A/N: I own none of the associated canon.
Chapter 6: Of Age
A few stray lines of sunlight crept into the bedroom, spreading out through the shades and across its entire length. They traveled down across the floorboards, up the bed, and finally struck their intended target right in the eye. Harry grimaced as the dawn robbed him of the sleep he was eager to get, and he fought against a protracted yawn that signaled his return to the waking world. He blinked his eyes a few times, collecting his bearings, and the weight of that particular morning's significance hit him like a ton of bricks. Slowly, yet quickly, an idiotically wide grin spread across his face as he realized what day it was. July 31st. His birthday.
He could barely contain himself as he leaped out of bed in a rush, forgetting his glasses nearly. As quickly as humanly possible he tossed on some clothes and said glasses. He grabbed his wand and waved it right at the trunk, folding up his clothes and closing it shut. The first spell he'd ever cast outside of Hogwarts...legally anyway.
Trying his best not to disturb the still out-cold Ron. Harry rushed out of the bedroom as quietly as he could manage. He headed downstairs, where he found Mr. & Mrs. Weasley both sitting at the table, smiles on their face. Next to them was Hermione's father, apparently back from an early morning jog. Harry smiled at them as he walked down the stairs and entered the kitchen, and was almost immediately swallowed up by Mrs. Weasley.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!" she seemingly yelled, as Harry was quickly cut off from oxygen. Fortunately for him, the hug did not last too awfully long, as Mrs. Weasley was quick to usher him to the table and toss a plate of food in front of him.
"Happy birthday son," Arthur said warmly, with a firm pat on the back and an equally firm handshake. Harry returned it for a moment, and then the two embraced slightly in a sign of mutual respect for one another. Dr. Granger watched the scene and then moved to head upstairs.
"Well, if it's available, I'm going to take a shower and wake my family. We have business today to attend to. Happy Birthday Harry." Harry nodded back to the man who headed upstairs. Harry idly wondered how much of a shock everything must have been to the man and his wife, but dismissed the thought at a small cough from Arthur.
"Harry, these arrived for you by owl this morning," Harry put down his fork and set aside the plate as Arthur handed him four letters and a small package. Setting the package aside he took the first letter and noticed it was from the Ministry. He nearly gulped at it but opened it first anyway and read the contents.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Happy birthday! And Congratulations on reaching legal age in the wizarding world. As you are well aware you are now legally able to perform magic outside of school, though you are still to abide by the Official Wizarding Secrecy Act as it pertains to performing magic in the presence of muggles. Any questions you may have may be directed to the Ministry by Owl at the address listed below.
Also, our records show that you have received prior instruction on apparition at Hogwarts. As such, you are immediately eligible to take a test to earn your apparition license. The office of Magical Transportation is open from 8-5 PM everyday except Sunday, and no appointment is necessary to take the test.
Again, Happy Birthday from your friends at the Ministry of Magic
Sincerely,
Mafalda Cummings
Department of Records
Ministry of Magic
Harry idly remembered Ginny saying something about a cousin Mafalda once, but he disregarded it, grabbing the second, and much smaller letter.
Dear Mr. Potter,
With this being your 17th birthday, I am to inform you that you have come into an inheritance of three more vaults in addition to your current one with us. We need you to come to the main office in Diagon Alley to sign some paperwork so that you may access these vaults at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Drumhook
Assistant Manager at Gringott's Wizarding Bank- London Branch
Harry's eyes widened. He already had more galleons than he knew what to do with, what else could he possibly have inherited? His mind wondered at this as he grabbed the third letter, apparently from Hogwarts.
Dear Mr. Potter,
Happy Birthday Harry. I am simply reminding you that I need to see you now that you've come of age, as there are certain things that Albus wanted to leave to you upon your turning 17. Let me know by letter or floo call when you'll be stopping by.
Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry remembered the first owl he had received from McGonagall back at Privet Drive. He made a note to add her to the list of people he needed to see soon. Reaching over he grabbed the final package and letter. Interestingly enough, it was from Moody.
Harry,
Sorry I'm not able to see you on your birthday. Albus said this might come in handy for the journey ahead.
Constant Vigilance,
Alastor Moody
Harry looked at the small note again and then ripped into the package. In it he found a small, somewhat aged, leather-bound book entitled To Cheat Death by one Flavius Caliban. He flipped through the book quickly and noticed a bookmarking charm on a few chapters that seemed to have to do with Horcruxes. Harry made note to read this book carefully as soon as he could. Setting it aside, he went back to his breakfast temporarily, before lifting his head back up to the Weasleys who were standing over him with smiles on their faces.
"We wanted to wait to do this," Molly began, barely able to contain herself, "but with that gift you got there we just can't wait anymore." Harry shook his head, but still smiled. Part of him wanted to tell them that they didn't have to get him anything, that they really couldn't afford it. Arthur spoke again before Harry could interject, however.
"I know it isn't much but…well you'll see." Reaching into his robes he pulled out a small package hastily wrapped in scarlet red paper. Harry cocked an eyebrow as he took the package and unwrapped it quickly. Inside was a small black arrow with his name on it. Harry was confused for a few minutes, before an idea crossed his mind. He glanced up at the corner and viewed the Weasley's grandfather clock. Before long he put two and two together and a tear began to form in his eye as he realized what he had here. It was a clock hand.
"Thank you…" Harry whispered, barely able to contain the emotion.
"You've always been a member of our family," Arthur continued, "If not in name than in spirit. And Molly and I want you to know that no matter what happens, you'll always have a place here with us…and we'll always be very proud of you." At that Molly sniffled a bit and pulled out her wand. She levitated the clock hand out of Harry's hand and attached it to the clock where the others stood. The hand spun around for a few minutes, discerning his location, before stopping dead on Mortal Peril with everyone else's. Harry smiled at it nonetheless, and mentally longed for the day when they would be pointing somewhere else.
After the rest of the family and Hermione had gotten up and eaten breakfast, the various parties departed to go their separate ways for the day. Mr. Weasley was taking Ron and Harry to the Ministry for Harry's apparition test and then dropping the boys off at Diagon Alley to shop for their school stuff and perform other shopping duties for the day. Molly was taking Ginny somewhere, thought they had been quiet about what. Hermione too had been quiet, and had only given a brief happy birthday to Harry before departing with her parents. Before long, Harry and his compatriots were in the fireplace and traveling to the Leaky Cauldron. Upon arrival they headed for a run down phone booth a couple of blocks away and went in. Dialing "6-2-4-4-2" on the phone, it was merely a matter of moments before the three of them were in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. After checking in with security, they all headed for the Department of Magical Transportation.
Arthur looked over at Harry, who appeared to be a bit jittery. "Relax Harry," Arthur said with a smile, "there's nothing to it really."
"Yeah," Ron chimed in reassuringly. He had failed his first time but passed a couple of weeks before Harry had returned to the Burrow. "And besides…" he added with a smirk, staring straight ahead, "If you screw up there's nothing they can't fix."
"Thanks Ron," Harry said sarcastically, "That helps a lot."
"Glad to be of service." Harry stifled a laugh at the exchange, and it calmed his nerves…a bit. Though he had done this plenty of times with Dumbledore, now that he had come to it he was a bit nervous. A lot of his mission depended on being able to freely go where he pleased. A moment later and the lift came to a sudden stop and with a pleasant ding let them off at the proper level. They traveled done a small corridor to the Apparition Test Centre and met the lady at the door.
"Hello, I'm here to take my apparition test," Harry said with as pleasant a smile as he could muster.
"Name," the woman perfunctorily asked, pulling out a small piece of parchment while idly snapping a piece of chewing gum.
"Harry Potter," came the reply from Harry, and he silently counted down toward the anticipated response. '3-2…'
"Okay Mr.…..did you say Harry Potter?" Harry frowned and nodded as the woman nearly swooned at the mention of his name. He would never get used to this fame thing. He allowed her to have her moment of hero worship, and then kindly asked her where he needed to report. "Just go beyond those doors and they'll begin your test. Your friends can wait here while you take your test." Harry turned away and breathed in deeply. He looked at the two Weasley's standing behind him, both literally and figuratively, and got reassuring smiles from them. He turned back towards the doors, and headed through them.
He entered a rather large white room with a red X in one corner and a green one in the opposite corner. Scattered throughout the room were five doors leading to who knew where. In the center of the room sat a singular man, clad in usual Ministry attire and holding a piece of paper.
"Welcome Mr. Potter," Harry shook the man's offered hand, not really questioning how he knew his name. The man stood up and ushered him toward the corner. "So, here to get your apparition license?" Harry nodded. "Very good. Now the test is two parts. For the first part, stand on this red X here in the corner," Harry did as he was told, "and then I want you to apparate over to that green X across the room. Whenever you're ready." Harry stood there and cleared his mind. He focused himself on his target, and with a slightest of turns popped out of existence. He reappeared a few moments later, and mentally checked himself to see if anything was missing. Satisfied with his cursory check, he stood there as the instructor came over and checked him over thoroughly. After a few moments he nodded and smiled.
"Very good," he said, making a note on his piece of paper. "You passed the first part with flying colors. Now…the second part is a bit more difficult." Harry nodded in anticipation. "You see these five doors," he motioned with his hand to indicate what he meant, "inside one of them is a blue X. I want you to apparate onto that X if you can." Harry stared at him blankly for a minute and a knot appeared in his stomach. He was afraid of this, though the logic made sense to him. Ron had told him what to expect on the test, and apparating to an unknown destination was one of the things he had mentioned.
"Are you ready," the instructor asked, and to this Harry simply nodded and offered a perfunctory smile. He focused his mind again, trying to find his target. He pictured a blue X in a room similar to this one in his mind, and once he was certain he had the right image he counted down in his mind and then once more popped out of existence.
He rematerialized a moment later in an adjoining room, and he quickly crept one eye open and looked down. There beneath his feet was indeed a blue X. Breathing a sigh of relief, he again performed a cursory check of himself and didn't find anything missing. The door opened and his instructor looked at him, smiling. He repeated his check of before and then proceeded to mark down a few more things on his paper. When he was finished, he looked up at Harry and delivered his verdict.
"Congratulations Mr. Potter, you passed!" There was another tangible sense of relief that washed over Harry at this revelation. The instructor pulled the piece of paper from his clipboard and handed it to Harry. "If you give this to the receptionist she'll get you your license. Congratulations again." Harry thanked the man and headed out of the room. He adopted the most serious look he could as he passed through the first set of double doors and Ron and Arthur rushed to greet him.
"Well mate, what's the verdict?" Harry let the suspense linger for a moment later, before a goofy grin betrayed his countenance.
"I passed, with flying colors I might add," he replied, adding a slight bit of bravado to the last statement. Ron smiled at him while Arthur slapped him firmly on the back with a firm congratulation. Harry walked over and handed the piece of paper to the woman. She took it from him and glanced it over before offering her own congratulations. She motioned for Harry to stand over in the corner in front of a camera and stood up herself to take his picture.
"Say Quidditch," she said in a humorous tone, before snapping the photo. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the photo as it came out of the camera, and it promptly floated over to a smaller piece of paper and attached itself to it. She walked over and picked it up and handed it to Harry. Harry took it and saw it was his license, complete with a looping picture of him and his somewhat goofy smile.
"That license is charmed," the woman added, "to look like a Muggle driver's license should you ever need to fool someone or show identification to the Bobbies." Harry nodded in affirmation and thanked her, and the three of them left the room as Harry pocketed the license.
"Well, I have to stop by my office for a few hours before dinner tonight, just to catch up on some paperwork. Harry I understand you had some business at Gringotts?" Harry nodded. "Very good then." He handed a small money bag to Ron, who took it happily. "This is for your books Ron…not sweets…" Ron nodded and Harry just smiled at the exchange. "I'll see you boys later." At this, Harry and Ron turned away from Arthur, who continued down the hall to the lift and his office. The boys headed for another lift and were soon back in the Atrium. Off in the corner Harry could have sworn he saw the familiar bushy head of Hermione Granger, but when he turned to look he didn't find anyone. Shrugging it off, he and Ron were about to step on the lift to leave when they heard a rather annoying voice behind them.
"Potter, Ronald, just a moment." The two of them turned to see Percy, clad in his suit and tie, walking up to them.
"What is it Percy," Ron asked, with more than a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"Nothing that concerns you Ronald," Percy said with equal disdain and annoyance. "Though I understand you've been named Head Boy. It's nice to know that some of my influence rubbed off on you." Ron rolled his eyes and turned away. Percy then turned to Harry. "The Minister wanted to speak with you before you left." Harry's eyes narrowed at the mention of Scrimgeour's name, but he spoke evenly with Percy.
"Well it will have to wait," Harry said monotonely, "I have other business to do today." Percy's eyes widened and anger filled his voice at this apparent snub.
"You've been summoned to a meeting with the most powerful wizard in Britain and you're telling him to leave a message?!? You should be thankful the Minister would even give you the time of day after everything…"
"STOW IT!" Harry yelled, drawing the attention from a few people including a certain blonde-haired reporter that he did not notice behind his back. "I don't really give a damn about the Minister right now Percy, and I will kindly do what I like on MY birthday," he responded in a quieter, but still much more vicious tone. Before Percy could respond, Harry turned away, and got on the lift with Ron, and was gone in a flash.
