Before the Dawn | George Weasley

43

George and Fred's birthday, the first of April, fell on a Saturday. Gryffindor would be holding a party for them in the common room, I was told, but I of course could not attend.

I wanted to give George something special for his eighteenth birthday, but I knew I would have a difficult time besting the book I'd given him for Christmas. He'd been using that book for everything business-related, carrying everything from vials lifted from Snape's stores to herbs stolen from the greenhouse. As happy as I was to see it being put to good use, I'd created a challenge for myself.

Desperate and running out of time, I made a trip down to the kitchens the morning before George's birthday. The house elves eyed me uncertainly until Dobby appeared and happily obliged my request, recognising me from the D.A. meeting and declaring me a friend of Harry's and therefore a friend of his.

That night, I crept out of the Slytherin common room with a small box under my arm. I had about half an hour until midnight.

The castle halls were eerily quiet as I slunk carefully towards the Gryffindor common room, checking around every corner as I went. The closer I came to the stairwell, though, the more eager I became, and I turned a corner too quickly and came face-to-face with Hermione.

My eyes flicked nervously between the Prefects badge on her robes and her face, trying to discern what she was thinking. She wordlessly glanced down at the box in my hands, and I lifted the lid to show her its contents.

After a long beat, she pointedly looked away, and I exhaled a sigh of relief. 

"Thank you," I breathed.

"Mimbulus Mimbletonia," she responded quietly, and I could've kissed her then and there.

After climbing the stairs and relaying the password Hermione had given me, the Fat Lady begrudgingly stepped aside to let me enter. I tiptoed through the common room, past a student asleep on the couch with an open textbook in their lap, and up the stairs to the boys' dormitories.

My nerves grew as I checked each dorm and didn't see George; I had no excuse if I was caught. At last, I reached a dorm that looked like a tornado had passed through it and stepped inside.

Lee and Kenneth were both fast asleep, their bedcurtains drawn. Fred looked up from the book in his lap, eyes widening as he recognised me.

"Happy birthday," I whispered, and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek as I pulled his birthday present from the box: a cupcake with a candle that emitted tiny fireworks. 

He wrinkled his nose, mesmerised by the miniature display in front of him. "Just try and keep it down, will you?"

I grinned as he yanked his bedcurtains tightly shut, eyes still on his cupcake. I padded over to George's bed, pulling aside one of his bedcurtains. He was asleep, but only just; his eyes fluttered open as I perched on the side of his bed.

"Mackie?" he murmured sleepily, then bolted upright. "What're you doing here?"

"I won't be able to go to your birthday party tomorrow night." I settled more comfortably on his bed and handed him the box. "So I thought we could celebrate tonight."

"Did anyone see you?" he breathed.

"Only Hermione." I gave a wry smile, tugging the bedcurtain shut and drawing my wand. "You're not the only one who's good at sneaking around, you know. Muffliato."

With a silencing charm in place, we were free to speak at normal volumes, but we kept our voices low. It just felt right, I suppose.

George opened the box and smiled down at the cake inside with wobbly frosting letters, more miniature fireworks escaping from the candles and illuminating his face. "Did Dobby make this, by chance?"