"Away we go," Molly said. "I'm sure the boys'll find their way to the Lovegoods... eventually."
(Y/n) smiled at Molly, taking her leave with Ginny and Molly. Molly walked with a cake box in her arms. A packet of candles was balanced atop it and (Y/n) was very excited. She hadn't gotten to blow candles out since her twelfth birthday.
"Will I have time to change?" (Y/n) asked softly.
"I'm sure you will," Molly answered. (Y/n) pumped her fist and Molly smiled.
(Y/n)'s glee for blowing out candles was where her glee for a party ended. Parties were not (Y/n)'s choice of spending a night. She'd rather spend her time in her room and be able to curl up and cry rather than be with people who cared for her well being and who would, likely, go out of their way to prevent her from crying. (Y/n)'s social battery was long past drained and now she had a party to attend? She didn't go to parties regularly, who thought it'd be good to throw a party centring her? A party in which she didn't deem it socially acceptable to leave until her guests were all gone? Who knew when that could be?
"You're dreading this, aren't you?" Ginny whispered once her mum was out of earshot.
"Is it that noticeable?" (Y/n) whispered back. "Well, I guess I'll deal with it. I pretend on the daily. What's a party to me?"
"(Y/n)..." Ginny said, her voice wanting to be scolding but sympathy overpowered that.
"Don't worry about it, Gin," (Y/n) assured, picking up her pace as they reached the Lovegoods.
"Oh, hello, (Y/n)," Luna greeted airly from her place on the floor. She was painting a birthday banner.
"Hi, Lu," (Y/n) said, skipping upstairs. Luna hummed, not making a big deal out of (Y/n) talking for the first time in weeks.
"She spoke," Luna said to Ginny and Molly, both of whom smiled.
"Guess so," Ginny said.
"Where can I put the cakes?" Molly asked.
"Kitchen for now, please," Xenophilius said as he came back in from the backyard. Molly's eyes flickered around the very odd house, wondering where the kitchen was.
(Y/n) went back downstairs, her hair now styled with a simple pink headband. She had on a pink floral dress made of cotton over which she had an oversized pink cardigan that Cho had knitted as a present. (Y/n) fixed her two necklaces: one from Fleur Delacour and the other being from her mother that was originally gifted by her father.
(Y/n) nervously fiddled with the Ethiopian opal ring which had cultured pearls and gold detailing. The ring was one of the two from her deceased boyfriend. The only jewellery (Y/n) would always wear (minus her earrings and nose piercing) all had sentimental value to them.
Fleur's friendship locket, which matched Fleur's own necklace, was gifted in her third year with the promise of one day meeting each other— and they had finally met face-to-face less than a year ago— before then, they were pen pals. Her parents were no longer around and she just couldn't part with something that belonged to her mother. And the rings were from someone (Y/n) had lost far too soon and was still grieving over— such a sudden death.
"Wotcher, kid," greeted Nymphadora Tonks, a bright smile playing on their lips. Beside them was their girlfriend, Penny Haywood, a digital camera in her hands, while Tonks held two presents. "Doing all right?" (Y/n) nodded, clasping her hands together behind her back. Tonks and Penny beamed at her.
"I reckon they're waiting for you," Penny said, leaning back as she peered outside. "The Diggorys came, hm?" she teased. (Y/n) nodded again.
"What's with you—? What?" Tonks cried as Penny slapped their arm.
"Don't be insensitive, Dora," Penny hissed, guiding her partner away.
"What? What'd I say?" Tonks asked as Penny took them outside. (Y/n) lingered for a moment, wanting to give Penny the chance to give Tonks a short summary without instantly gaining an aching heart. Either way, (Y/n) would hear what Penny had said but she didn't want to be present right then. With a deep breath, (Y/n) finally headed outside.
"Who has the bug spray?" Molly asked. She abruptly shrieked as party poppers went off.
(Y/n), who the party poppers were set off for, yelped, frightened mainly from Molly's shriek, and crashed into Ron, who clumsily stopped the both of them from falling. She stared at the twins with wide eyes. George was still trying to get his party popper to go off while the confetti and glitter from Fred's popper fluttered down, some of which landed on (Y/n) and Ron. Moments later, George's party popper went off, causing several people to flinch, despite knowing what was happening.
"Surprise!" Charlie exclaimed, awkwardly breaking the silence. There were various murmurs of the same word. Luna came over and (crookedly) put a party hat on (Y/n)'s head and a sash around (Y/n)'s neck that she couldn't fix just yet. (Y/n) blinked, silently processing the chaos that had gone on within thirty seconds of stepping outside.
(Y/n), who was still entirely relying on Ron from keeping her from falling, took the party horn from Ron's hand, brought it to her mouth, and blew miserably with it. Luna clapped as though (Y/n) had just accomplished something.
"Um... Dinner," Mrs. Diggory awkwardly interjected.
"(Y/n), can I get a picture first?" Penny asked. Ron got (Y/n) stable on her feet.
"I put my mouth on that, you know?" he asked at length.
"Indirect kiss," Fred commented. "No... Forget I said that." (Y/n) tried not to smile, holding the horn in between her teeth, and simply shrugged. Ron, distraught, shook his head and walked to the table, where the guests stared as Penny waited for (Y/n) to pose.
(Y/n) took the horn from her mouth and held her hands behind her, closing her eyes and baring her teeth in something that wasn't even a smile. Penny, oblivious, snapped a picture, pulled the digital camera away from her eye and peered at the screen showing the picture. She looked up with a deadpan at (Y/n).
"Can't you be a bit more optimistic? I know you don't like pictures, but just one? Please, please, please," Penny pleaded.
Holding back an eye roll, (Y/n) slightly bent her right leg, shifted her body so she was partially looking over her shoulder, and then she gave a dazzling smile with her eyes closed. She heard the click before she saw the flash through her eyelids. Penny, far more satisfied, beamed at the result of the photo. She walked to the table and sat down beside her partner. (Y/n) stared after her before taking the last available seat: right at the centre of the table.
"What electives are you hoping for this year?" Tonks asked as the table started serving themselves. (Y/n) held up seven fingers. "I asked what, not how many—" Tonks choked on their drink upon processing (Y/n)'s answer. "Seven?!" they hissed. (Y/n) paused for a moment before lowering one of her fingers. "Six?! That isn't much better!" (Y/n) averted her eyes. "Penny, she's got six electives this year," Tonks hissed.
Penny, who was bringing a spoonful of mashed potatoes to her mouth, stopped abruptly. She leaned forward and stared at (Y/n) with wide eyes.
"She hasn't even got her O.W.L. grades yet, Dora!" Penny exclaimed. "How can she know her classes?"
(Y/n), her eyes twinkling at the couple's bickering, raised her glass of water and stuck out her pinky as she drink. Cedric, who sat across from her, smiled and shook his head.
"You gonna eat? You haven't a thing on your plate," Bill commented two seats down. Charlie sat to (Y/n)'s right. Several people peered at her, waiting for her to actually get food. (Y/n) looked at the table, just noticing that a good majority of the food was very light. The downside was a lot of it also looked dairy-based and dairy was not something (Y/n) was able to stomach. (Y/n) looked at Luna for help. Beaming, Luna held up the bowl that she had been serving herself with. It had rather good looking quinoa in it. (Y/n) nodded and Luna walked the length of the table, bringing the bowl.
"And what about kale and the grilled chicken?" Luna whispered, lingering as (Y/n) served herself a small portion of rice. "Not too heavy, I hope? Balanced meal, too... Maybe an avocado? I know you like those..." (Y/n) gave Luna a pouty look, nodding nonetheless. Luna skipped back inside.
(Y/n) tapped Tonks and, with very pleading eyes, pointed at the bowl of kale. Tonks, whose mouth was full, nodded and pointed at the kale in front of Cedric. Cedric, confused, passed it to them and Tonks gave it to (Y/n), who served herself with shaking hands.
"That all?" Tonks asked in an undertone. "Quinoa and kale? Healthy, yeah. But not very much..." Penny shot Tonks a very sharp look. "What?"
"They're right," Penny sighed, leaning forward to look at (Y/n).
(Y/n) angrily glared at her but Penny stared back, stern where (Y/n) was angry. Luna's humming grew louder and she gave (Y/n) a whole avocado, making (Y/n) turn away with an amused grin.
"Nice and ripe," Luna said proudly. Her eyes flicked around the table in search of where the grilled chicken went.
"Ginny, will you pass the grilled chicken?" Luna asked. Molly and Ginny's bickering over what Ginny had served herself stopped and Ginny nodded. She passed it to Bill, who reached past Charlie to give it to Luna. "How many?" Luna asked, clicking the tongs together. (Y/n) held one finger up and Luna hummed and served her. "Always more if you want." (Y/n) nodded, watching as Luna returned the chicken to the table before returning to her seat.
Penny looked away, very satisfied with at least the bare minimum of a meal on (Y/n)'s plate. (Y/n) had just started cutting into her chicken when Molly spoke up, breaking the relatively peaceful and silent meal.
"Lily says you'll be taking your driver's test this year, (Y/n)," Molly said. (Y/n) nodded her head. Lily Potter had been teaching (Y/n) how to drive over the course of the last few summers. Her cat, Effie, hopped into her lap as she spoke and (Y/n) started absentmindedly petting her.
"That's the one that had kittens, right?" Charlie asked.
"Mhm," (Y/n) hummed.
"What a day," Penny mused. "Blair said you were rambling so much that she wondered how you were so quiet otherwise."
"And now she's right back at her quiet square one," Tonks said. (Y/n) watched as Effie took (Y/n)'s chicken before hopping off her lap and walking away. Tonks was trying not to laugh at Penny and (Y/n)'s rather confused expressions.
"I just gave her treats!" Molly exclaimed. "She kept hopping onto the table whilst we were getting the food out," she explained.
"Spoiled little thing," Amos Diggory mused.
"And we wouldn't have it any other way," Fred chimed. Effie, no doubt, was the favourite pet companion amongst the Weasleys.
(Y/n) shuffled the deck of cards and then held them out, upside down, for Ginny to take. (Y/n) looked over her shoulder as Ginny took her pick and showed the people looking over her shoulder. Smirking, she put it back into the deck and (Y/n) shuffled it again, being sure to always feel the card Ginny had pulled.
(Y/n) kept the card Ginny pulled directly beneath the top card and then she flipped the top card over, subtly holding the actual card above her index finger. She stared questioningly at Ginny.
"No. That's wrong. Told you only actual magic can—" Ginny cut herself off as (Y/n) shook her hand, very discretely flipping the cards over and revealing Ginny's actual card. She removed her index finger that was separating the cards from the pile and let the wrong card rejoin the pile. "How the..." Ginny trailed off. The witches and wizards were very bewildered, even Tonks and Penny, both of whom were half-bloods and knew certain tricks behind card tricks, were baffled.
"Magic," (Y/n) said, wriggling her fingers.
"Are there others?" Arthur Weasley asked, absolutely fascinated.
"Loads," (Y/n) answered.
"Let's see it!" Fred said, waving Ginny aside and taking her place. (Y/n) subtly met Tonks' eyes and they nodded. (Y/n) held the shuffled deck of cards out and Fred took his pick as (Y/n) turned her head. Fred showed the people behind him and whilst he put the card back into the pile. As (Y/n) shuffled the pack of cards, Tonks went through their own deck of cards and, finding the replica, very subtly and carefully tucked it behind Fred's ear. Nobody but Penny noticed.
(Y/n) drew a random card and Fred smugly shook his head 'no.' (Y/n) smiled at him.
"Check behind your ear."
Fred gave a little laugh of disbelief, obliging nonetheless. He froze at the feeling of a card and gaped at (Y/n) as he pulled it out. Rather frightened to check, he slowly peered down, making a sound of horror when he realized it was in fact his card.
"I do hope that isn't magic," Molly murmured.