Birthday Surprises Chapter 30

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

Harry sat at a table outside Florean Fortescue's, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for Tonks to arrive. He was waiting for almost ten minutes before she did arrive, looking just as happy and carefree as he remembered. She did a comical double take as she spotted him. After having not seen him for almost a year and a half, he supposed he did look different.

"Harry! How are you! How are…things?"

"I'm fine and things couldn't be better." He grinned.

"What did you name them?" Tonks whispered. Harry cast a look around them - people were milling about, almost completely unaware of them.

"Eleanor, Samuel and Andrew." Harry replied.

"Aww. And they're ok? Not causing you too much trouble?"

"Are you kidding? They're little angels. Not too happy on letting other people hold them though."

"Partial to their daddy then, are they?" Harry grinned goofily and nodded.

"I wanted to thank you - it can't have been much good for you."

"Well labour was hell, I can now understand why I'm an only child, but apart from that, it was rather enjoyable." She grinned as well.

"Well thanks anyway. We're just trying to find out who the mother is now. Apparently Fudge didn't tell anyone. I can't believe the Ministry, I really can't. It's just…beyond low." Harry said, his green eyes flashing. "Anyway, do you want to come and see them?"

"Can I? I didn't get to see them much…what with them being premature…"

"They were premature?"

"Yeah. They were due on the fourteenth of July, but they were born on the twenty-sixth of June. They had to spend a while in the hospital, just to make sure that they were all healthy. Then they came to you on your seventeenth birthday - after the Ministry had decided that they were useless." Harry felt a surge of indignation on behalf of his children, and couldn't believe that anyone could be so heartless.

"No child is useless." He said forcefully, remembering every time his Uncle had yelled that he was useless as the punches rained down……

"Harry?"

"Sorry, I sort of zoned out there."

"I was just agreeing with you - no child is useless." She had an odd, confused look on her face, and Harry forced a smile, pretending that everything was fine. He hated the word 'useless' with a passion.

Harry and Tonks were chatting jovially when they returned to the Burrow. Molly smiled as they came in.

"They've all been perfect. Sleeping like logs." She said. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Harry felt a twinge at his wrist.

"Not for long." He murmured, looking upwards expectantly. Sure enough, the wailing began seconds later.

"Back in a minute." Harry said, jogging up the stairs.

"He's such a wonderful father." Molly sighed, her eyes drifting towards the photo on the mantelpiece. Tonks walked over to it, her eyes misting over.

"This makes it all worth it." She muttered, before walking up to see them.

She stood in the doorway as he played with them. He seemed to know exactly what to do to make each child smile.

"It was worth it you know." She said. "All of it - just to see you doing that."

"Doing what?" Harry asked

"That - looking after them. You look as if you've been doing it all your life."

"It feels like it too." Harry laughed as he handed Leah her little stuffed owl.

"Why an owl?" Tonks queried. Harry laughed.

"On my birthday, when my presents arrived, she was cuddling Pig - there's a photo of it. Here." He pulled the photo from the drawer and handed it to Tonks.

"Aww. This is so adorable. I love the picture down on the mantelpiece though."

"You and everyone else too." Ginny grinned. "Harry'll make you a copy, won't you?" She said, grinning at Harry.

"Fine. I don't suppose I have much choice in the matter." Harry said, handing Leah to Tonks, who looked a little scared.

"I never really got to hold them much…I don't know how." She protested. Ginny hastily took the child out of her arms. Leah blinked and yawned widely, frowning slightly.

"Huh! You are stealing my baby girl." Harry said, "You realise that you're the only other person she doesn't mind holding her?"

"I wouldn't say she's too pleased about it, but she's not screaming." Ginny said, looking pleased.

"Come to daddy, baby. You're a daddies girl, aren't you?" Harry said. He took her from Ginny and she gurgled happily at him.

"It's enough to make you want to puke, isn't it?" Ginny asked. "It's not fair - he's just too good with them." She said. Tonks laughed as Harry placed Leah back in her cot, blushing.

"Thanks. I think." He muttered.

"Yeah, well, I think they're incredibly lucky." Tonks grinned. "Just never let Auntie Tonks baby-sit."

"Right." Harry said.

"Yeah, I mean, with your role model…well, you're brilliant with them."

"Role model? Oh, you mean 'whatever Vernon did, do the opposite?'"

"Yeah, that about sums it up." Ginny muttered, looking angry all over again.

"What?"

"My uncle Vernon - I was his private punch bag." Harry explained. Tonks' eyes widened in horror.

"You're kidding?" She exclaimed.

"If only." Harry replied. "That's why I was rather…umm…forceful this afternoon when you said that the Ministry said that they were useless - I'm still trying to get rid of that particular label." Harry said. He looked down at the children - his children - and felt a surge of pride. They were anything but useless.

Tonks spent the day at the Burrow, watching Harry carefully. He had mentioned the mother of his children on more than one occasion, clearly frustrated that his children had a nameless mother. She could stop that, she knew. She had specifically asked for the identities of both parents before agreeing to carry the child - or children, as it had turned out - and Fudge had reluctantly agreed. She had been eager to help after finding out whose children she would be carrying - after all, she had felt extremely fond of the ragged young boy that she had first met in that horrible house in Muggle-land. Now he wasn't a boy, and certainly wasn't ragged. He had grown a great deal, and looked much more grown up. Any traces of the young boy were gone now, leaving a confident man in his place. The difference in him was astonishing. She was also fond of their mother, believing that the triplets couldn't ask for better parents. But no one except her seemed to know who their mother was.

"Hey Harry?" Tonks said, feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah?"

"Can I have a word with you - in private?"

"Uh, sure." Harry shrugged. They walked into the garden, and sat down by the lake.

"What's up?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting strangely all day - what's wrong?"

"It's……well, before I agreed to carrying your children, I specifically asked who both parents were - the Ministry wanted it top secret, and this was before I knew it was yours……well, I insisted that I wasn't going to carry the child without knowing whose child it was."

"Did they tell you? You know who their mother is?"

"Yeah. Fudge gave me strict instructions not to tell Dumbledore, so I couldn't, but he didn't say anything about telling you."

"Is it going to get you into trouble if you tell me?"

"Probably, but I've been thinking - it's better if you, and her, know."

"Who is it?" Harry's green eyes bored into hers, and Tonks realised that he really wanted to know who it was. Not just because she deserved to know, but also because he had known very little about his parents. He didn't want that for his children.

"It's……Hermione." Tonks said.