FORTY FOUR

"ALRIGHT, RORY..." The girl smiled, "Fred and George request that you stay down here closing up with myself and Verity. They didn't say why. But I assume it has to do with your nasty nineteen celebration."

Rory rolled her eyes, "Kirsty, stop calling it my nasty nineteen. I told them not do throw anything together!"

Kirsty just shrugged in response, a smirk painted across her lips. Ever since the murder of her parents, Kirsty had practically begged Fred and George for work. Her grandmother was lovely but she couldn't spend all day cooped inside her cottage on the coast. So, she became part of the staff at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes.

"Well, considering they closed the shop two extra hours early and are making you hide down here, I think they threw something together." Verity said.

Rory groaned. She just wanted to spend time with her friends and family on her birthday, nothing special. It was just her nineteenth birthday, after all. What was so special about turning nineteen? Her last year in her teens, but she had become of age two years ago. If anything, it was just an extremely confusing birthday.

The time was five o' clock when George came down the steps and stepped into the shop with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, hello, birthday girl." He smiled.

"Hello, Georgie." Rory nodded.

"We're ready for you."

The girl nodded again, "Great."

"You two are invited to join us, if that's alright with you, Rory?" George asked, gesturing to Kirsty and Verity.

"Of course it's alright!" She smiled, walking towards the steps where George was.

"Well I'd love to, but my grandmother is having a pizza night." Verity sighed, grabbing her jacket. "I can't miss pizza night."

Kirsty giggled, "How sweet. I have no pizza night, so I'll be able to come up and celebrate. I love myself a good old fashioned nasty nineteen."

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THE TWINS PULLED THROUGH as they always did. There was just minimal decorations and a minimal guest list of everyone she cared about. Members of the Order as well as her best friends from school were in the flat, sipping butterbeers and eating Mrs. Weasley's cooking.

Remus, Tonks, Bill, Fleur, Andrew, Cory, and the Weasley parents along with Angelina, Marina and Lee sat in various places around the flat.

"It's about time I finally meet all of your friends," Mrs. Weasley mumbled to the twins as she embraced Rory.

"Well, you know Lee... and this is Angelina," Fred continued, gesturing to the two who waved nervously.

"And this is Marina," George beamed, "My... girlfriend."

Mrs. Weasley seemed incredibly startled by the news. Rory was as well. She had seen Marina around the flat more since their initial hookup, but the G word hadn't been mentioned yet.

The woman let out a shriek and nearly split her butterbeer.

"George Weasley! How did you get a girlfriend and not tell me!" Mrs. Weasley snapped.

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Weasley," Marina said, shyly.

"Right," the woman nodded, "Well I would like to know all about you..."

Rory stepped away to see her father and Cordelia who seemed to be biting back smiles.

"Rory! Happy birthday, dear." Andrew said, giving her a hug. She tightly hugged him back.

"How are you? Cory, how's everything — DAD! WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME?!" Rory exclaimed, fiercely grabbing Cordelia's hand and examining the ring upon it.

Andrew and Cordelia laughed and Rory shook her head. It was truly the best birthday gift she could have asked for. Andrew and Cory told Rory they were planning on marrying over Easter and would be having a small ceremony, unlike Bill and Fluer who were making plans for a huge celebration in early August.

Fleur, who was deep in conversation with Kirsty, balancing a plate of food on her knee and sitting on the sofa. Rory looked around and felt truly happy. After she had said hello to all her guests, she found Fred and George again, Marina standing next to her boyfriend, all in the kitchen.

"How'd it go with Mrs. Weasley?" Rory asked Marina.

"I don't think she likes me very much," Marina sighed, looking down.

"Don't say that, Mar," George said softly, placing his hand on her arm.

The raven haired girl shook her head, "It's true! Did you see her face when I told her I worked for CosmoWitch? That I wanted to be a writer! And then she made that comment about my dress..."

"What's wrong with your dress?" Rory asked, examining the pink fabric that covered Marina's body.

The girl just shrugged and took a swig of butterbeer.

"I'll talk to her," Rory said, "I just came over to thank you for putting this together. It means a lot."

"Anything for our Rory," Fred smiled, "Madam Maryam made you a cake. We can eat it later though, the night is still young." The boy then leaned down closer to her and whispered, "I'm sending the fogies home at eight."

"Fogies?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Old people," Fred nodded.

"You know Cordelia is only like thirty two? And Tonks is twenty three!"

Fred limply waved a hand in front of him and shrugged. The girl smiled and opened the refrigerator. She pulled out a cold bottle of butterbeer and opened it.

Across the flat, the girl could see Mr. Weasley fixated on Rory's pen collection sitting on the desk in the living room.

"Want to explain this one with me?" Rory asked Fred.

"I barely understand them myself but... alright." Fred shrugged and together they helped the man understand the mechanics of a pen.

Rory decided not to open her gifts in front of her guests, and instead, enjoyed speaking with them all and spending more time with them. She didn't want to bring up Mrs. Weasley's grief with Marina and decided it would be a better suited conversation for the next time they spoke. She got lost in a long conversation with Remus about teaching at Hogwarts, making her feel very excited about the future. It seemed although Mrs. Weasley disliked Marina, Tonks and Fleur were beyond fond of her. Cake was served and before they knew it it was eight o'clock. The "fogies" trickled out with Andrew and Cory the last to leave, and then... it was just the "young" ones left.

"Now it's a party," Lee joked.

Rory chuckled and landed her gaze on Angelina who looked like she was in a trance, "Angie, you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Cordelia's just told me the Wimbourne Wasps need a new Chaser... she gave me the invitation to tryouts next month... it's so exclusive only five other Chasers got invited!" Angelina said, still in shock.

"Wow!" Fred smiled, "That's great, Angie! We'll all be sure to come to your first match on a professional Quidditch team!"

Angelina shrugged, "It's just tryouts, I bet everyone else there will have tons more experience but... it's a really good start. I'm happy to just get an invite."

"What a great attitude," Marina smiled.

"Why don't we crack open some wine?" Rory beamed.

"Don't need to ask me twice!" Kirsty smirked, grabbing a bottle off the kitchen counter. She passed it to Rory, granting her the birthday honors of opening it and taking the first swig.

"Because Rory is an elder, she likes wine now," Fred explained.

Rory took a sip of the tangy alcohol, straight from the bottle and rolled her eyes, "Fuck off! I'm not an elder, and I've always liked wine."

"Rory we have glasses, you know?" George shook his head.

The birthday girl teased, "How mature of you, Georgie."

Somehow, they ended up on the floor on the kitchen, the bottle of white wine between them. Kirsty was getting along with everyone like she had been their friends for years. Rory was sad she had only known her for her final year at school and not too well beforehand. However, her working at the shop would give the two girls plenty of time to catch up.

"Who'd you all think is most likely to get sent to Azkaban out of all of us?" Lee asked with a grin.

Rory raised an eyebrow, "A drinking game, really, Lee? C'mon, how old are we? Fred."

"Fred," George nodded in agreement. It seemed everyone else felt that was the appropriate response and Fred begrudgingly took a swig of the alcohol, mumbling about how Lee would definitely be the one and they were all mad.

"Most likely to... have a child?" Angelina asked with a smirk.

Rory made eye contact with Fred then quickly dropped it.

"Rory," Kirsty said.

"Absolutely not," Fred shook hid head, "I say Georgie here is."

"No, Rory. She's basically already a mother." Marina giggled.

She did have a point. So, Rory drank while Fred anxiously shook his head. Wine was nice because it didn't burn like most alcohol. There was definitely the familiar kick as it slid down her throat, but she felt a bit better when she consumed it.

"My turn!" Kirsty beamed, "Alright... most likely to get caught shagging in a spare classroom?"

Angelina laughed, "Kirsty... didn't that literally happen to you?"

The Scottish girl shrugged and took the bottle from Rory, "Damn, guess I have to drink!"

The rest of the night was like that, friends passing wine between each other exchanging smiles and fits of laughter. Rory forgot it even was her birthday. The presents sitting in the corner that she opened the next morning were mere tokens of love from her favorite people.

But nothing material would ever beat the company of those who came to celebrate her "nasty nineteen."

A/N:

did i plan this out and strategically post it on potterblacks  nineteenth birthday??

yeah i did, and what about it?