A Very Happy Birthday
Harry woke up to a loud tapping sound at his window. He looked over at his clock. 5 a.m. 'Okay' he thought, 'this better be good.' As soon as he opened the window Hedwig and 3 other owls swooped into the room, each carrying a package. "Oh man," he said as he looked at his calendar, "It's my birthday, I can't believe I forgot my own birthday."
He reached down and first picked up a tin with an envelope addressed to him in Hagrid's untidy scrawl.
Happy Birthday Harry!
I figured those Dursley's weren't feeding you to well so I thought you might like some of my sweets. I just got back from my assignment from Dumbledore so I'll be staying on as your teacher again this year. Can't wait to see you.
Hagrid
Harry opened the tin. Inside was a load of toffees and rock cakes. Harry grimaced at the thought of eating these but was happy that Hagrid was out there and okay. Next he picked up a parcel from his Godfather, inside the package was a book: 1001 Practical Jokes and Pranks. Inside the cover was a note:
Happy Birthday Harry!
Remus and I thought you should have this in hopes of honoring the name marauder. Your father would want you to enjoy your years at Hogwarts and trust us, pranking definitely adds some spice to your life. I don't know when we'll get a chance but I'll try to see you soon.
Sirius and Remus
Harry picked up his third parcel, another book, this one from Hermione. Dueling Through the Ages. This also had a note attached to it.
Dear Harry,
With all that's happening out there I thought that you of all people could use this book. It'll teach you new spells and tactics. I hope you have a great day!
With Love,
Hermione
Next Harry picked up Ron's gift. Once again, he got another book, this one was called; Great Quidditch Seekers: Past and Present. He flipped through the book and stopped when a note inside the pages caught his eye. He picked up the note:
Hey Harry! Check this book out! The greatest seekers ever are in it. There are pictures, bios, even lists and descriptions of stats and moves. And guess the best part!! YOU'RE IN IT!!!! …..
Harry gasped and looked up from the note. In the book he saw his name in bold letters over a picture of him diving after the snitch in his gryffindor robes. 'Wow' thought Harry, 'This must be one of Colin's shots. I wonder how they found him' He looked back down at the note,
-even better is that the book auto-updates itself, so the more stuff you do, the more there'll be about you. Isn't that great?! Well, gotta go, hope the muggles are treating you okay, I'll send you an owl when we get back home in a couple weeks.
Ron
Harry was blown away, a Quidditch book with him in it? He flipped back through it. He saw some stats of his career at Hogwarts. Then he was another picture of him executing a perfect Wronski Feint. 'Wow' he thought again, 'Colin has a definite career with this.'
He was about to write his responses when another box caught his eye. It was small, relatively flat, and rectangular in shape. He opened it up and immediately saw a beautiful chain necklace made for boys. Hanging from it was a wonderfully fashioned lion's head, obviously signifying Gryffindor. He pulled it out of the package and gasped at what he saw underneath. It was a picture of…….Ginny? Harry picked it up and looked at it. She was beautiful. She was wearing a yellow sundress and laughing as the sun shone off her dark red hair. It was a still frame, probably taken by her father with one of his many cameras in his muggle artifacts collection. He began to get that strange feeling in his stomach, like whenever he saw Cho, but this time it was much, much stronger. He looked back at the picture, then the chain, then back again. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a note in the bottom of the shallow box.
Happy Birthday Harry,
I saw the chain in a store here in Romania and automatically thought of you. The shopkeeper said it had an ancient magic about it and it depended upon the giver as to what magic would be invoked on it. It sounded silly at the time but I got it anyway, I hope you like it. The picture was actually Hermione's idea. She knows you have a few of her, Ron, and the team so she said I should add one to your collection. I hope you like it. I hope to see you when we get back from Romania.
Love,
Ginny
"Do I like it?" Harry breathed, "What happened to her being Ron's little sister? She's beautiful." With that he sat down and wrote responses to everybody, every once and awhile looking over at the picture wondering what his stomach was telling him. He sent off the owls and sat down with his dueling book until it was time for him to get ready for work.
Harry's day went by normally until his lunch break started. He was the first one in the room which was odd. He shrugged it off and started in on his sandwich as the door to the room burst open and the entire loading crew came in with Chad bearing the cake. The crew celebrated Harry's birthday for about half an hour until everyone but Chad left to go about their things. Harry sat there with a content grin on his face. 'These people barely know me,' he thought, 'and they did all this for me, what a great day.' With that he pulled out the picture Ginny had sent him and stared at it again. Too late he noticed Chad looking over his shoulder.
"Thought you said you didn't have a girlfriend Harry?" he said with a grin.
Harry blushed as he responded, "She's not my girlfriend, she's my best friend's sister. She used to have a crush on me but by the looks of her letter, she's over that now."
"With a picture like that," Chad said, "I don't think she wants to be just a friend Harry my man. That's a pretty one; you shouldn't let her get away before you realize it's too late." With that he walked out of the room leaving Harry to his own thoughts.
"What if she does still like me?" he said to himself. He shook his head and cleaned up the party mess and went back to work.
At 5 o'clock Harry's Uncle came down and got him and they headed back to Privet Drive. After his shower and meager dinner, Harry was in his room and decided to steel himself for one of Hagrid's rock cakes. To his surprise it appeared that Hagrid had altered his recipe and the cakes were not only edible but delicious. After the rock cakes Harry leaned back and heaved a contented sigh. For once he hadn't had a crappy birthday with the muggles. He turned over to go to sleep, but remained deprived as he mulled over his changing feelings for one Ginny Weasley.