A Day You'd Thought Had Been Forgotten PV Ruka T.

@Jack Burnett

Too early was what it was.

Ruka had probably stayed up a little bit too late flicking through random books he had gotten his hands on until the glow in the dark stars on the ceiling had been the only light source left, so when he could feel a familiar weight dipping his mattress and heard a voice gently urging him awake he couldn't help but let out a quiet groan. Instinctively he rolled over when he felt someone lying down next to him, wrapping an arm around Jack's chest and sleepily pressing his face against his brother's shoulder.

Jack sounded far too enthusiastic for it to be so early that there was barely any light flooding through their window yet, at least as far as Ruka could tell through half-lidded eyes.

Murmuring unintelligibly, he pressed his face even harder against the other boy's shoulder, grumbling his discontent at being woken up already. As tempting as the offer of deciding what they were going to do today sounded, sleep seemed like an even better alternative, but Jack was insistent, clearly wasn't going to let up until Ruka paid him attention, so he slowly pulled his head back to sleepily blink at his brother, a small frown creasing his forehead. "Can't you pick another day?" he asked, voice still scratchy from sleep, and removed his arm from around Jack to rub at his ear where hot breath had tickled his skin just moments before.

As much as he appreciated the seemingly random birthday wishes, with the fact that Ruka didn't actually have any idea when his birthday really was, it should have been no issue to move it to tomorrow, should it?

"Let's make it Tuesday. Tuesday sounds good." He managed to curl his lips into a cheeky grin before slowly sitting up and rubbing balled fists across his tired eyes. "But not before noon. Tuesday afternoon, let's put it in the calendar." Nodding along with his words, he reached for his pillow, lifting it slowly before pressing his face into it and toppling over so the pillow along with the upper half of his body was draped across Jack's stomach. He could have fallen asleep like that within seconds, but he doubted his brother would let him.

Apparently the day was starting now.

Jack chuckled softly when he felt the arm press across his chest shortly followed by the smaller boy's face against his shoulder. He turned to wrap his own arm around the other in return, hugging him close and not seeming to care just how sleepy his new sibling was or whether his actions would disturb him further.

The question about him picking another day caused the Slytherin boy's brow to crease in incredulous surprise, his grin becoming crooked. "...'Another day'...?" he repeated, taking a second to come to the conclusion that Ruka thought Jack had decided today was the older boy's birthday on a random whim.

"No, silly! It definitely has to be today! C'mon, get up! You're already awake. At least come have breakfast before going back to sleep. Dad and mom made all kinds of stuff for you already, but it'll go cold if you don't eat it now."

He had half a mind to try dragging or even carrying the smaller young man from his mattress, eager for Ruka to grasp the entirity of the situation, but he also relished the suspense before the big reveal. The comment about Tuesday caused Jack to laugh aloud.

"Tuesday? Why Tuesday?" he repeated, raising a brow and snorting. "We may be on summer vacation, but dad and mom will still have work then, so we wouldn't be able to make the most of the day like we could today." His tone turned sly. "Besides, wouldn't it make more sense to celebrate on your actual birthday if you can?"

Rolling to lean on his side, he propped his head up against his palm with an arm, watching his drowsy brother fondly. "I did warn you not to stay up too late last night reading, didn't I? Though I guess it took me a few times to learn even after Dad warned me way back when, too...Oof! Hey!"

Before he knew what was happening, he was trapped under the green-eyed boy and his pillow. "Oi! Sleepyhead! Fine, I'll let you sleep some more if you really wanna, but at least let me go get some breakfast if you won't! There's bacon and blueberry pancakes I smell! I can't remember the last time I had those!"

Playfully and gently, he attempted to roll the other child off him.

@Ruka Tân

@Jack Burnett

Trying to lure him out of bed with the promise of food was definitely not fair. Ruka could hear his stomach grumble in anticipation at the mere mention of it. Breakfast food was some of his favourite in general, so who was he really to deny its beckoning?

Still, with Jack's arm around him and the pleasant darkness behind his eyelids, sleep was tempting and definitely cause for some internal struggle; To sleep now and eat cold breakfast later on, or to get himself out of bed to eat straight away and sleep some more later? Jack had said he was allowed to choose what they were all doing today so maybe he could just ask for them all to nap through the morning. What a delightful thought.

"Tuesday's still a while away," he pointed out. "Gives me some time to collect more energy now that I'm old." With a dramatic groan he flailed an arm awkwardly behind him before finding his own back, patting at it as if he could already feel it aching with age. Of course, he didn't exactly feel any older than he did a year ago, had long gone stopped trying to look for a physical indication of when his real birthday was, but if it got his brother to stay in bed with him a bit longer rather than drag him out of it then it was worth a try.

Naturally, celebrating his birthday with the whole family was a nice thought but did it have to be so early?

"Maybe if you'd also warned me that you were going to wake me up at the crack of dawn I would have taken you more serious," he mumbled into the pillow with which he kept Jack trapped for the moment, making himself extra heavy when he felt his brother trying to push him off.

Blueberry pancakes and bacon... How absolutely cruel of the other boy to be talking of such things when Ruka was clearly in no state to move himself off his pleasantly soft mattress.

"If I starve, you starve," he decided lazily, turning his head a bit so instead of pressing his nose against the pillow he was facing Jack, blinking up at him with fond exasperation. He was about to wrap both arms around his brother to make extra sure there was no way he could be pushed off when Jack's earlier words made him falter for a second, a mix of confusion and revelation pulling his face into an incredulous grimace.

"Wait," he said slowly before sitting up again, spine straight, eyes wide and all thoughts of sleep wiped from his mind. "What do you mean 'my actual birthday'?" A strange sense of urgency filled his chest as he scrambled to push his blankets off himself, hands reaching out to pull Jack into a sitting position with him. "I don't know when my actual birthday is, why do you?" With any other person Ruka would have assumed it had just been thoughtless wording, might have even suspected a tasteless prank, but he trusted his brother not to be playing around with such a sensitive subject.

All of a sudden the enthusiasm in Jack's voice when he had woken him up was starting to make sense, though Ruka's expression remained puzzled.

"Jack," he said, almost warningly, all tiredness banished for the time being. "How would you know?"

The rumble from Ruka's stomach caused Jack to smirk in triumph. The comment about needing more time to collect energy now that he was old caused the younger boy to laugh aloud.

"Breakfast is supposed to give you more energy," he pointed out, sneering at the other ginger. "And growing boys need the most energy of all. Come on; you don't want to stay shorter than me forever, do you?"

Shaking his head at the comment regarding 'the crack of dawn', Jack answered, "This isn't the crack of dawn. That probably would have been...what, two hours ago? The sun rises earlier than usual in the summer, remember? But if it's the crack of dawn you want, I can wake you then."

He fidgeted, shifted, and struggled a bit under Ruka, not wanting to push the other off or disturb him too much, but not ready to miss the delicious-smelling breakfast as a captive, either. If he could just wiggle his way out from under him...

"In your dreams," he chuckled in response to the other's command that he starve right along with his older brother. When Ruka turned to face him, the Slytherin returned his fond look with an affectionate grin of his own. "Just because you're my older brother now doesn't make you the boss of me." Then he reached up to tweak the shorter boy's nose between two of his knuckles.

Before he could do so, however, Ruka sat up abruptly with a sudden realization. Bingo. Took him long enough to notice. Though, Jack supposed, sleepy as he was, he probably wouldn't have noticed in Ruka's shoes, either; especially if he hadn't known there was a way to discover his birthday.

Patiently and calmly waiting for Ruka to process things as Jack was man-handled into a sitting position - something he might not normally have abided, but could in this case - he smiled knowingly at his adopted sibling.

"Oh, you know," he replied casually, as if it were no big deal or secret at all. It was obvious in every word and action that he absolutely relished the power of knowledge and holding it over others - particularly over someone he admired the mind and cleverness of like Ruka.

"There's a small, locked tower mentioned in Hogwarts: A History that houses two very particular magical artifacts. To most students, they're nothing of real consequence. But to a witch or wizard who doesn't know their own birthday..." His eyes twinkled with delight.

"...what the Quill of Acceptance writes in the Book of Admittance is pretty sought-after information. After all, when those things record the birth of every magical child in the United Kingdom, even hospital records and muggle documents can't compete."

@Ruka Tân

@Jack Burnett

Ruka hummed thoughtfully at Jack’s words about growing and not wanting to stay shorter than him forever, raising his eyebrows challengingly. “People tend to underestimate short people,” he pointed out, wagging a finger in Jack’s direction. “And I do enjoy being underestimated.”

The argument was still a good one; Breakfast was sure to fill him with some much needed energy, so maybe getting up for that would be worth it. Another rumble of his stomach confirmed that thought.

Rolling his eyes at Jack, Ruka swatted at him blindly, groaning his defeat when he missed his target. “Smart-ass,” he grumbled though there was no heat behind it, only sleepy amusement. “I’m pretty sure four hours ago was still the middle of the night. Anyway, you can wake me up whenever you want to as long as you give me a head’s up.” If he was being honest, even with a very clear warning Ruka would have most likely not gone to bed on time; This house was full of books. Not just spell books or those on brooms and goblin wars, but actual novels, stories about anything and everything. Ruka still wasn’t quite used to his free access to them so he tried to make use of every minute he was able to settle down and read, just in case the books were going to vanish somehow from one moment to the next.

Feeling Jack fidgeting under him only made Ruka make himself even heavier, shuffling around a bit to make sure there were no weak spots granting his brother an easy escape. “We’ll see about that,” he said with exaggerated confidence when Jack pointed out that being a big brother did not make him his younger brother’s boss. In his eyes the title did give him at least some sense of authority, so if Ruka wanted Jack to stay right there and starve with him it was absolutely going to happen. Probably. If his own stomach wasn’t going to betray him first.

Lucky for Jack and his own dignity, Ruka had finally woken up enough to connect some dots, sitting up just in time to escape his brother’s approaching knuckles, eyes wide.

It was more than obvious that Jack didn’t share his urgency, his words slow, like he had all the time in the world to fill him in on how he had gathered his apparent knowledge of Ruka’s birthday. He didn’t was the thing; he had approximately two minutes before Ruka was going to start throwing stuff at him.

With each word from Jack’s lips Ruka could feel himself inching closer, as if drawn in by some magnetic pull, jaw slack as he tried to take in the information he was being given.

He had read A History of Hogwarts, had read of that tower, but... “That tower is locked,” he said dumbly as if to repeat the fact that Jack had only just stated a few seconds ago. Clearly that hadn’t been a hindrance, however, with how confident Jack seemed with his knowledge, how much he seemingly enjoyed holding more information about Ruka than he did himself.

“You got it from there?” he asked, voice growing high pitched with unconfined excitement. “My birthday? You got it from that book?” Flailing his hands around aimlessly, Ruka could feel himself filling up with energy he had no idea what to do with. He wanted to jump and yell and wrap his brother up in a hug so tight it would knock the air out of it, but instead his mind went a little further in analysing Jack’s words.

The information had been in a book in a tower in Hogwarts, a place they had left a good month ago, so...

“Have you known all this time?” he asked, poking an accusatory finger against Jack’s chest. “You have, haven’t you? And you didn’t tell me! How long have you known?” Had he just waited to surprise Ruka with this information like the ultimate birthday present that it was?

With giddy excitement, Ruka grabbed for his pillow again to half heartedly slap it against Jack’s arm, a wide grin lessening the effects of the already weak attack even more. “You’re impossible,” he claimed, shaking his head fondly at his brother. Who really cared how and when he found out when all that mattered was that he had gone through the trouble of finding out at all in the first place?

Reaching out, Ruka pulled Jack into a tight hug for just a moment before laughing brightly and kicking off his blankets the rest of the way to rob himself towards the ladder of the bunk bed, only taking two steps down before jumping the rest of the way, giggling with glee as his feet hit the carpeted floor. “Come on,” He urged his brother, clapping his hands excitedly as if he hadn’t been the one keeping them from grabbing breakfast just a moment ago. “Come on, let’s go, it’s my birthday.” What a delightful thing to say. Ruka accentuated his happiness with a little twirl around himself and a semi-graceful jump. All thoughts of sleep were abandoned as he held both arms out for Jack as if to offer him help in getting off the top bunk of their bed.

Who really needed sleep when he had his very first actual birthday to celebrate?

The Welsh boy couldn't help his laughter at the look on the Irish boy's face when he reiterated that the tower was locked. At least he knew which tower he was talking about. It made him wonder if Ruka had ever thought to search for it himself; what finding it might have meant for him.

"Yeah, it's locked. It's also hidden and no student was ever meant to step foot inside the main room atop it," Jack continued once he had finished laughing. "I had asked Arlo Reynolds, a half-goblin kid in my house, to help me search for it since he loves exploring. Took even him a while, but eventually he found it. We tried to open it every way we knew how, but the lock must have been magical, because eventually we had to go to the heads of house for help."

He smirked confidently when Ruka gathered where all this information had been leading; that this was how his true birthdate had been discovered and why it could be trusted as authentic. "I had to ask both your and my heads of house for permission. I even made sure to go to them on my birthday to make sure I could use that to my advantage if they decided to be difficult about it. Eventually, they agreed to open the door for us on the condition that they came with. We weren't allowed to touch the artifacts or search through the book ourselves, but the information I had asked for was found and given to me regardless. I doubt they'd have any reason to lie, especially to a boy earnestly trying to find out something as innocent as a birthdate for the sake of his fri - " He bit his lip, cutting himself off before chuckling sheepishly. "- the sake of someone else."

Hazel eyes watched the newfound excitement charge Ruka with an electric energy all his own as he began to flail his hands before poking him in the chest in accusation. He smiled and shrugged in response to the question of how long he had known. "I thought it was rather fitting that I find out your birthday on my birthday."

When declared impossible, Jack snickered and replied with a smug, "I know," as if he wouldn't have had it any other way. He had his chin raised and was thrusting his chest out proudly, arms folded over it, when he was suddenly assaulted with a strong hug; the air crushed from his lungs momentarily. "- Oof!"

By the time he had managed to recover somewhat, the older boy was already scrambling out of bed and hastily descending his ladder a few steps before impatiently leaping down after. It was Jack's turn to shake his head, continuing to grin fondly as he attempted to follow suit with Ruka's offered help, though with only a fraction of the other's energy. It was still a Sunday morning, after all. However, he couldn't deny that Ruka's excitement and enthusiasm was infectious.

"Alright, alright! Sheesh!" Jack answered, his voice filled with badly-feigned annoyance as it was colored over with his joy. He could tell how much Ruka relished simply stating the simply fact that it was his birthday and it warmed his heart. He had hoped the Gryffindor would have liked the surprise, but he hadn't guessed how much.

"Calm down! You're going to end up setting the house on fire," he snickered on his way to the door, trying to side-step the twirling, jumping figure impeding him. "Well? Lead the way, Birthday Boy."

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"Well, well! Look who finally decided to join us for breakfast!" Todd announced from his place over the hot stove. Ffion looked up from the island counter where she had just finished arranging various pieces of freshly-cut fruit on a plate.

"Good morning, sweetheart!" she practically sang when she saw Ruka, beaming at both him and Jack who had come in close behind. "Happy birthday! Did you sleep well? Come have something to eat!"

Jack lingered a little behind Ruka, musing at the attention being showered on the copper-haired child. It was a little weird not being an only child any more, but it wasn't all bad. He liked the idea of being able to make Ruka feel special; of their whole family hoping to try to make him feel special and at home. He only hoped the Irish boy wouldn't grow as quickly sick of it as Jack felt he had since he had often felt smothered as the sole receiver of his parents' attentions (unwanted or not) throughout most of his life.

"Have a seat, boys," their father encouraged. "How do you want your eggs?"

@Ruka Burnett-Tân

@Jack Burnett

With his gaze fixed on Jack's face, Ruka could do nothing but listen as his brother explained exactly how he had managed to enter that locked tower and get information from a book no student was supposed to touch. He had gone through all the trouble of involving a housemate, two teachers, and all of that on his own birthday, as if there had been no better way to spend it, just for the sake of being able to get his hands on information that benefitted nobody but Ruka himself.

The broken off word Jack covered with a sheepish chuckle wasn't lost on Ruka, made a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth, but he didn't feel like prodding at it, had far more important things on his mind at the moment, like the fact that the boy in front of him had put so much thought into retrieving a date Ruka himself had long gone given up on. Was Jack aware of exactly how much that meant to him?

For a second the Gryffindor felt himself overflowing with emotions, could taste words at the tip of his tongue that he neither understood very well nor knew if Jack even wanted to hear, so he swallowed them down, just stared at his brother with a fondness that had to be seeping from every pore of his body.

Instead of trying to find the right words, Ruka just put all of his adoration into the hug he assaulted Jack with, squeezing the other boy tightly before letting go again to make his way off the bed as enthusiastically as he had probably never been before. Twirling and jumping were barely enough to let out all the energy he was suddenly filled with, so once Jack's feet had also connected with the floor again, Ruka reached out to take his brother's wrists into his hands and pull him along, skipping excitedly as he did so and only letting go again once he had almost hit the doorway with the back of his head.

Birthday Boy.

Never had he really thought to be called that, had never really even considered the possibility of finding out his real birthday, but there he was. The Birthday Boy, making his way down the stairs with Jack just a bit farther behind him.

Ruka could smell all the delicious breakfast food before he even entered the kitchen, a bright smile on his face as he pushed the door open only to be greeted by his new family. The Happy Birthday given by Mrs Burnett immediately made him wonder how long they had known, if Jack had told them about how he'd found out the exact date, and when, but he decided not to question it just yet, when there was so much food only waiting to be devoured.

"Good morning," he told the grown ups brightly. "It's my birthday," he confirmed nonsensically, with a little nod in Ffion's direction, as if she needed any reassurance that her Birthday wishes were coming on the right day.

With a look back at Jack, Ruka followed Todd's instructions to sit down, pulling out the chair next to him to pat it excitedly in encouragement for his brother to join him.

"Scrambled, please," he said in answer to Mr Burnett's question, clapping his hands together excitedly. "Everything smells amazing, thank you." Closing his eyes for a moment, Ruka allowed himself to lean back and smile happily before straightening up again and helping himself to an admittedly unbalanced mix of bacon, pancakes and fruit, munching through everything as if he had been starving up until just then. By the time his eggs were ready, he had barely been able to swallow them down anymore, but he did manage to finish breakfast with an empty plate in front of him, and a satisfied smile on his face.

"You were right," he told Jack, playfully nudging his arm with an elbow. "That was worth getting out of bed for."