The clock on the bedside table read 11:55, 'only 5 more minutes till my birthday. 17, it's amazing how quickly the time seems to have passed these past 6 years' the young man thought to himself. The young man didn't look at all abnormal, he had grown in height and was now 6'2" and had an adequate build he developed through long hours of practice, but this man was indeed abnormal at least to the likes of us muggles. This young man is a wizard but not just any wizard; he is none other than 'Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived'. Famous since the age of one, for the defeat of the most powerful dark wizard, The Dark Lord Voldemort, in centuries, but he didn't find out till he was 11. That's when it all started, that's when time seems to quicken its pace. That was the year he began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.' Harry thought to himself before recapping the past 6 years.
His school years didn't start normal and haven't changed yet. In his first year he had many adventures (sneaking a dragon out of school and saving the Sorcerers stone to name a few) and had once again defeated the Dark lord, who had possessed one of his Death Eater followers Professor Quirrel. His second year was no more unusual than the first, more adventures and yet again defeating the dark lord, this time in his 16 year-old self preserved in a diary. His third year was a little more relaxed (I use the term Very loosely) and did not involve Voldemort but his loyal Death Eater, Peter Pettigrew a.k.a. Wormtail, and Harry's Godfather, Sirius Black, an animagi and escaped prisoner of Azkaban. His Fourth, possibly the turning point in his life, was very active and stressful, with the Tri-wizard tournament, Cedric Digory's death, and the re-birth of Voldemort. Yes that was definitely the turning point in Harry's life; Voldemort was back, not at full power, but back none the less and was now immune to Harry's touch. His fifth year was no better, with the presence of Professor Ulmbridge, the Occulmency training, D. A. meetings, and then the battle at the Department of Mysteries, which resulted in Sirius' death. Harry had almost reached the breaking point a month into his summer vacation, when a phone call from a friend changed everything. That one phone call helped Harry get control of his life again and ever since Harry has trained and studied with unyielding determination. Harry never told Hermione how much he appreciated that phone call and… her. Hermione had always been there for harry even more so since fourth year when Ron briefly abandoned him. Harry has been determined for the past year on fulfilling the prophecy and protecting his friends, everyone, especially Hermione. His motivation has been and still is to fulfill that prophecy Professor Trelwany (A/N sry can't remember the spelling)…by…Killing Voldemort, only one of them can live and Harry had decided it was going to be him. Harry spent his sixth year studying and training as hard as he could. His time was spent either in classes, the great hall, the Room of Requirements (for D.A. meetings and private training), the library, on the Quidditch field, or in bed. Being so busy and determined had paid off though. Harry was now top in his class, that's right even beating Hermione in grades, but no one knew because he had all the teachers not mention it (which was not a problem for Snape who would rather doing anything else than admit Harry being good at something). Harry dueling skills had improved immensely not one of Dumbledore's Army stood a chance against him. Harry also had a few other skills he'd been working on this past year, three more important than the rest and also unknown to anyone else. Harry was now an accomplished metamorphagi, animagi, and could use wandless-magic. Voldemort would be in for the fight of his life, no the millennium, the next time they meet. The longer till that fateful battle the stronger Harry would be.
"11:59" the clock displayed.
"Only one more minute left" Harry sighed. It wasn't that Harry didn't like his birthday it was just that he was stuck at the Dursley's home for it. This was necessary though as harry learned his fifth year, for his Aunt Petunia shared his mother's blood, which therefore made this hellhole a safe haven for Harry. Harry had to spend all his time outside Hogwarts here, which had gotten better since his fifth year and the weekly visits from Order members.
"12:00" the clock displayed, announcing the beginning of his 17th birthday.
"Happy Birthday to.." Harry began before he was cut off by a group of voices.
"Happy Birthday Harry!" Harry sat straight up in his bed and looked around the room to see his friends and Order members. Hagrid was there, so was Ron, Fred, George, Ginny Weasley with their parents Mr. And Mrs. Weasley. In the Doorway was a sight that made Harry heart race and his spirit soar, Hermione Granger. Harry didn't show any sign of his emotions and had never for Hermione's safety (Voldemort would immediately target Hermione if Harry's feelings were known). Behind her Came Tonks and other Order Members, Tonks was the reason Harry was now a metamorphagi, he had asked her questions about metamorphagus inconspicuously, getting the information he needed, though it had taken many months to get all the answers.
"What are all of you doing here?" Harry said as a smile spread across his face. 'Perhaps another birthday at the Dursleys won't be so bad after all' he thought to himself.
"Dumbledore gave us permission to come 'arry" Hagrid explained with a grin on his face.
"He said we can stay all day too!" Ron joined excitedly.
"But why are you here at this time of night? How were you sure I'd be awake?" Harry said with a curious look on his face.
"I figured you'd still be up, so I got everyone to come and surprise you" Hermione stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Harry smiled inwardly, 'nothing gets past Hermione' he thought.
"This is great," Harry said before yawning "but perhaps we should all get some sleep and continue this in the morning" and he yawned once more.
"Your right dear" Mrs. Weasley said in a motherly tone, she always thought of Harry as one of her own, "C'mon off with you all it's time to get some rest."
"You Can all stay here if you'd like" Harry said before Mrs. Weasley could shoo them all off. "You can conjure up some beds downstairs, then in the morning we can all have breakfast together." Harry added.
"What a wonderful idea" Molly exclaimed. "I can cook you all breakfast and your birthday breakfast," She said pointing at harry towards the end.
With that everyone made their way downstairs and settled in for the night leaving harry to grin to himself before falling asleep. Harry had to fight the urge to laugh at the expression that would be on Aunt Petunia's face in the morning when all of them were in her house. Harry slept peacefully without a single dream; he hadn't had a single dream since completion of his Occulmency training.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up much to his dismay at 4 in the morning and could not fall back asleep. So with less than 4 hrs sleep he trudged off to the bathroom with a pair of black jeans and a T-shirt (both of which fit him since he no longer had to wear Dudley's hand downs). After taking an awakening hot shower, he dried off and got dressed, discovering that his black shirt was starting to get too small and showed his defined chest, not that Harry cared 'Great another thing to do, clothes shopping' he thought mentally adding it to his to-do list. Harry then made his way downstairs and looked in the living room to find that it had been magically expanded and now had bunkbeds filled with his friends and a king size bed with Hagrid. Before Harry turned to leave his eyes fell upon Hermione sleeping peacefully with a smile on her face, 'she must be having a good dream' Harry thought 'she's absolutely beautiful, like a fallen angel sleeping there' he then sighed 'too bad she'll never be mine. At least not till the prophecy is fulfilled.' Harry then headed into the kitchen and opened the fridge to have a glass of milk when he decided he would make everyone's breakfast and have it ready when they woke up. Normally this would have taken hours unless you used a magic, which Harry did. He had read in the library last year that the law for underage use of magic pertained only to wand magic and didn't include wandless magic for it was such a rare ability.
It was 6:30 when Harry had almost finished making breakfast, which looked more like a feast since it was for so many people, when Harry heard a noise in the hall which meant someone was up. Harry quickly ceased all magic in the kitchen, 'it's gonna be a while before I'm finished now' Harry thought. He turned to see who was up, and making their way into the kitchen, it was Hermione.
"Good Morning 'Mione" Harry said.
"Good Morning Harry" Hermione said politely before beginning her lecture "Harry, what are you doing up so early? It's your birthday, you should be sleeping in." she said then noticed all the food he prepared "You made breakfast? Now why did you do that? You know Mrs. Weasley wanted to make breakfast" Hermione could've scolded Harry for another ten minutes but Harry interrupted her.
"Hermione I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep so I decided to make breakfast" Harry said.
Hermione looked around at all the food prepared and what was cooking; it was a meal Mrs. Weasley would've been proud of. "Just when did you wake up? 2 a.m.?" Hermione asked motioning her hands at all the food.
"No" Harry simply answered and decided it was time to change the topic before Hermione would catch on to his using magic. "How was your trip to Italy?" Harry asked.
"It was great, we saw all sites and went to a few wizard towns" Hermione replied.
Harry's plan was already starting to work all he had to do now was get her started on history and the topic would be changed successfully. "Did you go to Nogard? (A/N just made it up, in case u didn't notice, it's dragon backwards) Isn't that where Sergus is from?"
"Yes it is. We went there our second week in Italy" Hermione answered before going on about the town and the wizard for the next ten minutes. If only Hermione knew that Harry had already known about Sergus and his work with disguise charms, and that Harry was just changing the subject, she would be furious. Just as Hermione was finishing the history lesson Molly, Mrs. Weasley, walked in and began to yell.
"Harry! What have you done! You weren't supposed to make breakfast! Get out while I finish it!" She yelled at Harry as she pushed him out of the kitchen and Hermione followed him into the hall.
Harry peaked inside the living room and much to his surprise Mrs. Weasley's yelling hadn't disturbed anyone's sleep. "Everyone else is still asleep want to go out in the back yard till they get up?" Harry asked as he motioned toward the back door.
"Sure" Hermione replied before he lead her outside and to a bench near the perfect garden his Aunt took such pride in. The garden was full of beautiful flowers and contained few weeds except for the patch of Lilys, which Harry had seen to it that weeds would never grow there again. "This is a beautiful garden," Hermione said breaking the silence, which had held the past few minutes.
"Yes it is, isn't it." Harry said "It's Aunt Petunia's pride and joy, though she's a cruel woman, she's a great gardener you have to admit" Hermione nodded in agreement. "So aside from your trip to Italy, how has your summer been?" Harry asked.
"Quite dull actually. I haven't gotten to leave my house, Dumbledore's orders. We had to beg to get to Italy. So of course I've started my summer assignments, I'm nearly finished. How much do you have done?" Hermione asked.
"I've only done a little" Harry lied, he had finished it in the first two weeks of summer, though he has improved his academics a great deal Harry tries not to draw attention to himself about it, the less people knew the more tricks he had up his sleeve. "But I'll have it done before school starts." Harry reassured her.
"Harry I'm disappointed in you, with everything that's going on you should take your school work more seriously" Hermione said with a frown.
"Don't worry Hermione, I'll be okay" Harry reassured her. "We should go in now everyone's ready for breakfast" He said before getting up and heading inside leaving Hermione sitting alone in the garden.
"But I do worry Harry" she whispered with a sad look on her face and the starting of tears in her eyes. She then gathered herself quickly and headed back inside to join everyone enjoying breakfast.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Breakfast had gone wonderfully, everyone had eaten more than they should have, talked and joke merrily, wished Harry Happy Birthday once again. They had spent the day conversing in the living room playing wizards chess, and Harry was now beating Ron every game much to Ron's dismay, and thoroughly enjoyed the day. Meanwhile the Dursleys had left to visit Aunt Marge because they did not wish to be around these abnormal people that they feared. It was getting close to dinnertime and Harry had gone to his room a half-hour earlier for a nap when Hermione entered Harry's room.
"Harry wake up, dinner will be ready soon," Hermione said as she shook Harry awake.
"What? Let me sleep another five minutes" Harry mumbled as he rolled over.
"Oh no you don't your getting up now" Hermione said shaking him more then pulling the sheet from his bed, realizing he was only in his boxers she blushed and quickly covered him back up. Harry then sat up and began to rub the sleep from his eyes.
"Ok, ok. I'm up" Harry said before yawning and stretching.
Hermione found herself admiring his well defined chest and stomach and the muscle on his arms and shook her head to clear it from her mind 'Can't be doing that' she thought. "Dinner will be ready soon" She repeated before tossing him his jeans and T-shirt. Harry got dressed while she turned her back and examined his school trunk and desk. On the desk she noticed Harry's homework, not only was it his homework but contrary to what he had said earlier it was all done. Hermione thought about asking him why he had lied but was interrupted before she got the chance by Mrs. Weasley yelling "Dinner's Ready." At which Harry was out the door, leaving Hermione once again alone. She looked at Harry's homework and saw that it was not only done but also well done some of the essays even put hers to shame. 'Why did Harry lie?' she began to think about it, when her thoughts were soon interrupted.
"Hermione, what's taking you?" Harry called upstairs.
Hermione then headed downstairs and lied saying that she had had to use the Lavatory. They all enjoyed their dinner and Harry's birthday Cake after that. Harry then opened his presents and they all enjoyed themselves till it was getting late.
"Well it's time we head home," Mrs. Weasley said. Everyone nodded in agreement and soon were saying their good-byes as they either apparated or went outside to catch the Knight Bus.
Everyone was gone now except for Hermione. "Happy Birthday Harry" Hermione said as she pulled him into a hug.
"Thanks" Harry replied as Hermione stepped back.
"Harry, I have a question" Hermione said.
"What is it Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Why did you lie to me in the garden?" Hermione asked "I saw your homework on you desk it's all done, not only that but it's great."
"Sorry Hermione, I should have told you. It's just I haven't been telling anyone because it's not a big deal and I don't want to people to know I'm a brain like you. I'm not sure I could handle people asking for help as well as you do" Harry replied, throwing in the compliment hoping Hermione wouldn't be mad.
"Well you should have told me, I can understand not telling anyone else but you could have told me" Hermione said, a little hurt in her voice that Harry hadn't told her.
"I'm sorry 'Mione. How about I make it up to you, I promise I won't lie to you again, I'll answer your questions honestly. Ok?" Harry said with a puppy face to cheer Hermione up and it worked.
"Ok, deal" Hermione said looking up at Harry and smiling.
Then Harry did something which surprised them both, Harry leaned down and kissed Hermione quickly on the lips before saying "Goodnight 'Mione."
Hermione stood there stunned for a few seconds before she said "G-Goodnight Harry" back and left to catch the Knight bus, down the road, with the Weasleys.