Chapter 53: Girl Talk

Lucy groaned in her sleep when she felt someone poke her side. She swatted the poker and turned in her bed before going back to sleep. She snuggled against her pillow and was just about to return to her dream but another poke at her side disrupted that. She took her blanket and covered her head and inched farther away from the said poker. She was entering her dream until there was a painful jab at her side and a tug of her blanket.

"Ow!" she exclaimed and got a hand shoved against her mouth muffling her words. She glared at the hand's owner and saw Natalie whose figure was illuminated by the dim moonlight. At her side was Lily.

"What are you guys doing?" Lucy hissed, climbing out of her bed to sit with her friends. She watched Lily cover her mouth as she yawned.

"Oh, we were just waking you up," Natalie said with a role of her eyes, "You know the usual routine"

Lucy held up her hand, "Whoa, that time of month already?"

"Shut it," Natalie said.

"Okay, make peace not war," Lily said, "We just wanted to know what's up with you and Sirius"

"Why do you want to know that? You hate him," Lucy furrowed her eyebrows

"No, Natalie hates him," Lily jabbed her finger towards Natalie, "I hate James"

"You hate everything Marauder," Lucy said, "Why do you even want to know? Heck, why do you want to know this in the middle of the night?"

Natalie pressed her finger to her lips, "Shh, be quiet," she whispered, "I want to know if you guys are together now"

"And that's your problem because…?" Lucy trailed off with a circular motion of her hand indicating them to explain

"She's being defensive, Lils!" Natalie said in an excited whisper, ignoring Lucy's question, "They're definitely together!"

Lucy reacted before Lily could. "No, we aren't"

"But he took you out on a date," Lily said with her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"Yeah," Lucy paused, "Wait – No. It wasn't a date. It was a simple lunch out"

"Alone together," Lily pointed out

"In Hogsmeade," Natalie added

Lucy rolled her eyes, "And that makes it a date?"

"Yes," the two girls said in unison.

"Didn't you think it was?" Lily asked.

Lucy scratched the back of her head and bit her lip. She looked down at the ground and replayed the events in her head. They had gone out to Hogsmeade like they usually did but they were alone, the rest of the Marauders had disappeared from sight. The day was normal except they didn't make the usual visit to Zonko's or Honeydukes, no, they instead passed by different shops and chatted. At the end of the day they went into a nice little restaurant to eat.

"That was a crappy summary of your day," Natalie said when Lucy told them what she recalled of the day.

Lily swatted her arm. "But basically that was a date," she said, "Didn't you think so?"

"Well I did," Lucy licked her lips, "But I don't think Sirius did"

"Why wouldn't he?" Natalie asked.

"I don't know," Lucy said, "Look, this is to girly for me and I just want to return to bed so if you'll excuse me," she climbed back onto her bed and pulled the covers over her, "Goodnight"

Zoey gave a large yawn as she searched through the bushes. The Weasleys, Echo, Hermione, Harry and herself had to wake up earlier than they were used to so they could find a Portkey to be able to go the Quidditch world cup. She reached up to her eyes and wiped away the yawn-tears before fixing her glasses and continued to search. She peered through the bushed and behind trees. After having several mini heart attacks from finding startled bunnies and squirrels she gave up and inched towards Echo who was wide awake.

"How could you be wide awake?" Zoey stifled a yawn, "I thought you'd be the hardest to wake up?"

"I just am," Echo sighed, "It's a weird thing I want to get out of"

"You want to get out of waking up early?" Zoey rubbed her eyes and scanned the area. Everyone was still looking for the Portkey.

"Yeah," Echo muttered, sitting down on a rock, you know, I'd like to spend the mornings sleeping and waking up in the afternoon and be wide awake in the evening"

Zoey scratched the back of her head. "You'd be wasting your mornings then…but I know what you mean," she paused, "Do you have any idea what the Portkey might look like? Besides the usual trash that muggles would leave alone and all."

"A broken teacup?" Echo arched an eyebrow.

"I don't think –"

"Over here Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!"

Zoey turned around at the source of the voice. Two tall figures were trudging towards them. The Weasleys, Harry and Hermione ceased looking and turned to look at the two figures. Zoey felt her lips twitched up when she saw who the two figures were.

"Cedric!" Zoey said, the sleep gone from her voice, she dashed towards her Hufflepuff friend and enveloped him in a hug while Mr. Weasley introduced his dad, Cedric's, dad, Amos Diggory, to everyone.

"- And I think you know his son, Cedric?" Mr. Weasley said. Zoey released Cedric from the hug so he could see everyone. Everyone said Hi back except for the twins. Zoey raised a curious eyebrow.

"I think it's about Quidditch," Echo crossed her arms over her chest, whispering to Zoey.

"Quidditch?" Zoey asked, watching Mr. Weasley and Mr. Diggory having a conversation, "Is this because Hufflepuff beat Gryffindor in the first game last year?"

"Yeah," Echo muttered, snickering, "It's about them losing. I feel for them, losing sucks"

"Oh," Zoey nodded her head, not at all understanding because she wasn't a Quidditch player herself. She placed her hands in her pockets and watched Amos, Cedric and Harry talking. She raised an eyebrow at them and looked at the twins. They wore scowls on their faces.

"- One falls of his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to know who's the better flier!" Amos said with a proud pat on Cedric's shoulder before going back the Mr. Weasley to talk about something Zoey didn't really care about.

"One too proud, one not really caring, you don't need to be an idiot to figure that out," Echo giggled.

Zoey laughed and rolled her eyes, "Be nice," she looked at Cedric who smiled at her; she turned to the twins who still seemed to be in a bad mood, only Fred looked like he could kill, "Hey, would it be alright if I catch up with Cedric?"

"Ah, I don't mind," Echo spoke, finally managing to pull her hair into a ponytail, "I'll catch up with you later after I mangle the twins?"

"Mangle the twins?" Zoey wore a worried look.

"Might give them something else to think about," Echo smiled, "Like their whole lives flashing before their eyes"

Zoey opened her mouth to speak but then caught sight of Cedric motioning her over. She smiled a bit before looking back at Echo. "Okay then. Don't kill them yet or just don't kill them. We don't have an excuse for Mrs. Weasley and well – I got to go," she made a motion indicating Cedric, "Okay, bye!"

"Meet you later when you're still alive, Emeraude!" Echo called out to Zoey before sprinting to the twins.

"Alright!" Zoey waved before making her way to Cedric. She tapped his shoulder making him look to her. "Hey," she greeted.

"Hey," he replied with a smile, "So you were staying over at the Weasleys?"

"Wow, straightforward," Zoey laughed, pushing her bangs away from her face, "Yeah, I am"

"Why?"

"Oh, you know. Easier to get to the Portkey, hanging around with friends, you know," Zoey said with awkward hand movements trying make her words more sensible.

"Couldn't you go with your parents?" Cedric asked.

"Ah, they aren't – err – Quidditch fans," Zoey licked her lips.

"And you are?" he laughed.

Zoey opened her mouth, closed it and opened it again. "No," she said, "but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy watching. You know with the flying, and the scoring and the – the – Quaffles, Snitches…. Bludgers"

Cedric ruffled Zoey's hair. "One, there's only one snitch and one Quaffle and two, you hate Bludgers"

"Well, I – I grew a liking to them murdering balls of fury," Zoey said with a clap of her hands.

"Right," Cedric took a breath and stretched, "Let's pretend that you actually like the Bludgers and change the topic –"

"Funny that's what Harry said to me the other day," Zoey laughed.

"- Really? Well, what I wanted to say was if you wanted a place to stay with an easy access to a Portkey you could have always stayed with us," Cedric said.

Zoey blushed. "Cedric, that's really generous of you but I couldn't do that."

"Why not? We're friends and we wouldn't mind," Cedric smiled.

"That's sweet," Zoey paused, she didn't know what else to say, she racked her brains for any help she could get from the books she's read, "How about when the next Quidditch World Cup comes I'll stay over?"

Cedric wrapped on arm around her and shook her a bit. "You joker," he said before continuing to follow his dad and Mr. Weasley.


"'You joker'," Fred said in a poor imitation of Cedric, "Why doesn't he just ask her to marry him right now? Stop beating around the bush and all"

"Someone acts like a girl having PMS," Echo muttered over Fred's shoulder before tiptoeing to George's side. He snorted at her comment.

"Beside, Freddie boy, it would be to awkward for Cedric to propose now," he laughed at his brother's expression, "I mean, won't it be more romantic to propose the Quidditch World Cup itself? Right, Echo?"

"It sure does look more romantic with the Irish winning. All green – the color of spring," Echo sang, "I agree, George"

Fred glared. "Oh! Haha, that was so funny I forgot to laugh," he folded his arms across his chest, "Why don't you just propose there George? Seeing as Echo loves the idea"

"Sorry, Fred, having to face two proposals of your friend and your brother is too much for your heart to handle," Echo laughed

Fred was about to retort but was interrupted by his sister. "What's with the talk of proposals?" Ginny asked, "Who's getting married?"

"Zoey and Cedric," Echo side glanced at Fred and stuck her tongue out at him.

Hermione joined in the conversation, her eyes wide as she switched from looking at the Hufflepuffs and back at the people walking at pace with her. "Aren't they a little young?" she paused, "Or are you just pulling Fred's leg"

"You're smarter than you let on, Granger," George said with a friendly role of his eyes, "Of course we're just pulling his leg," he ducked down at the muggle-born's level, "Oh, but don't tell him that," he all but whispered.

"I can hear you," Fred said.

"Because I didn't whisper," George laughed.

"You were meant to hear it," Echo rolled her eyes.

Ginny laughed. "Come on, Fred, they're just joking," she patted his shoulder.

"Yeah, because that isn't obvious," Fred groaned, "This whole thing is getting to my head"

"What whole thing?" Hermione asked.

Fred opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by his father calling them over. "Hurry up kids!" Mr. Weasley said, "The Portkey's going to leave any second now!" They ran towards the manky old boot that everyone was circling around. They each placed their hands on the boot and in a matter of three seconds their navels felt like a hook just jerked forwards and they were gone.


Zoey sat on the floor of the tent that smelled like cats together with Ginny and Echo. They had all painfully fallen to the ground after being transported by the Portkey and greeted by two wizards that were inexpertly dressed as muggles. They searched the campsite for a perfect spot for their cat smelling tent, several times they passed by fellow Hogwartians but Zoey didn't greet any for she didn't know them that well. Zoey spent the time looking for any signs of Bridgit, when she got none she sulkily entered the tent and fixed her stuff while the Golden Trio went out to get water.

"Have you heard anything from Bridgit lately?" Zoey asked as she smoothed out her muggle jacket, "I love these," she muttered under her breath, "My mum sure does have some muggle style"

"No," Echo shrugged, and pulled out a white pocketbook, "Haven't heard a think from her"

"Oh, you think she's coming to –well – here?" asked Zoey.

"No," Echo spoke, not looking out of her pocketbook.

Zoey slowly nodded and got up from the floor. She dusted of the invisible dirt from her pants and told Echo she would get check up on Mr. Weasley. She left Echo and went to Mr. Weasley and saw that he was still trying to light a match. Fred and George were busy watching them and jumped a bit when the Golden Trio entered.

"You've been ages," George said as a greeting while Zoey took a seat beside him. She looked up at them and smiled.

"See anyone you know?" she asked.

"Yep," Ron answered, "The fire isn't up yet?"

"Dad's having fun with the matches," Fred grinned.

Zoey smiled at him before looking back at Mr. Weasley. She jumped a bit when Mr. Weasley lit a match before dropping it out of surprise. Zoey bit her lip and saw Mr. Weasley bring out another match.

"Why don't you help him, Zoe?" Fred asked, "You're pretty good at this muggle type of things?"

"Oh no no no. Fire not me," Zoey shook her head and watched Hermione offer Mr. Weasley help, "Let Hermione do it," she said lamely.

Fred and George laughed before patting their legs and standing up to stretch at the same time Ginny came in. "Oh, the fire is up," she said before standing up by Zoey's side.

"And with no magic!" Mr. Weasley said, "The muggle way"

"Congratulations, dad," Ginny laughed before grabbing onto Zoey's hands, "Hey, let's have some girl talk"

"Girl talk?" Zoey asked bewildered, "Since when did you want to have girl talk?"

"Since there's more than one girl now," Ginny laughed, "Come on. It isn't like those in the muggle TV. We aren't going to talk about nails or fashion or boys –"

The twins cleared the throats. "Boys?" they chimed.

"You mean - " Fred began

"- Us right?" George ended

"Do you have a degree for mentioning what's obvious?" Echo smirked, coming to join the rest of them, "Because you two are really good at it"

"See, even Echo's game!" Ginny said stopping her brother's from saying anything, "Hermione will join too"

"I guess it will be fun," Hermione said rubbing her hands together.

Zoey shrugged. "So, Girl talk without the usual topics of – err – Girl talk?"

"Pretty much talking with just girls," Ginny said.

Echo brought a palm to her head, "We don't even know what to talk about"

"It will come to us," Hermione smiled, "It gives us a chance to get to know each other better"

"Fine," Zoey gave in and Ginny cheered.

"Oh can we join?" Fred batted his eyelashes.

"We'll be good" George said in a girly voice.

"No," Echo raised her palm to their faces, "Unless, of course, you can prove to be girls"

"Don't you see the batting of eyelashes?" Fred indicated his eyes and batted them again

"And the girly voice?" George said in the once more high pitched voice of his which cracked on several words.

"We are girls!" they said in unison

"Oh yeah?" Ginny raised her brow, "Pull down your pants"

The twins stared at her with wide eyes.

"You heard her," Hermione stifled a laugh, "There's only one way to prove it"

"Oh wait," Echo mused before the twins could react to what Hermione said, "Fred acted like a PMSing girl before. Could he pass?"

Ginny shrugged, "Well, why not?"

"Yes," Fred's punched the air before turning back to his sister, "Wait," he paused, "No"

Everyone in the tent, who was listening to the conversation, laughed. Zoey rolled her eyes. "Come on, Fred, if we have girl talk then you and the guys can have… err… boy talk"

"Boy talk?" Ron asked

"Well, sorry for lack of a better word," Zoey laughed.

"Just let them have their girl talk," Mr. Weasley said with a laugh in his voice.

"'Girl Talk' sounds stupid," Echo frowned

"Are we really having this conversation? Fine, call it whatever you like. It's just us girls going to catch up and talk," Ginny sighed

"First thing to talk about: Anyone got any weird hobbies?" Echo raised an eyebrow.

Hermione and Ginny dragged Echo away while saying "Girl talk for a reason. No boys are allowed to hear". Zoey laughed, watching them drag the Ravenclaw away before looking back at the guys. They raised their eyebrows at her. She bit her lip and made a hand motion indicating where the other girls had gone.

"I – I'll just go now," she said, turning back and following the other girls.


"Okay are we really going to do this?" Zoey asked with a raise of her brow as she set in between Ginny and Hermione. They all sat on the tents floor and were about to begin their talk, "I mean, we've been staying in Ginny's room for the past few hours and known each other for the past few years so I thought we knew each other pretty well by now"

Ginny nodded her head. "I know," she said, "You honestly believed what we said back there?"

"She is pretty dense," Hermione said, "No offense, Zoey," she added.

"I can't believe I pulled myself into this," Echo sat cross-legged, arms crossed over her chest.

"And what exactly has she pulled herself into?" Zoey asked.

"Well," Ginny began, "It isn't that bad. It's just Hermione and I were wondering –"

"Wondering about what?" Zoey interrupted.

"If you liked Cedric or Fred," Hermione said straightforwardly.

Zoey chocked on her own breath and she felt a blush rise to her cheeks. "And this is important information?" she asked remembering what Harry said to her the other day. Is it that obvious? She silently wondered, thumping her own chest as a distraction.

"I thought that we aren't going to talk about boys," Echo suddenly jumped in.

"I know, I know. Believe me this isn't my favorite topic either," Ginny said, "But I was really curious. Aren't you?"

"No," Echo scoffed, "I don't have a right to see what other people feel"

"Okay then. Well, Echo's out of the conversation now. But me and Hermione were just wondering seeing as you are one of the elder females here," Ginny struggled with her words.

"But couldn't you ask Mrs. Weasley?" Zoey squeaked out.

"Well, I thought it might be a rather awkward topic," Hermione tilted her head from side to side.

"And this isn't awkward at all?" Zoey asked incredulously

Ginny laughed. "Well, it's awkward to you. Not to us"

"Evil," Zoey muttered, "But I don't think a thirteen year old and a fourteen year old should be asking me for help in that field"

"What field are you talking about?" Hermione asked, "We just wanted to know if you liked Cedric or Fred"

Zoey bit her lip. "Now, I don't know what we are even talking about right now. Fred, Cedric, awkward. Why do you even want to know?"

Ginny sighed and patted Zoey back. "Sorry about that. I knew you would sorta react this way," she said.

"How about we just go back to the initial idea of this? You know, no boys, nails or whatever," Hermione offered.

"So… so random. I can't follow you guys. My mind can't keep up," Zoey rubbed her temples.

"Yes, yes. Rubbing your temples will make everything make sense," Ginny joked.

Echo then asked, "So what do we talk about?"

"Well, do you guys have any weird hobbies?" Hermione asked.


Sorry for the short chapter guys.

Just wanted a little filler before the part where they you know, Quidditch, yeah.

Girl talk: not one of my favorite talks but I just thought, what the hay *shrugs* let's have it!

Thank you for all of you who reviewed.

And also HayleyParadox.

Also, I'm supper glad that Taka's back!

I missed you buddy! :P

Anyway, hm... what to say? I don't really know. This chapter is short, yes because most of my initial ideas came like when they're in Hogwarts already and also involving Bridgit so yeah, kinda had a tough time typing up this chapter. Sorry about that.

I have nothing more to say.

Hope you enjoyed

Don't forget to review and the like

Stay tuned for the next chapter

and

I only own what I own.

Oh! PS: This chapter may be short but I have another one coming after so technically it's a double update so I hope it makes up for the shortness of both chapters :D