Starry Nights

Misery Loves Company

When she makes it to lunch all her friends are done so she just grabs a couple slices of toast and drags them all off to their spot. She tells them about her encounter with Ivy which gauges mixed reactions from them.

Erin laughs loudly. Izzy laughs too and then sarcastically says, "Did she really think you were going to help her after that?"

Cleo smiles but shakes her head in a disapproving manner before once again saying they should have gone with her. Nora and Oliver nod in agreement. "Yeah it's probably better if we stick together for now," Nora says.

Joseph nods at that and then asks a question that all her friends had been wondering, "Why did you insist on us going ahead to lunch without you anyways, you usually never send letters to your folks until the end of the week, so what's the occasion?"

Cathleen shrugs, "Yeah it's my dad and sister, they both have birthday's later this week and I sent them gifts."

"Oh," Joseph frowns.

"What?" Cathleen asks curious as to what had made him visibly upset.

Everyone else appeared to notice and after a lot of prodding he finally confessed, "Don't make a big deal about it, but it's my birthday today." And the room around him erupts.

"TODAY??"
"Birthdays are something you tell people about in advance, not the day of."
"How is it not a big deal?"
"I would have made you a gift if I had known-"

"This is exactly why I didn't say something, I knew you'd all freak out about it."

"Ahem" Cathleen slams her hand down on the ground next to where she's sat, "We're only freaking out because you didn't tell us. Don't turn it around, what's the real reason you wanted to keep it to yourself?"

He sighs loudly, "It's just my birthday is never really celebrated like that at home. And I didn't want you guys to feel like we had to do something because, well I'm used to not doing anything, why should this year be any different?"

Izzy scoffs, "Because it is, hermano, we're your familia now, forget all about the before. We're going to throw you a party tonight."

"Honestly, I would rather just be miserable and dwell on the fact that my parents didn't even send me a letter."

"No offense," Erin says loudly, "but fuck your parents. You deserve better."

Cathleen throws her hands up in frustration, gesturing her agreement.

"And," Nora says softly interjecting. "misery loves company right? We can do whatever you want, even if it’s just sitting around and being miserable, but we do it together."

"Okay if we look past all that, how are we supposed to throw a party tonight, I'm assuming after curfew?" Joseph asks sarcastically.

"Show some courage, you're supposed to be the Gryffindor," Cleo says laughing, "Obviously we gotta find a way to sneak up to our spot."

"Yeah," Cathleen nods, "Well that’s easy, we all have astronomy tonight, so we just find a way to split off from our groups on the way back or better yet, we sneak up here like an hour beforehand, have our little party and then easily slip into the crowd on the way to astronomy.”

“That’s a great plan. And we,” Oliver gestures between himself and Nora, “could probably get some food from the kitchen. I've already made friends with a house-elf, named Kipsey, so it shouldn’t be difficult,” Oliver says, vouching his support for the plan.

“Oh,” Erin exclaims, “Me and Cathy can do some art for you, make decorations, decorate the spot and everything. You like dragons right, I remember you said that, what are your favorites? We can do some paintings, you know.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he starts but after a scathing glare from Erin he sighs and gives in, “Chinese Fireball is my absolute favorite, one time my dad had a business trip to Romania and my older cousin took me to a dragon sanctuary, on the condition that my parents could never find out, it was the best day of my life, I got to play with a baby Chinese Fireball, it was awesome.”

"Great," Cleo smiles, "us Ravenclaws on decorations, Hufflepuffs on food, Izzy get Joseph here tonight, even if you have to knock him out and drag him."

"You guys actually scare me," Joseph says looking at Cleo like she'd grown two heads.

(A/N)
I know this is not a lot compared to the long-ass hiatus I took but bare with me because I'm getting back into my writing grove again and should be updating pretty regularly (I'm serious this time) 

I'll start working on a part 2 for this chapter tonight and it should be done within the next week. Hope you all enjoy <3