Hermione Granger and the Chamber of Secrets (Completed)

Chapter 7 - The Deathday Party

Hermione presumed that Ron had forgotten about the conversation they had had, as he showed no sign of remembering her birthday on the nineteenth of September. In fact, Hermione didn't even see Ron most of the day, as he spent most of the day shut in his dormitory, and she didn't want to intrude

At the end of the day, Hermione was lounging on a squishy armchair when Ron finally emerged, holding something behind his back. He walked over to Hermione and presented a package to her. It was wrapped in red wrapping paper and was Spellotaped together. It had HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMIONE written on it with black felt tip. Ron was watching nervously
“I'm not very good at wrapping presents" he said quickly "I would've used magic, but, you know — ” he raised his wand feebly "I might have blown it up or something"
He smiled weakly, and Hermione grinned back. She eagerly opened the package

Inside was some fudge and a hand drawn card. Ron had drawn balloons and similar birthday things on the front, and inside he had written:
Dear Hermione
Happy Birthday!
From Ron
P.S. I know the present isn't much, but I couldn't think of anything and mum wanted to help

Hermione looked up at Ron, who was still watching her. For nearly the first time in her life, she was lost for words
"I - erm..." she stuttered "thank you, Ron"
"I didn't want you to not have anything for your Birthday" said Ron "though I didn't have time to tell Harry, sorry"
Hermione shook her head
"It doesn't matter" she assured him quickly. She got up and hugged him round the middle
"I mean it, thank you, Ron" she said quietly "it means a lot"
"Um... it's ok" he mumbled. Hermione could feel people staring at them, and she heard Fred and George wolf whistle from behind them, so she let Ron go. His whole face had gone scarlet. He gave Hermione a lopsided smile, before walking back up his dormitory tower. Hermione watched him go, before getting up and skipping happily to the girls dormitory tower, though not entirely sure why she was skipping

***

Hermione hadn't expected any more celebrations of this kind until the first of March - Ron's birthday. In fact, soon after this incident Harry came to them after Quidditch practice to announce that he had promised Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, to attend a celebration of a very different nature...
“A deathday party?” said Hermione after Harry had explained “I bet there aren’t many living people who can say they’ve been to one of those — it’ll be fascinating!”
“Why would anyone want to celebrate the day they died?” Ron moaned. He was struggling through some homework and wasn't in the mood to be informed of promises made on his behalf “Sounds dead depressing to me...”

Harry seemed to regret his decision as the end of October came close, as Nearly Headless Nick happened to have died on Halloween so they wouldn't be able to go to the feast. Hermione was a little disappointed, as she hadn't gone last year either, but Harry seemed to be considering going back on his word, which Hermione found appalling
“A promise is a promise” she nagged “You said you’d go to the deathday party”

As everyone else went to the Great Hall, Hermione, Ron and Harry walked down the many steps to one of the dungeons. The only lighting were small dark blue candles, casting eerie shadows over everything and everyone.

It was so dark, that they barely noticed the semi - transparent Nearly Headless Nick greeting guests in. Although, the way he was doing it, Hermione presumed someone had died, which was an ironic choice of wording considering the occasion

They slowly walked through the door. It was like walking into a freezer. She could see over a hundred ghosts mingling amongst themselves. Hermione, who was thoroughly solid, felt a little out of place

“Shall we have a look around?” Harry said after a second
“Careful not to walk through anyone” Ron whispered. They walked past (and occasionally through) ghosts, some of which turned to stare at them. Hermione learned to ignore this, but stopped suddenly when she saw a short girl standing (well, floating) all by herself, sniffing every so often
“Oh, no” Hermione moaned “Turn back, turn back, I don’t want to talk to Moaning Myrtle —”
“Who?” asked Harry, confused
“She haunts one of the toilets in the girls’ bathroom on the first floor” Hermione explained
“She haunts a toilet?”
Hermione nodded
“Yes. It’s been out-of-order all year because she keeps having tantrums and flooding the place. I never went in there anyway if I could avoid it; it’s awful trying to have a pee with her wailing at you —”
“Look, food!” exclaimed Ron. It made Hermione laugh how Ron's eyes lit up whenever he saw something edible