●▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬●
Milo probably shouldn't have been as nervous as he claimed to be, especially since Murcus was oddly impressed by his ability to speak mermish. He was a little rusty with the accent, but otherwise, it came across clear and she understood what he was trying to say. However, in order to master the accent of mermish, especially those of the Black Lake, Milo needed to develop the whistly aspect of the dialect. Unfortunately, Murcus didn't understand that Milo couldn't whistle. She made several whistly sounds trying to get him to copy her, but each time, she was met with him just blowing air in her face. Minerva could only watch on in amusement as the Merchieftainess continued to grow frustrated with his lake of whistling.
"Ffa bi shaahii,Dehiifaa!" She flicked the boy on the forehead causing Milo to yelp out and rub his head.
"Excuse me, but there is no need for name calling!" Milo told the mermaid before he grumbled and stepped back out of the cold water. He glanced over to his mother, who nodded her head in the direction of Murcus.
"What did she say?"
Milo made a pouting face. "She said I frustrate her and I can't say the other word she said because I'm not allowed to use that sort of language in front of anyone."
Despite the fact that his mermish wasn't perfect, just being able to converse with one of the members of the Black Lake was enough for him. But actually being able to share a conversation with the Merchieftainess was an experience he would never forget. Hopefully, it wasn't the only chance he had, he was going to keep working on his whistle in hopes of perfecting his accent so if the opportunity presented itself again, he wouldn't leave Murcus frustrated beyond belief.
"Well, I am sorry that it did not work out as planned," Minerva began as the two began the walk back up towards the castle as it was quite cold outside. Milo turned to his mother with a confused look, completely puzzled as to why she was apologising, since it had been one of the most amazing gifts.
"Mum, you have nothing to be sorry about, that was amazing. Maybe not for Murcus, but I certainly enjoyed all of it. It just means that I have to keep working harder in order to nail that whistly sound. I can appreciate a little constructive criticism."
"Only you would see forehead flicking as constructive criticism, Milo," the woman sighed with a small smile. "Do you have any other plans to spend your birthday?"
"Er, well, Cedric and the others told me to be in the Hufflepuff Common Room by four for my present, at least, that's what the little note said that was left on my nightstand this morning. But other than that, I'm free for the day. Why?"
"Well, it's your birthday, Milo, and as your mother, I would like to spend it with you and I know some people that have missed you quite a bit as well."
Milo's brows furrowed together, he looked plenty confused, especially as he realised that they weren't walking in the direction of the castle anymore. At some point, his mother had changed direction without him noticing, probably using the opportunity of having him distracted by the conversation. He could see that they were walking in the direction of Hogsmeade and a smile spread across his lips, hoping that he was spending his birthday with Gwen and Rosmerta as his company.
They were walking down the path, Milo attempting to teach his mother a few mermish terms, and Minerva was quick to pick it up even with the whistly pitch needed, leaving Milo proud but slightly envious at the same time.
"Is there anything that you aren't good at, Mum?" He questioned with a chuckle. "I mean, it has to be impossible to be that perfect at everything."
"Now, Milo, please-"
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILO!"
Milo and Minerva let out startled cries as Elspeth seemed to appear from nowhere on the path, Milo ended up stumbling back and falling to the ground, nearly dragging his mother down with him. Elspeth watched the scene unfold, probably not expecting such a startled reaction from both of them. She stood awkwardly in the centre of the path as Minerva helped the boy up to his feet. The stern glare from the professor caused the grown woman to look away like a scolded child before she feigned a look of innocence.
"Surprise?"
"Aunt El!" Milo chuckled as he was finally back on his feet. He ran over towards the woman and launched her into a hug, but it appeared to be some form of payback as it was his turn to knock her down. The woman landed on her back, letting out a pitiful squeak which caused the two to start laughing as Minerva only watch with a smile of her own.
"Come on, you two, we have a time schedule to keep, we have people waiting on us," Minerva said, motioning the two to stand up. Milo pushed himself up quickly and then pulled Elspeth up before he started running towards Hogsmeade, leaving the two behind. Minerva looked over to Elspeth who shrugged her shoulders.
"You did say we have a schedule to keep, Professor."
Milo was thrilled to be in the company of Rosmerta and Gwen and they seemed just as happy to be in his company. Rosmerta presented the boy with some butterbeer, while Gwen had a special gift after travelling to the dragon sanctuary in Sweden. An assortment of dragon scales was presented to the boy, from all sorts of dragon breeds, giving him a wide range of colours. It was entertaining to watch him pull out each scale and name which dragon it came from. The women were discussing Milo's upcoming internship with Newt over the summer when Elspeth pulled Milo to the side.
"I have a special gift for you, Milo," Elspeth said as the two sat down next to each other and handing him a small box. Milo pulled the wrapping paper off and opened it up, peering inside. He was bewildered by the sight of what appeared to be a shabby, ripped up cloak that he went to pull out but Elspeth placed her hand over his, pushing it back down.
"Don't pull it out right now," she told him, " this is not something that you're going to want to flash around, Milo. Listen to me..."
The boy pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and turned to face her, while Elspeth checked to make sure that the other three women were still distracted.
"What is it, Aunt El?"
"It may not look like much, Milo, believe me, but it is very important," she said. "I've learned a lot when it comes to working with dementors, from my job and from my other work. I will be the first to tell you that Dementors are not stupid and given the chance they will do whatever they can to feed. They are bound by contracts to who they serve but if you get in the way of their work, you know what happens. What you've been doing, sneaking around the grounds, and the forest, it's dangerous. Especially with the recent interactions with a certain...beast."
She let out a cough before looking up at him again. "This is a dementor's cloak," she whispered to him to the point where he almost didn't hear her. "It's not like an invisibility cloak. People will still be able to see you if you wear it, but you will be "welcomed" in a sense around the dementors, meaning they won't go after you. It will allow you to travel freely without them bothering you-"
"But why give it to me?" Milo whispered in return, he definitely knew someone else who could benefit from the cloak if it meant keeping the dementors away. "Surely, he could-"
"He already has one, trust me, Milo. I've already sorted this all out. You have one because I know you've been going back and forth and you need to be careful. Remus informed me that he confiscated the map and currently, he has no plans of giving it back to you or Harry. Perhaps that is what is best for now, mainly because you don't want to get caught with that on your person. However, no one will be able to figure out what this is...because it looks nothing more than a tattered cloak. Use it only for the sake of your work, Milo. Nothing more and inform no one. Not Cedric, not your mother...no one."
He glanced down at the box before nodding his head. "I promise."
●▬▬▬▬▬๑۩۩๑▬▬▬▬▬●
As Milo returned to the Hufflepuff Common Room after spending the majority of his birthday with the lovely women, he made sure he was going to be prompt for his present. He hadn't seen anyone else such as Harry or Remus, but he didn't want to keep his friends waiting either. As he knocked to the rhythm of Helga Hufflepuff, Milo wondered what the surprise was, but before he could enter, he felt a tug on the leg of his trousers.
Turning around, a warm smile appeared on his face as he saw Bitsy standing only to the height of his knee. "Bitsy," he greeted the house-elf, kneeling down to her level, "how are you? I haven't seen you in ages, I guess you've been rather busy."
"Yes, Mr. Potter, Bitsy has been very busy and she is very sorry that she has not been able to bake lemon tarts for Mr. Potter."
"That's nothing to be sorry about, Bitsy, I perfectly understand, it's not-"
He wasn't able to finish as the house-elf snapped her fingers and presented the boy with a glorious amount of the pastries with a bright grin on her face. Milo couldn't help but laugh as he gathered all of them in his hands and arms.
"Happy Birthday, Mr Potter."
"You're amazing, Bitsy, thank you so much, I really appreciate it."
The house-elf nodded before she ran off with a delightful little noise lingering in the air, along with the strong smell of lemon. Milo pushed himself up and headed inside through the barrel to make his way to the common room.
As soon as he reached the carpeted area, he learned what some of his surprises were as for the second time that day he was incredibly startled. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MILO!"
The roar of the gathered badgers that had whipped up a surprise party in the common room caused Milo to screech and drop all the lemon tarts, but his smile didn't fade for a second as he looked around. Balloons, streamers, and all sorts of decorations that appeared to be handmade decorated the walls, mantles and the low-hanging ceilings.
"Wait, you all did this for me?" Milo asked as he spotted Heidi, Max, and Cedric making their way towards him. "This is amazing!"
However, there was something odd about the person squirming around on one of the sofas with a bag over their head.
"Uh, what's going on over there?"
Cedric grabbed Milo by the wrist, dragging him over in the direction and Milo didn't even know what to think in that moment. Heidi and Max skipped over to the person, who was also tied up, Milo assumed to keep from escaping.
"Uh, guys, really, what's going on?"
Heidi pulled the bag off the person's head to reveal Harry sitting there looking wide-eyed and completely confused.
"'ARRY!" Milo cried out, not sure why his brother was tied up. "Why is he all tied up!? And why was there a bag over his head? What is going on?"
"Uh, Milo, he's a Gryffindor, we couldn't just let them in and know everything. So we made sure they wouldn't be able to see or hear anything. Plus we didn't want them to run off."
"They?" Milo repeated, confused as he only saw one. Until he heard movement from behind the sofa, only to climb over it and see two other bodies that he had to assume was Hermione and Ron. "Oh my Merlin.....UNTIE THEM!"