Chapter Three
The Surprise Party
"Surprise!" everybody yelled. Harry looked at them in complete and utter bewilderment. "Harry, you didn't forget your birthday, did you?" Mrs. Weasley asked in a motherly tone. "Yes." Harry said,"I guess I forgot because of all the commotion today." Harry was instantly surrounded by people offering him gifts. Hermione shoved her present into Harry's hand. "Open mine first, Harry!" she said excitedly. Harry began ripping off the paper and, of course, it was a book. As Harry ripped of more paper, it's title was revealed. It was called Counter Jinxes and Spells to Protect Yourself from the Dark Arts. "Thanks, Hermione! It is wonderful!" Harry exclaimed. "Your welcome, Harry." Hermione replied. Ron forced his present into Harry's hands. "I know it's not much, but it's something." Ron said, trying to hide his embarrassed face. Harry tore off the glittering wrapping paper and squealed in delight. Inside was a brand new pair of water resistant quidditch gloves and goggles. "Thanks, Ron! This is amazing!" Harry said happily, admiring his new quidditch supplies. Tonks handed Harry a present from both she and Remus . "This is from both of us." she said, with a twinkle in her eyes. Harry looked down into the bag and saw a single green notebook and some green ink. "It allows you and Remus to talk, even though you could be a thousand miles apart." Tonks explained,"All you have to do is write what you want to say in the green ink and it will appear instantly in Remus' notebook. When you write something, Remus' glows a deep gold so he knows that you have written." "Thanks, Tonks. This is miraculous!" Harry said. Once Harry was done opening all his presents, he had acquired a large box of chocolate frogs from Hagrid, a box of Honeyduke's best chocolate from Charlie and Bill, a large box of Fred and George's fireworks, and at last the last present came. Mrs. Weasley came up to Harry, holding a small oak box. "Sirius wanted to give this to you on your seventeenth birthday, but he didn't make it that long. We promised him that if anything happened to you, that we would give you this on your birthday." Mrs. Weasley said, tears in her eyes. Harry opened the box and something flew up out of it, and a note fell out also. Harry picked up the note and read:
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this than I am most surely dead. I am sorry that we spent much little time together, although it was filled with memories of happiness. I was going to give you this on your seventeenth birthday, but as I did not last that long, I asked Molly to do it for me. I hope you enjoy it.
Love From,
Sirius
Harry squinted around with tears in his eyes looking for the object hat had flown out of the box. He suddenly spotted it, like he had so many times before. It was a golden snitch, and Harry reached out to catch it. He grabbed it in one hand and held it close to his face. As he read the engraving on it, his heart filled with joy. On the golden snitch was J. P., and Harry was sure that this was the snitch that his dad had nicked from Madam Hooch. "What is it, Harry?" Ron asked quietly. "It's the snitch my
dad stole from Madame Hooch in his fifth year." Harry replied. He let it loose and caught it again, just like his dad had done so many times before. As he continued to let it go, his emotions showed. He cried and cried while he played with the snitch. After a while he wore himself out and just fell asleep in the middle of everybody.
Harry woke up in a warm, comfortable bed in what looked like Fred and George's room. He could smell dinner cooking downstairs in the kitchen. He got out of bed and rubbed his eyes. He walked up the steps to Ron's room. He opened the door and Ron and Hermione were laying on top of the bed, snogging. He smirked and then closed the door very quietly so they would not no that he had been there. He went back into his room and looked at the photo album which Hagrid had made for him in his first year. In every picture he saw his parents waving and smiling at him. In the wedding picture he saw his godfather, too. He almost broke down again, except Ginny had walked into the room and he did not want to look weak in front of her. "It's okay,Harry." she comforted. He looked into her eyes and every emotion he had had earlier was wiped from his mind. "I love you Harry, and I always will. There is nothing you can do to stop me." And with that, she pulled him down into a long, sweet kiss. As they broke apart, Harry smiled for the fist time in four months.
That night at dinner everything was tense. Harry and Ginny would occasionally glance at each other and grin. Hermione and Ron were in their own little world. "Mom, did you hear that Slughorn was found dead in his house last Saturday?" Charlie asked his mother. "Yes, and I'm not really that sorry about it, to tell you the truth." Mrs. Weasley replied. The rest of the dinner passed pretty quickly, and soon it was time to go and get ready for bed. As they walked up the stairs, Hermione began to talk. "I walked in on you two snogging in Fred and George's room." she said laughing. "Well then what were you doing in Ron's room, checking for cavities with your tongue?" Harry said while Ginny was sniggering. "Well...uh...Ron said I had something on my face." Hermione said, blushing. They walked up the stairs laughing, and soon they had reached Fred and George's room. Harry bid them good night and started getting ready for bed.
The next week passed in a blur for Harry. He, Ron, Charlie, and Bill would play
quidditch in the orchard using apples for hours at a time. Harry also had a lot of homework to do because he had neglected it at the beginning of the summer. Then the day of Harry's Apparation Test came, and Harry set off for the Ministry of Magic. He came out of the fireplace in the Misuse of Apparation office, and immediately he was called into a square room where his instructor would be waiting for him. AS he walked into the room he noticed that there was no instructor. He turned around to tell the people at the front desk that there was no instructor, when he heard the pop. He turned around and felt his draw drop. In front of him was a very attractive woman in her early twenties. She was tan and had long, blonde hair and was wearing a short robes that came up to the middle of her thighs. " Hello. My name is Mrs. Nancy. I am your aparation instructor." she said with a smile. Harry picked his jaw up off the ground and could only stutter. "It's OK. You do not need to talk. I will give you instructions. First I want you to apparate from one side of this room to the other." Harry did that easily. The next part was to apparate into the front office. He did that easily, also. The final part was more challenging. He had to apparate from there to a small beach on the Brazilian coastline. He did that, but not as easily as the first two. Mrs. Nancy told him to go to the front desk to get his license. It was a small piece of parchment that had Harry's picture on it. Harry apparated back to the Burrow and went up to his room, where Ginny was waiting. "Hi, honey." Harry said with a grin. They kissed and then they headed off to Diagon Alley. There first stop was Quality Quidditch Supplies. Harry still had to get Ginny a birthday present, so he walked up to the front desk and asked if they had gotten any new brooms recently. "Yes, we have." the clerk wizard said. "It is called the Thunderbolt. It is made by the same company as the Firebolt." "I'll take one, please." Harry said. Once Ginny was done looking around the store they left to get all of their school supplies. As Harry walked by the emporium, he realized that Ginny did not have a pet. 'Wait right here." Harry commanded, and then he ran into the store. When he came out, Ginny shrieked in delight. In Harry's arms was a bright, yellow Pheonix. "This is a rare type of pheonix, Gin. It can transport the owner to any point on the face of the earth. It can also cast a shield around the owner to protect from most major and minor curses." Harry explained. "Harry, you
shouldn't have! This must have cost you a fortune." Ginny exclaimed. "It did, but it is worth it. You can also send mail with it. There is one condition though. I want to name it." "Of course, Harry." Ginny said. "I want the pheonix' name to be Albus."