count on me // hogwarts au

eight...birthday wishes, you're almost dead and lost in the middle of nowhere

I had never been so confused on a birthday.

I woke up on the Knight bus, cuddled up next to my boyfriend, and realized that I was now sixteen years old. And I was happy. But I was also terrified.

I was that much closer to being an adult. And I was terrified. I didn't really know where I was and I didn't want to. I wanted to shut my eyes and be 15 again.

It was exactly 5:56 AM, the time I was born 16 years ago on October first.

I closed my eyes as tight as possible and tried to force myself asleep. My birthday wishes could wait...

———

When I woke back up it was to Brandon kissing me on the forehead and smiling down at me.

"Happy Sweet Sixteen, love. I think you're the last one in our year to have one," He joked, still smiling, "What do you wanna do today?"

I sighed, I knew I should rest up and heal. But I wanted to spend time with all of my friends and... Of course, my boyfriend. "Is anyone else up yet?" I asked, using one hand to rub my eyes and get rid of any nasty ass eye boogers.

"Nope, all sound asleep in different areas. Why?"

I smirked at him, "Then I know the perfect way to start my sixteenth," I pressed my lips onto his, knowing his get the message. And so I started the day with an early morning make out session.

Until Percy walked in to see if we were up an then ran out screaming and covering his eyes. Whoops...

Brandon laughed, "Come on, birthday girl. I think we were being called for breakfast,"

I sighed, flopping back onto the pillow, "Do I have to? I really don't want to get up..."

"You have to, Percy is probably telling them all what we were doing and since they're all infants we'll not be allowed to be alone for the rest of the day. Come on..."

"Fine, fine. You should put your shirt back on though," I reminded him, laughing as I hopped out of bed and ran to the room where we'd been eating during our time on the bus.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!" Ben yelled, running up to hug me with a huge smile on his face.

"We love you so much!" Anela chimes in, getting in line to hug me even though it seemed Ben had no intention of stopping.

Stef smiled at me from her seat, "Happy mother fucking birthday, queen. I'll hug you later, too much of a line."

Carolyn smiled widely, "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you," She sighed, "But did you and Brandon have to... do that? To start off the day? I could've gone without hearing about it."

I laughed, "I'm sorry, youngins. But it was necessary."

Brandon came up behind me, nodding, "Yep, 110% necessity,"

"Youngins? I'm older than you..." Ben reminded me, huffing.

"But you're like ten on the inside, so it doesn't count. Duh," Stef retorted, smiling.

"So, um, what's the plans for today?" I asked nonchalantly, hoping they'd tell me without me having to press too much. But they like surprises.

"You'll see birthday girl. We're going to eat and get dressed. Then the fun really begins." Anela said, smiling widely.

Steve looked up at me, "Happy birthday Gabi. Nice to see the last sixth year turn sixteen finally." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes, "Thanks, Steve."

Natasha sighed, "Happy birthday, I'm glad you're healing well."

I nodded, and then Connor stepped up to me. "Happy birthday, Gabi. I know we don't really know each other but like... Ben has talked you up to me and I'm glad he has a great mum like you. Happy day of orbiting around the sun for a sixteenth year!"

"Thank you, Connor. You too Nat." I smiled, "Now, pancakes and hash browns. It's my birthday and I want a good breakfast!"

Everyone laughed, knowing I tended to be lazy on my birthday. Was part of the fun of it.

———

We got off the bus in- well, the middle of no where. There were a few cafes around, maybe a McDonald's but that's about it. I had no idea where we were. But we'd find a muggle bus stop or tube station and get back on the road soon enough.

Even if I wasn't quite sure where we were going. No one was really.

Brandon smiled at me, "So, birthday girl. I got you something for your birthday,"

"B! You shouldn't have, we're tight on cash and... okay fine show me the present,"

He rolled his eyes, pulling out some handwritten sheet music and smiling. "I wrote this for you. Sometime I'd love to be able to play it for you live, but I recorded it so you can listen later when we're on a random bus."

I felt my eyes start to tear up but blinked them back and kept walking, knowing we needed to find shelter or something sooner rather than later.

And that's when we found the tiniest, shittiest- but cheapest motel we'd ever seen. And noticed that there was a full parking lot. It felt safe.

So we decided to stay the night here.

"Hey, they have a pool!" Ben said, suddenly super excited.

I laughed, "We could all swim tonight, if Benny boy really wants to. We can have a pool party for my birthday!"

"Yay! Pool party!" Anela said, high fiving Connor. They're already best friends.

"Whatever the birthday gal wants," Carolyn shrugged, "I'm down for,"

"You're gonna have a blast swimming!" Percy said, smiling widely. "I promise,"

"I make no such promise," Stef said manically, smirking.

"This is going to be a mess."

"Yep. But a fun one." I said, smiling. I loved my makeshift family more than anything. And in that moment, all was content. All was, maybe even, happy.

I forgot my fears and doubts about being 16. For the moment. I was sure they'd return in no time.