Two days after that stressful morning, I woke up only to see that the room was empty and Hermione and Ginny were nowhere to be seen. Confused, I pulled the door open and peered outside. But I couldn't hear anything there either.

So without bothering to change out of my pajamas, I put my hair up into a low bun as I walked downstairs, peaking through every open door, only to find them all empty.

I even stopped by Fred's and George' bedroom and knocked, but when they didn't answer, I opened the door and saw that they weren't there either.

Thinking that everyone was probably in the kitchen for breakfast, I walked downstairs. Although on my way, I saw that it was eleven o'clock and I had slept in; but they usually didn't have breakfast this late.

Hesitantly I walked towards the kitchen, which had its door closed. Gulping, I went forward and opened it, only to come to something I never expected.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Fred, George, and Ginny yelled and I yelped in surprise.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gathered around a cake with lit candles on it with the other three Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley, Sirius, and Lupin were also beaming down at me on the other side of the table.

"Oh, my..." my voice trailed off as my lips were parted in awe. "T-thank you... You really didn't have to–"

"–Oh, of course we did," Fred shook his hand with a grin. "Stop humbling yourself. You know you wanted us to."

"Honestly, with everything that's been going on this year, I even forgot for a second that it was my birthday," I said earnestly.

"Well, sit down, dear! What are you waiting for?" said Mrs. Weasley brightly, pointing at the empty chair before the cake.

I smiled cheerfully, sitting down. They counted down and I blew out the candles. But the moment I did so, the cake exploded in my face.

Mrs. Weasley and Hermione gasped, meanwhile Ron and Ginny were sniggering.

I wiped the cream off my eyes and glared up at Fred and George who were grinning down at me and then said together, "Payback's a bitch."

"I'll kill you guys," I snarled through gritted teeth.

Mrs. Weasley quickly handed me a handkerchief to wipe it all off, glaring angrily at the twins.

"Well, never mind that now," Mrs. Weasley shook her head at me. "Why don't you open up the presents?"

"P-presents?" I repeated, feeling my stomach give a happy lurch as they one by one handed them to me.

Mrs. Weasley had knitted me a scarf; Hermione, Harry, and Ron had bought me a book about potions together; and Lupin gave me a box of chocolates.

When George handed me a box from himself and Fred, I glanced at it suspiciously and then narrowed my eyes at the twins.

"What? It's safe!" said George defensively.

"Yeah," Fred nodded. "You've already got your birthday-prank. We won't pull a double."

"Yeah... I'm still not convinced," I grinned at then knowingly. "You open it, then."

George rolled his eyes by that and took the box, opening it and then showed the inside to me from afar.

"Dungbombs," they said together, grinning. "Trust me, it will come in handy," George added with a wink.

"Thank you," I giggled, receiving the gift gratefully. "All of you. I really didn't expect any of this."

"Oh, don't mention it, dear," Mrs. Weasley shook a hand reassuringly. "Now why don't you go wash up the cream out of your hair while I make some tea for the cake?"

"But it exploded," I said, grinning.

"Well, I'd made a spare one," she threw a nasty glance at the twins. "Just in case."

Nodding happily, I thanked them all one more time and walked upstairs towards the bathroom.

I stood by the sink before the mirror, soaking my hands to try and take away the creams which still remained beneath my hair.

"I told you we would get you good," I turned around to see Fred, grinning at me.

"And I'll get you for this," I said warningly, walking out of the bathroom.

"Oh, C'mon, love," Fred sighed playfully. "We're even now! Let's call a truce."

I narrowed my eyes at him before muttering, "Fine."

"Good," said Fred. "Well, now that we're alone and on a truce, let me give you my personal present," he grinned, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Ew, Fred! No!" I laughed, shaking my head.

"What! No! I actually meant a gift!" he then shook his head disapprovingly. "Tsk, tsk. You and your dirty mind, I swear. You need to do something about it, Lexi. It's getting out of hand."

"Nah, it's far too damaged now," I shrugged, grinning. "I can't do anything about it anymore."

He chuckled, taking a small box out of his pocket and handing it to me. I gave him a suspicious look, but when he smiled at me reassuringly, I started opening it.

Inside the box, there were at least a dozen tiny candies. "Will these make my nose bleed or make me puke?"

"Neither," Fred laughed again. "You need to trust your boyfriend more."

"Then what are they?"

"Well," Fred started, his smile fading. "I thought that... er... when you'll have to go back to... you know... your own world... you can use these. George and I are going to sell them as an incantation in our joke shop. But I made them into candies specially for you."

"What – what do they do?"

"They are made from Patented Daydream Charms," he explained. "They help you dream realistically about something for thirty minutes. You can take them whenever... you missed it here."

I closed the box and put it down on the floor and quite automatically, I leaped forward and brought Fred into a hug.

I put my arms tightly around him and hid my head in his chest, so close to tears. I didn't even want to think about the possibility of being obliviated; going away was painful enough.

Why did I keep forgetting that all of this was going to come to an end one day?

Fred then pulled away and looked at me with grin. "May I just say how sexy you look in your spotty pajamas?" he said teasingly, trying to cheer me up.

"Shut up, Weasley." I nudged him playfully, failing in suppressing my smile.

"What? I'm serious!"

"I thought you were Fred!" I gasped dramatically.

He chuckled and shook his head in disbelief. "I swear you're something else, Hooper," and then by that, he leaned down, brining me into a kiss.

I smiled against his lips, wrapping my arms around his neck as he pulled me closer to his chest with his hands on my waist.

I don't know how long we were there, but we were forced to pull away when we heard someone clear their throat.

Thinking that it was George per usual, we turned around to call him off, but we both jumped apart with a yelp when we saw Sirius standing at the end of the corridor.

"Having fun, are we?" Sirius raised a brow with a grin, looking between us disapprovingly.

Neither of us answered as we stood there awkwardly.

"Can I talk to you, Lexi? Alone?" he added.

"We were actually in the middle of – er – an important conversation," said Fred, trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh, yes. I noticed. And thank Merlin I interrupted or the conversation would have gone further," Sirius said sharply, catching us off guard as it had no tone of kidding in it.

"Oh, please," I scoffed. "As if you've never had conversations when you were younger."

At that, Sirius grinned again. "Yes, well. I'm not very proud. I was definitely the guy that I would never want my daughter to date – if I ever had one, that is."

By that his face became stern again as he turned on Fred once more and said more firmly, "I'll be keeping an eye on you."

"Why would you care about us, anyway?" Fred asked, grinning. "What part are you trying to play? Are you the big brother here or something?"

"I'm... something," Sirius said after a short pause and frowned, turning on me again, "Can we talk?"