Woah, 14!

[Sam Prince]

It was another year and Sam's birthday arrived once more. Fourteen. He couldn't really wrap his head around it. Sam lay in his bed in the early morning wondering what to do with the day. He usually didn't like his birthdays much but this year he figured that he may aswell make something out of it and hang out with his friends, he hadn't seen them in so long and it saddened him. Sam got out from his bad lazily and began to write small notes to all of his friends. He really hoped they could all make it, they hadn't all been together in so long, in fact a lot of them (including himself) split into separate groups, Sam had Toni so he hung out with her most of the time, Scorpius and Taylor both kept together, Hoshi had her Slytherin 'goth people' and Jenna kept to herself quite a bit. Sam also wrote an invite to Leia, he was becoming closer to her lately and now considered her a good friend of his. Sam knew that by his friends separating into separate groups it was nothing personal, it was just how things were. But he had always remembered that day in the The Three Broomsticks with Scorpius and Toni and he remembered thinking that he would be friends with these people throughout his school education and even after Hogwarts. But by the looks of things Sam was slowly yet surely, separating from his friends.

Once Sam had sent off the invites he returned to his dorm and got dressed into one of his signature outfits; a check shirt over a casual t-shirt with a pair of jeans and his Vans. Sam relaxed in the quiet Common Room for a while, waiting for people to wake and head down to the Great Hall. Sam was very much looking forward to today. So when the time came Sam made his way down to the Great Hall, grabbed some breakfast and then snuck into the kitchens. He mooched around for a bit before deciding on taking a few bottles of butterbeer, it never failed to please Sam and his friends. Sam left the Castle and walked slowly down to the lawn. The sun was shining brightly, and there was a cool spring breeze in the air. It was the perfect weather for just 'chilling' with his friends. Sam spotted the great oak tree that he told his friends to meet him at. He sat down against it and waited for them all to arrive.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor lay in bed, staring up at the roof above her. The night before had been another difficult one. She couldn't keep her mind off Scorpius or her Dad. She let out a large breath and rubbed her eyes. Maybe she wouldn't even get out of bed today, she didn't think anyone would miss her. Rolling over sleepily, she let her eyes drift close just as she heard a tapping. Snapping them open again, she glared at the owl knocking its beak on the window, wanting to get in. Huffing, Taylor kicked the blankets away from her and approached the owl. She took the note from the owl and was about to collect a treat for it when she noticed Albus' feathers puffing up. The bird was too jealous for it's own good. Shaking her head, she gave the owl in the window a quick stroke before sending it on its way.

Plopping back down on her bed, she opened to letter and her eyes widened. Sam's Birthday! She mentally scolded herself, her tired blurriness clearing. She was a horrible friend. She had completely forgotten. She had been so wrapped up in her own misery that she hadn't thought to buy Sam anything. Feeling selfish and ashamed, she contemplated not even going, but then realised that was worse than her initial fail. Placing the letter down on her bed, Taylor pulled on her skinny leg jeans and a red tank-top. Pulling her hair back out of her face into a pony tail with a headband suited her just fine. She didn't even bother looking at her appearance, before heading off to the kitchen, maybe she could compensate.

Leaving the kitchens a while later with a basket full of muffins, fresh fruit, sandwiches and a few butterbeers, Taylor made her way to the old oak tree that Sam had mentioned. She noticed him easily and realised she was the first one there. She pushed as many pleasant thoughts into her head as she could. She knew Scorpius would be here today, but she would play it cool. No one had to find out on Sam's birthday. Taylor wouldn't wreck the day for him. When she reached Sam, she actually managed a genuine smile, her first one in weeks. "Happy birthday Sam!" She said, placing the basket down and giving him a hug. She had missed him, it felt like forever since the group had seen each other.

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam stood up as he saw Taylor arrive, she seemed to always be the first. But he didn't mind at all, he got to talk to Taylor, just the two of them, which was very rare especially these days. "Taylor!" Sam smiled, giving her a rather tight bear hug. He hadn't seen his friend in so long. Once he released her from what Sma could imagine to be a very painful hug, he laughed. "How have you been?" He asked her beaming, as he hooked his thumbs into his jeans pockets. "Its crazy, it has been so long since we've seen each other!" He added. It never really sunk in how long it was since they last spoke, until now, when he was finally catching up with her.

 

[Jennifer Wilkonson]

Jennifer knew it was Sam's birthday and although she was tempted to skip out, she couldn't do that to her best friend, even if on the day of her birthday not one person even said 'Hello' to her. She had missed Scorpius' birthday and planned on giving him his present at a later time, when it wasn't Sam's fourteenth birthday celebration. She hadn't known what to give Sam or Scorpius for gifts so she got them something simple and the present for Sam was held in her hand behind her back lazily.

Jennifer's soft blue eyes scanned the Great Lawn, her heart sinking as she saw Taylor and Sam hug each other. The two were such good friends and she felt like a complete and utter fool as one. She avoided everyone and was angry ninety per cent of the time; she was not handling her parents divorce gracefully. For a moment she stopped walking and looked away, letting the two friends catch up as she took in the day, her severe blonde hair soaking up the sun.

The Hufflepuff, chewed down on her bottom lip, wondering how long it would take them to catch up privately. But she still stood further away and adjusted her striped, black and white, tank top before anxiously fiddling with the bracelet Sam had given to her on their first date. She never took it off, even if she was sad and alone.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor sucked in a breath as Sam hugged her tightly, she returned the force with a weak laugh. When the hug ended and Sam asked how she was, Taylor could only shrug. "I haven't been too bad." She lied. "How about you?" She asked, genuinely curious how he had been. As Sam had pointed out, it had been quite some time since they had spoken. Taylor wondered how him and Toni were doing, if they were still happily together unlike her. Taylor scolded herself for thinking about Scorpius, hoping her face hadn't fallen. It was only then she realised just how hard today was going to be. She hadn't seen him since the break up. She turned away from Sam briefly and noticed Jenna standing across the lawn. Taylor furrowed her brow, wondering why she had simply stopped there. She raised her hand to give the girl a small wave. They had never been good friends, but Jenna was nice and everyone else liked her, so Taylor did too.

 

[Scorpius Knight]

Scorpius was laying in his bed numbly staring up at the ceiling. For some reason he had been unable to get much sleep the previous night, thinking he was forgetting something, something important. He sighed and rolled over in bed, forcing his eyelids shut over his grey eyes when suddenly he heard a tapping at his window. Scorpius grunted and put the pillow over his head but the tapping became more persistent and Thomas seemed to be fast asleep. Scorpius grunted and got up off his bed and opened the door to let an owl in. It simply dropped the letter on the floor and flew back out without giving him chance to thank it in anyway.

Scorpius scowled and picked the letter up off the floor and opened it. Immediately as soon as he read the letter his eyes opened wide with surprised as he smacked his forehead. Sam's birthday! he thought to himself guiltily. This whole time he had sulked during his birthday and afterward had distracted himself with Quidditch and lessons and new people, how could he have forgotten his best friend's birthday?! He hadn't talked to him in a while, which he felt really bad about, but like his break up with Luna, he just didn't like to talk about his break up with Taylor and knew that with Sam it would've eventually come up. He hadn't gotten Sam anything either, great.

Scorpius ran a hand through his messy jet black hair and decided to take a shower and get ready to meet up with Sam on his birthday. After he was dressed in a brown and green checkered shirt and jeans and his wet messy hair was left freely, he made his way down to the oak tree that was mentioned in the letter. Immediately he saw Sam and Taylor there and his heart plummeted deep into his stomach. Why why why hadn't he expected Taylor to be here? She was Sam's friend also after all. He had been trying his best to get her out of his mind that he hadn't thought of her showing up here.

Not far off from the tree, Scorpius saw his old friend Jenna standing aside. He hadn't spoken to her very often since she'd come back, and for that he felt truly sorry because he and Jenna had been extremely close before she left. Hoping Sam and Taylor hadn't yet noticed him, he went over to her and said, "Hey there," with a grin on his face reserved just for her.

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

Hoshi was working some letters to people around her father's main estate trying to get someone, anyone, to send her the information she needed. She knew that there was a portion of her family's library that she was not allowed in. She had never really wanted to see what was in there because she had known that whatever it was it would be bad news. With her curse pulling back what had kept her away in the first place young Ms. Koshiba knew that though the things there where Dark but they contained power.

One letter came that was not like the others. She tore it open and looked it over. Sam's birthday... How long had it been since she got together with Sam, Knight and all them. If she had been herself she would have been sad that they had split off into their own thing but now she really couldn't care. They where of no use to her, they had nothing she could use so she had no need to get together with them.

She decided that, because of the etticet lessons that had been drilled into her, when a social call came she had to answer. Hoshi put her purple hair up in looped pony tail and got out one of her going out styles. that she had gotten when her father took her shopping then left her room. She got to the lawn and put on her best and brightest smile making it seem like there was no where in the world she would rather be than here. "Hello everyone!" She said cheerily.

 

[Jennifer Wilkonson]

Jennifer nodded her blonde head at Taylor's wave, intending on going over but just as she decided to walk over to the tree, she heard her best friend's voice. A sigh of relief came over her, and she turned around into Scorpius' arms. How she missed him and wanted nothing more then to just spend the day with him, he seemed to not want to go with her either so it would be too daft of a suggestion but.. it was Sam's birthday, if it was Toni's it wouldn't have mattered. "Hey Scorp," she said into his shoulder, smiling for him just as he was smiling for her. "How are you?" Jenn asked as she pulled away.

"Happy Belated Birthday, by the way," Jennifer said, squinting a smile for Scorpius. How she missed the Ravenclaw all this time, well she missed everyone but in particular Mr. Ravenclaw . "After this, do you want to meet somewhere so I can get you your present?" she asked, hoping that he would because having the present still wrapped up and with her just reminded her exactly how lonely she was.

 

[Scorpius Knight]

Immediately after he greeted Jenna, she had wrapped her arms around him and buried herself within him, not that he minded. He willingly wrapped his own arms around her small frame and squeezed her lightly, resting his head on her platinum blonde hair and inhaling the familiar scent of her that he had missed so much. "I'm okay," he answered her truthfully, unable to lie to her for now. "And you?" he asked in return, momentarily forgetting about Sam and Taylor and Hoshi who had shown up.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows in surprise as Jenn wished him a belated happy birthday, not expecting her to have remembered. He grinned brightly at her, his smile looked crooked because of the scar running diagonally across his lip, but was so used to it he didn't notice anymore. "I believe a Happy Belated Birthday is in order for you as well," he said to her warmly, letting her know that despite the fact that they hadn't spoken much, he still remembered. As she began asking if she wanted to meet somewhere after this, Scorpius nodded his head vigorously, time spent with Jenn always sounded good, but as she copleted her sentence, he looked down at her with creased brows. "Aw Jenn, you shouldn't have gotten me anything!" he said guiltily, not having gotten her or Sam anything. But he had recently gotten a job at the new Makatu Mall so now he would finally have some spending money to buy all his friends gifts.

 

[Jennifer Wilkonson]

As Scorpius asked her how she was, she shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably. "Meh," she said, knowing that she was not okay and she didn't want to have it said aloud for Sam's birthday. She always seemed to ruin it and had promised herself she would not this year. When he wished her a happy birthday, a smile was pressed on her lips immediately. "You remembered," she breathed happily. Even though she didn't love birthdays or had anything planned it was disheartening to not receive any birthday greetings from her family and her friends, which only added into her anger and sadness.

Jenna rolled her soft blue eyes as Scorpius said she shouldn't have gotten him anything. "But I did.. sooo are you going to meet me?" she asked with a grin on her face, momentarily forgetting her pain. It seemed her best friend had this talent, more than Sam or any of the others did, because today she would be faking it, she was faking most things nowadays.

 

[Sam Prince]

"I've been keeping good. Quidditch season is back, which just seems to make things a whole lot easier." He chuckled a little. He was so glad he had made the team as a beater once more, it was such a privilege to play for the team and especially playing Beater, his new favourite position. Sam's ocean blue eyes looked down at the basket Taylor had brought and was about to say something when he saw her wave to someone. Sam cupped the sun out of his eyes to see it was Jenna. He smiled, she had come. He knew Jenna was going through a praticularly hard time and he didn't get to see her at all. He didn't get to talk to her often enough or even wish her a happy birthday.

Sam noticed Scorpius arrive to and he gave him a wave but he stayed talking to Jenna. He shrugged lightly, like Sam, Scorpius had probably not talked to Jenna in a while and he decided to give them a bit of space. Although he thought it was a little odd that he didn't acknowledge Taylor at all, not a hug nor a smile. Nothing. Sam looked back at Taylor and gave her a quick smile. Next to arrive was Hoshi and Sam who was usually awful at reading people noticed immediate changes in Hoshi. Firstly she was wearing clothes very unlike 'Hoshi' and she hadn't squeezed him into a huge hug like she did, everytime. Maybe he was just imagining things, "Hey! Hoshi, glad you could come." He nodded his head deciding to just let it go, "How're things?" He asked as he causally ran his hand through his hair.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor let out a small laugh, being in the presence of Sam making her feel a little better. "That's true." She admitted. She too was glad she had made the team, it would make for a mighty fine distraction from her thoughts and life in general. There was no better way to get rid of bad feelings than throwing them into a competition. Taylor saw Sam wave and she turned her head to see Scorpius, the 'little better' that Sam had made her feel drowned somewhere deep in the pit of her stomach. She thought she noticed a grin on Knight's face and it made her heart clench painfully. It doesn't seem like this has hurt him at all. Taylor thought sadly. Of course it hasn't, he broke up with you remember? Her brain cruelly reminded her. Taylor then shook her head. Quit feeling sorry for yourself! Your a Gryffindor, start acting like one! She mentally scolded herself as she looked back at Sam to catch his smile. She then briefly wondered if Scorpius had told him yet. They were best friends after all.

Taylor turned at another familiar voice, she tried another smile, but couldn't quite manage this one. "Hey Hoshi." She said in what she hoped was a cheerful tone. She noticed the change in Hoshi. What had happened to her usual Goth clothes? Her hair was still as bright as ever, but there was something distinctly different about this Hoshi.

 

[Hoshi Icchihara]

The display between Knight and Jenna was enough to make Hoshi fight to not wrinkle her nose. Flirting and romance where such a waist of time in her book though it was fun to leave a boy hanging every once in while. She looked at Taylor and Sam with the brightest smile on her face. "Oh things have been great though events beyond my control kept me from trying out on a more permanent position on the Quidditch team for Slytherin. Still it looks strong but no where near strong enough to beat the illustrious Gryffendor Seeker." She said, her smile warm and friendly.

It had been drilled into her how to smile with all her heart yet feeling nothing for anyone. Hoshi wanted nothing more than to go back to the castle and see where she was going to get info next. She stayed though even though the sad eyes of Taylor where starting to make her sick. Inside 'Hoshi' was trying to fight her chains again but yet again 'young Ms. Koshiba' was strong and getting even stronger. This was what her father didn't count on. The entity that lived inside Hoshi which had been locked away by her fun-loving nature.

 

[Sam Prince]

"Events beyond my control...." What is that supposed to mean? Sam wondered to himself although he didn't look into it any further, prehaps it was just a fancy way of saying she was way behind on school stuff? He doubted it, things had definitely changed in Hoshi, he wasn't sure if he liked the changes or not. Zoning back from his thoughts, Sam looked over at Taylor as Hoshi called her an 'illustrious Gryffindor Seeker', "I'm not sure would I call her illustrious..." He said as his facial features changed to an 'in thought' expression. After a couple of seconds of silence he cracked one of his winning smiles, "...mediocre maybe?" He trailed off cheekily. He was just joking with her of course, Taylor was an excellent seeker and illustrious was probably the best word to describe her.

"So how about some butterbeer?" Sam asked them rubbing his hands together quickly, he looked at both Hoshi and Taylor and then Jennifer and Scorpius who were still chatting. "Eh! You two! Care to join us for some butterbeer?" He shouted over to them, cupping his hand around his eye once more. Sam was dying for some butterbeer even if Jenn and Scorpius didn't join them, he was going to open up one anyway.

 

[Scorpius Knight]

Scorpius smiled when Jenn seemed happy that he remembered her birthday. "Of course I did!" he said to her with a grin, although he had been a bit too busy to actually visit her on the day it didn't mean he hadn't remembered. He smiled down at Jenn as she asked if he was going to meet her afterward and nodded his head as he said, "Of course," and gave her a hug once more. He wasn't ready to face Taylor and Sam yet, so he kept hugging Jenn but when he heard Sam yelling at them to call them over, he knew he couldn't avoid them any longer.

He chuckled to himself as he looked at Jenn and said, "Ready?" with a nervous smile. He had forgotten that people didn't know about him and Taylor breaking up, so him being nervous to face them was probably weird for them all. Afterward Scorpius shoved his hands in his pockets and walked up to the rest of the group, smiling when he saw his purple-haired friend whom he hadn't seen in a while either. "Hey guys," he greeted them all with a huge grin, faking it well. He hoped this general greeting would suffice so that people wouldn't notice that he didn't hug Taylor. His grey eyes looked at her momentarily but quickly swept over her as if he hadn't seen her because it hurt too much to look at her right now. Instead he focused on Sam right beside her, "Happy birthday mate!" he said to him with a clap on the shoulder.

He then turned to Hoshi and said, "Hey long time no see stranger," with a small smirk on his face. He then mentally wanted to slap himself for having greeted them personally because now it would be painfully obvious that he had skipped over Taylor. He bit his scarred lip momentarily before finally looking at her and saying, "Hey Taylor," with a calm smile. His gaze didn't linger on her long though, as he looked to Jenn for comfort and distraction instead.

 

[Jennifer Wilkonson]

Jennifer hadn't expected Scorpius' hug but enjoyed it none the less, her moment of euphoria was destroyed when Sam called out to the two best friends and she pulled away from the warmth of her friend's arms wrapped around her waist. She looked back over the Taylor and Sam, noticing only now that Hoshi had joined the group.

As a nervous smile strode onto Scorpius' lips, Jennifer quirked an eyebrow upwards in curiosity then rolled her eyes to herself, assuming she had read him incorrectly. She followed him closely and faked a large smile as she approached the group. While he greeted Sam, Jenn said, "Hey Taylor, Hoshi, how is it going?" She went to hug Hoshi but she noticed something wrong, what she wasn't certain but when Scorpius looked over at her for comfort, she knew that there was something wrong. "Scorpius?" she asked quietly as her eyebrows pushed together in confusion.

Jenn gave Scorpius a grave look that told him they would talk about it later, before moving over to Sam and hugging him with a false, wide smile. "Happy Birthday Sammy!" she said brightly. She pulled away and handed him his birthday present. "Now where is my Butterbeer?" she asked playfully, just in the manner she normally would but she wasn't truly feeling the words spoken.

 

[Leia Evans]

Leia was up in her dorm room sitting on her bed trying to wrap Sam's gift up as fast as possible. After she finally got the gold wrapping paper to look perfect over the box that contained a new Broomstick Cleaning Kit for Sam, Leia bounced up and hurried to get ready. She didn't know how she had remembered Sam's birthday was coming up but thought it might've been the fact that it was so close to her own birthday. A small pang of sorrow tugged at her heartstrings as she remembered her former best friend Noah and the fact that they had the same birthday as well, celebrating it together last year. That reminded Leia of how long they hadn't talked, and it had all been her fault because she yelled at him telling him that he didn't really like her.

Shaking those thoughts out of her head, Leia knew she was going to be late, so she was frantically running around her room, trying to figure out what to wear. Right now Leia was in that stage where she didn't know what her 'look' was. She had grown up around her famous fashion designer mother who made her dress in these elegant dresses or at least look polished and innocent, but personally Leia preferred a more grungy, sometimes boho chic look so she was torn between how to dress lately. Finally deciding upon a black and white printed shirt and high-waisted jean skirt with thin blue suspenders, the Veela girl didn't even bother with her mane of dark brown hair leaving it loose and wild as she shoved her small feet into some colorful high top sneakers. She nearly forgot the gift so as she was exiting the dorm, had to run back and get it, cursing herself because she was going to be late.

The Hufflepuff girl had ran all the way down the steps and out to the castle, but as soon as she got to the lawn, she stopped running and starting walking at a normal pace. Despite the fact that she had just been running at full speed and was somewhat out of breath, she looked flawless, every imperfection in her hair perfectly placed where it was supposed to be. The Veela girl bit her lip as she approached the oak tree where Sam had said he was going to be, noticing that there was a small crowd around him. All of Sam's other friends.

Leia gulped lightly, not knowing any of them, and was tempted to turn back, but didn't. She approached Sam with her gift held limply in her hands and she looked around hoping she wasn't interrupting anyone. "Hey Sam, happy birthday!" she said to him simply in her musical voice. She handed over the gold-wrapped gift to him afterward and smiled up at him. "Sorry I'm late," she added apologetically.

 

[Sam Prince]

Sam smiled to Scorpius as he clapped him on the shoulder and wished him a happy birthday, "Thanks." He nodded to him. Normally Sam wouldn't really notice these things but he was quite aware of things today and he noticed there was something very odd about Scorpius and Taylor. Jen seemed to be on the 'same page' as Sam was when she asked Scorpius in a confused tone. However it seemed Jen was going to let it slip and instead hugged him. Sam hugged her back, it was something he hadn't done in such a long time. "Awh! You didn't have to get me anything!" Sam exclaimed quite annoyed at the fact that she went and got him something yet he didn't even get to wish her a Happy Birthday.

"Butterbeer! Right." He said happily, wondering if maybe he just picked up the wrong signals with Scorpius and Tayor. Sam bent over to get the Butterbeers and as he did so he heard the musical voice that was ever so familiar. "Leia!" Sam said brightly and straightened up, "You came!" he said before guiltily taking the present from her. "Thanks Leia." He said sincerely before turning around to the rest of his friends, "Oh if you didn't get it already this is Leia. Leia this is everyone!" He said reaching down to get the bottles of butterbeer once more. He passed the bottles around to everyone while waiting for them to introduce themselves to her, at least it was breaking the tension that was there even if Sam didn't know why it as there in the first place.

 

[Taylor Mercer]

Taylor's mouth lifted into a small smile at Hoshi's compliment, no matter how down she felt, she could never object to compliments. She raised her eyebrow at Sam and punched him lightly on the arm for his cheekiness before looking back to Hoshi. "Thanks." She said with a small laugh, hoping that maybe if Scorpius stayed over with Jenna, Taylor would be able to act reasonably normal.

Her hopes were squashed as Sam called him over. Taylor kept her eyes averted, already feeling her chest tighten. It wasn't until he arrived and said hi that Taylor lifted her eyes to look at him. She instantly regretted it, the huge smile on his face tore her apart. He then went around to each person and greeted them individually, Taylor feared for a moment that he would miss her out. But once the words had actually come out of his mouth, she wished that maybe he had ignored her. "Hey." She said shakily, a sad smile touching her face for only a moment before falling away. She then turned and gave Jenna a nod in greeting, not trusting herself to speak. Taylor hadn't expected today to be this hard.

It wasn't long before another girl approached the group, one Taylor didn't recognise. It was then that Sam introduced her as Leia and Taylor gave the girl a small wave of her hand, hoping she didn't appear too glum.