Both Professor Marchands flickered across her mind when Emmaleigh suggested that it would be strange figuring out how to address her Professors now. "Alright, then Emmaleigh, it is," she said with a grin. She would make sure to address her as such. Meanwhile based on the suggestions... Oh yes, it would indeed be very strange. She didn't know how... Well she knew how. The whole thing would be overcoming that fear. Gaston and Roselyn. Instead of Professor Marchand and Professor Marchand. She could do that. It would take practice but she could figure it out. Laurel instead of Professor Vance? That felt all so strange. Perhaps one day it would become normal. "Sure, you can call me Vi," she grinned. It was Ace after all that gave her the nickname. She had gone by Ollie and Liv for the longest time at Beauxbatons but Ace and Mel had coined Vi and Owlie as nicknames. Vi had stuck. She liked it. As Ace had said, Vi as in Viola from A Midsummer Night's Dream. A nice play with Olivia as her given name. Wow. Emmaleigh was so kind. She liked her immensely and her mind started to think what it'd be like to know her more than just her boyfriend's mother... Mother in law popped into mind and then she slowly skedaddled away from that idea.

Wiseacre's? That was a interesting. She hadn't thought of it like that. "Good idea," she nodded. She paused, listening to Emmaleigh. "Wow, camping. Do you guys go camping often?' She had been camping a few times with her grandparents when she was younger but hadn't been there in a while. She def felt that a beach camping trip was a must vacation.

They continued into Florean's and continued speaking. Vi ordered a Lemondrop ice cream and Strawberry Jam. Delicious. And catching Ace on his way back? Now Vi wasn't ever going to say no to that because she ADORED him but...she hadn't said the L-word. That was scary. She nodded in agreement. "Yes, a courtyard would be perfect," she said as she took her small bowl out to the courtyard. "Thanks for the ice cream."

Em found herself nodding, glad she could call the young woman Vi. It made the redhead happy that Vi felt comfortable enough with her to let her use her nickname. It seemed like they were going to get along just fine.

“Yeah? I couldn't really think of anywhere else, though I guess there might be a recreational shop around here.” And if not, she was sure between Finchley, Sal, and the elves, someone would know where to get one, but that meant having someone else do something for her. That was a whole other issue there. She hated not being able to do things herself. It was pretty embarrassing really. “No, actually, its been forever, or at least real camping. I mean, magical tents don't really count as real camping, but I'll take what I can get.” she laughed. “But my best friend and I promised that we'd go camping a few years ago, and we are finally going with the whole family.” It really had been a long time in the coming. “What about you, do you ever go camping?”

Sitting in the shade of the umbrella, she ate a spoonful of the yummy ice cream. “It's my pleasure.” She looked out at the street that was fairly quiet do to all the school kids heading back to Hogwarts. It amused her, thinking of the look Ace would have on his face if he saw the two of them there chatting. He'd be so surprised, and probably be nervous, just like his dad. “So what brings you Diagon Alley today anyways?”

Wait. So Mrs. Salander --- err Emmaleigh -- went real camping as in Muggle style camping? Colour the girl very impressed. "Real camping? That should be fun," she nodded with a grin. Though some of her friends weren't really into camping as they preferred to stay at a fancy hotel with hair dryers and whatnot present. Vi didn't mind either. She liked camping trips as long as there was a lake or river nearby to go swimming in. "I do enjoy camping... I haven't been in ages." Wow. It really had been ages. Her father would take her and her brothers camping when her mother was ill. "I haven't been camping since I was eleven or twelve. I enjoyed it back then though it was never a big family event. It was something our Dad took us to do," she said, not really going into the details of her childhood. It had been painful for her but not as painful for her brothers. Simon and Marc had struggled more throughout their mum's illness because they had known her before. Vi felt... neutral towards her mother. Well she did in the end.

It was a strange sensation indeed.

But now was not the time to dwell in the past.... She took a spoonful of ice cream, quietening her fears, and took a moment to bring herself back. Diagon Alley? Hmm... "I was here doing a little shopping for my courses this upcoming semester. I needed to grab some books," she said as she touched her bag that rested on her chair. "I'm also going to the London Wizarding University with Ace. We're different majors. I'm hoping to become a wandmaker so I'm studying Charms, Divination, and Wandlore at school and then have an apprenticeship for the upcoming summer."

"What do you do for a living? If you don't mind me asking?" she asked as she spooned another delicious piece of ice cream into her mouth. Mmm..

The redhead couldn't help but laugh at the younger woman's words. “It would be so much fun. Unfortunately, I've been unable to convince my husband to really go out roughing it with me.” Seriously, Sal could be ridiculous sometimes. Like the fact that she was going to have to cast a ton of anti critter charms around their camping location. “But, with a wizarding tent, he's game, so its okay.” and with the tension between the two guys, she wasn't going to push her luck. “Oh, well you should come with us sometime then.” With special stipulations, because Mama will be mama after all. “I'm sure trips like that with your dad were always special.” She didn't know all of the other woman's history, but she could read people. Sensing the slight shift in Vi, Em reached out and gave her arm a pat to try to comfort her.

Eating her ice cream, she listened as Vi told her about the reason for her trip today, and about her plans for the future. “Wow, you seem to have things quite planned out.” she said, thinking about the plans she had had at the girl's age, and how drastically they had changed. It had been devastating at the time, but life had turned out to be amazing. She hoped it would be just as amazing for the kids, wherever life ended up taking them. “And wandmaking? That’s really impressive. What made you want to go into that? And you've already got an apprenticeship lined up? Will it be a local place or will you have to travel?”

“Oh, I don't mind at all.” Emmaleigh said beaming brightly at the question, before diving into talking about her work. “These days, besides spending a lot of my time running around after my girls, I mange all of our creature endeavors for our hotels.” And now she was sounding like she was talking to one of Sal's business associates. “Which covers a lot of different areas, but I don't want to bore you if you aren't that interested.” She found all the things she did fascinating, but she knew most people didn't so it was okay. “And I'm also working on writing a new books on magical creatures.”

After finishing up her ice cream and chatting with her friends, she still had some time to kill before heading back home. It was far too nice of a day to stay inside, so she made her way out to the courtyard. The late afternoon breeze was warm and carried the smells of summer with it.

She spotted an empty table towards the side of the seating area, and lugged her overflowing packages over to take a seat. Emmalyn was always amazed by how many unnecessary purchases she made while back to Hogwarts shopping. No, she really didn't need four new quills or the three extra Hufflepuff scarfs and hats. But, there was always the chance that one of her friends would be without and she loved to help.

The worst thing about being only fourteen was that even though her mother had money in the bank account for her education and Lorelei Stemp would likely make up the difference was that Maeve felt super guilty when she splurged. And yet how could she resist florean's ice cream on a hot summer day? The good thing was that going from third to fourth year, she didn't have too many extra expenditures.

With her small, one-scoop of ice cream, the blond made her way over towards a seating area in search of someone familiar. Perhaps one of the Emma D's or Anahera or Chase or Anna ... and yet not one of her Gryffindors was around? But oh, she recognized the girl sitting over there. Money, she could assume the girl had from looking at the bags on display with her. Perhaps she could ask the girl for an extra sickle so she could get a topping on her sundae.... Or at least just some company since she recognized the girl as the one who had her last name? And yet, as far as she knew, Millicent Walsh had no cousins and she was the only child?

"May I join you? Emmalyn, right?" Maeve asked, but not really asking cause she was probably going to sit anyway.

She didn't have to wait long before someone she recognized approached her table. The older, by only one year, Gryffindor had always seemed nice enough in class. It was a shame she hadn't gotten to know her better, but that was about to change. "Of course. Please sit." She gestured towards the empty chair. "Yes, Emmalyn. Or, Lyn, if you like." She was well aware her name could be a mouthful.

Feeling a bit odd since she wasn't eating any ice cream, she fiddled with the bracelet on her left wrist. "So, are you having a nice summer? I can't believe school will be starting soon." The summer was flying by and she was determined to have a better third year than her second year. Although, any year without being attacked by Inferi would be an improvement.

Her mind finally caught up with the situation and she realized that this was the other Walsh girl. She smiled and briefly wondered if they were maybe related in some way. Emmalyn was always trying to figure out how she came to be magical when she was born to two of the most obvious muggles on the planet.

Valencia was waiting in line with her Dad. It was time to meet up with her friend Harper from primary school and she was so excited! They'd become easy and fast friends thanks to their same last name.

"You don't have to sit with me." she told her dad. She was, afterall, ten years old. Ten year olds were old enough to sit with their friends at a different table while eating ice cream. Plus the two girls had a lot of things to discuss before Valencia's trip to Belize.

Drew had taken the longest time at the side of the counter to decide what flavour he wanted. He was caught between trying out the treacle tart flavour, because for a moment the dessert sounded really appealing, or going for his usual chocolate chip cookie dough. It was an intense mental debate with himself.

Until he ultimately decided to stay with the safe flavour and go for his usual. Chocolate chip cookie dough, it was. What if the treacle tart-flavoured ice cream didn't taste as good as the real dessert itself? It would just disappointment, as it was most of the time. Corned beef sandwich-flavoured ice cream? Those kinds of insane flavours made him highly doubtful. Besides, Drew wanted to make sure that his sickles worth of scoops were worth eating. Nothing could go wrong with his all-time favourite.

After a not-so quick stop at the toppings bar, Drew found himself a place in his own solitude outside the shop. His bowl of ice cream was rather overflowing with sprinkles--clumsy him had poured too much--that the real ice cream was buried inside it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Valencia was waiting in line with her Dad. It was time to meet up with her friend Harper from primary school and she was so excited! They'd become easy and fast friends thanks to their same last name.

"You don't have to sit with me." she told her dad. She was, afterall, ten years old. Ten year olds were old enough to sit with their friends at a different table while eating ice cream. Plus the two girls had a lot of things to discuss before Valencia's trip to Belize.

Waving to her parents as they dropped her off to meet Valencia. She held on the money that her mum had given her for the ice cream. This was the first time that her parents had dropped her off in a public place to meet a friend. Normally they came over to her house or she went over to theirs.

Feeling very adult like or not so much like a baby anymore she headed up to the line and ordered on her on. Now she had to go looking for Valencia. She wondered around for a bit eating her ice cream until she spotted her friend. ”Cia!” There she was. Plopping down across from the other girl. She waved to Mr. Phillips, you know since he was being the cool dad and not all up in their business.

Valencia wasn't as lucky as to get completely away from her dad. But at least her dad would be sitting far away once he brought her an ice cream.

"Harpie!" she greeted before taking a seat next to her friend. "How are you? How has your summer been? Did I tell you what I was doing this summer?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Valencia wasn't as lucky as to get completely away from her dad. But at least her dad would be sitting far away once he brought her an ice cream.

"Harpie!" she greeted before taking a seat next to her friend. "How are you? How has your summer been? Did I tell you what I was doing this summer?"

Harper was so so excited to get to hang out with Valencia. Maybe they can have a sleepover. That would be fun, she had only had sleepovers with her aunts, cousins and Zoe. She wiggled in her seat at she licked her cold ice cream

Ohhh So many questions. She would just wait until later to bring up the topic of a possible sleepover. Right now Cia had so many questions. She gave her friend a grin. ”I’m greatt! Summer is fun.” Did she know? But she missed getting to see her friends at school over the holidays. But summer meant she got to do more things with her family which she liked okay. ”Nooo… What are you doing?” She needed to know now. She couldn’t wait to hear what it was.

That was the thing, while she ADORED her dormmates plus Chase plus Kamryn (who was an honorary Gryffindor anyway), she knew from the latter that Hufflepuffs were definitely some of the most friendly lot Hogwarts had to offer. She smiled graciously at the younger girl as she even mentioned a nickname. "Which do you prefer? Emmalyn or Lyn?" Because she was well aware of name preferences, as she went by her middle name. "I'm Maeve, by the way." In case the girl hadn't picked up on it from lessons.

The blond shrugged at that question and comment. "I guess. It's honestly not too eventful. Just avoiding getting sunburned, or tan, for that matter. Avoiding reading as best as possible. Except for ... the letter I received last week." She glanced down at her scoop of ice cream, stirring it absently. Honestly, she had no idea what she wanted to do because she pretty much had grown used to living at the Stemp House. Even if she subconsciously knew this day would come, she wished it had come like four years ago. It might have been nice shopping for Hogwarts with a family member. She bit her lower lip. "My aunt apparently decided to resurface and wants to meet me." Why was she telling her this, who knew? Perhaps there was something trusting in Emmalyn's face.

Valencia accepted her ice cream excitedly from her dad and then motioned he could go sit far, far away. They were going to have grown up conversation time now.

She grinned and nodded, glad that her friend was having fun.

"I'm going to Belize." she said happily. "Anna's aunt is there working and my dad got it set up that I can go for a few weeks and observe a real life Mayan ruin!"

Wasn't that so cool?

"I've been reading about it and I'm excited to see it."

She had to think a moment. She'd almost always referred to herself by her full first name, Emmalyn. However, her friend Daisy like to call her Em, and the amazing woman that was basically her new mom, called her Lyn. "You know, I don't know which I prefer." She giggled a little bit. It felt funny saying she didn't know what she liked her name to be. "I guess Emmalyn is fine, but I'll answer to any of them."

"Avoid reading? Oh, I love reading. I can't seem to get my hands on enough books, or quidditch magazines. I play as well." She nodded and subconsciously rubbed her still healing arm. "I hope I get to play on the team again this year, but I'll have to see what the doctors say. I might have to sit out this year." It really wasn't that bad to have to sit out, but she'd rather play. It could have been much worse, like Daisy, who would never be able to play again.

"What sort of letter did you get?" Her curiosity was piqued. "Oh, from your Aunt? You haven't ever met her before?" She reached out to give Maeve a comforting pat on the shoulder, but stopped part way. She wasn't sure if the older girl would like it or not. They weren't exactly friends and she didn't want to make her feel awkward.

On a hot summers day nothing was better than a bowl of yummy ice cream. Especially after shopping for hours on end. Not only did her feet actually hurt, which wasn't something that was common for her but her face was flushed from the summer sun and her shoulders might have been getting slightly sunburned. She really should put on some more sunscreen soon. Like right after she found a place to sit and enjoy her tasty treat.

With her charmed bag on her shoulder, pet rat Neptune on the other shoulder tucked up against her neck and bowl of strawberry ice cream topped with whipped cream, sprinkles and cherry she looked around for an empty table.

A wide smile formed on the Gryffindor's lips when she spotted not an empty table but two of her friends from school sitting together. Rylee made her way over to their table greeting them both with a wave even as she spoke. "Maeve, Emmalyn! Hi!"

Maeve continued to stir her bit of melted ice cream absently, watching as the Hufflepuff considered her preference. She smiled. "Emmalyn it is, then." She grinned.

The fourteen year old snorted as the girl went on about reading and she did wonder why she might not get to play. Had she gotten injured from those attacks that Kamryn had told her about? No one died, but honestly, Maeve had ZERO idea how bad it actually was down on the grounds that night and while it seemed everyone was quiet at the feast, she hadn't the slightest inkling that it had anything to do with the attacks. She just assumed it was related to end of year things. Almost made her feel guilty for missing out on the action, but maybe ... not knowing ... was better? "Yea. I just ... I'm not really much a reader. My attention can't stay focused that long." She laughed, but then fell quiet again as the conversation moved back to about the letter. She wasn't going to bring up about her injuries; might be traumatic.

Until a younger Gryffindor - who was Emmalyn's age actually?? - approached their table. "Oh hey, Rylee." Right. Back to the letter. "Yea never met her. She's been in Egypt. I've seen pictures and like my mum used to tell me stories about her and how she looked up to her... but i guess, she was just ... she's apparently my guardian. Or was supposed to be, but authorities couldn't really track her down?" she shrugged. "But she's back and I ... I guess she wants to take ownership of my care and I'm not really sure why."

While they spoke, she caught sight of her friend and waved back. "Hi, Rylee! It's great to see you." She motioned to the empty chairs. "Please, sit with us. Maeve was telling me about a letter she got this summer." She was sitting on the edge of her seat, waiting to hear all about it.

"Your aunt is your guardian? I guess that means your parent are...? " She trailed off a bit, not sure if she should say the word or not. She knew what it felt like to not have parents around anymore. Although, her parents hadn't died, they just didn't want her any longer. "So, she's back. Do you think you will go and meet her?" She thought for a moment about what that might be like. "I could go with you, if you don't want to do it alone." Emmalyn could do that. She could be a sort of buffer between the two.

"How's your summer going, Rylee? Anything neat happening?" She glanced at her shoulder "Hey, Neptune." Emmalyn wasn't sure how she felt about the pet rat, but Rylee seemed to like him.

"It's great to see you both too! I hope you're having a nice summer?" Rylee smiled warmly the words spoken ringing truer than ever. A lot of people had been injured and others rather traumatized due to last terms events, herself included. All she wanted to know was that each of her friends were recovering the best they could. It was all anyone could ask for. At the offer to sit with them she nodded slipping down onto the empty chair. "Thanks!"

Having missed a portion of the conversation between Emmalyn and Maeve, Rylee remained quiet. It sounded like Maeve was going through a rough time. She didn't exactly know either of the girls living situations and she wasn't about to ask. If they wanted her to know she would be told. This was the perfect time to busy herself with eating her ice cream which is exactly what she was doing. Mmm sweet creamy tasty strawberry goodness.

"Mm, it's going alright. I've been keeping myself super busy." The more things she had to do the less time she had to think about the inferi attacks or the nightmares she still had from it. Rylee smiled widely as Emmalyn greeted Neptune. The rat was her buddy for sure even if she knew not everyone was found of rats. "How's your summer going?" Blue eyes moved from one girl to the other indicting she was speaking to them both.

Quote:

Originally Posted by LilFox06

Valencia accepted her ice cream excitedly from her dad and then motioned he could go sit far, far away. They were going to have grown up conversation time now.

She grinned and nodded, glad that her friend was having fun.

"I'm going to Belize." she said happily. "Anna's aunt is there working and my dad got it set up that I can go for a few weeks and observe a real life Mayan ruin!"

Wasn't that so cool?

"I've been reading about it and I'm excited to see it."

Hehe now that all the parentals were away, the two girls could get down to their own adult conversation. They were total little adults now at 10.

She was about to take a big lick of ice cream while she listened to Cia talk. ”Belize?!?!” In a very very loud and squeaky voice. It was a good thing that they were eating ice cream. Because had she been taking a drink she probably would have spit it out. And what wasn’t very adult like.

”When are you going? Tell me about everything you have read about it.” She wanted to hear all about it before and after. It just sounded so cool and her friend was so lucky to get to go there.

Valencia nodded excitedly. "BELIZE!" she repeated. "I've never been there before. I've been to Mexico though to visit Anna."

She helped herself to some ice cream during the slight pause in conversation.

"In a few weeks." she said nodding. "I've read a lot of things. Do you want to hear about the animals there? Or what grows there? Or places to see? Or the history?" Because she. read. it. all.

Despite having stocked up on all of his supplies and purchased all necessary new books already, he was here again. Diagon Alley wasn't exactly one of Max's favourite places to be but it sure beat the Carden residence. Especially in recent days. He'd begrudgingly put up with it all at first, but there were only so many hair ruffles and hugs he could handle and he'd reached his limit pretty fast.

So yeah, he'd made an escape.

And now here he was, trying his hardest to ignore the hustle and bustle around him and just enjoy his own company. Well... and the company of an obscenely enormous lemondrop sundae. The local cafe in Falmouth REALLY needed to start stocking up on this flavour.

FOR REAL.

He had only meant to get a small cone of treacle fudge ice cream but then he'd spotted Max from inside the shop and had decided that, well, since he was here, he might as well eat three different scoops of ice cream, right? So, in conclusion, Cameron Tamesis was now holding a cake bowl filled with lots of ice cream. He deserved it after OWLs and Quidditch and everything.

At least that's what he was telling himself.

"Max." Cam greeted his friend with a smile as he slid into the seat across from him. "Can I join you?" Technically, yes, he already HAD joined him but he assumed they were close enough for Max to just tell him to bugger off if he was meeting someone else. Or if he wanted to be alone. Either of the two options, Cam would wholeheartedly understand. Anyway, hello.

He hadn't been here long, but he was almost halfway done with his sundae already. It wasn't nearly as good when it turned into a slurpy soupy mess so the key was to try and scoff it down as quickly as possible. That was no mean feat because the brain freeze was a struggle.

And the brain freeze decided to rear it's ugly head juuuuuust as Cam popped up out of nowhere.

"Uhhhhhhghhh..." Max grimaced and rubbed at his temple, while simultaneously trying to nod and let his friend know that yeah it was completely fine to join him. Just having a moment here, totally cool. Totally cool.

Uhm.



What did that mean?

Max was giving him somewhat mixed signals but there was also nodding so he took that as being allowed to stay? "You alright?" Cam's face fell a little, brows knit together to form a small frown. He set down his ice cream on the table and leaned over towards Max a little. Err. Did he need help???????