AN: Happy Christmas Eve Eve? I was supposed to wait and give this as some kind of Christmas gift but I got a little too excited.

A couple of things;

1) If you haven't read Three Bloods- First Year this book will make little sense to you.

2) I will not be updating this as quickly as I did with TBFY because unfortunately I will have less time because of school and various other commitments from now on but I promise I will still update at least once a month.

3) I have quite run out of things that I prefer reviews to so I figure I'll pose questions instead as I know writing; 'please review!' doesn't actually help anyone figure out how to phrase a review. This does not mean you have to answer the question in your review, just that it's a... prompt?

4) Question for this one then; anyone got any ships for this series yet? (I think you'll find the chapter title quite apt to the question.) Obviously I can neither confirm nor deny any ideas, but I have a good idea of where everyone's relationships are going and I want to know if anyone has picked up on them. Also any out-of-the-box ships would be hilarious to read :).

5) Have a great Christmas/break from school/work if you don't celebrate Christmas. If you don't have a break from school/work then just have a great week :) (you poor soul).

Chapter One
Of Two Friends and Two Hot Gryffindors

Two towns over from Erith, was the village of Alpra. In the village of Alpra, as it is with most villages, there was quite a few houses, a park, a corner-shop of some sort and that huge main road that every child is warned about by their parents until they are so terrified they make a special effort to avoid crossing it at all costs, until they reach high school when they suddenly decide it's the best place to do something stupid.

Right by the main road, there were two rows of houses. On one side of the road there was also the park, and it was the next house on the left from the park where a particular family of four lived.

They'd moved there when their daughter was six, from the south (the farmer part of the south as opposed to the posh part), and had lived there now for seven years. The family consisted of a dog, a girl, her mother and her father. Of course, no-one would say they were ordinary. The girl and her father's shared sense of humour went over most people's heads, the mother and the father weren't married (the scandal) and half of the family were magical.

Not in the amazing sense, for all four of them had enough of that, but literally; they both had wands, had both attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and both occasionally wore robes instead of t-shirts and jeans. The mother and the dog were unaware of this magic, much to the annoyance of the girl. Apart from this, they lived normally; both parents worked full-time now their daughter was at boarding school and the dog was happy as ever.

In the world, I believe there to be seven levels of friendship. Level One refers to the people who you know the first and last name of and whom you talk to outside a class or waiting for your bus, but wouldn't seek conversation with. Level Two refers to your parents' friends' children. You know, the ones who you see maybe four times a year and you have fun talking casually to, but you don't talk to them outside of these four visits. Level Three refers to the people you don't get tired of talking to, but you can't stand silences between you. You can't imagine just sitting next to them for three hours in silence reading a book each. Level four includes the silences. Level Five are those rare individuals that you would pretend to be their date for if they were ever being hit on by someone creepy in a bar, with all acting included, and you wouldn't feel at all weird about it afterwards. Level six is level five plus not actually acting when the creepy person hits on them.

Level seven is sharing a grave.

So of course, life in Alpra for this particular family of four changed when Lydjah Dawson met Jayna Blackwood. Oh she didn't know it then, and it was really nobody's fault that they became such good friends, but one moment they were casual level three friends, and the next they were at solid level five. One moment, Jayna's family was alive and the next they were not. One moment, neither of them had a best friend, and the next they'd made a friendship that would span eleven decades through the simple question of 'can I stay with you?'.

However, they'd had a decade apart before they'd had a decade together. And if there was one thing that her Pureblood upbringing had ingrained in her completely, Jayna would say it was that you can never dress up too much for a party.

So, when Lydjah opened Jayna's bedroom door and found her friend sat despondent on her bed, still in her pyjamas despite the fact that they only had an hour before they should leave, it didn't take much to put two and two together.

"You haven't got an outfit, have you?"

"No."

Their summer, up unto this point, had been mostly uneventful. Lydjah has introduced Jayna to the cinema (they had gone to see Captain Marvel more times than either of them would ever admit and more times than Alen would pay for) and she'd read the entire Game of Thrones series at Alen's recommendation, and now all four of them were watching the TV show together (a source of great embarrassment for Lydjah and Jayna and therefore great amusement for Alen and Sophia). The rest of the time had been spent lounging about in the unfamiliar sunshine just enjoying not being in school; they planned to hopefully go to France next year but this year Alen's work had got in the way. Speaking of Alen, they'd been pushing him for an exact date as to when he was going to tell Sophia about magic but he kept procrastinating it and pushing it back (by distracting the girls with various treats and bribes that they unashamedly fell for).

Their school letters were supposed to come any day now, not that they had anything new in them except school supplies for the various subject changes and the next book in each core subject. Letters from their friends had been entirely different; they were practically bursting with interesting news. Both Lydjah and Jayna were feeling magic withdrawal and couldn't wait to go to the Potters' where they could finally use the wands that were gathering dust in their respective drawers.

"DAD!" Alen, after having to deal with thirteen years of Lydjah's rubbish immune system and hence lots of running up the stairs to get to his daughter before she threw up, came barrelling through the door like there was no tomorrow.

"What is it?" He exclaimed, breathless, scanning the room for signs of danger.

"Emergency shopping trip needed; right now." Thankfully, he was more relieved than cross. A giant sheepish smile spread across Jayna's face and she jumped up. Neither Lydjah nor Alen reminded her she was in her pyjamas thinking it would be much funnier to let her work that out on her own.

"Sophia!" All of Lydjah's family found shouting to each other was much easier than having to get up and find the person and so none of them minded the screaming matches that often occurred in their house.

"What?" She called back.

"I'm just taking the girls to the park for an hour to run off some steam before their party!" 'To the park' was always their excuse if they were going to apparate; Sophia wouldn't come and check on them unless it was an emergency because of the 'overwhelming' butterfly population there (there had been one, once, but since then she refrained from coming anywhere near it), and she wouldn't get suspicious that the car was still in the drive.

"'Run off some steam'? They're not five Alen!"

"See you later! Love you!" By this point the girls and Alen were stood on the front doorstep, waving to Sophia who was watching the TV in the lounge.

"Bye mum!"

"Bye Sophia!" With that they all wandered down the drive until they were out of sight of Sophia and then, grabbing a hand of Alen's each, disapparated to Diagon Alley.

It took them all of ten minutes to get to Gringotts, and all of fifteen for Jayna to realise she was in her pyjamas. Needless to say the goblins were not very impressed as they travelled down to her vault, Alen and Lydjah were in hysterics and Jayna was equal parts angry and mortified. It didn't help that these were the very same cow pyjamas that Sam and James had found her in the year before.

She took a small sum of money out of her ridiculously full vault. Jayna and Cara had each inherited half of almost every single member of their family's wealth and the number was so great that they had to get a vault each. Jayna had always been well-off but coming to Gringotts now was rather terrifying. She had, of course, insisted that Alen and Sophia take whatever they needed to house her during the holidays, but even that had barely made a dent in the money she had to her name. They'd sold all of their family's properties but kept many of the heirlooms, which were all in Cara's vault because they hadn't sorted through them yet. Cara was living with Willow and her family (they were happy to have her; the two had been best friends since they could talk) in the holidays but the two sisters had met up a lot over the summer, although their last meeting had ended in tears.

When they reached the exit to Gringotts Lydjah was utterly amazed to see Jayna voluntarily sprint all the way to Twillfit and Tatting's, dash in through the door and beg for a party dress before Lydjah and Alen had even stepped out of the bank. Lydjah and Alen shared a look; Twillfit and Tatting's was a very upmarket shop; only the richest could afford it and, while the Dawson's were not poor, this was one luxury they'd never seen the point in expending upon. They entered just in time to hear Jayna's exclamation.

"I'm Jayna Blackwood! I've been coming here for years! Honestly just because I'm in my sleepwear." The shop-owner, who'd previously been about to throw the pyjama-clad girl out of her shop, froze.

"Jayna?" Jayna raised an eyebrow. "Merlin I'm so sorry. What did you say you wanted- Who are you?" She addressed Lydjah and Alen with derision. Alen bristled.

"This is my adopted family the Dawsons." Jayna explained, in a tone that quite clearly conveyed that if the shop-keeper did another thing to offend her she was leaving and taking her money with her.

"Right." The flustered shop-owner decided to ignore Lydjah and Alen and focused once again on Jayna.

"I want a party dress and matching shoes. I don't really care what the style is or whatever as long as it looks pretty on me and can be ready within the next forty minutes." Twenty minutes later Jayna had found the right outfit (she was quite good at shopping quickly; Lydjah was not); a dark-green, short, ruffled dress with a matching coloured shrug and some killer gold wedges, very similar to the ones she used to own before the fire. It wasn't too posh (I mean this was a party that James Potter and Sam Andrews were coming to after all) but it was definitely a party outfit. Lydjah personally thought they could've bought a very similar outfit from somewhere else for half the price but hey, if you had that kind of money why wouldn't you spend it on Acromantula-spun silk?

"Do you think it's so expensive because people died retrieving the silk?" Alen muttered as Jayna brought out the money to pay. Lydjah tried and failed to stifle a laugh that earnt her a glare from the frazzled shopkeeper. Jayna decided that she'd stay in the dress instead of getting changed back into her pyjamas despite the Dawsons' protests that she looked very cute as a cow.

They apparated back home again giving Lydjah time to change (she was wearing a relatively short dark-blue dress that had no back but criss-cross straps and the largest heels she could get away with walking in (which weren't that large) in order to feel slightly less tiny when stood next to Jayna. Ah well, Lydjah thought, at least she wouldn't be as short as Lien). Jayna didn't wear make-up and Lydjah had already applied hers so they were all set to go.

They'd told Sophia that they were catching the bus to Erith, which was two towns over, and that Alen was just dropping them off at the bus stop when in reality they were going to Godric's Hollow. Again they didn't need the car to get to the 'bus-stop' though Alen did get a little cross about being used as a taxi-driver. Lydjah and Jayna knew it was just because he was nervous; he was supposed to be telling Sophia about magic while they were at the party. Just as they disapparated they heard the phone ring and Sophia's sigh of exasperation as she went to get it.

They had to go apparate straight into the front garden of the Potters' house (inside their magical concealment charms) because it was a mixed magical and muggle neighbourhood. Luckily Alen had been to Godric's Hollow before because of work so he knew where he was going. They'd barely been there two seconds when Sam Andrews came crashing out of the front door, with what looked like a water gun in her hand. She'd grown maybe half an inch since they'd last seen her (which annoyed Lydjah as she had also, putting them back at the same height again. Although, Lydjah's current heels put her slightly higher) and was also almost completely soaked. She spied the two of them and ran over, grinning. They smiled back, expecting some kind of greeting but instead she turned her head back towards the house.

"James! Reinforcements!" Alen took one look at the water gun in her hand and decided he had best make his escape.

"See you later girls!" He disapparated before Lydjah could even hug him goodbye, much to her annoyance. James Potter took that moment to come bounding out of his house, his own gun clutched at his side. He had grown a whole inch if his clearly visible ankles were anything to go by. His hair looked crazier than they had ever seen it; apparently water had a frizzing effect. His glasses were mostly fogged up (which might explain why he crashed into the plant pot and toppled over it on his way to greet them). They rushed over and helped him up as he wiped his glasses clean and smeared the mud on his face even more with the back of his sleeve. When he brought his arm back and saw the stain he paled.

"Blackwood please clean my sleeve otherwise my mum is going to kill me." Jayna had been expecting the first words he'd say to her after a month and a half (not including letters) would be something along the lines of 'hello' but she'd make do. She quickly scourgified his sleeve, ignored his over-dramatic promises of being eternally in her debt and inquired about the water guns.

"What are they?" In response, Sam shot it in her face. They all froze, wondering what Jayna's reaction was going to be (she still had her wand out after all) but to their surprise she grinned widely.

"Muggle Aguamenti Charms?"

"Yeah. They're called water-guns." Jayna's eyes widened.

"I thought you said guns were like killing curses!" James frowned.

"Well they are, normal ones, but these only shoot water."

"It's a bit morbid isn't it? Children's toys based on things that kill." Either because he didn't understand the word 'morbid' or because he wasn't interested in getting into a debate, James didn't argue the point.

"Ok so basically it's me, Sam, Fred and you two against Roxanne, Molly, Lucy, Lily, Hugo, Lien, Scorpius and Albus." He said, duplicating his gun twice and passing one each to the two bewildered Ravenclaws. "And you can't have more than one gun each."

"Why are there so many more people on the other team?" Lydjah asked.

"Because Lucy only ever plays with Molly and Lily only ever plays with Al and Hugo only ever plays with Lily and Roxanne wanted all the firsties on her team." He stated this like they were some of the truths of the universe; Sam and Jayna were nodding like they completely understood. Lydjah assumed it was a sibling thing.

"They're not firsties anymore." Jayna pointed out. Lydjah shot her best friend her finally perfected 'we-know-you're-right-but-no-one-cares' look. Just then, Molly Weasley, Lucy Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy ran out, screaming a battle-cry (well, Molly and Scorpius were screaming; Lucy was smiling slightly, twisting a lock of hair around her finger as she gripped her gun loosely in their direction). Molly had grown another inch, as had Scorpius, but other than that they looked the same as ever, if a little sunburnt on Molly's part. Jayna had a split second to be glad that Scorpius was able to let loose and just be a kid for once before pegging it round the other side of the house.

"Duck!" A male voice shouted from the balcony above their heads. Instinctively the four of them ducked into the side of the house just missing the barrage of water balloons that quite literally rained from above causing Molly and co to make a hasty retreat.

"This is absolutely bloody insane!" Jayna laughed, figuring out the trigger on her water gun. She slipped off her heels and carefully Imperviused them before leaving them next to the side of the house.

"Thanks Fred!" James called up.

"No problem little cuz!" James scowled at being called little though he felt better when he stood next to Jayna once she'd taken her heels off; he was two inches taller than her now. She glared at his smug expression, shooting him with a quick burst of water. He grinned playfully, advancing on her.

"Attempted mutiny in the ranks! This calls for punishment!" He chased her round into the first field of the garden (the other team had their base in the second), both of them giggling. Lydjah and Sam sauntered more casually down, keeping an eye out for the opposition.

"Honestly if it wasn't Jayna I'd say James was flirting." Sam said mildly. When Lydjah gave no reply she turned to her friend only to see her resurface from a strange trance.

"You had a vision!" Sam exclaimed excitedly. "Tell me!"

"No."

"Come on Lydjah!" Lydjah made a face but she was caving easily.

"You can't tell anyone. That includes James." Sam pouted sarcastically but agreed.

"A night-like room, all dark blues and purples, with hard stone floor and walls. There's a thin puddle of water, in which Jayna is lying, possibly coming from her clothes as she's completely soaked. It's hard to see her appearance in the light but she's older definitely, and more tired too. She reaches up clumsily with her right hand, which is shaking slightly, and cups James' face, before aligning her lips with his."

"What?! Oh my fucking Merlin. You're sure it was James she was snogging? And are your visions always triggered by something you've seen; like the water in this case?"

"For the latter, usually yeah. Most of the time it's rooms that I've walked past. And they're usually not this far in advance either. When I had that concussion though… It was all over the place and entirely irrelevant to what I was literally seeing. For the former… I don't make the visions." Lydjah said, jokingly holding her hands up in the surrender sign. "They didn't actually kiss anyway; they just looked extremely close to it. I'm not sure; maybe they're not actually going to snog at all." Sam gave her a disbelieving look.

"I hadn't thought about it myself but maybe it would work…" Sam said thoughtfully, cocking her head at the two teenagers who had finally stopped play-fighting. Jayna was clearly upset; Lydjah assumed it had something to do with the slight rip in her dress.

"James Potter I'm going to kill you!" She announced, marching behind him from where he'd started to wander off. She could repair her dress easily but that wasn't the point.

"Or, you know, maybe not." Sam cackled, only for Lydjah's ears.

"Whatever Blackwood." James said, uninterested as he wiped his glasses on his knee. Before he put them back on, however, he crashed into one of the patio-chairs where a blurry blonde-haired beauty was sitting. He assumed it was one of Roxanne's friends. "Oh hey there." He said flirtatiously, flashing the infamous Potter grin. Jayna tapped him on the shoulder. "What do you want Blackwood?" He asked, irritated, turning around to face her with an apologetic smile at the beauty as he slipped his glasses back on.

"That's your cousin." Jayna said flatly, and with that walked inside to get a drink and thank her hosts. James turned round to see Victoire choking on an ice cube that she'd accidently swallowed too early in her laughter. Teddy was sat next to her, his arm swung round her back (currently patting it gently trying to get his girlfriend to stop choking), raising his eyebrows at James.

"Something you want to tell me James?" James spluttered and narrowed his eyes when Sam's loud laughter came from behind him where Lydjah and his best friend were holding each other up from laughing so much, before reluctantly joining in himself and apologising to Victoire.

"I can't believe-" Sam began, almost biting her own tongue in her hilarity.

"I know right- Kissing- As if- Ha!" Lydjah agreed. James gave them a concerned look just as Jayna barrelled past again, carrying three drinks. James attempted to steal one but she gave him a look that rivalled his mother's in intensity so he went to get his own.

"For you two idiots." Jayna said, passing the drinks to Lydjah and Sam before taking a sip of her own. She blinked rapidly and peered into her cup.

"Is yours alright Jayna? You're looking at it like you've never had Coke before." Sam laughed.

"I've never had Coke before." Sam gaped at her.

"What the Hell have your parents been feeding her?" Sam accused Lydjah. Lydjah shrugged.

"We're just not a Coke family I guess." They then both sniggered at the implication that everyone else's families were on drugs, much to the bewilderment of Jayna.

"You know where to buy this?" Jayna asked excitedly of Sam.

"Er, yeah; any supermarket, most corner shops-"

"It's wonderful!"

"Wait till you try Fanta." Lydjah said.

"Porque?"

"You can buy raspberry flavoured Fanta." Jayna's eyes widened in delight.

"No way!"

"I don't think I've ever seen someone that excited over a drink." James said from behind them. Jayna swotted at him but her anger seemed to have vanished. "I've called for a ceasefire so we can sort out this whole task thing." James continued, gesturing at the patio doors where Molly, Scorpius, Lien Irby and Albus Potter were emerging, laden with snacks and drinks.

They moved away from the party (technically three of them weren't even invited for the birthday girl anyway) and into the second field where they settled into the den made by Lucy, Lily and Hugo. Sam produced the rewritten copy of the parchment (the Gemino spell had worn off after a while but not before Sam had the good sense to write out the words onto a new piece of paper) from the guardian of the Secret from her back pocket and they all hunched over it.

'Congratulations on completing the final Starter test. You were wise to realise the Quintaped was a fight you could not win.

Please choose a category to proceed:

Charms
Riddles
Choices
Endurance
Illusions'

"Riddles doesn't sound too hard. I mean sure they're bound to be complicated but not life-threatening." Lien pointed out, munching on a chocolate cauldron.

"What if it has some kind of count-down again? And if I was put in charge of working out a riddle while you lot were all slowly dying… You'd all be extremely dead by the time I worked out the answer." Jayna countered, gesturing with the spoon from her ice cream tub (the sad truth was at the moment Jayna could only eat her favourite food in a tub because of her tongue-tie, a fact that she hated and Lydjah loved to tease about). Ordinarily most of them would've laughed at Jayna's description but after the events of last year no-one felt like joking about death.

"Well if we have to do all of them to get to this thing why don't we just do them in order?" Scorpius suggested. The group agreed to this as they chewed on their snacks, all of them feeling very far away from the dark depths under the school as they did so.

A little while later a lot had happened. Lily, Hugo, Lucy, Roxanne and Rose had been uninformed about the temporary truce and had instead thought James, Sam, Jayna and Lydjah had taken the other four hostage, and so naturally had accosted the only remaining member of their team before coming to attack them. A second water-fight had ensued this time with almost all parties present on the battlefield and the four no-longer-first years re-joining their original team, claiming they'd been lured in with food. The four no-longer-second-years had to fight with their wands (using only the Aguamenti charm though everyone was casting suspicious looks at James and Sam when a member of the other team suddenly fell flat on their face apparently for no reason (it was actually Lydjah who was performing the trip jinxes; she was just using everyone's natural healthy distrust of James and Sam to her advantage)) as they'd left their guns just outside the house (and Jayna and Lydjah's had disappeared anyway, being only copies of an original gun). After a while the four of them managed to regroup for long enough to work out a plan.

"We let poor Fred be captured; we need to go find him."

"Agreed." Sam said. She admired Fred Weasley's jokes; he was more the entertainment sort, displaying his talent in regular set-up shows to small audiences as opposed to Phase Two who 'subtly' did rare but complicated and diverse school-wide pranks. "Phase Two should go get him I mean we know him best."

"What the Hell's with this 'Phase Two' business?" It was a question that had been bugging Lydjah since the end-of-term feast but she kept forgetting to ask.

"Well it's kind of got a double meaning," James fired a shot over the remains of the den at Hugo who'd come too close for comfort (the ten year old quickly dodged behind the fence), "One; there's two of us, obviously, and two; we're the second phase of Marauders."

"Was your dad not the second phase of Marauders?"

"No because he was mostly too busy saving the world to play pranks. I mean he got the occasional one in there but from what I've heard it's nothing on the original Marauders. I mean, they managed to become Animaguses and make the Map; clearly they were intelligent and had a lot of time on their hands."

"Cool. But I don't think you should go to get Fred." Jayna said.

"What, why?"

"You two are our best shots. I think we should send one person while the other three cover them."

"Ok; which one of you two then?" Lydjah and Jayna shared a look and had a silent conversation.

"I'll go." Lydjah announced, turning back to James and Sam.

"Alright. On three we'll charge towards those guys and distract them while Lydjah goes through the gap in the fence. Once we see she's out of the field we'll fall back and regroup behind the den again, yeah?" Looking at him now, Sam could see so much of Harry in him. It was obvious that James was destined to be an Auror, just as it was obvious that Albus was destined to play professional Quidditch and Fred and Roxanne were going to run their dad and uncle's joke shop. Sam just hoped that she'd be fighting just as faithfully alongside him then as she was now, whatever he ended up being.

She wouldn't, but again, that's neither here nor there.

"Three, two, one, CHARGE!"

For the entire charge Lydjah couldn't really remember anything but the euphoric adrenaline pumping through her veins, the excited giggles spewing from her mouth and vibrating through her skin and the greenness of the grass. Then she was through the fence and jogging swiftly towards the house, throwing her slightly damp hair over one shoulder. Victoire and Teddy were sat two metres away from each other in the lounge, pained looks on their faces as the other adults separated them and laughed at Bill's stony face. Lydjah gathered it had something to do with the plan James had mentioned in one of his letters; Victoire meant to go with Teddy on his next tour of the world that started in September; he'd done Europe so now they were going to Asia. Needless to say, Bill wasn't very keen on the idea though the rest of their family were wearing him down. She smiled at them all as she passed, which they returned, before disappearing up the stairs.

She wandered around for a while, feeling rather intrusive and not wanting to just burst into someone's bedroom. Why had she volunteered for this in the first place?

It wasn't until she reached James' room, obvious from the sheer number of Quidditch posters and red and gold bedcovers (Albus' room was dark green, not that you could see it well as his walls were covered in photos), that she finally found Fred Weasley.

The first thing she noticed was that Fred was very ginger. Of course, this was obvious as he was a Weasley and the colour was so glaringly bright that no-one could ever forget this fact. The second, apart from noting various other Weasley traits; the freckles and the slightly longer-than-perfect nose, was that he was strung upside down by the Levicorpus spell.

She made a move to get her wand out to help him, only to realise he had his own in his front pocket, and she was sure he was perfectly capable of undoing the not-quite-second-years-yet's magic. So why hadn't he?

"Oh hey; Lydjah right?" He grinned widely at her and she found herself smiling back. His cheeks had heated a little, not that Lydjah noticed as his whole face was rather red from being upside-down for so long.

"Yeah… Why haven't you let yourself down?" In response, Fred waved his left hand slightly. He was holding a rather large cream pie, or rather half of one.

"If I let myself down I'd have to take a break from eating this. One does not easily give up my dad's cooking." It was after he uttered this sentence that Lydjah had the strangest sense of Deja vu (and she would know) as if she was trying to see a vision of herself, but couldn't quite manage it. Her stomach flipped over, her eyes fluttered and she gave an involuntary snort that she tried to cover with one hand.

"Did the other team give you that so you wouldn't join in the second water-fight?" He somehow managed to shrug, though the gesture was very strange.

"Suppose so. Guess it worked." Lydjah couldn't help herself; she burst out laughing. He grinned again with pride, glad to have made her laugh.

"Would you like a hand down?" She finally choked out. He shook his head.

"I got this." He took out his wand with his free hand, the pie balancing precariously in the other, and flicked it quickly, managing to roll slightly as he fell so he landed on his arse instead of his head, the pie completely intact. He took another bite as he jumped to his feet, causing a bit of cream to smear across his face. Lydjah wondered vaguely what he'd do if she reached to wipe it off with her thumb, before he solved her problem for her by licking it off. "You're a Halfblood right?"

"Yes?"

"Well it's just there's something wrong with my phone, and I think you might be able to fix it." He brought out an old windows phone, but apart from its age it looked perfectly serviceable to Lydjah's rather limited knowledge.

"What's wrong with it?"

"It doesn't have your number." Fred held the phone out to her, an offer. She blinked, a little stunned at the smoothness of that pick-up line before numbly reaching out and making a new contact on his phone.

She handed it back, raising her eyebrows. "You barely know me." She accused softly, real confusion behind her statement. Fred grinned widely again.

"Saw you dancing at Blackwood's party and I've wanted to ask you out since then; a girl who can hold that much alcohol and still dance and speak coherently is pretty much perfect in my book." Lydjah laughed and blushed in equal parts.

"My one and only skill I assure you."

"I highly doubt that." He quipped lightly. "You coming?"

"Where?" She asked, bewildered (but not in any way upset) about the entire meeting.

"Back to the water-fight of course; I can't let down James; he'd never let me hear the end of it. The food thing stays between us yeah?" Lydjah smiled mischievously.

"Can't make me." With that she took off, ignoring Fred's protests of it being unfair because he couldn't run with a pie.