It was Tuesday, July 30, 1991. Tomorrow was the court date. Harry was so scared and nervous just thinking about it. Then there were all the things they had to do afterwards, mostly his physical and psychiatric exams…By now he was having nightmares about those, partly because of what he had glimpsed of the hospital dramas Aunt Petunia liked to watch.

The most recent episode had involved a criminal with an irregular heartbeat getting tasered right in the emergency room, and (incredibly) the shock from the taser had set his heartbeat straight again. Now Harry was having nightmares of being tasered in an emergency room, and then having a heart attack and dying. He was also terrified of what he thought the psychiatrist would be like; his other nightmares involved lying down on a couch and having to spill out his darkest secrets to someone he didn't even know.

Harry knew Sirius was coming over to visit on Tuesday, so he was waiting there on the couch for him. As usual on the days when they had been forewarned about Sirius (who plain stark terrified them), the Muggles had gone out for the day. Harry didn't turn on the TV, though—he was just curled up on the couch, visions of the court date and his court-ordered evaluations dancing in his head.

Click. The door to the Dursleys' house swung magically open, and there was Sirius.

"Are you all right, Harry?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Harry unconvincingly. It didn't help that he had brought his Prongs toy downstairs with him and had forgotten to take it upstairs before Sirius arrived. He had taken to retrieving it whenever he felt lonely or scared or upset, and he found that it helped a lot. But he was not a child anymore, so it was quite embarrassing to him as well.

"Look, don't worry about the court date tomorrow," said Sirius, sitting down next to Harry and putting an arm around him. "Mr. Glacier and I will take care of everything."

"But there's the exams too," Harry told him. "I really don't want to go."

"We can't press charges or file suit against the Muggles until we do, though," said Sirius, "and do you really want them to get away with hurting you?"

"No," said Harry sadly, then paused. "Sirius…do you think I'm a baby for keeping this stuffed toy?"

"Your father gave that to you, Harry," said Sirius, smiling. "I would be more surprised if you didn't want to keep it. Besides, a lot of adults sleep with a stuffed animal or something like that. My brother Regulus was still sleeping with his security blanket when I left home, and he was much older than you are. It's nothing to feel ashamed of."

"But you wouldn't tell anyone, would you?" said Harry, looking down at the one antler the toy had left.

"Wouldn't dream of it," said Sirius. "But anyway—if you're still up for it, I had something fun planned for today. Do you want to visit Remus at his cottage?"

"Sure," said Harry. "I'll take Prongs upstairs, and then we can go. Are we taking the bike?"

"Naturally," Sirius replied, and Harry grinned.

…

In no time at all, they were at Crescent Cottage, which was where Remus Lupin lived. Sirius rang the doorbell; Remus greeted them at the door and led them into a small sitting room where, to Harry's shock…

"SURPRISE!"

Harry's mouth fell open. Barbara, Remus and Dumbledore were there in the sitting room, each of them bearing a gift; there was a big cake on the coffee table with eleven candles stuck inside of it; there were balloons and a big banner that read Happy Birthday, Harry taped onto the wall.

"Happy Birthday, Harry," Sirius said, grinning. "I know your birthday is tomorrow…but considering we're kind of booked on that day…I hope you don't mind having your party a day early."

"Oh, wow…" Harry's face felt very hot. "You didn't have to do this…"

"It was our pleasure, Harry," said Remus courteously.

"Did you really think we'd forget?" Barbara added. "Eleven is a big deal! Come blow out your candles!"

Harry hadn't forgotten what Remus thought about Barbara, but apparently he had put his opinions aside for the sake of Harry's birthday. Of course, Remus was perfectly capable of lighting the candles with his wand, but since they were in the presence of a Muggle, he did it with a lighter instead, the way the Dursleys did for Dudley's birthday cakes.

"Go on, Harry," said Sirius kindly.

"Don't forget to make a wish," Barbara added. "But don't tell anyone, or it won't come true."

My wish is to be good at magic when I get to Hogwarts, Harry thought to himself as he blew out the candles. Or at least not a total fail.

Everyone clapped.

"All right, Harry," said Sirius. "Do you want to eat the cake first, or open presents?"

"Um…I don't mind," Harry told him. "Presents, I guess."

"I baked you some more brownies," Barbara began. "And I'm going to cook your birthday dinner for you. It was hard to find an actual gift, since we haven't really known each other that long. But Sirius and Mr. Glacier said you didn't have a lot of toys growing up, so I hope this is okay."

Barbara took her wallet out of her purse, then pulled out a plastic card. When Harry took it, he saw that it was a thirty-pound gift card for a toy store.

"Thanks, Barbara," said Harry. Sirius stowed the card in his wallet for safekeeping.

The rest of the gifts were good, too. Remus gave Harry an abundant amount of new parchment paper, some invisible ink and a handsome new quill pen; Dumbledore gave him scented candles; Sirius gave him a twenty-Galleon gift card for Quality Quidditch Supplies. After Harry had opened his presents, they all had some cake and brownies.

"I bet you're looking forward to a Barbara Raffelovich dinner," Barbara added. "I can cook anything you want."

"Do you know how to make treacle tarts?" Harry said hopefully.

"Of course," said Barbara. "What else would you like? Cooking's my favorite thing to do, so I can cook pretty much anything if you give me the recipe."

"How about hamburgers?" said Harry. "Maybe some baked potatoes, too?"

"You got it." Barbara winked.

"By the way, is that your last name?" Harry asked politely. "Raffelovich?"

"Yeah," she said. "That's my name, Barbara Catherine Raffelovich. It's a bit of a mouthful. I'm named for my great-grandmother, Barbara, and my godmother, Catie."

"I think that's the best last name ever," said Sirius. "It's very unique."

"It's always good to have a godparent, too," Harry added. "My godfather Sirius spoils me rotten."

"My mother, Gwendolyn, was friends with Catie when she was your age, Harry," said Barbara. "They were like sisters—they still are. She's like an aunt to me."

"So kind of like you and my dad, right, Sirius?" said Harry.

"Exactly," said Sirius, putting an arm around him.

"This is the best birthday I've ever had," said Harry, taking a big bite of cake. For just a moment, he forgot his worries, and spent a great day with his godfather and the other adults who, he knew, cared for him very much.

NEXT UP: How will the court date go? Will Harry finally be allowed to live with Sirius? And what will happen to the abominable Dursleys?