That Goddamn Twinkle - ENZO BERKSHIRE

࣪𖤐 Y5 | 8 . (not so) sweet sixteenth

➵ PITY PARTY- MELANIE MARTINEZ
'it's my party and i'll cry if i want to.'

Rory, Enzo, Ron and Seamus watched as Fred managed to hold Nigel in the air. "Great!" Harry smiled as walked past, observing what everyone was doing.

Once Fred put Nigel back down, it was Cho's turn. Rory noticed Chang sending scowls in her direction often- probably from the events of last week's quidditch match. It had been a total of nine days since the match- meaning that Rory's birthday was tomorrow.

Harry put his hand over Cho's in an attempt to guide her wand. Rory and Ron shared a look as they watched Cho blush. "A little bit higher," Harry said, tightening his grip on Cho's hand.

However, this made Cho look back at Harry- breaking her contact on Nigel. Poor Nigel flew to the ground with a thud. "Oh my god!" Cho exclaimed. Rory, Ron, Enzo and the twins burst into laughter as Harry walked away guiltily. "Shut up," he mouthed as he spun around- which only made them laugh more.

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The following morning, Rory awoke to Pansy singing Happy Birthday as per usual. After she managed to get her to stop, they got dressed and went downstairs for breakfast.

This was Rory's first birthday without Cedric. When she sat down at the table, she was expecting her over-excited brother to run down, hug her and wish her a Happy birthday.

When he didn't, Rory was hit by a sudden gust of realisation. He was gone- he would forever see her as fifteen years old.

"Happy birthday!" her friends shouted in unison, making her laugh weakly and fake-smile. Just like last year, Mattheo got up on the table and held up his boiling hot cup of tea.

"Please may we all wish a very Happy Sweet Sixteenth to Rory Lupin-Diggory?!" he bellowed. Rory chuckled as lots of people began raising their cups similarly to Mattheo.

"Thank you all- please tell me now if there's going to be a party so I can mentally prepare." she sighed with a smile.

"No party. We just need you to be in the common room at seven." Blaise grinned, which didn't comfort her whatsoever.

"Brilliant."

Rory spent the rest of breakfast feeling somewhat daunted. Every time somebody ran past their table, she got her hopes up, assuming it was Cedric. It felt wrong celebrating her birthday without him.

The annoying thing about being back at Hogwarts was that she couldn't visit Cedric's grave whenever she wanted to. When it was the Christmas half-term, she would get to see him again. Only six weeks to go - she kept telling herself.

"You okay, love? You're being unusually quiet- especially on your birthday." smiled Enzo.

Rory nodded, her face completely straight. "Just one of those days where I miss him more than anything, y'know? This is my first birthday without him, it doesn't feel right."

Enzo frowned and put a hand on her knee, "I'm telling you, rors, he is watching over you with his own prepared birthday cake and candles. He never truly left you, you know that, don't you?"

Rory nodded, her fingertips tracing her bracelet. "I know, but it's just so hard without him."

He sighed, "I know, love."

Once breakfast was over, they went to their first lesson- Defence Against the Dark Arts. Recently, students were being taken into Umbridge's office to submit to questioning. Despite it being very illegal, she had been using Veritaserum on students so they physically couldn't lie to her. Thankfully, nobody from the D.A had been questioned yet.