Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, only my own story.
A/N: Hey there folks. This one is a little longer than usual, and that's kind of my apology, because it may be a while until I can update again. I am definitely not abandoning this guys, but I am having some pretty serious family drama occurring at the moment, and between that and work I hardly have any time to spend writing, and even when I do the stress is killing my creativity.
Also, for anyone who thinks the last couple of chapters have been pretty slow, have no fear, there is much more excitement planned, and it will be coming soon. Starting next chapter the pace will pick up just a bit and you are going to see a little more progression with the H/G relationship as well as some pretty fun action. Also, my beta had some ideas about changing some of the formatting in the earlier chapters that I like. So if I can't seem to get creative one night I might just go ahead and work on that. No content will be changed, but I just wanted to warn you so that no one messages me and asks why a chapter is missing or something. Just a little rearranging folks. Anyway, sorry for going on, please enjoy and review.
"On your right!" Harry heard as he knifed through the air towards the makeshift goal hanging before him. He reacted instinctively, rolling to his left and nosing down, narrowly dodging the speeding figure that was George Wesley as he tried to snatch the Quaffle from Harry's grasp. In the corner of his eye he could see Fred flying alongside him, slowly edging closer as he waited for George to pull around; clearly they intended to sandwich him between them and force the Quaffle from his hands.
Looking ahead at his target, he could see Bill Weasley hovering on his broom, arms outstretched as he inched forward, expecting Harry to try for a long distance shot before the twins could enact their plan. Harry smiled. They were going to be bitterly disappointed.
"Now!" he shouted, dropping the Quaffle as he did so and immediately pulling the nose of his broom up, climbing steeply. The twins began to follow him out of reflex, before realizing too late that he no longer had the ball. They both dropped back down, but it was already too late. Moments after Harry first dropped it, the small red ball had been caught in the outstretched arms of Ginny Weasley, who had been waiting below.
She blasted upward like a rocket, now flying straight towards the wide-eyed form of her eldest brother and showing no sign of slowing down. She was within feet of him when she finally made her move, twisting to her right and passing within inches of him, causing him to flinch. That left no one to oppose her shot, which she made with a flourish and a triumphant cry of "Yes!" as the ball sailed through the unprotected hoop.
"Sorry boys," Ginny said with an enormous grin on her face, "but that's fifteen to eight; we win."
"This is totally unfair Fred," George said disbelievingly, "no one told us our little sister was so good."
"Indeed George, "Fred replied as the whole group began to descend to the ground below, "I have to say, I feel like the teams were a little unfair."
"That's funny," Ginny said, glaring, "since I recall you two were the ones who set the teams up like this in the first place."
Not that Harry had minded of course; even after agreeing to use one of the family brooms rather than his Firebolt, he was fully confident in his teammates. And sure enough, their opponents had been unable to keep pace with the daring pair of Griffyndor seekers, whose high speed tactics had quickly worn down the beleaguered Bill.
Speak of the devil, Harry thought as the eldest Weasley landed next to him, laughing uproariously as he began to pull his windswept hair back into its customary ponytail.
"That was incredible! Gin how come you didn't tell me how good you were?"
"Oh stop it," Ginny replied, blushing, "I'm not that good."
"Don't be modest Gin; you're good and you know it. Just wait until Charlie sees you play, he's gonna go nuts! Between you and Harry we'll have him whipped for sure next time he's home."
"Yeah," Ron agreed, "he can be a bit full of it. Every time his team wins he brags about it for days; until eventually the twins get tired of it and prank him till he shuts up."
"Well not this time," Bill said as he draped an arm across Ginny's shoulders. "Come on now lady and gents, Mum probably already has Harry's birthday dinner almost finished, so we should hurry back. Cause if we aren't there on time, she'll murder us all."
"Too right she will," Ron agreed, "she's like a whirlwind in that kitchen. One of those flying pots nearly took my head off; I haven't seen her this worked up since the last time Auntie Muriel visited."
All of them laughed as they began to walk together along the path back to the burrow, quickly joined by Hermione who had been watching from under a nearby tree. Harry watched smiling as Ron and Bill animatedly discussed the game along with a beaming Ginny, and the twins each used their hands to reenact the game.
He couldn't help but notice as they walked how happy and relaxed Ginny appeared to be. Not that he was an expert on her by any means; it was only in the last year that he had really gotten to know her at all.
When she had first come to Hogwarts it was simply a matter of her being younger as well as having a crush on him that prevented them from becoming friends, and after the incident with the Chamber of Secrets the gap between them had only widened further. It was really only in the last year with the D.A. that he had started to get to know her, and honestly he felt like he had learned more about her in their short conversations the past two days than he had in the past four years.
That made the fact that he could see this change in her demeanor even more telling, and he knew it could only be due to the presence of her eldest brother. Bill had appeared that morning in the middle of breakfast and was met with a squeal and a flying hug from Ginny the moment he stepped into the kitchen.
"Whoa there," Bill laughed, "you're gonna crush me if you keep that up."
"Sorry, but it's so good to see you," Ginny replied, laughing as she pulled away, "are you here for the party?"
"Sure am, I wouldn't miss it for the world." He leaned in to whisper conspiratorially to Harry. "Besides, Mum wrote me two days ago to tell me that I'd better get off work and show up or she'd send the twins to trap every inch of my flat with pranks. Pretty sure she invited the whole Order." Harry groaned; he should have known better than to believe Mrs. Weasley when she had assured him it would be a "small gathering of family and friends."
"Oh hush up Bill," Mrs. Weasley said without turning as she used her wand to conduct the cooking symphony that was being performed in front of her. "Now, I have a lot do get done before this afternoon, so why don't you take this lot outside; go play quidditch or something. Dinner will be at about six, and don't be late."
"Yes ma'am," they all chorused as they polished off their plates and headed out the door.
"So...," Fred intoned as they all walked towards the nearby broom shed, "obviously Harry your Firebolt is a bit unfair to the rest of us, so do you mind playing on one of the family brooms for now?"
"Fine by me," Harry replied, shrugging.
"Excellent," said George, "now then, teams?"
"Naturally, I claim you dear brother," Fred said as he pulled George toward him.
"And I'm with Harry," Ron countered.
"Then we get Bill," the twins said in unison, "which leaves you with little Gin-Gin." The two laughed and Ron rolled his eyes as the four brothers entered the tiny shed to retrieve the brooms, loudly discussing the rules. This left Harry alone with a silently fuming Ginny. Though she said nothing, he could hardly miss the burning, furious gleam in her eyes.
"You know, from what I hear, you're a damn good flyer. Managed to take the snitch in the finals from right under the other seeker's nose, right?" Ginny nodded without replying. After a moment Harry turned to her and offered her his hand. "Care to make them eat their words?" For a long moment she didn't reply, and looked at him as if he had sprouted another head that was reciting Greek love poetry to her.
Then finally, she accepted his proffered hand and grinned evilly, "Damn right." The only one to observe their little moment was Hermione, who hung behind them with a small book open in her hands, though it had been some time since she had turned a page. She said nothing, merely returning to her book as the others emerged from the shed holding several brooms and they all made their way down a small path towards the clearing the family used as a makeshift pitch.
Harry was grinning from ear to ear as he emerged from his contemplation, savoring the memories of the sound thrashing he and Ginny had delivered to her brothers.
"Looks like we're right on time."
Looking around, Harry realized that they had finally arrived back at the Burrow, and saw four very large picnic tables set up on the lawn, all of them sagging under the weight of the massive amount of food they supported. One of them let out a heavy groan as the smiling Mrs. Weasley levitated a truly massive covered dish down onto it before she spotted their group approaching and her face lit up.
"Oh wonderful, you're just in time," she cried happily as she hurried over to Harry, taking him by the shoulders and steering him into a seat at the end of the table. "The food is ready and everyone has arrived. Everyone come sit down, he's here!" The various figures scattered across the lawn began to make their way to the table, with Harry's close friends taking the seats immediately around him and everyone else grabbing whatever seat was available.
Harry was amazed at how many people had shown up. When Bill had said she invited the whole Order, Harry had thought that might be at least a little bit of an exaggeration, but not anymore. Subconsciously he reached up and rubbed his hand over his forehead, feeling the familiar sensation of scar tissue running beneath his fingers.
When Dumbledore had first written to him suggesting that he begin having glamour charms cast to hide the change to his scar, he had been fairly reluctant; he rather liked the idea of strangers not recognizing him anymore with it. But Dumbledore pointed out that the more people who knew about his now missing scar, the more likely it was that the information would get back to Voldemort. And as little as Harry liked strangers recognizing and making a big deal about his scar, he liked even less the idea of Voldemort learning about its removal. But this was the first time anyone other than the Weasleys had seen it, so he felt rather self conscious.
As the last person took their seat it brought his mind firmly back to the present and he looked around, spotting several familiar faces. Far down the table he could see Mad-Eye Moody looking as alert as always, his magical eye spinning in all directions as he watched for trouble. Next to him Harry could see Tonks with her customary bubblegum pink hair chatting amicably with Remus Lupin, who looked to be rather under the weather from what Harry could see. There were dark rings around his eyes and Harry wondered if the full moon was coming up soon.
As if he could sense the thoughts, Lupin looked over from his conversation and caught Harry's eye. The two stared at each other for several long moments, and Harry could sense something was eating at his former professor; he seemed almost haunted. Remus gave him a small nod and turned his attention back to Tonks, and Harry resolved to talk with him before he left.
He saw several others, some of which he recognized and some of which he did not, but all he knew must be members of the Order of the Phoenix. Closest to himself and his friends were the rest of the Weasley family, minus Charlie who was still in Romania, and Percy who was still a prat. And from his nearby seat, Mr. Weasley rose, tapping his wand against the side of his glass to gather everyone's attention.
"Ahem – hello? Hello, everyone? Can I have your attention please?" The conversations quickly died out.
"Well, I'm uh…certainly glad to see you all hear today. As you all know, we recently had a bit of a scare regarding young Harry here, and it put quite the strain on all of us, but especially on our family." Harry lowered his eyes, shame burning through him at the thought of causing the Weasley family any more worry.
"And that," Mr. Weasley continued, "is because while everyone here cares about Harry, to us it is more than that…to us, he is family." Harry looked up at Mr. Weasley in shock. "When we first met him, he was a scrawny, underfed little boy who shocked us with his politeness and manners. And as we came to know him, and watched him grow along with our son Ron, we realized what a special young man he really is. He has saved the lives of two of my children, on more than one occasion, and he has saved mine as well, and this…incident, of almost losing him, forced Molly and I to think long and hard about how much he meant to us." Now he looked straight at Harry, who stared back through moistened eyes.
"Harry, we would never try to replace your parents. They were wonderful people, and you should never forget that. But we wanted you to know that we consider you a member of this family, even without the red hair." Everyone had a good laugh at that one except for Harry, who found himself too overcome with emotion to speak. He looked over to Ron, who stared back at him before nodding solemnly, and he felt a small hand lay on top of his underneath the table. Looking over he could see Ginny next to him smiling softly. He felt a single tear roll down his cheek. "So no matter what your future holds Harry, always remember that we are here for you always." Mr. Weasley paused and smiled, raising his glass. Everyone else raised a bottle or glass of their own. "And with that my friends, I have but one thing left to say: Happy Birthday Harry!"
"Happy Birthday!"
And with that shout, everyone began talking again, digging into the various dishes before them with a gusto that few could match. Only the Weasleys had not moved yet, as they were all watching Harry who was obviously trying not to cry.
"I…I don't know what to say," Harry said, faltering. "Just…just thank you. Thank you all. This means more to me then I can say."
"We know Harry," Ginny said quietly, "we know."
"Come on now, some of us are hungry," Ron said, obviously uncomfortable with the intense emotional situation. "Let's all dig in."
"Let's," Harry agreed, wiping at his cheek as he grabbed a leg of chicken, "this all looks fantastic."
And so the party began in earnest. The food was of course delicious, which surprised no one since Mrs. Weasley's cooking was widely known amongst the Order members to be superb. The conversation was plentiful, with Fred and George up to their usually antics, Hermione grilling Bill about his time as head boy, and Ron and Ginny talking about their earlier game, speculating about the chances of the Gryffindor team this year. The adults, further down the table, tended towards the more serious, with many of them discussing, quietly of course, the latest news of Death Eater activity. Harry did not join in on any of this. Instead he sat quietly, with an attentive ear, and consumed so much food that he seemed to be trying to impersonate Ron.
"So Harry, I had a question," Bill asked from further down the table where he sat next to Fleur Delacour. Ginny had informed him this morning that the "French idiot" as she put it, and Bill were engaged. He had wasted no time in congratulating Bill, and wasn't really sure why Ginny seemed so hostile; he had certainly never had a problem with Fleur.
Harry dropped his fork and reached for his bottle of Butterbeer, motioning for Bill to continue as he did so. "Well I just wanted to ask you something about the day you got back."
"Bill," Mrs. Weasley hissed in warning.
"No, it's alright," Harry said, "I don't mind, ask away."
"Well, Mum tells me that Dumbledore agreed with the theory that you apparated yourself here, am I right?"
"I guess," Harry replied, shrugging, "I'm not really sure what happened myself. But when I described it, he and Hermione both seemed to think that it sounded just like apparition."
"Interesting," Bill said slowly, rubbing his chin slowly. "I'm sorry if I sound suspicious or anything, I don't mean to. The reason that I ask is that I set up the wards on this house myself soon after I moved back to England. There shouldn't have been any way for you to just apparate right up to the house like you did unless you were keyed into the wards. I'll have to inspect them all again tonight and see what I missed."
"Oh Bill, don't worry so much," Mrs. Weasley assured her son, "I'm sure that it's nothing."
"No Mum, it's not nothing," Bill said seriously, "this could be a serious problem. If Harry can just apparate accidentally though my wards, then a Death Eater can too. We can't afford to make any mistakes with this."
"Bill," Mr. Weasley said, speaking slowly and wiping his mouth with his napkin, "check the wards if you feel it best son, but Harry did not break through them or slip through a crack. He didn't have to."
"But the only way that could be was if he was added to the ward recognition." Mr. Weasley nodded.
"And so he was."
"But why," Bill asked, sounding truly confused, "he's not even close to seventeen yet, why add him to the apparation wards?"
"At Dumbledore's request. Apparently before all this happened he planned to collect Harry from his relatives himself and transport him by side-along."
"Of course," Bill said, understanding dawning, "he needed Harry added so that he could get him through the wards. Well that makes me feel a lot better. Even so, I'll still give things a look before Fleur and I head home tonight." Harry noticed Mrs. Weasley's lips pucker at the mention of her oldest son sharing an apartment with his fiancé before they were married, but surprisingly, she held her tongue, likely not wanting to cause a scene at his party. He got the feeling though that this wasn't the first she had heard this news and shuddered at the thought of her initial reaction; he certainly didn't envy Bill that argument.
The merriment continued for nearly an hour, and the sun was just beginning its trek down towards the horizon when the last guest dropped their fork in exhausted contentment. But despite their best efforts, Harry noticed that they had not even come close to finishing all the food Mrs. Weasley had made. As soon as the last guest had finished eating, the Weasley matriarch stood and waved her wand several times, sending all of the dishes and leftover food soaring away into the house, and causing a not insignificant pile of presents to fly out, landing with a thud in front of Harry.
"Time for presents!" she shouted, drawing everyone's attention. Those furthest away stood, and soon everyone was gathered around the table where Harry sat.
"All of these are for me?" Harry asked disbelieving, gaping at the gathered gifts. From the looks of the pile in front of him, every person here had brought him a gift. That thought overwhelmed him for a moment; he was fairly certain he had not seen this many presents in one place since Dudley's last birthday party. Harry felt a slight twinge in his gut at the thought of his cousin, but quickly shoved it aside and plastered a large smile onto his face, looking around at everyone.
"This all looks great, thank you everyone. There's so much, I'm not even sure where to start." Everyone chuckled at that and Mrs. Weasley patted him on the shoulder.
"That's quite alright dear. I know that some of the Order members have places they need to be tonight, so why don't we start with them and we'll open the presents from the family last, shall we?" Harry nodded his assent and Mrs. Weasley reached into the pile, rummaging for the first gift.
"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks said loudly, "mind opening mine first? I'm on duty tonight; supposed to be reporting in at…" She paused, checking the time on a pocket watch she took from inside her robes before grimacing. "In about five minutes actually. I didn't plan to stay this long, but the food was too good, I couldn't pass it up."
Sure thing Tonks," Harry said, laughing. "Can't have you getting in trouble with the boss, can we?" Mrs. Weasley located Tonk's package in the pile and removed it, handing it to Harry. He tore into it, removing the paper in a flash and holding the small but thick book up to read the title.
"Auror Field Manual," he read aloud before looking at her in surprise. "Is this the real thing?"
"Sure is," she replied cheerfully, "they practically make us memorize that thing during training, so it don't do me much good no more. Besides, I figured with all the trouble you get into it might come in handy."
Harry figured that the Weasleys or Dumbledore must have shared at least some details at least of his many 'adventures' at Hogwarts with the Order, because everyone had a good laugh at that one. He thanked Tonks for her very thoughtful gift and she smiled, nodded, and hurried away, desperate not to be late for her shift.
After her came other members of the Order, some Harry knew fairly well, and some he didn't even recognize, so he was glad that Mrs. Weasley announced each name as she pulled their present from the pile. The gifts ranged from books on Defense or Quidditch to large bags of sweets or chocolate, and each Order member wanted to personally congratulate him on his birthday, wish him luck in his upcoming school year, or even to just shake his hand. He accepted each of these with good grace, thanking them for the gift and smiling politely as they left, citing pressing duties. Soon it was only the Weasleys, Remus, and surprisingly, Mad-Eye Moody left.
"Hold on for a moment Harry," Mrs. Weasley said before he could open anything else, "I almost forgot, let me bring the cake out." She waved her wand again and a large chocolate cake flew out of the house and landed, a bit more gently than the presents, on the table next to him. Another wave and a knife sliced pieces for each person, plated it up, and served it to them. Harry took a few bites, but he was still full from dinner and quickly set the plate down.
He picked up Moody's gift next, which was shabbily wrapped in dingy brown paper and small enough to fit easily into the palm of his hand. Honestly it was so small that he was worried about breaking it, so his movements were slow and deliberate as he peeled the wrapping paper away. Inside of it, in the palm of his hand, sat a small wooden trunk that looked very much like a tiny replica of the one that currently sat in Ron's bedroom.
"Thanks Prof- I mean Moody. It's umm….." he stopped, unsure of what else to say. Moody rolled his eyes.
"Don't be thick Potter, I didn't give you a three inch wide trunk." He hobbled up beside Harry, wand in hand. "Put it on the ground," he said, "and back away." Harry did as he was asked, and once he had taken a few steps back, Moody waved his wand in a circle over the tiny trunk, and mumbled something unintelligible. Harry could see the results immediately as the trunk began to grow, the wood warping and stretching before his eyes and within moments, there sat before him a full sized trunk with a small lock fitted to the front.
"Here you go boy," Moody said, handing him a small bronze key, "this trunk is similar to my own. I'm sure you remember that one." And indeed he did; it was hard to forget the trunk with seven rooms inside of it that the real Moody had been stuffed into for nearly a year.
"There are a few differences," Moody continued, "obviously there is only one lock, so that means only one room. It's the size of a small bedroom though, so it has much more storage space than the average trunk. But that lock is spell resistant, it'll take a very strong charm to break it, and the only other thing that can open it is the key I just gave you. The other thing you might find convenient is the shrinking/expending charm that comes built in. I used my own password just a moment ago, but you can set it to be whatever you want. Just read the instructions, everything you need is there." He handed Harry a small leaflet describing the trunk's features and how to use them.
"Wow, this…this is incredible," Harry said, shocked at the clearly expensive gift, "I don't know what to say, thank you."
"Thanks aren't necessary boy," Moody replied gruffly before he leaned down, whispering softly into Harry's ear. "The real present is inside boy, but don't open it up here. It's not the kind of thing Molly would approve of." Harry nodded his agreement, not quite understanding but willing to take Moody at his word. The veteran Auror let out a rare, and horrifying, smile and patted Harry on the shoulder before stepping back.
"How about Remus next," Mrs. Weasley said, offering him a small, neatly wrapped package. Harry accepted it and tore off the paper, revealing a small black box which he opened to reveal a small golden orb.
"A snitch?" he asked, turning to Remus. The werewolf nodded solemnly.
"It was your father's. He used to play with it at school; always letting it go and catching it to try and impress the girls. It was found in their house after…anyway, Dumbledore gave it to me, seeing as we thought I was the only Marauder left that wasn't dead or in prison. And now I think it's time it went to you."
"Professor, I can't take this from you." Lupin shook his head.
"I've told you Harry, call me Remus."
"Sorry…Remus," Harry said, blushing, "old habit."
"Harry, I don't need this snitch to remember your father. He was one of the greatest friends a man could ever have, and I have half a lifetime of memories of him to keep him alive in my heart. And I know for a fact that he would want you to have this." Harry was quietly for nearly a minute before finally he looked Remus in the eye and nodded.
"Thank you," he said seriously. Remus gave him a return nod and Harry looked again at the tiny ball, a slight smile on his face. He picked it up in his hand, and it immediately sprouted wings and started struggling to get away, tugging mightily against his fingers. Releasing it, it darted up over his head and started flitting around in seemingly random patterns. Moments later, Harry's arm shot upward, easily snatching the snitch from the air and pulling it back down to rest in its box. It continued to struggle the whole way down, desperate to free itself, but the moment it touched the velvet lining inside the box, it fell limp, its wings receding back inside of itself. Ron laughed as Harry smiled triumphantly.
"You've still got it mate."
Harry set the box down next to him, still smiling, and accepted the next present, this time from the hands of Fred and George, neither of whom was wearing their customary grins. Rather than a package of any sort, their gift seemed to just be a simple plain envelope, which he opened with great care, wary of it exploding in his face. To his great surprise, it was nothing so spectacular. Inside was a small sheaf of papers, all of which were in English, but none of which made any sense to him.
"We know it doesn't make much sense," Fred said, "we got a major headache trying to decipher those things ourselves. A friend of ours at the Magical Contracts office wrote it up, we wanted it to be all proper and legal like."
"Essentially," continued George, "those papers make you a genuine partner in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes; ten percent. It'd be more, but seeing as we are doing all of the actually work, we figured it was fair."
"Come on guys, this is your business, you don't have to share it with me."
"Nonsense," both Fred and George echoed at the same time.
"Wait just a minute," Ron said, clearly confused. And from the looks around the table, he wasn't the only one. "Why would you make Harry a partner in your shop? I mean, I know it's his birthday and all, but couldn't you have just given him a bag of your products? This seems a bit much."
"It is because, dear brother," Fred said knowingly, "young Harry here is no ordinary student, he is also a master investor."
"It is due to his wise decision to invest in our little venture," George continued, "that we were able to afford our premises in Diagon Alley. If not for young Harry here, we'd be operating purely an owl-order service at the moment. We don't forget our friends, especially when they've done so much for us."
Harry watched a little guiltily as the jaws around him dropped in surprise. He had been hoping that little bit of information wouldn't come out anytime soon…if ever. Knowing Mrs. Weasley, he had thought she wouldn't take this information well, and form the look on her face, his suspicions had not been wrong.
"Well, thanks a lot guys. Maybe we should move along now?" Fred and George, who could see the look on their mother's face, quickly agreed and Harry reached for the nearest gift, which after a moment he saw was Ginny's.
He tore into the small oddly shaped package, quickly revealing a very tiny, moving replica of a dragon; a Hungarian Horntail to be precise. Ginny smiled, but he swore he could see a slight blush to her cheeks as she spoke.
"I saw it in a little shop in Hogsmeade last spring; thought it would go well with your other one, from the Tri-Wizard Tournament." She shrugged. "I know it's not much, but-"
"It's perfect," he said, interrupting her, "thank you." She smiled even wider and looked down at her feet, definitely blushing this time.
Bill went next, saying that his gift was from Fleur as well. He handed Harry a large book, entitled Runes, Wards, and How to Use Them: A Beginner's Guide.
"I got this book for an extra credit project in Ancient Runes during seventh year. Once I started reading, I just couldn't put it down. It's what got me interested in being a Curse Breaker in the first place. Now, you may not end up wanting to be a Curse Breaker, but with all the things you lot get up to, I thought it might at least be helpful if not terribly interesting to you."
"Yeah, this is great," Harry assured him, smiling, "I've actually been a bit curious about this subject for a while now, so this will probably come in really handy. Thanks a lot."
Ron and Hermione came next, and since they couldn't decide who got to go first, they both just went at the same time. Ron's gift was a book surprisingly, recently written by one of the top Quidditch coaches in the professional scene whose keen insights and training methods, according to Ron, would give the Gryffindor team a clear advantage in the coming season. Harry didn't have the heart to point out that if this book was as big as Ron made it out to be, then it was likely that every team in the school would have a copy, therefore negating any advantage they might gain by reading it.
What was even more surprising was that Hermione's gift was not a book. Instead she had gotten him a new pair of seeker gloves which, according to the advert she had read, were the latest must have item for all professional seekers. Supposedly they provided much more hand flexibility for grabbing the snitch, while at the same time increasing the effectiveness of the gripping material on the palms, designed to help one hold the snitch once it had been grabbed.
At this point there was only one gift left on the table, a small unwrapped black box. He picked it up and removed the top half, gasping in surprise at what lay beneath. Inside was a long black clock hand, with the tip of it containing a small moving picture himself. He looked up at Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were holding each other and smiling at him.
"I told you earlier Harry," Mr. Weasley said softly, "we consider you family. And family goes on the clock, no exceptions. Otherwise Molly will worry sick about what you're up to."
Harry smiled back at them, but couldn't speak, once again overwhelmed. He stood and walked over to the two of them, holding out his hand to shake Mr. Weasley's. The old man took it, but Mrs. Weasley grabbed a hold of him and pulled crushing him in a monstrous hug as she began to cry. It took several moments for Mr. Weasley to pull her off of him, shaking his head all the while.
"Molly, you're going to crush the poor boy," he said as he steered the emotional Mrs. Weasley towards the house. "Come now, let's get you a spot of tea and let the kids enjoy themselves for a while."
As soon as their mother was inside the house, Fred and George hooted loudly, waving their wands. Moments later fireworks shot forth from the nearby trees, exploding in the afternoon sky. Everyone stared up, enjoying the show except for Lupin, who tapped Harry politely on the shoulder and nodded his head towards the house, indicating that Harry should follow him. He stood, and the two of them moved off, leaving the others behind.
Harry followed Lupin to the Burow and made to go inside but an outstretched arm stopped him.
"Over here," Lupin said simply, nodding towards the side of the house. Harry followed him to a blank section of wall, curious as to what they were doing. Suddenly Lupin's wand appeared in his hand and he smiled wolfishly, "Up you get." Before Harry could respond, he felt himself floating upwards, and he realized that Lupin was levitating him off the ground.
He quickly suppressed his panic, knowing that Lupin would not be out to hurt him. Soon enough he found himself being deposited on the small bit of roof that extended out underneath a second floor window, where Lupin quickly joined him.
"So, what was all that about?" he asked, confused.
"Oh come one, you should have seen your face!" Remus laughed. "Besides, going through the house would have meant going through Molly. Do you want to tell her you're about to go sit on a roof?" That thought made Harry shudder.
"But why are we sitting on the roof anyway?" That question made Lupin stop laughing and sit up straight, a serious look on his face once again.
"This is where we always sat..." he said quietly, eyes gazing off into the distance. "Did Sirius ever tell you about the summers we spent with your dad?" Harry shook his head. "Since I was bitten as a kid…well, let's just say that I didn't have many friends growing up. I had never been to a friend's house before I went to Hogwarts, but after our first year your dad had invited all of us Marauders to visit before we even got on the train home. Even after he told them about my…condition, your grandparents let me come over to play with everyone else, as long as it wasn't the full moon."
Harry didn't think he had ever heard the werewolf talk like this before. His voice seemed…distant, wistful. As if he were seeing the past come to life before him.
"It was like that every summer pretty much. We would all come over to visit constantly, sometimes for days at a time. And whenever we were there overnight, we always snuck out of the window and sat on the roof right outside, looking up at the stars, dreaming about the future, talking about girls…" He looked over at Harry and smiled slyly. "It was during one of those talks on the roof that your dad first admitted to us that he thought your mum was hot." Harry blushed bright red and looked away; he did not want to hear anything like that about his mother. Lupin slapped his knees and barked out a laugh.
"Mercy did we tease him about that. Course at the time we all thought she'd never even look at him. Shows what we know." He trailed off, and Harry sat quietly, waiting for him to continue.
"The point of all this," he said finally, "is that your dad was one of the best friends I ever had; one of two that I would give my own life to bring back." Harry wanted to interrupt, to tell him that he shouldn't say that, but Lupin pressed on, obviously needing to get something off of his chest.
"And I feel like I've failed them; in fact I know I have. They would have wanted me to look after you, and I've done a piss poor job so far. When you disappeared, I collapsed. Only weeks since Sirius died, and then we thought you were dead too…I had no one left, and I just couldn't handle it. It took some convincing from Tonks before I was even able to climb out of the hole I dug myself, and then Dumbledore tells us that you're safe and back at the Burow...as relieved as I was, I also knew that I couldn't continue like I had before." He looked Harry straight in the eye and he could see that the werewolf was being deadly serious.
"I'm not your dad Harry, and I'm not Sirius, and I'm not going to try to be. But they would want me to do my best to look out for you, so from now on that's exactly what I'm going to do." They sat in silence together for a while, watching as the softening sun slowly continued to sink down into the horizon. Harry closed his eyes, savoring the feeling of the warm glow streaming across his face.
"I appreciate that Remus," he said finally, "but you know you don't have to."
"Maybe not cub, but I'm going to anyway. I know you have the Weasleys who already think of you as family, you don't need another parent figure in your life. But I think you could use a friend."
Harry smiled and opened his eyes. "I can always use one of those."
Lupin reached into his coat pocket and pulled free a large brown bottle. "Firewhiskey," he explained while waving his wand to conjure a pair of glasses. Harry raised an eyebrow as the werewolf poured two glasses then handed one to him.
"I'm underage you know." Remus laughed aloud.
"That never stopped your father," he said, still chuckling, "he had his first drink after our fourth year; stole the bottle from his dad's liquor cabinet and the four of us downed the whole thing. Became kind of a ritual with us every summer. I don't think he would begrudge me sharing a drink with his son." He lifted his glass. "To friends!"
"To family," Harry replied, raising his own.
They clinked their glasses together and sipped, Harry nearly choking at the burning trail he felt running from his mouth down to his stomach. Remus barely managed to contain a snort of laughter, but didn't say anything. They sat like that together until dark, refilling when necessary and saying little. Mostly they watched the sun set behind the horizon, and remembered those they had both lost.
