The day after Parent's Night I got an owl from my Aunt Pansy asking me to meet her at the Three Broom Sticks for lunch and a chat.
I was really happy to get that letter, I am really close with Aunt Pansy. She doesn't even hold it against me that sometimes I think Leo deserves a good punch! She once told me ALL boys sometimes deserve a good punch. Mum gave her a lecture for that and Aunt Pansy asked her if she needed any help practicing her acting skills.
I didn't know Mum had been in drama.
That next weekend was to be a Hogsmeade weekend. I told Leo I was meeting with his Mum and asked if he wanted to join me.
"Can't. I am not allowed, remember?" Oh yes, the punishment for sneaking some of Uncle fred and uncle George's pranks in to the Great hall during breakfast. I knew Teddy wouldn't be going because Victoire had a tummy flu and he would not leave without her. Bah, best friends are pains But I could not believe he didn't want to go with ME. I mean, we are friends too, right?
"Besides, you are so weird, Miri, why would you CHOOSE to hangout with one of our parents on a weekend? Wouldn't you rather hang out with friends? Or… literally anyone else?" Leo didn't even look up from the game of exploding snaps he was playing with Teddy.
"Ummm… because your Mum is cool, and she is a reporter for Witch Weekly and.., because she is COOL?!" Seriously, Aunt Pansy is the best!
"If you say so." Leo just shrugged at me.
"I do say so! Oh what do you know about cool anyway, Chuddly fan!" I snickered.
"We shall conquer!" He raised his fist in the air.
I snorted "Isn't it more like 'Let's all just cross our fingers and hope for the best'?"
He made a rude hand gesture at me.
"Do you let him touch your cards with that hand, Teddy?" Teddy also made a rude hand gesture at me.
"Children. I live with children!" I glared at the two of them.
"Well, I will remind you again…" Teddy still did not bother to look up "You do live in a SCHOOL!"
"I am so telling your Mum you don't think she is cool!" I threatened Leo.
He clutched dramatically at his heart "Oh, how shall I ever live with the shame."
"You think Aunt Andy is pretty cool don't you Teddy?" I looked to my supposed best friend for support.
He looked back at me like I had lost my mind. "Rowena's saggy left tit, NO! Go away Miri, you are breaking my concentration. You are why I keep losing to Leo you know."
"You are taking the piss if you think you could beat me with Miri gone." Leo laughed.
"Well, there is only one way to test that theory." Teddy glared at me pointedly.
"Uggghhh…. Boys!" I stormed up to my room to get ready.
It may just be lunch with my Aunt, but Daddy told me I always had to look my best in public. Besides, nosey reporters keep trying to take sneaky pictures of me. Like they expect me to start running around cursing people. I kind of wanted to do… something… just to give them something to talk about but my Mum would send me off to Romania to muck out dragon stalls if I pulled a stunt.
I grabbed the special new cloth's Aunt Pria had left for me. With just a tiny bit of water and a quick swipe over my face, not only do they clean, but they expertly apply makeup as well.
Aunt Esme brought me my very own personalized scent. It changes according to my mood.
And, no matter that I am in Ravenclaw, Aunt Mora always sends me green outfits. I have to admit, I look good in them!
A few waves of the wand to set my hair and I was ready to go.
Leo glared me up and down as I was leaving "Are you sure you are just meeting my Mum? Why are you so dressed up?"
"You sound worse than Daddy, I swear. I am absolutely meeting with your Mum." What is it with the men in my family disapproving of everything I wear and do?
"It wasn't your Dad's reaction I was thinking about." He murmured.
"Whatever. Weirdo." I grabbed my bag from the table.
"MIRI! You just cost me another hand!" Teddy threw his cards down making Leo and I both laugh.
"You keep telling yourself that, Lupin." Leo smirked.
"Oh shut up, I have an essay to write anyway." Teddy grabbed his book bag.
"Uh hem… that would be TWO essays to write." Leo grinned at him.
It was pretty clear what the stakes had been in their little game.
"Leo, you really should do your own homework." I lectured.
"You are starting to sound like Aunt Hermione." Leo rolled his eyes.
"Not exactly, Aunt Hermione would want you to actually learn. I just don't want you to fail. I have read Teddy's essays." I winked.
"Oh haha." Teddy threw a wad of scrap parchment at me.
I blew a kiss and started to leave.
"Wait up, Mir, I will walk you out." Leo stood up stretching.
As we walked to the front doors Leo looked at me out of the corner of his eye "You know… Viktor isn't as bad as you think he is."
Not this again.
"Leo, I hate to crush your dreams of having your best mate join the family, but I am so NOT interested in Viktor Krum! He has an ego the size of… the size of…" I couldn't think of anything big enough!
"The size of your temper?" Leo supplied unhelpfully.
I glared at him.
"OK, I am just saying, maybe cut him some slack, yeah?" Why was Leo so concerned about this?
"Leo, your friend runs through girls like butterbeer. Only I suspect he is more passionate about the butterbeer. And furthermore…" Oh I could go on about this all day!
Except Leo cut me off right in the middle of my tirade "Why do you care about how many girlfriends he has?"
WHAT?! "I assure you Leopold Angelo Parkinson-Greengrass, I do NOT care how many girlfriends he has! He can date the entire southern coast for all I care!"
Leo looked at me slyly "You live on the southern coast you know."
I sighed "Give it a rest Leo."
"Has it occurred to you that Vik has a reason for dating all of these girls?" Leo stopped so I had to as well.
"Uh, yeah, I am pretty sure I know why boys date girls, Leo. Mum had the "talk" with me." What was he getting at? Was he trying to put me off of my lunch?
"No." Leo rolled his eyes "Like an ulterior motive."
"Like… what? He is a closet serial killer? What are you on about?" And why was he telling me all of this?
"You are the most dimwitted cousin I have." Leo sounded angry before he stalked off.
What was his problem?
He knew how I felt about Viktor. Bloody hell, the entire school knew how I felt about him! Well, the entire school except for the pit of my stomach that I was determined to ignore.
Why was it a big deal NOW? He was being so weird.
I finally made it to the Three Broomsticks. I have no idea why the people of my parent's generation keep going here. There are so many more fashionable places to go! The place isn't awful, but it is kind of run down a little and not the sort of place to be seen, if you know what I mean. Kind of the place to avoid being seen honestly.
Aunt Pansy was sitting in a corner. She looked so amazing! Men and women both were glancing at her out of the corner of their eyes with admiration. They were all barking up the wrong tree, She is completely devoted to my Aunt Daphne.
There had been some kind of rumor circulating in the school that Aunt Pansy and my Dad had something going on when they were in school.
As much as we all laughed at the notion, it still caused more than a few fights. No one suggests my Mum was second best! Not even to Aunt Pansy!
Aunt Pansy jumped up and hugged me "You look fantastic darling!" She smiled at me.
"You too! I am so glad you asked me out. I invited Leo, but you know how boys are…" We both rolled our eyes.
"That is alright, I invited you here for a special reason." We sat down and she summoned a waitress.
"Oh? What's up? I ordered a butterbeer and some fish and chips.
"An interview for Witch Weekly, love. That performance was spectacular. So I begged your Dad, and twisted your Mum's arm and here we are!" Ahh, that did explain the camera on the table.
"Aunt Pansy, I didn't pull of that whole performance myself you know." I would feel bad if the entire choir, especially Professor Flitwick were not included.
"Oh you are far too modest for a Malfoy. Must be those Weasley genes. But here is your partner, of course I want to interview you both." She waved towards the door.
Where of course Krum was walking in with some flavor of the week on his arm.
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