The Girl Who Lived

Harriet's strange surprise

The next morning, Harriet was the first up as usual, showering and dressing before the others were even awake. She grabbed all of her books, tucked her wand into her new holster, and was leaving just as Hermione, another early riser, began to stir. She made her way down the hall, glancing at her favourite portrait that featured the unicorns. She went into the Common Room, where she saw the Muggleborn and Muggle-raised first-years speaking with Solaris. Harriet left through the main entrance, reaching the Great Hall in minutes and discovering that she was the first one there, not even the professors were at their table yet.

She sat down at the completely bare table, the food appearing as soon as she did. Shrugging, she helped herself, propping up the same book from the night before. Slowly, in ones and twos, the other students and a few teachers began to trickle in. Her second-year friends eventually joined her, all of them attempting to talk to her, but Harriet merely offered them a polite greeting before retreating behind her book. Seeing that their efforts were in vain, they stopped, and she magically reappeared, joining in the conversation about the classes for the year.

Ron appeared with their timetables, grimacing when Dean asked about Defence lessons.

Glancing at her schedule, Harriet exhaled with relief when she noticed that she didn't have Lockhart's class until Wednesday, two days away. She had Transfiguration with Ravenclaw first thing, followed by Herbology, and then Charms with Slytherins.

Shortly thereafter, the group made their to McGonagall's class, where Blaise purposely partnered with Harriet. He didn't attempt to grill her again, choosing to merely observe her the entire lesson. They walked out of the class an hour later, each carrying several transfigured buttons, and to Herbology, where they repotted Mandrakes. Blaise sat with Harriet once more and then again in Charms that afternoon, much to Draco's dismay as he ended up with a rather irritating boy named Ernie Macmillan. The brunet seemed to know that Harriet didn't want to talk about the Dursleys, but he still wanted to show his silent support. Or maybe he was making sure that he would definitely be there when she did finally feel like speaking.

Dinner was met with the same behaviour; however, this time, Blaise gently but firmly gripped her by the elbow as they left the Great Hall and led her to the courtyard preventing her from retreating to the library like she had planned. He guided her into the Common Room and down the hall to one of the study rooms, the other second-years shuffling in behind them.

The sight that greeted Harriet as she looked around the well-lit room surprised her. The furniture was pushed back against the walls, leaving an open space in the centre. Yet, it wasn't the new position of the tables that shocked her, but rather it was what was on them. There was an enormous chocolate cake with green and silvery icing and already lit candles. Next to it was a mountain of presents.

Her eyes widening, the girl whipped around to face Blaise. "What? What's going on?"

He grinned widely, showing all of his very white teeth. "A party!" he replied slyly. "Can't you tell?"

"Party?" Harriet questioned with confusion, reduced to single word inquiries.

"Yes, for your birthday since we missed it," Neville answered with a huff, coming up to her other side. "Well, not just your birthday. Gavin's and Autumn's, too, since they were both during the summer. Oh, and Theo's since it's next week.

Padma stated from the back to the group, "We were going to tell you about it last night in the dorms, but you had spelled your curtains shut."

"But," Blaise put in, casually wrapping his arm around his shoulder, "you thought we were going to confront you, which we won't. If you don't feel up to talking about it, then we won't force you," he stated, looking her straight in the eye. "We were just worried about you last night. We were acting quite peculiar at dinner."

"Oh," was Harriet's response. "But you already sent me things, and I already mailed Gavin and Autumn their gifts."

"We know. But your gifts were lost, so we got you new ones," Gavin responded from his place by the cake. "We sent them things then also. All the stuff on the table is yours." He waved his hand at the mountain of presents, hitting one of them in his enthusiasm. "We just wanted a chance to have cake with each other."

"But what about you?"

"Oh, they're not giving me anything until my birthday," he replied cheerfully, repositioning the blue and gold package. "It's my party, too. I just don't get to open until later."

"But… I mean…" Harriet tried, but she couldn't seem to form the words.

Understanding her plight, Blaise guided her to the seat in front of the cake. "It's all right, Harriet. Everything is fine." He patted her shoulder soothingly.

Harriet sat, completely dumbfounded; she hadn't expected this in the slightest, even her telepathy hadn't warned. Her eyes moved from the cake and presents to Blaise. The boy had to have known. In fact, he was probably the one who had planned it all. He had wanted to surprise her, and maybe that was what truly shocked her. It wasn't that they had given her something for her birthday, though that was a surprise also. It was that they had bought her new things when the other presents were lost and that they had actually planned a party for her. They had put forth effort for her, something that the Dursleys sure as Circe had never done.

A smile blossomed on her face, and she finally regained herself. "I… thank you." She glanced around, belatedly noticing that the others had taken seats, too. "Thank you, everyone." She felt a lump form in her throat, and her eyes were becoming conspicuously moist.

She was saved from embarrassment by Draco.

"Well, you're welcome. Now, let's eat!" He eyed the cake hungrily, actually taking a swipe of the icing and receiving a smack from Pansy for his efforts.

Harriet laughed and moved to blow out the candles with the others.
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Thanks for reading my book :)

I have made a few edits especially on the chapter ' A mint of Delight ' please don't forget to check that out.