or I'll just have to hang out with Hugo all night and I am pretty sure he is taking Gamp as his date."

"I don't know, Lils."

The redhead pursed her lips. It was all too obvious that Alex wasn't going to go with her. Oh well, she would just have to find another way to piss James off. It was very hard being the youngest child. "Who is Roxie taking?" she asked, sitting down beside her brother's best friend.

"She hasn't asked anyone yet."

"And you're hoping she's going to ask you." Lily hadn't even tried to make it into a question.

Alex remained silent.

"How small are your balls, Wood? Is that why you find it so easy to sit on a broomstick?"

"Right, I'm definitely not taking you now, Lily."

"Eugh! You boys are useless!" she screeched just as James reappeared with drinks.

"Why're we useless?"

"Alex refuses to be my date for the wedding."

"One, that is disgusting because you're a child, and two," he turned to Alex then, "I thought you were going with Rox?"

"She hasn't asked him." Lily huffed.

"Well sucks to be you two then, I have a date," James announced.

Alex raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Millicent Sands said yes?"

"Haven't asked her yet, but why would she say no?"

Both Alex and Lily could think of a lot of reason why Millicent was likely to say no.

"Well, as delightful as that is, I am still without a date here – let's all draw our attention back to this fact," Lily said, even though it was all too obvious that Alex wanted to remind James of these many reasons for he had opened his mouth already to do so. He shut it now, trying to politely adhere to Lily's need for attention.

"You're fifteen," her brother retorted, "You don't need a date."

"Are you having a laugh?" Lily responded, deadpan.

"Loads of the girls don't have dates who are going."

"Name them," Lily demanded, "Go on, name them!"

James had not been expecting that but as always tried to seem as unfazed as humanly possible. He was not good at this. "Well, there's Lucy-"

"She's thirteen, James! She is a child. She doesn't count, continue."

"Urm…" a desperate look was sent to Alex.

"Rox hasn't got a date," the chaser aided.

"Hasn't yet," Lily stressed the 'yet' so fiercely Alex wondered if her tongue now hurt. "It is only a matter of time before she asks you or some other poor sod. Besides, she's a bridesmaid. Even if she doesn't have a date it doesn't count because she's an actual part of the wedding."

"Well, Dom hasn't got one," Alex added after.

It was a guess based on the fact that he was sure the gossip would have been paraded around if the ex-Quidditch captain managed to snag herself a man, or rather have a man snag her. Dominique wasn't exactly renowned for her ability to notice when a boy liked her.

Thankfully this seemed to have Lily stumped. She narrowed her eyes and looked suspiciously from her brother to Alex before giving the tiniest nods of her head. "Fine," she mused, "Ally doesn't have to go to the wedding with me, but that doesn't necessarily mean I will attend without a date. Just that I realise that I can arrive without one and not be snooty about it."

"Why did we even have this argument if you were going to still conclude that you need a date for the wedding?" James asked.

Alex though it was quite a reasonable question for James. He found himself somewhat proud of his usually idiotic friend.

"Because you enjoy my company, simple as. Now, I'm going to go and find someone more interesting to talk to," and the little redhead flounced off leaving James frustrated at how annoying his sister was and Alex wondering if Lily was right about him needing to buckle down and ask Rox out.