freya mckinnon may share the same face as her aunt marlene, but she was more than just the niece of a war heroine, though no one seemed to see that. no one but george weasley, her rival on the quidditch pitch who quickly became so much more.
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CHAPTER THREE: GOLDEN DAYS
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FREYA MCKINNON WAS NOT a morning person, not even close. Waking up before 10am nearly always left her in a bad mood, her housemates having long since gotten used to the sight of her blonde head of hair slumped against their table each morning. Micronapping between bites of food, she'd listen to Solana rise-with-the-sun Thomas chattering away in her ear before it was really time for her to face the day.
The third day back to school would be no different, regardless of whether or not it was Freya's birthday. Seventeen and nowhere near ready to face the real world, Freya's morning started with a rough wake-up from Solana.
"Happy birthday," the girl shouted as she jumped onto Freya's bed, crushing the sleeping girl in a tight hug. "Oi, wake up, birthday girl."
"Go away," Freya grumbled into her pillow, voice muffled by the blue cotton material.
"No," Solana scoffed. She adjusted her body so that she was sitting on Freya's back, flicking the blonde girl's ear over and over as she droned, "Wake up, Freya."
"Alright," Freya huffed, swatting her hand away. "Just get your ass off me, I can feel my ribs breaking."
Muttering under her breath, Solana stood up, staring down at Freya as the blonde slowly sat up and yawned. Feeling the heat of her gaze, she rolled her eyes. "Yes, Sol?"
"Can I give you your present now?"
"Go on," she sighed, sitting back and watching as Solana clapped her hands excitedly, racing over to her bed to rummage through her bedside table. "You know, you didn't have to get me anything."
"Oh please, what kind of friend would I be if I didn't buy you a seventeenth birthday present?" Solana scoffed. She cheered in triumph as she found Freya's present, holding it victoriously in the air before rushing back over to dump it on Freya's bed. "Open it, open it, open i-"
"Alright," Freya chuckled. "Keep your pants on, woman."
She took a moment to look over the gift. It was hastily wrapped in midnight blue paper, flashes of yellow obvious along the edges where Solana had failed to stick the wrapping paper down properly. Taped to the front was a plain white envelope with Solana's chicken scratch hand-writing scrawled across the front.
"You're killing me here," Solana sighed with impatience, dropping to the end of Freya's bed with a dramatic cry that had Freya snorting in amusement.
Reaching for the present, she dislodged the card and set it aside to read later, tearing into the thin wrapping paper under Solana's excited gaze. A wide grin overtook her features as the paper fell away, revealing three objects stacked on top of each other.
"Well," Solana muttered, a nervous glint in her eyes. "What do you think?"
The first gift Freya held up was an oversized yellow knitted sweater. Freya had always adored oversized shirts, especially those in yellow, her favourite colour. She had a whole wardrobe of shirts similar to the one Solana had brought for her but Freya cherished it nonetheless. In her opinion, girl could never have too many sweaters.
