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own characters and storylines.
Chapter Two
"Surprise!"
Everyone shouted as he walked in the kitchen. Another flash went off, he looked in that direction to see Arthur Weasley smiling from behind the camera. Harry stood shocked looking around; everyone was there, from Hermione and Ron to Kingsley and Tonks.
"Wow"
"Didn't scare you too much did we laddie?" asked Mad Eye, as he stood next to the big oven.
"No.wow!"
He walked further into the kitchen greeting everyone, earning huge hugs from both Hermione and Mrs Weasley. He finally got to Remus, who despite all that had happened in the past few months looked really well and almost happy.
"Hello Harry"
"Hey Remus"
He then drew Harry into an enormous hug, "I'm sorry I couldn't be with you today I had to prepare"
"Prepare for what?"
"I'll tell you later"
"Now now Remus, stop hogging the poor boy, let him open his presents!"
Harry looked into the corner of the room to see a large pile of gifts, never in his life had he seen so many gifts solely for himself. His eye widened.
"They.. they're all for me?"
"Of course they are, now sit down"
Mrs Weasley sat him at the head of the table. The first gift was from Ginny, she blushed as he opened it, and it turned out to be a diary.
"Just don't try and possess anyone one with it!" she whispered smiling
The next was a slip of paper from the twins; they watched him smiling, as he looked at it cautiously, but breathed a surprised sigh of relief when it was a quarter share into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
"Thanks"
"Don't worry about it mate"
Mrs Weasley was practically bouncing when she passed Harry the small wrapped gift, he slowly opened it, to find what he thought was a small spoon, until he turned it over to see a picture of himself smiling back at him. He suddenly realised it was a hand from the Weasleys clock; slightly choked he thanked both her and Mr Weasley. At which point Molly began to cry and rushed out of the room, with Arthur following. Ron gift was a practice snitch, which Harry was very grateful; he couldn't wait for Quidditch after last years ban. Hermione smiled as she past him a book.
"It's a novel" she smiled
He opened it to find a book called 'The Lord Of The Rings'. He thanked her as Remus passed him another book on advanced magic.
"It will probably come in handy this year"
He then passed him another gift; he looked a little awkward as he handed it over.
"Sirius bought this for you before.before the summer"
Harry opened the box slowly, and smiled at the note. Looking at Remus
"Its for both of us, he has given us clothing vouchers, for both muggle and wizard!"
Remus smiled broadly, shaking his head
"Why does that not surprise me!"
Harry looked in the box again, to find a watch laying on its side, he took it out of the box, he'd seen it before, on the pictures he had seen of his parents, it used to be his fathers. Everyone in the room was silent, watching conflicting emotions flicker between sadness and happiness on Harry's face, but as he looked up smiling, there was a knock on the door. It opened and Dumbledore walked in wearing dark purple robes. He was smiling but looked a little older from the last time Harry had seen him.
"Happy birthday Harry! It looks like I have arrived for the presents"
He handed over two gifts one was very squishy, Dumbledore informed him that it was from Dobby, Harry opened it to find a very woolly hat and pair of socks. He smiled broadly. He then came to the last gift, as he opened it, it seemed slightly familiar, he heard Hermione gasp as he revealed the pensieve. He looked at Dumbledore.
"Well you seemed so very fond of mine" he smiled
"Thank you sir"
They sat staring at each other for a few seconds, Harry felt as though Dumbledore was staring right into his soul for what seemed like hours.
"Right, well I don't know about you guys but I want cake," said Mad Eye.
The party went in to full swing, songs blaring out of a hidden radio, in no time Harry was having a wonderful time. Finding out about everyone's summers. The only things that weren't mentioned were Voldemort and the death of Sirius. Hagrid turned up a little late, but was soon having fun with everyone. Harry had barely time enough to think. Moving from person to person laughing and joking. But soon it was late, and Harry was very tied and full, from all of the food that Molly was putting in front of him. He soon excused himself and walked up to the room he had had before. He found all of his things normal sized in his room. Where had Snape been tonight? He must have left straight away, for some unknown reason this saddened him. He saw a note on his bed.
'Potter, Your aunt gave this to me to give to you before her insufferable husband stuck his nose in. Happy birthday S'
Underneath the letter was a picture, the first thing he noticed was that it wasn't moving, it was a picture of two girls both quite pretty, they were hugging each other, one had blond hair and one had red. It was only when he read the writing on the back did he realise that it was Aunt Petunia and his mother when they were around 16 years old, he turned it back, staring at the picture, they both looked so happy, it must have been taken on holiday somewhere as they were on a golden beach with a bright blue sea and sky behind them. He would give anything to be there now, rather in the dark house in the place that only had memories of his godfather. Strangely awake he looked in the trunk that had been brought up, it was full mainly of more photographs, he went through them and picked out his favourites. He finally got to the bottom of the trunk and found a box. He couldn't find how it opened, but when he shook it he could hear something rattling inside. He climbed into bed and tried to look for an opening. Sighing in frustration, he put it on the bedside table and slowly fell to sleep, in a strange bed in a strange house, full of everyone important in his life except the one he really wanted.
---------------------------------
He woke to the knocking at the door.
"Come in!"
Remus entered the room, dressed in a navy blue dressing gown
"Morning Harry"
"Good morning, what time is it?"
"Seven thirty we are going shopping today, remember?"
"Yeah, oh that trunk down there is for you from Sirius"
Remus looked at it but didn't touch it, he looked at Harry the smile had faded, and was replaced with concern.
"Do you need to talk about anything?"
"No. to be honest I am strangely okay. But if I do want to talk is it okay if I send you an owl, when I am at school."
The smile reappeared on his face.
"I would like that very much, now we had better get dressed or we'll have Mad Eye on our tail, he is already getting impatient downstairs"
He levitated the trunk out of Harry's room, within half an hour they were walking to the nearest floo point with bacon sandwiches in their hands. Once at Diagon Alley, they separated. Molly, Arthur and the Twins went on to do the School shopping, while Mad Eye, Lupin, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny went into muggle London. They walked out of the Leaky Cauldron and onto the busy street. Ron was almost lost in hoards of busy shoppers. Mad Eye grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to the group.
"Right we have a few ground rules. Number one, Harry you must not be left alone, someone must be with him at all times. Number two; do not get separated under any circumstances. Number three, I want Ron and Ginny to stick to any one of us, you've never been in a muggle area for this long before, stick to us. Number four."
"I think that's enough rules Mad Eye" said Lupin reassuringly "they'll be fine"
"Right where are we going?"
"A place called Selfridges, it is along this road somewhere."
They walked along, from Tottenham Court Road past Oxford Circus, until they finally arrived at the huge department store. They stood outside for a few seconds staring at the people moving in and out of the doors. They soon walked in. Hermione managed to persuade Remus that they did not need a chaperone and went of to the ladies section, while the boys went up to the men's area. This is where the troubles began. Remus and Harry managed to climb on the escalator with no troubles whatsoever, but when Ron climbed on he panicked and decided he wanted to get off as soon as possible. The escalator was moving up as he was running down the stairs not moving anywhere. A line had begun to form at the bottom and it took mad Eye to grab his arm and pull him to the top. Remus had to think of some quick excuses for the security guard that had been called. Once in the correct area, they spent about an hour trying on clothes. Harry and Remus had both agreed on what they wanted to purchase while Ron, who had been given some money by the twins still hadn't decided, so while Remus and Harry paid for their clothes, Ron went to grab something. After ten minutes he still wasn't back. They searched the entire floor and they still could not find him, then Harry had the idea to go to the information desk and get them to call out his name on the speaker system. Meanwhile a very flustered Ron was standing in the female underwear section. He had been there for around fifteen minutes and the panic had set in. Suddenly his name was being called very loudly, like McGonagall's often did, the only think he new what to do was to shout back.
"I'm here! I'm here! Come and find me!"
It was then that the same security guard found him. He led him to the information desk, where he found a very cross Remus and Mad Eye staring at him. But once he had explained his little adventure the frowns soon turned to laughter. Ron persisted to turn more and more red as the minutes past. When they had all finished shopping, Mad Eye suggested that they go sightseeing, they walked through Regents Park to Buckingham Palace, where Mad Eye informed them that the queen was in fact a witch, but had had private tutoring from a friend of his. It was soon getting late and it was time to go home. They walked through Parliament and Trafalgar Squares to get to their destination with only one hiccup, where Ron tried to have a conversation with a Mounted Queens Guard, when this didn't work he tried to make friends with the horse. Again Moody had to get him out of trouble. When they finally made it back home, Molly made them do a mini fashion show where she exclaimed that all the women would be following Remus in the coming year. He soon disappeared into his room, saying he had to prepare again. After the days excitement Harry decided to turn in early. As he got ready for bed he noticed the box again. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts where he could try magic to get it open, as he could see no way of doing it manually. He soon fell asleep with the box still in his lap.
The rest of the summer flew by in a blur. The house had been redecorated and no real excitement had happened except for when buckbeak had "accidentally" trodden on and killed Kreacher, no one was particularly that sad, although his body was buried with the rest of his relatives. Most of the portraits had been taken down, and with a quick charm from Molly the rooms had been rejuvenated. Soon came the day when they were getting on the train, hugs and kisses were passed around. Harry wasn't sure if he was sad to be leaving the new house or not. But as he hugged Remus goodbye, he realised he was actually looking forward for the year to come.
Chapter Two
"Surprise!"
Everyone shouted as he walked in the kitchen. Another flash went off, he looked in that direction to see Arthur Weasley smiling from behind the camera. Harry stood shocked looking around; everyone was there, from Hermione and Ron to Kingsley and Tonks.
"Wow"
"Didn't scare you too much did we laddie?" asked Mad Eye, as he stood next to the big oven.
"No.wow!"
He walked further into the kitchen greeting everyone, earning huge hugs from both Hermione and Mrs Weasley. He finally got to Remus, who despite all that had happened in the past few months looked really well and almost happy.
"Hello Harry"
"Hey Remus"
He then drew Harry into an enormous hug, "I'm sorry I couldn't be with you today I had to prepare"
"Prepare for what?"
"I'll tell you later"
"Now now Remus, stop hogging the poor boy, let him open his presents!"
Harry looked into the corner of the room to see a large pile of gifts, never in his life had he seen so many gifts solely for himself. His eye widened.
"They.. they're all for me?"
"Of course they are, now sit down"
Mrs Weasley sat him at the head of the table. The first gift was from Ginny, she blushed as he opened it, and it turned out to be a diary.
"Just don't try and possess anyone one with it!" she whispered smiling
The next was a slip of paper from the twins; they watched him smiling, as he looked at it cautiously, but breathed a surprised sigh of relief when it was a quarter share into Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes.
"Thanks"
"Don't worry about it mate"
Mrs Weasley was practically bouncing when she passed Harry the small wrapped gift, he slowly opened it, to find what he thought was a small spoon, until he turned it over to see a picture of himself smiling back at him. He suddenly realised it was a hand from the Weasleys clock; slightly choked he thanked both her and Mr Weasley. At which point Molly began to cry and rushed out of the room, with Arthur following. Ron gift was a practice snitch, which Harry was very grateful; he couldn't wait for Quidditch after last years ban. Hermione smiled as she past him a book.
"It's a novel" she smiled
He opened it to find a book called 'The Lord Of The Rings'. He thanked her as Remus passed him another book on advanced magic.
"It will probably come in handy this year"
He then passed him another gift; he looked a little awkward as he handed it over.
"Sirius bought this for you before.before the summer"
Harry opened the box slowly, and smiled at the note. Looking at Remus
"Its for both of us, he has given us clothing vouchers, for both muggle and wizard!"
Remus smiled broadly, shaking his head
"Why does that not surprise me!"
Harry looked in the box again, to find a watch laying on its side, he took it out of the box, he'd seen it before, on the pictures he had seen of his parents, it used to be his fathers. Everyone in the room was silent, watching conflicting emotions flicker between sadness and happiness on Harry's face, but as he looked up smiling, there was a knock on the door. It opened and Dumbledore walked in wearing dark purple robes. He was smiling but looked a little older from the last time Harry had seen him.
"Happy birthday Harry! It looks like I have arrived for the presents"
He handed over two gifts one was very squishy, Dumbledore informed him that it was from Dobby, Harry opened it to find a very woolly hat and pair of socks. He smiled broadly. He then came to the last gift, as he opened it, it seemed slightly familiar, he heard Hermione gasp as he revealed the pensieve. He looked at Dumbledore.
"Well you seemed so very fond of mine" he smiled
"Thank you sir"
They sat staring at each other for a few seconds, Harry felt as though Dumbledore was staring right into his soul for what seemed like hours.
"Right, well I don't know about you guys but I want cake," said Mad Eye.
The party went in to full swing, songs blaring out of a hidden radio, in no time Harry was having a wonderful time. Finding out about everyone's summers. The only things that weren't mentioned were Voldemort and the death of Sirius. Hagrid turned up a little late, but was soon having fun with everyone. Harry had barely time enough to think. Moving from person to person laughing and joking. But soon it was late, and Harry was very tied and full, from all of the food that Molly was putting in front of him. He soon excused himself and walked up to the room he had had before. He found all of his things normal sized in his room. Where had Snape been tonight? He must have left straight away, for some unknown reason this saddened him. He saw a note on his bed.
'Potter, Your aunt gave this to me to give to you before her insufferable husband stuck his nose in. Happy birthday S'
Underneath the letter was a picture, the first thing he noticed was that it wasn't moving, it was a picture of two girls both quite pretty, they were hugging each other, one had blond hair and one had red. It was only when he read the writing on the back did he realise that it was Aunt Petunia and his mother when they were around 16 years old, he turned it back, staring at the picture, they both looked so happy, it must have been taken on holiday somewhere as they were on a golden beach with a bright blue sea and sky behind them. He would give anything to be there now, rather in the dark house in the place that only had memories of his godfather. Strangely awake he looked in the trunk that had been brought up, it was full mainly of more photographs, he went through them and picked out his favourites. He finally got to the bottom of the trunk and found a box. He couldn't find how it opened, but when he shook it he could hear something rattling inside. He climbed into bed and tried to look for an opening. Sighing in frustration, he put it on the bedside table and slowly fell to sleep, in a strange bed in a strange house, full of everyone important in his life except the one he really wanted.
---------------------------------
He woke to the knocking at the door.
"Come in!"
Remus entered the room, dressed in a navy blue dressing gown
"Morning Harry"
"Good morning, what time is it?"
"Seven thirty we are going shopping today, remember?"
"Yeah, oh that trunk down there is for you from Sirius"
Remus looked at it but didn't touch it, he looked at Harry the smile had faded, and was replaced with concern.
"Do you need to talk about anything?"
"No. to be honest I am strangely okay. But if I do want to talk is it okay if I send you an owl, when I am at school."
The smile reappeared on his face.
"I would like that very much, now we had better get dressed or we'll have Mad Eye on our tail, he is already getting impatient downstairs"
He levitated the trunk out of Harry's room, within half an hour they were walking to the nearest floo point with bacon sandwiches in their hands. Once at Diagon Alley, they separated. Molly, Arthur and the Twins went on to do the School shopping, while Mad Eye, Lupin, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny went into muggle London. They walked out of the Leaky Cauldron and onto the busy street. Ron was almost lost in hoards of busy shoppers. Mad Eye grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him to the group.
"Right we have a few ground rules. Number one, Harry you must not be left alone, someone must be with him at all times. Number two; do not get separated under any circumstances. Number three, I want Ron and Ginny to stick to any one of us, you've never been in a muggle area for this long before, stick to us. Number four."
"I think that's enough rules Mad Eye" said Lupin reassuringly "they'll be fine"
"Right where are we going?"
"A place called Selfridges, it is along this road somewhere."
They walked along, from Tottenham Court Road past Oxford Circus, until they finally arrived at the huge department store. They stood outside for a few seconds staring at the people moving in and out of the doors. They soon walked in. Hermione managed to persuade Remus that they did not need a chaperone and went of to the ladies section, while the boys went up to the men's area. This is where the troubles began. Remus and Harry managed to climb on the escalator with no troubles whatsoever, but when Ron climbed on he panicked and decided he wanted to get off as soon as possible. The escalator was moving up as he was running down the stairs not moving anywhere. A line had begun to form at the bottom and it took mad Eye to grab his arm and pull him to the top. Remus had to think of some quick excuses for the security guard that had been called. Once in the correct area, they spent about an hour trying on clothes. Harry and Remus had both agreed on what they wanted to purchase while Ron, who had been given some money by the twins still hadn't decided, so while Remus and Harry paid for their clothes, Ron went to grab something. After ten minutes he still wasn't back. They searched the entire floor and they still could not find him, then Harry had the idea to go to the information desk and get them to call out his name on the speaker system. Meanwhile a very flustered Ron was standing in the female underwear section. He had been there for around fifteen minutes and the panic had set in. Suddenly his name was being called very loudly, like McGonagall's often did, the only think he new what to do was to shout back.
"I'm here! I'm here! Come and find me!"
It was then that the same security guard found him. He led him to the information desk, where he found a very cross Remus and Mad Eye staring at him. But once he had explained his little adventure the frowns soon turned to laughter. Ron persisted to turn more and more red as the minutes past. When they had all finished shopping, Mad Eye suggested that they go sightseeing, they walked through Regents Park to Buckingham Palace, where Mad Eye informed them that the queen was in fact a witch, but had had private tutoring from a friend of his. It was soon getting late and it was time to go home. They walked through Parliament and Trafalgar Squares to get to their destination with only one hiccup, where Ron tried to have a conversation with a Mounted Queens Guard, when this didn't work he tried to make friends with the horse. Again Moody had to get him out of trouble. When they finally made it back home, Molly made them do a mini fashion show where she exclaimed that all the women would be following Remus in the coming year. He soon disappeared into his room, saying he had to prepare again. After the days excitement Harry decided to turn in early. As he got ready for bed he noticed the box again. He couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts where he could try magic to get it open, as he could see no way of doing it manually. He soon fell asleep with the box still in his lap.
The rest of the summer flew by in a blur. The house had been redecorated and no real excitement had happened except for when buckbeak had "accidentally" trodden on and killed Kreacher, no one was particularly that sad, although his body was buried with the rest of his relatives. Most of the portraits had been taken down, and with a quick charm from Molly the rooms had been rejuvenated. Soon came the day when they were getting on the train, hugs and kisses were passed around. Harry wasn't sure if he was sad to be leaving the new house or not. But as he hugged Remus goodbye, he realised he was actually looking forward for the year to come.
