Ice Lollies {Lily Potter}

[Zaira Zabini]

Zaira had not eaten a single ice lolly all summer.

Well, it hadn't been summer for very long, so there were many opportunities left to get some, but Zaira couldn't help but think that time was running out. It wouldn't be summer forever, she needed to make the most of it. (Sure she could always get ice lollies when it wasn't summer... but that just seemed wrong.)

Thinking herself a little old to go out for ice cream with her parents, Zaira had invited Lily to meet her in Diagon Alley. Being slightly too enthusiastic about the outing, Zaira had tumbled through the fireplace at Florean Fortescue's five minutes early and now sat at a brightly colored table in the corner. She had her elbows propped up on the table and her chin in her hands as she stared longingly at the lollies behind the glass counter. If Lily didn't hurry, Zaira would have to order one without her. 

[Lily Potter]

((OOC - the emoticons i am laughing))

Lily felt like she'd spent quite a lot of time in Diagon Alley this summer. Which was good, of course, since it was nice to get out and see people, but a departure from the norm, in which Lily usually spent most of her school holidays reading books in her room or weeding the garden. But first had been that weird meeting with Sebastian Nott in the Tamarisk Tree, and now she actually had an arranged outing.

She'd got a bit distracted in the morning (she'd made the mistake of opening a book and had got sucked in) and was running slightly late as she pulled a brush through her hair, pulled on her shoes, grabbed her bag and made for the fireplace. She stumbled out into the ice cream parlour, blinking in the sunlight coming in through the big glass windows, and glanced round for Zaira, who would probably be here waiting for her. Yes, there she was, sitting at a table. Lily made her way over and smiled cheerfully at her friend.

"Hey!" she greeted her. "Sorry I'm late!"

[Zaira Zabini]

((OOC- I TRIED))

Zaira smiled as her friend emerged from the fire place and waved her over. "It's fine. I bet you were busy fighting dark wizards or whatever it is Potters do in their free time." She said this quite seriously, without a hint of humor in her voice, but grinned after. "You were reading, weren't you?" Zaira shook her head fondly as she got up from her seat. 

Though she enjoyed a book now and then, Zaira had never really gotten into reading as Lily had. She often teased her friend about it, but secretly she wished she could be as entertained by bits of paper as her friend was. It would certainly help with the boring summer she was having. 

[Lily Potter]

Lily rolled her eyes a little at Zaira's comment, but was still smiling as she slung her bag off her shoulder and onto the table. When it was Zaira, she knew it was only a joke and didn't mind. With people who were not her friends, comments about her family name could make her uncomfortable.

"Yeah, that's right," she said seriously, however. "I mean, that's like a fun family outing in our house. Whenever James and Al are at home, it's like 'hey, let's go out and find some dark wizards to fight!'" Of course, in reality, Lily was fairly sure she wouldn't last five minutes in a fight with a dark wizard, and she thought James would probably be pretty useless as well - he wasn't exactly a fighter. Albus, she was not so sure of.

She grinned sheepishly as Zaira correctly guessed what had happened to her. "Well, yes. But I didn't forget, I'm here! I mean, I actually stopped reading to come and meet you,[/i]" she said, in tones that implied that this was a great honour and Zaira should be grateful. "Have you ordered ice cream yet?" She glanced over at the counter. "Or should we go and do that?"

[Zaira Zabini]

"I knew it," Zaira said, nodding to herself. "You simply must let me tag along one day. I'd probably be useless, what with me being rubbish at Defense Against the Dark Arts, but it would be fun to watch." Zaira stopped taking Defense Against the Dark Arts the moment she was able to. Maybe in years past it had been a more crucial subject, but now, without the threat of major dark wizards, Zaira really didn't see the need to continue in something she so obviously failed at.

Yep, Zaira had hit the nail right on the head with that one. "Oh how kind of you to remember," she replied with all the fake grace she could muster. "It's such a pleasure to be getting ice cream with Queen Lily Potter herself." She did a fake little bow with a flourish of her hand before looking towards the counter as well. "I haven't. After you, ma'am."

[Lily Potter]

"Yeah, because I'm just great at Defence Against the Dark Arts." Lily laughed, shaking her head. She wasn't absolutely terrible at Defence Against the Dark Arts, of course, but that was because she worked hard and remembered stuff, not from some sort of innate ability (which everyone seemed to expect her to have, being a Potter). It definitely wasn't one of her best subjects though; it fact it might have been her worst. She could manage the theory, but always panicked over the casting of actual DADA spells.

She nodded cheerfully at Zaira, pretending not to notice her friend's sarcasm. "I thought so too. That it was kind of me, that is." She laughed ruefully. "Though don't call me that too loudly. Someone might hear and go and start a rumour that I make all my friends call me Queen Lily."

She slipped her cardigan off and dropped it on the chair opposite Zaira's, so nobody took her seat, and picked up her bag again, as it had her money in it. "I've spent about half the money Mum and Dad gave me for the holidays," she said mournfully over her shoulder as she headed for the counter. "I don't know how it's happened - I don't usually do that!"

[Zaira Zabini]

"Better than me, anyway," Zaira said, remembering a particular incident in which she nearly destroyed the cabinet they were keeping a Boggart in. It wasn't her fault that it had turned into a big, nasty moth and she'd panicked. But that was about the point where she stopped even caring about the subject at all.

Zaira was half tempted to scream 'Queen Lily' at the top of her lungs, but thought better of it. She had matured past the stage of screaming in public. "Apologies, your majesty," she replied with a little nod of her head. "I'll be more discrete in the future."

These days Zaira was in the habit of carrying around a really useless pink clutch that was too small to hold anything but money and too big to fit in her pocket. It dangled off her wrist as she followed Lily up to the counter, jangling with every step. "Did you?" Zaira asked, causing her to wonder just how much she had left in that little clutch. "What did you buy? Wait, let me guess... books." She smiled as she said it, obviously not trying to be malicious.

[Lily Potter]

Lily smiled a little, though she wasn't sure that, at heart, she was any better at Defence Against the Dark Arts than Zaira. She was good at reading and remembering things, which was the only reason she got decent grades. "Maybe at Boggarts," she conceded teasingly, remembering the same incident. "Not at much else." Lily's own Boggart was being alone, without family or friends, which was horrible, but at least slightly easier not to panic over when you were actually in a classroom with your friends sitting watching.

She rolled her eyes at 'your majesty', then glanced at the small pink bag, which contrasted greatly with her own bashed-up brown fake-leather backpack. "How are you meant to carry anything in that?" She shook her head in amusement at the ridiculousness of useless objects.

They reached the counter, and Lily looked over the array of ice creams, trying to decide what she wanted, then back up at Zaira. "Books..." she agreed vaguely. "Plus birthday presents. Do you know how many of my family have birthdays over the summer holidays? Because it's obscene. And coffee - I had coffee in the Tamarisk Tree the other day and ended up hanging out with one of Al's friends." Her forehead wrinkled in bemusement at the memory of that slightly bizarre conversation, as she glanced over the choice of ice creams again. "What are you getting?"

[Zaira Zabini]

"Definitely Boggarts," Zaira agreed. Though she liked to think she would be braver in the face of one now (after all, she was just 13 at the time) she wasn't too keen to face a giant moth anytime soon. Though she still thought moths disgusting, she wasn't entirely sure she feared them most anymore. If her Boggart had changed, she definitely did not want to come face to face with another.

"Oh this?" Zaira held up the tiny bag and all the coins rolled around in it. "I've got money and lip balm. All I need, really. What are you carrying around that you need something bigger?" Granted, the clutch probably worked better for muggles with paper money. Her coins took up most the space and made a lot of noise besides. Still, it was better than trying to shove her things into the tiny pockets of her jeans.  

Now that they were actually at the counter, a hard decision had to be made: cherry or strawberry. She listened to Lily talk as she mulled it over. "Summer does seem to be a popular time for birthdays," she said, still looking at the ice lollies behind the glass. But she perked up when Lily mentioned a friend of her brother's. "Strawberry, I think, but wait is this a cute friend of your brother's? Tell me he's cute. What did you talk about?" Her eyes darted to the person behind the counter waiting and she paused to fish out her money. "Or tell me after we've sat down."

[Lily Potter]

Lily grinned at her friend, but didn't push the point - she found it vaguely amusing that Zaira's biggest fear was moths, of all things (Lily quite liked moths), but at the same time, a phobia was a phobia. She wasn't sure if Zaira really had a phobia of moths, but it would be a bit mean to keep reminding her of them if so.

"I don't know why I decided to take Defence for NEWTs," she said gloomily instead. "I needed another subject, though, and I thought Dad might be a bit embarrassed if I didn't even take it, considering he does guest lectures for it." She pulled a face that was half amused and half a grimace, only semi-serious. "Anyway, it might not happen, depending on if I get good enough grades when we get our OWL results back." She wasn't really expecting to have done badly enough in DADA for them not to allow her on the course, but she almost hoped she had.

Lily looked again at her backpack, trying to remember what she did, in fact, have in there. "Well... money. Wand. My book, just in case. A bottle of water, an umbrella, for if it rains, a quill and parchment, in case I need to write something..." Maybe all those things were not strictly necessary, but it seemed to Lily that they were all potentially useful.

Quickly coming to the decision of banoffee, Lily turned back to Zaira as her friend finished deciding. "Yeah, I have my mum and dad. Plus Rose and Roxie were literally born on exactly the same day." She pulled a face at the question. "Weird friend, more like. But yeah, I'll tell you all about it in a minute." She turned to the guy behind the counter and ordered her ice cream, then handed over her money. Once she had the ice cream in her hand, she waited for Zaira, then headed back towards their table.

[Zaira Zabini]

Zaira pulled a face. She couldn't even imagine doing DADA at NEWT level. "You're crazy. Brilliant, but crazy," she said, shaking her head. "And you're definitely in, 'cause I can't even imagine a universe where you don't do well on all your OWLs." Zaira, on the other hand... Well, okay, she didn't think she'd done that badly. She couldn't disappoint her parents after all.

"Wand, right that's important, quill and parchment though? I suppose you've got ink in there too?" Admittedly, Lily was more sensible with what she chose to carry around. Zaira didn't even bring her wand to the outing. Sure, when she first got it, it never left her hand, but as she got older and realized she couldn't actually use it outside school, the charm of it wore off. Diagon Alley in the middle of the day was pretty much the safest place outside Hogwarts for a young witch to be, so Zaira didn't think she'd particularly need it. Still, it would have been nice to have it, just in case.

"Were they?" Zaira bit her lip, trying to recall the ages of Lily's cousins. "Same year too then, right? That's mental. Terrible for them though, having to share their birthdays and all." It must have been weird coming from such a close extended family. Zaira knew of her family, yes, but she didn't exactly get them all birthday presents.

She shifted her attention back to the ice cream counter and ordered. Fishing around her bag for the correct change, she said, "Weird, okay. This I definitely want to hear about." After exchanging her money for a bright red ice lolly, Zaira turned to follow Lily back to the table. She settled back into her seat and took a lick of the frozen delicacy. Just what she'd been waiting for. "Okay, so weird friend. Tell me."

[Lily Potter]

"Crazy, probably." Lily pulled a face back at her. "Brilliant - we'll see when our OWL results come in, maybe. I only chose it because I couldn't think of anything else to do."

"Well, obviously. The quill wouldn't be much use without ink. And you never know when you might need something to write with," she asserted. "I usually just take a Muggle pen with me, but I couldn't find one." She supposed you might say that she was slightly overprepared for a day out in Diagon Alley, but the thing was, Lily wasn't exactly naturally organised. She'd decided long ago that if you simply got into the habit of carrying everything around with you, then you couldn't find that you'd forgotten the one crucial thing. It didn't always work, of course, but she could pretty much guarantee that if she hadn't brought the umbrella, it would have clouded over and started to rain when they were half way down the Alley or something.

"Yeah, same year," she agreed. "Literally born on exactly the same day. Apparently it was quite an event. I don't think they mind though. At least, they've never said they mind. It's just expensive for the rest of us - and we've only just had Jamie's birthday a few weeks ago too."

Sliding into the seat opposite Zaira, she took a scoop of her icecream (she had elected for a cup and a spoon) and shook her head, remembering parts of the encounter. "Well, you might know him actually, I don't know. Sebastian Nott?" She didn't want to lump all purebloods in together and assume they all knew each other, but she knew that Zaira had grown up in pureblood circles. "He started off by spilling coffee on my book - though he did clean that up, to be fair. Then he decided he was going to stay and talk to me. He talks a lot," she finished, taking another spoonful.

[Zaira Zabini]

Zaira shrugged. "Fair enough. I expect you to tell me your results the minute they come in."

"True," she agreed. "I suppose if I wanted to write something down though, all I'd have to do is ask you." Really, Zaira couldn't think of a circumstance where she'd need to jot down information. But if she did... well, maybe Lily did have the right idea. "You'll have to let me see your muggle pens again sometime. My parents are so outdated and won't let me have one." Though it was a simple thing, Zaira found herself endlessly amused at the clicking that retracted the ink portion of muggle pens.

"I can imagine. Although, I suppose that means when your birthday comes around you're the one getting loads of stuff," she said, grinning.

Zaira took another lick and paused for a second. "Vaguely know him." She could picture what he looked like, but she couldn't recall ever having a lengthy conversation with him. But the more Lily spoke, the more she was glad she wasn't very acquainted with him. "Odd. What did he talk about? You know, besides his penchant for spilling coffee on young ladies' books."

[Lily Potter]

"I'm not even thinking about results yet," Lily said firmly, although this was not entirely true. "Let's not talk about them. They make me feel sick." She rolled her eyes good-naturedly at Zaira's fascination with pens - she still found herself surprised on occasion by the differences between even her family, all of them witches and wizards, and the real pureblood families. Lily didn't spend much time out of Wizarding areas herself, but things like pens were just part of normal life for her - she supposed it was thanks to her dad being brought up in the Muggle world. "I'll get you a ballpoint for Christmas," she said with a smile, shaking her head at Zaira.

"Yes," she agreed thoughtfully. "Maybe we should sort out some sort of system where instead of giving me so much for my birthday, they give me money that I can spend on their birthdays when they come round. Though that wouldn't really work," she added. "Mine's November, so I'd definitely have spent it by mistake by the next summer."

She thought for a moment, trying to remember all the different things Sebastian Nott had managed to talk about in the fairly short time they had spent together. "Mermaid costumes," she said at last. "And mermaid sex. And his own sex life. A lot about his own sex life. That was awkward, especially as a lot of it involved my relatives. And then he invited me to his birthday party."

[Zaira Zabini]

"Deal," Zaira said, happy to drop the subject. No use worrying about the results when there was nothing to be done about it. She grinned at the prospect of getting her own pen. "Really? Excellent. You know that's a terrible idea though, right? Just imagine, me, with my own clicky device. I'll drive everyone mad."

"That'd be a bit counter productive, honestly, but I suppose gifts are like that. Really, you give people gifts and then you expect them to return the favor when your birthday comes round so, in theory, you could stash that money somewhere and give it right back to them on their birthdays." She paused and scrunched up her nose as she wrapped her head around that. "That's stupid, sorry." Zaira laughed. She'd nearly confused herself with that one.

Zaira pursed her lips as Lily spoke and they just got more and more wrinkled as the story continued. "What? Merlin. How many of your relatives has he, er, shagged, for lack of a better word?" But then she realized that might have been a bit probing and back-pedalled. "I mean, if you don't want to relive that nightmare, don't tell me, but I do want to know about mermaid sex. And are you going to his party then?" Still, Zaira was insanely curious as to which of Lily's relatives (plural even, the scandal) had slept with Sebastian Nott.