Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Chapter 2: The Best Birthday Ever
Harry grabbed the package closest to him. He looked at who it was from. To his surprise, it was from Bill. It felt sort of soft. He tore the brown paper away and found a cloak. It was thick and warm and black. It was clearly for the winter. Unfolding it, he saw that the front had HP embroidered in it. A card fell out on to the ground. On it was written. "Fluer helped me with it." Fingering the edges, he realized that the cloak was handmade. One wouldn't notice unless the inside was seen. Harry smiled. It was really nice for someone to put time in like that. Too bad Bill wasn't there to that personally. Harry suspected he would get his chance later.
The next Package was from Ron. It was clearly a box. His friend was grinning wildly. "Ron, what will happen if I shake this thing?"
Ron frowned a bit. "I wouldn't recommend it, but... I don't think anything will break." At that, Harry nodded and shook it. Ron cringed a bit at the sound of metal hitting.... something. Harry didn't know what. Even more puzzled now than he had been when he first took the box, Harry tore off the paper. Seeing what was written on it, harry grinned. It was a Wizard's Chess set.
"Ron! This is great! I've been thinking about getting one of these sets myself! Yours always tried to help you win unless it's feeling sorry for me! Thanks! You're the best, mate!" The pieces were metal. He opened the lid of it and peeked inside. There was a instruction and strategy book in there. That's what the pieces had been hitting. The pieces, however, weren't making a peep.
It was Hermione who answered Harry's unasked question. "They have a silencing charm on them. They come with one." Harry nodded.
"Great!" Maybe this wasn't so bad. However, he still wished that Sirius was here to share this with. Grabbing the next package, he noted it was from Dumbledore. He glanced around. He wasn't there. Harry frowned a bit. He'd sort of wanted the old man to be there.
"He'll be here later, Harry." This was from the gruff voice of on Alstor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Harry smiled a bit. Alstor Moody was called Mad-Eye because of his ever-in-motion magical eye. It looked a bit mad to see. Harry remembered being nauseated watching that thing the first few times. It wasn't so bad once you got used to it. Harry suspected, however, that no matter what anyone else said, that Mad-Eye Moody was just that, Mad. Not angry so much as he had a smidgen of lunacy to his character. Eventually, Harry nodded.
He started tearing the paper, that had shinny stars on it. It looked like the paper captured the night sky. Whatever was under the paper was odd shaped. It sort of felt like a book with something on top of it, but at the same time, it didn't. When the paper was gone, Harry realized he'd been right. It was a book called, "Spells for the Auror: Level one" Harry smiled a bit. The other thing that was part of the package was a small box. On the lid, an elegant phoenix had been carved on the top. Harry ran his fingers along it before pulling the lid back. There was something wrapped in black silk inside. He unfolded the fabric to reveal a blade. It was made of a black stone. The blade was small. It couldn't have been more than six inches long. The hilt about four. Picking up carefully Harry looked at the blade closely. It didn't look sharp. Harry ran his finger along the edge. As soon as his finger touched, he gasped and pulled his hand away. Blood was slowly sliding down his finger as well as on the blade.
Moody scoffed from behind him. "Well, that was smart, wasn't it, boy?"
Mrs. Weasley was ready with a rag, "Oh, Harry, dear! Are you okay? What is- Oh my... That's.. "She trailed off and looked to Moody who nodded, looking as grim as Mrs. Weasley. "That stupid old man! How could he?"
"Not here, Molly. " Moody growled under his breath.
Harry, not saying a thing. Harry had a bad feeling about this. He mumbled to Mrs, Weasley, "I don't think I want that blade."
Molly's eyes flew open in shock, She took the box away from in front of Harry, "Of Course you don't, dear! It's probably not the best thing for a sixteen year old to have, anyway."
"No, Molly, Harry's been bled by that blade. You know it's his. I daresay he wasn't supposed to cut himself on the damn thing. What kind of person touches the sharp end of a blade, really." Moody spoke in his normal harsh tones, but there seemed to be an edge of doubt in his voice.
Reluctantly, Harry moved on to the next package. It was from Remus. This one should at least be something he'd appreciate. Pulling the paper away, he found it was another book, to be more specific, a photo album. He opened the front cover and found a note on the inside. Dear Harry, it read, during last year, Sirius and I spent all out spare time working on this. Inside you'll find a plethora of old pictures, drawings, letters, anything we could find that had to do with your mother and father. I had to stop Sirius from burning Peter out of every picture, I thought you should know how badly he betrayed us. So you know, I even wrote to some of Lily's old school friends to see if any of them had anything they wanted to send you. All of them sent something, some sent letters to you as well. Don't forget, you have people around you. Don't break it open just yet. Cheers Remus Lupin. Harry smiled at Remus.
"Thank you," Remus nodded slightly, "You have no idea how much this means to me, Remus."
"Don't mention it Harry..." There seemed to be more that he wanted to say, but left it off. Harry was pretty sure that he knew what it was. Being each others sounding board for almost two months had given them a feel for one another.
Harry grabbed what appeared to be another book, smaller, though. It was from Hermione. She beamed. He opened it rather gingerly. It was a small leather bound book. The leather had "HP"pressed into it. On the inside Hermione had written down that this was a journal. It would be password protected as soon as Harry set one by pointing his wand at it and saying, "Verbolia" followed by whatever he wanted the password to be. This would be really helpful. He'd been thinking about getting one for himself anyway, to put his thoughts straight. He told Hermione as much.
"I'm glade you like it, Harry." Was her response.
"Okay, and finally-!" Harry said moving on to the next and last present. "From Charlie!" It was an oddly shaped thing and it left Harry wondering what it could be. After the paper had been torn away, he found himself looking at a toy stuffed dragon. A Norwegian Ridgeback to be exact. A gufaw left him before he had a chance to reel it in. "I'll have to sleep with every night! I wonder what Charlie will say then! Thank you, everyone you really didn't need to get me anything. Thank you."
Mrs. Weasley was holding out a package to him. "One last thing, Harry. From all of the family."
"You really shouldn't have Mrs. Weasley!" This made her already smiling face light up even more. Harry had a slight tightening in his stomach that made him wish for a moment that this incredible woman was really his mother. Tearing open the paper, he found something he didn't expect to find.. His green eyes grew wide. Harry looked up f rom the paper to Mrs. Weasley who'd been joined by Mr. Weasley. He looked down again, then right back, mouth still open and eyes still wide. "But.. Uh... Why... I ... You... Why?"
"Harry, dear," Mr. Weasley muttered softly, " You've practically been a Weasley since we first ran into you at the station."
"What is it, Harry?" Hermione asked, leaning in to look over his shoulder. She gasped as she saw what was there. "Oh! Harry!"
Ron now looked utterly lost, looked down."What is it, mate?" after a few moments, he founds the ability to speak. "Bloody, hell..."
"Ron!"
"Sorry, mum."
"Harry, all you have to do is get those muggles to sign it." A large group had formed around the table where Harry was sitting. The room was suddenly bustling with talking. In front of Harry were adoption papers.
Below the papers was a Weasley jumper. Harry took a deep breath, finding his voice and reassurance at one time. "Mrs. Weasley, Mr. Weasley. I, You don't know how much this means to me. I would love to be a Weasley... I'd still want to be a Potter, though. So, I do-"
"Oh, Dear!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed. "You can still keep your name exactly as you have it!"
Harry nodded. "I'll see to it that they are signed."
"Harry!" Ron was grinning wildly. "This means we're brothers, mate! You're my bro!"
"And ours, Ron!" That came from George who was looking pleased.
"Yeah, and ours!" Fred chimed in.
Ginny, walked up to Harry and gave him a rather large hug. "Welcome to the family for real, Harry."
Harry closed his eyes, holding back the very real possibility of tears. The most he could muster was an almost inaudible, "Thanks, everyone... this has been the best Birthday ever, by far... and it's not even my birthday yet.. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
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Authors note:
Yay!! End of Chapter 2!! I know... It was a bit.. Well, sappy. But it will get a lot better. He still has to go explore Diagon Alley and get his gift from Fred and George. I might not be updating until Sunday or Monday. I'm really not sure. Hope you all can wait!!
Don't forget to review!!
Please?
Joanna
