Happy Birthday
January brought along a flurry of things. Students returning, classes resuming, and birthdays.
Including Nico's birthday.
Dawn's birthday came first. She turned twelve on the ninth. When her birthday came, her mom sent her a gift and an entire chocolate cake. Dawn shared the cake with her friends, and generally didn't make a huge fuss about it. The Hufflepuffs did sing happy birthday to her, which made Dawn look like she wanted to die if how red her face turned was anything to go by.
Other than those things, and the occasional gift from others in their house, the day was pretty normal.
Nico didn't expect this sort of thing when he turned twelve. While ten of his birthdays were spent with his family, he wasn't expecting anything because he didn't have family to celebrate with anymore.
Somehow, though, Dawn found out when his birthday was.
So he woke up on his birthday to Dawn handing him a gift wrapped in black paper with cartoon skulls on it.
"Happy birthday!" She chirped. Nico just stared at her, accepting the gift.
"First of all, thank you. Second of all, how the hell did you know?"
"A little birdie told me. Now open it!" Nico huffed, opening the gift to find a comfortable looking jacket and a packet of candy he'd never seen before. He smiled.
"Thanks, Dawn," he said.
"You're welcome. Twelve is a big number, isn't it? Anyway, we have school, so let's go." Nico nodded, stowing his gifts away as he climbed out of bed and got ready for the day. Dawn had left him to it, already waiting for him when he left his room. She linked her arm with his, and they left the common room together.
They sat at the Hufflepuff table, Ron, Harry, Draco and Hermione joining them.
"Happy birthday, Nico," Hermione greeted him.
"Thanks," he mumbled, an embarrassed blush spreading across his face.
He didn't quite get the same treatment as Dawn had, but his friends wished him a happy birthday. Their classes were the same. Some boring, some not. One thing that was different, however, was that Snape had requested to see him after class. Nico never stayed behind if he could help it. Snape wasn't like their father, in the sense that he bullied children while Hades had the sense to protect him and Bianca from Zeus's blast. Snape probably would have only wanted to save the mother of his child if he was in that position.
However, he still stayed behind. When the class had filed out, Snape handed him a package.
"I was made aware that today is your birthday, so happy birthday," his half-brother said. Nico took the package and put it in his bag.
"Thank you. I'll open it later." Snape nodded, and Nico left.
"What did he want?" Dawn asked when he came out.
"Wanted to wish me happy birthday, and he gave me something. Haven't opened it yet." Dawn frowned.
"Oddly sweet for Snape, but okay," she commented. They made their way to lunch, where they sat with their friends.
The end of the day came quickly, and Dawn urged Nico to change when they got to the common room. Nico shrugged. What could go wrong? Nothing, really. Dawn was basically harmless to him.
He followed Dawn down the hallway and into the kitchen, where their friends were waiting.
"What are we doing here?" Draco asked. Dawn held up a book that Nico hadn't noticed before, a grin spreading on her face.
"We're making cupcakes for Nico's birthday," she explained.
"Let's get to it, then!"
And so, they spent the better part of the afternoon baking cupcakes, messing around, and having fun with each other. Little elves scurried around, helping them out if they needed it, keeping an eye on the six of them while they went about their business. Ron and Draco, the only Purebloods of the group, explained that they were House Elves. They didn't really pay much attention to them. The cupcakes were the most important thing to them in that moment.
Dawn was the one who whipped up a simple chocolate icing from nothing but icing sugar, coco powder, and milk, spreading it over the cooled cupcakes and sprinkling white sprinkles onto them. Dawn found a candle that she pushed into the top of one of them - the largest cupcake - and Hermione lit it with a spell. They presented it to Nico.
"Make a wish," Ron encouraged. No song. Good.
Nico blew out the candle, making his wish as he did.
He pulled the candle out of the cupcake and bit into it. It was warm in the middle, and so very good. Even the icing, which had been made without instructions, tasted good.
The six of them ate their cupcakes in relative silence.
"This is so good," Harry said. Dawn smiled.
"Mama's recipe. She bakes a lot of stuff, which she sometimes sells to people. She loves to make chocolate cakes."
"No wonder you got a whole cake," Ron said, awe in his voice. Dawn shrugged.
"She'd probably send one to you guys on your birthdays as well," she said.
"I think I like this better," Nico said.
And that was the truth. When he arrived at Hogwarts, he'd hoped for a relatively normal year. While it was proving to not be normal, even by Wizard standards, he felt the safest he had been since Bianca died. This day, it was memorable. He might not have been spending it with his family, with Bianca or his mother, or even his father or half-brother, but it was perfect for him.
He didn't care for cake and being sung happy birthday. If they could make something on his birthday every year, then he'd be happy. His friends were probably the most valuable things in his life now that he'd met them. He'd be happy with just being wished happy birthday by all of them, even if they got him nothing.
It had only been a year, but he forgot how much he missed spending his birthday with actual, living people.
When they went back to their dorms after finishing off the cupcakes, Nico turned his attention to the gift from Snape.
It was filled with candy, just as some of the other things he'd gotten were. Nico just smiled. Of course, his brother didn't know him well and went with what almost every child would have wanted.
He fell asleep later than he normally did, happy with how well this birthday had gone compared to the last one.
Yes, he'd love to do this every year.