A/N: Authors Note moved to the bottom

Chapter Five: Birthdays and Beheadings

July 31st

10:37am

Black Chateau

Harry Potter

The morning of Harry Potter's birthday usually was a sorry affair, the Dursley's made no attempts to make Harry feel special on 'his' day therefore birthdays for Harry were more recently associated with the feeling of being free. This year was unlike any other he could remember, but still had an undertone of freedom. Free from the Dursley's forever, free from Dumbledore's overbearing power and free of his old weakness.

When he had woken up, he was surprised with a hot breakfast and a glass of pumpkin juice in bed, courtesy of Dobby who was practically bouncing off the walls to be "the first to celebrate the great harry potter's born day." The surprises didn't end there either, Sirius had managed to rig the kitchen and dining hall with decorations galore. Nearly every wall, ceiling and door had some sort of 'Happy Birthday' sign or streamers plastered on them. Whilst Harry could appreciate the sentiment, it was a little overboard. Not that he'd tell Sirius though, the man was more invested in his birthday than he was.

Because the entire organisation was spending so much time at the Chateau for training and meetings now, it was easy to have everyone present. Only Mad-eye couldn't make it but he had a stake out in Diagon but apparently Moody wasn't a fan of parties anyway (who'd have guessed). The party hardly even had a start date, it was more like everyone woke up and congregated in their own time to eat, drink and relax. Unfortunately, they couldn't invite Hagrid, as loved as he was, he was too far in Dumbledore's corner so exposing where the chateau was just wasn't practical. However, a letter from the man did make it through the mail wards allowing the half-giant to say his congratulations safely

Once it had reached ten o'clock, Harry was surrounded by those he considered his family and most valued friends, offering their congratulations and birthday wishes to him, which, considering his life, living another year did deserve some congratulations. Of course, everyone being together meant that Sirius was really looking to seamlessly move the conversation towards gift giving. Harry had noticed this and in a combination of anticipation for what they had gotten him and saving Sirius from an aneurysm, spoke up.

"Alright Sirius, go on."

Sirius' eyes appropriately lit up like a child and he rushed off to where his room was. Most of the others figured out what was going on and went to retrieve their own gifts. Once they had come together again as a group, Sirius was the first to hand Harry a present. An ornate wooden box engraved with the phrase Toujours Pour.

"I found this old thing in the cellar, saw my dad, Orion, use it once and thought it was wicked," he said.

The box was surprisingly heavy, and when he took it from the man it made a heavy clattering sound. Intrigued, Harry opened the box to find a dagger. The blade could be no longer than thirty centimetres and the hilt was wrapped in black leather, but what piqued his interest the most was the strange ethereal feeling he received when he picked it up.

Damien, an avid historian, leaned forward to inspect the dagger, "hmm, I believe that is called a kirk dagger, Scottish in origin and not often found in wizarding families unless there is a magical property imbued into the weapon."

Sirius nodded his head and addressed Harry, "here's the neat part, say the words of house Black but uhh… just hold it away from your face."

Suspicious that Sirius had returned to his marauding ways, Harry half prepared to be doused in cold water or covered in mucus. However, when he whispered the words Toujours Pour, none of what he expected to happen did, although that's not to say what did happen didn't surprise almost everyone in the room. A myriad of curse words and surprised shouts were heard as the blade burst in black flames, similar to the curse he had used many times.

"How do I turn it off?" Harry half-shouted in worry.

"Just will it to stop," Sirius replied.

Doing as he said, Harry visualised the blade as it was before its activation and to his immense relief, the fire dissipated leaving the dagger inert. 'Wicked is definitely an understatement, I'm going to have a lot of fun with this,' he thought as he carefully placed it back in the box. After thanking Sirius for such a cool gift, Harry went on to accept gifts from everyone else.

Remus got him a wizard warfare stating that his reasons were fairly obvious, Tonks managed to snag a standard issue auror cloak for him which would absorb some magic behind spells that hit him. Damien had also gotten him a gift, a history book of all the houses of the sacred twenty-eight, although he did say that the book was likely widely inaccurate because people forged their lineage, it was still good to know who generally allied with who. Hermione hadn't had much of a chance to get him a gift considering the nightmare of a month she'd had so she had simply tested enchantments she had both learnt and designed on his glasses making them more durable and unsummonable. A thoughtful gift which he made sure to show his appreciation for.

It was no secret that Hermione was depressed, no one blamed her for it but they also didn't know what to do to help. Often Harry would attempt to engage in conversation with her or try to have her join his and Daphne's training but to this day there hadn't been a single instance where she had accepted. Harry understood that losing Ron was a devastating experience, he too lost a best friend and found himself slipping up and calling out to him to tell him a joke only to be reminded of Bellatrix's brutality. But Hermione loved him in a way that trumped being a best mate, nor was she already filled with the desire for victory at any cost, so her heightened grief was understandable.

'A bit of therapy might help, maybe Tonks or Moody know of a good one for aurors,' Harry thought.

The final gift he received was from Daphne. She had gotten him a book written by an African wizard on how they teach infants to use magic without a wand. Clearly this was for his attempts to learn wandless magic that she had used against him time and time again. Whilst it wasn't as cool as the dagger or as thoughtful as the glasses, Harry appreciated the gift as it was something he had expressed interest in that she remembered.

"This will be useful to you, but I've been doing wandless magic for a year now, so I'll promise to help you learn how to connect with your core." Daphne said as he started to flip through the book. "It's an incredible feeling really, being able to connect with what makes us special."

"I look forward to it," Harry replied genuinely.

"On the topic of learning new things," Remus started. "We should get on top of teaching you three apparition, no witch or wizard should neglect such a skill, especially in war time."

Hermione, ever the voice of reason, replied, "is that safe? We're going to learn it this year anyway with proper instructors."

It was Tonks who had an answer for her revealing, "in auror training they teach us how to apparate under duress, they basically run through the whole process again and get us to do it under spell fire or after trapping us. Considering how active you three are in the war it's probably best you learn how we do it and not just jumping through hoops in a classroom."

"If you think it's safe, I'm game," Daphne replied

Harry compounded his agreement and found himself excited for the next month ahead. The group spent the rest of the day eating, drinking, and sharing stories together. As the day went on some of the adults (Sirius and Tonks) started showing signs of being a little too comfortable. A slightly tipsy Sirius turned into a dog and couldn't stop barking at his own tail, it took the combined efforts of Remus and Harry to get him to turn back into a human. Tonks accidentally changed her face into a duck bill with her powers and tried to get flirty with Remus who couldn't stop laughing at the silly position he was in. This of course made Tonks mad, and she tried to hex him but missed and hit Sirius which simply made everyone laugh at the poor fool's expense.

Harry had, by the end of the day, felt an ache in his cheeks from smiling so much. Deciding to show his appreciation he cleared his throat and stood at the table to speak to everyone, "thank you all coming, these presents were great, and this has been probably the best birthday I've ever had. So… yeah thanks."

His awkward finish had everyone laughing and Sirius clumsily raised his glass and said, "To Harry." which was followed by a chorus of the rest repeating it.

July 31st

8:46pm

Serbian Wilderness

Voldemort

'Even at the ends of the Earth or the middle of nowhere, nothing is beyond my reach,' Voldemort thought, advancing through the Serbian snow. The cold winds wracked against the small wooden shack ahead of him. A dim light in the construct's only window confirmed their target was either inside or not far, this pleased him. A traitor had been found and his punishment was long overdue. With a subtle wave, the death eaters hidden in the tundra moved in, drawing their wands and removing their disillusionment charms. Like a pack of wolves, they surrounded the shack slowly, stalking their prey in its final moments.

A nod from their lord instigated the group to simultaneously cast fire and explosive spells towards the shabby abode of their enemy. For a moment, whatever protections the man had put on his home held up, but under the intense strain of the plethora of spells, the wards cracked, and the shack was obliterated. All that remained of it was the piles of splinters and rubble and the traitor himself, Igor Karkaroff.

Voldemort smiled as the man he'd come to know as a weasel struggled free of the debris and raised his wand. Several shouts of "drop it" and "drop your wand" were heard but Voldemort and Igor only had eyes for each other.

"My friends, this rat is of no concern to me. If he wishes to stand and fight before he dies on his knees then what difference does it make?" Voldemort said, calling off the death eaters who laughed at Karkaroff's plight.

Karkaroff raised his wand to strike first but Voldemort sent a banisher at his feet making the former headmaster fall face first into the snow. Another round of Death Eater laughs and taunts clearly enraged Karkaroff who smashed a fist into the ground and pushed himself up and fired a dark Slovakian variant of the cutting curse, but his injuries affected his aim and the spell went high over Voldemort's head.

Karkaroff's humiliations and own pathetic efforts seemed to quell his desire to fight, and the man fell to his knees. Karkaroff's wand at Voldemort's feet resulted in a cheer from the death eaters present however their Master shushed them.

Leaning down, Voldemort whispered to his defeated opponent, "if there is one thing, I despise above all it is weakness and you Igor, you reek of it." Standing tall, Voldemort addressed his followers. "My loyal followers, let tonight be a warning and a promise!" As he spoke, the identifiable figure of Bellatrix Lestrange stepped forward with her new silver arm. "A new age is coming; the world is ours for the taking and to those who follow me with unwavering loyalty I offer it to you. But to those who stray from the path…" Bellatrix smiled as she crouched down and grabbed Karkaroff's hair with her new arm, gripping it strongly, she used her other arm to draw her wand and levitated her knife in front of him. Turning his gaze towards Karkaroff's terrified eyes, he finished his speech, "... all I offer is death."

Karkaroff tried to scream but he didn't get much of a chance as Bellatrix banished the knife through the traitor's neck separating his head from his shoulders. Bellatrix raised Karkaroff's head high and cackled maniacally, her comrades joining her in the revelry. She pranced around showing off Karkaroff's head, his face stuck in permanent shock. Voldemort allowed his followers their vile excitement, content with their success of tying up such a talkative end. Without a word he apparated back to Malfoy Manor to plan his next move.

August 2nd

6:23am

Minister's Office

Rufus Scrimengour

The ministry of magic in the morning was a quiet place. Most shifts didn't start till nine which is why Rufus liked to get in early at six to get much of his paperwork done so that he can focus on people and planning when his team arrives. Of course, as minister, not all of his dealings were endorsed by the wizengamot or the people and the fact that no one was around made those dealings much easier in the morning. Speaking of morally questionable activities, he had a meeting in a few moments that no one but he and his… client knew about. He was approving the construction of a new fountain in the atrium after the old had been destroyed by Voldemort when he heard the tell-tale sound of an insect's flapping wings.

"Good morning, Rita," Rufus said without looking up from the paperwork. The beetle flew to the middle of the room and transformed into the well-known reporter and current minister 'volunteer', Rita Skeeter.

The woman sighed and replied, "minister," as a greeting.

Having yet to look at her, Rufus spoke, "I'm glad to know you got my message to come in the morning. Now tell me, what do you know of Mr Potter and Mrs Greengrass?"

Taking a seat in one of the guest chairs in front of the minister's desk, she said, "I followed them from your office to the floo corridor. They both went to a place called the 'Black Chateau.' I'd never heard of the Black family having a chateau, so I did some research in the records of the great families in the ministry and I found a deed to a plot of land in the Isle of Man, signed by Castor Black in 1789."

Rufus looked up when she placed the deed on his desk. Inspecting it, he found everything she had said to be true but unfortunately for him the deed didn't have an address or any indicator as to where the building actually was. 'I can see why she's such a nuisance to the public, she leaves no stone unturned,' he thought.

"This is good work, of course you've only narrowed it down to a smaller island, but this is a start." Rita looked uncomfortable at the notion that her work wasn't finished which Rufus picked up on. "What is it? Perhaps you'd prefer a bleaker island?"

Quickly shaking her head in the negative she scrambled to reply, "no not at all! It's just that, investigating this has taken up all of my time and I haven't been able to go to work. I-I haven't been paid in three weeks."

The minister gave her a hard stare, debating if her usefulness outweighed the annoyance he felt every time he had to deal with her. If there was one thing he'd learnt as minister, however, was that the more someone irked him the more he had need of them. "I will see to it that the ministry compensates you for your service. Now leave, we both have work to do, find that chateau."

As he watched her turn into a beetle and leave, he thought, 'as much as I want to hang her out to dry, she is too useful to me right now. Besides, why make enemies when you can make friends? The ministry budget will survive an errant freelancer's basic needs.'

A/N (2): Hi everyone, I'm happy to have completed this chapter! Got a bit of writer's block around the birthday party but writing the other two perspectives really helped to get me going to finish the party.

I've moved the author's note to the bottom so that I can talk about the chapter itself with no spoilers. Also, I can talk about little easter eggs and stuff like the Scrimengour meeting wasn't planned but it had to happen a week after the first which takes place on Aug 2nd. Chapter 6 starts at Aug 8th, so I squeezed it in there to keep the investigation ongoing for Rufus.

I've noticed that some of you have been pretty much predicting things that are going to happen with your suggestions which gives me a laugh every time.

Anyway, this chapter's recommendation is 'The Lie I've Lived' by Jbern. Super cool and highly entertaining concept with a Harry/Fleur pairing.

Hope you enjopyed!