Draco, Cedric & You

On the Hogwards Express

"Bye [y/n], bye, love you, bye!", my mother calls from the platform, waving energetically and then blowing a kiss, which I pretend to catch and then give her a gentle wave as the train chugs away. I catch a final glimpse of my father quickly weaving through the crowd towards my mother, who greets him with a smile as I watch them both continue to wave at the train until I can't see the platform any more.

I'm fully aware that I probably look like a tomato right now, as I had to sprint through the train station and barely caught the Hogwarts Express in time. Luckily, though, I had texted Fred that I was running late and asked if he could help in any way to stall the train. I didn't get a reply so I assumed he hadn't seen it, but sure enough when I finally got on the train I saw Fred and George hurriedly run down the corridor away from the Driver's cabin. God knows what they did to stall him, but i'm just thankful it worked.

When Fred and George spot me, they run forward and squash me into a big bear hug. They really are good huggers.
"Ok you can stop now, I can barely breathe for goodness sake!", I say as I push them gently off me and cross my arms.
"Do I even want to know what you did?", I ask, raising one eyebrow and smirking at them.
"Nope,", says George, exchanging a glance with Fred then tapping his nose.
"What happened to you, tomato face?", says Fred.
"Ha ha, speak for yourself carrot head", I say in a tone dripping with sarcasm, "Just my mum tried baking a cake, only it ended up more like a block of coal and we got a bit held up."
"What's wrong with a block of coal?", George laughs as we all walk towards the compartment to join Harry, Ron and Hermione.

When we reach the doorway, Hermione looks up and smiles,
"Oh thank goodness!", she says.
"Bloody hell, we almost thought you weren't coming,", Ron blurts.
"[y/n], happy birthday!" says Harry, moving his feet off the seat opposite him so I can sit next to Hermione.
"Yeah, happy birthday!", Fred and George say in sync, as Fred pulls a parcel out of his pocket and hands it to me,
"Hope you like it,", he says with a smile.
"We'll see you later, Harry, Hermione,", they say as they nod to each of them, ignoring Ron, who rolls his eyes. They make their way down the corridor.

I sit down next to Hermione and give her a hug with one arm.
"Happy birthday,", she says and passes me a perfectly wrapped present with a smile.
"Happy birthday, [y/n],", says Ron - passing me a lumpy parcel wrapped with far too much sellotape.
"And here's mine,", Harry smiled and handed the present to me.
"Thank you all, you really didn't need to,", I blush; I sort of don't like receiving gifts, I never know what to say and I feel spoilt.
"Go on, open them!", Ron mumbles with a mouthful of tuna sandwich - typical, he can't go 2 minutes without eating something.
I sigh and open them in the order they were received, I like doing things like that, a bit of order never hurt anyone.

In the package from Fred and George, a brilliant, though messily knitted, jumper for my owl, Emerson, and a pack of purple fire crackers. A note alongside it read: "Happy Birthday [y/n], have a cracking day!".
I laugh and set the gift aside. Hermione is a little shocked that they gave me such a "dangerous" present but I tell her not to worry. I open the rest of my presents: from Hermione, a beautiful quill and leather bound everlasting notebook, from Ron, a pair of self-tying shoe laces and some Berty Bot's Every Flavour beans, finally, from Harry, a book of astronomy, which I opened to discover that the constellations floated above the page as though you could reach out and grab them.

I told them all how much I loved each of their presents and offered the Berty Bot's around.

"Ugh, earwax,", spat a disgusted Harry, "I was so sure it was buttered popcorn!"
"I don't think that's worse than vomit!", said Ron, taking a big swig of water and washing it around his mouth. I threw a bean at Harry's head as he did this, and Ron almost spat out his water. Hermione, quite wisely, had declined my offer but I decided to try one, they were my present after all. I rooted around, picked a red one and tentatively bit into it,