hi friends! thank you thank you for your nice words and encouragement! i was slightly nervous because i'd never written lavenderxhermione before and it was a dynamic that i really wanted to get right.

here is my next installment, which was a leeeeetle bit rushed solely because i have so much to do this upcoming week that i knew i wouldn't be able to get something up until the second week of august. i hope you all like this!


gryffindor dormitory, year 5 - february 1996

Harry, Neville, Seamus and Dean crept up the Gryffindor stairs, 2 mysterious parcels in each of the boys arms. It was the evening before Ron's 16th birthday and ever since Christmas when Ron's father had been sent to the hospital, and Umbridge's crack down on Hogwarts, the 5th year boys decided it was time for a little bit of enjoyment to lighten up the mood. It seemed as if the dark cloud of sadness had continued to overcast itself over the castle which made every passing day as gloomy as the one before.

Harry had been able to keep himself occupied with the DA, trying to think up new lessons that he could teach his fellow classmates. He was completely bewildered when it grew as much as it did. Harry did not think that so many of the students at Hogwarts were so eager to learn actual attacks. Additionally, he and Sirius had been sending letters back and forth, and Harry had a slight look on how everything was going on the outside. He would ask Sirius about the Order and how things were getting figured out. If he couldn't get an answer from the Daily Prophet, Harry would scribble it on some parchment and have Hedwig deliver to Grimmauld Place.

Nevertheless, Harry did not want his best friend's birthday to be a dull one. They weren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade, and their parcels were heavily monitored before it entered the school, so Harry had to ask for a favor from the twin Weasley's. Harry had asked Fred and George if they could conjure some sort of birthday party in a box that wouldn't be able to be heard from the outside. This was a hard feat considering he had not known any silencing charms and asking Hermione to sneak into the boys' dormitory late at night was just out of the question. Harry had asked Neville, Dean, and Seamus to take part in his plan, and to no surprise, they were all interested.

In the parcels that all four boys were carrying had a variety of Shrieking Streamers, self-bursting balloons, a few banners with Ron's name on them, and four enchanted plastic rods that were meant to cover the cracks in the door so that whoever was to pass by during the night would not hear any of the commotion happening. Seamus had the box of self-bursting balloons since he was so familiar with explosives, Dean had the streamers and a mix of confetti in his box, prepared to string them up and throw the confetti right onto Ron's unknowing face. Finally, Neville was carrying boxes filled with sweets. There was a variety of sweets ranging from Chocolate Frogs and Droobles to the twin's creation of Fun Flabbergasting Fairy Wings, which were chocolate wings with a charm that made the person who ate them react shocked to everything they heard.

The four boys were almost up to their room before the sound of a cackling ghost appear behind them.

"Ooh, Potty and his three friends, Dumb, Numskull, and Spineless sneaking in," Peeves taunted, flying around the boys, ready to make them break their silence. "What are you four doing out this late? I think I'll call Filch to make a little visit.." The poltergeist continued. Harry groaned, and looked back at the other 3 and mouthed I have a plan. It was clear on the other boys faces that in their mind, they had been discovered. There was no chance that they could follow through with their party prank with Peeve's poking his pestering ghost head in and out of the dormitory. Harry turned back and smiled at the poltergeist.

"Peeves, just the ghost I was looking for!" Harry whispered eagerly, and Peeves had a look of shock on his transparent face. Harry could hear Neville choke out of surprise, not expecting to hear this from him.

"We were planning on surprising Ron for his birthday and you are perfect to give him the best surprise ever." As Harry finished, Peeves lowered himself to be eyelevel with the boys, a look of intrigue and suspicion in his eyes. Clearly, Peeves had never been asked to surprise anyone.

"What's in it for me?" The poltergeist asked, and Harry had to suppress an eyeroll. For a ghost, Peeves was inexplicably expectant, although not having the substance to keep anything. As he floated in front of Harry, he heard Seamus speak up behind him.

"You can make fun of me and Dean for one day without hearing a peep out of the pair of us," even through the darkness, Harry could see Dean kick Seamus behind his knee, causing his knees to buckle.

"Oi! Watch it you prat. I almost dropped my boxes." Seamus yelped and Dean was about to retort until Peeves snickered.

"Alrighty Spineless, that sounds like a plan!" Harry let out a sigh of relief and looked back at Dean and Seamus with grateful eyes. The pair both looked disgruntled.

"A few conditions," Harry cut in just before Peeves flew out of their visions. He saw the poltergeist pause, sneer, but stopped to listen regardless.

"Now this is all lighthearted Peeves, nothing to hurt Ron's feelings, nothing that has to do with spiders." Now it was the poltergeist that looked disgruntled.

"Typical Potty, stinking up everything fun." With a tongue out, Peeves flew away from the four boys and out through one of the walls. Harry looked back at Neville, Dean, and Seamus and motioned with is head towards their dormitory. When they had reentered their room, Ron's snores were so loud that it was shaking the tapestry of his four posters.

"Harry..." Neville said wearily. Harry put the parcels on the floor and grabbed his wand to begin placing the banners across the walls. "What if Peeves does something absolutely terrifying that Ron stops talking to us?" Harry let out a small chuckle. Although the DA had given Neville some confidence, there was still some fear that lingered inside him and Harry hoped it would never disappear.

"You don't have to worry about that Neville, Ron's a big boy and we don't have to tell him that we asked Peeves to be a part of any of this." Harry gave Neville a pat on the shoulder and he resumed hanging things up and preparing for Ron's big surprise.

Keeping silent while they were decorating proved to be quite difficult, having to shove some streamers back into the box to keep from making too much noise. There was a specific way to hang them up without the shrieking. It took Dean a few dozen times to get it right. Neville was carefully placing the candies all over Ron's sleeping body, thankful that the red head was a heavy sleeper. The only movements that he would make would be when he would let out a deep breath, and Neville let out a shudder of disgust due to the rancid smell that came from Ron's mouth. Seamus on the other hand had the easier task of opening his box and just letting the balloons fly out, some sort of charm that caused the them to make their way to the ceiling on their own. Seamus laid on his bed eating Every Flavor Beans until the rest of the boys finished.

Once everything had been set, Harry cast a timing spell on the decorations. They were due to surprise Ron at exactly midnight, which was roughly 10 minutes away. Peeves had already entered the room and was floating right above Ron's four-poster. The poltergeist hand planned on singing Ron a rendition of Happy Birthday in the worst voice he could muster, and Harry had no objection to it. As the four boys made their way back to their individual beds, all holding back their excitement, the clock ticked and ticked until…

"Happy birthday Ronald!" The streamers had emitted a loud and joyous screech that caused Ron to fall out of his bed. The four other boys jumped to their feet, cast the aguamenti charm and hosed Ron down to wake him up fully. The Bursting Balloons made a loud pop!, making Ron jump onto his feet, screaming. The water around him caused him to slip and fall again, and rather than helping, Harry, Dean, Neville and Seamus were laughing, dancing around Ron. Peeves was singing loudly along with the banners, circling around the ceiling of the dormitory.

Ron was hurriedly trying to get to his feet, the balloons popping, the streamers screaming, failing to find his balance. The four boys had fallen back onto their beds with laughter, and Peeves was happily flying around Ron, disorienting him further. The entire plan had gone just as Harry had wanted it to.

As the streamers died down, and all of the balloons had popped, Peeves gave Harry a nod of thanks and flew out of the dormitory cackling. Harry was slightly taken aback, not expecting a kind gesture from the mischievous poltergeist. Once everything had settled and all of the decorations had been tuckered out, the four boys directed their gaze to the sopping wet red head that was looking bewildered on the floor. Harry and the three other boys had to hold themselves back even more to keep from laughing at the pathetic image that was Ron Weasley.

"Happy birthday mate," Harry said. "You're sixteen!" He walked slowly towards Ron, afraid that he would scare his best friend again. Once he had been a foot away from him, all Harry saw was Ron running towards him with a devilish grin and being tackled to the ground.


i really enjoyed writing this one because i love seeing boys being boys (the fun way) and just being silly and acting their age. i hope you guys liked it as well!

i'd love to hear what y'all think! please please leave reviews! they definitely make my day brighter. if y'all have any requests for the next chapters, i'd love love love to hear them! (also constructive criticism is very kindly welcome, i'm very sensitive so beware LOL)