AN

Well, this is the last update for the next month I'm afraid. My plane leaves Sunday afternoon. I do have some good news though! I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico!

Ok, that was a stupid joke, but I really do have good news. My sister's going to let me borrow her laptop while I'm in Florida. I still can't access the internet, but at least all the chapters I'm going to do while I'm down there will be actually typed up when I get back. Expect several new chapters right off the bat! I hope I have lots of reviews waiting for me to read when I return....

On a more directly story-related note this and the next chapter are the last of the 'slow' ones. Ginny and Harry get together in chapter 16, and then we get back into some action.

Oh yeah, HUGE congrats to miss JK Rowling on the birth of her baby girl!

Thanks once more to my fantastic beta, Yavinbase, and my equally wonderful sort of co-writer, JC-S.

Disclaimer: see chapter 1

Chapter 15

Birthday

Harry was awoken, rather rudely, the morning of his 16th birthday by the impact of a short redheaded girl on his stomach.

The air left his lungs in a rush, and he choked out, "What'd. . .do. . .that. . .for. . ." in between huge gasps for oxygen.

Ginny, who's face was directly above his own, giggled at his discomfort. "Get up! It's your birthday; you can't waste it lying around in bed all day!"

He groaned aloud. "Fine. You have to get off me first, though."

She suddenly seemed to realize where she was, and scrambled off quickly, blushing furiously.

He swung his legs over the side of the bed, stretching his arms and groaning again. As he stood up, knees popping from the movement after a long night of rest, he noticed a large pile of presents in the middle of the floor.

Even after several years of receiving gifts from his friends, he still wasn't used to the idea. Each year, he half expected to wake up on his birthday and receive nothing, just like before he had gone to Hogwarts.

"Ginny," he said slowly, "When did all of those get here?"

"Last night," she replied brightly. "I decided to wait until morning to wake you up, though."

He thought for a moment, and then asked, "Would you like to get some breakfast before we get into all that?"

She stared at him as though he had grown an extra head. "What are you talking about, Harry? Sit down and open your presents right this minute! Even for a Weasley, presents come before food."

Her tone was commanding, and despite the fact that she was considerably shorter than him, he found himself sitting down obediently.

:Just like her mother, that one,: said Sirius wryly.

Soon he was tearing his way through piles of brightly wrapped gifts, as she handed them to him one by one. From Hagrid he got a rather interesting dagger and a box of fudge, the latter of which Harry wisely put off to one side to throw away later. Hermione sent him a book on dragons, causing him to blink for a moment. Ron must've told her about the Order meeting. Ron himself had sent Harry a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and a couple of Chudley Cannons posters.

To his surprise, Harry also received a pair of stylish-looking sunglasses from Tonks. According to her note, they were special glasses used by most Aurors, and he really wasn't supposed to have a pair (not that that stopped her). They apparently enabled the wearer to 'see' the magic around them, with different colors representing the different types of magic.

From Remus he received a book, that turned out to be a book of the oldest families of England. He could use it to find out about his ancestry. Dumbledore, surprisingly, sent him two pensieves and a note saying not to worry about the cost of them; to consider it a peace offering.

He was just about to get started on the cake sent by Mrs. Weasley when the doorbell downstairs rang. Soon, the sound of his aunt screeching in fright and slamming the door shut had Harry on his feet with his wand drawn.

In only moments, he was down the stairs and in front of her. She looked to be livid beyond words, and he found himself taking an involuntary step backwards in surprise.

"I won't have it any more!" she screeched. "It's bad enough we have two of you freaks in the house already without more of you! Tell them to leave . . . NOW!"

Bewildered, Harry opened the door to find, surprisingly, Fred, George, Hermione, and Ron all standing there looking torn between amusement and uncertainty.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" they all cried.

Harry blinked. No one had told him about this. He looked questioningly at Ginny, who had followed him down the stairs. She just winked at him mischievously, indicating that this was either her idea or she had at the least known about it.

Finally remembering his manners, he shook his head hurriedly, and said, "Come in, come in! Didn't expect to see all of you here today!"

"Well of course you didn't, mate," said Ron exasperatedly. "That was the whole idea."

Harry noticed his Aunt Petunia swelling up in anger, and quickly said, "Go up to my room, I'll be there in just a moment." He gave Ginny a significant look, indicating that she should lead them up there and make certain they left Petunia to him. She did so, albeit reluctantly.

The group trooped up to Harry's bedroom. They heard shouting for several minutes, but could make out little of what was said. All four of the others wanted to go down and help him, but Ginny stood in front of the door and adamantly refused to let anyone go down, insisting that Harry wanted to handle his family alone.

He came up a moment later, massaging his temple wearily with one hand. "Sorry about that, guys," he muttered, closing the door. "I can't wait to get out of here."

"Do you think you'll be able to any time soon?" asked Ron anxiously.

"No, I'm afraid it doesn't look that way," Harry replied with a sad shake of his head. "With things the way they are, we most likely will be here the rest of the summer. Originally I planned to just take off with or without Dumbledore's consent, but I realize now that wouldn't be a good idea." He gazed at all of them gravely. "His power is growing. I managed to surprise him at Diagon Alley with my Dragon form and my muggle fighting, but it was a close thing. Next time, I don't know what I'll do."

He could almost see the wheels turning in Hermione's mind, and inwardly he smiled amusedly. Any moment now she would ask....

"You speak as though there can be no doubt that you'll meet again," she blurted, suddenly. "That isn't necessarily true, is it? I mean, you can keep away from him if you're careful, can't you?"

"Remus said it best, Hermione," Harry replied with a rueful smile. "You're the cleverest witch of your age." They all grinned at her as she blushed furiously. He continued, "I am now going to tell you something that can go no farther than this room. I trust each one of you with my life, but this knowledge is dangerous. No one can find out you know this. You must let nothing slip. Nothing."

He gazed at each of their visitors, searchingly. His green eyes, no longer protected by glasses, seemed to bore straight into them. Seeing that they all had nodded in reply to his statement, he waved his hand a few times, locking and silencing the room and pulling down the shade on the window.

Each of them but Ginny gasped in surprise, and Hermione spluttered, "B-but that's impossible!"

"Is it?" Harry asked mildly. "I hadn't noticed."

"It is," Hermione said firmly, completely ignoring his teasing. "Most people can't do Wandless Magic until several years after Hogwarts, and then only the most basic of spells. The level you just used is-"

"Dumbledore's level," Harry finished for her, eyes crinkled up slightly in mirth. "By all rights I shouldn't be able to do it, and yet . . . I did. The evidence is right in front of you, Hermione. You cannot always believe everything you read."

Hermione was quite indignant at the jab towards her beloved books, but she asked instead, "Isn't that underage magic?"

"Of course," Harry said absently, with a dissmissive wave of his hand, "But the Ministry can't detect Wandless Magic. It's not usually a problem with students, since it's ordinarily near impossible to utilize until adulthood."

"Harry," Hermione said reproachfully, "Just because you can get away with it doesn't mean you should. It's against the law."

"Someday, Hermione," he replied calmly, "You will understand that laws are not infallible."

"Just what's that supposed to mean?" she shot back hotly.

"Just this; you depend entirely too much on knowledge, rules, laws, and those in charge. You have to accept that just because it is written does not make it right! Whether it's a law, or a sheet of rules of conduct, or an encyclopedia, we are all fallible. That includes the Ministry, as I'm sure you're well aware.

"Don't get me wrong. Without law, there is chaos. Laws are necessary. However, the fact remains that sometimes you have to skirt the law to do what is right. I use Wandless Magic because I'm training myself in it. Every time I use a spell, it gets that much easier.

"You need to start thinking for yourself, Hermione! Stop depending on your books, your teachers, and your rules. There is much more at stake than getting a detention with Filch here. I do what I do only because I must."

The rest of the occupants of the room were staring at the pair of them in amazement, with various emotions flitting across their faces. Ron looked torn between being angry with his best mate for telling off Hermione (who looked very upset at being told she depended too much on anything), and clapping him on the back for finally having the courage to set her straight. He settled for just watching the both of them blankly.

Fred and George, on the other hand, looked about ready to leap to their feet and start dancing. Having endured entirely too many of Hermione's lectures about rules, they found the fact that Harry had lectured her for a change quite refreshing. True, none of the things they'd done were important really, but they were just silly school rules after all. Nothing harmful had ever occurred from any of their pranks, yet Hermione always acted as though they had committed some horrible crime worthy of Azkaban.

Ginny just sat off to one side, apparently completely unsurprised by what had just happened. "Just tell them why you have to train, Harry," she said quietly.

"Ginny knows?" Ron asked indignantly.

"Well, yeah," said Harry a little uncomfortably. "She has been the only one here with me this whole time." It wasn't a total lie. He'd told her about the Prophecy before she'd come, but she really was the only one around to talk to for the last couple weeks.

Fortunately, Ron seemed to accept this answer. Hermione, the only one who was perceptive enough to pick up on his discomfort, was still too preoccupied with the fact that she'd just been told off to notice.

Harry motioned for all of them to sit down, and walked over to his bed to get his new pensieve. Dumbledore had included a set of instructions for both simple and more complex use of the incredibly complex magical object. He studied the parchment carefully for a few moments, then picked up the pensieve, and carried it back to where his friends were sitting in a circle on the floor.

He sat down between Ginny and Ron, placing the pensieve in the center of the circle as he did so. Pulling out his wand, he touched it to his temple and extracted the memory of his visit to Dumbledore's office at the end of the previous term. He left out the part where he trashed the headmaster's office, and the discussion of Sirius' death, deciding they needed only see the part with the actual prophecy.

"Is that considered doing magic?" Ginny asked, pointing to his wand.

"Professor Dumbledore assures me that it is not," Harry replied, "It's not really even a spell. I'm just using my wand as a sort of 'magnet' for my thoughts."

He pointed to the shallow stone basin now containing his silvery thought. "Just touch a finger to the surface," he said, "Ginny, you might want to go, too; you've only heard the prophecy, not what the headmaster said about it."

They all reached their fingers for the basin, but Harry stopped Hermione before she could go. "I just want to say I am sorry about that, Hermione. I didn't want to upset you, but it's something I had to say. All my life I've been ordered around. You, the Order, the Dursleys, everyone is always tell me what I can and cannot do, but I'm not going to take it any more. If I'm going to survive the next couple years, I'm going to have to control my own life."

He pulled her into his arms for a hug, and whispered into her ear, "You know I love you like were my sister, even if we're not blood related."

He could tell she was crying, and she whispered back hoarsely, "You've always been like my brother too, Harry."

They pulled apart, both bright-eyed. "Now go see what Dumbledore has to say," Harry said.

They all emerged from the pensieve a few moments later, varying emotions on all of their faces. Ginny's expression had changed little, for most of what was said in the memory she already knew, but for the rest of them, this was all quite new. Hermione looked torn between being horrified and wanting to head straight for the nearest library to research prophecies and their accuracy. Ron looked like he was going to be sick, while the twins were uncharacteristically grave.

Fred suddenly brightened and asked casually, "So it's all up to you, Harry?"

Harry nodded grimly. "It looks that way."

"Well could you hurry up and just kill the old snake, then?" George demanded, "I'm getting sick of this bloody war."

"George!" Hermione exclaimed, scandalized, but he ignored her.

"Yeah," put in Fred. "It's bad for business. Finish him off so we can get on with expanding the business."

"This is nothing to joke about!" Hermione said shrilly, "He could be killed!"

George looked at her as though she had just told him magic didn't exist. "What are you on about, Hermione? That old tosser hasn't got a chance. I just wish Harry would quit stalling and get on with it."

Hermione opened her mouth to retort, but was interrupted by the sound of muffled laughter. She turned in surprise to find Harry with his fist stuffed in his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut, trying to hold in his mirth.

"What's so funny?" she asked him.

With a monumental effort, he managed to calm himself enough to choke out, "Them," with a finger pointed in the general direction of the twins. He took several deep breaths and continued, addressing them this time, "You just never stop do you?"

They pretended to think about it for a moment and answered in unison, "Nope."

He grinned widely. "Thanks you guys. Really, your confidence in me is encouraging. I only hope I can figure out exactly how to kill him."

"What do you mean, mate?" Ron, silent until this point, asked.

"Well," Harry replied thoughtfully, "I can't really kill him conventionally. The Killing Curse can't kill him, and I doubt he's overlooked muggle means, having grown up a muggle. So as it is, I know I can kill him, I just don't know how. Yet, that is."

"Anything we can do, you can count on us," Fred said, and the others murmured their agreement.

"Thanks," Harry said, bright-eyed. "It means a lot to me." He shook himself. "Now enough of this solemn stuff. Mrs. Weasley sent a nice cake and a case of butterbeers here. I suggest we enjoy them."

They all settled down to eat, and the next half hour or so was full of food, laughter, and light-hearted conversation. Ron, of course, polished off more cake than anyone else, though Harry and Ginny (having had no breakfast before that point) came close to matching him . . . as a team, that is.

"Oi, Harry, how come you haven't answered our letters, mate?" Ron asked his best mate around a mouthful of food.

Chuckling at Hermione's disgusted cry of 'Ron!,' Harry replied slightly sheepishly, "Sorry about all that. I didn't feel like talking."

"You wrote back to Ginny!" Ron sputtered indignantly.

"Ginny didn't try to talk to me about Sirius," Harry said.

"Um, don't be angry, but how are you doing with all that?" asked Hermione cautiously. "It's ok if you don't want to talk about it," she hastily added, upon seeing his hard look, "We've just been worried about you."

Harry sighed. "I'd rather not talk about it, Hermione. I'm fine, let's just leave it at that."

:You're not going to tell them about me?: Sirius asked, surprised.

-Nah, they'll just think I'm nutters. Hermione'll be going on and on about some psychological thing or another, and Ron'll tell me I've lost it. I don't think there are any unique memories I could use to convince them it's really you in my head.-

:True. Best to leave it on a need-to-know basis from now on. Moony and Ginny know, that's probably enough for now.:

Hermione relented, though reluctantly, and the subject was changed.

The small group of friends spent the rest of the day together, forgetting, if only for a short time, that their lives were in danger, that there was a war just beginning, and that they would most likely be right in the middle of it before long.

Harry and Ginny gave the rest a tour of the neighborhood, including their favorite spot in the park and the diner where they often ate. Harry treated everyone to lunch there, despite everyone's protests, and told them all stories of Emily, the picnic, and the pranks he'd pulled on the Dursleys.

Fred and George particularly liked the one using the special 'anti-Dursley pills' they'd made specifically for Harry. Once they'd drunk the tea laden with the dissolved pills, Harry's relatives had spent the next three days saying random things such as, 'Harry Potter is the greatest wizard of all time!' or 'Magic is brilliant!' or Ginny's favorite, 'I wish I was a wizard, too.'

Naturally, the Dursleys had been terrified of going out like that, so Vernon had missed three days of work, and Dudley's gang started to wonder why he hadn't been beating up little kids with them.

While all of this was fun, it had led to a particularly spectacular row between Harry and Vernon, in which the older man tried to kick both teenagers out of the house. Harry had had to use magic to restrain him, but he still considered it worth it. After all those people had done to him, when he was an innocent child, they deserved everything they got.

By the end of his story, Fred, George, and Ron were simply howling with laughter, and all three of them fell off their chairs. Even Hermione, who usually disapproved of this sort of thing, seemed satisfied with the retribution Harry was inflicting on his horrible relatives.

The visitors had to leave for Mrs. Figg's later on that evening. Having flooed over to visit in the first place, that was how they were leaving. They promised to try to come back again when they could, but not to count on it. Convincing Mrs. Weasley and the Order to allow them to come just this once was hard enough.

Once they were gone, Harry and Ginny went out to the bench in the back yard and sat down together. To her surprise, Harry put an arm around Ginny's shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

Of course, she didn't complain. She was just glad that Harry was finally her friend, instead of her older brother's friend. She laid her head on his shoulder and let out a contented sigh.

"Ginny?" he asked.

"Mmmm?" she answered sleepily.

"Thanks for today, I know it was you that arranged it, and I want you to know I really appreciate it."

"Sure." This was nice; she felt she could just drop off right here. He was idly tracing patterns on her shoulder with the arm he had around her.

"I didn't give you my present," she murmured, eyes closed.

"You didn't have to get me anything," he whispered back.

"I wanted to. I'll give it to you when we get upstairs."

They sat that way in companionable silence for some time, until the steady rise and fall of her chest let Harry know that the redhead in his arms had dozed off.

Smiling softly, he watched her sleep, still softly stroking her shoulder with his right hand. He loved just sitting here with her like this. It seemed just somehow . . . right. Like this was where he was supposed to be all along.

He realized, then and there, that he wanted very much to ask her out. But did she still have feelings for him? He didn't know. Sure, they'd held hands, and here he was holding her like this, but was it just something she did because he was a close friend?

Girls had never been Harry's strong point. He had no clue what he was doing when it came to that sort of thing. Maybe he should have a talk with Sirius about that later. They hadn't really talked in a while, since Harry kept his godfather blocked out most of the time when he was alone with Ginny. It was Sirius' fault anyway - he just couldn't learn to keep quiet with his disgustingly lewd insinuations about the two teens.

Ginny stirred suddenly. "Sorry," she murmured, reaching up a hand to rub her eyes. "Guess I drifted off."

"It's alright," Harry chuckled. "I don't mind." He glanced around briefly. "We'd better get back inside, though. It's getting dark."

"But I like it here," she whined. "Can't we just stay like this a while?"

"Come on now, no whining, Miss Weasly," he said mock-sternly. "We have to be getting inside now. Besides, I'm hungry."

"Men always think with their stomachs," she complained as she reluctantly got to her feet.

She ignored him all through dinner (they ate alone, since the Dursleys had eaten earlier), which he found very amusing. He tried many times to engage her in conversation, but she continued to pretend he didn't exist.

Finally, when they went back upstairs to his room, he decided to get her back. Grasping her from behind as she preceded him into the room, he tossed her onto her bed.

She squealed in fright and surprise as she suddenly found herself lifted well off the ground by his powerful arms. When she landed on the bed, she demanded angrily, "What'd you do that for?"

He didn't answer, instead climbing onto the bed with her to tickle her mercilessly.

She squirmed and squealed and beat her small fists on his chest, trying desperately to escape, but he just kept at it.

"Ignoring me, huh?" he laughed at her. "We'll just see about that, Miss Weasley."

She tried to speak, but managed only a few strangled words in between gulps of air. "Harry . . . stop . . . aaah . . . help!"

He finally let her go, and scrambled off the bed quickly.

She had to breathe deeply for a minute or two before she could finally growl, "I'll get you back for that one, Potter."

He grimaced. "I'm sure you will. You're certainly one to hold a grudge."

"Damn right," she said, still scowling.

"I don't suppose an apology would help?" he asked hopefully.

"Well . . ." she pretended to think about it for a minute. "You'd have to make it a really good apology. I doubt you can possibly grovel enough."

She was sitting on the edge of her bed, with her feet dangling over the side. He walked over and knelt in front of her, so that he was at her eye level. He took both of her hands in his own, looked directly into her eyes and said, "Ginny, I'm very, very sorry. I promise it won't happen again. Can you forgive me?"

He was staring at her with those brilliant emerald green eyes, and she found herself unable to tear her gaze away from his. "That was a really good apology," she whispered hoarsely.

"So am I off the hook?"

"Not entirely, but I won't torture you for the rest of your life at any rate."

"Well, thanks for that anyway," he said dryly. He got to his feet, pulling her with him, since their hands were still joined. "So what's this about a gift for me?" he asked.

She blushed. "Oh, it's just something I made. Nothing really big."

She walked over to her suitcase and pulled out a flat, square package tied up with a simple piece of string. She handed it to him, wringing her hands nervously as he opened it.

Grinning reassuringly at her, he carefully untied the string and unwrapped . . . a photo album. But this was not just any photo album; rather it was one full of wizarding pictures. He opened it and gasped. The pictures were mostly of Sirius, a few of them also including his parents.

"I-I knew you didn't have many of him," she stuttered nervously, "So I asked him for a few at Christmas last year. I was going to give it to you then, but I didn't finish it in time so I decided to wait 'till now."

Harry didn't answer. He was staring at the photos in front of him. Sirius may be in his head, but sometimes it wasn't the same as actually getting to see him.

:Wow, I look better than I thought,: Sirius said.

-Shut up you self-absorbed old man.-

Butterflies were fluttering around in Ginny's stomach. What if he didn't like it? "Harry?" she inquired timidly.

He snapped out of his reverie to look at her once more. "Do you like it?" she asked.

"I love it," he whispered. "It's wonderful." He pulled her to him and hugged her fiercely. "Thank you so much, Gin."

Ginny made a startled motion, and pulled back from the hug to look at him again. Gin? No one called her Gin; no one that wanted to live out the rest of the day, at any rate. She'd always hated that name. And yet, she found she didn't mind so much when Harry called her that. It sounded so . . . intimate and personal. Something only he could call her.

"You're welcome, Harry," she said. "I wasn't sure you'd like it."

"Of course I love it. Sometimes . . ." he paused, a far-off look in his eyes. "Sometimes it feels like he's right here, because he is. Yet sometimes it seems as if he's not, because it's just a disembodied voice in my head. I see him at night sometimes in dreams, but still." He looked down. "It's nice to see him like this."

He shook himself, and decided it was best to clean up after the 'party' they'd had. He waved his hand, and all the conjured paper cups, plates, and silverware vanished, as did the crumbs, bottles, and spilled butterbeer stains. Another wave and all of his gifts soared into his suddenly open trunk, except for his new photo album.

"Harry," Ginny suddenly said. "Why did Professor Dumbledore send you two pensieves?"

He didn't meet her eyes, something she immediately took as a bad sign.

"I'll tell you tomorrow," he said. "It's not a pleasant topic, and this day was too wonderful to end on that kind of note."

"Alright," she said, gazing at him through narrow eyes, "But I expect a full explanation tomorrow. You're hiding something, Mr. Potter, and I want you to know you won't get away with it."

He flinched. "I'll tell you, I promise."

She nodded, satisfied with this answer, and they sat down to page through his new photo album together.

AN

PLEASE REVIEW! But be polite...

O.o they're getting closer. Will it be a fairy tale love when it happens?

NO! Pretty down to earth I think. Those two are too stubborn to avoid all the fights and I'm sure Voldemort will make a nuisance of himself. One more chapter till they admit their feelings though....then the next one we find out why this story is named what it's named.

Review responses below. If you're not in here, it's becauseI don't have anything specific to reply to. Instead, I extend my deepest gratitude for reviewing my story.

bree: If you hadn't said it, I would never have guessed it's not your native language. I understand what you mean perfectly. Or at least, as well as I do with native speakers. Sometimes I misconstrue their meanings too, so it's not really your fault if I can't figure out what you're saying. I'm not sure yet about their children, I haven't decided whether it will take /that/ long or not. Oh, and I know I'm cruel, but there'll be several chapters done when I get back, I promise!

UKnowULuvMe: As specifically stated beforehand, this is a slightly Alternate Universe fic, therefore I don't have to hold true to the books in any way, shape, or form that I don't want to. JK Rowling stated on her website that she likes the creativity her work has inspired. I'm not doing what I think she'll do, I'm doing what I want to do.

Regarding Ron, I did nothing of the sort. That part of the chapter was written from Ginny's point of view, and she views him as an overprotctive goon. I was writing from a biased perspective.

Dumbledore is out of character in this story because I enjoy writing him that way. If you don't like it . . . find another story to read.

As for your comments regarding my love life, I would like to point out that I specifically and quite clearly stated in an earlier AN that I have never fallen in love nor even had a serious crush before, therefore I am 'flying blind' in that respect of this story. sarcasmThanks for bringing it up/sarcasm. And I didn't just suddenly have him like Ginny anyway. I portrayed it as him liking her slowly over the last year, he just didn't realize it until then. This actually does fit with canon in that there are several instances in OotP where Harry notices odd things about her. If you actually pay attention, there are a fewnot sosubtle hints in the early chapters of this fic that indicate he may have a crush without knowing it.

Next time, review politely. Constructive criticism I can take. Flames I cannot.

SeleneA: now that would be telling, wouldn't it? We'll see. You know that Harry's going to be fighting in a war soon. Soldiers tend to get nightmares.....

Silver Warrior: Yep, she's about Ginny's age. Ginny was born in early to midAugust, so Katherine will actually be about 2 1/2 - 3 months younger. You know, I forgot about Sirius with regards to the Remus/Tonks thing. Maybe he'll have some comments next time Harry sees Remus. Thanks for pointing it out..................Tonks is his second cousin right? I think Andromeda was his first cousin. That whole family tree makes my head spin.

Belladonna: More Emily before summer's end. She's a fun character, but she's also difficult to write, since I'm trying to keep her relative amount of knowledge and intelligence (as well as speech capability and vocabulary) as realistic as I can. IHaven't been around a 5-year-old extensively in far too long. Did I mention I love kids?

athenakitty: 1)Maybe. 2)Behave? Them? They'd have to die before they'd behave. Hey, that's actually not such a bad idea! 3)Not for a while. 4)She doesn't know he exists

rakasha-wolf: There you go. A brief description in this chapter for you.

Marguerida: DANG! I didn't think of that point about the carnival. Writing too fast for my own good. Oops.

Potter and the Weasley: I can't tell ya ;) big part of the story that. Oh, and Lily isn't in Harry's head because she didn't die saving him by going through the veil. People who go through the veil have stronger ties to earth, so combine that with his sacrifce to save Harry and he gets to come back.

marick: LOL