Food with Friends Pv Closed

A portkey? What was it? Joey had never heard the word before.
"Oh, sorry!" he remarked.
"Driving is how muggles get places. You all sit in the car and someone sits in the drivers seat and, well, drives you to where you want to go." Joey made a mental note to research what a portkey was. He didn't want to seem stupid by not knowing - Lennox talked about it like it was a common occurrance.
There was a silence while Lennox was eating. Joey wasn't sure if he should say something else or wait for her to reply. His mind was made up for him when she slightly unsurely, Joey thought, asked about his family.
"Like I said, my dad fixes cars and my mum works with computers. She makes adverts and magazines for people." he took a breath, "I like my dads work though. Cars need a lot of work. Everyone thinks they just work, but they are always breaking!"
Joey paused, waiting for Lennox to comment, but continued when nothing came.
"I've got a sister and two brothers. My sister is older and never got a letter from Hogwarts, which is why it came as such a surprise. My brother are both younger than me so they might be magic..." he trailed off, thinking what it would be like to have his brothers come to Hogwarts.

Lennox nodded, smiling a bit when he described cars. "Driving and cars sound awfully difficult, I don't think I could ever figure it out," she laughed, poking fun at herself. Frankly, she couldn't imagine what life would be like without the ease of magic. Her family never lifted much more than a wand to get things done, so trying to imagine how muggles did it... she couldn't comprehend it. "Travel is almost too easy here. the Floo network just lets you travel via fireplaces, Apparating is just disappearing and reappearing, enchant an object and now you have a Portkey... I can't imagine not having that."
As Joey painted the picture of his family, Lennox was fascinated, trying to picture what his life was like before Hogwarts. His parents sounded so interesting, and having siblings? Lennox would be lying if she said she wasn't slightly envious. She had grown up an only child, with her only real interaction with people outside of her parents were the tutors they hired to come to their home. "I wish I had a brother or sister, I'm so jealous," She said with a chuckle, tucking her hair behind her ear after she realized a few strands had fallen from place.

"I've never tried to drive," Joey said dissapointedly, "you have to be seventeenand have a license." He looked at Lennox, keen to turn the subject back to magic.
"I've seen apperating - they showed me that when they came to talk to my parents about Hogwarts." Joey remembered back to a few months beforehand, "That's the one that makes the loud 'crack' when you do it", he paused. "I thought you had to be seventeen to apperate..."

Joey finished off the last few spoonfulls of chocolate sauce from the bottom of his bowl before replying to Lennox.
"Brothers can be annoying. They always interfere." he said, thinking back to the time he had an electronics set and most of the bits had gone missing before he had the chance to do anything with it, "I can imagine them taking my books and trying to learn magic."
"My sister is older so she's usually out." he went on, "she's got loads of friends, she's always doing something." Joey paused for a second, reflecting on how he never really had any friends in primary school.
"Everyone always thought I was odd." he said glumly, playing with his spoon in his empty bowl, trying to decide whether he wanted a second helping or not.

Lennox quickly explained what she meant, "With apparating, only the person actually doing it has to be 17, but a minor can hold on and go with them. I've never done it, my mum said it's too dangerous." She didn't voice it, but she thought it was kind of funny that driving seemed to be the equivalent of apparating. Maybe Muggles and Wizards were more alike than she has originally thought.
As Joey spoke of his home life, she couldn't help but feel a bit bad for him. He sounded sad when he talked about how other kids viewed him back home, but she wasn't exactly sure how to help. But she sure as hell would try to be of some comfort for her new friend. "I don't think you're odd," She paused, before continuing, "Those people just didn't understand how special you are!" Lennox offered up a reassuring smile, trying to display that, now, he had someone on his side, if he wanted.
She took a moment to ponder if she wanted a second as well, tempted by the sweets strewn in front of them. She let out a breath as she reached for another tart, knowing she didn't have the self-control to pass another up. "I guess siblings aren't all they're cracked up to be." She pondered, taking a mouthful and finishing it before speaking again. "I just always wanted more than just my parents and the tutor..." Lennox blushed and trailed off, trying not to sound too melancholy. After all, the past was in the past.

Joey immagined all the things that could go wrong with dissapearing from one place and appearing in another. He decided not to voice his concerns, trying to push the picture of half a person from his mind.
"I probably am odd", he said, ignoring the fact it was seen as a bad thing.
"Most muggles would say everyone in this whole castle is odd!". He laughed, remembering how the first thing his parents commented on after the Hogwarts visitor had left had been how oddly they had dressed.
He was special, he had magic running through his veins, he was different to everyone he had ever known. He hadn't met anyone before who was a witch or wizard - or had he? He thought back, trying to think of anything in his past that suggested magic. People used to say his primary school head-teacher was a witch but he didn't think there was any fact behind this, students just didn't like teachers in the muggle world.
Joey skipped a second helping, feeling like he was about to burst from everything he had eaten and thinking this certainly wouldn't be his last chance to eat to his hearts content.
"I mean, when they listen and want to do the same thing as you, it's great", he thought about how long it had been since they had really done anything together.
"I guess I'm getting older now and they are still children." he said, with an air of authority in his voice, before adding "Didn't you ever get to meet other people? I mean apart from your family and tutor..." He thought what it must be like, only knowing a handful of people, and decided it wouldn't all be bad - at least he would have time to himself to read or study, or other things that require concentration.

Lennox laughed with him, nodding in agreement to his remark. "I would suppose you're right, I don't think many of us exactly scream 'normal'," She said, picking off another piece of the tart, thinking about his next question, on if she had met others outside of those that came to the house.
She had, at times, met others that weren't her parents, but they were never much different than her parents. They were usually coworkers from the Ministry, or, if she was lucky, their kids would sometimes come along. But she never had the normal childhood of making friends in the neighborhood or going to a school where she could meet other children her age. Most of the time, she was alone with those her parents brought over.
"Sometimes, my parents' coworkers would come over for a party or meetings, maybe bring their children. Other than that, not really. My mum and dad were really strict," She explained, opting not to go too far into detail unless asked. After all, it wasn't like she had a bad childhood necessarily, for most of her childhood her and her parents got along. It was only as she got older, around age 6 or 7, that the cracks in their relationship began to show.

"What do your parents do? What kind of jobs can you get with magic?" Joey replied excitedly, having never thought about it. His mind had been so busy trying to take everything in recently, he hadn't thought about magic later in life, when he would be an adult.
He went on, not giving Lennox a chance to reply, "I bet it would be great working in the Ministry! Knowing everything that's gong on, having important meetings..." He didn't know exactly what the Ministry of magic did, apart from making new laws and enforcing the Statute of Secrecy. He supposed there must be other things they did too, but didn't have any idea what - he could easily think of 100 muggle jobs that could be replaced by a single person with a wand.
The noise in the Great Hall had started to quieten down a bit, since people were full or sleepy and had started to make their way back to the common rooms. Joey glaned up at the ceiling - it was very dark, although the stars were still visible. He wondered what time it was, wishing he had remembered to bring his watch - he made another mental note, this time to write home and ask his mum to send it.
Somebody knocked him walking passed, bringing him back to reality. He hoped he hadn't missed anything Lennox had said while he had been daydreaming.

"A lot of magic jobs circle back to the Ministry, or magic schools. Maybe shopkeeping or hospital work," She shrugged, forgetting this may not be common knowledge, having grown up around all different kinds of magical employment. Her parents, however, held pretty high standing jobs at the Ministry, which meant her family was pretty well off, something she never tried to show off.
"They both work in the Ministry, my mum works in the Department of Magical Transportation, and my father works in the Department of International Magical Cooperation," She blushed, trying to seem indifferent about it all.
Lennox couldn't finish her second serving, her fullness finally seeping in. She touched one of the cloth napkins to her lips, trying to get rid of any crumbs that may have occurred throughout the meal. She thought back to what Joey said about how great working in the Ministry was, and she couldn't help but disagree but decided against voicing it, not wanting to spoil the image of the Ministry for him. "I think I might want to work in St. Mungo's, the hospital. I want to help people when I'm older," She said, matter-of-factly. Lennox wasn't quite sure on why she felt the need to share that aspiration, but sometimes her mouth just happened to run faster than she could keep up with. It was strange, though, as she had never shared that desire with anyone, opting instead to answer with wanting to be successful.

The more Lennox talked, the more questions sprung to Joeys mind. International cooperation? That must mean there were witches and wizards in other coutries as well. The more he thaught about it, the more it made sense.
"There's a whole department for transport?" he asked, eager to find out as much about the Ministry as he could while they were on the subject. The whole idea of a seperate government for the magical community amazed Joey. He had never even considered the possibility before that, somewhere in the country, was a whole building of witches and wizards working towards the protection and general wellbeing of magical Britain - he hadn't even thought about how many witches and wizards there were. Seeing hundreds of them at Hogwarts to learn to control their magic, re-enforced his theory that he must have passed one - at least one - in the street and not known.
Noticing Lennox had finished eating, Joey pushed his bowl away from him, waiting for the tables to magically clear themselves.
"There's a magical hospital?", he asked, slightly suprised. It made sense really, he had read about all sorts of dangerous magical creatures, capable of dealing very serious injuries, yet had never heard of anyone being treated for a Doxy bite in a muggle hospital.

Lennox grinned, appreciating how fascinating it must all seem to someone that hadn't grown up around all the information she had considered common knowledge. She took a minute to collect her thoughts, trying to figure out the simplest way to put such a complicated government into layman's terms.
"Yeah, she helps to track where people are traveling, making sure that everyone is using ethical forms of transportation, that kind of stuff," She started, then continued, figuring she would explain both of her parents' jobs since they were on the topic of the Ministry. "My father helps in foreign affairs, like talking to the Magical Congress in America about our policies. The Ministry also takes care of the misuse of magic, as there are many spells or things that can happen that hurt people, hence the hospital. Magical problems need a magical fix," Lennox finished with a smile.
She was a bit more in tune with her knowledge of the international magic, as her father had told her all about the places he had to go for work when he returned. Her mother being from France also played a big role in how well she knew what was going on in the world of magic. Allegra had given her many stories of Beauxbatons, the French school of Magic she went to when she was Lennox's age. It was the one thing she loved about her parents, the never-ending supply of stories.