Perfect Situation

X Nolan's Point of View X

"That was fun," Ellie laughed as she and I entered The Leaky Cauldron at five-fifty-five PM.

I grinned. "Definitely."

"Where were you two?" Lily asked.

"London," Ellie answered with a laugh.

"But we've been here for absolute ages… it's so boring!"

"We've been here for ten minutes," RJ said dryly.

"Well… it is boring!"

Ellie rolled her eyes. Lily was exceedingly hyper, not unlike Ellie and I could get. Okay, I doubt she could honestly get that hyper. I doubt she'd threaten to hex or gut anyone… but, still. The point remains the same.

"Just don't tell me you've bought ten pounds of Turkish delight… or soda… or anything caffeinated or sugary," RJ muttered.

"No, unfortunately," I muttered.

"We went clothes shopping," Ellie said with a smile.

"…That's just brilliant."

"Well… look at you! Who the hell is Metallica, again?"

"You may have a point there," RJ conceded.

"Anyway," Ellie grinned, "We've bought Muggle clothes for all of you."

"How?"

"There is a thing called money, you know."

"But…"

"I had money on me."

RJ rolled his eyes. "Well… maybe we should get some food?"

Albus jumped up. "Seriously? I'm starving!"

I've seen that kid eat when he said he wasn't hungry… he eats like nothing I've ever seen. And I'm friends with James and Freddie.

"I was thinking this nice restaurant, it's not fancy, but it does have lovely food," Lauren said with a smile.

RJ raised an eyebrow.

"Okay," Lauren said, "it's a diner, but it opened in '56 and has some of the best food."

Ellie sighed. "I suppose we could go there…"

Lauren smiled and grabbed RJ's arm. "Hurry and put your stuff upstairs, and I'll lead the way."

Ellie looked at me, one eyebrow raised. I grinned.

-X-

The diner? It was there, but it was seriously old school fifties.

Oh yeah, checkered floor, jukebox, everything stereotypically fifties in one spot.

I was just waiting to see a roller-skating waitress wearing a poodle skirt.

"Seriously, this is probably the most Muggle restaurant in all of London, why the hell are we coming here?!" a boy yelled.

"Because I'm meeting up with the guys," was the reply.

RJ and Lauren sat down in a booth together, still holding hands. Lily, Lorcan, Albus, Ellie, and I all sat at the counter.

"Am I the only one who finds them incredibly disturbing?" Al asked.

Ellie coughed. "No."

The door opened and two boys came in, and they looked just like…

"Bloody fucking hell," Ellie muttered.

Ellie's father and Eliza Vance's dad, Martin. I could only guess that that was Sirius and Regulus Black.

"So, I'm going to see what's on the jukebox," I grinned.

"Up for comic books, later?" Ellie asked, "I seriously blanked and forgot them."

"Sure."

The only things I recognized on the jukebox were the Beatles, the Who, and Elvis Presley. Wow. Ah well, might as well have some fun, right?

I picked the Beatles, Revolution, because it was one of the few I recognized.

"You say you want a revolution, well, you know, we all wanna change the world," Lauren sang.

They seriously should have had some Pistols, Sweet, or something else.

Wait a minute… maybe they did have Sweet? Well, this song was over fairly soon.

"I don't want to hang out with your friends," Regulus (I assumed) muttered.

"I think Remus is bringing Emmeline."

"And you automatically think that because someone's my age I'll get along with them?"

"No. But, can you distract Emmeline? We're trying to plan the beginning of year prank, and it's got to be a big one this year, because Remus'll be forcing us to study in our spare time."

I saw Ellie restrain a laugh. She wasn't kidding when she said that she was the Remus Lupin of the group.

"Fine," Regulus muttered. "But could I go to a store or something?"

"Nope, not until I'm done."

"Knowing you, that'll take all night."

"Fine, if we're not done at eight, you and Emmeline can go to some store." It was obvious that Sirius was annoyed.

The song was over, so I quickly looked for Sweet. They had Ballroom Blitz, and that's all I needed.

Okay, well, in retrospect, that wasn't the smartest song to play, considering the bit "his eyes are as red as the sun" might stir some emotions, but they're one of the only bands from around this time that I like!

So, maybe they did have Alice Cooper… but I wanted to listen to Sweet.

Maybe I should elaborate on responses?

Well, Lauren rolled her eyes, and RJ muttered something; Lorcan groaned, and Lily raised an eyebrow; Albus began choking on something; Ellie got off of her seat and walked over to me; and Sirius and Regulus kind of… froze.

"How about Alice Cooper?" Ellie asked with a forced grin.

When she got close enough for it not to be obvious, she stepped on my foot, and muttered, "Idiot."

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking," I winced.

Ellie either didn't listen or didn't care, because soon enough the music changed to Alice Cooper.

I didn't have time to do anything, because Ellie literally dragged me back to my seat.

A waitress came over. She wasn't wearing a poodle skirt, but she was on roller skates.

"Can I help you?"

"Arsenic?" Lorcan asked.

I stifled a laugh as Lily hit him.

"Sorry, we don't carry that," the waitress said sarcastically.

Sirius walked over. "Hello, gorgeous!" he said to the waitress, who, I admit, was pretty.

Ellie coughed to cover a laugh. I was trying to stifle a laugh myself.

Regulus, who was across the diner, looked ready to die.

The waitress giggled.

Seriously? (No pun intended).

"Sorry, sir, but I need to get their order..."

"You can come back in a bit," Lily said with an evil grin.

"All right," the waitress giggled.

After she left, Ellie turned to Lily. "This girl is my true cousin. She's just like me!"

"…Is that a good thing?" I asked.

"Well, Uncle Harry might not like another one of his kids turning out like Ja-… Jay," she said, "but it means that our legacy will carry on!"

"You either sound like Gerard Way in the Black Parade, or Fred or Jay."

Ellie grinned.

"At least Grandmum won't be yelling at me for getting into trouble at school," Al grinned. Then, realizing what he'd said, his grin faded.

Of course, we might not see our families and friends again. Nothing makes you depressed like that.

"Nolan?" Ellie asked after a bit of silence.

"Yeah, Ellie?"

"I'm forcibly making you my partner in pranking crime, since Freddie and Jay won't be here."

Of course she was. "Why?"

"Because, wreaking havoc upon school is fun, and chances are Lilster won't be with us, and besides that, she's in a different year. Thus, you remain, since Al is too good."

"Nuh-uh!" Al yelled.

"You follow the rules, same difference."

-X-

After we were done eating, Ellie forcibly dragged Lily and I to a comic book store. She left RJ and Lauren to pay the bill.

"Okay, I can't honestly say that I've never seen X-Men like this, but… wow."

Lily laughed. "I'm off to see if they've got Batman."

"Nightcrawler and Wolverine," Ellie said. It was a challenge.

"Cyclops and Storm."

"Oh come on!" Ellie cried in mock exasperation. "Nightcrawler and Wolverine are freaking awesome!"

"…You like the Joker. Your preferences aren't necessarily sane ones…"

She considered that. "Fair point. But the Joker's better than Two-Face."

"You didn't just say that."

"Come on! Two-Face leaves the big choices to a bloody coin!"

"… You do have a point, there."

Ellie grinned. "But, see, I also like Batman and James Gordon, so, I don't think my character preferences are too out there."

"Are you insinuating that Superman is stupid?"

"Obviously, I mean, come on! He's too perfect! Maybe he's the original Edward Cullen!"

I laughed at this. "Well, original Superman wasn't really…but, I do see your point."

Ellie smirked, satisfied.

"Comic books?" I heard a girl say blankly. "You like comic books?"

"Yes, I do."

The second voice belonged to Regulus Black.

Ellie began humming a My Chemical Romance song, Disenchanted.

I rolled my eyes at her.

"'S that Frank Longbottom?"

Ellie snickered. "Well, there's an association you don't see every day. Then again, Skandar Keynes hasn't been born yet."

"Shut up," I muttered.

"Longbottom?" Regulus repeated. "No, I don't think so."

"Don't you have every X-Men?" I asked Ellie as she flipped through a copy of the "latest" X-Men comic book.

"So?" she shrugged.

"You are incredibly spoiled, you know that, Ellie? You get almost everything you want."

"Not quite," she mumbled. "After this, let's go get some Turkish Delight, yeah?"

I grinned. I could go for that. "Pure sugar. Every bit of it, except the flavouring. Oh, RJ and Lauren'll go ballistic, won't they?"

Ellie giggled. "We have to do it, then. Have to," she repeated, to enforce her point. "Let's get Lily and head to the nearest sweetshop. After I get a few comic books, that is."

That took her long enough.

"Oi, Nolan, get a comic book," she ordered.

I picked up the first Batman I saw and, upon turning around, bumped right into a girl with long blonde hair.

"Sorry," I said, standing up.

I helped her up.

"I'm horribly clumsy. It runs in my family," I said with a half-smile, "'can't help it, I'm afraid."

She laughed. "That's all right. I'm Emmeline Vance. Who are you?"

"Nolan Lo- er, Keynes. I highly doubt you'd want my middle name," I said as a cover-up.

Emmeline smiled. "That's quite fine."

"Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee," Lily burst out singing. Why did I have to get stuck in the past with a load of people who randomly burst into song? Granted, it was only the Weasleys so far.

"Having fun, Lily?" I asked.

Lily skipped over, holding a copy of a Batman comic book. "Pretty please, Nolan?"

I laughed. "Ellie's the one that has the money. …Oh, shit. Ellie has a fair amount of money, unsupervised, in London of all places."

Lily giggled and skipped over to the checkout where Ellie was.

"Your sister?"

"No," I said. "Our dads were mates in school, though. Our families are friends," I added. "I should, er, get to where Ellie is, with over fifty quid and ridiculous spending habits."

I went to stand by Ellie who immediately hugged me. "I love you."

"What's this about?"

"What? I'm not allowed to love my friends? No, I noticed Miss Vance over there making eyes at you while Monsieur Black was staring at me."

"She was making eyes at me?" I whispered in her ear.

I felt Ellie nod into my shoulder. "Mmm-hmm. Now let's pay for this and then get some Turkish Delight before le idiot catches us."

I laughed as she let go of me. "Turkish delight sounds amazing."

"Doesn't it just?" she asked with a laugh. "Now, I have fifty quid here. Let's see how much Turkish delight we can buy."

-X-

Author's Note: Well, there you have it. After much delay, chapter two of Perfect Situation. Reviews and constructive crit appreciated, as always.