A/N: I don't have a writers block anymore! I didn't even need to take any suggestions for this one :->. Oh yes…this chapter is going to be very surprising for you, I think…

Chapter Five

"Padfoot," Harry said when he and Sirius had returned from a park not too far from their house. "Can Matt come over sometime?" Matt O'Brien, a boy that Harry had met at the park and quickly befriended.

"How about for your birthday?" Sirius suggested.

"Birthday," Harry repeated. "What birthday?" If Sirius had been drinking a drink, he knew he would have immediately spit the contents in his mouth out.

"What do you mean 'what birthday?' " Sirius demanded. "You're birthday, of course, kiddo!"

"I didn't know I was having a birthday," Harry admitted. "I usually don't." Sirius frowned.

"Well, this year you are, kiddo," Sirius replied determinedly. Harry brightened.

"And I can invite Matt! And Ron, too, of course," Harry said excitedly. "When will we have it?" Sirius paused.

"I don't know," Sirius lied. "But when I come up with something, I'll tell you, alright?"

Harry nodded. "I'll think about it, too," he replied. Sirius bit his tongue to keep him from smiling. After he had told Harry about having a birthday party, Sirius had a brilliant idea of surprising him. But, Sirius had decided he would stillbe able to surprise Harry. Harry didn't know the date that they were going to have his birthday on. He'd have to speak to Matt's parents for some arrangements, first…

… The next day, July 31st…

"Happy Birthday, Harry," Sirius greeted cheerfully the next morning.

"Morning, Padfoot," Harry mumbled sleepily. He rubbed his eyes before yawning.

"Harry, I have something to tell you," Sirius announced. Harry raised his eyebrows, fully awake now, and looked at his godfather.

"What?"

"You'll be visiting Matt and his mum today," Sirius started. "I have somewhere I have to be, kiddo. You don't mind, do you?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't mind. I'll miss you, but I won't mind. How long will you be, Padfoot?" Sirius shrugged.

"Not long, kiddo. Oh, and Matt's mum will drive you back home," Sirius replied.

"Alright," Harry responded, pouring some orange juice into a glass. "Where do you have to go?"

Sirius hesitated. He didn't think of an answer to that. Actually, he hadn't thought that Harry would ask that question.

"Er - just some…uhm, Moony actually needs me to help him with something."

"Oh," Harry replied, buttering his toast. "What?"

"Uh -" Sirius paused, trying to come up with a smart answer. What help would Remus need from him? "Moony needs me to - erm - help him with…" Sirius sighed. "I invited Moony to come live with us," he lied. When the words finally came out of his mouth, Sirius realized what he had said. He had invited Moony to come live with them? He didn't even know if Moony would come live with them if he asked.

"Really?" Harry's eyes widened excitedly. "Wow. So what did Moony say?"

"He said he'd…think about it," Sirius said, shrugging inwardly. That's the best he could come up with.

"So you're going to help Moony think?" Sirius nodded his head slowly.

"Uh, yeah, sure," Sirius replied. Harry frowned.

"Why can't I stay and help you help Moony think?"

Sirius didn't know what to say. He was stumped.

"Don't you want to stay and play with Matt?"

Harry nodded. "Of course. Just wondering." Sirius sighed an inaudible sigh. Finally the questioning was over.

… … …

"Alright," Sirius said into the a muggle device, known as a 'telephone.' Quite convenient and handy, actually. "Yes. So you'll bring Harry back over around six or seven?" Sirius asked Mrs. O'Brien, who was on the other end. "Alright, yes, that'd give us a whole lot of time to set up. Hmm? Yes, yes, thank you," he said. A voice startled Sirius.

"Who you talking to, Padfoot?" Harry questioned. Sirius rarely ever used the telephone, since they didn't have many muggle friends.

"What? Uh, no one," Sirius said quickly, putting the phone down.

"So you were just talking to yourself?" Harry asked skeptically.

"Uh - yes?"

"I don't believe you," Harry said, looking hurt. "Why are you lying to me, Padfoot?"

Sirius felt bad, but also felt it was worth it. Sirius had to lie to Harry. It was a surprise birthday for Harry that Sirius was planning, and he didn't want to ruin the surprise by telling him just because he felt bad.

"I was just talking to Mrs. O'Brien," Sirius explained, sweeping Harry up in a hug. "Just running over the plans."

"Oh," Harry replied, sitting on Sirius's lap and resting his head on Sirius's chest. Harry liked that position, it made him feel safe. Harry suddenly burst out laughing as he felt Sirius's fingers tickle his sides.

… … …

"I love you," Sirius whispered in Harry's ear, hugging him tightly. "And I'll see you after, okay, kiddo?" Harry nodded.

"Okay, Padfoot." Harry closed his eyes as Sirius kissed his unruly hair, before opening them and rushing over to Matt.

"Hi," Harry greeted. Matt grinned.

"Hiya, Harry. Can't wait till tonight!" Matt replied eagerly. Harry looked at Matt, perplexed.

"What's going on tonight?" Harry asked. Before Matt could reply, his mother lay a hand on Matt's shoulder.

"Hush, Matt," she said in a scolding voice. She smiled at Harry. "It's nice to see you again, Harry. Your father told me that it was your birthday today."

Harry shook his head. "Sirius isn't my father. He's my godfather," he explained. Mrs. O'Brien grinned.

"Anyway, dear, Happy Birthday," she responded. "Oh, come on in you two. You don't want to catch a cold!" she hustled Matt and Harry inside. "Go on you two," she told them, "go play. Before you know it, it'll be time for us to take Harry home."

… … …

"It got dark so quickly," Mrs. O'Brien observed, frowning. "That's odd."

"It got dark quickly 'cause I think we're going to get a storm," Harry replied, looking up into the grey clouds.

"I think you're right, Harry," Mrs. O'Brien said with a grin. "You could be a weatherman, you know." Matt grinned.

"I'm going to invent a new food when I get older," he said. Mrs. O'Brien raised her eyebrows as she hurried the two to the car.

"Oh, Matt? And what would your food invention be?"

"Vanilla Mustard Ripple," he announced proudly.

"Vanilla Mustard Ripple?" Harry echoed, scrunching his nose up. "What kind of ice cream flavor is that? It is ice cream, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Matt replied, "and it's going to be a new flavor no one would invent! It'll have vanilla ice cream with mustard through it."

"Ew," Harry and Mrs. O'Brien said at the same time.

"No wonder nobody would invent it. That sounds disgusting," Mrs. O'Brien remarked, starting up the engine. Rain pounded down on the glass, and it slapped down so hard Harry was afraid it might shatter the glass.

"Okay, how about Vanilla and Relish Ripple?" Matt asked innocently. His face brightened. "That does sound cool, doesn't it? Vanilla and Relish Ripple," he repeated, a grin on his face. "Mom, when we get home, I'm going to start working on it right away. We do have Vanilla ice cream, don't we?"

"Yes, dear," Mrs. O'Brien replied distractedly, trying to look at the road through the rain-covered window. It was almost impossible.

"And we have Relish, right mom?"

"We do, dear," Mrs. O'Brien replied.

Harry peered out his window, his brow furrowing. "Mrs. O'Brien, did you see the light?"

"What light, Harry?" Mrs. O'Brien asked, looking concerned.

"The light," Harry repeated. "Did you see it, Matt?" Matt looked confused, but then nodded excitedly.

"It looked so cool, mum! It lit up the whole sky - like fireworks! Except bigger."

Mrs. O'Brien made no comment. "I think we should go back," she finally said. "I really think we should, guys. The roads are so bad, I can't see through the windshield. We can call Sirius when we go back, Harry," Mrs. O'Brien said. "Maybe you and Matt can have a sleepover. That'd be fun, wouldn't it, Harry? Then maybe Sirius can come and get you in the morning." She peered at Harry through the rear-view mirror. She knew Sirius would be disappointed that Harry wouldn't be able to make it to the surprise birthday party he had planned, but she also knew he'd understand that the roads were in no driving condition.

"There it is again!" Harry said suddenly. "The light, I saw it again."

"Me too. It lit up the whole sky again," Matt added. Mrs. O'Brien was about to start up a conversation with her son and and his friend, but let out an ear-piercing scream as lightning hit the car. She swerved the car, trying to get to safety, but ended up making the car flip over instead.

… … …

"Where are they?" Sirius said out loud. Moony laid a reassuring hand on his friends shoulder.

"They'll be here soon. Did you look outside? It's absolutely horrible. It's raining and lightning out, Sirius. Give them some time."

"I agree with Remus," Mrs. Weasley said. "They're muggles, aren't they? Don't muggles use 'automobiles' for transportation?"

"I wish Harry would get here soon," Ron complained. "That cake looks really good."

"Here," Sirius said, tossing Ron a channel selector. "I bought this for Harry one time. It's called uh…a television. Muggles love it," he explained. "It's not that bad, either. Harry sure likes it." Ron shrugged and hit one of the buttons, the 'television' flickered to life.

"Roads are in no condition to be driving on," a man said into a microphone. "One car had to experience that the hard way." A picture of a car flipped upside down appeared on the television screen. Windows were smash, the car was dented and the headlights were broken as well.

"Hmm, that's weird," Sirius said, taking a closer look at the car. "That looks like the car Isabella O'Brien owns. But," he said, "there are a lot of the same vehicles out there. I just feel sorry for the people who were inside the car."

"The three passengers were taken to the hospital immediately," the News reporter continued. "The adult who was driving is identified as Isabella O'Brien. The two other passengers, two young boys, probably about eight or nine, are still unknown." Sirius heart started beating rapidly. Isabella…the two boys…Harry and Matt…

"We were just driving by," a girl said, appearing on the screen, looking devastated. "I saw the car flip over. It was horrifying. We went out to see if they were alright. I called the ambulance - my husband went over to try to get everybody out of the car. He managed to get the two boys out, and had difficulty getting the woman out," the girl's voice cracked, tears flowing down her face. Her husband wrapped a supportive arm around her. The screen went back to the News reporter, but Sirius turned it off before the man could continue.

Molly Weasley looked horrified, and Remus looked pale. The rest of the Weasley's (Ron, Ginny, Fred and George Weasley) didn't know how to act or what to say.

"Harry," Sirius murmured, cradling his head in his hands.

… … …

A/N: Was I being a bit too mean... :-> anyway, tell me what you think so far! Do you want me to post the next chapter? R and R!