Harry Potter and the Binding Magic

by shadow's rain

It's the summer of sixth year and already upon them. As the Second War begins in earnest Harry trys to deal with loss, guilt, the Prophecy, taking a major part in the war, reshaping the DA into a real army, and taking up the duties of a Hogwarts prefect i

5. Harry's Birthday Surprise

Chapter 5

Harry's B-Day Bash Surprise

"Up." The voice cut through Harry's sleep like a razor sharp knife. Moaning, Harry rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. "Mister Potter, if you do not get up right this minute I will be forced to take drastic measures."

" 'ust 'ive 'inutes," Harry managed to mumble through the pillow.

"No, I will not give you five extra minutes, as you so eloquently asked for. Now get up."

'Odd, Harry thought, that voice sounded suspiciously like Snape.' Turning his head ever so slightly to the side, Harry cracked one eye open and glared at the offender… at least, until he saw that it was Snape standing at his bedside, glaring at him.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Harry yelled, jumping out of bed and tripping in the sheets in his haste to flee the feared potions master. When Harry finally got untangled from the comforter Snape had vanished and Tonks and Laura were standing in his place. Looking harder, Harry saw that the bundle Laura was carrying a silvery bundle, which, on closer inspection, was actually an invisibility cloak, and Tonks was looking very pleased with herself. "Damn metamorphagus." He grumbled causing them to laugh, "What was that for?"

"You've been almost the whole day and Molly was starting to get worried. She asked us to come and escort you to the Burrow for dinner as everyone else is already there." Tonks said, grinning.

"We already tried waking you the usual way, but that didn't work, so we had to do the unusual way. It seemed to work very well too." Laura added smirking. "Now if you'll be so kind as to grace us with your presence and get out of bed, we can get moving and devour Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking."

Growling and mumbling curses under his breath, Harry slowly started to get dressed and within twenty minutes was following Tonks and Laura down the stairs towards the kitchen. Tonks went first with Laura going after him saying, "After you, oh savior of the world."

Too busy glaring at her to notice, he had already entered the room before he noticed that not only was the room pitch black but that the door behind him was shut and locked. Harry pulled out his wand and muttered 'Lumos' only to be blinded by the brilliant light that engulfed the room. When his eyes adjusted to the light he saw that Tonks and Laura had lied. Everyone wasn't at the Burrow, they were right in front of him dressed for a party!

Harry was suddenly caught in a rib cracking hug and his vision obscured by Hermione's trademark 'Hermione-I-can't-breath' hug and the tirade of questions and comments that followed it, "Do you like it? I hope you do. We've spent all day working on it. Are you mad about the sleeping potion? I hope not. It was the only way to make sure you wouldn't burst in on us."

"Hermione-I-can't-breath," Harry gasped out.

"Oh, sorry."

"That's okay. And no I don't like it…" everybody's face fell causing Harry to laugh, "I love it. This is the best birthday I've ever had!" he paused as the rest of Hermione's gibberish sank in, "Hang on… where'd you get the sleeping potion." Harry was suddenly very suspicious and hoping that his suspicions weren't true.

"We um, well we uh…"

"Ron, Ginny, and Neville nicked the potion from Snape's lab here. Hermione and I slipped it into your drink last night when you weren't looking." Laura said after it was apparent Hermione wasn't going to answer the question.

"YOU NICKED THE POTION FROM SNAPE! How the bloody hell do you know that it wasn't poison!" Harry exploded, his worst fears confirmed, also completely drowning out the adults saying "Professor Snape, Harry."

Neville winced, "well, how else were we supposed to keep you from walking in on us?"

Sighing, Harry turned to Professor Dumbledore who was sitting in a corner next to Professor McGonagall, "Please tell me that you didn't know about this, sir."

Laura cut in before he could answer, "Not only did he know about it, he also told us which potion would be best to use." She leaned over to whisper in his ear, "McGonagall helped too, but she'd murder me if she knew I told you."

Harry's eyes went round. Professor McGonagall, the strictest teacher on the planet, had helped students steal! And from another Professor too? Harry couldn't believe it. What was the world coming too.

Unfortunately, McGonagall had heard Laura's whispered comment to Harry, and was in the process of giving her a sound scolding. But from the look on Laura's face, it wasn't having much of an affect. It seemed that not only had she heard this particular lecture before, she had heard it from the Transfigurations teacher loads of times. "And how, pray tell, young lady, did you get in here? I charmed the door to lock as soon as Harry walked through it."

The look on Laura's face was the most mischievous look Harry had ever seen. "Marauder's privilege, my dear Professor… Let's just say that being seventeen helps a lot."

McGonagall groaned, "Oh wonderful, just what she needs, another way to cause havoc in school. Albus, haven't you learned anything in raising her, or at least from her school record? She doesn't need another way to help her in her life long goal of breaking the Marauders' record of how many pranks she can pull without getting caught."

Laura scowled, "I resent that. My school record is tons better than the Marauders and not that much worse than Fred and George."

"That may be true, but neither group managed to get half as far as you in pranking by yourself."

Mrs. Weasley cut in before their argument broke out into a full out fight. "That's enough you two. Dinner is ready and if you two don't stop dinner will get cold."

Dinner was served in a buffet line and when everyone had gotten in line Harry found himself standing next to his Transfiguration teacher, "Good evening, Professor. How are you feeling?"

"Good evening Potter. I am doing a lot better thank you very much. And you?"

Some how Harry knew she wasn't talking about his physical health, "Better Professor. I was 'still moping around feeling sorry for myself', as Laura put it, yesterday morning so she knocked some sense into me."

"Ah, I see. And by 'she knocked some sense' into you I take it she lost her temper and started yelling at you?"

"Yeah, although, now that I think about it I needed it otherwise I'd still be sulking. But I'm not so sure she needed to yell at me."

"You had best start getting used to it. It usually takes a lot to make Laura lose her temper, but when she does, look out or you'll get caught in a storm you will be wishing you had avoided."

"HEY! I heard that!" Laura called from her seat at the table.

Harry laughed at her causing a bread roll to go soaring at his head. "LAURA! No throwing food!"

"Yes, Professor," Laura answered all innocence.

"Professor," Harry said thoughtfully as a sudden thought entered his mind, "will you be returning to teach next term?"

McGonagall looked shocked for a moment before answering, "Yes, Potter, I shall be returning next term. Why do you ask?"

"Because for a moment I was afraid you weren't, and I am very relieve that you are. Although I am sure you will be robbing some students in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor of their new found favorite past time."

"And that would be?"

Harry smirked, "I think it's called something like -"

"It's called 'Plotting to Kill the Toad for Revenge.' We made it up the night you were stunned, and it was an immediate success. Only a few students tried to put a stop to it." Ron called looking up from stuffing his face with food.

"And I do hope, Mr. Weasley, that you were one of the students that was helping Miss. Granger to stop the game."

Neville started laughing, "Actually, Professor, Hermione was one of the people who started it. She was absolutely livid with Umbridge after that and was barely civil to her." Hermione blushed. She had been really proud of the game at the time, but now she realized that she should have not encouraged her fellow students.

"Really, Miss. Granger, I expected better from you." The Transfiguration teacher was looking sternly at Hermione but everyone could tell she was pleased.

"Oi! Hurry up, up there! You're holding up the line!" Fred called from the end of the line earning a glare from his former Head of House before moving to the table.

Two hours later when Harry was sure he would burst if he had to eat one more piece of food and even Ron was full, Mrs. Weasley vanished the food and banished the dishes to the kitchen before summoning a huge pile of presents from the adjoining room.

Harry's jaw dropped, "Are – are – are those all for me?" he finally managed to stammer.

Laura rolled her eyes, "Of course they're for you. Who else would they be for?"

This mad Harry frown, he knew that it was also Laura and Neville's birthday and he had been hoping that they would be able to celebrate their birthday as well. But before he could say anything Hermione cut in, "Well that's not quite true. Some of them are also for you and Neville."

Laura and Neville looked stunned, "B-but it's Harry's birthday." Neville stammered.

Ginny giggled, "Honestly Neville, did you really think that we would celebrate Harry's birthday and not yours?"

"Quite arguing and open just open them before we return them and get our money back." George called earning him a smack on his head from his mother but effectively cutting off any arguments coming from the two.

With Ron Handing out the presents, Harry started opening them. He received a Golden Snitch from Charlie, and a Quidditch model from Bill. Hermione stuck with what she knew and gave Harry a set of books on D.A.D.A., Ron and Ginny gave Harry a stack of parchment that acted like muggle wakie talkies except you wrote on them instead if talking. Tonks and Kingsley gave Harry their old Auror training books. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave Harry another Weasley sweater, and Fred and George gave everyone a box filled with merchandise from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

Moody had given all three of them wand holsters that could be strapped to the wand arm, and once sheathed; the wand could only be unsheathed by whoever was wearing the holster at the time. The wand would disappear, giving the impression that the wearer was unarmed and would reappear with a flick of the wrist. "So you're wand will stay out of your back pocket." He claimed.

Professor McGonagall's gift to them was surprising. She gave each of them a different book on becoming an Animagi. Everyone stared at her, causing her to shrug and say that she would rather they did it under supervision than by themselves as they were bound to do some time this year.

Dumbledore gave Harry a pensive saying that he would show him how to use it later.

Remus' gift was to the 'New Marauder' as he called them, and was received with mixed reactions. It was a book that at first glance looked like a harmless text book but when Harry opened it to the title page it read 'The Marauders Guide to Surviving Hogwarts: Everything you need to know from pranks to annoying the crap out of teacher.'

Laura, who had been reading over Harry's shoulder, let out a huge whoop and started dancing around the room. "YES! I knew you were a true Marauder at heart!"

"Well Harry, are you going to go crazy like your cousin, or are you going to be nice and tell us what it is before going crazy?"

Harry looked up from skimming the book, a wicked grin forming on his face, "The book's called 'The Marauders Guide to Surviving Hogwarts: Everything you need to know, from pranks to annoying the crap out of teachers.'"

"REMUS JONH LUPIN!" Remus cringed as his former teacher's wrath decended upon him. "You did not just give them another tool to aid them in causing trouble! Don't you think they get into enough as it is?"

Despite her serious tone, the look of despair on McGonagall's face and the abashed look in Remus' caused everyone to laugh and Ginny to reassure the desperate Transfigurations teacher, "Don't worry, Professor, we won't us it to pull any pranks on teachers," Ginny paused then amended, "Well, most teachers. I can't make any promises that we'll leave a certain teacher alone."

"Say Remus, you wouldn't happen to know the Marauders, would you?" Fred asked gazing at the book longingly.

"Know the Marauders?" Harry asked, feigning a lock of surprise, "Moony, you mean to tell me that you haven't told them?"

"Well why didn't you, my dear Prongs Jr.?" Remus shot back

"Because I thought it best to leave it up to one of the original Marauders to tell them. Not a junior member like myself."

Fred and George were watching the exchange with their mouths open, "Y – your Moony? Then… that would make James… Prongs… and Padfoot would be… Sirius? And Wormtail would be -." George was the first to catch on, "Please, please, please say he wasn't." Slowly, Remus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Laura shook their heads sadly. "The little -" The twins were horrified that one of their idols was a Death Eater.

This didn't last long though, as it was impossible for the twins to remain serious for any long periods of time, and they danced their way over to Remus and began hounding him for tales of the Marauders' many adventures at Hogwarts. Remus eyed them as if he had something to say but was debating if he should say it. Finally, he said mildly, "I was a prefect and charged with the tiresome task of controlling the rest of the group."

The twins were crushed, "And Prongs?"

"Was Head Boy."

"Padfoot?" They looked afraid to know the answer.

Remus sighed looking at McGonagall then said, "Was completely authority free."

"YES! At least one of you had your priorities straight!"

"That's what he said when James got the Head Boy badge. Anyway, you needn't ask me. There's a record of every prank we ever pulled in there. Sirius insisted on it."

They froze, eying the book and said in unison, "We want that book."

"I never thought I'd hear them say that," Mrs. Weasley said, "And I certainly didn't expect to be saying this: You may not have that book!"

"But Mum -"

"No, 'but Mum' me. You may not have that book!"

The look of dismay on the twin's faces was so comical that the room burst out laughing. After a nod from Harry, Laura used this as a cover to slip the book to the twins from under the table. "Is that all?" Harry asked when the laughter had died down.

"Nope. My turn!" Laura called jumping up and hurrying out of the room only to come back levitating tow cases in front of her. "Right, now lets see… this one's yours, Neville, and I think this one is Harry's." She said completely ignoring the protests coming from them. "You'll know if I mix it up as the cases will only open for the person their intended for. Oh quit complaining and just open them!"

Still scowling and grumbling, Harry grudgingly opened the case only to have the smirk wiped right off his face. Inside there was a full set of muggle weapons including two swords, two long knives, a dagger, and many other weapons that Harry couldn't name, all of the finest make. Glancing at Neville, Harry saw that his friend had received the same thing with different design and make.

Looking up at Laura, Harry started to thank the demon girl when she cut him off. "They were your fathers' along time ago. Original Order of the Phoenix stuff. It took me ages to find all them and I had to go search through the ruins of Godric's Hollow to find Uncle James' and Aunt Lily's. Be careful." she said as Neville started to unsheathe one of his long knives, "those blades are really sharp."

Neville nodded and went on inspecting the blades as Moody asked, "And how, pray tell are they going to learn how to use them?"

Laura raised an elegantly shaped eyebrow, "Are you saying, Alastor, that I am not capable of teaching them?"

"Well, can you prove it?"

"Alastor." Dumbledore said warningly, but nobody believed him due to the twinkle in his eyes. Harry personally thought that he was looking forward to the inevitable battle that was coming.

Laura was also amused, "Try me."

"Stupefy!"

Laura reacted faster than anything Harry, or anyone except Dumbledore, had ever seen. One moment she was sitting on the bench leaning against the table perfectly relaxed and the next she had flipped out of her seat, over the table and was using the momentum from the leap to roll on the ground to where Moody stood, sending curse after curse at her. Harry watched in fascination as Laura slipped behind him and bring a long knife that appeared out of nowhere to Moody's neck. The room went deftly still.

"Is that adequate enough for you? Am I qualified enough to train the new members of the Order?"

Grudgingly, Moody nodded, peeved that a seventeen year old girl could beat him! an accomplished auror. "That was great. I've never seen anyone move that fast. How do you do it? A reflex spell?"

"No, it's one of the perks of being half-demon."

"That's enough fighting for today. I want the six of you in bed now, and yes Laura, I mean you too. You have your Defense O.W.L tomorrow and you'll need to have a good night sleep before you leave. And -"

"Not yet Molly. There's one more order of business that needs to be taken care of before these six turn in." Dumbledore interrupted as they got up to leave.

Harry was suddenly wary. After five years of knowing the headmaster he had learned that that tone meant something very serious. "What is it?"

"Sirius' Will." Harry paled. "I know that this isn't something one usually wants done on ones birthday, but Sirius requested that it be done today." Dumbledore paused looking for something in his robes and pulled out a gray globe. "Is everyone ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Remus said softly, looking ashen.

"Very well then; I must warn those of you who don't know that this is a memory globe that will play an image of Sirius saying his will. Please remember that this is just a memory, a recording, if you will, and as such, he cannot hear or see you… Here we go." Dumbledore activated the globe and Sirius was suddenly standing in the middle of them.

"Well this is a surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting to die this early in my uneventful life. But as Prongs and Moony always said, "You do too many crazy and thoughtless things, Padfoot, to even consider living as long as Dumbledore."

Everyone turned to stare at Remus, who just shrugged and said, "it's true." before they turned back to the memory of Sirius.

"Anyway, to get the boring stuff out of the way…" he paused as he puffed himself to look like a strutting roster, "I Sirius Orion Black, being sound of mind (Remus and McGonagall snorted) and body, do hereby bequeath 10 of the Black Family Fortune to the Weasley (Mrs. Weasley fainted) family in thanks and gratitude for always being there for Harry when I could not, and even when I was. Though we had our disagreements, I have always considered you friends and I hope you will take this without too much of a fight. May you become as wealthy as you are loved.

"Another 10 is to be set aside in another vault for Albus Dumbledore and a select group to use in their efforts to rid the world of evils such as Voldemort. There you go Albus, I have no idea what else to give you as you seem to have plenty of everything, so I am hoping that this is enough to fund what ever the Order needs.

"To Minerva McGonagall…" the transfiguration teacher looked shocked, "I know that I was a pain and a headache to you during our years at school, but I hope that what I am leaving you helps cover some of the debt along with my most sincere apologies for giving you a constant headache; I, Sirius Black, do hereby grant Minerva McGonagall, the last remaining member of her family, the compensation payments that was ordered by the Ministry and my mother refused to do, which should be 5 of the Black Family fortune. And I do hope you can forgive me." McGonagall looked like she was going to cry, then suddenly she smiled and it made her look 10 years younger.

"Moony, my old friend, I'm leaving you 20 of the Black Family Fortune so you'll never have to worry about getting a job again. And get some new robes for Merlin's sake! I'm sick and tired of seeing you in rags. And one last piece of advice; just ask her out already. The worst she can do is say no, and from the way she talks about you non-stop, trust me, she won't.

"And last, but not least… my dear godson, Harry Potter, and my goddaughter, Laura Potter." Laura froze, shock written all over her face. "Yes, Little Shadow, I know you're alive and keeping the Marauder spirit alive and well. After all, I'm not a Marauder for nothing, you know. Anyway… I'm leaving the two of you the last 55 of the Black Family vault, as well as everything else that I own including Grimmuld Place. You probably want to search the house, as I know my mother has another vault hidden somewhere around here. I just don't know where it is as she never let me anywhere near it…

"Oh! And before I forget; the Potter Vault is yours today as well, which is why I wanted the will read today. All of this was official the moment the words were spoken, and the money and other stuff was transferred to your vault or a new vault was created. You will need to go to Gringots and get the keys some time this summer." A soft ding went off in the background, "Oops, sorry guys. I'm out of time Have fun in life and make the Marauders proud.

"Oh! And Harry, if I ever hear that you're feeling sorry for yourself I swear I will come back and haunt you." And he was gone.

Remus was, if possible, even more ashen than before and Harry had his fists clenched so tight that he was drawing blood. There was a moment of silence before everyone started leaving the room either to go home or to get ready for bed.

Slowly, Harry made his way to the room he was sharing with Ron and Neville, too wrapped up in keeping his emotions under wraps that he didn't notice the hand on his shoulder gently guiding him to a different room. Harry didn't even realize there was someone else in the room until the door closed the door behind him.

"It's okay to cry, you know." Laura's soft voice ripped through any self-control he had left. As soon as one tear left, a flood of them followed; he collapsed on the bed sobbing uncontrollably.

Without a word Laura sat down beside him and pulled him into a hug. Harry tensed, unsure how to react to being hugged, yet unable to stop the flow of tears. As he slowly relaxed into the hug, Laura whispered "Ah, what a pair we make, eh, cousin? You losing everyone you love, and me being locked in a cell for five years."

After a while, when Harry was able to gain control of his emotions he pushed himself away, "I'm sorry, I -"

Laura held a finger to his lips. "Don't be. As I said before; it is perfectly fine to cry."

"But isn't it wrong? Isn't it wrong to stop crying? And isn't it wrong to have fun? Because it means that I'm getting over Sirius, and that he doesn't matter?"

"It's not wrong to cry and it isn't wrong to stop crying. And no, it is not wrong to have fun and to laugh because you are not getting over Sirius, you are just accepting that he is gone. Sirius will never truly die unless he is forgotten. Sirius will always matter as long as he matters to you.

"Eventually you will find that you can't cry, that you can't bring yourself to care enough to cry. That you have hardened so much that it takes a great deal to make you cry. That you are too world-weary to care and too tired to hurt anymore."

Harry frowned, "Will I ever be able to cry again?"

"Eventually. You'll find something of your own that will make you cry again, Harry, something you love, and it will heal you. It might feel at times like you can't possibly be hurt anymore, and it might feel like nothing good will ever happen again- but something will. There will always be something to make you start looking up again."

Laura got up to leave but Harry called to her again, "Laura?" She turned around, eyebrow raised in question. "What was your good thing? What made you live again?"

The demon girl smiled the first honest smile he had ever seen, "Albus Dumbledore was the first when I was seven, and then being accepted without question by all of you, even when you knew what I was."

Harry stared at the door long after Laura had left, mulling over what he had been told. Finally realizing that he was aloud to be happy, and that Sirius would indeed have yelled at him for moping around like he was, Harry rolled under the covers and fell into the first peaceful sleep he had had in a long time.

Attn: I am sooooooo sorry for the long wait. I had a major case of writers block and then another story idea which will explain Laura's past a lot better, but I've put that on hold so that I can at least get everyone to Hogwarts before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out . Oh well... I hope the lenght of the chapter makes up for the wait. And Chapter 6 is half-way done!

A special thank you to idiot with reason and gaul1 for their reviews. THANK YOU!

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