Harry Potter was a highly unusual boy in many ways.

"They're not wrong there," Ron said. Harry grumbled under his breath about traitorous friends, causing Hermione to giggle.

Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, 'Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless — discuss.'

The trio all started muttering about idiotic, thick-headed wizards. Although most people couldn't hear them, the few points that some heard was enough for them to agree with. After all, the trio had already addressed how dangerous the witch hunts had been the day before.

Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times,

"Of course, they were. People are naturally scared of the things they don't understand," Hermione said loudly.

"So many people are scared of death because they don't know what happens after, and one of the most common fears for children is darkness because they don't know what's hiding in the shadows," Remus said.

"People are scared of the unknown," Dumbledore agreed.

Slowly and very carefully he unscrewed the ink bottle, dipped his quill into it, and began to write, pausing every now and then to listen, because if any of the Dursleys heard the scratching of his quill on their way to the bathroom, he'd probably find himself locked in the cupboard under the stairs for the rest of the summer.

Remus and Snuffles both growled at the reminder of where Harry used to sleep but didn't do

Harry's dead parents, who had been a witch and wizard themselves, were never mentioned under the Dursleys' roof.

"Unless it's to insult them. Then again, they learnt pretty quickly to not insult mum and dad when I'm around," Harry added.

"What do you mean?" Mrs Weasley asked, trying not to think about how he only heard about his parents when his relatives were insulting them.

"What happens when they insult them will probably be mentioned in the next chapter," Harry said with a shrug. He knew they would find out about his accidental magic, which wasn't something he was looking forward too. After all, most people stopped having accidental magic outbursts once they got their wands. Maybe it had something to do with how more of his magic was being pumped into his immune system? It would make sense if he thought about it, since the physical punishments he got lessened once he got to Hogwarts, plus him being away from them for majority of the year.

While Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley had gone out into the front garden to admire Uncle Vernon's new company car (in very loud voices, so that the rest of the street would notice it too), Harry had crept downstairs, picked the lock on the cupboard under the stairs,

"How did you know how to do that?" Remus asked.

"I already knew the lock extremely well from when my magic would unlock it for me, and my magic just unlocked it for me," Harry said with a shrug, before grinning and adding, "Oh, and Gred and Forge taught me."

Harry was particularly keen to avoid trouble with his aunt and uncle at the moment, as they were already in an especially bad mood with him, all because he'd received a telephone call from a fellow wizard one week into the school vacation.

"What did you do?" Ginny asked her brother with a sigh. She knew that, despite how much their dad loved muggles and muggle things, none of them had ever really gotten the hang of using muggle equipment.

"It was an accident," Ron grumbled.

Harry, who happened to be in the room at the time, froze as he heard Ron's voice answer.

"Wait, you heard him?"

"How do you hear someone on the other side of the phone?"

"How loudly was he talking?"

"You shouldn't be able to hear him unless you're the one answering the phone."

I — WANT — TO — TALK — TO — HARRY — POTTER!"

The muggleborns and many half-bloods around the hall started laughing, all of them instantly knowing what he had done wrong, causing Ron to flush slightly. Those who didn't know much about muggle technology were looking around at the laughing students, not understanding why they were laughing.

THERE IS NO HARRY POTTER HERE!" he roared, now holding the receiver at arm's length, as though frightened it might explode.

Everyone decided it was probably best if they didn't know what the twins had started to whisper about, their heads bent over a piece of parchment. Remus raised an eyebrow as he heard a few parts of their conversation, but, like everyone else, decided he should probably just let them be.

"…make sure muggles don't find them…"

"…not do too much damage."

"…scare factor…"

The fight that had followed had been one of the worst ever.

"Really?" Ron asked in horror.

"Noise wise? Yeah. It got extremely loud, and I'm surprised the neighbours didn't come over to see what was going on. But otherwise, it wasn't any worse than any other argument."

Harry suspected that Ron had warned Hermione not to call, which was a pity, because Hermione, the cleverest witch in Harry's year, had Muggle parents, knew perfectly well how to use a telephone, and would probably have had enough sense not to say that she went to Hogwarts.

"I don't think that would have made much difference. How else would I know who you were and have your phone number?" Hermione asked.

"I know. But it was a nice thought," Harry said with a sigh.

So Harry had had no word from any of his wizarding friends for five long weeks,

"Why didn't you write?" Tonks asked.

"I was in France, and I don't have an owl," Hermione said.

"We were in Egypt. I wasn't allowed to use Errol for such a long flight, and Percy wouldn't let me use Hermes," Ron added.

There was just one very small improvement — after swearing that he wouldn't use her to send letters to any of his friends, Harry had been allowed to let his owl, Hedwig, out at night.

"You could have still used her to send letters and just not tell him," Terry said.

"It wouldn't have worked. He would have found out one way or another. I'm pretty sure they had a security camera installed in my room after the flying car incident that's connected to Uncle Vernon's phone so they can see what I'm doing. It's why I have to do my homework under the covers as well, and keep everything in the floorboard under my bed, so they can't see it."

It was one o'clock in the morning.

"You should have been asleep by then Harry," Mrs Weasley admonished. "It's not healthy to be awake that late."

"Yes Mrs Weasley. But it was the only way for me to get my homework done," Harry said. He thought it was better to not mention how many nights he often ended up awake that late, either because nightmares woke him up or because he just couldn't sleep; the only reason he had gotten so tired that particular night was because he hadn't slept for more than a handful of hours the previous three nights and had had long lists of chores during the day.

He had never received a birthday card in his life.

"Never?" Tonks.

"Never," Harry agreed. "The only year I had friends to send me cards was the year before, and Dobby had been stealing my mail so I didn't get the ones they sent me."

But he hoped she'd be back soon — she was the only living creature in this house who didn't flinch at the sight of him.

"That's just sad," Susan murmured to Hannah, making sure that no one else heard and that Harry wouldn't see her expression; he had made it pretty clear to the DA that, not only did he hate his fame and all the attention that came with it, but he also hated it when people pitied him.

Barely alive, Voldemort had fled…

"That's actually a really good way to explain it," Hermione said.

"Much better than how some of the books try to explain it," Padma agreed.

But Harry had come face-to-face with him at Hogwarts.

"And did Mr Potter or Miss Weasley, or any of the victims, receive mind healing or therapy after what they went through?" Amelia asked.

"I recommended a mind healer to each of them or advised them to attend muggle therapy once they were revived and recommended the same with Miss Weasley when she came. I did not know about Mr Potter being involved, since I didn't see him in the hospital wing, and if I had, I would have simply recommended he continue seeing whoever he had been seeing after the events of his first year," Madame Pomphrey said.

Remembering their last meeting as he stood at the dark window, Harry had to admit he was lucky even to have reached his thirteenth birthday.

"At least you know that," Remus sighed.

"I know how much danger I get in. But better me than someone else."

They landed with a soft flump on Harry's bed, and the middle owl, which was large and grey, keeled right over and lay motionless.

"Errol," the Weasley sighed at the same time, all of them recognising the description.

"I thought you weren't allowed to use Errol," Neville said.

"I wasn't meant to. But it was Harry's birthday," Ron said.

She, too, was carrying a parcel and looked extremely pleased with herself.

"I thought you didn't send her to any of your friends," Remus said.

"Hedwig is extremely smart," Harry said simply; his familiar was amazing and incredibly smart, so much so that he would believe she was an animagus – the only reason he didn't, was because they may have become a bit paranoid and gone a bit overboard after finding out that Scabbers had actually been Wormtail, and practised the Animagus revealing charm until they perfected it and then cast it on all the animals in the castle in between practicing their sign language.

When Harry relieved this owl of its burden, it ruffled its feathers importantly, stretched its wings, and took off through the window into the night.

"Who would be sending you a package from Hogwarts?" Lavender asked.

"Hagrid sent me a birthday gift."

Fingers trembling slightly,

Harry sighed, his hands playing with the edge of his robes; his hands and fingers trembling wasn't unusual, and it was something that got extremely annoying. Maybe he should think about talking to Poppy about the potions to help his anxiety; he was already considering talking to her about mind healing, so trying a potion to see if it would help wouldn't be that bad, especially if it would help with his shakes. Plus, he already had a lot of potions to take already, what was one more.

MINISTRY OF MAGIC EMPLOYEE SCOOPS GRAND PRIZE

Snuffles whined slightly, knowing that that had been the article that prompted his escape. Harry hissed comforting words under his breath, glad that he had a way to communicate with his godfather without others knowing.

Right in the middle of the picture was Ron, tall and gangling, with his pet rat, Scabbers,

Snuffles growled, as did Remus, while the trio all glared at the book for mentioning the traitor.

I asked Dad, and he reckons I shouldn't have shouted.

"You think?" Hermione asked dryly, even as her smile took the bite off her words.

"I don't know muggle things," Ron said.

I couldn't believe it when Dad won the Daily Prophet Draw.

"None of us could," Mr Weasley agreed.

Most of its gone on this trip, but they're going to buy me a new wand for next year.

"Thank Merlin," the trio all said; they had experienced enough mishaps from that broken wand to last their lifetime.

It had happened when the car the two of them had been flying to Hogwarts had crashed into a tree on the school grounds.

Many winced occurred around the hall at the mention of that incident; they were all incredibly glad that they hadn't been part of it.

Harry — this is a Pocket Sneakoscope.

"Nice. Very useful," Moody said gruffly.

But he didn't realize Fred and George had put beetles in his soup.

"You did what?" Bill exclaimed, staring at the twins, wondering how he hadn't actually noticed that. The twins just smiled innocently, which was an expression that none of them fell for anymore.

"Did it work at all?" Bill asked, turning his attention away from the twins. Harry nodded.

"Yep. Wouldn't shut up all year." He got many confused looks at that; if a Sneakoscope didn't shut up, most people would assume that it was a dud, not that it was working properly. At the time, the three of them had thought it was broken, or that it was Crookshanks that was setting it off, but now they knew it had been detecting Wormtail.

I think she wanted to make sure you got something for your birthday for a change.

"I don't even know how she knew I was in France. Or that I needed to send you a gift somehow," Hermione said.

"I've told you that she's really smart," Harry said. And she was his familiar, they had that extra connection and it allowed her to know his friends and when someone needed her in regard to him.

Ron doesn't seem too happy about it.

"It's not that we weren't proud of his accomplishment," Ron said at the looks he got from his family – especially since none of them had said anything bad about Bill getting the badge.

"We were very proud," Fred agreed.

"But he just kept going on and on about it, like it made him better than us," Ginny said.

"It's why we teased him about being a Prefect too," George agreed.

"Wow, Hermione!"

"I still stand by that reaction. It was amazing," Harry added.

Apart from his friends, the thing that Harry missed most about Hogwarts was Quidditch,

"Good to know we rate higher than a sport," Hermione said dryly.

"'Course you do," Harry said, smiling brightly. "You know I love you both Mione."

One of Harry's most prized possessions was his Nimbus Two Thousand racing broom.

"I loved that broom," Harry said.

"Loved?" Charlie asked.

"Yeah. It's, um, not able to be used anymore."

He tore off the top layer of paper and glimpsed something green and leathery, but before he could unwrap it properly, the parcel gave a strange quiver, and whatever was inside it snapped loudly — as though it had jaws.

"What was it?"

"What would he send you that has jaws?"

"Was that the book?"

"That blasted book?"

He knew that Hagrid would never send him anything dangerous on purpose,

"On purpose, being the key part of that sentence," Mrs Weasley said.

And out fell — a book.

"What?"

"A book?"

"Why would he send you a book?"

"That bloody book."

Harry just had time to register its handsome green cover, emblazoned with the golden title The Monster Book of Monsters, before it flipped onto its edge and scuttled sideways along the bed like some weird crab.

"How was the book alive?"

"It really needed to come with instructions."

"Why wasn't a belt included?"

"It destroyed so much before I got it subdued."

"Ouch!"

"What were you expecting a book with teeth that seemed alive to do?" Hermione asked as Harry tried to discretely shake his hand to try and ease the pain of having a book bite him, an action that was noticed by both Remus, out of the corner of his eyes, and Sirius, who had been watching his godson while listening to the book. Both of them focused more on Harry, trying to work out what was wrong, and why he was acting as if the book had just bit him.

Think you might find this useful for next year.

"That scared me. I thought he got a new pet or something and expected that I would help him with it," Harry said with a small shudder.

Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first.

"Why is that even included? Doesn't the term always start on September 1st?" Cho asked.

"It normally does, yes, Miss Chang. However, it is included as sometimes unavoidable circumstances mean the term has to start later for some reason," Dumbledore explained.

Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign.

"I can't see his relative signing that," Hannah said.

"Neither can I," Ernie agreed.

"But he visited this year, and last year. So it has to have been signed," Susan said.

"Yeah, but he's friends with Fred and George Weasley. If they don't know a way to sneak out of the castle, then either they're not the Weasley twins, or we don't know them very well. And I bet they would have shared that knowledge with Harry," Ernie said.

But how on earth was he going to persuade Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to sign the form?

"How did you get them to sign it?" Neville asked.

"I didn't," Harry said, shrugging.

"But you visit the village."

"I didn't in third year. Because they didn't sign it."

"Then how do you visit now?" Neville asked, frowning. Harry smirked.

"You'll see."

It was now two o'clock in the morning.

"That is not an appropriate time to be awake young man. You better normally be asleep by that time," Mrs Weasley said sternly. Harry blinked, slightly in shock; he wasn't used to having someone care about his sleeping habits – his friends did their best, but they knew he was an insomniac, and they couldn't do much about it.

Extremely unusual though he was, at that moment Harry Potter felt just like everyone else — glad, for the first time in his life, that it was his birthday.

"It was nice to feel normal for once," Harry said.

"That didn't last long, did it?" Ginny asked. Harry released an exaggerated sigh.

"No it didn't. I was normal for a whole five and a half hours, with most of that spent asleep. Then I was very unkindly rocketed back into being abnormal again."

Before anyone could say anything in response to that, Filius cast the charm on the book again, clearly deciding that there hadn't been anything that revealed in that chapter that would cause the hall to need time to discuss things.