The Birthday
It was the morning of August the 2nd, and I awoke feeling unusually depressed. I mean, I was usually a little sad in this place, but today was different. It was my 17th birthday, after all! I should've been feeling like I was on top of the world. But instead, I felt this empty, aching feeling within me. It was my 17th birthday, and I had to spend it here. With these people, who made me do slave work. My family wasn't with me, or my friends, and I probably wouldn't get to spend any time with Draco. I hadn't for a few weeks, now, which just added to today's depression.
I got up and shuffled to the bathroom to take a shower. I looked around the plain, boring bathroom, and got even more upset. My bathroom was so boring. It didn't have a nice, Jacuzzi bathtub like Draco's, or really nice floor tiles and paint, or even a cute little shaggy rug. It was just white. Well, maybe some sort of off-white/cream color. One of these days, I was going to go crazy. But then I got in the shower and turned the heat up. It felt so GOOD. I knew I'd have to get out eventually, so I told myself to enjoy it. But then I thought to myself, "What the hell. It's my birthday! I'm gonna stay in here as long as I bloody hell want to!" And I sat down and enjoyed myself even more.
When I did eventually get out, get dressed, and blow-dry my hair, I was in a little bit of a better mood. I went back out into my room to find some things on the floor in front of my door. It appeared to be two notes, and underneath one was a round box. I picked up the note on top of the box, opened it, ad read it.
Dear Talia,
Happy birthday! I'm so sorry I couldn't say it to you in person this morning, but I was in a bit of a hurry. I've been given an errand to do, and won't be back until later. But I think you should enjoy today, no matter what. After all, a girl only turns 17 once! I only wish you could spend it with people who care about you. While I'm out today, I think I might get you a little something else to go with the present I already got you.
Love,
Narcissa.
P.S. There's a cake for you in the box I sent with this letter. Enjoy!
I smiled. I fricken loved that woman. And when I saw the cake she sent me, I think I loved her a little bit more. It was beautiful! And it was topped with little pieces of candy! I loved candy! I picked up a few pieces and popped them in my mouth as I picked up the second letter. I smiled as I saw the familiar handwriting that said my name on the front.
Dear Talia,
Happy birthday. I wish I could've woken up next you this morning so I could tell you first thing. I remember that you said what you wanted for your birthday was to get out of the house, so I'm getting a surprise ready for you. Be ready to go at eleven o'clock. Bring a swim suit. I'll meet you at your door.
Draco
Bring a swim suit? What the hell? What kind of surprise was this? Well, whatever it was, it was getting me out of this hell hole, so I wasn't complaining. I looked at the clock and saw that it was already 10:30, and started to scramble. Where was all the beach stuff that Narcissa had bought me? Frantically searching around for it, I remembered that particular of the shopping trip.
"Why do I even need swimming stuff? It's not like I'll be allowed to go to the beach or anything, and I'm SO not going to fake it in the bathtub." I had said to her while searching through the millions of racks of bathing suits.
"You never know, my dear. Just trust me." She had said with a sly, knowing smile on her lips.
Only after I emptied out my entire dresser, did I realize that my swimming stuff was all in the wardrobe. That was dumb, why'd I put them in there? Whatever. I didn't have time for this. I stuffed everything I thought I might need, but then decided to bring the cake along too, which meant I had to take everything out again so I could hide the cake at the bottom. After everything was jammed in there, it looked like it was about to explode. I was just finishing up getting ready when there was a knock on the door. I panicked for a second, hoping it wasn't Bellatrix spoiling my birthday plans. But then I realized that Bellatrix didn't knock.
"It's just me, let me in." Draco said from the other side of the door. I opened it just enough for him to squeeze through, and shut it quickly. He pulled me into a tight hug.
"Are you ready?" He asked.
"Yeah, just let me get my bag." I walked over to where it was sitting, and hauled it over my shoulder. It was kind of an awkward shape, and Draco started laughing at me.
"Got enough stuff?" He said, and took the bag from me.
"Well, not exactly, it's just too small to fit everything. He shook his head and pulled out his wand, and put an extension charm on the bag. Suddenly it looked like there was hardly anything it. "Show off." I muttered.
"Why didn't you do it?" He asked me. I gave him a look.
"Do you really think they let me keep my wand here?" He suddenly looked sheepish. But then he had a thought.
"I might be able to help with that. Hold on a second." And he left. Really, dude? I sat down on the bed, and waited. And waited, and waited, and waited. Finally I laid back on the bed and grabbed my book, and about twenty minutes later, he came through the door again, twirling my wand between his fingers in one hand.
"How did you get it?" I squealed, jumping up to grab it. I missed my wand so much. I honestly didn't know how the muggles coped with all these chores and cleaning without magic all the time, when I could hardly stand going without it for a couple months.
"I told Bellatrix that I needed to take you for the day to help with some errands I had to do, and that you'd need your wand for it. And I promised to put it back where it goes once we get back, but I won't. She never checks there anyway." I hugged him.
"You're a bloody genius, Draco Malfoy. Thank you."
"No problem. Now, let's get out of here already. We're late now."
"Wonder whose fault that is." I said, sarcastically. We left the room, which meant we had to be quiet from that point. But it didn't stop him from grabbing my hand and holding it tight. But as we made our way down the Never Ending Stairs, I let go of his hand and fell behind him a few steps. If Draco was actually getting me out of this house for a while, it was only because they thought he was taking me out as a servant. Us holding walking next to each other and holding hands would kind of send the wrong message. Well, technically it would've been the correct message, but not one that we wanted them to catch on to. Duh.
"Draco, I'm glad to see your mother isn't the only one taking advantage of the family's new servant." I tensed a bit when she called me a servant, and I saw that Draco did, too. But his face gave nothing away, and I mentally gave him some props. The dude could be an actor.
"Yes, Aunt Bella. We'll be leaving now." And he started to leave. But then Bellatrix grabbed my shoulder, stopping me.
"What's in the bag, girl?" I struggled to find an answer, hoping she wouldn't go looking in there herself. "Well? What are you carrying in that bag?" I said the first thing that came to mind.
"It's some supplies for Dr—Mr. Malfoy to use on his errand today." She looked skeptical, so I added, "He made me carry them." She was still looking at me pointedly, but seemed to buy it.
"Well, of course he did. That's the whole point of being a personal servant. Now move it, you're making him wait." I wanted to say, "You dumb bitch, YOU were the reason I'm making him wait!"
"Yes, Ma'am." Was what came out. I was such a coward. No, I take that back. I'm not a coward. I just know when to keep my mouth shut. When I reached Draco, he looked concerned, but started walking a few steps ahead of me again. But when we could be sure Bellatrix couldn't hear us anymore, he spoke to me.
"Are you okay? What did she say to you?"
"She was just suspicious about what was in my bag, so I told her you were making me carry a few supplies for you. I'm fine."
"Good. 'Cause if she hurt you, I might have had to kill her. And since I have absolutely no emotional attachment to the woman, it would've been that much easier." I laughed. Draco looked back to see that Bellatrix was no longer watching us leave, so he grabbed my hand and tugged me into the trees
"Whoa dude, where are you yanking me to?"
"We have to walk through the trees for a few minutes to get to where I hid it."
"Hid what?"
"You'll see." He said, and winked at me. To my surprise, I giggled a little bit. When I saw the content smile on his face, I pulled him to a stop. "What?"
"Just a sec…" I grabbed his shirt and pulled him down into a deep, passionate kiss. It caught him by surprise, but only for a second, and then he grabbed my waist with one hand and put the other behind my head. We started moving, and before I knew it, he was sitting against a tree, and I was straddling him. Once in a while, his lips would make their way to my neck and collar bone, and even the tops of my breasts. But they always found their way back to my lips again.
"Your lips are always so soft. How do you do it?" He asked me, taking a break to catch his breath.
"I use a lot of lip balm."
"Really? Even when we don't get to see each other that much these days?"
"Of course. I always like to be prepared." I said, and we went back at it for about ten minutes. And when he pulled away, finally, it was very reluctantly. "Hey, what gives? I was just getting started!" I said, and pouted when he got up and pulled me up with him.
"Trust me, I would love to stay here and do this all day. But I've got this awesome day for you planned, and I'd hate for it to go to waste. And we're running late."
"Oh, alright." I said, still pouting just a little. He gave me a sneaky smile.
"But just so you know, I planned for us to have a little bit of alone time later." I perked up at that thought.
"Really?"
"Of course. I always like to be prepared." He said, using my own words from before. And then we walked for a few more minutes, and came to a stop, apparently having reached our destination. I looked around, wondering why we were still in the middle of the woods.
"I gotta say, this is some awesome party you pulled together. Who did the decorations, some wood nymphs?" I said, sarcastically.
"Shut up, this is just where I hid the transportation." And he pulled out a beautiful Nimbus 2001 broomstick. I went over and stroked it, noticing that it was in perfect condition.
"You know, for having been kept in a bush for all this time, this broomstick looks like it's brand new." I said.
"I come out here every few days to check on it, make sure it hasn't been moved or scuffed or anything." I looked at his face, and saw such fondness for the broom, that I smiled.
"You really love to fly, don't you?" I asked him, and he nodded.
"Yeah. I do."
"Do you ever miss playing Quidditch?"
"Every day." I grabbed his hand.
"You know, I never said this to any of my friends, of course, but even when you first started playing in Second Year, I thought you were a brilliant flyer. I mean, I still hated you and all, but you were still really good."
"Thanks. Now hop on, we have to get going." I was excited. I had never flown with him before. And it was amazing. As we flew up above the trees, I noticed that there were so many other mansions just like his. Well, maybe the same size, but they all looked just a bit more cheery. We flew for a few minutes, but stayed in the same neighborhood as we touched down to the ground. When I looked up, I saw a house that was easily just as big as Malfoy Manor. I mean, why do these people need such big houses? I know the Malfoy's have all those… guests to take care of, but it's not like every family in this place has all those people to put up with. I was just starting to admire the garden when I heard a familiar voice.
"It's about time, you guys!" I looked to the path that I assumed led to the back yard, and saw Blaise Zabini, smiling over at us.
"Blaise!" I said, and ran over to hug him. But then I pulled back right away.
"Dude, why are you all wet?" And then I realized he was wearing his bathing suit.
"Decided to jump in without us, huh?" Draco asked him, also hugging him. But it was more of a man-hug.
"Well, come on. I wasn't going to wait forever for you two slow pokes."
"Sorry man, we got a little side-tracked in the woods." He said, smiling at me. Blaise reached over and pulled a twig out of my hair that had been tangled in there pretty well.
"I can see that." He didn't look bitter or anything, which was good. Just happy to see us. "Now come on! Let the birthday festivities commence!"
"Huzzah!" Draco said, and I screamed when he suddenly hitched me up on his back to give me a piggy-back ride to where Blaise had disappeared to. But then, for some reason, he put me down and pulled me into a corner real quick.
"I almost forgot to tell you. Blaise can't know you're a prisoner. It's very important." That surprised me.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because no one is supposed to know that the Dark Lord is at our house, except for his followers. Blaise's family isn't. Saying that you're pretty much our new slave would give everything away. Promise you won't say anything?"
"Of course I won't, if you don't want me to. Why would I?"
"I don't know. You might think that Blaise could try and get you out, or he could bring a message to someone or something." That was a good point.
"I didn't even think about that actually..." It got me thinking, though. Maybe Blaise could… no. I trusted Draco. And I trusted me to be able to take care of myself. Plus, I had already promised Draco, and I wouldn't go back on that. So, I guess that meant silence. "It doesn't matter. I won't say anything."
"Thank you." He said, and quickly kissed me. And then he once again hitched me up on his back.
"And here we go again," I joked, but I stopped giggling when I saw the sight of the back of Blaise's house. If the front was impressive, then this was just… there wasn't even words to describe it. That's how huge and amazing it was.
For starters, he had a pool. A huge, in ground pool that had to be, like, twenty feet at the deep end. I had always wanted a pool growing up, but it had never happened. This was literally a dream come true. And then my eyes traveled to the hot tub right next to the pool, and I think I might have drooled a little bit. And that's nothing compared to when I saw the gazebo, that had the curtains drawn on the inside. I couldn't be sure, but I think I shed one, single tear. And there was a buffet of food, and a whole table of different types of candy and ice cream, and there were balloons everywhere. All the decorations were my favorite colors: blue, purple, black, and silver, some were sparkly, and some were metallic.
"Draco, I've decided that I'm leaving you for Blaise."
"How will I go on?" He said, amused at my joke.
"You'll be alright. I here Pansy Parkinson is available again.
"That lunatic is always available." Said Blaise.
"True."
"Anyway, you can't leave me for Blaise." Draco said.
"And why is that?" I asked him.
"Well, because Blaise can't—" And he finished that sentence by whispering some dirty little words in my ear.
"You do have a point, Malfoy. Sorry, Zabini, I've changed my mind."
"Tease." Blaise said, smiling.
…
"This is so relaxing. You guys are amazing." I was sitting on a lounge chair, while the two boys gave me the best massages of my life. Blaise was at my neck and shoulders, while Draco took care of my feet. I was wearing some sunglasses, sipping a half lemonade-half iced tea drink, enjoying the sun. We had already done everything else there was to do, like swimming in the pool, chillaxing in the hot tub, and we even had gotten into a mini food-fight afterwards. I had stuffed my bag full of candy, thinking it was enough for a few years.
"Blaise, I'm absolutely stuffed. I haven't eaten this good since Hogwarts." I didn't realize the words might have been a mistake until I said them.
"Yeah, where did you disappear to so early last year? I know Malfoy got pulled out for family stuff, but what about you?" Blaise asked me, and I had to think of something quickly.
"Well, I had already gotten all my exams finished, and I wanted to spend some time with Draco before I went back home for the summer."
"Man, I wish I could've left so early." Dodged that bullet. But then came another one. "So, I guess the Malfoy's haven't been feeding you so well, huh?" He said, smirking at Draco, who tentatively smiled back. Luckily, my mind was working fast today, despite my relaxed state.
"Oh, sure they do. I mean, there's lots of food and stuff. It's just… well, it's all a bit bland." I whispered that last bit to Blaise, loud enough to make it sound like a joke. Actually, it wasn't that much of a lie. The food they gave me was pretty bland. It was all butter-less dinner rolls that were most likely from the night before, or mashed potatoes without the gravy. Draco, apparently wanting to change the subject, did so.
"So, where did all this food come from, anyway?" He asked Blaise. Blaise looked a little apprehensive at answering.
"Well, I, um, made it." Draco stared at him, and I briefly turned to stare at him also.
"You made this? I had no idea that you could do all this chef stuff." I said.
"Me neither." Draco said, and Blaise looked apologetic at him.
"I'm sorry, man, for not telling you. It's just not a very "Slytherin" thing to like, you know? Cooking and stuff."
"I get it. But I'm still pretty surprised. But in a good way, I promise." Draco said, and Blaise looked relieved to get his best friend's approval.
"How did you learn? I mean, I hate to say it, but your parents don't seem like the "teach your son how to cook" types of people." He laughed a little.
"You're right about that. It was my nanny, actually. I always watched her cooking and baking and ended up helping her most of the time. And eventually, it became something I love to do."
"I think that's wonderful, Blaise." I said to him. He smiled, and we started talking about other things. When I finished my drink, I got up to get another one, but Draco hopped up before I had the chance to.
"No, no, let me do that. You just sit back and relax." He said, and kissed me, and ran inside.
"Well, I suppose that means you can have a break too, Jeeves." I said to Blaise, and he took a seat next to me.
"Things seem to be going good between you and Malfoy." He said, and I think I detected a little jealousy in there.
"I'm sorry,Blaise. Is this terribly awkward?" I asked him, sitting up so we could talk easier.
"Well, maybe a little. But you don't need to worry about it. It's not your fault. Or Malfoy's, either. It's all me."
"What is it?" He gave me a meaningful look, a look that could only mean one thing. He was in love with me. "Oh."
"Please don't tell Malfoy. I mean, I think he'd be cool with it, maybe, but I'd be more comfortable if he didn't know."
"Of course I won't tell him. Don't worry." I said, and patted his hand.
"Thanks." And then Draco came back and handed me my drink. He even put one of those little umbrellas in it. I loved that guy. He started to massage my feet again, but Blaise stood up.
"Nope, spa time is officially over with."
"What, you have everything scheduled?" I asked him, joking. But looking at his face I realized that he was completely serious. "You have everything scheduled?" He nodded.
"Yep, and the next event starts in approximately ten point five minutes." He looked at Draco, and Draco looked back, and I realized that they were keeping some sort of secret.
"Um, do you guys want me to leave you alone for a few minutes?" I asked. They both started laughing, and then Draco grabbed my hand.
"Just come on!" He said, and we started walking towards the gazebo.
Blaise followed us up to the door, but when Draco opened it, he didn't follow. And when I made my way inside, I could see why. It was amazing. Draco was always good at making things romantic, but this was big. Even for him. He did always love his candles, which were once again everywhere, and there was champagne, and even a bed. I looked back to see Blaise quietly shutting the door behind us, but not before wagging his eyebrows at me. I turned back to see Draco sit down on the bed, so I followed him.
"You know, I think this may be the first time we've actually had sex in a bed."
"Not true! In the Room of Requirement…"
"We had sex on a couch, on the floor, and on an old mattress on the floor. Never on an actual, off-the-floor bed."
"Hmm. Well, maybe we should hurry up and change that."
And we did.
…
"It's been way too long." I said, after we finished. Well, after we finished the third or fourth time, at least. Honestly, I probably could've gone a few more times. But I thought I'd let Draco catch his breath for a little bit.
"Yeah, maybe we should go months and months without doing this all the time." I looked at him.
"I'd really rather not."
"Yeah, me neither." And after that, we just sat there, tangled up in the sheets, and each other. But then I decided to tell him something.
"Hey, I have to tell you something."
"Oh, so now you break up with me." I laughed.
"This is serious!"
"Okay. What is it?"
"Well, it's just that I've been practicing my voice weapon shit." He bolted up to a sitting position.
"And you didn't mention this sooner because…"
"Because we've been with Blaise all day, Sherlock!"
"Okay, okay, point taken."
"Want me to show you how far I've gotten?" He looked a little skeptical.
"In here? Where we're surrounded by glass walls?" I shook my head, but didn't answer him. Instead, I turned to the neglected champagne glasses, and focused on the closest one. With one, big inhale of breath, I let out a short, precise sounding note, and the glass, only the glass, shattered. "Whoa."
I laughed, and then repeated with the second glass. And then I moved onto a vase in the corner, and then to the windows, until all the glass in the gazebo was shattered. Not wanting Blaise to find out that I just destroyed his family's gazebo, I used my wand and put everything back to normal. When I looked to Draco, his face showed so much winder that I smiled. And when he spoke, it was words that gave me the confidence I needed.
"You've SO got this."