Chapter 16

Happy Birthday Harry

Harry woke up on his birthday with a smile on his face. He kept his eyes closed as he lay in bed, warm and comfortable, reminiscing about the previous night. For the first time in his life, his birthday had been a smashing success and technically it had only just begun. All of his friends had been at Neville's and they had spent the night having fun, making their way through the case of firewhiskey the twins had brought along with them. His bi-polar luck was even on his side today, saving him from his usual morning after hangover.

He was distracted from his memories as he noticed the weight on top of him shift, "Tonks, you can't just come cuddle with me whenever Moony is off howling at his namesake," he said with a groan. As nice as it was to cuddle up to such a beautiful witch, he couldn't help but feel guilty for sleeping with his guardians girlfriend, even if it really was nothing but sleep.

"Harry?!" came the startled voice from beside him, accompanied by a loud thump as it's owner pushed herself away from him, causing her to land hard on the floor. Harry rolled onto his side and opened his mouth, only to have the words die on his lips as he saw the naked girl picking herself up off the floor.

'What the bloody hell happened last night?'

OoOoO

~12 hours earlier

Harry had barely stumbled out of the Longbottom's Floo before he was struck by a missile masquerading as a teenage girl. Looking down he was surprised by the lack of bushy brown hair, instead finding a pair of long blonde pigtails. He opened his mouth, wondering why the blonde Hufflepuff seemed to be clinging to him for dear life, when she released him from her death grip, and took his face in her hands.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, pulling his head down and planting a kiss on each of his cheeks in between each repetition, before placing a long kiss directly on his lips after the last. Harry didn't move as she released him, instead standing in stunned silence as the blonde moved away and pulled her red-headed best friend into another hug.

"I think you broke him," said Susan with a laugh as she looked at him after being released.

Hannah looked at him for a moment, taking in his stunned expression, "Oh, well if that isn't a boost for my ego, I don't know what is. Harry Potter, vanquisher of basilisks, dragons and Dark Lords, stopped in his tracks by little old me."

Harry stared back and forth at the two of them until another whooshing sound broke him from his stupor. He turned towards it just in time for a pink haired Auror to fly through the air, hitting him in the chest, knocking him down and landing on top of him. "You know Harry, I thought you'd of had enough of me knocking you on your arse by now," Tonks said as she pushed herself off of him, before looking back and forth between him and the laughing girls, "Aww, I missed it again, didn't I?"

Harry picked himself off the floor, grumbling about clumsy Aurors as the girls informed Tonks about their little joke, causing her to almost fall over laughing. He glared at them, which just caused them to laugh harder, "Aww, isn't he cute when he's all broody," Tonks said, reaching over and pinching his cheek.

Harry pulled himself away from her while the girls had another laugh at his expense and quickly made his retreat towards the rest of the party. 'Maybe I can get them to spend their night teasing someone else for a change,' he thought to himself, 'Ron's a good mate, I'm sure he'd be willing to do me a favor for my birthday.'

OoOoO

Susan watched Tonks follow Harry towards the rest of the party before turning towards her best friend and swatting her on the shoulder, "What in Merlin's name was that?" she demanded, slightly annoyed at the blonde standing in front of her.

"What was what?" Hannah asked trying and failing to sound innocent, her large grin betraying her.

"What do you think?" she asked as Hannah continued to play dumb, "The kiss! What else would I mean? Even I didn't do that."

"Really?" asked the blonde, looking at her in complete disbelief, "You expect me to believe that you've been living with the boy that saved your life and you didn't even give him a proper thank you kiss?" She looked taken aback as Susan nodded in reply, "Wow, here I was assuming you had been shagging him already and you've been too scared to even give him a little thank you kiss."

"Of course I haven't shagged him!" Susan shrieked, her face flushing to match the color of her hair.

"Why not?" Hannah asked, laughing and rolling her eyes as Susan glared at her. "Oh settle down, I'm just kidding. I didn't expect you to have gotten that far yet, but nothing?" she asked, clearly still not believing her.

"I kissed him on the cheek..." Susan mumbled, earning herself another incredulous look from her friend.

"A kiss on the cheek? That's the sort of thing you save for the nice guy that you want to let down easy," said the blonde, still seemingly in shock at the lack of action from her best friend. "I mean he's a nice guy, but he saved your life. Plus, you're living with him and he's gotten hot," she said, a dreamy look crossing her face as she stared in the direction he had disappeared in, "If I was in your situation, I would do something about it. Who knows, maybe I will anyways."

Susan opened her mouth to scold her friend, but the words died on her lips. She couldn't deny that the thought had crossed her mind, especially over the past few days as they had grown more comfortable around each other. Maybe she wasn't ready for that yet, but perhaps if she could get him by himself a happy birthday snog wouldn't be a bad place to start.

OoOoO

Harry was pulled from his plans to dump his tormenters on his best mate for the night when someone barreled into him for the third time in as many minutes. This time however he was prepared for it and managed to catch the bushy haired missile without much difficulty. "I missed you too, Hermy," he said as she pulled away, dodging as she tried to swat him across the chest for using the hated nickname. He quickly raised his hands in mock surrender as she glared at him.

"How was Austria?" he asked quickly, hoping to distract her. It was mostly successful, as she only gave him a small glare before launching into an account of all the historical magical sites she had visited. Harry listened intently, a small smile on his face as his over enthusiastic friend went on and on, hardly stopping for breath. "I only wish you or Ron had been able to come with me. It was kind of lonely on my own."

Harry frowned, "Weren't your parents with you?"

Hermione looked down uncomfortably, avoiding his eye, "Well I was staying with them but-," she cut off, saved from explaining as their other best friend appeared beside them.

"Hey, I was looking for you two," he said, throwing an arm around each of their shoulders, "C'mon Harry, we've been waiting for you. The twins brought a gift for you and Neville, everyone's waiting for you to come and open it." Despite his protests, Harry found himself pulled along by his best mate towards the rest of the party and deposited beside Neville and the twins, who were standing in front of a large box covered in wrapping paper. He looked at the crowd surrounding them before nervously looking at the box. He turned towards the others, noticing that Neville seemed to be just as nervous as he was.

"Hey guys," he said nervously as he looked around, taking in all the guests before turning to their host, "Nev, uh, care to do the honors?" he asked hopefully, hesitant to open anything from the twins.

Neville looked back at him, before cautiously looking at the twins' wide grins, "I'd love to Harry, but... guests first?" he finished weakly.

The crowd laughed as each weakly attempted to get the other to open the package, before the twins stepped in. "Sorry boys," said George, putting his arm around Neville and drawing him towards the it, while Fred did the same to Harry, "but we may have charmed it so you could only open it together."

Harry winced, and hearing a groan from beside him as everyone else laughed, threw a glance towards Neville, who was looking at the box as if it were about to bite him.

Neville sighed deeply, a look of bleak acceptance plastered across his face, before looking back at him, "I suppose Gryffindors charge, yeah?"

Harry nodded slowly, before reaching forward and grabbing an edge of the paper. "On three, I guess," he said as Neville did the same. "One. Two. Three!" he shouted the last number, giving a large tug and closing his eyes, expecting something to explode all over him. While he wasn't entirely wrong, he was surprised to open his eyes and find that rather than being splattered with some sort of oddly colored goop or turned into a chicken, he, along with the rest of the room, was covered in nothing more than a thin layer of confetti. He looked over at Neville, who seemed just as surprised as he did, before looking at the twins who were laughing uproariously.

"Happy Birthday!" they shouted, before quickly reaching in and pulling out a pair of identical bottles and handing one to each of them. Harry, still somewhat shocked by the fact that the twins prank on them had been the lack of a prank, looked down to read the label, 'Ogden's Firewhiskey.'

OoOoO

Harry watched Ron carefully out of the corner of his eye as he and Hermone talked with Susan and Hannah. He was growing worried for his friend, who had been increasingly quiet over the past hour and had taken to standing quietly with his brothers while they played drinking games with Seamus and Dean. He looked as if he was about to have a nervous breakdown, as his eyes darted anxiously between the door, the clock and Hermione, occasionally raking his hand through his hair. Looking one last time at the clock, he quickly stole the shots that were sitting in front of his brothers and downed them before hurrying towards them, steam pouring from his ears.

"Hey mate, not leaving already are you?" Harry asked, watching as Ginny hurried towards the Floo, fairly certain he already knew the answer.

"Er, yeah, sorry mate, you know how mum is. I'm lucky she let us out at all. I wanted to, ah... I just need to talk to Hermione for a second," he said, throwing nervous glances between the two of them.

Harry looked towards his female best friend, noting the confused look on her face, completely oblivious as to why their red-headed friend was acting so strange, "Of course mate, I'm going to go have a drink with your brothers. I'll see you tomorrow, I'm going to swing by to let you know where I'm staying."

Ron nodded absentmindedly before grabbing Hermione's hand and gently pulling her over by the door. Harry walked over to the twins, who had paused their game to watch.

"Is that what we think it is?" asked Fred as Harry joined them, gesturing towards his younger brother.

"I assume so," Harry said with a shrug, "It's about time too, he's been dancing around it for a year and a half."

"Care to make a wager on your best friends love lives?" asked George with a grin.

Harry shook his head, "No point, she's going to say yes, just watch."

Both twins looked at him skeptically before turning to watch the scene unfold. Hermione quickly changed from confused to curious, to surprised and finished with a big smile before giving Ron a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Harry turned back towards the twins, "Told you so."

"Well of course she said yes. She may not be as in to him as he is into her, but neither of them know that. We were thinking more along the lines of how long they're together."

"Or how long before one of them murders the other," added Fred from his other side.

He looked from one to the other, "You want me to bet on when my best friends' relationship is going to fail?" he asked in disbelief, looking from one to the other. Even for them, this was a bit much.

"Come on mate, it's all in good fun," said Fred, obviously noticing the look on his face. "If it makes you feel better, you can bet on them staying together."

"And wait for them to get married to collect my winnings?" asked Harry, "No thanks. Judging by how long Ron took to ask her out, I'd be old and gray long before that happens."

"You won't have to wait that long," replied George, clearly trying to talk him into taking their bet, "We'll give you a chance. Five galleons says that they break up before the new year."

"Why do you think that?" he asked, wanting to know what could possibly break up his friends'. If he knew what it was beforehand, maybe he could prevent it.

"You mean besides the constant fighting?" asked Fred, to which Harry nodded impatiently, "We can't tell you that, you might not accept our wager."

Harry rolled his eyes. He supposed five galleons was a small price to pay for his friends' potential happiness, "Fine, you're on," he said, shaking both of their hands simultaneously, "Now why are they going to break up before the new year?" he asked.

George looked at him with a smug grin, as if he had just pulled one over on him, "We already told you," he said smugly, "She's not as in to him as he is into her."

"Why do you say that?"

"She has feelings for someone else," replied Fred, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Harry looked back and forth between them, trying to decide whether or not they were lying. Hermione was his best friend, they shared almost everything. If she liked some guy, he doubted he'd be learning about it from these two. "Sure guys," he said with a shake of his head before gesturing towards his two roommates, who were chatting with Parvati and Lavender while they waited to continue their game, "you guys ready to play?"

It turned out the game they were playing required even teams, but Hermione walked over almost as soon as they set up. It took some pleading, but with her good mood, a promise to start his homework this week and a little bit of puppy dog eyes(something he had been practicing despite Remus' insistence that he was immune), he managed to talk her into joining their game and having a few drinks.

OoOoO

Harry stumbled back towards the remnants of the party after saying goodbye to Lavender, Parvati, Susan and Hannah to find it almost deserted. Tonks had pretty much carried Hermione out almost half an hour ago and Luna had left shortly before the other girls. Looking around, the only ones remaining were Neville, Dean and Seamus, who were all passed out, and the twins, who were standing over Neville, chuckling as they grew out his hair and fingernails, turning both a bright pink to match the other two.

"Harry!" said Fred, trying to cover up their work on the comatose birthday boy, "What are you still doing here?"

George wobbled as he turned to stand shoulder to shoulder with his brother in an attempt to hide their handy work, "Yeah, we thought you had left with those cute Hufflepuffs."

Harry shrugged, trying not to flush as his mind went back only moments to both girls leaning in to give him a kiss, before they went home. Quickly deciding that it was better not to let the twins get started on such a topic, he decided to focus on the unconscious boy behind them. "And apparently thought you'd take the opportunity to play a prank on our host?"

Fred looked over his shoulder at Neville, "Well, maybe just a little one," he said, holding his fingers and inch apart and struggling not to laugh.

"Yeah, we were even nice enough to make sure that they would all wear off before noon," added George defensively.

Harry held up his hands to stall them, "Do I look like McGonagall to you two?" he asked with a wide grin. "Do one of you guys mind giving them pink tutu's for me?" he asked, looking between them, "I'd do it myself, but I don't think it's worth another hearing."

They both gaped at him in wonder for a moment before speaking, "Who are you and what have you done with Harry Potter?" asked George suspiciously.

"Can't become a Marauder if I don't play at least an occasional lighthearted prank," Harry said with a shrug, "Besides, I need to practice. I can't exactly let Remus and Tonks get away without retaliating can I?"

His response caused both twins to chuckle before turning to look at each other for a moment. After a short silent conversation Fred turned towards him while George took care of Neville's clothes, changing them into a frilly pink dress. "Well if you're involved in a prank war, we would be remiss if we didn't offer aid to our silent partner. In fact we were going to give a tour of our new establishment to some 'prospective clients' if you'd care to join us."

Before he could ask what prospective clients they were talking about, Angelina and Alicia walked in, each moving over to one of the twins and putting their arms around them, "We can't leave you two alone for a moment, can we?" asked Angelina, attempting to glare at them, but ruining it when she couldn't hide her smile.

"Hey, don't look at us, we just did the dirty work. It was all Harry's idea," said Fred, causing Harry to sock him in the arm. The girls laughed as he tried to put on a hurt look, completely ruined by his brothers laughter, "Alright, it was only half Ickle Harrikins idea."

"Really?" asked Alicia, a look of apparent disbelief on her face.

"Of course," said George with a little bit of pride, placing his free arm around Harry's shoulders, "apparently we've been a good influence on our little Harry here."

"Looks up to us, he does," added Fred, causing both girls to look towards Harry, who nodded, deciding to play along with their little farce. "So Harry, are you interested in coming for a little tour?" asked Fred.

Harry looked at the two couples. While he would love to see what the twins were putting together, he really didn't want to be a fifth wheel, "Maybe some other time guys, I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Come on Harry, it'll be like old times," said Angelina, apparently obvious to the reason for his reluctance, "besides, you can plan for the upcoming Quidditch season. With the four of us gone, one of you is bound to be the Quidditch captain for sure."

"One of us?" Harry asked dumbly.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard someone else walk into the room. He turned just as she began to speak, "So you guys ready to go?"

OoOoO

"K- Katie?" he stuttered, staring at the terrified looking girl picking herself off the floor beside the bed. He knew he should look away, but found himself frozen, completely unable to move.

The girl in question froze as he spoke, her eyes going wide like a deer caught in the headlights. It was a few seconds before she seemed to realize her situation, causing her to rip the blanket from the bed in an effort to cover herself. Looking down as the covers were ripped from him, Harry noticed that she wasn't the only one wearing nothing but her birthday suit, a revelation which caused them both to once again freeze for a moment, before Harry quickly grabbed the pillow from behind his head to cover himself. They both just stared at each other in stunned silence until a knock at the door caused them both to jump.

"Katie, honey, are you okay?" came the voice from just the other side of the door. Noticing the handle start to move, Katie leaped for the door, stopping it before it could open more than a crack.

"I'm fine, daddy," she said, still holding the door shut.

"Are you sure? What was that noise? And why can't I come in?" asked her father, once again jiggling the handle and causing Harry to quietly look around for his wand, just in case he needed to defend himself. He was grateful that the Wizengamot wasn't out to get him anymore, so that he no longer had to worry so much about defending himself from the constant attempts on his life.

"I'm getting dressed dad. The twins must have slipped one of their pranks into my pocket and I fell when it surprised me," she lied. Harry sighed in relief and thanked Merlin or whatever deity happened to be looking out for him that day as the door handle stopped moving.

"Oh, sorry honey," came the apology from the other side of the door, "I was just coming up to let you know breakfast is almost ready."

"Alright, I'll be down soon," she promised as they listened to the footsteps slowly make their way away from the door and down the stairs. As the footsteps faded away Katie slumped against the door for a moment in relief, before remembering her guest.

Harry watched her, unable to tear his gaze away, "Uh, hey Harry," she said nervously, straightening up and causing Harry to swallow loudly.

"H-Hey Katie," he replied, unsure of what else to say. Thoughts raced through his mind as he tried to remember what had happened the previous night, figure out what he was going to do now and despite his best efforts to avoid them, on how he might get her to drop that blanket again.

They stared at each other awkwardly, neither wanting to be the first to speak, "So, uh, I have to go down for breakfast," Katie said uncertainly, "I'd invite you down, but well, my dad's still home and..." she trailed off.

"And I've had enough people try to kill me to last a lifetime," he joked, attempting to lighten the mood. Katie gave him weak smile in return, but didn't say anything. 'So much for Tonks embarrassing the awkwardness out of me,' he thought to himself as the silence lengthened. He looked around the room for his clothes, but didn't see them as the entire floor seemed to be covered. 'Well, might as well get this over with,' he thought to himself, standing and placing the pillow back on the bed. He heard a sharp intake of breath from beside the door and felt his entire body flushing, but he ignored it as much as he could as he searched for his undergarments.

He searched for a good twenty seconds before he heard Katie come up behind him, "Uh, here you go," she said, her hand holding out his boxers causing an opening in the blanket that made Harry lose his breath for a moment.

"Th- Thanks," he stammered, tearing his gaze away as he noticed her blush and hurried to put them on. Now that he had some knickers on he felt the worst of his nervousness fade and began looking around for the rest of his clothes. He found them making a trail from the door to the bed and quickly put them on, before turning back towards Katie who had used his distraction to put on a bathrobe, "So... I guess I should get going," he said awkwardly.

"Do you think you could sneak out?" Katie asked, wincing as she realized how that sounded. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," she said hurriedly, "it's just..." she trailed off.

"It's alright, I get it," he said, waving off her apology, "Besides I don't think it would be much better for me if either of your parents caught me here. Does your house have anti-apparition wards?"

"Only one-way, but don't you think it might be suspicious if my parents hear someone apparate out of my room?" she asked, looking towards the window as if she hoped he would climb out through there.

"Don't worry, they won't hear a thing," he assured her, "Bye Katie."

"Happy Birthday Harry," she replied. She moved to hug him before stopping abruptly as her face flushed red once again and instead offering her hand which he shook awkwardly before disappearing with a whisper.

A/N

So what does everyone think? Surprised? I know Katie kind of came out of left field, but it always kind of bothers me in stories when Harry falls for the first girl he dates (other than Cho, who let's be honest hardly even counts), so I wanted to save the the real candidates for later. Let me know what you think. Who should be next? Who should he end up with? Other pairings? Should Remus and Tonks stay together? If not, why would they break up?