Gemma was shaken awake early the next morning by Luke. She'd fallen asleep with her head resting against the wall, and realised with a start that it was 10th April.

Luke wished her a hushed happy birthday, but they were both careful not to wake Ted or Iz, who were still entangled in each other's arms.

It was very early morning, and a low fog hung over the landscape as the two teenagers snuck upstairs to pack Gemma's things. She didn't have, just a few shirts and jumpers, one pair of trousers and some underwear, so the two of them were done very soon, and had time to eat some breakfast which one of the house elves kindly brought for them.

Mr Greengrass had handed her some galleons, and she'd thanked him accordingly. She was surprised by his kindness, but was grateful for it nonetheless.

When Luke and Gemma got downstairs, Iz and Ted had woken up, both of them by the door ready to say goodbye to her.

'Happy birthday,' Ted said, though his voice was quiet it echoed through the ridiculously silent hallway. 

'Do you have a place to go?' Iz asked, sounding guilty. 'I'm so sorry, Gemma-'

'Hush,' Gemma scolded, giving her a hug. 'You don't be sorry. It isn't your fault. I do expect to have a birthday present when I see you on the train though.'

'You will,' Ted said immediately. 'Since our plans went bust, we'll just have to come up with something even more spectacular.'

She hugged Luke and Ted, before leaving. 

The second she left and the door closed behind her, the frigid air hit her, and she stood for a few seconds before walking to the end of the road. She inhaled sharply, and stuck out her right hand, just like Luke had told her to.

She only had to wait to the count of four before a large double- decker purple bus came screeching to a halt in front of her. 

A rather spotty looking man came out of it and and looked at her boredly. 

'Welcome to the Knight Bus, emergency transport for the stranded witch or wizard. My name is Steve Shunpike and I will be your conductor this morning,' he droned. 

'Um, hi,' she breathed, still in slight awe. 'Um, I need to get to the Leaky Cauldron, please.'

'Leaky Cauldron, got it.' He scribbled some things down on the notepad he was holding, then looked up at her over it as though she was stupid. 'You going to get on then?'

'Oh, right.' She stepped onto the bus, and was unsurprised to see rows and rows of beds. Wizards liked nothing but the best, and lucky for them, they had magic at their dispense. 

'That'll be three galleons,' the conductor said, and she handed him the money. When she gave it to him, he peered at her. 'Haven't you got nowhere to go? You look too young to be all alone at this time in the morning.'

'Mind your own business,' she snapped at him. Then she felt she'd been too harsh on the man who was only trying to help, and felt slightly guilty.

She'd considered going to the Order's Headquarters, and probably would have if Mr Greengrass hadn't given her the money. But she didn't want to make it seem like the Order was helping her rather than the other way round, and she wasn't particularly keen on seeing Sturgis after he'd basically gotten caught because of her.

When she got off the Knight Bus, she went into the Leaky Cauldron. It was the same pub Iz had gotten them all into a fight in over Christmas. The memory of it made her smile, until she remembered that had been the day her dad had died. Not died. Murdered.

Turns out there was also a place for lodging upstairs, and she was shown to a small room by an old man with an extreme hunchback, who was awfully kind and allowed her to stay for the little money she had. There was a little wooden desk, as small yet comfortable bed, and even a teapot and teacups on the desk. 

She sighed and sat on the bed, pulling off her sweater. Her first birthday, alone. She was finally sixteen, and she didn't even have a birthday cake. Her mother probably didn't know where she was, so no birthday card there.

She stood up abruptly. So she was pitying herself for not having a cake now? Well then, she would go and get herself a cake. She would get herself a cake, and then she would be happy. She counted the few coins she had, put her sweater back on, and left her room.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

James and Sirius wandered round Diagon Alley, eating. 

'I think my virginity is growing back,' Sirius said suddenly. 

'I'm sorry?' James said.

'I said, my vir-'

'Please don't say it again. Let me rephrase. What the actual fuck?'

'Exactly! That's the problem,' Sirius complained. 'I haven't fucked. Or snogged. I swear, its been like forever.'

'You kill one of my brain cells every time you ta-'

James was cut off by a loud bang from a nearby shop, and Sirius screamed and grabbed his arm. He shook him off.

'You scream like a girl,' James said, shaking his head.

'I do not scream like a girl.'

'Well you sure did a high pitched scream.'

'I did not scream.'

'Oh yeah? So what did you do?'

'That was merely me trying not to have a heart attack with a little dignity.'

'You are a walking joke, Sirius Black.'

'Hey! That's not nice.' Sirius pouted, and James burst out laughing.

'So where are we going?'

'No clue.'

'This is weird. How do we have nothing to do?'

'Hey, is that fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston?' Sirius asked suddenly, noticing the blonde girl sitting in Florean Fortescue's ice cream shop. She seemed bored picking at her ice cream but not actually eating it, as it was beginning to melt.

'Is that who from what to where?' James asked confusedly. 

'Fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston,' Sirius repeated. 'She's- well- was friends with Regulus. Never see them together quite so much anymore.'

'The quidditch one? Man I hate her,' James commented. 'She's a right nutter when it comes to sport. Her friend very nearly killed me once, just because she asked him to.'

'I reckon she could be a bit of fun to talk to!' Sirius sugested, and they both headed toward the girl.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Gemma dipped her spoon into her unicorn sundae. She hadn't been able to find any good cakes within her budget, so she'd settled on ice cream. The place brought back good memories anyway, and it made her feel slightly less alone.

Suddenly, her peace was interrupted by Sirius Black, and his friend James Potter.

'Fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston!' He said enthusiastically, sliding into the bench opposite her. Potter sat down next to her. 

'Yay,' she said dully. 'Its the Gryffindors. Woohoo.'

'You know, I had a dream about you,' Sirius said, waving his wand at her. 'We were walking around and then suddenly this piano fell out of the sky and hit you and killed you. Then a tree fell out of the sky and hit me, but turns out it wasn't a tree, it was just Regulus, and he helped me up, and then we helped you up because turns out you were alive too, and we all just carried on walking together, best of friends.'

'The sad part is I think he's being honest,' James told her. 

'I had the same dream!' Gemma enthused. 

'Really!' Sirius said excitedly.

'No!'

'There you guys are!' A voice came from behind. She turned to see Peter Pettigrew, as he took a seat next to Sirius. 

'You got our note!" James said proudly. 

'You taped it to my forehead,' Peter replied. 'It was hard to miss.' His gaze landed on her, and she waved. He frowned. 'Who is she?'

'This is fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston,' Sirius introduced. Peter's eyes widened. 

'The quidditch one,' he wondered aloud.

'The psycho quidditch one,' James corrected. 

'You are just as quidditch crazy as me,' she said wearily. 

'No, fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston, it is very much physically impossible to be as quidditch crazy as you.'

'I took your advice  by the way,' Sirius piped up. She frowned at him, and he continued, 'I didn't act like a total prat. Remember? You said? During the Hospital Wing detention? I didn't act like a total prat, and now Lady Hagreaves and I are best of friends.' He looked so proud, she just couldn't be rude.

'That's great,' she murmured.

'She slapped you across the face,' James said confusedly. 

'What?' Sirius questioned.

'During the detention. She slapped you across the face.'

'Don't remember that.'

'She did,' Peter chimed in. 'Moony's the reason she's friends with us.' Sirius glared at him. 

'Could you please accidentally hit him with you knife, fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston?' He said angrily. 

'I think the technical word is stab-' James began.

'Shut up.'

'How do you know I have a knife?' She asked. 

'Evans told me,' Sirius shrugged. 'Said she saw you threaten some Gryffindor kid with it. Not cool, by the way.' Gemma thought with sadistic glee about when the kid had run right into her, on one of those days when she just was not having it. She hated kids.

'You talk to Lily? ' James asked, sitting up straighter.

'I owl her sometimes, yeah.'

'Did she ever talk about me?'

'She asked me how I could get you to leave her alone, yeah.' 

'This was fun,' Gemma said suddenly. She genuinely wasn't lying, but she'd had an early morning and wanted nothing more than to curl up in bed, and maybe get some rare studying done. 'But I have to go now.'

'Okay. Goodbye, fifth year Slytherin Gemma Aston,' Sirius said, and then all three of them went back to bickering, with James threatening to punch Sirius for some reason she couldn't quite catch.

She rolled her eyes and left them to it.