Harry stood in the main hall, nervously waiting for his friends to arrive. Sirius was nearby, his hand placed on his godson's shoulder. It was the first birthday party, Harry had ever had and therefore he was nervous about it. Sirius smiled at the little twitches of his godson, whenever a sound was outside, be it a car or voices. The guests would arrive with the public floo system. It had been Sirius idea but it made Harry nervously staring out of the window until Narcissa had pulled him away, said, it wouldn't fit a Lord of the Wizengamot to stare out of the window like a bride on her wedding day.

So he had been herded back in the centre of the hall, with Sirius and Narcissa behind both of his shoulders. That was the proper way to receive guests for a noble family. Well, or it would be wearing formal clothes but only Narcissa wore those. Sirius wore denim jeans and a simple white dressing shirt, all together with dragon leather boots. It suspiciously was bare of any sign of the Black crest. Harry wore a dark blue t-shirt with the Peverell Coat of Arms printed on the front and jeans himself. He did eye Sirius boots enviously but he hadn't bought a pair for himself. Yet. Narcissa wore an equally dark blue dressing robe with the Peverell symbol embroidered on her upper arm. As his proxy, she thought it would be right on his birthday and Harry had to say, she looked stunning in the dark blue. Finally, there was a knock on the door followed by a popping sound when Kreacher appeared in front of the massive oak front door. He wore new "clothes". It wasn't clothes, at least in the sense house-elves defined clothes. It was something called House-elf garment and looked a little bit like a surcoat, worn by mediaeval knights. It was onyx and emerald green and had the Black crest on the torso. You see for house-elves clothes were very well defined, anything that was tailored and had no other purpose than dressing was considered clothes. That was why most wore pillow-cases because that wasn't considered clothes.

At first, Harry had tried to offer Kreacher normal clothes and pay him. He hadn't been prepared for the elf to fall apart in front of him, bawling out his eyes while begging him to kill Kreacher for whatever transgression the elf must have committed to earn such a horrible punishment. Harry had been at a complete loss, trying his best to explain this wasn't a punishment and he wanted the elf to be free, making Kreacher only to cry even louder. It had finally summoned Narcissa, who had been attracted by the commotion and she had explained to Harry that freedom was the worst punishment a house-elf could receive, worse than death. Hundreds of years ago a few lazy pureblood lords, who were tired of doing their own chores and who didn't want to pay servants had set their minds and efforts to create a servant race for themselves. They had transfigured rocks and leaves in, you had to hand it to them, the most impressive ways to create small obedient creatures made out of flesh and blood. Their first tries had gone horribly wrong, when they had for safety reasons not tried to create servants for their homes but their gardens.

To this day the descendants of these creations haunted the gardens and fields of wizarding families in the form of gnomes. Since this pest had spread rather quickly, the purebloods in question had decided to limit the breeding capabilities their future servants by strictly incorporating the rule into their transfiguration. At the same time obedience was very strongly put into the creation and also the wish to serve. The final touch was that elves bonded with the magic of their family, fueling them and their own magic. An unbound elf would slowly and surely perish and turn feral. This made freeing elves from their slavery difficult at best and impossible at worse. Harry had sighed, he didn't like this at all. Then he had started to try and cheer the elf up, a rather quick endeavour when he had stated he wouldn't free the elf nor he would intend to do so. Narcissa had smirked when the relieved Kreacher had hugged Harry's leg, thanking him and promising even more devotion since he must have been a bad elf to even make his master think about freedom for him. Harry had awkwardly patted Kreacher's head while thinking about Dobby and the thought about what a horrible house Malfoy Manor must have been for the elf to wish for freedom. His eyes had found Narcissa's, one day he would ask her about it. After that, since Harry stated a little awkward that it didn't fit an elf of the mighty House Black to wear such lousy rags, Narcissa had transfigured a pillowcase into the house-elf garment for Kreacher. Since it was a pillowcase and had no seams anywhere, it was deemed safe to give Kreacher. The elf had again teared up at this enormous gift and quickly had put it on. Narcissa had transfigured a few more and Harry had ordered under the amused eyes of the former Lady Malfoy, that Kreacher would change it every day and it had to be cleaned to be "worthy of House Black". The elf had nodded eagerly and washed his garments every day, being dirty or just imagining it being dirty. The one time when there had been a tear in one of them had been a whole disaster all over again, more house-elf tears and begging for punishment. For punishment, the elf had gotten a blanket for his tiny bed and the instruction to cover himself at night, when he was cold, but only when he was cold.

Kreacher opened the door with a bow, revealing a lot of red-heads and a few other faces, all grinning at Harry, who in return grinned like a madman. Ron, Fred, George, Ginny, Mr and Mrs Weasley and even Percy were there. Next to them was Hermione, a little flushed, and smiling brightly at the birthday boy. There was Neville, Oliver Wood and even the three chaser-girls of team Gryffindor had come. Everyone started calling out Happy Birthday, Ron could loudly be heard over the others with his "Happy Birthday mate".

Harry waved them all in and they quickly complied. Since it was summer, there were no coats for Kreacher to take, only bowing to the entering guests, before closing the door behind them. Ron sped up in front of everyone.

"Happy birthday again Harry." Harry quickly hugged his first friend, chuckling and thanking him. Ron placed a present in his hand before looking around, his eyes stopping on the crest on the wall.

"Mate this...this house is bloody huge." "Ronald language" called his mother from the back, making the boy flinch. Ron was about to talk on when a finger jabbed him in the back merciless.

"Ron, don't linger!" Stated a bossy female voice and the redhead stepped aside to greet Sirius and, less enthusiastically, Miss Black, making room for Hermione, who flung herself at Harry, hugging him close. Harry smiled, holding himself upright, nuzzling into Hermione's neck.

"Hi, Hermione." "Harry! Finally, we can celebrate your birthday with you. Here this is for you and Happy Birthday again." She gave him a present much more nicely wrapped than Rons, like always and he noticed chuckling, book-shaped. "Thank you, Hermione." She stepped aside smiling to also great the adults. Narcissa who noticed the parcels and presents in the other people's hands, quickly summoned a small table next to Harry, to place them. Ginny came up next, smiling at him a with a little blush. She had lost a lot of her shyness towards him, the words of Narcissa never left his mind again. She also hugged him closely, even planting a kiss on his cheek, making the boy blush hard. Her hug lasted longer than Ron's and Hermione's until Harry squirmed a little. She stepped back but her hand lingered on his forearm.

"Happy birthday Harry. This is for you." She gave him a package and seemed like she wanted to say something but two voices from behind made her tense up.

"Gin-Gin, we know."

"How sticky Harry's arm is."

"But your poor, poor."

"brothers want to steal him anyway."

Ginny swirled around to her twin brothers, who stood there grinning and waggling their eyebrows at here.

"You utter ..." Her voice trailed off when she darted her eyes to her mothers rising eyebrow behind the twins. "uhhharg." She stomped off. George and Fred chuckled.

"Oh Georgy, I fear our ickly wickly Ginny is a little distressed." Fred winked at Harry making him laugh.

"Oh yeah you are right, we should lighten her mood. But first." The stepped closer, both leaning forward grinning.

"Oh Happy Birthday, oh vanquisher of you-know-who."

"Defeater of a troll."

"Killer of the Basilisk."

"Fighter of all evil."

"Banisher of bed-monsters."

"And the Third best-looking person on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team."

"Oi!" Came from the back of the line where Oliver and the girls were waiting.

"Happy Birthday to you Harry." Both twins leaned forward more and placed a big and rather sloppy kiss on each of Harry's cheeks, followed with laughter when he swatted at them.

Fred winked at him, leaning down again and whispered.

"You get your present later, with not so many...adults around who would only ruin it. Maybe Sirius." And with that both of them were off, to greet Padfoot and Ice-Queen, their name for Narcissa, not that they would dare to say that in front of her.

"Happy Birthday Mr Potter." Stated a stern-looking Percy, stretching out his hand, which Harry shook. It was weird, ever since he graduated Percy insisted on calling Harry by his last name. The boy smiled shacking it back.

"Thank you, Percy. Oh it's Mr...well actually it's Lord Peverell now but pleeeeease don't call me that, Harry is fine." Percy tilted his head slightly, before shaking his head.

"Proper manners and decorum are important if you ever want to get somewhere Mr...Lord Peverell." Harry groaned, not noticing the way Percy smirked. While he was a stern and stiff person, someone who lived with five brothers and a sister, two of them Fred and George, would be a humourless braindead if he wouldn't know how fun teasing could be. He stepped aside to introduce himself to Miss Black in a proper way. He knew he wouldn't stay long, but Mr Crouch had insisted on him going to the birthday of the boy-who-lived.

"Harry oh love you look wonderful!" The boy-who-lived was quickly scooped up into the motherly embrace of Molly Weasley, hugging him tightly. Harry chuckled and swung his arms around the warm and loving woman. "Thank you, Mrs Weasley." He smiled into her shoulder and after a moment she stepped back.

"Please, Harry call me Molly. You are a Lord now." She smiled at him before a short worried look was shot at Sirius. Molly Weasley stepped up front and whispered to him.

"Is everything fine here?" He nodded, still grinning.

"Yeah, everything is awesome. And please, I might be the boy-who-lived and Lord Peverell to the rest of the world but to my friends and people who are close I am still same old Harry, who is just happy to have asked the nicest family he had ever met about finding a train-platform." Molly Weasley's eyes teared up a little and she once more hugged Harry, almost crushing him.

"Oh Harry, you remembered that? You wonderful boy." He chuckled and patted her back before Arthur smiled at his wife.

"Mollywobble, you're crushing the poor boy." Mrs Weasley stepped back and her husband shook Harry's hand smiling.

"Happy Birthday Harry. You will understand if we see each other in public, I will have to refer to you with your title." The black-haired boy smiled, nodding for a moment.

"Of course Mr Weasley, welcome." Then Molly handed him a big cake, his birthday cake, which in itself was almost a monstrosity and made Sirius' eyes light up. Neville slowly followed the Weasley adults, handing Harry a rather stuffed packed, probably containing some sort of plant, if Harry guessed right. The boy smiled shyly and shook Harry's hand.

"Happy Birthday Harry." He smiled and nodded.

"Thank you, Neville. Did you have a good summer up until now?" He thought he could take a little time for the shy guy, who returned his smile.

"Yeah, I worked in the garden a lot and Gran and I visited France for a week. It has been lovely. And yours?" Harry chuckled and waved his hand around smiling brightly.

"I finally have a real home so yeah it had been great." Neville nodded smiling while stepping over to greet Miss Black with a formal bow. He was a little wary with the woman who had brought Draco Malfoy, the bane of his existence into life.

"Harry!" Suddenly the boy was swarmed by three girls, lifting him from the ground in a group hug, and kisses on his cheeks. Harry who looked over Katie's shoulder after a moment, mouthed Oliver a "Help me!" which made his captain chuckle a little, before stepping up and shaking Harry's hand as well, wishing him a happy birthday. The four of them handed Harry a present as well and the boy smiled, placing it with the others. He turned to the people gathered. Sirius noticed Harry being finished, before he nodded at him, raising his hands.

"Alright, everybody." He stated loudly. The people quieted down, looking at the tall head of House Black.

"Harry, would you like to say a word or two?" Now all the eyes turned to him and Harry felt a lump in the back of his throat. It was like his first Quidditch Match all over again, or that time Snape had asked him these impossible question in his first year. His hand raised up, brushing over his neck.

"Well yeah, uhm. T-Thank you all for coming this...god this is awkward, I have never done this before sorry." The entire room chuckled in sympathy. Harry felt himself grin a bit.

"So yeah, really, thank you all, for coming for the presents, you didn't need to bring any, just you being here is more than enough for me." Fred called out from the back.

"Good thing we haven't handed you ours yet!" Making all chuckle again. Harry nodded smiling. This was so overwhelming everyone looking at him so fondly.

"Okay uhm, well let's head to the dining room because I don't know if I can keep Pads from devouring Mollys awesome looking cake if we don't do it." He pointed at his godfather, who laughed out, followed by the rest. "I make no promises," Sirius stated loudly, leading them all to the dining room. Harry lingered behind, turning to Kreacher, actually wanting him to ask about him to dish up the main course, but the elf looked down at the floor, a defeated look on his face.

"Kreacher? What's wrong?" Harry stepped closer, frowning a little. The elf raised his sad eyes to Harry.

"Kreacher needs to be punished, Heir Black." Harry frowned kneeling down.

"Why Kreacher?" The elf, still in the reflex of punishing himself, gripped the tip of his ear only to stop, remembering that he was forbidden from punishing himself.

"Kreacher's cooking is so bad Heir Black had to ask Heir Blacks friends mother to bake a cake for him. Kreacher wants to slam his fingers in the oven doors if Heir Black allows him to." Harry stared at the elf for a moment before shaking his head.

"Kreacher I didn't ask Molly to bake a cake. She just likes to cook and bake and she wanted to. Your cooking is delicious." The elf frowned a little.

"But...But...Heir Blacks friends mother is a witch. Witches don't cook, house-elves cook." The elf frowned tilting his head. Harry smiled, shaking his head.

"There are quite a few witches and wizards who enjoy cooking." Kreacher looked a little lost, wringing his hands. The elf had only rarely contact with people outside of family Black. His former Mistress, Lord Black's mother had lived here without much contact and he had served her long and dutiful since he had been born. When someone visited, it was always a pureblood family and they never ever had even stepped foot in the kitchen ever. So, Kreacher was confused.

"Is Heir Black sure?" Harry smiled nodding.

"Yeah, I myself enjoy cooking quite a lot, at least for those I care for. It feels good making something for them to enjoy, don't you think?" Kreacher thought for a moment about that. He really could relate to that. He did enjoy when his cooking was well received especially since Heir Black came to the house because the young Heir always made a point in telling Kreacher how much he liked the food and thanked him for it. Heir Black was so different from every other wizard or witch he had ever seen.

"Yes, Heir Black." Harry smiled, placing his hand on the elf's shoulder. He knew the small creature was a little uncomfortable with that but he did it anyway.

"Good. I imagine you have made a cake yourself?" Kreacher nodded, still a little tense because Heir Black rubbed his shoulder and he was still confused when young Heir did that. The only times a wizard had touched him before was to kick or beat him.

"Good, I want you to dish up both cakes and tea for everyone. Could you do this please?" Harry pulled his hand back and the elf bowed so deep his nose touched the floor.

"Yes Heir Black, right away Heir Black." The elf popped away and Harry rose to his feet. He heard a door and turned, seeing Narcissa step out of the dining room.

"Harry everything okay? Your guests are waiting for you." He walked over smiling at her, stopping short in front of her.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I had to stop Kreacher from crushing his fingers in the oven door because he misunderstood Molly bringing the cake." Narcissa chuckled at the antics of the boy. She was still a little confused about his attitude towards the elf but being raised like a house-elf would probably make her the same she thought.

When he stepped past her she rubbed the small of his back, before closing the door. Harry looked down the long beech dining table, at all the people gathered around it. On one end was Sirius, talking to Fred and George about some prank under the watchful eye of Molly Weasley, who sat opposite of her sons next to her husband. Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Oliver Wood occupied the middle of the table, talking eagerly about the World Cup and how much they were excited to watch the game.

Next to them was Ginny and Percy while opposite them, was oddly enough, Neville and a free chair, apparently Narcissa's. The end of the table was formed by Hermione and Ron of course, on either side of Harry's own place. He sat down, smiling brightly at them, while Miss Black took her own place. Harry looked down a table full of happy and smiling faces, while the food appeared in the middle of the table. Potatoes, salad, gravy and a large turkey, all smelling heavenly.

"Well, Kreacher has outdone himself. Dig in people." Harry laughed and the most amazing birthday dinner of his entire life took place.

Harry sighed, closing the door after he waved to his friend's goodbye on the stairs. It was dark already, night had come and he saw Hedwig flying overhead, while insects flew around street-lights. He felt wonderfully tired. It had been a long day, full of laughter and happiness. The dinner had been wonderful, delicious and the cakes had been even better. Even Kreacher had been happy when Molly Weasley demanded his recipe for the chocolate cake the elf had made stating it outdid her own in length. Harry had been surprised to see shy Neville talk to Narcissa and after a while, he lost a little bit of his fear and was quite eager talking to her about wizarding culture. Harry often forgot his friend is from a really old family. His Quidditch team had been a well of fun itself, demanding a game sometime in the summer, something Harry agreed to. He had most, of course, talked to Hermione and Ron, about their summers, about the school, about everything. It had been wonderful.

The had made him open his presents in front of everyone. Ron had gifted him a Chudley Cannons jersey, Hermione a book on Spellcrafting, his teammates gifted him new high-quality seeker gloves and Neville had given him an everlasting flower, which scent would calm one in his sleep. Harry had thanked them all blushing at the number of presents and friendship he received. He also had gotten a few presents with mail. Remus had sent a letter with chocolate, sadly he couldn't come. There were more letters from Dean, Seamus and other friends from school. He had been surprised when there was a package from Dudley, wishing him a happy birthday and in it had been muggle sweets, like Mars bars and Snickers. Ron had almost died in delight, as well as Sirius as they had tried it out and he had happily spread it between his guest, making a mental note to send Dudley a thank you note.

Harry yawned and was halfway up the stairs when a flamelike flash went through the room, making him jump with a loud bang. He swirled around only to see a package drop about twenty centimetres to the floor, just lying there. A moment later Kreacher popped into the room, looking around, his eyes finding Harry.

"Something breached the wards Heir Black, please stay back." Harry nodded and the elf started closing in on the package, waving his fingers. Sirius ran down the stairs looking around worried, before seeing Harry. He had his wand in hand and was followed by Narcissa also wanded and already wearing a night robe.

"Harry, what is going on?" The boy shrugged, pointing at the package and Kreacher.

"I have no idea. I was about to go to bed when there were a flash and bang and that parcel was there. Kreacher said it breached the wards." Sirius pointed his wand at the package and wove a diagnostic spell. Then he frowned.

"Hrmm, that is strange, no curse and nothing. There is a little bit of lingering magic but nothing like a jinxed package. Kreacher open the parcel." The elf bowed, and opened it, looking inside.

"Lord Black, there is only a letter, a book-shaped object and a smaller package in it. Numbered." Sirius, quickly followed by Harry stepped down the stairs. He looked inside.

"Hrmm that is Dumbeldores handwriting. That is strange." Harry looked over his shoulder. It was like Kreacher had said, just three simple objects in it, numbered one to three.

"Do you think it is safe?" Sirius frowned, leaned down and weaved more diagnostics.

"At least the letter is okay. No magic in it." He picked it up and since it said Harry on the front handed it to the boy. He opened the envelope and unfolded the parchment.

Dear Harry,

congratulations on your fourteenth birthday. I hope you had a fun and wonderful day, with lots of presents. In case you worry, I asked Fawkes to bring this to you, so if would find it's way directly in to your hands and wouldn't be intercepted. Also, I think this is a personal matter for him. You know, I normally don't send you something on your birthday or Christmas, because I am still your headmaster and that wouldn't be fair to the other students. Your first Christmas at Hogwarts was an exception because the cape was me returning it to you. Also, this isn't a present from me, not entirely anyway. Someone else pecked on me until I put this together. He was very insistent and I don't like to upset him. There are a few things to this I have to explain because this is a delicate matter. I would have preferred to gift it directly to you but I have a pretty turbulent summer and my flame tempered friend didn't want to wait. So, first off, in this package 2 are certain parts written in red ink. You will find out, it will be impossible for you to talk about these parts. I am sorry, but that is necessary as you will probably understand. Also, the moment you passed the steps stated in red you will forget what they say and will not be able to reread them until your own friend says you can again to gift it to someone else. Finally, the red lines can't be read by anyone but you. I know this is a great responsibility but I think you are up to it and my closest friend thinks so too. Again this is a safety issue. I tried to include all I know about the subject in it. I hope this present will bring you as much happiness as it brought to me and grant you a wonderful friend.

Sincerely and with best wishes.

Albus Dumbledore.

Harry lowered the letter, handing it to Sirius. The man read it, before after looking at the boy for a moment, handing it to Narcissa.

"That is cryptic, even for Dumbledore standards." She stated, looking at the package. Sirius nodded, stepping closer again. Kreacher still unsure what to do, stepped from one foot to the other. He hasn't been dismissed but he was idle, not doing well with that.

"You are right Cissy. Well, at least now I know why parcel number two has a strange obliviate spell on itself. That would be the red lines." Harry nodded, tilting his head.

"You are dismissed Kreacher." He smiled at the elf, that bowed and popped away. Then Harry turned again to Sirius.

"Do you think I should open it?" Harry was strangely interested. The same feeling that had brought him into the room with Quirrell and Voldemort, this utter curiosity about something unknown made him shift back and forth. Sirius thought for a moment before nodding.

"Yeah, while he did strange things, I don't think he would want to harm you on purpose. He is still Dumbledore. At least for package 2." Harry nodded, picking it up and ripped it open. It was a simple brown leather book, just a ring stamped on the front with the words.

"Circle of Fire." Harry read out loud, frowning a little. He had never heard about this book, but that wasn't surprising because apparently, Dumbledore had written it. Harry even chuckled a little, the old headmaster do like his flashy titles and Circle of Fire was right up his alley. He opened the first page seeing already red lines. The frown on his forehead deepened when he kept on reading.

Harry,

this is a singular book. There is no second copy of it. I made this for you because I think there are still dark times in front of you and you could need a companion on your side. This book details everything from the bonding ritual, how to care for one, especially when he or she is young and how to summon one. I hope it will help you and give you a friendship that will last a lifetime. I got a similar book from my old friend Nicolas. It will help you with your...

Harry stared at the book, wide eyes, his gaze fixated on the last word of the page. His hands were trembling a little and he read it again. Sirius leaned over Harry's shoulder but for him, this was just an empty page, with nothing on it. Narcissa instead studied the face of a heavily breathing Harry.

"Harry darling, everything all right?"

The boy looked up startled like he had forgotten that there was someone around. He blinked totally bewildered, before holding up the book in his hand, showing Narcissa the for her empty page.

"D-Dumbledore has sent me t-this book."

"And?" Sirius asked while stepping around his startled godson. The way the boy looked overwhelmed and frightened, he worried that Dumbledore had again done something for "his own good.". Something that wasn't good at all. Harry stared at Sirius for a moment.

"These are instructions for me to get a Phoenix."

Sirius and Narcissa only stared at him with open mouths and a gobsmacked look.