Ice Lollies {Lily Potter}

[Lily Potter]

((OOC - I did not see that you'd replied to this, I'm sorry!))

"Well, okay, I'll get you one with a cap instead of a clicky thing," Lily suggested with a laugh. "Probably not as exciting though... And if you want Muggle devices, my cousin Louis's the one to ask. He has loads."

"That still sounds simpler than trying to buy gifts for all my family members." Lily shook her head. "Have you seen how many cousins I have? I mean, I love them all, but it gets a bit ridiculous." She supposed that not everyone bought presents for every single one of their close relatives, but the Weasley/Potter family had always been so close that it would seem weird not to. She missed the days when she'd been little enough just to put her name on the tag of whatever her parents were buying the various cousins.

"Well, I think actually, only one," she told Zaira. "I mean, he tried to tell me he'd also slept with Albus but I was pretty sure he was joking, and I asked Al just to be sure." She grinned faintly - she had mostly brought it up with Albus to see his reaction. Which reminded her, she still needed to talk to James. "He also tried to tell me he was sleeping with Lorcan - you know, Lorcan Scamander? And then all these weird fantasies he had about James. Which I think he was joking about. I hope he was joking," she added fervently, then smiled mischievously. "I still have to ask Jamie about that, though..."

"I don't know." She shrugged as she dug into her ice cream. "Maybe. Addie said she was going because Ainsley Rickett invited her. But she'll be hanging out with Ainsley all evening, and I doubt if they'll want me tagging along really. I would invite you, but I don't really know the Notts well enough to just randomly invite people to their party. I could always tell Al to invite you though - he's Seb's best friend, so it'd be alright for him."

[Zaira Zabini]

"Yeah, that's not fun," Zaira agreed, pulling a face. "Has he got something more exciting than television? I bet he doesn't. I wish my parents let me have one of those." For the life of her, Zaira couldn't understand why she could listen to the wireless but not watch television. And why hadn't wizards invented something as cool as that?

Zaira tried to mentally count all of Lily's relatives that she knew of, but ended up losing count. "How many do you have?" she asked. "I think there should be a rule that if it's more than ten you are exempt from getting them birthday presents."

All of the people Lily mentioned Sebastian sleeping with were male, which made Zaira slightly uncomfortable. She hadn't known he was... that way and frankly couldn't imagine looking at him the same way after knowing he was. But, hang on, did that mean Lily's brothers were also gay? Zaira tried not to look shocked by the way the conversation was going. "Oh, well, that's really... odd." She struggled for something better to say, something that would show she was totally fine with this subject. She was progressive, unlike her parents. Maybe. "Especially if he told you all of this in public."

"Well, if you were going for sure, I'd go." Though Zaira was a little bit unsure about that after all she'd been told. "Is it worth asking for an invite though? I mean, it's not going to be weird or something?"

[Lily Potter]

"I'm not sure he has a television," Lily said thoughtfully. "But I know he has one of those computer things, and I think he watches television programmes and films and things on it. But a lot of the things he gets, he takes to pieces to see how they work." She personally wasn't that interested in Muggle gadgets. Of course, she could see how a lot of them were useful, but she'd never felt the need to own them herself.

"Depends what you call relatives," she answered. "My close family though... I've got nine cousins, five uncles, four aunts - well, I suppose technically three now, since Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey aren't together any more - plus two brothers, Mum and Dad, and Grandma and Granddad. I don't get birthday presents for all the individual aunts and uncles though," she added. "I leave that to Mum and Dad." She looked curiously at Zaira, suddenly realising that she didn't know a huge amount about the rest of Zaira's family. "Do you have any cousins? First cousins, I mean." Like the rest of wizarding society, she assumed that Zaira was distantly related to most other pureblood families.

She nodded, digging into her ice cream again. "Yeah, it was kind of awkward, to be honest. I mean, you just had to laugh, because he wasn't actually serious about any of it. Except sleeping with Molly - I think that actually happened. In, like, third year, or something." Lily wrinkled her nose. "Which is just gross. And I didn't really want to know - especially not in the middle of the Tamarisk Tree. I mean, I don't even know him!"

"Well, if you were going for sure, I'd go for sure." Lily laughed. "I think it'll probably be a big crazy party and most people'll get really drunk - I've heard Al and some of my cousins talking about them before. It's not really my scene, but I guess it could be fun?"

[Zaira Zabini]

Zaira's face lit up at the mention of computers. She had first heard about these in Muggle Studies and had been fascinated ever since. Of course she could never own one while she still lived with her parents, but she was keen to get one as soon as she lived on her own. "Oooh, you think he would let me see the computer? I've only ever read about them and the textbook was dreadfully boring. Does he have the, erm, net thing?" She couldn't recall the exact word, but she knew there was some sort of a net that allowed Muggles to get information instantly.

"How do you even keep track?" she mused. The sheer number of Lily's relatives was enough to make her head spin. "Me? Yeah. I've got three. All boys. I don't talk to them much, really. None of them are that close to my age and Mum's not crazy about having them over to wreck our house anyway. Mum takes care of the presents for all of them though." She grinned, glad she didn't have to scramble to buy things for a bunch of boys she wasn't particularly close to.

"Wait, Molly was in third year?" Zaira's mouth dropped open and some of her ice lolly dribbled onto her hand. She licked it away, still looking scandalized. "So they were thirteen?" Wow. Zaira new people did... that in their teenage years, but thirteen was just barely teenaged. "I'm glad I wasn't there, sounds awful." It was fun to get the dirt on what had happened, but it would have been unbearably awkward in real life.

"Hmm." She considered it, sucking on the end of her lolly. "I've never been drunk before, have you? I mean, if we went, I think I'd want to try it, so I'm just wondering." It was an idle comment, but Zaira couldn't help but think about how much trouble she'd be in if she got drunk.

[Lily Potter]

"Probably." Lily considered this. "I mean, you're a Hufflepuff and he's always going on about how Hufflepuffs are the best people. You should ask him - he'll probably love to tell you all about it, and how it works and how to use it. You might not be able to get him to shut up, actually," she added, thinking of her cousin once he got started on Muggle things. "The internet thing? I don't know. It's Louis, so probably. You'll have to as him."

"I keep them written down in a notebook and check it every time I need to use one of their names," she joked. "Obviously not really. I don't know, I s'pose I'm just used to it. Really?" she went on, trying to think whether she knew any cousins of Zaira's. "Are they younger than you or older? Do they go to Hogwarts?" From the description, it sounded like they were younger, but Lily knew that people didn't necessarily have to be small children to wreck houses - she had her brothers and cousins as living proof.

"I know right!" Lily nodded sympathetically, glad that at least someone shared her opinions on having sex at thirteen. "I mean, I knew Molly had, y'know, done stuff like that. But not that long ago. And I'm glad I wasn't there either - however old they were!" She looked slightly revolted. "I mean, I wouldn't want to be there when anyone had sex, ever. That's gross, Zaira."

She shook her head. "Nope. And I don't think I'd want to either. I mean, I might drink something, but not enough to get drunk."

[Zaira Zabini]

"Well, Hufflepuffs are the best people," Zaira replied, tossing back her mane of curls with a haughty flourish. "Hmm, maybe I will ask him, especially if he's got the... internet." The word was strange on her tongue but that didn't dampen her curiosity.

Zaira laughed at the joke. Bad as it sounded, she could imagine doing just that if she had so many relatives. As it was, she had a hard time keeping the names of her cousin straight. "They're all younger. The youngest's just about to go to Hogwarts, I think." She paused to do the maths in her head. "Yeah, he's 11 this year. The other two are in Slytherin, obviously." The fact that Zaira herself wasn't in Slytherin was no longer an issue with her immediate family, but she couldn't help but wonder what would happen if her younger cousin didn't get into their coveted house.

Even though they were in agreement that sex at thirteen was totally unacceptable, Zaira could't help but feel a bit lame that she'd never even been kissed. But, there was still time. Loads of time, even. Although, if she left Hogwarts and never kissed anyone, well, she'd be a bit disappointed.

She had to laugh at their misunderstanding. "No!" she insisted through her giggles. "I meant I wouldn't have liked to have been there with you in the Tamarisk Tree! Merlin, Lily, I'm not into that sort of thing."

"Hmm, so if I did get drunk you would make sure I got home?" Zaira teased, though she might have been a tiny bit serious. She'd sipped her parent's wine before, but never enough to make her feel anything. It would have been... interesting to see what happened if she were to drink any more.