A little while later, Jade was in the dormitory reading The Tale of the Three Brothers again when Alana leaned over her pages.

"Hey, Jade."

"Hi,
Alana." Jade regarded her friend with some skepticism. After Hogsmeade,
Alana and West had scurried off to who knew where with their brown
paper bags, not saying a word to her. "What do you need?"

"I want
you to get dressed up. Like, nice party clothes." Alana reached for her
hairbrush on the dresser and began to attempt to control Jade's wild
curls.

"Why?" Jade giggled as she dodged the brush. "What do we have to do?"

Alana
threw her an exasperated look. "Just do it! And make yourself look
presentable. Someone will come get you in about half an hour. Stay in
here until then. Don't you dare try to leave. I've cast a
Repelling Charm on the door frame, so until the person who gets you says
the counter-enchantment, no one can leave or enter the room."

"What are you planning now, Alana?" Jade reached for the closet door handle. "I sense a nefarious idea."

Alana waved off her questioning with a hand. "Do what I said, or I'll hex you."

The
redhead threw a comb at Jade and skipped out the door. It slammed shut
behind her, and Jade felt both surprised and suspicious. Alana's ideas
never resulted in nothing, they always were the final straw in making
everything go kaBOOM. She had a lot of great ideas, and there were some
bad ones thrown in there, but none of them terrible.

She
shrugged and went over to the wardrobe. She had sweaters and jeans, but
there was a dress she had been saving for something really, truly special.
It would be perfect. The dress was knee-length and green, with a layer
of lace over it all. It fit perfectly, and she added a cute pair of
silver flats and a headband. Jade brushed her hair (Alana had insisted,
after all) and added a swipe of sparkly lip gloss.

Now, to
wait. Whatever her friends had up their sleeves, she was part eager and
part terrified. She grabbed her book again and was just getting to the
best part when someone knocked on her door.

"Come in!" Jade hopped up from her bed and ran to the door.

It
was Mallory, her auburn hair scraped up into a curly, fun up-do. "Hey,
Jade. Alana will be happy, you followed instructions. Now come on!"

Jade followed her roommate. "Would you mind, Mallory, telling me what's going on?"

Mal laughed. "Nope." She beckoned Jade down the hallway. "We're almost there! Just a few more doors, no, not that one...here!"

She pointed to a door that Jade had never noticed before. It was large, polished, and quite solidly there. Mallory opened it, and Jade stepped inside cautiously.

The
room was full of warm, welcoming light. There were colored fairy lights
everywhere, and everyone had a lit wand. All of her friends were there-
Hannah, Margaret and Clara and her choir friends from Eaglesclaw, some
Hogwarts girls she had made friends with, a Beauxbatons girl named
Carrise who was actually really sweet, Draco and a couple of Slytherin
girls her age...and Alana and West, standing in the center of the room
with some Dr. Filibuster's Fireworks.

"You two are evil," she said, grinning and hugging them.

Alana
beamed. She was wearing a silver dress that sparkled in the light,
catching the different colors strung up around the room. She was on high
heels, and her hair spilled over her shoulders. There were tiny,
glittering crystals dangling in strands in her gorgeous dark red hair,
and she flipped it and grinned at Jade. "This is what we've been
planning. You're just supposed to trust your best friends."

West
was next to her, her short red hair tucked behind her ears. She was
resplendent in light green, but not a dress. She had a flowing top that
sparkled, jeans, and slouching boots. A pink butterfly flapped its wings
gently on her head. "This is what we've been planning all those times when you couldn't come with us."

Jade spun once in a happy circle, taking in everyone's faces. All of her friends, all of the people who she had even expressed an interest in meeting, were there, smiling and talking to one another and having fun. There was a table full of candy and chips and drinks against the far wall, and music was playing from who knew where. Some people had started dancing, some people were eating and talking, and some people had split off into groups and were conversing quietly in corners. There was a small tressel table stacked high with presents, some huge and some tiny.

A painted, sparkling banner read, Happy Birthday Jade in pink and green letters. Jade herself was darting around, sampling some Honeyduke's candy called Fizzing Whizzbees, dancing to a song, greeting the guests that she supposed were hers, thanking Alana and West for the thousandth time, hugging them and laughing with a new friend she had made, a Slytherin girl named Chloe.

She was so lucky to have such loyal, sweet friends. They must have spent so much time and energy and money on this project! Jade grabbed Alana and West, and pulled them over to the area where people were dancing. The three of them spun and kicked around awkwardly, but no one was having more fun than they were.

************************

After the party, Jade, Alana, and West stayed behind in the room to open all of Jade's gifts. There was a tower of them, all in shiny paper and fancy ribbon and glittering tags.

The first gift was huge, wrapped in green paper and with a tag that read, "From Alana and West." Jade tore the paper off of it and gasped. Inside of the box was a dress. It was a deep, dusky navy blue, the color of twilight and foggy midnight. There were crystals, like minuscule stars, covering the bodice, and they fell down slowly until they were scattered across the skirt like falling stars. The skirt itself was like that of a ballgown, layers and layers of soft tulle and effervescent silk. Just touching it sent a thrill of excitement down her spine.

"You...you bought this for me?" She was speechless. The dress was more beautiful than anything she'd ever owned, except maybe the necklace of starlight.

"Yup!" Alana was gleeful, sitting up on her knees and grinning. "It took ages to save for dresses for all of us, but we managed it!"

"I know you like fiery colors, for good reason, but this one is so pretty, and I know you like stars," West interjected.

Jade hugged them both tight. "You guys are the most amazing friends. You already threw me a whole party, and now you bought me a dress?"

"That's what friends are for- loving you insanely and spoiling you recklessly," Alana giggled. "Open the next one."

The next box contained a hand-knit yellow sweater and a yellow and black striped scarf. Jade read the note aloud. "Who is this one from? 'So you won't forget us back in America. Love, Hannah and Mallory.' Aww, this is so sweet!" The sweater had a Hufflepuff crest magicked onto it.

Alana wrapped the scarf around her neck three times. "Adorable."

West shook Jade. "What's in the next one?"

Jade obliged. This box was tiny, wrapped in deep blue paper, with a silver ribbon that curled and bounced. She opened this one tenderly. Inside was a jewelry box, and inside that was a pair of earrings. They were studs, shaped like stars, with little crystals cascading down like a meteor shower.

"Apparently, the stars are my new theme," she joked. There was no note and no label, but she knew exactly who they were from. "They'll match my dress perfectly."