who ? Kip Bundy and Marlene McKinnon. when ? Saturday 10th June, afternoon. where ? Christchurch Park, Ipswich. what ? Table tennis, hedgehogs. warnings/rating ? SFW. status ? Completed in Gdocs.
Kip was well prepared for his trip to Ipswich with Marlene. As much as the idea of turning up with no idea what they were going to find had appealed to him, he'd been unable to resist the temptation to do a little research, just so they could have somewhere to head for if they couldn't find anything organically. Which is how, after browsing down a narrow avenue of shops and taking a walk along the waterfront, Kip was able to guide them to Christchurch Park. "I don't know if we'll see any hedgehogs here," Kip prefaced apologetically. He associated hedgehogs with dry leaves and back gardens, not green parks, but maybe he was wrong about that. The fact that hedgehogs were nocturnal was almost certainly not helping their quest at all, though. "But there is an outdoor table tennis table. And a house we can go look in if it rains." The weather was cloudy but, so far, dry.
"So what do you do when you're not rehearsing or playing with cats?" he asked. Kip had many hobbies, but he always liked to hear what other people did with their spare time. There was a chance they'd share a skill, or that Kip might get to pick up something new. "I've been trying my hand at paper quilling, but I'm not very good." Which was, honestly, the state of most of Kip's hobbies.
--
Marlene didn’t think she’d ever been to Ipswich before, and even if she had (maybe as a kid) the place would’ve changed a lot anyway since her death. Quite honestly, Marlene didn’t think they’d get to see any hedgehogs, what with them not exactly being known for liking humans. Still, though, Marlene was looking forward to spending the day with Kip. They’d only had a brief conversation, but Kip seemed fun and Marlene was sure she could use more friends, especially ones that would take her mind off the upcoming concert (her band was great, but they certainly didn’t achieve that).
“Rehearsing and playing with cats is basically all I do,” Marlene teased as she walked with Kip, looking around just in case a wild hedgehog was going to appear. “Paper quilling,” Marlene repeated. “I’m not sure I even know what that is.” Which was partially true, Marlene did understand the words, she just wasn’t sure she knew what they meant together. “I bake,” she offered Kip, since that was one thing that Marlene did that wasn’t either singing or playing with cats she didn’t even own. “Badly,” she added. “Well. Ugly. I have no talent for aesthetically pleasing baked goods, but I am very good at making the cakes taste nice.”
--
"That's a life many people would be envious of," Kip pointed out with a smile. "Especially if you don't have to clean up after the cats and keep on top of shedding." Cat ownership had brought a great deal of joy into Kip's life, but it wasn't without its responsibilities. "It's not very easy to describe," Kip said, wishing he'd brought his recent attempt at a paper owl with him. "You buy, or make, long strips of paper, and then you roll them up into shapes, or roll them up then squash them so they're sort of flatter, and then you arrange them in a way that makes a picture." It was quite fiddly and intricate, and there was not a lot of room for error, which made it not one of Kip's preferred crafts. "I've yet to produce anything recognisable."
Kip laughed when Marlene said she baked ugly. "Is it just cakes?" he asked, curious. "We usually do cupcakes with the Scouts, because they're relatively quick and then everyone gets a cupcake to take home, but this year apparently they've all decided that cupcakes are boring. I've been looking for something else, but I'm coming up short on ideas."
--
"Ahh, see, the secret of that is not to actually own any cats," Marlene joked. She did very much enjoy being able to play with Jareth's cats, but Marlene did also like the fact that she really didn't have to clean up after them or ensure all her nice clothes didn't get cat hair on them. When Kip explained (tried to?) what paper quilling was, Marlene frowned slightly. "I think maybe you need to show me one of these creations," she commented, since it probably did make sense if you had a visual aid, but the description alone didn't really make a great deal of sense. "What are you hoping to produce?" She asked curiously.
When Kip asked if she only made cakes, Marlene shook her head. "No, I do muffins and biscuits and brownies, too," she replied. "Cupcakes are boring," she agreed. "They're just mostly icing. Not very exciting at all." Marlene didn't see the point of cupcakes, honestly, but she could see why it was an easy thing to make with kids. "Cookies are fun?" She offered. "You can get puzzle shaped cookie cutters, so you could make puzzles? If the kids get to glaze the biscuits after?"
--
Kip shook his head. "Too late for that," he said. "I've had Lady for seven years, I couldn't possibly not own her now." He did realise that Lady would one day pass away, but he didn't spend a great deal of time thinking about that - because what would be the point? It would just make him sad before he really needed to be. Being sad was, in general, not something Kip wanted to spend time doing. When Marlene said Kip probably needed to show her, Kip laughed. "I can do that," he assured, pausing to pull his phone from his pocket. A few slow-loading moments later, he was able to show Marlene a fairly intricate example. "That's what you can do if you're actually good," he explained.
"Ooh," Kip said, pleased. "Muffins are great. So much more satisfying than cakes, somehow." Kip had never made muffins, and didn't really have any idea how to do so, but he could always find out. "What kinds of muffins? I'm sure you can do all sorts of interesting combinations." Kip would probably make horrible muffins, at least half the time, just because he wanted to try unusual things. He grinned at the suggestion of puzzle-shaped cookies. "That's a great idea," he agreed. "And as long as we do chocolate chip cookies, I'm sure they'll be thrilled."
--
"No, you're doomed. Once a cat owner, you can never go back," Marlene informed Kip seriously. "This was Jareth's problem - Jareth's whose cats I'm a godmother to - his mum owns loads, so he's been indocternated into cat ownership," Marlene explained. Not that she had any complaints, because it meant that she got to play with Leia and Luke regularly and they were absolutely adorable. When Kip said he could show her, Marlene's eyes widened slightly and then she shook her head slightly. "I swear it's never not going to be amazing that such a small device can do so much," she commented. Technology still kind of petrified Marlene, but Jareth had tried to teach her smartphones (not very successfully). Looking at the picture, Marlene's eyes widened slightly. "That's amazing!" She exclaimed because it did look really cool. "I hope you can make things like that soon!"
Marlene nodded when Kip asked about muffins. "I try to be creative with the flavours," she admitted. "Most do taste pretty great. I've recently started trying savoury ones. I made really nice cheese and red onion ones last week," Marlene told Kip happily. They hardly had looked great but Marlene had taken them over to Lily's and James had basically ate most of them, barely leaving Marlene enough time to save some for Jareth. "I want to try some savoury-as-sweet things, I've heard beetroot's meant to be very good for that. Like carrot cake but with, you know, beetroot."
--
Kip agreed with Marlene, nodding seriously. "I think that might be the case," he said. "I didn't have pets growing up, but I got Lady after the war, once I started to live alone, and I can't imagine not having a pet now. Unless maybe I had a partner." Basically, Kip enjoyed having someone (or somecat) to come home to, another living being in his space. "I've been living with it for years and it is still amazing," he agreed. "It's just a shame they don't work well in magically-populated areas. And you can't look up wizarding things, because no one reliable has put them online." Someone, Kip was sure, must have put some information about the wizarding world online somewhere, but finding it and recognising it when you'd found it was the trick. "Oh, I don't know about soon," Kip warned. "I'm not very dextrous, but I'll give everything a go."
Cheese and red onion muffins certainly sounded interesting, though Kip couldn't quite imagine for himself how the texture and taste would combine. "I have never had a savoury muffin," Kip said. "But I shall take your word that they were nice." Kip had heard of using beetroot in chocolate things, so he nodded. "Carrot cake's lovely, so I'm sure beetroot would work just as well."
--
"I didn't have pets growing up either," Marlene offered. "My brother was allergic," she added, pleased that her tone didn't sound sad, which really was an achievement since Marlene's heart still ached every time she thought about her brother. "And then, you know, death happened, so I never got around pet-ownership. I think maybe I'd like to own a pet one day." Though whatever 'one day' was, Marlene didn't quite think it was going to be soon. She didn't think herself quite ready for that sort of responsibility. "I quite like living on my own, but that's probably because it's still very new." Marlene hadn't lived on her own ever before dying and she was somewhat surprised by the fact that she liked it.
Marlene knew that most Muggle technology didn't work in magical areas, because Jareth and her had had to go to non-magical places for him to show her how his phone worked. As for looking up wizarding things, Marlene shrugged. "There's probably someone in the Ministry whose job it is to ensure people don't put stuff on the internet, right? What would you even look for? 'Magic'?" She joked. Marlene did also give a small laugh when Kip told her that he'd give anything a go. "Does that ever get you in trouble?"
Savoury muffins were quickly become some of Marlene's favourite (even if they, too, like her cakes, looked shit). "I'll make you some," she promised. "And I'll send you a slice of whatever becomes of my beetroot cake attempts. Don't expect either to look very nice, but I promise I have never poisoned anyone!"
--
"I think I'd have liked a pet growing up," Kip said thoughtfully. "But I think I would have wanted a dog." To be honest, Kip still thought he'd like a dog, but his current living situation wasn't suitable. He did also love having a cat. He made a sympathetic noise when Marlene mentioned her death and how she hadn't got around to pet ownership. "That must be a mindfuck," he said, because it must. Kip had a few friends who'd Returned, and who'd talked to him about it, but he was sure that only gave him the shallowest understanding. "I spent a year during the war in prison," Kip said. "So I think my perspective on living alone is pretty skewed by that." Kip wasn't sure he'd ever have preferred living alone to living with company, but he did think it would have been less difficult had it not just reminded him of his endless months in a cell. "The advantage of living with a cat is that I still get to do whatever I want whenever I want without getting in anyone's way."
Kip frowned at Marlene's suggestion that someone was probably watching the internet to make sure people didn't put up real information. The idea didn't sit well with him, but he didn't want to dwell on that. "I'm not sure muggles would be able to tell the difference between real magic and the theories they already come up with." Crystal was, of course, familiar with those corners of the internet that talked about the best ways to cast spells, and for her those worked with just as much effectiveness as real magic would have (none, because she couldn't do magic, even if Kip taught her the right words and movements).
He laughed when Marlene asked if giving anything a go ever got him into trouble. "Not really," he admitted. "Don't forget I'm an accountant. That implies a certain amount of being careful." And Kip was, especially when he was involving someone other than himself. "I'd like that," Kip said, when Marlene offered to send him muffins. "And I promise not to judge on what they look like."
--
Marlene wasn't even all that sure if she would've liked a pet as a kid, probably, because didn't all kids want pets? But it wasn't something Marlene felt very disadvantaged by not having had. She laughed when Kip described her no longer being dead as a 'mindfuck'. "It really is," she agreed. "I've given up on trying to do maths about how old I am technically." Partially because it also really didn't matter, she was old enough to legally do all the things anyway (apart from renting a van, but Marlene didn't feel very inclined to rent a van anyway). When Kip commented how being imprisoned might affect his opinion on living alone, Marlene's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry! That must've been awful!" She presumed, since prison did sound pretty awful.
"No, you're probably right," Marlene agreed with a nod, since it did seem likely that to Muggles it wouldn't really make any difference whether it was a real spell or not. "They probably would prefer the less-real ones, since most of ours are a pain to pronounce," Marlene joked. The remainder of Kip's profession as an implication that he'd always be careful made Marlene laugh. "Is that true for all accountants or just you? And you're more than welcome to judge my cakes, they are ugly, I am well aware."
--
The mention of the maths caught Kip's attention and he gave Marlene an interested look. Even discounting the years she'd been dead (which prompted a whole load of non-mathematical questions that Kip wasn't even going to attempt to raise) there would be a discrepancy unless she came back to life on the exact same day she'd died, which didn't seem to be the case. "Yes," Kip said, nodding. "I can see why you'd give up keeping track of that. It's probably not very helpful." Because celebrating the day your body became a year older, that was no longer actually your birthday, would not help with feeling like things were back to normal. He gave Marlene a grateful smile for her sympathy, but shook his head slightly. "It was, but it was years ago and dwelling on how awful it was doesn't accomplish anything. It happened, and I acknowledge the effects it had on me, but I try not to treat it with any more drama than that." Kip knew not everyone was comfortable hearing him talk about it, but he'd decided long ago that trying to keep it - and its effects - hidden just made it seem worse. "Besides," he added with a small smile. "Dying is objectively more awful, even if you have decide you're done with that now."
Kip laughed when Marlene suggested muggles might prefer the less real spells, because he absolutely agreed. "And theirs feel more impressive," he added. "Pointing a stick at something and saying a word - however hard to pronounce - doesn't feel very mystic if nothing actually happens. Making an altar, or a circle on the floor, and chanting rhyming couplets fires the imagination a lot more." At Marlene's question, Kip shrugged. "I'm sure there are accountants who are careful and organised in their work but not in their personal lives. I definitely try to be different away from work, but not quite to the extent that I get myself in trouble." Spotting the table tennis table (he assumed) in the distance, Kip adjusted their course towards it. "What about you?" he asked. "Are you a stereotypical musician?"
--
Kip's description of how he felt about having been imprisoned, about how, yes, it had happened, and it had affected him, but he didn't want to be dramatic about it, all of it reminded Marlene of how she felt about her death (her family's death was slightly harder to stomach). "I get that," she said nonetheless. "Honestly, I think dying is objectively less awful, if only because I don't remember a great deal," Marlene explained. "Still, I'm sorry that happened to you. The same way I'm sure you're sorry I died, so there we are," Marlene said with a small grin, hopefully implying that they didn't need to talk more about the subject.
"Yeah," Marlene nodded. "Muggles sometimes confuse me a lot," she admitted. "I grew up magic," Marlene explained. "I had Muggle grandparents, so it's not like I didn't know anything, but a lot of things still seemed very... odd." Which Marlene was sure was the exact same way Muggles would feel about the magic folk of they knew. "Are you Muggleborn?" Marlene asked, mostly presuming from everything Kip had said so far.
As for being a stereotypical musician, Marlene laughed. "I guess that depends on what you mean by 'stereotypical'. My dad was a musician and he was mostly just... a normal person? So I'd like to think I am a stereotypical musician like that," Marlene said with a grin. She was hardly living a rock'n'roll lifestyle, but she did assume Kip had gathered as much since she was in Ipswich with him, looking for hedgehogs, not out partying hard every given moment.
--
Kip returned Marlene's grin, pleased that she understood and didn't feel burdened by his having told her - because Kip never wanted anyone to feel the way, though he refused to keep it to himself for fear of burdening others. "I am sorry you died," he agreed. "But if you hadn't, and I hadn't been imprisoned, then we might not be here, in glorious Ipswich." He gestured expansively around them. "Where, if you're very lucky, I will let you kick my arse at table tennis." By which Kip mostly meant they could play, and his natural lack of hand-eye coordination would take care of the rest.
"What kind of things?" Kip asked, curious. He'd spoken to people who'd grown up magic, of course, but he found they didn't all find the same things odd, and he was always interested to find out where the disconnects were. "I mean, my mum is quite odd even to most other muggles," he added with a chuckle. He nodded, confirming that he was, indeed, muggleborn. "We don't know a lot about the family history on my dad's side, but as far as we know there's no magic anywhere until me."
Kip wasn't even sure he personally had a stereotype of a musician in his own head, so he nodded when Marlene said her dad had mostly been a normal person. "Was he in a band, too? Or was he more a classical musician?"
--
Marlene gave a small nod when Kip said he was sorry she'd died, because it was nice of him to say. She did grin, though, when he added that if she hadn't, they were unlikely to have ended up in Ipswich together. "Hey," she said shaking her head. "You're being very presumptuous thinking I need you to let me kick your arse at table tennis," Marlene joked. She hadn't played table tennis since she was a kid, so chances were that she would need Kip to let her win, but he hardly needed to know that.
"Technology mostly," Marlene admitted. "But also just much simpler things. Like... dishwashers. It took me ages to realise that the box you put dirty plates in basically worked like how a spell for cleaning dishes does. Just Muggle." It wasn't a very exciting answer, but it was true. "I've always thought it very impressive how Muggles have come up with things to replace what we do with magic." Because it certainly was something worth admiring.
When Kip asked about Marlene's dad, she smiled widely, shaking her head. "Blair McKinnon," she offered, though being Muggleborn, Kip might've not heard of her dad and his songs. "He was a solo artist, but a very popular one. When the war started, he did a lot of anti-DE songs," she explained. If Marlene was honest, she suspected that was what had gotten them all killed in the end, but there was little to no point to think about that now.
--
Kip shook his head, because he really hadn't meant that he'd need to intend to let Marlene win. "My table tennis abilities are almost guaranteed to let you win, regardless of how hard I try," Kip assured her. "But we can both give it our all and see what happens." Kip was, almost by necessity, an excellent loser, because all he cared about was that he had fun participating.
Dishwashers were technology, really, but Kip decided there was no reason to point that out. "I've always been curious about wizarding history," Kip said with a nod. "How long ago did spells for washing dishes become commonplace? How has that affected the way wizarding culture has evolved, and how it differs from muggles?" There were, almost undoubtedly, books on the subject, but Kip wasn't very good at finding history books that weren't written in a very dry way he found totally uninteresting. "The wizarding world needs to get into podcasting," he decided. "I think there's a lot of interesting subjects that could be talked about, in addition to being written about." They reached the table tennis table, and Kip set about finding the bats and ball. "Did you know that dishwashers and fridges and so on were what gave women time to start working? Because it didn't take all day to keep their families clean and fed anymore."
Having never heard of Blair McKinnon, Kip shrugged apologetically. "That's a good thing to have done," he observed. "I hadn't really thought about their being wizarding anti-war songs, but I suppose I should have."
--
"I think, perhaps we might turn out to be equally matched," Marlene teased, since she really didn't think her own table tennis abilities were going to somehow excel. “So when's the last time you played?” Marlene asked, picking up one of the rackets, or well, she presumed they were rackets even for table tennis (though, they did look more like little paddles). “I hope you’re not hustling me, because that’s quite rude,” she joked.
Marlene gave a small laugh when Kip told her he'd always been curious about wizarding history. "Don't they teach that in school?" She asked with a grin, though perhaps 'when did washing up spells come into being?' was something more covered in Household Magic classes than in History of Magic. There were definitely books, though. "What is a podcast?" Marlene asked. She assumed she could probably imagine the answer, but these days, Marlene found it safer not to presume answers. She did give a nod when Kip told her dishwashers and fridges had given women more freedom. "I learned about it in Muggle Studies," she offered.
There had been quite a lot of anti-war songs and Marlene knew most of them - not just her dad's - by heart. "The second war was much shorter," she pointed out. "And from what I've read, quite different. We had more time to write music," she commented.
--
"All the better," Kip said, because while he was perfectly happy to lose he would much rather play a well-matched game that might challenge them both. "I think I played a couple of times last year, against my Scouts. If I can't even beat a ten year old, I think you're safe from any threat of hustling." He couldn't honestly remember if he had played last year, or if it had been the year before. It was a hazard of having so many hobbies, he couldn't always accurately remember when he'd last participated. Sometimes, with things like knitting, he even forgot how in the time between attempts.
Shaking his head, Kip chuckled. "Not that I remember, but I did fail History of Magic." Which Kip blamed on Professor Binns, rather than any inherent inability to learn about history. Though, he certainly could have tried harder to teach himself. "Was Binns your History of Magic teacher when you were at school?" he asked. He had no idea when the professor had died, or how long before that he might have been teaching. "A podcast is sort of like a radio show," Kip explained. "But they're distributed for free on the internet, which means they don't have to get approval, so there's the possibility for them to be quite niche. "One of the ones I listen to is about rereading a book series from when I was a teenager. Which is hardly the kind of thing they'd put on real radio."
It was true that the second war had been a lot shorter, though it had felt quite long enough for Kip's liking. "How old were you when it started?" he asked and then, quickly, added, "we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."
--
"I bet some ten year olds are amazing at table tennis, though," Marlene pointed out waiting for Kip to start the game. She really didn't expect it to go very successfully, but it did, nonetheless, seem like a rather fun thing to do. "Thanks for inviting me out," Marlene offered. "Even if we've seen no hedgehogs," she teased since it was unlike they were going to.
Marlene couldn't really blame Kip for failing History of Magic, because she, too, had been taught by Binns and nodded at Kip's question of as much. "Yeah. Does he still teach? He must not know any modern history." And as someone who was slowly trying to learn modern history, Marlene could see how that might be problematic. The explanation of what podcasts were, earned another nod, since Marlene had mostly assumed 'like a radio show' to begin with. It made sense, though, that the internet allowed for publishing of quite niche ones.
As for the war, Marlene gave a small, dismissive wave. She didn't mind talking about it, it had been her reality up until very recently. "I must've been about twelve when it broke out?" She offered. "But I didn't really know until I was about... sixteen, I guess? Like it wasn't until then that I realised what was going on."
--
"Oh, I'm sure some are," Kip agreed. He was well past the point when he had been shocked by the talents young people could have. "One of the boys last year could solve a Rubik's cube in under thirty seconds." Which wasn't really related to table tennis, but Kip still thought it was very impressive. He smiled when Marlene thanked him for his invitation. "It's no trouble," he assured her. "I don't really like sitting at home by myself, so the more people I have to invite on crazy adventures, the better. Thank you for saying yes to being one of them."
Kip didn't exactly keep up with his old professors, so he shrugged. "As far as I know." There was every chance Kip wouldn't have heard if Binns had decided to quietly retire, though. "I graduated nearly sixteen years ago, I'm probably not the right person to ask." Kip pushed his hair out of his face before serving the ball gently, figuring that they could both warm up with a rally before they started trying to score points off each other.
Marlene's answer made sense, because Kip thought most parents would probably try to keep the realities of the war from their children. "A lot of the second war happened at Hogwarts," Kip observed, because that was yet another difference between the two. "It was after I left, but I think a lot of younger people were aware what was happening because of that."
--
"That's quite impressive!" Marlene nodded when Kip told her about a boy who could solve a Rubik's cube quickly. "I don't think I can solve it at all," Marlene admitted. "I used to set it to solve with magic," she admitted with a grin. "Which is definitely cheating." But it did also solve the cube, so at the time, Marlene had counted it as a victory.
It made sense that Kip might not really now, but then when he added that it was because he'd graduated sixteen years ago, Marlene's eyes widened. "How old are you?" She asked and then instantly blushed. "You don't have to tell me," she assured since it was rather rude of her to demand that Kip tell her his age. "I just didn't realise that you're so much older than me," Marlene explained and then blushed again, because that sounded rather rude. "I'm twenty-three," she said not sure how to dig herself out of the particular hole she'd gotten into.
Marlene had read enough about the second war to know that what Kip was saying was true, so she nodded to confirm that she did understand. "I'm glad it's over," she commented and then gave a small shrug. "I'm sure everyone is," because of course they were. "But I've been not-dead for six months. Six months of no war is still quite new to me." She knew for most people it was nine years (and that's from a different war) but Marlene couldn't help still finding things... odd.
--
Kip shook his head and said, "No, nor me." Rubik's cube were probably based on maths and numbers in some way, but not in any way Kip had the patience for. "I'm excellent at sudoku, though. Especially the ones where you do have to add and subtract and multiply things. I like those ones." Kip gave an almost apologetic smile, well aware he was in fact a huge geek for numbers. It served him well, though, so he was hardly going to be ashamed of it. "I didn't know you could solve them with magic," Kip marvelled, impressed. "Did someone teach you the spell?" There were many things Kip was sure magic could do, but he didn't know how to make them happen, and he didn't know who to ask.
Marlene's obvious surprise made Kip laugh. She was far from the first to be surprised. "Thirty-four," he answered. He didn't mind telling her, nor did he think it necessarily had to be weird for them to hang out just because they were different ages. "A lot of people don't realise," he added. "At least, people who don't meet me at work. I look much more my age in a suit and tie." Which was part of the reason Kip insisted on wearing them, because he liked not having his experience questioned. "Does it bother you?" Kip hoped not, and also hoped that if it did there was something they could do to fix that, rather than simply stop spending time together.
"I'm very glad it's over," Kip agreed with a nod. "It wasn't a good time to be muggleborn." With a small smile, Kip added, "It's better now." It was as much to remind himself as to tell Marlene, because he did sometimes forget. His friends were very good at reminding him. He nodded his understanding that it must feel very new to Marlene, especially since she'd lived with the war for so much longer than he ever had. "It's a good thing to have to get used to, at least?"
--
Marlene did give Kip a look when he said he liked sudoku puzzles where you had to do maths. "To each their own," she decided with a small smile. It certainly wasn't something Marlene wanted to do for fun, but she read sheet music for fun, so Marlene doubted she was in any position to judge. "Yeah," she nodded at Kip's question. "My brother, Niall. I have no idea where he learned it from." Other kids probably. It was strange to think that some people didn't know about magic until they were eleven. Then again, Marlene supposed she hadn't really known about technology, so maybe that was similar. Still didn't really know much about technology.
When Kip asked if it bothered Marlene that he was eleven (!) years older than her, Marlene paused thinking about it and then finally shook her head. "No," she decided. "It's a bit odd, but it doesn't bother me. I've never had friends so much older than me," Marlene explained and then frowned. "Well, I do now, since some of the people I was friends with are almost thirty years older than me now, but that's not quite the same." Mostly because Marlene really wasn't sure whether she was friends with them any longer.
It wasn't really like the first war had been a very good time to be a muggleborn either, but Marlene chose not to point that out, instead giving Kip a smile at his question. "Definitely a good thing," she confirmed and then looked down at the table. "Okay," Marlene said reaching out to pick up the ball. "Play to eleven points?" She offered, having no idea how many points you were meant to play to for a proper game, but also unsure whether it mattered.