"Hi!" Hermione greeted Lily upon entry to the room.
"Hey Hermione." Lily replied.
Fred and George dropped her trunk off before apperating away. Hermione rolled her eyes.
"They've been doing that since I got here." She said.
"Yeah, they love to pop up out of nowhere and scare people out of their wits." Lena agreed.
"At least they feel slightly bad about doing it to you two." Ginny said, flopping down onto her bed, "But I'm their sister, so apparently that means they get to scare me as much as they want, guilt free!"
Lena laughed so Ginny stuck her tongue out at her.
"But anyways, how was your summer?" Ginny asked.
"It was okay." Lily said, "Not like Hogwarts."
"I'm sorry your family doesn't treat you right." Hermione said, placing a hand on Lily's shoulder.
"Could be worse." Lily shrugged, thinking back to Aunt Marge before shaking herself out of her thoughts, "Well what about you guys?"
"It was pretty good." Hermione said, "I got to see my parents before coming here."
"That's great." Lily smiled.
"This was pretty much my entire summer." Ginny said, gesturing around the room, "Cleaning out this old house and praying Fred and George don't give me a heart attack!"
Lily laughed a little before turning to the last girl.
"What about you, Lena?" She asked.
"Um, it's been pretty good." Lena said, "Just helping mum and dad out, and staying here."
Ginny giggled, and Lena blushed.
"What?" Lily asked, not knowing why Hermione and Ginny were giving Lena those looks.
"Well, we think Lena's got a secret crush!" Hermione exclaimed.
Lena groaned and buried her face into a pillow on her bed.
"Really?" Lily asked, interested.
"She's been writing them all summer." Ginny noted.
"Aww, who is it?" Lily asked.
"No one!" Lena's muffled voice protested.
"Oh come on, Lena, we won't tell the boys!" Hermione promised.
Ginny stood up and stole Lena's pillow.
"Nooooooo!" Lena said, blushing madly, "I don't have a secret crush!"
"Then who have you been writing?" Ginny asked.
"My friends." Lena said.
"Really? And what's going on with Neville, Luna, and Deci that's soooooooo riveting, you exchange a billion letters daily?" Ginny asked.
"Oh hush!" Lena said, but she blushed even more.
"What house are they in?" Hermione teased.
"No house!"
"Oh, so they're a muggle?" Ginny said.
"No!"
Lily and the other girls laughed at Lena before eventually she began laughing too.
"You guys are the worst!" Lena said.
"You love us dearly." Ginny corrected.
"Ugh, why do you know everything?"
"That's not me, that's 'Mione." Ginny said.
Hermione blushed now.
"Thanks, but that's not true." She dismissed.
"You're a bloody genius." Lena said, causing her to laugh.
"Well someone had to get Harry and Ron through the past four years of school!" Hermione joked.
"She says that to be funny," Ginny said, "But it's actually true."
"What?" Hermione asked.
"My brother would be dead, at least four times over if it weren't for you." Ginny said.
"Mine too." Lily agreed before pausing, "Don't tell Harry I said that!"
Hermione laughed.
"I won't." She said.
"Oh! One other thing happened this summer!" Ginny remembered.
"What?" Lily asked.
"I started talking to Dean Thomas." She said.
"Really?" Lily said.
"Yeah, and we aren't dating yet, but I'm pretty sure by the time we get to school, we'll make it official." Ginny said.
"That's great, Ginny!" Lily smiled.
"Yeah." Ginny said, but she seemed almost distracted by something else.
"Does this mean you're over Harry?" Hermione asked.
"Hermione!" Ginny scolded, "Lily's here!"
"I won't tell him." Lily promised, "But if you do like him, you should probably say something yourself. I love Harry dearly, but he's a bit clueless when it comes to these things."
"Well... I don't know." Ginny admitted, "I had this huge crush on him when I was eleven... but Hermione told me it'd probably be best if I tried to meet other guys, and didn't set my heart on one boy who probably doesn't even like me back."
"I didn't say he wouldn't like you back!" Hermione said.
"Yeah, well, he probably doesn't." Ginny said, before shaking her head, "Anyways, Dean is a great guy!"
"Okay." Lily said, "But if you really like Harry, don't give up on him. I know he's my brother and you're my friend, but if you two would be happy dating, I'd be happy to see you together."
"Thanks Lil." Ginny grinned.
The moment was cut off by Harry's raised voice coming from the room Ron was staying in.
"I'll go check on him!" Hermione sprung up and left the room quickly.
Ginny and Lena turned to Lily who sighed. She stood up and followed Hermione out of the bedroom.
"-without sending me any information at all?!" Harry yelled at Rona and Hermione.
"Dumbledore said-" Hermione began.
"Yeah?! Is that what he said?!" Harry demanded.
There was a crack and Fred and George apperated into the room on either side of Harry.
"Hi Harry." They greeted in unison.
"Great to see you here-" George began.
"Or rather, hear you here-" Fred continued.
"Yeah, you might want to lower your voice, I think the whole block heard you." George finished.
Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration.
"Harry." Lily spoke up, "They were just doing what they were told. I don't think they kept things from us on purpose."
Harry refused to look at her initially. Then, he groaned and nodded his head.
"Right." He mumbled, "Well... sorry about that."
"We get it, mate." Ron said, looking relived Harry wasn't yelling at him anymore, "You two have been cooped up in that house all summer."
"For what it's worth, we don't exactly know much about what's going on, we aren't allowed in the meetings." Hermione added.
"You aren't?" Harry asked, "So they're keeping it from you guys too?"
"Yep." Ginny said as she and Lena entered the room.
"Hi Harry." Lena greeted.
"Hi." Harry replied, glancing down and looking sheepish about his outburst now.
"We could try to use extendable ears again?" Lena offered.
"The what?" Harry asked.
"Fred and George made them." Ron explained.
"They allow you to hear whatever's on the opposite side of the string!" George exclaimed happily.
"It's a product for our joke shop." Fred supplied.
"You've started on that?" Harry asked, "Brilliant!"
The Weasley twins beamed proudly.
"Thanks again." Fred said.
"For the money." George added.
Harry waved them off.
"We actually can't use the ears." Ginny said glumly.
"What? Why not?" Ron asked.
"They've charmed the door. You can tell by throwing things at it and if it's charmed, they'll just bounce off. I just threw some dungbombs at it- Tonks told me about that." She said.
"Aw." Lena sighed.
"Yeah, that's a bummer." Ron agreed.
"Wait, who's Tonks?" Lily asked them.
"She's an auror." Hermione said.
"She's wicked cool, that's what she is!" Ginny said excitedly, "She'a a metamorphogus!"
"A what?" Harry asked.
"Metamorphogus. She came change her appearance at will without requiring a potion or spell." Hermione said matter-of-factually.
"Kids! Dinner!" Molly called from downstairs.
With several sighs, they all made their way back down the stairs and into the kitchen. When they entered, Maya was back in the room, but she was actively avoiding eye contact with Sirius. Sirius was trying to distract himself from the sting of her ignoring him by fiddling with a lever under the table. Logan, Remus, and Arthur talked amongst themselves and Molly sat the table.
"Help yourselves!" She smiled as they came in.
Dinner held a bit of tension between some members of the party, but went by fairly smoothly. After eating, the kids were sent back upstairs and got ready for bed.