She was rudely awoken by someone jumping on top of her. "Wake up! Lazy bum, wake up!"
Remington groaned, slightly in response and slightly in pain of Fay's knee jamming into her back. "My alarm hasn't gone off yet, Fay!" She snapped into her pillow.
"Do you know what today is?" Fay sang, "You can't sleep in!"
"I'm not sleeping in!" Rem argued, "I'm not getting up earlier, either!"
"Come on!" Fay insisted, "You have to get up!"
"It's my birthday! I can do what I want!" Rem disagreed, "Get off me!"
"If I had to get up early, you'd better, too." Parvati told her from across the room. "Your little friend has been making all sorts of racket for at least half an hour."
"Fay! Shame! Be quiet!" Rem chided, chucking a pillow over her head at the girl who'd finally stopped kneeling on her spine.
"I'm at the perfect angle to smother you with this." Fay warned, "Get out of bed."
"Fine! Get off my bed!" Remington countered.
"Fine!" Fay mocked, climbing off her mattress and yanking back the covers.
"Brat!" Rem shot at her, pulling into a sitting position. "I'm going to do this to you on your birthday!"
"Hah, you don't know where I live." Fay remarked, "Remember? My birthday's in August."
"Life enjoys taunting me." She groaned, burying her face in her hands and dragging her fingers down her face as she looked back up. "At least it's Friday."
When she finally pulled herself out of bed, she found that the reason she'd been woken so early was because Fay had taken the liberty of planning her hair and make-up for the day. Remington resisted all her efforts as far as the make-up went.
"It'll bring out your eyes!" Fay argued, "It'll make you prettier!"
"If I'm not pretty enough without make-up, you can leave. We don't need you." Rem snapped. If it wasn't horribly obvious to the other Fifth Year Gryffindor girls, she was most certainly not a morning person.
"Bitch." Fay muttered.
"Whore. You called me ugly!" Remington retorted.
"I didn't!" Fay said, patting Rem's cheek in the mirror condescendingly, "Such a pretty little doll." She cooed as if she were talking to a baby.
Rem swatted her hands away, standing up. "Are you done?"
"No! Sit! Your hair! It's atrocious!" Fay pushed her back into the chair.
"Oh, decide if I'm attractive or not already." She mumbled irritably.
By the time they left the dorm, Remington felt quite belittled, and Hermione gave her a couple pitying looks. She couldn't deny that Fay was quite talented with fishtail braids, though. It made sense she supposed, considering how often Fay braided her own hair.
"I wish you'd let me curl it." Fay lamented as they sat at the Gryffindor table.
"I don't want people thinking that today is special by any means." Rem said, snatching a piece of toast.
"It's your birthday! How can-" Fay interjected.
"Shh!" Remington hissed, "Don't go shouting it!"
"Why not?" Fay demanded, stabbing a bit of scrambled eggs and sticking them in her mouth, looking pointedly at Rem as she chewed.
The other girl simply rolled her eyes, just as an owl dropped a letter in front of her. She dropped the toast quickly, brushing the crumbs from her hands and picking up the envelope.
She looked it over for a moment, slightly disconcerted. It was apparent that it'd been tampered with. Why anyone would care what's in her mail was beyond her, but she just ripped the envelope open regardless. Afterward she realized how stupid that was. What if someone had put something inside it? It sounded like something Fred and George would do. But all was fine. She unfolded the lined paper, fumbling the sheets for a moment when a couple other things fell out as well.
One appeared to be a wedding invitation. When she saw Celeste's older brother's name on it she couldn't force back her grin. She could never see that boy marrying anyone. He was such a fruit loop. Not to mention, he'd only been a Seventh Year the year before. She flattened the lined paper, sure some sort of explanation could be found in Natalie's neat, speedy script.
My Love,
I don't really see how writing can make up for seeing you every day. Some days it feels like you've been gone a lot longer than you really have, but other days seem like you've just been sick for a while. Either way, I really, really, REALLY FRIGGEN hope I can see you this summer. Otherwise, I might just die of a Remmie deficiency.
Anyway, I'm sure you've already noticed, but Chuck is actually getting married. Yes, married. All of his siblings are in the wedding party, too. All five of them. Anyway, it's three weeks after Nexxford's classes are up, and I get out earlier than you, don't I? So it's two weeks after Hogwarts (LOVE the name) lets you leave. You could stay with me so you can come to the wedding! Celeste will be so happy to see you. She's the one who talked them into inviting you and your mother. Chuck probably wanted you to come, anyway. He says he misses being insulted by you at dinner almost every day. Or maybe it was that he missed insulting you... I can't really remember.
I Really Miss You A Whole Lot Of Tons,
Natalie
P.S. Check out the other paper!
P.P.S. I'm sending you a Howler if I don't hear back in a week!
P.P.P.S. I love you!
P.P.P.P.S. I almost forgot! Isaac wanted me to tell you he misses you. I'm sure Celeste wants me to put a word in too.
She folded the letter back up and tucked it into the envelope, taking a quick look at the invitation in all its creamy off-white neatness, before she grabbed the small sheet of parchment that had fallen out as well. She was a bit afraid of what it was. She was sure this letter had been sent on account of her birthday, and since nothing had been mentioned of it as of yet, there wasn't a doubt in her mind that this last sheet was solely dedicated to her turning sixteen. She slowly started to unfold it, only for a chorus of "Happy Birthday" to spill from the page. Fay's eyes shot up at her, along with several from the others sitting around her. Embarrassed, she quickly folded it back up, resolving to read it when she got back to the dorm.
During Charms class, she caught Draco looking at her from the Slytherin side of the room. She held his gaze for a moment, then mouthed, "What?"
"Wait after." He responded silently before turning his eyes on the stout Professor at the front of the room, who was talking about the Silencing Charm.
When the bell rang, Remington hovered at her seat for a moment.
"Are you coming?" Fay asked, looking back at her friend.
"I just have a question for Flitwick." She lied smoothly.
"Alright," The girl said, "See you in History of Magic." She made a gesture of hanging herself by a noose before turning to leave. Rem watched Fay until she walked out of the door, acting as though she was taking her time gathering her things before leaving the room as well. Draco was waiting on the other side of the threshold.
"Not admitting to your friends how much time you spend with me?" He inquired a bit tauntingly as they began to head towards the stairs.
"Do you have any idea what sort of earful she'd have in store for me every time it was brought up?" Remington countered. He shook his head lightly, wearing a slight smirk. "So, what was it you wanted?" She had a fairly good idea what it was.
"I'm under the impression that today's of some importance to you." He remarked.
"Not really." She said, "Everybody's acting like it should be, though."
"Well, it only comes once a year." He reasoned.
"Alright, say it." She demanded.
"Happy birthday, Alvers." He said, smiling with only a hint of smugness.
"There, now you don't need to mention it anymore." She commented decisively.
"You really hate your birthday that much?" He prompted, giving her an odd, sidelong look.
"Too much attention on me. I don't like it." She said with a small shake of her head, watching her feet so she wouldn't trip on the way down the steps.
"Maybe you aren't so suited for Slytherin." He noted. "We tend to like excess attention."
"So I've noticed." She rolled her eyes. "When's your birthday, anyway? Soon, I'd hope."
"Why soon?" He inquired.
"Well," She began a bit uneasily, obviously not entirely comfortable. Her volume dropped a couple notches. "Normally the guy's supposed to be older. You're younger than me, and you've kissed me. Twice!"
"That doesn't mean you're any more mature, Remington." He informed her. "Far from it." She made a derisive sound. "Besides, it's only June."
"June-" She began imploringly, prompting him to continue.
"Fifth." He finished.
She smiled, "Good. We'll still be in school."