Short A/N: Don't bother going to the footnotes until you're done reading,they'refunny, not necessary.

……

As they sat staring mindlessly at a picture box that Snape called a television in the lounge room the next day, a piercing ring interrupted the monotonous drone of the characters in the film, making both Snape and Draco jump out of their thoughts.

"What the hell is that?" Draco exclaimed, clearly not used to the ways of the muggle world.

"Mind your language Malfoy." Snape reprimanded as he stood up and walked out of the room.

Draco watched in astonishment as Snape exited. The ringing continued until Snape murmured a quiet word or two which he couldn't hear. That was weird...

The phone continued to ring until Snape lazily picked it up. What now? "Hello?" He muttered.

"Hi, Uncle Sev?"

Snape rolled his eyes. Is there no peace around here? He was half wishing it to be a telemarketer. They were always fun to mess with. But no… it had to be his niece. Damn his sister for having children.

"Yes Lauren?"

"Mum told me to call and remind you we were coming over on the 21st- that's today, by the way."

"You think I don't know what date it is, you dunderhead?" What does she take me for? An idiot?

"Well, actually, I wasn't sure." I giggled. "I mean, you live by yourself, right? I have trouble remembering the date and that's with people around to remind me."

"Yes, we all know your forgetful tendencies Lauren. There's no need to flaunt them around. Makes you look even more ridiculous then you already are."

"So-rry. Gosh. Anyway, we'll be there in a few minutes by Floo powder so make everything pretty for us!"

Snape scoffed. But wait... what did she just say? "You're coming over?"

Lauren paused, thinking. "You didn't forget, did you?" She teased.

Me? Forget? "Of course not, what do you take me for?"

"An uncle, of course. You're not exactly an aunt, are you?"

Snape hung up abruptly. Lauren was exhausting to talk to.

Draco wandered in. "What was that?"

Snape turned around. "My niece. Annoying little twit."

"But... that ringing..."

Snape realized Draco was hopeless with muggle inventions. "You really should get out more Malfoy. It's called a telephone. People communicate with you on them." He rolled his eyes. He hated explaining things to ignorant people.

"Why not just use a fire?"

"The telephone is much quicker and easier. Did you clear up the kitchen?" Snape hated mess of any sort and knew that their lunch's remains were still sitting out. He began to ascend the stairs to get ready for his unwelcome guests.

"No." Draco was aghast. Him? Clean a kitchen?

Snape stopped and looked down at his student. "Then go clean it. There are people coming soon." And with that he climbed the stairs.

Draco stood helplessly for a moment, before heading back toward the kitchen. He stared at the mess for a moment, then sighed and took out his wand.

……..

"Lauren… are you sure this Floo powder works?" Danielle was highly skeptical since she had never used it before.

"Sure it does! I use it all the time. Well, I've used it twice… okay, so maybe only once. But it does work!" Lauren answered optimistically.

Danielle shook her head at Lauren's incorrigible attitude. "So what is your uncle like, Lauren?" She asked as the girls finished adding personal touches to their suitcases.

"You mean, apart from being an old stick?"

"Lauren!" She always saw the bad things in people- but then she ignored them. Only she could get away with talking to her uncle so sassily as she just had.

"Well he is!" Lauren smiled mischievously at Danielle. "He's in a perpetually bad mood and doesn't like big crowds, and is what I could refer to as a tortured soul. But honestly, he can be decent if he wants."(1.)

"So you mean he's not always decent?" Danielle asked as she put down Lauren's makeup she was looking at.

"He's… unpredictable." Lauren answered as she stuffed the make up into her case and zipped it up.

"What do you mean by that?" Danielle was really curious by now.

"He's old. And he can be very strict. For god's sake, he would probably call me by my last name if it wasn't the same as his! And he did just call me a dunderhead… Oh, you'll see what he's like. I bet you'll like him." Lauren knew that Danielle had weird taste in people. She paused to survey the room making sure she hadn't forgotten anything. "Well, I think we're ready to go!" She grabbed Danielle's hand and dragged her out to the fireplace.

As Lor dragged Danielle, she asked her out of curiosity, "How old is he?"

"About thirty-five, I think. But wizards live about twice as long as muggles do, so actually you could say he's only about 17. But he certainly looks thirty-five. Maybe older, I dunno. He's greasy."(2.)

"Ewww…"

Lauren laughed at Danielle just as they approached the fireplace.

"I'm not too sure about this Lor…" Danielle moaned.

"Don't worry! It'll be fine!"

In a few green and popping sounding minutes, the two girls appeared in Snape's lounge room fireplace.

Draco heard from the kitchen and came to see who had come. As he nudged the door open, his eyes were greeted with the sight of two girls about his age dusting themselves off and pulling their suitcases out of the fireplace. One of those must be Snape's niece. But who is the other girl? Does he have two?

Figuring Snape wasn't ready to be bothered yet, he stared uncertainly at the bouncing girl and her companion.

Lauren bounced up and down as a guy about her age walked into the room. What the heck? She hadn't known there was going to be someone else here. If she hadn't known this was her Uncle Sev's house, she would've thought they had gone to the wrong place. She stared silently.

"Hi." Danielle smiled sheepishly. Lauren hadn't told her who he was, but he looked like a stuck up brat...although somewhat good looking.

Lauren, of course, had no patience for formalities. Bluntly, she asked, "Who are you?"

……

Well, there we are, another chapter posted despite the meager number of reveiws we've received. REVEIW, PEOPLE! I'm Lor, the other author of this fic. All the other AN's have been written by my coauthor. We often insert little jokes into our writing, and in order ot maintain the continuity of the fic, we're not leaving them smack in the middle of the story. Instead, we'll put a little asterisk next to where it should be and you can read it at the end. If you bothered to go to the foot note before you finished the chapter, I'm sorry. Next time, wait till the end of the chapter and go back. They story's better that way in my opinion. Thanks for reading! REVEIW!

Footnotes and such:

(1. Quote thanks to: www. fan fiction. net /2004 527/18 (minus the spaces) )

(2. Maybe he'd look better in pigtails.)