DISCLAIMER: I don't own this… The amazingly talented J.K. Rowling does! Please don't sue me, thanks.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay… I'm not even going to try to explain… All I can say is writer's block. Sorry But I hope you like the chapter.

PS: The lullaby that I have been using is "Goodnight" by Amy Lee (from Evanescence)

Chapter 15: Hogsmeade and a Surprise

To say the least, Harry's day had been a full one. He laid in his bed that night thinking back. He simply couldn't believe how much his life had turned around in such a short amount of time. He had parents. Loving parents. He was loved and cared for, which was a new concept for Harry. Never in his life had someone held him and told him he was special. He had to admit it was a nice feeling. So much had happened that Harry wasn't sure he was going to be able to sleep that night. He thought for sure he would be up for hours. However, exhaustion soon took over and Harry fell into a deep, restful sleep.

The next morning sunlight streamed through the window and onto Harry's face. His brow furrowed and he pulled the covers over his head groggily. Why was it so bright? Then the answer came to him! It was morning!

Harry sat up in bed, so fast that he got light headed. He steadied himself and jumped out of bed quickly. He burst from his room, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. There they were. His parents. It hadn't been a dream. He had a feeling that the unreal sensation he had was going to be sticking around for a while. He couldn't stop thinking that it had to be a dream! But, there they were, clear as day.

"Good morning, son!" James called from the table with his paper. "Did you have a pleasant sleep?

"Er… yes, very pleasant, thanks," Harry replied breathlessly. He was still looking at his parents in awe.

"We're really here, darling," his mother said gently in his ear, as she had come up behinds him. Harry started and turned to look at her face. She was smiling softly. "We're not going anywhere, love. Not for a long, long time."

Harry nodded shakily. "Okay," he muttered, blushing a bit.

This had to be some kind of joke, right? Harry wasn't used to people be there for him. This was the moment that someone was supposed to hop out and scream, "Got ya!" and Harry would be whisked away, back his uncle's, where he would be beaten and starved and used! He knew it. Any second now…

No one hopped out and the reality of the situation came crashing down on Harry. This was real! He got a second chance with his parents. He never had to go back to the Dursley's "care." He could be a kid. He could laugh and have a good time. He could be himself without the fear of being smacked for it! He would be protected if anything went wrong. He had a second chance with…

"Good morning!" Sirius' voice broke through Harry's thoughts as the man came into the kitchen, wearing blue pin-striped pajamas. The man kissed the top of Harry's head. "Hey kiddo! How'd you sleep?"

"G-Good…" Harry stammered absentmindedly. He watched Sirius walk across the room and sit at the table. "When did you get here?"

"Last night!" Sirius replied cheerfully. "I came over to chat with your parents and then I decided to just stay the night since I stayed so late… Anyway, I wanted to see you and you were already asleep, so I decided that I would wait to see you this morning!"

"Oh," Harry replied lamely. He took a seat next to Sirius at the table. Lily brought a basket of muffins to the table and told everyone to enjoy. Harry was quite sure that he had never had muffins this good in his entire life!

Harry found himself in the library after breakfast. He was searching for a book that would help him with his Charms essay when the library door opened and his parents stepped in.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Lily chirped. "What're you up to?"

"I'm just looking at book for my Charms essay," Harry explained.

"I see! Well, your father and I are going to step out a bit and we were wondering if you'd be all right if we left you here with Sirius for a little while."

"Oh, okay! Yeah that's fine… Where are you going?"

"Oh, no where very important," James answered with a wink. "We'll be back in a little while, okay?"

"Um… Okay?"

"I love you, sweetheart!" Lily said giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"And I love you too," said James, ruffling his son's hair.

"I love you too," Harry responded, still puzzled.

And with that Harry parents left the library with Harry standing dumbfounded in the book-filled room. He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders and got back to searching.

Two hours later, Harry had completed his Charms work and he headed down the stairs to find Sirius lounging on the couch reading The Daily Prophet. He looked up as Harry as he entered the sitting room.

"Hey, kiddo!" Sirius greeted. "I was beginning to wonder where you had disappeared to."

"I was just upstairs doing my Charms essay. Now all I have left is Potions… But my brain is sore, so I think I'll put that off until another day."

"Good plan!" Sirius agreed. "Besides I was kind of hoping you would like to head out to Hogsmeade with me so we could get some Zonkos stuff! I've got fifteen years of pranking your dad to catch up on!"

"Brilliant!" Harry exclaimed.

"Well go on! Head upstairs and get your shoes on so we can leave!"

Sirius smiled as Harry raced up the stair. Gods, how he had missed that boy! Harry came back down a few minutes later and beamed at Sirius. "I'm ready!" he announced.

"Great let's go!" Sirius smiled.

The two of them headed to the floo and Harry paused. "Wait! Do mum and dad know that we're going? What if they come back? Won't they worry?"

"Nah! I left a note for them to let them know where we are!" Sirius explained. And on that note they flooed to the Hogshead in Hogsmeade.

After spending three good hours in Zonkos, creating plans and pranks and picking out the best items to carry them out, Sirius insisted that the two of them go back to the Three Broomsticks to get some lunch.

"Home, now?" Harry asked as they finished their meal.

Sirius looked down at his watch. "No quite… Let's go to Honeydukes!"

Harry looked at his godfather in suspicion. 'Why do we have to wait until a certain time to go home?' But before Harry had an opportunity to ask, Sirius was wheeling him out of the Three Broomsticks and up the road toward Honeydukes.

Sirius bought Harry more sweets than should be legal. Harry kept telling him that he didn't need all of it, but Sirius was having none of it.

"Pah-lease! If anyone needs a hefty dose of sugar, it's you, Pup," Sirius told him.

After that Harry had stopped fighting it and allowed Sirius to buy out the store if he wanted. He was pretty sure that if he took all of this to school he would very soon be the most popular kid at Hogwarts. Finally Sirius announced that they could go home and they walked back down to the Hogshead and flooed to the Potter residence.

When they arrived, the house was dark. Harry was confused as to where his parents were. Surely they should be back by now. He looked up at Sirius, who smiled down at him.

"C'mon!" his godfather urged, as he set their bags of goodies and pranks down. "Let's head out back."

Harry was dumbfounded but he complied. 'What the hell is going on?'

Once Sirius opened the back door a loud, "SURPRISE!" rang out into the afternoon air. Harry looked out into the yard to find a large crowd smiling at him as they threw up confetti and party streamers. He was at a loss for words.

"Happy Birthday, sweetheart!" Lily exclaimed as she and James made their way from the crowd toward Harry.

"T-this is all for… m-me?" Harry choked. He looked around at the party. A large party-tent had been set up with a band playing on a stage with tables and chairs lined in front of it. On the front table there was a large cake that appeared to be in the shape of a Quidditch stadium. To left of the tent was a long table with tons of presents spilling over the sides. Behind it all was a Quidditch pitch and a pool. The whole place was decorated with Gryffindor Quidditch themed party decorations and caterers were walking around offering drinks and snacks, while a photographer was snapping pictures of the action.

So many people had come. The first people he noticed were Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, who were still smiling up at him. Then he saw Remus, Hagrid, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, Moody, Fred, George, Dean, Luna, Seamus, Neville, and even Dumbledore and McGonagall had come. Nearly, every Gryffindor from 6th year and up had shown up and several others from different houses had come, even Cho Chang from Ravenclaw and Zacharias Smith from Slytherin. All he could do was stand in shock. All of these people had come for him?

"Of course it's for you," James answered. "Do you like it? I know it's a bit big, but we haven't been able to give you a proper birthday so we wanted to go all out! But I h –"

James was interrupted by Harry throwing his arms around his father's waist in a joyful hug. "I love it!" he cried into the man's chest. He pulled back from his father to squeeze his mother. "I absolutely love it!"

"We're glad!" Lily laughed.

"How did you do all this?" Harry asked.

"Well the other night while you slept we sent a letter to Ron and Hermione with all the info on the party, and told them to send invitations to everyone they knew. Then they told those people to invite whomever they'd like. And the next day, I had your father distract you just long enough to call and book the caterer, band, and photographer. Then, today your father and I headed over to Remus', where I made your cake and Remus and your father set out to get the decorations. Then, while you and Sirius headed out to Hogsmeade, we three came back to the house and had the Weasley's and Hermione come over to help set up. As your guests arrived your father and I explained to them that there was a jinx set up around the property that would not allow them to give away our location and we checked them over to make sure they held no threat. And then we led them out here to await your arrival!"

"Wow!" Harry chuckled. "Thanks!"

"No problem!" James smiled. "Now, go have fun with your friends."

Harry beamed and obeyed, heading out to talk with Ron, Hermione and Ginny. The latter of which, kissed him sweetly upon his arrival. Harry laughed with his friends for a long time and danced with Ginny to the music the band played.

His mother then, took the stage and announced that it was time for dinner and then cake and presents. Harry was sat at the head of the table and hamburgers and hotdogs were passed around to everyone by the caterers, as well as fries and punch. The crowd ate happily and chatted away. Harry laughed as Fred and George fought against Sirius for the best prank story and beamed at his father, who winked at him. After the meal was over Lily brought the cake with sixteen lit candles over in front of Harry, while everyone sang "Happy Birthday" (except Fred and George who sang "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow"). Harry blew out the flames and didn't miss a single one.

After cake, Harry was set to opening presents, which ended up being a herculean task because of the sheer amount of gifts. This many gifts would have made Dudley proud. Harry felt a little spoiled, but it felt pretty good to be cherished like this, so he ignored it. He received a new Defense Book from Hermione, a book on the "Latest Quidditch moves and How to do Them" from Ron, a new Quidditch set including two beaters' clubs from Sirius, a set of Quidditch protective gear from Remus, a black kneazle with piercing emerald eyes, who Harry named Jade, from Hagrid ("I thought it'd be useful, since ther deadly loyal an' protective. An' she reminded o' yer, 'Arry."), and much, much more. Harry's favorite gift though, came from his parents at the very end. They had gotten him a lot of things so far including a trick broom that would simulate daring tricks and teach him how to do them at a safe distance from the ground, a new set of Quidditch robes in Red, Emerald, and Dark Blue, and a new potions kit with the promise that Lily would show him how to properly prepare them and catch him up in Potions. However, his favorite was the six tickets to the next England Quidditch match.

"You can invite three of your friends, but don't announce that here," Lily explained in his ear softly, so as not to cause chaos over people begging Harry to take them because she had a pretty good idea of who he was planning on inviting. "The other two are for your father and I. Sirius and Remus will also be joining us, but they've already got theirs." Harry reached around and hugged his mother tightly.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Harry breathed in her ear.

"Your welcome! It was your father's idea though!"

Harry turned to look at his father, who was leaning up against the gift table and smiling at him. Thank you he mouthed and James smirked and winked at him.

After Harry was finished opening his presents they all headed out to the Quidditch pitch and took turns playing full matches against each other. They used Harry's new Quidditch set and he wore his red Quidditch robe. When the matches came to a close, they headed to the pool to cool down from the summer heat, which Harry's new pet, Jade did not like in the least. She followed Harry from the side of the pool and cried out to him.

Around eight in the evening, his guest began to take their leave, until only the Weasleys, Hermione, Sirius and Remus were the only ones who remained.

"Happy Birthday, Harry dear!" Mrs. Weasley said as she and Mr. Weasley took their leave with Fred and George, who saluted Harry before disappearing through the floo. It had been decided that Ron, Hermione, and Ginny would be staying the night, as long as the girls slept in a separate room.

The seven of them stayed up well into the night before Lily announced that it was time for everyone to go to bed. Harry crawled into bed as his parents tucked him in and Jade curled up on his chest.

"Did you have a good time, son?" James asked.

"Yeah!" Harry replied, as he stroked Jade's soft coat. "This was the best Birthday ever!" And truly it was.

A/N: Phew! Finally done! I know it's long overdue, but I hope you like it! Hopefully I can get the next chapter up soon, since I finally broke the writer's block! Please feel free to review!