Chapter 11: The Party
"SURPRISE!"
Harry started to go for his wand, but was stopped by Ron who grabbed his hand in time.
"Relax." Ron laughed.
"CONSTANT VILIGANCE!" Mad-Eye Moody yelled. "THAT'S what I like to see, Boy."
Harry laughed at his mistake of nearly hexing the entire Order of the Phoenix.
"Sorry everyone." He apologized. "I wasn't expecting this."
"That's usually why it's call a "surprise" party." Oliver Wood told him.
"Oliver?" Harry asked. "What are you doing here?"
"I came for the party." Wood told him. "And the Quidditch game."
"We STILL need to pick sides." James pointed out.
"I CLAIM HARRY!" Wood shouted quickly causing Harry to roll his eyes.
"I'M ON WOOD'S TEAM!" Sirius announced.
"HOLD ON!" Harry said as everyone started picking sides based on him. "I can't play anymore. Remember?"
"WHAT?! WHY?!" Wood asked in shock
"Umbridge." Harry answered.
"Because of her removal," Dumbledore told the birthday boy. "Your restrictions have been lifted."
"I can play again?" Harry asked.
Dumbledore nodded.
"He's back!" Ron and Ginny cheered.
"Thank you!" Harry said excitedly.
Everyone got back to choosing sides.
"What's the party for?" Harry whispered to Ron.
"What's the…" Ron asked to make sure he heard right. "Harry? Do you know what today is?"
"July…31st."
"Do you know what TYPE of surprise party this is?"
"Looks like a birthday considering the cake has 16 candles on it."
Pause.
"Harry. Who do we know who's birthday is on July 31st and who is turning sixteen?"
Pause.
"Oh my…" Harry swore as he slapped his hand on his forehead.
"Harry?" Hermione asked suddenly. "Is there something wrong with your scar?"
Everyone went silent and looked at him.
"No." Harry laughed. "It's just…I had forgotten what today was."
"He just asked me what the party is for." Ron explained laughing his head off.
"Excuse me." Harry said. "But this happens to be my first proper birthday party."
Harry shut his mouth quickly after realizing what he had just admitted.
"James." Lily said. "Take down these apparation wards. I'm going to have a few words with my so-called sister."
"Don't bother." Harry said to his mother. "What's done is done."
"Harry is correct." Dumbledore agreed. "It does no good to dwell on the past. I propose we allow Harry to choose what to do first."
"I'm hungry." Harry said. "So, how about lunch?"
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After lunch, everyone decided to play Quidditch. Harry, Wood, Tonks, Ginny, Shaklebolt, Spica, and Sirius were on one team and Cedric, Ron, James, Bill, Charlie, Fred, and George were on the other.
Only the people who had seen Harry fly knew just how good he was. Everyone else thought they had been exaggerating except for Melissa, Lily and James. They had been given an understated version of Harry's flying abilities.
"Bloody hell!" James exclaimed as Harry flew past him chasing the snitch with Cedric close behind.
"Wow!" Melissa said watching the game. "He's better than he described."
"Harry's extremely modest." Remus explained.
"Good." Lily said. "At least he's not arrogant like his father."
"Don't say anything, Severus." Remus turned to the Potions Master who had opened his mouth.
Snape closed his mouth and watched the game.
"THE GAME IS OVER!" Moody called. He had been the referee. "POTTER'S TEAM WINS!"
"WHICH POTTER?!" Arthur called.
Harry landed and showed them the snitch.
"Bloody hell!" James exclaimed as he landed. " "I'm a fair flyer" he says. "I'm not that good" he says. Don't be so modest, Son."
"You think I'm that good?" Harry asked.
"I've been trying to tell you that for years." Wood said.
"Well," Harry said. "I have a descent broom."
"It's not the broom." James said. "It's the flyer."
"Yeah." Ron agreed. "Remember in second year when the Slytherins got all Nimbus 2001s? Gryffindor STILL kicked…"
"Ron!" Harry said motioning to Snape.
"Gryffindor still…defeated them." Ron corrected knowing that Harry meant if Ron insulted Slytherin too badly, Snape would make next year miserable.
"We kicked their arses badly." Fred whispered to James.
"AND that was with the rogue bludger." George added out loud.
"Did anyone ever find out who tampered with it?" Wood asked.
"Yeah." Harry said. "A house-elf was trying to save my life."
"By nearly killing you?" Cedric asked.
"Dobby meant well." Harry defended.
"Harry." Lily said motioning to the porch.
Harry turned to where she was motioning to and his mouth dropped.
"Whoa." He said at the sight of the LARGE pile of presents. "That's a lot of presents."
"You might want to get started." Hermione said.
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Harry was now seated in a chair unwrapping presents. So far he had a lot of candy, clothes, Defense books, an autographed poster of the Puddlemere United, now he had his own copy of the newest edition of Hogwarts, A History courtesy of Hermione.
"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed. "He doesn't need it. We can always go to you for the answers if we have any questions."
"Ron." Harry said. "Remember second year? Thanks 'Mione."
Hermione smiled at her friend's understanding. She knew that she wouldn't always be around to give them the answers. She suddenly realized something as she thought of all this:
Harry's Ravenclaw side was starting to come out.
Harry placed the book aside and opened another box. This one was a potion kit. He checked out the tag and got the shock of his life.
"Thanks…" Harry said to the giver.
"Don't get used to it." Snape told him.
Snape had been forced to get Harry a present.
Harry gently sat the kit aside knowing that he was going to start using it as soon as the extra powers came. He opened another present and found a set of prank books given to him by Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs.
"You do know this gives me the ability to prank you guys." Harry told his father.
"Look at the top book." James told him.
Harry opened it.
"The Marauder Journal." He read.
"Wicked." The twins said.
"Can we…"
"…see the journal?"
"Sure." Harry said handing them the book.
The twins started reading it as if it was a holy text as Harry opened the next gift that was from Ginny.
"Thanks." Harry said as he flipped through his new photo album.
"Colin took some of the pictures." She explained. "Except for the first year ones. I bribed the twins for those."
"There's the troll." Ron pointed at one of the pages.
"Ah yes. The good old days." Harry laughed. "Back when our biggest problems were mountain trolls and Fluffy."
"And Malfoy." Ron added. "And someone whose name I will not mention."
"Voldemort?" Spica asked.
"No." Ron said stealing a glace at Snape.
"Well, Voldemort WAS in the school" Harry reminded him. "Remember? He was sharing Quirrell's body."
"That reminds me." James said reluctantly as he turned to Snape. "ThanksforlookingafterHarryhisfirstyear."
"I no longer owe you." Snape replied.
Harry gave the book to his friends so they can look at it as he finished the presents. He only had two left. One from Dumbledore, and one from Lily. He opened his mother's to see a blank journal.
"This journal is bewitched so that only you can read what is inside of it." She explained as she moved next to him. "After…The writing will appear when…."
The way how it was bewitched was so the owner was the only one who could read it until his or her death. Once that person is no longer among the living after a certain amount of time, then anyone could read it.
"I understand." Harry said. "Thanks Mum."
He hugged his mother.
"Okay." Harry said. "The last one."
This one was big, bulky, and a little heavy.
"What the…?" Harry asked as he lifted it onto his lap. He opened it to reveal a bowl. His mouth dropped as he recognized it.
It was a pensieve.
"Thank you." Harry said to his headmaster.
"I had a feeling you could use one of your own." Dumbledore told the boy.
"You have no idea." Harry said as he admired it.
The pensieve looked almost exactly like Dumbledore's with the exception of some engravings on the side. Harry nearly paled when he saw the phoenix on it, but figured it could represent Fawkes and how the bird saved his life. It also had two wolves (representing Remus and Melissa), a squirrel (Spica), a dog (Sirius), a stag (James), a fox (Lily), and a lion (Gryffindor).
Harry mentally reminded himself to put a badger and an eagle on it.
"And I believe, you might want this." Dumbledore added handing Harry and envelope.
Harry opened it.
ORDINARY WIZARDING LEVEL RESULTS
HARRY JAMES POTTER HAS ACHIEVED:
ASTRONOMY……………………………………….A
CARE FOR MAGICAL CREATURES…………..E
CHARMS……………………………………………E
DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS……...O
DIVINATIONS…………………………………….P
HERBOLOGY…………………………………….E
HISTORY OF MAGIC…………………………..D
POTIONS………………………………………...E
TRANSFIGURATION………………………….E
"Wow." Harry said. "I did better than I thought."
"I still think we could have done better in Astronomy." Hermione said looking over his shoulder.
"What do you want?" Ron asked. "Start a petition saying we have to take it over?"
"That's actually not a bad idea." Hermione told him.
TBC