As Rose and Erin drew near to the Gryffindor table, they started to make out a rather heated argument between Rose's brother and cousin.

"I'm serious, Lily," Hugo was saying as he pointed his fork at her, "there's no way it'll happen this year. In case you forgot, we men get stronger and faster each year, while you women stay the same after you turn fourteen."

Lily looked affronted as Rose and Erin joined the table, sitting next to her and across from Hugo and Lucy, who had joined her cousins from the Hufflepuff table and was continuing to eat with her nose in a book while expertly ignoring them.

"Well I'll have you know that while you may be 'stronger' and 'faster' as you claim," Lily responded with disdain, "we do have something called feminine intuition on our side."

She shot him a smirk as the rest of the girls, even Lucy, had looks of agreement on their faces at this statement. Hugo just stared at them with an incredulous look on his face.

"What the bloody hell has that got to do with anything related to Quidditch?"

Lily rolled her eyes before responding in a condescending voice.

"Well, you see, us fairer sex know how to not only work together, but anticipate each other's moves. You males are too caught up in your own self importance to spare the others barely more than a thought as you try to hold up your ego along with your giant heads atop your brooms."

Rose and Erin gave verbal assent to this statement as Lucy nodded along and Lily looked smug at the shocked and slightly hurt look on his face. He regained his composer a second later and couldn't help but get one more word in.

"Well I don't see how that beats muscle, speed, and raw talent."

Lily scoffed, tucking her chin length red hair behind her ear. "What, you mean brains, teamwork, and our own helping dose of raw talent?"

Hugo rolled his eyes and quickly fought back. "That may be, but are you forgetting that we have an actual professional Quidditch player on our team this year?"

"Oh please," Lily said with a roll of her eyes. "James spends all his time goofing off with Fred and showing off for Violet. He's hardly an advantage."

Hugo seemed to realize he was fighting a losing battle, or at least one where no agreement could be reached, and backed off as was his custom in these types of confrontations with Lily. He had learned the hard way that pushing her too far would only lead to a well placed hex.

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see in a month's time, then?" he said, maintaining a sense of pride in his voice.

"I guess we will," replied Lily with a smug look, seeming pleased with having got the last word.

Hugo rolled his eyes at her and continued eating.

"I hate that James and Fred are gone," he said through a mouth full of food. "Two less blokes to help me defend our honor. Where are Louis and Bobby, anyway? And your brother, for that matter." He addressed this last statement to Erin.

"I'm not my brother's keeper," she said indignantly. "But it just so happens that he has some Head Boy duty or another to attend to," she finished, seemingly disappointed in herself that she actually knew why her brother wasn't at dinner.

"Well, I'm pretty sure Lou has forgotten it's dinner time and is still studying for O.W.L.s somewhere, and Bobby said something earlier about meeting up with Neville to ask him something about homework," said Lily.

Hugo seemed to accept this answer and went back to his dinner as Charlotte Bray joined them from the Hufflepuff table.

"Are you lot done arguing?" she asked as she sat next to Hugo, who rolled his eyes.

"Are you that afraid of confrontation that you waited till we were done before you joined us?"

"Yes," said the Hufflepuff very matter-of-factly, loading up her plate with desserts and flipping her long black hair over her shoulders. "It's not pleasing to consume one's food when there's pointless bickering going on."

"Pointless?" said Hugo in outrage. "I'll have you know that Quidditch is far from pointless."

As she started in on her desserts, she responded as calm as ever.

"Well, yes, but as to who will win in the Annual Summer Manor Match? There's no question that we will throttle you as usual."

Hugo dropped his fork as his mouth hung open and all the other girls laughed at his expense. Even Lucy spared him a slight smile. Hugo tore his eyes away from Charlotte just in time to spot what he hoped would be his saving grace entering the great hall.

"Finally!" he exclaimed as Scorpius and Albus approached the Gryffindor table, the latter with wet hair and both changed into Muggle attire to welcome in the weekend. "I've had to put up with nothing but them talking shit about how they're going to throttle us in the match this summer, and it's grating on my last nerve."

"Hugo", said Scorpius resignedly as he slid in next to Charlotte, "how many times have I told you that there's no point? It just gets you all worked up and in your head by the time the game comes, and then you end up letting in twice as many goals as your sister due to your sheer state of panic. We're likely to replace you with Wood this year. Who cares if he doesn't have dibs due to the family he was born into."

"Besides," Al said as he sat beside Erin, "you'll wind up making a stupid bet that you'll regret if we do lose."

Hugo looked astounded at his lack of support.

"How can you say that?" he said, his voice cracking slightly, showing his age. "I mean," he said, attempting to drop it an octave, "I can keep my cool. And I think we can win it this year."

"Yeah, mate, we all do, but wouldn't it be better if we took them by surprise? Don't give away all our secrets beforehand," said Scorpius in a fake whisper that had all the girls laughing as Al nodded with somber agreement.

"Oh, quit taking the mickey," Hugo grumbled, but went back to his dinner and dropped the subject for the rest of the meal.

As everyone continued to tuck in, they were eventually joined by Louis, who was dragged into the great hall by his best friend Caleb Wood as their sisters trailed behind them.

"If you want to make it through to next term, eat," said the brunette Gryffindor as he shoved his fellow fifth year into the seat next to Lily. Louis looked up at him imploringly.

"One week, Caleb. One week between us and something that will decide where our future takes us. I can't believe I've wasted so much time not studying this year. I barely have a second to lose. Plus, you can survive a week on a meal a day, right?" And he made to stand up, but Caleb had remained standing with his hand on his shoulder and easily pushed him back into his seat.

"He sounds like you," Scorpius shot at Rose with a smirk. She just shot him a scowl and didn't dignify his remark with a response.

"Maybe," Caleb said, taking the seat next to Louis, "but that will make you even less prepared for your exams. You'll have the shakes so bad from low blood sugar that you'll be likely to accidentally transfigure your examiner into a tea cozy. Besides, you're the best in our year. I don't understand why you're losing your head over this."

Louis looked like he still wanted to argue before their sisters sat across from them.

"Relax, twerp," said Dominique with a nonchalant attitude "You'll do fine. Besides, O.W.L.s have nothing on N.E.W.T.s. I can't wait for this week to be over. I feel like my head's about to explode."

"I second that," agreed Eva as she began tying her long brown hair up in a bun on the top of her head before she began her meal. It was a habit she'd picked up when she refused to cut it as a child but didn't want to drag it through her food. She had been afraid people would mistake her for a boy if she wore it short as she always seemed to be found with dirt on her tattered play clothes and scrapes on her knees. It didn't help that she looked very similar to her brother and they were often mistaken for twins despite their two-year age gap.

At the other end of the table, Rose had noticed something that caused her to roll her eyes.

"Malfoy?" she said to gain the attention of the boy sitting across from her.

"What's up, Weasley?" he replied with a cheeky grin.

She shot him a don't be smart with me look, but he just continued to grin at her. "Have you forgotten something that you're required to do tonight?"

He thought for a moment before responding. "Nope, can't say that I have. Did we have plans? I can't imagine how I'd forget that."

She ignored his flirty attitude along with her best friend's stare as she watched them, looking back and forth between the pair.

"Come on, Scorp, it's Friday night? Rounds? You can't do rounds in Muggle clothes, you'll get in trouble for that."

Scorpius buried his face in his hands as she spoke before sighing and returning to his dinner.

"Alright, it might have slipped my mind. I'll finish up and go change and meet you in the entrance hall, alright?"

"Thank you," said Rose, grateful he hadn't complain or made fun of her for being a stickler for the rules.

As their conversation ended, Erin remembered her plan upon entering the Great Hall.

"Oi! Luce!" she hollered at the strawberry blond Hufflepuff who had now put her book down and was talking to Dom about some advanced form of Transfiguration.

"Yes?" she asked, turning to look at Erin, slightly caught off guard by being addressed so abruptly.

"How's the book?" Erin asked with an innocent look on her face.

"It's fine?" Lucy responded hesitantly. "Actually, it is quite interesting," she continued. "It's all about Gamp's laws, and I was just saying to Dom that-"

"Did you get it from the library?" Erin interrupted. At that point, the female half of the table figured out where she was going with this, while the males remained in ignorant bliss.

"As a matter of fact, I did," said Lucy as a grin tried to come to her lips, but she carefully restrained it. "Why do you ask?"

"It's just that," Erin continued, full out grinning now, "I find the library aids to be particularly helpful this year, don't you? Always willing to lend a hand and recommend books. Whoever recommended that to you must know you pretty well to understand your love for Transfiguration."

Lucy's blush rose and covered her freckled face and ears as Erin spoke. The rest of the girls tried to hide their chuckling as the boys continued to look clueless, save Hugo, who obviously understood the dynamic between his friend and his cousin. Lucy cleared her throat and shook herself in what appeared to be an attempt to shake off her embarrassment and subsequent blush.

"Yes, they are quite helpful," she responded in an attempt to simultaneously not give into the bait and appear as if there was nothing for her to be teased for.

"Wait," said Louis, who had pulled himself out of his head and into the conversation when everyone else had gone quiet to listen in. "What are we missing?"

"It's not so much what you're missing, rather who's missing from this table," Dom mumbled into her pumpkin juice. The rest of the girls giggled as Lucy elbowed her in an effort to keep her quiet.

"What…" Louis paused as it seemed to dawn on him, the previous part of the conversation starting to make sense, and he quickly scanned the table before turning back to grin at Lucy.

"Cheers, Luce. He's alright as far as blokes go. You could do worse than-"

But he was cut off as his sister kicked him in the shin. Lucy buried her face in her hands. Thankfully, the rest of the young men at the table hadn't caught what Dom had said and were still as lost as ever.

"Oh, cheer up, Luce," said Lily, reaching across to grip her cousin's arm. "There's nothing to be ashamed-"

"Yes, well," said Lucy as she gathered her book and rose from her seat. "I think it's time I stop by the Ravenclaw table. I just saw Molly and Jill walk in and my sister hasn't pulled her head out of a book in ages."

The girls started to protest and apologize for teasing her, but she waved them off with a small smile on her face.

"Seriously, it's fine. No harm done. I was finished anyway, and I really should say hello to Molly."

She started to turn away but got an evil look in her eye as she turned back to look at her the cousin who had just learned her secret.

"Say, Lou?" she said with an evil grin, the likes of which her family and friends weren't accustomed to seeing on her face, but knew spelled trouble on the rare occasions it did appear.

"Yeah..?" Louis asked hesitantly.

"Wouldn't you care to join me?" Lucy asked as Caleb smiled, catching onto what she had up her sleeve.

"Why?" Louis responded skeptically with an untrusting look in his eye.

"Oh, it's just that, I'm sure Molly would be more than happy to swap notes with you for O.W.L.s, and I know you'd be more than happy to try and swap spit with Jill."

The whole group was in an uproar as the girls laughed and the boys cheered and applauded Lucy for her more than satisfactory dig at her cousin, who was now the same shade as a ripe tomato. It wasn't exactly a secret that the Gryffindor harbored more than a passing fancy for his cousin's best friend, except to maybe the girl in question.

"Oh, bugger off," he responded sorely. Lucy smiled and flounced away to join the two Ravenclaws where they sat at their table, looking over at the ruckus their friends and family had created as the boys continued to make jibes at Louis, who seemed to have had enough.

"You lot can bugger off too. Don't think I don't notice who each of you can't help but drool over."

This seemed to do the job in shutting up all the young men at the table, Caleb looking particularly terrified. Albus quickly changed the subject to holiday plans as the rest of dinner passed in peace.

A/N:

Hello again! And now we meet many more characters. I'm rather fond of them. It's a little shorter than the last one and I fully anticipate the lengths to fluctuate. Thanks to those of you who followed! Hope you enjoy the next installment. Please, feel free to let me know what you think! I'd love a review :) Also, there is a Family Tree/Character Chart at the end of Chapter 7.