Disclaimer: You'd think that people would know Harry Potter was not owned by a bored teenager.
The Brotherhood
~~~ Chapter Seven ~~~
Ginny sat, looking out her window at the sunset which lit the sky with bright colours. It was the eve of July 31st, and Ginny wondered just how Harry had spent his sixteenth birthday. She knew that he wasn't guilty, but she found it somewhat strange that he was travelling with Sirius Black, who, although being Harry's Godfather, was supposedly a real murderer, not just framed like Harry. She had doubts about that as well though. Why would Harry stay with him unless he wasn't a murderer? Maybe Black had been framed as well. Or Harry actually was a murderer…
Ginny firmly shook her head, pushing that thought away. She had seen the murderer with her own eyes. It was not Harry. Why would h go on a killing spree anyway? He hated dark wizards.
Sighing, Ginny watched the last of the sunlight disappear before standing up from her seat. "Harry Birthday, Harry," she whispered, then left the room to go downstairs where her mum would be serving dinner soon.
~~~TB~~~
Remus was back at home again. The home in which Black and Harry had stayed for a few hours immediately after escaping from Azkaban. Remus had come back to find it a huge mess, although he suspected that it had been the aurors who had done that, not the two convicts.
He had found nothing missing, except the invisibility cloak, which Dumbledore had said they took, so he expected it to be missing, and two other things. One, he knew why they took. The photo album with Harry's parents in it. Harry would want that for obvious reasons, even if Black didn't care about his old friends. The other thing they took was the book which the Marauders had made in school, and Remus didn't really know why they had stolen that. Harry would probably enjoy it, though.
The longer Remus had thought about the two convicts, the more he was sure that Harry was innocent. Black was guilty, he knew that almost as a fact, but he knew there was no way that Harry had committed the crime he was punished for. Even though Remus never knew the boy, besides as an infant, he knew that the boy couldn't possibly have done it.
He knew that it was Harry's birthday today, and he wondered, like Ginny, what he was doing to celebrate it. Did he even know that he was sixteen years old? There was no doubt that Black would probably completely ignore it. Why should he care when Harry's birthday was? He probably only helped Harry escape so that he could take him to Voldemort. That's probably where they were headed, right this moment.
Of course, not very many people believed that Voldemort had risen. Remus only knew because he was a member of The Order of the Phoenix, which Dumbledore was the leader of. According to Dumbledore, Voldemort had risen almost a year ago, with the help of Barty Crouch JR, who had escaped from Azkaban right from under the ministry's nose without them realising it.
Dumbledore only knew this information, because of the Order's spy, Severus Snape. Of course, Remus didn't trust Snape even as far as he could throw him, but Dumbledore did, so Remus tolerated him.
The ministry, run by Cornelius Fudge, didn't believe that Voldemort was back, so Dumbledore had been forced to take action himself. Voldemort kept himself hidden though, so there really no was proof, besides of course, some random disappearances and such, that the ministry had taken to blaming on Black and Harry since they had escaped. The disappearances had started before the two had escaped though, but what did the ministry care about that?
Turning from this subject, as it was a slightly sensitive subject, he instead turned his attention to his dinner guest, Nymphadora Tonks. She had been chattering away about some obscure subject, and Remus, admittedly hadn't been paying attention, besides giving the occasional nod of the head or small murmur of agreement.
~~~TB~~~
The two convicts were hidden in a small abandoned shack that they had found two days earlier and Sirius was acting strange. He was oddly perky, considering their situation. Most days, he was moody and quiet, but today, it was almost as if he was happy again.
"Harry," Sirius suddenly said, looking up from the can of food he was devouring.
"What?" Harry asked, his eyes focused on his own food.
"Do you know what day today is?" Sirius questioned.
Harry looked up and gave Sirius a decidedly confused look. "Uh, Monday maybe?" he suggested.
Sirius chuckled. "Well, I don't know if it's Monday or not, but I meant the date, Harry. What's the date?"
Harry shook his head. "No idea," he replied.
Sirius sighed. "It's July 31st, Harry," he stated.
"Oh," Harry murmured. Then he caught on. "Oh!"
"Harry birthday, Harry," Sirius smiled, holding out a roughly wrapped parcel.
Harry carefully accepted, wondering what Sirius could have possibly got for him.
Unwrapping the newspaper in which the gift was wrapped Harry was more than a little surprised to find a couple books. Harry instantly recognised the photo album and he gasped softly. Glancing at the other title, he stared at it in amazement.
"Sirius, where did you get these?" he questioned, the awe evident in his voice.
"Remus had them, along with your cloak," Sirius explained.
Harry thanked Sirius profusely for the small reminders of his father, and the life he had had before Azkaban. Sirius was simply happy that Harry seemed to like the gifts.