"Things are pretty much settled here. I'll go tell Father about what I foresaw regarding the United States..." Allen stood up and straightened his wizard robes. "You all have fun here. I'll go dump the blame on him and be right back."
Penelope rose with him and said briskly, "Allen, I'll go with you. After something like this, he'll definitely need to give Albert and me some sort of explanation."
"Then I'll go find Jessica. She wasn't invited today, so she's probably home all alone and feeling awful..." Daisy casually took a box of pastries from the table, then vanished from sight.
After the few of them left, the grounds became much more spacious. The Veela cousins, who had originally planned to come back after seeing that matters here had been discussed, noticed that the ones left were Crazy Girl, the know-it-all, and the children Emily and Gabrielle. They exchanged glances, then tacitly invited their cousin Fleur and ran toward the little garden stage, where Tonks's singing was coming from—Fleur conveniently dragged Helena along as well, believing that the Female Ghost ought to have more contact with modern affairs.
This also gave the House-elves their chance. The fruit, snacks, and drinks on the table were replaced with a fresh batch by Maggie, who wore a little blue formal dress—though unlike some other traditional Pureblood Wizard families, House of Harris actually hoped their House-elves would appear more often at occasions like this.
Maggie herself had originally lived in an era that did not have so many rules, but because of Kreacher and the influence of Dobby and Winky, she also tried her best to appear and work only in front of their own people.
Luna's bulging eyes fixed on Hermione, who had picked up another plate of puff pastries filled with