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"I missed this place. It never ceases to amaze me." Charlie admitted after stepping out of Flourish and Blotts.
All of the Weasley children, excluding Percy, decided to join Gwen's birthday celebration/shopping spree. It didn't take much convincing, they all wanted to celebrate the day and enjoy their brother's company.
Diagon Alley remained the same as last year. Always full of life and busy people rushing around. A perfect mixture of magic and chaos.
"You say that it amazes you yet you're the one working with dragons." Ron quipped. His eyes were stuck on the broomstick on display, practically drooling. Charlie grasped his shoulder and pulled him away.
"I haven't seen anything compared to you. Three years at Hogwarts and you've managed to almost kill yourself at four different times." Charlie said.
Ginny tugged on Gwen's arm, instantly pulling her attention away from the amusing conversation. "Can we go to Florean Fortescue? It's quite hot today." Gwen looked at the ice-cream shop and her mouth immediately started watering at the thought of dessert.
Ron didn't wait for anyone's response and walked towards it. "Looks like Ron decided for us." Ginny followed seemingly forgetting that she was supposed to get an answer to the question she asked.
Gwen didn't say anything. Instead, she gave Charlie her best puppy dog eyes, a silent plea to allow them to go. Charlie shrugged in response. "Birthday girl gets what the birthday girl wants. You five go ahead, I'll meet you in half an hour."
"Thank you, Charlie. Come on, double trouble." She turned to the twins and grabbed the closest one's hand, Fred, and pulled him along with her.
The line in the shop was long, but thankfully, Ron and Ginny were already in line and held a spot for them.
The shop was quite a small one, but the bright colours of the multitudes of different ice cream quickly got anyone and everyone's attention. "What will you have?" Fred asked curiously as he looked perplexed at what to get.
Gwen eyed the ice cream. Whenever she finished the shop, she would try to choose a different flavour each time. "I think peanut butter and apple?" Gwen pulled at her bottom lip as she wondered whether the two flavours would go together.
Fred hummed in response. "That sounds good. At least you didn't pick any disgusting flavours like liquorice." Fred pointed to a container filled with dark ice cream. Gwen visibly appalled at the content and reminded herself that that's what she tastes whenever she kisses her boyfriend.
"Everyone has their pleasures." She replied causing George to raise an eyebrow. "I think that's called a kink-" Fred quickly clasped his mouth shut. "Our thirteen-year-old sister is right in front of us." Fred hissed. George glared and before they knew it, Fred pulled away in disgust as the former licked his hand.
"Do any of you have money on you?" Ron asked. The line was getting shorter and they were the next to order. "I'll get it." Gwen offered as she went to open her bag. Fred quickly stopped her. "Are you mental? It's your birthday, you're not paying."
Gwen was about to argue back before another voice interrupted. "Your birthday, you say?" Gwen's head whipped towards the man behind the counter, Florean Fortescue himself who sported a wide smile and bright yellow robes.
"Are you five together?" The Weasleys and Gwen nodded. "Then have whatever you want on the house." Gwen frowned. "Thank you so much, Mr Fortescue, but I can't accept."
"You can't but you will. Please, consider it as a stranger's kindness." Florean explained as he took Ron's order.
When it was Gwen's turn, Florean looked at her hesitantly as she ordered. "You're Clementine and Wendell's daughter, aren't you?"
The mention of their names almost made her heart stop. "I am. Did you know them?" Gwen asked curiously. She didn't know much about her parents. They died when she was too young to remember, and Sebastian, who did remember them, refused to even bring them up.
"Not quite well, but I spoke to them a few times. They were nice people. And you look a lot like your mother, it would be impossible to miss the resemblance." Florean explained as he scooped up some ice cream. "Your brother, Laurence also popped in a handful of times. He would always order two scoops of butterbeer and one toffee."
A thought dawned on her at that very moment. The fact that a stranger knew her parents more than she left her with a sad, unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"He did love toffee," Gwen replied weakly. Florean handed her the cup of ice cream. "I apologize if I went out of line, Ms Hamilton," Florean said as a look of remorse flickered across his face. Gwen waved the apology away. "There's no need, sir. Thank you for sharing your memories of them, and the ice cream." Gwen said as she pointed to the cup.
Ron and Ginny were already seated in a shaded corner outside the shop. She joined them and quickly dug in her ice cream.
"Do you have anywhere else to go?" Ginny asked curiously. "I thought I'd go to the Magical Menagerie. I need to buy a bigger travelling cage for Atlas." Gwen stated.
"Oh, that reminds me, mum told us to get a proper cage for your new owl. She said that we need to take better care of him, not like you did with Scabbers. " Ginny explained much to Gwen's surprise. Gwen turned to Ron for an explanation. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did Crookshanks really, well, you know?"
Ron visibly paled and looked down at his ice cream to avoid eye contact. "He, um, he is- was, old anyway. He didn't have much to live for. And he was quite the ugly thing."
Gwen frowned at Ron. Compared to the big fuss he made when he thought that Scabbers died, he didn't seem much too bothered about it.
"Well, I don't know about you but good riddance."
"Ginny!"
"What? He was so boring and useless. All he did was stare and eat. No wonder Ron liked him so much." Ginny explained. She offered Gwen some of her ice cream to taste and in turn, Gwen offered hers.
"Are we making fun of Ronald?"
"We came here right on time!"
Fred and George finally joined the rest much to Ron's disliking. Fred took no time in claiming the seat beside Gwen as his and draped an arm over her shoulders.
"So, birthday girl, what's your plan for today?" Fred asked. He didn't even bother taking a bite of his ice cream before he helped himself to Gwen's. But Gwen didn't notice. She was more focused on Fred's arm.
"I, uh. I want to get a new cage for Atlas and check the Quidditch shop." Gwen replied.
"Not going to splurge? It is your sixteenth birthday after all." George continued.
"Nice of you to join the rest of us, junior," Fred said as he ruffled Gwen's hair. "Hey! Don't ruin it!" Gwen said as she playfully swatted away Fred's hands.
"I may be younger than both of you, but you both know that I'm mentally more mature." Gwen jokingly replied. "I'm not even going to argue with that," George stated. "Now, let's go get you your cage."
Once the five were ready, they decided to separate. Ron, Ginny, and George went to Eeylops while Fred and Gwen went to the Magical Menagerie.
"So many cats." Gwen breathed out happily as she felt a cat nuzzle her leg. She leaned down to pet the cat noticing from the tail that she was half kneazle.
"Don't tell me you're going to turn into a cat lady. You and Diggory not working out?" Fred said, half-joking. "Fred, I'm sixteen. Marriage is the last thing I'm thinking about." Gwen said with a chuckle.
Gwen walked deeper into the store to find the cages. "We said we'd get married once, remember?" Fred said. Gwen smiled. "Yeah, it was after I had my heartbroken for the first time."
"By Oliver."
"Not by Oliver." It was indeed because of Oliver, but Fred didn't need to know that.
"Look! Crups!" Much to her amusement, Fred sprinted towards the pen where a litter of seven cruppies were kept. They all were excited to see new people and started wagging their forked tails.
"They're so small," Fred stated as he sat down cross-legged in front of them. "Huh, so George is a cat person and you're a dog person," Gwen noted. Fred turned to her with a peaceful smile and Gwen subconsciously smiled back."Well, we're not exactly alike, you know."
"Trust me, I know that. That's why I prefer George over you." Fred gasped dramatically. "First you prefer Charlie, now George. Where am I placed on your Weasley ranking list?"
Gwen pretended to think about it for a while. "Including your parents? I'd place you at seventh place." Fred gave her a playful glare before Gwen punched his shoulder gently. "I'm joking, you're in my top three."
Fred shrugged. "I'll take it." He said goodbye at the cruppies before standing up.
"Let's get that cage."
Fred and Gwen were finished before the rest. From the corner of her eye, Gwen could see a very familiar shop.
"Hey, let's go to Madam Malkin's," Gwen said as she tugged on Fred's arm. Fred raised an eyebrow when he saw what she was referring to. "Bloody hell. No! You promised me that you'll never force me to go shopping with you." Fred exclaimed as he frantically shook his head.
Gwen scowled at him. "My brother's girlfriend works there. I just want to say hello." That statement calmed Fred down greatly and he gave in.
Madam Malkin's was not very busy at that time of day, thankfully. The occasional inch tape or a piece of fabric floated through the air causing Gwen to duck once in a while.
Eliza was in the corner of the room, working on a piece of shiny, golden fabric. She felt someone looking at her and her head shot up. She smiled once she noticed Gwen, pushing her work out of sight before going to hug Gwen.
"This is a surprise! Happy Birthday!" Eliza exclaimed happily. "Wait, how did you know?" Gwen asked.
"Your brother told me, of course. I just saw him yesterday. Don't tell him that I told you but he got quite a spectacular gift for you." Eliza chuckled as she winked at Gwen.
"Really?"
"Of course! He said that he'll visit you later today. Did you think that he forgot?" Eliza said as a frown fell on her beautiful face.
Gwen didn't say anything. Truthfully, she didn't think that he forgot rather that he didn't care.
"No, I didn't doubt that. He's just been busy." Gwen settled and tried not to say anything else.
Eliza nodded silently. She felt bad that Gwen even had to question simple things like these. Were things between the two so rocky that Gwen had to doubt whether or not Sebastian cared about her birthday?
Eliza's eyes fell on Fred who was looking awkwardly around the room. "Is that your boyfriend, Gwen?" Eliza asked. Gwen and Fred shared a quick look before turning back to Eliza.
"Not exactly. Fred Weasley, all-time best friend." Fred said with a grin. Gwen sighed. "He says that. I'm stuck with him."
"You love me."
"Whatever helps you sleep at night."
Eliza looked between the two with a raised eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Did you need something specific?" Eliza asked. Gwen shook her head. "Not really, I just wanted to drop in and say hello."
"Speaking of which, we better go. We need to meet with Charlie and the others in a few minutes." Fred said as he looked at the clock on the wall beside them.
"Goodbye then, Eliza. I hope that I'll see you soon."
After bidding their goodbyes, Fred and Gwen left the shop and met up with the rest of the Weasleys. Charlie was back from his errands and was holding a small box in his hands.
"I swear if that bloody owl keeps hooting after all the stuff we bought him, I'll cook him for dinner." Ron muttered to Ginny. Gwen thought back to the small yet adorable new owl that the Weasleys now had. Pigwidgeon, Ginny called him. The poor soul.
"Let's move on, shall we?" Charlie asked brightly as he looped his arm with Gwen's. "Do you still support the Montrose Magpies? Because I saw something at Quality Quidditch Supplies that you'll love!"
Gwen barely had time to respond when Charlie practically skipped across Diagon Alley with the rest hurrying to catch up.
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The Weasleys and Gwen spent a couple more hours in Diagon Alley. It was different from the other times she had visited for her yearly school shopping. There were fewer people and Gwen didn't feel the usual impending school stress.
When they arrived back at the Burrow, the sky was already turning dark and slight breezes were felt every once in a while despite the heat.
"Merlin, my feet ache," Ron stated. Charlie was apparating them all one by one, leaving and reappearing every couple of seconds. Ron was the last to be picked up, much to his dismay.
"Sorry, Ron. At least the day is over and we can rest." Gwen apologised as she rearranged her bags. Fred, George and Ginny, who were the first that apparated were nowhere in sight, seemingly having already entered the house.
"Move it, you two. You don't want the gnomes to get you." Charlie stated as he pushed them towards the house.
The Burrow was oddly quiet and Gwen knew what was going to happen. She couldn't count how many times Ginny almost let it slip. Still, she didn't want to spoil anything and decided to go along with it.
As soon as she entered she heard people screaming 'Happy Birthday' and felt confetti fall over her face. The home was decorated colourfully in scarlet red and gold.
What excited Gwen most of all was the familiar face with a wide grin. Without hesitation, Gwen ran into her brother's arms. Sebastian looked tired and was still in his dishevelled work clothes, but he was there nonetheless.
When she pulled away, she looked at all the Weasleys with a smile and thanked them profusely. "This is amazing, you didn't have to do this!" Gwen exclaimed.
"Oh, it gets better." Mr Weasley said. "We set up outside, that's where the real party is." Gwen couldn't say anything and lucky she didn't have to as Ginny pulled her outside.
The sight was amazing. A long table was set up and the backyard was lit up by a bunch of tiny white lights that were hung in the trees. In the centre of the table was a gigantic cake and Gwen's mouth fell open at the sight of it.
"Is that- Helios' sun chariot?!" Gwen exclaimed as she ran closer to inspect it. "It is. It took some time to make, and a lot of help was needed. But Fred didn't want the cake to be anything but this. Said you'd love it if it was something mythology related." Mrs Weasley explained to Gwen, clearly proud of her creation.
"Thank you, Mrs Weasley. And thank you, Fred." Gwen added as she gestured towards the cake. Fred waved her off but Gwen kissed his cheek gratefully.
"Shall we open the gifts first? I have a feeling you'll enjoy mine." Sebastian stated as he winked at Gwen. Gwen raised her eyebrows in curiosity. Even Eliza mentioned that the gift was amazing, she wondered what it could be.
"No! We need to take some pictures first!" Ginny stated as she hopped up and down. Gwen shrugged, not caring about the order of things. She was already beyond happy.
It took them around twenty minutes to take all the pictures with the camera that Charlie had brought with him. Even Percy had no choice but to take a picture of Gwen, but at least he didn't make a lot of fuss.
Ginny and Gwen were the last pair to take a picture before they decided to take one altogether. An argument took place on who had to sacrifice themselves to take the picture without them in it and Percy was the one who decided to volunteer.
The picture popped out of the camera slowly and Percy handed it to Gwen who smiled at the moving picture. Sebastian looked at it from over her shoulder. "I can keep it safe for now. Your dress doesn't have any pockets anyway." Gwen handed over the picture to Sebastian who slipped it into his breast pocket.
"Now, let's open those presents!" Sebastian yelled and the Weasleys cheered in excitement. Soon enough they were gathered around the table and they each handed Gwen their gifts.
She got a knitted sweater from Mrs Weasley. This time it had no letter on it and was in the nice shade of lilac. Ginny gave her a stack of Quidditch magazines, each describing all the Quidditch matches of that year's World Cup.
Charlie, ever the eccentric man that he is, gave her a small moving Orrery, showing the solar system. It was something that Gwen never knew she needed but was astonished by nevertheless. Then there was Fred and George who gifted her with a book called the 'Odyssey'. They claimed that they had no clue what it was about, but it was hard to find and the shopkeeper said that Gwen would undoubtedly enjoy it.
It was Sebastian's turn at last and the man went back to the house and came back holding a rectangular box. With a blinding grin, Sebastian placed it on the table in front of Gwen and the rest looked on curiously.
"Well, go on, don't be shy," Seb reassured as he nudged Gwen gently towards the parcel. Gwen decided to cut everyone out of their misery and tore the silver wrapping paper gently.
Finally rid of the paper, Gwen opened the box. At first, she wasn't sure what she was exactly looking at, but when she noticed her eyes almost popped out of her head.
"My Godric. I can't believe it." Pulling it out, the Weasleys looked in awe at the shimmering fabric. "Blimey, that's an invisibility cloak!" Charlie stated as he let out a huff of air.
"It's made of demiguise hair, and some extra enchantments were placed so it will take a long time to wear out," Sebastian exclaimed. Gwen couldn't say anything and instead opted for taking a better look at the cloak.
She covered her hand with the fabric and right before her eyes her hand was no longer visible. "This- this-" Gwen tried to finish her sentence but Sebastian cut her off. "That is exactly what a future Auror needs."
Gwen pulled Sebastian into a hug, allowing actions to show how grateful she truly was. Fred and George didn't hesitate to ask Gwen for a go to Mrs Weasley's horror. They managed to use it for a good solid minute before Mrs Weasley called for dinner.
After eating and cutting the cake, Gwen sat down with a plate filled with the dessert. She started digging into it when Fred joined her.
The rest of the party were all talking and joking together as the faint sound of the Weird Sisters' latest song was playing on the radio.
"Did you plan all this?" Gwen finally asked after swallowing the food in her mouth. Fred nodded his head sheepishly. "Of course I did. You deserved an incredible day."
Gwen laughed. "Incredible is an understatement. This was phenomenal, spectacular. I wish I had a thesaurus so that I could find more complicated words."
"Don't worry about it. It was nothing." Fred continued as he angled his body to face hers' better. Gwen scoffed as she looked into Fred's eyes. "Don't sell yourself short. It means everything to me."
Fred visibly gulped as he felt himself getting warmer. "Well, you mean everything to me, Gwen." That caught Gwen off-guard and as she was about to say something, she was cut short.
All of a sudden, an owl appeared with a letter in its beak. Gwen thought that it must have been for the Weasleys since she couldn't recognise it but the owl landed in front of Sebastian.
Sebastian had no idea what it was either as he grabbed the letter in confusion. He read through it hastily and his eyes widened with every word he read.
When he finally finished, his eyes shot up and met Gwen's. "Someone has broken into the manor."
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