A/N: Well, what can I say? I don't own Harry Potter, no matter how much I wish I did... JKR, if you want to sell me the rights to Harry Potter for peanuts then please feel free ;) Now that's over with, onto the story...

Happy Birthday Harry

By Hpgirl

It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was bright blue and there were only a few white fluffy clouds in the air.

"Patil, Parvati," said Professor McGonagall. Parvati had gone onto the stage and took her diploma from the professor and shaken her and Professor Dumbledore's hands.

"Perkins, Susan."

"Potter, Harry." He climbed up the stairs and crossed the stage, briefly smiling at Mr and Mrs Weasley and took his certificate from Professor McGonagall.

That's when all hell had broken loose.

The doors had burst open and two hundred Death Eaters had charged into the room shouting curses at the crowd of parents, teachers and students.

Luckily Dumbledore had had the forethought to ask the Ministry of Magic for some Aurors to come to the ceremony as well. The Ministry had risen to the occasion and sent fifty of their best Aurors. Along with all the parents and the fifth, sixth and seventh years the Death Eaters had been outnumbered. Everyone below the age of fifteen had been transported out of the room when the doors had burst open.

Voldemort had been the last to enter and he'd walked straight to Harry and Dumbledore who were on stage.

"This is my battle, Professor," Harry had said.

Nodding to Harry Dumbledore jumped off the stage and joined in staving off the Death Eaters.

And their battle commenced.

"Expelliarmus," said Harry, hoping to knock Voldemort's wand out of his hand.

"Foolish boy, did you honestly thing that would work twice?" said Voldemort laughing cruelly. "Cruciatus."

Then there was nothing except for intense pain, it felt like knives were stabbing at every inch of him. He felt like his head was going to explode into a million pieces. And then the pain was gone

"Stupefy," said Harry weakly.

"And I thought this would be more challenging. You put more of a fight up in your fourth year."

"Avada Kedavra."

"Nooooo..." he heard someone shout. This was it, it was over.

But a few moments later he was still alive.

Then it hit him, there was a body on the ground, and he was still alive. Wormtail.

"Equitas," said Harry, just about able to lift his arm to wave his wand.

A red and gold beam had erupted from Harry's wand and wrapped itself around Voldemort.

"Noooooo," shouted Voldemort, his eyes widened in terror.

The spell seemed to be draining Harry of every bit of energy he had. But he somehow managed to hold on.

Then Voldemort was gone.

But Harry hadn't had time to celebrate, there would be time later.

"Stupefy!" he said, pointing his wand at a Death Eater who had Ron cornered.

"Stupefy!" he said again taking out another Death Eater.

After what seemed like days, but it actuality was hours, it was over.

Only Dumbledore, McGonagall, Shacklebolt and a few other people were still standing.

"Is he?" asked Professor McGonagall, walking over to where Harry was lying.

"I don't know," said Dumbledore, feeling for a pulse. "Ah, he has a pulse, but it's weak. Call Poppy over here."

It was odd, Harry reflected as he stepped off the Knight Bus, it seemed like everyone and everything around him had changed, but the Burrow was still the same. It was still a ramshackle house with chickens running around in the front garden. And it still had the explosions and puffs of coloured smoke emanating from a Fred and George's room that seemed to be welcoming him home.

"Harry!" said Mrs Weasley bursting out of the front door, and pulling him into a motherly hug. So different from the "you'd better not cause any trouble" and "go to your room" that he'd received from the Dursleys every year after returning to Privet Drive. She'd changed too, she was no longer nicely rounded, she seemed thinner and older than the last time Harry had seen her, but that had only been in two weeks ago at the Graduation Ceremony.

As Stan pulled Harry's trunk off the Knight Bus, Mrs Weasley sized Harry up. "How are you, dear?"

"Relieved to be here instead of with the Dursley's and glad to be out of the hospital wing," said Harry truthfully, bringing a small smile to Mrs Weasleys face. He had spent the last two weeks after the battle under the care of the eagle-eyed Madam Pomfrey and several other medi-wizards who could have put Mrs Weasley to shame. They had even wanted to keep him during the Leaving Feast, saying that he was too fragile for such a boisterous event. Luckily for him though, Professor Dumbledore had taken the view that this would be Harry's last meal as a Gryffindor, and therefore should be allowed to attend.

"Are you hungry, dear?" she asked guiding him into the house. "I'll cook you something! Anything you want!" she continued taking him into the living room. Harry smiled, Molly would probably be worse than ten Madam Pomfrey's.

The Weasley family had left the war, relatively unscathed. They had all left the war alive, where as other families had not been so lucky.

Neville Longbottom had died protecting Ginny. Luna Lovegood, Colin and Dennis Creevey, had all died, while stopping the Death Eaters from getting to Harry before he could destroy Voldemort...

"Harry!" said Ron running out of the house. "Thought I heard the Knight Bus. C'mon inside. Hermione wants me to owl her has soon as you arrive. Says that if I don't, she'll hex me six ways from Sunday, whatever that means. Muggles."

Harry laughed his first real laugh since the battle.

"Everyone's waiting in the kitchen. I'll be down in a minute," said Ron starting to climb the stairs.

As he walked into the kitchen Harry smiled, knowing full well that Hermione's threat of a hexing wasn't the only reason he wanted to owl her. Ron didn't know that Harry knew he had spent every waking moment by Hermione's bedside, after he had regained consciousness. And according to Ginny's letters, Ron had been writing to Hermione at least twice a day.

"Surprise!" shouted the Weasleys, gathered around the scrubbed kitchen table.

Harry took in the scene and felt a smile form on his face. There was a large banner, magically enchanted so that the words "Happy Birthday Harry!" rolled across it. The Weasleys were crowded in the kitchen, even Bill and Charlie were there. Hermione, Ginny and Ron were in front, beaming at him.

"Hermione, what are you doing here?" he exclaimed as she hugged him tightly. "I thought your parents wanted you on holiday with them!"

"Well..." said Hermione slowly, "what I didn't tell you was that we're staying at a wizarding hotel."

Ginny walked up to him next, birthday hat in hand, and hugged him too, then put the hat on his head. She beamed at him and retreated to the back of the room. Harry looked at the other Weasleys. Fred and George both gave him grins that made him think that they were up to something and Bill and Charlie just greeted him with a simple hello.

Mr Weasley pulled out a chair and motioned for Harry to sit in it and the others sat too while Mrs Weasley brought out a large plate of sandwiches and a jug of iced pumpkin juice.

One everyone had eaten their fill and all the sandwiches were gone, Fred and George flicked their wands at the plates, which moved into the kitchen, they then used spells to remove all the dirt and put them in the rack.

"They've been doing that all summer," whispered Ron in Harry's ear. "Show-offs."

Mrs Weasley took out her wand and summoned something from out of the room... but after a minute it still hadn't come. She tried again. Ten seconds later, they heard footsteps out in the hall, two more seconds and the living room door opened and in walked Harry's birthday presents, literally. Someone had transfigured them into little wrapping-paper people.

There were a few sniggers at thee table as the transfigured presents started doing cartwheels.

"Fred, George!" said Mrs Weasley, her face growing red.

The others started trying to smother their laughter

Fred and George looked at the acrobatic presents and then at their mother. "It wasn't us. Honest."

"Are you trying to tell me that Ron or Hermione did it?"

"No."

"Then who?"

By this time Charlie and Bill were nearly falling out of their chairs as the presents had started tossing each other into the air, and putting on a good acrobatic show.

"Finite Incantatum," said Bill in between fits of laughter, and the presents changed back into their normal box shapes, and Mr Weasley started repairing the contents of some that had landed with a smash on the floor and putting them on the table.

Mrs. Weasley caught on. "Bill? Charlie? Did you have anything to do with this?"

"Nice, Bill, wish I'd thought of that!" said George, grinning at his older brother earning a disapproving look from his mother.

"Thanks Bill, I can always rely on someone in this house to cheer me up!" said Harry still laughing.

Mrs Weasley's eyes softened slightly, "Well... okay, Harry," she said grabbing a present and looking at the tag, "this is from... Ginny."

"Thanks," said Harry taking the present from Mrs Weasley and smiled at Ginny, who blushed, then he concentrated on the present, unwrapping it carefully.

"Come on Harry," urged Fred, George and Ron, eager to see what their little sister had got him.

He found a picture frame inside. He looked at the picture inside. He knew the faces in the picture immediately. It was his parents Remus Lupin and his godfather Sirius Black. His mother bent down and picked up Harry's younger self and then both she and his father waved at him. Harry smiled at the memory of his godfather. Three of the people in this picture had died trying to protect him. Only one remained, Remus Lupin. The frame itself looked as though it had been made from large clear glass stones. On inspection each stone contained a picture of one or more of his friends. There was one of Ron and Hermione together, one of Mr & Mrs Weasley, one of Fred and George, one of Hagrid, one of Dumbledore and a small one of Ginny.

Harry smiled at Ginny and hugged her. "Thanks Ginny, I love it," he said passing it to Hermione.

"Thanks, I'm glad you like it."

"Next present," said Fred, picking up another parcel and reading from the tag. "From Hermione."

Harry quickly tore off the rest of the paper to reveal a small thick book entitled Quidditch plays of the 18th 19th and 20th Centuries with a Snitch moving around on the front.

Harry immediately started flipping through the index pages and flipping through a few of the plays.

"So you like it?" Hermione asked.

"Like it, Hermione? I love it! Thank you."

Hermione smiled at him.

Mrs. Weasley picked up another parcel. "This one is from... Ron," she said handing Harry a cylindrical package with a box attached to the bottom.

Harry rested the bottom of the package and tore the paper off, kind of like peeling an apple (without the knife).

The box at the bottom turned out to be a box of Chocolate Frogs, one of Harry's favourite sweets. The cylinder was held together by a red ribbon which Harry quickly took off, and then unrolled the cylinder part way.

It was a poster of all of the England team flying around on their brooms. He unrolled the poster completely and Charlie held the top end so he could study it further.

There were seven squiggles at the bottom of the poster along with a note saying "Happy Birthday Harry, From the 1997 England Quidditch Team".

Then a realisation struck him.

The squiggles were the signatures of the team.

"Ron, how the heck...?"

Ron's face was as red as a cherry tomato. "I've been working in Quality Quidditch Supplies... and the England team came to the store to try out the PhoenixFire after hours, and Mr Pembroke asked me to help out... and the posters caught my eye so I bought a couple and asked the team to sign them..."

Hermione picked up another present and handed it to Harry, taking some of the attention away from Ron. The card read, Harry Birthday Harry, from Bill and Charlie. Harry unwrapped the parcel to reveal a rather good set of Quidditch armour.

"Wow, this must have been expensive, I can't accept this!" he said truthfully.

"You can and you will, Harry," said Charlie, grinning. "You're going to need a really good set of armour, those Beaters for the Chudley Cannons are useless. We should probably put better cushioning charms on it later..."

"HEY!" said Ron defensively, and rolled his eyes as everyone else laughed.

Charlie reached into his pocket and dug something out. It was wrapped in some of the remainder of the broomstick wrapping that Ginny had used to wrap the photo frame.

"Here you go Harry, something that I wanted to make sure didn't get transfigured," he said and tossed the little item at Harry.

He searched the wrapping for an opening and pulled at the first one he found. He looked at the item in his hand, then at Charlie, with a question in his eyes.

"You remember that Horntail you went against in the tournament? That's the first tooth to come out of one if it's children. It's supposed to be incredibly lucky. And dragons teeth are considered to be collectibles among some wizards."

Harry grinned at the memory. "Thanks Charlie, it's great," said Harry, smiling at Charlie setting the tooth next to the picture.

Ron picked up another package, "Hagrid sent this last night, said to give it to you today."

Harry took the package from Ron, hoping that it wouldn't find another Monster Book of Monsters.

He tore off the paper and found a tin, with Hagrid's infamous treacle fudge inside.

"Ooh, that looks nice, Harry, dear," said Mrs Weasley.

"Would anyone like a piece?" he asked, offering it to Mrs Weasley first.

"Has Hagrid's treacle fudge improved? It was a little... chewy last time Ron gave me some."

Harry closed the tin smiling sheepishly and set it down on the table.

Hermione picked up the next present and handed it to Harry, who looked at the tag, and set the present on the table eying it suspiciously as though something horrible might happen to him if he opened it.

It was from Fred and George.

"What don't you trust us?" asked Fred, with one of those angelic looks on his faces, that could only mean that he was up to something.

"Mr Weasley, is there anyway to check for enchantments like they did with my Firebolt?"

Mr Weasley chuckled.

"I'm hurt that you could think that we would do such a thing to someone who has become like a brother to us," said George.

"That's because he's seen what you'll do to your real brothers," chuckled Bill.

Harry hastily opened the parcel, but there were no eruptions of laughter so Harry assumed that everything was ok.

Inside the box were a few sweets and pens and a piece of parchment.

"A few of our latest jokes. You have some evaporating ink, some costume candies, some chocolate chimps and some password parchment," said Fred.

"What do they do?"

"We'll let you find that out on your own. Don't worry mum, none of them are dangerous."

Harry looked at them a little uneasily but nodded.

It was Mr Weasley's turn to hand him a present. "Last one," he said picking up a small wand box that was lying on the table in front of him.

Harry took the box from Mr Weasley and looked at it carefully before he tore the paper off. Inside was a shiny black leather case. Harry opened it carefully and what he found inside surprised him.

It was a long, thin, black strip of wood with his picture on he end. It was him grinning like an idiot, like he was doing at that moment. He lifted it out of the case and held it between his thumb and index finger.

"It's a clock hand Harry," said Mr Weasley smiling at him.

"We all feel that you've become part of our family," said Mrs Weasley. "And everyone in our family has a hand on our clock."

Harry felt tears well up in his eyes and wiped them away with his sleeve.

"So... so, how do we put it on the clock?" asked Harry, his voice a little choked up.

Mr Weasley got up and crossed the room so that he was next to the Weasley's grandfather clock. He opened the glass door in front of the face.

"You tap your wand on the clock hand and then on the clock face."

Harry did as he was told. He tapped his wand on the clock hand and it disappeared. He then tapped his wand on the clock face, and it reappeared on the clock and started to move about.

It rotated around the clock face four times before finally settling on a spot.

At Home.

A/N2: Reviews are food for the soul... so hurry up and feed the author, she's starving ;)

BTW: Just in case you were wondering... not that it's important... school term (public) starts on the eighth and ends on the 24th (in 1997) so since Hogwarts students started 1 week earlier I have them finishing one week earlier too (on the 17th). Harry's birthday is exactly two weeks after term finishes. Dates made easier by http:www.hf.rim.or.jp/kaji/cal/ and the webmasters Highsted School for not taking down their term dates for 1997

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