it’s been a year
I did not know how close Remus’s birthday was to ours. It was a few days before his birthday, which was March 10th, that James told me. I felt bad for not getting him a gift, we were club members after all. I went to my room and scanned for anything that could potentially be a gift. I hated the idea of giving hand me downs, but it was almost worse to give nothing at all.
I looked at all my books, Remus was so into reading that he had a spell to help him read, he was that dedicated. A lot of my books were for learning which would make a horrible gift: here’s some school work! Enjoy! That seemed like a rotten idea. Finally I saw something that seemed like a gift: The Tales of Beedle the Bard. It was a wizard fairy tale book. According to Lily, muggles had fairytales and fables as well. All my friends were muggles and they all knew muggle stories and things like that. Remus had the opposite problem, Sirius, Peter, James, and I grew up on the stories in this book. I deemed it only fair that Remus had a chance to read them.
On March 10th, the boys had made it their challenge to sing happy birthday to Remus as much as possible, they even had cake with different flavors. I’m sure the house elves saw it as a fun challenge in the kitchens. Finally I got a moment alone with Remus and I handed him the wrapped it.
“Oh.. you didn’t have to.” He looked shy about it, as if realizing we were really friends.
“I know I didn’t have to, I wanted to.” I explained. He still didn’t like the idea, I decided my makeshift gift was actually a good thing. “Just open it, it’s nothing fancy I promise.” He seemed to take my word and opened the gift to see the old tattered book.
“The Tales of Beedle the Bard?” He questioned, I supposed it was a common book at school.
“It’s a fairy tale book for wizards.” I explained but he still didn’t understand why I was giving him this book. “Sirius, James, and Peter all know these stories, they grew up with them. It’s sort of thing most purebloods and halfbloods know by heart. I figured it was a way for you not to feel left out.” I said. Only now did I feel like this gift was a waste of time. I should’ve just done nothing this was-
“Thanks Hazel, honestly.” I looked at him and he looked so sincere. Feeling left out was something we were both familiar with, even the smallest things can help you feel included.
“Happy birthday Remus.” I smiled and he did too looking from me to his gift.
“Thanks.”
* * *
March 27, 1972.
I watched Marlene’s watch and waited for the clock to turn to 7 am. I held James gift in my lap, I had gotten him a broom cleaning kit and quidditch figurines. I spent most of my allowance on them so they could actually play mini quidditch games. The watch turned 7 and I left my dormitory. While walking to the common room was scared that James wouldn’t be there. We had kept this tradition while at home but this was our first year At Hogwarts, what if he wasn’t there?
Washing away all my anxieties, James was sitting on the couch with a gift in his hand and without his glasses. James was practically blind without his glasses so it confused me why he wasn’t wearing them. I always had perfect vision so I didn’t know how he felt, my he could see mostly fine.
“Where’s your glasses?” I asked, he looked in the direction I was in but couldn’t quite meet my eyes.
“Couldn’t find them but this was more important.” He smiled, he really was a great brother. I sat down on the couch next to him.
“Happy birthday James!” I said, we finally didn’t have to whisper our greetings.
“Happy birthday Hazel!” he tried to give my gift but just ended up smashing the gift in my face.
“Ow!”
“Sorry!” We laughed and I took the give then handed him his own. “Are you even going to see what I got you?” I asked, he shrugged. “I’ll go get your glasses. Wait for me and don’t open anything!” I said then made my way to his dormitory. James started protesting since we weren’t supposed to be able to enter each other’s dorms. At least, boys were forbidden to enter girls dorm rooms, I haven’t heard anything about girls going into boys dormitories.
The stairs had let me up and without any resistance, I was outside my brothers dorm. I knocked on the door, no answer. I sighed and walked in. The boys dorm was decorated a lot darker than ours, the beds were spread out on both sides of the room, there wasn’t much closet space at all. I walked over to the only empty bed, James seemed to keep his place an absolute mess. I lit my wand with Lumos and started looking for the glasses. I looked through every corner and crevice and found nothing.
“Happy birthday mate!” I turned to see remus standing behind me, he looked surprised to see me and not James. “Girls are allowed in here? What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for James glasses. Also I know you meant James but thanks for the birthday wish!” I went back to looking for James glasses, Remus started helping me. It wasn’t long before he found them and handed it to me.
“Thank you” I started to leave.
“Happy birthday Hazel.” He said
“Thanks remus.” I left and went back downstairs.
“You really are blind!” I said trying on the glasses.
“Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious.” He said monotoned.
“I know.” I handed him the glasses and sat next to him. We counted down from three and opened our gifts. He had gotten me a metal butterfly that could fly and grab things for me, like it was my own personal spy! He also got me a hand written book titled Prank Supplies and Where to Find Them. I looked up at him skeptically.
“I used the invisibility cloak all year and you haven’t used it once! This is for your own good!” He laughed.
“Thanks then” I smiled. I simply didn’t see a need for the invisibility cloak this year. Maybe next year.
It wasn’t long before our friends came downstairs and wished us a happy birthday. Most of the day was boring, we had breakfast, class, lunch, class, dinner then finally we came back to the common room. Marlene and Sirius got the cake. My friends had gotten me books, accessories, and summer clothes. I knew Remus felt guilty for not getting me anything but I didn’t mind, the point of giving gifts is not to receive them but to make the person feel better. I could tell Lily wasn’t thrilled to be hanging with the boys but if I had to endure Severus, she had to endure James.
“So girls are allowed into the boys dorm.. how exciting” Mary giggled.
“How unfair! How come you get to see our dorm but we can’t go into yours!” James complained.
“We’re just better.” I teased, he scoffed.
We spent the night playing games and sharing stories, we laughed, we teased, we simply had fun. Best birthday ever.