This chapter is written by bittersweetlou!

It was Harry's eighth birthday, and he couldn't have been more excited. This was the first year that his mum was letting him have a party, which was a first for him.

She was just so protective of him. Who could blame her though? Harry hadn't grown more than an inch in the last couple of years, he was always tired, and his immune system was next to nothing. Thus, she had every right to be protective.

"What time is it?" Harry asked Anne who was putting out some paper plates and those cardboard party hats that break after about two minutes of use. He'd asked her so many times, but it honestly didn't bother her. She knew he was excited.

"It's four o'clock baby," she smiled, knowing he'd be thrilled. It was the time he'd been waiting for all day. He'd invited his entire class, and couldn't wait.

Harry had wanted a movie themed birthday party, and Anne really delivered. They'd rented out a large room at their local recreation center, along with a projector. The whole room was themed with little popcorn carts, candy stands, sodas, pretty much everything you'd associate with a movie theater. There were some games as well, and it was everything Harry had dreamed. He couldn't wait for everyone to arrive.

The first to get there, of course, was Louis. "HARRY!!" He shouted as he entered the room, running to him and nearly knocking him over with a tight hug. Anne took a deep breath nervously, but smiled anyway, trying not to worry too much about him, she couldn't treat him like glass.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" He exclaimed, still rather loudly. He was old enough now to control the volume of his voice. He just didn't like to.

"Thanks lou" Harry giggled, "My mum did all this. Isn't it super cool?"

Louis nodded, "Yeah! It's even better than a movie theater honestly."

Harry smiled excitedly, "I can't wait for everyone else to see it!"

"Yeah I bet they'll love it." Louis nodded, but he was worried.

Worried that no one would come.

Harry still hadn't really made any other friends, even after all this time, and Louis only being eight himself, hadn't really known what to do about his worries. He hadn't told anyone and rather just tried to hope people would come.

Louis had a lot more friends than Harry but he kind of didn't really care about any of them besides one. He didn't think any of those kids would come.

4:00 soon became 4:15, and 4:15 became 4:30, and still the only child in the room besides Harry, was Louis.

"Maybe some kids are still coming," Harry said, trying to convince himself more than anything. "Maybe they're just late."

"Yeah, maybe." Louis nodded, not wanting to crush his best friend's hopes.

He really regretted not telling anyone about his worries. He could tell Harry was trying so hard not to cry.

It wasn't until around five that Anne came over to the pair who were sitting on some blankets eating popcorn and talking about Louis' new crush on a girl named Eleanor.

"Harry love?" She ruffled his hair lightly.

"Yeah mum?" Harry's eyes welled up with tears again, looking up at her and thinking about how she put together this whole party for only one person to show up.

"Do you want to do cake and ice cream now sweetheart?" She tried to be casual, not wanting to make things worse for Harry who she could tell was obviously so upset. She was upset too, but she couldn't really be angry. None of the parents knew her that well, and none of them knew that no one would show up.

"Um I dunno..." Harry whispered.

"Yeah Harry, c'mon! It's your birthday! You have to do cake and ice cream!" Louis exclaimed, tugging on his arm a little. "It'll be fun."

Harry looked at him, his blue eyes were soft and sincere, and without a word, Harry just wrapped himself around him. The floodgates were open and he sobbed into his best friend's neck.

"I just wanted to make some friends..." he cried. He really wasn't good at socializing and he thought that a party would be the perfect way to make some new friends. He didn't really get on with anyone in a classroom setting, so he thought maybe this would help.

"I know..." Louis rubbed his back. He cared about Harry so much.

Harry just clung to him for the longest time until eventually he was calm enough to stop crying.

"Now how about that cake and ice cream?" Louis grinned, to which Harry finally agreed. Louis always knew how to lift his mood.

Harry felt like the luckiest kid in the world to have Louis as a best friend.

After a crazy rendition of the birthday song sung by Louis, Anne cut the cake, giving each of the boys a generous slice since, well, there was no reason to ration it out now.

Louis had just taken his first bite when Harry got an idea. Louis' little devilish side had rubbed off on Harry a bit. So, with a cheeky grin, Harry lifted his own plate and shoved it up against Louis' face, giggling.

"Oi!" Louis exclaimed, wiping some of the cake off his face, and smearing it onto Harry's. On any other occasion, Anne would scold the boys and immediately make them clean up, but today, she let it slide.

She was just happy to see a smile on her boy's face.

"Boys!" She interrupted their little food fight, "Smile!" She wanted to get a picture of the moment. Both boys wrapped their arms around each other, grinning from ear to ear. They were the kind of smiles that made their eyes crinkle up and dimples show in pure happiness.

The rest of the night consisted of Louis going home with Harry to have pizza, playing in the snow -Harry being bundled up from head to toe of course, and a sleepover.

Harry didn't even feel tired until about ten that night, which almost never happened. Whether it was due to all the sugar they'd been provided with, or the crazy amount of his endorphins that were released from his constant giggling, courtesy of Louis and his antics, he'd never know.

The two eventually passed out on the couches, the afternoon that had started off pretty bad, ending on a high note.

All thanks to Louis and how much he cared about Harry.

One of his two best friends.

Sorry this one's a bit shorter! But more drama is to come. Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please vote if you did! And leave comments with feedback (: xx

-Sunnie