Version: 1.0 (2006); 1.1 (2012)

Chapter 4: Party

When the boys came in, only Ginny was in the kitchen; she was getting cups for dinner. "Oh Harry, Dad came home and he's got some new Muggle object he wants you to explain to him."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he's in the living room. Hermione is trying but isn't having much success. Maybe you could try?" She gave him a winning smile.

Suddenly his heart felt a little fluttery, and again that elusive thought of home filtered through the back of his brain as he walked towards the living room. As he opened the door and stepped into the doorway, he was met with a yell of "SURPRISE!" and many shouts of "Happy Birthday Harry!" He took a half step backwards in surprise, and was surprised again at a pair of strong but small hands in the middle of his back. A quick turn yielded a meek looking Ginny with her hands held out a bit from her body.

"Sorry," she told him with embarrassment, "I didn't expect you to back up."

Something about her being there trying to get in on the moment made him wonder if she had something to do with the party, besides being the decoy. "That's OK, I didn't expect anyone to be behind me. Sorry about that."

Again he smiled at her and Ginny felt pulled to him; but then everyone was coming over to Harry and pulling him into the room and away from her. She sighed to herself and followed.

Harry could hardly believe everyone was here for a party for him. Besides the Weasleys, minus Percy who was still being a git to his family and Charlie who was in Romania, Remus and Tonks were back, Mad-Eye had come, Neville and Luna were there, and even Professor McGonagall had shown up.

Fred quickly put a party hat on him and Harry wondered what was going to happen to him. George came up and handed him a box wrapped in brightly colored paper. "A small token of our appreciation Harry ..."

"... which we expect you to use wisely this year ..." Fred continued.

"... since we can't be there ..." George took up.

"... and someone must carry on the tradition," Fred completed. Harry was always amazed at how they could talk as one person without missing a beat.

He opened his first present to find a box labeled "A Complete WWW Starter Kit to Fun". "Thanks guys! I've been wanting to come see your shop."

"Any time Harry, stop by any time."

"Do make sure the Slytherins get to see some of this," the other twin added joyfully.

"And pass out the brochures we tossed in."

"Sure guys, thanks!" Harry knew this could be fun, though he did his best to ignore Mrs. Weasley's disapproving look. He didn't even try to look at Professor McGonagall, afraid of what he might see.

Ron shoved a box in his hands. "Here's something for you to enjoy mate."

Unwrapping this box he found a large pile of Chocolate Frogs and a little golden ball that looked like a ...

"It's a practice Snitch," his friend told him. "Just like the real thing, but this one will come back to you with a special spell."

"Cool! Thanks Ron, that will be handy." His friend beamed.

Mad-Eye gave him a foe-glass, about half the size of the big one the ex-Auror had. Luna gave him a scrapbook that had every article The Quibbler had ever printed on Harry. He didn't know what to say to Luna, so he just told her, "Thanks Luna. That was very thoughtful."

"I had a great time searching the archives; it was amazing what I found," she told him. Harry decided the wisest thing to do was to let it go at that.

Bill came over and handed him a medium sized box. "It's from Charlie," he said simply. Opening it, Harry pulled out a pair of boots made from scaly green hide. Seeing a note in the top of one of them, he pulled it out.

Harry,

In my last letter from home, I was invited to your birthday party. She said you'd understand if I couldn't make it and I hope you do, but I hope these make up for it. We lost a green dragon last week and when I saw the hide I thought it'd fit you perfectly. If you still think they're too much, then consider it my thank you for saving my favorite sister.

Enjoy,
Charlie

p.s. I think you'll like the silencing runes I put on them too.

"What does it say?" Ron queried. Harry wondered who the she was, there were only two choices. He was starting to wonder if the obvious answer was wrong.

"Charlie says sorry he couldn't make it, but they lost a green dragon and thought I'd like these." He stuffed the note in his pocket so it couldn't be grabbed.

"Put them on Harry," George encouraged him.

"Yeah Harry," Fred egged him on too. "Let's see if you look as good in them as our dragon vests look on us."

Others encouraged him too, so he pulled off his trainers and put them to the side and grabbed a boot. As he started sliding it on, he wondered how Charlie knew what size to get him, but it didn't seem to matter as they went on him like they were tailor made to his size. Magically self-sizing Harry presumed. Dropping his booted foot to the floor to stomp it down and make sure his foot was all the way in, he noticed it didn't make a sound. Pleased, he pulled the other boot on then pushed down his jeans and stood up to see how they felt; and the feeling was good. With a nice shirt and good-looking boots that both matched his eyes, and the black jeans to match his hair, he was stylish for the first time in his life.

"Hey Harry," Bill called, "be sure you wear that same outfit on your first free day at Hogwarts and you'll have so many girls available to you, you can have your choice."

Harry looked up at him in horror at the thought and missed the scathing look Ginny shot Bill, who just smiled back at her. Harry did his best to ignore Fred and George who were making cat-calls at him, and saw Remus and Tonks smiling at one another sharing the unspoken thought about a young man who'd rather face Death Eaters and a Dark Lord than face a bunch of girls who'd like to be his girlfriend.

When he turned, he caught Ginny giving him a look he couldn't quite fathom but thought it was how she normally looked at food. Hermione surprised him with a look like she'd just found a missing rare book.

His scrutiny fortunately came to an end as Bill handed him another present, this time from him. It turned out to be a book called "The Curse Breakers Handbook". An industry standard he'd said. Neville gave him a book called "Plants That Can Defend Your Home". Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a set of books on wards, "Volume 1: Using Wards Effectively" and "Volume 2: Breaking Wards". Hermione gave him a book called "Charms for the Adept".

As Tonks brought a small chest to him, Harry grinned and asked the room at large, "Why do I sense a theme here?"

Ron jumped in with, "Yeah, this seems like a birthday for Hermione." That got a laugh from everyone and a blush from the mentioned girl.

Remus, who had also stepped forward, answered, "Because there is Harry." He laughed with the boy and everyone else. "This is from Tonks and myself. Tap the top with your wand three times."

Harry pulled out his wand and had to reach out because she'd put the small chest so far from him. On the third tap, the chest suddenly expanded and became the size of his normal trunk. "Cool!"

"Open it Harry." Carefully he opened the hasp and lifted the lid. The inside of the lid appeared to be covered with parchment that had words that he'd almost swear looked like book titles. The bottom part of the trunk was a flat wood surface with an inlaid square in a darker color of wood. "Put one of you new books on the dark square Harry."

Grabbing Neville's book, he placed it on the square and after about a second it disappeared. He looked up at Remus in astonishment. "Do it again with another book Harry, but this time watch the list in the lid."

Harry picked up Bill's book and put it on the square and tried the watch the list carefully. He saw the book disappear in the bottom of his vision, and a new line appeared on the list, in alphabetical order. "Wicked!" he borrowed Ron's favorite term.

"Now take your wand," Tonks told him, "and touch the title for the book. Harry held his wand up to the list and touched it to "The Curse Breakers Handbook" and it suddenly appeared on top of the dark square.

Harry heard a gasp from his right and looked up to see Hermione with envy written across her face. "A portable library." It was said with much reverence. Harry took the rest of his books and added them in, as well as Luna's scrapbook, which showed up as "Scrapbook about Harry Potter".

As he was about to close it, Professor McGonagall handed him one more. Unwrapping it, he found a book titled "Winning Transformations". Thanking his professor, he added it to the chest, and closed the lid. He looked up at Remus with his wand raised. Remus nodded and Harry tapped the chest three times and it shrank back down to be almost the size of a half a loaf of bread, and about as light too when he picked it up.

"Where did all the books that were already in it come from?" He looked at Remus then Tonks.

It was his Godmother that answered. "Ask me later Harry, there's a story with that." He smiled and nodded. "Thanks!" He really meant it too.

"Oh Potter," McGonagall said, "it's not really a present, but the Headmaster and I both thought you'd like to have this. Reaching into her cloak she pulled out a little stick that she put in Harry's palm.

Hope sprung to his face as she enlarged the shrunken object. "Yes!" leapt from his lips as his Firebolt materialized in his hand.

"And Mr. Potter." Harry's attention moved from his broom back to his head-of-house. "I've grown accustomed to the Quidditch cup sitting in my office lately, so I expect you to make full use of that broom this year to make sure it stays in my office."

"I can play again?"

"Of course, Mr. Potter. All those silly decrees left with that vile woman." McGonagall looked even more disapproving than ever at the thought of Dolores Umbridge.

Harry looked over to Ron and saw him with a happy look, probably already thinking about the first game. "Let's go eat," his friend said.

Before he could get up, he heard "One more" in his ear and turning he came nose to nose with Ginny, who was bending down and trying to put a present in his hands. As they looked at each other from inches away, she seemed to have trouble getting it into his hands and he was having trouble grabbing it, as neither broke eye contact. Somehow the present found its place and she stood back up looking a bit shy.

Opening the present, he saw another scrapbook looking volume, but it was leather bound with a clasp over it. He looked up at her.

"It's a journal. I've got one like it and it's helped me to write things down in it, to sort of get them off my mind. I thought it might be helpful to you too in dealing with things."

He looked at her in surprise as this was the second time today she had said or done something that hit home with him, and he sensed an understanding from the girl who had been possessed by Tom Riddle. "Thank you," he told her very sincerely.

"The instructions are on the inside cover, but once you make it yours, no one else can open it."

Again he told her "Thanks". Hermione and Tonks were watching the scene with great interest; Mrs. Weasley was too, but with more disapproving thoughts in mind.

"Can we eat now?" Ron complained again. That made everyone laugh and start moving into the dining room. Professor McGonagall made her leave, but everyone else stayed for dinner.

The four teenagers and the twins spent most of the evening playing exploding snap; the rest of the adults sat around the living room talking about various topics. Harry decided this had to be one of the best days of his summer.

As it neared eleven, Mrs. Weasley began shooing the kids upstairs and the rest of the guests started to leave. Tonks' comment almost forgotten, he barely remembered to pull her aside before she left for home.

"Tonks, you said you'd tell me about the books?"

"Oh right; hold a sec." She turned around and almost tripped over her feet and fell. Fortunately Harry caught her arm. "Thanks Harry," then "Hey Remus, come here."

When the werewolf joined them, Tonks took a deep breath and launched in. "Knowing what you need to do, I decided you needed as much information as you can get. As you'll find out when you look, most of those books are on Defense, or otherwise Dark Art related - two sides of the same coin you understand." Harry nodded. "Remus bought a few of the books, but most of them came from Sirius's library." Harry's face fell at the sound of the name. "You need this information Harry, and we decided to spare you the difficult feeling of having to go over to that house for awhile."

Though Harry was looking down at the floor, he nodded in understanding. "Thanks." It was flat sounding but he did mean it. "I know it'll get better in time, and I do really appreciate the gift as well as not having to go over there yet."

Tonks looked at him with great concern. "You going to be all right?"

He thought about that and with a very small smile he said, "Moony says I will be one day."

"That's the spirit, Harry," Remus told him.

Harry bid them goodnight and went upstairs to join Ron in his bedroom. They talked for a few minutes before turning out the light and going to sleep.

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