Harry was flying. He zoomed over the pitch, Draco and Ginny at his heels. They were having a three-way battle for the snitch, a tiny, golden, winged ball about the size of a walnut. After Draco, assisted by Ginny, had given him a short demonstration of the capabilities of a bludger, the three of them decided they'd rather leave beating to someone else and so had released the snitch instead. It was really, really fast, and terribly difficult to see. Draco had already caught it several times, and Harry had learned that Draco's position on Slytherin's house team dealt mainly with this wicked-fast golden ball. He had the clear advantage here.
Ginny had caught it a few times, too, but as fantastic of a flyer as she was, she was much more used to handling the quaffle. Harry, for his part, had not caught the ball once. He'd been able to spot it several times, but his inexperiencewith Quidditch and on a broomstick in general put him a ways behind the others. But this time would be different. This time, he would be the one to catch the snitch.
He had told the others not to go easy on him. Several times, in fact. Ginny had tried to pull back a couple times to let him get the ball ahead of her, wanting to boost his confidence. It got to a point where Harry had had to take her aside and ask her to wanted to see if he had what it took, and there'd be no way to know that, he reasoned, if they let him win.
"Come on, faster," he muttered, urging his broom forward, noticing that Draco and Ginny were gaining on him. He flattened himself to the broom handle, shooting toward the speeding ball like a rocket. He stretched out a hand, and his fingers closed upon the struggling sphere.
"Yes!" he shouted triumphantly, raising his fist in the air.
"Nice one, Harry," Ginny grinned, giving him a thumbs up sign. Draco scoffed good-naturedly.
"Beginner's luck, Potter," he said. "Bet you can't do it again."
Harry smirked at his blond friend. "You're on, Draco. Just give me a minute." He spiraled down to the stands, where Hermione and Neville were looking at a book on rare magical plants. Harry had learned quickly that Neville, like Hermione, was terrified of flying. The solidifying incident had been his first flying lesson at Hogwarts with the Ravenclaws, where Neville's broom had taken off of its own accord and gone completely out of control. He'd fallen from a sizable height, breaking his wrist. Harry thought it was lucky it hadn't been his neck. Understandably, Neville had elected to sit out with Hermione, who had thought ahead and lugged an enormous book of plants out on the lawn with them. Neville was very grateful.
The five had already taken a trip to the greenhouses to harvest ingredients for Professor Snape earlier in the day, a project which Neville had headed up due to his affinity for Herbology. Harry had stared, wide-eyed, as Neville showed them around some of the more dangerous plants, but laughed out loud as his mild-mannered Hufflepuff godbrother had taken a very firm hand to the sneaky Venomous Tentacula.
"How's it going?" Harry called to his two friends. They looked up, waving at him.
"Pretty good," Neville smiled. "Just showing Hermione the plant Gran got me on holiday in Milan."
"We were thinking we should go in for dinner soon," Hermione added.
"I'm going to need a shower before we go to dinner," Ginny grimaced, coming up beside Harry, with Draco trailing behind. Harry nodded.
"That wouldn't be a bad idea," he admitted, noting that he, too, felt grimy from spending so long working out in the sun.
"You haven't brought a change of clothes," Hermione pointed out. "And you're not likely to be allowed in the dormitories either." Ginny drooped at this, but Harry waved them off.
"We can ask Maggie to collect your clothes," he suggested, "and Draco and I each have a suite with a bathroom to shower and change. Us guys can take one, and you girls can take the other- as long as Draco is comfortable with that," he added, looking to the blond. The other boy nodded, though Harry could tell he wasn't sure what to think about having others in his space. "It's fine if you're not ok with that," he assured the Slytherin. "We can come up with another solution." The other boy shrugged.
"It's fine," Draco said, looking resigned. Harry wondered if this is what Snape had meant by valuing solitude. His own solitude, though familiar, had been forced upon him and he was by no means eager to return to it.
"We're going to do one more run for the snitch, and then we can all go get cleaned up," Harry said finally, he and Draco turning back to the pitch. "You coming, Ginny?" he asked as the redhead sat down in the stands. She waved him off.
"You two go ahead," she smiled. "I think I've had enough for now." Harry smirked at her.
"Giving up already, Weasley?" he goaded her. "Shame. I would have enjoyed beating you." With that, he whipped his broom around and raced away, chuckling to himself.
Three…two…one… "Why you…Potter! Get back here!" he heard her shout, grinning when she nearly took his head off on her way past. He noted Draco shaking his head at their exchange.
"You two are so cute it's almost sickening," the blond said with a grimace. Harry raised an eyebrow at him.
"We're friends," he asserted, but Draco only rolled his eyes.
"Right, and I'm a flobberworm."
It was Harry's turn to shake his head this time, when Draco's eyes suddenly widened.
"Oi! Weasley's spotted it!" he cried, taking off immediately, Harry right behind him. But it was too late; Ginny had the tiny ball clutched tightly in her fist, looking incredibly smug.
"Who's beating whom, Potter?" she teased as they sank back to land. Harry smirked at her.
"I'm still winning. I meant to do that," he said airily. Ginny mock-scowled.
"Harry Potter, you are infuriating," she muttered, though Harry could see her fighting a smile. Draco was rolling his eyes.
"Come on, you two," he said. "We don't have long before Uncle Severus sends out a search party."
Ginny looked askance at Draco, who did not explain, then at Harry, who did.
"Professor Snape is Draco's godfather," he said softly, before carrying their brooms and the Quidditch balls back to the broom shed. They'd spent time together all that day, and they'd all become increasingly more comfortable around each other. However, Draco had still been reluctant to say much of importance to Harry's friends, and the other three hadn't exactly been clamoring for information either.
Harry could tell the other three still didn't quite know what to make of Draco. Hermione seemed the most at ease with him, somehow. From what Harry could tell, Hermione had been the one of the three who had gotten the most bullying from Draco and his old friends over the years, likely because of her blood status. Ginny had told him she'd seen the two having a conversation during dueling practice earlier, though, so perhaps they'd reached an understanding of sorts.
Ginny, who only knew Draco through Ron's incessant whinging about him, seemed ambivalent towards him, if wary, though she was slowly warming to him as she observed Harry's interactions with him. The two boys' humor played off each other well, which Ginny found equal parts hilarious and infuriating. And Neville had simply been trying to stay out of the blond's way, having been a target of Draco's bullying quite a few times in their younger years.
The five congregated and began making their way toward the castle. Harry called for Maggie, who appeared a moment later.
"Yes, Young Master?" she asked, hurrying to keep up as the teens kept walking at quite a quick pace. Harry glanced back at his friends.
"Who needs something from home?" he asked. All three teens not living in the castle raised their hands. "Maggie, would you mind terribly bringing a change of clothes for Ginny, Hermione, and Neville?" he asked kindly. Neville interrupted.
"I can just call one of my house elves to bring mine," he offered. "It will be much less trouble."
"Just for the young missies, then?" Maggie asked as Neville called for his house elf, a male named Filo.
"Yes, Maggie," Harry replied. "You can bring them to my quarters." Maggie looked at him, scandalized, but he wasn't finished yet. "And then, if it's no trouble, could you bring a change of clothes for me to Draco's quarters? Then I won't need to disturb the girls." Maggie still seemed wary of this plan, but did not argue.
"Yes sir, Young Master," she said, popping away. The three boys escorted the girls to Harry's room, where Neville happily spent a few minutes in conversation with old Hadrian Hufflepuff, before Harry gave the password and the five stepped into the sitting room. Maggie was standing there waiting for them.
"Soaps is in the shower, and clothes for the young missies is hanging on the wardrobe," she squeaked. "Here be your clothes, Young Master," she added, handing Harry a bundle of clothing. Harry saw that it looked a little more dressed up than was normal. "Headmaster requested we is letting Young Master and his friends have their dinner on their own today. There is being dinner served in forty-five minutes at the empty room three doors to the right," she explained.
"Thank you, Maggie," he said, wondering what all this was about. "We'll wait for you outside when we've finished," he told the girls, before gesturing to Draco to lead the way.
Draco's own suite, it turned out, was the next floor up. It was decorated similarly to Harry's, only the duvet on the bed was gray instead of navy.
"Any idea what the Headmaster is up to, Harry?" Draco asked, looking a little nervous. Harry shook his head.
"I expect we'll find out soon," he replied.
The boys took turns getting showered and dressed in slacks and dress shirts. Draco chose black pants and a silver shirt, his platinum hair tied back with a silver ribbon; Harry himself had a green shirt that matched his eyes, the sleeves casually rolled up to his elbows, and black slacks, his dark hair messy as usual; and Neville sported a pair of brown khaki's, his light blue and white-striped dress shirt also had the sleeves rolled back and his brown hair was slightly spiked in the front.
Finally ready, the boys made their way back to Harry's room, where they waited for the girls. Neville went back to trading stories with Hadrian, while Harry and Draco stood leaning casually against the wall, hands in their pockets. Draco appeared bored, while Harry listened to Hadrian's stories intently.
After not too long, the portrait hole opened to reveal their female friends. Harry saw Hermione first, her sleeveless purple sundress sprinkled with tiny pink and white flowers. Her low braid fell over her right shoulder and was sprinkled with more pink and white flowers. She looked nice, he thought, but he had to fight to keep his expression neutral as his eyes fell on Ginny. Her gold and white dress had cap sleeves, the fabric dyed in an ombre effect, going from white at the top near her face and fading into gold with added golden sparkles and sequins near the hem. Her fiery hair was tied up in an elegant knot. She looked stunning. Apparently, he did not succeed in hiding his awe, because Draco reached over and pushed his jaw shut with a finger, smirking.
"Young Master, dinner is being ready," Maggie said, and Harry wondered vaguely when she had arrived.
The quintet followed the tiny house elf, who was skipping happily, down the hall to the room she'd told them about earlier. Maggie grinned at him knowingly before pushing the door open.
The room was full to the brim with balloons and streamers, along with a number of floating, twinkling lights. A large table was sat in the middle of the room practically groaning under the weight of all the dishes the house elves had prepared. Comfortable beanbags, sofas and chairs were scattered about, and off to the side was a smaller table bearing a cake with candles and a couple wrapped gifts. Harry barely had time to notice the myriad of house elves present before they began to sing in their squeaky little voices:
"Young Master's birthday, shout hooray! Elves want to sing to you today! One year older and wiser, too! Happy Birthday- CLAP! To you!"
"Happy birthday, Young Master!" Maggie squealed, looking at Harry, who was completely shocked. No one had ever remembered his birthday before…
"Why didn't you tell us it was your birthday, Harry?" Ginny asked from behind him as the house elves dispersed, sounding miffed. "We could have gotten you a present or something…" Harry shook his head vaguely.
"Forgot," he breathed, still looking around in awe.
"Harry," Neville asked carefully, "how do you just…forget your birthday?" Harry seemed to come back to himself a bit.
"Never mind," he said shortly. "Come on!" He grabbed the two nearest to him, who happened to be Ginny and Draco, pulling them with him into the chaotic room. This was going to be awesome.
The party was a success. Music played from somewhere in the room. The teens filled plates with food and made themselves comfortable. The house elves disappeared, leaving the five students to themselves. Neville and Hermione took seats on a couple of beanbags, Draco sat in a comfortable leather chair, while Harry and Ginny took a loveseat. They had a great time chatting and laughing and sharing stories.
"-and then," Harry was saying, "I got really angry. I remember thinking how much of horrid pig he was…and then, the next thing I knew, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were yelling, and Dudley was running around with a pig tail poking out of the seat of his trousers." Neville, Hermione, and Ginny were howling in laughter, while Draco sat composed with smirk.
"Serves him right for stealing your cupcake," he said, as though everything that justified everything.
"You could have been a little less mean, Harry," Hermione teased. The raven-haired boy held up his hands as though in defense.
"I was only seven, Hermione! Not like I knew anything about magic…" The rest of them laughed at his comically hurt expression.
"Knock knock!" A voice sounded from the doorway. The teenagers turned to see Dumbledore, McGonagall, Flitwick, and Snape standing there, though Harry noted Severus was standing back from the others a bit. Getting to their feet, they stepped forward to greet the newcomers.
"Happy birthday, Harry," Dumbledore said, shaking the boy's hand.
"Thank you, Headmaster," he replied carefully. The other professors, minus Snape, also bid him happy birthday. Severus just nodded stoically before separating from the others.
"We just wanted to stop by and deliver our gift in person," Flitwick told him, nearly quivering with excitement.
"This afternoon, we contacted the Weasley's and Madam Longbottom, and they have given permission for all of you to join in Harry's summer lessons and practice, provided you come back to stay with them for the last week before the school year begins. Three days with the Weasley's and three days at Longbottom Estate," McGonagall finished. "Their invitations include Harry, of course," she added, looking at the black-haired boy.
Harry glanced around at the three, who were still relishing in the thought of being able to stay at Hogwarts together for the summer, then at Draco, who was studying his fingers as though this were not an issue. It had not escaped his notice that Draco was, conspicuously, excluded from the end-of-summer gatherings.
"Perhaps I can respond to them at a later date, Professor?" he suggested coolly. "Maybe by then, we will all trust each other enough to include everyone."
Dumbledore's eyes shone with pride at Harry's words, Severus was carefully not looking at anyone, though it was obvious from his posture that this had surprised him, and the other two professors were nodding in agreement.
"Of course, Harry," McGonagall replied.
"Well, we won't keep you," Dumbledore said cheerfully.
"Would you like a slice of cake before you go, professors?" Harry asked.
"Don't mind if I do," the Headmaster said, a twinkle in his eye as Maggie cut slices of cake for everyone. Harry was astonished as the slices came out. Each one had a sampling of different cakes and fillings all in one piece- chocolate cake with peanut butter filling, white cake with a strawberry jelly, pumpkin spice with buttercream frosting, and lemon cake with raspberry filling.
"You can leave it as is, or choose your favorite and the whole slice becomes that," Dumbledore explained. He drew his wand and prodded the lemon cake, and instantly, an entire piece of lemon cake with raspberry filling sat upon his plate, complete with fresh raspberries and raspberry sauce drizzled on top.
Harry smirked happily. "I love magic," he murmured in delight, studying his own slice intently before he decided to leave it as is so he could taste all of them.
As he looked around, Ginny had done the same as he, while Draco opted for the strawberry-filled one. Hermione had selected the pumpkin spice, and Neville's slice had turned the same as the Headmaster's. Of the other professors, only Flitwick had accepted a slice, munching happily on his chocolate cake.
"Thank you, Headmaster, for organizing this," Harry said softly, turning to Dumbledore as the others carried on with their individual conversations. To the boy's astonishment, the old man shook his head.
"Not me, my boy," he admitted, gesturing with his fork toward a certain potions master who was attempting to escape from the room unnoticed. Harry's eyes glimmered in understanding and followed Severus from the room.
"Wait, Professor," he called down the corridor as he reached the door, but the older man was nowhere to be seen.