Alice began a leisurely stroll down the street on the beautiful morning. She thought about walking down to the beach, but didn't want to go alone. "Sometimes I am  so lonely," She said, her face indifferent. She was really lonely and sometimes just needed a friend.

Annette stood by the lake near her house, Skipping stones. The ripples reached her feet. The little fish nibbled her toes. She might ask James to go to the beach next week when he came home from work in France. Annette went back to the house, feeling full of energy.  She ran up the front door stairs and greeted the maid, Eliza. "Good morning Eliza" Annette said as she headed for the kitchen to get breakfast. Mr. and Mrs. Lotusorder had both gotten up early this morning and went to work. Her father work for the Ministry in the  Potion and Plant Poisoning Department. Brenda Lotusorder had gone to work at her studio in the woods by the sea salt lake. The only person who sat at the table was a tall, blonde young man wearing a long trench coat drinking a cup of Fire whiskey. "James!" Annette cried as see ran up to his stool and hugged him. "Hey, kiddo" he replied smiling. "I got my letter from Hogwarts and  I got my new owl, his name is Shikoba!" " What king of owl is he?" James asked intently. "He a Long-eared owl and he's really big!" Annette said holding Jame's hand.

 She led him over to the recipe book shelf on the far side of the kitchen and opened " A hundred Ways to Cook Pumpkin" And opened the cover to a hallowed out book with a wand in it. James lifted his wand from his black cargo boots and compared them. "11 inches, Elm, phoenix feather, like your brothers" James pulled her into a head lock and started giving her a knoogie. " No James! Stop! My Hair!", Annette cried in resistance "Fine" he said, letting her go. "Then it's time for James to turn into: THE TICKLE MONSTER!" "Nooooooo!" Annette yelled and started to run but James was too fast and caught her before she reached to front door and pushed her down and started wiggling his fingers on her ribs.

Annette's laughter echoed through the house and she wiggled out of James's grasp. The door was so close Annette wriggled free and ran out the door. James was in hot pursuit. She ran to the dock and jumped in, clothes and all. James jumped in after her. The splashed around and played games all morning, and when the got tired they swam to the big rock the had named Lotus Mountain when they were small. They climbed up the rock and laid in the sun. Annette started shivering. James pulled her into him and she fell asleep with her head tucked into the crook of his arm. he followed suit and soon drifted into a warm summer nap.

Lexi walked outside, blinking in the bright sunshine. She had on her favorite blue jeans, because the breeze was blowing and the temperature was dropping ever so slightly. Her striped black and purple shirt was brand new, the colors bright and vibrant. She bent down to fix her laces on her running sneakers. Her shoes gleamed in the bright light, being white and all, and she smiled. She hadn't run in a couple of days. The exercise was always a welcome relief from the stress of her daily life. It wasn't like there was much, but it was there, and running made her forget about it.

Annette and James woke up several hours later with severe sun burn on their necks and arms. They waddled into the downstairs bathroom and took turns rubbing aloe onto each other's shoulders. James had an important paper to write, so Annette headed outside again. With her wand in her boot and a book in her hand, Annette started walking toward town.

As Annette began to walk to Britannia Pier she saw a small figure in the distance: Alice. Annette started running. Alice Hunter was walking in the middle of the road. "Alice!" Annette cried. Alice's figure turned around. "Alice!" Annette called again, gaining speed. After another 30 seconds of running, Annette was a few steps behind Alice. She flinched, her sun burn was hurting immensely. Alice smiled, " So, do you what to go to Britannia Pier?"

Alice turned around  to see Annette running up to her. "Amazing Annette! How are you doing?" Annette and Alice had met a few years ago when Alice once went walking around and knocked on each of her neighbor's doors. Surprisingly, there had been a few magical families in this little town; Lexi's, Annette's, and hers. And for as much as Alice knew, there may be more.

She looked forward, and noticed Lexi, hunched  over her shoe. "Annette, there's someone I'd like you to meet. LEXI! LOVELY LEXI!" Alice yelled breaking into a run.

Annette ran after Alice toward a fire colored red headed girl, bent over her foot. Annette stopped short right and bumped into Alice. " Oof! Sorry Alice."

Lexi continued jogging down the street, breathing in through her nose, out through her mouth; while thinking "you can do this! Beat yesterday's time!" Her concentration was shattered when she saw Alice running towards her with another girl in tow. Lexi sped up, hoping to meet them faster, and saw the other girl run into Alice. "A bit clumsy?" Lexi yelled out to them as she came to a stop.

"Not usually, but Alice really wanted me to meet you, I'm Annette, Annette Lotusorder, I live just down the road" Annette said re-adjusting her book and sticking out her right hand to the other girl, "And you are?"

"I'm Alexandra, but don't call me that. I hate it when people use my full name. Call me Lexi." Lexi said shaking Annette's hand. "So, Alice hasn't scared you away yet? Lexi said with a sarcastic smirk on her face as she let go of Annette's hand.

Annette laughed, "No Alice threatened me that if I didn't follow her, she would turn me into a toad. I was headed to  Britannia Pier you guys wanna come? I just got my allowance - Ice cream my treat.

"I'd love to come," Lexi said. She was a little worried about meeting this new girl, would she ruin her friendship with Alice? Would Alice like her better than Lexi? What was going to happen? The endless entourage of questions struck her repeatadly, making her anxious and nervous.

Annette didn't seem hostile, but Lexi knew you couldn't trust people from the moment you met them. (Alice being the exception, you need to trust her. I mean honestly, who's going to spill all your deepest darkest secrets if your main witness has her nose in a book all the time?)

"So are you two related? Cousins? maybe." Annette asked as they sat down at a picnic table with their ice cream " you seem really tight" Annette saw they had the same curve of mouth. Annette really wanted to have real friends for the first time in her life and she was going to make better friends of Alice and Lexi before the summer was through. They both seamed like they were really friendly people, so it seemed they would get along

"Yeah," Lexi started. "We're cousins and we've been together since.... forever practically. Our parents say we're attached at the hip. My mom's a witch, dad's a muggle. My brothers... god knows whats wrong with them..." Lexi said with a smile on her face. Then and there she decided she liked Annette, she was nice and looked friendly enough.

OOC: sorry for the late post. I have been playing a super addictive game All afternoon. I need to find the killer! Sorry.

IC: Alice giggled softly, happy that her friends were becoming close. She loved it when people got along!

"So... are we like a group of friends now? Can this be a regular thing? Because that would be awesome!" She knew Annette had already gotten her wand in diagon Ally, but was unsure about her supplies. She took another bite of her ice cream and smiled.

" My family is going to take me to Diagon to get my school stuff in a few days! Do you two want to tag along?" She asked sweetly.

"Alice, honey" Lexi started, doing a perfect imitation of Alice. "You know i'm going with you." Lexi said with a straight face, resisting the urge to burst out laughing. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Annette's hand fly up to her mouth just in time to catch the laugh that burst out of her.