The group arrived at the icecream parlour and sat at the umbrellaed table.
Tucking into a peanut butter sundae, Hermione started to make conversation "So whats Hogwarts like?"
James licked his minty spoon and started "Well there are 4 houses. Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. And each have their own dormitories and common rooms. We're all Gryffindors, the best house."
"Our father was Ravenclaw. Thats where our family usually is. But mother was a Slytherin, being a Gaunt and all." Ginny joined in.
Sirius's heart sank. He knew he was one of the only exceptions when you don't follow suit with families.
"Well you'd better hope you're in Ravenclaw. Slytherins are nasty" James snarled at his ice cream.
"All the Slytherins we've met have been genuinely quite sweet. Except Lady Black, I hope you don't take offence Sirius" Luna smiled.
"Oh no, love, I know she's a right old cow. Who were the other Slytherins?" Sirius chuckled in disbelief.
"Well our mother, for one. Our aunt Ariella, her husband Zayne and our cousin Kieran are. You must know him?" Hermione counted the names off her fingers and didn't stop for a reply. "Then you've got our uncle Phaezon who died a few years back, and his daughter Xanthia. She's in the order you know"
"The order? The order of the Phoenix??" James practically jumped out of his seat.
"Yeah. She's really cool. She's the life of the party when we have family dinners" Ginny grinned, the memories of Tonks and Xanthia clashing. "She's a parselmouth, and she has loads of pet snakes. So many different types"
"I've always wanted a boa constrictor, but Walburga said I couldn't be trusted. I mean she was right of course but it still hurt" Sirius sighed dramatically.
"Xan has 3. You'll have to come and meet them sometime" Hermione laughed.
Their conversation continued on, laughter echoing around the outside parlour.
A girl with wine coloured hair and jade eyes watched them, as she entered the queue with her friends. Her eyes widened at the sight of stupid Potter and Black actually acting like normal people in front of these girls she felt like she'd seen somewhere before.
"Alice, who are those girls with Potter?" she asked turning around.
Her chocolate eyed friend looked over to where Lily Evans was gesturing and shrugged. "Couldn't tell you Lils"
Lily grabbed the raspberry sundae she'd ordered and marched over to the table, leaving Alice Fortescue to hurry after her.
James was in the middle of a story about one of his epic pranks that had everyone, Ginny in particular, hanging onto his every word, stopped mid sentence.
"Hello" Lily smiled at Remus, but before he could respond,
"Evans!" James exclaimed.
"Potter. Aren't you going to introduce me to your friends?" Lily narrowed her eyes at him ever so slightly.
James went red and gestured to the girls. "Evans, this is Hermione Nettle. That's Luna Nettle. And this is Ginny Nettle"
"Hello. Lily Evans. This is my friend Alice Fortescue" the red head smiled genuinely.
Alice waved, sweeping her blonde pixie cut out of her eyes. She hid the shock she felt at hearing their surnames rather well. Alice knew these girls by name only, as their parents kept their daughters far away from the pure blood families
"Hey. Do you want to sit with us?" Hermione asked sweetly.
"Nah thanks. We're meeting our friends Dorcas Meadows and Marlene McKinnon." Alice grinned lazily.
"Well, I'm sure we'll be seeing you around. We're going to Hogwarts this year" Hermione nodded to them.
This was enough to catch their attention. Alice and Lily looked at each other quizzically, before turning back.
"Actually they won't be back for a while. Could we join you?" Lily asked, fiddling with her skirt.
"Of course." Hermione wordlessly summoned two chairs and Ginny transfigured some plants into two extra table legs so it didn't topple once Luna had elongated one side.
The boys, Alice and Lily stared in shock at the display.
"You can do wordless magic?" Alice asked softly "I've been practicing for ages but I can't get the knack!"
"Have you tapped into your familiar magick??" Luna tapped her nose.
"No, mum said I'm not allowed yet" Alice rolled her eyes.
"Well it helps a lot. Our magick is dark, so it helps us with different things than it helps with light magick does. But channeling your magick without wands or words is easier when you have your ancestry behind you" Hermione explained in her textbook manner.
"Can Muggleborns do it ??" Lily asked, always fascinated with new terms and knowledge.
Hermione thought for a moment "well you'd have to trace your magick back to whatever pure blood family you are from. Everyone comes from one."
"Well I'll have to do some research when I get back to Hogwarts" Lily grinned.
They glided from topic to topic effortlessly, until they started to chat about Lily's mothers career as a pilot.
"So what do your parents do Ginny?" Lily asked, still chuckling away at an old story.
All eyes everted and started to look at a very interesting plant pot or a fascinating cobblestone on the ground.
"Our parents passed away a few weeks ago" Ginny replied, feeling a wave of superficial sadness engulf her. But it felt so extremely real.
"Oh I'm so sorry I didn't know!" The girl was horrified.
"It's okay. They died nobly" Hermione gulped fiercely.
The questioning looks the girls were getting and the burning questions were left interrupted, as four dark figures swooped to the table, a greasy haired boy at its forefront.