The sun was shining brightly lighting up the many shops down Diagon Alley, making all the new window displays sparkle. There was a soft breeze that brought with it the smell of candies, ice cream, fresh cut grass and blooming flowers - the smell of summer. With all the kids home from Hogwarts for summer vacation the small wizarding street was bustling with activity for there was nothing better to do on a bright summer day than shop! And that was exactly what Ayla was doing, or rather had been doing.

The petite Hufflepuff, in her blue and yellow sundress was armed with her purse and a satchel of coins shipped over to her from her Grandparents back home. She had a purse full of money and no adult supervision to bog her down, Ayla was in shopping heaven. She had already hit most of the clothing shops that lined the Alley and had made sure to check out the local bakery to see what her 'competition' was like, so to speak.

Ayla's next destination was a small desert shop that had some of the most amazing ice cream. Once her desert was well in her free hand (the other lugging eight bags of shopping) she slipped into a small iron patio chair and began to watch the people around her, looking for a familiar face, or perhaps just a handsome one. With Blake out of the picture Ayla was looking to set her sights on someone else to have a summer fling with like she had told Winnie she was going to do.

Josh was sat at the same shop, eating an ice-cream. he had been busy all day buying things that would be necessary for the trip to Egypt on the 20th. He was looking forward to the trip, although he suspected his brother would be a bit of a pain to keep an eye on. He loved his brother, but one trait they shared was a sometimes insatiable curiosity. Pulling himself out of his thoughts, he saw someone he recognized nearby. Ayla Collins. He'd worked with her a few times in class, not to mention they were both members of SAWS. He waved.

Ayla was enjoying her people watching when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned to a young man out on the patio as well and realized she recognized him and the movement that had caught her attention was him waving at her. Ayla smiled sweetly and waved back. He was only a few tables over on the patio and it wasn't yet too crowded not to be able to speak with the small distance between them.

"Hi Josh!" She took another couple of licks of her ice cream, "How are you enjoying summer?" She crossed her leg over the other pointing herself more in his direction so as not to seem rude while having a conversation. She was a little too situated with her multitude of bags to get up and join him but she was at a table with three other chairs if he felt like coming over to join her.

"Aren't you going on that trip to Egypt? When does that all happen?" Ayla had opted out on going on the trip. As much as she liked to travel she had no real interest in going to a desert to look at old dusty stuff. She knew a lot of kids from school were going and was actually surprised Dahlia hadn't tried to get an invite, though to be honest she had no idea what the twins were up to this summer, most of her didn't actually care though. They were old enough to go and do their own things and Ayla was almost fifteen herself, she didn't need to be hanging around her younger siblings.

Josh walked over to join Ayla at her table, to make it easier to talk. "Summer's been good so far. Been flying most of the time, trying a couple new Bludger techniques." Josh said. "Yeah, the Egypt trip departs on the 20th. That's why I'm here, actually, stocking up on a few essentials."Josh said, noticing Ayla had several bags, and mentally chuckling. He wasn't surprised Ayla liked shopping, though he didn't quite share her enthusiasm.

Ayla nodded with a smile, "I should try and get some practice in this summer. Mysti would go crazy if she found out I went two whole months without getting up on a broom." She unconsciously rubbed her shoulder. She did find that it got sore and worn out a lot quicker than it used to these days, hopefully it would pass. Perhaps it was all in her head, after all her shoulder blade had been completely rebuilt, there was no reason to feel any pain from it. Then again her mother had told her that Dahlia had complained about feeling sore and lethargic after her epic crash during her flying exam. Ayla felt a pang of guilt for not having been on speaking terms with her sister at the time (or even now) An accident like that, she could have really used her big sister.

"I need to focus on my dodging. I know it's hard to evade bludgers sometimes but I don't know if I want to go through another shattered shoulder blade, like I did in that last match."

She glanced around at the supplies he had already gathered up, "Sounds like it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm not really the work during the summer kind of girl unless of course I'm getting paid for it. I'm going to soak up as much sun as I can, spend as much of the money my grandparents sent me and if I'm lucky snag a new boyfriend." She smirked a little surprised with herself that she was mentioning boys in front of Josh. He was the last person she suspected to be interested in that kind of thing (romance gossip not the actual relationship part).

Josh noticed Ayla rubbing her shoulder, and frowned. Injuries rarely caused lasting pain after treatment, with magic able to fix most damage. "Is your shoulder still bothering you?"Josh asked, his tone slightly concerned. Then his eyes widened comically when Ayla mentioned looking for a new boyfriend. Why would she... "It's not going to be too much actual work during the Egypt trip, from what I can tell. there's a few trips to various sites, but other than that, it'll probably be basically a holiday." Josh said, then added "You're looking for a new boyfriend? and you're mentioning this to me why? I hardly thing you'll need my help looking" Josh said, smirking back. He could surprise as much as anyone.

Ayla blushed a little bit when Josh caught her rubbing her shoulder, "It's nothing really, just seems to get worn out faster than it used to. Could have nothing to do with Quidditch though, I might just not be used to shopping sprees anymore, it's not like we get a whole lot of chances to shop during school." She gave him a sweet smile, with the air of smooth confidence. She didn't want him to worry about her, or to think she was mental. After all her shoulder had been completely fixed there was no reason for it to be giving her trouble.

"Sounds like it could be fun. I dunno, I think I'd hate the heat, not to mention my parents have me babysitting almost the entire summer. I'd love to tell them that the twins are old enough to take care of themselves but well maybe Dahlie is but Erik?" She simply rolled her eyes. Considering all the things he was able to get away with while at school she shuddered to think what he could do during an unsupervised summer.

Ayla chuckled at Josh's surprised look, "Well it's not that I'm actively looking for one and it just kinda came up. I'm really bad at just saying whatever comes to mind. I don't think I'll really need help on it though maybe just a little bit of luck."

"OK, but if it stays like that, you should get it checked. It shouldn't still be giving you trouble" Josh said, at least it wasn't (likely) still injured.

Josh briefly frowned ta hearing that Ayla would be looking after Erik and Dahlia most of the summer. "Your parents get you to babysit your twin siblings? Why?" Josh asked, he got Ayla's point about Erik. Josh, after all, had heard plenty about the kid's antics.

Ayla simply shrugged. She had never been asked that before. She had always just accepted it as her older sibling duty. True there was only two years between her and the twins but for as long as she could remember she had always helped out with them. Her parents were busy people, her Mom was always doing some fashion show or another and when she wasn't she was holed up in her sewing room either going crazy over new sketches for designs or making her own prototypes for new outfits. Her Dad on the other hand was an Ambassador for an entire Country. Ever since they moved to the UK he had been so busy she rarely saw him but since she had been going to school ten months out of the year she never really stopped to think about it.

"My parents are always busy and the twins are a handful, someone's gotta take care of them." She licked some more of her ice cream, "it's not like they force me to do it or anything. I just try to be a good big sister. They take care of themselves most days anyways. Dahlia's incredibly responsible and she looks after Erik most of the time. Well when he hasn't conned her into helping him out. The soft spot she has for him . . . I'll never understand it, must be some weird twin thing."

"Don't your parents ever ask you to watch Charles?"

"Oh, I see. Yeah, I've been asked to look after Charles sometimes, it was you needing to babysit them most of the time that was confusing, what do your parents do that keeps them that busy?. As for Dahlia and Erik, your guess is as good as mine, though I'll admit to having a soft spot for Charles. Could be something to do with age gap?"Josh speculated, noticing his ice-cream was beginning to melt.

Ayla smiled sweetly, she hadn't meant to confuse him but then again it was one of those situations that seemed so normal to her because she did it all the time but strange to someone who didn't, "My mom's a fashion designer. She's a muggle," She hesitated for a moment. She couldn't remember if Josh was one of those purebloods that hated muggles. Though most of the purist she knew of were in Slytherin and Josh was a Gryffindor, "She's rather well known, at least to anyone who follows muggle fashion."

"And my Dad's an Ambassador in the Department for Magical Cooperation. He's the current representative for Canada."

She licked more of her ice cream realizing that it seemed to be melting faster with her talking instead of eating it, "I can get the whole sibling thing I guess, Erik's just such a pain sometimes and to be honest I haven't actually talked to Dahlia in months, we got in a huge fight a while back and we stopped talking," She looked at her bags, feeling a little guilty, "I probably should try and make things better between us."

"Muggle fashion designer, well-known even in the wizarding world... your mother's Miranda Collins? I had wondered. Cool." Josh said, he had heard of Ayla's mother, although didnlt know much about her.

"Yeah, Charles can be a pain sometimes too. What happened between you and Dahlia, to keep you from talking for months?" Josh asked, curious. he didn't think Ayla would hold a grudge that long.

Ayla actually blushed when Josh mentioned her mother by name. She was so used to living in a wizarding world that seemed to know nothing about muggles that no one had ever been so direct about how well known her mother actually was. Most of the Slytherin girls had assumed she just made it up. It was actually rather refreshing.

Once again she looked a little guilty, "It seems so stupid now when I look back on it. During my birthday party, back in November, the Dark twins decided to crash my party. Bella was being particularily nasty, something about my ex being her current boyfriend, anyways she was harping on me and Dahlia lost it. She actually stood up for me and petrified both twins then told Razzy take them back to their own common rooms."

She sighed, "I was too caught up in my own world that all I could see was how much more miserable Bella was going to make my life after my kid sister came to my rescue that I never even thanked Dahlia for doing it. I just yelled at her and told her to get her own life. We haven't really talked since."

"Wow, I can see why she's held a grudge this long then." Josh said, then clarified "Although I can see why you yelled at Dahlia, it can be embarrassing when younger siblings help you. I'd have been possibly even more embarrassed if Charles needed to help me like that. Still, it was pretty harsh of you." Josh said, then added. "Do You want my advice on how to sort the situation out?" Josh said, he was kind of surprised Ayla had snapped at Dahlia. Erik, possibly, but not Dahlia.

Ayla smiled gratefully at the older teen. She was more than happy to have his advice and suddenly it made her miss Fauna - what in the world was she going to do without her "Big sister" next year at school. She licked more of her icecream, getting down to the cone, "Yes please!" She knew she was being more than enthusiastic about the prospect but she couldn't help herself. She had no idea how to fix this and had even less of an idea how to go about even beginning to start a conversation with her. She had been watching after her ever since they left school and still had not had a decent conversation.

"Sorry it's just, I don't even know how to start talking with her. It's been so long since this whole thing happened it almost seems useless to try but then I sound totally petty for saying so." She looked at him imploringly hoping that whatever he had to say was such a stroke of genius she'd be able to rush straight home and try it out. She just missed having her little sister around. Dahlia was always the one person who would listen to her about anything she had to say and not say anything mean back.