(A/N): Hey Guys! Sorry I haven't updating in so long, I've been doing NaNoWriMo, so my writing time's been taken up. Also, school only has like, five weeks left, so I have to work my butt off and get like, ten essays in by Friday (it's Tuesday). My backyard's being excavated because I'm getting a pool, so I didn't go to school today or yesterday, so I worked on this. It's really, really bad.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but Leo, Elaine, Mia, Brooke, Nicholai and Shari.

Leo

We sat in my room for perhaps an hour after that, playing card games, considering they were the only type that everyone knew how to play, and the only one we had all the pieces to. Of course, after an hour of playing cards, Lily, Peter and Sirius were starting to get bored. Elaine was scowling, getting way too into the competition of the game as per usual, and Remus was carefully plotting his next move. James was biting his lip, trying to focus even though Sirius was next to him, making funny faces after sitting still for too long, and I was winning, so I was happy. Lily, who was a horrible card player, and Peter, who was... well, also a horrible card player, had quit early on and had been watching us play- and me win- ever since.

I smirked slightly, feeling the other players eyes on me, and suddenly, one by one, they folded. "Idiots," I muttered, placing my hand of cards face up on the floor, only to have them groan as the shitty hand I had been dealt, and the obvious bluff I had hidden it with. I stood, sweeping the cards into a neat pile, and the others barely had time to stand up as well before Shari was calling us downstairs for dinner.

"And here..." Shari started, placing a casserole dish in the middle of the dining table, not bothering to wear oven mitts even though we all could feel the heat radiating from the dish. "Is dinner!" She lifted the lid off and steam billowed out, before it cleared and left us with a beautiful beef casserole sitting on the table in front of us. Of course, Sirius reached for it, and Shari stopped him by pointing a finger in his face. "Ah, ah, ah!" She scolded, before scooping some onto his plate with a metal spatula. "Let me at least serve the food first, Sirius." Her grinned at her, before starting to stuff his face, to which everyone at the table wrinkled their face in disgust.

"Chew Sirius, chew," James reminded him teasingly, and Sirius smiled at him through the mouth full of food, which was really more of a grimace.

"Fanks," He managed to mumble, swallowing the whole mouthful of food. "Real helpful." He then proceeded to scoop up another mouthful, and the rest of us ate silently, trying not to lose our appetite.

"Lovely manners. Simply lovely," My father whispered to Shari, and I grinned at my plate, letting him know that I had heard, though none of the others had- seeing as they didn't possess the same super-hearing that I did.

After dinner, we moved into the lounge room, where my father and Shari had set up the mattresses again, and flopped down. We were relaxing, just talking, before Shari ruined it all. "Look what I've got!" I groaned loudly as I smelt the sweetness of what could only be one thing: cake. As I suspected, Shari rounded the corner from the kitchen carrying a large cake with thirteen candles on the top. She placed it on the small, round table and set that in the middle of the room, next to my mattress. "Who wants to sing happy birthday?" She asked, wearing a smirk that made sure everyone knew that she had the intent of torturing me emotionally, as much as she possibly could. The others glanced between themselves, before looking at the back of my head, I could feel it, before shaking their heads.

"Sorry Shari, but we're good friends."

Shari shook her head, huffing, before her smirk reappeared. "That's okay, I'm fine with embarrassing myself as long as it's to embarrass Leo." I groaned again, burying my head in my pillow, Elaine resting a hand on my back gently between my shoulder-blades as Shari started to sing, high and off-key.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Leo, Happy birthday to you. Hip hip!" She held a hand up, waiting for an echo.

"Hip hip," I muttered, and she grinned, satisfied.

"Hip hip!" I groaned and replied in kind, before she turned to my friends. "Everybody now! Hip hip!" The others looked to me before back at Shari, seeing that she wasn't going to stop until they did it, echoed her, and she grinned. "See now, was that so hard?" And with that, she left the room, leaving us with a whole birthday cake.

"I swear, that woman is going to kill me," I grumbled, shaking my head before turning to blow out the candles.

"Wait, Leo!" Elaine exclaimed, putting a hand in front of my face, and I stopped in surprise. "You have to make a wish first!" She explained, and I stared at her blankly.

"Like what? That Shari wouldn't be so annoying?" I knew she could hear me, but that was half the point.

"No, just... make a wish!" She said somewhat nonsensically, and I stared at her for a second and turning back to the cake. Thinking it over, it dawned on me exactly what I wanted to wish for- I wish Mia won't be in Slytherin. It was a long shot I know, but I blew the candles out anyway.

"What did you wish for?" James asked, and Elaine looked outraged before she and Lily slapped him on the arms. "Ow! What was that for?" He cried, and Lily glared at him.

"If he tells you what he wished for, than it won't come true!" She explained hotly, and James turned his head away from Lily- gasp, it's a miracle!- to stare at me.

"Can't you just give us a vague clue?"

I raised an eyebrow at the girls, because obviously it was a muggle thing. Which... didn't explain how Elaine, a pureblood, knew about it, and Remus and Peter, both half-bloods, were staying mum on the subject. "Well..." Elaine shared a look with Lily. "I guess that would be okay, as long as it's vague," She reminded me, and I shrugged, rolling onto my back to stare at the ceiling for a minute before I spoke again.

"Mia's going to Hogwarts this year, you know." I felt their eyes widen, but at that very moment- probably because of it, actually- my father switched the lights in the living room out.

"Goodnight guys," He called, and we all replied.

No one said anything, but after a few seconds, I felt Elaine wriggle closer to me, resting her head on my chest. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She might even be a Gryffindor, like you." I smiled briefly before it slipped away, knowing that it was almost certainly not going to come true, and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer. I was just glad she hadn't told Lily about the kiss, to be honest. Or brought it up, for that matter- talk about awkward.

(A/N): See? Really, really bad.

This chapter has had edits made to it on 9/2/24 - mostly formatting things to make it less ugly, but I also added the part about Leo sort of wondering how Elaine knew about the birthday wish thing, being a pureblood, since he assumed it was a muggle custom. I'd also just like to say that I forgot about Shari forgoing oven mitts- as someone who has burned myself grabbing something fresh from the oven unprotected, I'd just like to emphasize how badass that is, even if she knows she's going to heal in a few minutes.