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LUNA LOVEGOOD NEVER thought that she'd be invited to a five year-old's birthday party, or any party for that matter.

yet here she was, bringing a neatly wrapped gift for the little girl that she had bumped into in the hallways one day and immediately became crafting buddies with.

"LUNA!!! YOU'RE HERE!!", lily cheered as she ran over to the calm girl, who just smiled back.

"of course. I wouldn't miss it for the world", luna replied, putting the wrapped box onto a table that was already filled with many other gifts.

hermione had decided to throw lily a birthday party outside in the garden of hogwarts—with dumbledore's permission of course—even though it was late january and nearly freezing outside.

torches of fire were lit around them as snape and professor mcgonagall had prepared tables of food, chairs, and many many blue balloons.

the party theme was lilo and stitch since lily had discovered the wondrous creature after reading one of her children's books with snape one night.

lily hopped around in her stitch onesie while pulling luna towards the table that had hawaiian leis—a necklace of carnations—and draped one around her neck.

"why this is beautiful", luna complimented.

"thank you!! all my guests are wearing one. even papa!!", lily laughed as she pointed over at snape, who had on his usual dark clothing with a bright pink hawaiian lei hanging around his neck.

"I see. he looks quite happy", luna said, making the little girl nod in agreement.

"would you like to join the gryffindor team or slytherin team?", lily asked as she led the girl through the crunchy snow.

"I don't particularly mind either. which team would you like me to be on?"

"mmm....how about the gryffindor team? draco's a bit wacko when it comes to competing with gryffindors. I think you'll be safer with harry and them", lily explained.

"alright then".

lily then hurried over to the slytherin fort that the fourth-years had obviously built with magic.

"are you ready?", draco asked as he slightly peeked at the other side, where majority of the gryffindors and other houses were.

"ay ay captain!"

"3, 2, 1, ATTACK!!"

after draco's countdown, everyone started attack the opposite side with snowballs. magic was forbidden since five year-old lily couldn't properly use magic yet.

"CAPTAIN, ONE OF OUR SOLDIERS HAS FALLEN!!", lily reported, laughing as she watched crabbe dramatically fall onto the pile of snow after ron had aimed the snowball at his stomach.

"WE ARE NOT RETREATING! MOVING ONTO PLAN C!!", draco yelled back as he had successfully knocked ginny out.

"YES SIR!! w-wait, what's plan c??"

draco momentarily stopped to look at the girl as he realized that they didn't have a plan c, or a plan a or b for that matter.

yet in that split moment of distraction, harry had successfully thrown a snowball at draco's face, causing the boy to fall back and roll around.

"AH! I'M DYING! I'M DYING!!"

"NOOO CAPTAIN!!"

lily hurried over to draco's body as she tried her best to drag him back behind the fort.

"I'll avenge you captain!!", lily dramatically acted out as she gathered a few more snowballs and started aiming them randomly.

"WE'VE GOT YOUR CORNERED LILY!!", ron shouted as the weasleys, harry, hermione, and a few others started inching closer and closer to the little girl.

"mm...PAPA, I NEED HELP!!", the little girl yelled.

"glacius", snape casted, making everyone on the opposite team's lower half of the body freeze.

"HEY! THAT'S NOT FAI—"

lily immediately giggled as she threw a snowball at each of the opposing teams, making them out.

"YAY!! SLYTHERINS WIN!!", lily cheered as draco sat up and pinched the girl's cheeks.

ron sighed as he should've known it wouldn't have been a fair game.

"now now ron, you're not actually upset that we didn't win are you?", fred teased, making ron scowl.

he had wanted so bad to take draco down, but harry got to him before he did.

"PAPA, WE WON! WE WON! SLYTHERINS WON!!", lily cheered, making her stitch ears flap in excitement.

"very proud", snape robotically said as he patted the girl's head.

"would you like to open your presents now?", the stoic man asked, making lily eagerly nod her head.

lily sat on a chair while the rest of the hogwarts students sat on the icy cold snow. the professors, including dumbledore, stood as they watched the girl unwrap her first present.

it was quite weird as lily had no friends her age, but the girl certainly didn't mind as she beamed at the new item that she had gained from hermione.

"IS THIS A MUGGLE CAMERA?!"

"yep! you can take pictures of everyone and everything that you want, though they don't move like the wizard ones", hermione explained.

"THANK YOU MIONE!! I LOVE IT!!", lily smiled as she tried it out by taking a picture of her father first, who simply did not smile in the slightest.

draco scoffed.

"is that the best you can do? open mine", draco commanded as he pointed at the large box that was wrapped in royal green paper.

lily did as told and nearly squealed as she saw a southern white-faced owlet.

"I'm gonna name you lilo!!", lily happily exclaimed.

the baby owl cooed in response as she just blinked, watching her new owner.

"I have a special present for you lily", dumbledore chuckled as everyone watched the famous musty brown hat appear on top of lily's head.

lily gasped. "the sorting hat!!"

"a thousand years or more ago,
when I was nearly sewn.
whose names are still well known:
bold gryffindor, from wild moor.
fair ravenclaw, from glen.
sweet hufflepuff, from valley broad.
shrewd slytherin, from fen~"

lily swung her legs happily as she waited for the sorting hat to finish singing his song.

the girl knew exactly which house she wanted to be in and didn't expect any less.

"HUFFLEPUFF!!", the hat shouted, making lily's small little body freeze.

"h-h-hufflepuff?? n-not slytherin??", lily breathed out, feeling like her whole life was a lie.

lily looked up at snape, who had walked over to the girl that was on the verge of tears. lily pouted as her eyes turned glossy.

"papa, I thought I was a slytherin like you...".

"don't be upset lily, hufflepuff's a great house", hermione tried to comfort.

"not really", draco muttered, making the golden trio glare daggers at the male.

lily pouted even more as snape sighed. dumbledore awkwardly shuffled backwards as the sorting hat disappeared with a swish of his wand.

"yeah yeah, I mean, look at diggory! he's a hufflepuff and he's great!", george added on, giving cedric a slight push forward.

cedric bent down in front of the girl and patted her head. her stitch ears drooped as she hesitantly looked up at the boy.

"hufflepuff is a great house! hufflepuffs are known for being loyal and hard workers. they can be just as brave as gryffindors, just as witty as ravenclaws, and just as ambitious as slytherins", cedric explained.

"r-really??"

"of course!"

lily glanced up at her father, who just nodded in agreement.

lily smiled as she suddenly hugged cedric, making the surprised boy suddenly chuckle.

with another swish of dumbledore's wand, lily's little stitch onesie suddenly changed.

"do you like your new outfit?", cedric asked.

lily stopped hugging cedric as she looked down at her own clothes that had changed into the same robes that she's seen cedric always wear.

"I'M A HUFFLEPUFF!!"

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