Annoying Little Sister.
The warm summer sun shone down on the Malfoys back garden, where children were playing as their parents caught up over a drink. Hermione and Draco had also provided food for everyone, which had been wolfed down by the children.
"Is there anymore hotdogs left?" Ron questioned, looking at the table and finding nothing more than a few crumbs.
"Sorry Ron, I think the food's all gone," Hermione replied, giving her best friend an apologetic smile.
"Haven't you had enough?" Lavender asked her husband with a frown. "I saw you eat three hotdogs, and you finished the one Hugo left."
"I didn't want it to go to waste," Ron mumbled as he turned his attention away from the food.
"I appreciate it Ron," Hermione said. "I hate having to throw good food away."
Under her breath, Ginny made a rather rude comment about Ron's appetite, but Ron ignored his younger sister. Instead he turned his attention to the children, who were playing nearby. The children had split into two groups, the girls and the boys. Ron and Lavender's ten year old daughter, Rose, had taken charge of the girls and was organising it so they could sit in a circle and do each other's hair. Meanwhile Scorpius had taken the boys up into his tree house.
"It looks like Lyra doesn't want to play," Pansy said, stifling a laugh when Draco and Hermione's daughter threw Rose's hairbrush halfway across the lawn and stomped away from the group of giggling girls.
"She's not really very girly," Hermione said. She could understand why Lyra wasn't interested in playing hairdressers with the other girls, as that was something that never would have appealed to her when she was a child.
"Mum, I'm bored," Lyra whined as she made her way over to where the adults were sitting.
"Did you not want to get your hair styled like the others?" Ginny questioned. Like Hermione she could understand why Lyra wasn't keen on doing girly activities, as she herself had been much more of a tomboy growing up with all her brothers around.
"It's boring," Lyra answered, rolling her eyes in the same manner Draco did when he was unimpressed with something.
"You could always go and play with your brother," Hermione suggested.
"Maybe," Lyra said, looking thoughtfully towards the tree house.
Lyra sat for almost five minutes, before she got up and headed over to the treehouse. Climbing up the ladders, she poked her head inside her brother's tree house and found the boys sitting in a circle, trading chocolate frog cards.
"Can I join in?" She asked, clambering all the way into the spacious tree house.
"No," Scorpius answered without looking up. "Go away Lyra, this is boys stuff."
"But I can play with chocolate frog cards," Lyra protested, squeezing herself in between Alex and James. "Oh look, Uncle Harry," She cried, picking up the card that lay in the centre of the circle. "I haven't got Uncle Harry."
"Well, he's not for you," Scorpius snapped, plucking the card from his sister's grasp. "I'm trading Uncle Harry for Morgana."
"But you've got Morgana," Lyra pouted.
"Not a special edition one," Scorpius retorted, showing his sister the special edition card he was trying to get from Hugo.
"I need more than Uncle Harry though," Hugo replied thoughtfully. "I can't trade a special edition card for one normal card."
"I've got three Dumbledore's," Scorpius offered.
Hugo mulled over the offer and when Scorpius threw in another couple of common cards, he agreed to the exchange.
"Okay boys, let's finish this later," Scorpius said, packing the cards away and scowling at his little sister. "We'll go down to the lake to catch frogs."
"Can I come?" Lyra asked.
"No," Scorpius answered firmly. "Go and play with the girls Lyra."
Turning his back on his sister, Scorpius led the way down the emergency shoot at the back of the treehouse. The emergency shoot was really just a slide, but it was much more fun to exit the treehouse via a slide than climb down the ladders. Lyra watched with a pout as the boys all exited the treehouse, but the second they were gone she made her own way down the slide.
Clambering to her feet at the bottom of the slide, she spotted the boys running down towards the bottom of the garden where the duck pond was located. As well as ducks, the pond now held fish and frogs, and Scorpius would often go and see if he could catch a frog. Refusing to be brushed aside, Lyra followed after the boys.
"Lyra, go away," Scorpius snapped when he spotted his sister approaching them.
"No," Lyra said stubbornly. "I want to catch frogs."
"Girls can't catch frogs," Albus announced and all the other boys nodded in agreement.
"I can too catch frogs," Lyra declared.
Glaring at the boys, she stormed off around the other side of the pond. Settling down on the grass beside the pond, she watched as her brother and his friends tried to catch a frog. There was an abundance of frogs in the pond, and they often sat on the rocks around the edge of the pond, but they always hopped away whenever anyone got near to them. Lyra watched in amusement as the boys repeatedly tried and failed to catch a frog. After ten minutes both Hugo and Albus had fallen into the pond, and Scorpius, Alex and James were wet through as they helped them out.
"Let's go," Scorpius declared. "We can play some exploding snap."
Lyra watched the boys set off back towards the house, before she turned to a rock near to where she'd been sitting. For ages there'd been a little frog sitting on the rock, but since she hadn't bothered it, it hadn't hopped back to the safety of the water.
"Hello little frog," Lyra said softly. "I'm Lyra."
Lyra chatted to the frog for a few more minutes, before holding out her hand and the frog hopped on. With a small giggle, Lyra ran her finger down the frogs back. Still stroking the frog, Lyra got to her feet and made her way back up the garden to where everyone else was.
"What do you have there, Lyra?" Draco called, wondering what on earth his daughter had found now. Lyra was animal mad, and she was always finding animals and wanting them as a pet.
"This is Hamish," Lyra said, smiling at her father and showing him the small frog in her hands.
"Hamish?" Draco frowned. "How do you know he's called Hamish?"
"He told me, silly," Lyra giggled.
"Of course he did," Draco replied indulgently.
"What's going on?" Scorpius demanded, wondering what his annoying little sister was up to now. "Tell Lyra she can't play with us, Dad."
"I don't want to play with you," Lyra said, sticking her tongue out at her brother. "I've got Hamish to play with."
"Cool, a frog," Alex cried, suddenly spotting the small creature nestled quite happily in Lyra's hands.
"Wow, Lyra's caught a frog," Albus cried.
"Way to go, Lyra," James said with a grin.
"It's awesome," Hugo declared as the boys, all except Scorpius, gathered around Lyra to get a better look at her frog.
"How did you catch a frog?" Scorpius asked moodily. He'd been trying to catch a frog for years, and all he'd ever got was wet from falling into the pond.
"I was said hello and was nice to Hamish," Lyra answered.
"Sometimes it pays to be nice," Hermione whispered to her put out son.
"Annoying little brat," Scorpius grumbled as his friends fawned all over Lyra.
"You should have just let her play with you," Draco said with a laugh.
"But girls are boring," Scorpius whined. "And little sisters are annoying."
Watching Scorpius grumble about Lyra, Draco and Hermione couldn't help but laugh at their son. Most of the time he was a devoted big brother, but sometimes he was downright wicked towards his little sister. Maybe this adventure would teach him to play nice, and to include his little sister if she wanted to join in with him and his friends.