Once back home, the entire family went to get ready for the guests that'd come for lunch. It seemed that this was a tradition of the potter family, every birthday, they would celebrate over lunch and invite every family friend or personal friend of the one whose birthday it was.

Speaking of personal friends, Harry felt kinda bittersweet regarding one of the would-be attendees of today's party. His sister was best friends with Daphne Greengrass and her little sister, Astoria. He remembered how in his old world, Daphne was his real best friend, they shared a bond even deeper than the one he shared with Ron and Hermione. It's not like he didn't care for them, but their initial interest in him came from the fact that he was the Boy-Who-Lived, whereas Daphne's interest came from how curious she found him. He still remembered with fondness the first time they talked.

It was in their second year and he was resting in his favourite spot by the lake. That was the only place in which he could find solace from the rest of the world. For the 2nd year in a row he was in the spotlight; last year it was because everyone wanted to see how the boy who lived acted, how powerful he was, his eating habits, etc. This year because of the whole Heir of Slytherin shit and him being a parseltongue. He was going to get mad!

Getting back on topic, he was there alone, enjoying the peace that the soft sounds of nature brought him. That was until he heard someone step on a branch behind him, instincts honed after 4 years of training with the best teachers his money could buy, and the weariness of people trying to hex him every now and then made him jump into action. Drawing his wand and aiming it at the intruder, he stood there assessing that person; The first thing he saw was the lack of a drawn wand, meaning that she wasn't hostile, for now at least, and The 2nd thing he noticed was the unimpressed expression that she was wearing, it was almost as if she was expecting such a reaction.

"Those are excellent reflexes for such an extremely average wizard." Was the first thing she said.

"Well, when you have half the school trying to hex you on the corridors you tend to get good reflexes." He answered her unasked question while trying to discern why she was talking to him. He remembered Her from their shared classes, She always looked at him with a curious or confused expression, almost as if he was a puzzle she was trying to solve.

"Those are more than good reflexes if you got them in the 3 months of classes we had so far." He was about to answer but she cut him short. "Don't bother lying to me, I've been observing you since the last year. You interest me, but not as the boy who lived. I'm smart enough to know that you couldn't possibly do magic consciously at the age of 1, but as someone who was raised to be extremely observant, I know that you are smarter and more powerful than you show. I recognize occlumency when I see it, also, you don't walk as the rest of the muggle-raised students who are brimming with curiosity, You are observant, but you also seem to be familiar with the castle. You are certainly trained in duelling, and you're also trained in muggle martial arts or dancing, which I can deduct by the way you move. So tell me, Harry Potter, why is it that the golden boy of Wizarding Britain likes to play the part of an average boy? Why does the grandiose Boy-who-lived shies away from the attention his loving fans give him? Answer me," How did she know all of that? Was he that obvious? How many people noted those details? He needed to know before deciding how to proceed. Sighing he decided to answer her, even if it was with half-truths.

"I've been training in different martial arts ever since I was little. I also hate not knowing everything about my environment, so when I learned that I was a wizard, I bought more than the books required for the first year and spent most of my time reading about the wizarding world. I also practised every wand movement I found until they were second nature to me. I don't like fame because it causes people to be more watchful of your movements which I hate, I like moving freely." There, he answered her questions, and he answered truthfully, well, kinda. 9 years old is little when it comes to starting martial arts. And he did buy more books than he needed for his 1st year, only it wasn't because he didn't know about the wizarding world, but because they weren't in the potter library. The stuff about wand movements and fame was the truth, he could perform wand movements with ease, not to the point of an Auror, but certainly better than your average 2nd-year student, and he did despise fame.

Daphne for her part wanted to tell him off for lying to her, but she couldn't spot any of the tell-tale signs of a liar. It frustrated her because she knew that he was somehow being untruthful, and she couldn't do anything about it. Huffing she said.

"I Know you're still hiding something, but since I can't put my finger on it yet, I will let it be for now." Harry rolled his eyes at her.

"You're consideration is very much appreciated miss Greengrass." She raised an eyebrow at his sarcastic answer.

"There's no need to be sarcastic with me, I'm just a curious young lady wanting to learn more about her hero." She said matching his sarcasm adding some batted her eyelashes at the end. Harry snorted at that.

"Well then, I hate to be the bringer of bad news, but this hero is on his daily rest and isn't available for answering questions. Approach him at a later date and he'll see that your questions are answered," Saying that, he just lay on the grass again and close his eyes. He heard her scoff and leave.

Ever since that day, Daphne started to integrate herself into his life to satiate her curiosity. Time went by, and by the start of 4th year, she was the closest person to him. They knew everything about the other, every single mannerism and every single secret, every fear and every dream, everything. But there is where the good memories end.

After 4th year she disappeared completely, with no goodbyes, no anything. He wasn't a fool, he understood why she and her family left, but that's not what hurt him. A lot of his friends left for the same reasons, but they at least said goodbye. She abandoned him when he needed her the most and didn't even send him a letter. He spent the next year hating her. Because of her, he became distant, more prone to snap at people and spent more time alone than he should've. She was his sister in all but blood and she abandoned him. Hell, even her sister sent him letters every now and then, but she sent him nothing.

For that reason, seeing her now left a sour taste in his mouth. He knew that this Daphne wasn't his Daphne, but he still couldn't forgive her. Harry sighed tiredly, today was his twin's birthday as much as it was his and Daphne was sure to come.

Just like he predicted, here he was standing in the entrance hall receiving guests and watching as his sister hugged Daphne enthusiastically while he greeted her parents.

"Good afternoon Mr Greengrass, good afternoon Mrs Greengrass. Thank you for coming." He said with a welcoming smile.

"Now, none of that Harry, we've known each other for years now, it's ana and Robert to you." Came Ana's reply.

"I know, but one of us has to show manners, and seeing that my twin is occupied, that task falls on me." To be honest, he didn't have to be polite, but he didn't know how to act towards this family.

"Ah yes, I can see that happening. Well, we'll get going so you can keep welcoming the guests. Talk to you later." With those parting words from Robert, the Greengrass family proceeded to the main hall where the rest of the guests were.

He kept receiving guests alongside his twin for at least another 20 minutes until every guest was already in the hall. When they entered they were received with applause and a hug from their parents.

"Now that everyone's here, let's start serving lunch." As if those were magic words, food started appearing on the long table where everyone was sitting. At least 30 people were here to celebrate with them; among these people were the blacks, lupin, the Delacour, the Greengrass, and the tonks. There were people from other families too, but those were the only people he could recognize. Everyone was talking merrily about this and that, narrating anecdotes from their times with the twins, and laughing all around. All in all, it was a very lovely atmosphere.

"…I mean, basilisk venom really? How can he be so stupid!?" He heard one of Aria's friends say. It looks like his sister was telling them about what he did. He was distracted listening to the conversation and didn't hear Andromeda talking to him until someone touched his shoulder.

"Hm? Sorry, I zoned out." He said sheepishly.

"No problem. I was asking about your wand, Lily here tells me that you and your sister got custom wands. Did you get something satisfactory, or did you get the same thing everyone gets?" She asked the last part teasingly.

"Meh, a little bit of this, a little bit of that." He replied with an equally teasing tone. There was no way in hell he was going to tell everyone that he got veela hair on his wand, especially since he didn't know if Fleur marked him knowingly or instinctually. It would be like saying 'I know you like me, and now the rest of the world does too.' It felt like an invasion of her privacy.

"Oh! Come on, stop playing the mysterious prat, tell us what you got." That was Nymphadora being her usual helpful self.

"He probably got something average like the rest of us mortals, something like phoenix feather and holly, and is too ashamed to tell us" This time it was Lupin doing the teasing and the rest of the guests supported him.

"Alright alright, people, I'll tell you. The wood is a rare type of oak, and the cores are, Dragon fang and thestral heartstring." There were some oohs until Ana asked what kind of rare oak. "The kind of oak you don't talk about publicly." He answered very much stealing his father's answer.

"I never heard of any rare oak." Came daphne's unasked question which caused him to sigh internally. 'Once a curious mind, always a curious mind.' He thought bitterly.

"Well, you just did. To be honest, though, I didn't know it existed until I read about it in an old diary written by one of my ancestors." He answered truthfully. Little Harry had read about it in Sebastian potter's old diary, the dude had a death oak and phoenix ash wand. People were about to forget about him and ask about his sister's wand when Sirius decided to fuck things up.

"Doesn't your wand have 3 cores harry?" He asked with a mischievous smile. Harry swore he was going to make the old dog pay.

"No Sirius, the one with the 3 cores is Aria." He tried to lie and deflect. His godfather was about to open his mouth but thankfully his wife pinched him and shut him up.

"Oh! Right, I got things mixed up. Aria, why don't you tell us about your wand?" People looked weirdly at him, the change of topic was very sudden and strange, especially since it was accompanied by a yelp at the beginning of the sentence.

"Sure why not. My wand is made of the same wood as Harry's, but it has moonstone powder, Unicorn blood, and phoenix tears as its cores." She explained proudly. Neither of them had tested their wands yet since they wanted to do it alone if they could, or with the rest of the family if they had no other option, but she was more than proud about her wand nonetheless

"You getting the same wood as your brother is not strange, Twins often get similar wands, but what's rare, is that aside from the wood, your wands are completely different. Yours represent life and healing, while Harry's represents death and destruction. We could argue that since he got Dragon Fang and you got Phoenix tears both wands are related to all things fire, but that's not entirely true. While they do have an affinity to fire, there are a few differences between phoenix fire and dragon fire." Apolline made a pause in her speech and saw that everyone was paying rapt attention to her every word, even the little kids were listening. After seeing that everyone's eyes were on her she decided to continue. "you see, Phoenixes are birds of healing, life, rebirth, and divinity. Their fire, while extremely hot, can also be used to keep their little hatchlings warm, it's a versatile fire. But the dragon's fire is all-consuming, it represents rage, destruction, the end, and power. Nothing in its path survives, the only thing they can heat without burning is its eggs, and that's all thanks to them being prepared to resist such heat. So you see, There's a dichotomy between their wands that's rarely present in twins." The twins looked worried at that. "Oh, don't worry dears, it isn't bad, it's just strange. Also, if I'm not mistaken, you can use each other's wand with little problem am I right?" They relaxed and nodded, Sarah had said something along those lines too when it came to using the other's wand.

"Thanks for the explanation aunt Dai. The wand-crafter explained some things to us, but nothing as deep as what you explained." Aria replied.

"She's right, this was very interesting, where did you know all these things?" Asked his mother, who just like his eldest children, had a thirst for knowledge equal to that of a little town dying of thirst in the desert.

"My grandmother crafts wands for Veelas and she has a lot of books on wandlore. I remember always reading them whenever I was staying at hers when I was little." She explained.

"Can you tell us anything else about our wands?" Asked a curious Harry, there wasn't a lot of knowledge about wandlore around, and it was a very interesting topic.

"Let me see. Moonstone powder is often related to people with an avid imagination and great expectations of themselves. The dragon fang is related to how the user of the wand reacts to threats, just like dragons bite or burn whatever bothers them, the wizard will probably try and get rid of the threat as soon as possible, and more often than not with deathly results." Everyone looked startled at that, Harry had never killed anything bigger than a roach. Then again, he did set Neville's robes on fire when he bad-mouthed his father. "No, it doesn't mean that he will kill whoever crosses him, after all, a dragon doesn't waste its breath on a fly. In fact, if he ever kills someone, it's more likely to be due to them bothering someone he considers family or friends. Dragons are known for being fiercely protective after all."

Everyone looked more relaxed after that declaration. Most of them, like the Potters or the Blacks, came from families of warriors, and understood perfectly the value of family. Others Such as the Delacour and Lupin were half-creatures, and for them, family and pack are precious. The rest had taken part in the war and knew that when it came down to it, it was more often than not a choice between them and yours.

"Wow! I never knew you could read a person like that through their wand." Was lynx's reply. If there was one of his siblings who could compete with them when it came to thirst for knowledge, it was him. The prat spent almost as much time in the library as they did, and he guessed that if it wasn't because of his twin, Lyra, he would spend even more time there.

"Wandlore it's a fascinating topic, but the knowledge is guarded tightly. Apolline here is lucky to have a wand-crafter relative, for the rest of the wizarding world, the knowledge you get is through other people. I bet You lot learned more about wand making during this lunch than by reading your way through the Potter library." This time it was Robert explaining things.

"Yeah, you're right. we already read everything in the Potter library, even the hidden books in the alcoves, and there's nothing remotely close to what we learned today regarding wandlore." Came Harry's reply to which his sister nodded along. There was virtually nothing on the topic.

"WAIT! ALCOVES!? We hid those books for a reason. How did you even get in there?" oops, he forgot his mother wasn't supposed to know that.

While the twins were trying to come up with an excuse, the marauders 3 were trying to look as innocent as possible. Much to the amusement of their guests though, they were failing miserably, but lucky for them Lily was still focused on the twins.

"We're sorry mum, but Marauder honour dictates that we cannot betray our allies' confidentiality." Said marauders choked on their drinks at the not-so-subtle incrimination, it's not like they were innocent, but they never expected Hary to throw them under the bus just like that. They approved tough, He pranked them without breaking the code of confidentiality.

"JAMES! Are you stupid? We hid those books for a reason. Not only is their content not apt for children, but some of them are cursed!" Started Lily's rant.

"I know honey, but I told them not to get close to those books and they understood, they read the ones that weren't cursed or didn't have extremely inappropriate content." James defended.

"That's true mom, we are yet to read his old porn magazines." Now everyone choked on their drinks.

"What is a porn magazine, mom?" Asked Hera innocently.

"Hera! You're in so much trouble, James." Said his mother angered and everyone laughed at James' disgrace.

The rest of lunch passed in a similar fashion, and soon there was only the Delacour family left. They were waiting for her daughter who wanted to spend some time alone with Harry. Said pair were sitting near the pond they had on the property chatting amicably, until Fleur asked something he was dreading, that was.

"Harry, did you meet any other veela in the short period of time between my last visit and today?" Harry just sighed and decided to answer without lifting his head from where it was resting on Fleur's lap while she played with his hair.

"Not that I'm aware of, why?"

"Do you know what it means to have a veela hair as a wand core when you're not a veela yourself?" She asked somewhat timidly.

"Yes, I do." He answered honestly, there was no point in lying, not that he would've lied to her.

"Oh," She said and let the silence stretch uncomfortably. After a few moments of silence, he decided o tell her his real thoughts on the matter.

"Look, Fleur. You're almost 14 and I'm 11, we're still too young to make decisions that will impact the rest of our lives." Harry could feel her shoulders drop at the thought of him rejecting her. "It's not that I'm opposed to it," He amended quickly. "it's just that it's too early. What would you do if I suddenly turn into someone who you don't like anymore? There are things in life that can happen and change a person, and it's because of that, that I ask you to wait until I'm at least 15 to make such a commitment. At least if you didn't make the decision yet. As far as I know, it's just a possibility, not something that already happened." He explained and felt her sigh in relief.

"You're right. It's just that I just got you back and when I felt the Hair in your wand I panicked because I thought that another veela had marked you already. In fact, I don't even know if I am ready for such a step and like you said, we are still too young. I just panicked." Was Fleur's equally honest answer.

"It's alright, as long as you understand that I'm not outright rejecting you, then it's okay."

Fleur's family left not long after that conversation and the twins decided not to waste time. As soon as they were in Harry's room, they closed the door and started discussing how to proceed.

"Okay, now that we are finally alone, what spell do you want to cast first?" Asked an excited Aria.

"I don't know, we can't cast anything too advanced due to us being just 11, but it's also our first spell and I don't want it to be something like the levitation charm," Harry answered. Even though he had already cast his first spell years ago, going through it again with your twin felt different.

"How about a simple transfiguration then? And whatever we transfigure we give it as a gift to the other." Aria offered.

It was a good idea, and based on what he remembered and learned this past week, they should be able to do more than the match-to-needle thing.

"Alright, but no spying. You stay on that corner and I stay on this one, we don't turn until we're both ready." When she nodded and left he set to work.

It took them around 15 minutes to decide what to do and actually do it. Harry because most of the things that he wanted to do were based on things he shouldn't be able to do, and Aria because she's always been kinda indecisive when it came to gifts.

After confirming that they were done, they turned around and showed their gifts to each other. When they saw what they did they burst out laughing. The 2 had made each other necklaces; the one Harry made had a charm that resembled a half-moon with a phoenix perched on it, and the one she made resembled a thestral with wings spread.

They were simple and would probably break in less than a day if they didn't charm it to be unbreakable, but it was the meaning of what they did that gave these charms value. This was their first piece of magic, and they did it thinking of each other.

Later in the evening, the family was sitting together while Harry an Aria opened their gifts. There wasn't anything of interest other than a few rare books and some designer clothes from the Delacour family. After opening the gifts from everyone but their parents, they went and did just that. They always left their parents' gifts for last, because somehow they always managed to top everyone else in that regard.

First, they opened 2 boxes that seemed to have the same shape and form. When he saw what it was, it made Harry smile. His father gave them an invisibility cloak a piece, it seems that they didn't like the idea of giving something extremely valuable to one of the twins and not doing the same for the other. He approved of that kind of thinking.

"I decided that instead of giving the eldest the original cloak as tradition dictates, it would be better to give a brand new cloak to each of you." The voice of his father tore his attention away from the cloak.

"It's fantastic, now we won't have to worry about being cramped under just one when we get older. Thank you, dad" He said to his smiling father.

"Yes dad, this is awesome, we can now prank each other without having to worry about the other noticing the absence of the cloak." Was his sister's quip to which the family laughed.

"Yes yes, dad's awesome, now go ahead and open mine." Harry chuckled at his mother's impatience, It looked like she was just as impatient as he was.

"Alright Lils, but don't be disappointed when the kids don't react to your gifts with as much enthusiasm as they did with mine." Lily stuck his tongue out to James when he said that.

"Speaking of mom's gifts, where are they? there are no more envelopes here." Harry looked around and realized that his sister was right, every gift here had already been opened.

"Mine's in the basement," Answered their mother mysteriously while starting to walk towards the basement with everyone following her. When she came to a stop, the family looked around trying to find any sign of the gifts, but the only thing they saw was a pair of doors that weren't there before. " Alright, my gift is something more versatile than the cloaks." She said cheekily. "Behind these doors, there are 2 rooms based on your preferences and what I thought would fit you the best." After that explanation, she moved from in front of the doors and motioned them to enter. First, they went to the door on the left. When they opened that door they were speechless. It was a fully equipped professional Runic workshop.

"Brilliant," was Harry's breathy reply. 'This must have been expensive as fuck.'

"I knew you'd like it. At first, I had my doubts about something like this, after all, runes are extremely volatile and dangerous. But then I remembered how dedicated you were in your studies of them, how you practised first calligraphy and drawing, how you tested each other on the theory and how you discussed said theory afterwards. After some consideration, I decided to give it a try and give this to you, but before using it, I want you to swear to me that you will be extremely careful and that you won't experiment with anything dangerous before making sure that you can handle it." She added the last part sternly, and the twins, who were already walking around the room looking at everything in there, nodded absentmindedly. "Why do I even bother." Said Lily with a sigh.

"We are going to have so much fun in here! Thank you, mum, we love you to bits." Harry nodded showing his support for what his sister had said.

"I knew you would love it! Now let me show you the next room." The twins nodded and left the workshop in a great hurry, causing their parents to laugh at their enthusiasm.

The twins opened the door to the 2nd room and saw a study with 2 desks and a few bookshelves with some books both old and new.

"This is your personal study. I made this room to give you a private place for keeping your own books and notes safe, or studying in general. I know that you have your own rooms and that you can study in the library, But this is more personal. You won't have to worry about your sibling going in and messing with your things, or people coming randomly without even knocking. I also created this place because I knew that there was a big chance of you being heir and heiress to more than just the Poter family, which meant that you would have access to books beyond those belonging to the Potters. I also know that the library and the manor can't keep those books safe as it does with the books that are 100% Potter property. What does this room have to do with the security of those books? Well, this and the other room are only accessible to us, the black and Delacour elders, and Remus. None of the kids can get in here, and no one but you can take things away from here, even with specialized portkeys, as long as you don't give express permission, no one can take ANYTHING from here. This your safe haven." Lily looked at what the reaction of the twins would be to all those details and found herself satisfied when she saw that both of them had their mouths hanging open. Slowly, Harry and Aria came back to reality, and when they saw their mother's expectant face, they couldn't help but smile adoringly at her.

"I don't know whose life we saved in our past lives to have this much luck, but I thank the deities above for giving me such a perfect mother." Aria was the first one to say anything.

"I agree, the amount of thought and dedication that this gift must have taken is unbelievable. You know how they say that everyone thinks that their mother is the best one, but as of right now, you being the best mother ever became a universal fact." Harry said honestly.

Their mother was in tears. She knew that they would like the gifts, but she didn't expect such a show of gratitude. The twins were caring enough, but they weren't that big in expressing it.

Ignored by the 3 of them, James was both happy and sad. Happy because his kids and wife were happy, and sad because he lost this year's competition for the best gift.