A massive Thank You to all of my brilliant supporters, with a shout-out to Arthur Andreesen, Tasty Muffin, Lloyd Bunyan, Joe Foster, Silver1119, Joel miller, sam, Jimmy Adams, Jo Daviz, LegendaryWasabi, Optimum Prime and MareBear. I would really struggle to keep this up without the support you guys give me.

Chapter 8

Check out my best laid plans after dark for the nsfw scean that is supposed to start this chapter

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If they were at Grimmauld, Hermione would have busied herself with trying to fix Harry a nice birthday breakfast. However, as they were at the Hogsmeade house where the kitchen was completely inaccessible to her, the best she could do was ask Sassy to prepare what she had in mind. Hermione also made sure that she had a potion ready for Fleur. She and Fleur had decided that Fleur deserved the morning alone with Harry, but Hermione was sure Fleur was underestimating just how uncomfortable it would be to spend half the day running around immediately after having sex with Harry for the first time. Hermione had been sore enough the next day, and she and Harry hadn't done anything strenuous that day. Fleur was going to be run off her feet by her boss who was trying to squeeze as much of a day's work into the shorter shift as possible. That's why Hermione had sent Sassy to the apothecary for a vile of maiden's relief. The potion would numb any pain Fleur would feel today and would heal any damage within a few hours.

Daphne and Tracey were the first to join her in the family room. They of course asked about Harry, and Hermione told them he would be down soon. Hermione busied herself seeing out all the mail Harry had gotten this year. With the mail ward on him finally down, he had received about a hundred and fifty letters this morning. Most of them Hermione was sure were just birthday wishes, but considering some of the mail Harry had received in the past she wouldn't be surprised to find some more disturbing inclusions among them. Dobby had already scanned them all for magic, and any that had any trace of magic on them were sent to the Ministry. The D.M.L.E. apparently had a sub-department for cursed mail. It very rarely got a conviction, but it did at least do a fairly decent job of checking and disposing of cursed mail. The little elf wasn't going to take any chances that a Death Eater was going to slip a curse in with Harry's birthday mail.

Hermione went through the letters and sorted them into two piles, one much smaller than the other. The smaller pile was reserved for letters Hermione recognised as being from people Harry actually knew: the Weasleys, Hannah, Susan, Luna, Neville, Harry's Quidditch teammates, that sort of thing. The rest were a mix of fan mail and potentially less wholesome letters. Hermione set the known ones on the table where they were going to have breakfast, and the rest she set to the side for Harry to open later.

It wasn't long after that that a smiling and giggling Harry and Fleur came running down the stairs, Fleur shooting Harry coquettish looks over her shoulder as she ran just ahead of him, enticing him to chase her. Fleur didn't put up an effort to stop Harry catching her, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her off her feet as she laughed and kicked her feet wild in the air.

"Do you give?" Harry asked playfully.

"Never!" Fleur laughed back.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked suggestively.

"Do your worst," Fleur shot back.

"You asked for it," Harry said, then slipped one of his hands lower and started to tickle the sexy French blonde.

"No… no… No fair… that's… cheating," Fleur got out between laughs.

"Do you give up?" Harry asked.

"Yes… Yes I surrender!" Fleur called out, and Harry immediately stopped tickling her and just held onto her until she had her feet firmly on the floor once more before letting her go.

Fleur took a second to catch her breath, then turned and wrapped her arms behind Harry's neck, leaned in, and started kissing him. Hermione couldn't help but smile as she watched the two of them. True, she would be lying to herself if she said she didn't feel a pang of envy at the romantic little scene, but she wasn't jealous of their closeness, she just wished she was involved as well. However, she had had alone time with both Fleur and Harry, and this was the first opportunity the two had to have some time between just the two of them. She was mostly happy at the two of them having such a good morning.

"I don't mean to be a killjoy, but Fleur you need to leave in ten minutes. If you want to have something to eat before you leave, then you're gonna have to put your boytoy down," Tracey said, knowing Fleur's schedule and how much Gringotts was a sticker for keeping to time. Fleur pouted, but knowing that Tracey was right she reluctantly broke the kiss and pulled Harry to sit between her and Hermione at the breakfast table.

"Morning love," Both of them said as they sandwiched Hermione between them and each kissed her on a cheek simultaneously before they sat down. Fleur immediately started pulling a few crumpets onto the plate that was waiting for her. It was true that Fleur preferred French pastries for breakfast, but as everyone liked different things they couldn't have them on the table every morning, and Fleur had grown rather fond of the British mini breads that were served dripping in butter and topped with jam.

While Fleur was rushing to make sure she ate before she needed to leave, Harry was opening his mail. The Weasley twins had sent him a letter wishing him a happy birthday and inviting him to stop by their new store. Ron sent him a note that had only two lines wishing him a happy birthday, but considering how Ron had to be feeling over his sister, that he even remembered to send Harry a note was a miracle. He also received letters from everyone else that he had started teaching the Patronus to before it had morphed into a full-on combat training group. From reading between the lines, every single one of them except the twins wanted to continue with the lessons in September. They all knew Voldemort wasn't dead, and Harry was the one who had seriously hurt the boogeyman that had haunted their entire lives, so they wanted to learn from him. Considering the state of Magical Britain, he was more than happy to teach them.

Neville's letter also contains a thanks from the fellow Gryffindor that was directed at all of them for sending him letters the day before for his birthday. Harry got letters from the three Gryffindor chasers, all three wishing him a happy birthday. Alicia and Angelina said they had both signed to the Holyhead Harpies' under twenty-one reserve squad, and Katie said she was looking forward to seeing him in September.

While Harry was reading his mail Fleur finished her breakfast, and after giving both Harry and Hermione a kiss she ran down stairs to the Floo fire to get to work.

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Most of Harry's morning was taken up by visitors. Sirius, Remus, and Tonks were first, with Tonks and Remus trying to convince everyone that it was a coincidence that they arrived at the same time. Dan and Emma were both taking a half day at the surgery, so Harry wouldn't see them until that afternoon. The biggest surprise was when Harry found Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel knocking on his front door. "Oh, hi, come on in," Harry invited them, and they were soon all sipping coffee. The Flamels, being French, preferred it to tea, and with Fleur living there now there was plenty of French roast on hand.

"Well Mr. Potter-" Nicolas Flamel started.

Harry interrupted him. "Please call me Harry."

"And please call me Nicholas. Harry, please accept our congratulations on your sixteenth birthday. This is for you." He pulled a bristly wrapped package from a pocket that looked way too small to hold the present. "It's a copy of some of my and my wife's research notes on the subject of Ancient Runes, translated into English of course. Runes were never a main focus of mine, Alchemy was always what held my interest, but you do need to be more than passing in ability with Runes to be able to do higher order Alchemy, so over the centuries I have learnt quite a bit. Nothing compared to my beautiful wife though. That book doesn't have any information you can't learn from other places, but I believe it is definitely enough to interest someone of your talents."

"Wow… thank you." The words seemed hollow to Harry, they were way too lacking to express the level of gratitude he felt. This was a collection of knowledge from one of the biggest minds of the wizarding world since Merlin himself. He carefully pulled back the bright wrapping paper and revealed the large leather bound tome, and just stared in awe at the book. "What my betrothed means to say is thank you, he absolutely loves it, and greatly appreciates you thinking of him. Unfortunately, it's going to take a minute or two for his brain to restart," joked Hermione.

"It's no worry dear. This one was exactly the same until he hit his first century. I just take it as proof that we chose well," Perenelle said with a smile.

It took a few minutes for Harry to get his head back on straight, and once he had the conversation had already moved on. "So were you able to get your Stone back from the Chief Warlock?" Hermione was asking.

"Not yet. By the time I got to meet with him, his beard was white again and he insisted that the Stone had been destroyed. The kid even thought he could fool me by using muggle measures to bleach his hair rather than a glamour he knew I'd be able to sense the magic of. Like I don't know about bleach, it's only been around for 200 years. Did he think I spent that entire time living in a cage?" Nicolas sounded annoyed as he spoke.

"He probably credits you with the same predictability he has, namely that the mundanes and the mundane world are unimportant," said his wife.

"I thought Dumbledore supported first generation witches and wizards?" asked Harry.

"Oh he does, he believes that people with magic are people with magic. However he also believes deep down that magical people are better than mundane. Look at his record from his time as headmaster. How many students come out of that school or even the outdated Muggle Studies class with a respect for the mundane world? A world with over six billion people who can instantly communicate all over the world, talking back and forth in real time. A world where they have been to the moon and sent information and image-collecting machines out to the extremes of our solar system. They are currently building a space station they plan to launch in the next few years. And yet, most British wizards can't produce electricity. That is Dumbledore's legacy as headmaster. Dumbledore views the mundane population as little more than interesting pets, an amusement and one that needs protection and guidance, not unlike wild badgers."

That was a disturbing thought to the other musicals percent, and all the more impactful because they couldn't think of anything that could counter the argument. "That's not to say Dumbledore believes that of himself. If you were to ask him and actually get a straight answer, he would probably say it was a belief he had as a young man that he has grown out of. It's a failing of himself that he is blind to, because when he actively thinks about it he makes the right choices and says the right words. It's the unconscious nudge it has on his actions when it isn't at the forefront of his mind that has led to this situation," Perenelle clarified for everyone.

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That afternoon, once Fleur, Dan, and Emma were all home from work and Remus and Tonks met everyone at Grimmauld Place, they all met up to celebrate. First, everyone gave Harry the presents they had gotten, then they all went to Thorpe Park, which was a mix between a water park and a theme park that had just added a new ride in time for that summer. It was completely mundane, so the chances that they would be spotted by any magicals was almost none. It also gave all the girls another opportunity to show off the new swimsuits they had gotten for going to the beach.

Dan had apparently already driven Sirius to the Surrey park a few days ago, and Sirius had then Side-Along Apparated Fleur, Tonks, and Remus over there in the few days since. That meant there were four adults to side along the entire group. They arrived at the park a little after two o'clock, their swimming clothes already on under their clothes. Due to the midsummer heat, everyone immediately made their way to the water attractions. Dan was actually the first to be drawn to the large water slides with a boat ride down, pulling Emma along with him. Everyone stayed in the water areas for about two hours, until it started to cool and the heat was less oppressive. After that, everyone changed into more normal clothes and went to look at the roller coasters and other attractions that weren't so wet.

They had a lot of fun on the various roller coasters and rides that spin you at speeds high enough to simulate G forces. Daphne was a little wary at first as she knew there was no magic keeping them safe, but once being assured by Tracey that it was safe the Slytherin soon got over her nerves and tried her first ride. Fleur had needed to help Daphne with her hair after as the winds had messed up Daphne's long hair during the ride. They left the park around seven, and while it was straight home after that, it was only so everyone could get changed for their dinner reservations, as the clothes that are great for running around an amusement park weren't really suitable for a nice restaurant.

The restaurant was a nice upscale steakhouse that they ended up taxiing to and from. This allowed the adults to have a drink, as Apparating drunk was just as dangerous as driving drunk and they didn't want to risk the Knight Bus and possibly have word get back to the wrong people. It was annoying that they had to be so cautious even for something as simple as going out to dinner, but unfortunately there was no way the Death Eaters would pass up an opportunity to take a shot at Harry or any of his family after what Harry had done to Voldemort at the end of last year.

Over dinner, they all talked about the future and how they were going to move forward. Some of it was pretty small stuff, like what N.E.W.T. exams that those still in school intended to take. Other discussion points were pretty big; Hermione was surprised to learn that her parents were considering selling their house to Sirius, the premise being that if Sirius owned the property it could be warded as a wizarding property and then potentially rented out to either a mundane or a magical family. That way it wasn't an asset that just sat there empty while the Grangers paid property tax without getting anything from it. The renters would also then cover the cost of the tax and insurance, while Sirius got the rest to cover the cost of housing the Grangers long term. Once all the stuff with the war was over, Sirius would sell the Grangers their house back for the same money he paid for it. If everything worked out how they hoped, then the Grangers would be better off not having to pay bills on their house without having to lose the asset in the long term, and Sirius would make a little money from it.

The part that surprised no one after how they had been acting was Tonks and Remus saying they were giving a relationship a shot. Remus was reluctant, but he had to admit that being a Hogwarts professor was a responsible job and the effects of Professor McGonagall over the last year had seen an overall reduction in how much hate was directed at werewolves. Unfortunately, it had concentrated the remaining hate against the lycanthropic students in the school, but a number of werewolves had been able to get a real job again after it was proved that even children could manage the condition with minimal consideration. This meant that Remus's worrying about how his status would reflect on Tonks was turning into a non issue.

Desert was a mountain of chocolate, whipped cream, and butterscotch in the form of a cake with sixteen candles on it. They all proceeded to good-naturedly embarrass Harry with a rendition of Happy Birthday at full volume in the middle of the restaurant. After gorging themselves on cake, they all taxied back to Grimmauld Place so that the magicals who didn't live there could Floo home. Harry was the last to Floo away, because Sirius, Dan, and Emma all pulled him aside to wish him one last happy birthday.

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Harry was just climbing into bed when the door to his on-suite bathroom opened and Hermione and Fleur were both standing there in brand new sets of incredibly sexy sleepwear. The two of them practically stalked over to Harry, each wearing a promising smile on their faces. "Happy birthday Harry," they said in unison as they climbed into the bed either side of him. Happy was an understatement for how Harry felt that night.