her big twenty-ninth

For Lena, this was an amazing day. Sure, there were classes, but it was also something very important: her twenty-ninth half birthday. She had started this tradition when she was ten, when she decided that one birthday a year wasn't enough and she wanted more. At the time, she was staring at fractions, so she immediately settled on the thought of having a birthday every six months and she was fine with it.

Funny how that popped up in her favourite book, the main character having a half-birthday too. But the thing was, for Lena, the half birthdays were sacred, and she was the only one permitted to celebrate it in the comfort of her own mind.

So she decided to spend the evening at the Room of Requirement, flicking through one of the most beautiful books of all time: The Fault in Our Stars.

Startled, Lena immediately turned around when she heard a voice speak out to her. Her heart pounded, hoping for the life of her it was simply a friend and not an intruder that had secretly walked into this room to annoy her. Her heartbeat slowed a bit when she found it was just Anya. Lovable, caring, Anya, who kept Lena somewhat sane when she needed it, and provided her with a shoulder to cry on for the past three and a bit years.

"Hey!" she grinned. Her face fell when she asked, "How did you know it was my half-birthday today?" She then remembered how she would always act euphoric around that time, and they had a few parties on her half-birthdays too. "Oh, right," she replied, a blush caused by sheer embarrassment appearing on her face. "Yeah, it is!" she gleefully announced, now that her memory was somewhat restored, "and what wonderful half-birthdays they have been! Of course, for once, I'm not spending this one drunk."

She hugged her friend after she had given her a box of what was her present. It was the first time Lena had hugged anyone in what felt to be a very, very long time. "I'm so glad you're here!" she grinned, letting go of her friend, "and not just because of the presents, of course. Speaking of which..." She then looked at the present for a moment, and pursed her lips. She pressed her fingernail in the middle of the box and from there, she tore it slowly and gently apart. It revealed a box. And inside that box was a copy of The Fault in Our Stars. The Uchitel's face fell briefly for a brief moment, until she opened the covers.

It was an autographed copy of the book, signed specially by the author himself. The Sharpie pen was purple, and the Uchitel's face lit up again, her eyes clear for a second before changing back into midnight blue. Flipping to the back cover, the Uchitel gasped. On it was a few words of assurance and compliments all about her. And best of all, they covered up the entire page. They may not be from Rhys or Athena, let alone Timo, but they were compliments from her friends that she cared about and treasured, and she nearly broke down into tears. She turned to her best friend, whispering a rather quiet, "Thank you."

Lena gasped when Anya gave her a teal-coloured bracelet. She stared at the initials, then at Anya, and she burst into tears of joy. At the moment she wore it on her wrist, she knew they were friendship bracelets. "My dear Anyaschka!" she screamed, hugging her friend again, tighter this time, "y-you... you didn't have to..." She slowed down and tried to breathe. "Oh Merlin..." she heaved, "this... this is the best half-birthday ever!"

"Well..." Lena trailed off, acknowledging Anya's fact that she had celebrated it and then reliving those memories very briefly as flashes in her brain, "you're right. I just happen to have a very wayward memory that doesn't seem to function very well at times, that's all. Blame my weariness." She chuckled. "That's true; best friends remember everything there is to know about each other."

The Uchitel couldn't help but chuckle and gently flicked her hair back to where it should be, falling in a tumble on her back. "Of course not!" she grinned, going along with the joke. Her tone got serious when she next spoke, "I really am thinking of abstaining the vodka for a while," she announced in a firm tone.

Lena scoffed at Anya's comment. "I do not!" she wailed, "I love you as much as I love the presents." She paused for a while, "maybe more! Why on earth do you think I only love you because you give good presents? If that were true I would have left you ages ago, but I'm still here, aren't I?" She rolled her eyes, holding her friend even tighter than she swore she has in her entire life.

Lena nodded. "You kidding?" she shrieked, "I love it!"

Lora was quite surprised when she got invited by Le to her half twenty-ninth. Sure, they were close enough friends, but sometimes she got the feeling that the Uchitel wasn't exactly fond of her. Still, this was a happy occasion and she didn't want to ruin her mood by having such thoughts.

As she walked to the Room of Requirement, she hoped that Le would like the gift. It was a scrapbook filled with photos of all their friends, letters and some random owl messages with a lot of jokes. The photos were all of them laughing, shouting, most of which were taken untimely buy her Muggle and wizard camera. On the front cover was engraved, 'The Seven Devils,' in silver and black and a heart in the centre as well.

She smiled fondly as she saw Anya and Le and suddenly thought of Kait. "Happy half twenty-ninth, Le!" She greeted and grinned as she walked into the room. Giving her friend a big hug, she handed the gift over and said, "I really hope you like it. It may not be much, but I did give it my best."

Lena nodded. "Well, I agree with you," Lena began, chuckling in a playful tone. She then gasped as something crossed her mind. "What are we going to do for your birthday?" she asked, "I mean, we won't even be together..." She shook her head; such thoughts were not fussing over.

The blonde nodded, tucking a strand of hair behind her head. She noticed how excited Anya seemed to be, but it didn't bother her; the blonde had known for years Anya disliked her drinking and wanted her to stop it. "Yeah," she replied, "shocking, huh?"

Agreeing, the Uchitel nodded. "And you keep me from spiraling out of my sanity," she grinned, "that's why opposites attract, right?" She abruptly let Anya go, and pouted a large, fake one as she crossed her arms in mock anger. "Fine!" she snapped, "hug me back when you get more oxygen in your sorry excuse of a body!"

Lena greeted Lora as she came in, hugging her tightly as she could. She then took Lora's present gently, and she unwrapped it with as much care as she could. The words 'Seven Devils' stood out in silver and black, and she blinked back tears; that was the name she suggested she called themselves. Technically, there weren't seven of them, not anymore, but Lora had remembered and that was goo enough. "Thank you," she whispered.

Lora smiled in relief as Le accepted her gift. "You're welcome," she told in a soft voice and hugged her back once more. Even though she guessed it would have been a bad idea, she couldn't help but pictures of her friend and Rhys. To the Uchitel it may seem like a bad thing, but to her it was sign that she still had hope about the couple getting back together. And when that happened, the pictures would come in handy.

"Hey Anya!" She greeted back and hugged the Hrabrost with a grin. "So what were guys doing?"