Jamie looked up at the sound of his dad's voice, eyes widening with surprise at the cake in his hands.
He'd remembered!
"Thanks, Dad." Standing up straighter as the cake was placed on the wall in front of him, he reached out to grip his dad's shoulder companionably. He smiled while he watched his dad light the candle. The last time he'd seen his father use his magic for something so simple and charming had been...Christmas hols second year? Raising his own finger over the candle flame, he coaxed it into the shape of the rune Uruz before closing his eyes and blowing it out on a sigh.
Conjuring two forks, he offered one to his dad. "Cake for breakfast? What Aunt Hermione doesn't know won't hurt us," he teased, trying to piece his fragile thoughts back together. Taking his own bite, he chewed slowly for a moment. "When I was studying for the NEWTs, there was one particular Arithmancy problem that was driving me round the twist. Merlin's Matrix. We'd spent all of spring term on it and I still botched it up in small, stupid ways. It was my last exam and the night before I was up in the common room revising like my life depended on it, which it might have, in a way. Must have been after midnight and down comes Al, fresh from his own revisions for his last OWLs. He sat down at the table I'd commandeered hours earlier and he just started talking me through it. Sat up with me for three more hours until I finally got it. Didn't quite ace the exam, but close enough. He said that O was his birthday gift for me that year."