"Happy Birthday!!!" Everyone shouted as Arthur Weasley walked into his house. The rest of the evening was wonderful as all of his family and friends talked and ate Molly's plug shaped cake and he opened presents. When he got to Harry and Hermione though, there was no present to be found.
"Mr. Weasley we have to give you our present tomorrow, it's kind of a trip, so we got your day all cleared out and we'll be over at 10am to get you, I hope that's ok" Hermione said looking a little anxious. Harry was just grinning from ear to ear. Arthur was just wondering where on earth his two adopted kids would be taking him. Harry and Hermione had no family in the wizard world so the Weasley family always tried to make sure they felt like family.
"Ok do I need to bring anything with me tomorrow?"
"Nope, we've got it all taken care of, we actually need to get going now though, it's been a long day and we need to get to bed. We'll see you in the morning! Night everyone!" They went around and gave all their love to their friends and flooed back to their flat in London. And, they did in fact have everything covered for tomorrow. They had worked it out with Mrs. Weasley beforehand.
The next day…
"Good morning everyone!" Harry and Hermione said as they exited the fireplace in the Weasley's living room. The family were all seated at the kitchen table eating breakfast and Harry and Hermione decided that Molly's cooking was too good to pass up so they joined in. Molly came over and greeted them while whispering "got everything? You don't need anything else right?" to which Harry assured her they were fine and winked.
After breakfast Harry, Hermione and Arthur were all in the living room ready to go. The younger witch and wizard had on muggle clothes while Arthur was dressed in his robes. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and whipped out their wands. The transfigured Mr. Weasley's clothes into appropriate muggle attire so he wouldn't stick out where they were headed.
"Ok Mr. Weasley hold onto my arm because we're just going to apparate and I don't want to tell you where we're going yet." Harry said while holding out his arm and smiling mischievously. Arthur grabbed his arm and they were gone with a spin. Almost immediately they reappeared with a POP in front of a muggle mall in London. Arthur wasn't exactly sure what they were doing until Harry and Hermione each grabbed an arm and started walking through the front doors of the mall.
Once they were inside Arthur looked around, "Bloody Hell" was all that came out of his mouth, he was speechless after that. Harry and Hermione looked at each other and laughed then looked back at Arthur. Hermione began "Ok Mr. Weasley, Molly gave us some money and we had it converted to muggle money for you" while handing him a stack of bills, Harry continued "so go into any store you want and we'll help you pick some stuff out for your birthday and pay for it. Which store do you want to visit first?"
"Oh wow… this.. are the lights made of eckeltricity? Is that an escapator? Let's just start with this muggle clothing store over here" he said in wonder and pointing to a bright pink store while Harry and Hermione burst out laughing.
"Mr. Weasley… that's a lingerie store so unless you're buying something for Mrs. Weasley I'd say maybe we should start with the next store which looks like an electronic store, it has all sorts of stuff that runs from electricity and plugs, how does that sound?"
Arthur nodded enthusiastically and they all went into the electronic store. They didn't come out for over two hours, but when they did they had a few bags with them. Arthur looked even more excited than before and led them to the next store which happened to be a kitchen appliance store. He ended up turning all the knobs and inspecting every mixer, microwave (which he really wanted but Harry and Hermione talked him out of) and egg timer in the place. They bought an egg shaped egg timer because it "was electric without a plug" according to Mr. Weasley. Harry and Hermione were hungry by the time they left so they decided to steer Mr. Weasley toward the food court.
"What smells so… oi… we can choose whatever kind of food we want?"
"Yep Mr. Weasley just pick a place to eat and we'll help you order and pay" Arthur walked around the whole food court twice before coming to a stop in front of a Chinese food place. He'd never had Chinese food but a girl was standing in front of the counter giving away free food and he liked it when he tasted it… might as well try something new. Harry helped him order a full plate of Chinese food and pay and fill up his cup at the machine. Getting his drink took about 15 minutes because each time the soda would shoot out Mr. Weasley jumped back and dropped his cup.
While they were eating their lunch, Harry and Hermione planned the rest of the mall trip. They decided that they would take Mr. Weasley to the giant toy store (because it had different kinds of electronics that ran on batteries and was sure to be entertaining) and to a candy shop.
At the toy store Mr. Weasley watched the toy cars race around on their own and tried to figure out how they worked. The employees let him use the controllers for the cars and he was hooked. It took him awhile to get the hang of steering the little cars but soon he was racing the clerks around the store. He also found board games "Is this what muggles do when they're bored?" and bikes. Harry and Hermione explained that bikes were sort of the equivalent to a child's broom in the wizard world but you couldn't really play any games with them like Quidditch.
Finally they went to the candy store and told Mr. Weasley to fill up a bag or two of any kinds of candy he wanted. He got some gummies, some rock candy "Does it really taste like rocks?", some chocolate, and some Pop Rocks for the twins "They'll think their mouth is exploding!". When it was time to leave the mall he hugged Harry and Hermione and kept saying thank you until they grabbed his arm and apparated back to the Burrow.
The family was waiting when they got back and he told them about his day, including what he bought.
"We went into an eckeltronic store first and there were these computids that you write in and it comes up on a different screen than you use to type. There were shavers that vibrated your hair off, and big chairs that gave you massages. There were also these little square things that played music whenever you wanted even though they were tiny and didn't have enough room for all the stuff in a wireless. OH and you put these little fuzzy things into your ears to hear the music it doesn't play out loud to everyone else! I got some batteries and a calcamater there. The calcamater adds up numbers if you punch them in, Harry and Hermione promised that it doesn't have a brain it just can do math.
Then we went to the kitchen store and they had lots of stuff like mixers that spin all the stuff together so you don't have to stir. But the microwaves…. Oi, you put food in and it gets hot really fast. It's like the muggles figured out a heating charm and put it in there. And it lights up while it's cooking and counts to you! I got a timer there. It looks like an egg and rings when time is up!
Then we went to lunch and I had Chinese food. I didn't even have to go to China! It was kind of spicy but it was really good! You would have liked it. The food court was amazing, they had all sorts of food and you get to choose whatever you want and they make it right then!
Then we went to the toy store and I raced cars with the people there and found so many different things but I bought a car and some muggle cards, and a flashlight. Somehow they keep light in it and you just push a button and the light comes out! Then I went to the candy shop and got everyone something!"
He then handed out some shark shaped gummies to Ron and Ginny, some chocolate to Molly, some rock candy to Bill and Charlie, and the Pop Rocks to Fred and George. Everyone looked at their candy like he was crazy..
"Dad these look like someone just shrunk down sharks… are you sure they taste ok?" Ron said, Ginny just took a bite and smiled, it was really good!
"Um you bought us rocks to eat? Thanks…" Bill said while Charlie was crunching away and saying how sweet the rocks tasted. Bill then took a bite and smiled and laughed.
"What do you say Gred? Shall we?"
"Of course Forge, on three?"
"One"
"Two"
"Three!"
"AHHHHHHHH My mouth is exploding!! Bloody Hell!"
The rest of the Weasleys were concerned while Arthur, Harry and Hermione all burst out laughing and soon everyone joined in. It was a perfect birthday present and Arthur will always thank his two adopted kids for being so thoughtful and for the great day. The twins decided to use the candy ideas in the joke shop and were soon into full planning mode… as well as planning some payback for the prank Harry and Hermione managed to pull on them…
