CHAPTER 93: THE BIRTHDAY GIRL

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In idle dreams of long ago,

I imagined my true love;

A perfect match, a soulmate,

An angel from above.

~

Now you're here, and now I know

Our love will stay and thrive and grow.

~

By Joanna Fuchs

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19th of September, 1994. The sun is shining outside the castle, students rush through the hallways of Hogwarts with their books and quills, and birds chirped on the edges of the forbidden forest.

For most of the people in Hogwarts, today is a normal monday. But not to Hermione, as it is her birthday today. She's looking forward to the evening, as Ed promised her dinner with everyone. Aside from that, she also wanted to ask Ed about something…

"Daphne will come too right?" Hermione asked Ed, who is beside her.

Ed hummed. "I haven't asked her yet though, I'll ask Richard to do it..."

"Now that I think about it, Ciri never met Daphne..."

"True..." Ed said. "But it'll be fine… I think."

Hermione just hummed and both of them continued to walk towards the Great Hall for breakfast.

As soon as both of them sat at the Gryffindor Long table, Hermione was showered with happy birthday wishes, much to her surprise.

"Happy Birthday Granger." said a boy that Hermione and Ed didn't know. Hermione just smiled awkwardly, and the boy took off happily.

Harry and Ron saw these 'birthday wishes', and Ron commented on it.

"Since when are you popular Hermione?" Ron questioned with a strange look. "I mean, I get Ed and Richard… but you?"

Hermione frowned at Ron's words. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Ron just grumbled and continued eating, while Ed besides her chuckled and commented. "He's just surprised that a lot of boys fancies you."

Hermione turned to Ed and muttered. "W-Well... I can't help that..."

"I mean… It's just a surprise." Harry commented. "Don't get me wrong Hermione… but people hated you when we're at first year..."

Ed nodded. "True..."

"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed in annoyance. "Are you saying people started to like me because my appearance changed?!"

"That's the whole point of 'fancying someone' isn't it?" Ed commented casually. "Because they like someone's appearance? Or am I getting it wrong?"

"I mean..."

"Look at Harry." Ed pointed out, making Harry tense. "She fancies Cho, that means she likes her appearance… right?"

"I- I don't fancy Cho..." Harry murmured in protest, but he sneaked a glance to the Ravenclaw table, where Cho is sitting.

Ed just shook his head in amusement, and Ed continued. "And look at Ron."

Ron, who is eating heartfully, was surprised at the sudden name drop. "What about?" he grumbled.

"You fancy Hermione too right?" dropped Ed, which made the other trio choke on their food, especially Ron.

"W-Wh-What??" Ron stuttered, panicking.

Hermione however, kept pinching Ed's waist below the table, glaring at him, signalling him to stop talking about it.

"Wait what? You fancy Hermione Ron?" questioned Harry, a smirk can be seen on his face.

Ron turned red by the minute. "I- I- Don't —"

"I'm only joking Ron." Ed quickly shut down the topic, a wide grin can be still seen on his face though. "Don't take it too seriously."

Ron quickly calmed down and coughed. "R-Right..."

Ed chuckled in amusement, but Hermione is still pinching him below the table, really annoyed at him.

"Okay, okay, stop, I'm sorry okay?" Ed laughed quietly as he whispered to Hermione.

"It's not funny, you just had to bring it up..." She muttered in dissatisfaction.

"Well, can't you see that he's a bit jealous when we're together?"

"I can see that." She grumbled, playing with her food.

Ed just sighed at Hermione, and stood up. "Right, I'll go back first, I need to do some things."

"What 'things'?" Hermione quickly questioned, and the other two boys also looked at him with curiosity.

"You know… the thing..." Ed winked at Hermione, which made her blush.

"Oh..." she mumbled. "Okay... I'll see you later."

Ed hummed. "Bye."

The silver-eyed boy quickly exited the great hall, leaving Hermione with the two boys.

"What thing?" Harry questioned, curious as always.

"Don't worry about it." Hermione quickly dismisses it.

Harry narrowed his eyes, and quickly whispered to Ron. "You think she's hiding something from us?"

"She always does when it comes to Ed." Ron shrugged, although Harry could tell that he was a bit annoyed by it.

"What? Jealous?" Harry teased the redhead, making Ron's face red again.

"I- I did not fancy Hermione!" Ron refuted quietly.

"Sure, tell yourself that." Harry smirked, but then he turned serious again. "But seriously though, I think she's hiding something really big from us… Ed must've told her something about this year..."

"But it's not like she'll say..." Ron stated. "Unbreakable Vow, remember?"

Harry's face quickly turned sour, "You're right… we need to discover it ourselves..."

"But how? Hermione's the brain in the group if I recall."

"Well… we'll figure something out..."

Meanwhile, Hermione was swinging her feet below the table, she was looking forward to the evening, and of course, she would want to ask him about doing 'that'.

She quickly snapped out of it and said to the other two. "Anyway, have you two got anyone you wanted to ask yet?"

"What?" Ron asked.

"You know… the ball?" She whispered to the other two. "I'm quite curious on who you two will choose now that you know that there's a ball coming..."

Harry quickly turned red. "Um… I haven't really thought about it..."

"Not Eloise Midgen, that's for sure." Ron snorted.

Hermione frowned. "It isn't all about the looks Ron!" Hermione quietly scolded the redhead.

Ron raised his eyebrow. "Says the girl who shrinks her teeth and fixes her hair with magic..."

"I- That's not the point!" Hermione refuted. "I did that for myself!"

"You sure? Not because Ed teased you?"

"Of course not!" She definitely lied. She stood up, grabbing her books roughly and putting them in her bag. "I'm going first." and she ran off.

Meanwhile Harry and Ron stared at each other, a bit dumbfounded. "Did you just win an argument with Hermione?" questioned Harry.

"I- I think I just did..." mumbled Ron.

"Love really can make you stupid..." Harry muttered as he looked at the Ravenclaw table, staring at a particular girl there.

---

In the evening of the day, Ed was busy in the kitchen of the suitcase. The smell of baked cake, herbs, and spices permeates the room. In the living room, watching Ed cook, is an ashen haired woman, and that woman is of course Ciri.

"Why are you so talented?" Ciri questioned in annoyance. "It smells so good it makes me annoyed..."

Ed chuckled. "You just need to learn it."

"yOu jUsT nEeD tO lEarN iT." Ciri repeated Ed's words with mockery. "Easy for you to say."

"You have to be patient." Ed shrugged. "And not rage every single time you fail."

"Fuck you." Ciri spat.

"Fuck you too." Ed answered in amusement.

Then, a certain brown haired girl came down from the ladder, looking all happy and giddy.

"It smells amazing, what are you cooking?" She asked excitedly.

"Couple of things." Ed answered. "Have you talked to Richard and Daphne yet?"

She hummed as she sat on the kitchen's stool. "They'll come..." she murmured. "But I still didn't understand why Harry and Ron weren't allowed to come… they just have to take the unbreakable vow right?"

"It's much more complicated than that darling." Ed stated. "Those two can't seem to control themselves, they will ask me many things that would be troublesome if they knew about it..."

Hermione hummed. "Still, can't you just take the food to the classroom and invite them?"

"Then what about Ciri and Gilligan?" Ed raised his eyebrow.

"Gilligan's going to have dinner with us too?" She questioned, a bit surprised.

"Of course I will." Gilligan suddenly appeared out of nowhere, startling Hermione a bit. "It's your first birthday as an official family member, I need to come too."

"W- Well, thanks I guess..." Hermione murmured.

"I also saw that you're planning something young Hermione, I know our family is in crisis right now, but don't have kids too young, and please, don't do it in the living room..." Gilligan continued with a deadpan face.

Hermione blushed profusely as soon as she heard this. "S-Stop looking at my mind!"

"What are you two talking about?" Ed asked innocently as he took out the cake from the oven.

"N-Nothing!" Hermione quickly said. In the living room, she saw that Ciri was smirking at her, which made it worse.

"By the way..." Ciri diverted the attention to her. "Who's this Daphne girl? Never met her..."

"Oh yeah… you never met her..." Ed hummed. "Well, you'll meet her soon enough."

As soon as Ed said that, a boy and a girl came down from the outside, they were chatting happily, much to Ed's amusement.

"Speak of the devil." Ed said.

"What did we miss?" Richard questioned.

"Nothing." Ed shrugged.

Daphne then saw Ciri, who was sitting casually in the living room. She narrowed her eyes and said. "Who's this?"

"That's Ciri." Ed pointed out.

"Hello." Ciri waved at Daphne.

"Well… what is she doing here?"

"A bit complicated." Ed answered. "I'll tell you later."

"Well okay..." Daphne murmured while eyeing Ciri.

"Go sit at the dining table, I'm almost finished."

All of them hummed and went to the dining room, while Ed prepared the food.

"Happy Birthday by the way, Hermione." Richard said to the birthday girl while smiling.

"Thank you." Hermione answered, happy at the birthday wishes. "And thanks for coming..."

Richard shrugged. "It's what friends do."

After that, Ed brought the food by floating it to the dining table.

"It smells good..." Daphne commented. "Never tried your cooking before Ed."

"Well, you're going to like it." Hermione said. "Here, let me help you." Hermione offered help to Ed.

"It's fine Hermione, you just sit, you're the birthday girl." Ed refused as he put down the last plate of the cooking. "I'm going to go get the cake."

Ed left the table once again, and the others continued to talk.

"So what did you get from Ed?" Daphne asked Hermione rather curiously. "Jewelry? New enchanted item?"

"Oh, um, I didn't ask anything… I only ask for this dinner..."

"What? Really? Nothing at all?" Daphne was surprised by the answer.

"Yes..."

"She hasn't asked yet." Ciri smirked in front of Daphne, which made the others confused.

"Meaning?" Daphne questioned.

"Young Cirilla, I prefer if you don't talk about these things at the dining table, it's inappropriate..." Gilligan interfered, which made Hermione sighed in relief.

"Fine." Ciri grinned, which made Richard and Daphne more curious.

"What is it?" Richard asked, then he turned to Hermione. "Come on, you can tell us right , Hermione?"

"I- I'd rather not..." Hermione murmured, her face was beet red.

Daphne and Richard were left hanging when Ed suddenly came back with a huge well decorated cake that had an unlit candle on top of it.

"Here's the cake." Ed announced, while the others made a way so that the cake can be placed on top of the table.

"Isn't that too big?" Hermione questioned nervously, looking at the white cake in front of her.

"Well, we haven't really celebrated you being a part of the family." Ed said. "So Gilligan suggested that we should mix the celebration with your birthday."

"It's only proper after all..." Gilligan added. "It's just that one member seemed to be late today..."

Ed instantly frowned. "Yes… where the hell is Alan..."

As if on cue, Alan appeared in the living room, looking all haggard, probably rushing to the suitcase. "Sorry I'm late… Council business..."

Ed hummed. "Sit down Alan, I'll get the wine."

"Wine?" Hermione questioned scrutinizingly, frowning at the boy. "You want to drink wine on my birthday Ed?"

"W-Well, it's your birthday… you should loosen up a bit..." Ed nervously defended his action.

Hermione frowned even more. "Only for Alan and Ciri… you're not allowed to drink."

Ed sighed in disappointment. "Fine..." he grumbled and walked to the bar to grab a bottle of wine.

Alan was amused at the scene and sat beside a standing Gilligan. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing really." Gilligan answered. "Just banter..."

Alan sighed in relief. "Right, Happy birthday Hermione, I brought you this..." he said as he pulled out futuristic looking glasses and gave them to Hermione. "It's a smart glasses"

"Smart glasses?" Hermione questioned, inspecting the thing.

"It's a trend in the city lately, I figured I gave it to you for your birthday." Alan shrugged.

"What does it do exactly?" She questioned again.

"Well, you can do a lot of things with it." Alan explained. "Like taking a photo discreetly, inspecting an item, scanning a letter, even carbon dating stuff..."

"Can it really do all that?" Hermione was definitely surprised.

"Well, not all of it, you have to install plugins..."

"I have no idea what you're saying right now..." Hermione said in annoyance.

Alan sighed. "Here, just read the instructions." Alan gave her the instruction manual, and Hermione started reading it intently.

Not long after that, Ed came back with the wine. "Here, Ciri, Alan, your wine glass."

Alan and Ciri then took their wine glasses, and Ed poured it for them. "Thank you..." Ciri and Alan said.

Then, Ed quickly closed the bottle, and sat beside Hermione.

"Give me the bottle." Hermione said to Ed sternly, which Ed reluctantly gave it to her.

"Right..." Ed murmured. "Anyway, let's light the candles."

Ed flicked his wand, making the candles lit, and the other light sources around the place turned off.

"You can blow it now Hermione." Ed pushed her to the edge of the cake, in front of her is the lit candles, ready to be blown off.

And she did just that.

As soon as the candles were blown off, the lights turned back on, and the others clapped their hands, congratulating Hermione on a happy birthday.

After that, all of them sat again, ready to enjoy their meals.

All of them then soon dig into Ed's cooking, and they probably had a light foodgasm on the first bite.

"Holy mother of Merlin, it's good." Daphne commented. "Have you thought about opening a restaurant business Ed?"

Richard hummed while chewing his food. "Why didn't we think of that?"

"I'd rather not." Ed answered as he ate. "Alchemist's Armoury is enough..."

"Well, a pity..." Daphne murmured. "Can you at least give me the recipe for these dishes?"

"Marry into my family first, then I'll give you." Ed snorted.

"But there's no single man in your family..."

"Alan's single." Ed commented, which made Alan choke on his food.

Richard then coughed loudly at the table. "Could you please stop talking about marriage?"

Ed chuckled. "Fine, someone's jealous..."

Daphne raised her eyebrow in amusement. "Right..." She then turned to Ed once more. "What did you get for Hermione?"

Ed sighed. "She didn't want anything..." he said as he eyed Hermione beside him.

"You sure she didn't want anything?" Ciri questioned with a smirk on her face. "Ask again."

Ed then turned back to Hermione, whose face is now beet red. "You want something for your birthday?"

"I- I'll tell you later..." She murmured quietly.

Ed raised his eyebrow, questioning her shy attitude. "You sure?"

She just hummed, and continued to eat her food.

"Ookay..." Ed shrugged. "Anyway, Gilligan, how's Ciri's progress?"

Ciri frowned at Ed's words. "I'm right here you know."

"Gilligan's your teacher, so I'll ask him instead, avoiding bias." Ed answered nonchalantly. "So Gilligan?"

"She's going well." Gilligan said as he ate from a bowl, pecking it with his beak every now and then. "She needs to control her emotions more."

"I'm trying okay." Ciri grumbled.

"Well, that's good." Ed nodded, and continued. "How about Hermione's training?"

This time, it's Hermione's turn to be judged. "Better than Cirilla." Gilligan answered.

Hermione then smiled victoriously to Ciri, who was grumbling in the corner.

Ed chuckled. "Anyway, Alan, any news?"

"Not really." He answered. "Aside from the anticipation of Ciri going to the council, nothing really."

"Are they that excited to see me?" Questioned Ciri.

"Your existence in this world is a threat to the council Ciri." Ed pointed out. "Just like my existence to them. The only difference is, you can still be neutralized as you haven't mastered your powers yet, while me right now could just destroy that entire city in the snap of a finger. I would die too of course, but they don't know that..."

Ciri went quiet after that, then Gilligan spoke out. "Alright Ed, enough with the grim topic, this is a birthday dinner, you should talk about something more… happy."

"Alright." Ed shrugged. And after that, they dined happily through the evening, fits of laughter filled the place, changing the atmosphere to joy and happiness.

---

In the late evening, everyone had left, only the sound of classical music echoed throughout the place, and in the middle of the living room, two young people were happily dancing, well... trying to dance at least.

Hermione's left hand is on Ed's right shoulder and her right hand is holding Ed's left hand, while Ed's right hand is at Hermione's upper waist and his left hand is holding Hermione's right hand. They were laughing continuously, enjoying their time together.

"Okay, you have to calm down Hermione." Ed laughed as Hermione continuously stepped on his foot.

"I'm trying okay!" Hermione was also laughing at her pathetic attempt at dancing.

"It's just like those martial arts Gilligan is teaching you." Ed stated as he tried to stop laughing. "Just calm down."

Hermione also tried to calm down, and eventually started to get the hang of it.

"That's good, now, focus on me." Ed said to her softly. And she did just that, she stared at Ed's glowing silver eyes, seemingly mesmerised with it. Both of them danced in the middle of the living room, now perfectly in sync.

"Good… that wasn't so hard is it?" Ed smiled softly, admiring her smile.

"I don't know if I can do this in front of people..." She murmured nervously.

"You'll do fine." Ed reassured. "Now, want to do a spin?"

"A what?"

"A spin." Ed repeated. "Twirling, whatever you call it."

"I don't know if i can do that..." Hermione murmured.

"Come one, it's simple." Ed then raised his hand that was holding Hermione's hand, and made a twirling gesture, she followed his gesture, and spun in front of Ed, and successfully returned to the previous posture.

"That's easy right?" Ed questioned.

"Yeah..." Hermione giggled. "It's kind of exhilarating."

Ed nodded. "I don't know if I should say this… but when I was a kid, my dancing instructor used to say to me that dancing is just sex with clothes on..." he said, making Hermione blushed profusely. "I didn't know at the time what it meant of course… I was around 7..."

"That's… worrying… Does your instructor really say that?" Hermione questioned.

"Yep." Ed hummed. "Anyway, what did you want to ask for your birthday?"

Hermione instantly turned red after Ed asked her that, and she put her head on Ed's shoulder. "I was thinking… Do you... want to do it?"

Ed was confused. "Do what?"

"You know… sex..." Hermione mumbled really softly.

Ed was silent for a second, and just muttered. "Oh..."

After that, both of them didn't say anything, but they're still dancing in a circle. Then, Ed continued. "Is that why you're a bit touchy with me lately?"

Hermione just hummed, confirming Ed's thoughts.

Ed sighed in surrender, he could feel that Hermione's mind was in turmoil, as her usual occlumency shield is practically non-existent right now.

"Say something..." Hermione mumbled, her head still on Ed's shoulder.

"No wonder that the bathroom always smells funny when you use it for a long time." Ed teased.

"Y- You noticed?" Hermione blushed profusely as she buried her head more into Ed's shoulder.

"I live with you Hermione." Ed rolled his eyes. "Of course I'll notice."

"Oh Merlin..." She mumbled in embarrassment. "Well, you have to take responsibility now… making me this…-"

"-Indecent?" Ed teased again.

Hermione froze, and raised her head from Ed's shoulder, and she stared at Ed's silver eyes, their faces so close together that they could feel their breaths.

"You really want to?" Ed whispered to Hermione.

She nodded meekly, staring at Ed's lips as she bit her own.

"I think it's too early for sex… but… I'll see what I can do..." Ed whispered.

"Okay..." Hermione murmured, but Ed could feel a trace of disappointment.

"Let's go to bed then." Ed said softly, leading Hermione to the bedroom.

---

They were now laying on the bed, with Ed on top of Hermione as he peppered her neck with kisses and bites.

"D-Don't stop," Hermione moaned to Ed's ear as Ed showered her neck with kisses. His hands beneath her trousers, his fingers inside her vagina, massaging it at just the right spot.

Her occlumency shield is non-existent right now, and Ed was able to exploit this to probe her mind, finding a perfect spot to rub his fingers, it was one of the amusing uses of Legilimency.

Hermione knew that her mind was being probed by Ed, yet she allowed it, aside from the fact that she can't concentrate right now, it's also for her own pleasure…

Hermione then engaged her lips with Ed as she slowly pulled out Ed's shirt, making Ed topless, she ran her hands all over Ed's torso, enjoying his fingers as she passionately kissed him.

A couple of minutes later, she was close, she bit Ed's shoulder as she screamed of pleasure, cumming so hard that she lost control of her body for a good minute.

"You probably just ruined your trousers and pants." Ed chuckled as he caressed her hair.

Hermione was blushing profusely as she had a post-orgasmic bliss. "You should've taken it off first before fingering me..." she chuckled.

"You're the one who's impatient." Ed refuted.

Hermione giggled. "Your turn?"

"Sure." Ed said quietly, kissing her lips one last time.

Then, she flipped him, he is now the one laying on the bed, with Hermione sitting in front of his crotch.

She decided to undress her shirt in front of him, and display her perky breasts for Ed to see. She was embarrassed at first, her face was beet red.

"Is it small?" Hermione nervously asked Ed, a bit self conscious.

"Small, Big, no difference." Ed shrugged.

Hermione just smiled, she then quickly unbuttoned Ed's trousers, and saw for the first time his 'wand'.

"It's… big..." Hermione murmured excitedly.

Ed chuckled, and then, Hermione got to work.

Needless to say, Hermione got a 'mouthful' after that.

A/N: ..... What the fuck did I just write?