Title: Harry Potter and Kinson's Orb
Author: Kararen
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; I only own the plot of this story and any new characters I add.
Author's Note: Okay, here's where things start to get more interesting! Sorry it took so long for this chapter, but it's a fairly long one and I haven't had a lot of computer time so I had to write it out and then type it out.
-Chapter Three-
The Best Birthday
The next morning Harry hurriedly got dressed with the intent on getting all his chores done as quickly as possible. He didn't expect any birthday wishes or gifts from the Dursley's, but he got from them that day the best thing that they had ever given him, though they did not know it.
All three of the Dursley's were in the foyer getting ready to leave when Harry descended the stairs.
"Get your shoes on," Uncle Vernon grunted at him.
"Where are we going?" Harry asked.
"We," Uncle Vernon said, motioning towards Aunt Petunia and Dudley, "…are taking Dudley shopping in London for some school things. You are going to Mrs. Figg's. She has agreed to watch you while we're gone. We wouldn't want you to go and burn the place down while we're gone now would we? We'd like a house to come home to. Besides, Mrs. Figg informs me that two of her cats are quite ill and in need of care, as well as needing her lawn mowed, her garden weeded, her living room painted, and her attic cleaned. You'll have plenty to do. Let's go! We're dropping you off. Got to make sure that you go there and stay there…NOW!"
Harry was thrilled. He'd do any chores Mrs. Figg needed done in order to get the chance to use floo powder to see Hermione, Ron, and all the Weasley's. But he had to hide his joy. The Dursley's needed to think that sending him to Mrs. Figg's was punishment. They had no idea she was a squib and had contact with the wizarding world.
He quickly pulled on his trainers and tried to look depressed as he followed the Dursley's out the door. Uncle Vernon waited until Mrs. Figg had let Harry inside before driving away. As soon as he was safely inside he couldn't help but laugh.
Mrs. Figg grinned and said, "Happy Birthday Harry!"
"Thank-you! But how did you manage this?"
"Well, I ran into your aunt yesterday evening and she mentioned how she needed to go to London and get some things for Dudley but didn't dare take you along. So I said that I had some work around the house that needed doing and I needed someone, so I said I'd take you today if that was alright with her so the three of them could go and then I wouldn't need to pay anyone. She jumped at the chance."
"Yeah, they must really be happy with themselves, punishing me on my birthday." Harry laughed.
Well come on let's get going. Grab some floo powder from the dish over there," Mrs. Figg instructed.
"Er…don't I have to cut the grass and stuff first?" he asked politely.
"Heavens no dear! On your birthday? Are you mad? I just made those things up so your aunt and uncle thought I'd be working you to the bone and would agree to let you come this morning!"
Harry smiled.
"I think this is the best present I've ever gotten from them. Actually, I know it is!"
Mrs. Figg laughed, handed him the dish of floo powder then said, "Go to the Burrow, everyone's expecting you!"
"Everyone?" Harry tried to ask, but she pushed him along to the fireplace and said, "I'll be right behind you!"
Harry threw the floo powder down, called out, "The Burrow!" and felt himself start spinning while warm ash whipped around him. Finally, after a few minutes he felt himself hit ground.
"Surprise!"
Harry looked up, cleaned the soot off his glasses, and saw several familiar faces staring down at him. Ron, Ginny, Hermione, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and even Percy were there. Just behind Hermione and the Weasley's stood Nymphadora Tonks, and Remus Lupin.
"Happy Birthday!" they all shouted.
"But what's going on?" Harry asked. It hadn't clued in.
"It's your surprise birthday party silly!" said Ginny as Ron pulled him to his feet.
"For me? But…"
Harry had never had a birthday party before, and the surprise seemed to have gone over better than they all had hoped. He truly was bewildered.
Just then Hermione pulled him into a hug and said, "Oh I was so worried I had hinted at it on the phone and you had guessed!"
"I honestly had no idea," Harry assured her.
Everyone laughed, and one by one came over to give him a birthday handshake. Other than Hermione, he received a hug from Mrs. Weasley as she said, "It's wonderful to see you Harry. Look how you've grown," as well as from Ginny who said, "We've all missed you." Hugs seemed to be a feminine thing, though Tonks (whose hair was lime green today) had only shook his hand and winked.
"Let's all sit down to lunch," Mrs. Weasley said. "Everyone outside!"
The long picnic table in the backyard was piled with all sorts of delicious foods. There was a banner floating above it that lit up 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!' in red and gold letters, Gryffindor colours. Every so often a few Filibuster's Fireworks would come out of the exclamation point, compliments of Fred and George.
Harry ate graciously. Food at the Dursley's wasn't all that great, and being a growing teenager, he needed a good meal. He hadn't noticed before that he was now a head taller than Mrs. Weasley. He was quite a bit taller than Hermione and Ginny as well. Ron of course was still much taller than Harry, but didn't quite seem so lanky and out of proportion anymore.
Harry sat at the head of the table. Next to him was Ron, followed by Fred and George. Hermione was on his other side, and Ginny was next to her. Once everyone's plates began to empty, the conversation picked up.
"So what's happening in the Order?" Harry asked, taking his voice down to a whisper.
Fred and George glanced furtively at each other.
"Well," Fred began, "we can't disclose any information at this time."
"Yes, it's ummm, top secret." George added.
"They've been holding out on us all summer," Ron said. "They don't understand that it doesn't bother us anymore. No one ever tells us anything."
"So you guys are really part of the Order now?" Harry asked.
"Of course we are," smiled Fred.
"You mom let you then?"
"Let us? We are of age and we can do as we please," George said.
"Mum made them take their N.E.W.T.S. first," Ginny told Harry. "She worked it out with Dumbledore."
"Well I think it's good that you two have gotten your N.E.W.T.S. What if the joke shop doesn't work out? You need to have a backup, but without your N.E.W.T.S. you can't do a thing," Hermione said, feeling it necessary to put that point in there.
"Lighten up Hermione! The shop is doing great isn't it?" Ron said, glancing at Fred and George for reassurance.
"It's going on wonderfully! We're working on a new thing, but we're having difficulty finding testers. Interested Harry?" Fred asked. "We pay good money!"
"Er, no thanks," Harry said. He didn't need to know what it was they were working on. Any concoction that they came up with was probably a hazard in its unperfected form.
"Suit yourself then," said George as he and Fred stood up, cleared their dishes, and disapparated with a voluminous 'crack'.
"We think." Hermione said as Ron and Ginny moved closer to hear, "that the Order is working on two main things. One we're pretty sure is working with the Ministry on defense tactics and making public precautions and such. And,"
"And the other," Ron cut in…
"Don't interrupt Ron!" said Hermione.
"What does is matter?" He retorted.
"Fine. Go ahead, I don't care!" she sassed back in a tone that clearly stated that she did care.
Ron didn't seem to notice and continued.
"The other is really, really secretive. We think that it has something to do with protecting someone or something. We thought it was you at first, but they'd have told us then. We knew last year so why shouldn't we this year."
"Well they've still been looking out for you Harry of course. But what they are working on now is different." Hermione added.
"We've heard Bill talking with some woman that we think might have something to do with it, bit it's hard to use Extendable Ears anymore in this house without being caught. I think he was talking about curse breaking, but that's what he did in Egypt, so it might not be anything with the Order at all. But that's the only lead we've got. And he's also talked in secret with Lupin." Ginny explained.
"What about Percy then?" Harry asked glancing down the table.
"After everything that happened at the ministry he came to his senses and came back home all prepared to apologize but mum only hugged him and told him not to worry about any of it," said Ron. "I wish she'd have let him do it though. It would have been fun to see him admit he was wrong.
Harry was about to ask what else had been happening over the last month but Tonks called out, "Hey Harry! Fancy a game?"
He looked down the table and saw her holding a broomstick and a worn brownish leather ball that he was sure was a quaffle substitute.
"Sure thing," he said while getting up, "but I don't have my Firebolt!"
"You can use one of ours," Ron said. "That way the rest of us will have a fair chance."
"You can use my new broom if you want Harry. It's a Nimbus 2000 like you used to have," said Ginny.
Harry smiled and wanted to ask where she'd gotten the money for a Nimbus, but he didn't like to bring up the fact that the Weasley's didn't have a lot of money. It was a soft spot with Ron in particular and he didn't want to dampen anyone's spirits.
"No Ginny, you need to practice on your broom if you're going to be a chaser this year" Ron said.
"That's okay. I don't care what I use, just as long as it flies! Thanks anyway Ginny. Let's just play!"
Just then Fred and George apparated with another loud 'crack' holding three broomsticks.
"Here you go Harry. We took the liberty of going to grab your Firebolt," said George handing Harry his broom.
Harry, Ron, Ginny, Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, and Tonks decided to play and Lupin agreed to referee. Percy and Mr. Weasley had gone inside to catch up on some work, and Mrs. Weasley was clearing the table with Mrs. Figg's and Hermione's help. Harry, Ron, Bill, and Tonks played on one team and Charlie, Fred, George, and Ginny were on the other.
They played for the better part of the afternoon. They changed teams several times and adjusted the nets so that they could play with no keepers. Harry noted that Ginny was quite a good chaser. She flew smoothly and kept a good hold on the ball. Harry also noticed that Ron had improved tremendously. He later learned that he had been practicing with Ginny almost everyday of the summer eager to keep his position as keeper on the Gryffindor house quidditch team at Hogwarts.
Just after they had touched down and began arguing whether the last goal had counted or not, (Lupin had gone inside to talk with Mr. Weasley long before), Mrs. Weasley called them to the table. Harry was seated at the head of the table again and before he knew it a massive chocolate cake ablaze with sixteen candles was placed in front of him and everyone was singing. He had never been sung Happy Birthday before, nor had he ever blown out any candles.
When they finished the song, Mrs. Weasley said, "Make a wish dear."
Harry thought a moment, made his wish, and blew out all the candles at once. Everyone had started to clap when all of a sudden one of the candles lit back up. They stopped abruptly; Harry shrugged his shoulders, and blew it out again. But just as he blew that one out, another caught fire. So he blew that one out, and another had lit up again.
"Fred! George!" Mrs. Weasley scolded.
The twins grinned and everyone burst out laughing.
"Looks like they work great Fred."
"Well I had to regrow my eyebrows ten times to perfect them! I kept getting singed when the flames lit back up. They were a little high at first," answered George.
Everyone laughed again and took a piece of cake that Mrs. Weasley had cut. When they were done eating, everyone brought a present over and put it in front of Harry. He got a book (big surprise) from Hermione. It was Hogwarts: A History. She thought it would come in handy and hinted to Ron that he ought to read it as well. Ron and Ginny got him a box filled with chocolate frogs as well as some new Firebolt broomstick polish, which was great as the one in his broom servicing kit was almost gone. Fred and George promised he'd receive his present from them the following day. Harry was too afraid to ask what it was. Mrs. Figg's present was some cookies and of course getting him away from the Dursley's for the day. Tonks gave him some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and a voice activated lock for his school trunk. From the rest of the Weasley's he got a size 5 silver cauldron. They were sure he'd be needing it. He got a package from Lupin with a book in it that appeared to be blank. Harry thought it looked more like an album or a journal than a regular book.
He was about to open a white envelope that was in the book when Lupin said, "It's from Sirius and I. After all, it was his idea to throw you a surprise birthday party. He planned it months ago. You better just read that to yourself.
Harry smiled and began to read. It was in Sirius' handwriting.
Dear Harry,
Happy 16th Birthday! Since you seem to be so interested in learning about your dad when he was in school, we thought you'd like this book we made in our 7th year, just before we graduated. It's called 'Messing with the Marauders' and it contains Hogwarts biographies of each of the Marauders. It has pictures, stories of our adventures every full moon, as well as a list of our future plans…some being quite comical! Have a look when you get a chance to be alone. You'll enjoy it more that way!
Love your godfather, Sirius Black and his fellow Marauder, Remus Lupin
P.S. Tap the cover and the Marauder's name three times that you want to read about. It will be there for you when you open the cover and will disappear once you've shut it.
P.P.S. Of course you won't mind the rude comments in Pettigrew's bio…we don't like him so much anymore but we made the book inerasable!
~Padfoot
Harry couldn't wait to try it out, but agreed with them that it would be best done when he was alone. He didn't know if he wanted to share what the book contained just yet. He folded the note back up and put it in his jeans' pocket.
"Thanks!" he said to Lupin sincerely.
"Okay, close your eyes Harry!" Fred called out.
Harry closed them tight, excited to see what came next. Surely this day couldn't get any better he thought to himself.
He heard something heavy hit the ground and opened his eyes. His school trunk was sitting there next to him.
"The real present is that Dumbledore says you can stay the rest of the summer with us Harry! Fred and I went earlier and got your stuff while the muggles were still out. But you better check we got everything!"
Harry looked to Mrs. Weasley questioningly.
"Yes Harry it's true. And we're happy to have you."
Harry was so happy he couldn't say anything.
"Well Harry, what do you think?" Ron asked.
Harry looked around at everyone and said, "This is the best birthday I've ever had!"
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Author's Note: What is it that Fred and George are doing for the Order? What is their present to Harry? Who's the woman Bill has been talking to? What/who is the Order trying to protect? What does 'Messing with the Marauders' actually say?
Are all these things related? Is Harry really at the Burrow to stay for the next month? You'll have to read on to find out!
Don't forget to review! :oD