Disclaimer : I don't own Harry Potter. The series belong to the owner, J.K. Rowling.

Warning : Arranged marriage, Slash

Birthday Special

Harry woke up to Ron's snores and the distinctive sound of a window being hit on repeatedly by an avian beak. The half-asleep dark haired male stood up silently from his guest bed on the floor of the room just below the attic of the Burrow.

He glanced at his watch (another thing he had been able to get from his cousin's cast-offs; a small desolate device working on pills and solar energy. Apparently, it did not fit exactly Dudley's requirements), and he noticed it was just past midnight, on the thirty first of July. It was his birthday.

This time, Dumbledore retrieved him from his relatives' house earlier than Harry expected (Actually, a woman, Nymphadora Tonks and his ex-teacher, Remus Lupin went to get him away from his personal hell, but on the Headmaster's order) because there were unforeseen circumstances which forced him to bring Harry before his fifteenth birthday to a safe place – by now, even Dumbledore had to admit that the Dursleys were borderline abusive.

It was something along the lines of 'Mercury and Saturn are favourable to the turning of the one and five, and Orion is influencing the green orbs'. Harry did not exactly understand the mad man's words, but he was happy to be with his friends and pseudo-family. For once, no one was yelling at him or trying to iron his hands into a bloody mess (Long story short, Uncle Vernon had for once tried to do the laundry).

The raven haired teenager soundlessly padded across the room and had to lean forward slightly to reach the window, but he succeeded the arduous task of opening it without waking up Ron or tripping over Ron's belongings scattered everywhere in the cramped room.

A medium-sized owl flew in and landed on his bed. Harry sighed, and trudged back to where the owl was waiting for him, a leg already extended. Now, he only needed to take away its burden, and maybe Hedwig would be willing to let it drink a bit before it had to go back.

He struggled a little to untie the parcel from its leg, but he eventually managed to do it. The owl flew to Hegwig, who was still in her cage. The white avian regarded her new temporary companion warily. After some seconds, she moved around a bit, and pushed a bowl full of owl treats towards the smaller tawny owl.

Harry looked at his owl with fond exasperation. She was such a queen sometimes.

He looked back at the package he was holding. Who would have sent it? Maybe it was coming from one of his classmates.

Hesitantly, he removed the crude paper wrapping, only to discover a nicely packaged box underneath. It was so elegantly enveloped Harry almost did not open it.

It had no name, but his own, written in a neat calligraphy with black, formal ink. And inside was a discreet chic bracelet. It was a golden small linked wristlet with a tiny delicate silver feather.

It looked honestly like a proposal gift.

A roll of parchment accompanied it inside the packet. Harry picked it cautiously before reading it. He almost released a shocked frightened cry.

Dear Harry, it began.

Happy birthday! It may be a surprise to you, but I do know when you were born. Coincidentally, I was myself born mere hours before you.

I should probably tell you first that our parents (Harry had some problems reading this word. It was wobbly and previous attempts to write it had been scratched off) were close friends. My mother Alice, and your father, James, were what you can nowadays call bosom buddies.

As such, my mother and Lily Potter decided to unite our families through a rather disturbing and non-subjective manner. They decided well before our births, when they had just discovered their pregnancies, that they would marry us. It is quite new for me as well, because I discovered this clause in my parents' will only yesterday through my guardian.

I deemed it safer and more respectful to inform you personally. Please calm down, I am pretty sure you are very angry at your parents. I was – still am, by the way, though only a little now – also crossed, but I was informed that they had done only what they thought would be best for us. You see, they were going through a war with unborn children, and they wanted the best for both of us. They saw it fitting to secure their child's future with a stable relationship.

I shall now let you digest all of this on a cordial final note. Enjoy your day.

Yours faithfully,

Neville Longbottom

Harry did not go back to sleep that night. It was not unexpected to find him the next morning so tired he was drinking his tea through his nose. That woke him up though, by choking him and going back from where it came.

Mrs Weasley looked at him, clearly worried. He waved off her concern by eating his breakfast, and got out of the room just as Ron was finally able to drag himself down the stairs, and mumbling a weak 'Happy birthday...' under his breath.

Harry was moving about to help the matronly matriarch of the Weasly clan when he was not busy doing his piles of homework the sadistic teachers at Hogwarts left for the next school year to avoid thinking about his engagement. The raven haired teen had almost gone mad. He needed to read his parents' will.

Then came the end of term results. Hermione almost destroyed hers (She had come to the Burrow three weeks after Harry) because she was so nervous. Ron got his and shrugged. He had passed at least, so it was okay for him. Harry deplored his rather barely average results and resolved himself into working harder that coming year.

Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express with the threat of his impending doom hanging over his head. He would finally meet Neville again. He had not contacted the latter after the letter. Still, Harry kept the bracelet.

He had thought over and over about his situation. He had cooled his head and reasoned rationally. His parents would never have done something so old-fashioned without a good reason. It helped that Neville was such a nice guy. He usually helped the raven haired boy during Herbology classes and he was polite enough to acknowledge both their parents' contract.

Frankly, Harry did not mind being engaged to him, except that they were both male. It was not that Harry had homophobia or had a problem in general with guys together with guys. It was just that they were so young! They were in their teen years, and they were already intended to be married.

Harry started violently when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Ron had the same look in his eyes as his mother when she was anxious. Harry shook his head lightly and started moving again.

The trio searched for a free compartment, but they had unfortunately come later than usual at the platform. Harry tried to go sit with the first years, but Hermione grabbed his hand in a vice grip and dragged him inside the cubicle. It was just his luck that a strange, small, dirty blonde girl was sitting inside. And Neville.

It was starting to get awkward, when the silence was broken by an airy soft hum coming from the blonde. Ginny barged in, and the tension finally dissipated. Luna gained his infinite respect immediately, since she asked him if he wanted to read the magazine she was holding with her. He agreed and she beamed. A cute little sun, she was.

Neville looked like he wanted to say something, but instead closed his mouth again to pet a tiny, weirdly-coloured plant. As soon as Ron and Hermione left for Prefect duty, the rest of the journey was silent and uncomfortable. Harry tried his best to hide behind the magazine, Luna was reading it upside down and slanted to the left, Ginny attempted to lighten the atmosphere with jokes and constant chatter, but gave up when she realised no one was listening, and Neville removed a book from his pocket.

It should have stayed uneasy, had Malfoy not appeared. He opened the door with a great bang, and threw a small smug smirk at Harry. He tried to abuse his power as a prefect, but Harry shot him down along the way.

"Well, well, Saint Potty. Not so grand, are you now. Your friends the weasel and beaver are not here, and now you got a new girlfriend. Loony Lovegood? You could have done much better!" he crowed.

Harry scowled. "Like who? You perhaps? You always go 'Potter this, Potter that'. I am sure you are crushing on me."

Malfoy's face took an interesting shade of red while Crabbe and Goyle cracked their knuckles menacingly behind the platinum blonde.

He did not have the time to respond, before he was out of the compartment in a heap of limbs. Harry blinked and looked around curiously. His gaze fell on Neville's grinning face. Harry was sure he was behind the expulsion of the pompous prefect, who, by the way was hammering indignantly on the glass panel of the door. How unsightly of a Pureblood.

"You know Harry, I think we need to talk."

It may have been because of that he was smiling.