A birthday alone.

Tony Alraur

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Original topic in the Ravenclaw common-room: http://hogwartsnewzealand.com/topic/7216669/

Having placed his cards around his dorm-room, and eaten a slice of delicious chocolate cake already; Tony had decided to take his leave from the common room, and head for a walk around the castle. The thought of not being at home entered his mind once more. Being his twelfth birthday, it wasn't much of a mile-stone; but Tony would have preferred to be anywhere else than in-side a castle.

Still wearing the small party hat, and the all flashing; all dancing; and all singing badge his auntie Joanne had sent him, Tony smiled as he listened to the lyrics again. "Happy birthday to youuu, happy birthday to youuu. You smell, hahahahahaha.". It wasn't too long before Tony had reached the Great Hall, so sighing slightly; he decided to wander in with his cake and have a few sandwiches.

"Twelve today, twelve today. It won't be long until you're Gray.". Joanne's voice rung out from the badge once more.
 
Trinity was sitting at the Gryffindor table wondering what would happen here today, every day there seemed to be something new. A girl bursting in to tears because a boy broke up with her, a boy's hair standing up on his head and looking like the back end of an exploded vacuum cleaner because a spell had gone awry. Another had been the prefects having a go at one another and only a moment earlier, some girls hair had been lengthened until she was falling over it to run out of the hall. All the incidents only reinforced what Trinity knew all along, magic was dangerous and children had no reason to be learning it.

About to shovel some more food into her mouth she heard a strange sound and turned to see where the bizarre song was coming from when she saw Tony. He seemed to be carrying
a cake and some sandwiches.
"Tony!" she never gave a rats arse if she hollered or not and even the professor at the staff table muttering 'shhh' didn't deter her.
"Over here, what's that you got?"
 
Practically as soon as he entered, Tony heard a voice echoing his name through-out the hall. Stopping in his tracks, Tony glared around the overly-large room. A grin spread across his face. Who else could it have been. Rolling his eyes slightly, Tony made his way over to his new best friend and held out the box containing the chocolate cake. His all singing; all dancing badge was still singing and dancing. "Cake?" Tony asked Trinity. Although it seemed pointless to ask. Of course she would have some.
 
"OH MY WORD!" Trinity exclaimed getting up from the bench as soon as she saw the mental looking and sounding badge and the cake, "It's your birthday!"
She didn't give a monkeys banana who saw her, she flung her arms about his neck and gave him a quick peck on his cheek before sitting down on the bench again and patting the table.
"Of course I want cake, is the sky blue? Does Merlin have a beard? Course he did and it was about a foot long as well if any of these daft history books are to be believed" she grinned.
"How come you never told me it was your birthday? I would have gotten you something you know?"
she felt really bad now that she had nothing for him and taking a deep breath took out the only thing worth anything to her. She placed her beloved catapult on the table before him.

"It's not much" she fibbed, it meant everything to her but so did her friendship with Tony. A catapult she could make again, eventually, "but I want you to have it. Happy Birthday".
 
Tony was suddenly forced onto his back foot, as Trinity exclaimed loudly; before standing up from the bench and throwing her arms around him. At this moment, it felt good to be stuck in the castle. He had the person he could trust with him. Any thoughts about wanting to go home where pushed to the back of his mind as Tony listened to the blue eyed girl. He didn't really know, or care, if merlin had a beard or not. Catching her grin, Tony sat on the bench next to Trinity; pushing the cake over to her as he did so. "You never asked." he responded. His face held little emotion. No smugness. No smile. "You don't need to get me anything.".

His words never came quick enough. The young girl removed her catapult from her pocket and placed it upon the table. "It's not much but I want you to have it. Happy Birthday.". Tony was speechless. Which didn't say much, considering he didn't say much. He couldn't accept this gift. The catapult meant too much to her. "I.". Tony paused. "I can't.". Tony knew he was about to hurt her feelings. "I'm sorry.". The words hit Tony like a huge wall of ice. He had apologised, and given meaning behind it. This girl was certainly changing him.
 
Trinity pushed it back towards him a stubborn look upon her face.
"Unless you want me to start flinging bits of cake at you using it then I'd advice you to take it" she looked at him, her blue eyes sparkling. Tony meant the absolute world to her, more than any catapult. She had vacations, her grandfather would help her make another but this meant a lot for her to give it to him and it meant more for him to take it.

"Please Tony. I tell you what, I'll even throw in some lessons on how to use it" she winked now at him hoping the deal was sealed.
 
Ekky had spent the night shuffling around the kitchen trying to keep out of the other house elves' way. They were preparing the food for the next day, and normally Ekky would be helping them, but he'd had a strange desire to make a birthday pizza. He couldn't have told you why if you'd asked, but he made it all the same. A birthday pizza is quite different from an ordinary pizza in a number of ways. First, it is layered. The number of layers depend on how old the birthday witch or wizard is. The bottom layer is very much like a regular pizza known in the muggle world as "The Works," and each layer is a different flavoured pizza. The very top layer has its ingredients laid out to make the shape of a number (in this case 12) in cheese. Ekky was rather proud of his creation, and decided to take it up to the Great Hall to see who it might be for. If it turned out nobody was turning twelvbe that day, well, he could always just cover the cheese '12' in peperoni pieces and hand it out to any student who happened to be passing.

And of course, if nobody was hungry, Ekky knew pizzas made very good frisbee substitutes.

With a squeak, Ekky apparated to the Great Hall. He wisely left the birthday pizza ((Henceforth to be known as 'birzza')) in the kitchen, knowing if he tried to carry it any distance he would trip and destroy it all. It was much safer to figure out where he was going first, then summon the birzza when it was needed. The first thing he noticed, of course, was a young blonde wizard wearing a birthday hat and a singing, dancing, light-flashing badge that clearly marked him as a birthday boy. Or a four year old who'd been given a dozen galleons to spend as he wished. The cake and sandwiches on the table in front of the boy could verify either option.

In any case, Ekky hurried over to the Gryffindor table and with some effort, pulled himself up onto the bench seat on which the boy and a young girl were sitting. They appeared to be discussing the beautifully-made catapult on the table in serious tones. Ekky cleared his throat and pulled on the young wizard's sleeve to get his attention. "Ahem, Master?"
 
Seeing Trinity push her favoured item back towards him, Tony knew he had hit something. If anything, he knew this girl was determined; and wouldn't let him simply ignore the gift. Hearing her stern words, Tony smiled. A food fight with her would cheer him up immensely. Looking at her, Tony saw her eyes sparkle. As he watched the silver speckles dance, Tony knew she wanted him to have the catapult. He also felt her eyes gave away her true feelings. They could become her weakness.

Listening to her invite for lessons, Tony nodded. "That would be nice.". Picking up the catapult, Tony gave his friend a smile. This feeling of closeness had been what he was looking for before he left the common-room.

Placing the gift beside him, Tony picked up a sandwich; offering it to Trinity, before choosing one of his own. About to take a bite, Tony felt a tug against his sleeve. Turning his head towards the sound of a small voice, Tony spotted an old looking house elf. But why had it called him master. Had his grandmother took him in. Tony was always un-sure how to speak to the elves, so quietly said hello.
 
Ekky looked up at the young wizard with his giant eyes, and his pointy ears quivered. He knew this was the one. The birthday boy! "Master is ten and two today?" In his excitement, Ekky forgot a house elf's place and climbed into the boy's lap. His gummy smile opened wide and he reached up to peer over the table at what was on offer.

"Ooh, sammiches, mm-hmm, no fairy bread? Oh noes, Ekky must make! Mmm, goodly cakey. Why is Mistress not eating the cakey?" he looked up briefly at the young witch next to him, then wriggled round on the birthday boy's lap to face him. He spied the catapult in his hand and reached out to touch it. "Master! Goodly catty-poultry! Beauteous wood! Ekky may try?" Without waiting for an answer, Ekky took the catapult in his own hands and brought it to his nose. He sniffed deeply and jumped in approval. "Is being used plenty muchly!"

With a simple thought, a small bread roll appeared in Ekky's hand, and he placed it carefully in the holder of the catapult. Taking careful aim, he let it fly in the direction of the Slytherin table. It landed on a 5th year's plate, and the Slytherin looked at it for a moment before picking it up and taking a big bite. Ekky squealed and nodded, pushing the contraption back into the young boy's hands, and asked a question: "Master likey birzza?"

At the same moment, a plate of fairy bed arrived on the table. Ekky just realised he had forgotten to put candles on the birzza, so it was running a little behind.
Fairy%20Bread.jpg
 
Trinity turned at the sound of the strange voice and looked on in absolute horror. She had never seen a house elf not mind heard about them. As it began to speak to Tony and he actually talked back to it, Trinity slowly raised a hand with her finger pointed.

"Oh my word... oh my word" she repeated until it was almost hysterical.The creature got up and actually went on to Tony's lap and then put a bread roll into the holder of the catapult. Trinity shot up.
"Aaaarrghhhh!" she screamed nearly falling back wards, "push it away Tony. What is it? It can speak! Help would someone get this thing away! Help for crying out loud!"

She was stunned by the ugly looking thing. Reaching for the catapult she unsheathed it in seconds and picking up a bread roll placed it on to the firing mechanism. Pulling back she was all set to let it fire at the creature.
"Get away from him!"
 
Up until now, Ekky had been paying little attention to the hysterical witch beside him and the birthday boy. He had been too preoccupied with the birthday boy himself, but the girl was now looking dangerous. He had the sudden realisation that she was upset about him. His mind raced back through everything he'd done, and thought of at least half a dozen things he must have done wrong.

Immediately he started slamming his head as hard as he could against the edge of the table. He repeated the action over and over until he became dizzy and fell from the young wizard's lap onto the floor. Under the table he set up wailing, "Mistress is unhappy! Ekky is bad bad bad! Oh Mistress! Ekky is so sorry!" He ran full tilt at one of the table legs and fell back against the girl's leg.
 
Hearing the elf speak again, Tony sat back; slightly stunned, as the tiny elf climbed up onto his knee. Blinking, Tony shook his head. House elves where not supposed to act this way. Tony began to feel un-comfortable. Catching the elf's words, Tony looked from the cake to Trinity. She hadn't eaten any. Without a second being able to pass, the house elf interrupted Tony's thoughts as it took a-hold of the catapult and summoned a bread-bun; before firing it across the hall. Turning his head in the direction of the target, Tony watched another student pick up the bun and begin to eat it. "Can't be much of a good food-fight here if people just eat it." Tony thought to himself.

Felling something push against his hand, Tony looked back towards the elf as it gave the catapult back. Placing it once more upon the table, Tony watched a plate of bread, covered with hundreds and thousands, appear next to him. Waking up this morning, Tony certainly hadn't expected the day he was having so far. Touching his pocket, Tony remembered the ring he had received from the strange girl in the common-room. Glancing back at the elf, Tony was about to ask what Birzza was; when Trinity began to shout. "..push it away Tony. What is it? It can speak! Help would someone get this thing away! Help for crying out loud!".

Tony had gotten used to the fact the elf was still perched upon his knee, and saw little reason to order the creature to leave. Ordering elves wasn't something his family usually practised. Their two loyal family elves occupied the Alraur Estate, assisting Hestia, Tony's grand-mother, in the up-keep of their sanctuary. However, this elf had other plans; as it began to bang its head against the table, before falling from Tony's knee; only to begin wailing under the table. Tony watched the elf run against one of the table's legs, and crash back against Trinity's. The girl had picked up the catapult and aimed it towards the elf.

"Stop!". Tony's voice was filled with authority. This was his birthday. Nothing was going to spoil the already rotten day any further.
 
Trinity watched dumbfounded as the creature began knocking its head on the table, so hard that he or it eventually fell off. She didn't know who his mistress was but she seemed to have upset the thing greatly to send it hurtling at the table leg, the creature fell backwards by her leg just as Tony called out 'stop'. She wasn't sure exactly who he was saying it to as she still stood there motionless holding the catapult.

Trinity was not one for fainting fits, she certainly had always prided herself on her strong constitution but witnessing a small ugly creature repeatedly beat itself senseless was just too much for her and with one look at Tony, his face was the last she saw before every thing went grey and then black. Out cold she fell on the floor beside the house elf.
 
Ekky heard the birthday boy command "Stop!" and he immediately did. He scrambled to his feet and peered up at the wizard from under the table. The witch was still clearly upset and Ekky fought with himself: Ekky listen to Master. Ekky punish self for upsetting Mistress. No, Ekky listen to Master! But Mistress is angry! But Master said stop! He settled on pinching his arm hard while continuing to stare up at the boy. He was horribly afraid. The boy looked determined. Was he going to release Ekky from service at Hoggywarts? But Ekky had just arrived!

Before anyone could do anything else, the upset witch fainted to the floor.

Ekky jumped back a little, and stared at her face. Oh noes!. Slowly, slowly, he turned to look up at the wizard's face. He was shocked and a little angry. Ekky was terrified. What had he done? He reached out a tentative, pointy little finger to prod the girl. In a quiet, wavery voice, Ekky spoke to Tony.

"Ekky has... Ekky is... is Mistress dead? Master?" then screamed a high-pitched, echoing scream. "Master! Master! Ekky has done bad!" He carried on like this for some time, pinching and twisting the sensitive tips of his ears as he did so. Eventually, sobbing, he offered his last hope to the master. "D-does Master wi-ish to h-hear a joke?"
 
As soon as his voice had left him, Tony watched Trinity's body hit the floor. As if she was re-playing the day at the park; but from different sides. Noticing the elf clambering to its feet, Tony stared at the creature; angry at it for having scared Trinity; but even more so at his now worsening day. The creature jumped at the sight of the girl, before giving her a prod with its finger. Tony's fists clenched. A lowly creature had caused pain to the one person Tony had allowed in-side for the past four years. The elves words barely reached Tony's ears. If Trinity was dead, Tony would not rest until all elves had been eradicated.

A high pitched scream echoed through the hall. The elf began to apologise. Tony watched the creature punish itself. The anger in-side the boy boiled to the surface. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, YOU VILE CREATURE!". Tony's voice thundered through the great hall. With-out waiting for the elf to respond, Tony moved towards Trinity; and took up a position beside her. She had taken care of him the day he had passed out, so now it was his turn.

Taking a-hold of the young girls hand, Tony whispered her name. "Trinity?".
 
Professor Rowann had been sitting at the staff table enjoying a glass of pumpkin juice and her copy of Witch Weekly when she had heard some commotion but as it was inevitable that at some point or other commotions broke out more often than not in the Great Hall, she let it go. At least until the voice of a young boy roaring made her lower her magazine and look about the room. The Ravenclaw table was not usually one for out bursts but that in deed was where it was all coming from. Lola gathered her gown about her and walked down to see what was going on.

On the floor was one of her students, one of those who seemed hell bent on dismissing her magical gift. A boy was kneeling beside her but this child she had no recollection of seeing before, knowing though that the first year Ravenclaws were not hers until next semester she turned to the house elf as she knelt down by the girl.

"Ekky" her voice was authoritative without sounding cruel, firm but kind the way she dealt with her students, "Ekky please mind your place. Return to the kitchens, now."
Turning then to the girl she took out her wand and casting Rennervate on her to revive her turned then to the boy.

"She'll be fine now, care to tell me what happened?" she still spoke kindly glancing now and then at the girl as the spell began to work.
 
Ekky could only watch in horror as everything seemed to fall to pieces on the young wizard's face. He jabbed himself in the eye, knowing he'd ruined everything for the boy. And on his birthday, too! He grabbed a fork that had fallen from the table when Trinity did, and proceeded to stab it into his arms. He deserved to be punished for this. It was all his fault. The birthday boy thundered at him to get out of his sight. With clear tears streaming down his face, he lowered his head and backed away from the the boy. He'd done too much damage now. The only thing he could do was leave. Just as he was about to apparate back to the kitchens, he heard Professor Rowann speak his name. This was it. He was going to be released from Hogwarts! She was going to give him a glove or something.

Ekky was more than relieved when she only told him to mind his place and return to the kitchens. He disappeared with a squeak and put himself in the steriliser for a couple of cycles as punishment. The pain didn't seem to be enough. He'd ruined the day! He looked around the kitchen searching for more ways to punish himself, crying all the while.
 
Trinity remembered only the darkness everything else was forgotten until she began hearing distant voices. Slowly her eyes opened and she reached a hand up to touch her head automatically.
"Ouch" she whimpered, knowing from her view point that she was lying down on the ground and staring up at Tony and Professor Rowann. She blinked for a moment and then remembered the weird looking creature and sat up in a dazed but hurried manner.
"There.. there was.. a .. a thing here" she pointed to where she had last seen it, then glanced at Tony, "It was on your lap."
Recalling a very very old muggle movie she had once seen she could only describe the creature as best as she could.
"It was like ET, the wierdest looking thing and violent. It was so violent" she thought she would faint again from simply remembering the thing.
 
Staring at the young girls face, Tony crouched beside her. His face held no expression; no emotion; no feeling. He only knew, somewhere in-side, he had to take care of her. "Rennervate.". Tony looked up as the word past his ears. A professor. Great. Someone with authority. Listening to her words, Tony chose to ignore them. His badge continued to poke fun at him. His aunties voice the only source of happiness.

After a few moments, Tony saw Trinity move. Not hearing her words, or choosing not to, Tony gave his friend a hug. She was okay. "If you want me to look after you, you don't need to almost die.". His voice was soft. A faint smile broke out across his lips.
 
Trinity felt the arms go around her and returned Tony's hug with a warm smile. He had obviously been as worried about her as she had been the day back at the playground.
"I don't need for you to look after me" she grinned at him, "but maybe looking out for each other couldn't hurt any. I didn't almost die did I? Wow... so cool. I didn't see any light at the end of a tunnel or anything though".

She attempted to move herself into a kneeling position before standing up and looking at him, realizing then that the professor was still there.
"Thanks Professor" she shrugged before turning back to Tony, "I messed up your birthday didn't I? If I promise not to faint at next years birthday will you forgive me?"
 
Feeling the young girl return his hug, Tony paused for a second; before moving away. Listening to her words, Tony matched her grin with a smile. Once again she began to ramble. She was definitely okay. Watching her climb to her feet, Tony flashed a glare towards the professor. There was no reason for her to remain. Hearing the word 'birthday', Tony flicked his eyes back to Trinity. His day had already been spoilt. Her fainting was just another day in their blossoming lives. He had past out, so why couldn't she.

"Will you remember it for next year?". The only way he himself remembered was because of an influx of cards. "I'll forgive you if you help me eat this cake.". There was still a large amount of chocolate left, and Tony simply wished to eat it until he felt sick.
 
Trinity pretended to look all afronted with him.
"Just because I'm in magic school doesn't mean I got my mind obliterated. Of course I'll remember, I have a calender and will mark it on it" she smiled at him sitting back down again relieved that the ghastly looking creature was gone, "I think it's like doctors recommendation that I eat chocolate cake ... for the shock you know".
She pushed her plate over towards him waiting for him to lavish her with a piece.
"You ok? you look kind of startled. Thought you'd be used to the whole fainting thing seeing as you are the master of it" she giggled nudging him playfully.
 
As he began to re-take a seat, Tony listened to Trinity's words; and hoped next year would be much better than the current one. The young boy simply smiled as Trinity pushed a plate towards him. "I will need more than cake to recover from meeting you.". The words floated from his lips almost silently, as Tony rolled his eyes. "Why am I startled?". There wasn't a single emotion upon Tony's face. Feeling the nudge, Tony placed a large wedge of cake onto the girls plate. "I guess you will have to teach me how to panic like you do.". A smirk appeared.
 
Down in the kitchens, Ekky was burning his hands under the grill when one of the other house elves called to him "Ekky! Get this monstrosity out of the kitchen-rooms!" Ekky realised he'd never gotten the chance to give the wizard his birzza!

He hurriedly scrawled a joke on a piece of parchment he conjured and folded the parchment into the shape of a witch, then charmed it to fly about stack of pizzas. With a whistle, he sent it up to the Great Hall, hoping it would make the boy feel a little better.

The birzza appeared on the table next to the fairy bread.
 
Trinity didn't know whether he was being nicely sincere or trying to be insulting so she went with the former and beamed brightly at him before taking a bite of the cake.
"Of course you'll need more than cake, especially this cake. It's delicious" she munched through it without any difficulty.

She hadn't thought she had panicked overly much but then again she had fainted which was something she never usually did.
"What was that thing Tony?" she asked when suddenly before them a huge tower of pizza layer upon layer of pizza appeared before them. She looked from it to Tony quizzically.
"Someone order pizza?"
 

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