Birthdays.

A time to celebrate your birth amongst overjoyed family members who were bursting at the seams to give you all sorts of presents. Sounds amazing, right? Well, duh, of course it does if you're not Regina Grayson. See, she didn't look forward to her birthday. Sure, it meant she got older and thus a step closer to being her own, somewhat well-adjusted adult. But having to suffer through all the assorted baggage that came with it? No thank you.

The worst offender had to be her little sister, Heather Elise. The lively Hufflepuff had always gone overboard for her big sister's birthday. Last year she'd somehow managed to convince the house elves to seek Reggie out and deliver a cake -- along with a badly sang song of well wishes. Even worse, it was done in a very crowded hallway in front of most of the school. Mortification did not even begin to describe what she'd felt. Not even the cake -- delicious as it was -- proved able to bring her out of the foul mood that permeated through her being for days to come.

But nothing like that was going to go down this time. As soon as she'd woken up in the Gryffindor dorms she set her plan into motion. What plan you may ask? Why, Operation: Be-As-Scarce-As-Possible-Until-Her-Birthday-Was-Over of course! She had three free periods after Transfiguration, which would normally give Heather Elise ample time to work up some kind of way to bestow an embarrassing celebration upon her.  However, Reggie knew of the empty classroom up on the sixth floor that would serve as a nice hiding spot all the way through lunch. Before leaving the tower she'd made sure to pack several treats she'd purchased during the last Hogsmeade trip, content with snacking on them in the place of proper food. Hell, she'd just have to make do. The alternative was much, much worse.

So, as soon as Tranfiguration ended, she bolted, making it to her designated camping spot in near record time. Seeking out a desk she dropped her things onto it and began her self-imposed exile. With a book to keep her company she was more than well off, grinning to herself as she thought of how her little sister must have been frantically trying to find her between classes to no avail. God, she was so damn smart sometimes that she scared herself...