Chapter 7: Birthday Surprises

Harry and Ginny couldn't put their plan into action just yet, though. After Ron and Hermione had come downstairs and joined them in the common room, the four went down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Harry was amazed when, upon entering the Great Hall, he heard a huge cry of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY!" A long table was set up in the center of the Hall, and it was covered with colorful balloons tied to metal weights, food, and a pile of presents at one end. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley beamed at him as his mouth dropped open in shock. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were all grinning as they took in his surprised reaction.

"I didn't expect this at all!" Harry said in disbelief. In truth, he had sort of forgotten about his birthday. The Dursleys never made a big deal about it, so the only things he looked forward to on his birthday were letters from his friends. Since he was already seeing them every day, Harry hadn't given much thought to when his birthday would arrive.

Ron clapped a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Brilliant, isn't it? My mum's idea. I never got a surprise birthday party from her," Ron pretended to pout. "Still, though, it's not like you've gotten many of these, eh?"

Harry shook his head dumbly, still in awe at how much the Weasleys cared about him. They really did treat him as if he were part of the family.

"Happy birthday, Harry!" Hermione smiled happily. "Come on," she said as she tugged at his arm. "You have to go thank Mrs. Weasley and tell her how you knew absolutely nothing about this. She kept thinking we were going to let something slip to you!" Harry let himself be lead away by Hermione as Ginny trailed behind them. As Harry walked through the Hall, he kept getting pats on the back and birthday wishes.

"Harry!" a voice called. Harry looked up to see Lupin, who was wearing a slightly greying black robe, threading his way through the thin crowd towards him. "I got your letter, and I was going to reply, but I thought that since I would be seeing you so soon, I'd just wait so I could see you in person. Hello, Hermione, Ginny," Lupin said politely, inclining his head. "Mind if I talk to Harry for a bit?"

"Hi, Professor Lupin!" Hermione replied. "Not at all. Come on, Ginny, let's go try some of the mince pies your mum made."

Harry watched as Hermione and Ginny made their way over to the food piled high on golden platters on the table. He turned his attention back to Lupin.

"Harry, now, the veil," Lupin began. "I don't know too much about it, but there's not much to know in the first place. It's in the Department of Mysteries for a reason—no one really knows what it is. The prevailing theory seems to be that the portal is a sort of… gateway to the land of the dead. Nothing is for certain, because obviously whoever's gone in has never come back out." Lupin paused to take a breath. "Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to the voices. Yes, Harry, I've heard them, too. They have an entrancing quality, don't they? Kind of makes you want to dive in right after them." Harry tried to rapidly absorb all the information Lupin was giving him. Lupin smiled at the look on Harry's face. "I might have to go soon, so I thought I'd give you this now. It's your birthday present from me… and, well, from someone else, too, in a way."

Harry took the small brown package that Lupin held out for him. He untied the strings and unwrapped it slowly. Before the coarse brown paper completely fell away, Harry caught a sparkle of light. In the next instant, he found himself staring at an exact copy of the mirror Sirius had given him. He shook himself out of his daze and found that Lupin was apologizing.

"Sorry about the bad wrapping," Lupin said as he ran a hand through his greying hair. "I didn't have time to properly wrap it, and I thought you wouldn't mind. It's Sirius's mirror—the one he used to talk to James through. I don't know where the other one is, but I thought you might like this one," Lupin smiled.

"Thanks," Harry choked out. He took a deep breath and regained his composure. "Thank you. It means a lot to me. And I'm the one who has the other mirror. Sirius gave it to me."

"Ah, so now you have the full set," Lupin nodded. "Be sure to give the other one to someone special, then?" Lupin grinned. "And now I think I've kept you for too long." Lupin smiled as Hermione came up to them. Without really knowing why, Harry slipped Lupin's gift into his pocket. It just felt… private to him, somehow. He didn't want to have to explain it.

"Are you two done talking yet?" Hermione asked. She had a plate of meat pies in one hand and a goblet of pumpkin juice in the other.

"Yes," Harry replied. "Let's go talk to Mrs. Weasley now. See you soon, Professor Lupin!" Harry called over his shoulder as Hermione led him near the tables. Lupin gave him a friendly wave.

After Harry had thanked Mrs. Weasley profusely (she waved his gratitude off, saying that he could use a nice birthday after all the ones he'd spent with the Dursleys) and eaten the food that had been prepared, Ginny sidled up to him.

"Let's do it now, Harry," she said in a low voice.

"Now?" Harry asked, his mouth still half full with treacle tart.

"Better sooner than later, right?" she said. "Don't worry—it'll be fun." Ginny grinned, her eyes dancing mischievously. She turned around. "Here she comes!" Ginny turned back to Harry, winking. "It's all you."

"Hey, Hermione," Harry called, his mouth a bit dry.

"Hi," replied Hermione. She looked at Ginny's retreating back. "What was that about?"

"Oh, nothing," Harry said, acting nonchalant. Or he hoped he did. "Want to walk for a bit?"

"Sure," Hermione said uncertainly, joining Harry as he made his way to the entrance hall. Harry chanced a quick glance over his shoulder to see if Ginny was doing her part.

"What are you looking at?" Hermione asked, looking back, too.

"Nothing!" Harry replied hastily. Too hastily—Harry mentally kicked himself. "Just… making sure no one's going to miss me too much." Harry offered her a weak grin. Hermione raised an eyebrow but said nothing as they made their way out the front doors and onto the grounds. Harry started making a route towards the lake.

"So… what's going on?" Hermione asked after a few minutes of silence. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Uh," Harry stalled, scanning his mind as quickly as he could. "How's… how's your room?"

"My room?" Hermione repeated, frowning. "What do you want to know about my room?"

Harry berated himself. "Uh… is the bed okay? Enough light coming through the windows?" Harry glanced back again, hoping that Ginny would hurry up.

"What?" Hermione asked, furrowing her brow. "Harry, you seem really distracted… What's going on?" An edge was creeping into her voice now, Harry noticed. Hurry up, Ginny.

"… are they doing?"

Harry sighed in relief as he heard a familiar voice drifting through the summer air. Time for phase two.

"So…. Hermione," Harry tried to sound smooth and cool. He stopped walking and moved in closer to Hermione.

"Harry?" Hermione asked, sounding very confused. She backed up as Harry advanced closer towards her. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, nothing too important," Harry tried to sound casual though his mind was racing. What did everyone say, anyway? "You look," he raised his voice a little higher, "—you look quite nice today… Hermione."

"What does Harry want?" Snatches of conversation could be heard from further back along the path. "Stop pushing me, Ginny! What's he doing?"

Both Harry and Hermione turned to see Ron struggling with Ginny, who was trying to slow him down. Harry's eyes met Ginny's, and he read the message there. Now!

Harry gulped. No telling how badly Hermione would hurt him for this.

He took a step closer, until he was almost touching her. Slowly, he reached out his hand and grasped hers. Harry barely heard Hermione's sharp intake of breath over Ron's sudden yell. Would that be enough? Maybe he should kiss her, too, thought the thought kind of made him want to puke. A quick peck on the cheek, then. Harry vaguely felt Hermione trying to tug her hand out of his, but he stubbornly held on. Hermione's eyes widened in fear as Harry leaned in closer and closer…

"Oompf!" Harry cried in surprise as something hard and fast tackled him to the ground.

"What kind of friend are you!" Ron raged. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Harry got to his feet, but Ron kept shoving at him. "I thought I could trust you!" Ron kept pushing as Harry kept trying to back away out of his reach. Ron really was building up quite a momentum, Harry thought worriedly. "You knew I liked her! What the hell were you trying to pull?" Harry stumbled. Ron seized the split second that Harry was off-balance and pushed him into the lake. Harry landed in the water with a splash that sprayed water across Ron's face. Ron stopped, momentarily stunned. He regained his anger the moment he let his eyes rest on Harry's face again. "And why are you just sitting there, smiling!"

"Ron?" A soft voice came from behind them. They both turned around to see Hermione, who was walking towards them in a sort of daze. "You… you like me?"

Ron's eyes widened as he realized what he'd let slip in his moment of jealous anger. He turned towards Hermione and spread his hands helplessly. "Uh…"

An awkward silence developed; then Hermione broke it.

"Took you long enough," she laughed.

Harry's eyes sought out Ginny's, who was still standing by the tree. She grinned at him and gave him a double thumbs up. She looked adorable, Harry couldn't help thinking. He quickly strode to where she was.

"I think now would be a good time to leave those two alone," Harry said quietly. Ginny nodded, and they began walking back towards the castle. Harry glanced over at Ginny. The sunlight was hitting her hair, making it gleam with red and gold undertones, and there was a smile on her face, but she seemed troubled by something.

"You did a great job," Harry reassured her. "It worked just the way you planned."

"Mm," Ginny said. She seemed distracted.

"Is something wrong?" Harry asked, worried.

"No," Ginny said slowly. She finally turned to look at him. "You did a great job, too. You played your part really well."

"Thanks!" Harry replied, surprised. "I really wasn't all too sure of what I was doing half the time, though." Harry laughed at himself and his attempts at trying to be suave. He stopped laughing when Ginny stayed silent.

"Really well," Ginny repeated. She looked him in the eyes. "Harry, were you actually going to kiss Hermione? Did you want to?"

Harry felt a little flutter in his heart. Why does she care if I actually wanted to kiss Hermione or not? Does she…

"No, of course not," Harry replied calmly, though his heart had suddenly sped up considerably. "Hermione's just my friend. To tell you the truth, the thought of kissing her kind of made me feel like throwing up."

Ginny laughed and smiled up at him. "I'm glad." Harry noticed that she seemed quite a bit more cheerful.

Ginny started chattering about how she didn't think Ron would get that angry and how Harry still hadn't opened his presents, but Harry was having a hard time concentrating on her words. His mind kept racing over what she'd said. Did you want to? Kiss Hermione? Did you want to?

Why had she cared so much?

A/N: A bit of fun. XD I was actually planning for "the plan" to be carried out next chapter, but I had to scrap the chapter that was supposed to be next. I hope you enjoyed it! As always, reviews are greatly appreciated. I would especially like to know if any of it made you laugh out loud… because I was laughing while writing some of it. XD