Chapter 34: Birthday Boy
Even though there was technically no such thing as anti-Animagus wards or detection spells, the Headmistress got a full accounting of Hagrid's menagerie and was able to set the wards to alert her to changes in the animal population on Hogwarts' grounds – outside of the Forbidden Forest, of course, (where Harry was absolutely not allowed to go). If any animal left the Forbidden Forest, or if a human emerged, Minerva would be instantly alerted. So while on Hogwarts' grounds, Harry did not require Aurors to guard him. He was allowed to go with Ron to the quidditch pitch, the greenhouses, Hagrid's and the bailey. The latter was one of Harry's favorite play spots, as he loved to balance along the stone walls and jump down from them, pretending to be a dragon in flight. The morning that Madam Pomfrey had her meeting with Healer Brookes, Ron had been tagged as Harry's babysitter. He brought his old quaffle and took Harry to the bailey. It was a sunny morning, and not too warm yet to be out on the stones.
"Hey, mate, I just realized, it's your birthday next week!" Ron was throwing the quaffle gently to Harry, and Harry was catching almost every toss. "Maybe I'll get you your own quaffle for a present."
"What's a birfday, Ron-Ron?" asked Harry, as he threw the ball back in Ron's general direction. As Ron lunged to catch it, he spied Madam Pomfrey approaching them from across the bailey.
Huh. Ron had no idea how to explain what a birthday was. He tossed the quaffle in the air and caught it himself. It seemed to Ron that when it came to Harry, his ability to strategize left him completely. He could hear an aggrieved question in his head in Hermione's clear voice: 'Why would you bring up Harry's birthday without consulting Madam Pomfrey, first?' And here was Madam Pomfrey now. If he didn't answer Harry, Ron had no doubt that his inquisitive friend (sometimes it seemed that Harry asked, "Why?" every five seconds) would ask his caretaker. There was no way out of this, Ron realized, so he plowed through.
"Hullo, Madam Pomfrey. Harry was just asking me what a birthday was, heh, heh."
"Was he?" asked Poppy absently.
"Erm, yeah. See, I just realized next week is July thirty-first, and I wondered, erm," Ron realized that the Nurse did not appear to be listening to him. She was patting Harry's head and stroking his cheek. Was he going to get off the hook this time?
Harry ducked his head away with an embarrassed smile. "Hullo, Pomfee. Me an' Ron-Ron were playin' 'Catch da Qaffle'. Wanna see me catch? Ron-Ron, frow it to me!"
This seemed to bring the witch back to herself. "Yes, Harry. Of course I would." She watched their demonstration for a few moments before asking Ron, "Mr Weasley, would you mind terribly staying with Harry a little longer? I have something I need to discuss with the Headmistress."
"Sure, Madam Pomfrey." Ron breathed a little sigh of relief. "Harry and I can keep practicing with the quaffle or we could go visit Hagrid if you need more time."
"Yes. That would be best. Thank you, Mr Weasley," she trailed off then, not even saying 'goodbye'.
Ron had never seen that happen before, and it took him aback. He knew that Madam Pomfrey had gone to St Mungo's for some kind of update meeting. Had she received bad news from Harry's Healer?
He didn't have time to dwell on it, though, because Harry had started off running towards Hagrid's, calling back, "Come on, Ron-Ron! Let's go see Ahgie! Maybe we can teach Fang to fetch the qaffle!"
Ron jogged after Harry, easily catching up and musing that it would be a miracle if they could teach Fang anything that didn't involve hiding under a table.
~o~
Two days later, Ron and Harry were sprawled on the floor in Ron's room playing with his collection of quidditch figures. Harry jumped up on Ron's bed, holding up a little Victor Crumb riding a miniature Firebolt. Ron had his Galvin Gudgeon doll on a Moontrimmer '92. "I'm gunna catch th'snitch firrrst, Victorrr," taunted Ron, trying to mimic Galvin's brogue.
Standing on Ron's bed brought Harry's head closer to the myriad of Chudley Cannon pin ups on the slanted ceiling. "Ron-Ron, why you got so many orange peoples on your wall?"
"Those are the Chudley Cannons, Harry"
"Why you got them?"
"Because they are my favorite team."
"Why?"
"Because I have followed them since I was a kid."
"Why?"
"Because they used to be the best team in the league."
"Why?"
Recognizing that an endless stream of forthcoming 'Why?'s, was upon him, Ron tried to change the subject. "Hey, mate, let's go downstairs and get something to eat." He pushed himself up off the floor and tossed his figurine onto his bed along with the little Moontrimmer. On the way downstairs, they met Ginny and Hermione heading up.
"We were just coming up to get you," said Hermione. "Your mother has tea ready."
"Perfect," said Ron rubbing his stomach enthusiastically. "Harry and me are starving. Aren't we, Harry?"
Harry mimicked Ron's stomach rubbing, adding, "We're so hungry, we could eat a Erumpent! Right Ron-Ron?"
Ron slapped Harry playfully on the back. "Right, Harry!"
And they all went down together, each trying to think of the biggest thing they could eat, as they went. Hermione's choice, "I'm so hungry, I could eat the whole Hogwarts castle!" made Harry laugh the most.
When they got to the kitchen, they saw that Molly and Poppy were at the table, cutting up pieces of pumpkin bread and setting out plates for everyone.
"Pull up a seat, children" Molly enjoined.
"Come sit here by me, Harry." Poppy patted the bench next to her. Harry did and began to tuck in to the pumpkin bread right away. "Manners, Harry," admonished Poppy, gently.
"Sorry," mumbled Harry through a mouthful of pumpkin bread. "Fanks , Mrs. Weasley. I love your yummy pumpkin bread."
"You're most welcome, Harry, dear."
Once everyone had settled in, Molly, a twinkle in her eye, and a wide smile across her face, cleared her throat loudly. "Ahem, children. We have a bit of an announcement to make." She looked over at Poppy and the two witches exchanged knowing smiles. "Harry's birthday is on Friday, and we're going to have a little party for him, here at The Burrow," she beamed.
"Oh what a wonderful idea!," exclaimed Hermione, enthusiastically.
"Yes, well, Harry has been asking me about birthdays quite a lot, these past few days," and she gave Ron a slightly sardonic nod.
Ron swallowed the huge mouthful of pumpkin bread he had just taken, without chewing it, and tried not to cough it back up.
"I know about birfdays now," said Harry nodding his head wisely. "It's a party wif your friends and you get to eat cake and ice cream – togever! An' peoples give you presents, right?"
"That's right, Harry."
"What's fings for 'presents', again?" he asked, taking another bite of bread.
"Well, it's usually cool stuff that you like. Though," thinking of his mother's penchant for letter jumpers, Ron added, "sometimes it's stuff you don't like– Ow!"
His sister kicked him soundly under the table and Hermione had to stifle a laugh. Ginny knew exactly what Ron was thinking. "Sometimes it's things you need, like new clothes." She gave her brother a withering glare.
"Erm, yeah, mate" he looked to see if his mother had cottoned on to his slight, but she seemed oblivious, cutting a second slice of bread for Harry's plate.
"Who's coming to the party, Madam Pomfrey," Hermione asked.
"Well, all of us here, of course I hope you can come, and Arthur and Hagrid. The Headmistress would like to come as well. Just a small gathering of friends." She and Molly had decided that inviting Fred and George might lend some unwanted 'surprises' to the affair, so they had told the boys that they had to keep the party small, as it was Harry's first birthday party, and they didn't want to overwhelm him.
At that, Harry pricked up his ears. "Friends? Dat means Draco is coming, den, right, Pomfee?"
"Well, I'm not sure if Draco will be able to come. We can invite him, of course," and she held up a hand to forestall Harry when he opened his mouth to protest, "but we don't want him to feel bad if he's not able to come." At that, Harry closed his mouth and looked down at his plate, dejectedly.
Ron felt a pang of jealousy, seeing how important Draco's attendance was for Harry. But he curbed it and said, "Maybe you could save Draco a piece of cake and bring it to him later."
"An' some ice cream wif a Chilly Charm?" Harry looked to his caretaker. "Please, Pomfee. Can we?"
"Of course we can," she replied, just as Molly said,
"That's a wonderful idea, Ron." She was so proud of her youngest son. Molly well knew he had no love for Draco Malfoy. The Malfoy boy had tormented Ron no end, all through their school years together. But that Ron would be willing to put all that aside, for Harry? Well, that was a sign her boy was maturing, at last. He was well known for stubbornly holding grudges. More so than any of her other children, save Percy. Percy, of course, was not invited to the party, as he had wisely made himself scarce whenever Madam Pomfrey was around, after the incident with the Minister.
There was more talk of birthdays and Ginny tried to explain to Harry about blowing out candles, but he was adamant that that was not allowed. "Oh, no, Nee-nee. Pomfee says I have to stay away from candles. Da fire is real hot and can give you a burning boo boo."
"No, Harry. These are little candles. They go on the cake."
Harry laughed at that idea, and no amount of explaining could convince him that people would put fire on a cake and ask a little kid to blow it out. He was absolutely positive that Ginny was having him on.
After a little too much of Molly Weasley's delicious pumpkin bread had been consumed by all, the gathering broke up and Poppy took Harry home for a well-earned nap.
~o~
Friday had arrived, at last but they were running late. Poppy was all a frenzy trying to get herself and Harry ready for the party.
"Hold still, Harry. Please!" Harry was fidgeting in his seat as Poppy was attempting to do up the buttons on his newly pressed shirt; he couldn't seem to sit still for more than a moment and Poppy was at the end of her broom. Her voice was a little harsh, when she admonished him, and the result was that Harry burst into tears.
"I don't need a'go to dat dumb ol' birfday party, anyways!" he cried, and ran from the room.
The buildup to the big day had clearly been too much for Harry, and Poppy was beginning to regret making such a fuss. Over the last few days, Harry seemed increasingly on edge. He was having tantrums over little things which hadn't bothered him in weeks. Wanting more treacle in his porridge, refusing to eat his peas, because they'd touched his mashed potatoes, whinging about bath time, and so on.
At this point, Poppy felt like crying herself. Instead, she took a deep breath, smoothed out her skirts, and followed after Harry to the parlour. Harry was curled up on the sofa, his shirt half unbuttoned and getting wrinkled. Poppy sat beside him on the sofa and put her hand on his back. "Harry, I'm sorry I snapped at you. I was just worried we were going to be late. But it doesn't matter what time we get there."
His voice was muffled, as he said "M'not going," and he wouldn't look at her.
"All your friends are waiting for you. It wouldn't be right to disappoint them. Let's go for a short time, and if you're not having fun, we can leave early."
Harry sat up and rubbed his eyes. Then he wiped the back of his sleeve across his nose. Poppy cast a surreptitious Scourgify on his sleeve, did up the rest of his buttons and took him by the hand to go meet with their Auror escort.
~o~
Poppy and Harry arrived, a moment after Auror Tonks, in the yard behind The Burrow. Nymphadora Tonks had requested to be Harry's guard for this detail and so had about two dozen other Aurors. Everybody was a little star struck, when it came to The Boy Who Lived. But it was for that reason, Tonks had pulled this assignment. Head Auror Gawain Robards wanted someone who was familiar with Harry Potter from before The Vanquishing of Voldemort. And Robards felt that Tonks fit the bill. She could be trusted to guard the boy, without unnecessary fawning.
A small gathering of people was standing by a magically elongated picnic table, laden with all kinds of delicious foods, compliments of Molly Weasley. Standing slightly apart from the main group were Draco Malfoy and Healer Perseus Vanes.
"Draco!" Harry ran to give the other boy a fierce hug. "You came to my birfday!"
Draco just stood, somewhat stunned by the outburst and show of affection. As Harry had grabbed him, Draco dropped the small wrapped package he'd been holding. He now bent to pick it up and handed it to Harry. "This is for you, Harry. Happy birthday."
Harry just stared at it. After a moment, he looked at Draco and asked, "Dis… my birfday present?"
"Yeah, Harry. I hope you like it." The wrapping paper was a plain, pale blue. Draco had nabbed some memo paper from the hospital at the last minute. He'd been so distracted by planning the gift, he'd forgotten all about wrapping it, until it was time for him and Severus to leave.
Harry took the small blue cylinder-shaped package, and tried to hide his disappointment. It was his first, ever, present and he remembered Ron saying that you were supposed to get things you liked, but that sometimes you got things you didn't. Harry thought maybe he could pretend the blue present was a wand, but really, it seemed a little fat for that. And fragile. It didn't feel solid at all, and it flattened some when he held it too tight. Harry also remembered Pomfrey telling him over and over again that he needed to be extra polite on his birthday, and thank people for the presents and the cake. "Fank you, Draco. I like dis present…a- a lot," he said, unconvincingly.
Poppy realized the problem, at once. "Let me take that, Harry. The present is inside the blue paper. But we don't open presents till after the cake, remember?
Harry didn't understand, but he did remember, because he had asked about it many, many times and Pomfrey had gone over it with him each time he asked: Say hello to everyone. Eat food (chew with your mouth closed and use your serviette). Blow out the candles on the cake – even Pomfrey had talked about little candles, so Harry was beginning to believe it was true . Eat the cake with ice cream and then get presents and say thank you to everyone. Well, he had said 'hello' to Draco, but his other friends, Mr and Mrs Weasley and a Healer from St Mungo's were there, too. But with so many people looking at him, Harry felt suddenly shy. He took a step closer to his caregiver, as Molly and Arthur welcomed them to The Burrow.
"Happy birthday, Harry!" they said in unison, and Arthur added,"Many happy returns of the day!"
"Happy birfday, Mr and Mrs Weasley," returned Harry politely, and everyone laughed. Harry leaned closer to Madam Pomfrey at that, his cheeks turning pink.
"Oh, Harry," Poppy chuckled lowly. "Dear, it's your birthday. So people say 'Happy birthday' to you. You don't say 'Happy birthday' to them." She smiled and patted his head.
"Den what I say?' he asked, his cheeks reddening more. He was liking birthdays less by the moment.
"Just say 'Thank you'," she explained, patting his head once more and turning to greet Molly and Arthur herself.
After that, Hermione, Ginny and Ron greeted them and offered presents, as did Hagrid and Headmistress McGonnagall. Poppy conjured a small, square table to receive the gifts on and she put Draco's blue-wrapped scroll, for that was what it felt like to her, at one end. She pulled a small parcel from her pocket and cast an enlarging spell on it, adding her gift to the table. Other presents were set there, as well – even Tonks had brought one – and then Molly encouraged everyone to tuck in.
Harry's shyness stayed with him, while people ate and chatted with each other. Harry and Poppy had been given center seats at the table. Poppy was deep in conversation with the Headmistress and Harry sat beside her quietly, nibbling a little at the edge of a pastey. Ron, plate filled to the rim with a little of everything from the table, plonked down next to Harry. Hermione sat across from them, her own plate brimming with cheese pasteys, little cucumber sandwiches, pickles and strawberries. She noticed Harry was watching Draco, who was seated at the far end. Draco's Healer was standing a short distance behind him. He looked more like a guard than a Healer, she thought, eyeing Tonks standing a similar distance from Harry and Madam Pomfrey. "It's good that Draco was able to come, wasn't it, Harry?"
Startled, Harry looked across at her. "He gaved me a blue present," he said, flatly.
"You sound a little sad, mate," Ron cut in, talking through a mouthful of macaroni. "It's your birthday, cheer up!"
Hermione gave him a disapproving look. "Really Ron, chew. You're making a bad example for Harry."
"I'm just hungry, is all," returned Ron, chagrined, but he finished chewing before he said that.
Trying to distract Harry, Hermione asked him, "What kind of ice cream do you think we're going to have with the cake, Harry?"
"Licorice is my favorite. It's green, like da Romanian Longhorn," he smiled, thinking about the dragon. "But I also like choc-let. It's brown like da Cat-lonian Fireball. Well, dey's brown an' gold." Talking about dragons had Harry back in his comfort zone and he began eating bigger bites of his pastey, as he regaled them with facts about dragons.
After everyone had eaten more than their fill – that tended to happen when Molly Weasley was at the helm of the kitchen – the table was cleared to make ready for the cake. Harry was literally bouncing up and down as Ginny came out, carrying a tall, round, chocolate-frosted cake with words written in red letters and many little candles twinkling all over the top. Harry was excited, but he was also worried the cake would burn before they got to eat it. Then suddenly, everyone was singing. They were singing to him!
"…Happy birthday, dear Harreeeee, happy birthday to youuu!"
"Blow out yer candles," shouted Hagrid, and there were calls of, "Wait, make a wish first!" from Molly and Arthur.
"Tha's right, Harry. You have to make a wish, before you blow them out," explained Ron.
"I wish I could have da cake," exclaimed Harry, and he started blowing on the candles, before they could burn it up. A few went out on the first blow and some of the guests exclaimed, "Oooooh!" When Harry had blown them all out, everyone cheered and sang, "For he's a jolly good felloooooow – and so say all of us!"
Harry turned pink again, at being the center of attention, but then, Ginny set the cake down. She and her father started taking out all the candles and Molly began cutting pieces of cake. "Harry gets the first piece," she said, as Ginny cried, "The biggest piece for the birthday boy!"
A large slice of chocolate layer cake was set before him, and then Ginny deposited a round scoop of greenish-black streaked ice cream on Harry's plate.
"Licorice!' he cried, and tucked in with gusto.
"Eeeww,"said Ron, when Ginny approached his plate with a scoop. That earned him two simultaneous, "Ron!"s from Ginny and Hermione.
"What? I don't like licorice. Is that a crime?"
Harry laughed. "You got bad manners, Ron," he said, with a mouthful of cake, himself. This had Ron, Ginny and Hermione all laughing, as well. Even Draco cracked a smile, from his end of the table, at that.
When the cake and ice cream had been cleared away, Poppy led harry to the presents table. She leaned close and whispered in Harry's ear, "Remember to say 'thank you', no matter what the presents are. For each one you say it, Harry. Alright?"
"Yes, Pomfee. I will." Harry was fairly nervous now. He wasn't sure he wanted presents after all. What if he didn't like any of them. He knew his caregiver would be disappointed in him if he cried in front of all these people.
Poppy Handed Draco's gift to Harry first. She had to help him lift the spello-tape to open the blue paper. A scroll unfurled. On it was a picture of Harry, riding a Chinese Fireball. Harry's eye's widened and a smile split his face. "Dat- dat is me? On da Chinese Fireball?"
Draco's cheeks were turning a little pink, as he explained. "Blow on the picture, Harry, and see what happens."
"Blow like da birfday candles?" asked Harry. Draco nodded, so Harry did. And the dragon opened its mouth and blew out a mushroom cloud that took up half the paper. It made the hair and robe on the Harry in the picture billow behind him. Harry shrieked in delight. "Look, Pomfee, look! My dragon blows da mushroom cloud!" Harry proceeded to show Ron, Ginny and Hermione how the picture worked, and by the time he got to Hagrid he was nearly out of breath.
Whoah, there, Harry. Yer gonta fall over if ye keep doin' tha'," cautioned Hagrid. "'Ere, lemme give 'er a go." And when Hagrid blew on the page, the mushroom cloud obliterated the image of Harry and the dragon.
"Whoooaaw!" cried Harry, clapping his hands together in glee.
Poppy was beside him now, patting his shoulder and whispering, "What do you say to Draco, Harry?"
"Oh, Draco! I do like dis present. Really a lot! Oh, fank you, fank you, fank you!"
Draco wasn't sure how to reply to such an effusive show of appreciation. "Uh, sure, Harry. I'm glad you like it. Healer Vanes helped me some, with the animation." he mumbled shyly. Everyone was looking at him now, and he felt hot under the collar. He'd heard that expression before, but never had experienced it himself.
Harry kept blowing on the page, but, try as he might, he couldn't make the Fireball as big as Hagrid's. Poppy interrupted him. "Harry, you have more resents to open."
Harry couldn't believe there could be any present as good as this one. "Dat's okay, Pomfee. Dis present's real good – oh." Then he realized that inside all the colorful packages on the table were other things for him. He needed help opening the next one, and Poppy showed him how to pull up the edges of the spello-tape. But then Arthur cut in. "No, no, Poppy. It's his birthday. Let him rip! Here, Harry. You do it like this," and Arthur tore off a piece of the wrapping paper from what appeared to be a picture book.
Harry didn't need any more prompting, and he tore at the paper, until the book was revealed. He recognized the wizard with the half-moon spectacles. "Wizard Glick!" he exclaimed.
Ginny spoke,"It's from me, Harry. The New Adventures of Wizard Glick. It just came out a week ago. How's that for good timing?"
At a nudge from Poppy, Harry thanked Ginny and was handed another package. He had no trouble ripping the paper off this one. There was a box inside, and when he opened it, he saw a shiny new, bright red quaffle. "Ron-Ron! you got me dis?" Harry gushed.
"Yeah, mate. I figured you're old enough to have your own." Ron had really wanted to get Harry a snitch as well, but he couldn't afford it. He hoped he'd save enough working for Fred and George by Christmas to get one for Harry.
After that, Harry went through all the presents on the table and, with minimal prompting from Poppy, thanked everyone. He told Ron after that he hadn't gotten any presents he didn't like, which surprised Ron, because his mother had made Harry a red jumper with a big 'H' on the front. But Harry had loved that too, crying out happily, "A 'H' for Harry – a 'H' for me!"
When Poppy told Harry that the party was ending soon and they would have to go home in a little while, Harry protested. "But I don't wanna go home, Pomfee. I wanna play wif Draco." Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he listened to his caretaker calmly explain that Draco and all his friends had to go home too. "Not Ginny. Not Ron-Ron. They already home," he sniffed.
"But they have to help Mr and Mrs Weasley tidy up from the party. Let's be a big boy and remember our manners,. We need to thank the Weasleys for this lovely party they've given you, and then, I think, a nap is in order.
Harry felt that if he was a big boy now, he shouldn't have to take a nap. But the truth was, he was very tired. Too tired even, to argue with Madam Pomfrey. So he thanked his hosts and said his goodbye's.
~0~
Hallo, Dear Readers,
I see by the number of hits that people are reading this fic, and I thank you so much for your attention. I don't know about you, but I am feeling particularly isolated in these trying times. If anyone feels so inclined, I am curious to know your thoughts on the story, and so comments would be greatly appreciated.
stay safe,
tsuj