A/N: hello! I'm going to do this thing where if a character has a birthday over the course of the story, they'll get a special little chapter dedicated to them that shows the birthday shenanigans. I thought it would be cute so here we are. Enjoy Hazel's birthday chapter!

I grinned as the wind whipped through my hair. I felt free like I could go anywhere and do anything. I hadn't felt this alive since I died. I... died. When did I die? I'm alive, right now, riding a horse down a trail. A loud whoop pulled me out of my confusion. Sammy came up next to me on a beautiful palomino mare. It wasn't as beautiful as my stallion, though. Sammy smiled his amazing smile that always made me feel like horses were galloping inside of me.

"Trying to run away from me? I'm not that ugly, am I?" He joked

I laughed. "No, of course not! I would never-" I faltered as his smile turned into a frown.

"Liar." He growled.

"Sammy? What are you-"

"LIAR!" I'd never seen him this mad before, not even when our teachers called me those awful names.

"Sammy!" I felt tears pooling in my eyes.

"You left me! Why did you leave? You liar!"

The tears were rolling down my cheeks. "No! I- I-"

"You left me! We could have had a life together! A future together! But you left me! Why? Why did you leave me? Did I mean nothing to you? Why did you leave me, Hazel? Why?"

I couldn't take it anymore.

"STOP!" I shouted. My outburst spooked Sammy's horse and she bucked, sending him flying into the air. My scream of horror never made it out of my mouth. Time seemed to slow down. Sammy turned into Leo, unconscious and aflame, falling through the sky. Wait... since when were we in the sky? Time started speeding back up as I realized my horse was gone, and I was floating in midair. I started falling, faster and faster. I tried to reach out for Leo, but he was too far away. I called his name, but he wouldn't wake up. The ground was rushing up to meet us. We were about to crash into an island. I braced myself for impact, wishing I knew how to save Leo. I should have saved him! I should have found a different path! I should have- I hit the ground, hard.

I sat up in bed, breathing heavily, reeling from what had happened. It was just a dream, Hazel, it was just a dream. I tried to slow my breathing. I didn't want to wake up my roommates. I focused on the faint tick tick of Parvati's enchanted alarm clock and tried to match my breathing with the ticking. I squinted across the room at the clock. Parvati's clock showed hours, minutes, seconds, milliseconds, date, weather, lunar phase, and a whole bunch of other fancy tricks. Instead of ringing like a normal alarm clock, it played music. Apparently it had been a Christmas gift from Hermione. According to the clock, it was two thirty-six on December 17. Oh! It's my birthday! It wasn't really, because Hecate said we wouldn't age while we were here, but the thought still gave me some comfort. I laid back down and closed my eyes.

 When I woke up again, it was a bit lighter out. The clock said it was six a.m. on the dot. I sighed. Camp Jupiter got me used to waking up at six a.m. sharp, and spending four and a half months away at magic school hadn't changed that at all. Normally, I would try and get more sleep, but Parvati's alarm was set for six-thirty so I wouldn't get much. But today, I happened to look around and I noticed the girls weren't in their beds. I heard something coming from our bathroom, so I got out of bed (grabbing my wand off the bedside table just in case) and crept toward the door.

I opened the door to see Lavender and Parvati hastily shuffling to block the sink with their backs. They were still in their pajamas; Lavender in her lavender nightgown and Parvati in her blue silk two piece.

"What are you two doing up so early?" I asked them.

"Why are you up so early?" Lavender retorted, clearly hiding something.

"I asked first." i said with a smile

Parvati smiled like she knew a secret. "Well... a little owl told us that today is your birthday, so we thought we'd surprise you. We didn't expect you to wake up this early, though."

Lavender moved aside to show a row of WonderWitch beauty products and various makeup things arranged around the sink.

"Surprise! You're already so pretty, but we thought we'd give you a little makeover as a birthday treat!" she exclaimed.

Parvati nodded. "Some people think it's silly that we would be worried about appearance in the middle of a war, but we'll let you in on a secret. If you look good, you feel good. And that confidence gives your magic a little boost. So, the more beautiful and confident you feel, the more powerful your magic."

"So?" Lavender prompted. "What do you say?"

I thought about it. "I've never worn makeup before, but it can't hurt to try. This is so sweet, thank you both" They grinned. Parvati picked up a hairbrush and Lavender picked up a makeup brush and they got to work.

***

 An hour and fifteen minutes later, the three of us were ready to go down for breakfast. I looked at myself in the full-length mirror at the end of Lavender's bed. I looked beautiful. Parvati had made two braids above my temples and joined them into a small ponytail in the back with a gold ribbon while the rest of my hair was down. Lavender had done my makeup in a 'natural look'. There was a little bit of pink on my cheeks and there was gold powder on my eyelids. The gold looked really nice with my Gryffindor robes. I did a little twirl in the mirror.

I looked behind me at Lavender and Parvati, who were smiling at me. Lavender had two French braids with purple ribbons at the end and Parvati had a high ponytail.

"What do you think, birthday girl?" asked Lavender.

"I love it. Thank you both!"

Parvati smiled at me. "We're glad we met you, Hazel. I just wish it could have been in a different time. You would have loved the old Hogwarts. Now, let's get down to breakfast."

Gale skittered out of the bathroom. She had a bow tied to her tail and she smelled good. I suspected Parvati used her 'Ferret Formula' she brewed to make the polecat smell better. I let Gale jump up onto my shoulder, and she stayed perched there as we

Lavender and Parvati walked on either side of me as we went down to breakfast. We had a couple of conversations with some of the portraits on the way, and a few of them complimented me on my hair and makeup. I felt great.

We got inside and sat down at the Gryffindor table across from Neville, Ginny, and Jason.

"You look so pretty, Hazel!" Ginny said.

"Thanks, Ginny. Jason, where's Frank?"

He shoveled more eggs and sausage into his mouth and shrugged. Okay... he's definitely hiding something. I slid a few slices of French toast onto my plate along with some blueberries. I looked up at the staff table. Neither the headmaster nor the Carrows were there. This was normal, though, because the headmaster rarely left his office and the Carrows liked to sleep in even on the weekdays.

About ten minutes into breakfast, something weird happened. There was a commotion on the other side of the Hall as a Ravenclaw stood up on the table. It was Leo, holding a large spoon like a microphone. Sweet Pluto, what is he doing?

He spoke into the spoon and his voice boomed across the hall even without being magnified. "Listen up Hogwartians! I have an important announcement! Today is a very special day. It is the birthday of none other than the one, the only... Hazel Levesque!" I could feel my face growing hot. Whywhywhywhywhywhywhyyyyy

The doors opened and in came Frank holding a cake. Leo and all the other demigods, plus some of the DA members got up and started to crowd around me. Piper and Alex distributed party hats to the group and rested a paper crown on top of my head. Frank set the cake down in front of me, and Leo lit the candles with his finger. The cake was deep purple with gold icing letters that I think said 'happy birthday, hazel'. Frank counted everyone off and they started to sing.

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday to you,

Happy birthday, dear Hazel,

Happy birthday to you!

"And many mooore!" Nico sang at the end.

I blew out the candles, praying to my dad and to Hecate as I made my wish. Please don't let anything bad happen to them. Some people were clapping, including the teachers, who looked pleased to have a break from the usual gloominess. I stood up as Annabeth cut the cake (and tried to keep Perccy from sneaking a taste of the frosting). I turned to face Frank.

"Was think your idea?" I asked him with my hands on my hips.

"Uh... yeah." His face was flushed a little. "Leo helped."

"I did the amazing speech!" he said as he tried to get to a slice of cake.

"Nuh-uh," Annabeth waved him off. "Birthday girl gets first slice." She handed a plate to me. The bottom layer was chocolate and the top was confetti cake. She told me that she and Frank had baked it yesterday and the house elves had saved it for them.

I gave Frank a squeeze.

"Thank you." I turned to the rest of them. "Thank all of you. This was wonderful."

Once everyone got a slice, the teachers made us go back to our seats. Frank took a seat between Lavender and me. I leaned up and kissed his nose. His cheeks turned pink.

"What was that for?" he mumbled.

"You had frosting on your nose." I giggled.

We all laughed. Then Frank leaned down and gave me an actual kiss.

"You look beautiful, Hazel. Even more than usual."

Neville said 'aww' and Lavender gave me a thumbs-up from behind Frank.

"Ew, they're so cute it's gross. We don't need a man, am I right, Jason?" He was zoned out, staring at someone across the Hall, and when she elbowed him he snapped back to reality.

"Huh?"

She smirked. "I was just pointing out how insufferably cute Hazel and Frank are." Jason smiled.

"It's absolutely nauseating."

I blushed a little.

Once breakfast ended, we headed to our first class: potions with Professor Slughorn. He wished me a happy birthday as I walked in. The same happened in most of my other classes (except History of Magic because Professor Binns couldn't care less about his students). I even learned how to do a nonverbal shield spell in our DA meeting, which I used on Percy and he got knocked backward into Thalia, who punched him in the arm.

After dinner, Frank surprised me by inviting me to go ice skating on the lake, which had finally frozen over. Lavender went back to the dorm with me so I could change into warmer clothes. I realized I didn't have a scarf, so Lavender gave me hers. The scarf was purple (like most of her other clothes) with an L stitched on one end and pink tassels.

"Hermione gave it to me as a Christmas gift two years ago, but I think you should have it. I almost threw it away last year when we were fighting, but I never got around to it. I have another scarf, so you don't have to worry about me getting cold." she said, handing it to me with a smile.

"Thank you, Lavender." I smiled back at her.

"Of course! Now go have fun with your boyfriend!" she giggled and sent me on my way. I met Frank in the common room and we started the walk down together. It was past curfew, but I used the Mist to keep us from getting caught. We reached the lake after about twenty minutes, and it was dark out.

I quickly learned that I was a pretty awful skater, but Frank was excellent. He told me about his mom signing him up for figure skating when he was younger. He quit when she left to fight in Afghanistan. I was like a baby giraffe, I was so shaky and wobbly. Frank held my hands and made sure I didn't fall. We skated in circles around the lake for a while, and he showed me some of the figure skating moves he knows. There was one time when he spun me in a circle, and I almost fell but he caught me before I hit the ice, blushing like crazy. I thought about the clumsy guy I met way back at Camp Jupiter. He's grown so much, and I love him even after all the change. I've never felt like this about anyone else before. We skated and shared stories and even had a little snow picnic until it got so late that we were about to start falling asleep on the ice. I snuck us back into the castle without a hitch (though there was a close call with Mrs. Norris). Back in the common room, I stood up on my tiptoes to give Frank a kiss.

"Thank you for the best birthday I've had in... a long time."

He kissed me back. "Of course. You deserve it, you're just so amazing."

I felt my face grow warm. "Well, goodnight Frank!" I gave him one last hug before hurrying up the stairs, burying my face in my hands to hide my blush. Frank is just the sweetest. I quietly went into my dorm so I wouldn't wake my roommates, and got ready for bed. As I laid down and closed my eyes, I thought about how happy I was with my second life. I made it a better one, just like Nico said I would. I drifted off to sleep with a smile on my face.

A/N: Happy... uh, what birthday is this this? Idk but happy birthday Hazel! 

~sstar