Chapter 18

Harry and Ginny sat and chatted about some things, including Teddy, his parents, work, his parents, their relationship, his parents, and his birthday so far. Oh and his parents.

Soon enough Molly shouted from the kitchen that he could come out now. So he got up from the sofa, gave Ginny a peck on the cheek and pulled her through the kitchen door. He was chuckling about something Ginny had said.

"I warned you." He didn't understand it until he looked up and out into the yard, or what seemed like a sea of people blocking the view of the yard from him.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, HARRY POTTER!" screamed what looked like a hundred people, but in fact was one hundred and three plus he and Ginny made one hundred and five.

Harry stumbled and gaped at the crowd. He saw all of his friends from Hogwarts plus a few that he only knew by face. A bunch of people wearing the bright red Auror/Cadet robes and bright Blue Hit Wizard robes stood off to the side with a few other people from the Ministry that he didn't know by name or face. Another small group included several bright orange robes with black 'CC's on the front chest. Next to them was a small group Harry could identify as his old Gryffindor alumni friends and Quidditch mates. Next to them was a large group of red haired Weasley's accompanied by one bushy-brown head, and two blonde heads. Also included in the group were Andromeda and Teddy.

One group that he could hardly miss included Hagrid and Madam Maxime, several blonde Veela looking people, one Victor Krum and a few others. Next to Hagrid was more Hogwarts staff. After them was a group of very hairy people he recognized from the Yule Ball as the Weird Sisters.

Finally, was a small group of three people not staring at Harry but the huge crowd of people celebrating his birthday. James, Lily and Sirius were flabbergasted at the turnout of Harry's party.

Sirius took a quick look at Harry and smirked and nudged James who nudged Lily. They started snickering at Harry's face.

He was still, after thirty seconds, staring at the monstrous group of people. His mouth was hanging open and his eyes were wider than he had ever thought they could go.

"Harry, say something," Ginny said with a smile.

"Yeah, Speech!" yelled Sirius. Harry glared at him.

"Speech!" people started crying out.

"Speech, speech, speech," the crowd started chanting. Harry began shaking his head when Flitwick, amused at Harry's situation, conjured a small stage along with a microphone. Harry glance over and saw that his parents, the Weasley's, and his old Professors were all smiling. Ginny gave him a shove onto the stage.

"I'm so going to get you all for this," he murmured to her. She just grinned back.

"Go ahead, we are well prepared for it," she said.

"You think so but I just got back two of the Marauders," he said. Suddenly, she didn't look so confidant. He smirked at her while she walked over to her family. She pulled Ron and George into a huddle and then they looked a little worried as they glanced over to Harry's disguised parents and Godfather.

"Ahem, er, thanks for coming everyone. I truly had no idea this was what I was supposed to expect. I believe I said no surprises? That and I had to know everyone by face and name, but it looks like no one listens to me," he said with a chuckle.

"Well actually, Harry, you do know everyone here by face or name, you never stipulated it had to be both," Hermione yelled back. Oh yeah, she was on his list.

"Well Hermione that put you on my list as well. I think all the Weasley's, and several professors are all on my list now," Harry said with a grin. They all looked worried. "Don't worry, I won't do anything too permanent. Just try and remember who my dad and Godfather were, and how close I was to Remus the last few years, that should make you shiver a bit." Now all the Weasley's and McGonagall realized what they did and now who was there on Harry's side. Kingsley laughed very loudly along with several other people who remembered the Marauders from school.

"But seriously, I am really touched that you all came out here tonight for my eighteenth birthday. I personally am pondering why so many people came, but then I'm reminded of who I am, and who I know and it doesn't surprise me too much. After the fact at least." Everyone chuckled remembering Harry's face when he came outside.

"I have a feeling tonight is going to be very long for me, and I want to talk to everyone at least once, so I'm going to get my ruddy arse off this stage and we can get the party started!" he finished to cheers. Lily, Hermione and Molly all looked about ready to stick a bar of soap in his mouth, but everyone else just shrugged off his swearing.

He hopped off the stage and headed straight towards the Weasley's. He was smiling, but they could tell it was forced.

"Molly, Arthur, everyone, could I please see you all inside for a moment?" he asked pleasantly. He turned and started walking towards the front door, leaving them all behind to look at each other worriedly. They reluctantly followed him and found him in the living room.

The few seconds he was in the room alone, he placed a few charms on the doorway and sofas. When they all came in and sat down he stayed standing.

"I just want to let you all know, expect something big. You may have followed my rules with a grain of salt, but know this. I don't like surprises, at least like this, and considering my day has been fraught with them, this wasn't very nice. But I'm a team player, I understand that you couldn't know about what else happened to me today until you came home, shortly before the party started, so I'm giving leniency for tonight only. Tomorrow, expect something big," he said as he left the room. No one noticed him wave his wand as he passed through the door.

"Crap, crap, double utter bloody crap," Ron muttered. Ginny just smiled. She knew that Harry wouldn't get her too badly, since she had told him the truth, he just chose to not believe it.

"Ron don't swear," Hermione said automatically.

"'Ron don't swear?' Ron, do swear! I am going to bloody swear, you heard him! 'Expect something big.' I told you all, listen to Harry follow his rules and now—ARGH!" Ron screamed when abruptly everyone's hair turned into multi colored rainbows, and their skin changed to snake scales in bright colors. Hermione had red and white bands up and down her body, Ron was a dull green color, and George was a sandy yellow color. Molly was a venomous electric green color, Arthur was a deadly black color and Percy had red, yellow, and black bands up and down his body. Bill and Fleur were matching garter version snakes, while Charlie was a black and white banded faux-snake. Ginny had no scales but her hair appeared to be medusa like with tiny little rainbow colored mini-snakes hissing at everyone.

They all looked around and saw what Harry had done and laughed nervously. Bill attempted to remove the charms but Harry was smarter than that apparently and had placed his signature in the charms, a complicated twist of the wand that usually takes years to learn but Harry had learned in roughly a few months while on the run. Bill couldn't remove the charms because only Harry could.

"Well, I didn't say no to all this so I guess I'm sorry everyone," Molly said. "Let's get outside and enjoy this party. Harry said he wouldn't do anything too big tonight, so I'm guessing this is all he'll do for now." Molly stood as gracefully as she could and walked out to the kitchen with her head held high.

"If Fred and I would have pulled this we'd have been screamed at and grounded for a month. Harry on the other hand…" George said with a grin as he gestured towards the kitchen where his mother was waiting.

"Yes, but we had plenty of time to warn him and we didn't, so we all deserve this," Hermione said with a sigh. She pulled Ron with her who was vainly trying to not leave the living room. "Take it like a man, Ronald," they heard her mutter. George, Percy, Bill and Charlie all laughed. Fleur merely pulled Bill's hand and led him out of the room.

"Come on kids, we'll leave the house at the same time, as one, as a family," Arthur said. The rest of them followed their father outside.

a/n: Okay so long note today. First off, Happy Birthday Zaz! Your profile doesn't say anything about a birthday, but i love excuses to post chapters! lol I'm at 94 reviews...once i hit 100 i'll post another. i'll be checking it every hour until then. It's up to you all for how long it takes! Just 6 reveiws!

Again, i usually don't respond to reviews here but this time i need to.

ME: ( not myself the person who reviewed named me) I know i'm kinda moving fast paced in my short chapters, but i set a goal for myself to only have 1,000-2,000 word chapters. Some are shorter than that and some might be longer in the future, but its also kind of hard to develop characters in such short chapters, most of the developing is done in canon for our main HP characters like Harry and ginny. James Lily and Sirius will be devoped better over time than in just a few chapters. This story, while being short chapters, there will be many chapters. What started at a rabid plot bunny at 8 in the morning on lack of sleep (seeing as how i've been posting and responding to reveiws at 3 am, shows you that 8 am is almost bedtime fore me) I think this story has developed way more than i anticipated it. Mostly because i hate it when authors start really interesting stories and never finish them. I've seen this plot so many times, just hardly ever finished. I plan on finishing it, and doing so in a somewhat unique way. There will be angst and humor and tears and laughter on the characters parts, but it's not going to be everyone is forgiven in the first five minutes and a plotless storyline for the rest of the story. i like plot...and developed characters, so i will do both, it's just more of a gradual thing. thanks for your reviews, I usually leave long reply's so this is what i would have sent you if you weren't anonymous.

Lunapia: I know Harry would never drop to his knees and kiss Ginny's shoe, it was all in fun. Now that harry is not being shadowed by a huge Prophecy, he can be free to act like a normal teenager. he has a sence of humor and playfulness about him that we don't see in books 4,5, and 7. We see it a bit in 6, like when Harry take Luna to Slughorn's Ball, and she talks about the Rotfang Conspiracy and Fudge's Goblin Pies...(which i laughed so hard at i almost peed). Harry is now able to act normal, add that to the fact that it was just the two of them in the room when he did it, and ginny said to stop being a fool and get up, he knew what he was doing...she did tell him the truth didn't she?

Becca: Not so much of a lie was it? *evil grin* Thanks for reviewing so much!

REVIEW! JUST 6 MORE TILL ANOTHER CHAPTER!!!