Birthday Surprises Chapter 25

Usual disclaimer: Not mine, don't sue. Please. Wish it were mine though. Ah, if only. Lolly, xxx.

Albus Dumbledore arrived at the Burrow a few days later, and immediately sought out Remus. Ginny was a little disappointed, but reminded herself that he was an important man, and had many demands on his time - she was the least of his problems. When Remus and Professor Dumbledore returned from their walk in the garden, the latter made his way towards Ginny.

"May I have a word?" He asked. Ginny nodded silently, seeing that only Remus was in the room. "I'll cast a privacy spell - that way, anyone who might be listening will hear nothing."

"Thank you." Ginny muttered.

"I assume you don't mind Remus listening?"

"No." Ginny said. She liked Remus; he had always been nice to her when he taught at Hogwarts. She knew that he was close to Harry too. "Professor - this prophecy.you know he's going, don't you?"

"Yes my dear, I'm afraid I know Harry too well to assume that anything would keep him from going."

"The prophecy?" Remus asked. "The one that Voldemort was after? The one that Harry smashed?"

"Yes. Has Harry not told you?"

"No." Remus said, frowning a little. Ginny thought she knew why.

"I don't think he wants many people to know - he only told Ron, Hermione and me because we were talking about fears."

"What does the prophecy say?"

"Harry is the one who has to kill Voldemort - either he or Voldemort must die, and if it is Voldemort, I'm afraid it is Harry who must kill him."

"Did James and Lily."

"They did, yes. I don't believe they told anyone - not even Sirius knew. Voldemort doesn't know even half of the prophecy. All he knows is that Harry has the power to kill him."

"Merlin. He never mentioned it. What was his fear?"

"Well he's not afraid that Voldemort will kill him. He doesn't care. He's scared that other people will get hurt because of him, he's scared that all the chances that he's been given are all to keep him in the school." She paused to look at Dumbledore, who looked slightly sheepish. "Is that all this is? Head boy, the triplets, it's all to keep him from going after Voldemort?"

"Not entirely, although the thought had crossed my mind." Dumbledore admitted.

"Don't you think that the harder you push him to stay, the more determined he's going to be to leave?" Ginny asked. She glanced from Remus, who looked pale and worried, to Dumbledore.

"I believe Harry will do what he needs to do - and I admit that the triplets might have made him see what he needs to protect. Yet I still maintain that he's the best person to look after them."

"While we're talking about the triplets, Hermione wants to know why they look so much like Harry - both her and Ron assumed that they were his."

"Did you?" The headmaster asked.

"Yes, but you're avoiding the question." Ginny said, she noticed that the sparkle had returned in the headmaster's eye, and he looked amused.

"Yes, I am, aren't I?"

"You know, Professor, that's not a bad question - they look almost exactly like Harry did when he was a baby." Remus agreed. Professor Dumbledore looked around the room thoughtfully, resting on the picture of Harry with the triplets, asleep in the hospital wing.

"Ah, it is a lovely picture, isn't it? Madam Pomfrey was kind enough to make me a copy of it too."

"Harry could sell copies of that." Ginny murmured.

"Yes, it is important to remember that even in war there are peaceful moments." He picked up the picture, scrutinising it.

"You're still avoiding the question."

"Yes, well, the truth is that I can't really tell you."

"Why ever not?" Remus asked in surprise.

"It's complicated." The older man replied with a sigh as he replaced the photo. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go and speak with the young man himself." He left the room, and Ginny sank down onto the sofa, feeling incredibly frustrated. Remus sat next to her, watching her silently.

"You really like him, don't you?"

"In what way?" Ginny asked guardedly.

"In whatever way you want." Remus shrugged.

"Yeah. I do."

"I'm glad. He needs friends that look past the name."

"I just...wish I could do something!" Ginny burst out furiously. "Everything he's been through and this too! Its just.do you know what I mean?"

"Yes I do. That is a remarkable picture - I don't think I've ever seen Harry so at ease."

"I don't think Harry's ever been so at ease." Ginny countered. "He'll be heartbroken when the triplets go back to wherever they came from."

"I'll tell you a secret Ginny, as long as you tell no one."

"Go on."

"The triplets aren't going anywhere. Professor Dumbledore wants to ask Harry to look after them during the year as well."

"He does? What about...well, sleeping arrangements? The other boys won't like having screaming kids in their dorm."

"Harry will have his own room as head boy. Very secure, and Dobby will look after the children while he's in class."

"Wow. When will Harry find out?"

"On the first day back - you, Harry, Ron and Hermione have a private compartment on the train. Harry is excused from head boy duties on the train, and Ron and Hermione will come back to the compartment when they've finished their prefect duties."

"Right. Ok. So the triplets will be travelling with us?"

"Yes, and I will be there too. Although maybe not for the whole journey."

"Why not?"

"Well, we feel it...necessary to keep a member of staff on patrol duty on the train. After the last few train rides, well...if Malfoy can't get to his favourite people to torment, he might decide to pick on other students."

"Maybe he'll pick a DA student." A cloud of sadness passed over Remus' face, and Ginny frowned.

"Did you see the pictures too?"

"I was there when he found them - he was beyond furious. I've never seen him like that - the only time I saw James like that was when he saw the deatheaters kill a family. A two-month-old baby. I had to remind myself that this was Harry and not James. They're so alike, although Harry is more down to earth."

"You mean a lot to him, you know. You're the closest thing to a parent that he's got."

"Yeah. I'm sort of his unofficial godfather, although he doesn't know that."

"Why not?" Ginny asked.

"Because it never came up until Sirius died. After that...Sirius was Harry's godfather, not me."

"You're both special. Sirius was mischief and you were reason - most of the time."

"Yeah. Now the mischief's gone."

"Are we talking about Sirius or Harry?"

"Both."

"Hmm. I don't know. It reappears now and again - mostly when he's with the triplets. Do you know that he feeds them sugarquills?"

"Ugh - James did that, despite my protests. Harry loved them."

"So do the triplets. I think Harry would do anything to keep them happy, even if they weren't his children."

"Yeah, he would." Remus said. "I guess he wants to give them everything that he never had at the Dursleys."

"I tell you, if I could get my hands on that Vernon..."

"You're going to have to join the queue for that, I'm afraid. Nearly every teacher at Hogwarts wants a piece of him - including Snape, who it seems is actually capable of human emotion. Ok, I shouldn't say that about my fellow Professors."

"Yeah, not to mention mum, dad, you, Ron, Harry, Hermione and everyone else who knows."

"Oh yes, and madam Pomfrey."

"Now her revenge could be quite sweet." Ginny said thoughtfully.

"Oh, and Professor Dumbledore is on the war path. Over all, if Vernon Dursley ever steps a toe out of line, he'll be in so much trouble that he won't know what to do."

"If Bill knew, he'd probably send an Egyptian curse via owl. Hey, I wonder if I could get him to."

"As good as that idea sounds, I must ask you not to - I think Harry will want the first shot, and he'll get that as soon as Voldemort's out of the way. I guess now I know why Harry always felt the need to prove himself."

"Prove himself?"

"Yeah. From day one at Hogwarts he felt like he needed to prove himself - to justify his being there, or something. Plus his fame didn't help. He is always thinking of how to prove that he's not useless."

"How do you know this?"

"I was a marauder too, you know. It wasn't just Sirius and James."

"You spied on him?"

"Something like that."

"How?" Ginny asked.

"Now that would be telling." Remus said.

"Well that's mean." Ginny pouted.

"Oh good god - not another one! Lily used to use 'the pout' every time she wanted something - she'd usually get it too. Especially from James."

"Lily?" Ginny murmured. He had compared her to Lily.

"Yeah, she would've liked you." Remus commented.

"What are you getting at?" Ginny asked suspiciously.

"Nothing at all. Did you know that James' mum had red hair?"

"And what does that have to do with...Remus!"

"What?" He asked, giving her a wide-eyed innocent look.

"You think I'm going to fall for that? I've got six brothers, you know. Not to mention the fact that it wasn't just James and Sirius in the marauders!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Remus tried.

"Doesn't work either."

"Fine. I give up."

"So, what were you trying to do?"

"Help you get what you want." Remus grinned.

"What I want?" Ginny spluttered, turning pink. How did he...? Never mind, the fact was that he was wrong - she didn't, she was over him...she was.

"Yeah." Remus grinned. "What you want."

"You know that I got over Harry ages ago?"

"Oh yes, I know."

"What? You do? Then...why?"

"I have my reasons."

"Remus, please, just leave it."

"Why? Is there someone else you'd prefer?"

"Why are you so interested in my love life anyway?" Ginny asked curiously.

"No reason. You're avoiding the question."

"I'm...no, there's no one that I'd 'prefer'. But I don't fancy Harry anymore - he's my friend."

"But..."

"Remus, please, let it lie."

"You are entirely too stubborn." Remus said. "Redheads." He muttered under his breath.

"Hey, I heard that." Ginny said.

"I'm sure you did. Perfectly true though. You are stubborn, Lily was stubborn, and every redhead I have ever met is stubborn - well, except maybe your father."

"He's stubborn in his own way - mostly about his obsessions." Ginny informed him.

"Well there you go then. Redheads are stubborn."

"You know, black-haired people are stubborn too." Hermione said, coming into the room.

"No - all Potters are stubborn. It has nothing to do with hair colour. His father was the same. Once his mind was made up, there was no changing it."

"Have you told Harry all this stuff? He hardly knows anything about his family - except for what's in the book I found him for his birthday."

"What book?" Remus asked.

"A wizarding family book. It has details on some major wizarding families, including the Malfoys and the Potters. Did you know that they only printed one copy for each family?"

"Yes I did. Where did you find it?"

"In a bookshop in America - mum and dad took me over there for a couple of weeks. It was amazing."

"Wizarding America?"

"Yeah. It's funny, the book was in perfect condition, but no else seemed at all interested in it. I read a bit and I thought it was fascinating. There was even handwriting on the inside cover - no signature though."

"I wonder where James' copy of that book went." Remus mused.

"James had a copy?"

"Yeah, I suppose it got destroyed when Voldemort killed them - the house was destroyed, I don't see what hope a book had. I wonder which family willingly gave up their book - they were very prestigious. I wonder if Harry would mind my looking at it."

"I don't think he would." Hermione said. "I mean, I suppose that to him, it's just another book."

"Well, I'm going to go and see." Remus said, curiosity building inside him. Ginny and Hermione went too.