In The Midst Of It All 8

The Birthday Bash Part 1

Harry was not sure how much more he could take! For the past eleven days, Bill was nothing but silent. They ate in silence. They went to Egypt yesterday, as they did every day, so that everyone would still think that Harry was there. They made sure to make a presence at shops and such, and they were back home before dinner. Bill said not one word aside to him the whole trip! And Harry had not thought before he went upstairs and wrote a letter to Ginny, on instruction from Ares, he put the proper charms on the letter and took it downstairs where Hedwig was waiting. Bill watched him with narrow eyes as he attached the letter to Hedwig's claw.

"You're writing your boyfriend?" He viciously spat. Harry, who had been getting used to this angry side of Bill, treaded lightly and responded in a naturally small voice.

"Why would I when he's behaving like a child." He ignored Bill's furious face and walked into the backyard as Hedwig flew away with the note.

He no longer felt solace in the kitchen anymore, even though he still prepared meals there. It was the first and last place that they were openly and honestly intimate. He just could not bear being in there too long.

Bill had left for work this morning after recieiving a letter addressed from his mom in the post. He had exaggeratedly showed Harry the address of the letter. "At least I don't have anything to hide!"

Harry sighed, he took his time cleaning the house before he headed outside in the warm air with a book under his arm. He situated himself by the water fountain with Demeter's sandals on snuggly. He plopped open the book and started reading, he was only half interested in what he was reading, his mind kept returning to his situation with Bill.

He hated this! Everything was falling apart. He doubted Bill would ever look at him again without a suspecting glance. But was it really his fault? Bill interpreted the letter in his own way, did he not? He must not have trusted Harry from the beginning! But was there something Harry had done in the beginning that would make Bill not trust him? So many questions! But as he thought about it more, he had other things on his mind that needed addressing.

Ares was behaving moody today, even more so than usual. Harry thought it was the stress of his plans. But there was something odd about Ares, that Harry could not place. He kept warning Harry to be careful, to use whole body protection charms and such, like he was expecting an attack.

Then there was the fact that he told Harry to start reading the books that seemed to fall out of midair and into his trunks.

Harry was, at the moment reading one of said books, it was actually starting to get interesting once he skipped the boring parts. It was about charms and what magical structure they have. Most of the diagrams matched the ones on Bill's walls. Maybe Harry could use them as a topic for him and Bill to communicate upon…

Then there were the ever increasing attacks by Voldemort. He was attacking everyone and everywhere with no formation or any believed stratagem. The Ministry was in disarray after the article Rita wrote, so they were in a horrible condition to handle the situation and the Order could only do so much and still remain secret. Voldemort, in Harry's opinion, was reacting to the article as well. Harry had assumed that the Egypt plan would have caused Voldemort to focus his attention elsewhere, but instead, it must have made him furious. He might also suspect something, that could be why he was still attacking in England. Or he could be attacking to distract everyone, he could have a bigger plan in mind. There was no way to be sure in the matter.

And then there was the fact that Harry was ailing. He did not know what it was, He had been throwing up for the past day or so. He was having all sorts of the dizzy spells. And if it was not bad enough, he was having chest pains and his stomach was constricting painfully. Though, Harry believed that the stomach thing had something to do with the throwing up. It was irritating him as he could not understand it, he wished Ares would just tell him what was wrong with him!

He sighed, there was just too much going on. He looked up from the large book he was reading and gazed at the columns. Just so much going on

He went through another page with a yawn. He was starting to lose interest in the book as it went from practical means of the charms to the theoretic background and historical background of the charms. He yawned again. I wish that there was an easier way to read the book quickly. He had barely finished his yawn before he began to get lightheaded. He clutched the book automatically and like a tsunami rushing through a forest, Harry was overwhelmed by a very intense attack though on his mind.

He let the book fall from his hands.

After a few minutes of being stunned, Harry tentatively reached out to touch the book. A soft glow inhabited the book as soon as he touched it. He was suddenly seeing words, diagrams, and pictures, flying through his mind. The soft glow lessened and lessened as the minutes drew on. Finally the rush of information stopped, the book stopped glowing, and Harry's head began to hurt.

xX Go lay down on the couch in the livingroom, kiddo, your head should feel better after a nap. Xx Ares said.

xX But-. Xx

xX Do you always have to ask so many damn questions! Just go do it! Xx And then his presence was gone.

With a groan, Harry pulled himself up off the ground. He swayed a bit as he stood up, but nothing to fret over. The world was spinning slightly before his eyes, but he managed to steady himself and keep moving. Once he reached the couch he collapsed on top of it. He felt nearly boneless. He managed to pull himself into a comfortable position on his side and slept.

Harry was awakened to being shaken roughly. His eyes popped open and Bill's stoic face loomed into view. He stopped shaking Harry when Harry woke. His jaw twitched slightly.

"Get up, take a shower, and put on some nice clothes, we have somewhere to be." And he was gone. Harry wished for a second that Bill would treat him with a little compassion. Harry sighed, he felt tears burning in the corners of his eyes as Bill walked away. No, not the crying again! Why me, he thought as the tears flowed freely.

"Hurry up, Pott-." Bill began, poking his head through the door. He saw Harry crying. Harry thought that maybe this had softened Bill's opinion of him, as Bill's face softened. But quickly the stoic face was back up, full force. "Stop crying and hurry up, that's all I need, you going there with puffy eyes!" He left the room with mumbling angrily to himself.

Harry tried but failed to lessen the flow of tears. He dragged himself to the bathroom and got ready as Bill instructed.

Twenty minutes later he was back in the front room waiting to Bill. He had spelled his eyes not to look puffy.

"If you call that hurr-." Bill started.

"You know what! Let's just get this over with: I'm sorry to be staying with you, Bill, when you obviously don't want me here. I'll try to think of a way to get out of the house without causing problems. But until then, just stop with the bullshit, all right!" Harry exploded, he could feel anger pouring out of him. He tried hard to put a leash on it.

Bill looked stunned, furious, and some other emotions, Harry could not interpret. He turned away from Harry. Pulled out his wand, Harry's wand-hand twitched. Bill fired a curse at the fireplace, causing the purple flames to arise. Harry stepped in after him and Bill called out, "Grimmauld Place."

So many emotions and things with through Harry's head, he nearly fainted once he heard the words. Bill was taking him to Grimmauld Place, why. Is he trying to leave me there? No, he couldn't, not after their scene in the kitchen. So why was he going! Harry quickly pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind. It's about time I got control of these feelings. He put on a calm face, or what he hoped to be a calm face, as the floo was coming to an end. He felt Bill put an arm around his waist, he gave Harry a wonderfully crafted fake smile. Harry returned the smile, pulling a bit out of Bill's embrace as the floo ended.

Bill stumbled slightly on exit, Harry moved a bit out of his reach so that he would not fall with Bill. He shook his head and looked around him. He gaped slightly.

"SURPRISE!!" Several people screamed. He turned and looked at all the faces there. The Weasleys, Hermione, Dumbledore and some of the Order, and some other people Harry did not know, were there. Harry felt himself tearing up as he saw the decorations and banners bearing his name.

They threw me a birthday party! He felt that burn in the corners of his eyes. "I- thank you." He said getting choked up. He heard Bill snort from beside him, Harry elbowed him sharply. That brought everyone's attention to Bill.

Harry did not know whether to be happy or sympathetic to Bill for the looks they were giving him. He figured Bill could take care of himself. He dashed over to where Ron and Hermione were standing and gathered them both in a hug.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" Hermione said. Harry could tell that both of them had things on their minds that they wanted to tell him, so after profusely thanking Mrs. Weasley and everyone else there, they grabbed their plates of dinner and hurried up the stairs to find solitude.

They had not even closed the door to Harry's old bedroom before Ron exploded at Harry.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US!" Harry closed his eyes to prepare an excuse, and knew he needed some time. He should have thought this up beforehand.

"Tell you what?" Harry asked softly. Ron sat his plate down hard, Harry could see a bit of Bill's anger coming through.

"Don't toy with me, Harry!" He said looming over Harry like a Dementor. Think, think, think Harry, think! Got it! Harry drew in a deep breath.

"I knew you would over-react. I knew Hermione would make comments about the age difference. And I knew we would fight. I wanted to keep that from happening." Harry said speaking softly without even trying. Something about his voice had been killing him lately. He only spoke in the calm, soft tone, well when he was not blatantly angry. It still perturbed him. So did lying to his best-friends. But he hoped that they could forgive him in the future.

Ron looked put out, he did not have any reason to yell at Harry now. "Fine!" He said plopping down angrily and plunging into his food. Now for Hermione….

Hermione. Harry had not heard a peep out of her on the subject yet, that's unlike her. She seemed to be regarding him from a distance. She's probably weighing the story, seeing if he was telling the truth. Finally, she nodded. "All right, Harry, I believe you."

"It really didn't matter if you believed me or not," Harry lied, "I would still be with Bill," He lied again.

"And Bill of all people! Why not Ginny, or, or…." Ron exclaimed, spitting food all over Harry. "How did it happen mate, I mean, there wasn't much of a place where you two were in at the same time where you two could get together?" Harry heard the rustling in the portrait on the wall. Everything he said would go to Dumbledore, who is most likely questioning Bill at the moment. He would probably put the two stories together to see if they match, which they most likely wouldn't. And then…

"You wouldn't want to know." Harry said, again with the soft voice, but this time there was a slight mysteriousness in his tone.

"And why not?" Hermione asked, cutting off Ron who was soon to be spraying food again.

"Because it'll only cause us to argue. You guys would be mad at me for not telling when it happened, and where it happened," Harry added as an afterthought, "and how it happened."

"Hm." Ron said angry.

Hermione looked at him again with the questioning eyes. "I see." She began picking at her food.

"I'm sorry you guys, I just couldn't tell any one for both of our safety. You guys understand that, right?" They mumbled something. Harry smiled suddenly. "It would be like me asking when you two were getting together." The reaction was immediate, Ron started choking on his food and Hermione looked like a freshly plucked red tomato, with bushy hair.

They soon after started playfully bickering with each other. Harry's smile brightened. This is what he needed after all of his troubles. He just wished he could tell at least one of them everything.

They carried on a bright conversation about the miscellaneous things currently in effect. When they brushed the subject of Dumbledore and the Minister's actions, Harry led the conversation to something else. Harry liked the chatting with his friends, it made him feel…home again. All he needed was to be at Hogwarts, in the dorm, and in front of a gloriously warm fire.

Then there came a knock at the door. Bill walked in the room unannounced and bent over to whisper in Harry's ear.

"Mom wants you downstairs in five minutes, so if you are done talking about me-."

"You!" Harry exclaimed in a whisper, "Why on earth would I do that?"

Bill gave a fake chuckle. "Anyway, that was some trick you pulled, leaving me with them." Harry heard the growl in his voice. He wouldn't dare do anything in front of Ron and Hermione! Would he?

"I assumed you could handle a room full of adults, I mean, after all, you handled me well enough. That fake stumble/trip of your's almost worked." Harry heard the growl deepen.

"We'll talk about this later. See you downstairs." And he turned and departed without a backwards glance.

"Trouble in paradise." Hermione said tentatively.

"Eh, not really, every couple has their own set of problems. Oh, and Mrs. Weasley wants us downstairs. We might as well start heading down now!" Harry said, hopefully Hermione would not bring up the subject again. She did not.

Obviously, there had been something going on downstairs. As soon as Harry walked into the kitchen he knew it. The tension was so tangible! Bill happily gestured Harry to a seat next to him. Harry wanted to sit with Hermione and Ron as well. And he told them that, he 'accidently' forgot to mention that he wanted to sit next to Bill. But after some seat arrangements, the four of them were seated next to one another.

"I'm afraid to ask what happened while I was upstairs." Harry whispered to Bill as discreetly as possible.

"Oh, you are definitely going to hear about it when we get home." Bill threatened.

"You actually consider that to be my home, I'm stunned." Harry said in his soft tone. Bill went red slightly and his jaw twitched. He opened his mouth to yell at Harry, Harry stomped on his toe. "Not in public, Bill." He said, smiling at those who had witnessed the ordeal.

Bill grabbed his thigh under the table and squeezed very, very hard. Harry felt tears pop up in to his eyes after a few minutes. "Of course, dear." He growled. Harry closed his eyes to shut out the pain. When he opened them the birthday cake was in front of him. The tears were flowing down his cheek.

"It's wonderful, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said choked up from the pain in his leg. The grip tightened and Harry lurched forward slightly. Everyone looked at him in panic. Bill removed his hand. "Oh, my stomach has been hurting a little lately, it's fine."

"Maybe we should get Madam Pomfrey." Hermione said.

"I'm fine Hermione, probably just a virus." Harry said, hoping to appease her twice. Nothing of the sort!

"Then why doesn't Bill have it." Hermione said, accusingly.

"Well, it's not like we eat off the same plate when we eat out or, eat at home, together." Harry said, he turned to the cake again and jumped as he saw candles now floating above the cake. The lights dimmed slightly. He knew what he was supposed to do.

I wish… I wish… What would I want more than anything else in the world? Voldemort gone, is a wish. But that was something he knew he had to do on his own. He looked to Hermione and Ron; he wanted them to be together. But what if they weren't meant to be together, then he had put the two together when they could be making two other people happy.

"Come on, Harry, blow out the candle and make a wish." Ron said staring eagerly at the cake. Several people laughed, including Harry.

He looked to Bill and saw him interested in his fingers. He sighed. He knew what he wanted. I wish for me and Bill to be back together, and happy, one day. He gathered in a large breath and blew. He felt a rush of magic fly through the air.

"That must have been one heck of wish, Harry!" Hermione said in awe.

"Yeah, I just hope it comes true," He gave a sideway glance to Bill.

"It will, dear." Mrs. Weasley said. "Now to the presents…"

Harry opened his presents with agusto. He took care not to touch any books for fear that he might absorb them in front of everyone, he kindly asked Bill to move the books for him. Interestingly enough, books were what he received from the majority. There had been some trinkets here and there, and a sock from Dobby, but mostly books. Remus, who was on assignment, had sent him a box that he was not to open in public. Harry had the feeling that it had books in it as well, just not ones everyone should see.

"Where's your gift, Bill," Hermione asked feigning innocence. She is not going to give him a break, is she! Harry mused.

"He'll get mine when we get home." It went silent immediately. Uh oh! Bill received multiple glares and disgusted looks for that comment. Harry received some odd looks as well. "Not like that, yeesh, get your minds out of my bedroom!" He said going a little red. Harry found this all very amusing.

"Well judging from the fact that Harry is still a wizard and not a lizard, I'm guessing you two have yet to…" Mrs. Weasley said, Ron began to choke on his cake.

"Hey, I'm eating here!"

"I never break my promises, Mrs. Weasley!" Harry said, he ignored the look that Bill gave him.

There was some music playing in the sitting room. Hermione grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him out of his seat. He winced a bit as he stretched the thigh that Bill had hurt.

"Come on, Harry, let's dance. What's wrong with your leg?"

"Nothing, it's sore from me hitting it under the table." He said softly, his gaze landing one Bill who had opened up one of his books. "But I can't dance, you know that!" He said looking back at Hermione. She had followed his gaze. Harry was happy as he looked around, that the few people that were still there had not followed his gaze when he said that.

"Yes, Harry, we all remember the Yull Ball." Ron said shaking his head, Harry and those who had been there laughed. Harry swatted him with his hand.

Hermione pulled Harry into the sitting room. They began moving to the music, Hermione was leading and showing Harry moves as she went along. She took out her wand and cast a privacy spell around the two of them. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"This place is unplottable, you thought I, of all people, would let an opportunity to use magic pass me by!" She joked. Harry laughed, but her face went serious quickly. "Harry, tell me the truth about Bill. You didn't bump your leg on the table, I would have heard it. Did he do something, has been doing other things?" She was sounding worried, and it was breaking Harry heart. Harry wished for the strength to get through this. He made a decision then and there, he hoped it was a good one.

With tears rolling down his face, Harry told Hermione everything that happened since the beginning of the summer. She was a bit incredulous when he when into the Greek gods.

"I've read stories, in books about that happening to wizards every since the establishment of the wizarding world. No one believes it to be true!"

"Well, it is." Harry said, and he continued on with his story. He crammed as much information as he could in. He made sure to leave out the plan Ares had made, she knows that there is a plan but she does not know what it is. When he had gotten to the act he and Bill were playing in he kitchen, she was livid.

"And you let him!" She stopped dancing. She had been leading him during the whole conversation. Harry realized how tired his legs were. He hoped he could still finish.

"There's not much I can do, Hermione, I feeling like both of us are the victi-."

"He's the one who didn't trust you! No happy relationship can be founded without trust!" She yelled. Harry looked around them and saw everyone staring at them. The music had stopped and they had been still dancing. Harry turned to Hermione quickly. This was the end of the conversation. He was happy that the privacy spell was still up strong.

"Hermione, I need to put a spell on you." She looked suddenly wary of him. He remembered a good spell from the book. "It will kept others from finding out the information from you, no matter what they do."

"Will I remember this?" She asked looking a little sad, and a bit scared

"Nothing specific, but you will be able to recall in some time, I promise." He said preforming the spell and taking down the privacy spell she put up, doing both at the same time was a lot less suspicious if someone was measuring the magic use in this room. They would only see one magical occurrence, not two.

Hermione looked dazed for a moment and then nodded to Harry as someone put a hand on their shoulders.

"That's enough dancing with the birthday boy, Hermione! We all thought for a moment that you and Harry had ditched Ron and Bill and got together." Charlie said. Hermione blushed at his insinuation of her and Ron being together. "Anyway, I want to meet the guy my older bro has fallen for." He said putting an arm around Harry's waist and pulling him further away from everyone else on the furniture-less floor in the sitting room.

"Hi, Charlie." Harry said a little stunned. He didn't even know the guy and the guy was dancing with him!

"SO. Are you really dating Bill?" He asked as he pulled Harry closer to him. He moved more slowly as song took on a romantic turn.

"Yes, of course I am! Why do you ask?" Harry said attempting to put some distance between the two of them. Charlie's face fell horribly when Harry said that.

"I just thought that- Bill might have- never mind, sorry about all of that." And he walked off towards the kitchen. A little confused, Harry followed after him.

Harry caught Charlie as he exited the kitchen and entered the back patio.

"Charlie! What was all of that about?" Harry asked jumping in front of Charlie obscuring his path.

Charlie looked around them and back to the kitchen, it was empty. He turned back to Harry, he looked very dejected. "I just thought that Bill made up the whole dating thing between the two of you. Or that both of you were in on it."

"Why do you think that he would do something like that?" Harry said, a little nervous as Charlie was close to the truth. He ignored the end statement.

"It would 'up' his status." Charlie said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"'Up' his status, how?" Harry said trying to keep the conversation under his control, he knew Charlie would have to answer that.

"Don't play games, Harry." He said sadly. He suddenly focused fully on Harry, causing Harry to jump. "Do you love him?"

"Do I love him?" Harry asked questioning, he tried to buy himself more time.

"Yes," Charlie said exasperatedly, "do you love him!"

"Yes." Harry answered immediately this time. It did not take a genius to know what the next question was going to be.

"Does he love you?" Am I a seer, Harry asked himself with contempt.

Harry opened his mouth to say yes. But it did not come out. He saw Charlie eyeing him suspiciously."Yes, I think he does." Or did!

"Then why did you hesitate to say it?" He asked stepping up to Harry.

Harry saw no escape from the answer or from Charlie's approach. "Because…."

"Yes…" He said slowly, he was very close now, Harry could feel Charlie's breath on his face.

"What are you doing, Charlie?" His answer was a rough kiss on the mouth. Harry tried to pull away but Charlie's arms were holding him tightly.

Harry used his magic to pull away. He fell backwards onto the grass. He opened his mouth to yell at Charlie when he saw Bill in the doorway. His stomach sunk to his knees, as did his heart.

"Well, well, well." Bill said, coldly staring at Harry.


Sorry about the shortness of the chapter, couldn't make it any longer. Well, you all know how I love making cliffhangers. I just hate reading them! PLEASE HELP (AND REVIEW), I am falling behind on my stories. I wanted to get this one to the end of the first section of the story, then I can work on Friendship, WHAT, Too Grown Up, Transformed, and get Heir of Merlin back up. I need someone to help me with the stories or I might have to delete one or two of them. AND I wanted to do a sequel or addiction to Is Sex Better Than Flying, but since I did the first one in one night, I may be able to do the second one that way. By the way, did anyone catch the special word in this chapter. I used it 11 times, and it meant a lot….