Chapter Two: The Birthday Party

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Kailey's Point of View:

Ever since their engagement, Sirius and Keena had been nearly inseparable. Though it was usually adorable, sometimes they just took it too far for my comfort zone.

"Guys, seriously, there are kids in here, go get a room," James said rolling his eyes at breakfast the morning of Harry's birthday. Harry and I had just walked in the room. "No puns," he added when Sirius opened his mouth to make a joke.

"Sorry, James," Keena said instead. "And a very happy birthday to you, Harry," she added with a smile. She was quickly followed by the rest of the adults and Lily ran over to Harry, squishing him in a hug.

"Mum, I need air," he choked out, though he was laughing when she released him.

"My baby boy is fourteen!" she cried, running a hand thru his hair.

"Exactly, Lily, he's fourteen, you're embarrassing him," James laughed, coming over to give Harry a hug as well. "Happy birthday, son," he added in a quiet undertone.

"Thanks," Harry answered as he grinned. He was almost glowing with happiness.

The day carried on as any other, the boys going out to play Quidditch before Sirius, James and Remus grew too tired. The four of them landed on the ground, all looking at me with pleading expressions. Lily and Keena had gone inside, telling me that if it came to it, I would most likely need to stall Harry from coming inside before one in the afternoon. It was only noon now.

"Please?" Harry asked looking at me with green puppy-dog eyes.

"Harry," I whined in protest. "Can't we just let it rest? Maybe go and explore the woods?"

"But Kailey, it's my birthday," he pouted and I gave a sigh. "Yes!" he grinned pumping his fist up in the air.

"But what will I use for a broom?" I asked, rolling my eyes at his display. He was such a boy.

"You can use mine," Sirius offered, handing me the broom.

"Wow, thanks," I said sarcastically.

He smirked and the three men went inside to help Lily and Keena finish up. With a little luck they'd be done early. Too bad the guests couldn't be early.

"Ready?" Harry asked when I looked back over to see him already hovering in the air.

"Nope," I answered, holding the broom away from me as though it would bite.

He laughed at me and landed before showing me how to mount. "Now you just kick off from the ground like this," he said blasting off into the sky. I gulped. "C'mon!" he called.

"Are you sure I should be doing this right now? I mean is the wind right and everything?"

"Kailey, there is no wind," he called from his height in the sky.

"What about the temperature or the air pressure?" I asked grasping at straws.

"You're just stalling," he said rolling his eyes.

"And your point is?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"C'mon, you won't fall," he said coming lower, a smirk present on his face. I looked at him doubtfully. "Alright, I won't let you fall," he amended.

"Promise?"

"I promise,"

I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut. "Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't think I can do this," I let out in a whisper, my shoulders slumping.

I heard him land next to me and felt him place a hand on my shoulder. "I think you can," he said supportively. "I mean, the other day at Hogwarts we went up and you were fine,"

I felt myself blushing and I turned away. "That was different,"

"Oh," he said and I could tell that he understood what I meant. How embarrassing… "Yeah it was different, wasn't it?" If anything, this made my face heat up even more.

"Buckbeak was extremely different," I added, hoping to lighten the mood and to direct the conversation away from where it had been heading.

He gave what I wanted to call a nervous laugh before he sighed. "Yeah, that was something else all together,"

"In all honesty, I think I'd rather ride a hippogriff," I said, turning to face him as I felt my face return to its normal temperature.

"Why? They've got wings and they're not steady at all," he asked in disgust, one eyebrow raised high.

"Think about it," I said earnestly. "A broom can be jinxed to buck you off of it but a hippogriff will only let you ride it if it wants you to. Therefore, it would not allow you to fall,"

"But what about the comfort factor?" he asked, still disbelieving.

"With heights, there is no comfort factor, it's either high or higher," I answered stubbornly.

"You must have really hated your dad when he made me levitate you to clean the ceiling for that detention last year," he smirked, letting out a laugh. I, in all my maturity, stuck my tongue out at him in response. "Yes, let's throw a temper tantrum while we're at it," he grinned wickedly. Playing along, I frowned and stomped my foot. Then I shot up into the air with a surprised shriek.

I gripped the handle of the broom, hanging on for dear life, when Harry came zooming up to meet me, laughing. "You are the cruelest, meanest, awfulest best friend!" I accused, shaking. "Now get me down!"

"That's not a very nice thing to say to me on my birthday and besides, 'awfulest' is not a word," he laughed.

"It is today, buddy! Now how do I stop this thing?" I had begun rising again and I had no clue how to control where the broom was going or, more importantly, how to get down.

"Okay, calm down, that's the most important thing," he said sobering himself from another bout of laughter.

"Oh, I'll give you calm, you conniving little jerk!" I growled, though I began taking deep, even breaths. It didn't work and I kept shaking.

"Why don't we just try flying around a little?" he suggested. "You're already up here," he added when I opened my mouth to argue. I leveled him with a glare instead. "You're the one who promised you'd try it today," he reminded me in an almost sing-song voice.

"You guilted me into it," I called as he began flying around the yard. He didn't reply. "If you think that trying to get me to follow you will work you're sorely—!"

"Sorry, can't hear you, too much flying going on!" he called over, flashing me what I had decided to call the Potter-get-away-smile, as James often used it on Lily when she was angry. What annoyed me most about it was that it worked.

Carefully and hesitantly, I turned the broom to face where Harry was doing flips and dives before shooting into the air again. He was such a show off whenever he got onto the broom, though he might have just been enjoying himself every other time I knew he was doing it to annoy me. He took notice of my change in position and paused in the air, upside down I might add, watching to see what I would do. Or preparing to come and catch me if I fell, which was a distinct possibility. I took a deep breath and leaned forward slightly, shivering a little when the broom began to take me to where Harry was waiting.

Unable to wait for my snail pace, he met me halfway there with a goofy grin on his face. "I told you that you'd be able to do it, didn't I?"

I grumbled but didn't protest.

"D'you want to fly around the forest a bit?" he asked, clearly excited about having another person in the air aside from the easily tired old men. Although, non-stop Quidditch for at least three hours straight a day would tire anyone out who wasn't used to training.

"What, in the trees? Are you crazy? I only just got up here and you expect me to go gallivanting into some random forest all for the sake of exploration that we could do just as well on foot, I might add?" he just nodded eagerly. I deflated. "I will remember this and I expect amazing treatment on my birthday,"

"You know, you're funny when you're trying to be angry," he said, flying off at the speed only his Firebolt could accomplish. "C'mon, you're as slow as molasses,"

"I'll show you slow," I said, bristling at the challenge. "Come on, Kail, no need to be frightened, you've seen them all go shooting forward, it can't be that hard," I muttered to myself.

"I'm not getting any younger!"

That did it.

Keena's Point of View:

Sirius and I had been pulled out of our moment by the living room window by a shriek and we looked out to see that Harry had indeed tricked Keena into getting up into the air. Sirius chuckled, shaking his head and I rolled my eyes. Men.

"So where were we?" he asked, pulling me closer to him.

"Well, love, we were originally going to set out some food," I said, pulling away from him and he grudgingly let go, giving me a pout. "Sirius, don't look at me like that," I said, looking away. When I looked back again he was wiggling his eyebrows at me. "Sirius," I said in a warning tone and he laughed. "Come on, it's Harry's birthday, we need to show some restraint,"

"Hate to break it to you, but we've never shown restraint," he told me with a wink. I blinked. Damn, he was right.

I opted to pull out my wand and set up the punch bowl with a flick of my wrist followed by chips and pretzels and other various treats.

"So, what do I need to do?" he asked, taking a handful of chips. I sent a mild stinging hex at him. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You're hovering, and I'll have none of that," I said. "And those are for the party," I added with a cheeky grin as he pouted at me.

"Kiss it better?" he asked, holding his unmarked hand out to me. I rolled my eyes. "Please?"

"Let's go and see if James and Remus need help with any of the other decorations," I suggested, heading for the dining room where the long table had been restored, the cake sitting innocently in its center. It was surrounded by sixteen chairs and place settings.

"But my hand—"

"I'll make it better later," I answered with a wink and he grinned. "After our wedding of course," he scowled before grumbling something unintelligible and I chose to ignore him.

"Finished in the living room then?" Lily asked once she noticed us. She was putting some finishing touches on the cake, including the magic candles that were not only difficult to blow out, but laughed at you when you failed. They wouldn't've melted had we lit them now, but they would laugh every time there was even the slightest movement in the room.

"Yes, we were just wondering if there was anything more to do," I said, taking a seat at the table. "Where have James and Remus gone off to?"

"They've gone about opening the wards around the floo to the Burrow specifically," she answered, giving the cake a last look over. "Are we sure he'll like this flavor?"

"Kailey said that Harry told her it was his favorite," I shrugged.

"How did she bring that up?" Sirius asked curiously.

"I think she probably just asked him straight out. He probably expects a cake, you know," Lily answered. "I just couldn't've asked myself, I'd've given it all away,"

"Oh, well, doesn't Harry have a muggle-born friend, Hermione right? How is she getting here?" Sirius asked, edging his way towards the cake.

"Touch that frosting, Sirius Black, and it'll be the last thing you ever do," Lily threatened, her green eyes blazing with ferocity. He retreated.

"She's coming with the Weasleys," I answered. "I think she's staying with them for a bit this summer as well,"

"What makes you say that?"

"I don't know, but I've got this funny feeling about it," I answered, scratching my head trying to remember but quickly letting it go. Kailey probably knew which meant that I didn't really have to know.

"The wards are officially down," James said proudly, coming into the room with Remus, who did a quick count of the place settings.

"Aren't there nine Weasleys?" he asked realizing there weren't enough plates.

"Percy has to work so he won't be coming," I explained.

"Poor Weatherby," James snickered and the rest of us laughed with the exception of Lily.

"That isn't funny, James, how would you feel if your boss—"

"My boss was Alastor Mad-eye Moody, he could name every freckle on every Weasley if he wanted to," James interrupted causing us all to laugh, Lily included this time.

"Did Harry get Kailey into the air?" Lily asked once we had sobered ourselves.

"Yeah, I think he tricked her though," Sirius answered with a grin. "He does take after his father, you know,"

"Detentions included," I added. Lily rolled her eyes as the other three smirked at each other. "Go ahead and laugh now, but it's soon to be you being summoned to the school randomly whenever Harry gets into trouble," I added to Sirius.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Well first year it was a troll and then again after the stone episode," Remus began.

"Then second year it was the chamber," I finished. "Merlin only knows what's to come,"

"Great," Sirius groaned. "But you've still got to come with me,"

"Yeah, but at least I'll be better prepared when we get called in for his latest escapade you, on the other hand, will be mortified and most likely over react just like Moony did every time something happened, even when we weren't called in to the school," I explained. "Then again, maybe it'll be different considering I've got no clue what's next anymore," I added as an afterthought.

"Good, then you'll understand how I felt all those other times," Remus informed me, folding his arms in a somewhat smug fashion. I just shrugged.

Suddenly there was a loud gonging noise from the kitchen that caused me to jump a foot in the air and Lily to give a little shriek. "What in bloody Merlin's name was that?" Sirius hissed.

"Didn't we tell you we put up an alarm on the floo?" Remus asked innocently as James shot an apologetic grin at Lily.

We all headed for the kitchen to see Mr. Weasley standing in the spotless room, admiring the refrigerator that Mrs. Potter had requested so that the house-elves' magic could be used on things other than keeping food cold. He looked around at the sound of our entrance and headed straight for James and Lily to grasp hands. He hadn't been home when we gave out the original invitation. As they reunited Remus went over to the fireplace to turn down the volume of the alarm so that Lily wouldn't have to kill James later. Just as he finished, green flames burst up and Bill stepped into the kitchen.

"Hello, Bill," I said, shaking his hand. "I trust you don't remember Sirius or Remus," I said, gesturing to the two men.

"No, I'm afraid not," he grinned, shaking their hands as Charlie came through the floo next followed shortly by the twins, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.

"Now that everyone is here, I think I'd better go and get the birthday boy," Lily beamed before pausing. "James, maybe you had better, they might still be flying," she amended after a moment.

Kailey's Point of View:

I'd given up chasing him long ago and was just sailing along above the trees, trying not to fall off of the broom every time he would suddenly zoom out from below in the forest. I may not have as good a sense of when to be afraid all of the time, but that did not make me a complete fool and I just knew that if I were to try and maneuver between those vertical logs of death that I would more than likely need more than a couple of stitches from a muggle hospital.

I checked my watch again and let out a relieved sigh when the little hands informed me that it was finally time for the party to begin. I looked up and gave a shriek as my brain registered the fact that Harry was floating directly in front of my face.

"Boo!" he laughed, quickly swerving to my side and helping me steady on the broom. Again.

"Are you honestly trying to scare me to death?" I asked as he continued to laugh at me. "Seriously, Harry, how many times have I almost fallen off today?"

"The key word here would be 'almost' if I'm not mistaken," he answered with a mischievous grin. "You haven't fallen, nor will you fall,"

"Says you," I answered, sticking out my tongue. "C'mon, let's go back to the house before I do fall to my death,"

"I've fallen from higher altitudes," he replied, but following me back towards the house none the less. "And come out completely unscathed."

"First year you almost swallowed the snitch, second year Lockhart removed the bones from your broken arm and last year you would have died from that height had Dumbledore not been there to stop you from falling quite so fast,"

"Well, I lived didn't I?"

I just shook my head as the house finally came back into view to see James flying towards us. "What's your dad doing?"

"Maybe I won't have to stop flying today after all," Harry grinned.

"You're addicted,"

"So?"

"Hey you two," James called as he came closer. "Mum says it's time to come down for a bit, Harry,"

"Thank Merlin and the Founders," I grinned up at the sky before looking down. "How do I get down?"

After finally landing, we headed up to the house, laying the brooms next to Remus' on the back deck before opening the door to the living room and heading inside. Just as Harry walked through the door there was a shout of "Surprise!" as the Weasley's plus Hermione revealed themselves from the front hall.

Within moments two makeshift Quidditch teams were formed in teams of five with Ginny as referee, Hermione as score-keeper and myself as announcer just because I could.

"Now, this needs to be a nice, friendly game," I announced, waggling my finger at the twins who were playfully scowling at one another, each holding a beater's bat that James had found in the shed with his old Quidditch stuff, as well as the snitch, Quaffle and one Bludger.

"We'd also like to stress that seeing as it is Harry's birthday, his team shall be completely favored," Ginny added, smirking when the boys on the opposing team protested.

"How will you know which team I'm on?" George challenged with a glint in his eye.

"Like this," Bill said, flicking his wand at his brother, effectively turning him blue. Mrs. Weasley was not impressed, but kept her scolding to a minimum before resuming her conversation with Lily and Keena.

"Alright, you lot, according to this we need a team of one beater, one chaser, one keeper, one seeker and a catcher. We already know who the beaters are," Hermione said, after consulting a book on Quidditch Lily had found in the Potter's library. "Who are the seekers?" Harry and James raised their hands.

"That'll be interesting," I observed with a grin and switching a glance with Ginny who grinned in agreement.

"Yes, now who are the chasers?" Sirius and Bill raised their hands this time. "Right, now what about keepers?" Ron and Mr. Weasley claimed their positions quickly. "And that leaves Charlie and Remus as catchers," she said, writing it all down on a little notepad before drawing a t-chart for score-keeping.

"Ready?" I asked her as she bit her lip in concentration. "You don't need a straight line," I teased.

"And your point is what exactly?" she answered with a grin.

"Alright, men, mount your brooms," Ginny ordered, lifting the latch on the box of Quidditch balls and releasing a bludger and taking out the quaffle and snitch, holding the golden ball tightly.

"Don't play too dirty," Keena scolded from her seat on the deck, noticing how Sirius was posed on his broom.

"And they're off!" I called in imitation of Lee Jordan as Ginny launched the quaffle into the air. "It's Sirius with the quaffle, zooming down the…air!" Keena laughed but the others looked at me with faces of confusion. "And he's smacked in the back of the head with the hand of Charlie and Bill takes the quaffle!"

"Isn't that a foul?" Hermione asked bewildered as Ginny laughed.

"I said I'd allow Harry's team to unabashedly cheat," she answered with a grin.

"Now it's Bill versus Mr. Weasley for the throw and…wait, what're they using for goals?" I asked and everyone paused mid-air, including Fred who had been about to smack a bludger at Sirius as he chased after Bill.

"Oh," James answered after a moment. "Lily? Can you go and get the goals?"

"If I knew where they were I would," she answered.

"Keena? Please?" he tried again.

Approximately ten minutes later the game resumed.

"Now it's ten-nil to the…um…team names please?" I called up to the air.

"The Laughing Dragon Curse Breakers!" Fred called to the ground.

"…um…right," Hermione muttered, scribbling it over Fred, Bill, Charlie, Harry and Ron's names.

"The other team's name is what then?" Ginny asked as Bill scored another goal.

"The Old Men," Charlie answered with a smirk.

"Hey!" George called.

"The Old Men plus One!" Bill revised.

Suddenly Remus began plummeting towards the earth, Charlie hot on his tail. James and Harry noticed and began racing towards them. Remus, being so much closer to it, caught the snitch and made to race for James but Charlie intercepted him and knocked the golden ball out of his hand.

"Is that a foul?" Hermione asked as we watched.

"No," Ginny answered. "That's what the catchers are supposed to do when their opponent catches the snitch first; otherwise they carry it to their seeker,"

"But I've never seen that at Hogwarts," I murmured. The eighth player's position had always confused me, especially as it hadn't been included in my 'source'. "Have they always been there for that?"

"Yeah, but they can also act as a back-up chaser or keeper if need be," Ginny replied. "The seekers are normally too good at what they do to need the catcher's help but it is legal,"

The fight over the snitch continued to the point where Fred and George were aimlessly batting the bludger toward the two catchers in attempt to keep James and Harry from ending the game, resulting in the Potters to circle above, waiting for the snitch to be released.

Suddenly Charlie broke free of the fight and made a beeline for Harry, stuffing the snitch into his hands. The Laughing Dragon Curse Breakers all cheered loudly and the rest of us applauded.

Keena's Point of View:

After the Quidditch match the kids stayed outside for a while before Lily called them in for dinner followed by desert. We sang loudly, albeit off key, and Harry beamed in excitement at the head of the seldom used dining room table.

"How did you know this was my favorite flavor?" Harry asked when he took a bite out of the cake.

"Kailey fished the information out," Lily informed him with a wink.

"Why didn't you just ask me?" Harry wondered, though I noticed the small blush on his cheeks.

"Your mum has a bit of trouble with those kinds of secrets," James informed him and Lily stuck her tongue out at him causing the rest of the table to laugh.

"So what have you been up to this summer?" I asked the table in general to save James a loss of limb, or bit of pride if he said something to make Lily hex him.

"Not incredibly much, though Charlie has had a bit of a job," Arthur answered with a nod towards his second eldest who nodded in confirmation.

"Won't say a word of it either," Ron muttered to Harry and Kailey. "Even Hermione can't figure it out,"

"I already told you, Ron, there is no possible way for me to figure this out," Hermione said with a roll of her eyes. Kailey smirked but said nothing before her face fell.

"Something wrong with your cake?" Fred asked, noticing her suddenly somber look.

"Just that if Hermione can't guess I probably can't either," she answered with a shrug before grinning again. I say answered, I should say lied because that look didn't leave her eyes, though I'm not certain anyone else noticed. I made a mental note to remember that something was wrong.

"Alright, Harry, ready for your gift?" James asked with an excited grin.

"Gift?" Harry asked in confusion.

"It's your birthday, Harry, that's why everyone is here," Sirius informed him.

"It's a very large gift," Remus added. "We all chipped in a bit," he said motioning to myself, Sirius, and his parents as well as the Weasley parents.

"Okay," Harry answered, looking curious beyond belief. Lily and I traded a grin as she handed him a very large envelope. Harry took it and frowned in curiosity before carefully opening the top.

He took out the contents and counted them, his eyes going so wide I thought they'd pop out. "You got seventeen tickets to the Quidditch World Cup?" he gasped out.

The entire room, except for those involved with the gift, burst out into excited and shocked chatter and it took several loud bangs from Molly's wand to quiet them.

"This is too much," Harry finally said.

"No it'd be too much if we had gotten better seats," Sirius answered.

Harry frowned and looked at the tickets again. "These say that they're in the top box?"

"What better seats are possible?" Ron asked his eyes bugging out of his head.

"Oh…I guess you're right then, give them back," James said, holding his hand open for Harry to hand over the tickets.

"No way!" all of the Quidditch players shouted in unison.

"That's what I thought," Remus muttered swapping a grin with James and Sirius.

"So those are enough tickets for…all of us, Percy included," Hermione said slowly. "Mr. and Mrs. Potter—"

"James and Lily, dear," Lily corrected after wincing at the title.

"Oh, sorry," Hermione apologized. "Um…how are you going to go?"

"Very well done concealment charms," I answered.

"How well done?" Kailey interrogated suddenly, seeming defensive.

"Well, considering three of us used to be Unspeakables and three of us Aurors and then we're friends with Bill here who is a Curse-Breaker, I'd say extremely well done," I answered after a moment. "No one would suspect anything in any case." She didn't look overly convinced but let it slide.

"This is brilliant," Harry decided. "Thank you all so much," he beamed.

"Your welcome," everybody chimed in along with "happy birthday" and his grin grew wider.

Finally, after fourteen years, Harry Potter had had a happy birthday.

So ends chapter two! I hope everyone has enjoyed these first two of this story and I hope you continue to read as I continue to post! Don't forget to review/ask questions if confused! I'll be happy to answer anything in the next chapter! Don't forget to look for chapter 3!

:-D