Author's Note: Not much to say other than....Usual disclaimers apply...
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry backed up a bit, he looked at his door with a sigh. Uncle Vernon locked him up in his bedroom. He was too angry with Harry to even worry what happened to him. Aunt Petunia was nonetheless following the orders of Uncle Vernon, but she put a dinner plate outside his door with a snort. He listened for her footsteps to disappear, and he slowly walked toward the door, opening quickly to retrieve the 'food' and shutting it.
"I have to eat -this-?" said Harry, a sickened expression upon his face as he looked at the mushy glop next to the hardened piece of bread.
"Must've been Dudley's leftovers..." Harry snickered, not afraid if the Dursley's heard him. He walked over to the bed and dropped the plate on the nightstand, peering out the window.
"I hope Hermione doesn't get too upset about me not being able to talk..."
Harry peered out the window, it wasn't even dark yet. He looked to his clock with a bit of a sigh. It was only eight thirty. What was he supposed to do until bed? Then the thought hit him. He should work on his paper. Jumping up from the bed, he stumbled slightly and caught himself before he fell. Hedwig hooted in her cage as she saw Harry grasp at the handle of the closet and she turned around, tails facing him.
"What's the matter with you?" said Harry, quirking one of his eyebrows at the apparently disgruntled owl.
She released another hoot and with a flap of her wings, she hid her head. Harry shrugged it off, reaching into the trunk to pull out his parchment and a quill. Taking the items to the bed, he sat down on it, quickly writing whatever it was he had in his mind at the time about the Animagus.
Time flew by as he wrote his paper, and as he dotted the final 'I', he set the quill down with a collective sigh. It was finished. His gaze warily made its way to the clock. Ten o'clock. "It took me almost two hours to write that?" said Harry, a bit of a curious tone in his voice.
"Nothing's ever taken me that long...Or at least, I think it hasn't..." He mumbled some other things to himself as he picked up the parchment of his essay as well as a few notes. Just as he had finished cleaning up, an owl tapped against his window, scaring him just a bit.
"Ack!" he exclaimed, turning quickly in a half defensive mode to the closed glass. Once he notice, however, that it was the owl that belonged to Hermione, he felt more at ease. Upon opening the window, the owl fluttered in and landed on Harry's bed, a note in its beak.
"A note, hm?" After making sure his heart was slightly slower in its beats, Harry walked over to his bed and pulled the note out of the large owl's beak, breaking off the small seal and beginning to read.
"Dear Harry,
I do apologize for calling you like that. I totally forgot about the incident with Ron and the phone. I just thought that they would be okay with it now. I know your birthday is coming up, so I hope you like your present I got you. You'll get it tomorrow. I've heard from Ron that Ginny has grown very tall and she's becoming a very sweet young girl.
On a different subject, when are you planning on going to Diagon Alley? I was going to go about two weeks before school started, that way I can read up on some of the information beforehand, get a head start! Will you be visiting then? I surely hope you do. Ron said he'd go with me, and that if you wished, Mrs. Weasley would let you stay the week beforehand. Has Ron contacted you lately? With that owl of his, I don't doubt that it wouldn't get there...That little thing is just strange.
Hopefully I can see you soon, Harry. I've missed both you and Ron awfully much, and maybe we could spend some time together at Diagon Alley? Maybe a butterbeer or two? We'll see, won't we?
Best wishes,
Hermione"
Harry folded the letter back in half, placing in on his nightstand with a small sigh. He was happier now that he had gotten a note from Hermione, simply because she wasn't upset. That was good. A small yawn escaped him, and with a light sigh, Harry felt he should sleep now. Hermione's owl had flown out already, having closed the window behind it. Rather odd, Harry thought, but interesting nonetheless.
Finally placing his papers secretly back where he had retrieved them, Harry switched into his bed clothing. The night sky was dark, stars shining brightly though in a contradictory tone. As he slid into his bed, he smiled with content, hoping that nothing would ruin tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------
The day had been like it usually was. Harry had gone downstairs, and like he had figured, the Dursleys said nothing about his birthday to him. He didn't much care anymore, he realized. Uncle Vernon had gone off to work, leaving Petunia and Dudley behind to boss Harry around. The down part of the day was Harry had to work on chores outside, the hot sun having beaten down on him for the most part. Drenched in sweat, yet dry inside at the same time, Harry had hoped to obtain some kind of refreshment, but all he could get while being sneaky was a glass of milk. Not the best choice, but it was better than dirty water.
Petunia left Harry alone for the rest of the day, though every now and then griping about how he hadn't done a very good job. She made him clean up his dirt tracks in the kitchen, but after that, she was mostly silent. She spent most of her time reading a book in the living room with Dudley, trying to help the overly large boy to understand what it was about. He was whining as usual, the TV blaring as Petunia continued to read. Harry hurried upstairs to his safe haven, or what you could call it such.
During the time he heard Dudley and Petunia go outside, Harry snuck out his Potions homework. Snape had made sure to give everybody extra hard assignments over the vacation simply because he didn't end off the year very happily. He was always so uptight now...Much more so than he used to be. This parchment, however, compared to the Transfiguration one, had more than enough scribbled down on it to make a good paper. Harry made sure the door was blocked so none of the Dursleys could enter, and once that was out of the way, the young Potter boy began to work.
It seemed like a simple task at first but after a couple of hours at work, Harry realized that the Potions homework had done nothing but stressed it him out. He had a couple sentences left to write down, but he couldn't finish it. He was rather fatigued and all he wanted to do was sleep. He heard the faint sound of a door downstairs opening, and with a quick slam, Harry knew his Uncle Vernon was home. Harry's stomach was growling quite loudly, but he wasn't exactly running to eat that food that Petunia cooked. Since he was still grounded, he figured it best to stay in his room anyway.
That was a good statement. About a half hour later, Harry heard the footsteps of Aunt Petunia outside the door, and once they had left, Harry opened the door like he had yesterday and retrieved his food. It was a slop of noodles and some kind of...Meat substance.
' Interesting,' Harry thought, 'maybe it could be used in an experiment...'
It wasn't long though before Harry sadly nibbled at the monstrosity of food, trying his best to satisfy his hunger. After a couple of bites or so, he found himself almost gagging and needing to stop. He was full enough. It was only about six thirty now, and he had a couple of hours to waste before bedtime. What could he do? He really didn't know. Hedwig was sleeping peacefully in her cage and most of Harry's stuff had been put away...Maybe he could write to Ron! He hadn't done that in some time...But since he figured Ron would be giving him a present, he pondered if he should send Hedwig to do the job. Deciding against it, Harry pulled out a piece of paper and something to write with; he had decided to just let the letter go back with the Weasley family owl.
"Dear Ron," Harry began out loud. "Hope everything's going okay." As he spoke, he wrote, and with a rather speedy pace at that. "I apologize for not having sent you any letters lately, but the Dursleys have been keeping long watches on me and I barely even had time to do my vacation work. It's been rather hectic. So what did you write about for your paper in Transfiguration? I spoke with Hermione and we both did Animagus things, but completely different topic ideas. She called me, but I got in trouble because Uncle Vernon found out. What a bother that was..." Harry scribbled some more words onto the paper before finishing off with "so I can happily say I'd enjoy staying with you all the week before. I'm sure the Dursleys want nothing more than to rid themselves of me for the time. I hope to hear from you soon. - Harry."
Harry had just finished writing his name when his window opened up, this time a whole bundle of owls flying in. Harry was quite sure that it would be in his best interest to keep them as quiet as he could, or Uncle Vernon would most likely throw him out on the street. He knew the owls almost instantly. One from Hermione, one from Ron, one from Hagrid of course, and the newest, from his Godfather Sirius. Harry was almost in heaven, as he had been the past year when he received gifts from all his friends.
He opened Ron's first. It was a picture of him and his family. All of them were waving at him and in the middle was Ron, whom he hadn't seen all during the vacation. He had grown a lot, and not to mention every other Weasley, discluding his parents. Amast the sea of red hair was Ginny's curly ones, and Hermione was right, she -had- grown a lot. She wasn't as round faced as she had been, more defined cheekbones visible. She had grown vertically and her weight was evenly proportioned. She seemed...much prettier than Harry remembered. There were George and Fred on either side of Ron and Ginny, Percy now on the sideline. He looked just as serious as ever, and even though Harry swore it wasn't there, he saw a smile on Percy's face. Ron's older brothers weren't there, sadly, but Harry could imagine that they were busy. There was a note from Ron as well. Harry decided to read that a bit later on.
Next was Hagrid's gift. It was a cake. Small, cylindrical and covered with frosting (which read "Happy 15th Harry"), and a small note on the side.
"To Harry; Yer finally growin' up. now that yer fifteen, things shuld be changin' and I 'ope everythin' goes well. Best to ya - Hagrid".
Harry smiled warmly and set Hagrid's present aside. It was a rather heartfelt present, like it always had been, and it made Harry feel happier. Second to last gift was from Sirius, and with a smile, Harry opened the envelope. Out fell a letter after the envelope was opened,and Harry gathered it up. It read:
"Dear Harry,
How have you been? I hope better than usual. Buckbeak and I have been rather well, but lately, life has been boring. I know, I haven't much room to complain, being free and all, but I'd just like to see how you've grown. You're 15...And...You probably are looking more like your father every day. Although I know you hear it a lot, it's a compliment. James had many a gel chasing him back then...Until he had met Lily, that is. Enough about your parents...How are Hermione and Ron? Doing well? I spoke with Remus a while back...He sends his regards and a happy birthday to you. I've got to be going now, there are some muggles about and I'm not about to be seen again.
Do write back; Hedwig can find me.
~Sirius"
Harry held back a sigh. It must've been nice knowing his parents like Sirius did. Anything Harry wanted to know, Sirius would most likely tell him. He really appreciated that. Along with the notebook of pictures Harry had, knowing more about his parents made him feel more and more normal each day. Harry put the letter back inside the envelope, setting it on top of the Weasley picture for the moment.
Last was the gift from Hermione. It was rectangular, which most likely meant it was a book of some sort. Harry knew that Hermione had taken tons of work with her over the holidays, so maybe she sent it by mistake?
After unwrapping the paper, however, Harry was quite surprised. It was a box with a ribbon around it. Not quite sure what it was, Harry slid the ribbon off and parted the box pieces, revealing a rather luxurious looking robe. It was velvet, a dark brown color, with the Gryffindor symbol sewed on the right breast. Harry pulled it out and smiled brightly, holding it out and gazing over it. This must have been very expensive, but how did Hermione know his sizes? He hadn't grown much, but he still grew nonetheless. The thought, though, and the money! Hermione must have gone through a lot to get this for him. Why though?
Harry slid the robe onto his body, the very end of the hem reaching the top of his ankles. For a moment they stayed at that length, but a second later, the hem magically grew down to the tip of his feet. Harry stood in rather straight awe. He hadn't expected that. Self-fitting robes? How...Unique! Hermione went all out this year. Harry would have to get something very special for her too.
Harry picked up the letter he had written for Ron, and just as the owls were close to leaving, Harry gave it to the Weasley family owl. The four feathered creatures flew out the window in unison, and just in time too. Harry heard some voices from outside, and it was apparent that the Dursleys were on their way out. Harry had forgotten that they had dinner plans for the evening. Quite confused, Harry wondered exactly -why- they were leaving him at home like this. When he tried to leave his room, he had found out why they didn't say anything.
The door was locked.
Harry cursed to himself quietly, and with a sigh, he went back to his bed and smiled at all the gifts he had received. This birthday certainly topped the rest.
~*~******************************~*~
Author's Notes: I couldn't remember the name of Ron's bird for the life of me...Anybody help me out? I know what it IS but I can't spell it...oh, and review please ^_^
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry backed up a bit, he looked at his door with a sigh. Uncle Vernon locked him up in his bedroom. He was too angry with Harry to even worry what happened to him. Aunt Petunia was nonetheless following the orders of Uncle Vernon, but she put a dinner plate outside his door with a snort. He listened for her footsteps to disappear, and he slowly walked toward the door, opening quickly to retrieve the 'food' and shutting it.
"I have to eat -this-?" said Harry, a sickened expression upon his face as he looked at the mushy glop next to the hardened piece of bread.
"Must've been Dudley's leftovers..." Harry snickered, not afraid if the Dursley's heard him. He walked over to the bed and dropped the plate on the nightstand, peering out the window.
"I hope Hermione doesn't get too upset about me not being able to talk..."
Harry peered out the window, it wasn't even dark yet. He looked to his clock with a bit of a sigh. It was only eight thirty. What was he supposed to do until bed? Then the thought hit him. He should work on his paper. Jumping up from the bed, he stumbled slightly and caught himself before he fell. Hedwig hooted in her cage as she saw Harry grasp at the handle of the closet and she turned around, tails facing him.
"What's the matter with you?" said Harry, quirking one of his eyebrows at the apparently disgruntled owl.
She released another hoot and with a flap of her wings, she hid her head. Harry shrugged it off, reaching into the trunk to pull out his parchment and a quill. Taking the items to the bed, he sat down on it, quickly writing whatever it was he had in his mind at the time about the Animagus.
Time flew by as he wrote his paper, and as he dotted the final 'I', he set the quill down with a collective sigh. It was finished. His gaze warily made its way to the clock. Ten o'clock. "It took me almost two hours to write that?" said Harry, a bit of a curious tone in his voice.
"Nothing's ever taken me that long...Or at least, I think it hasn't..." He mumbled some other things to himself as he picked up the parchment of his essay as well as a few notes. Just as he had finished cleaning up, an owl tapped against his window, scaring him just a bit.
"Ack!" he exclaimed, turning quickly in a half defensive mode to the closed glass. Once he notice, however, that it was the owl that belonged to Hermione, he felt more at ease. Upon opening the window, the owl fluttered in and landed on Harry's bed, a note in its beak.
"A note, hm?" After making sure his heart was slightly slower in its beats, Harry walked over to his bed and pulled the note out of the large owl's beak, breaking off the small seal and beginning to read.
"Dear Harry,
I do apologize for calling you like that. I totally forgot about the incident with Ron and the phone. I just thought that they would be okay with it now. I know your birthday is coming up, so I hope you like your present I got you. You'll get it tomorrow. I've heard from Ron that Ginny has grown very tall and she's becoming a very sweet young girl.
On a different subject, when are you planning on going to Diagon Alley? I was going to go about two weeks before school started, that way I can read up on some of the information beforehand, get a head start! Will you be visiting then? I surely hope you do. Ron said he'd go with me, and that if you wished, Mrs. Weasley would let you stay the week beforehand. Has Ron contacted you lately? With that owl of his, I don't doubt that it wouldn't get there...That little thing is just strange.
Hopefully I can see you soon, Harry. I've missed both you and Ron awfully much, and maybe we could spend some time together at Diagon Alley? Maybe a butterbeer or two? We'll see, won't we?
Best wishes,
Hermione"
Harry folded the letter back in half, placing in on his nightstand with a small sigh. He was happier now that he had gotten a note from Hermione, simply because she wasn't upset. That was good. A small yawn escaped him, and with a light sigh, Harry felt he should sleep now. Hermione's owl had flown out already, having closed the window behind it. Rather odd, Harry thought, but interesting nonetheless.
Finally placing his papers secretly back where he had retrieved them, Harry switched into his bed clothing. The night sky was dark, stars shining brightly though in a contradictory tone. As he slid into his bed, he smiled with content, hoping that nothing would ruin tomorrow.
------------------------------------------------
The day had been like it usually was. Harry had gone downstairs, and like he had figured, the Dursleys said nothing about his birthday to him. He didn't much care anymore, he realized. Uncle Vernon had gone off to work, leaving Petunia and Dudley behind to boss Harry around. The down part of the day was Harry had to work on chores outside, the hot sun having beaten down on him for the most part. Drenched in sweat, yet dry inside at the same time, Harry had hoped to obtain some kind of refreshment, but all he could get while being sneaky was a glass of milk. Not the best choice, but it was better than dirty water.
Petunia left Harry alone for the rest of the day, though every now and then griping about how he hadn't done a very good job. She made him clean up his dirt tracks in the kitchen, but after that, she was mostly silent. She spent most of her time reading a book in the living room with Dudley, trying to help the overly large boy to understand what it was about. He was whining as usual, the TV blaring as Petunia continued to read. Harry hurried upstairs to his safe haven, or what you could call it such.
During the time he heard Dudley and Petunia go outside, Harry snuck out his Potions homework. Snape had made sure to give everybody extra hard assignments over the vacation simply because he didn't end off the year very happily. He was always so uptight now...Much more so than he used to be. This parchment, however, compared to the Transfiguration one, had more than enough scribbled down on it to make a good paper. Harry made sure the door was blocked so none of the Dursleys could enter, and once that was out of the way, the young Potter boy began to work.
It seemed like a simple task at first but after a couple of hours at work, Harry realized that the Potions homework had done nothing but stressed it him out. He had a couple sentences left to write down, but he couldn't finish it. He was rather fatigued and all he wanted to do was sleep. He heard the faint sound of a door downstairs opening, and with a quick slam, Harry knew his Uncle Vernon was home. Harry's stomach was growling quite loudly, but he wasn't exactly running to eat that food that Petunia cooked. Since he was still grounded, he figured it best to stay in his room anyway.
That was a good statement. About a half hour later, Harry heard the footsteps of Aunt Petunia outside the door, and once they had left, Harry opened the door like he had yesterday and retrieved his food. It was a slop of noodles and some kind of...Meat substance.
' Interesting,' Harry thought, 'maybe it could be used in an experiment...'
It wasn't long though before Harry sadly nibbled at the monstrosity of food, trying his best to satisfy his hunger. After a couple of bites or so, he found himself almost gagging and needing to stop. He was full enough. It was only about six thirty now, and he had a couple of hours to waste before bedtime. What could he do? He really didn't know. Hedwig was sleeping peacefully in her cage and most of Harry's stuff had been put away...Maybe he could write to Ron! He hadn't done that in some time...But since he figured Ron would be giving him a present, he pondered if he should send Hedwig to do the job. Deciding against it, Harry pulled out a piece of paper and something to write with; he had decided to just let the letter go back with the Weasley family owl.
"Dear Ron," Harry began out loud. "Hope everything's going okay." As he spoke, he wrote, and with a rather speedy pace at that. "I apologize for not having sent you any letters lately, but the Dursleys have been keeping long watches on me and I barely even had time to do my vacation work. It's been rather hectic. So what did you write about for your paper in Transfiguration? I spoke with Hermione and we both did Animagus things, but completely different topic ideas. She called me, but I got in trouble because Uncle Vernon found out. What a bother that was..." Harry scribbled some more words onto the paper before finishing off with "so I can happily say I'd enjoy staying with you all the week before. I'm sure the Dursleys want nothing more than to rid themselves of me for the time. I hope to hear from you soon. - Harry."
Harry had just finished writing his name when his window opened up, this time a whole bundle of owls flying in. Harry was quite sure that it would be in his best interest to keep them as quiet as he could, or Uncle Vernon would most likely throw him out on the street. He knew the owls almost instantly. One from Hermione, one from Ron, one from Hagrid of course, and the newest, from his Godfather Sirius. Harry was almost in heaven, as he had been the past year when he received gifts from all his friends.
He opened Ron's first. It was a picture of him and his family. All of them were waving at him and in the middle was Ron, whom he hadn't seen all during the vacation. He had grown a lot, and not to mention every other Weasley, discluding his parents. Amast the sea of red hair was Ginny's curly ones, and Hermione was right, she -had- grown a lot. She wasn't as round faced as she had been, more defined cheekbones visible. She had grown vertically and her weight was evenly proportioned. She seemed...much prettier than Harry remembered. There were George and Fred on either side of Ron and Ginny, Percy now on the sideline. He looked just as serious as ever, and even though Harry swore it wasn't there, he saw a smile on Percy's face. Ron's older brothers weren't there, sadly, but Harry could imagine that they were busy. There was a note from Ron as well. Harry decided to read that a bit later on.
Next was Hagrid's gift. It was a cake. Small, cylindrical and covered with frosting (which read "Happy 15th Harry"), and a small note on the side.
"To Harry; Yer finally growin' up. now that yer fifteen, things shuld be changin' and I 'ope everythin' goes well. Best to ya - Hagrid".
Harry smiled warmly and set Hagrid's present aside. It was a rather heartfelt present, like it always had been, and it made Harry feel happier. Second to last gift was from Sirius, and with a smile, Harry opened the envelope. Out fell a letter after the envelope was opened,and Harry gathered it up. It read:
"Dear Harry,
How have you been? I hope better than usual. Buckbeak and I have been rather well, but lately, life has been boring. I know, I haven't much room to complain, being free and all, but I'd just like to see how you've grown. You're 15...And...You probably are looking more like your father every day. Although I know you hear it a lot, it's a compliment. James had many a gel chasing him back then...Until he had met Lily, that is. Enough about your parents...How are Hermione and Ron? Doing well? I spoke with Remus a while back...He sends his regards and a happy birthday to you. I've got to be going now, there are some muggles about and I'm not about to be seen again.
Do write back; Hedwig can find me.
~Sirius"
Harry held back a sigh. It must've been nice knowing his parents like Sirius did. Anything Harry wanted to know, Sirius would most likely tell him. He really appreciated that. Along with the notebook of pictures Harry had, knowing more about his parents made him feel more and more normal each day. Harry put the letter back inside the envelope, setting it on top of the Weasley picture for the moment.
Last was the gift from Hermione. It was rectangular, which most likely meant it was a book of some sort. Harry knew that Hermione had taken tons of work with her over the holidays, so maybe she sent it by mistake?
After unwrapping the paper, however, Harry was quite surprised. It was a box with a ribbon around it. Not quite sure what it was, Harry slid the ribbon off and parted the box pieces, revealing a rather luxurious looking robe. It was velvet, a dark brown color, with the Gryffindor symbol sewed on the right breast. Harry pulled it out and smiled brightly, holding it out and gazing over it. This must have been very expensive, but how did Hermione know his sizes? He hadn't grown much, but he still grew nonetheless. The thought, though, and the money! Hermione must have gone through a lot to get this for him. Why though?
Harry slid the robe onto his body, the very end of the hem reaching the top of his ankles. For a moment they stayed at that length, but a second later, the hem magically grew down to the tip of his feet. Harry stood in rather straight awe. He hadn't expected that. Self-fitting robes? How...Unique! Hermione went all out this year. Harry would have to get something very special for her too.
Harry picked up the letter he had written for Ron, and just as the owls were close to leaving, Harry gave it to the Weasley family owl. The four feathered creatures flew out the window in unison, and just in time too. Harry heard some voices from outside, and it was apparent that the Dursleys were on their way out. Harry had forgotten that they had dinner plans for the evening. Quite confused, Harry wondered exactly -why- they were leaving him at home like this. When he tried to leave his room, he had found out why they didn't say anything.
The door was locked.
Harry cursed to himself quietly, and with a sigh, he went back to his bed and smiled at all the gifts he had received. This birthday certainly topped the rest.
~*~******************************~*~
Author's Notes: I couldn't remember the name of Ron's bird for the life of me...Anybody help me out? I know what it IS but I can't spell it...oh, and review please ^_^