Knight Family Home
December 31
About 10pm-ish

Blake's B-Day Outfit

Blake Knight had never known a birthday that had not been shared with someone or something. Because he was a twin, he was forced to share the special day with his brother, Harold. And because their birthday just so happened to fall on New Year's Eve, they were required to share their special day with the celebration of the ending of one year and the ringing in of a new one.

When he was younger, Blake didn't mind so much. Even now that he was old enough to realize that his special day wasn't all that special in the eyes of his family, he didn't mind that much. He had come to expect this. He had come to accept that his family regarded him differently and he in turn regarded them....adversely.

Right now, his family was partying with all the cookie-cutter copy guests that had been invited to their house to celebrate. Blake could not fake wanting to spend the next few hours with them. After fourteen years of doing it, he was exhausted.

So when he gathered that most of the adults were sufficiently snockered where they would not miss him being absent, Blake snuck out of the house to go for a walk in their many gardens. Eventually he ended up just along the perimeter of the area full of hedges that had been sculpted into a maze. It had always been one of his  favorite places on the grounds of their home. In the daytime, he loved running the seemingly endless maze routes (for they had been charmed to change paths quite frequently) and at night, he liked to sit on the bench just outside the entrance and look up at the sky, often overcast these days when it snowed, but sometimes clear and full of stars.

Tonight was somewhere in between. He could see the moon, but there were clouds rolling in that often obscured the twinkling dots.

There wasn't a cake with candles to blow out, but Blake decided that he was going to close his eyes and make a birthday wish....maybe, just maybe....if he was lucky, it might come true.

Whatever Blake was wishing, it was certain that the wish did not include for his brother to happen upon him in such a private moment. For all of their disagreeing, and for all of the horrid things that Callum did to Blake, he did genuinely care about his brother. Blake was his only brother with a brain- and Callum appreciated that. Blake had a lot of potential, and the two were actually a lot alike. He just wished that Blake understood what it was to be pure, and could learn to live his life in a way that he was supposed to. Pureblooded boys had specific standards to keep, and it seemed that Blake was not one to adhere to those guidelines.

Even though Blake had followed up Callum's birthday gift with a dead rodent, Callum had not forgotten the thought his little brother had put into picking out the perfect thing. Callum didn't know a whole lot about Blake- he knew that he liked to write and did stuff with the school picture, and he figured that Blake liked photography- it went hand in hand with the whole school paper thing. And that was okay. It was a nice hobby to have, who was Callum to dissuade him from that? Maybe one day Blake would be a famous wizarding author or reporter- like Rita Skeeter without the disgusting ooze.

Callum had debated a long time between two gifts. It was easier to buy for Harold- gifts didn't require much thought. But he did want his little brother to enjoy his gift, and he did want to have a moment where he and Blake could put aside their differences and bond for a few minutes. Those times were few and far between, but they did exist. Eventually Callum had decided on having his parents help him buy Blake a new camera. It was a nice one, and he'd also managed to weasel them into getting Blake his own developing kit. His father was glad to see Callum taking an interest in Blake... His parents had no clue what life at Hogwarts was like for the two brothers.

He had noticed Blake slipping out from the crowd and had gathered the presents and followed him outside. The hedge maze had been a place that all of the children had enjoyed at some point in time. Callum had outgrown it, but he often took Aggles to the maze and played with her there. He let Blake sit in silence for a few minutes, wondering exactly what his brother was thinking about, before quietly clearing his throat.

"Party was better than last years," Callum commented lamely. He never was good at this touchy feely stuff. He didn't have any big speech planned. Instead, he just set the gifts on the bench next to Blake and took up a seat on the ground in front of him. "Hope you like 'em," he said with as indifferent a shrug he could muster. (Because Callum wasn't truly indifferent, he knew it was a great present, and wanted Blake to enjoy it. He could go back to torturing his brother tomorrow. Tonight wasn't meant for that.)

~*~Outfit~*~

Ayla was easily hesitant about going to the Knight's home for New Years. She had been owling Blake back and forth over most of the holidays from Lexus' Flat. When she heard about the party his parents were having (that was essentially replacing whatever birthday celebrations he might have been having) Ayla let him know that she was going to be there. She wasn't going to miss his birthday again. It was unfortunate but Ayla had never been able to celebrate her best friend's birthday with him. This was the first year since moving to London that the Collins' clan hadn't gone back home to Canada for the holidays. However the more she thought about it the worse the idea seemed.

Ayla was a halfblood and if Callum was an indication Blake's family thought very highly of someone's blood status. It probably didn't matter that her father was an Ambassador and worked for the Ministry of Magic. The only thing that mattered was the fact that her mother was a muggle, even her mother being a famous fashion designer wasn't going to be enough for them. After spending most of the day griping to Lexus about it her older cousin had finally convinced her to go. Afterall spending time with your best friend on his birthday was a lot more important than trying to impress a pair of pureblooded snobs.

With Lexus going off to have her own New Years fun Ayla had gone back to her own family flat and litterally tore her room apart trying to find something to wear. Something that would be nice for Blake to look at but not revealing enough for his parents to think she was a floozy like Callum did. Holy Helga, she had no idea how she was going to deal with Callum. Hopefully she'd be able to sneak Blake away from his brothers and actually be able to have fun.

After all the finishing touches were put into place, including putting a cute little cloche hat over her new hair - her usual inch and a half pixie hair had been magically altered by a potion Lexus convinced her to drink and was now down to the middle of her back like Dahlia's - Ayla finally arrived at the Knight residence not long after ten o'clock. She was nervous as she walked up to the front door. Music could easily be heard along with the sounds of loud talking and laughter. If she didn't know any better she figured the house was packed with drunken frat boys.

Modestly straightening her skirt she rang the doorbell. Her cheeks flushed with the cold and anxiety. When someone finally answered she doubted they were Blake's mother. The young socialite was wearing a very revealing dress and had a glass of wine in her hand, the other was grasping at an equally drunk man's jacket sleeve. Ayla looked the woman over before offering as best a smile as she could, "Um hi, I'm Blake's friend. He's expecting me."

"Well aren't you darlin'." The woman made a point of looking Ayla over probably trying to figure out if she recognized her, "Blake's gone off outside somewhere. Probably in the hedges." Before Ayla could ask what she was talking about the woman closed to door in her face. Feeling even more nervous than before Ayla carefully walked around the side of the house following the stone pathway to the back. She was making sure her heels didn't catch on the stones or heaven forbid a patch of ice.

She finally made her way to the hedges the woman had spoken of and realized there was a huge full sized hedge maze in Blake's backyard. It made her own lavish penthouse flat look like a shack in comparison. Still moving cautiously Ayla finally managed to locate her friend but was soon halted in her tracks. Blake was having a rare brother moment with Callum and she really didn't want to interrupt it.

Waiting for the boys to finish Ayla created quite the vision. She stood under the light of a golden lantern, holding onto Blake's present over her lap. Her small frame slightly taller than usual on the boots she had borrowed form her mother, long raven curls hanging over the shoulders of a soft blue cloak. She was biting on her lower lip wondering if she should make her presence known.

Blake slowly opened his eyes after making his birthday wish. At his core, he did not fully believe that by merely wishing for something to happen, it would. Blake had become a realist early on in life when he realized how unfortunate his home life was.

Blake Knight was not so self absorbed to think that his situation was the worst scenario that could ever happen to him. He had a home. His essential needs had always been cared for. Plenty of people - be they magical or muggle born, were not so lucky. His life could be so much worse.

But this mode of reasoning only managed to comfort him for as long as his feelings of loneliness and isolation stayed away. When he was younger, he was content to retreat into himself. But more and more of late, Blake found himself longing to be around the few people in his life that truly cared about him and had become his surrogate family.

This is what he wished for now. He wanted to be around them on his special day and not his biological family.

Sadly, the powers that be enjoyed playing games with the young Ravenclaw. His brother ended up before him in the flesh and immediately Blake wondered if it was to present him with some means of birthday torture. Considering what he had given to Callum on his birthday, Blake wouldn't put it past the eldest Knight to retaliate.

Blake prepared himself for the worst, but part of him actually did wonder if his brother was going to surprise him with something decent.

Blake shrugged at the comment about the party. "Yeah, I guess." He had never been concerned about how successful they were. Never cared about the gifts he was given or the people who attended. Most of them came for the other members of his family anyway and Blake was not the sort to care about material possessions. Certainly not the sort given to him by people who put little, if any, thought into the meaning behind them.

Blake looked at the gifts that his brother placed on the bench, his brow arching up slowly. He glanced back to Callum, briefly attempting to read his body language for some clue as to his state of mind and motive in the gesture. Finally deciding that no red flags were raised, Blake reached out and started to unwrap the gifts.

Knowing what he knew about photography equipment, Blake could tell that the gift was expensive. That he always expected from his family. But what Blake did not expect was the care or concern put into it in regards to himself. It was enough to make him swallow hard, trying to find the words to thank his brother.

Blake looked over at his brother and opened his mouth to try and say something when something else caught his eye. It was Ayla! She was there! His wish had come true afterall!

If he had been able to see himself in that moment, Blake would be grinning like and idiot.