Chapter 3
Birthday Party
For the rest of the month I was too hyped up to sit still for even a minute. Emily was reading her books and trying to remember everything before she got to school. Anthony was going over everything, again, and making sure that we had everything we needed and enough money for the school year. Alex was in the garage working on the car he had gotten last week. Me, I was in the kitchen telling mum what to do for my birthday.
"Have you decided?"
"No, I love devil chocolate, but French vanilla is so good."
"Well, I can make the cake two layers and have those two flavours' on the cake, if you like."
"That would be great."
That's when dad came in, with a piece of paper in front of him.
"Is that a list of presents?"
"Yes. And no, you can't see it."
"Fine. I'll go see if Alex needs any help."
I walked out of the kitchen and walked into the garage. Alex was under the car, most likely working on the under carriage. I sat down on the hood of the car and waited for Alex to notice I was there.
"Sara, could you pass me the wrench?"
I got down off the car and grabbed the wrench Alex was pointing to. I passed the wrench to him and sat down on the car again. Alex came out from under the car and looked at me.
"What's on your mind sis?"
"School, my birthday, trying to figure out which house I'll be in…"
"There's more than that."
"It's about the houses. Mum and dad were both in…"
"You're trying to figure out if you'll follow mum and dad, or if you'll follow Anthony, Emily and me. I can see why that's on your mind."
I pulled my knees up to my cheats and sat like that on top on the car. I could tell that every once and a while that Alex would look over at me then go back to working on the car. That's when Alex dropped his tools and stared at me.
"What?"
"There's something on your mind that you're not telling."
Truthfully, the only thing on my mind was the housing problem. See, my mum and dad were both in Slytherin, their whole family had been, but Anthony, Emily, and Alex were in Gryffindor. They were the first in both their families to not be in Slytherin, so I could either be the one child in my family to be in Slytherin, or I could follow my siblings and be in Gryffindor.
"Is there another problem you want to talk about, or is there more to the housing problem then what you've been saying?"
"Everyone in mum and dad's family were in Slytherin, than with the three of you, you want into Gryffindor. So I could either be the child who…"
"Don't worry about it too much. No one really knows which house they'll be in, just keep with your positive attitude and you'll be put in the right house."
"Thanks Alex, you always know what to say."
I gave Alex a hug and ran out of the garage. I wasn't really thinking of anything, but as soon as I got to my room I grabbed my quill and started to write a letter.
Dear Ron,
It's been boring around here the last couple of days. Birthday's tomorrow, so I have some hopes. Though I don't really know what's going to happen.
I got your letter, by the way, though Errol's seen better days. Yes, you, Fred, George and Ginny can come over. I really can't wait to see all of you.
I'll leave Jean with you so you can write back.
See you soon,
Sara
I put the quill down and looked over the letter. It was quickly written, so it was a little sloppy, but Ron would still be able to read it. I folded up the letter and sealed it in an envelope. I then gave it to Jean and let her out through the window. I was just lying back down when Alex called in to me.
"Hey Sara. Dinner's ready. You comin'"
"Yeah, I'll be right down."
Alex stood at the door as I jumped off the bed and went to put away the paper and quill. As I left my room I could tell that Alex was trying to figure out if I was still a little upset, or if I was fine.
"Who did you write to?"
"Ron."
"Of course…"
"Don't make me hit you."
"Ooh, I'm so scared of my eleven year old sister."
Before I could slap him, Alex was running down the hall and I went after him. As I got closer to Alex, I realized that we were almost in the kitchen. I slowed down to a walk and let Alex get himself in trouble, and leave me out of it. Alex ran though the kitchen door and almost ran into Emily. When I came thought the door, Emily was yelling at Alex and I just sat down.
"And what's worse is that you used your own sister to cover for you, she didn't come in to the kitchen running, she walked in quietly…"
"Emily, Alex, that's enough. Come and sit down before your dinner gets cold."
Emily sat down on her chair, but that didn't stop her from glaring at Alex the whole time. After dinner I went up stairs, too tired to really do much else. I was just finishing getting changed when I knock came from the door.
"Come in."
"Are you okay?"
"Hey Anthony, yeah, I'm fine. Why?"
"You seemed really far at dinner, and you're not staying up with us like you normally do. So I just wanted to know if everything was okay with you."
"I'm just really tired. Really, I think I was so excited about my birthday tomorrow that I didn't realize how tired I was today."
"Well, I hope you feel better. G'night."
"Night."
Anthony walked out of my room and started talking to someone. I couldn't tell who it was, just that they wanted to talk with me and Anthony wouldn't let them get pass. I pulled off my sheets and climbed into bed. The last thing I remembered was someone trying to get in my room, but failed when they realized that my door was locked.
The morning came quicker then I would've liked. I got out of bed feeling tried and very, very sleepy. I went over to my door and unlocked it. As I got changed, I remembered that Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny were coming over, and changed into my good jeans, my only pair that didn't have holes, and my nice shirt.
"Well, don't you look nice."
I turned around to see Alex standing at my door.
"It's my birthday, and we have some guests coming over, so you should also look nice."
Alex looked down at the clothes he was wearing, and then looked at me. I could tell he wanted to say something, but Emily pulled Alex away before he could say what he was thinking.
"Sara's right y'know. You should dress nicely if we have guests coming over. By the way Sara, who is coming over?"
"Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny Weasley."
Emily nodded and pulled Alex away so that he could get changed into something more dressy. I put on my new flats and walked out of my room. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw a cake sitting on the counter.
"Wow."
"Do you like it?"
"It looks awesome."
"I'm glad you like it."
That's when Anthony, Alex, and dad came running into the kitchen with Emily behind them. Emily was wearing a black and hot pink dress with one strap and a flower were the other strap would be. Anthony, Alex, and dad were still in their pajamas.
"Sara, did you invite some friends over today?"
"Yes, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George Weasley. Why?"
"I wish you'd learn to ask us before you would invite friends over."
"See, I wasn't just trying to get you into your formal wear, we're having guests over, and besides, you are not wearing your pajamas all day."
"George, Emily does have a point. You are not wearing that all day."
Anthony, Alex, and dad all looked at each other than went back up the stairs. When they came back, I almost laugh. Anthony had put on black jeans that came down to the ankles, and a long sleeve shirt with a brown vest. Alex was wearing long black jeans, most likely Anthony and Alex switch jeans by accident, and a purple plaid long sleeve. Dad was also wearing black jeans and a white shirt.
"I think you two should switch jeans."
Anthony and Alex looked at each other, ran up the stair, and came back down stairs wearing their own jeans.
The rest of the day went by so fast that I almost thought that it was a dream, but it was all too real for it to be a dream. Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny all came down around noon. Then we had lunch, although I had to keep Fred and George from throwing small chocolates down my shirt. Around one I opened my presents. The best gift; the pure white cat that I named Silverbell. After presents we had cake, well, most of us did, I was running around trying to get away from Fred and George, as they were trying to throw cake in my face. When Emily finally got Fred and George away from me, I went to the cupboard and brought out a chess set. For three hours everyone played the chess game, and Ron won almost every match. When it was just after dark, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny said that they had to go home.
"That was a great party Sara."
"Thanks. So are you going to Hogwarts?"
"Yeah, I got my letter the last week on July. Just in time to I might add."
"Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow than."
"Yeah, Bye Sara."
"Bye Ron."
Ron gave me a hug than got into the car that they had brought with them. When they were gone I walked back into the house. In the kitchen mum and Emily were cleaning up. Anthony, Alex and dad were in the living room cleaning up.
"Sara, are you okay? You look really tired."
"I'm fine, but I think I'll just go to bed now."
"You do that. We have to get up early tomorrow. I think you all should head to bed when we're done."
I went to my room, and locked the door behind me. I changed in to my pajamas and got into bed. I don't remember falling asleep, but I do remember the last thing I heard before falling asleep, it was the sound of an airplane, not really something you hear every night. And with the sound of the airplane over head, I fell asleep.
