BEFORE YOU READ THIS Note that I am not trying to act like I know a lot about bipolar disorder. My take on Ginny is semi-based on something that went on with a friend of mine. I don't think that all bipolar people are crazy, but for drama purposes….you get the idea? On with the Fic!

Chapter 11: Happy Birthday

The next few weeks flew by at a rate I can only contribute to being happy. We were so lucky that neither of us had steady jobs at the moment, though Harry was already beginning to get the next years sports season ironed out for school. There was relatively little that kept us from spending the days together. The center was becoming less and less of a hindrance, in my opinion, and more of a shared joy. Oh, I still avoided the children like the plague, but I loved to watch Harry. Very few times did I ever really join in. I was content….We were content.

As much of Harry as I saw, I saw even less of Draco. The boy had plunged himself full throttle into learning all he could about the restaurant business. I never would have imagined that he would ever work so hard at something, but he was proving me wrong. He soaked up everything and anything that Ellen or Remy had to tell him or show him. My kitchen was now claimed by one blonde boy and his obsession. Remus had already paid for his enrollment for fall classes at the culinary school. Though Draco protested, he claimed that he was investing in his future head chef. I only half believed that statement myself. I saw the way those two looked at each other.

We had all been lulled into a routine by the time late July rolled around. About a week before the thirty-first, Remy clued me in on the fact that Harry was turning twenty-six. I never had put much into birthdays. My own were nothing more than markers of yet another year wasted, and I'd never really cared enough about anyone to make a fuss about their birthday. I toyed around with several ideas about what to get him, before I decided to ask for help.

I waited until I had the opportunity to corner Ron at the center. He looked at me skeptically for a moment when I scanned the area for eavesdroppers before saying anything. "I'm straight you know. If you've come to ask me to run off with you, I'm sorry but I won't," he joked.

Mumbling something foul under my breath, I closed his office door. "You wouldn't be my first choice. I wanted to ask you about what to do for Harry's birthday."

He nodded. "I figured that. Unfortunately, I'm not really the one to ask. Harry isn't exactly easy to shop for. Even Hermione gave up trying after a few years. We usually just buy him a gift certificate for the sporting goods store."

"Some best friend you are," I said sarcastically.

Ron simply smiled at me. "You obviously don't get Harry, do you?"

THAT caught my attention. "What do you mean I don't "get" him?"

"I mean that with Harry, he could care less if you got him anything. I remember when we first started hanging out together—we were eleven or so—and my mom made him a lopsided birthday cake and a sweater. Don't get me wrong, Harry loves Remus, and Siris….well, that's unusual, but he didn't have a mom anymore. I know he still has that God awful, green thing in the closet."

I stood there for a long moment. "In other words, do something that no one else ever has for him."

Ron nodded. "And, Severus, I do have to ask you a favor."

"What's that?" I was always weary about the word "favor." Somehow, it always ended badly.

"Be careful. Don't fuck things up with him."

"My name isn't Oliver Wood."

His eyes widened. "He told you about that?"

"Remy did. Was he wrong to?" I knew I had ventured on to shaky ground. But Ron said nothing, just made up some excuse about having something to do.

When I got back to my condo, I sank down on the couch and rubbed my temples. Being with someone certainly took a lot more consideration than I was used to giving. I was almost ready to call it quits and go to bed, but out of nowhere, the perfect plan began to formulate in my head. I called Remy and started to iron out the details.

Later that evening, Harry pulled in the drive. I could tell from the moment I saw him that something was most definitely wrong. When I met him with a kiss, he held up his cell phone to me. "Listen to this."

I took the thing and played the message. "I know you're avoiding me!" Ginny's voice shrieked. "Why are you doing this? Don't you know you're killing me Harry? I thought I could trust you! You're a liar! He's just going to leave you like Oliver did, and then you'll come back to me. You're mine, Harry. We're soul mates! That old fag doesn't know you like I do!" I heard a click.

"Enlightening," I said handing it back to him.

"But what should I do?" he asked running a hand though his messy black hair. "I don't want her hurting herself. What if she does something crazy?"

I could have told him that crazy is a relative term, and that if she hurt herself it was not his problem, but that wasn't Harry's style. The Weasleys were too much a part of his life for that. "Do you think you should talk to Arthur and Molly?"

"I have in the past. It doesn't do much besides upset Molly and put Ginny off on another fit."

I sighed. "I honestly don't know what to tell you. You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. The girl is a fucking nut job. If you think that you can't live with it anymore, don't. There comes a time when you just ignore her completely," I said plainly. In my way, I was being as compassionate as humanly possible.

The rest of the week went by without much else happening. He got a rash of hang up calls, but there was no more of her mad ranting. By the morning of Harry's birthday, I was determined that I would kill the little whore if she ruined my plans. Everything was in order, and she was my one and only worry.

I kicked Draco out of the house early that day, but he didn't seem to mind. I knew that he'd spend the night with Remus and leave us alone. Remus had been a godsend. Without him, I doubt I could have pulled it all off.

I lit the last of the candles and smiled as I heard his van pull up the drive.

"Severus, what's this?" he asked when he opened the door.

"Not sure. You'd best find out yourself," I told him.

He laughed and followed a path of jasmine scented candles out to the pool area. The entire yard was lit up, and more candles floated along with rose petals in the pool. Low music played in the background, nothing traditionally romantic, but it was his favorite. "The Moody Blues," he said with a laugh.

He moved on to a table set up in front of the gazebo. "I thought we would dine out here tonight," I told him as I kissed his neck.

The waiter named Neville from Zora's, came out with a bucket of ice and set it beside us. Harry laughed out loud as he picked up a can of beer. "So you're using my secrets against me."

I nodded. That night's fare consisted entirely of fast food and prepackaged junk food. Watching him devour a chocolate cupcake by licking out the cream first nearly forced me to forget everything else and carry him off to bed, but there was more to do before that. I retrieved an envelope and a box from the gazebo and handed them to him. "You're impossible to shop for, brat," I told him. He opened the envelope first, and his eyes widened. "That is what I know you want more than anything anyway."

"This is…are you sure?" he asked staring at the check.

"You put everything into that center. I thought that it was only fair that begin to help you as you have helped me."

He shook his head. "I don't understand."

"Open the box, Harry," I commanded holding back my laughter.

His hands tore through the paper as I watched with anticipation. Nestled inside were three smaller packages. The first one was an expensive watch that I had seen him admire at the jewelers. Exactly the kind of thing he would never buy himself. Next was little box holding Lakers seasons tickets. But it was the last one that really meant something. He stared at it with a sort of confusion. The book in his hands had a very plain cover with simply the title and my pen name on it. "Is this what you finished writing while you were here?"

"Yes, I had a single copy printed before it was edited. It's rough, but I think it's as it should be. Every word of it is about you. From the night I met you, you inspired me. In all my life, I've never met someone like you. One look from you and I would sit pounding away at the keys until I had thirty or forty pages. You are my muse, Harry," I told him.

Tears glistened in his eyes. Proud as he was, he whipped them away and kissed me. "Thank you," he said softly.

"No, thank you. Happy birthday, Harry."

His kisses became more passionate. I was almost swept away with my desire, but there was still one more thing. Neville had left a while ago and the fence was high around my home. "Take off your clothes, Harry."

"Here?" he asked incredulously.

I nodded and began to strip. Ducking back into the gazebo, I changed the CD. Avoiding the candles, I got into the pool and waited. I watched him doff his shirt with keen interest. It still amazed me how powerful those arms were. He lowered himself out of the chair to the poolside, and slipped in.

I captured him in my arms immediately. "Care to dance?"

"Oh yes," he breathed holding on to my shoulders.

I circled his waist with my hands and pulled him to where the water was almost to our shoulders. I began to move in a somewhat clumsy waltz. The water made it harder to move, but once I found a rhythm, we might as well have been on a ballroom floor. He fit in my arms so perfectly that it seemed that everything was as it ought to be. His head on my shoulder was the feeling that I had waited a lifetime for. "I love you, Harry," I said leaning into his ear.

"I love you, too." Tears were now openly flowing down his cheeks. "This is the most amazing night of my life. I've been dying to dance with you since the banquet. How did you know?"

I laughed a little. "You told me the night you drank too much."

"And here I though you just knew me that well."

I bristled at the comment a bit. "I would have thought of it."

Harry's eyes were glimmering in the candlelight. "Severus, I want you to take me. Here. Now."

I didn't need a second invitation. In an instant, I had him against the side. My hands covered him touching every inch. Our love was complete, and I was more than willing to seal it. I had told him I loved him, now I would show him with ever sigh and moan. Harry was my soul.