They say time heals everything. But I'm still waiting.

Cassie scowled shutting the fridge door, there was just about nothing to eat in the fridge and the jar for grocery money was empty. Along with Cassie's wallet. "We have bread," She muttered grabbing a few slices. "And that's like it. Bugger it." She took a bite of it as her eleven year old daugher appeared in the doorway. "Hey Mum." "What?" Cassie asked her. "Can my freind Nicole come over for a few weeks?" "I don't know Laurie," "Please?" "Laurie, I'm hardly home anymore and I don't think her mother would like her being here when I'm hardly around. And at this rate we're eating tinned food for a week." "Please? I don't think she will care. And I'll make sure it's fine with her mother." Cassie sighed at her. "Fine." "Thanks," Laurie hugged her, disapearing out of the door to write to her freind.

Nicole was sitting in her room, reading one of her new books that she'd just gotten from Flourish and Blotts a few days before, when she heard something pecking on her window. She looked up and saw an owl that she recognized as the one Laurie used. Nic got up and opened the window to let the owl in the room. She took the owl off its leg and opened it. Reading it over, Nicole smiled. If her mum said yes, then she would be going to Laurie's house. Nicole left her room in search of Lyssa. She found her in the study. "Hey, mum," she said, walking in, "can I go to my friend's house tomorrow and stay for a while? She says it's okay with her mum if I do." Lyssa looked up from what she was working on. "Which friend?" she asked. "Laurie, who is like the only friend I have anyway." Lyssa nodded at her daughter. "You can go." Nicole smiled. "Thanks, mum." Then she went back to her room to reply that it okay with her mum as well.

Laurie frowned, prodding at the dvd player, which did not want to seem to work. And her mother refused to use magic to fix things. Even though it saved the hassle of having to buy a new one. "Don't break," She muttered at it, holding it on he lap. The kids had a portable one to share. "Don't break," She jumped, and the dvd player nearly fell off her lap and onto the floor with would have been trouble. She looked over at the window, her owl siting there tapping on the window. She grinned reading the letter, putting the dvd player softly on the bed and went to tell her mother. "Mum, Nicole says her mother says she can come." Cassie noddded at her. "alright."

After she sent off her letter, Nicole went around her room, gathering up everything that she could possible thing she would need at Laurie's house. She stuffed it all in her travel trunk and then clamped it shut, excited to be going to Laurie's house the next day. It wouldn't come fast enough, and it would be Nic's first time at a friend's house.

Laurie got out the extra matress putting it on the floor off her room, which really took up all of the floor that was left. She was excited for Nicole to be coming over, as the girls didn't get to see eachother a lot throughout the year as they were in different houses and Laurie's other freinds tried to keep her way from the girl as she was a Slytherin.

Laurie woke up the next morning, and was awake before she reached her door. Humming quietly to herself she got out some cereal that tasted rather like cardboard, (but it was better then toast) and poured milk on top of it. Munching it, Laurie decided that she missed the food that they got at Hogwarts. As that was heavenly.

Nicole opened her eyes blearily as her mother shook her shoulder. "You're due at your friend's house in an hour, and I have to go to work in ten minutes. Just Floo over. I'm trusting you with this." Nicole had nodded and rolled over to get back to sleep a little while longer. "And don't go back to sleep," Lyssa said as she left the room. Nicole glared at her door sleepily but got up anyway. She wanted breakfast before she went.

After having eaten, Nic went to the den where the fireplace and Floo Powder was. Grabbing some, she said her destination and was Flooed there. She tumble gracefully from the fireplace, hoping she hadn't woken anyone up or anything.

Cassie had come into the kitchen to fix Severus some breakfast when the girl entered the room. Cassie had only rather grudgingly connected her house to the floo and that was only because of freinds that Laurie might have that she needed to travel to. "SEVERUS," She shouted putting his cereal on the bench. "Hello," She said tothe girl. "I'm Cassie." She smiled at her, the girl looked familiar but Cassie for the life of her couldn't picture how. She supposed that she'd gone to school with the girl's mother or something. "Laurie! You're freind is here."

Nicole brushed off some stray soot before looking around the room. She noticed a women that had to be Laurie's mum. "Er..." she said, voice soft as it was when she met strangers. "I'm Nicolette, but Nicole is just fine."

"Hello," Cassie said nodding at her. "Nicole!" Laurie exclaimed entering the room. She grinned at her freind. "How are you?" She asked her. Cassie smiled slightly, looking at the two girls. Though her smile faltered remembering her childhood years. She sighed side stepping as Severus bounded into the room, so that she didn't get knocked over.

Nicole grinned when Laurie came bounding into the room. "Laur!" she said excitedly. "I'm happy to be away from home. You wouldn't believe how boring it is being the only person in such a big house every day...All I had were books, and I'm no Ravenclaw."

Laurie smiled at her, she herself was perfectly fine being surronded by books. But then she was a Ravenclaw. "What house are you in?" Cassie asked the girl curiously, wondering if the girl was in the same house as her parent(s). Cassie winced as she heard a smash and turned to face Severus who was looking at the ground at a smashed plate. "Buy plastic plates." She said with a mutter. "Sev," She told him. "You need to be careful."

"Um," Nicole started to answer, but hesitated for a moment. Some people still held grudges against her house. "I...er...I'm a Slytherin, although both of my parents were Gryffindors. Go figure that one. I thought people were meant to follow family?"

That made it more likely that Cassie had known the girls parents if they were both Gryffindors, she frowned slightly at the girl being a Slytherin. From her experience the bunch f Slytherin's she had met hadn't be a good lot. "Laurie's a Ravenclaw and I'm a Gryffindor." She said with the following family tangent of the conversation. She looked at Nicole, deciding that she had to trust Laurie's judement of the girl.

"You were a Gryffindor?" Nicole looked thoughtful for a moment. "There just seems to be loads of Gryffindors everywhere, doesn't it? And would you please not frown at me. It makes me feel like I've done something wrong."

"Gryffindors are awesome that's why," Cassie said with a short laugh. "Sorry," She said to the girl holding back her frown. Old Habits Die Hard She thought to herself. On a general scale she didn't like Slytherins but she supposed she would have to wait and see what Nicole was like.

"Not all Gryffindors are awesome," Nicole muttered. "Some of them are just mean, and quite stupid." Then she crossed her arms and gave Cassie a look, asking her to disagree with her. Nicole, herself, got quite a few of these looks at home when she was trying to argue with her mum.

Cassie's eyes twinkled. "There are people like that in every house if I recall." She said bending down to clean up the mess that Severus had created. She sighed, scouping it into her hand and then dropping it into the bin. "where;s the broom," She muttered grabbing the dustpan.

"There are," Nicole agreed. "Um, I should probably say this now, so I don't forget. Um...thanks for letting me come over. I've never actually been to a friend's house before." She looked down at the floor, feeling somewhat embarrassed by that fact.

"It's alright dear, it'll keep Laurie doing something other then reading." Laurie rolled her eyes at her mother. "I don't always read. Which reminds me, the dvd player is being stupid again. Can't you just fix it?" "No." "Why not?" "Because then you'll end up relying on magic too much." "Mum." "Laurie, I'm not. Leave it." Laurie frowned at her.

The first bit of the day was somewhat awkward, and it was mostly spent settled things about the house and complaining children (none of whom were Nic). Then everyone was sitting down to eat dinner.

Cassie sighed putting the pasta onto the table. "I apologize for the food Nic," Cassie said sitting down after calling Severus. Who appeared a moment later. "I'm a horrible cook and there is nothing really in this house to eat anyway." Severus grabbed his fork and scoffed down her dinner, getting sauce and pasta everywhere.

Nicole smiled. "It's fine, really," she said. She was finding herself feeling awkward most of the time in the house, since it was all full of Muggle-y things, and while she knew Muggle things, she hadn't often associated with them, and then just the way somethings were handled were odd. She mostly just stuck to herself at home, only going to her mum if it was dire.

Cassie sighed at her son, who had more pasta over him then he had eaten. He was smiling chipperly at his mother. "Dessert," He told her banging his fork on the table. "I want dessert." Cassie smiled. "I'll see if I can find something." She told him going to look in the carboards. She came back with a few cookies and passed one to Sev. "I want two." "Too bad." Severus pouted at her. "Did you guys enjoy your first year at Hogwarts?" Cassie asked the two girls ignoring Sev.

Nicole tucked so me hair behind her ear. "My year was relatively okay, when people weren't picking on me and stuff, because contrary to popular belief, Hogwarts is full of people who like to pick on the small people..."

"That's how every school works really," Cassie said with a slight shrug. "People like to make others' feel smaller so that they feel bigger. And while I'm an adult and should just say to ignore them if you do something to retaliate, people usaully learn to leave you alone." Laurie made a face. "Yes but mum, we'd rather not get a detension for giving someone a black eye." Cassie smiled slightly. "True."