Landslide

The movie left the boys raving again and James and Sirius reenacted a lightsaber battle in the parking lot on the way back to Heidi’s station wagon.

“You know, I would have thought Harrison Ford would get a little less nice to look at after seeing the movie so many times, but nope, still sexy,” Kimberly said, making Heidi giggle.

“He is pretty gorgeous,” she agreed.

“Oh yeah, a real hunk of man, that one.” Kimberly smacked at Remus as he continued to make fun them, gushing over the movie star in a high-pitched voice. “Do me, Han. Do me in your space ship!”

“Hey, it’s not just any space ship,” Sirius interrupted. “It’s the bloody Millennium Falcon!”

They all crowded into the car once again, making a quick stop at a drive-thru for milkshakes, shooting the paper from the straws at one another and then made their way back to the Greyson house where each of the wizards floo’d back to their respective homes.

“How was the movie?” Mrs. Greyson asked casually.

“It was somehow still just as good as the last four times. I feel like the guys get more and more excited each time we see it, though. They’re all ramped up on the idea of being Jedi’s.”

Kimberly’s father, Jonathan Greyson walked into the kitchen at that moment, a skinny female behind him. “Well, I don’t think they can be Jedi’s and wizards at the same time, so I guess they’ll just have to settle for their magic wands and flying broomsticks.” Jonathan was a muggle but very handy. Kimberly always wondered if he was bitter about not having magical abilities, but he never complained, just stared at his wife and daughter in awe whenever they performed some sort of charm or spell. “You two say hello to Michelle. It’s been a long time since we’ve all seen her.”

He stepped to the side revealing the young lady and Kimberly couldn’t help but notice that over the seven years that the two of them had been separated, her cousin had grown up to be absolutely beautiful. With long brown hair and hazel eyes, she was almost intimidatingly pretty. She wore a paisley peasant top and jeans with boots, all of it complementing her slim figure. She was a little taller than Kimberly, probably about Peter’s height, the shortest of the boys. Michelle showed a warm smile that made her face glow and stepped forward with her arms out. Kimberly hugged her tightly and grinned.

“Wow, feels like forever!”

“Yeah, it does, but I can still remember flying around on training brooms when we were eight.” She had lost her British accent completely, making her sound a little strange.

Mrs. Greyson was the next to hold out her arms and embraced her niece tightly, swaying back and forth. “So good to see you, dear. I’ve got to owl your mother and tell her you made it in safely, but please, sit down. Supper is almost ready.”

Michelle, Kimberly, and Mr. Greyson all sat down at the table as Mrs. Greyson scribbled out a quick note and whistled out the kitchen window. A tawny owl swopped down and perched on the window sill, letting the woman tie the parchment to its little leg.

Once dinner was served, they ate and made easy conversation. Kimberly wanted to know what wizard school in America was like and Michelle humored her. “Oh, it’s great. I‘ve heard that it’s a lot more liberal than the schools in Europe. I mean, we’ve got similar curriculum, but I’ve got a friend that came from Beauxbatons Academy in France and she told me that the learning style is really different there.”

“I can believe that. Do you have Quidditch there?”

“Course we do! I played keeper for a few years on my school team.”

“It’s all one big team?” Kimberly asked through a mouthful of roast and felt a kick to her ankle from her mother. She looked over and saw her mouth “chew your food”.

Michelle nodded, not noticing, and continued. “Well, yeah, we don’t have Houses or whatever you call them here. It’s all one big school and during matches, we go up against other schools. There’s a lot more schools there. I’d say half of the states have one of their own, so we’ve got a lot of different teams to play over the school year.”

“Wow, that’s so strange! We always just play our own different teams.”

“Do you play at all?”

Kimberly shrugged, “I mean, I know how to, and my friends and I do for fun sometimes. I never tried out for my house team, though. Not really good enough. James is on the team, though—seeker, and he’s brilliant. Carries a snitch with him almost everywhere he goes.”

The brunette raised an eyebrow and nodded. “Maybe I’ll be able to play with him this summer.”

“Oh, definitely! We like to play once or twice every couple of weeks. There’s a wizard neighborhood not too far from here with a park that has a pitch. Not nearly as big as Hogwarts’, but it’s got the goal posts and everything.”

They all finished eating and made a little bit more idle chit chat before Kimberly showed her cousin to the guest room, levitating her suitcases behind them as they walked up the stairs.

“You’ve got a lot of friends here, then?” Michelle asked, setting one of her bags on the neatly made bed and unzipping it to start unpacking.

The other girl made a noncommittal noise and answered, “I suppose so. There’s a whole group I hang out with all the time. You’ll probably meet them tomorrow, honestly. We hang out nearly every day.” Michelle nodded. “Do you have a lot of friends back in the states? Being on the school Quidditch team, I imagine you’re pretty popular.”

“You’d be surprised,” she said, making piles of clothes arranged by article on the bed. “Not many girls like me, so I mostly hang out with guys, but never for too long. They get tired of getting turned down all the time.”

Her cousin frowned. “What do you mean?”

Michelle sighed and turned to her. “I’m not trying to sound arrogant or conceited or anything, but a lot of boys I talk to end up with feelings for me and I’m hardly ever interested in them. Makes it hard to keep them as friends.”

“Yeah, I can see how that might complicate things.”

“Yeah…”

Kimberly left her to unpack and walked back into her own room, plopping down on the bed. She had spent years decorating it to her liking. All sorts of posters hung on the light yellow walls—Charlie’s Angels, Young Frankenstein, The Beatles, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, and Bowie. She had a furry purple rug on the ground and a mahogany chest of drawers that hosted a vanity mirror on top that she almost never used. There was also a desk that she sometimes wrote or read at. A small swinging chair sat in the corner and a record player in another. Led Zeppelin was the album she had on and she got back up to put the needle on the vinyl then picked up her phone and dialed Remus’ number. He was the only one out of the boys who was also a half-blood and she smiled when she heard his sweet mother answer.

”Lupin residence.”

“Hello, Mrs. Lupin, it’s Kimberly. Is Rem home?”

“Oh yes, hello, love. Let me just call to him to pick up the phone in his room.” The girl smiled as she heard a muffled yell, ”Remus, sweetheart, Kimmy is on the phone for you!”

There was a short pause before Kimberly heard the sound of a different phone in the same house clicking around. “Got it, Mum. Hey, Kim, how’s the cousin?”

They heard Mrs. Lupin hang up and Kimberly sighed. “She seems fine. Great even. I have a feeling the gang’ll all like her.”

”Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, she played Quidditch at her school. Seems sociable enough. Black and Potter are gonna eat her up. Maybe you too.”

”Why d’you say that?”

“Well, she’s quite pretty. Makes me feel a little homely,” the witch laughed.

She heard Remus chuckle, ”You be quiet. You know that’s not true. I’m sure she’s painfully average, just like the rest of us.”

Kimberly snorted and blushed all at the same time and shook her head, lying down on her bed once again. “No, you’ll see. I’ll probably introduce you lot to her tomorrow as I’m sure we’ll all hang out, maybe even see Star Wars again.”

”Absolutely not,” he said firmly. ”I want to see that Mel Brooks film you were talking about earlier. I think the marquee said it’s called ‘High Anxiety’. His films are always amazing.”

“That’s what I was trying to say, but no one was listening to me!”

”Well, maybe one of these days we can ditch the rest of them and go see it ourselves.”

Kimberly smiled at the thought. Aside from Heidi, Remus was her best friend. He was quieter than Black and Potter but not as awkward as Peter. She sometimes thought that if he wasn’t a wizard he would probably be the starving artist type, always reading and sometimes sketching. They had the same taste in almost everything—movies, books, music. She had just always been able to get along with him better than the other boys, could talk to him easier.

“That sounds like a really good plan. We can sneak our own snacks in so that we don’t have to pay for them there.”

“Oh yes, of course. No other way to do it.”

The girl bit her lip and smiled despite the fact that her friend couldn’t see it. They talked well into the evening until Kimberly began to doze off and had to make the responsible decision to say good night to the wizard.

“Sleep tight, Kimberly. See you tomorrow.”

“Night, Rem.”

With a big yawn, she changed into her pajamas then made her way across the hall to brush her teeth.

“Wow, you were on the phone for a while there,” Michelle’s voice rang out from the doorway.

Kimberly looked over, toothbrush in her mouth, paste running down her lips. She quickly turned to the sink and spit it out. “Oh, that was just Remus, one of the boys. You’ll meet him tomorrow with the rest of them.”

“Just one of the boys?” She asked smirking. “Nothing more?”

Kimberly smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s nothing like that. He’s just a really good friend.”

“Mhmm,” she sounded unconvinced. “Never even talked with any of my past boyfriends that long.”

The other witch wiped her face with a hand towel and shrugged her shoulders. “He’s just easy to talk to, I guess.” She passed Michelle in the doorway and walked back to her room. “Night, Chelle. Hope your room is comfortable enough.”

“I’m sure it will be,” her cousin smiled. “Night, Kimmy.”