{trickett party} after sundown, before sleeping | • b r i t a

Brita burst into gales of laughter at the thought. "You know, though, if Professor Flitwick's ancestor could do it, you could too," she said mock-seriously before dissolving into giggles. "Isn't @Danny Willbond Marjorie's slightly erratic little brother?" The former Hufflepuff had been in Brita's class, although she wouldn't count her as her closest friend or anything. She'd always gotten the impression he wasn't quite as bright as the rest of the family, but Brita was the last person on earth who would fault someone for being academically unambitious, although she of course wanted Freya to be with someone worthy of her. That could manifest itself in plenty of ways, though, the foremost by making her cousin happy.

Brita grinned at Freya's dreamy expression. "Didn't you visit that friend of yours in France last year? Could make a habit of that instead to avoid the language barrier." Brita had never had much head for languages. "You know, it's more important to like what you do, but of course that means you do have to like your job. Is Gringotts where you want to stay, you think?" Brita always thought it sounded like an unforgiving place to work, the way Erika talked about it--well not the way she talked about it exactly, but maybe reading in between the lines. "But then again, you know, it does seem pretty important who you spend your life with...I mean, look at our whole family." The vast majority of marriages in their parents' generation had turned out well, and Brita thought they were a big reason why the Trickett family maintained its close bonds. She thought fondly of her own parents--she would have to find them later tonight or in the morning. Independence was well and good, but it'd be nice to hear her mother's voice in person and not through her columns on the Scottish rugby team, enlightening as they always were.

"Like, what would you be willing to do for the love of your life?" she wondered thoughtfully.

"Danny's a sweetheart," Freya said, nodding. "I mean, he's a total idiot but I love him, just in the friend way you know. We kissed once a while back? But It was just that. Just a kiss." The girl shook her head. Sometimes she really did think he liked her as more than a friend, but other times she figured he just thought she was pretty and was being a stupid guy about it. There was something weird about being friends with someone through the awkward stages of puberty, she thought. She was friends with Danny when she was a weird chubby little thing who was obnoxiously optimistic. Now she was more relaxed. He'd been a pretty obnoxious kid himself. Some parts he hadn't entirely grown out of, though others he had.

"France is good," she agreed. "I could go for a French guy. He'd have to speak english though, or be really good at translation charms." Freya laughed a light, melodic laugh. Freya nodded when Brita talked about work and liking her job. Freya didn't know what she wanted to do in the future, but she was happy enough right now. She shrugged. "What wouldn't I do?" Freya asked genuinely. She hadn't meant it to sound so sappy, but Freya had always been a romantic at heart and she figured that if she met someone who really stole her heart then she'd do anything to be together. The blonde shifted back up and glanced at the door. "Hmm...We should probably be getting back," Freya said with a sigh. "They'll be starting the fireworks soon."

"Ahhh, the best kind of men," Brita joked, completely teasing. The 24-year-old's closest friends were all women, but she had a decent share of male friends, and of course there were all of her cousins, a not insignificant number of whom fit the sweetheart-but-a-total-idiot paradigm (minus the kissing obviously), however much they might protest the designation. Like Tor and his brothers. Or Arick. Even though coming from anyone else, the word 'idiot' used about any of the boys would set Brita off.

"Hey, you said you'd do anything, why not learn French?" she teased. "You could get lessons from Ariana." Looking at her cousin thoughtfully, she nodded. Brita was a romantic too, but she wondered how far she would go. Would she give up her job? She loved her job. But then again, surely the love of her life wouldn't demand something absurd of her. She wouldn't cut off her family, either, but the love of her life had to be a family-oriented man. And everyone knows Ben would do anything for Maddie, said a little voice somewhere in the back of her mind. Being a good brother seemed to come as default with him. She blushed.

"Oooh, I bet they're going to be really special this year," Brita said happily at the mention of fireworks. "I have to go catch Mum and Dad too, but I'll see you after?" She jumped off the bed, feeling refreshed from their talk and ready to jump back into the whirlwind that always was a Trickett family gathering.

"I'll learn French when I fall for a French guy," Freya said, laughing. She'd learn a language for someone, if she loved them. She'd move overseas, give up her job, do basically anything, she figured. If it was really love. Until then, Freya was content with how things in her life were going. The idea of roaming France with Ari was an appealing one though; now that they'd made up and were friends again, perhaps she could spend some time with the Hufflepuff in Paris or something. Freya got to her feet, following her cousin and reaching up to wrap her hair in a messy bun. She twisted her hair tie around twice.

"Yeah, I think so too," Freya agreed. One of the best things about having such a big family was that there were connections everywhere. She had family that worked at St. Mungos; she had family that worked at Hogwarts. She had family that could get her an internship at Gringotts and she definitely had family who knew how to get the best fireworks in the country. Hell, she was probably related to people who made fireworks. Freya adjusted her clothes and opened the door for herself and her cousin, feeling happy that she had someone to talk to about some of the things other people might call silly.