HAPPY BIRTh..Opps [Queety]

[Straw Buckett]

'‘Too long?' Had it really been that long?’ Thought Straw as he delicately cradle a shiny wrapped parcel covered in ribbon. With recent work related issues and keeping his family together, Straw had let time between him and a particular friend laps. But what a better time to make up for lost than a birthday, or better yet, a birthday party. Unaware such events had been planned for her Straw was on his way to collect the guest of honour. Straw also volunteered on purpose because he wouldn’t mind some one on one before things got crazy. And yet when the word crazy arises it usually means a bunch of 4 or more friends sitting round eating dip and chips while children run around. Yup it was official… Straw was getting old.

He felt like a child in a candy store, a child in Disney land, a child about to have a lot of fun and time wasn’t moving fast enough. Every step he took toward Hogwarts verged on turning into a skip as he pushed himself forward. Just for fun he grinned to himself and attempted an actual skip, a couple in fact before rounding a corner and stumbling to a complete holt as a bunch of (gorgeous) young ladies spotted him. There was an awkward pause and then the giggles came, a little embarrassed Straw rolled up his shelves and quickly walked past wondering why on earth he’d attempted to skip.

He could see the castle in sight, he could feel his pulse quicken with excitement. Spotting some nearby flowers Straw plunked them clear off their stem and made a bunch. Running up up the stairs, he avoided eye contact with the many students, with the flowers and little ribboned box he probably looked like he was here for a date with one of the professors.. true actually.
Gently he opened the history class room and peeked inside, ’No students, excellent’ A single figure stood in the room, long haired, tall and slender… he couldn’t be 100% but who else would be in this room?! If only Straw listened to his brain more often… “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!” he yelled as he lunged at the woman and pinched her sides gently. “Guess who?!” There was a piercing scream as the woman jumped, turned and hexed Straw.

Not…Queety… She quickly ran out of the room leaving Straw feeling bewildered and embarrassed. ’What just happened?’

[Queety White]

Now the not-really-as-young-anymore Queety White was in her office, not in the classroom where her best friend just scared the bejeezus out of a student of hers. Queety was planning on having a meeting with that student to discuss their failing grade in History of Magic and offering suggestions to improve as a student, the most important suggestion being to stop falling asleep in class! She could not be too harsh on her student though, for this would be unfair and hypocritical. When she was a student, Queety had often fallen asleep in classes, particularly history of magic. But, now that she was on the other side, she had to do her best to make sure her students avoided the same mistakes she had once made. That was her duty as a teacher.

It was her birthday, but she was still working. That was part of the wonderful world of being an adult. A birthday was just another day to her at this point. She had no intentions of doing anything special. Perhaps she would contact one of her friends and get a drink down in Hogsmeade. But there was no intentions of any crazy party. It seemed like the old days- when she and her friends were still students, or even soon after when they were young adults just trying to discover their way into adulthood- when they would party through the night, getting drunk and eating too much junk food. It seemed like so long since that last happened. Another part of being an adult: time moved faster. Childhood felt like forever. Adulthood felt like time was out of her grasp.

Queety left her office and headed down to her classroom when her student came running toward her crying. It took a few minutes of calming the student down before she could talk. The student spoke of some strange man in the classroom who grabbed her and screamed things she could not understand. Thinking she was under attack, she hexed him and took off. Queety's eyes opened wide in concern. She sprinted for her classroom, pulling her wand out of her pocket. It was that Gryffindor spirit in her. She was not a Gryffindor as a student but she sure as hell acted more like one now that she was an adult. She swung the door open, her heart pounding and her wand held out. She had to be ready for any attack.

It did not take more than half a second to recognize Straw's confused face and she rolled her eyes. She had told him time and time again to let her know before he was visiting the school grounds so he would not get in trouble. "You idiot!" she shouted before casting a spell and sending him flying across the room. Of course, she was not going to cause him any harm so as his body was hurdling toward the ground, she transfigured the desks into soft pillows for him to land on.

[Straw Buckett]

Straw’s eyes were on the move, for reasons except that he’d been now thrown across the room twice, his eyes had decided to circumnavigate his entire skill. He couldn’t make them stop; he was going to be sick. It was worse than a tail spin nose dive in Quidditch. His blurred vision was only just beginning to settle when Queety came storming in, shouted at him and suddenly he was hurled to the other side of the room again with his spaghetti body coming to rest on an unusually comfy pillow. Believing if he just kept them open as wide as possible that the spinning would stop, Straw promptly sat up looking bedazzled and confused. “Queety?”

You would think for an Auror, like himself, he’d be deflecting spells and avoiding being thrown across the room like a rag doll. Ironically not, Straw could argue that he wasn’t in work mode and thus not alter and ready, excuses honestly. After a few moments his vision finally settled and Queety’s blurred body came into focus. “Surprise?!” he said shly, rubbing his face and blinking several times then after taking a moment to locate the present handed Queety the wrapped parcel, “Happy Birthday.” Deciding it was more comfortable, Straw stayed sprawled on the pillow as he watched her unwrap it. “That’s from all of us, Spaiden actually helped pick this one out for his godmother,” Inside was an elongated purple glass heart hanging from a silver chain. Purple was her favourite colour and Straw was very surprised when he picked up Spaiden and asked him to choose a necklace.

“I was also hoping to steel you for a couple of hours too? Come to our place, Kat and Kel are waiting with baked goods of deliciousness for you” and finally finding the strength, managed to pull himself onto his feet. “What do you say?”


[it was purple right?]

[Queety White]

[[yes it is!]]

Queety rolled her eyes. "Some auror you are," she muttered. She walked over to him and bent forward to get a better look at his face, which seemed quite confused and disoriented. She knew nothing to cure that sort of problem other then resting until he was better She hoped dearly that he did not suffer a concussion or something from the blow. She would feel bad about that, though she would still blame Straw for getting himself into that situation in the first place.

"Yeah, it's me, in the flesh!" she responded in a soft voice. "Are you okay?" She plopped down on the pillows next to him. "So, what do you want, Buckett? You must have some reason for dropping by and scaring off my students."

Her question was quickly answered by the parcel handed to her. Her eyes opened wide in surprise as she was not expecting anything on this day. She grinned brightly at Straw. "Thank you so much!" she squealed before she quickly began to unwrap it. Lifting it high, she let the sunlight from the windows shine upon the necklace.

"This is beautiful!" she said, before giving Straw a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you so much!" She quickly put it around her neck. It matched her dark purple heels perfectly and went well with her black blouse and dark jeans. "Spaiden really helped pick this out? That boy is so precious!" She loved all of Straw and Kat's kids very much but, though she would never admit it out loud, she had a special spot in her heart just for Spaiden.

She followed Straw's lead and got off the pillows as well. She quickly transfigured them back to desks and grinned. "I guess I could never say no to delicious baked goods! Let me just let my student know that I can meet with her another time and I'll be ready to head out in a few minutes. Sound good?"

[Straw Buckett]

"Yeah I couldn't believe it myself" grinned Straw, "Very proud of my little man," Straw saw a lot of himself in his three children. As they grew and learnt new things, He was constantly surprised by how similar they were to him. It made him wonder what Kat was like as a child and how they had inherited her own habits.

They were smarter then he credited them for. Associating purple with Queety was beyond amazing for Straw and like a proud father had boasted to anyone that would listen. "Oh it's good to see you," he smiled and moved forward to hug the witch. "Before i whisk you away how has life been? Students behaving? Any new interesting men in your life?" Straw wanted to get as much out of her a possible before she was jumped and dragged away by everyone else.

Queety was a very special friend to Straw. She was actually an unexpected friend. "Have I ever told you why I became you're friend?" he smiled after she was finished talking. "Did you know that us meeting was actually a planned event?" Oh the memories. He remembered it well, realising he needed to expand his friends and find a new face. It took him only a week to find Queety and decide she was the one he would befriend next.