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Camilla had been so consumed by quidditch, studying, her head girl duties, her new hyper sensitivity to James and her anxiousness about the safety of her family in the outside world; the fact it was her birthday had all of a sudden crept upon her ...

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Camilla had been so consumed by quidditch, studying, her head girl duties, her new hyper sensitivity to James and her anxiousness about the safety of her family in the outside world; the fact it was her birthday had all of a sudden crept upon her out of nowhere.

She was turning eighteen.

Eighteen was a scary age.

Nineteen didn't sound as old or as serious eighteen for some reason.

She was officially an adult now.


When she woke James was no where to be seen and wasn't in his room which was strange, he usually slept in on a Sunday. It was the one day a week he allowed himself to. James was more of an early riser, Camilla had found.

Though he was present at Breakfast along with Sirius, Remus and Peter as Lily, Marlene, Mary and Alice sung happy birthday to her with tired smiles over their pumpkin juice.

When the post arrived she received several letter and packages.

One was from her parents wishing her a very happy eighteenth birthday, wishing that they could see her on her special day. Camilla cracked a smile as she pulled out the familiar jumper she would receive at birthdays and/or Christmas. This year it was a navy blue with a large white 'C' knitted into the middle. Her mother, despite her children's complaints, never failed to knit the usual jumper with their initials on. Camilla pitied Bill, Charlie and Percy. Last she had spoken to Molly, she had mentioned her eagerness to carry on the tradition.

Those poor children, she thought to herself as she scrunched the paper up into a ball.

It was a horrendous jumper but she missed her mother and father far too much to not put it on straight away.

"What a sporting jumper you have there Prewett" Sirius smirked, eyeing the jumper

"Oh piss off Black" she joked back with a smile

Sirius just laughed along with the other marauders and continued to finish off his cornflakes.

She had also revived a letter from Gideon and Fabian along with a box full of dung bombs, hiccoughing sweets, trick wands, frog spawn soap, silly weed tonic, a bewildering can of mystery, a sneakascope and a couple of nose biting teacups. It was practically the whole of Zonkos.

Her brothers never took an opportunity to try and coax her to the dark side.

What the hell was Camilla going to do with fifty dung bombs?

She was definitely going to have to make a donation to the marauders.

Gideon and Fabians letter didn't include much of the war, which Camilla was extremely anxious to hear about, but she supposed a birthday card wasn't particularly the most appropriate way to communicate such atrocities going on.

Molly had gifted her a beautiful hand made patchwork quilt made of floral fabric which Camilla absolutely adored and It was paired with a heartfelt message about how quickly her youngest sister was growing up. Camilla couldn't read it in-front of everyone at breakfast as she knew her eyes would well up and so folded it up into her pocket and told herself to read it later in privacy.

She had been surprised when an unfamiliar owl had flown over head and dropped off one last parcel. James seemed less confused that the rest of them and urged to her to read the label attached. It was from Mr and Mrs Potter wishing her a very happy eighteenth birthday. They had gifted her a lovely set of expensive quills along with a brand new golden snitch which even had her initials engraved into it, C.G.P.

"James, you must tell them it's too much!" She said shaking her head, "I'm terribly grateful but I can't accept any of this"

James just shook his head while Camilla held out the gifts for him to take back and return to his parents.

"Good luck trying to get around my mum" James laughed, "She insisted, they both did"

Camilla made a mental note to send them a thank you letter. It was beyond generous.


For the rest of the day, the girls had decided to sack off their homework and revision and instead  spent the lazy warm September afternoon lounging around the black lake. It was a warm day and the temperature hadn't started to drop so they had wanted to make the most of the nice weather before autumn truly set in.

The girls had given Camilla their own gifts and Camilla had been nothing less than spoilt. Lily had gifted her a gorgeous golden pendant locket, inside a picture of the two of them during a particular summer on the beach near Camilla's family home. It was Camilla's favourite photo of them.

Mary had gotten several pots of broom polish for Camilla as she knew she was running out. Alice had gotten her a beautiful white top with lace trimmings and Marlene had gifted her the brand new edition of quidditch through the ages. Remus had also gifted her a couple of muggle literature and even Sirius and Peter had given up a few of their sugar quills and chocolate frogs.

James was seemingly the only one who had not gotten her anything, though she didn't mind in the slightest. Camilla absolutely adored everything she had received from everyone around her, she couldn't be happier to just spend the day with her friends. The next day she would have to return to the first practise of the season and resume to her homework and studying, but she was allowing herself just one day to have fun.





Lily had been attempting to distract her as the late afternoon dragged into evening and Camilla very much knew the reason for this. They did it every year with everyones birthday. She knew for a fact they were decorating the common room with birthday streamers and balloons from floor to ceiling.

As the pair of them walked to the library, 'to return a book Like had forgotten about', one thought played on Camilla's mind.

She must have had half of Hogwarts wish her happy birthday... everyone except the only person she really wished to do so.

James had not yet wish her a happy birthday and it bothered her.

Perhaps James didn't like her as much as she thought he did?

Maybe her crush was stupid?

Was she being stupid?

Camilla felt her head was going to explode in she didn't share her thoughts.


"Hey lils" She said, quieter than she meant to

Lily turned to her expectedly and her smile instantly dropped upon realising Camilla's expression.

"What's a matter cam?" she asked hurriedly, instantly recognising that something was troubling her best friend, "have you not enjoyed your birthday? Is it the locket? I knew I should have gone with silver-"

Camilla grasped her hands and squeezed comfortingly stopping her, "No, no! I love it, it's beautiful" she reassured. "It's just...has James seemed different to you today?"

Lily furrowed her eyebrows, "Not that I've noticed"

"Oh" Camilla looked crestfallen, "It's just, he's not said happy birthday to me today, and you know Potter, he loves to celebrate a birthday"

"And that bothers you?" Lily asked kindly

"yeah I mean... I would say happy birthday to him" she shrugged, "I like him Lils" she confessed suddenly, "and I don't know how he feels back and I don't want to make things strange between us and my head quite literally feels like jelly right now"

Lily didn't seem surprised, nor did she laugh or say I told you so. She just squeezed Camilla's hand back.

"Wait until the night is over Cam, then maybe you'll find the answer you're looking for?"

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