When with Rome {Sirius Black}

12. Birthday wishes

Barbara and James loved the new monthly Prank War Day, as it was almost as big as Christmas was for them. She loved being able to prank her brother and be pranked in return. It meant, in her eyes, that she was never going to be neglected from her family because they put up with her antics.

Her bond with her brother was growing stronger each day; and they could each tell what the thee was feeling. Barbara had eventually told her brother about Rome, and he adopted the nickname for her wolf form as a secret code word. James used it whenever he was trying to gain Barbara's attention without their parents noticing.

Their love for each other became so strong that, if one of them passed, the other twin would probably go into deep depression, and never get out of it...

It was 8:30 in the morning, and James Potter was fast asleep, dreaming about him being in Gryffindor. It was a good dream so far, and he was soon going to go to his first flying lesson with a pretty girl his own age.

"JAMSIE WAKE UP YOU GIT!" Someone screamed; and he immediately yelped in shock. As usual, when getting a peaceful wake up call from your beloved sister, he fell off the bed.

Barbara couldn't stop laughing, she loved it when she was able to wake him up before he could do it to her. When James wakes her up, he usually just pushes her off her bed whilst screaming a battle cry at the top of his lungs.

"BARB WHAT IN THE NAME OF MERLIN'S BEARD WAS THAT FOR!?" James yelled at his sister.

Barbara immediately hugged James, "Happy birthday, my big brother."

James rolled his eyes at his sister's antics and hugged her back as tight as she was holding him, "Happy birthday, little sister."

The twins laughed as confetti was tossed on them by their parents and the House Elves. The six happy people walked into the kitchen after the birthday twins were nearly hugged to death and were greeted with six plates with pancakes, which were topped with as much whipped cream and strawberries as there were hairs in Dumbledore's beard.

After they were done eating, the Potter twins went into the living room and played Wizard's Chess. Their mother reminded them of a guest coming; but the kids tuned it out and focused on trying to beat each other in the game. Barbara was losing, badly. It was the one game she was absolutely terrible at, but at least she always won against her brother and parents in exploding snap.

An hour passed, and James beat Barbara for the fourth time in Wizard's Chess when green flames came out of the fireplace, which signaled Barbara to put her guard up. She still had a very hard time trusting new people, as their trust had to be earned.

An elderly man came out of the fireplace, Barbara and James immediately recognizing him and the two ladies behind him.

"Val! Angel!" Barbara and James shouted with delight. The Potters had grown extremely close to the two over the years.

They ran up and hugged the women. "Told you they like me more, Albus." Valerie chuckled, sticking her tongue out at the man who was behind them. Dumbledore just chuckled, now receiving a handshake from James. He had met the elder man once before, but that was before he knew about Barbara.

Barbara just looked at him, wariness clear in her eyes. Dumbledore bet down to her level, and held out his hand.

"Hello, I'm Professor Dumbledore. I'm happy that I get to meet you," Dumbledore said gently to Barbara. She looked at his hand, still uneasy around the 'Professor'.

"Don't worry, Barb," James told her, "you can trust Professor Dumbledore, I do."

As soon as James said that, Barbara smiled sheepishly at Dumbledore and shook his hand.

"Hello Albus, Valerie, and Angel. Care to come and celebrate with us?" Mrs. Potter asked, entering the room.

"Sorry, Euphemia, I'm frankly quite busy, I had to cancel an appointment with the Minister," Dumbledore replied with a smile.

"Oh! You didn't have to do that, Professor!" Barbara said. Dumbledore just smiled and shook his head.

"What's done is done, my dear, and," he bent down to her level and whispered, "between you and me, I'm happy I don't have to see him until evening." Barbara snickered.

"So, what brings you here? Fleamont says hi, by the way, he's in the back trying to get something out of our garden before cake. It seems like it's a baby stag. He's just trying to find its mum."

"Ah, he was always fond of helping animals and all beings," Dumbledore said nonchalantly.

"I actually came to deliver something to Mr. and Ms. Potter. I think you'll enjoy this first present." Dumbledore said with a wink.

The duo nodded eagerly, they knew what was coming. They both ran to Dumbledore to get their letters, and they opened them as soon as their hand met with the envelope.

Barbara and James were singing "We are the Champions" for a second time. As soon as the song ended, Valerie and Angel pulled out a gift behind her back for Barbara and James.

James was given a quaffle autographed by Irish National, the Potters' favorite team. He squealed with delight and hugged Valerie to the point where she had to pry him off because her circulation was being cut off. Angel gave him an owl which he named "Hercules."

Barbara had been given a fang necklace and a book on how to control her powers for her Vampire side.

"The necklace should be worn at all times, it's for you to see who's a magical being, and to show you are a part of royalty if you encounter another Vampire. It's also supposed to help control your powers more," Valerie explained. Barbara hugged Valerie and Angel when James finally let go of them.

Angel gave her a big box, which in it, Barbara found out, concealed a Phoenix. Barbara shrieked, and jumped on Angel and hugged her even tighter than James hugged them.

"What's his name?" Barbara asked.

"That's for you to decide. Albus and I bought him for you. He's a very rare Phoenix indeed," Angel said. Barbara then tackled Albus into a hug, but being careful to not hurt him as he was older and she didn't want to be the reason why a famous wizard died.

"I'll name him, Blazer." Barbara said.

"Well, I must be going at this point. The Minister will be mad if I'm late; and I must leave before Ms. Potter here beats me again." He chuckled, and Barbara smiled triumphantly.

"I can't wait to start at Hogwarts, Professor." The twins said in unison.

"I can't wait to see you two there," He said with a sincere smile. With that, he flooed to the Ministry. After saying their goodbyes to Angel and Valerie, the twins went up to Barbara's room to sleep.

"I can't wait to go to Hogwarts."

"Me too, Barb."

"Well, happy birthday, Jamesie." Barbara said sleepily.

"You too, Barb."