"Happy birthday," the soft whisper was almost lost in my yawn as I turned around, covering my head with the pillow. "Tammieee. C'mon, wake up. It's your birthday!"
I pulled the sheets over my head, mumbling something incoherent about flying unicorns before finally being bothered enough to reply, "It's my birthday all day long. The least that you could do is let… me… sleep."
"I could do that but then you wouldn't be able to see your first present."
I moaned at the realization that it was Draco trying to end my comfortable alone time. Surely whatever gift he had could've waited? As things stood, I had already decided to stay at home, mooch on ice-cream and be miserable all day. Or in other words – have the best birthday ever.
"What time is it?" I grumbled.
Draco leaned in as he whispered, "Half past six. Dad left for the office not too long ago."
I felt the sudden urge to smack him. The whole point of summer was sleeping in while the point of my birthday was me doing whatever I wanted – which right now, surprise, was sleeping in. Honestly, why couldn't he just take the hint? Still, I grumbled to myself as I turned over the right side up, there was no way that I was getting back to sleep now. Might as well endure this barbaric torture now that I was a half-awake zombie so that I would be able to forget it later on.
Overly annoyed, I shambled out of the covers but before I could get out of bed, Draco shoved a perfectly normal loojing cupcake under my nose without a word. The red icing played with my feeling of morning hunger, tempting me with excess calories by its picture perfect design.
"Wow… a house elf made cupcake... how… nice?" I droned out to Draco's rolling eyes.
"Nah, I went with dad to pick it up. I ordered it myself" he said proudly as I looked on him in disbelief, my brain not understanding that someone could actually wake up even earlier in the morning. I wondered if Draco was secretly a vampire that never slept while Draco spun on with his tale, "Melinda said that you really enjoyed the taste of chocolate and I knew that you really liked the colour orange but chocolate-flavoured orange cupcakes were out of sale so I went with the one that best resembled your favourite colour and reminded me of you."
I stared at him, my mind trying to understand the mystery in life that was Draco Malfoy, "You mean to tell me that you woke up before six just so you could go to a bakery to get me one chocolate cupcake when you could've been sleeping?"
"Happy birthday," he smiled, securing a candle to the chocolate goodness before lightening it up. "Well go on then, make a wish."
"Okay, slow down..." I said as I sat up. "Is this real or am I dreaming because you know just moments ago I was thinking that flying unicorns were a thing so you never know with these things."
"Nah this is real," he said, glancing down for a second. "I felt bad about our argument yesterday and though I still stand by what I said I don't want you to spend your birthday overthinking it."
"Yeah, I guess that makes sense," I replied, scratching my head. "I don't suppose I have any letters."
"Nevermind that, blow out the candle," he insisted as I took the plate from him and crossed my legs over the mattress cover. I opened my mouth to blow before he interrupted me with a half-annoyed growl, "No, do it proper. It's your magical birthday afterall and not some mere muggle celebration."
"You woke me up at six-thirty. Be happy that you had a gift because otherwise I would have killed you and they would have never found your body."
"Wish for something already," he teased.
I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to reach deep inside my sleep-addled mind for something completely unrealistic. 'I wished my mom was safe,' I thought to myself as I opened my eyes and blew out the candle. Draco smiled and pulled out a knife he got from what seemed to be empty air and cut the cupcake down the middle.
"After all that you put me through now I have to share my gift as well?"
"Well I bought it so suck it up," he said, taking his half. "What did you wish for?"
"I thought I'm not supposed to tell?"
"You aren't, just seeing if you would," he jested.
I took a bite. Wherever he got these cupcakes from, was obviously worth it given how delicious they were. I complimented his choice of bakery and we got to talking; it was only a few minutes later there was a tapping sound nearby.
"What was that?" Draco asked, looking at the window but seeing no owl.
"Must have been a bug," I told him knowing exactly what the sound was. "Hey, I think I should start getting ready. We could swing down to Diagon Alley to pick up our schoolbooks today."
"Uh, okay? Weird birthday request, but, hey, it's your day," he replied, a frown marring his face given my haste, "You okay?"
"Yeah, I just remembered I have something to do," I told him as he narrowed his eyes even further. "It's a girl thing."
His facial expression did not change but he did pick up his plate and left without anymore questions. I quickly closed the door behind him. I was glad he hadn't found out about the mirror for otherwise everybody in the manor would know of its existence come noon.
"It's a girl thing? That's the best you can come up with?" Fred teased as I walked over to the mirror, pulling my robe on while remaining out of his sight.
"Didn't think that you'd be awake this early," I told him truthfully.
He shrugged, "George and I were taking care of something."
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"It's guy thing." I shook my head, letting it slide for now. I knew that it had something to do with the shop. "Happy Birthday Tammie."
I felt my knees go a little weak and I couldn't help but smile back. "Thank you! I would've been still asleep if Draco hadn't woken me up with a cupcake from the bakery."
Fred absently nodded, his eyes already glazing over. I knew he didn't want to hear about Draco. That or he already knew. "Anyway, I was thinking about getting my school stuff today."
That seemed to bring him back to attention. "Oh good, because I was starting to think I'd have to come down to break in your door over there."
"Pretty sure they'd have someone here before you could get me."
"Yeah, but I'd at least get to smell your scent, you can't hide from my nose the smell of roses and gumption," he teased as I felt myself blush.
"I smell like gumption?" I laughed incredulously.
"And roses," he added cheerfully.
"You're impossible."
"And you're cute!" I blushed again. It wasn't fair that he still able to make feel like I was the only girl he was interested in.
"Tammie?" I quietly groaned at the sound of Mrs. Malfoy on the other side of the locked door. I knew I shouldn't have laughed so loudly.
"Fred –" I quietly whined.
"I know, it's okay. I'll see you later," he promised me before he disappeared from the mirror leaving only my reflection to stare back at me.
I walked over to the door, quickly unlocking it and pulling it open, remembering to smile at Mrs. Malfoy. "Good morning!" I said as cheerfully as I could muster myself up to be.
"Happy birthday," she said sounding a little uncertain. She probably thought that I was crazy, talking to myself in an enclosed room and all, "Has Draco been in to see you?"
"Yep, I really enjoyed the cupcake," I told her as she nodded and handed me a small purple coin bag.
"Obviously we'll have some gifts for you tonight but we'd like to pay for all of your school needs this year ahead of time since I'm assuming that you'll want to get your things today. The money is yours to spend as you like."
"Are you sure? I don't want to take anything that you might need," I was half tempted to give it back, already knowing without taking a peak that it was an unreasonable sum.
"We have plenty enough as it is," Mrs. Malfoy replied, not willing to take no for an answer.
"I'm sure Luthor and Wonka still have you beat..." I muttered under my breath. At Mrs. Malfoy's heavy sigh, I immediately backtracked on my earlier statement, "I mean, thank you. This is my first birthday outside of home and I'm still having a really hard time adjusting. It's rude, and I'm challenging, I know, and I'm sorry. I really do appreciate your gift."
"Thank you for being honest," Mrs. Malfoy said with a small smile. "Go get ready and we can head off."
Nearly an hour later, we were standing outside of Gringotts. Neither Draco nor I needed to take anything out of the bank so I wasn't sure why we were here.
"I have some business to attend to" Mrs. Malfoy answered the unspoken question, nodding up at the bank. "If you two children would like to do your own shopping I don't have a problem with that."
"Really?" I asked as I saw another hint of a smile. She nodded and turned to head up the steps and I could've sworn I heard her say 'have fun.'
"That's new," Draco whistled, "You must have really said something that she wanted to hear."
"I just told her the truth and apologized for my behaviour."
"Where do you want to go first?" he asked, changing the subject as we pushed through the growing crowds of first years surrounding the Quality Quidditch Supply store in true mob fashion. "Need anything for Quidditch?"
"I think I'm all set this year," I told him as I hurried across to the other side, looking longingly into the window at Ollivanders.
"You already have a wand. Don't tell me that you've lost it already?" Draco quipped, a Cheshire smile springing up to meet his
pfrown.
"Oh shut up Draco. I know that I have a wand, but it's just that…" I started but shook my head.
"Just that what?" Draco asked, curiosity making a bid for play.
"You'll laugh at me if I tell you," I told him in all seriousness but he waved me off as if I was a small child.
"Nah I won't," he reassured me while I watched a young child go in, she looked to have her parents with her and another girl, older, maybe a relative or family friend.
"I always wished I could've gotten my wand here. The magic exudes there like the shop is an epicentre to magic itself. The place where a wand chooses the wizard. the choosing ceremony seems so sacred and personal to me that I'm sad that I had missed the opportunity at getting my own wand through such means," I explained to him, not expecting him to understand where I was coming from.
"We can go in if you like. You can talk to Ollivander if you so wish," Draco suggested.
I chuckled, it was a nice gesture, but there was a line forming and I knew that the ancient wizard was kept busy by all the new arrivals in the wizarding world. "Maybe another day," I told him as I watched the little girl walk out with her new wand, the process seemingly to have taken only minutes.
"Lucky lass. I had to stand there waving wands for ages," Draco commented in such a dry tone that I couldn't help but laugh, wondering what eleven year old Draco would have looked like waving a hundred wands in quick succession until one felt like the right fit.
The family came out, the youngest girl sticking her tongue out at the older girl, I smiled, something about her playfulness reminded me of Ginny. Her dark straight hair and plum face reminded me a jolly elf though. "—Abby, you can't keep insisting Ravenclaw is full of stuffy people," the older girl said as the younger one mocked her, their parents, or at least those that I was assuming to be their parents, ushered them along, none of them paying any sort of attention to us.
"Must be a first year," I told an inattentive Draco whose eyes were focused on something further down the street. I craned my neck to see, quickly spotting a handful of red blobs. "You could say hello."
"No thanks," he said, walking back the way that they had come. "I'll catch up with mum. We'll met you back at bank in an hour or so."
I nodded and waved goodbye to which he replied with a quick wave before disappearing off into the crowd.
"Bloke couldn't even say hi," Fred mocked Draco as he appeared with his arm slinging around my shoulder.
"I can say hi," I said as I tried to hold back my desire to jump him in the middle of the street. Thankfully Mrs. Weasley had me in a death grip hug before my mind could linger to more inappropriate thoughts.
"Happy birthday!" she congratulated me by squeezing out all of the oxygen from my system.
"Thank… you," I wheezed out, feeling my face turn a hot pink.
"Mum, I think you're crushing her ribs," Fred casually jibbed as Mrs. Weasley let go, smiling from ear to ear. "You must come over for some tea and cake later, What about dinner? Or lunch? Are you hungry?"
I opened my mouth to respond when all of a sudden Ginny came barrelling towards me next, Melinda behind her as they sang me the sweetest 'happy birthday' that anybody had ever performed before.
"Thanks you guys, just don't embarrass me before noon," I said, wiping a happy tear from my eye as George and Ron rounded out the group of red-headed gingers. "Hey guys," I greeted the two as Ron happily waved back, George replying with a small nod.
"Hermione and Harry are up near the joke shop. We'll meet you guys at Flourish and Blotts in half-an-hour," Ron said as him, Melinda and George headed off to in down the street in the direction that Draco had disappeared to.
"We have to make a quick stop at the bank," Mrs. Weasley said, taking Ginny by the hand before walking off, thus leaving me and Fred alone in the middle of the street.
"Are you feeling uncomfortable yet?" Fred joked.
"Not yet," I told him as he nodded with disappointment.
"I can fix that," he moved closer and kissed my forehead.
"I'm sure you can," I teased back as I kissed him on the lips.
"But first, I think I need to get some new robes," he said as I nodded, trying not to sound disappointment I wouldn't be making out with Fred in public.
"Yeah, me too," I flat-out lied. I wasn't going to go out of my room for another two years at this rate but I would suffer getting new clothing if it meant that I could be alone with Fred if only for another second.
"Then what are we waiting for? Race you there Tammie," Fred said, sprinting off without warning as I hurried to catch up, a joyous laugh stuck at the top of my throat.
The store wasn't as crowded as I'd hoped it would be. I still felt nervous around Fred and since I hadn't seen him in person all summer I assumed I'd just be a bumbling mess.
"You okay?" he asked while protectively wrapping his arms around me.
I pulled out of his grip; I was worried I'd seem too eager if I kept letting him touch me. Not to mention I knew it was just a distraction. I couldn't stop thinking how I still hadn't gotten a letter from my mom today.
"Guess not," Fred said stiffly but I shook my head.
"Not everything is about you, you know? I just haven't heard from my mom when she was supposed to write today and the uncertainty is starting to get to me."
"There's probably a good reason for that. It's still early in the day, give it some time. We can't all wake up as early as you" he teased me as I forced myself to relax.
"You're right," I agreed with him, standing on the tips of my tippy-toes as I gave him a small, chaste kiss that shook my heart more than it ever should.
"Excuse me, I just need to get to the skirts" a sweet voice came through to me a feet from us. I pulled away to see a girl around my age looking from me to Fred. "Hi, I'm Courtney," she said in a upbeat voice. I didn't like her immediately.
I discreetly looked her over. She had a white heart shaped face, her blonde hair pulled back into a high ponytail while around her waist she wore simple jeans underneath a green t-shirt that was complemented by the brightest green eyes that I had ever seen. I felt myself fidget. She looked really pretty… and not in a good way. This girl was trouble.
"Sorry about that," Fred said with much less interest as he stepped back to let her pass. She thanked him and made her way over to the clothes section, glancing over her shoulder at me, a coy smile on her face before she turned back to the rack, busying herself in picking out clothes for her master schemes no doubt.
"Tammie!" I turned my attention to the door where Melinda and the others stood holding the largest box of ice cream that I had seen. I walked out, starting to follow the group down the street with my eyes glued to the chocolate and vanilla flavours, wondering how I cold have ever missed such a surprise.
"I hope you guys don't plan to let me eat that all by myself" I told them with a smile so wide my cheeks hurt.
"Well of course we're planning to help," I spun around so fast that my head throbbed, my eyes unabashedly tearing up as I saw my mom standing there with a silver spoon in hand, a small bag with a bow held in her other arm.
"Surprise! She said throwing her arms around me, "happy birthday!"
