Over the next few weeks, we all got accustomed to life at Hogwarts. It was now the second last day of our first month and we were all bustling with excitement. September 29th was the first day of flying lessons; and it also happened to be my birthday. I was the first one awake in my dormitory which meant I didn't have to fight over the bathroom with any of my other dorm mates. We had all become quite close with each other and often spent our nights chatting on our beds when we weren't sitting in a group with Lee and the twins in the common room. The boys had taken our prank in stride; trying not to let it hurt their egos too much. It had also only been a matter of days before they used the first ever charm we learned to float dung bombs up into our dormitory during dinner. And since they had stalled us that night by playing exploding snap by the fire until a later hour than usual, our dormitory smelled absolutely horrid by the time the four of us a traipsed upstairs. But, when we rushed downstairs moments later, the boys were nowhere to be seen.
I was taking my time in the shower since our typical routine was usually all of us scrambling around at the last possible minute. After about ten minutes I stepped out and securely fastened my tattered bath robe over my body and headed over to the mirror. I stared into it, not looking or feeling any older. My hair was still the same chestnut colour that landed just above my shoulders. It had always had a slight wave to it which I knew came from my mother. I actually looked a lot like her, having the same style and colour of hair as well as my characteristic eyes. Dad liked to tell me they had a bronzish glow to them, but I always thought they looked more orange. Whichever one, they were very distinct. Sometimes I felt self-conscious with how much they stood out. I also sometimes caught Fred staring at them when we were eating or sitting around the common room together. George however always seemed to sense my unease and would toss crumpled paper or spit balls at his twin. George would also tell me randomly that although they stood out, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He explained that his red hair always automatically identified him as a Weasley anyways, which wasn't a bad thing either. I always smiled at his assurances.
I had grown fairly close with the twins, probably above all the others in our group, despite us all being very friendly. Angelina and I were also fairly close while I had noticed Katie and Alicia were always seen together. It never bothered me that we all formed different friendships with each other since we spent most meals and evenings all together anyways, along with attending all of our classes.
I walked out of the washroom to collect my robes and was surprised to see that the girls had already left the dormitory. It was odd that I hadn't heard anyone use the washroom but I supposed they all decided to go down for breakfast.
With that thought I heard my stomach grumble and decided to head down to the Great Hall. As I walked down to the common room I was immediately surprised to see all of my friends still in their pajamas standing at the bottom of the girls' staircase. The twins each held one end of a fairly large sign that said 'Happy Birthday Hare' on it. It also had a moving figure on it which I noticed was a rabbit – or hare- magically jumping around. I couldn't help but smile and roll my eyes at the obvious reference to the nickname which mostly only Fred called me by.
"Happy birthday Hare," Fred yelled up at me as I finished descending the stairs into my group of friends.
"Yea, happy birthday Marnie!" Angelina came up and gave me a big hug.
"Here you go Marnie, thought we could all have a birthday-style breakfast," Lee approached carrying what looked like a carrot cake.
"Come on guys, I'm not actually a hare you know!" I gently scolded my friends, noticing Fred giving me a smirk.
"I told you, I forever deemed you as Hare," Fred explained coolly.
He and George went to sit down in front of the fire while the rest of us followed.
I noticed all of the girls roll their eyes in response to Fred which told me this part of the plan had not been their idea. I also couldn't help but wonder if Fred actually knew that carrot cake was indeed my favourite. I doubted it since not many eleven, I mean twelve, year-olds actually liked carrot cake as their favourite.
"I can't believe you guys did all of this for me!" I exclaimed, beaming at all of my friends.
"Of course we did this for you," George piped in, "you deserve a proper birthday from your mates."
"Plus, we expect all of this for our own birthdays you know," Alicia added with a sly grin. "We had to set the bar high."
"Yea," Lee agreed, "I want my birthday to have butter beer, none of this tea nonsense," Lee indicated to the tea pot Katie was passing around.
We all chuckled at Lee while I sat down and helped myself to a piece of cake.
"Where did you guys get the food anyways?" I asked, knowing I had never seen food readily accessible outside of meal times from the Great Hall.
"Ask us no questions," George started.
"And we shall tell you no lies." Fred finished with a matching grin.
I looked at the twins ruefully before dropping the subject. Since I spent the majority of my time with the twins, I was privy to most of their secrets. And since they were already becoming characteristically known for being pranksters, they had a few many secrets to keep. For example, I knew they had a stash of dung bombs suitable to last the whole term which they had secretly bought in Diagon Alley without their mother's knowledge. They had also ventured out of the common room after hours to explore the castle numerous times while only getting caught about half the time. The worst had been when they had gotten caught by Professor Snape and had to clean all of the cauldrons until Snape deemed them adequate. That had taken nearly an entire day- on a weekend no less. I had also come along with them one night when the twins decided to show me the Astronomy Tower. We sat there for hours eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans and talked about everything and nothing. The twins told me about their childhood and growing up with five other siblings. They also mentioned that their house's name was called The Burrow which I thought sounded oddly familiar. But mostly they told me of their more famous pranks as children, including almost getting their younger brother to perform an Unbreakable Vow and letting a garden gnome loose in their eldest brother's bedroom which had apparently dug a large hole in the middle of his mattress. During all of their tales though I noticed that the twins hardly pranked their sister, if ever.
We spent the early morning eating cake and discussing the upcoming flying lesson. The twins and Angelina already had experience flying on brooms while it would be the first time for the rest of us. I couldn't help thinking that my father wouldn't approve of me being on a broom, but it was school sanctioned. Plus, I was quite looking forward to the experience.
When it was nearing time to head down to the quidditch pitch, the others went up to quickly get ready so we could all head down together.
Lee was talking with the twins about the professional quidditch league, while Katie and Alicia were discussing how exhilarating it must be to fly around on a broom. This left Angelina and I to walk together in an easy silence.
"Are you nervous Marnie, about flying I mean?" Angelina asked in a lowered voice which I understood to mean she was making sure the others wouldn't hear.
Angelina was always understanding of my lack of knowledge of magical things despite not being a Muggleborn. I had confided in her about my dad's protectiveness and how I practically grew up a muggle, not that I necessarily minded. I also mentioned how reclusive my life had been and that my dad preferred to remain away from most of everyone else. Angelina had been understanding and not at all judgmental but I was still hesitant to tell the others of the extent of my dad's nature. I was confident however that they would react similarly to Angelina. George would also sometimes take the time to explain things if he saw that I was confused or struggling, not that I ever let on that easily.
"I'm fine Ange, thanks," I responded to her question. "I'm actually pretty excited, I've never been able to do anything like this before. Plus, it has to be safe if the school requires that every first year learn how to fly." I added with growing confidence.
Angelina smiled back at me and nodded.
We had just reached the pitch and I saw a teacher approaching us with spiky gray hair and yellowish eyes. Immediately, I was glad to see that I wasn't the only one outside of my family with peculiar eye colouring.
"Good morning boys and girls, I'm Madam Hooch. Welcome to your first flying lesson. Everyone gather round and stand beside a vacant broom which I have already laid out for you," she said with a no-nonsense air of authority.
I headed towards a pair of broomsticks with Angelina before we both waited for the next instruction.
"Alright, now that everyone has their own broom, we can get started. Now, in order to take control of the broom, everyone must raise their dominant hand above their broom and yell 'UP'. This will cause the broom to ascend into your hand. Everyone got that? Alright, on my mark- three, two, one…" and then she blew her whistle.
I raised my left hand over the broom and hesitated.
"Up," I said, trying to find a louder voice than the one being swallowed down my throat.
The broom rolled around on the ground, raised an inch, and then dropped back down. I looked over at Angelina to see her broom swiftly raise into her hand on her first attempt. The same thing happened with the twins, Alicia and Katie who all had wild grins on their faces. Lee's broom was also slowly raising up into his hand, albeit with a little less fervor than the others.
"Remember how much you were looking forward to this," Angelina reminded me gently.
I nodded towards Angelina before turning back to my own broom more determinately.
"UP!" I shouted, immediately causing the broom to come evenly up into my hand.
I looked back at Angelina with a pleased grin on my face.
"Alright children, the next step is to mount your brooms. Once secure, push up off the ground, hover for a few moments, and return firmly back down." Madam Hooch instructed.
The rest of the lesson went fairly well. I was a little shaky on the broom at first, but I was able to complete the tasks that Madam Hooch instructed. Towards the end of the lesson she even let us fly around the pitch a few feet above the ground in single file while she went alongside us to make sure nothing happened or any student got too overzealous or confident.
It was an incredible feeling to have the wind in my face and feel weightless above the ground. I almost wanted to raise my arms like wings but then figured I would have fallen and ended any chance of flying ever again if my father heard of a related injury.
At the end of the lesson, the seven of us headed over to the lake. Flying lessons had replaced Potions class for the day which was a birthday present all in itself. We all lazed around in what was probably one of the few nice days left of the season. The boys eventually started a competition to see who could go into the lake the farthest without disturbing the giant squid. They each only made it to shin depth before the giant creature would come and prohibit them from venturing any farther.
When the sun started to sink in the sky, I started to hear my stomach growl.
"Oi Marnie, I think you have a wildebeest living in that stomach of yours, I can hear it from here!" Lee exclaimed, who was sitting the furthest away from where I was sitting.
I stuck my tongue out at him for his characteristic lack of tact.
Before I could answer, Fred, who was sitting beside Lee, elbowed him in the stomach.
"That is no way to address Hare on her birthday you git," Fred told Lee in what I felt was an exaggerated tone.
"Come on Marnie, shall I escort you to dinner?" George asked more humbly as he bowed down and extended his arm towards me.
I took it, giggling at both of the twin's antics before having both him and Fred escort me to the castle while the others followed close behind.
I also saw Angelina try to punch Lee in the arm, presumably for his comment, but missed since he proceeded to run away from her. This caused the two of them to start running towards the castle in an attempt for Ange to catch Lee. Katie and Alicia laughed in delight as they cheered Angelina on and also ran to keep up.
The twins and I were the last to reach the castle having been farther behind the others who were most likely already in the Great Hall; unless Lee was cowering off somewhere avoiding Angelina's wrath. I noticed however that the twins were leading me off in another direction away from the Great Hall.
"Hey, I thought we were going to dinner?" I asked the twins who both smiled down at me.
"Oh but we are Hare," Fred answered, mussing the hair on the top of my head.
"We couldn't share our secret with the others, but since it is your birthday," George explained.
"-and you are our very best friend," Fred added, causing me to involuntarily blush.
"-we are going to share our secret with you." George finished with a wink.
We descended down a few staircases and were situated in where I thought was almost directly under the Great Hall. Fred approached a portrait of a fruit bowl and wiggled his finger over a painted pear, while George kept his arm looped through mine. He watched his brother with a knowing smile and I was surprised to hear the pear actually giggle in response to Fred's action. The frame then proceeded to open much like the Fat Lady's portrait for the Gryffindor common room. George then lightly guided my arm through the hidden entryway that Fred had already stepped through.
After we entered the hidden room I immediately noticed that we were standing in an extremely large kitchen that had four tables looking and positioned identical to those in the Great Hall. I also noticed the large amount of house elves who were all bustling around.
"Oh! Mr. Wheezies!" I heard a high-pitched voice say as I looked over to see a house elf running over in greeting.
"Mr. Wheezies! You have come back to visit! Posy is so happy!" the house elf went on, who was undoubtedly named Posy. "Oh, Mr. Wheezies have a guest. A pretty girl! What does Posy call you miss?" the squeaky house elf looked up with bright eyes.
"Oh, my name, my name is Marnie," I stuttered, taken aback by her sheer excitement.
"Miss Marnee!" Posy exclaimed. "You must follow Posy, Posy will get you some dinner," she said, pulling on my other hand with George still latched onto my arm.
Posy guided us to a small table tucked into the corner of the large kitchen. No sooner had we found our seats that the house elf was already setting off to get us some food.
"Oi, Posy," Fred said to get the house elf's attention. She quickly turned around in acknowledgement.
"It's Marnie's birthday. Could you maybe whip up something extra special?" Fred asked causing Posy to let out a shriek of excitement.
"Oh yes, Mr Wheezy! Miss Marnee, you don't worry now, Posy get you something extra special for your birthday!" Posy then ran off into the crowd of other house elves before I could object.
"How did you find this place?" I asked as I looked at the two boys sitting on either side of me.
"Our brother Charlie told us about it. I think Bill told him before us." George explained.
"Yea, but no one told Percy. We all figured he would rat us out or something." Fred added with a grimace.
"Well, thank-you for sharing the family secret," I responded to the twins.
"Of course Marnie, you're our best friend. How could we not tell you?" George said with a smile.
I looked up at Fred who was vigorously nodding in agreement.
Moments later we were interrupted by a bustling Posy who was carrying what looked like five platters of food. She set them down haphazardly and took off the silver tops to present large amounts of my favourite foods including roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, scallop potatoes, corn bread, and chocolate pie. I was amazed at how Posy could even remotely know what my favourite foods were.
"Here you go Mr. Wheezies and Miss Marnee," Posy said before running off to do something else.
"This is amazing! These are all my favourite foods! Absolutely incredible!" I smiled, already piling the food onto my plate.
The twins just smiled back at me, grabbing their own plates and dug in.
An hour later we were all stuffed and Posy took the plates and trays away. We decided that it was probably time to head up to the common room before it got past curfew. We then slowly climbed out of the portrait hole after bidding the house elves goodbye.
"Hey George, isn't the Hufflepuff common room just down the hall?" Fred asked with a mischievous grin.
"Why Fred, I do believe you are correct," George answered while I could see both of them grabbing some dung bombs from within their pockets.
"Hare, you are the birthday girl, care to throw the first bomb?" Fred asked with a grin and extended his hand out.
I accepted it, grinning back at Fred. We crept down the hall and lucked out when we saw an older student step out of what looked like a stack of barrels and headed in the opposite direction than where we were standing. We took the fleeting opportunity to chuck the dung bombs into the common room before sprinting back in the direction we had come from. Unfortunately, we ran right over a cat; Mrs. Norris.
"Who dares hurt my precious cat!" Filch scathed at us as he rounded the corner and bent down to assess his stupid pet.
The twins looked loathsome at the caretaker while I just sighed. Some way to end my birthday.