𝙥𝙖𝙡𝙚 𝙖𝙦𝙪𝙖 ➪ 𝗆𝖺𝗋𝖺𝗎𝖽𝖾𝗋𝗌

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑅𝑇𝑌 𝐹𝐼𝑉𝐸

➪ PEARL ➪

"LILY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

The Gryffindor girl thanked Loki, pulling her in for a hug. They pulled away after a moment, and Loki immediately began to rifle through her bag.

"I, um, I made you a gift," the Hufflepuff spoke. She grinned in success and pulled out the gift. "I hope you like it."

She held out what appeared to be a small box covered in brown paper that was tied together at the top. Lily happily took it from her grasp. She examined it for a moment before her delicate fingers found their way to the pale pink ribbon and gently tugged. It fluttered away, and the paper fell away from the top. Lily's eyes widened in wonder at the paper flower at the centre. It looked to be floating in a pool of water, with magic used to make the painted waves move. The entire thing seemed to be hand-painted and hand-made. Lily turned her gaze to Loki, grinning giddily.

"It's beautiful," she breathed.

"Oh, that's not all," Loki told her. Lily raised an eyebrow. "There's a leaf at the bottom of the flower. Just give that a tug."

Lily did as she was instructed. At the action, the middle of the flower seemed to open a little more, and from the centre, a butterfly with pink-tipped white wings emerged. It fluttered above the girls before coming to rest in Lily's red locks, where it transformed into a smaller version of the flower in the box.

"Loki!" Lily beamed.

She found herself unable to speak, with only tears springing into her eyes. Loki's eyes widened, and she began to panic slightly at the birthday girl's reaction.

"Oh, Merlin, are you okay?" She hastily queried.

"Yes, yes, of course!" Lily replied. "I just--it's beautiful. I've never received something like this before. Did you make this yourself?"

"Nicolas helped me a little with the folding of the paper and the spell, but yeah," Loki admitted, wringing her fingers together. "I wanted to make you a nice birthday present. I'm glad you like it."

"I love it! It's fantastic! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Lily pulled Loki in for another tight hug. "You're wonderful! Amazing! I just-- I'm speechless. I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything," Loki grinned, adjusting the bag that almost slipped off her shoulder. "I know you're supposed to be the only one wishing for things today, but I wish you have a happy birthday. I hope everything turns out great for you today."

"Aw, Loki, you're going to make me cry," Lily pouted teasingly, though she did have tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

➪

"YOU'RE SO SWEET!"

Max awed at Loki's telling of her interaction with Lily Evans. Loki flushed awkwardly at his compliment.

"It was nothing; she's a friend who deserves nice things on her birthday."

"Loki, you're going to make me sound terrible at this rate. You're too nice, and it shines like a thousand suns joyfully radiating from your body," Max dramatically covered his eyes.

Loki could only laugh at him. Neither noticed the trio of Seventh Years walking towards them, and Max happened to bump into them. He and Loki went silent when they heard the grunt of the front one. Max whirled around, ready to begin apologising profusely, which was when everything seemed to happen at once.

Max's mouth opened, and Loki went to grab him to pull him back as soon as she recognised who the Ravenclaw's were. Then, the sound of a female shouting could be heard a small distance away. Loki's head whipped around, finding the voice familiar, which was when she spotted Lily. She was standing with a tall, dark-haired boy who sneered at her angered expression. He began talking, but Loki could only catch the last few words he spoke.

"--You filthy mudblood!"

The entire grass area seemed to go dead at his voice. He glared at the girl in front of him, suddenly stepping of something and squishing it into the dirt with his feet. Lily's face fell as she could only watch his actions before she turned back to him.

"Watch where you're going, half-blood," the boy's close to Loki spat at Max. "Don't want to end up like her, do you?" Loki spun her head back to the situation in front of her, seeing the front Ravenclaw gesturing to Lily.

"How about you shut up, Marcel," Loki glared, her anger bubbling up in her throat. Max turned to her in shock at her venomous tone.

"You shouldn't speak to the older students like that, little Loki," Marcel sneered, a smug look growing on his face. "Especially not your brother's friends."

"Yeah," the third Ravenclaw jeered.

"Marcel, Rudy, can we leave it alone right now?" Thor sighed in annoyance, his eyes narrowing at his younger sister.

"But I want to watch the show," Marcel pouted, motioning to Lily and the dark-haired boy once more.

"Show's over," Loki snapped. Marcel let out a low, mocking laugh. "Go away."

"Hmph," Marcel lifted his head, peering down his nose at the sixth-years. "Fine, but only if you tell your half-blood to watch where he's going next time."

Loki glared after the group as they left. Thor and Loki stared each other down for several moments, glaring, silently telling the other to 'sod off'. They only broke eye contact one Thor had walked far enough. 

"I'm going to go see if Lily's alright," Loki told Max without further explanation, and turned to walk in Lily's direction. She paused as soon as she noticed a familiar brunette already there, cussing out the boy, who he'd called 'Snivellus'. "Or not," she sighed.

"Loki, are you okay?" Max queried, noticing his friend's angered aura.

"Fine," she answered. She didn't look up at the Ravenclaw, only nodding. "Are you okay? I mean, they called you that nasty name."

"I've been called worse," Max reassured her. "Don't worry about me. Words don't hurt me anymore."

Loki frowned. She peered up at him, examining him closely. He held his usual cheerful grin, his blue eyes twinkling like normal. However, she couldn't help but feel sympathy for the boy. Loki reached out and tugged on the arm of his jacket. He looked at her curiously.

"Come with me so I can deliver a letter?" Loki asked.

"Sure," Max nodded. "Who's it for?"

"The arse who just left," Loki responded. "My brother."

"Wait, that was your brother?" Max whispered the last part in shock, his mouth falling agape. "Dang. I can kinda see the resemblance, I guess?"

"He's only my half-brother, so there's not a lot," Loki added. Max nodded. "Anywho, let's go. Then we can see Lily once James has finished tending--I mean, talking to her."

"Okay," Max nodded in agreement, not noticing the girl's small slip-up. "Then maybe we should go to see Nicolas. I need to ask him something."

The pair walked away from the scene, with Loki still internally fuming at her brother, and fully intending to speak with him about it.

➪ AUTHOR'S NOTE ➪

hahaha, this is where the angst begins. i hate snape. burn him. door, leave through it. but, yes, loki and thor still hating each other. thought of this entire idea while having a shower and now it won't leave my head.

i hope you enjoyed this chapter, and i'll see you next time to kick some fictional characters in the knee caps :) bye!