DISCLAIMER: No, I was not born at the end of July, I think that proves I am not JK Rowling!
-Chapter Sixteen-
The cake is baked, the candles lit,
The gifts all wrapped and nice,
New hope is born again
As the seventh month dies.
The seventh month will come again
New tables will be laid,
No one knows where we will be-
Here? Or on eternal bed?
The Seventh Month Dies
Neville Longbottom was sitting on his bed, surveying his coming-of-age birthday gifts. There was a nice set of robes from Great Aunt Enid, a Mandarina floriana from Uncle Algie, a book on tropical herbs from Uncle Philip a gold wristwatch from Aunt Nancy. An eagle feather quill and a dragon skin bound diary from Uncle Alex and a silver ring that had belonged to his grandfather from Gran. There was also a gift and a singing card from Luna Lovegood, which surprised Neville, he did not expect any of his friends to remember his birthday, and indeed, this is the first time any of them had remembered his birthday. There was one last gift, and the most precious one. He smiled a little as he smoothed the empty sweet wrapper- relic of the visit to the hospital in the morning, and put it inside a teakwood chest that contained similar relics. The old grandfather clock in the wall struck seven and he began to collect all his gifts hurriedly. It was time to leave.
He arrived at Twelve Grimauld Place a few minutes before eight, around minutes later than the time he had intended. He had been ready in time but then gram decided to remind him of every great deed ever done by a Longbottom and how he had to live up to their memories, which took a while. And then Aunts Enid and Nancy decided to go through his bag again, to make sure he wasn't leaving anything behind, while Uncle Algie had a few last minute advices to give. Neville wearily flung his Gladstone on the marble floor and then he realized he was standing in complete darkness. He felt unnerved. This wasn't normal, all this darkness and eerie silence, it didn't bide well. He noticed a faint glimmer of light coming from the kitchen. Throat dry, careful not to make a sound, Neville quietly took out his wand and walked cautiously towards the kitchen door. He thought he saw the shadowy outlines of people moving inside and caarefully raised his wand. A sudden earth-shattering blast threw him off his feet. Torches and candles burst into flames amidst an eruption of clapping and cheering around him. Neville got back on his feet and blinked. The place was barely recognizable. There were floating candles and luminous balloons in a variety of colours, a large red banner hung from the ceiling and there was a sticky chocolate cake with red and white icing on top on the table, the rest of which was laden with a pile of gifts. Both the banner and the cake had the words "Happy Birthday Neville" written on them.
"We thought we would have a party." said George Weasley, as he bowed deeply.
"Yes," agreed Fred solemnly, " we need a break from that shop once in a while."
"Happy Birthday, Neville." said Hermione.
Harry and Ron shook his hand vigorously.
Neville had difficulty finding his voice. "You decided to give me a party?" he asked incredulously after a while.
"You thought we wouldn't?" chorused the twins, with identical expressions of hurt on their faces.
"You better get started on those gifts Neville, " advised Ron, " we will need the table if we want to keep all the food that Dobby cooked today."
Right on cue, Luna and Ginny entered from the pantry, each holding two large trays with their wands.
"Excellent!" said Ron happily, "this will last all night."
"All night?" asked Neville, "we are having an all night party?"
" 'Course!" said Fred, "All night and well into the morning."
"Till midnight is your party and after twelve it's Harry's." added George.
"Oh it's your birthday tomorrow?" he asked Harry. He hadn't known this. Harry nodded and smiled, but Neville felt he looked a little thoughtful at this question.
"Hello, Neville," said a dreamy voice beside him and he turned to find himself face to face with Luna Lovegood, "I arrived this morning, it is very nice here." Her large pale blue eyes glittered in the shadowy light of the flickering candles. "Did you get my birthday gift?"
"Oh yes! Hang on a sec…" he brought out a loosely wrapped wooden box from his pocket that contained a glossy black crystal, "it's very nice but …er…what is it?"
"It's called the hoolay tenjis. It's used for protection against heliopaths-the spirits of fire who…"
At that moment, a whole crate of enchanted fireworks showered down on them from the ceiling.
-XXX-
Harry was sitting in the kitchen, his eyes fixed on the old clock on the wall. It was five minutes to twelve. It would be his party soon. His seventeenth birthday party. In five minutes he would be of age and his mother's protection would be gone. He was not afraid, if anything, he felt impatient, wanting to jump into the battle, but he also felt a sense of increasing desperation as he thought about the hidden horcruxes.
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord
Approaches as the seventh month dies."
It seemed there was a tape-recorder inside his head that kept playing those words again and again.
Three minutes left. Two minutes. One minute. Thirty seconds. Twenty seconds. Ten. Five. Four. Three. Two. BOOM!
Fred and George had let off one of their new ColourBang bombs. Harry looked through the multi-coloured smoke, coughing. The banner was changing and a new cake had appeared on the table. Laughing with everyone else, Harry decided to think about Voldemort later.
-XXX-
At around six in the morning, everyone went to bed. Harry had just begun to drift into a dream where his birthday cake turned into a goblet and then a snake, when a tapping noise made him sit up straight.
Ron was fast asleep and was snoring deeply. Harry got up and opened the door. A very exhausted looking Draco Malfoy was standing outside.
"You…what are you…" Harry began but Malfoy stopped him.
"I've got news Potter.," he said quietly. "the Dark Lord plans to attack the Burrow today."
P.S: Mandarina floriana is a plant I invented.