'This is completely stupid,' Harry chided himself. 'I've been to the Burrow before. I'm fine with Ron. He's my best mate.' Plastering a smile that was a little too wide on his face, Harry ventured through the front door of the Weasleys' quaint cottage that had been, up until this moment, his favourite place in the world aside from Hogwarts. Expecting to see a grinning Ron flanked by a doting Mrs. Weasley as he entered, Harry was not at all disappointed to see that Fred and George were the only Weasleys present. They wore festive birthday hats and sat in front of a large cake that must have said "Happy Birthday Harry" at one point but which now read, "Happy Girthday Ha."
"The 'girthday' is in honor of that cousin of yours," either Fred or George (Harry could never tell them apart and he doubted anyone else could either) explained slyly.
"And the 'Ha' means that we started eating the cake without you," the other one said, wiping frosting from the side of his face.
"It's all Mum's fault, really," the first Weasley twin said in a mock serious tone of voice. "Had to rush off for important Order business. No time to make breakfast."
Harry stopped fighting the genuinely large grin that was threatening to cross his lips. "Couldn't be expected to make it yourselves, I suppose?"
"Course not! We're bachelors now, Harry. It's proud bachelor tradition to let the fairer sex handle things like cooking and cleaning while you make a complete pig out of yourself."
"Speaking of girls, where's Hermione? Wasn't she supposed to be coming with you?"
Harry swallowed quickly, his throat suddenly becoming somewhat dry and constricted. "Yeah, she's trying to figure out where to park the moped." The twins looked like they wanted to make sarcastic remarks about her mode of transportation, so Harry changed the subject. "So, any word from Percy? I'll bet he's changed his tune a bit."
Fred and George smiled mischievously.
"Percy hasn't come around much this summer. Something's put him quite off."
"It might be the fact that we charmed his owl to fly around his head shrieking 'Percy is a prat'."
"Or the paste-filled pastries we left him on his birthday."
"Can't imagine he's happy with all of those dungbomb-spewing howlers we've sent him, either."
"Brilliant idea, those. Can't believe they're not selling better at the shop."
"Don't forget that the customers can actually smell the things."
"Right. Maybe we should work on that."
"So, I take it Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is doing well?" Harry asked with more than a little curiosity seeping into his voice. After all, it had been his galleons that financed the venture.
"Swimmingly," one of the twins answered with a way-too-pleased-with-himself grin. "So well in fact that we have to go back. Can't trust the help to rake in the galleons for too long, you know. Might give them ideas that they can mind the store on their own, without us constantly ordering them around."
"Give Hermione our love." Before they disapparated, the other twin said, "Wait, didn't we tell Ron the same thing?"
"We did," he replied with a nod. "The poor girl's bound to be confused now."
Harry sighed as the two of them vanished, leaving Harry standing alone in the dining area of the Burrow. At that moment, Hermione seemingly appeared as if from nowhere behind him, her brow furrowed in confusion. "Where is everyone?"
"You just missed Fred and George," Harry explained, briefly relating their exchange (although he could never do their banter justice). "The other adult Weasleys seem to be at some kind of meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. I reckon Ron and Ginny are upstairs." Harry cast a tentative look up the staircase. "Also, Percy's still a prat."
Hermione snorted. "That's hardly what I'd call surprising."
At that moment, Ron yelled "Surprise!" from the top of the staircase. Harry sent his best mate an anxious sort of smile while Hermione scowled. "Honestly, Ron. It's not a surprise birthday party if the person knows where they're going to celebrate and who's going to be there."
"He didn't know for sure I was going to be here!" Ron exclaimed indignantly. "There is a war going on, you know. I could have been kidnapped by Death Eaters and held for ransom!" Hermione glared daggers at Ron and indicated Harry's horrified expression at this thought. "Not that that's likely to happen, of course." Ron looked increasingly nervous as Hermione continued to stare icily at him. "Hey, look, here's the real surprise! Your present. Happy birthday, Harry."
Hermione inched closer to Ron as he handed off the badly wrapped birthday gift to Harry. "Ron, can we talk? Alone?"
"Can't it wait?" Ron asked in a stage whisper that Harry could hear without difficulty. "I want to see the look on Harry's face when he opens his present."
"Is it a book about Quidditch?" Hermione asked frankly. Ron suddenly looked defeated. Muttering something about "let's go" and "ruining surprises", the two of them ascended the staircase, away from Harry and most likely to Ron's bedroom. Harry hated the symbolism of it all.
"I'll send Ginny down to keep you company," Ron called from upstairs. "You should really see her in that new outfit of hers. It's wicked!"
'Great,' Harry thought. 'First Hermione runs off with Ron the first chance she gets, now I'm stuck with Ginny as the consolation prize.' Not that he had anything against Ginny Weasley, mind you. Except that she wasn't as good a Seeker as him. And there was that whole thing with her being possessed by Voldemort and opening the Chamber of Secrets. I mean, mistaking something with Voldemort in it for just a simple diary? How thick could you get! But other than that, he was completely fine with Ginny.
'I miss Hermione already,' Harry thought glumly. Forcing himself to open Ron's present, he found himself tearing small bits of paper and ribbon to pieces until it was obvious that Ron's gift was indeed a Quidditch book called Golden Wings of Glory: The 100 Greatest Seekers of All Time. Pulling the volume from the remaining taped-together bits of paper, Harry opened it to find a note from Ron inside. "Harry, check out page 289. That's you, mate! All the best on your 16th. Ron." Flipping to the part of the book Ron had mentioned, Harry saw his name in a list of "Seekers to Watch", along with Viktor Krum and some other names Harry didn't recognize, but Ron probably would have.
'Ron,' Harry thought to himself. 'Why do you have to be such a good friend to me? Why do we both have to fancy Hermione? Why did I have to start fancying her? Why couldn't I have fallen for...for...' His brain struggled to come up with someone acceptible and at that moment who should appear at the top of the staircase but Ginny Weasley. As she cascaded downwards, practically floating down each step as though a delicate flower were being carried softly by a breeze across the meadow on a warm spring day, Harry watched in amazement as he took in the sight of the young woman in the 'new outfit' Ron had mentioned. It was indeed 'wicked'. Harry's reaction was visceral. Once he found the ability to speak, he beckoned to her like a swallow to its mate in the treetop.
"Ginny," he spoke her name throatily. "Don't you think it's a bit presumptious to be wearing chaser's robes already? Particularly before we've had tryouts... and in front of the new Quidditch captain!"
"Presumptious!" Ginny demanded as she stomped her foot. "And so what about the tryouts? I've already..." Her eyes widened noticeably as she suddenly realized everything Harry had said. "You're...you're the new Quidditch captain for Gryffindor?"
Harry tried hard to hide his amusement, but ultimately failed. "No, Ginny. I've switched houses. I'm now the Slytherin Quidditch captain." A playful smirk dominated his features. "Naturally, Malfoy will have to be demoted. I think I'll make him the bloke who serves pumpkin juice to the players on the sidelines. I'm sure Crabbe and Goyle will be thrilled."
Ginny gave him a sheepish grin, as if knowing she had to salvage something out of the awkwardness that now existed between them. "Well, just as long as you can get them to stop singing 'Weasley is Our King'." Harry returned a smile that was more polite than genuine, and he stole a longing glance at the Weasleys' fireplace, suddenly remembering that he wanted to use the Floo Network to get a chance to talk to Professor Lupin. He would probably have to wait until the older Weasleys returned so he would know when the meeting of the Order was over. Then he would seize his chance to visit Grimmauld Place before Arthur and Molly could smother him with affection and well-meaning birthday wishes, none of which he had any desire to deal with right now.
But he couldn't do any of that with Ginny here. He needed to get rid of her. Fast.
"Ginny," Harry said in a commanding tone that somehow remained soft and soothing. He'd have to remember this voice for when he gave pep talks before Quidditch matches. "Maybe you should change out of your robes and into something...else. Then you could come back down and we could talk for a while." He had to force himself not to add the words 'I guess' at the end, knowing how they would sound.
"Sure," Ginny responded meekly and practically bounded up the stairs back to her room. Harry thought of calling after her, 'And find out what Ron and Hermione are talking about up there,' but decided against it. He didn't need to know. It wasn't any of his business.
'Yeah, right,' Harry thought to himself. 'In some other universe where I don't have romantic feelings for Hermione, Ron and Hermione are no longer my best friends and the two of them aren't my entire support system when anything Voldemort-related comes up.' Harry considered for a moment what it might be like to live in this universe when he heard Bill and Charlie Weasley pop in.
As he attempted to sneak past the two oldest Weasley siblings to get to the fireplace, he overheard Bill saying, "That's not fair to her and you know it!"
Luckily Bill and Charlie weren't really all that close to the chimney, tucked as they were towards the back of the kitchen as though preparing a meal. "It's entirely fair! You're forgetting that I met her before you did, back when I was helping Dumbledore with the Triwizard Tournament. And let me tell you, she had every boy at Hogwarts on the hook, including your little brother!"
Harry tried desperately to ignore the details of their argument as he emptied his pockets on the dining table, making sure that he didn't take anything with him to Grimmauld Place that he might leave behind by mistake. As he removed his wand from his pocket, he noticed it had picked up a rather interesting accessory. The story he had told the Dursleys was that he was going to stay overnight with the Grangers and so, in keeping with their new obsession, they made sure he had the necessary 'protection' before he left. With some small measure of embarrassment, Harry saw that his wand had pierced the packaging and he now had a prophylactic dangling from the end of it. He proceeded to quickly separate the two and placed them as well as some spare muggle money on the table.
As Harry grabbed a handful of floo powder from what he assumed was an urn used to contain it (he was desperately hoping it wasn't the ashes of some long-departed Weasley), he wondered how Ron would react to the knowledge that Charlie was throwing his old Fleur crush around to her current boyfriend, who happened to be his older brother. Not well, he imagined. Also, was arguing some kind of sport in the Weasley household?
Harry held his hand out in front of him as he stepped into the fireplace. He stayed at the Burrow just long enough to hear Molly Weasley arrive. "What are you two boys having a row about?" she demanded, just as he said the words "Number 12 Grimmauld Place," and let the powder fly from his hand.
Appearing suddenly in the floo at Grimmauld Place, Harry wasn't sure just what to expect. Part of him hoped that he wouldn't see Kreacher again, but another part fervently wished that he would, so that he could make the house elf pay for his role in Sirius' death. Somehow, however, it struck him as appropriate that all he saw was Remus Lupin, sitting in an armchair by what would have been the fire had it been lit, patiently waiting for Harry to arrive. His face looked sunken and his eyes betrayed a weariness that Harry had only seen glimpses of before. Grimmauld Place itself cast a pall over what would have ordinarily been a very cozy atmosphere.
"Hello, Professor," Harry offered with a small smile as he climbed out of the fireplace and dusted himself off.
Lupin's face didn't brighten. "You needn't be so formal, Harry," the older man chided him lightly. "Remus will do just fine."
"Remus it is then," Harry replied with a half-hearted chuckle, his arms swinging at his side nervously. Lupin indicated that he should sit and he did so, although the feeling of restlessness that was possessing him at that moment didn't much agree with that decision. He felt like pacing across the room and yelling out all of his problems, but upon reflection he realized that probably wouldn't do him any good. Not to mention the fact that it would make Professor Lupin think he was nutters.
"I suppose I know why you're here," the former DADA teacher pointed out with a sigh, the fingers of his right hand gripping his forehead as his elbow rested on the arm of the chair, making it look as though he had a severe headache. 'Or like I do when my scar hurts,' Harry mused. "I wasn't exactly very forthcoming in my letter about why your father and I, erm, didn't exactly see eye to eye in our last year at Hogwarts."
Harry nodded slowly. He had a kind of sinking feeling in his stomach, as though he knew something terrible was coming. "Did this...Is this why you weren't the Secret Keeper for Mum and Dad? Why it had to be between Sirius and Peter Pettigrew?" Harry had a hard time hiding his revulsion as he spoke the name of the traitorous Marauder.
"What!" Lupin looked as though his body had just experienced a sudden shock. "No, Harry, that's...that's a story for another time. No, I'm afraid the rift between myself and your father had to do with Lily."
"My mother?" For some reason, his left hand reached up to touch the scar on his forehead. "What about her? Did she...Remus, did she do something? Something wrong?"
Remus Lupin laughed aloud. "No, Harry. It wasn't anything Lily did." His eyes darted around, seemingly trying to meet Harry's eyes but only succeeding in fixating on the chair he was sitting in or the fireplace next to him. "It was me. I..." Lupin stammered, floundering in his words and Harry found himself wishing he would just spit it out, whatever it was. "Harry, I was in love with her."