A Royal Birthday
Ophelia was woken up at six o’clock in the morning by her window slamming shut. It had been a hot night, so Ophelia had taken a while to drop off to sleep in the first place, but the window had just been slammed shut by a sudden gust of wind.
She snuggled further under her quilt which she had been sleeping under instead of her duvet, as it was lighter and therefore easier to sleep under on a hot night. She was just starting to drop off back to sleep when she heard some mutterings. She had very keen hearing being a half werewolf, so whenever was whispering in the next room, she could hear them as clear as day.
‘Where did you say her room was Harry?’ whispered a voice that she thought might be Fred.
‘Behind the bookcase,’ whispered Harry.
‘Of course she lives behind a ruddy bookcase,’ groaned George as he and Ron tried to move the bookcase.
‘For Merlin’s sake,’ muttered Ginny pulling out the book which magically swung the bookcase open to reveal the wall behind, and she then turned the seashell on the wall to get up to Ophelia’s bedroom.
Ophelia propped herself up in bed, wondering what in the world Harry, Ron, Fred, George and Ginny could want in her bedroom at a quarter past six in the morning.
‘Shh!’ whispered Harry, ‘don’t wake up Ophelia, it’s supposed to be a surprise.’
Ophelia turned on her lanterns in the ceiling by pointing at them, and Harry blinked at her in the lamplight as he saw that Ophelia was wide awake.
‘Forget all about the surprise then,’ said Fred folding his arms.
‘I wonder why we even bother,’ agreed George.
‘You’re already up?’ asked Harry.
Ophelia smirked and tapped her ears.
‘Werewolf hearing,’ groaned Ron.
‘I told you idiots you were being too loud,’ said Ginny shaking her head.
‘Happy birthday Ophelia,’ laughed Ginny hugging Ophelia.
‘Thanks Gin,’ Ophelia whispered.
‘The party starts at seven,’ said Harry.
‘Oh, and you need to wear this,’ said Ron leaving a clothes bag by Ophelia’s wardrobe as they all left.
Why would Ron care what she was wearing she wondered as she dropped back off to sleep.
She got another half an hours sleep, and woke up at a quarter to seven. She stretched and went over to her wardrobe to see what this mysterious outfit could be. She pulled the clothes bag down, and unzipped it and lay the bag down on her bed.
There was a peasant styled dress, with a cream top with a white collar, a black corset and a brown full skirt with petticoats underneath. It was a beautiful dress, but she had no idea why she had to wear it. She pulled it on and managed to lace up her corset with her wand using the same spell her Dad had taught her to tie her shoes.
There was also a thick black velvet headband which she put in her hair, leaving her hair down and went downstairs, wondering what in the world was going on.
When she got downstairs, she went through to the kitchen where she could smell the delicious smell of pancakes. Hope was bustling around the kitchen, making enough strawberry pancakes to feed a small army.
‘Morning Granny!’ beamed Ophelia hugging Hope.
‘Good morning Cariad,’ said Hope hugging her back, ‘Happy Birthday darling.’
‘Thanks Granny.’
‘You look even more beautiful than normal,’ said Hope, ‘your friends are in the sitting room waiting for you.’
She walked through to the sitting room, and found the large pile of presents by the fireplace, and all her friends gathered. But that was the only thing that was normal. The presents were all wrapped in light pink and purple wrapping paper. There were handmade decorations around the room, which Luna and Remus had clearly been up all night making including bunting which had roses, seashells, apples and glass slippers drawn on them. They were throwing her a Disney Princess birthday party, and she was being Sleeping Beauty!
The strangest part though, was that everyone was wearing costumes! Luna had come as Cinderella in a blue ball gown, and see through shoes. Felicity with her dark hair was wearing a Snow White costume, complete with a red ribbon as a hairband. Ginny was jumping around, because her legs were stuck together as she was wearing a green mermaid tail and a purple bikini top. Even Hermione was here wearing a gold ball gown as she was Belle.
The boys had had to get creative though, as there were so many of them, and not as many characters. Some of them were just wearing themed t-shirts, Stefan and Percy for example were wearing matching shirts with cartoon Sebastian and Flounder on them.
Quite a few of them had come as princes as it wasn’t too difficult. Cedric had come as Prince Florian, and Neville had come as prince Philip, and Harry had come as prince Eric as he already had the dark hair, and all her had to wear was white shirt and black trousers. Rolf had come as Prince Charming, despite his red hair so that he could be Luna’s prince for the day.
Ron for some reason seemed to be wearing a werewolf mask, Fred and George had come as Flotsam and Jetsam the electric eels from The Little Mermaid, and Richard was wearing a t-shirt with Lumiere on it.
The best costume prize though definitely had to go to Lyall. Remus and Hope hadn’t dressed up, but Lyall had come as King Triton including a long white beard, and wig, a trident, and a mermaid tail.
Ophelia looked around in awe, as he realized how much effort her friends had put into her birthday.
‘Happy Birthday!’ they all screamed as she walked in.
‘Happy Birthday Princess,’ said Remus hugging her.
‘Thanks Daddy,’ she whispered, giggling.
‘Happy Birthday Briar,’ said Neville taking Ophelia’s hand in his and kissing it lightly.
Why are we having a Disney Princess party? Wrote Ophelia on her whiteboard. You guys always say that you hate those films.
‘We don’t hate Disney Princesses,’ said Harry, ‘we just prefer other films sometimes.’
‘We wanted to throw you a Disney Princess party before you got too old to enjoy it,’ said Felicity.
‘You’ve put up with countless Quidditch parties for us,’ pointed out Cedric, ‘so you deserve a princess party.’
‘Neville, Ginny and Luna did most of the work though,’ said Fred.
You guys are literally the best! Wrote Ophelia, and I love all the costumes.
‘My Mum told me how lovely I looked this morning and asked me I don’t dress like this all the time,’ said Felicity rolling her eyes and pulling at the full skirt and petticoat under her Snow White costume.
Mrs. Fawcett had used to dress Felicity in frilly dresses with matching pinafores when she was younger, because she wanted Felicity to look nice. Felicity still dressed nicely now as she was quite a girly girl, usually a skirt and a top or a dress, but there was no way she was wearing a corset and petticoat every day.
‘It’s actually kind of fun wearing this,’ said Ginny hopping around in her mermaid tail, ‘it makes a nice change from walking properly.’
‘You have no idea how much you owe me,’ said Richard folding his arms.
Richard was black and would have frizzy almost afro like hair if he didn’t cut it so short. He was wearing a Lumiere t-shirt, and he knew that if he was at home in East London, he would never live it down.
‘You’re hardly even wearing a costume Price,’ chuckled Rolf.
Quick question, what is Ron supposed to be? Wrote Ophelia.
‘I’m the Beast,’ said Ron from beneath the werewolf mask, ‘I can’t see anything, but I still look good!’ he added putting his thumbs up.
Hope brought though enough strawberry pancakes for everyone, and Ophelia’s pancakes had strawberry’s cut into tiny hearts. After breakfast it was time for presents.
‘The first present isn’t actually wrapped,’ said Luna.
She pulled out a dozen tiaras made from tinfoil, cardboard and tiny jewel stickers.
‘You get first pick as it’s your birthday,’ said Ginny.
‘They’re perfect,’ whispered Ophelia hugging Ginny and Luna. She went for a tinfoil tiara with pink jewel stickers and replaced her headband with it.
The other girls put on their tiaras, and even some of the boys, including Remus.
‘You’ll want to open these first,’ said Lyall passing Ophelia a small box.
Why? Wrote down Ophelia.
‘Just open them,’ said Stefan who was seriously regretting what was in that box already.
She took off the wrapping paper carefully, not wanting to ruin the pretty floral paper, and found a box of video tapes. She already had The Little Mermaid, but she now also had Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. She usually had to wait to watch these films when they came on the television, but now she could watch them whenever she wanted.
A lot of the presents as usual were sweets or books.
Harry Ron and Hermione had put her together a Disney Princess movie watching pack, which included several large bags of popcorn, a pair of purple fluffy slippers, a bag of chocolate toffees, and of course, a spare tiara.
Rolf and gotten her a new diary, which was white leather, and had pink roses on the cover as Sleeping Beauty was her favorite princess. Richard gave her a copy of Oliver Twist, as she had enjoyed A Christmas Carol, and he loved Charles Dickens.
‘I want to go next!’ Ginny said after a while.
‘Luna and I’s presents are kind of matching,’ said Ginny passing her a fairly large, and quite heavy box.
She took the lid off the box and found several cartons of Florian and Fortescue’s never melt ice cream, but the packaging had been taken off and replaced. Luna and Ginny had painted new covers for the ice cream cartons with Disney themed names such as Snow White’s Deliciously Tempting Caramel Apple, and Aurora’s Pretty in Pink Strawberry.
Under the ice cream, were a dozen cans of muggle soda in different flavors also with Disney Princess themed packaging such as Cinderella’s Crystal Clear Lemonade, Sebastian’s Caribbean Crush.
‘Happy Birthday Kiddo,’ said Stefan passing her a present from him and Percy. They had given her a book on magical royalty, about members of royal families from around the world that had actually secretly been witches and wizards.
Neville passed her a small box, and bit his lip hoping that she’d like it. She opened the box, and found a necklace, with a small glass rose charm, which was a light pink.
‘It’s gorgeous!’ she whispered hugging Neville.
Neville beamed as he put it on her.
‘It changes color too,’ said Neville, ‘just say make it blue.’
‘Make it blue,’ she whispered giggling. The glass charm, changed to a light blue as she said it.
‘You really pay far too much attention during Disney films Neville,’ said Richard shaking his head, but also impressed.
Hope and Lyall had gotten her a pink dress like Aurora wore in the film, so that she could wear the princess version of Aurora’s outfit when she wanted to. Which left just her present from Remus.
He passed her a box, and she opened it to find a silver charm bracelet with a number of charms. There was a bright red apple, a glass slipper, a pink rose, a purple seashell, and finally a book for Belle.
‘I love it,’ whispered Ophelia hugging Remus, ‘thank you Daddy.’
‘That’s quite alright princess,’ said Remus fastening the clasp and kissing her on the forehead.
Stefan loaded Snow White into the video player, and they all settled down to watch the films. Ophelia curled up next to Neville on the sofa, and he put his arm around her as they watched the films in chronological order.
‘Ron,’ said Hermione as they ate lunch in-between Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid.
‘Yeah?’ asked Ron who had taken off his werewolf mask so he could see properly, and also because he was getting too hot.
‘How do you and Harry know these films so well?’
‘What do you mean Hermione?’ asked Harry.
‘Well you know all the words,’ said Hermione, ‘and can sing all the songs.’
‘Well Ophelia watched them whenever they’re on the television when we were kids,’ said Harry.
‘I guess some of the time we’d join the Ginny, Luna and Ophelia as we had nothing else better to do,’ said Ron.
‘So it’s some kind of osmosis?’ said Hermione.
‘What’s osmosis?’ asked Ron.
‘Yes,’ mouthed Percy nodding his head at Hermione.
‘Trust me you haven’t seen anything yet,’ said Cedric, ‘Fred and George’s Sebastian voices are scarily realistic.’
Rolf looked confused. He had never watched any Disney films before, and so didn’t know how Sebastian was. The only way he knew how to dress as Prince Charming is because Luna had helped him get the costume.
The party like all good things, came to an end. Everyone took home pink party bags full of birthday cake, which had been in the shape of the castle from Sleeping Beauty and was far too big for the Lupin’s to eat through the leftovers on their own.
Neville and Ophelia were stood in the garden in the early evening. Frank was standing further down the garden talking with Remus as Frank had come to pick up Neville.
‘Did you have a nice birthday Briar?’ asked Neville tucking a lock of her think hair behind her ear.
‘Perfect,’ said Ophelia kissing Neville softly.
‘And thank you again for the necklace, it really is beautiful.’ Ophelia stroked her necklace which was currently the pale blue.
‘It’s alright,’ blushed Neville.
‘Happy birthday Ophelia,’ said Neville kissing her one last time before going home.
