Chapter Text
The previous couple of months had been a flurry of celebration after celebration for Harry and his group of friends. After all, they were all turning eighteen and it was a big deal. Most of them were going to be adults by the end of the year, except for two people – one who was going to be of age the following year and one who’d just turned twenty that January.
Turning eighteen was a whole deal in their group and Harry was so excited as he waited for his birthday to approach. For weeks he’d been imagining the helium-filled, silver number balloons they’d bring finally hanging in his bedroom, and the flowers sitting pretty in his living room, and the confetti that’d inevitably litter his driveway in the morning, and the pie and pastries they’d eat right after midnight, and the huge cardboard sign with a bunch of silly pictures he would hang behind his door. For once, he’d let his expectations build and was ready to see them met. It had been the same ordeal for all the members of their friend group, but what made it special was the effort the everybody pulled. Harry loved feeling part of it and the prospect of being celebrated excited him to no end. He’d assisted for each of his friends’ birthdays celebrations in the past, whether he planned it all or helped plan or got in touch with parents to inform them or baked the sweet goods, he had always been involved.
The day before his birthday he went to school in the morning. After lunch, he went with his mom to the station to pick up a family friend, Paul, who always spent a couple of days at their house around Harry’s birthday. In the evening, they had a little family celebration for his upcoming birthday. That was only because he was going to be at practice the following evening just so he could celebrate with his team as well. They had cake that night and his parents went to bed after promising to celebrate him more in the morning. His sister wasn’t even home.
In any case, Harry couldn’t be found in bed for his “surprise”, it would have made pictures awkward. That’s why he decided to watch a movie with Paul to pass the time. A little before midnight the movie came to an end and the boys got ready to wind down. But Harry was buzzing with barely repressed excited energy as he brushed his teeth still in his jeans, waiting for the doorbell to ring. As he made his way back to the kitchen for a glass of water, he looked at his phone, hoping to count down the seconds to midnight, only to pause abruptly.
It was midnight.
In reality, it was a couple of minutes past midnight. Maybe they were late. Ultimately, their group wasn’t known for their punctuality.
Harry waited another ten minutes staring out the kitchen window, before giving in and considering the facts he’d been presented with. His doorbell hadn’t rung. His phone hadn’t buzzed with an incoming call where they told him to go outside in between silly giggles. His parents hadn’t gone to the door to let his friends in, helping with all the bags and balloons and stuff. The house was dark and quiet. Nobody was outside.
They didn’t show up.
A minute passed.
They seriously weren’t going to show up.
Another minute passed.
They actually hadn’t remembered.
As he slowly made his way back to his room, Paul quickly ran out of his. His friend stopped close to him in the hallway and hugged him, getting out in a rush a heartfelt whisper of “It’s midnight! Happy birthday, Harry!”. Harry’s face was stiltedly smiling, and he thought he’d mumbled out a “thanks” in response, but he couldn’t be sure. His friend looked at him with sad eyes, gave him another hug and, just as fast as he’d appeared, he disappeared back into the guest room. It was as if he’d sensed Harry’s sadness but still wanted to be the first to wish him a happy birthday. He would thank him again the following morning.
Harry stayed frozen for a second more in the hallway, then went straight to bed, trying to muffle his cries as the tears wet the hair at his temples. The sorrow that caused being forgotten, being overlooked was so great he only fell asleep after a long time.