Harry's birthday

It was the morning of the 31st of July. Harry woke up with a little smile and softly said to himself. "Happy Birthday Harry. You're eleven." Normally, his birthday wasn't anything to look forward to. It wasn't as if the Dursleys would celebrate it. The only present he would get from the Dursleys, was a nice beating. The reason that he got one was, that he had been aburden to the family for another year. But today was different. He didn't think that anyone knew that it was his birthday, but to him, it seemed like a new beginning. A year away from the Dursleys in a magical school! This sounded really nice. And allhe would do on his birthday, was to read a book, or maybe even go outside a bit more. Dumbledore said something about a giant squid in the lake, which liked to be tickled. Harry decided, he would make this his best ever birthday. He didn't need anyone to know about his plans. He would just put all sad thoughts away for this day. He could think and worry about it, tomorrow.

Meanwhile, an owl made its way to Hogwarts. It was a bit confused. He bore a letter addressed to Mr. Harry Potter, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinning, Surrey. But the owl found out, that there was no Harry Potter located in Surrey. Indeed, it seemed that the recipient of this letter was further away, so it flew in northern direction.

The man who had sent this owl was very pleased with himself. This is a stroke of genius, that he had to admit it to himself. After all, he really was the born politician. Luckily he had looked through the new list of students yesterday. One name stood out and caught his eye. Of course, who wouldn't especially look at the name of the boy-who-lived on the list of the incoming new students for Hogwarts. Nearly ten years had passed. He had been in hiding in the muggle world, strong wards keeping any and every wizard away. Even him, the minister of magic himself! But now it was time for the boy-who-lived to return to the wizarding world and he, Cornelius Fudge would be right beside him. Showing him this world and of course making sure that he would be seen doing it. All he had to do now was to wait, wait for the young boy to answer on the birthday card and to accept his offer. Then he could inform a reporter, which he knew well. He could be incidentally there, when he took young Potter shopping, and maybe on a small visit to the ministry. Yes, that would be perfect. He really was intelligent, yes he was.

The morning of Harry's birthday passed nicely. He had been reading through the quidditch book, when Madame Pomfrey had told him that he should better stay in bed for now. He didn't understand that, but he didn't mind it too much. He never had the opportunity of lazing around, unless he was really hurt badly. So being confined to the bed wasn't bad. When lunch time neared, he waited for a houseelf to show up with his food. He hadn't eaten with the others yet, but mostly stayed in bed for that. He always asked the elf who brought him the food to eat with him what they did, sometimes mumbling something about Harry Potter, great wizard, so kind under their breath. Some of the meals, he had also been joined by one of the teachers. But he sometimes felt a bit uncomfortable, because he has trouble of eating decent sized meals, and having to take a potion before each meal.

Instead of a house elf bringing his food in this time. Dumbledore came into the hospital wing, smiling at him, his eyes twinkling brightly.

"Hello Harry. Here is your potion. What about you join us in the great hall?"

Harry's eyes widened. He hadn't been there yet, but he really wanted to see it.

"Thank you sir, I'd like to join you."

"Splendid my boy. Come I float you, we wouldn't want you to exhaust yourself, before we even arrive."

He floated Harry in the great hall, and Harry gasped at the sight. The hall was bright with sunshine coming from the enchanted ceiling. It was a huge hall with banners with the signs for the houses hung at the walls. On the far end of the hall stood two tables. At one of them, all of the teachers were sitting together, looking towards them. There were balloons, floating in the air above the table, and with a flick of McGonagall's wand awriting appeared in the air. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY" was written in the air, in joyful colors.

Harry could only stare at this, his mouth hanging open slightly.

Dumbledore chuckled at his face. Setting him down he extended his hand. "Congratulations Harry and a very Happy Birthday to you."

"Thank you." Harry stammered, not knowing what to do. The other adults came all over as well and congratulated him on his birthday. Harry was simply overwhelmed.

They finally settled down for lunch, the elves had prepared a normal meal on Dumbledore's request. He didn't want Harry to feel too bad because he didn't manage to eat too much. The elves had agreed reclutantly.

"So, Harry how is it to be eleven?" Minerva asked smiling.

"I… I don't know what to say. It's just,… Thank you so much."

"No problem little one." They continued eating. She saw Harry thinking about taking more and whispered to him. "Leave a bit place for the cake, will you? You can take some more, but just remember that you need to keep a little space for that."

Harry nodded confused. Cake? He only had a few bites of cake until now. Normally in school if one of his class mates had a birthday. But, being "the odd Potter boy", he was never given much, and large part of this was mostly taken away by Dudley. Reminding himself, not to think about this he just smiled at the Professors.

When the food was cleared up Dumbledore asked Harry. "Now birthday boy, cake or presents?" Harry looked at him without understanding. What did he mean? Did he have to decide if he wanted to have cake or a present? But he already got a present, his teddy. Looking at McGonagall for guidance he asked. "What do I have to do? Shall I get my teddy here? I… "

"No, no Harry. You never had a birthday party before? Did you?" the question clearly showed that.

"Albus only wants to know if you'd like to open your presents first or have your birthday cake."

"Presents, but… but… I already got a present and…"

Dumbledore interrupted him. "Ah presents is it then. Come over her Harry." Harry complied and was lead to a table with four presents on it. Four real presents? Wow! And all had his name on it.

Dumbledore took his out first and gave it to Harry. Harry carefully removed the paper, not wanting to ripe the paper with twinkling stars on it. When he opened it contained of another small bundle and was a framed wizarding photograph. A moving one. A man with messy black hair stood next to a red haired woman, who held a small child in her arms. The baby had the same black hair as his father, but the brilliant green eyes of the mother.

"Your parents Harry, Lily and James Potter, with you of course." Dumbledore said softly.

Harry nodded tears threatening to fall. "Thank you." He finally chocked out.

"You're welcome Harry. Don't forget the rest of the present."

Harry nodded and opened the other bundle. When he unwrapped it there was a general groan floating around the room, while Dumbledore explain quiet brightly. "These are lemon drops. Great muggle sweets. The healers had said that you can eat them, just not too many at once."

Harry nodded and thanked him again.

Next, he got a bar of chocolate together with a blue wizarding robe from Professor Flitwick and Sprout, and Madame Pomfrey thanking them profusely again.

Then Professor Snape handed him a present, much to the confusion of the other teachers, except Dumbledore of course whose eyes were twinkling knowingly.

Harry, soon found out that it was holding a book. That was great, after all he loved reading. When he opened it he beamed at it, while the rest of the assembled people rolled their eyes. It was "A guide to successful potion brewing, vol 1"

"Thank you very much sir, I … Thank you."

"Read it, maybe then you won't be as bad as the rest of the dunderheads I usually have to teach."

"Severus!" Dumbledore interrupted sternly, but Harry simply nodded. "I'll do my best sir. Thank you."

Minerva smiles headshaking ,looking at the earnest looking boy, who promised to try his best not to be a dunderhead.

They had to take a break from opening presents, and the elves brought a huge cake shaped in the form of a quidditch pitch in. Minerva explained to Harry about blowing out the candles. He concentrated, very much on his wish and blew as well as he could, managing to blow out all the candles. When everyone present had a piece of cake, there was still quiet a bit of it left, so Harry asked.

"Can the House elves come and have a bit cake too?" They smiled at him, then nodded their acceptance and so about ten elves came to eat the cake together with the wizards. These were the more courageous and less submissive of the elves. The others wouldn't eat at the same table as all these wizard, most of all if they included the "great Albus Dumbledore, headmaster sir" and the "great and most kind Harry Potter, sir" as the elves referred to these particular wizards. Finally, they returned to opening the presents. Minerva slipped away for a moment and then came back with a basket.

"And this is from me. I hope you like it and will good care of it. If you don't want, than we can get you something else."

She handed him the basket and he opened it carefully. There was a soft blanket in it and something small, black. He reached inside and touched it, it was something, furry. But it couldn't be… could it? The black furry thing answered this question with a small "Miau" as it stretched and came to it's feet, looking up at who had stroked it. "A kitten" Harry breathed. Reaching into the basket and taking the kitten out. It looked around curiously, before snuggling closer to Harry who held it to himself, gazing down at it dreamily. There was no need to ask if he liked it or not. It was obvious. The kitten crawled up on Harry's shoulder and began to lick his neck, causing Harry to giggle for a moment, before he quickly stilled looking around unsure. But nobody was looking angry.

"It seems to like you. What will you call it?" Sprout asked. Harry looked at the kitten and finally said. "I don't know, is it a girl or a boy?"

Minerva smiled. "It's a female."

Harry nodded very thoughtful. "I've got to think about it. Is that ok?" He wasn't sure what was expected of him.

"Of course it is…" Dumbledore was interrupted by the door being opened with great force. Harry jumped up in fright, but saw that it was only Hagrid.

"Sorry about missing that." He began. "Had to get something." Holding out something pretty big he said. "Happy birthday Harry. Hope you can forgive me for what happened."

Harry nodded "It's ok, you did nothing wrong but you really don't have to give me anything it's…"

"Just open it. Picked her up myself, thought you might like her."

Harry took the fabric off the object and came eye to eye with large amber ones. The big snowy owl hooted as if in approval of her new master. "That's wow… That's really nice of you Hagrid I…" But he trailed off, suddenly remembering what he had read about the school rules. Miserably looking from the kitten to the owl and back again he finally said. "I … I've already gotten a kitten. I'm not allowed to have an owl and a cat. I… She's really very nice, but the kitten… I can't give it away but…", He looked at the kitten who was making itself comfortable within his arms to the owl who looked to him with large faithful eyes.

"Not to worry Harry. I believe, I have a solution for this little problem." Dumbledore said smiling. After all he had known about Minerva's present and Hagrid had said something about getting an owl in the morning. "What about that. You can officially keep the kitten as your pet. If you let me borrow your owl let's say about once a year, then it can officially count as school owl in cour care. But it will still be your owl; it's just for the rules. Is that fine?" Snape snorted at that proposition; while the other teachers had to hold back laughing.

Then remembering something, he continues

"Ah yes, and for the kitten. The House elves have everything you need for it. They will also bring you food for it."

It all became too much for Harry. "But … isn't all that too much trouble? I've already been making so much work and you've all been so nice to me,… I don't deserve that. I don't deserve so much. I can't… I'm not worth all your time." There was silence. Everyone was looking at the boy who stood there with his head lowered, saying he didn't deserve a few presents for birthday, that he didn't deserve their care. Minerva had a few tears in her eyes, while she knelt in front of the boy. "Harry please look at me." She asked quietly, gently lifting his chin that he was looking at her. "Harry, you deserve this, and much more. You deserve to be looked after, you deserve to get good food and clothes, that there are people who you can speak with when you are sad, people who care about you. No matter what those people had told you. You are a wonderful child. It is no burden for us to speak with you or to give you something. We care for you, and want to see you happy, because that makes us happy too. Please let us do that, let us help you."

Harry looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "Will you…will you tell me when I'm a burden? If I am doing things wrong, that I can get better? If I am a bother please tell me that I can change that. Will you…will you tell me?" In his mind he added, not just go away, not caring anymore.

"Yes Harry I will tell you when we think you did something wrong. But you won't be a burden, not to me."

She wrapped her arms around the crying boy, holding him close, also in that way showing that she would be there for him if he needed her.

Harry was emotionally exhausted after this, so they brought him to bed. While he was sleeping, Kate came by for her usual visit.

"What happened?" she asked McGonagall when she told her that Harry was asleep.

McGonagall told her about his words, about his feeling of worthlessness. She nodded sadly.

"He may have more such moments. Just like with the teddy bear. Take it as good sign that he letting his emotions show. If he wouldn't, you wouldn't know what he's thinking, and therefore couldn't tell him that it's wrong. You must understand, he probably has been told all this for many years, it will be hard to overcome, but he can manage, with your help. In such situations, he just needs to see that there is someone. Can you tell me what the reason was this time?

"It's his birthday, today. We gave him a little party, just the teachers table, a cake and a few presents. It was towards the end, when Albus offered him a way to have bothm a cat and an owl, and said that the things for the kitten were with the House elves."

Kate frowned a bit, at this and then uncomfortably said. "I'm afraid that it was just too much for him. You saw his reaction to just one present. For him having a birthday party, cake, several presents,…" She trailed off.

It was after dinner when the owl finally arrived at Hogwarts. Not having the right address the wards prevented the owl from delivering the letter directly. This was an additional safety measure. Owls with wrong addresses landed with someone of the faculty to be checked for curses first, then delivered. You never knew what was in an incorrectly addressed letter, that was destined for a student, or what it may contain. Therefore, Dumbledore heard a small tapping noise on his window and let a familiar looking owl in. sighing slightly, wondering what Fudge wanted of him, now. He made to open the letter, and stopped at the very last moment. 'Harry Potter? The letter wasn't for him' So then next question, what did Fudge want of Harry? Probably nothing good. And as they didn't even know just how much Harry knew about his history, it doesn't seems to be a very good idea to hand over the letter just like that.' Quickly thinking up a story he decide to floocall Fudge.

"Cornelius"

Fudge, turned around and saw the head of Albus Dumbledore sitting in his fire. "Albus, what a pleasant surprise. What can I do for you?"

"You wrote a letter to Harry, didn't you? It landed with me because of a few wards." That was true, even if it were the wards of Hogwarts.

"Oh, could you send it to him or adapt your ward. I just wanted to congratulate young Mr. Potter on his eleventh birthday."

"I'm afraid, I can't adapt the wards. But I will see if I can pass on the letter. It's not too urgent then, is it? I don't think Harry will object at late well wishes if he knows the reason."

"Couldn't you pass it on directly? I've wanting to ask…"

"Yes?" Dumbledore asked interested.

"I have just been thinking that it would be nice for Mr. Potter to get to know a bit more about our world and the ministry and such."

"Meaning you wanted to invite him to the ministry or what?"

"Just thought, after a stroll down Diagon Alley, it would be nice wouldn't it?"

Dumbledore kept his thoughts about this to himself, but he certainly didn't think it was a nice idea.

"Young Harry has already visited the alley. From what I know he isn't in Surrey right now. Who knows he might go there again later, maybe to one of the muggleborn days."

"Muggleborn? But Mr. Potter…He isn't muggleborn Albus. I don't believe this would be right. He should better be introduced to a few important wizarding families, they have also children at Hogwarts. But not that I have anything against muggleborns, but still… We are talking about the boy-who-lived."

"May I remind you that he grew up with muggles and that purebloods are no better muggleborns? But as I said I believe it is for Mr. Potter to decide that. I will pass on the letter, but I don't know when I'm able to."

"Do that Albus, do that." Fudge answered, hiding his displeasure on the fact that Dumbledore had already his fingers in all this. It made his plans less likely but he wouldn't give up just like that.

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Author's note:

Harry's kitten needs a name. Please make propositions, the best will be in the story.

Thanks a lot for all the reviews. I will not tell you what house Harry will be in, that would spoil the sorting, wouldn't it?

Evergreen Sceptre: Harry will go shopping but a bit later on. About who's going to go with him: His temporary guardian. Who's that you might ask. Just wait for the next chapter and you see it.