Hufflepuff Princess

2

"Look out!" I shouted, jumping into the pool.
I plunged into the water, holding my breath.
Smiling, I swim to the surface.
I look around for my cousin, Lily, and quickly swim toward her.
She turns around and hugs me.
"Happy Birthday, River!" She exclaims, splashing me.
I smile, "Thanks! Let's go find Louis!"
Lily and I waddle to the steps, then climbed out.
Shivering, I grab my aqua towel from the edge of the pool and wrap it around myself.
I slip on my flip flops and search the yard for a familiar blonde head.
Finally, I spot him by my flower garden.
I run up to him, then poke his shoulder.
"Hey," I said, smiling.
He looks at me, "Happy Birthday, Riv."
Louis and I have been friends since little league Quidditch. I remember zooming about on my tiny SkySweeper when I was young.
I smile at the memory and ask Louis, "Where's Fred?"
Louis shrugs and points toward the pool.
"Your friends waving at you," Louis says, sticking his hands in his pockets.
I turn back towards the pool and see Nova, Lily's younger sister, waving at me and motioning me over.
Looking back at Lily, I shrug at began walking towards her.
When I reach her, I notice she's covered in mud from head to toe.
My eyes widen as I see my brothers are muddy too.
I sigh, "Why are you all muddy?"
Nova looks up at me innocently, "We were trying to get a frog."
I look at Lily, then back at Nova, "Why's that?"
Nova looks at the twins nervously, "Cause the movie..."
I furrow my eyebrows, "What movie?"
This time Lorcan answers, "Princess and the Frog! She kisses him and then they go on a adventure!"
Frowning, I look from my brothers to Nova.
"We're real sorry, River," Nova tells me, her bottom lip quivering.
I shake my head, "It's fine, just don't do it again."
The twins smile, "Can we rinse off with the hose?"
I nod and the three of them go to rinse off.
Smiling, I run over to Mum and hugged her.
"Thanks for the party," I told her.
She smiled at me, "Are you ready to open gifts?"
I nod and sit in a small chair.
Lysander, Lorcan, and Nova all come back through the gate.
Lily hands me a small aqua blue gift bag.
Smiling, I slowly take away the tissue paper and gasp.
Inside, a small necklace sits.
I lift it from the bag and see that it's a heart-shaped locket with a cross on the front.
Undoing the clasp, I see a picture of me and lily making silly faces.
I close the locket and see the words, Best Friends Forever.
I stand up and rush to her.
Hugging her, "Thank you so much!"
She smiles, "I have a matching one!"
I walked back over to my seat.
"Here, sissy," the twins said in unison, handing me a box wrapped in pale blue paper.
Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I carefully take off the wrapping paper.
I open the cardboard box.
My eyes widen at the assortment of things in the box.
There are a few books, a small figurine of my favorite Quidditch player, Harley Hart, and a poster of the Appleby Arrows.
I pulled Lorcan and Lysander into a hug.
"Thank you, guys!" I exclaimed.
I felt a light tap on my shoulder.
Turning around, I saw Louis holding a small box.
He looked incredibly nervous.
I smiled, "Hi!"
He smiled back, "H-hey..."
Then he handed me the box.
I lifted the lid and inside were three rectangular pieces of paper.
Taking them out of the box, I realized that they were to the Quidditch World Cup.
My eyes widened and I started jumping up and down.
I hugged Louis tightly and squealed, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"
He smiled, "I- I thought we could go see it cause the, uh, Appleby Arrows are playing and I..."
I interrupted his rambling, "I love them!"
He pulled something else out of his pocket.
"Here River," he said, then he gently lifted my arm.
He placed a shiny silver bracelet around my wrist.
I gasped and saw it was a charm bracelet.
There was a broomstick, a quaffle, and a heart shaped charm on it.
I hug him again.
He smiles down at me, since his quite a bit taller, and he replaces his hands in his pockets.
"I thought you and I could go," he starts," And mine and your mom. Then you can invite a friend..."
I turn and look at Lily, who is smiling like a crazy person, and smile.
Turning back towards Louis, "Can Lily come?"
He peeks behind my shoulder at Lily, who is now dancing like a deranged chicken.
"Sure!" He says, "I'm gonna go get some juice."
I nod and Lily runs over to me.
She is still smiling and whispers to me, "He was so nervous."
I look at me feet, "He told you?"
"Yeah, he said he's been saving for months," she whispered back.
I smile, "Why?"
Lily smiled again, then she poked the tip of my nose.
"He likes you!" She sang, hopping around.
My eyes widen, "What?"
"You heard me!" She exclaimed, "And you like him too!"
I shook my head wildly, "What! I most certainly do not!"
Then, Louis walked back over holding a cup of blue juice.
"Whatcha talking 'bout?" He asked.
I felt my cheeks burn, "N-nothing..."
Lily smiled once again, "About how much you love one another!"
Louis' brown eyes widened and his cheeks burned crimson.
He smiled awkwardly, "I- I don't know, um, w-what gave her that idea..."
I looked at my feet.
"Anyways," he said, "who ya bringing?"
I looked at Lily, " Um... you wanna come to the Quidditch World Cup?"
Lily's eyes widened and she shrieked, "YES!"
Nova skipped over to us and handed me a large box wrapped in sparkly blue paper.
She looked super excited and shouted, "ITS A TELESCOPE!"
My eyes widened and I ripped it open, revealing a large box with, Aurora Explorer One, written on the side.
I gasped and pulled little Nova into a hug.
"THANK YOU!" I exclaimed, remembering when we stargazed a month before.
I heard someone yell my name.
I turned around and saw Dominique Weasley and her sister, Victoire Weasley.
I ran towards them and gave each of them a hug.
Dominique handed me a small wrapped box with holes in the top.
I smiled at the two and opened the box.
I gasped at the tiny grey kitten inside the box.
Slowly, I lifted the kitten out and held her close.
"Thank you so much!" I told the girls.
I skipped over to Mum and showed her the kitten.
Mum smiled at me and said, "Your father and I thought you'd enjoy this."
She pointed to a spot behind me and I turned around.
My father was holding a large brown paper mass.
I ran towards him and began ripping off the paper.
I gasped as I reviled a light blue and silver broom.
The Starcatcher 2000.
I jumped up and down as Louis came over to me.
"I could show you how to ride it if you'd like," he told me.
I nodded frantically.
"Okay," he said, "first, you have to mount it."
He sat it on the ground.
"Now hold out your arm," he told me, "and say up!"
I held my arm above my broom and said, "Up!"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROFESSOR SNAPE!!!!!

~mack~