Birthdays

By the time the Ford Anglia landed in the backyard of the Burrow, the sun was in the sky. The five children climbed from the vehicle, lugging trunks and owl cages into the kitchen. Harry and Irlynn looked around in awe as dishes washed themselves.

"Look," she whispered in his ear, pointing to a large clock. Ron, Fred and George's hands returned to the potion that read 'home'.

"Looks like we made without Mum finding out," Ron breathed. Unfortunately, he spoke too soon. Molly suddenly loomed in the doorway.

"Where have you three been?" Molly shrieked.

"Uh…" Ron began but Molly cut him off when she spotted Harry and Irlynn.

"Oh hello dears," she said, pulling them into a tight hug.

"Hi Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.

"I wake up to find empty beds, no note…just you three gone!" she continued her rant.

"We were rescuing Harry," Ron finally managed to get out.

"What…you flew to Surrey and back…on brooms?" she pressed.

"Actually we stopped in Ireland first," George muttered.

"We…took Dad's car," Fred mumbled.

"You what?" she yelled, drawing the other Weasley children and Arthur.

"Molly, dear what is going on?" Arthur asked.

"Your sons…took that flying car of yours, flew all around creation," Mrs. Weasley answered. Arthur's eyes lit up.

"How did it work?" he asked excitedly.

"Arthur," Molly growled, swatting his shoulder. He cleared his throat.

"Don't do it again boys," he said.

"Yes Dad," the three boys answered before sitting at the large kitchen table. Molly set about making breakfast, grumbling to herself all the while. Arthur leaned in close to Fred and George.

"So how did it work boys?" he whispered.

"Great, Dad. Invisibility charm works well," Fred replied.

"Flies nice too," George added.

"Who wants bacon?" Molly interrupted. Hands went up around the table and sent the pan around. They ate in relative silence and by the end of the meal, Molly had calmed down.

"Now…you two will be staying awhile?" Molly asked of Harry and Irlynn.

"Actually…I told my parents I would be home in a day or two and Harry was going to spend some time with us," Irlynn answered.

"Well…alright then. But for a few days you can stay here. Ginny, take her things up to your room, dear. Harry, you can stay in Ron's room," Molly said. With that the four of them headed upstairs.

"So you're going to stay with her?" Ron asked. He hadn't told Ron or Hermione that Irlynn was his sister. He got the impression from Dumbledore that it should be kept a secret.

"Yeah…she asked me before school let out and I told her I'd try. Well since I'm not at my Uncle's anymore, I can," Harry muttered.

"Oh," Ron said, setting Harry's trunk down at the foot of his bed. Down the hall, Ginny set Irlynn's trunk down.

"so what house are you in?" Ginny asked.

"I'm in Ravenclaw," she answered. Ginny nodded and sat down on her bed.

"I'm starting this year. I hope I'm in Gryffindor…my whole family has been in it," Ginny said.

"I bet you will be. I was happy I didn't get Slytherin," Irlynn laughed.

The next few days passed by comfortably for everyone at the Burrow. Irlynn and Harry felt like part of the family and were currently sitting in the backyard.

"I was going to send Artemis home today…saying we'd be there tomorrow. Is that ok?" Irlynn asked.

"Sure," Harry muttered, sounding distracted.

"Are you ok?" she pressed.

"I…I think we should tell Ron and Hermione," he blurted.

"Are you sure about that? I mean…Dumbledore seemed to imply we shouldn't tell anyone," Irlynn said, as if reading his thoughts.

"I know but they're our friends…and they should know," Harry replied. Irlynn thought it over for a minute.

"I guess you're right," she answered and the pair stood up.

"Besides, I think Ron thinks I like you," Harry snorted. Irlynn made a gagging sound as they headed inside. They found Ron sitting at the kitchen table, sifting through the mail.

"Hey Ron," Harry said. The redhead looked up.

"Oh, hi," he said.

"Can we talk?" Irlynn asked and Ron nodded his head.

"We wanted to tell you something," she began.

"We don't want you to feel bad that I'm spending some of the summer with Irlynn because well…we found out at the end of term…that…we're related," Harry continued.

"Related?" Ron asked.

"Yeah…turns out we're twins," Irlynn answered.

"Bloody hell," Ron gasped.

"But you can't go telling everyone ok? Not even Hermione knows," Irlynn said.

"Right, mate. Sorry I got all bent out of shape," Ron apologized.

"Don't worry about it. We should have said something right off," harry said, brushing the apology away.

"So…when are you leaving? I mean isn't your birthday soon?" Ron asked.

"I think we're going to try and leave tomorrow," Irlynn answered.

"I just don't know how we're going to get home," she sighed.

"Mum!" Ron bellowed. Loud footsteps came thundering down the stairs and Molly appeared.

"What is it?" she gasped.

"Harry and Irlynn are leaving tomorrow but they don't know how to get back to her house," Ron said.

"Oh don't worry about that, dears. I'll take care if it," Molly assured them.

"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," Harry said.

The following morning dawned early in the Weasley household. Molly had breakfast on the table by seven and had dragged Ron, Harry and Irlynn out of bed by seven fifteen.

"Come on, eat up," she said. They all looked bleary eyed and still half asleep.

"Why is it so early?" Ron groaned, almost missing his mouth with a spoon of oatmeal.

"I wanted to make sure we get Harry and Irlynn off on time," Molly said, sounding far too awake for it to be so early.

Neither Harry nor Irlynn made comment about the early hour. They merely ate their breakfast and went upstairs to pack and get dressed. As they were walking down the stairs, Harry let out a yawn.

"We can go back to bed when we get home," Irlynn whispered in his ear.

"Alright, let's see what we can do with your trunks," Molly muttered, pulling out her wands. She muttered a spell and both trunks shrunk to pocket size. When she caught sight of the looks on their faces she gave a small laugh.

"No need to worry. Everything will expand again when we get there," she said. Harry picked up his pocket sized trunk and slipped it in his pocket. Thankfully they had sent Hedwig on with Artemis the day before. Molly shrunk the empty owl cages before donning her travelling cloak.

"Now you need to hold close and don't let go," Molly instructed.

"Mum…you're not taking them through the Floo Network?" Ron asked.

"Side Apparition will be faster," Molly answered. With that, Harry and Irlynn took hold of Mrs. Weasley and in the blink of an eye had disappeared. When they reappeared, they were standing in the front foyer of the McQuillen house. Irlynn looked around to discover her parents weren't awake yet.

"Thank you again for your hospitality, Mrs. Weasley," Irlynn said quietly.

"It was a pleasure. You're both welcome any time," Molly said before disapparating from the spot.

"Come on, I'll show you around," Irlynn said, leading Harry up the stairs and into the guest room.

"This is the guest room…you're room," she said. Harry pulled out the owl cage and trunk and watched in awe as they indeed did return to their original size.

"Should we let your Mum and Dad know we're here?" Harry asked as they moved through the hall. She didn't have to answer because the door to her parents' bedroom opened to reveal a tired looking Victoria.

"Hi, Mum," Irlynn greeted.

"Oh honey…you're home. When did you get in?" Victoria asked, pulling her daughter into a hug.

"A few minutes ago," Irlynn answered.

"This is Harry," she added, pointing to Harry.

"Hi dear. It's good to have you here," Irlynn's mother said.

"Thank you," Harry said politely.

"Why don't you two go back to bed? It's early," she suggested. Irlynn and Harry both nodded and headed back down the hall.

"See you in a while," Irlynn called as she shut her door.

When Harry and Irlynn got up for the second time that day, they heard low voices downstairs. Neither of them seemed to remember what the day was until they walked into the kitchen see balloons and two stacks of presents on the table.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"Happy Birthday," William said. Harry and Irlynn shared a look before turning back sheepishly to the two adults.

"We forgot," they admitted in unison.

"We didn't," Victoria said, giving each a firm hug.

"You probably ate already so we'll do a late lunch in a while. But right now, why don't you two open some gifts," she suggested. Harry surveyed the stack of presents.

"Are these…for me?" he asked.

"Of course they are," Victoria answered. Harry just beamed as he tore into the paper. He rarely got presents son his birthday and when he did they were usually hand-me-downs from Dudley that were three sizes too big.

"We guessed on the sizes. If they don't fit we can go shopping and return them," Victoria added.

"They're perfect," Harry replied, holding up the shirts.

At the bottom of each pile sat a letter with familiar writing in emerald ink on the front. They flipped them open to see the Hogwarts seal.

"You're letters came. We thought you'd like to go get your books and things this week," William explained.

"Thanks Dad," Irlynn said, jumping up from her seat to give him a quick kiss.

"You're welcome sweetheart," he said.

Harry just sat there and smiled like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland. He wasn't sure how he had forgotten today was his birthday but it didn't matter. He'd gotten gifts from people who seemed to genuinely care about him.