Chapter 15 - Party
HG
That day they mostly sat outside as the last summer breeze passed through the hills. Lee had gone to the kitchens and brought some drinks and snacks when they took a seat near the lake. Hermione was subconsciously playing with the pen holder in her hands when the twins noticed it. The twins raised their eyebrows as they looked from each other to the girl.
"Hey, Hermione." George started of gently.
"What's in your hand." Fred pointed at her hands franticly.
"Oh." She said with a secretive smile. "A present from my parents."
"What is it?" Fred asked impatient, leaning forward to have closer look. Hermione rolled her eyes as she tossed him the pen holder. Fred sat back down on his heels as George leaned closer as Fred clicked the box open. Hermione had to hold back a giggle when she saw Fred looking at the tiny broom with a frown. He picked it up, out of the box and twirled it between his fingers. George carefully snatched it from his brother as he too inspected it. "Is it a pen?" Fred asked looking from the broom to Hermione.
"Nope." She popped the P.
"Just a little keepsake? From our lessons then?" George smirked, but again, Hermione shook her head.
"Put it back in the box." She sighed as the twins wanted an answer. "I'll show you when you put it back in."
George put the broom back in the pen holder that Fred held up before they gave it to Hermione. Hermione looked to the girls, who grinned at her knowingly. The twins and Lee noticed the exchange and looked offended that the girls knew something they didn't. But the three sets of eyes went back to Hermione as she let her fingers pick up the tiny broom. If anyone would've blinked, they would have missed how the broom enlarged in a second. Now in Hermione's hand lay a new nimbus 2000.
The twins made a strange sound when they saw the brand-new and expensive broom in her hand. Lee's mouth had dropped open and uttered one single. "Wow." Just like the girls did that morning.
"Your parents got you a broom?"
"Yeah." Hermione said taking the birthday card out of her bag and showed it to the boys. The three of them nearly slammed their heads together as they read the card. "You can all try it later, if you want." Hermione merely shrugged. "After I went first that is." She added with a grin.
"We-we..." Fred choked out; he cleared his throat as he looked away from the broom to his friend. "We can fly on it?"
"Or would you rather sweep the floor with it?" Hermione laughed. Fred grinned back at her before he turned solemn.
"Now our present looks like shite." Fred grumbled.
"No, I love the fireworks." Hermione insisted. "They actually brighten my day."
"The fireworks aren't your only present, Hermione." George added as he too finally looked up from the broom with a wide grin while Lee still had his eyes fixed on it.
Hermione looked from George to Fred and to the girls. "No more surprises." She shook her head.
"Oh, you don't trust us, is that it, little Granger?"
"Not when it comes to surprises or pranks, no." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"Too bad." The twins said.
"What?" Her eyebrows high. "Girls..." Hermione groaned looking at the three girls. But they just had the same look as the twins. "Well, if no one will tell me." She said standing up and pointed her wand at her broom making it shrink again. Lee sighed as the broom disappeared before his eyes. "I'm leaving."
"Oh, come on Hermione." The girls called out as she turned, Hermione turned to the girls for a moment giving them a look that said she wasn't actually mad, with a wink before she turned again.
"We know where to find you anyway!" The twins called after her as she strutted to the castle.
HG
Hermione made her way to her favourite spot in the library, which once again was taken by a certain Slytherin. She didn't even hesitate when she walked over and sat down across from him and took out her Transfiguration paper. It was about ten minutes later, the Slytherin boy looked up and for the first-time uttered a sentence to her, a question really.
"Isn't it your birthday?"
Hermione looked up from her essay in surprise. She recovered from her shock quickly as the boy still looked at her. "It is, why?"
"You're in the library."
"I'm always here. I just need to finish this; I had enough celebrations already."
"Did those Weasley twins get your age wrong?"
"No, why?" She looked confused and then it hit her. "Oh, no. I actually started a year early."
"Didn't know that was possible." The boy mused.
"It doesn't happen often." Hermione debated saying that she was muggle born, but she knew how most Slytherins would react to that. "But because my birthday is so close to the beginning of the schoolyear and I was ahead of everything, Professor McGonagall made a special request."
"One day."
"Excuse me?"
"If I had been born one day earlier, I would have been in your year."
"You mean... your birthday is September 1st?" The boy nodded at her. "A bit late, but happy birthday." She offered him a smile which he returned. "I'm Hermione by the way."
"Blaise."
"Nice to officially meet you." Hermione grinned.
"You too." He smiled back, before they fell into a comfortable silence as they continued their work. When it started to get dark outside, Hermione bid Blaise farewell and walked up the stairs to the common room.
HG
They were probably waiting for her to arrive to head down for dinner. But when she arrived at the portrait, Ron and Harry were standing there, waiting for something or someone.
"Happy birthday, Hermione." Harry smiled.
"Happy birthday." Ron chimed in less enthusiastic.
"Thank you." She smiled. "What are you two doing out here?" She laughed.
"Waiting for you."
Hermione stopped laughing as she looked between the two boys. "What?"
"Here." Harry holds out a blindfold in his hand.
"I'm not wearing that." She huffed.
"The twins asked us to do this, so come on Hermione." Ron grumbled.
"The twins?"
"Yeah." The boys answered. Hermione took the blindfold from Harry's hand and leaned closer as she whispered.
"How bad is it?"
"It's nothing bad, promise." Harry said, as he helped her tie the blindfold. "Ready?"
"With something the twins planned? Never." She chuckled, seeing nothing but black. She heard the two boys laugh next to her as Harry looped his arm through hers, helping her climb through the portrait when Ron said the password.
"Have fun, dear." She heard the fat lady say as they walked in. The room was quiet, but she heard shuffling of feet in the room. She frowned but before she could say something Harry untied the blindfold.
"SURPRISE!" A loud group of voices called out. Hermione squinted as her eyes, adjusted to the bright light. The twins had thrown her a surprise party. Her breath got stuck in her throat, tears gathering in her eyes as she thought about how different things were now and two years ago. The twins walked closer and hugged her tight, both of them gave her a kiss on the top of her head.
"Happy birthday, Hermione." The twins smiled wide. "Surprised?"
"You have no idea." She wiped away a single tear. She didn't have a chance to look around the room before she was swept into another hug by the girls.
"Happy birthday!" They squealed.
"Do you know how hard it was to keep it a secret?" Katie sighed in relief. "The twins have been planning this for ages."
"Really?" Hermione raised an eyebrow as she glanced at the twins. The twins winked at her, and George handed her a bottle of orange juice. Now she had a chance to look around the room as she sipped her juice. Lee smiled from his place at the window where he played music. Harry and Ron had made themselves comfortable near the fireplace. Not only had they placed food and drinks on a table, but the common room was also decorated in balloons and streamers.
"I don't know why, but I had an entirely different vision of the lion's den in my head." Cedric voice came from behind her. She turned so fast; she got a little dizzy. Cedric grinned down at her as she focused on him. "I hope it's okay they invited us?"
"Us?" She asked surprised. Cedric pointed to a spot behind her, she looked over her shoulder and saw Matt and Gavin talking to Lee about his music installation. "No." She turned back to Cedric with a smile. "I'm happy your here, Digs."
"Thank Merlin." Cedric sighed in mock relief. He leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek. "Happy birthday."
Hermione blushed slightly and ducked her head the moment he passed her his present. "You didn't have to." She said, supressing her blush as she looked up.
"It's not like a fancy new broom or anything." He winked. "The others told me."
"I figured." Hermione chuckled as she opened the wrapper. "Oh." She said in surprise as she held a moving framed photograph in her hands. It was her and Cedric as they were huddled together on his couch, laughing at something. Hermione remembered it was Mrs. Diggory who told them a story about her husband from back in school, which left them in stitches.
"I know it's not much." Cedric started, but Hermione shook her head before she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest.
"I love it."
Cedric who recovered from the shock put his arms around her. When they parted Cedric didn't let her fully go as his arm was still around her shoulder, guiding her through the crowd. She ignored the looks her friends gave her as they stopped at the music station.
"Happy birthday!" The three boys chimed in.
"Hope you're enjoy yourself, Hermione. I pulled out all the stops for you." Lee grinned, gesturing over the installation. "But that's not all. I got you a little something too."
"Lee." She started but he shushed her with a wave of his hand and tossed over a full bag of sugar quills. Hermione laughed as she took one out and nibbled on it, as they started to talk.
Ten minutes later, Alicia had dragged Cedric away and Gavin was chatting up some girls, Matt being his wingman. Hermione had stepped up next to Lee and was looking at the music collection he had. She was flipping through the records when Lee nudged her.
"Hey, are you okay?" He asked looking away from the crowd to her. "I mean, it looked like you were about to cry when you walked in."
"Oh." She said, looking back to the records. "It just took me by surprise you know."
"Okay." Lee answered, but Hermione knew he didn't believe her, but he didn't press on. That's what she like about him, he would never pressure you to do or say anything you don't want.
"But that's not all." She admitted, barely a whisper. Lee leaned closer to hear her better over the music. "No one knows, only my parents. But when I turned ten." She took in a trembling breath. "I threw a birthday party for the kids at my school. I baked and decorated everything with my mum, they all said they would come." A few tears rolled down her cheeks. "But no one came."
"Oh, Hermione." Lee whispered and quickly pulled her in a very tight and comforting hug. Hermione could count on less than one hand the times she had hugged Lee, but it was in excitement or a goodbye. It never felt like this, safe and comforting. Lee looked over her like an older brother, and she was happy to call him a friend. She rested her head on his chest, her arms coming around his waist as more tears escaped. Lee let his hand stroke her head softly as he whispered. "You're okay. You have us now; we won't let you go."
Hermione squeezed him a little harder and she heard people come up behind her.
"Hermione?" Katie's worried voice sounded slightly over the music.
"Little Granger, what's wrong?" Even Fred sounded worried. She pulled herself back from Lee and gave him a smile.
"Thank you." She mouthed to him; his shirt was wet with her tears. She turned to Fred and Katie, but they weren't the only ones there. George, Angelina and Alicia all looked at her worried. In the corner of her eye, she even saw Cedric looking at her with a worried frown. "I'm fine, promise. Just got a little emotional."
"Are you sure?" Fred asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, I'm sure." She smiled up at him.
"Great." He grinned and pulled her away from Lee. "We're going dancing!" He shouted at the others, and they all followed. Hermione knew they would ask about it eventually, but she was happy they didn't pressure her at her own surprise party. The three Hufflepuffs came dancing with them, as the three boys twirled the girls around while Fred and George danced radically and totally off beat a safe distance away from them. They only moved a bit further once they nearly gave Alicia a black eye. Alicia had ordered them into the corner, they were still dancing there until they could dance without risking anyone to get hurt. The next day they all slept in late, Hermione only woke up when the sun was high in the sky. She turned in her bed as she snuggled her head in her pillow smiling. Even with the emotional moment with Lee, she still had a great time. It even topped her birthday last year. She sighed happily at the thought of all her friends last night, who would've thought she would have so many.
