Revised and Extended
CHAPTER FORTY Tins and Empathic Mistakes
Once they had collected all of their things for the new school year, they headed back to the Manor. Talia was especially eager to get home, as her school things had called for some particularly smelly things which she was to refrigerate as soon as possible.
James threw his stack of books onto the couch and collapsed down next to them. "This year is going to be the death of me." he grumbled.
"You sound just like Sirius last year." chuckled Ophelia, as she and the others followed suit. "And look at him now. Straight E's. Quite impressive."
"Aw, I love it when you brag about me."
Talia skidded into the sitting room, nearly crashing into a statue of Hermia. "Oh bollocks!" she screeched, "Caradoc is coming here! Here!"
The others exchanged a confused glance. "You were there when we made up that barbeque business and invited him." said Remus, "I thought we were doing you a favour."
"Hardly! I couldn't open my mouth around him and now he's going to be in my house? Under the very same roof as my bedroom? What were you thinking?"
"I thought I was helping you out." muttered Remus as Talia stalked off.
Lily patted him on the shoulder. "She'll get over it. Inside, she's really thankful you did that."
"Am not!" Talia hollered from the dining room.
"Deep, deep inside."
"There is a week and a half left of summer," began Sirius, a scheming gleam coming to his eye. "What can we do to end it off--"
"With a bang!" Pete finished.
"Oh, please don't say bang." groaned Lily, "I get this image of the four of you making some asinine spell and it blowing up in your faces."
"Except if we do it right." James argued, "Which we will. And it won't end up blowing up in any sense of the word."
She rolled her eyes, "Right. Do us all a favour and warn us before you go through with whatever it is you're planning on doing?"
"Will do, Lily." he grinned.
"How 'bout some dinner?" asked Remus, getting to his feet. "We can whip up some Yorkshire pudding."
"What is with your weird fascination with Yorkshire pudding?" asked Sirius, following him into the kitchen.
"Because it's not pudding at all, really. It should be called Yorkshire pies. Except that not pies at all, re--"
"Rem, stop." laughed Ophelia. "You have to cut him off early or he'll go into this whole tirade about the merits of Yorkshire pudding. It's like Talia with her bacon."
As they turned the corner, Talia came into view, perched atop a stool and eating from a plate of bacon.
"See?"
She stuffed another strip into her mouth. "Whab?" she mumbled through a mouthful of food. Remus smiled endearingly and shook his head.
"What are the rest of us having? Those who don' have a particular affinity to Yorkshire pudding." said Lily.
"Say Yorkshire pudding again." James chuckled.
"Yorkshire pudding."
"The words have officially lost all meaning."
They soon made and sat down to a meal of turkey and mashed.
"What should we do tonight?" asked Remus, taking a sip of his Butterbeer. "I suggest we do something that doesn't involve alcohol." he added, shooting a pointed look at his sister.
Ophelia rolled her eyes and continued pushing the food around her plate. "I want to go out."
"Sounds good, where.?"
"I meant with Sirius." she answered quietly.
"Fine." sighed Remus, "What are the rest of us going to do?"
"Something that gets us out of the house?" said Talia.
"Let's go bowling!" Lily cried.
"I'm guessing that was invented by Muggles." said James.
She nodded excitedly and began to explain the concept to the others. Everyone, including Sirius and Ophelia, agreed to go along with Lily's idea.
They quickly finished their meal and headed out into town to find a bowling alley. After an exhaustive search of the downtown, they found an alley still open.
Talia sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"
"Cheese fries." she replied.
"Is that as good as it sounds?" asked James, his eyes widening.
"Definitly."
They rented out their shoes, ignoring Ophelia's pleading with the attendant to let her wear her own.
Lily sat down in a hard plastic chair and began lacing her shoes. "Alright, now the object of the game is to roll the ball down that lane and knock down as many of those pins as you can."
"And then what happens?" asked James.
She frowned, "Then you're done and the next person goes."
"I'm sorry but that doesn't sound very exciting." he replied, "I'm sure if Wizards invented the game, once you knocked down those... tins--"
"Pins."
"Whatever, once you knocked them over, little goblins would come walking down the lane singing a song. I like my way much better."
"Goblins?" Ophelia shuddered, "Goblins are going to run down the aisle? I don't like goblins."
Talia grinned, "Yes, evil goblins who have been deprived of food for weeks."
Once Ophelia realised her sister was kidding, she threw a tub of popcorn at her. "You don't ever joke about goblins, you evil twit!"
James went first and ended up bowling a spare. He jumped around the lane, rubbing it in Sirius's face.
Pete went next and managed a strike.
"How the bloody hell did Pete end knocking all those pinny things down?" cried Sirius, "If he can do it, I can do it twice."
"Actually," began Lily, "After you bowl a strike your remaining turns are--"
"Step aside, Lily," he interrupted, "And watch a real wizard play this... bowl."
"That doesn't even make sense." she muttered quietly to Ophelia.
"Aren't you going to cheer me on or something?" he asked her.
"Wooh, come on Sir!" giggled Ophelia, "Show those tins who's in charge!"
"Pins."
"Whatever."
Sirius wound up and released the ball. Right into the gutter
"Dammit!"
Remus and James rocked with laughter.
"I bet you meant to do that, didn't you, Padfoot?" Remus cackled, "It's all part of your plan, isn't it?"
Sirius went red and nearly threw the ball. He instead sent in flying into the gutter.
"Bloody hell!"
Ophelia went over and whispered something into his ear. He immediatly straightened up and let his third ball sail down the lane, knocking down all the pins.
"Yes!" he cried, puching the air with his fists. "Sirius is the King!"
"Do I need to remind you that you're in last place?" James asked.
"Do I need to remind you that you're a prat?" he growled.
Talia got to her feet quickly, "I'ts my turn. Let's not start dueling, I want to get this over."
She brought her arm back and bowled a spare. "Not bad." she shrugged.
Ophelia went next and through three swings, only one pin fell down. "I'm worse than Sirius."
"Thanks, you really know how to make a guy feel special."
Remus got to his feet and threw a spare. He turned back to them, smiling. "I'm happy with that. Doing better than Sirius. And Ophelia."
She stuck her tongue out at her brother.
Lily went next and bowled a perfect strike. "That's never happened." she said modestly. "Honestly, it hasn't."
Talia followed Lily and absentmindedly let the ball fall through her fingers, knocking over three pins. On her second swing she bowled a spare.
Mai went last. She took her time lining herself up with the lane. After a few minutes she let the ball go. It sailed down the lane and knocked over all of the pins.
Instead of jumping up and down like the others, Mai turned around and smiled slyly. "I did good... right?"
Ophelia rolled her eyes. "Yes, you did good."
Lily made some notes on the scorecard. "As it stands, we have Pete, Mai and myself tied with thirty each, followed by James and Remus, then Sirius, second-to-last place is Talia, and last.. is, er--"
"Just say it, I'm last." said Ophelia bitterly.
"Right well.. it's only the first round." Lily replied quietly. "Anyone want to help me get some greasy food?"
Lily led James, Remus and Mai away to the concession bar to get some snacks, leaving the others to stare down the lane.
Ophelia slid closer to Sirius and he instinstively wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Cheer up, it's only bowling." he said.
"Right, just another thing that I'm failing at lately."
"What do you mean?" frowned Sirius.
"Nothing, no worries." Ophelia shrugged, sliding even closer to him.
Suddenly, the bowling alley was plunged into darkness and a wisp of silver flashed before her eyes, as the blurried images began running through her head.
They stopped and one in particular shone brighter than any other. It was of her, James and Sirius. They were older and at college.
Ophelia was taken from her vision and back to her friends.
"Are you okay?" asked Sirius, his voice breaking.
She grinned and brought him into a kiss. Once he got over the surprise of it, he kissed her back.
When they broke apart some moments later, their attention was pulled a few chairs down. Talia was kissing Pete as if she had just discovered the end of the world was near.
"Tal?" Ophelia cried.
Talia looked up, her eyes widening in horror. She quickly got to her feet and walked away from Pete.
"Bloody Empathy, making me snog Worm." she muttered as she left the building. "Damn those two. And Pete. Now all I can taste is sausage. Why couldn't Caradoc have been there? I wouldn't be complaining if it had been him."
