Halley

35- Grilling Nysa's Girlfriend

"Okay, Halley, you can do this," Halley told the mirror in front of her, "just tell him, I like you, I think I like you, I'm in love with you, I can't stop thinking about you- ahh."

Halley let out an exasperated sigh and flopped back down on the bed behind her. She was trying to build up the courage to tell James that she liked him.

"You're late!" The crude clock hanging on her bedroom wall yelled, Halley had been given it for her birthday, by an exasperated James, who got annoyed to no means by Halley being late for things.

"I know, I know!" Halley told the clock. She scrambled to her feet and struggled to find her wand. Once she had located it, she apparated to Hogsmeade.

She approached the house that she had grown up in, and rapped on the door, which was quickly wrenched open by a grinning Nysa.

"Hi Nys," Halley hugged her brother quickly.

"Mum was beginning to think that you weren't going to show up," Nysa said.

"I wouldn't miss it!" Halley assured him, as they made their way into the living room, which was quite full of people. Venus sat beside Neville on one of the sofas, the other sofa seated Nova and Selene, the final person was another woman.

"Fi, this is my eldest sister Halley. Halley, this is my girlfriend Fiona," Nysa said.

"It's so great to meet you!" Fiona scrambled to her feet and pulled Halley into a hug.

"Wow, she's a hugger!" murmured Halley. Fiona was rather beautiful, she was of Asian descent, with beautiful long dark hair, and big brown eyes. Nysa had announced that he wanted to introduce her to the family, and they all took it in their stride. To their knowledge, Nysa had plenty of girlfriends through his time at school, and after he left. But not once had he offered to introduce one to the family.

And this relationship seemed to stem largely from Nysa's work. From a young age, Nysa had been fascinated with muggles (much like his grandfather Arthur), so upon leaving Hogwarts, he had joined the muggle liaisons office. As far as Halley knew, he had met Fiona through his liaisons with muggles.

"So you're all wizards then?" Fiona asked, after releasing Halley, and returning to her seat. Halley and Nysa took the only two empty seats left.

"Yes," Nova nodded.

"Wow, that's mad!" Fiona shook her head in disbelief.

"I think mad would be a good summary for our family," Halley mused.

"Comet!" Venus whacked at her daughter's leg playfully, "don't frighten her off!"

"Don't worry," Selene told Fiona as an aside, "once you get used to them they're not that bad. And you've already got to know the worst one, Nysa is a pain."

"He's not that bad," Fiona smiled.

"Selene, I hate to contradict you," Neville piped up, "but actually, I think Halley is the worst of us." He turned to Fiona, ignoring Halley's cries of protest, "just wait until you meet her partner in crime. James and Halley are a complete nightmare. I should know, I taught them for seven years!"

"So could your boyfriend James not make it then?" Fiona asked Halley, who turned a darker shade of red than the Gryffindor common room's hangings.

"James is not my boyfriend," Halley declared.

"No," Nova shot Halley an innocent grin, "he's just a boy, who is your friend and who you have now lived with for almost a year."

"Can we get back on topic!" Halley demanded.

"What's the topic?" asked Nysa.

"Grilling your girlfriend," said Halley.