─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Four days later it was February 3rd. Clara woke up to a foggy window and a chill that ran through her bare arms. She had tossed and turned all night. Her nightmares had returned with the new year, and now it played until the very end. Instead of a flash of black horror, she could see Lord Voldemort unveil himself from the darkness and stride up to her father. She saw her father bow, accept a cold embrace from the Dark Lord, and walk off into the graveyard.
Clara did not know if her mind had simply forced her to forget the event, or if there was something done to her memory to block it, but she wished more than anything to be rid of the memory as a whole. She walked to the window and wiped the moisture off of the glass. There was heavy fog and rain, but the very tops of the trees were still visible. They poked out of the fog like shining beacons of green.
Her robes slipped on the same way they had everyday that year, but it seemed as though they were finally starting to fit her again. Clara grabbed her wand, strode down to the Great Hall, and sat at the Slytherin table for breakfast. Her head dipped low, nearly low enough to fall into her oatmeal, and Clara strained to keep her head up.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Clara's head snapped up, as the shouting voices rung in her head.
"Ow."
"Got a hangover or something?" asked Ron, sliding into the bench. He sat beside her and pinched her cheek until she swatted his hand away.
"No, everything is just painful before 7am, Ron."
"Good..." said Fred. Hermione sat across Clara, and Luna and Neville sat on her left.
"Because we're not done!" said George.
"Wait, you guys can't sit h-"
"Attention everyone!" shouted Fred as he and George stood on the Slytherin table.
"Today is our good friend, Clara Dupont's birthday!" continued George, "In honor of her birth, please join us in serenading her until she is so embarrassed she can't speak!"
"5,6,7,8" said Fred, snapping his fingers to the numbers.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" started the twins.
It seemed the whole hall had listened to their announcement, because the next lines seemed to be sung loudly by every student. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CLARA!" A green hat was snapped onto Clara's head, and she only caught a tiny glimpse of Harry before he quickly pecked her cheek and rushed to sit next to Hermione. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"
Applause erupted from the Great Hall and as soon as it died down the twins had taken their seats. Clara's head was held in her hands, hiding the bright red flush that had taken over her face.
"You guys are so weird." she said, pulling her head up and reaching for her bowl of oatmeal.
"We know, it's why you love us though." said George, taking a seat next to his twin.
"So what is the birthday queen's first demand?" asked Ron, dipping a spoon into her oatmeal and quickly eating it before she could get it back.
"My first, and only, demand is for everyone to stop acting like it's my birthday."
"Impossible." said George.
"No can do." said Fred.
"Why don't you like your birthday, Clara?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, she never has. Her dad never celebrated it so she's grown accustomed to the bleak, dryness of everyday life on her birthday. I tried to bake her a cake in third year, and she slapped it so hard it flew into Hannah Abbott's face." said Luna.
The entire group stared at Luna, then Clara. "Sorry, was that supposed to be a secret?"
Luna's wistful blue eyes guided themselves to the ceiling, signaling her quiet exit from the conversation.
"You actually hit a cake into someone's face?" asked Harry.
"I thought she was trying to poison me or something." shrugged Clara, "Look guys, it's just another day and I don't understand the big fuss about birthdays anyway. It's just an excuse to feel good about yourself even if you haven't done anything to be proud of."
"Is that your thinking, or your father's?"
Clara opened her mouth but no words came out. Her jaw hung open for a solid thirty seconds as she looked at Harry. Was she really still living life through her father's opinion?
"Fine. Do anything you please, confetti, cake, songs, but I can't promise I will enjoy any of it."
Clara's friends took this statement to heart. They walked her to every class, fulfilled her every request, and showered her with compliments. The twins prompted two more ensemble covers of happy birthday, one at lunch and one at dinner, before leading Clara to the Gryffindor common room. She paused before the twins opened the door.
"I can't go in there, are you mad?"
"Maybe a little." said Fred.
"You've got to come, it's your party that's raging in there."
"Party? What party?"
Without saying a word, the twins knocked on the portrait that served as the common room door. Ginny opened the entrance, and Clara fought back a dramatic gasp. There were hundreds of students packed into the common room; Luna was chatting with Neville by a large table filled with decadent food, Hermione and Ron, though still not entirely made up, were laughing by the fireplace with glasses of butterbeer in their hands, and Harry stood on the stairs with two glasses of firewhiskey.
He met Clara's eyes and a wickedly charming smile broke through on his face. Clara slowly stepped into the red room which was decorated to the max with birthday balloons, confetti, and streamers.
"For today's princess." said Harry, handing her a glass of firewhiskey.
"You call me princess ever again and that pretty face of yours will have another scar on it." said Clara. She gladly took the glass and downed it.
"Noted. Come along now, it's time for cake."
There was indeed cake. A four foot tall, confetti cake with a moving photograph of Clara's face on the top layer of icing. It showed Clara rolling her eyes that morning at breakfast with her birthday hat on. According to the twins, Dobby had snuck into the castle and ordered the house elves to make their finest cake to date, but the photo had been their idea. After devouring cake and laughing over drunken dances and school gossip, the party came to a close.
Clara left the common room in a dizzy. She thanked her friends for their wonderful gifts and struggled with the door knob before realizing it was supposed to turn the other way.
Her feet stumbled underneath her and soon there was a body underneath her arm to support her.
"Woah, careful there. Can't have our princess break a leg on her birthday, can we?"
Clara laughed as she let her weight fall onto Harry. "Technically, my birthday ended an hour and thirteen minutes ago."
"Wow, you're even a smart ass while wasted."
The pair made their way down another pair of stairs, entering the darkness of the dungeons.
"I'm not wasted, just a little tipsy."
"If that were true, you wouldn't need me to walk you to your room."
"Fine, a tiny bit wasted, but isn't that what birthdays are for?"
"If you say so. Here." said Harry. They had reached the door to the Slytherin common room and Harry extended a small package to Clara. "It's nothing much, just a gift to celebrate your birth, but open it when you can think straight, all right?"
Clara nodded eagerly and took the parcel from Harry's hands. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "You are, by far, my favorite gift."
Harry smiled slowly, a tiny light shining in his eyes. "Good night, Clara."
Clara waved to him as he walked away, her heart grasping to his every movement. This was a great day, and soon she'd have another gift to open. Nothing could be better; everything seemed to be completely perfect.
a/n
oh hi. yeah, it's been awhile, sorry about
that. i've been so swamped
with school and other shit. enjoy this chapter, even
though it's sort of a filler. more coming soon!
xoxo