Title: Surprise!

Author: Dark Phoenix

Summary: It's Harry's 25th birthday, and his friends have gotten together to throw him a surprise party. But Harry's friends are in for an even bigger surprise when he finally shows up with an unexpected guest.

Pairing: Draco/Harry

Warnings: None. This is pretty tame.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and am making no money from this.

Notes: Just a little light Drarry in honor of Harry's birthday recently, although that's more of a coincidence than anything. Enjoy!

~ Surprise! ~

On the evening of July 31, 2005, 12 Grimmauld Place was abuzz with excitement. It was Harry's twenty-fifth birthday, and his old friends had decided to throw him a surprise party. They'd had no trouble getting past his wards to set things up. After the war was over, Andromeda Black and Teddy Tonks had become frequent visitors, and Harry had decided they should have the freedom to come and go as they pleased, being the closest thing to family he had besides the Weasleys. So while Harry was at work, Andromeda and Teddy had simply come to his house and let everyone in to prepare for the party and wait for the guest of honor to arrive.

The clock in the sitting room chimed, and Hermione looked up. "It's seven already," she said excitedly. "Harry should be here any minute."

"Harry really is a workaholic these days," Ron mused. "It's Sunday, for Merlin's sake. He shouldn't be working at all. We hardly ever see him anymore."

"Well, you can tell him that when he shows up," said Hermione. "But right now, his being at work gives us a perfect opportunity to do this."

"I guess," Ron grumbled. "He needs a break, that's for sure. He's obviously overworked. Just about every week, I see him getting into it with Malfoy. Anyone would get stressed out working so much and having to deal with that little prick on top of it. If anyone needs an evening to chill out and relieve some tension, he does."

Hermione threw up her hands. "I don't understand it either, Ron. Anyone else could've gotten stuck with Malfoy for a partner, but whenever I bring it up, Harry says that nobody would take him. And then he says he has everything under control." She shrugged helplessly. "Harry's an adult now. He can make his own decisions, even if they don't make sense."

"All right, everyone," Molly Weasley spoke up. "Harry's going to be here any minute, so let's all find a place to hide!"

Grinning, Hermione dimmed the lights and ducked down behind a couch with Ron.

"This is going to be great!" whispered Neville, who was also hiding behind the couch, along with Luna.

"Definitely," Ron agreed. "It's about time Harry had a chance to relax with his friends."

"Harry is fine," said Luna. "His lover keeps him more relaxed than you realize."

Ron nearly choked at her words, then simply stared at Luna, flabbergasted. "Harry doesn't have a lover," he told her when he was finally able to speak.

She smiled back at him. "That you know of."

Ron shook his head. "Anyway," he went on, choosing to ignore the interruption. "Harry needs to spend some time with his friends instead of that self-absorbed wanker he calls a partner. You should've heard them going at it the other day. I don't know how he can stand it."

Luna continued to gaze at him serenely. "Maybe he enjoys it," was all she said.

Hermione gave Ron a warning look before he could say something he'd regret. "Sure, Luna," he said instead. "Maybe he does enjoy Malfoy constantly riding him about every little thing."

"I hope he gets here soon," Hermione said excitedly, trying to change the subject. Many things had changed since Hogwarts, but Ron's opinion of Malfoy wasn't one of them, and he took every opportunity to air his grievances over Harry choosing to be Malfoy's partner.

"Yeah," Ron agreed. "Assuming he doesn't get held up by Malfoy picking a fight with him again. I heard them going at it again when I stopped by the office earlier to make sure Harry would be leaving at seven. They were loud enough for the whole department to hear. I swear, they sound like an old married couple."

"Why doesn't Shacklebolt just reassign them to new partners?" Hermione wondered.

Ron shrugged. "Well, they are the best Aurors in the department. Whatever they're doing in the field gets them results, no matter how hot and bothered they get the rest of the time."

The crack of Apparition sounded just outside the front door, and everyone immediately grew quiet.

"Shhh, everyone," Molly hissed. "Here he comes!"

A moment later, the front door banged open, and voices could distinctly be heard in the front hallway. The partygoers looked at each other, perplexed. They hadn't expected Harry to have company.

"Maybe if you weren't such a reckless idiot—" Harry snapped at someone.

"Oh, that's rich coming from you, Potter. After all the times you've gone running into the middle of a dangerous situation completely unprepared, you really have no room to talk," came the unmistakable, sneering voice of Draco Malfoy.

Small, frantic whispers of confusion started up around the room. What in the world was Malfoy doing there?

"Don't try to make this about me," Harry shot back. "This is about you recklessly attempting to take on a den of wannabe Death Eaters singlehandedly! And what the hell were you doing casting a Summoning Charm at that one bloke in the corner, anyway? What good was that supposed to do?"

"No, this is about you, and how unbelievably clueless you are," Malfoy retorted, ignoring the rest of Harry's rant.

"Really? I could've sworn it was about what an inconsiderate arse you are!"

"See — there you go again, proving once and for all that you really are the most oblivious person in the world!"

"Merlin, they really do sound like an old married couple," Neville whispered.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean, Draco?" Harry demanded.

A derisive snort was heard, then Malfoy's voice drawling, "You know, you talk way too damn much. I'm done arguing." This was followed by a long silence. Everybody waited, a bit tense, for Harry to enter the room or something to happen, but the silence continued.

Finally, they heard Harry's voice say, rather breathlessly, "Yeah, well I'm not done arguing." Somehow, his voice had lost a lot of its conviction. There was a muffled exclamation of surprise, followed by another long silence.

"What's going on?" Hermione hissed to the others. "Do you think we should go out there?"

"Dammit, Draco, would you just tell me what it is I'm supposedly so oblivious to already?" Harry demanded, still out of breath, but sounding a bit more frustrated now. What in the world was Malfoy doing to him?

"You idiot," said Malfoy in a low voice, sounding almost tender. "You really didn't notice that the man in the corner had a Mind-Controller, did you?"

"He — what? But, wait—" More silence followed.

"What's a Mind-Controller?" Neville whispered.

"It's a highly illegal device the neo-Death Eaters created to force others to surrender to their will," Ron whispered back. "Kind of like an Imperius, but even stronger and a lot harder to detect."

Soft sounds had begun to punctuate the silence in the other room, little moans and whimpers that sounded like they were coming from Harry. Ron frowned, then started to rise. "I'm going to see what's going on out there," he whispered decisively.

Suddenly, Harry's voice cut through the air again. "Draco, that's not fair," he moaned in a pleading, breathy voice completely unlike his own.

Ron paused at the sound, then strode out to the main hallway, followed closely by the others.

"What's going on out here?" Ron demanded when he reached the doorway, flipping on the lights. He and the rest of the partygoers froze in shock at the sight that greeted them.

Harry and Malfoy were pressed against a wall, snogging as if their lives depended on it. Malfoy was hungrily devouring Harry's neck while Harry closed his eyes in ecstasy and tilted his head back to give him better access. They leapt apart at the interruption, Harry's hand drifting to his neck to hide the large, purple mark beginning to form there.

"What — what are you guys doing here?" he gasped in that same high, breathy voice.

Malfoy was smirking. "Well, it is your birthday, Harry. I imagine all your friends organized a little surprise party for you." He started to snicker.

Harry looked from his friends to Malfoy and then back. "Was that today?" he finally said, facepalming.

"Surprise," Ron said weakly, not knowing what else to do.

Harry started to laugh. He lowered his hand from his face, and before long, the rest of the room had joined in. "Damn, I forgot all about my own birthday," he said in disbelief. "You're right, Ron, I guess I do work too hard sometimes."

"Sometimes," Ron echoed with a snort.

Then Harry rounded on Malfoy. "But you remembered, and you've done nothing but pick fights and try to antagonize me all day. You didn't even tell me you were Summoning a Mind-Controller, even though you must've known I didn't see it, and you let me go on stewing about it all day. Are you trying to drive me crazy? Do you even know how it makes me feel when you act like that?"

"Yeah," Malfoy said dryly, giving him a pointed look.

Harry blinked, then seemed to realize something all at once. Turning pink, he looked away hurriedly. "Anyway," he said, looking agitated, "I believe this is supposed to be a party."

Molly grinned in delight. "Yes, it is!" she declared. "And I think we've all had a pretty good surprise today, so why don't we go enjoy ourselves? You have quite a few presents to open, Harry, dear."

With that, everyone turned and headed back towards the sitting room, the mood considerably lightened.

Harry let the others go on ahead of him, then turned back to Malfoy. "Speaking of presents, did you at least get me something?"

Malfoy rolled his eyes. "Do you really want me to give you your present in front of everyone?"

Harry swallowed, then turned away again. "Right, well, I guess we might as well join the others." He started towards the sitting room, followed by a smirking Malfoy.

Ron was waiting for him just inside the sitting room. "Happy birthday, Harry," he said, clapping Harry on the shoulder. "I just have one thing to say. Remind me never to throw you another surprise party again."

~ fin ~

Thanks for reading and/or reviewing!