Chapter 14 – Birthday surprises
HG
Hermione walked in the common room after a study session in the library, again accompanied by a silent Slytherin, when her friends spotted her coming in their conversation went suspiciously quiet. Hermione cocked an eyebrow as she passed them to put her bag in her dormitory. She heard their voices again when she reached the top of the stairs but couldn't understand them. She let her bag fall on her desk chair and changed into something a little more comfortable before she headed back down. And once again the conversation went quiet.
"What's going on?" She asked, looking at each one pointedly, her hands on her hips.
"Nothing." The six of them said in unison.
"Yeah, that isn't suspicious at all." Hermione rolled her eyes as she sat down next to Alicia. Then a thought occurred to her. "Wait!" She nearly yelled, making Alicia next to her jump. "You're not planning something for my birthday, are you?"
"Oh, is it your birthday soon?" Fred said not trying to sound innocently at all.
"We had no idea." George gasped.
"Right." She rolled her eyes at the twins and looked to the others. "I know what the twins said last year, but you guys, come one." She pouted.
"Hermione, I swear I have no idea what you are talking about." Lee almost sounded convincing.
"Uhu." Hermione knew she wouldn't get anything out of them, so she changed the subject. "Oh, did you hear? Georgie here has a date for Hogsmeade."
"No way!" Angelina yelled. "Who?"
"Hermione!" George grumbled at her. But she just stuck her tongue out, stating it was his own fault. "You know Cora from Ravenclaw?"
"The fourth year?" Alicia asked surprised.
"I guess she likes them young." George grinned, leaning back and crossed his leg. "Who could blame her, look at me." He gestured at himself. That made the others all chuck pillows at him, making Fred laugh as his twin was devoured with pillows. "Fred has a date too!" He called out behind the pillows.
"George!" Fred ploughed another pillow in his face. But George couldn't help but smirk at his twin.
"Come on, tell us." Hermione inquired, grinning at the two flustered twins.
"Helena from Ravenclaw." Fred muttered.
"Oh, she's lovely. I've talked to her a couple of times at the Hufflepuff table. She's a third year, right?" Hermione asked.
"She's hot too." Lee chimed in, making the girls roll their eyes. Lee turned to Angelina. "I guess we're the only two without a date, fancy going with me, my dear Angelina?" Lee bowed extravagant for the chaser. Angelina's eyes shot so quick between Lee and Katie, that no one saw.
"I would love to, Mr. Jordan." Angelina answered formally with a smile.
HG
It was the morning of her birthday and Hermione carefully opened one eye, afraid as to what she might find. She knew the twins had been working on a spell to get into the girls' dormitories without letting the stairs turn into a slide. When she saw that the coast was clear she stretched herself out, enjoying the sun that streamed on her face. She had her eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sun when a body slammed into her.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Katie squealed.
"Thanks." Hermione groaned and opened her eyes again. Katie was sitting on top of her, a big grin plastered on her face. "You know what they have planned, don't you?"
Katie cocked her head with a smile but kept her lips locked as she climbed of her and sat next to her, both backs against the headboard. Katie took a present from behind her and offered it to her in both hands.
"Open up, birthday girl."
The package was just the size of a book, but her mouth dropped open when she ripped away the paper, revealing the beautiful, illustrated book Mathilda from Roald Dahl. Hermione felt Katie bouncing excited next to her and knew this wasn't just it.
"Open it." She gestured inpatient. Hermione chuckled as she opened the cover. Her breath hitched when she saw it was signed by the author itself.
"How?" Was the only thing she could muster out.
"I had a little bit of help from your parents."
Hermione pulled her best friend close, hugging her tight. "This is amazing, you're amazing. Thank you!"
"Anything for you." She smiled at her. "Your parents have sent over a package too." She said pointing at a package at the end of her bed.
Hermione leaned forward in her flannel pyjamas and reached for the other package. She put it in her lap as she leaned back and opened it carefully. One of the things in the package was a mug, she frowned at it as she turned it over. Revealing the text: Never judge a book by its movie. Hermione laughed at that, thinking back at the movies they saw that summer. A framed picture of their group, the one they took right before summer. And then there was a small rectangular box in the middle of the package. Hermione frowned at the little box and picked it up. When she opened it, she saw a teeny-tiny broom. First, she thought it was a cute little pen, but when she took it out of the box the broom started to enlarge. And within two seconds a brand-new broom was lying in her hand.
"Wow." Hermione and Katie breathed out.
"That's a nimbus 2000. It's beautiful." Katie said wistfully, grazing her fingers softly over the handle. "How did your parents do that? It looked like a pen or something first."
Hermione looked back in the box and pulled out a birthday card that was hidden underneath the presents. She flipped the card open and read it out loud.
Happy Birthday, our sweetest girl!
I hope you have a great day today! I wish we could see you; we miss you already!
We thought long and hard about what to get you this year. And after we saw you flying at Cedric's house, we knew we had to get you your own broom. You looked so carefree up there and we know you already have plenty of books, now even one more.
You can carry your broom anywhere. Minerva worked on it together with your Charms professor. Just tap the broom and say - reformido diligenter- that will make it shrink and will fit perfectly in the pen holder. Once you pick it out of the box it automatically enlarges, but only by your touch. If someone else tries to take it out, it will just stay the same size. We wanted to put a sort of protection charm on it, and this is what the professor suggested. I hope you like it.
Have a great day, sweetheart.
Give my best to your friends.
Love, mum and dad.
"They must have worked on this for weeks." Hermione said in disbelief, looking at the broom. She grabbed her wand from the nightstand and tapped her new broom as she said the incantation, the broom contracted in an instant. Two loud gasps came from the door, Hermione and Katie looked up to see Angelina and Alicia standing there, their mouths almost hit the floor. "Morning." Hermione said, still holding her pen-sized broom.
The girls snapped out of it and came in the room, jumping on the end of her bed.
"What just happened?" Angelina asked, looking from Hermione to the broom as she and Alicia put their presents down.
"My birthday present from my parents." Hermione smiled as she passed down the little broom. Angelina held it on eye-level curiously.
"But-" Alicia started confused.
"It's a nimbus 2000!" Katie nearly screamed. "And her parents asked McGonagall to put some spells on it."
"I can shrink it to fit in the pen holder, so I can take it everywhere. And once I place it in the box, I'm the only one who can enlarge it."
"Wow." The two other girls breathed out, looking at the tiny broom in disbelief. Once Alicia had a good look at it, Hermione put the broom in the pen holder and clicked the box shut. When the case clicked shut, the girls came out of their stupor and grinned back up at her.
"Happy Birthday!" They yelled, picking up their presents again.
"Thank you." Hermione chuckled as she accepted the gifts. Angelina had gotten her a set of new muggle records while Alicia had given her a few from the wizarding world she never heard off. "This is too much, all of it." Hermione said looking between the three girls.
The girls huffed and waved her off. "Nonsense." Katie said.
"You're our best friend!"
"And beside you give us the best presents, we needed to up ourselves." Alicia grinned.
Katie hopped of the bed and pulled Hermione with her. "Come on, let's go!"
"Can I get dressed first?" Hermione laughed as she looked at her pyjamas.
"Oh, right." Katie grinned. While the three girls talked among themselves as she got dressed, she tucked away the broom in her bag. "Ready? The boys are waiting!" Katie said impatient.
Hermione rolled her eyes as she followed the girls down. "You really think they are awake? At this hour, on a Saturday?"
"Off course they are." Katie said confidently as they descended the stairs. She stopped suddenly when she entered the common room. Angelina stepped up next to her and glanced around the empty room.
"Or not?" Angelina frowned.
"Let's head down for breakfast they'll meet us there then." Alicia said, still looking around to see if the three of them were hiding somewhere.
HG
They walked out of the common room, through the portrait hole. The halls still quite empty. It wasn't that early, the clock just chimed nine when they landed on the ground floor, but most of the students slept in late in the weekends. The twins could sleep till noon before the grumpily clambered out of bed. Hermione's eyes darted suspiciously over the tables in the great hall, afraid they might jump at her out of nowhere. On the teacher's table sat Professor McGonagall and Dumbledore casually talking to each other. Professor MacGavin was in a conversation with Hagrid, who laughed loudly, filling the great hall with his booming laugh. There were a handful of students at the Hufflepuff table, but she didn't recognize them. The Ravenclaw table had about ten students on it, most of them eating at the table with a book propped against their goblet. The Gryffindor table was completely empty beside Percy who was scribbling down furiously. Her eyes darted to the Slytherin table. A few older kids were sitting in silence on one side, while Zabini sat on the other side of the long table, eating alone with a book on his lap.
The girls placed Hermione on one side of the table as the three of them sat across from her. She cocked an eyebrow at the girls, but when they didn't respond she looked around to see what she was going to eat. Her eyes stopped gazing over the food when a chocolate covered cake appeared in front of her, reading. Happy Birthday, Hermione! She looked up at the girls, but they were all looking stunned at the cake themselves, their mouths watering at the sight. Hermione looked up to the head table when she felt eye on her. Professor McGonagall gave her a wink before she returned to her conversation with the headmaster. Hermione smiled as she looked back and started to cut the cake. She handed the girls a piece and they all munched on the delicious chocolate cake. Hermione thought for a moment about who made the cake, and her mind clicked suddenly, house elves. She made a vow to herself to stop by the kitchens later to thank them.
About ten minutes later, when the great hall was starting to fill, a small explosion sounded near her. She looked up and saw one little firework above her head.
"Oh, no." She groaned, looking around frantically for the twins and Lee. The girls chuckled at her reaction before a larger explosion happened. Everyone in the great hall had their eyes on the fireworks above her. Hermione took a glance upwards, seeing multiple colourful fireworks in the sky. Then the words started to appear in the fireworks.
HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, HERMIONE!
The words were large and in a rainbow of colours, the fireworks died out as they trickled down on her hair. The next thing she knew the great hall clapped when the twins and Lee appeared next to her, out of nowhere, taking a bow as the others applauded.
"Happy birthday." The three of them said in a singing voice, rather loudly. Fred and George took a seat on either side of her, Lee sat down next to Fred.
"I like the colour." George grinned as he pulled a curl down.
Hermione frowned and she looked at her hair, the rainbow colours from the fireworks that trickled down after the big finish, letting strains of colour in her hair.
"It washes out, don't worry." George added.
"Thanks." She smiled at the three boys. "For the fireworks, I mean. But did it had to be so public?"
"Well, yeah." Fred shrugged. "Ooh, is that cake?"
Hermione rolled her eyes playfully as she passed the cake down to the boys.
