A mostly devoured birthday cake was sat on the table, as though it held court over various other edibles. There were plates of miniature pizzas with sundry toppings and bags of Walkers. Wesley Jones had slaved over the grill making beefburgers for his son's party. Killian Jones adored them. The Muggle children invited to the party hadn't seemed overly shocked to see beefburgers, along with ketchup, mustard, and various other non-magical condiments. Cadbury wrappers adorned the table, as did lollipop sticks, gum wrappers (the occasional piece of gum) cups with various fizzy drinks and lemonade, all sitting on top of a Marvel tablecloth. Killian read all sorts of Muggle comics - Spiderman, X-Men, Iron Man. Doctor Strange was his favourite, though he despaired greatly that, like all non-magical pictures, the pictures in Muggle comics did not move.
The children had played Pin-the-Tail-On-Nightcrawler and had giggled as the appendage was stuck to his nose, his left ear, his right ankle, and finally, it's proper place.
"Rob, you cheated!" Killian said to Robin Locke, laughing.
"I couldn't have cheated," the other boy smirked. "Had the blindfold on the entire time!"
Killian rolled his eyes, conceding Robin the game.
Then, they'd all decided to watch The Avengers while wearing their favourite's costume. Of the Avengers, Killian was most fond of Iron Man, and so wore the red and gold plastic mask. Robin's Avenger of choice was Hawkeye. He held a toy bow and pretended to loose an arrow every time Clint Barton did the same on screen. There was their Hulk with the oversized toy green hands. Captain America held his shield tightly, and Thor wielded the mighty Mjolnir with vigour. Half-way through the film, Thor decided to wrestle Hulk, so of course Captain America had to intervene. Hawkeye rolled his eyes, but took Cap's side. Iron Man whined a bit that HE hadn't been the one to suggest wrestling in the first place, but joined in, amused. Black Widow, Pepper Potts, and Loki all sat together with shared looks of exasperation on their faces, and elected to go into the back garden to use the swings.
After a few more moments of good-natured roughhousing, Larissa Jones called the three children on the swings, "Gwyn! Arnold! Sarah! Time for Killian to open his presents, loves!"
After everyone had gathered in the sitting room, Killian opened his presents. He tore paper off new copy of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.
"I….I know you like adventure stories, Kil," said shy Lucy Rivers quietly. "I read them, the whole set, and they're my favorites." She smiled sweetly, and Killian nodded in gratitude.
"Ta, Lucy! I'm sure I'll love it," he replied excitedly, always the gentleman. He continued tearing wrapping paper off various parcels, including a journal, a black, red, and white skateboard withpirate flags adorning it, a new videogame, and The Pirates of the Caribbean series.
The party ended after Killian opened all of his presents from the Muggle children. Their parents came and retrieved them, had them thank Killian and his parents for their invitation and hospitality. One or two of the mothers even volunteered their children to stay and help with the cleanup. While grateful, Larissa politely refused. "We'll be perfectly fine, thank you. No, no, it's no trouble! I hope you had a good time? Good! Killian does love having his friends over."
As soon the door clicked closed and everyone was gone, except Robin, Larissa turned to the two boys and said, grinning, "Now, who wants some Cauldron Cakes? Or some Every-Flavour Beans?"
"Cauldron Cakes!" both boys exclaimed. When Larissa came out of the kitchen, she held a plate with four cauldron cakes. Robin and Killian quickly devoured theirs, while Mr. and Mrs. Jones each took a seat and enjoyed theirs across the coffee table. The remains of the party had yet to be taken care of. Upon finishing his cake, Wesley cleaned up the mess with a quick flick of his wand and some well-placed scourgifies to set the house in order.
"You didn't open my gift, Kil!" Robin said. "I couldn't resist getting you something magical…." He stood and went to the cupbard. Killian could make no guess as to what Robin had possibly gotten him. He reached in and grabbed something, but the lamp blocked it from Killian's view. Robin held whatever his gift was behind his back, and turned so that he was walking backwards. Killian craned his neck, hoping to see what Robin hid so well, but to no avail. Finally, Robin reached the coffee table. He set down the gift, looked right at Killian and said, "Killian Jones, I present to you….your very own owl!" Robin stepped aside to allow Killian a look at his new pet and companion.
What Robin revealed was a cage adorned with a bow containing a small tawny owl. The tawny blinked twice and hooted at her new owner, but she made no sound.
Killian looked pleased with the owl, but unsure about its silence.
"It's alright. I had to use a Silencing Spell on it to keep it from making noise. Can't let the Muggles find out," Larissa explained.
"And before you ask," Wesley added, "Robin talked with us about your having an owl before he bought yours."
Owls were at least 10 Galleons. It would have taken Robin months to save up for one to give Killian.
"You've been planning this for a while, haven't you, Rob?" Killian said, thrilled and touched that his friend would sacrifice to give him this kind of a present.
"You'll have to take good care of it –" Larissa started
"Her," Robin chimed. "It's a her."
"And name her," Larissa continued fluidly.
Killian looked at the tawny owl, who hooted again, with a bit of volume, as though agreeing that she wanted something to be called. After a moment of intense concentration, Killian said, "I'll call her Hazel." With that, he opened her cage, held out his arm and allowed her to hop onto his hand. Hazel was a gentle owl, doing her best to keep her claws from scratching his arm and affectionately nipping his finger before letting him stroke the feathers on her head.
While Killian and Hazel got used to each other, Wesley heard a rapping on the window near the back door. He opened the window and in flew another owl with a letter attached to its claw. The envelope was addressed to Killian.
"Well," he said, as he ventured back into the sitting room, "it looks like you have some owl post, Kil." Wesley gave the owl a small treat and it flew out the window with a hoot goodbye.
Killian and Robin both widened their eyes at that. Owl post on his eleventh birthday….that could only mean one thing. Killian quickly put Hazel back in her cage, with a promise to take her out again as soon as he'd read his post. She hooted something that sounded very close to resigned, and if she'd been human, gave him a look close to an eyeroll. Killian took the letter and opened the envelope. He took out the letter, but didn't open it for a long minute.
"Go on, Killian," Robin said. "Read it! You know what it is!"
"Dear Mr. Jones," Killian read excitedly, "We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts….MUM! DAD!" he whooped. Robin laughed and they high-fived in celebration.
Right at that moment, Robin's mother, Mathilde Locke, apparated into their sitting room. She was a lightly tan, dark blonde woman with tired, but shining blue eyes and the laugh lines that only having a beloved child can bring. Robin's coloring had clearly been inherited from her.
"Oh, dear! I hope I'm not late!" she fussed, as she patted down her purple and green robes and brushed invisible dust off of her green leather gloves.
"Not at all, dear!" Larissa replied as she got up from where she was sat and kissed Mathilde on each cheek. "Killian's just gotten his letter to Hogwarts! Isn't it wonderful?"
"Oh! Yes, it is his eleventh, isn't it? And Robin, that reminds me," she reached into a handbag that matched her gloves exactly, pulling out a letter addressed to him. "An owl came for you just before I left!" She handed the post to Robin and he looked at the letter with shock and awe. He stood next to his mother as he opened it, more quickly than Killian had opened his, and his mouth dropped wide in surprise.
"I….I got in, too!" he said. Robin looked at his mother, worry flitting across the edges of his face, overriding the excitement of the letter. "What will father…."
"Don't worry about that, he'll be thrilled!" Mathilde attempted, as she touched Robin on the shoulder. Robin could see by the way the smile didn't quite reach her eyes that she was not speaking truthfully. While Oliver Locke had accepted that his wife was magical, for a child of his to be magical would be an entirely different matter. Oliver had spoken nothing but ill of magic and those who practiced it ("except of course, for you, my dear Mattie….you're not like them, you can't help it….") Mathilde was not allowed any wizarding friends at the house, but she could visit them in theirs. And certainly no magical children were allowed there. "Magic is learned! I won't have Robin involved with them! Think of the effect they'd have on Robin! He might become one of them," he'd seethed. When he wasn't sober, he would threaten Mathilde, had hit her once because he claimed she'd bewitched him. Robin had kept his magic hidden from his father as best he could. His father would never accept a magical child.
Lucky for Robin and Mathilde, Oliver was a professional archer. He was constantly away for training or competitions. He never realized that most of Robin's friends were magical. It also made concealing Robin's magic easier, especially the uncontrolled magic. Once, Robin had turned all the glass in the house to steel because he'd had a terrible nightmare.
There would be no denying his magic now. Mathilde would insist that he went to Hogwarts to learn to control it. Otherwise, his uncontrolled magic could be dangerous.
Despite his apprehension over his father's likely reaction, Robin smiled. He and Killian were going to Hogwarts together!
"Well, how about this, Mattie. Robin can sleep here tonight and come with us when we take Killian to Diagon Alley for his books and supplies tomorrow," Wesley offered. The Jones' were well aware of Oliver's aversion to magic. Robin had spent many a night in their home when Oliver was on one of his tirades. Best Robin weren't there when his father first heard about the letter.
Mathilde nodded. "That sounds like a great idea! You know our vault number?" she asked Robin. Robin did. "Good. Get 500 Galleons out for supplies, hmm? And do behave."
"He's always good, if mischievous," Larissa said.
"Thanks, Rissa." Mathilde smiled gratefully and hugged her friend. "I'll be back in a mo with some things for Robin to wear." With that, she disapparated.
The two boys looked at each other and grinned madly. This had been the greatest birthday ever.