19 September 1995. The Great Hall.
"Fuck you," said George.
Hermione blinked, and honestly? It was her birthday and she'd cry if she wanted to.
George continued, "I spend hours in wakeful torture, plagued by Kenneth and his louder-than-thunder snores, and you solve the problem in seconds. Fuck you." He stood up. "I'm going back to sleep."
Hermione frowned. "What about your classes?"
Ignoring her, George left.
"He'll be awake again by charms. What's with all the packages?"
"Oh. Um… It's my birthday. Sixteen," she admitted. It felt like a horrible thing to announce after someone cursed at her and left.
Fred looked panicked briefly, and then grimaced as he floundered. "Shit. Sorry, I didn't know. Happy Birthday."
Hermione smiled, feigning not caring, moving to open her present from her parents. "No, I wouldn't have expected you to know it, it's alright."
"Still, I feel like a right prat, not knowing my friend's birthday."
"It's okay, Fr —" Hermione cut herself off with a gasp.
It was records. She'd normally gotten CDs before, since they were more convenient. But she'd mentioned to her dad that electronics didn't work around magic, (so what was the point of her buying a discman?) That the magical community used these weird mechanical gramophones, but apparently her dad had remembered.
"What is it?"
"Some records," said Hermione, fingers hovering over the plastic wrap of one of her favourite albums. "Oasis' Definitely Maybe — this is the one from last year, I've been looking for it. I have the CD at home, but those don't work at Hogwarts. And the letter said they bought some others that they thought I'd like," she said, already tearing open the plastic wrap around of the album.
"Any good?" Fred asked, looking at one of the other albums.
"Don't know," Hermione answered cheekily, "haven't listened to it yet." She smiled. "Kidding. They're one of my favourite muggle bands. Ugh, and I didn't bring my record player."
"Hey, come use mine."
Hermione's jaw dropped open. "You're sure?" she asked. It would be amazing just to sit and listen to one of her favourite albums.
"Yeah. Come on up and give 'em a listen after your classes. Consider it a birthday present, since I haven't anything else," Fred shrugged.
A huge grin split over her face. "Fred! You're the best!"
19 September 1995. After Classes.
It had been kind of a terrible birthday, really.
Totally fucked, one could argue.
It had started out great, with the gift from her parents and Fred's kind offer of use of his record player. The letter she'd received from Viktor was nice, and the book he'd sent along had been kind, even if she'd already read it.
She'd gotten birthday wishes from Professor McGonagall, Ginny, Lavender, and Parvati, but that was it.
It was disappointing. She hadn't expected much from Harry or Ron (or any of the Weasleys, really) given what she assumed of their financial situations, but acknowledgment, she thought, was doable.
(Did they not remember her birthday? Or hadn't they ever learned it?)
Hermione's depressing line of thought received a welcome interruption in the form of Fred, clad in his now-signature Deadly Spellz shirt. "So I moved my record player out to that storage room on the fifth floor. Figured that way we don't have to worry about sneaking you up the boys' dorms."
"Oh, that's brilliant, Fred. I never even considered—"
"Oi, Freddie!" George shouted from down the hall, "you coming or what?"
Turning around, Fred yelled "What!" in response.
George rolled his eyes and loudly scoffed, but left.
"Just this way," Fred said, leading Hermione past the entrance to the common room.
"Just let me change first, yeah? I'll be right back down." At his agreement, Hermione raced upstairs.
Once she came back down, he lead her through the halls to the room he had set up.
"Thanks. For doing all this, I mean. It's really nice of you to go out of your way for me, I mean, no one else has done anything for today."
"What, Harry and Ron didn't plan a party for you?" Fred joked, but it fell flat when he saw Hermione's face.
"Err... no," she said. "I don't think they remembered. But this is far more enjoyable to me than a big party, anyway. So... Thanks."
"It's mostly because you have good taste in music," he claimed, and the serious air of their previous conversation disappeared. "But if this record is shite…"
Hermione's eyes widened and she was quick to reassure Fred, smiling as she did so. "No, it's really good, I swear."
They got to the room Fred had set up, and Hermione took the stack of records out of her bag, having been carrying them around all day. Fred went about setting the Oasis record on the platter and adjusting the pitch.
By the time he turned around she had done away with her sweater she had put over her shirt. She was working on getting her hair off her neck as she settled into the couch. Fred grinned at her.
"You're so fucking cool," he said.
"Thanks," said Hermione, adjusting the 'Nevermind' shirt on her shoulders. "Y'know, thats my goal in life. To be someone Fred Weasley thinks is fucking cool."
If Fred was surprised she swore, he didn't show it, only grinning wider. "That's everyone's goal; I'm like the second coming of bloody Merlin. You've achieved it, though."
Hermione snorted at Fred's ridiculous nature and demanded he press play.
About an hour later, as Fred removed the side D from the platter, Hermione asked, "Am I still fucking cool?"
Fred laughed, "yeah. Yeah, you're still fucking cool."
"Thanks, Fred. Best birthday yet."
"Same time next year?" He asked, picking up his turntable for transport back to his room.
"You'll be graduated by then."
Fred thought for a moment. "Your nineteenth, then?"
Hermione grinned. Today wasn't totally fucked.
7 September 1998. The Gryffindor Common Room.
"Oh, your birthday is on a Saturday this year, isn't it? We should do something!" Exclaimed Ginny as they worked side-by-side in the common room.
"We could do lunch? Head out to Hogsmeade, get the boys to join us?"
"I'll write them, so it doesn't seem like you're planning your own birthday."
Hermione sent Ginny a relieved smile and added, "Invite everyone else too — George and Lee and the rest of the D.A. We can actually rent out the Hogs Head this time."
'Live Forever' got a lot of wear 12 days later.