Saturday night, Hogsmeade weekend, just after 7 pm.


"There! I see one!" Fauna edged through the crowd with surprising speed just as a group of Hogwarts students rose from their table. It was like any other table in The Three Broomsticks: tall, rickety, and lined with scratches and grooves. But with the crowd tonight, everyone seemed to be clamoring for that one. She hopped on a stool just as another group tried to elbow their way in, and threw her bags on top of the table with more force than was probably necessary. Claimed!

Fauna shot a triumphant grin at her friends as they joined her, glad that it had only taken a few minutes to snag a spot during one of the busiest nights of the month. This was the seventh years' last official Hogsmeade weekend. And it fell right on the Fayette twins' birthday! More than enough reason to celebrate. She, Brett, and Dax had finally coaxed Dion out of the common room and away from his studies, so now they had two whole hours of freedom before curfew.

"What do you lot want to do first? Presents? Drinks? Uh... hold on," Fauna fished in the messenger bag she'd brought with her, and drew out a rectangular bakery box that was dented on one end. "Oh, shite," she peeked inside the box, then looked up with a forlorn expression. "Crushed birthday cupcakes?"

Dax had been instrumental in getting Dion's arse out of his books. His logic had finally won the day. The fact the exams were literally in a week had Dion in a frenzy of studying. His twin had been struggling in classes due to a lack of sleep, and the sleeping potions Dax had carefully made were largely the reason Dion was getting any. Thankfully, his brother hadn't gotten too savvy over the fact he was being drugged to sleep.

Still, his argument had prevailed. That logical argument had involved saying nothing,but picking his twin up and bodily carrying him out of the common room and out of the castle until he stopped struggling.

Dion seemed to be warming up to the idea, though. He wasn't looking quite so sullen. His mismatched eyes were settling instead on tired, the bags under his eyes a giveaway as to his stress levels. Dax patted his twin on the back, and to his surprise, Dion smiled slightly.

"Aw, crushed is okay," Dax said, grinning at Fauna. "It's still a cupcake, right?" He craned his neck at the bar. "I think whatever you guys wanna do is fine," he added, "But drinks first, 'cause our order's gonna take an hour to go through the way this crowd is."

outfit

Brett was thrilled that the twins birthday was going to be on the same weekend as the Hogsmead trip. She was even more glad that they'd manage to lure Dion out of the common room. She was excited to see the two of them open their gifts. She had actually put some thought into her presents for both twins- going so far as to get some advice from Dax on what to get for Dion. She might pick on Dion a lot, but she did respect him- and did actually like him, even if he was a stick in the mud.

She was levitating her gift along the street- considering that Dax's was particularly large- and had a hard time getting it through the Hogsmeade crowd- and an even harder time weaving it through the crowd in the Three Broom Sticks.

The Gryffindor grabbed an empty chair from the table next to them to drop the gifts on. She grinned at the crushed birthday cakes. "Yeah- crushed is alright," Brett echoed Dax. "I'm sure they still taste great."

But what to do first? Drinks? Presents? The bar was crowded. But- her gift included alcohol for the twins, and they might want to try it before heading back to the dorms. "Presents!" Brett announced. "Presents are always the best, and it's the whole point of having a birthday!" She picked up the gift bag that had the stuffed horse, flask, and liquor in it- handing one to each of the twins. "And the big one here is for Dax," she kicked at the trunk which she had wrapped in bright, obnoxious paper, "and the other is for Dion." She had bought a trunk with a lot of different locks and compartments for Dax, and a nice briefcase with multiple locks and an expanding charm on the inside with different sections so that it could remain organized.

"I thought about buying you a hooker, Dion, but I couldn't find one who was willing. So you'll have to make do with what I could find." There were other present options along those lines, too, but Hogsmeade didn't have the appropriate shop to find them.

Dion sat next to Dax, his own bag by his feet. Thankfully, his presents for Dax had been in his book bag and not in the dorm, or they'd have been left behind when he was forcibly kidnapped from the common room. In front of everyone.

He had his chin propped up on his hand, aware how tired he was. His game plan involved sleeping for the entire pre-exam weekend; at the rate his eyelids wanted to drop, he'd have to sleep a lot this night, too.

Still, he was smiling, glad to get out and glad to spent time with friends. Sometimes he might admit to enjoying this sort of thing; this was one of those times, and not just because he was getting given stuff.

"Thanks," he told Brett with a roll of his eyes. "Maybe next year when we're in London, right?" His sarcasm lacked its biting edge, though, as he calmly opened the bag. The flask she'd gotten him, in comparison to Dax's, was quite elegant - and his deadpan 'talking back to Brett' expression dissolved as he turned it over in his hand. "Thank you," he said, and meant it.

The briefcase was a nice surprise too; expensive leather and very much enchanted. His smile grew, taking it to what could have been called a grin. Dax seemed pleased as well; he was on his knees on the floor, his call of "Wow! Thanks, Brett!" Echoing from under the table.

Dax apparently ran into Fauna's legs as he got up, scooting out from under the table with a mumbled apology. Dion glanced at him, but was busy testing the whiskey Brett had gotten them. 

Outfit & Celtic Pentacle Talisman Gift

Grace had told Fauna and Brett that she might be a bit late to the Fayette's birthday celebration and there was a good chance she might not be able to make it at all. She had not gone into detail as to why and Grace had been grateful that no one had pressed her about it, even if their curiosity may have been stoked.

But as it turned out, she had plenty of time to make it to The Three Broomsticks to celebrate with her future roommates. Homelife aside, Grace was actually starting to look forward to the future beyond their Hogwart's days.

Weaving her way through the busy establishment, Grace spied the foursome at a table just as they appeared to be doing gifts. Grace stepped up behind the two brothers sitting side-by-side and lazily put an arm around each. She planted a kiss on their cheeks and cried, "Happy birthday, boys!"

She then lowered her arms and went digging in her shoulder bag for their gifts. Seconds later she was holding out identically wrapped jewelry boxes. "I know guys aren't big on jewelry," she began with a shrug. "But the healer in me wants you both to have something with you at all times that will protect you..."

Fauna had been wondering what was in the wrapped presents Brett had levitated down the streets of Hogsmeade. She took the hooker comment seriously enough to glance worriedly at the trunk, thinking there must be magazines in there or something, but relaxed and tried not to show her surprise when she saw that Brett's gifts were quite thoughtful. Fauna admired the briefcase and trunk, complimented her on the flasks, and stifled a laugh when Dax's exclamation (and his position under the table) caused a table nearby to look over and snicker.

Dion looked tired but was smiling. Dax was cheerful. Fauna glanced at the crushed cupcake box on the table, and then realized she should give them her gifts too. Part of her wished she'd gone before Brett, just because her friend had picked out some very nice things.

When Grace arrived, she stood up and gave her a hug, glad she could make it to the party. Fauna waited for the twins to open Grace's gifts before handing them her own.

"So, it's not much, but..." Fauna picked up the gift bag by her feet and pulled out the wrapped gifts, handing one to Dion and the other to Dax, and then setting the bag on the table. Her face flushed. "Er, the present in there," she pointed at the bag, "is kinda for both of you, and kinda a joke gift, 'cause well... we'll be trying to find a house," she grinned sheepishly and gave a little shrug.

She'd gotten Dion a wizarding planner, and had gone around the common room asking his friends to add funny notes for him to find later. She'd bought Dax a new set of wizarding paints, since it seemed he was getting low at their last art meeting, and she thought he might want to continue his hobby after graduation. The joke gift was a doorbell from Weasley's, which let you charm it to change shape and spout out various greetings to visitors. Fauna had set it on a horse that said 'neigh' whenever someone pressed the bell.

"Happy Birthday!" She added in a chipper tone, anxious to see if they liked them or not.

"Hey, Grace!" Dax greeted, as he hopped back up onto his stool and pulled it back to the table. He was all grins, of course, and jewelry was perhaps an unusual gift - but not one he was about to reject. He took the pendant from Grace, turning it over in his fingers.

"Thanks," he told her, looking at Dion's to see if it was the same as the one his twin had gotten. "What do they do?" He asked, looking up at the redhead - and then Fauna handed her bag over. He let the question hang as he pulled the wrapped present towards  him, smiling happily at its contents. "Thanks, Fauna," he said, he and Dion saying that at the same time. To Dax's surprise, Dion picked up the remaining bag faster than he could, but both twins grinned at the enchanted doorbell inside it.

"Can we all leave our own messages on this?" Dion asked Fauna, and Dax almost resisted rolling his eyes at that. At least if they could do that, he was over writing Dion's in 30 seconds flat.

Brett felt really great about herself when Dion finally realized she had put effort into his gift. She was glad that she hadn't gone through the trouble to prank him. "I'm glad you liked it, Dion," she said- offering him a genuine smile. And when she heard Dax pipe up from under the table, she smiled even broader. She knew that she had gone out of her way to get them nice presents- but Brett liked doing nice things for her friends, and tended to be the one to overdo it.

She looked on in interest at the jewelry that Grace had gifted the twins. "Those look really awesome!" she said. Brett thought it was very thoughtful, and offered Grace another of her bright smiles. "Glad to see you found us, Gracie!"

Brett thought that Fauna's gifts were nice, too. She always seemed to forget that Dax had an interest in painting. The joke gift was pretty epic- and she laughed when the doorbell neighed at them. She could just imagine the work out that doorbell was going to get between the few of them. Each one would probably go and recharm it every time it went off.

"How's the whiskey?" she asked Dion. "I wasn't sure what you two would like, so I went for the basic. And don't worry- neither of you has to share if you don't want to. I got another bottle for us girls, but I wasn't sure how the staff here would take it. You know- bringing in whiskey, and then the teachers lurking..."

"Lucky for me I charmed it to look like butter beer if we can get some glasses," she added with a devious grin.