A Harry Situation
By Jill Weber/ Jelsemium
Characters copyrighted by J.K. Rowling and used without permission or intent to make a profit.

Chapter 19: No End of Surprises

The Horror:

Until Hermione's horrifying discovery, the weekend before Harry's birthday was quite pleasant. Friday morning, Ron had arrived in his freshly laundered uniform and carrying an enormous package.

"What is that!?" Harry exclaimed.

"It's your birthday present, you prat," Ron said cheerfully. "I made it, with Dad's help. I hope you like it."

"Well, give it here," Harry said, holding out his hands eagerly.

Ron laughed at him. "Your birthday is on Monday! You can't open it until then!"

"What? You mean you're going to make me look at that and wonder for two days?" Harry slumped back on his pillows, crossed his arms and sulked.

"Yes," Ron smirked.

Mrs. Weasley bustled in, wearing blue robes with daisies all around the hems. Harry had never seen her in such a pretty outfit before and he complimented her on it.

"Thank you, Harry!" Mrs. Weasley said happily. "Ginny found this in the attic and I managed to fix it up a bit. It makes me feel pretty again." She patted her hair and smiled.

"Mrs. Weasley, you are one of the most beautiful women I have ever met," Harry said with complete sincerity.

Ron rolled his eyes, but fortunately, his mother was too busy blushing to notice.

"Thank you, Harry, how sweet of you to say so!" She planted a little kiss on the top of his head. "I've been talking to your doctors and they said that it would be all right to have a little party for you. What flavor of ice cream do you want?"

A little dazed, Harry shook his head. A party? For him? He hadn't even thought about a party. He thought he'd be lucky to get some cards and maybe a present or two.

"I know the flavour you should get," Ron said. "Florean Fortescue just created treacle-flavoured ice cream. We have got to try that."

"Sounds like a good idea to me," Harry said. He licked his lips as if expecting the treacle ice cream to appear out of thin air.

"Treacle ice cream it is, then," Mrs. Weasley said. "Well, I have to be off on some errands. I'll see you about five, dear. And Harry, Ginny will be here Sunday. Oh and she'll be here on Monday, of course."

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said. "I appreciate everything you've done."

"You're welcome, dear," Mrs. Weasley kissed him on the cheek and bustled out of the room

"I can't believe you said Mum was beautiful," Ron snickered.

"Why? She is!" Harry said.

Ron laughed harder. "It was like you were trying to flirt with her. I mean, she's married!"

"Who's married?" Hermione asked as she came in.

"My mum," Ron said. "Harry was flirting with her."

"I was not!" Harry said crossly. "I just complimented her, is all. You don't have to make such a big thing about it." He thought that this would be a good time to tell them more about the Animagus Survival Guide. He thought that Hermione would like seeing Nicely break down Transfiguration spells into their component parts. Assuming that Nicely would cooperate, that is.

"That was sweet of you, Harry," Hermione said. "Girls like to hear compliments, every now and then, even mums."

Ron opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione distracted both Harry and Ron with her horrifying news. "Did you know that St. Mungo's has a library?" she exclaimed, beaming

"She'll be getting sick every summer herself now," Ron muttered.

Harry "coughed" so hard that he had to cover his face with his sheet.

Hermione glared at both of them.

Remembering what happened to Nicely, Ron flinched and Harry pulled his blankets all the way over his head.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, I'm not going to set you on fire! I keep telling you, I didn't set that book on fire. Nicely set herself on fire. Why don't you believe me!" Hermione was going red in the face, and it wasn't from embarrassment.

"We believe you, Hermione," Ron said, wondering what that particular shade of red was called. "But it's only common sense not to anger someone who can glare like!" He decided he liked it, whatever it was. It had just enough purple to really be interesting.

"You mean, you actually cracked open a dictionary and found out what 'common sense' means?" Hermione asked grimly. She took a few deep breaths and her colour started to subside.

"Who wants to be common?" Harry said from under his blankets. "I bet your Animagus form is a basilisk."

"Cool!" Ron said. "You'll be able to talk to Harry in Parseltongue. Just one thing, next time, petrify Filch instead of his cat!"

"I am NOT a basilisk!" Hermione said hotly. "Honestly! You boys are such…"

"Boys?" Harry asked. He peeked out.

"HON-EST-LY! Come out from under there! You call yourself a Gryffindor?"

"I've never called myself a Gryffindor," Harry countered. "Name one occasion when I have."

Hermione opened her mouth, but couldn't, offhand, recall an occasion when Harry had called himself a Gryffindor.

Ron snickered. However, if he could remember an occasion when Harry called himself a Gryffindor, he kept it to himself. "Anyway, I doubt that Animagi are going to be on the O.W.L.s," Hermione said. "We really should start studying for them. I hear they're frightfully difficult."

"Oo, you mean there's a chance that you might, possibly, get a question wrong?" Ron said.

Hermione glared at him.

"How are we supposed to study for the O.W.L.s?" Harry asked. "We don't have any study guides or anything."

"The library here has a whole section on the O.W.L.s, including practice exams!" Hermione said enthusiastically.

"No!" Ron exclaimed. He flung himself between Harry and Hermione, arms outstretched. "Harry is sick. He doesn't need the extra stress!"

Harry will be sicker if he flunks his O.W.L.s," Hermione said severely. "You want to pass, don't you Harry?"

Harry sighed.

"Harry!" Hermione said scandalized.

"Of course I want to pass," Harry said placatingly. "Right now, I'm more interested in finding some way for my grandfather to write to me. He can't use a regular quill. Do you know of a way for a ghost to write to a living person? I have a million questions to ask and he's the only one with answers!"

Hermione's expression softened at once. Ron felt a pang of… something.

"I'm sure I've read something that would help," she said. "Didn't you study anything about spirit writing in Divination?"

"You're joking," Ron said. "There's no way that crazy old bat would teach anything like that! It actually sounds useful!"

Hermione sighed. Before she could lecture them on either taking Divination or for not wanting to study for their O.W.L.s, Harry said. "Maybe we could look up spirit writing in this library."

Hermione brightened. "It might even be in the Divination O.W.L.s," she said happily. "I be there are a lot of useful spells in the O.W.L. tests."

"I wouldn't bet on it," Ron said gloomily. "Even Percy said most of the spells on the O.W.L. were bloody useless."

"Ron! Language!" Hermione said.

"That's what he said," Ron sulked.

"I can't believe that Percy…"

"I wonder if the Patronus charm will be on the Charms O.W.L.," Harry interjected hurriedly.

Hermione beamed at him. "Actually, that's worth extra points. It will be worth extra points on your Charms N.E.W.T, as well. You should do brilliantly in Charms!"

"Considering how hard many curses and counter curses we learned for the Third Task, we should all pass Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. with flying colors," Ron said.

"There's more to Defense Against the Dark Arts than curses and counter curses," Harry said.

To Hermione's relief, Harry didn't seem to object to the mention of the Third Task. "We can look at the Cliffs Notes for the O.W.L.s to see what we should concentrate on. As you say, we've mastered a lot of defensive and offensive spells, so the actual spell casting should come relatively easily. For Defense against the Dark Arts, we may just need to concentrate on strategy."

That sounded better to Ron. He reckoned that if strategy was involved, he ought to be able to beat even Hermione. After all, he beat her at chess regularly. "Well, okay, then," he said. "I reckon it won't hurt us to study some. That Potions O.W.L. is going to be especially difficult."

Hermione looked like she might faint from shock.

Ron suppressed a grin. If he had known that agreeing to study was going to throw Hermione for a loop, he'd have said 'yes' a long time ago. Of course, if he was going to pursue this Mediwizard Apprentice idea seriously, he really needed to put his nose to the grindstone.

That didn't mean he couldn't give Hermione a hard time about it. His grin became unsuppressed.


The Wand-smith:

The weekend quickly became filled with O.W.L. preparation books and visitors bearing gifts. Harry wanted to talk to Ron and Hermione about Sirius, Nicely and Animagi, but the opportunity never came up in all the bustle. He didn't dare bring up Sirius when there were so many people dropping by who might overhear. Hermione didn't seem to want to discuss what her Animagus form might be. Harry was surprised that she hadn't flung herself into researching the possibilities, but he supposed either she was distracted by the O.W.L.s or she already had an idea and wasn't ready to discuss it.

The first visitor, after the Weasleys, was Mr. Ollivander. He examined Lily's wand with something that appeared to be a jeweler's loupe. "I remember this wand well. Willow and phoenix feather, ten and a quarter inches. Excellent for Charm work, much like your own, Mr. Potter." Ollivander held the wand at arms length and gave it a swish. "Hum, yes, Mr. Potter, this is reparable. However, the cost of repairing it would be twice that of buying a new wand."

Ron winced.

Ollivander pale silver eyes met Harry's bright green gaze. "Which is, of course, why your mother chose to buy a new wand."

"I don't need a new wand," Harry said. "My own is fine, thank you." He thought of how his wand had saved his life because it was a brother to Voldemort's. He told himself not to think about that.

"Erm, no, you don't. you've been taking excellent care of your wand, really. And yes, I understand the sentimental value of this wand. Don't worry, Mr. Potter, I'll make sure it's in top shape by the end of August." His unblinking silvery eyes held a knowing look.

Harry wished Mr. Ollivander wouldn't look at him like that. He almost suspected that the wand-maker knew the real reason he wanted the wand repaired. Sirius couldn't openly buy a wand, which meant the Animagi had to be using wands of dubious origins. His mum's wand had to be better than that, didn't it?

He was glad when Ollivander left. "I wonder how I'll get it if it's not done by September first?" he said, mostly to himself.

"You're kidding," Ron said. "There are any number of Weasleys around to fetch and carry for you. Mum would be happy to have an excuse to come back to Hogwarts and have somebody cook for her."

Harry leaned back in his bed. "Thanks," he said. He wished there was some way to pay the Weasleys back for all their kindnesses to him, but nothing came to mind.


Introducing: The PROWLs:

The O.W.L. marathon started when Neville Longbottom dropped by with some Chocolate Frogs and Sugar Quills. He found himself recruited to run to the library to fetch some Potions books so they could take a PROWL (Practice O.W.L.) in Potions.

Seamus dropped by Friday afternoon with a basketful of Chocolate Frogs and Chocoballs. He was immediately roped into running to the library to fetch some books on O.W.L. strategies because the results of the Potions practice O.W.L. had been miserable. Even Hermione hadn't made passing marks.

"I reckon we should start with an easier subject," Ron said. "Just so we can get a feel for the… darned… PROWLs."

Because he hadn't actually said 'darned', Ron was sent to the library for practice O.W.L.s for Astronomy and History of Magic.

"Astronomy should be the easiest," Hermione said. "It's the most straightforward. And if Binns hasn't been teaching the O.W.L.s all along, then I'm a peppermint humbug."

It turned out that Hermione was not a peppermint humbug. Binn's lectures followed the practice O.W.L. so closely it was downright frightening. As Hermione surmised, the Astronomy PROWL was very straightforward.

They failed, anyway. Although Hermione did not fail miserably on the History of Magic PROWL, probably thanks to her heroic efforts to stay awake in class. She was the only person Harry knew who regularly took coherent notes in that class. Not to mention that she was the only fifth year Gryffindor who actually made a habit of studying her notes over the summer holiday.

"You should get bonus points for being the only student to actually ask Binns a question," Harry commented.

"We should get bonus points for History of Magic," Ron snorted. "We're the ones who found where the Chamber of Secrets was keeping itself."

Seamus left with a haunted expression look on his face and a list of books to pick up before Tuesday. "If Astronomy is the easy O.W.L., the banshee will be screamin' around my house come June!" he mourned. He looked at his book list and winced. On the other hand, Hermione was the only one who'd even come close to passing one of the practice tests. He'd decided that he'd better listen to her.

Saturday morning, Parvati and Padma Patil dropped by with a bouquet of day lilies and Chocolate Frogs. Their attempts to flirt with Harry and Ron (respectively) were thwarted when Hermione conscripted them into going to the library to pick up books on spirit writing and the practice O.W.L. for Divination.

Harry and Ron were relieved. They didn't understand why the Patils were interested in them, considering how badly the Yule Ball had gone. But the reason they were relieved when the flirting ended was they could tell that Hermione was getting annoyed. They didn't want her doing the Fire-starting Glare of Extreme Huffiness at the Patil sisters.

Neville dropped by with Peppermint Toads and Chocolate Frogs while the Patils were in the library and he made the mistake of waiting around to say 'hello' to them. Hermione sent him off to the cafeteria get tea for the Divination exam.

Hermione read the books on spirit writing while the other five tried the Divination PROWL. They all failed miserably. The Patils were aghast. Parvati because Divination was her absolute favorite class and Padma because she'd never received less than a 95.5% in anything in her entire school career. The Patils forgot about flirting in an effort to find out where they had gone wrong.

Lavender Brown arrived around noon with a box of Chocolate Frogs and a carton of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. She declined to go to the library, so Hermione had to fetch the books for the Care of Magical Creatures Practice O.W.L. herself. She managed to finagle a cart out of the librarian so she could bring back "enough" books to make the trip worthwhile.

Neville almost killed Ron when he knocked over the tower of textbooks.

Ron and Neville vowed that they would never allow Hermione go to the library alone.

"It would be ungentlemanly of us," Neville pointed out.

"Not to mention masochistic," Ron added. "If not downright suicidal."

Hermione glared and Ron shut up.

"Don't look at me, I'm sick," Harry said. "Cough," he added to cement his position as The-Boy-Who-Was-Too-Sick-To-Run-To-The-Library.

The Care of Magical Creatures PROWL tried to eat Lavender's charm bracelet ("Because it's glittering," Hermione explained.)

Lavender failed the practice Divination O.W.L. even worse than Parvati had, which filled Parvati with ill-concealed glee. (It turned out that Parvati and Lavender were very competitive in this subject, much to everyone's shock. No one had ever suspected that Lavender and Parvati were competitive in anything.)

To add insult to injury, Harry kept getting beans that tasted like Dudley's diet food. "How do they know?" he grumbled.

"When Bertie Bott says every flavor, he means every flavor," Ron said unsympathetically.

When the visiting girls left, Padma was talking about owling Penelope Clearwater about study tips for O.W.L.s. "She made it look so easy!" Padma said. "She'll help us, I'm sure."

"Maybe we should ask Penelope for help," Ron said. "She's Percy's girlfriend, she might have a fondness for redheads."

"We could ask Percy for help," Hermione suggested.

Ron was so shocked that he knocked over the Tower of Textbooks.

"I wonder how Cho did," murmured Harry, not realizing he was speaking aloud. He wondered if Cedric had helped her study for her O.W.L.s. Poor Cedric, he never got the chance to fret over his N.E.W.T.s. He probably would have done well, too.

He got rather silent then, leaving the others trying to think of a way to cheer him up. The Gryffindors were actually glad when Pansy and Millicent dropped by looking for a book that Hermione had checked out of the library. The surprise of their arrival brought Harry back to himself. He wasn't quite used to the idea of civilized Slytherins.

"Are you planning on becoming a book-monger?" Pansy asked Hermione ironically.

"I can think of worse ideas," Hermione said facetiously. She finished piling the last of the library books back onto the cart. "So, what are you going to fall back on if you fail your O.W.L.s?"

"My stunning good looks, of course," Pansy said dryly. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "Either that or I'll take up snake charming. Say, Potter, do they have an O.W.L. for Parseltongue?"

Harry just hissed at her.

Pansy and Millicent managed to pass the Potions practice O.W.L. by the skin of their teeth; which had Hermione grinding hers in frustration. She wasn't used to being outdone in anything. She was especially disgruntled to be outdone by Slytherins.

Hermione felt a little better when the Slytherins didn't do as well she did on the Charms PROWL. None of them actually passed it, but it was still nice to know she could beat them at something!

Millicent and Pansy declined to take any more practice tests and took the Charms book they'd been looking for. When they returned it, they dropped of a box of Red Hot Cinnamon Snakes and a booklet entitled, "The Slytherin Guide to Causing Students of Other Houses to Fail O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s."

"This will prove handy," Hermione said approvingly. "At least we'll have an idea of what Malfoy will be up to next year."

Dean owled a get-well card and a Honeydukes' coupon good for a half-dozen boxes of Chocolate Frogs.

Neville commented that it was obvious that Dean was going to be a Prefect next year because he showed the most common sense by not coming.

Hermione glared at him. "You've been hanging around Ron too long," she accused.

"He'll be doing a lot more of that this summer," Ron said cheerfully. "I'll have plenty of time to corrupt him!"

Neville smiled blandly and said nothing.

Harry retreated under his blankets with another 'coughing fit.'


On the PROWL:

Every time he was alone, Harry brought Nicely out and coaxed her into showing him more about Animagi. Her first chapter was gone, but that didn't matter. The first chapter was the one that showed what a wizard's animal form was. Harry suspected that was the chapter that had been putting bits of Nicely inside of people.

The missing pages of the second chapter didn't seem to be too important. The second chapter dealt with the horrors of mismanaged animal transfigurations. Harry figured he had enough gruesome examples. He probably didn't need to see everything. Besides, he could always get Hermione to fill him in on whatever was missing.

The third chapter started with the actual transfiguration. Harry didn't understand why everybody made such a big fuss over turning into an animal. Between what he'd learned from Sirius and what he was reading in Nicely, it seemed relatively easy. It certainly made more sense than Potions! He was very tempted to follow Nicely's advice and do a little more practicing. However, he had promised Sirius that he wouldn't try it until Sirius gave him a few more lessons.

Harry made sure that Nicely was out of sight Sunday morning. He didn't want Ginny to realize he'd been studying it again. He didn't want Hermione to know that he'd been studying Animal Transfiguration instead of 'Plum to Seed to Bud to Plum' transfigurations.

When Ginny arrived, she found Hogwarts' Dream Team plus Neville preparing to take a Defense Against Dark Arts O.W.L.

She entered rather hesitantly and wondered if it would be all right if she sat on the foot of Harry's bed. He didn't seem angry at her for almost skewering his… ahh… skewering him a few days ago. She still couldn't believe that she'd gone overboard like that!

Hermione had said it was probably the fault of the Distraction spell. (Ginny's temper tantrum had definitely distracted everybody from the trunk. At least it had for a while.) Ginny thought that the older girl was just being nice.

"How's it going?" she said in as bright a voice as she could manage. However, her eyes were nervous as they darted from Harry to the others, then back to Harry.

If Neville noticed anything, he apparently attributed it to Ginny's usual behavior in the presence of Harry. "It could be worse," he said. He produced a chair from somewhere, unintentionally ruining her chances of sitting on Harry's bed.

"Could be worse?" Hermione moaned.

"Things are that bad?" Ginny asked sympathetically.

She placed her packages on the foot of Harry's bed and sat down on the chair that Neville had apparently conjured up. The bedside table was covered with candy. "I hope you do well on your O.W.L.s, I'm going to need your help next year." She looked up at the Tower of Textbooks that Hermione had borrowed from the library and decided not to say anything for fear of making it angry. The tower looked like it might want a virgin sacrifice or two in revenge for what had happened to Nicely.

"If we're still around next year," Harry said glumly. "What do you have there?" he asked.

"Erm, your birthday presents," Ginny said diffidently. "And some homemade fudge. Mum's been teaching me how to cook."

Harry turned the color of strawberries. "You didn't need to get me anything," he said. "I've never bought you anything."

Ron choked.

"Hey! It's not like I bought the cat," Harry protested. "I didn't even buy the cat carrier." He opened the fudge and handed it around.

"I just wanted to get you something," Ginny said, scuffing her toe on the floor. "It's not much, really."

"If you'd ever tasted her cooking before, you'd know how true that was!" Ron muttered.

Harry glared at Ron, and Ginny felt her skin tingle. He was defending her!

Harry looked away and Ron winked at Ginny. Hermione grinned. Neville raised his eyebrows but said nothing.

Harry cleared his throat, choosing to be unaware of all the matchmaking going on in the room. "You already gave me the Knitten Kitten," he said. He pointed to his school trunk, where his Knitten Kitten Named Mitten was presiding over a court of Chocolate Frogs and Peppermint Toads.

"You gave Ginny a cat?" Neville asked.

"A lovely part-Kneazle calico," Ginny said happily.

"Cool," Neville said. "I like cats, but Gran's allergic. That's why my Uncle Algie gave me Trevor." He pulled the toad from his pocket. "I may let him take the O.W.L.s for me, he'd probably do better."

Trevor blinked.

"He looks like Binns," Ron said.

"Nah, he looks more intelligent than Binns," Harry said.

"So, what subject are you working on?" Ginny tried sound casual in the face of the evidence that Harry Potter was Getting Interested In Her. He didn't seem to hold any grudge over her behavior with the obnoxious book, either. Life was good.

"We were going to try the Defense Against The Dark Arts PROWL next," Neville told her. "Do you want to try?"

"Don't worry if you do badly," Ron said benignly. "We've been doing miserably. Even Hermione."

Ginny was the only one to get a passing score.

"Now that's just plain sick," Ron said.

They sent Ginny to the library three times for books, and to the Verbose Vending Machines twice for drinks. (They had plenty of chocolate to sustain them.) They refused to let Ginny take any more Practice O.W.L.s, saying it couldn't possibly be good for her mental health.

"It's certainly not good for mine!" Ron grumbled.

Ginny didn't argue. In fact, she was very sympathetic to the laboring soon-to-be fifth years. It would have been very touching, except she could be heard snickering every time she left the room on an errand.

Mr. and Mrs. Granger came by Sunday noon with root beer that they'd obtained from Merlin-knows-where and Chocolate Frogs. They watched the practice sessions with carefully concealed amusement. They did have several useful tips on taking tests. "Don't ever second guess yourself," Rupert advised. "Unless you suddenly remember the answer, go with your first instinct, because it's probably a message from your subconscious."

Then, of course, they had to tell horror stories about the kinds of tests that dentists had to take on a continuing basis. "We have to keep up with the latest developments," Emma explained.

Using some of the Grangers' tricks, the four Fifth years managed to pass the Astronomy O.W.L. There was great rejoicing and they decided to spend the rest of the day working on Harry's wizarding jigsaw puzzles. Even Hermione was ready to take a break from Practice O.W.L.s.

"Obviously, there's a trick to taking them that we haven't learned yet," she decided. "We can start practicing again after Harry's birthday."


Monday, Monday

Harry woke up Monday, July 31st, with the happy knowledge that he was going to have a birthday party. Plus, Hermione wasn't going to force him to do another PROWL until Tuesday. Best of all, he wasn't going to see the Dursleys until next June.

Besides, there was the large package Ron had bought on Friday, combined with the three smaller packages that Ginny had brought on Sunday. Harry had never had occasion to wait to open his presents before. It was nice to lie on his bed and stare at the gaily wrapped packages and wonder what was in them. The day was destined to be full of surprises.

The first pleasant surprise was the morning examination by Dr. Opal. It hadn't been nearly as… intrusive… as the first one that Harry had endured after waking up.

Hagrid and Ron came in as Dr. Opal was finishing up. "You're doing fine," she said. "And you're much better than your grandmother was at taking your medicine."

She gave Hagrid a severe look. "I trust that you are taking your medicine at night?" she said. "Even your constitution can be damaged by overexposure to an ESA. I want you getting a full eight to nine hours of sleep every night, Mr. Hagrid. And no alcohol!"

"Yes, Dr. Opal," Hagrid said meekly

The last time Harry heard Hagrid talk in that tone was before his first year, when the half-giant had told Ollivander that he wasn't using his wand any more. He lied then, so Harry was suspicious now.

"Have a petite four? Madame Maxime sent 'em fer Harry," Hagrid clearly wanted to change the subject. He opened a box and held it out.

"Why, thank you," Dr. Opal said, accepting one of the dainty confections. "Keep up the good work, Mr. Potter, and don't eat too much ice cream. The cold won't do your stomach much good." She gave Hagrid another stern look before she left. "Remember, Hagrid, eight to nine hours of sleep!"

"She sounds like my mum," Ron said, helping himself to a petite four.

"Hagrid, why aren't you taking your potion?" Harry asked.

Hagrid looked embarrassed. "It tastes awfu'," he confessed. "Besides, yeh can' take it wi' whiskey, an' I druther have the whiskey."

Harry shook his head but was prevented from answering when Mr. Parkinson arrived to check.

Hagrid offered the chirurgeon a petite four. "From me girlfriend," he said, almost shyly.

"Thank you, don't mind if I do," Mr. Parkinson accepted a cake and handed Harry a box of Chocolate Frogs. "I don't know why I feel obliged to give you a birthday present after you cost me the price of a good supper at the Black Cat Club, Mr. Potter," he said severely.

Harry actually blushed until he caught the twinkle in Mr. Parkinson's eyes that told him that he was being teased. "How did I do that?" he asked.

"I bet Dr. Opal that I would never learn like a quote 'spoiled celebrity, a Muggle-born witch or one of Arthur Weasley's sons.'"

Ron's eyebrows went up and Hagrid frowned.

"No offense," Mr. Parkinson added hastily. "I've learned my lesson."

"I'm not offended," Harry spoke quickly to forestall the angry statement he could see forming on Hagrid's lips. "I would probably find it difficult to like a 'spoiled celebrity' myself. I think you might owe Hermione an apology though."

"I agree about apologizing to Hermione," Ron said. "But I'm not offended for myself. I know you and Dad never got along. You were in school together, weren't you?"

"He was a few years ahead of me, but yes, we did overlap some," Mr. Parkinson said.

"Did you go to school at the same time as my parents?" Harry asked curiously.

Mr. Parkinson shook his head. Then he amended that. "If I did, I don't remember them. I think not, though, I'm pretty sure that they started after I left."

"They started the same year yeh left," Hagrid said. "Yeh prob'ly jes' didn't notice 'em. Lily was a quiet one her firs' couple'a years and James din't get into trouble too much until his secon' year." Hagrid grinned.

There was an brief silence. "Well, I c'n see why yeh'd change yer mind abou' likin' them kids," Hagrid said. "They kind o' grow on yeh, unexpected like."

"You make us sound like fungi," Harry complained.

Ron grinned evilly. "Come to think of it, I think I saw your picture in our Herbology PROWL," he said. "It would explain that hair of yours, anyway." He reached out and grabbed a handful of Harry's hair and tugged.

Harry hit him with a pillow. "Speaking of my hair," he said. "Is it still white?" He ran his fingers through his always messy hair and made it worse.

"You still have some white streaks," Mr. Parkinson said. "But with the Kirttimukha hemorrhaging dealt with, you shouldn't be getting any more. Wizarding medicine has advanced quite a bit since your grandmother's day."

Harry blinked at him. "Since my grandmother's day?" he repeated. "Mr. Parkinson, are you saying that my grandmother had this… Kirty-muck-a thing?" He remembered what Dr. Opal had said about his grandmother not taking her medicine and felt queasy.

Mr. Parkinson winced. "I shouldn't have said that," he said. Then he sighed. "Yes, Mr. Potter. There are indications that the Kirt-ti-muk-ha hemorrhaging is what led to Tatiana Potter's early death. The theory is that she never fully recovered from the shock of her husband's murder."

Harry's eyes went wide. "You mean, I'm going to…" he saw Ron turn pale and stopped in mid-thought.

"NO! Yer not goin' ter die!" Hagrid blurted. "Yer goin' ter get all better, righ'?" He looked at Mr. Parkinson anxiously.

Mr. Parkinson held up his hand. "Calm yourself, Mr. Potter, Hagrid. Kirttimukha hemorrhaging isn't necessarily fatal, if properly treated. We caught it in the early stages and, as I said, wizarding medicine has advanced quite a bit. You shouldn't suffer from any relapses. In fact, you had such a mild case that you probably wouldn't have suffered anything worse than some stomachaches and white hairs if that ESA hadn't pushed you over the edge."

"How can the ESA make him sick?" Ron asked. "It only affects your emotional state, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but Mr. Potter's emotional state was 'extremely stressed,'" Mr. Parkinson explained. "And by increasing that, the ESA made the Kirttimukha hemorrhage act up."

"How did you know that I was stressed?" Harry asked.

"An educated guess, given what I know of the Tri-Wizard Tournament," Mr. Parkinson said. "You are not the first Tri-Wizard champion to come down with this, either."

Harry thought about asking what had happened to the other Champions, but decided that he really didn't want to know. After all, nobody said that all the deaths of previous Tournaments had happened during the tasks.

"One thing that I cannot stress enough, Harry, if you have any symptoms, any at all, from more white hairs to stomach cramps, let somebody know." Mr. Parkinson gave Harry a serious look. "I do hope I don't need to tell you to see Madam Pomfrey if you start hacking up blood, do I?"

"Yes, sir, I mean, no, I'll go to Madame Pomfrey if I start feeling sick that way again," Harry said with a small shudder. "I don't want to die."

Ron felt oddly relieved to hear that. He made a mental note to tell Hermione the first chance that he got.

"Good boy," Mr. Parkinson said. "I believe that is the main difference between you and your grandmother. Your grandmother didn't want to go on without your grandfather." There was also a rumour that Tatiana Potter had died of shame because her only son had married a Muggle-born, but York Parkinson would have rather hexed his own tongue out than to repeat that.

"I see," Harry said thoughtfully. "Who killed my grandfather?"

"We aren't sure about that, either," Mr. Parkinson said sadly. "The current belief is that he was one of the first victims of You-Know-Who. Tiberius Potter was treating some people who had been attacked by dark wizards, possibly some of the first Death Eaters. Your grandfather managed to buy enough time for the security guards to arrive. The attackers were killed in the fight. His patients couldn't tell us why they'd been attacked."

"Do they know why, now?" Ron asked.

"They was Muggle-borns who worked fer the Min'stry," Hagrid said.

"Two of the more vocal pro-Muggle activists," Mr. Parkinson added.

"Oh. Are they still alive?" Harry asked.

"As far as I know, they are," Mr. Parkinson said. "One resigned from the Ministry and emigrated shortly after the attack. Possibly due to threats against his family. The other was made of sterner stuff. He stayed in the Ministry until You-Know-Who was defeated."

"Oh." Harry said.

"When Tiberius' ghost appeared, he was questioned, but he couldn't recall any details of the attack. Only that his last sensation was of extreme cold," Mr. Parkinson hesitated. "If it's any consolation, at least it had been a quick and painless death."

"Yeah, that's something," Harry said. He tried not to think about how his parents had died. He felt a stab of pity for Hagrid and Sirius who had seen the aftermath of the attack.

"Don' thin' too hard on it," Hagrid said gently. "Yeh need to learn to empty them thoughts from yer head."

"He's very good at emptying his head," Ron said.

Harry glared. "Bugger off, Weasley, I get enough of that from the Dursleys," he said grumpily.

Mr. Parkinson raised an eyebrow.

"Not all Muggles are as… decent… as Mr. and Mrs. Granger," Harry said. He emphasized 'decent' because he could not think of a word that adequately described how he felt about the Grangers' kindness to him. He was equally frustrated whenever he tried to put his feelings about the Weasleys into words.

"There aren't a lot of people in the wizarding world, either, who are as nice as Hermione's parents," Ron said.

"I hope I qualify as one of the few," Mr. Parkinson said.

"You are in my book," Ron said earnestly. He fidgeted with the sleeve of his beloved new uniform.

"Mine, too," Harry added, deciding that anybody Ron liked that much had to be all right.

"I'm really glad you got me into the Honey Badgers," Ron added.

"It was to my benefit, too," Mr. Parkinson said with a smile. "Don't forget, we horrible Slytherin are always looking out for our own interests, and the more intelligent help we can get for free, the better off we are." He grinned at them for a moment. "Seriously, we can always use more help around here. Will you consider staying on after Harry is released?"

"Sure!" Ron said enthusiastically. He was pleased at being asked because he'd been nervous that he wouldn't be good enough.

"How about you, Harry?" Mr. Parkinson said. "And, if Miss Granger can forgive my early prejudice about Muggle-borns, do you suppose she'd like to join? I would be happy to buy you both uniforms, too. I will also be happy to help with your Practice O.W.L.s. I understand they aren't going well."

Ron flinched, but Harry didn't seem to pay much attention to the offer to buy the uniforms. Ron forced himself to relax. After all, Harry was always buying things for people. He probably wouldn't think twice about a doctor offering to buy uniforms for Honey Badgers. There were times when Ron was glad that his two best friends were still relatively ignorant about wizarding customs.

Harry, for his part, was thinking very hard about this Honey Badger business. On one hand, cleaning bedpans and scrubbing floors for the rest of summer, even with magic, seemed like a month long detention. On the other hand, he'd be spending a lot of time with Ron, Hermione and maybe Ginny.

It would be better than scrubbing floors and cleaning out the attic for the Dursleys, he decided. He looked at his mother's trunk. Even finding the trunk hadn't made up for the way the Dursleys had treated him all these years.

"Erm, I dunno," he managed after several minutes of silence.

"There's no need to hurry your decision," Mr. Parkinson said. "You'll be with us for another week, at least. Nobody will blame you if you want to spend the rest of the summer recuperating. Even if you came to work here, you'd be on very limited duty. Might not be very interesting for you."

"I have a question about the Herbology PROWL," Ron said. He picked up one of the O.W.L. preparation booklets. "This says that snapdragons are dangerous, but Harry and Hermione say that even Muggles grow snapdragons."

Hagrid chuckled. "If yer goin' ter start talkin' O.W.L.s, then it's time fer me ter be leavin'. Them things give me a headache."

"You never did pass any O.W.L.s, did you Hagrid?" Mr. Parkinson asked.

"Well, I got me Honorary O.W.L. in Care o' Magical Critters," Hagrid said. "I bin takin' care of interestin' critters fer years, includin' Fluffy, so the Board decided ter pass me on that one."

"Congratulations on the H.O.W.L.," Ron said.

"Glad all your hard work was recognized," Harry added.

"Thanks, Harry, Ron," Hagrid said with a pleased smile.

Mr. Parkinson muttered something under his breath about wonders never ceasing. Then he smiled, patted Harry's shoulder and swiped a Chocolate Frogs. He and Hagrid took their leave then, debating the merits of Ogden's Old Firewhiskey versus Peebles' Scotch.

"Who would have thought that a Slytherin could be so nice?" Ron asked after their voices had faded.

"Who would have thought that Pansy Parkinson's father could be so nice?" Harry returned.

"Actually, Pansy's been sort of nice herself," Ron admitted.

Harry gasped and clutched at his heart. "Don't tell me that Hermione has competition!" he asked in mock horror. "If you decide to dump her, then I'll have to defend her honor, what with her father being a Muggle and… urmph."

The last was due to the Chocolate Frog that Ron had stuffed into his mouth.

"I said she was nice, that's all," Ron said. "She's even been helping Neville with Potions over the summer."

"She always struck me as being a nice girl," a thin voice said.

"Grandfather!" Harry said happily, even though the temperature of the room fell alarmingly.

"Hello, Harry," the ghost of Tiberius Potter said.

"Grandfather, this is Ron Weasley," Harry said.

"Please to meet you," Tiberius said. "I am glad that my grandson has made friends with a family noted for loyalty and kindness as well as Gryffindor courage."

Ron blushed. Which was a good thing under the circumstances, as it helped keep his face warm. "Pleased to meet your, sir," he said. "I'm glad Harry's finally been able to meet one of his ancestors." He paused. "That didn't come out right."

"S'okay," Harry said from under his covers. Much as he loved to see his grandfather, he couldn't actually look at Tiberius for more than a few minutes. The cold was just too much for him.

"I wish I could stay," Tiberius said wistfully. "I have a lot of stories to tell you about your father and your grandmother and your great-grandfather."

"And you, I should hope," Harry said from under his blankets.

"I suppose I could remember a few stories about me," Tiberius said. "As long as you don't ask about my death."

"Erm, okay," Ron said. He didn't really want to hear about the violent death of a Potter, anyway. He shivered slightly. His Mediwizard robes were warm enough for the chilly room, but Tiberius' presence was too much for anything short of a parka or a heating charm.

"Right," Harry said. "Is that because you don't want to talk about it or because you still can't?"

"Both." Tiberius sighed. "I must leave now."

"When will you be back?" Harry asked, sitting back upright.

"I'm afraid I won't be able to visit you again," Tiberius said sadly. "I'm not supposed to come near patients."

"How about after I get discharged?" Harry asked. "I might be working as a volunteer here."

"I might be able to visit with you then," Tiberius said. "At least for a few minutes. I wish I could write to you, though. I'd love to keep in touch with you while you're at school. I could ask one of the staff here to write to you for me, but they can't take the cold much, either."

"I see," sighed Harry. He sneezed.

"Maybe Hermione can come up with a way," Ron said. "She's a genius."

"Yes, she is," Harry said before sneezing again.

"Farewell," Tiberius said. He faded out of the room hastily.

Harry sneezed again.

"Bless you," Ron said.

"Thanks."

"He seems nice," Ron said thoughtfully. "I hope I see more of him this summer, when I'm working here."

"Good luck," Harry said.


Interhouse Rivalry Never Ends, Either

Dr. Opal dropped by with Chocolate Frogs during the Grangers' visit.

"Can't let a Slytherin outdo a Ravenclaw," she said. "Especially not with my history with the Potters."

"Dr. Cressida Opal, this is Mr. Rupert Granger, Mrs. Emma Granger and one of my best friends, Miss Hermione Granger," Harry said. "This is Dr. Opal, she's been looking after me."

Everybody murmured the usual polite phrases at each other.

"I take it you knew Harry's parents?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, in fact, I knew his grandparents, too," Dr. Opal said. "I went to school with his grandparents. I worked with Tiberius and I treated Tatiana during her final illness."

The Grangers winced.

"How did you meet them?" Harry asked, wanting to turn the subject away from unpleasant deaths.

"Well, it was my third year," Dr. Opal replied. "Tiberius and I had Arithmancy together. We found that we studied well together, so we had our own little study group." She smiled reminiscently. "In fact, we helped each other to gain the Head Boy and Head Girl positions."

"My grandfather was Head Boy?" Harry asked with some dismay.

Dr. Opal patted his arm. "Sorry, I didn't mean to add more stress to your plate. Don't worry about whether or not you become Head Boy," she said. "Just do your best. Nobody has the right to expect you to be as smart, or as handsome… Is that the time? I've got work to get back to." She left hurriedly. Harry could have sworn she was blushing. He was sorry that she left before she'd said anything about his grandmother.

Ron snickered. "I think she fancied your grandfather," he said. "Must be that Potter charm at work."

"Ron! Honestly, what's so funny about fancying somebody?" Hermione asked in exasperation. She patted Harry's hand. "Not that you don't have a lot of charm, Harry."

Harry felt his cheeks warming up.

Ron opened his mouth, found he didn't have an answer ready, and shut it again.

Rupert decided it was time to change the subject. "Let's move these books out of the way," Rupert said, gesturing to the Tower of Textbooks. "You won't be using them until tomorrow, anyway."

"Don't remind me," Harry sighed. "Hermione must be related to Oliver Wood. They're both fanatics when it comes to forcing people to work."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Well, maybe your grandfather had a little more of that Potter charm than you." She said.


Happy Birthday, Harry!

Harry's birthday tea was more of a supper, since it started closer to five than to four. Several of the guests had work to do. Ron was the first guest to arrive, because he'd been in Harry's room most of the day. Hermione left to shower and change into her party clothes.

It was the largest birthday part Harry had ever had. Which wasn't as impressive as it might have been, as the only other birthday party he could remember was the one that Sirius had thrown him last week. Aside from Ron and Hermione, the guest list included: Hermione's parents, Ron's parents, Ginny, George, Fred, Hagrid, Neville, Dr. Opal, Mr. Parkinson, Pansy and Millicent.

Many of the guests wore their work uniforms and Hermione thought that Ron looked very mature in his hospital whites. Hermione wore some green robes that Ron wasn't sure about. On one hand, Hermione looked good in them, on the other hand, they were almost the color of Harry's eyes. Ron told himself that it was just a coincidence.

Ginny wore the blue robes that she'd found in the attic. Harry thought she looked good in them, but didn't attach much importance to that. He was so excited to have a real birthday party that he thought that Hermione looked good in green. He even thought the Slytherin girls looked pretty nice in their hospital whites.

The Slytherin girls seemed a bit uncomfortable at first, but Hermione brought out the wizarding jigsaw puzzle (the one with the fountain) and Pansy and Millicent quickly became involved in helping Harry solve it.

Everyone chatted cheerfully as they ate and offered suggestions about how to piece the puzzle together. Harry wondered about their spirit of cooperation until the time came to put in the last piece. Everybody drew back to allow Harry the honor of finishing the puzzle by himself.

On the other hand, they may have wanted to avoid the spray of water that shot out when the last piece of the fountain was put into place.

Harry let out a few descriptive words as he frantically tried to stop the gush of water. One of the adults would have chided him for his language if they hadn't all been laughing so hard.

"Here," Ron said at last. "Just take out a piece." He pulled out a piece and the waterworks stopped.

Harry glared at his guests as best he could with his fringe plastered across his glasses. He knew he had to look absolutely ludicrous, as he could even hear Ginny snickering.

"That was brilliant," George told Hermione. "You are definitely worthy of becoming a Weasley in-law. If Ron doesn't come to his senses soon, I may have to make you an offer myself."

Hermione turned bright red.

George might have said more, but Ron tilted the puzzle a little and put the last piece back in. George jumped when the cold water hit him and he let out a few descriptive words himself.

"George, language!" Molly said sternly. "There are ladies present!" A flick of her wand and Harry and his bed were dried off.

Harry noticed that she didn't dry George off.

"No fair, you didn't scold Harry!" George complained.

"It's his birthday," Ginny said demurely. She perched at the foot of Harry's now dry bed.

Harry gave her an ironic look and Ginny smiled merrily at him. "I see you've decided that you want to be friends, now that you're safe from sudden puzzle showers," Harry said.

"Yes," Ginny said cheekily. She could hardly believe that she was being so bold around Harry. Even stranger was the fact that Harry didn't seem to mind!

"By the way," Hagrid said. "Yeh can refill the fountain with any liquid you wan'. Jes' point yer wand at what you wan' ter use an' say 'refillo fountain.' People like the use 'em at parties 'cos you can fill 'em with punch or butterbeer."

"Or wine," Fred put in. "Or even," he looked from Harry to Ginny. "Love potions." He poked Harry in the shoulder. "Not that you need a love potion, eh, Potter?"

Harry decided this was a very good time to change the subject. "Time to open presents?" he asked.

"Here," Mr. Parkinson said, handing Harry a squishy package. "You can probably use these, now." "These" turned out to be a new pair of pyjamas – Gryffindor scarlet with a pattern of Golden Snitches."

"Cool! Thanks, Mr. Parkinson!" Harry said enthusiastically.

"Try them on," Mr. Parkinson invited.

Harry went into the bathroom to change. When he came out, the red pyjamas made him look paler than before, but his smile was bright enough to compensate for that.

York Parkinson smirked at Cressida Opal.

Ron handed him the small packages from his parents and his sister. "Here, open these next," he said.

Ginny's present turned out to be some nice mittens in Gryffindor colors. "To go with your Knitten Kitten Named Mitten," she said.

"Thank you," Harry smiled at her and she blushed Gryffindor scarlet. Harry thought her blushing was cute. He wondered why he kept thinking that. He decided to go on to the next present instead of pursuing that train of thought.

Mrs. Weasley had made him a hat and muffler to go with the mittens. "You need to keep warm in here," she said with a slight shiver.

"Thank you, Mrs. Weasley," Harry said with another smile.

Mr. Weasley's present was a small envelope that held a slip of paper. Harry read it and found that he now had a subscription to Quidditch Weekly. "You can keep up with all the teams," Arthur said happily. "There are articles on the foreign teams, even articles about American Quodpot."

"Cool! Thanks, Mr. Weasley!" Harry said. He set the small slip of paper telling him that his subscription would start in August aside.

"Open ours, next!" Fred said eagerly. He picked up a package from the rapidly diminishing pile. "Don't touch it, you'll get it all wet," he said to George.

Fred handed the package to Harry, who opened it with a slight bit of trepidation. It didn't explode, although Harry wasn't the only one who thought the gift would have been improved by having it go up in flames.

Judging by the grins on the twins' faces, they were among the people who thought the thing was hideous.

"When we were buying dress robes for Ron and Ginny, we decided that we should get you something," George said. "You're almost a Weasley, even if your hair is an unfortunate shade of black."

"We got these robes at a second hand shop," Fred said dramatically. "Can you believe that somebody wanted to get rid of them?"

"I can't believe anybody would sell these to a second hand store," Harry agreed, mostly because he had a hard time believing that anybody would buy these robes in the first place. They were covered with peacocks, which wouldn't have been quite so bad if the birds had been actual peacock colors. However, these birds appeared to be (in Muggle terms) radioactive mutants with electric blue and neon green feathers. In wizarding terms…

"Hagrid, when did you start raising peacocks?" Pansy demanded, shielding her eyes.

Hagrid laughed. "Don' blame me!" he said. "Them birds is enough to scare a Mantichore!"

"Pity you didn't have these robes a few years ago, mate," laughed Ron. "The basilisk wouldn't have stood a chance against them!"

"I have something here, too," Dr. Opal said. She handed Harry a bulky package and made a face at Mr. Parkinson.

"You don't have to be so blamed competitive, Cressida," Mr. Parkinson commented.

"Says the loser," Dr. Opal said gleefully.

Mr. Parkinson muttered something under his breath.

"You didn't need to get me anything," Harry said as he unwrapped the box. "Wow, a chess set! Thanks!" He picked up one of the glass pieces and admired the way the light sparkled on it.

"You already have a chess set," Ron said.

"But this is a complete set," Harry said. "Red versus green. I can play while I'm here."

"It was especially enchanted for hospital use," Dr. Opal said. "The chess pieces are charmed to be still and quiet. They can't shout at you, give you advice or go stomping around the board. You'll have to move them by hand."

"In other words," Harry said dryly. "These are Muggle chess pieces."

Dr. Opal had laughed at him. "I bought them from a wizard vendor," she said. "I assure you, they do something interesting! I'll explain when you're ready to leave." She gave Mr. Parkinson a sly look. "We don't want to continue certain rivalries in the hospital now, do we?"

Harry, assuming she meant the Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry, agreed.

Hermione picked one of the rooks and frowned. She didn't like the looks of the pieces, they reminded her of the ugly Golems that Madame Handwerker used as guards. However, she didn't want to criticize Harry's birthday present.

"Here," Ron handed Harry the big package. "I made this for you myself, with Dad's help."

"This" turned out to be a deluxe owl cage, made from brass.

"Look, there's a low level charm on the water dish to make sure the water is always fresh and clean," Ron said, pointing out the features. "And," he turned the cage around. "There's a secret door on the back, so those Muggle relatives of yours can't lock Hedwig in again."

"Excellent!" Harry exclaimed. "I thank you, and Hedwig thanks you!" He looked around. "Where is Hedwig, anyway?"

"She's staying at the Burrow," Ron said. "She and Hermes have been getting along… very well."

Harry held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it," he said. "Just tell Percy that I expect his owl to behave like a gentleman!"

Everybody laughed and Ron challenged all present to a chess match.

He handily defeated both Mr. Parkinson and Dr. Opal. The Grangers and his own parents turned down the invitation to be publicly humiliated.

Pansy took up the challenge. This was the longest game and actually wound up in a stalemate.

"You're just lucky it's been a long time since my last real game, Weasley," Pansy said good-humouredly. She looked at her father. "My mother doesn't have time to play anymore, and you saw how well my father played."

"Well, maybe I'll give you an opportunity to lose graciously tomorrow," Ron said.

"In your dreams," snorted Pansy. "You had better be prepared for humiliation tomorrow." Then she made a face. "Better make it the day after tomorrow."

Ron raised an eyebrow. "Backing out already?" he teased.

"No, Millie and I have to be in early tomorrow," Pansy said. "I won't have time to play tomorrow."

"Chicken!"

Pansy glared at him.

"Maybe you could have the grudge match out at the nurse's station," Dr. Opal suggested. "You could play during your breaks."

"I'm not on duty tomorrow," Ron said.

"But you'll be here early to get started on those practice O.W.L.s," Hermione said severely.

Ron rolled his eyes but didn't object verbally.

"Then it would probably be a good idea to take the chess set out to the nurse's station," Pansy said. "Wouldn't want you and Potter to get distracted, would we, Weasley?"

Hermione grinned.

"Sure, you can borrow the set," Harry said.

"Speaking of getting up early tomorrow," Mr. Parkinson said. "It's time we were getting home. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."

"I've got to get going, too," Neville said. "I have the early shift tomorrow, too. Besides, my gran is expecting me home soon."

"We've got to get going," George said. "We're going to stay at Lee Jordan's house for a few days." He grinned. "We have to study for our N.E.W.T.s, you know."

Neither Arthur nor Molly looked like they believed that the twins would be studying.

"I have a late shift tonight," Dr. Opal said. "Could I be so bold as to borrow one of your birthday presents, Mr. Potter? I think that puzzle is just what I need to keep me awake while I'm sitting around waiting for the next patient to apparate into my lap."

"Sure, Dr. Opal," Harry said amiably. "Thanks for the chess set!"

Dr. Opal waved his thanks away. "Think nothing of it, Mr. Potter."

"And I won't forget that puzzle any time soon, Hermione," Harry added with a sly look. "If memory serves, your birthday is coming up." He looked over at the twins, who grinned evilly.

Hermione looked worried.

The party broke up then, and the last thing Harry heard from his guests that night was Hermione protesting about the purity of her intentions.

"She really does sound like a Weasley," Harry confided to Mitten, the Knitten Kitten.



Author's Notes:
Here is the penultimate chapter, next up is the thrilling finale: "Out With a Bang". Same wizarding time! Same English channel!

For the record, July 31, 1995 was a Monday.

Hermione's Animagus form is not a basilisk, nor does she turn into something that you wouldn't want in your house.

The 'Plum to Seed to Bud to Plum' reference is a line in the song "Steady As A Beating Drum" in the Disney animated movie, Pocahontas.

Review Responses:
Hello, Gini! Thanks for reviewing here as well as at Gryffindor Tower! ** Thanks for the compliments on my Knitten Kitten. ** Poor Viktor, he needs a girlfriend. Somebody who doesn't have Weasleys around her. ;-)

Hi, Jake! Thanks for coming by. Hope FF.net let you see chapter 18 before I got 19 up!

DaBear: Thanks for the compliments! ** Yes, it's very convenient that both Harry and Hermione's coloring goes well with red! :-)

Blueberry: Thanks for reviewing! Sorry I didn't make myself clear. Harry did have Kirttimukha. That's why his hair started going white. Kirttimukha is caused by stess and guilt and other unpleasant emotions. The ESA amplified those and turned a mild, nasty case of Kirttimukha into a life threatening case.

Jake: Thank you! You're sweet, too!

Andrea13: Thanks for reviewing! ** I knew *somebody* would figure out that the baby broom was there. ** I expect the ring can be resized. ** Thanks for telling me what you found funny! (Wouldn't having a werewolf and a grim sitting in the room make you long for the dull old meetings where all you had to worry about was snoring too loudly?) ** I was that obvious, was I?

X13: Thanks for reviewing! Glad you're feeling better! ** Your mother is not crazy, she's just concerned about you. ** Telling Ginny off wasn't an option, besides she had a point…

Bob: Thanks for reviewing! ** Re: Ginny being turned into a Parselmouth rather than a Parseltongue… umm, she misspoke in her excitement. Yeah, that's the ticket! ** I guess I was pretty obvious, wasn't I? ;-) ** Thanks for saying what lines you liked! ** I figure that the father of seven ought to be able to figure out how a boy thinks. Arthur is no dummy. ** No, Ron's the owl, so his Animagus training will be the hoot! ** Yeah, there are more girls than boys in that group (even if you count Crookshanks). However, Nicely is more likely to side with the boys. ** Hedwig is at The Burrow, which is why Ginny offered to send her to Ollivander's. ** Yeah, Hermione has heard about the Dursleys, but she forgets that not all people are as willing to answer questions as her parents. ** Hang on, we're almost at the checkered flag!

The Breeze: What a cool screen name! ** Thanks for reviewing! ** "A Sirius Situation" will start as soon as this story is finished! ** They'll tell Ginny about Sirius soon. ** No, this isn't a duplicate.

Taself: Thanks for reviewing! ** No, I getting into a staredown with Hermione might not be a good idea. ** More is coming up!

Lan: Thanks for revieiwing! ** Glad you're getting used to the cliffhangers. It just feels so unnatural to not have them. ("God, I miss the screaming.") ** "A Sirius Situation" will start as soon as this story is finished. Stay tuned!

Bucky: Thanks for the compliments! ** I have ideas for Cat!Harry and Owl!Ron, so I'll probably keep with this AU.

AerinBrown: Thanks for the review, and for telling me what your favorite parts are! ** You'll find out what Hermione did in "A Sirius Situation."

Amulder: You… didn't… like… *snf* Oh, because it was too short! You scared me! :-) ** Yep, the relation between Harry and Ginny is going forward. He sees that she's very good and she sees that he's not perfect. Both are very helpful in a relationship. ** OOps, sorry that the wand explanation confused you. Simplified: Lily wanted to hide James Christmas present, so she left it at Petunia's (with some other Christmas stuff.) ** She had a low level Distraction charm on it so Petunia wouldn't steal the tablecloth or the sheets. The Distraction charm was powered by the broken wand. The more the wand leaked, the more powerful the Distraction charm got. The ring was affected, too. Does that clear things up any?

Female Fred: Thanks for the review! Glad Ginny's reaction seemed right to you.

Deirdre: Thanks for the review! Glad you got a giggle out of the names I gave Hermione's parents.

Von: Thanks for reviewing! ** Sorry the story has seemed bland to you for the past couple of chapters. The next chapter will be NOT bland, promise. ** "WHY didn't Harry just say 'My Dad helped make it, and I've seen it's brain, it's a pensive, calm down.'" Ummm… because he didn't think of it? (Neither did I). Harry did get around to telling her that his father had a hand in making it. ** I solemnly swear, Hermione's form (while unexpected) will not be a basilisk (you spelled that correctly). It will not be scaley or disgusting, it will be very impressive. Hermione will hate it.

Angel of the North: Thanks for reviewing! ** How could you tell I was a fan of "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." ** Thanks for telling me what you liked. ** No, the ring is just a ring.

A. Lee: Thanks for the review! ** Yeah, Ginny overreacted big time, didn't she?

" ?": Nope, Hermione isn't a basilisk.

Ozma: You should know how much I love to hang cliffs! ;) ** Thanks for the review and thanks for posting another chapter! I've missed your Argus Filch! ** Thanks for telling me what parts you liked. ** " Warrior!Ginny and her Sleepy Spindle Spike of Doom" *grin* sounds like a good title for something. ** " [Ginny] not only faces her worst fear, she goes for the THROAT." (Great line!) I figure anybody who can survive a year of being possessed by Riddle is a fighter through and through.

KaceyRat: Thanks for the review! More on the way!

Roman: Thanks for the review! ** Nicely is an Aid to Magical Mischief Makers, she can't be 100% "nice."

Galadriel7: Thanks for all the compliments! It's nice to hear that people are enjoying my story! ** This is the last calm chapter evil grin ** You are welcome for the story!