The Little Lightning Girl

46-Memories

Alana's POV

To their credit, James and Kaley didn't turn into one of those clingy couples that I couldn't stand to be around. Kaley still spent most of her time around me and Rose, and James with the Marauders. The only thing was that these two groups had really collapsed into one. So Kaley and James spent time together while spending time with the rest of us.

But, at the end of most days, they snuck off together to who knows where, and because Rose and I were good friends, we didn't try to stop Kaley from going and only grilled her when she got back to the room. She had fessed up about her crush a long time ago, and it might have been awkward to see her and James together had I not been rooting them all along. Kaley was only fifteen, but the weight of all those secrets on her shoulders matured her. And James needed her.

The only thing was, it made me wish for the same kind of relationship. Unsurprisingly, Fred had moved on from his crush on me and though he didn't have a girlfriend, he was trying to get one. It hurt more than it should have, especially because I'd been the one to turn him away. But I knew that I would never be an easy friend to have, so I'd definitely not be an easy girlfriend. I had too many secrets, I lived in so much danger that I couldn't imagine anyone putting aside those facts just to be with me. But as much as I had suffered and struggled, I was still working on loving who I was, with or without someone to love me from an outside point of view.

So I smiled at the new happy couple, and tried to be content with myself.

As Thanksgiving approached(though they obviously never celebrated it in the UK), so did my sixteenth birthday. November thirtieth. I'd never really celebrated it while at Hogwarts. I hadn't even told anyone when my birthday was because I hadn't done anything special for my birthday since my grandmother died. I usually just treated myself to a slice of cake at dinner and called it good. But it seemed my friends weren't content to let that be the case this year.

I'd had every intention of getting up and going for a run on the morning of the thirtieth. I did it every morning and I found it a great way to start the day, even on a Saturday that also was my birthday. But to my surprise, when I woke at dawn, my friends weren't still asleep in their beds like they usually were. In fact, it was unusual enough that I delayed my jog and started looking for them instead. They weren't hiding in our bathroom and there wasn't anywhere else to hide in this room, unless they were hanging from the window sill by their fingertips. They weren't. I dressed in my running clothes and went down the stairs.

The common room was dark when I descended the stairs, but with both my sensitive ears and eyes, I detected the presence of several people in the dark. Coughs and whispers, shadowy shapes huddled by the couch.

"Hello?"

At once, the lights burst on, all of my friends popped out from behind the common room furniture, and all of them yelled, "SURPRISE!"

The sudden blast of sound, lights, and movement caused me to leap backwards a step and let out my own yell, "Bloody hell!"

My friends, the lousy people that they were, just laughed at me. Rose and Kaley were here, of course, but so were the rest of the Marauders and the remaining members of the Quidditch team. There were ribbons and streamers of red and gold strewn around the common room in absolutely no order at all, and all of my friends wore pointy hats that muggles did for birthday celebrations. A grin grew on my face as I realized what day it was and that they were all here for me.

"Did you guys do all this for me?"

Rose came forward with a box covered in red paper and put her other hand on my shoulder, "Of course! You only have so many sixteenth birthdays!"