After School Year Treat

"Can I have one scoop of strawberry and one scoop of vanilla with whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, and maraschino cherries on top please?"

"Sure."

"Thanks!" Kyra said happily. It had been quite a long time since she had ice cream or anything of the sort. Her mum and dad were at home and they gave her permission to go to Diagon Alley for a treat.

The bowl of ice cream sat on the counter, just waiting to be savored. Picking it up and sitting down at a table, Kyra took a spoon and scooped up those first delicious bites of ice cream. She closed her eyes, savoring the flavors. She only opened them when she was interrupted by someone sitting down at her table.

Liz hesitated, bag of games over her shoulder. She had raised enough 'payment' from waitressing at her parents' restaurant that she could buy some ice cream, but she wasn't quite sure what she wanted yet. Besides, she might need books for second year--the key word being might. Since she'd shown up halfway through the year, she wasn't sure if she'd passed the exams to make it to second year. That was the exact reason she needed ice cream--to melt the stress away.

Almost immediately after pondering the choice of creamy delight, she spotted a girl about her age with the most delicious-looking ice cream cone she'd ever seen; her mouth watered at the sight. She instantly made her way through the tables to the girl and, after a moment of hesitation, sat down on the chair. The linoleum cooled her, as it was a rather warm day; she found herself blushing as the girl turned to look at her. "'Scuse me," she muttered, "but what kind of ice cream is that? It looks delicious."

"'Scuse me, but what kind of ice cream is that? It looks delicious," muttered the girl who sat down next to Kyra.

"Oh, I just got my usual. It's strawberry and vanilla and really good," she smiled. "I'm Kyra."

Leaning back in her chair, she scooped up some more of the wonderful, amazing ice cream. Why the heck did it have to taste so good? "What's your name?" she asked before putting the spoon in her mouth.

She smiled gratefully at Kyra, watching her lick the ice cream. The way she was savoring it made Liz drool at the mouth, and she had to shake herself and remind herself that she needed to buy some. "I'm Liz," she greeted with a half smile. "I've seen you around school, haven't I? With those two boys...you're a Hufflepuff, right?"

She was torn between deserting the small talk to buy her own ice cream and returning, chatting with her for a while, or stealing the delectable treat and running for her life. She couldn't seem to stop herself from staring at the food; it looked so good.

"I think I've seen you too. Yeah, I'm in Hufflepuff with Pierre and Sid," she answered Liz. "I'm pretty sure I saw you with Ravenclaws. Are you one?"

From the way Liz was looking at her ice cream, she assumed that the girl was almost literally dying. "I can go get you one if you want. I have my allowance," she offered. "What ice cream and toppings do you want?"

"Oh, I've heard of them," she agreed, trying not to laugh. She had heard that Pierre wasn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer, but decided against saying it for fear of annoying her new friend. "That's me," she agreed, chest swelling with pride. The thoughts of her house momentarily distracted her from the creamy treat--the kind people in it, the wonderful head of house and, of course, the large library in the commons area. "Not to sound biased, but it's a great house--the people are nice, there's a lot of space, and you wouldn't believe the books." She dreamily put her arm on the table. "So many cheat codes that I discovered..."

She was abruptly startled out of the dream when Kyra spoke. "Oh, that's alright," she assured her, starting and practically up-ending her chair in her haste. She quickly sat back down for fear of attracting attention, but continued in her speech. "I have money. I'm just not sure what to order..." she hesitated, having a rather frustrating mental debate. She could hand the girl the money and ask to get Liz what she was having, but that would be not only rude but dangerous; yes, the girl was nice (she was a Hufflepuff, after all), but she could be a robber of some type. Eventually, she came to a conclusion. "If it's not too much trouble, would you come up to the counter with me? I'm not quite sure what I should get."

"You don't sound biased at all. I have friends in Ravenclaw and they're the best."

Her eyes widened as Liz jumped up from her chair and sat again. "I'm sorry, but what was that about? Oh, okay. I was going to buy you a cone, but all right."

"If it's not too much trouble, would you come up to the counter with me? I'm not quite sure what I should get."

"Sure, it's no trouble at all." Kyra stood up and led her new friend to the counter. "See, they have blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, chocolate, vanilla, banana, all sorts of flavors." Then she decided to go off topic. "What were those things in that bag you had? I don't think I've ever seen them. They look really cool."

"Great." A grin broke out onto her face. "Glad you're not annoyed with me."

She blushed at her minor freak-out. "Sorry," she apologized, tapping her fingers against her thigh nervously. "I didn't mean to act weird. Just a force of habit, really."

"Thanks so much!" she grinned, walking up alongside her until they reached the counter. As Kyra explained the choices, she hummed softly in indecision. After hesitantly reading the choices over a hundred times, she asked, "What do you suggest? You probably know the best flavor better than me."

She blinked at the girl before looking into her bag, blinking in surprise; she'd forgotten about it. "These?" she replied with a frown. "Just my game consoles. My Nintendo DSi, my PSP, my Netbook, and my cell phone. The rest are just the video games I play on them." She pointed to each item as she spoke and, when finished, shrugged; it wasn't new to her. Though she supposed that if she was a pureblood she wouldn't know, this girl didn't seem quite like that.

"Personally, I like the butterbeer one best. I don't get it often because my mum won't let me and I don't know why," she said, rolling her eyes at the somewhat distant memory. She still remembered everything, though it had been so long ago.

She stared doe-eyed at the...game consoles? Was that what Liz called them? "Whoa. Do you think I could try one of them out? One of your games and game consoles?" Honestly, Kyra couldn't understand why she was so amazed. They were muggle inventions, weren't they? Why hadn't her dad showed them to her? Oh well, she thought. I'll ask him later.

"Alright," she agreed happily, turning to the man behind the counter, bag swinging as she turned. "One butterbeer flavored in a cone, please." She eagerly took the creamy delight he offered her, taking a large bit that filled her mouth with the blessed taste. "Oh my gosh, that's delicious!" she cheered, salivating even as she licked it.

She blinked at Kyra's request but nodded, shrugging. "We should probably sit down, then," she agreed, licking at her delicacy happily. As they walked back to the table, she frowned and interrogated her. "So what console do you want to use and what game do you want to play? If you want the PSP or the Notebook then we can get on the internet, but I'm not sure how good the wireless is out here..." she squinted at the sky as though sizing it up before sitting down. "So, what'll it be?"

Kyra followed Liz to the table, smiling. She'd given the girl ice cream flavor advice, if that's what you could call it, and was now going to play a game. All in all, it seemed like a nice day. Liz was...interesting. Nice, but interesting.

"I think I'll use-" she pointed to the console that looked like a pink box. "The DSi? What games do you have? You know, you can just pick for me. I don't know anything about these."

She had to admit that she was excited. It was a new experience, wasn't it? New experiences are fun. Well, most of them are, anyway.

Liz licked her ice cream a few more times before dragging her DSi out of its case and placing it on the table. She grinned at the smiling girl, surprised that she didn't know much about the Nintendo console. She shifted through her bag and, eventually, pulled out two seperate games. She looked at each of them in turn before shrugging.

"I picked these out randomly," she declared, pointing to each case. "That one's 358/2 Day. It's fun, but it has a lot of cutscenes and the story line is kind of complicated. That one's Mario Bros., which is one of the most popular and overused games out there. I have a Pokemon game in the bag if you watch that show"--she pointed at the bag--"and there's a recording station and a camera on the console. Choose whichever one you like."

Liz hoped she had made things simple enough, because it was impossible to judge what game people would like when you'd only known them for a few moments. Kyra was nice, but Liz didn't know much about her yet. Speaking of which..."Say," she commented off-handedly, "if you don't mind, what's your blood status? Because most muggle born and some half bloods would know this stuff..." though I doubt as well as me, she thought with a half chuckle.

"Cool," Kyra said with slight dreaminess. She poked the Mario Bros. case. "I'll play this one."

She gently lifted the case as if it would break when touched. She opened it and saw a little square-thingy. She pulled it out and looked at it. Placing it in the slot, she pushed the "on" slider up. The light turned green and she giggled. She felt slightly stupid, but come on. This was exciting to her.

Pulling out the stylus, she tapped the screen, sending her to the home screen for the game. "Whoa..."

"...If you don't mind, what's your blood status?"

"Oh, I'm a halfblood. My dad's a muggle-born and my mum's a halfblood too. How 'bout you?" she said with a smile. "How do I play this?" The game looked fun, but she wasn't sure how to use it.

"Great," she nodded in agreement to her choice. Mario had been around for so long, it was a great way to learn how to play. She watched as Kyra clicked the game into place and squealed, and a fleeting grin passed her face. It was so much fun to watch someone do this for the first time...

"Half-blood, too," she agreed with a smile. "But in a different way--my mum was a muggle and dad was a pureblood." The Mario Bros. theme came on, interrupting her new friend's speech; she struggled to hear her and, after a moment, turned the volume down. She grinned at Kyra; this would be fun.

(OOC:15 minutes later)

Liz watched as Kyra went through the Mario game, and she was proud of herself; she hadn't stolen the DSi and played herself. It was strange, though--she wasn't used to people letting her talk about games, much less listen eagerly. It was new and it felt good.

"Hey," she frowned, a sudden thought occuring to her. "Do you have a time to leave or something? I don't want to make you late."

Kyra was having so much fun with this game. It was surprising how much she loved it. "This is awesome!"

"Do you have a time to leave or something? I don't want to make you late," she heard Liz say to her. She paused the game and and looked up.

"Not really. I have a curfew and my parents let me stay out until then. I need to be home at six-thirty and it's only three." She grinned at Liz. "Stop frowning. It takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile. And anyway, you look nice when you smile. It helps with making friends."

She looked back down at the game and resumed playing. She didn't want to hog it, but it was too fun.

About five minutes later, she paused the game again and handed it to her friend. "Here, I think I've had enough gaming for one day. You look like you want to play too."

Liz half-smiled at Kyra's excitement. It was always fun to start a new game, and it was just as much fun to watch people play it. The pure bliss of starting a video game was absolutely amazing, and it was a great experience.

The Hufflepuff frowned and looked up and, upon hearing her reply, she groaned. "Everyone else I know gets to stay out later then me," she muttered. 5 compared to 6 was so incredibly unfair. But you have a job, she reminded herself before returning to the conversation.

She blinked at the assessment of her face. She thought for a moment, and then came up with what was possibly the biggest and cheesiest grin in all of history. She immediately toned it down, though a tiny smile remained at her own silliness. "I'll try harder to smile, then," she mused, smiling at her friend. Smiling, she could handle. Grinning was another story. "Why do you smile so much?"

She blinked at the offer. "Are you sure?" she replied hesitantly. "You look like you're having a lot of fun, and I'm having fun watching you." She didn't want to hurt someone's gaming experience; besides, she'd probably look like a show off.

"Don't worry about it. I think that your parents just want you to be home so you aren't out doing anything that could hurt you."

She watched Liz try out her smiles; a huge grin, one that reminded her of the ones Sid gave her in the Common Room that one night, and then a little smile. "Why do you smile so much?"

"Well, I smile a lot because there was a time where I almost never did and I just shunned everyone and everything. It was horrible. I know my sister wouldn't want me to go back to that," she said absentmindedly before covering her mouth. Everything just seemed to go back to Shelly. "Plus, smiling lets me connect with other people, sort of."

"Yeah, I'm sure. It's fine. I'll watch you play and see how I'm doing compared to you. You'll probably do much better, but why not?"

"Yeah, maybe..." she made a face. It was either that or the fact that her parents were overprotective and made her wait tables. Yes, it helped the business, but it was still stupid. "I'm probably not going to do anything that could hurt me, though. I'm smart enough to know what to do and what not to."

Liz was, of course, curious. She had talked about her sister and being shunned and then just cut off? Anyone would be interested. But she didn't press the subject, reasoning that if she didn't want to talk about it, she didn't have to. "That sounds depressing," she blinked. Then she smiled again--a small one, like before. "Well, at least you're smiling now, right?"

"At least save your game," she insisted, handing it back to Kyra. If they stayed in touch, she wouldn't want her to lose all of that progress. "I promise that I'll play, okay?" She felt another smile twitching at her lips and had to stop the urge to fight it. Smile. Relax.

"Good. You seem really smart. Well, duh! You are in Ravenclaw, after all."

"That sounds depressing."

"Believe me, it was," she replied. "Yeah, I guess the past is behind me and today is all that matters."

Liz handed her DSi back to Kyra, insisting that she save her game. "Alright."

She tapped the screen again and handed it back. Liz's smile was making her swell with pride. She had actually made a difference, kind of. It felt good. "As long as you do."

Liz laughed. "Thanks for the compliment. You're pretty nice." She was having fun--she actually enjoyed talking to Kyra. That was new, and it was pretty cool to feel comfortable with someone.

"Yeah," she nodded, getting the feeling that they were dragging this subject out. "Why wallow in old memories when you can make new ones?"

She smiled as Kyra saved her game; she looked so proud. It was rather funny, but the true fun began when she was given back the game. This was her element. "Of course." She agreed carelessly before starting. The little rationality left reminded her not to show off; she promptly ignored it and started playing.

Kyra scooted over to sit directly next to Liz. She was amazed to find that the girl was really good at the game; a lot better than she had been. She felt a tiny spark of jealousy but made nothing of it. Obviously, Liz had had a lot more time to play than she had.

"Liz, you're awesome! Really good playing! How do you do the jumping on the turtle thing? Whoa! Coins!" she exclaimed. Her new friend would probably think that she was being stupid, but what the hey.

As soon as Liz saw the spark of jealousy in Kyra's eyes, she felt incredibly guilty. Show off, she scolded herself, immediately trying to tone down her skills. She wasn't going to show off, she wasn't going to show off, she wasn't going to show off...

She was gratefully distracted from her internal struggle by Kyra's question. Turning to her friend (though continuing to play, hoping to maybe lose a couple and lives and prove that she wasn't that good, she answered, "Thanks! Um...you jump once to get it down, and then jump again and it knocks the other out." She grinned at her fascination with the coins. "Yeah, those are your...money? They don't really have a purpose, but they're fun to get." She returned to her game and, after a few more minutes of playing, paused. "Do you want to play something else now? I've got a couple other games, or we could go do something active. I really don't mind."

Kyra nodded her thanks to Liz's explanations. "No purpose? Hm. It gives me some purpose, though I have no idea why."

"I've got a couple other games, or we could go do something active. I really don't mind," Liz said after pausing the game. Kyra had to think a little bit, screwing up her face before saying, "Do you want to go to the park? They have a really nice lake you can actually swim in."

Lifting herself up from the chair, she stretched and yawned, thinking about the possible fun they'd have if Liz said yes.

She nodded in agreement with the statement; the rings were there for a reason, but at the same time, not. "It's complicated," she agreed.

She pondered the girl's suggestion, frowning in indecision. "Normally I would agree," she replied, "but seeing as I don't have a bathing suit and I doubt there are many shops here, I'm not quite sure." She beamed at her for a moment. "If you could find any, though, that'd be fantastic!"

Swimming...she hadn't done that in a while. It'd be nice to get back in the water again.

"Well, there's always Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. It's really fun there," she replied. "Unless you've already gone, of course. But it's always fun the second time too."

Kyra yawned and stretched a bit. It had been a while since she'd gone out on her own, and she was loving it. Everything seemed so different when she was without her parents; more exciting, more fun, more adrenaline rushes. She waited for Liz's reply, hoping she didn't sound very stupid. She still didn't know whether or not her friend would judge her on that.