I'm sorry for making this chapter way too fluffy (but don't you think that Harry deserves a good b-day). Darker things to come at Hogwarts - but let them have some fun at least before leading them to their doom. MUAAAHHHAHHAHAHH!!
Alright - here's the fic.
Chapter 6
Birthday Bash
No one knew where the week had gone. But it had and Harry's birthday was already upon them. It was just after sunrise – Dawn had gotten up early, because the family was planning to surprise Harry when he came down for breakfast.
Dawn came back into the bedroom she and Willow shared. A towel was wrapped around her, as she'd just come back from the shower.
"All yours" Dawn announced quietly.
Willow nodded her thanks and exited the room; a towel slung over one shoulder. Dawn moved to get her clothes. Unfortunately her oversized black cat – whom she'd lovingly named Salem – was resting on the clothes she was going to wear that day.
"Salem move" Dawn ordered, brushing the large black cat off her bed and her clothes.
Salem moved sleepily, he growled in protest.
"Don't give me that," Dawn scolded, changing swiftly "It's too early in the morning, I'm not in the mood. And…"
Tapping interrupted her rant just as she pulled the sky blue top over her head. She tugged said shirt down before opening the window quickly. The two large owls swooped in, carrying a package wrapped in brown paper, tied together with brown twine.
"Oh, good, it's here" Dawn sighed gratefully, "I was worried it wouldn't come today."
'It' of course being Harry's Birthday present. Their little excursion to Diagon Alley only a week before had Dawn picking up plenty of catalogues for almost everything in the wizarding world imaginable. She'd selected a few things from the 'Quidditch' catalogue in particular – she'd also requested a couple of changes to make her gift seem more personalized.
Dawn was a firm believer of adding a personal touch to all gifts. Which was the main reason why she was also wrapping the gift herself, and with (she was proud to say) the wrapping paper she'd designed and charmed herself.
It was a sky blue color with little moving clouds with hundreds of little golden snitches that zoomed across the paper. Of course, ten or twenty of them were flying a little lamely, but that was because Dawn hadn't been experienced enough to cast the spell properly. She didn't even know how long the spell would last before wearing off. Strictly speaking, the spell was a bit advanced, but Hermione had leant Dawn a book that had the spell – she swore that girl had a book for everything.
It was surprising just what Dawn had accomplished in one week. She'd found out that she was quite gifted at Charms, and many of spells just simply worked for her. But unfortunately she also found out she had almost zero talent in transfiguration. For some reason she hadn't grasped the subject right away. Hermione suggested it was probably something to do with wand movement – Dawn figured that she probably just sucked at it. When trying to transfigure buttons into beetles she'd managed to successfully set said buttons on fire – which of course left a rather nasty burn in the carpet, which was fixed instantly with something called 'Craggles Carpet Grower' (the stuff was mainly used on worn carpets to make them fluffy and new again) but this didn't stop Dawn from feeling a little put out.
Pushing such negative thoughts out of her mind (so what if she couldn't do some spells – she was still learning) Dawn wrapped Harry's present as neatly as she could, and sealed if off with Spell-o-tape.
"C'mon, Salem, party time" Dawn cheered softly.
Whistling a soft, jaunty tune, she left the room and bounded down the stairs with Harry's present cradled in one arm and her cat in the other.
Harry ran a hand through his naturally messy black hair and fumbled for his glasses on the bedside table. He put them on and blinked to clear the sleep from his eyes. Ron's bed was empty, and the sheets rumpled. Harry's watch (which had been magically fixed by Mrs. Weasley) read 9:00 am – funny, usually he woke up earlier than that. Especially being in the Weasley's house and all – there was all the more reason to stay awake in case you missed something. Unlike back in Privet Drive where he liked to sleep in to avoid facing his 'family'.
Harry reasoned that it was because he'd been playing chess half the night with Ron, Hermione and Dawn and drinking – what had he been drinking? It had a fizzy sort of spring to it and if he took too big a drag of it he'd get sleepy… drugged! Someone had drugged his drink! Probably a light sleeping draught!
Harry changed quickly and ran his fingers once more through his hair, not bothering with a comb. Always looked like he hadn't combed it anyway. He slipped his wand up the sleeve of his jumper and made his way out the door.
A thought suddenly came to him – what if all the drinks had been drugged? What if they'd all been magically made to sleep and something terrible had happened…
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
Harry jumped, startled as assorted Filibusters Fire Works exploded and magically enhanced horns and noise makers sounded. Harry blinked – birthday? It came to him. It was his birthday. The week had gone by so fast that he hadn't noticed. And he'd been Sixteen for the past nine hours!
"Aw – I think someone forgot they were a year older" Willow teased.
"Poor, Harry, we didn't know your memory was so bad" Fred sniffed.
"Yeah we would have got you a remembrall had we known" George added.
"That's enough you two" Mrs. Weasley chided, while everyone laughed, Harry included, "Happy Birthday, Harry dear."
The party was now underway. Harry had been so shocked – a delighted sort of shocked though. Especially when he saw that the room was covered with decorations which included 'Brentons Unbreakable Ballons'(that wouldn't pop no matter how hard you prodded them – they'd just float around for days). But there was still a series of banging because apparently the twins had littered the room with their own invention of Random Popping Balloons that were true to their name – they'd pop at the most unexpected moments.
All the Weasleys were there except for Percy (who was still at a fall-out with his family). Ron, Hermione and Dawn were sending colorful sparks from their wands that brightened the 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY' banner that was obviously Hermiones work because of the Quidditch Ball sketches that zoomed across cloth. And Willow was floating a stack of presents over to him.
"Those are for me?" Harry asked faintly.
"No, Potter, they're for your owl" Bill joked, "we thought she deserved something nice."
Harry was about to retort when the best birthday present of all came through the fire.
"Sirius!" Harry cried gleefully, flinging his arms around his godfather.
"Happy Birthday, Harry" Sirius chortled, giving his rare smile.
Through the fire followed a dark haired girl, a man with scruffy brown hair with glasses, Spike and Remus Lupin.
"Professor Lupin!" several voices exclaimed at once.
"Never knew I was so popular" Lupin chuckled in his slow, slightly out of place way, "Happy Birthday, Harry" the werewolf nodded to him.
Spike brushed off his leather Duster muttering in disgust – "Fire. I hate fireplaces. Magical or not. Ever heard of a Vampire willingly going through flames? But no-one listens to me."
Those that had come in with him, ignored the vampire pointedly.
"Harry, I want you to meet someone" Sirius said, "This is Faith" he said indicating the dark-haired, black clad young woman, "She's my daughter."
There was a pregnant pause. No one spoke for several minutes.
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" Willow asked.
"Daughter – and you're Harry's godfather right?" Dawn babbled.
"YOU are in BIG trouble," Willow said, shooting a look at Spike, "See this is something that could have been brought to my attention during that little talk we had."
"And ruin the surprise?" Spike grinned evilly.
"And you are no better" Mrs. Weasley looked at Lupin accusingly, who shrugged apologetically.
"Perhaps you should start at the beginning" Mr. Weasley suggested gently.
An hour later – after everything was explained – the group was back to their former partying mood. As promised, Harry's birthday cake was even taller than he was. He couldn't even see over the top of it.
"I'm sorry, dear, but I couldn't remember what flavor you like so I made one layer chocolate, one vanilla, one sponge, one angels food, one devils food…"
There were about six other flavors.
Funnily enough though, perched atop the multicolored, multi-flavored icing was a little figurine of Harry himself. It carried a racing broom in one hand and waved enthusiastically. The figure was perched between two candles – a number '1' on the left, and on the right was a number '6'.
After a large helping of cake (and ice cream in assorted flavors), they all stepped up one by one to give Harry his birthday presents.
Harry was touched. He was used to only a few small gifts and cards from his closest friends (which he cherished, of course), but this…? The presents were all from the heart, Harry had never seen so many presents for him at one time (including Christmas).
Hermione had given Harry a stationary set which included a thick roll of parchments, a Self-Correcting Quill and a bottle of Erasable Ink. The Quill made sure you never had any spelling mistakes, and if you ever wanted to erase a sentence or paragraph from a parchment, all you had to do was brush it with the feathered part of the quill and the ink would disappear.
Ron's present spoke volumes to Harry. It was just a box of random Quidditch stuff, it included two books ('Quidditch Captains of the Twentieth Century' and '1001 Quidditch Plays') along with a small 'Quick Potions Kit' for all sorts of different injuries, and a special Quidditch shirt made of a surprisingly light, thing material, that Harry could wear under his uniform and it would always ensure that the wearer didn't get too cold or hot while flying depending on the weather.
But it was clear to Harry when he met his best friends eyes that Ron was silently telling him that he was okay with the fact that Harry would be the new Quidditch Captain – since it was only the two of them on the team, and generally the player that had been on the team the longest (or the one handpicked by the last leader) was next in line for Captain.
Harry didn't know how Ron could afford a gift like this – but since Fred and George were so successful, they were probably pumping Galleons into the family vault.
Harry was surprised that Dawn had gotten him a present, since they hadn't known each other long at all. But sometimes Harry felt as if he'd known Dawn as long as he'd known Ron and Hermione. He had loved the handmade wrapping paper on Dawns gift, even better was his very own Snitch that had his name engraved into it – "For personal practice" she'd said. Not to mention the red fingerless Quidditch gloves that came halfway to his elbow, and served as wrist guards as well. They were specially made for Seekers as they were very light and had something called 'extra grip' which Dawn confessed she didn't know what it meant – Harry didn't either. They also had a little gold Snitch embroidered into each of them.
Surprisingly, Willow had given him a present as well. It was a book called 'All About Aurors: 12,000 Assorted Spells'. He'd mentioned his ambitions to become an Auror – Willow obviously took it to heart. Harry thanked her for the thoughtful gift, and promised to try the spells as soon as he got to Hogwarts where he was allowed to use magic (he also promised not to blow up the school with any of the spells me might learn).
Fred and George's presents had been a large bag of assorted sweets and prank items. Even his very own Skiving Snack-box (to which Mrs. Weasley scolded the twins over). Fred and George told Harry he deserved to get out of one or two potions lesson (At this point Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand and the twins couldn't talk for the next half hour).
Harry could tell that Ginny had put her mind into getting him a gift that he could really use. And she knew how worried he got when Hedwig went on long journeys to deliver mail. So Ginny had given him an 'Owl Finder', it was a red Owl Collar and a large map of the world that could increase the scale to zoom down on certain areas. Much like the Marauders Map, a red dot would indicate where the owl was at all times, even when it was moving, so Harry could see where she was on long trips. Harry loved it and was grateful Ginny was so observant of his worry.
Bill and Charlie's presents had been simple and from the heart. From Bill it was a gold, good-luck lion pin that would fasten on his cloak buckle and even roared realistically.
Charlie had given him a medium sized, plush-toy Dragon (a Hungarian Horntail that no doubt he thought would amuse him), it even breathed fire (that wouldn't burn anything and wasn't at all hot), roared, flapped its wings and occasionally flew a few feet of the ground.
Lupin had given Harry a stack of pictures that he'd found in his attic, they were of Harry's parents, as well as of Sirius, Remus himself and Wesley, Arion and Valandra at Hogwarts. If Pettigrew had been the pictures he'd probably been magicked out – or perhaps he'd been the one taking the pictures.
The werewolf had also given Harry a long, thin box that was labeled 'Sense Enhancers' – in it contained six bottles of differently colored liquid. According to Lupin, one drop of any of the potions and his sight, hearing, taste, touch or smell could become sharpened by a hundred times. The last bottle of clear liquid was an antidote.
It was Sirius' present that Harry loved most of all though. It was a new knife that could open any door (exactly like the one he'd melted the year before when looking for Sirius), and a small, scruffy book with a worn leather cover and assorted handwriting on the pages. On the front was a faded name 'The Marauders Handbook – written by Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs'. Mrs. Weasley glared at Sirius when she saw the title.
"It says Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs" Wesley protested, "But myself, Arion and Valandra contributed to that I'll have you know."
"Bloody hell - we paid tribute to you on the inside of the front cover!" Sirius argued.
"What they've also neglected to mention is that you're supposed to add your own bits and pieces of advice onto that" Lupin added, flipping the book open to the back, the pages were old but blank, "There's plenty of space for you to add your words of wisdom for the next person this book will belong to."
"Then you add your name on the inside of the front cover" Wesley added, "I still say we should have gotten more credit on the cover itself – just because we didn't have cute little codenames" he sneered jokingly at Sirius.
"Now, now, you had a code name – several in fact – 'Wimp', 'Ponce', 'Pansy', let's not forget everyone's favorite 'Wussley'…"
Faith snickered and Wes rolled his eyes.
"Don't even get me started on what the rest of us sometimes called you, Black. You Four called yourself 'Marauders' – Hah– they got caught for half the stuff they did. I on the other hand did as much stuff as them and almost always got away with it – so tell me who's the real Marauder?" Wes smirked.
Lupin smirked "Maybe you got away with in on account of the fact that you didn't break any school rules…"
Dawn slipped a sideways glance in Faith's direction, as Wesley, Lupin and Sirius started bickering playfully. And Harry and the others watched with considerable amounts of amusement.
"Are they always like this?" Dawn asked the Slayer.
"For as long as I've known them?" Faith sighed, "Every single day."
Through to the afternoon there was more talking, joking laughing and eating (there was still plenty of cake left). Dawn had accidentally spilled a goblet of pumpkin juice on her skirt and rushed up to her room to change.
She'd come back down, now wearing pants, now with a broom in hand.
"It came, it came, it came!" she shouted excitedly, almost tripping over the last stair.
"What did?" Hermione asked.
"My new racing broom – ordered it yesterday!" Dawn grinned.
"Now what are we waiting for? Let's test it!" Ron of course.
In a matter of seconds, the Weasley children and Harry were out the door.
"It's a pretty good model" Ron approved, "I mean look at it."
They all started at the brand new Nimbus 3000. Dawn even tried to buy a Firebolt for herself. Sure the thing rode like a dream, but she didn't even want to know how much gold it would cost her. So shed settled for the new Nimbus Model. Apparently the second best broom after the Firebolt. It was pretty too. The Nimbus 2000 had been a light brown, the Nimbus 2001 black, but the Nimbus 3000 was white (and of course with 'Nimbus 3000' in shiny blue lettering on the side).
"What happened to all the models after the Nimbus 2001?" Hermione asked.
"Probably flunked in production" Ginny shrugged, "Best guess – they were trying to compete with the Firebolt."
"They haven't succeeded though" Harry grinned, readjusting his grip on his broom.
"Maybe, Birthday-boy" Dawn said, "But Ten Sickles says that my team against your team, we win."
"You're on!" Harry said, "Quidditch Match everyone, Ron, you're on my team."
"Ginny, on mine" Dawn grinned.
"We'll pound them into dust" Ginny grinned.
"You'll have to catch us first" Ron shot back.
"Hermione…" Harry began.
"I'll referee" Hermione volunteered quickly.
"You still got us!" Charlie exclaimed.
Five minutes later Fred and George had joined Harry's Team and Bill and Charlie were on Dawns.
"We're still missing players" Dawn said, as they now had only four on each team.
"We could only have one Beater and two Chasers and everyone would allowed to protect the goals," Ron suggested.
"Now where's the fun in that?" a voice demanded, it was Lupin, Sirius in dog form was at his heels.
Behind them followed Faith, Wesley, Spike and Willow.
"Is this place hidden well enough?" Wesley asked, looking around the clearing that was fringed by very tall trees.
"It is so muggles won't stumble in on it" Bill explained.
Sirius changed back, "Now you have six extra players…"
"Five extra players" Willow piped up.
"Six extra players" the other five said as one, Willow scowled.
"Now you have seven for each team" Spike grinned.
"Brooms?" Charlie asked.
"Covered" Lupin grinned, waving his wand. A small stack of brooms suddenly appeared.
"Where did those come from?" Hermione asked suspiciously.
"Who cares? They're brooms" Ron grinned.
"Relax, Hermione, they're all from the Manor" Sirius assured her, "Old family brooms – one of my cousins was big on broom making. He died before his model could hit the market."
"I hope he didn't die from falling off" Faith put in.
"He didn't – they're pretty good brooms" Sirius assured her.
"For your sake, they'd better be."
Ten minutes later, everything was sorted. Faith, Willow and Lupin had joined Dawn's Team. Sirius, Spike and Wesley had joined Harry's.
Dawn had bet Harry five extra sickles that they'd still win even with Willow ("Gee, I feel so loved" Willow had said sarcastically).
The general thought was that Dawn's team was at a disadvantage. After all, no one had known what Lupin was like on a broom, Faith had admitted to never having flown before and Willow… well, you get the picture.
Harry's team had Wesley (who'd been a Seeker for the Ravenclaw team from his second year to his seventh – his skinny build had aided him greatly), Sirius (best friend to Hogwarts Quidditch Legend James Potter) and Spike (who'd been a Chaser for HufflePuff a hundred and fifty something odd years ago).
Alright – she could do this. Birthday-boy or not, Harry Potter was going down.
"OK – Charlie, Ron told me you were a Seeker at Hogwarts. You any good?"
"One of the best" Charlie said, puffing up his chest proudly.
Bill elbowed him, ruining his dignity, "Not that he's bragging or anything."
"Well then you can be Seeker – I'm guessing you'll be against famous Mr. Potter over there" Dawn winked suddenly "So show now mercy, okay?"
Charlie grinned, "Ohhhh, she's got an evil streak. I think I'm gonna like this."
"Alright – we need some strong arms up front" Dawn announced, "Faith…"
"I've never flown…"
"I know, but you've got good reflexes. I'd have you as a Beater, but I don't want to kill anyone."
"Good point."
"You know the rules right."
"Only what I've heard – Wes explained everything a few days ago," Faith admitted.
"Good – you can be Lead Chaser. Professor Lupin, how are your flying skills?" Dawn asked turning to the werewolf.
"I'm no James Potter, but I do alright" he smiled raggedly.
"And Werewolf reflexes will help" Dawn nodded, "You're Second Chaser." Dawn turned to Bill and looked him up and down.
"Bill, you can be Third Chaser – all those years as a curse-breaker must have done something for your muscles, right?"
"Should have done" Bill agreed, "Count me in."
"Alright, Gin, you and I are beaters. I've seen what a mean arm you have."
"Ginny? A mean arm? Really?" Bill asked, surprised.
"Her?" Faith asked, sizing the youngest Weasley up.
"Strong things come in small packages" Ginny smirked, "Or have you forgotten, my dear brother of mine, when I gave you that black eye for stealing my doll?"
"Well it was and accident when you threw that book and you were only three…" Charlie stepped back smiling at the incredulous look Ginny gave him, "Beater material" he assured her.
"Willow, I'm assigning you as Keeper" Dawn told the nervous Wiccan.
"You dug yourself deep allowing me on the team, Dawnie, you know with my non-skills on a broom and all."
"You won't have to do anything" Dawn assured her, "I made the Chasers of our team the stronger ones – hopefully they'll block the ball before it can get to you – kay?"
"So that's your plan – clever" Lupin grinned.
"Captain material" Bill admitted.
"Alight – birthday-boy with them or not, they're going down! Agreed?"
"Agreed!"
"They have a plan, I'm sure of it. But don't worry – we've got better players. I think."
"We do!" Fred and George said in unison.
"Alright – well this wont be too hard. Fred and George – Beaters – your area of expertise."
"And we do it so well" George grinned.
"There will be several broken bones after this" Fred vowed.
"Nothing mum can't fix herself though" George added.
"S'long as you don't land anyone in St Mungo's, I'm happy" Wes grinned.
"Now where's the fun in that, Watcher?" Spike demanded.
"Professors Winters and Pryce – Chasers. Sirius, you can join them," Harry announced.
The three men nodded.
"Ron, your usual position."
"Keeper, at your service."
"Which leaves, Harry as Seeker" Wesley nodded thoughtfully, "James' son – if you got even half his talent then those guys are in for a nasty defeat. You'll show them a thing or two, won't you, Potter?"
"Make James proud, Harry" Sirius said solemnly.
"Don't worry, I plan to."
"BROOMS IN THE AIR!" Hermione ordered.
Everyone kicked off. Hermione mounted her own broom (Georges old one – most of the players were ridding the brooms Lupin conjured) and flicked the latch on the Weasleys family Quidditch Trunk. A pair of Battered Bludgers, and Harry's new Snitch (from Dawn) rose from the trunk. Hermione grabbed the tattered Quaffle, and tossed it up, blowing the whistle Lupin had also conjured for her.
Faith – a surprisingly smooth flyer – grabbed the Quaffle first.
"I'll take that," Wes announced, snatching the Quaffle from her hands.
Faith hadn't been prepared, so her grip hadn't been that strong. Wesley whizzed passed her. Oh it was on now!
Faith doubled back, speeding after Wesley, she knocked the Quaffle from under his arm.
"Thanks!" She smirked, flew a bit and tossed it towards Lupin.
"Sorry, Moony, old boy" Sirius called, intercepting before Remus could get it, "OOOFFF!"
A Bludger plowed into his stomach. The Quaffle slipped from his hands and was snatched by Spike.
"Sorry bout that, Sirius!" Fred said apologetically, flying by, beaters bat swinging as he chased after the Bludger.
Charlie tailed Harry, without looking too obvious. Chances were, Harry'd see the Snitch before he did so it would be better to keep a close watch on the younger Seeker.
Harry grinned, tugging on his new wrist-guards when he realized that Charlie was tailing him. He'd often wondered who was the better player between the two of them. Most of the teachers had said that Harry was as good as Charlie Weasley, now was the time to find out who was better.
Dawn swung her bat with a loud CRACK as it collided with a Bludger, sending it reeling towards Ginny who whacked it towards Ron, who ducked while Faith scored. Dawn glanced at Willow out of the corner of her eye. The redhead was clutching her broom as if it was her lifeline. She was freaking out – and Dawn noticed that the broom jerked at odd moments, probably because Willow was so nervous that she was gripping it too tightly, and was loosing control. Dawn prayed that she could at least stay on her broom.
"Going to have to do better than that, Padfoot!" Lupin shot, intercepting the Quaffle as his friend tried to score.
"He might, but I won't have to!" Spike said, grabbing the Quaffle from the Werewolfs' grip.
"SPIKE, HEADS UP!" Wesley yelled.
Dawn had whacked a Bludger that was hurling towards Spike's head. Vamp reflexes kicking in, Spike ducked, the angry ball skimming the top of his head.
"Mine!" Faith announced, grabbing the Quaffle from Spike and passing it to Bill, "Never put a Vamp against a Slayer."
Faith deliberately caught Wesley's eye and smirked at him.
"That's it" Wes scowled, "Playtime's over!"
The Snitch was worth a hundred and fifty points and Harry knew that catching it was the only way they could win now. Ron was a good keeper, but the poor boy couldn't defend himself against a Slayer's strength. Though thanks mostly to Spike, they'd managed to block a lot of the scores – his vampire strength and all.
Harry saw Dawns strategy. He had to admit she was smart. She'd deliberately made Willow Keeper and assembled the strongest players as Chasers so that they could defend the goal hoops and Willow who's flying was abominably bad.
Sirius suddenly scored again. The score was now Dawn's Team two hundred and fifty points to Harry's Teams' one hundred. Harry knew that they probably would have scored more if it hadn't been for those damn Slayer and Werewolf reflexes – not to mention that Bill, being a curse-breaker, made a living by raiding pyramids – which usually meant he had to make his way through booby traps, giving him good instincts and reflexes.
Sirius was a smooth flyer (it apparently ran in the family, because Faith was too), but even he couldn't dodge all three Chasers of the other team – he'd managed to score several goals though. And although Spike had vamp reflexes, he couldn't take on all opposing Chasers at once either. Neither could Wesley (who was well built himself with the muscles that came from fighting demons), but he was more experienced as a Seeker.
Harry didn't think that he himself would be a very good Chaser – or Beater for that matter – Harry admitted to himself that he simply didn't have the build for either position.
Suddenly, he saw it. The Snitch. Hovering right beside Hermione's head. Harry dived. Charlie saw him and did too. Hermione shot away quickly, to avoid colliding with the two Seekers.
Charlie was closer to the Snitch, but Harry was faster. Closing in on him, now they were neck to neck. Just a bit further. Harry's hand closed around the Snitch and seconds later Hermione blew the whistle.
Everyone had landed, all of them had worked up a sweat, and had started trudging back to the house. Harry and Dawn called off the bet – it had been a tie, fair and square. And the best prize Harry received was when Wesley commented on how Harry flew remarkably like James (he'd definitely inherited some of his fathers talent).
"You really do have an evil streak, don't you, Bit" Spike said, recalling the number of times during the game that Dawn had sent the bludger this way.
"Like I said, been hangin' 'round you too long" Dawn joked.
"And you aim for the face" Spike shook his head in defeat.
"Best place to aim for" Dawn smirked.
"But why the bloody nose?" Spike demanded, "You and your sister are the same, you know that?"
"We're both witty, intelligent and attractive?" Dawn suggested.
"No, you both enjoy causing me serious pain."
Dawn shrugged, "It's what gets me through the day."
It was very late, but Harry just couldn't bring himself to sleep. It might have been the sweets, or the exciting Quidditch game, or everyone just being there for his birthday. Not to mention the presents were wonderful as well.
Ron was exhausted, his snores audible no matter how soft. Pigwidgeon was mercifully asleep for once. The little ball of fluff was emitting a high-pitched hooting noise while he slept – the owls' equivalent to either breathing or snorting, Harry wasn't sure which.
Hedwig, however, was awake and was looking very stunning in that new red Owl Collar that had been part of the 'Owl Finder' set that had been Ginny's present to Harry.
Harry grinned to think of all the new people he'd met that day. Although Sirius wasn't technically even related to Harry, he still considered his Godfather as family. That meant that Faith was family too. Harry liked her, for her brash comments and calm attitude. And she was a Slayer! How cool was that!?!
He chuckled, remembering when Bill had flirted with Faith a bit and she'd brushed him off non-too-subtly. It brought laughs from everyone within hearing range – including Bill himself. Harry could tell that both of them had been joking, though, he was sure Bill was still very much into Fleur Delacour – the French witch that had taken part in the Triwizard Tournament, competing against Harry.
Harry himself had been in deep conversation for most of the night with Sirius, Remus and Wesley who told him stories as he went through the pictures that Lupin had given him. The three men had retold most of their Hogwarts years. Harry enjoyed listening to all their pranks and practical jokes the group had pulled and of Sirius' constant flirtations with almost ever girl in their year (and a lot of rejections following that). There was one story of Remus 'accidentally' cursing Snape in third year to make him sprout hair all over his body (a little out of character for Remus, Harry thought, but his younger brother had dared him to). Ron, Hermione and Faith had cracked up upon hearing of the number of different ways Wesley and Valandra flirted with each other just to piss Arion off (and it worked). But the stories Harry liked best were those of James Potters attempts to impress Lily Evans – it had made Harry feel like he'd been more in touch with his parents than ever.
A little later, Harry and Hermione had started talking to Spike – the vampire was surprisingly a good conversationalist and enjoyed retelling stories of his times traveling Europe (preferring to leave his Hogwarts and Human past behind).
Ron had managed to talk to Wesley himself, the youngest male Weasley was very interested in the knowledge Wesley possessed of the Council and he'd even expressed his desire to become a Watcher himself. Which had surprised everyone except Hermione, who claimed that she'd formed a well educated guess a while ago.
Harry grinned at the memories of that day and sighed contentedly, flopping back down on his bed. Perfect end to a perfect day. 'Yep, best birthday ever'
Well – I know the Quidditch match was kinda disappointing. I know I could have gone into more detail. But I've only ever written one Quidditch match that I was comfortable with. Sometimes when I'm rushing it, Quidditch doesn't flow. I was really trying to get this chapter up though.
But I have a plan – I'm going to start writing Quiddich matches a few chapters in advance. Easier for me and more details.
Sorry if this chapter was a little too light and fluffy (but don't worry – darker stuff to come when they all get to Hogwarts – a couple of chaps away).