Chapter 7: The first real Birthday

On the morning of the 31st of July, Harry awoke early. This was not unusual for him, but this time someone was shaking him very gently. He had to admit he liked being shaken awake gently, not roughly like the Dursleys would. Opening his eyes, the happy face of Daphne Greengrass beamed down on him.

"Wake up, sleepyhead! It's your birthday!" She exclaimed, louder than needed, as he was already awake.

This surprised Harry since he had forgotten about the day. His birthday had never been cause for celebration to anyone. "It's my birthday…" He said lowly, still unsure how he liked being made a fuss over.

"Of course, silly. You better get up, before I have to force you. There are presents waiting for you, and I want to know what they are!" She ordered him enthusiastically, her voice only partly tinged in joviality. To Harry it seemed, like she really wanted to know what these presents were.

"Time to play a little trick on you…" He thought, chuckling inwardly.

"Hmm, I don't know about that. Maybe I might need to nap more and open my presents after lunch, you know?" He said in a jokingly-earnest voice. Upon seeing her crestfallen look, he decided to set the record straight: "I'll be there shortly, just messing with you, Daphne!"

"I'll get you back for that! I also want to know how you like my present. Not that there's any way you couldn't" Daphne said, smirking.

"If it is from you, there really is no way I would not like it," Harry told her sincerely. Hell, he would like every present he got since they were going to be his first ever, but hers he would love.

As he dressed, Harry thought back to the last weeks he spent with the Greengrass family. He had started to trust them, at least the children. Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass he liked, but couldn't trust just yet.

He and Daphne had spent a lot of time together - studying the library, exploring the grounds of the manor and altogether having a fun time. Whenever they had left the house, they had been accompanied by Ouroboros, who apparently liked the woods around the property way more than Little Whinging. Actually, he liked everything better than Little Whinging.

The family had managed to get used to Harry's pet quite well, helped in no little part by his ability to catch stray rodents. After he saved a number of Tori's more valuable potion plants from a mole, the girl's initial hesitance had turned to wholehearted approval. Mrs. Greengrass' approval had been earned by preventing a number of rodent incursions into her pantry. For Daphne, it had been enough the snake made Harry happy, and Mr. Greengrass was just happy his family was happy.

The one thing that made Harry sad was that he couldn't bring Ouroboros to Hogwarts since his letter stated he was allowed to bring an owl, cat or toad however it did not mention anything about snakes, so his friend had to stay behind. Despite reassurances from Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass, that he would be well cared for, Harry was very sad.

When he was fully dressed, he made his way down toward the kitchen, but to his surprise he found it empty. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a small piece of paper on the table:

Dining Room

Now, Harry was intrigued. He knew Daphne's handwriting when he saw it, but he had no idea why he would be ordered to the dining room by her, considering how little time the family spent there. Not the least bit closer to solving the riddle, he left the kitchen and took the grand staircase to the dining room.

When he entered, he was almost floored by the sight that awaited him: there were decorations everywhere, garlands and a large Happy Birthday sign with moving letters. On the table awaited the largest cake he had ever seen.

Daphne had spotted him in the doorway and ran up to him, giving him a strange mixture of a hug and a tackle, all the while squealing something that sounded suspiciously like "Happy Birthday, Harry!". Her hug was soon followed by Tori, albeit a little less enthusiastically, helping him up from the floor and hugging him tightly. Neither of the parents tried the same, for which Harry was glad.

"Breakfast or presents first?" Daphne asked, her voice giddy with excitement.

"Breakfast," Harry answered. "I am starving. Also, it is really funny to see you squirm while waiting to find out what's in those presents."

"Pah! Don't know why I got you a present in the first place if you're gonna be like that…" She joked, smiling at Harry's humour.

They proceeded to enjoy a hearty breakfast, with every favourite breakfast dish Harry had, from pancakes to sausages. Nibbles had outdone himself, as he had taken quite the liking to the polite boy who had moved into the manor.

Finished with breakfast, Harry turned his sight to the small pile of presents. Deciding to end her torment, he took Daphne's present first and started to very slowly and deliberately open it.

"Move along, you're killing me here!" Daphne exclaimed.

Ignoring her protest to his slow progress, he slowly finished opening her present. His jaw dropped. In front of him lay a beautifully crafted rendition of the Potter crest imprinted on a polished piece of wood. As he touched it, the crest changed and showed the picture of a small, black-haired baby held by two grown-ups, one of them a man with black, unruly hair, and the other a beautiful woman, with red hair and a loving smile on her face.

"They don't move like most wizard photographs, otherwise the charm to change the picture would not work. Dad helped me with the charms and with getting the picture from the Ministry archives, but I did all the carving and preparing of the wood. I hope you like…."

She was stopped in her tracks by Harry throwing his arms around her neck and dragging her close to him. It was the first picture of his parents he had ever seen.

He held on to her for nearly five minutes before he turned away, face and ears red. Ignoring what had just been witnessed, Tori put her present in Harry's hand and he started to open it. Not as slow as Daphne's, but still just as deliberate, savouring the moment.

What he found in the end had him a bit puzzled: It was a notebook, beautifully bound in leather, again with the Potter coat-of-arms emblazoned on it in the bottom-right corner.

Seeing his confused expression, Tori elaborated: "It's a journal, more precisely a potions journal. It will take all the notes you have on that subject, and it will never be full. Whenever you run out of pages, more will show up. Plus, it has a really neat overview of all the common ingredients, and some of the uncommon, in it. Quick reference, you know. You can even buy a second one later that automatically copies everything that you write in the first one, if you ever lose it. Neat, right?" She grinned at him.

"It really is, thanks Tori!" He thanked her, but couldn't quite refrain from adding something," I bet you would like to take a look at it some time, am I right?"

"I would be very contrite with you if I weren't allowed to, yes." She answered with a cheeky smile, prompting him to laugh loudly.

"I'm sure I will be able to accommodate you," he said, after reigning in his laughter.

"You better!" Astoria yelled.

"Enough, you two." They were interrupted by Mrs. Greengrass. "It's our turn now. Harry, you have been living with us for some time now, and we think it is time for you to stop calling us Mr. and Mrs. Greengrass. From now on, we're Xander and Eleanor."

"Thank you, Mrs. Gree… I mean Eleanor." Harry said, while thinking it would take some time to adjust to that.

"Secondly," Xander now took up where his wife had left off. "Our other gift to you is when we go to Diagon Alley with you kids tomorrow, we will visit the Magical Menagerie and you can pick out a pet to take with you to school."

This time, Harry was speechless and looked at Xander and Eleanor thankfully.

"No need to thank us, Harry. We know how unhappy you were to have to leave your snake here. She will be well cared for, we promise. Although food should be no problem, if she keeps defending our property from rodent dangers and eats them later," he chuckled and looked at the happily digesting Ouroboros, curled up in the corner of the room.

The rest of his presents were more unspectacular. There were a few sweets from a man named Lupin that Harry did not know, but who seemed to be a friend of his parents. And a rather odd birthday card from MCPS case-worker Jenny McGregor.

"They send those out to all children MCPS is concerned with." Xander clarified.

The last of his presents was a book: A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration. Enclosed with it was a letter, which Harry opened.

Dear Mr. Potter,

I hope you are doing well after your removal from your relatives' care. I assume you did not expect a present from me, so let me offer you an explanation for this one. It is the first year Transfiguration book. The additions you will find everywhere are from your father's own hand. There is one of these for every year you will attend Hogwarts, and your father entrusted them to me to give to you at each of your birthdays after he made them for you.

Happy Birthday,

Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

When Harry finished with the letter, he had tears in his eyes again. Never before had he owned something of his parents, and he would cherish this.

"Oh, Harry! This is so great!" Daphne, who had been looking over Harry's shoulder, exclaimed. Harry thought the same, and even though he had the feeling he should be angry at Daphne for reading his letter, he was just happy and eager to share his happiness with everyone.

It took some time for Harry to calm down again. When he did, Xander spoke up, "Harry, there was also a letter to all of us from Arthur Weasley, who played a vital role in helping us find you and he has a son approximately your age. They've invited us for afternoon-tea on Saturday."

"Sounds great!" Harry agreed enthusiastically.

"Yeah," Daphne added, with forced enthusiasm.

Harry and Daphne spent the rest of the day together. Some of the time they were accompanied by Tori, but mostly it was just them, and they relished their time together even more than usually.

Sometime around early afternoon, they were sitting on an old tree stump, cooling down from a race they had.

This was the time Daphne chose to address something that had been bothering her for quite some time.

"Harry, can I talk to you about the day at the Ministry?" She asked, and upon noticing him tense up, she added, "You don't have to talk about anything you are uncomfortable with. I… I think it helps me understand you better, you know?"

Harry was stunned by her request, that much Daphne was able to tell. He took some time, in which he seemed to compose himself and then his emerald eyes bored right into hers, making Daphne shiver a little.

"I'm sorry, Daphne. I would like to tell you, but I really can't. You know some, and that has to be all for now." He said dejectedly, with an apologetic look.

"That's okay Harry, it really is." She soothed him. Daphne started again, "by the way, are you angry at me for barging in? I mean, I know you did not want me in there, it just felt like you…"

"It's alright Daphne; you came at just the right moment," He interrupted her.

That was another item off her list, now only the most frightening one remained: "I somehow felt like you needed me, like you were in distress. And I've felt some of you other emotions since then. Did you feel something like that, too?"

This was the question that made her most nervous: Would Harry feel like his privacy had been violated or would he think her to be crazy? She shuddered at the thought of losing him as a friend over this.

"Yes, I did. At first, I thought I was crazy, but now that you say the same, I don't know anymore," Harry trailed off, seemingly as much at a loss for words to describe it.

"Well, at least we're both not crazy…I think." She tried to lighten the mood, rather unsuccessfully. "Do you think we should tell my parents?" The girl inquired, not sure herself which answer she would like to hear. The one that came however, was not surprising to her.

"No, I don't think so. Let's keep an eye on it, see what happens. As far as we know, it's harmless, no need to involve them until we ourselves are sure what it is, right?" He looked at Daphne pleadingly, and she realized despite all his uttered, actually very reasonable factors, he just didn't want to tell them since a lingering doubt about their trustworthiness remained inside of him. To her, this left only one answer.

"Okay. But if it turns out to be something significant, or even dangerous, we have to tell them. Deal?"

With a pained expression, Harry answered: "Deal."

The following day came bright and early for the residents of Greengrass Manor. They planned to avoid the crowds so they headed out right after breakfast. Using the same fireplace as before, they flooed to the Leaky Cauldron. First order of business was Gringotts, as they wanted to get some gold for Harry out of his educational funding and initiate a monthly stipend for running costs and a little pocket money.

As Daphne's parents were alive and she did not have a trust fund set up for her, they could do the same for her, even before her 11th birthday later that week, as the money would just come from her family's vault.

Therefore, the Greengrass family now walked into the bank, followed by an astonished Harry, mouth hanging open at the impressive grandeur of the bank building. He was made aware of how funny he must look by the chuckling of both of the Greengrass girls, and he quickly tried to bring his face into a more dignified state. He only succeeded in it partly, as much he could discern from Daphne and Tori's continued smirks.

They went up to the first of the large, imposing desks that was free and were greeted by a goblin.

"Yes!" He grunted.

"First, my wife and I would like to withdraw some money from our vault and set up a monthly stipend for our daughter during her Hogwarts years. Second, Mr. Potter would like to see his account manager and later his trust vault. Will you be able to accommodate us?" Xander asked the goblin, who grunted in return and waved to follow him.

After a disorienting journey through the hallways of Gringotts, they reached a door of solid wood, embossed with what looked like pure gold.

"No, it is not gold. That would be impractical, it is way too soft for the fittings of doors." The Goblin told a bemused Harry. "We do see that look quite often," He added, with what seemed like a grin.

Inside the room they were greeted by another goblin, obviously the superior of the first goblin. He looked older and, if possible, even more miserable than the first one.

"Lord and Lady Greengrass, I hope you are doing well." He greeted the adults, completely disregarding the children. "What may I do for you?"

"Greetings, Bakras, I hope your coin flows as well as it always has." Xander reciprocated the greeting. "My wife and I were hoping to set up everything for my daughter's years at Hogwarts. Same thing as with me, if you remember. Just calculate how much the price of everything increased and then give her the same I got, if you please."

"Precise and planned, just how I enjoy it. I trust with your family present, you do not wish to discuss business and this was it?" Upon Xander's nod, the goblin suddenly turned his eyes to Harry, who had watched the exchange, captivated.

"Now, Mr. Potter, what might Gringotts be able to do for you?" He asked, in a voice that left open if he was happy to help, or not.

"Hello, Mr. Bakras. I hope your coin flows well," Harry greeted, eliciting a small look of surprise on the goblin's impassive face. "I was hoping to prepare everything for Hogwarts. I know my parents left me some money…"

He was interrupted by a sound, that, at first, seemed to have all humans in the room on edge; Bakras was laughing.

"Describing your inheritance as 'some money' is certainly something I did not expect. Yes, your parents left you money, but as I am not the account manager, I do not know the amount, but it a quite a bit more than 'some money'. Shall I get the manager for you?"

With Harry's assent, he barked an order into a tube on his desk and sat back to wait for the Potter account manager's arrival.

Not five minutes later, the door was opened and in walked the oldest creature Harry had ever seen. The goblin had sparse, white hair, a deeply wrinkled face and two milky white eyes, almost silver.

When he talked, his voice was raspy and wheezing a little: "Hardwin Potter, I expected to see you here earlier, and with your parents. Sadly, that was not possible…"

"Hello, Mr…" Harry started, realizing that he didn't know the goblin's name.

"Silversight, and yes, it is because of the eyes, that I have this name." He answered Harry's unasked question.

"Hello, Mr. Silversight. I am just Harry, not anyone else," he told the old goblin, in hopes of dissuading the use of this strange Hardwin name.

"Well, in that case, Harry, I am just Silversight. You are actually in quite a good company among plenty of your ancestors with your name there. A number of them were named like this, and chose to be known as Harry," he said, with a chuckle, that was highly unusual for a goblin. "As for your inheritance, I am not able to share the full amount since it is not to be disclosed to you until your coming of age. Rest assured, the allowance you receive is more than made up by the income of patents and businesses currently owned by your family. This part of your inheritance, is currently being managed by me. For a reasonable percentage, of course…" His expression indicated, that this percentage was quite enough to make him very happy.

"Thank you, Silversight. That is quite a lot of information, I don't really know how to process it," Harry told the goblin, feeling quite overwhelmed by the situation.

"The only thing you have to know is that you will receive a monthly stipend of 30 Galleons, that is around 150£. It is for everything you need, except your new books and school-supplies once a year." The old goblin explained. "Regarding the rest of the inheritance, the only vault you are allowed to access at the moment, is your trust vault; I will have someone bring you there."

A harrowing cart ride later, which Daphne seemed to enjoy for some reason, they reached the Greengrass vault. It was filled to the brim with galleons, as well as works of art, craft and even a few old weapons.

Another ride later, much shorter, thankfully, they reached Harry's vault. Harry and the goblin opened the vault by putting their hands on it, seeing as Harry did not have the key.

The vault was a lot smaller than the one of the Greengrass family, but the amount, of golden, silver and bronze coins it contained was still staggering. Harry took a handful of coins, put it into the bag he had been given by Silversight and left the vault behind.

The young Goblin by the name of Griphook, who had shown them to their vaults, ushered them back into the cart and they made the small ride back to the surface in only a few minutes. Shortly thereafter, the family, plus Harry, was back in the blazing, August sunlight. First order of business was the local bookshop, Flourish and Blotts, to buy their books for first year. Further stops were an apothecary, to get all their supplies for potions and a general store so they could get trunks. The trunks were great, both outfitted with three compartments, one of them a library compartment to hold all their books.

Then, the stop they had both been waiting for came - the wand-maker.

"Most Hogwarts students go to Ollivander's, but my family swears on Cephalopos wands. It does not always work out, but mostly it does." Xander explained. "Ollivander matches a wand to a wizard, but Cephalopos makes the wand especially for the witch or wizard." They made their way to a dingy side-street off the alley, past a number of rather obscure looking shops, not dark, just obscure, until they reached a small shop. It had a small sign saying Cephalopos Wands and a surprisingly new-looking door. The group entered the shop and was greeted by a young man, steely-eyed and with dark, black hair.

"Lord Greengrass, delightful to see you. Are you here for your daughter's wand?" He asked them in an airy, mysterious voice, completely fitting his appearance.

"Yes, Mr. Cephalopos, and for our ward Harry's, as well. I expect you will give them the same "history talk" I received from your father?" Xander asked, while smirking.

"Of course, it is crucial!" The wand-maker agreed, smiling a little. Then, he turned towards Harry and Daphne and started what Harry assumed was his "history talk": "some generations ago, my ancestors discovered even the fitting ingredients will react to the presence of a matched magic core. If we find the correct ingredients, then I can make you a custom-made wand, tailored to your needs."

"Fascinating. But if this is so great, why aren't all wands made like this?" Daphne commentated.

"Well, Ms. Greengrass, you're a smart one. There are some problems with this. First, as the process requires more, and different components, my wands are usually more expensive than the ones made by Ollivander. Secondly, even if the components match the wizard, they don't always match each other. Therefore, sometimes the wand does not work well and we have to try again. If you combine these problems, some of the less fortunate families can't afford my services," he concluded, and smiled at them, as if saying it was no problem for the Greengrasses, of course.

"Now, Ms. Greengrass, would you like to start?" He invited her over to a table filled with an assortment of pieces of wood in all colours. "Please, lay your hand on these samples, and we'll see which fit you."

Harry watched her walk to the table and lay her hands on the different samples. Two times, a light warmth flooded the room, the first time at a greyish wood, the second time at an almost white sample. The wand-maker shot a curious glance at Daphne, then led her over to another table, this one stacked with a number of glass containers he now opened and motioned for Daphne to touch. This time, the strange warmth flooded the room only once, when Daphne touched a gorgeous red and gold coloured feather.

"Well, Ms. Greengrass, that is quite the combination: Spruce and willow with a phoenix-feather core. A powerful wand, no questions there, quite suited for healing magic. Maybe, also a drama queen…" He finished, chuckling a little.

"Mr. Potter, your turn." He beckoned. Harry was led over to the wood table and started touching the various samples. Three times it felt like warmth was spreading through his whole body: Two very bright woods, and a middle-brown one. Cephalopos' eyes widened at the last wood, obviously surprised.

As he did with Daphne, he led Harry over to the table with the core samples. Here, the tingling warmth occurred when he touched a small sliver of what looked like horn and the second was when Harry was not able to actually see what he was touching.

At this point, the wand-maker was looking very interested. "Very, very curious. Ash, aspen and elder. The cores are a silver from the horn of a horned serpent and Thestral tail hair. This is a fascinating wand, I have to say. Ash makes for very loyal wands, for wizards true to their beliefs, courageous, maybe a little stubborn. Aspen is quite suited to martial magic, duelling and the like. Elder, well, that is something very different: It chooses a wizard marked out for great destiny, a special fate. It is family tradition, to never charge someone, who is chosen by wood from the elder tree. As for your cores, thestral tail hair and horned serpent horn. Thestral hair, we don't know much about. Are you, by chance, a parselmouth? It would fit the other core quite well."

As Harry nodded, Cephalopos continued, "Yes, I thought so. You will be able to communicate with your wand in an unusual way, way more directly than most wizards."

"Thank you, Mr. Cephalopos, but really, I can pay for my wand," Harry tried to convince him.

"Nonsense, Mr. Potter. Your wands will be ready in three days. And I will not disgrace my ancestors' tradition and accept payment from you, understood?" As he received Harry's reluctant nod, he shook their hands and led them to the door.

The next stop was the Magical Menagerie, so they could get Harry's birthday present. When the group entered the shop, they were greeted by a cacophony of different hisses, screeches, meows and every other animal sound imaginable.

Harry, closely followed by Daphne, strolled through the aisles and looked at all the pets on display.

"I think, an owl would be good, don't you?" He asked Daphne, unsure what sort of animal to get.

"An owl would be good, they carry letters. We could write to mom and dad when we are at Hogwarts," Daphne suggested.

To Harry, it seemed very reasonable and the ability to send letters with his own owl seemed like a good thing to him, so he started to look more closely at the owls. One of them drew his attention in particular: It was a large, majestic bird, more than half a meter tall, with two ear-like appendages on its head. The amber eyes seemed to look right through Harry's emerald ones and gazing into the back of his mind.

"This one," he declared, beyond any doubt.

"A good choice." Harry was startled by a voice from behind him and Daphne. An old woman came bustling towards, and then through the two of them towards the large owl. She returned with the bird on her arm, prompting Harry to extend his own. As he did, the owl hopped from the shop-keeper's to Harry's outstretched arm.

"He is a European eagle owl, and quite a handsome one, I'd say. They are not the easiest birds, but it seems he likes you, so I think you should have no problems with him. Quite a large one, as you can see and he isn't yet fully grown. No problems with heavy loads or bad weather up in Scotland. I assume you go to Hogwarts."

"Yes, ma'am, I am," Harry answered, while looking at the owl on his arm. With a huge smile on his face, they returned to Xander and Eleanor. Xander also got Harry's owl a cage, food and they left the shop.

Outside, they looked at each other, trying to decide whether to stay or leave.

Xander took charge of the situation and asked," Does anyone still have something to do?"

This was the moment Harry had been waiting for. "Yes, I have. And it is a secret, so it would be great if only you could come with me, if that's alright."

AN: Well, I am writing them quickly at the moment. I now have two betas who work to correct my interpunctuation and other, blatant, mistakes, I make. We will work to correct all those pesky little mistakes that get into the text.

Also, thank you to my betas – Haphne24 and bibobobonnor.

And to all of you: Thank you for your support. I would appreciate for you to leave a review.

Happy New Year!