Beep. Beep. Beep.

The alarm clock kept beeping for the last five minutes and it was annoying. Didn’t it know that I wanted it to stop?

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

I couldn’t take it any longer. I hit in the direction of the alarm clock, hoping to hit the snooze button. When the beeping stopped, I figured that I hit the right button. I opened one eye to see the time. 5:50 was flashing in bright red. It was too early to be up. I closed the eye that was open and tried to sleep again.

I was just getting to the good part of the dream where I discovered the rarest plant in the world. In a couple of seconds I should be getting an award for the rarest plant in existence. The announcer was about to call my name. . .

Beep. Beep. Beep.

I opened my eyes and groaned. It was way too early to be awake. No one in their right mind should get up at six o’clock in the morning. Why did I set my alarm to 5:45? I didn’t ever do anything this early. I tried to remember what could have possibly made me get up at six in the morning. Then it hit me.

“Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no,� I ripped the covers off and jumped out of bed.

Twenty-six years ago, today, I was born. Today was my birthday. Every couple of years Harry, Ron and Hermione threw me a surprise party. They were all on different days and never one right after the other, so I wouldn’t know that it was coming, but I know that today is the day. It’s the only day that they haven’t used yet – my actual birthday.

At every party, they tried to set me up with different girls. Mostly it’s Luna. Every time I tried to get away from them, and every time they would bring me back. It’s not that I don’t like Luna or think that she’s weird; it’s just that she’s not the one for me. I need someone that has an interest in Herbology and not Nargles.

Each year they send one of them to come get me at 6:10 in the morning and they take me to Hermione, so she can keep me busy while they set up.

Now, it was 6:03 and my teeth were brushed. I walked out of the bathroom to my bedroom to quickly put on clothes. I pulled on a pair of khaki shorts and a red T-shirt. Even though I was out of school, I still needed to support Gryffindor.

I’ve lost weight since my years at school, so I was free to wear more clothes without being self-conscious. I can wear tighter clothes now that I have less for them to stick to.

Even though the clock was counting down the minutes to 6:10, I still made my bed. I couldn’t stand to leave the house without the bed being made. It’s just not right.

I walked towards the door without looking at the clock. I didn’t want to see how close I was cutting it. I didn’t know if I’d have enough time to get far enough away from the flat so that one of them wouldn’t see me. I walked past the kitchen and my stomach growled. I didn’t have time for food now; I could stop at a fast food place later.

I opened the front door to leave and someone was already standing there. He had red hair and a maroon T-shirt. Ron was just as shocked as I was.

“Neville-� I shut the door in his face before he could continue. I started to walk away but he opened the door.

“Neville,� he started again. “What are you doing up?�

“I could ask you the same thing.� Out of all the years I’ve known him – more than half of my life – he’s never been known to get up early.

I walked past him and left the flat. Ron followed, and he shut the door behind him.

“Where are you going?� he asked as he walked step in step with me.

“I’m going out for breakfast.�

“Why don’t you come back to Grimmauld Place? I’m sure Hermione can whip up something for you.�

“That’s okay; Hermione doesn’t have to do that for me.� I made it sound like I was considering it. It seemed to be working because his facial expression changed. He has a look of soon to be victory on.

“Come on, Neville, you know that Hermione would love to cook for you.�

“I don’t think so; I don’t want to intrude on anything.�

“You won’t be intruding on anything,� he said with a smile. “Now, why don’t you want to come have breakfast?�

I decided that I had had enough playing with him. “I don’t want to go to Grimmauld Place and have Hermione cook for me because I don’t want to be the centre of attention at the surprise party that you’ll be setting up at my house,� I said, all in one breath, which made me breathless.

The look on his face was worth it, though. His mouth kept opening and closing as he tried to find words to say. He finally found the words, even if they were the stupidest words ever. “How did you know that there would be a surprise party?�

“It isn’t much of a surprise when you do it every year. You want to take me back to Grimmauld Place, so Hermione can keep me there so you can have time to set up my flat for the party.�

He didn’t talk for a second. By now we were walking outside. I didn’t know where we were going, but I did know that I’d been this way before.

“So, you know about the party, so why not go to Grimmauld Place?�

“Are you kidding me, Ron? I don’t want a party. I don’t like parties when I’m the centre of attention. I really don’t like it when you try to hook me up with different people. I don’t need a girlfriend, so I would appreciate it if you would stop trying to get me one.�

He didn’t talk right away, again, so I just continued on walking. I realized that we were on our way to King’s Cross Station. I kept walking to make it look like I wanted to be here.

“That’s crazy talk,� he finally said. “Who said that we were trying to hook you up with someone?�

By now we were in the station and we are walking next to one of the trains. There were lots of people here this morning, so I was almost pressed against the train. I stopped walking to look at him.

“Did you happen to fall into a sewage tank on your way here?� I asked him.

“No, why?�

“Because there is a load of crap coming out of your mouth.�

“Okay, well maybe we tried to set you up with a couple of people, but it was all harmless.�

I didn’t have time to say anything because two doors came sliding towards me. I took a step back so I wouldn’t get smashed. I looked around and noticed that I was inside a train. Ron hit the glass on the door as he tried to get in. I smiled at him and he glared at me.

This wasn’t what I was thinking of when I wanted to get away from Ron, but if it meant I wouldn’t have to go to the party, I’ll take whatever I can get. Harry and Hermione will be mad that Ron didn’t get me. He’ll have fun with them.

I wonder why they sent Ron to get me. The two times that they’d had a surprise party for me, Harry came to get me. I understood why, though. You don’t want to mess with Harry. He can be very intimidating when he wants to be. But Ron, he isn’t. He couldn’t even stop me from walking away from him. They probably thought that I would still be asleep when one of them came to get me, so they sent Ron.

They were wrong, weren’t they? They’d have to call off the party and un-invite the guests now. You can’t have a party without the guest of honor.

The train started to move and Ron was left on the platform, glaring at the train. Now that he was out of sight, I could go find a seat. One lady, sitting near the door, was holding a gold ticket. A ticket! I didn’t have a ticket to be on the train. I decided that I could worry about that later; the conductor wasn’t even out yet. Still, I should probably find a place to hide.

I looked at everyone on the train, taking them in, and also looking for a place to hide. After a minute of looking, I concluded that there was no place to hide. I was too big and the hiding places were too small. The best place that I found was already taken: a baby was already in the bassinet. I could hide under it, though. I got closer to the bassinet and realized that the baby was sleeping. I didn’t want to wake him up; mothers don’t like it when a baby is woken up from its nap.

There just had to be someplace to hide. There was always someplace to hide. I guess I would just have to face the conductor. At least I was wearing Gryffindor colours, even if I didn’t act brave.

I passed more people, giving me an opportunity to people watch. One girl liked piercing herself multiple times, while another girl liked looking like a pink bunny. I didn’t know why they were up this early in the morning, wearing those clothes. I thought people only took the train so early in the morning to go to work. Maybe those are their work clothes.

Most of the blokes were wearing suits, so they must be heading to their work, unless their everyday clothes are suits.

Thankfully, I looked like I was just trying to find a seat and not watch them. They would probably alert someone of me looking at them, and then they would ask for my ticket. That would result in me getting thrown off the train or whatever they did. I hadn’t been on a train since Hogwarts.

The conductor was at the front of the train checking everybody’s tickets. I had to think of something quickly. Maybe I could sneak past him and sit down in a seat that he already checked. That could work.

I walked by the conductor when he was bent over, checking someone’s ticket. He didn’t even notice me. I walked to the very front of the row and sat down. It was an empty seat but across the row, a man was sitting and reading the newspaper. He must be on his way to his work for he was wearing a suit.

I looked back to the conductor to see if he noticed that I was here. He was walking towards me from where he was standing earlier. He stopped in front of me and looked down at me.

“Ticket, please,� he said, showing his rotting teeth. I noticed that everyone around me was looking at us. Why were they looking at me? I couldn’t take it any longer; the pressure was getting to me.

“Okay, okay, stop pressuring me. I don’t have a ticket. My friends are throwing me a surprise party that I knew they were having and I tried to get away from it but one of them came to get me. I tried to get away but-�

“Stop, stop,� he said moving his hands in a funny way. “I don’t know what you’re saying�

“Why not?�

“I’m deaf. It’s a funny story as to how it happened. I was in a war – well maybe it’s not that funny – well anyways; I was in a war many years ago. We were running away from the opposing team when we were bombed. It went off right next to me. A piece of the debris hit my ear. I walked to the nearest hospital it get it checked out. They said that both of my ears were damaged beyond repair and that I was deaf. Well, they didn’t say it but they wrote it out on a piece of paper for me. They even had big diagrams to show me, but I didn’t know what they meant. It was a laugh, let me tell you. There are stories, oh there are stories, about people who kept rambling on and on without me even knowing what they meant.�

I decided to stop listening to him, then. I could tell that he was getting into stories that would most likely bore anyone. He continued talking, with his hands now. I let him carry on.

After five minutes of hearing him go on about his life in the war, I finally had enough, and by the looks of it so did the people near me. I decided to do something about that. Since he couldn’t hear, I made motions with my hands. I moved my hand across my neck like I was cutting my throat. It didn’t work; he kept going on.

Well, even if I had to sit through a train conductor rambling about his life stories, I didn’t have to be at the party.