Expecting her nephew, Petunia was surprised to see the Nikols family arriving first. Nick was dressed in a simple dinner suit, with a copper-colored tie. Beth and the twins were wearing tea-length black satin skirts, but their satin blouses were different colors, though the same style. Beth's blouse matched her husband's tie, Melody's was a pale sky blue, and Harmony's was a pale princess pink.
Escorting them into the lounge, Petunia expressed how much she loved the near-matching outfits the Nikols' women were wearing. Vernon stood up from his chair and greeted the family, while his son simple stood and nearly began drooling over the twins. After handing each person a cup of either coffee or tea, Petunia left the room to answer the door, where instead of a ringing doorbell, the person had knocked. Opening the door, the three people she was dreading to see was standing on the doorstep, with a large black dog on a leash.
"Hello, Mrs. Dursley. I'm Remus Lupin. I sent you the letter earlier today."
"Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Lupin. Please, come in."
"Thank you, ma'am. My name is Lullaby Lupin, and this is my pet dog, Padfoot. I hope you don't mind that we brought him along, but I spent most of yesterday without him beside me. He's well behaved and he is trained to do his business outside."
"It's quite alright. Please, come into the lounge. Would you like coffee or tea?"
"Is it hot tea or iced tea? And what kind?"
"I can make either one. I have mint tea, raspberry tea, and honey-lemon tea."
"I'll have some raspberry iced tea, with ice, if possible."
"And I'll have some coffee, black, with three sugars. Thank you."
Harry had been staring at the floor since he entered the house, clearly still afraid of everything that had happened in the past. He was so lost in his memories that he didn't hear his aunt talking to him until Lullaby placed her hand o his shoulder.
"Harry, would you like something to drink?"
"Huh? Oh, um, just ice water for me. Thank you, Aunt Petunia."
Nervously, Harry lead Lullaby, Remus, and Padfoot in the lounge, while his aunt went into the kitchen to get their drinks. Looking around the room, he noticed that his uncle was having a surprisingly pleasant conversation with Nick and Beth Nikols, and his cousin was trying to flirt with the twins, who just stared at him, lightly sipping their own iced tea, one mint and one honey-lemon.
"Melody, Harmony, Uncle Nick, Aunt Beth, what are you doing here?"
"Your father and Petunia invited us to join you for dinner this evening. And you're staying at our place tonight. We moved in just down the street."
As Petunia entered the lounge with the tray of tea and coffee, she noticed that Lullaby was on the love-seat with Harry beside her and the large black dog lying down at their feet. She also took notice of the fact that the tie that Harry was wearing matched Lullaby's dress perfectly. And a ring that she had not noticed earlier was discreetly sparkling on Lullaby's left hand ring finger. Having a slight inclination as to what this evening was about, she announced that dinner would be ready in a few minutes, and went into the dining room to set the table.
The moment Dudley noticed that Harry was sitting next to the new and unbelievably beautiful girl, he started getting extremely flustered and was ready to jump of the chair that he was currently occupying and say that freaks like him aren't allowed to sit close to someone so beautiful, but his mother entered the room, announcing that dinner was on the table and ready to be served. In twos, everyone left the lounge and entered the dining room, where Vernon sat at the head of the table, Petunia at his left, and Dudley on the other side of Petunia. Across from Petunia sat Nicholai, who was sitting next to his wife, Beth. Remus sat at the other end of the table, opposite of Vernon, with his daughter on his right, with Harry on her other side. Melody was across from Harry, and her twin, Harmony, was across from Lullaby.
Dinner was a quiet affair, with pleasant, but tense, conversations. Dudley kept glaring to his left at Harry, who was sitting quietly, only speaking when someone began talking to him, which, more often than not, happened to be Lullaby. Vernon and Nick were talking about the types of business that they were in, though Nick was very careful on how he explained his line of work. Petunia told Beth that she was a happy housewife, and found out that Beth was in the medical field.
"So, Miss Lupin, are you in any activities?"
"Yes, I am, Mr. Dursley. Ballet, age two. Martial arts, age four. Gymnastics, age six. Figure skating, age eight. Swim team, age ten. Cheer and dance squads, age eleven. I also joined my school's favorite sport at age eleven. It'd be a little hard to explain how it's played. Harmony and Melody are also in several activities."
Harmony then told the Dursley family that she played on the girls' basketball team, the girls' soccer team, the softball team, the girls' hockey team, the swim team, the cheer and dance squads, and the same sport that Lullaby played. Melody took her turn in explaining her background a little bit. She wasn't as active as her twin, but she was involved in the drama club, the art club, the chess club, the debate team, and the swim team, as well as the cheer and dance squads, plus the sport that both of the other girls were in.
"So, Lullaby, Bethany told me that your mother died this summer. I'm sorry for your loss. What kind of work did she do?"
"Thank you, Mrs. Dursley. Um, she was in politics. She died a month before my birthday. Now, I'm living with my father, in the country, near London."
"What do you do, Remus?"
"Um, I actually work from home, but I stopped working, only temporary, until Lullaby goes to the boarding school I'm sending her to. Melody and Harmony are also attending the same school. After they leave, I plan on continuing with the book I'm writing, as well as filling in as a substitute at some schools around the London area."
After that, dinner continued to be a rather silent affair, except for Dudley trying to tell the twins about the school he and his friends attend every year, which happened to be Smeltings. When the table was cleared of everything from dinner, Petunia brought out her new chocolate fondue fountain, and the bowl of fresh cherries and strawberries for dessert, and the real reason for tonight was brought forth by Lullaby using her left hand to use the napkin to wipe a bit of chocolate from the side of her mouth. And Harmony happened to look at Lullaby right at that moment and see the ring on her best friend's hand.
"Oh, my sweet Merlin, Lullaby! Is that what I think it is?"
Now, thanks to Harmony's outburst, the whole table was focused on Lullaby, who had the grace not blush; after all, she did know it was going to come up sooner or later this evening. Remus, upon seeing Vernon's eyes go from Lullaby's face to the ring on her hand to his nephew, his face going from a pleasant peach color to a flustered fire red. Now he understood why his wife wanted him be nice to the guests tonight. Petunia just sat there a barely-there smile on her lips, while Dudley was looking at each person, looking very confused.
Concluding dessert, Petunia ushered everybody into the lounge while she fixed coffee and tea for everyone. Entering the lounge, she noticed that the calm aura from earlier that evening was gone and had been replaced by tense fury.