Disclaimer: I don't own the the Harry Potter characters...

Author's Note: So here's the next chappie. Let's all sing "Happy Birthday" for our dear birthday-boy: One, two, three... Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear Harry, Happy Birthday to you. Oh, guys, I'm a bit disappointed, I didn't hear anything from you. Once again: One, two, three... Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday, dear Harry, Happy Birthday to you. Better, I think we'll leave it at that, but you should really think about it. Did any of you get Harry a present? NO? Then what are you doing here? It's his birthday! What would you think if no-one brought you a present, well? And Harry has a low enough self-esteem as it is. Off you go, get him a present...

Oh, here you are again and I see presents and a cake, well that's better. I think you can go in now, but shh, he's still sleeping...

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13. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Malfoys are always presentable, unreachable and high above everyone else- that is, unless they just woke up to a chorus of Happy Birthdays when it wasn't their birthday.

"Huh?", they weren't very eloquent in this case, either, "What are you all doing here?"

From Draco's point of view this was certainly a legitimate question, seeing as every current inhabitant of Malfoy Manor was assembled in his bedroom with a birthday cake and a lot of presents, while the birthday child was nowhere to be seen.

"Well, we were looking for Harry, but he doesn't seem to be here", Lucius explained and couldn't help but smirk slightly, when he saw his son with rumpled hair and confusion written all over his face.

Draco dragged his hand through his hair and tried to process this new information. Harry wasn't here? But he was pretty sure he had been here yesterday and he couldn't remember him going somewhere else.

"Actually, he is here", Simon interrupted his train of thought and motioned toward a small bump near the end of the bed.

Draco flapped back the blanket, thus revealing Harry, who was curled into a tight little ball: "Morning", he mumbled and peered at them through his fingers, "Where did the blanket go to?"

"Happy Birthday, Scrawny", Dudley exclaimed enthusiastically and jumped onto the bed giving him a hug, "Get up, wake up, you wouldn't want to oversleep on your birthday, would you?"

"Don't want to", the green-eyed wizard whined, "Give me back my blanket and let me sleep!"

With that he crawled over to Draco, who was still in the possession of the green blanket, snatched it back and buried his head under one of the green pillows. Dudley looked really put out by this.

"He isn't much of a morning person, is he?", the blond Malfoy heir inquired and went to the bathroom to make himself presentable.

"Wait", Simon extended his arm and stopped Sirius, who had wanted to wake his godson, then the empath sat down next to the curled up boy, "It's time to face the day, sunshine", he whispered into his ear, "You have them quite worried with your current behaviour and if you don't get up before I have counted to ten, I'll drop a bucket of cold water on your head."

Simon moved back to give him some space and quietly counted to ten: "...nine, ten."

"Your so dead!", something growled under the blanket, before the unruly black head of Harry appeared.

"Wow", Draco drawled after reappearing from the bathroom fully dressed and with perfectly styled hair, "I just realised that you do brush your hair."

"Of course, I do", Harry answered indignantly and turned his focus to the blond, "It just doesn't help much."

"Anyway, now that you're awake", Sirius laughed, "You have presents waiting for you."

"I want to give you mine first", Dudley demanded and handed him a square, brightly wrapped present.

"What about the cake?", Harry asked, "I thought the cake was your present."

"That too", Dudley agreed, "Now open it!"

It turned out that the Muggle had no idea how to wrap a present and had used more adhesive tape than wrapping paper, which made unwrapping it a tad bit difficult. Finally Harry held a wooden picture frame in his small hands and in it there was a photograph of the two of them. It showed them laying in the park head to head, Dudley with a huge smile on his face, one of his hands playing with a strand of Harry's black hair, the other supporting his stomach. Harry had his eyes closed and looked utterly relaxed, his lips were quirked slightly, as if he was trying not to laugh.

"Who took this photo?", Harry asked, still looking fascinated at it.

"Oh, Janine", murmured Dudley, "She thought we looked cute. Do you like it?"

"I love it", the small boy corrected and hugged him tightly, "Thank you so much."

"Can I have a look at it?", Sirius asked gently.

"They don't move", Lucius, who had looked over Sirius' shoulder, deadpanned and earned two weird looks from Simon and Dudley.

"Muggle photos don't move, Lucius", Harry explained patiently, "Don't you know anything about Muggles?"

"I know that I don't want to know them", Lucius retorted haughtily, "And Severus isn't much better."

"I knew that Muggle photos don't move", Severus contradicted, "And I read their newspapers!"

"We're all proud of you, Sn...ape", Sirius teased "But we're trying to celebrate Harry's birthday, so if the two of you want to establish who knows more about Muggles, how about you do it outside? Meanwhile I will give him his present, okay?"

The two Slytherins sneered at he Animagus, but otherwise kept quiet and watched as he passed him a book-shaped present in Gryffindor colours.

"It's from Remus and me together", Sirius explained while Harry uncovered a shining new photo album, "When we fetched your things, we realised how few photos you have and we decided to make you an album."

"There aren't many photos of Lily in there, I'm afraid", Remus apologised, "We took a lot of photos of all the pranks we pulled at school, although we spared you the more vicious ones."

Harry slowed turned the first page to came face to face with his father with wind-blown hair, his arm slung lazily around Sirius' shoulders, who was successfully holding Remus in the photo. They were standing in front of the lake, in which from time to time a tentacle of the giant squid appeared, in their school uniforms and with Gryffindor ties (although Sirius' was undone and looked rather crumpled). Under it stood in Remus' neat hand writing: "Easter vacation, first year."

"Don't worry, not all the headings are this boring", reassured Sirius happily, "Remus just thought we should start with something... conservative."

"Thank you, this is great", he gave both of them hugs and a kiss to the cheek.

"I would like to seize the opportunity while you haven't seen any embarrassing photographs of me yet to hand you my present", Severus seemed really eager to distance the boy from the album.

"You got me a present?", the young wizard asked incredulously, cocking his head slightly to the right, as if a different perspective would make this more plausible.

The Potion's Master looked decidedly uncomfortable now and wordlessly gave him his present, which consisted- who would have thought- of several small potions bottles with labels telling what they were supposed to do.

"Those are some healing potions since you constantly seem to be in need of them", Severus explained, barely restraining himself from shuffling his feet and all together acting like an embarrassed teenager, "And then there are some potions which should help you escape... tight situation, should your sheer luck fail somewhere along the way", he had added the last part in hopes of making him angry with him so that Harry wouldn't notice that he had tried to do something nice for him and would possibly forget that he had got him something in the first place, but luck didn't appear to be on his side and Harry hugged him, anyway, murmuring into his chest how grateful he was over and over again (and to be honest it didn't feel bad, weird and foreign but not bad).

Lucius, who both saw the discomfort of Severus and the Dark Lord getting impatient, chose to interrupt the Gryffindor's open display of gratitude and affection, before something happened that would ruin Harry's birthday: "Harry, Narcissa and I also have something for you. Happy Birthday!"

It was quite strange to say those words to someone other than his family, since most of his friends namely Severus would strangle him, if such words would pass his lips, thinking him an impostor. His business associates usually received a card or flowers or something equally as impersonal. To say those words to one of his fellow Death Eaters or the Dark Lord himself was one of the most reliable ways to commit suicide and he didn't know most of their birthday dates, anyway.

Harry disentangled himself from the Potion's Master and looked about ready to repeat his sermon about how they shouldn't have got anything for him and how this wasn't necessary, when Narcissa extracted a fluffy white teddy from behind her back and handed it over to the fragile-looking boy: "You should have received this a long time a go", the blonde woman explained, smiling a bit sadly, "We bought this for the day, when Sirius became officially your godfather. Lucius and I were invited, since I'm Sirius cousin and since your parents came to Draco's one as well. However, when your parents went into hiding, everyone was uninvited and no owl could reach them."

"One of the house-elves found it, when they were cleaning out the west-wing and we thought you might like it", added Lucius, "Of course we realise that you're little old for teddy-bears, but we decided it was a nice gesture nonetheless."

"Would you care to explain why there's a key hanging around his neck", asked Harry confusedly, "And I like him very much, thank you."

"It's the key to the west-wing and a Portkey to the manor", Lucius provided and at Harry's startled gasp he continued, "We all agreed", he motioned from himself to his wife and son and back to himself, "That you will always be welcome here and since the west-wing accepted you, which didn't occur in quite some time, I might add, we want you to consider this your home", he didn't have to add that the Dursleys' residence could hardly be considered his home.

"Really?", Harry's voice was but a whisper and he looked, as if he would shatter should this turn out to be a joke.

But Lucius nodded and Narcissa smiled encouragingly at him: "It is like Lucius said, dear, you will always be welcome here."

The dark-haired boy threw his arms around the blonde, who pulled him closer, making sure no-one would see the tears that she could feel wetting her blouse: "Shh, dear, you don't have to cry. We'll look out for you and protect you, dear, nothing bad will happen to you while you're here..."

She carefully carded her fingers through his unruly hair, astounded at how silky and soft it felt to the touch. The regal woman didn't know what it was with this boy, but he somehow woke a maternal instinct in her, she didn't know she even possessed. Sure, she had a son and she loved him dearly, but Draco was so much like his father that she sometimes wondered, if her upbringing had fruited even just a little bit. And Draco hadn't cried since he was seven or eight. She had always wished for another child that was more like herself, but Malfoys traditionally only had one child, unless of course the first-born was a girl, which she had hoped for. Although Draco was only half a year older than the Gryffindor, Harry emitted an air of helplessness at the moment that made her want to protect him.

Harry seemed to be soothed by Narcissa's attention and finally pulled back with a watery smile on his face and uttered a quiet "Thank you", before he moved to give Lucius a hug, too.

The small boy smiled at him gratefully and then looked down at the teddy in his arm: "I really like him, Lucius, thanks."

"When did you decide it was male", the blond Death-Eater implored, keen to ease the sombre mood a little.

"Didn't you know, Lucius?", Harry asked fake-seriously with huge emerald eyes, as if it was unheard of, "All teddies are male with the exception of pink ones or the ones who have anything heart-shaped or bow-like on them."

"I'll keep that in mind, the keyword to activate the Portkey is 'Haven', by the way", Lucius drawled and accepted a second short hug and a kiss to the cheek; he almost missed the much quieter "Thank you" whispered in his ear.

The dark-haired boy pulled back and turned to Draco to thank him properly for giving him access to his home, Draco however warded him off: "Stop! I've something else for you and I think I'd rather put the two hugs together to have one long one!"

Harry chuckled and accepted the fairly huge parcel with a Slytherin green bow. The present felt soft and squashy.

"Are you always this slow when opening presents?", Draco asked impatiently.

The black-haired boy smiled apologetically, before furrowing his brow: "Wait a minute! Did you do something to this?"

"What? No!", the blond exclaimed shocked and made denying gestures with his hands.

This is definitely not good, concluded Draco as he tossed him the parcel: "Well, then you will have no problem opening it..."

"I can't open your birthday presents", he tried to refuse, but Harry wouldn't listen and just stubbornly crossed his arms over his chest, raising one brow expectantly.

The Slytherin willy-nilly had to unwrap the present himself and had to endure the consequences. It was nothing bad really, after all it was Harry's birthday and he did kind of like him and they had just declared their friendship, but the stealing of his roll also called for revenge. Of course the plan wasn't that he would suffer his own revenge, though no-one could have foreseen that he would demand he open the present. It was not fair! Why was he the one sporting an unhealthy pale green with violent orange dots, pointed ears and a pig nose? His thoughts of the unfairness of this all were interrupted by peals of laughter and in an attempt to keep at least a little of his dignity intact he tossed his present back at the laughing boy, hitting him in the head. As if on instinct Harry curled up tightly, covering his head with his hands and stopped laughing immediately. No-one but Draco noticed this curious behaviour, since the others were too into making fun of Draco or trying to prevent bursting out laughing again.

"Here you have your stupid present", Draco said, acting, as if he hadn't noticed the sudden change and covered him with the blanket, "Happy now?"

"Over the moon", came the reply with a bit of retardation and Harry's head appeared from under the black velvety tissue, "What is this, anyway?"

"A blanket", Draco sighed dramatically, holding it out so that he could see the Gryffindor lion with the Slytherin snake under one pawn and the bolt letters saying "Potter for President", "I thought that much was obvious."

"Did Dean draw this?", he asked interestedly indicating the lion.

"How should I know? I can tell you however that it was once one of those hilarious Quidditch posters, your house seems to be so awfully fond of", the blond drawled, "I sort of confiscated it in second year after the first match. The plan was to make a nice little bonfire with it to vent of some anger, but someone put a protecting charm on it, which prevented that, too. Whatever, I thought you'd enjoy the view of it more than I do, so can I have my hug now?"

"As much as I like it, Draco", he said calmly, "I'm not going anywhere near you while you're looking like this."

"But that's not fair", Draco argued all but stomping his foot.

"That's the concept of life, Draco, you better get used to it", the green-eyed wizard deadpanned evenly.

"But... Mum", the blond turned pleading eyes on his mother, who couldn't resist (her maternal instincts still working with full speed) and turned him back to normal.

A truly menacing smirk spread over Draco's pale features as he turned slowly to the boy-who-lived, who was currently conversing with his godfather and the empath, before he darted forward and hugged him from behind, which emitted a rather undignified squeak from him. He let the smaller boy down briefly just to turn him around and hug him again, lifting him off his feet. Harry stared at him with big fearful green eyes and the Malfoy heir thought briefly that maybe he had gone too far, but then Harry relaxed and smiled at him.

"See, I get my hug", Draco declared triumphantly and swirled him around, "And I'll beat you at Quidditch this year!"

"Dream on", he laughed outwardly, "You didn't catch the Snitch even once, though you were the best I ever played against, if it consoles you. Well, with the exception of Victor, of course!"

"Oh, you're so modest", Draco teased, still not letting him down, "And which Victor are you talking about? Is he one of your little friends from that land, commonly known as Fantasy Island?"

"Victor Krum", he informed him and Draco nearly gaped, "We played against each other once or twice, because he had a crush on Hermione"

"Who won?", Sirius asked curiously, remembering how often he had read that name in the newspapers during that year.

"Mostly I", confessed Harry, "Although I think he let me win most of the time. Oh, now I finally figured it out", he turned back to face the blond Slytherin, "You let me win all those games and now you're eventually going to try in earnest. I have no doubt you'll catch the Snitch next time, o great Seeker", he patted his head mockingly.

"Ha, ha, funny, Scarhead, really", the blond said, rearranging the slender legs so that they were wrapped around his waist, "I'm going to play chaser this year, since I actually grew, while you're still the little midget you were with eleven."

"Oh, you're so mean", the boy whined, who sure enough hadn't grown much, "And it's my birthday!"

"Well, you haven't thanked me for your present yet", Draco retorted and swirled him around once more, "That's rather rude, don't you think?"

"Lucius, your son is mean to me", Harry pouted, ignoring Draco's statement completely, "And he's always swirling me around!"

"Let him down, Draco", ordered Lucius, "You don't want him to get sick on your carpet."

The Malfoy heir complied immediately and dropped Harry rather unceremously to the floor: "You're right, Dad. And I don't need your 'Thank you' anyway, Potter."

"Oh, poor Draco", the black-haired boy teased and threw his arms around the blond's midsection, "I'll thank you nonetheless. Thank you, Draco, you're by far my favourite Slytherin."

"I would certainly hope so", the Malfoy heir retorted with a smug grin and blushed a little, when Harry kissed his cheek, "Happy Birthday, Harry", he added much quieter.

"Here, Harry", Simon said, as soon as the two Hogwarts students parted and put a brown cardboard box on the bed, "Happy Birthday."

The black-haired boy jumped on the bed and peered into the box, spotting three folders. He hauled out one of them, coming to face papers full of equations, graphs and arithmetics.

"Those are my notes of maths, chemistry and biology", Simon explained and sat next to the small boy, "I asked my teachers to check them and then I copied some of the assignments from my school books and the corresponding solution from the teacher's book."

"Oh, thank you", Harry hugged the empath tightly.

The others looked rather confused: "What is Harry supposed to do with those notes?", asked Dudley, "I thought you learn magic in this school of yours and not this stuff we're to learn."

"Back-up plan", Harry murmured absent-mindedly, browsing through the second folder, "I learn 'this stuff' because they don't teach it in Hogwarts and I don't want to drop behind."

"It wouldn't matter if you did, would it?", inquired Draco, "Since you'll have a complete magical education once you graduate from Hogwarts."

Harry sighed heavily, turning around to face them: "I didn't plan to stay in the magical world once I graduated, so I would need my Muggle education more than the magical one."

"Why didn't you want to stay here?", Voldemort demanded, speaking up for the first time.

"Because I wanted a normal life without reporters hounding me and people expecting me to murder someone", the green-eyed wizard said bitterly, "But that's superfluous now, anyway."

There was an uncomfortable silence, while Simon wrapped his arm around the delicate shoulders beside him.

"But why are you only learning maths, chemistry and biology", Dudley wanted to know cautiously, "You always had the best marks in those subjects."

Harry laughed softly: "Only because Simon tutored me."

"You're planning to become a teacher or something?", Sirius asked, "Because it started with Remus the same way."

Remus punched the Animagus, while Simon nodded, smiling gently: "Indeed. My mum wants me to be a psychologist, like she is, but I'd rather work with children, because they're not so negative, yet."

"And what did you want to be, Harry", asked Severus, "Because Minerva was threatening me so that you would get into my advanced Potion's class by all means and she thought you wanted to be an Auror."

"No, I never wanted that", Harry shook his head vehemently, "I have no desire to hunt down criminals."

"And what do you want to be?", Draco asked impatiently.

"I'd rather not tell, Draco", Harry looked down on his folded hands in his lap, "And now I'll go and get dressed, thanks for all the presents."

"Actually, I have something for you, too", Voldemort stopped him and the Gryffindor cocked his head surprised, when the Dark Lord handed him a rolled up Daily Prophet and an official looking envelope.

Sirius Black found innocent

Last night Peter Pettigrew, up until now assumed dead, confessed the crimes for which Sirius Black was arrested fifteen years ago.

Lifelong, that's what everyone agreed was a suitable punishment for being a Death Eater, murdering 13 Muggles and one wizard and betraying their best-friends leading to their deaths. No trial needed, after all the Wizarding World had other problems at the time. So the sole heir of the Black fortune was shipped of to Azkaban never to return again. Then three years ago, Mr. Black managed the impossible and broke out from the Dementor-guarded prison, stampeding the Wizarding World. "He's in Hogwarts", those words reported the Dementors to the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, and what would be more obvious than that Sirius Black was referring to Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived, his own godson? So they reinforced the safety precautions around Hogwarts even going so far as to let Dementors guard the gates. They looked for him everywhere: Aurors, Dementors and even some simple ministry employees. But once again Mr. Black proved himself extraordinary and couldn't be found- luckily or the Dementors would have had permission to kiss him, a fate worse than death. But then, when Mr. Black for the first time in twelve years met his godson again, his luck ran out and he was locked in the Charms professor's office, waiting for the Dementors, even though Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, one of his best-friends, claimed to have seen Peter Pettigrew. What then happened no-one appears to know, but Sirius Black escaped once again and seemingly disappeared...

And now, 15 years after the actual crime, everything is brought to light: Not Sirius Black committed all those crimes, no Peter Pettigrew, one of James Potter's oldest friends, was made Secret Keeper and sold the Potters out to He-who-must-not-be-named, transferring the guilt on his other friend Sirius Black, faking his own death after murdering 13 Muggles:

Minutes before the stroke of midnight, the alarms went off in the Ministry of Magic and when the Aurors, one Nymphadora Tonks, who happens to be related to Sirius Black, and Kingsley Shacklebolt, arrived in the Atrium, they found a bound and gagged Peter Pettigrew with the exposed Dark Mark on his left forearm, his right hand silver and artificial, small, fat and almost completely bald, but seemingly unharmed. He was led to the examination room and two and a half hours later he signed the protocol, in which he confesses everything- apparently he had been slipped some Veritaserum.

The Wizengamot was called immediately and the most esteemed members of the society arrived gradually, some still in their pyjamas. After a rather short discussion, Sirius Black in absentia was found innocent of all crimes with only one dissenting vote, while Peter Pettigrew was convicted to receive the Dementor's kiss unanimously.

For the interview with Cornelius Fudge turn to page 6.

To read the comments of Ministry employees and members of the Wizengamot turn to page 5.

For more information on the relation between Sirius Black, Peter Pettigrew and the Potters turn to page 4.

To read the official apology of the Ministry of Magic to Sirius Black turn to page 2.

Rita Skeeter

The story was printed on the front page with a moving picture of a struggling Peter Pettigrew and the same picture of Harry's godfather, they had shown three years ago. The black-haired boy's hands shook as he opened the envelope.

Dear Mr. Potter,

a reliable source informed us that you might know the whereabouts of your godfather Sirius Orion Black, who was declared innocent this morning due to new evidence. The Ministry of Magic apologises for his imprisonment in Azkaban and wishes to express its sincerest dismay for this. Sirius Black is hereby cleared of all charges. We'd be very beholden if you could relay this information to him.

Sincerely Amelia Bones, Head of Magical Law Enforcement

When Harry had read through all of this he jumped into Sirius' arms, who barely caught him: "Look at this, Siri", tears of happiness ran down his pale cheeks, "You're free. Look at this!"

Remus, who had picked up the letter and scanned it, answered Sirius' confused look: "They caught Pettigrew and he admitted everything."

The Animagus closed his eyes briefly and buried his face in the unruly mop of black hair, hugging his godson tighter, when he looked up again a huge smile stretched over his face: "I'm really free? I'm really free! I can go out there and they won't arrest me on sight and I can walk into a shop and buy whatever I want and I can eat dinner at a restaurant and I can get a job and I can... do everything."

"Yes, Siri", Harry chuckled, kissing his nose lightly, "You can do all that."

"I know what we'll do", the ex-convict exclaimed happily, "We'll go to Diagon Alley and I'll buy you lots of presents and then we'll go have lunch somewhere and then we'll do everything you want to... This will be the best birthday you ever had, Harry."

"It already is, Siri", corrected Harry, "And I want you to do something else", he moved over to Remus, tugging on his sleeve, until he lowered his head so that Harry could whisper in his ear, "I want you to take Sirius everywhere he wants to go and when he's finally tired of dragging you around I want you to take him to the most romantic restaurant, you know, and I want you to make this the best day of his life."

"But Harry, this is your birthday, are you sure you want this?", argued Remus.

"Yes, absolutely", he smiled up at the werewolf, "I couldn't leave Dudley and Simon here all alone, anyway."

Remus nodded understandingly, before a mischievously glint appeared in his eyes: "Your wish is my command. Paddy, we're going."

"But...", the Animagus protested weakly however unsuccessfully.

"Go, Siri", Harry urged him, "I want you to get out and since I can't go with you today, Remus will do the job of making you happy. Here you take the Portkey, if you should get into trouble, okay?", he pressed the little silver key into his hands, gently pushing him out of the room, "Be safe and have fun."

The door closed with a small 'click' behind the two ex-Gryffindors and Harry searched the room with his eyes, till they landed on the Dark Lord, he moved cautiously towards him, reducing the distance between them with every small step. Eventually they stood only centimetres from each other and Harry reached out to hug the most evil Dark Lord, giving him enough time to draw back. But Voldemort didn't, he just locked eyes with the small Gryffindor, trying to find out if something in his feelings towards him at changed: "Thank you", Harry whispered and closed the last gap between them, wrapping his slim arms around Voldemort's back, hiding his face in the black robes, making it difficult to understand him, "Sirius really means a lot to me, thank you for making him happy."

"It is part of the contract, in any event", answered Voldemort, but carefully embraced the petite body of the Gryffindor- his Gryffindor, "I just accelerated things a little."

"Still", argued Harry, "You did something nice for me."

The black-haired beauty smiled gratefully at the much taller red-eyed man and, standing on his tip-toes, briefly pressed his lips to the Dark Lord's cheek: "How about breakfast now? I'm going to get dressed", with that said he disengaged himself from Voldemort's arms and left the room.

The others shortly after went down to the breakfast parlour and Lucius smirked triumphantly, when he saw the Dark Lord disappear in the direction of the west-wing.

You know what to do...