On the morning of her thirteenth birthday, Maya awoke to find a package on her desk and Hedwig grooming her feathers with a distinctly self-satisfied air. Upon spotting that Maya had woken up, the snowy owl let out a series of hoots, that to Maya's trained ear sounded like she was saying 'Happy Birthday', with a side of 'haven't I done well'. She ran a hand over Hedwigs soft feathers, a greeting and a thank you, before turning her attention to the package on her desk. Ripping off the brown paper, she discovered two presents, one wrapped in gold, and another wrapped in red, along with her first ever birthday cards.

Fingers trembling slightly, she opened the first envelope. Two pieces of paper fell out – a letter and a newspaper cutting. The cutting had clearly come out of the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, because the people in the black and white picture were moving. She picked up the cutting, smoothed it out and read:

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE

Arthur Weasley, Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office at the Ministry of Magic, has won the annual Daily Prophet Grand Prize Galleon Draw.

A delighted Mr Weasley told the Daily Prophet, 'We will be spending the gold on a summer holiday in Egypt, where our eldest son, Bill, works as a curse breaker for Gringotts Wizarding Bank.'

The Weasley family will be spending a month in Egypt, returning for the start of the new school year at Hogwarts, which five of the Weasley children currently attend.

A fond grin curved across her face, and she turned her attention to the first of the letters that had arrived.

Dear Maya,

Happy birthday!

It's brilliant here in Egypt. Bill's taken us round all the tombs, and you wouldn't believe the curses those old Egyptian wizards put on them. Mum wouldn't let Ginny come in the last one. There were all these mutant skeletons in there, of Muggles who'd broken in and grown extra heads and stuff.

I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw. Seven hundred galleons! Most of its gone on this holiday, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year.

Hope you enjoyed your holiday, write, and tell me about it soon.

Ron

P.S. Percy's Head Boy. He got the letter last week. Next years gonna be an absolute nightmare. You're so lucky you don't have to deal with it.

P.P.S. I was going to send this with Errol to Gringotts to forward onto you, but Hedwig's just shown up, your owl is insanely clever mate.

Maya scanned the moving photograph that was on the cutting Ron had sent, and a grin spread across her face as she saw all nine of the Weasley's waving furiously at her, standing in front of a large pyramid. Plump little Mrs Weasley, tall, balding Mr Weasley, six sons and one daughter, all (though the black and white picture didn't show it) with flaming red hair. Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat Scabbers on his shoulder and his arm around his little sister, Ginny. Maya couldn't think of anyone who deserved to win a large pile of gold more than the Weasleys, who were very nice and extremely poor.

Percy who was in his seventh and final year at Hogwarts, looked particularly smug. He had pinned the Head Boy badge to the fez perched jauntily on top of his neat hair, his horn-rimmed glasses flashing in the Egyptian sun.

She turned to the present that had accompanied Ron's letter and unwrapped it. Inside was what looked like a miniature glass spinning top, there was another note from Ron beneath it.

Maya - this is a Pocket Sneakoscope. If there's someone untrustworthy around, it's supposed to light up and spin. Bill says it's rubbish sold for wizard tourists and isn't reliable, because it kept lighting up at dinner last night. But he didn't realise Fred and George had put beetles in his soup. Bye – Ron

Maya put it on her desk, where it stood quite still, balanced on its point, reflecting the luminous hands of her clock. She grinned happily at it; her first official birthday present. She'd received a lot of presents over the past year since moving to New York, Damon enjoyed showering her with gifts, but there was something different, something special about her first ever birthday present. The fact that it came from her first ever human friend just made it even more special.

She picked up the envelope that had accompanied the red present and opened it.

Dear Maya

HAPPYBIRTHDAY!

We've been getting a lot of ideas from our time here in Egypt! Ginny has been ever so helpful by distracting dear old mum.

We did have to bribe her by offering to help her practice for Quidditch, she wants to join the Junior team as a chaser next year.

We're actually surprised by how good she already is at flying.

We tried to shut Percy in one of the Pyramids, but unfortunately mum spotted us!

We did however get a lot of information on native plants to give to Neville, plus some seeds but we'll need to smuggle those home with us!

We're close to perfecting our first sweet, we'll send you some samples for testing once we have!

Hope you enjoyed your trip to Florida.

We'll write again soon!

Love,

Gred and Forge.

Maya grinned as she read the letter from the twins, it was clear to her that they'd both taken it in turns to write it, much like they did when they spoke. She hadn't heard from the twins as regularly as she had from the rest of her friends over the past year, but they'd written a couple of times, and added notes onto the end of Neville's or Ron's letters a few times.

She picked up the present that had come with their letter and carefully unwrapped it, a box of Mrs Weasley's homemade fudge, a couple of small charms, and a set of tiny bottles, each filled with a different coloured powder, were inside. The twins, like Ron, had included a note with their gift.

Maya – the bottles are colour change powders; we've learnt how to make them. Add them to anything food or drink, and the hair of whomever consumes that item will change colour to match the powder. You can mix them too for a rainbow effect. The charms we picked up here in Egypt to go on your charm bracelet, the feather represents Ma'at, and the scarab represents Khepri. Mum added the fudge, she said to wish you a Happy Birthday. – Forge and Gred.

She grinned, setting the bottles and the fudge down next to the Sneakoscope and grabbed her charm bracelet out of her jewellery box to add the charms she had received from the twins. The day had barely started, and it was already miles better than any of the birthdays she could remember.

Much like he had with Christmas, Damon had created a schedule for her birthday, starting with breakfast. So, Maya quickly threw on the outfit she'd chosen last night after checking the weather forecast, and went downstairs to the dining room.

As Maya entered the room, she was greeted by a dazzling sight. A huge banner with glittering letters spelled out 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYA' on the opposite wall, while colourful streamers rained down from the ceiling like confetti. Balloons of all shapes and sizes filled the air, some with messages of love and congratulations, others with funny faces and cartoons. One special balloon, shaped like a heart, had 'Happy 13th Birthday' written on it in gold, and it was tied to the back of her favourite chair.

Her family were already there, waiting. Damon fussing over the decorations and Dobby doing the same with the breakfast he had made. Maggie was chatting with Lexi and Lee, whilst Stefan and Enzo were trading quips back and forth, all at Damon's expense. A year ago, her birthday had been a nightmare of abuse, drudgery, and mind invasion. Now she had people who loved and cared for her, who had shown her what it felt like to have a family, it was a blessing that she would never take for granted.

Damon was the first to spot her in the doorway and he opened his mouth to say something, probably 'good morning', or 'Happy Birthday' or some combination of the two. Before he could though, Maya had raced forward, and wrapped her arms around him in the tightest hug she could manage, as tears washed down her cheeks.

"You're crying. Why are you crying?"

"Happy tears."

"Happy tears?"

Maya nodded against his chest, not releasing him from her hug.

"Happy tears."

"So, it's not because you don't like the decorations?"

"The decorations are perfect. Everything's perfect."

For her birthday party, Maya had chosen Arcanix, a party centre located in Enchantrex, New York City's premiere magical entertainment district. Arcanix had taken ordinary activities that you would find in the non-magical world and given each of them a distinct magical twist. They had a bowling alley, where the balls felt weightless and the lanes changed colour based on whether you'd bowled down the centre, the left, or the right of the lane. Minigolf courses that floated in mid-air, laser-tag arenas that changed design to fit what the players chose, escape rooms where you had to use magic to solve the clues, a trampoline park with anti-gravity boosts, as well as a more mundane arcade games area.

The highlight of Arcanix, for Maya, was the colossal indoor play area. It was a maze of climbing frames, swing ropes, ball pits, and slides, all infused with magic to ensure safety and fun. The most amazing feature was the net that spanned one side of the area. It was bewitched to transport anyone who climbed it to a random location in the play area. Maya and her friends, Lexi, Kamala, and Sora, had spent hours there during spring break, racing each other to the top of the net and then sliding down to the bottom. They had a blast exploring the different corners and surprises of the play area. Arcanix was a veritable wonderland of fun and games, and she was absolutely thrilled to be having her first ever birthday party there.

Damon had given her the freedom to invite anyone she wanted to her birthday party. She'd decided to keep it on the small side though, only inviting those that she had become genuine friends with over the past year. Sora, Kamala, Ronan, and Aiden were the first ones on her list, of course, being her closest friends at the Academy. She'd also extended the invitation to Kamala and Sora's siblings, whom she had befriended over the last year. Aamir and Akari politely declined, but Ryuu and the twins, Hana, and Daiki, eagerly agreed to join the fun.

It would have been nice if she could invite her friends from Hogwarts as well. Draco, Luna, Ron, Neville, and Hermione. But she knew it was too much to ask them to travel all the way to New York City, even with magic. Ron almost definitely wouldn't have been able to come. Hermione and Luna probably wouldn't have been able to either, she was less sure about Neville. She could have asked Draco, since Narcissa would have definitely paid for him to come, but she hadn't wanted the others to feel excluded. Damon had understood and had suggested that they could visit Britian next summer, provided the Ministry had stopped making noise about his having custody of her.

Damon had hired out the whole place for their exclusive use for the day and they had left the house early enough that Maya figured they would be the first ones there. So, she was very surprised to see a small group of people waiting inside for them, since they were there forty-five minutes before the time she'd put on the invitations. It wasn't until they'd gone through the doors that she could see the group clearly and when she did, she stopped still in shock. There waiting for her, massive grins on their faces, were Draco, Hermione, Luna, Neville, even Ron, Narcissa stood behind them a smile on her face.

She was rooted to the spot, unable to process the sight of her oldest friends. It took Neville speaking to break the spell.

"I think we broke her guys."

She let out a joyful scream and launched herself at Draco, who was the nearest to her. He stumbled back, caught off guard, and they both tumbled to the ground. The others followed suit, forming a huge pile of hugs and laughter on the floor. Damon and Narcissa shared a conspiratorial grin as they watched the kids with amused fondness.

It took a few minutes for them to untangle themselves, once they did Maya focused on Ron, extra curious given the letter she'd received that morning.

"Shouldn't you be in Egypt right now?"

He laughed.

"Lady Malfoy turned up last night, I'm not sure what she said to mum and dad, but they agreed to let me come to your party today, and portkey back to England tomorrow."

"Mother made the arrangements for all of us." Draco added.

"Daddy had to convince Lady Longbottom in the end, but Aunt Cissa was the driving force behind it."

"Yeah, gran wasn't to keen giving, well you know, but Mr Lovegood managed to convince her that I would be perfectly safe."

"My parents weren't that much easier to convince, but since it's only for a couple of days they gave their approval in the end."

"Well, when Damon mentioned that you wanted all of your friends at your very first birthday party, I had to make it happen somehow didn't I?"

Maya turned to Narcissa and smiled so brightly that her cheeks hurt.

"Thank you, aunt Cissa."

Narcissa pulled Maya into a warm hug.

"You're quite welcome darling."

Narcissa moved to stand next to Damon keeping an eye on the group of kids who were enjoying a meal to close off their day. They had tried everything that Arcanix had to offer, from the colourful bowling lanes to the magical indoor play area, and everything in between. She thought it was a shame that Magical Britain didn't have a place like Arcanix, given how much the kids had loved it. Even Draco who had never before been exposed to muggle games, or muggle anything really, had enjoyed himself immensely. Something to consider once she was back in Britian perhaps.

"You've done a good job."

"Couldn't have done it without your help."

"Not just today."

"I wasn't just talking about today."

Her lips twitched; Damon certainly would have made a good Slytherin had he been born a Wixen. She had not hoped for much when she had sent Maya to find her godfather. She had only wished that he would treat her well. After all hope was a luxury, one she had given up long ago, when she had realised the cruelty of the world she had been born into. She had wanted Maya to have a better life in New York, but she had chosen Damon out of desperation, not conviction. He was the best of the worst options. But Damon hadn't just met her expectations, he had surpassed them.

"When I sent her to you." She paused to gather her words. "Magical Britian is a prejudiced place, even before the war it didn't think highly of vampires. I was raised to be a daughter of the House of Black, and I admit that they raised me to believe in certain prejudices."

"Like hating vampires."

"Among other things." She admitted quietly, "I managed to move past most of the beliefs that were instilled in me from birth. Move past but not shake off, not entirely anyway. I never had the courage that other members of my family did, to stand in the face of what I had been raised for and dismiss it entirely. I cant regret it either because it gave me my son."

"I know what it's like to want a parents approval and to do anything to gain it, even going against what you truly believe."

"Last year, when I realised Maya wasn't safe with the Dursleys, and that I couldn't trust Dumbledore or Magical Britain to do right by her, you were the only choice I had left. Lingering prejudice from my childhood and the laws of magical Britain, meant that if I'd had any other choice, I would have taken it rather than send Maya to you."

"Ouch."

She huffed impatiently.

"I would have been wrong."

He finally turned to look at her, a smile quirking his lips, amusement and fondness filled his eyes.

"I am grateful every day that you made the choice to send Maya to me. I love her."

"I know, I can see it. In the letters you wrote, in the letters Maya wrote, it was clear as day. She's your daughter."

"Yes, she is."

"I suppose I should have known better than to doubt Lady Magic."

He huffed out a laugh and went to reply when his attention got caught by something behind her, she turned to look at what had distracted him and was surprised to see a goblin approaching.

"Lady Narcissa Malfoy."

"Yes?"

"The Horde apologises for interrupting your day, but I come bearing urgent missives." He held out a handful of letters. "From you husband Lord Lucius Malfoy, from one Nymphadora Tonks, from Madam Bones of the Ministry of Magic, and finally from Ragnuk fourth of his name, esteemed leader of the Horde."

She felt a surge of fear, to get four urgent missives from those particular people. It could only mean one thing: trouble.