Chapter One:
2012-Muggle London, outside a pinball arcade, two days before the first day of school
"Mira! Anna! Don't run off!" Rose cried after the two little girls. They turned around and ran back before they opened the door.
"OK, Rose, but why can't we go in?" asked Anna. "Is it 'cause of the Muggles?" she added loudly.
"Shh! What's the rule about Mu-normal London?" Rose asked.
"No saying the M word," Anna replied.
"What M word? Muggle or magic?" asked Mira. She had inherited more of Neville's looks and personality, but she still acted flutterbrained, like Luna and Alex. A group of kids who were hanging outside the door stopped to look at them in an odd way, but then quickly went inside with a quick glare from Rose.
"Both, Mira! We say none of those, OK?" asked Rose impatiently. "If you can't do that, we'll have to go home." This started a chorus of "No!"s from the little girls.
"We'll go in as soon as Severus and Lily get here, right, Rose?" asked Alex softly.
"Of course. I think that's them now," she added, seeing an orange and yellow Beetle drive up.
Ginny, Severus and Lily stepped out of the little car, and Lily ran towards her friends. "Yay! I'm so glad Hermione and Luna let you guys come!"
Mira and Anna jumped on her and bear-hugged her. "Lily!"
She wrapped her arms around the little girls. "How are you two?"
"We're good! You look like Aunt Ginny, Lily!" they chorused.
Lily smiled. "However do you two always manage to speak together? It's kinda weird!"
Severus ambled over to them. "Hey,"he grunted. "How's life?"
"Presumably like life, Severus. What's with the Muggle slang?" Rose asked, dropping her voice so that no one else would hear.
"It's more interesting."
"Rose, do you need me to stay, or can you manage them?" asked Ginny.
"I think I can manage two little girls, Aunt Ginny." Rose smiled.
"OK, thanks, dear! Here's some Muggle money to buy tokens with." She handed Rose two thirty pound notes.
"I...think that's a bit much, Aunt Ginny," Rose said uncertainly.
"No! It's fine! It's fine, Ginny!" interrupted Alex quickly, and grabbed the money before Rose gave it back. Ginny got back in her car and waved goodbye as she drove off.
The little girls dragged Rose and Alex by the hands and tried to pull them into the arcade. Rose stopped them and turned the girls to face her.
"Severus, Lily? Come here too, please. We have to pretend to not be you-know-what, so no curses anything, ok? And do try not to make anything odd happen, little ones, ok?" Everyone nodded impatiently. "Same goes for you, Alex." She stuck her tongue out at her friend.
"Can we go in now, Rose? You aren't our mother, you know," said Lily, rather annoyed at the wait to enter.
Rose sighed.
"I just want to say that we need to try and..." Rose paused. "Blend."
"Can we go in, noowww?" Alex begged. Rose giggled and acquiesced.
"Fine. Seems I'm defeated, one to five." They all cheered and ran into the building, Rose sighing happily and trailing behind them. By the time she had caught up with them, Alex was eagerly feeding one of the thirty pound notes into one of the token machines. Mira, Lily, and Anna scooped up all of the coins and put them in a cup. Alex put the next bill in, and pushed the button. Tokens spewed out of the the machine. They had to get two more cups to hold them. Why did Aunt Ginny have to give us sooo much money? We're going to be here forever!
Mira, Anna, Lily, and Severus ran around, entranced by the flashing lights and raucous noises of the games, but Alex and Rose couldn't shake a feeling of unease.
"It feels like someone's watching us, doesn't it, Alex?" asked Rose. Alex nodded vaguely, but Rose couldn't be sure if she had actually responded to the question.
"I think it's another "w"-word, Rose," Alex said, five to ten minutes later. "I think I saw someone with a wand earlier."
A/N: Sorry, another short chapter, but we're gonna try to post every night or so, so that should make up for it.
Review and tell us what you think!