Hi everyone! Sorry for the late update, but I haven't had a lot of writing time this week. This chapter isn't exactly action-packed, but hopefully it will be fun. Thanks as always for all the reviews, and don't forget to leave your comments on this chapter too. Enjoy!

I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 15: Making Memories

Clunk.

"Shh!"

"I can't help that I'm a klutz!"

"You're lucky he's not the one with extra-sensitive hearing," Remus muttered. He waved his wand again, completing the banner with a simple color-changing charm.

"I said I'm sorry!" Tonks hissed, righting the conjured table she'd bumped into and replacing the fallen giftwrapped boxes. Remus sighed.

"Fine, you're forgiven. But if the surprise is ruined, it's on you."

Tonks rolled her eyes. "Please. The kid sleeps like dead, especially after your night last night. I'm surprised you're still awake, frankly."

Remus grunted slightly. "Coffee and a few potions work wonders. But I was hardly going to let yet another birthday pass without doing something."

"Do you think we got him enough gifts?" Tonks asked worriedly, eying the leaning stack of colorful parcels on the table.

Remus chuckled lightly. "I think there are more than enough. Any more and we'd have needed a table twice as big to hold them all." He cast a few more charms, being sure to include a few mild prank spells as well on the doorway, then nodded to himself. "I think it's ready. Please be careful not to disturb anything," he pleaded. Tonks huffed.

"I'm always careful," she replied, sticking her nose in the air. She tried to walk out of the room like that and ran into the doorframe. Remus couldn't help laughing. Tonks glared at him, her hair flashing orange, then she corrected her course and went to the sitting room. Remus shook his head, still smiling to himself. He cast another surveying look around the kitchen and gave a satisfied nod. Then he followed Tonks to the front room.

She was already asleep again and snoring softly on the couch, her hair having faded to its natural wavy, chocolatey brown in her unconscious state. Remus smiled softly and silently transfigured the armchair into a reclining chair and settled into it. It was long past midnight, already the 31st, and Harry wouldn't be up for hours yet. So Remus allowed his eyes to close, planning on catching a few more hours' rest.

Harry woke slowly to sunlight streaming through the partially open curtains and across his face. He groaned softly and rolled over, trying to block out the light. He was exhausted, having been up the entire night previous and spent quite a lot of energy keeping up with Moony as Russet, and had gone to bed rather late the evening before trying to catch up on Occlumancy, something he'd neglected for a few days because of the excitement and anxiety surrounding the full moon.

Just as he was starting to drift off again, an agitated tapping sound echoed through the room. Blinking against the sun's glare and wincing at its brightness, Harry glanced toward the window to see three owls sitting outside. One was his own Hedwig and was the one doing the impatient tapping. Another black owl he didn't recognize, but the purple and orange envelope attached to its leg with the WWW logo on it hinted at the Weasley twins. The other was Pigwidgeon. The envelope tied to his leg was bigger than the owl himself. All three also carried a parcel of some sort. Hedwig carried two.

Grinning, suddenly remembering it was his sixteenth birthday, Harry rolled out of bed and opened the window. Hedwig flew in first and gave him an irritated nip on the ear. Pig followed, urged along by the last owl who Harry swore had the same mischievous glint in his eye as Fred and George did when they were planning a prank.

His fingers fumbling due to tiredness and excitement, Harry detached the letters and parcels and sent the owls on their way. Hedwig fluttered up to the top of the wardrobe. The black owl ruffled its feathers importantly and took off with a hoot that sounded eerily like a laugh. Pig just went crazy, as always. With a slight grin, Harry made a mental note to sic him on Remus this time—Tonks would curse him into next year if he so much as thought otherwise, but she'd laugh if Remus was the victim.

Harry stacked the parcels on his desk to open when he was more awake and figured, since he was up, he might as well get ready for the day. But when he turned away from the window, his jaw dropped.

His room had been elaborately decorated, clearly while he'd been asleep, in Gryffindor colors with the odd forest green streamer thrown in. Balloons were hung in every corner and littered the floor—it was a marvel he hadn't noticed before. Party streamers hung in no discernable order from the ceiling and walls, flashing colors. Some of them were twisting through the air, alternately spelling out Congratulations! and Happy Birthday! Even the walls were splattered with color, and Harry was suddenly afraid to look in the mirror for fear his hair or skin color had changed as well without his consent.

Harry felt a mixture of annoyance, and apprehension, and gratitude. The latter filled him to the brim with the knowledge that someone besides Hermione and the Weasleys had remembered his birthday and cared enough to make an effort to make the day special. However, it was also rather concerning. If his room looked like this, he couldn't imagine what might be awaiting him throughout the rest of the house, especially considering he lived with a Marauder and a very willing accomplice. The whole house was probably rigged with birthday pranks.

After a moment's hesitation, Harry finally decided to just go with it. It might even be fun. So he pushed his bedroom door open, only somewhat surprised to feel a bucket of something cold and wet empty itself over his head. Spluttering, Harry found himself covered in paint—gold paint. He went to the bathroom and glitter rained from the showerhead rather than water for the first five minutes. Predictably, it got everywhere, and even the shower didn't get rid of it all. The paint didn't wash off at all, and in fact was splattered across the rest of his body as if his clothing hadn't even been there.

Dressing, Harry found his clothes had also changed color—instead of the plain dark grey t-shirt and blue jeans, he found the shirt had turned red with Birthday Boy flashing across the front in alternating colors. The jeans were a horrible metallic gold. With a resigned sigh and his mind already brainstorming retaliatory pranks, Harry dressed in his transfigured clothes and followed the trail of gold streamers to the kitchen.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, a very strange, heavy metal rendition of the Happy Birthday song began playing, and Remus and Tonks appeared from what seemed to be Harry's invisibility cloak and in unison shouted, "surprise!" and Harry was nearly blinded by a flash—a camera flash. Then they got a good look at him and started laughing. Hard.

"Looks like our pranks worked, Moony," Tonks gasped out.

"We got him good," Remus agreed, wiping a tear from his eye caused from laughing so hard.

The kitchen was even more decked out than Harry's bedroom had been. But what made his jaw drop and his eyes go wide was not the streamers or the flashing colors, but the table piled high with packages, all clearly labeled with Harry's name.

"All mine?" was all he could manage, the shock evident in his voice.

Tonks and Remus stopped laughing and their smiles turned affectionate rather than mirthful.

"Of course, cub," Remus said.

"Merlin knows you deserve it. Besides, who else do you know in this house whose birthday is July 31st?" Tonks said, winking.

Harry blinked hard. "Thank you," he said sincerely. Then he cleared his throat. "You realize this means war, right?" he added, smirking as he gestured to himself. Tonks and Remus grinned.

"We can take it," Tonks answered. "Now can we eat? I'm starved!"

Harry and Remus chuckled and they sat down at the wooden table, not the one piled high with gifts, and began to eat.

"You know, I'm curious," Harry began after several moments of content silence. "Why did you feel the need to prank me, multiple times, before I even made it down the hallway?"

Tonks grinned and Remus explained. "It's a Marauder tradition. The birthday boy gets pranks pulled on him all day."

"You mean there's more?" Harry groaned in dismay. The other two laughed.

"You'll get a break during the party," Tonks said.

"Party?" Harry asked, confused.

"Of course. Party. You know, when lots of people get together to celebrate something or just have fun together?"

"But…who did you invite?"

Remus answered this time. "Just a few Weasleys, a Granger, and a Longbottom," he said with a smile. Harry's face lit up at the mention of his friends. "We wanted to keep it small, for security reasons. There are enough Goblin wards on this place that they won't remember where it is when they leave, though. And from the street it looks worse than how we found it," he explained. Harry grimaced slightly at the reminder of how rundown the cottage looked when he first bought it.

"When are they coming?"

"Not until this afternoon. I asked your little friend Dobby to prepare the meals," Remus said. "He was delighted to cook for the 'Great Harry Potter.' He's around here somewhere, probably setting up outside."

Smiling so big it threatened to split his face open, Harry impulsively threw his arms around Remus. "Thank you, Moony. This is already the best birthday I've ever had," he said quietly.

Remus hugged him back. "You're welcome, cub. But I can't take all the credit." He chuckled.

Harry grinned and switched his hug to Tonks, who squeezed him hard but affectionately. "You deserve it, little bro," she said with a smile.

"So, when do we find out what's inside all these parcels?" Tonks asked, grinning, while Dobby cheerfully cleared the breakfast dishes. Harry had been overjoyed to see the little house elf and the little guy had been bending over backwards to please him all morning.

"I have a choice?" Harry asked, amused. Remus chuckled.

"She just wants to know if she'll have to wait for the party to see what's inside," he said amusedly.

"But they're mine," Harry said, unable to stop a grin.

"Yes, but Tonks's curiosity is insatiable."

Harry thought for a moment. He guessed most of the gifts on the table were from Tonks and Remus, jointly and separately. He was also willing to bet that the soft, flat packages were all from Tonks and contained clothing items—she'd expressed distaste at his boring wardrobe multiple times, hinting that she'd buy him something better if it was the last thing she did. Harry recalled the other packages waiting in his room as well. "I'll open the ones from the guests at the party if they're already here. The rest…well, I'm just as curious as Tonks," he said with a grin. Tonks cheered and tossed him the first package. The tag had her name in the signature block. Harry eagerly ripped it open.

Out of the wrappings fell a t-shirt with the Weird Sisters logo and emblem blazoned across the front and a quote from a song on the back. Harry grinned—predictable. A camera flashed just as he unfolded the shirt, and he cast a halfhearted glare at Remus's innocent look.

The rest of the unwrapping went similarly. Harry received packages of various sweets from Honeydukes and a few muggle treats as well. There were a few new books, one on defensive magic, one on Occlumancy, and one on pranks—all from Remus, of course. A few random gadgets were also included, as well as a custom-fitted dragon hide wand holster from Tonks. There were also about a dozen new additions to his wardrobe, consisting of shirts, pants, and even robes. All were from Tonks except for one custom-made t-shirt from Remus with the Marauders'—the true Marauders'—names and animagus forms printed across the front with The Marauders across the back.

"We'll have to add Russet, too. If I'd known sooner you would have been included," Remus said, smiling, when Harry unwrapped it. Harry smiled.

"Thanks, Moony," he said. Harry then went on to unwrap a new broomstick polishing kit to replace the old, used-up one from Hermione in third year, some pranking gear and a box of what Tonks called "the prankster's survival kit." It contained all the basic prank materials such as dung bombs, itching powder, color-changing and other multi-purpose potions with various prank-worthy effects. Included was a handbook on how to use each item most effectively. Harry suspected she'd gotten at least a little advice from the Weasley twins, not to mention many of the products.

At the bottom of the stack Harry found a hard, rectangular package that was too flat to be a book. Unwrapping it, Harry discovered the communications mirror his godfather had given him before he left for his fifth year. He'd all but forgotten about it, and couldn't help but wonder for a moment how Remus had gotten his hands on it. There was a note that explained it had been updated and improved and charmed unbreakable, and that Remus had its pair. The note was signed, "Love, Padfoot and Moony."

A slight lump in his throat, Harry looked up and met Remus's eyes. He was smiling gently, and Harry couldn't help giving him another hug.

"Thank you," he said fervently.

Remus squeezed him back. "You're welcome, cub."

Tonks watched the interaction between her two favorite men with a soft smile, pleased they'd been brought together. After they separated, though, she shot a prank spell between them that caught them both. They both yelped in surprise, exchanged a glance, then took off after her, wands blazing.

At about three, the trio finally put an end to their prank war in order to prepare for Harry's party, which was due to start at four and guests could arrive at any time up to thirty minutes beforehand. After much pleading and promises, Harry finally convinced Remus and Tonks to lift the spells they'd cast on him that morning. It had been fun for the morning, but he was hardly going to show up to his own party with mottled gold skin and glitter clinging to everything. The argument that finally worked was mentioning that he could start his party un-pranked—but didn't have to end it that way.

When he was finally back to normal, Harry spent what felt like ages staring at his reflection, trying to decide whether or not to reveal his morphing abilities and if so, how. He decided against it, at least in something so obvious as his appearance. He let his hair fall long enough to brush his chin and tied it back with a strip of leather, making sure it stayed black and somewhat messy. However, Harry just couldn't resist his usual colored streak. He chose auburn this time, a milder version of Gryffindor red, as that seemed to be the color scheme of the day. He could pass it off as the remnants of a prank if anyone got too curious before he was ready to explain. He resumed the facial structure everyone would be expecting, but filled out a bit so he didn't look as skinny. He was still slender, but now it was more muscle than bone. He also refused to go back to wearing glasses, so he left his emerald eyes unobscured.

Finally satisfied, Harry left the bathroom. He retrieved the unwrapped packages from that morning and stacked them neatly on the table in the kitchen. Then he went to go wait in the front room where the fireplace was, as all his guests would be Flooing in except for the Weasley twins, who would apparate with Tonks after meeting her in their shop at Diagon Alley. Remus was already there waiting, and greeted Harry with a smile.

Only a few minutes had gone by before the familiar crack of apparition sounded from outside. A moment later two Weasley twins burst through the front door, followed by an amused Tonks.

"Harry, mate!" George exclaimed, slapping Harry on the shoulder.

"Nice place you've got," Fred added, looking around.

"You have a lot of space—"

"Do you have a Quidditch pitch?

"Gryffindor colors—good choices." Fred gave an approving nod.

"But it could do with a little more gold—"

"And a little less red. Don't you think gold—"

"In his hair would be more fetching than red?"

"What do you think, Harry?"

Harry was so taken aback at being addressed directly after such a flurry of comments that he didn't answer for several seconds. But he couldn't help being amused—he never tired of the twins' humor.

"I don't know. What do you think?" Harry said finally, turning his auburn streak gold and looking to Tonks for her approval.

"Well, it definitely stands out more," she conceded uncertainly after a moment.

"Yes or no?" Harry asked, addressing Remus and the twins next.

"Definitely," "Not fetching." "Not at all." The three answered simultaneously. The twins grinned unabashedly at agreeing with the Marauder.

"So back to red, then?" Harry asked, sharing their amusement. The four nodded and Harry immediately changed the color back, and just in time because the Floo came to life in the next instant. Out stumbled Hermione, a bit of ash smeared across her face. Fred, who was closest, caught her before she hit the ground.

"Thanks," she said, embarrassed. "Oh, I hate Floo travel. I still haven't gotten the hang of it," she moaned, straightening up. Harry chuckled at her comment and she looked in the direction of the sound. Her eyes widened. "Oh, Harry!" she exclaimed in greeting and she grabbed him in a hug. Through a faceful of bushy brown hair, Harry returned the hug enthusiastically. It took him slightly by surprise how much he'd missed his two best friends that summer. Usually he would have been with them for nearly a month by now.

After a moment she finally released him and Harry massaged his ribs with a playful grimace. "Your hugs could give Mrs. Weasley's a run for their money," he teased. She whacked him on the arm with her hand.

"Forgive me for missing my best friend this summer," she retorted, though she was smiling.

Harry was about to answer when the Floo roared to life again, this time spitting Ron out ungracefully, followed by Ginny who stepped out casually, smirking down at her older brother as he rubbed his shoulder which had bumped the edge of the hearth. Those in the sitting room already laughed at the lanky redhead's plight.

Harry, still laughing, gave Ron a hand up, helping him back to his feet. Ron cast an angry glare at the fireplace while he brushed ash and soot off his clothes. Then he reached for Harry's hand to shake in greeting, but Harry grabbed it and pulled him into a brotherly embrace.

"Nice place," Ron commented, glancing around. "Reminds me of the Burrow, except…cleaner."

Harry grinned. "Thanks, Ron. That's part of why I chose it."

"Happy Birthday, Harry," Ginny said, moving in for a hug of her own. Harry gave her a brief and friendly embrace.

"Thanks. You know, aside from Remus and Tonks, you're the first to say that out loud," he commented, smiling. Ron flushed slightly while the twins laughed jovially. Hermione stammered slightly but quickly wished him Happy Birthday as well.

Just a moment later, the fireplace burst into green flames once more. The guests exchanged looks, wondering who else was invited. Neville stumbled out of the Floo, his clothing askew and soot on his cheek, but a smile on his face.

"Hey, Harry," he greeted, clapping Harry on the shoulder.

"Happy late Birthday," Harry replied with a smile. Neville smiled back.

"Happy Birthday," he echoed, pulling a wrapped parcel from his pocket. Harry accepted it with a thanks, remembering why he'd invited the other boy. It wasn't just because Neville had become a good friend, but because Harry felt he deserved to know of the prophecy since it could have been him. He was hoping to find a moment during or immediately after the party to share it with him.

"Is that everyone?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "We decided to keep it small due to the security risk."

"Oy! No more depressing stuff," George interjected as Harry was about to explain further.

"Yeah! Let's get this party started!" Fred agreed. The others agreed wholeheartedly. Remus, filling the role of the adult even though three of the others present were of age, ushered everyone into the kitchen and out through the back door and Harry got his first glimpse of the decorations.