It was a surprisingly warm Saturday; snow had melted, the sun was finally peeking out of the clouds. Hogsmeade was empty for the most part, which is exactly where Blaise and Faris were. They were celebrating Blaise's birthday by spending the day in shops pulling faces at each other over the shelves and between the aisles.
But besides pulling grotesque faces at each other they purchased sweets and clothes, repeatedly going in and out of shops. They had bought many items from Zonko's Joke Shop and Gladrags Wizardwear.
Earlier the same morning at breakfast they had invited Draco to come to Hogsmeade with them and celebrate but he had Prefect duties for detention and said that he would meet them at the Quidditch field for their evening celebration.
They had purchased a cake from a small bakery along with a pint of butterbeer for later that night.
"What flavor do you want?" Faris asked. Blaise peered through the glass of the display case gazing at the brightly frosted cakes.
"I know I want chocolate but I don't know if I want yellow or pink frosting."
"It'll taste the same with either cake."
"But they're both so pretty!" Blaise whined.
But they ended up walking out of the bakery with the yellow frosted cake, even though Blaise hadn't picked that one. He hadn't picked one at all so Faris picked for him.
"I didn't think you would care how the food looked as much as how it tasted."
"Well, it is my special day." He had used that excuse several times that day.
"What do you wanna do now?" Faris breathed out, setting her bags down to stretch her arms.
"We could start heading back to where we have to meet Draco in an hour plus I have one more thing I want to do before he arrives," Blaise said with a mischievous grin.
"Well, let's get a move on then, we need to catch one of the carriages before someone else does."
They both picked up their bags heading up the dirt pathway towards an empty carriage. Faris flung the carriage door open, setting her bags next to her on the bench, Blaise did the same already tucking into a chocolate frog on the ride back.
"So what is this other thing that you want to do?"
"It's a surprise . . . it won't be as fun if you already know how to do it though."
"That's oddly suspicious of you to say."
"Why's that?" he asked with a mouth full of chocolate.
". . . You're teaching me something aren't you?" Faris attempts to sit up straight but only cowards back with a slight tremble in her voice.
Blaise chuckled blissfully, "I'm not saying anything about the surprise."
"Why am I the one getting a surprise when it's your birthday?" She asked after a few long minutes have passed.
"Because it's fun for me this way."
"Well, it is your birthday so I don't have much of a choice, I guess," Faris joked.
"It's nothing embarrassing," Blaise paused, "It definitely won't be easy." She pressed her lips into a firm line, the carriage came to a halt in front of Hogwarts, jolting Blaise forward in his seat.
When they did get to the Quidditch field the sky had gone completely dark, stars had lined the sky and the air was nothing but a sweet chill. They both dropped their shopping bags by the blanket that Blaise laid down for their picnic.
"The surprise is just under the sheet," Blaise giggled, skipping towards a thin white sheet. With one quick pull, the sheet was whipped away, "Ta-da!" Blaise grinned, giving her his best jazz hands.
"A broom?"
"Yes, ma'am, I'm going to teach you how to fly."
"Fuck no. I don't go near anything that has to do with sports, and - and I don't think you're . . . qualified."
"Pft, you don't have to be qualified, Faris-wheel." Without another word, Blaise shoves the broom into Faris's hands. "Mount the broom."
"No," Faris said, crossing her arms over her chest, firmly planting her feet in the ground. "I won't"
Blaise then presses his lips into a firm line and shoves the broom between her legs.
"You can't just shove-"
"You 're willing to do it for Draco." Faris's cheeks flushed bright red as she gripped the broom. "Now think about what you want the broom to do."
I want the broom to lift off the ground away from Blaise. Lift off the ground.
The broom shakily lifted off the turf, she carefully slung her feet over the wooden pegs, gripping onto the smooth wood of the broom for dear life.
"You can go higher."
"I think I'll just stay here . . . it's nice and cozy right here," Faris said, giving herself a reassuring nod.
"But I'm the birthday boy," he begged.
Faris quickly stuck her tongue out at him, "You didn't celebrate my birthday," Faris grumbled. "I never got to pull the birthday card on you." She slowly lifted further off the ground silently guiding her broom higher. Then before she knew she was slowly flying around the stadium.
Cool wind whipped through her hair, the drunk moon gleaming on the Black Lake in the distance. It was surprisingly calming to her, like a car in overdrive late at night, breeze rippling through the windows on a clear highway.
"It's the almighty Wicked Witch of the West!" Blaise called from down below.
"Bow down, bitch!" Faris shouted as she sped up the pace of the broom.
From a distance, she saw Draco walking towards the stadium carrying what looked like a heavy basket. Her grin stretched as she flew back down towards the turf.
Her feet met the soft turf right when Draco came in through the entrance of the stands.
"Happy birthday mate," Draco smiled, clapping Blaise on the back. Draco gestured to the basket he was holding, "stole you some food from the kitchens."
Blaise sat himself down on the blanket patting the spot next to him, Draco rolled his eyes as he dropped the basket next to an eager Blaise.
Blaise quickly pulled food out of the basket, hardly noticing that Draco had picked out all of his favorite foods for the trio to eat.
"So what did you guys do in Hogsmeade?" Draco asked, opening a small container.
"Let's just say Hogsmeade is sold out of everything now."
"Well, that's bold," Draco chuckled, sharing his pasta with Faris.
"I did buy a cake for Blaise and a few other treats- he's not very hard to please."
"Indeed he is not. Did you enjoy your birthday Blaise?" Draco asked. Blaise stayed silent as he chugged down a flask of french onion soup.
"I guess you'll never find out," Faris chuckled, snuggling into Draco's chest. "How was your day?"
"It was alright, I just sat there with the kid we talked for a little bit, he was nice." Draco paused before passing the container to Faris, "there was another second year there, she was dreadful- I mean I thought I was rude but that bitch was worse." Draco chortled.
"Is this the same girl who said Pansy looked like a used tampon?"
Draco snorted, "yeah I think it was . . . But the little bitch kept talking about how Umbridge is forming an Inquisitorial squad- I was thinking about joining. I would have to start working with her after the break though."
Faris pulled back from his arms to look him in the eye, "I thought you hated her, why in Merlin's beard would you work for her?!"
"Because of what Potter has been going on about this year. You would think Dumbledore would do something about this- oh who am I kidding the staff-"
"Draco," Faris said warningly.
"Sorry- but I'm just saying that if Umbridge is going to take authority over punishment I think the students would shape up," Draco shrugged.
"You're talking about the new decree aren't you? Twenty-five?"
"What else? . . . I'm just waiting for Filch to fall off the ladder and break his neck," Draco spat.
Draco paused for a long moment, "Just- promise me that you won't get into any trouble, okay?"
Faris nodded in agreement, "I promise."
~*~
With a small swoosh of her wand, the candles on Blaise's birthday cake lit up. Gently setting it down in the center of the small group Draco and Faris started quietly singing happy birthday to him.
He grinned from ear to ear as he blew out the candles with one big breath.
"Well, we don't have any knives so we'll have to eat it off the platter, chaps."
Blaise didn't have to be told twice as he drove his fork into the center of the cake; picking up a huge glob of yellow frosting.
The trio lay on their stomachs digging into the chocolate cake on the center of the blanket.
Blaise never shares food, what the fuck. Is this dickhead actually getting full? Draco thought to himself. I never thought I would see the day when Blaise Bram Zabini is starting to get full.
"I don't know about you guys but I hate strawberry ice cream," Blaise sighed, dramatically stabbing his fork in the cake.
They both paused for a long moment, unsure of what to say to his random opinion. Draco shrugged it off knowing that this was how Blaise always acted when he was deep in the moment. Faris held her confused gaze as Blaise continued to eat the chocolate cake.
"And why is that?" Faris asked.
"It's gross. It doesn't taste like strawberries. - strawberries are sourer. It's the same thing with cherries. They make it too sour when really cherries are sweet." Blaise shrugged, poking his fork around.
"I don't like the way you talk about cherries, Zucchini."
"Well, I'm not wrong. They never get the flavors of fruit right!" He exclaimed. He was overly frustrated about such a stupid topic as strawberry ice cream.
"I'm not really talking about the flavor. You're so clueless," Faris mumbled under her breath, Draco tensed next to her realizing what she was talking about.
"Oh, well those are great too." A smirk twisted onto Blaise's frosting-covered mouth.
Draco immediately swiped Blaise's fork out of his hands and threw it across the turf. Blaise gave Draco a baffled look as he chased after his fork.
"What was that for?" Faris asked, trying to hold back her chortle.
Draco gave a small shrug, furiously shoving cake into his mouth.
"IT'S TOO DARK TO SEE!" Blaise yelled blindly walking around the field to find his fork.