Magnolia’s birthday for @4ever2000lover
Characters: @choccy-milky Clora @the-ozzie Millie @traceyc-uk New Fifth Year @siboom777 Sally @starryslytherin0 Cariad and Avania @dwightschrute11 Calypso @ethniee Inger and my @ravenwind-75 Johanna. @madebythe0cean Evelyn mentioned. Oh and I hope it’s ok @miss--soapy but we kidnapped Ashton.
Anyone else feel free to wish Mags a happy birthday as well!
Most credit goes to @starryslytherin0 ❤️
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“Magnolia doesn't like to celebrate her birthday. She doesn’t even remember how to celebrate her birthday. She no longer knows how to react to this type of event. (She can get angry, really sad, or just get petrified, without any emotion.)
She became this way after the death of her older sister, Dahlia. Her life became very sad, and any manifestation of joy and celebration feels like a form of disrespect to her and her family.
When she moved to India after Hogwarts, she continued not to celebrate her birthday, without parties or cake, only gifts (which were given to her as a "reward"). Despite having this conviction, she misses having a birthday party.
Before this tragedy, her birthday was always one of the biggest celebrations of the year for her.
And they should not be mistaken for those that were big and luxurious parties, full of guests and endless banquets (well, sometimes they were).
Her birthday was celebrated from the first hour of the day to the last, with everyone doing only her wishes and celebrating the little person she was. It was also on that day that she could have her whole family for herself, her parents, her adorable dog Goliath, and her sister (who was the dearest person in the world to her), and in the middle of the afternoon, they always went out to have a picnic in the park, and coincidentally, it was always on a sunny and hot day.
Magnolia and her sister used to swim in the river, she and her mother swayed on the big swing that could only fit two people, and her father always read her her favorite poems because she loved the way her father spoke in Hindi. Everything was always perfect for her, and she was perfect.
But now, she feels like she has to be perfect. And she doesn’t smile anymore...” Johanna finished explaining to the squirming boy she had silenced and tied up in the Undercroft.
She leaned up against the pillar and fixed him with a look. “I know you can be brutal, but from what I have heard from Ominis you can also be kind when you want to be. So please try to understand and tap into that today…or I promise that I can be more cruel to you than you ever were to anyone. Don’t fuck this up and ruin it for her.”
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The house was utter mayhem. Inger and Garreth were experimenting with potion reactions for cake ingredients. Cariad was yelling at the cake batter, one of the only times the sweet girl yelled. The New Fifth year was hanging decorations and Clora, the organized Ravenclaw, was ticking things off the list and being a general busybody.
“AVANIA!!!!! Is he tied up yet?!” Cariad yelled at her friend.
Avania just laughed and grinned. “Mhm. I think he’s ready.” She smirked. She’d petrified Ashton Maze and put him in a box. He had a ribbon around his neck like a present and a magnolia between his teeth.
“Maggie’s gonna love it. She has always had a crush on him.” Cariad gave a thumbs-up before having 8 mental breakdowns over her cooking. Apparently, it was therapeutic for her so they all just ignored it. The New Fifth Year patted her back consolingly and gave her a pillow to scream into instead.
Ashton growled at her through them but couldn’t move, the spell Johanna had suggested working perfectly. “Let me out now and I might just spare you!” the murderous Gryfinndor tried to shout. “Not happening,” Calypso said, bopping him on the nose. “I don’t take threats from boys lightly and neither does Evelyn, or anyone of us for that matter. She may be out today but if I summon her you better be scared. She has a grizzly patronus for a reason.”
Meanwhile, Johanna had taken Magnolia out for lunch and a walk around, to get the Hufflepuff out of the house while her friends worked on a surprise party for her. It had taken a while to convince the girl to even do that. She didn’t know how to have a birthday anymore. They just hoped she wouldn’t completely shut down this time or get angry.
“Inger! Have you finished resting the samples yet? Everything’s going to go in the oven soon so I’m gonna need that potion.” Cariad called, working on about 5 birthday dishes at once.
“Yeah, nearly-.” Inger put a drop of something into one of the muggle tester cakes provided and it blew up in her face, covering her in icing. Garreth cackled with laughter and in unison, all the girls told him to leave. He held his hands up in surrender, took a finger to some icing on Inger’s cheek, licked it, and calmly left.
Sally was setting up the present display with Millie while Calypso helped Clora coordinate everything.
The Petrificus Totalus charm was wearing off Ashton so Avania yelled at Sally. “Sally!!! Help me keep the box shut.” Sally rushed over and helped her hold it down by placing some of her heavy toys on it.
“Cal? What time did Jo say that Maggie will be back?”
“Uhm…I think they’ll be back in half an hour.”
Cariad let out a string of uncharacteristic curse words, taking her anger out on the icing she was making. Millie was insanely helpful in the kitchen after Inger’s exploding cake disaster, helping to mop up her friends face. Sally came over to help with the potions for the batter.
After about 20 minutes of teamwork, the place was spotless, Ashton was in his box (Sally removed the toys and Avania jinxed the box so it could only be opened from the outside), decorations were set, presents were neatly stacked and the cake was on the table. It smelt divine and Millie had to swat The New FifthYear’s hand away when he tried to get a bit of icing.
They heard voices outside and everyone immediately turned off all the lights and hid. Johanna and Magnolia entered the room.
When Magnolia saw it suspiciously dark, she took out her wand and pressed a finger to her lips, holding an arm out in front of Johanna. She heard what sounded suspiciously like a giggle before everyone jumped out. Out of fright she accidentally shot a spell at a nearby vase, which Clora promptly repaired. They all started singing Happy Birthday and cheering. They guided her to sit at the end of the table as they lit the birthday candles.
Magnolia was shocked but delighted at the turn of events- she’d gone from thinking she was being attacked, to having a party in less than a minute. The tears she shed were happy this time. The anger she had felt about her birthday had been let out when she was with Johanna after a particularly good duel. Johanna had explained about her past, about how everything hadn’t been the same since her father had to leave. And the girls had reached an understanding.
“Don’t let the past control your future Mags, don’t let it tell you that you have to be sad. You deserve to be as happy as everyone else. And your family would want you to be happy too and if they don’t then they aren't a real family. I’m here for you and so are the others. We love you, Magnolia.” She had told her.
“I-…thank you guys.” Magnolia said, smiling as everyone else hugged her tightly before she blew out the candles.
“Make a wish~.” Said Sally in a sing-song voice. Magnolia laughed and ruffled Sally’s hair.
The New Fifth Year patted Magnolia’s back “We figured we’d do something special for you, y’know? Since you haven’t had a birthday celebration in so long…”
Just then, they heard muffled yelling from the long box standing upright near the table. Magnolia raised an eyebrow and approached. Clora and Millie giggled as she opened the box.
“Completely and utterly-oh…” Ashton was muttering angrily before he noticed Magnolia, the tears in her eyes. Magnolia laughed upon seeing the bow around his neck.
Upon a look from Johanna (who had captured him) and the others who were brandishing their wands, he took the flower from between his teeth and tucked it behind her ear before kissing her cheek.
“Happy birthday…” he muttered halfheartedly. Magnolia gave a quivering smile and hugged him tight, bursting into tears.
Ashton hugged her back, patting her back awkwardly while glaring at Avania over the Hufflepuff’s shoulder.
Avania flipped him off and the boy rolled his eyes indignantly before squeezing the dark-haired girl sobbing into his shoulder who he was growing a soft spot for. Even though he seemed like a dark-hearted murderer he could care. After hearing her story from Johanna on the journey there he could relate. He used to have a happy childhood too, and he missed it.
“Magnolia! Hate to ruin the tender moment, but birthday girl gets to cut the cake.” Calypso said with a grin.
“Oh, right.” She pulled away from Ashton, a light blush on her cheeks. The moment the knife sank into the cake, it exploded into dozens of different cupcakes, each iced to everyone’s preference and at least one cupcake in everyone’s favorite flavor. Ashton’s even had a chocolate frog on top.
Ashton raised his eyebrows, impressed. Garreth had finally done something pretty successful.
Inger and Cariad high-fived.
Magnolia took a bite out of her cupcake, humming in approval. “Best birthday ever.”
For a while they danced, sang songs, and ate cupcakes together. Even Ashton when no one was looking. After a while he got bored and decided to sneak out but first he had to grab some things.
Calypso narrowed her eyes when she saw Ashton stuffing cupcakes under his coat. “What are you doing?” His blue eyes widened behind his shades before turning hard. “Taking cupcakes, what does it look like?” “But these are Magnolia’s cupcakes!” “I don’t give a damn, and anyways I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. She was practically swooning all over me.”
Calypso’s green eyes flared. "Magnolia is my friend!" she yelled, her voice rising. "You can't just take her cupcakes!" Ashton gave her a withering look before walking away.
“I’ll deal with him.” Inger said and she marched over to him and grabbed him by his red tie. “Give them back.”
“No.” He wrenched his tie away. “They’re for Ominis…and maybe Sebastian if I decide to forgive him for raiding my shades collection.”
Inger put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “Why didn’t you just say so?” She said softly.
“Because I can’t have people thinking I am going soft can I?” He said, giving her a wink. “I have an appearance to uphold.”
“Good thing you said something or I may have just blasted you into last week,” Inger said with a laugh.
Ashton couldn’t help but laugh himself. “That’s the lion spirit alright. Your friend Johanna has it too. She should consider checking if she was sorted correctly. Or join me hunting dark wizards sometime.”
“I do that enough. But if you want to go hunting with me, dark magic isn’t allowed.” Johanna said, approaching. “It isn’t needed. I have very creative ways of using ancient magic.”
Magnolia and the others joined them.
“Are you leaving Ashton?” Magnolia asked sadly.
He nodded. “I have to. Sebastian and Ominis the idiots they are won’t last long without me. But I hope you enjoy the rest of your birthday, I mean it.”
Magnolia hugged him again. “Thank you for coming, it means a lot.” He went stiff which made her pull away reluctantly.
He relaxed, and smirked. “Coming? I was kidnapped by your dear friend Jo here. Not that I minded much later. It was fun while it lasted.”
Johanna snorted. “Well, I’ll make sure to kidnap you again sometime.”
Cariad voiced her agreement. “Please come again. My husband Riz and you would get along well. He’s a Slytherin and he loves dark magic.”
“Maybe I will, maybe I won’t. We’ll see.” Ashton waved goodbye and stepped through the portal and vanished.
Magnolia turned to Avania. “Kidnapped?! You told me he came willingly.” Avania giggled, “Ooops.” The pink haired witch’s blue eyes turned to Johanna who was trying to look calm.
“How did you manage to capture him anyway?”
Johanna gave a sly smile, “Told him Duncan Hobbhouse had been caught trying to open the Chamber of Secrets and that I had him in the Undercroft. Asked him to punish him because I wouldn’t use dark magic. Oh and asked him to bring chocolate frogs. And signed… “from Ominis.”
Clora wrapped an arm around her. “And that’s why you’re a Ravenclaw. Glad to have you in our house.”
“I’ll fight you for her.” Cariad and Millie said at the same time.
“No fighting!” The two Hufflepuffs chimed in.
“Fight, fight!” Shouted Inger, brown ponytail bouncing.
The New Fifth year and Calypso shared a look before the white haired girl scooped up Johanna and ran away laughing as The New Fifth year had Hooty cause a distraction.
The rest of the party continued all day and by the end all of them were covered with food and filled with laughter. They gladly obeyed Magnolia’s orders to jump in the river to clean off and the puppy from Clora helped as well.
When Magnolia went to bed that night with a smile she made the decision to never not celebrate her birthday again especially if it was with her friends.
