harmless bit of fluff.
It was not her worst birthday ever, no, that honor went to her tenth birthday when her parents decided to announce their divorce, but it cut a close second.
Caroline turned to complain to the ever-so perfect bane of her existence, Klaus Mikaelson, but he was no longer next to her.
"Oh, shit!" she exclaimed and darted from the alley they had been sequestered in and onto the busy San Franciscan sidewalk, straight into a busy stream of traffic.
After shoving past the crowd and receiving many glares from pedestrians with strange white cords dangling from their ears or slim and sleek black boxes in their hands, Caroline finally reached the front and stood in right at the edge of the pavement. Before her, the strange carriage-like machines that Muggles called cars zoomed past each other on the road.
Panickily, Caroline allowed her gaze to wander up and down the street, craning her head to search through the crowd on the other side of the street. Her heart beat at the speed of a Bludger hit by a beater, and she bit her lip nervously.
Where was Klaus? Had he left her?
Although Klaus and Caroline did not exactly get along, Caroline doubted that he was enough of a bastard to leave a fellow witch in a Muggle city behind when they both knew nobody and nothing about the Muggles.
Caroline hated this.
She hated Klaus, she hated bloody San Francisco and its blistering cold winds and foggy skies, and she hated herself for agreeing to accompany her father and the British delegation to the American Ministry of Magic's headquarters on the California coast.
Tugging her coat and scarf closer to her body, Caroline whimpered uneasily at both the frigid coldness and being in completely unfamiliar surroundings. She reached for her wand, fully prepared to summon a Patronus to send to Klaus in front of all these Muggles.
Her wand was in her hand when a familiar voice stopped her in her tracks.
"What the bloody hell are you doing, Forbes?!"
Klaus was next to her suddenly, stuffing her wand back into her coat. Looking around suspiciously, he hissed closely into her ear, "We can't use magic outside of Hogwarts or in front of Muggles. We could risk being expelled."
Irritation burned in Caroline's chest, and she snapped angrily at him, "Shut up, you asshole! You're the one who left me all alone in this godforsaken city! How are we supposed to get back to the Ministry?"
He growled in frustration, rolling his eyes. "I didn't leave you! Are all Gryffindors this thick-headed? I told you that I was going to find a map; I assumed you heard me."
For the first time, Caroline noticed the rolled-up map in his hand, partially hidden by his leg. "Well, I didn't hear you!" she cried, nearly throwing her hands above her head emotionally.
"Whoa!" Klaus said, voice suddenly gentle and hands placed in front of him placatingly. "Are you okay, Forbes? You're crying."
"I am?" she asked in stunned disbelief.
She was. She had thought the sharp prickling in her eyes were just a response to the bitter winds blowing in her face, but fat tears were falling freely down her face.
"Oh, god." Caroline sniffed in confirmation. "This is so embarrassing. I'm actually crying in front of you."
"What's wrong, Forbes?" Klaus asked, concern evident in his stormy eyes.
She began to sob. "Everything's just getting to me today. It's my birthday, and we're stuck in a random city in this stupid country, and we're lost, because you decided to walk the wrong way on our way back to the hotel, and I fucking hate this." Embarrassingly enough, her sobs turned into full-blown blubbering as the tears blurred her vision.
"Here." He awkwardly offered his arms, and despite herself, Caroline launched forward into his chest and allowed him to wrap her him in a hug.
"You're warm," Caroline observed quietly, chest heaving with the force of her sobs.
"I know."
"It's is almost the worst birthday ever," she declared childishly.
"It's not?" Klaus asked with curiosity.
"No, that honor goes to my dad, the Head of the Department of Magical Creatures, deciding that he wanted to divorce my mom and date his secretary Steven on the day I turned ten."
Beneath her hand, Caroline felt Klaus wince. His chest rumbled as he spoke. "My worst birthday was the one I spent in St. Mungo's, because my idiot brother Kol accidentally got me a cursed goblet. It made me grow a tail."
She chuckled lightly, wiping the dampness from her face with her scarf now that her tears had subsided. "I remember that. You walked with a limp for days."
"Yeah, not a fun experience." Klaus pulls slightly away from Caroline and gets a good look at her face. "Now that you aren't crying anymore, I may know somewhere we can go. I saw it when I went looking for the map."
After allowing Klaus to drag her and walk a few blocks, Caroline finally was comfortable and warm settled on a wooden chair in the Ghirardelli Café at the Ghirardelli Square, enjoying the rich creamy goodness of her hot chocolate.
"This city actually has something good to it," she moaned delightfully.
"You don't say," Klaus replied amusedly, but he too has luxuriating in the warmth of his own hot chocolate. "Bloody hell, this is almost as good as the hot chocolate in Three Broomsticks."
"The Three Broomsticks makes hot chocolate?"
"You have to ask personally, and they'll make it for you. I know Rosmerta; I can take you for a drink sometime."
Caroline gave him a sly look. "Is this your subtle way of asking me out, Klaus Mikaelson?"
"Is this your way of agreeing?" Klaus flirted back, scooting his chair closer to Caroline's.
"I dunno; maybe I'll actually take you up on your offer." Caroline leaned closer, her face almost touching Klaus', but, when he was distracted by the proximity of her lips, her hand reached behind him and latched onto his mug of hot chocolate. She yanked her head back and drained the remaining liquid in his mug as quickly as she could. Finally setting down the mug, she offered Klaus a smug smile. "Or, maybe I'll just steal your hot chocolate."
Klaus glared at her in anger, but he was too amused at her childish antics for the emotion to be true. "Betrayal!" he exclaimed dramatically. "This is what I receive for being chivalrous."
"You've never been chivalrous in your life, Mikaelson." Caroline snorted into the lip of her mug.
Laughing, Klaus retaliated by hooking a foot around the leg of Caroline's chair and jerking it closer do that her drink spilled on the counter.
"Damnit! Now, go buy me another one!" she demanded petulantly, eyes still sparkling.
Though he still wore laughter on his face, Klaus obediently rose to her feet and strolled towards the counter.
As she watched him go, Caroline realized that this birthday was actually not as bad as she originally thought it to be.
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