Slowly Harry walked up to his room. Considering how tired he was, his pace was quite rapid. Harry sat at the edge of his bed. He had just finished doing his chores, and he was exhausted. It was only 3, but he had been up since sunrise. Well, at least all the chores kept his mind off of Sirius. He so hated being at the Dursley's. He lay back on his pillow and he quickly found himself drifting off to sleep. For the first time since the Ministry, he found himself having a dreamless, or nightmare less, sleep.



*



Harry was within a house that was unfamiliar, but somehow he knew it was his own. He was sitting on an overstuffed chair, reading a book on Quidditch. Someone was walking through the halls of the house, getting closer. Harry felt no feeling of foreboding, just happiness. Ginny walked around the corner. He realized she looked to be 27 or so, and she was the picture of complete bliss. She sat down next to him on the arm of the chair, and planted a kiss on his forehead. He pulled her down off of the arm and into his lap. She put her head against his neck, and put her arms around him. He rested his head on top of her's, circled his arms around her waist, and pulled her closer. He was content just to stay there for the rest of his life and never move. His dream stayed like that, for the rest of the night; completely relaxed, complete joy, completely heaven. He wondered if this was what love felt like.



*



The next morning, he felt himself being gently shaken awake. He opened his eyes to see…



"Harry dear, you are coming with us,” Mrs. Weasley smiled.



Harry sat there stunned for a second but managed to spit out, “Is there something wrong?



“No, No, Harry, nothing like that. Dumbledore has just talked to us. You are staying with us for the rest of the summer and the summer after and as long as you want to stay. You never have to come back here.” He noticed Mrs. Weasley put a special emphasis on the word never.



“Is this a dream?” Harry asked feebly, unable to comprehend what going with the Weasley’s meant.



“No, Harry,” Mr. Weasley laughed.



Before Harry could respond, Fred and George popped in out of nowhere. “Hello Harry,” said Fred grinning madly.



Mrs. Weasley sent them one of her most deadly looks. “I thought I told you to stay home.”



“Couldn’t resist Mum,” George's smile dripping with charm. Apparently it worked since Mrs. Weasley went on without another word for them.



“We’re going to go have a discussion with you Aunt and Uncle, Hary.” Mrs. Weasley pulled Mr. Weasley away from a broken TV of Dudley’s, and started down the stairs.



“What’s going on?” Harry asked Fred and George.



“You’re coming to live with us. Dumbledore explained or uh, actually we heard him say it,” chuckled George, grinning and holding up an Extendable Ear.



“Since we are relatives of Sirius, and he died to save you,” Fred paused noticing Harry wince a little, “sorry mate, no other way to say it, the same protection that you have at this house, you have at our house, though it isn’t quite as strong, since you aren't related by blood to him. Still, when a wizard dies to save another wizard, a bond is created. You can stay with us. Dad got a little carried away and already added on an extra bedroom right next to Ron’s.”



“We were rooting for you taking Percy’s room but Mum took him back after he apologized.” George grimaced and made a loud retching noise.



“We even offered to dye your hair red and call you the ‘New and Much Improved Percy,’” Fred shook his head, “But Mum wouldn’t go for it. I don’t know why.” Both Fred and George looked puzzled at this.



“Most of us like you better. Especially Ginny,” joked George in a falsely sweet voice adding a little giggle on to the end. Harry blushed slightly, so slightly that it wasn’t noticeable.



Harry was having a hard time taking all this in. He had just bid goodbye to these people less than two weeks ago and here they were saying that he could live with them. They said they’d see him soon but he didn’t realize it would be this soon.



“I doubt you’ve had time to unpack much so gather up you things, and make sure you don’t leave anything, and we’ll portkey out of here."



Harry grabbed Hedwig, who was in her cage, his trunk, and the few belongings possessed and gathered them all together. Fred and George grabbed the trunk and Harry grabbed the bag of items and Hedwig. Quickly they were off down the stairs and were just in time to see Uncle Vernon jumping for joy, which was quite a feat for a man of his, erm... stature.



“Of course,” Mr. Weasley was saying, “You won’t be as well protected if Voldemort comes looking for you to get information about Harry, but, that’s a risk we are willing to take. Now, once again, where will Harry be?"



“In a house, outside of Paris, with his long lost cousin,” said Uncle Vernon rolling his eyes, “How come we haven’t heard of this said cousin before. If he had this long lost cousin why did he have to stay here?”



Harry opened his mouth to object but then he realized they weren’t telling them so if Voldemort did come then they couldn’t give his real whereabouts.



“All right Harry, Fred and George will go with you while you portkey, and we’ll apparate and follow,” instructed Mr. Weasley.



“Gather around you three,” Mrs. Weasley was holding out a battered old bicycle helmet, “3…2…1.”



Harry felt the now very familiar tug around his navel. Soon enough he was in the Weasley’s kitchen with Ron pulling him up from off of his knees.



“Hey Harry.” Ron said, beaming ear to ear. “Great to see you again so soon. I’ll bring you to your room.”



Just as they were going up the stairs, they reached Percy’s landing. Percy popped out of the door looking extremely put out.



”Harry, I…uh….er, I just want to say I’m sorry.” He muttered, looking as if he meant it. Harry didn’t know whether he was sorry to admit his judgement had been wrong or sorry that he had accused Harry. Either way, he was sorry, so Harry decided to forgive him. After all, he would be LIVING in the same house as him, thought Harry with an internal happy dance.



“Everyone makes mistakes,” admitted Harry, extending his hand for Percy to shake which he took gladly, “Yours was just bigger than most, but no hard feelings, I mean half the wizarding world didn’t believe me.”



“Yeah, but the rest of the Weasley family did,” said Ron, throwing Percy a look of the deepest disgust, “And THAT should have been enough for him.”



“Just because Mum, Dad, and Harry forgive you doesn’t mean you’ll get off as easily with the rest of us,” Fred, who had come up to the landing behind them, scowled.



“Yeah, and to make sure you listen better next time, maybe Fred and I should clean out your ears for you,” said George, extending the same instrument he had offered to use on Zachariahs Smith’s ears, the instrument he so obviously loved. Percy gave a small yelp and retreated to his bedroom.



“We can apparate you know!” Fred called into the room.



“I love doing that,” George grinned happily, placing the ‘Ear Cleaner’ in his pocket.



“Yeah, it’s more for threatening then for using,” Fred grinned.



“Now if you’ll excuse us, we have some inventing to do; were working on a new one right now.” George smiled.



“Yeah, Hagrid kind of inspired it. It is a biting book. Not quite as strong as the monster book so it could do no real harm but it is quite funny to pretend to be handing someone a Potions book when they really are getting a book that will snap onto their hands and tickle them until you say the, excuse the cliché “magic words.” And with that they apparated.



Harry immediately knew where they apparated to, but only because they heard Percy scream.



Fred and George both apparated out of Percy’s room and onto the landing above, yelling, “Jumpy!”



Harry and Ron laughed as they walked up the stairs to Ron’s room. Ron opened his door and Harry walked into the now familiar furnace orange room, and sat down on the floor near Ron’s bed.



“Hermione and her parents are arriving in a couple of weeks,” Ron stated, sitting down, and then getting up quickly, “Oh yeah; I’m supposed to be showing you to YOUR room.”

Harry followed Ron out of his room and went into the room just by Ron’s.



Harry’s jaw dropped. His room looked completely opposite from at Privet drive, the shelves, unlike at Privet, had pictures of him, his friends and favorite teachers from school, and the Weasley’s in frames every where. The room, unlike Ron’s was not decorated in Chudley Cannons everything, but Gryffindor colors. Harry felt a stinging sensation behind his eyes, and quickly subdued it. This was the most anyone had ever done for him.



“You like it?” Ron asked, grinning as Harry picked up a frame containing Luna, Ginny, and Neville, “We got the school ones from Colin.”



“It’s amazing! You guys did way too much! Its so, wow!” Harry said amazed, and completely at a loss for words, which was an unusual thing for him.



“We thought you’d like it. Those, with Colin’s help, are Fred and George’s touch,” Ron laughed pointing to yet another picture. Harry, upon further investigation, found that it was a picture of him and George beating the stuffing out of Malfoy the year before that replayed over and over again, and one of Fred and George flying over the swamp and away from Umbridge.



“Fred and George are putting that picture of them flying over the swamp on the box they’re selling it in. And they’re selling the one of Malfoy getting the crap beat out of him for 2 galleons just for kicks, and Malfoy’s embarrassment of course.”



“Those two there were Ginny’s touch,” said Ron with a wink, pointing at two on the window sill. Harry found that they were of Ginny and Harry in a chess match, and one of Ginny and Harry sitting next to each other in the common room. The second photo Ginny waved and smiled, as photo Harry put his arm around her. Slighly embarrassed, as he didn’t know photo’s could reflect his current thoughts, he quickly put the photo down.



“And, that one is all Mum and Dad,” said Ron pointing to a picture of all the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione, taken before the Quidditch World Cup.



“This is awesome; you guys did way too much!” Harry said smiling.



“Aaah, you should have heard Mum!” said Ron, looking disgusted. He put on a high, but caring voice that sounded just like Mrs. Weasley’s, “Oh I hope Harry likes it. Please let him like it. Are there too many pictures? Are there too few pictures? What if he doesn’t like it,” Ron finished with a laugh and a jump, because just as he started laughing there was a knock on the door.



”Oh, Harry, you’re here,” said Ginny’s familiar voice. Harry was surprised to see how much Ginny had changed in the past 2 weeks. She had gotten taller, about half an inch, if that was possible, her hair had gotten longer and now fell to just below her waist, and her face looked like it had matured at least half a year. She was really very pretty. He wondered why he hadn’t noticed her before every other guy in Hogwarts was his competition. Then he caught himself. She was his best friend’s little sister! Ron would kill him. Or, would he? He had said that he would rather, if Ginny had to date some stupid git, have that git be Harry. But there was still Fred and George to deal with. Though, they had joked about it. But had they been joking? And most importantly, Ginny didn’t fancy him anymore, as Hermione had said. To think, he might have missed his chance because he was too thick to notice her.



Ginny seemed to notice his lingering gaze because she asked him if anything was wrong.



”Oh, noting, it’s just taking some time to sink in,” Harry managed to recover. As to make the moment less awkward, George apparated in closely followed by Fred, and said dinner was ready, threw a couple of their ‘newest inventions’ at everyone, and apparated out.



“UGH,” Ron groaned, “I’m soaked. I hate those things. I must have gotten 20 shirts shrunk because of those! Where would they come up with a thing like that? They call them ‘Raging Water bombs.’”



“I think they are something like the muggle ones,’ Ginny said, wringing out her hair, “Hermione told us one time about a Water bomb fight where she had gotten soaked.” She started to wring out her shirt, but then said, “Oh, yeah, I forgot.” She whipped out her wand and preformed the drying spell. “Ministry threw out the decree banning underage magic.”



Harry and Ron preformed the drying spell as well, and Ron continued their earlier conversation.



”Fred and George have made some modifications,” Ron grimaced as his shoe made a loud squishing sound, realizing he forgot to dry his shoes, “The bombs stay over the person until the person is completely drenched, as opposed to the muggle ones which sometimes you throw and miss the person completely.”



Harry noticed just then that Ginny had been looking at him too, in much the same way he had earlier been looking at her. They both blushed and quickly looked away. Ron stood there oblivious as normal, God love him.



To change the subject, Harry asked what they had been up to and if they had heard anything new about the Order. Saying the Order caused a pang in Harry’s chest, God, he missed Sirius. Before he could hold it back a small tear escaped and rolled down his cheek. Thankfully Ron hadn’t noticed.



“Oh no,” Harry thought. Ginny had noticed. Before Harry could do anything, Ginny came over and put a comforting arm around him.



“It’ll be ok Harry,” she whispered soft enough so Ron couldn’t hear, “He died fighting against Voldemort, trying to protect the people he cared about, that’s the way he would have wanted to go. He was a good man, Harry,” she smiled, her own voice shaking a bit.



Harry thought to himself, as Ron kept talking about not knowing what was going on with the Order, and then moved on to Quidditch, “Some life he had. Parents who make the Dursley’s look like a family of Gidgets, then being locked up in Azkaban, then being locked up in his old house, and finally dying because of a stupid move on my part.”



Ginny, as if sensing his thoughts, took his hand and continued, “He had people that loved him dearly, whom he loved back. That made his life worth living. Don’t blame yourself Harry; you did exactly what anyone of us would have done. Has it truly not crossed your mind that he did exactly what you did? He went after you, because you were in danger. He loved you Harry, like a son. His love was strong for everyone he cared about. That made his life, and that made his death heroic. You should be celebrating his life, not just morning his death.” She gave him a quick hug, gave his hand a squeeze, and gave him some space.



Harry flashed a small smile at his friend. She really was a good friend. He had really noticed her after the Ministry last year. She had been so brave, and really stuck by him, not to mention taking several Death Eaters on her own. Over the remainder of the school year, he had had her at the back of his mind, always. Did he really want to possibly wreck his friendship by going out with her? No, he didn’t want to chance it, but what if, what if she was the one? After all, his parents had met at Hogwarts? Great, there went another prang again. He caught himself in time. Another thought came across his mind; did he want to catch himself? IF he started crying again, maybe he’d get another hug from Ginny. Hmm, this grief thing had an upside. He immediately regretted the thought. Of course he was horribly sad about losing Sirius, but, hey, if it could bring Ginny and him closer, Sirius would have loved that. He remembered how much Sirius had truly liked Ginny. A conversation came to mind, between Sirius and himself, they had been talking about Harry’s friends. Sirius telling them how much he was reminded of his best friends; the best of Marauders, and Lily; Ginny had reminded him so much of Lily.



He shook himself back into reality only to realize that Ron had finished talking and was looking at Harry for a reaction, while Ginny was trying to stifle a giggle, and was shaking hard from trying to restrain herself.



“Sorry Ron, what did you say? I kind of zoned out there.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


“Yeah I noticed,” said Ron with a small smile, making Harry think he wasn’t quite so dense after all, “I was started saying stuff like ‘Kreacher got hit by a rampaging dragon that Charlie let loose to wreak havoc on the wizarding world’ and ‘Hermione stopped studying to get a job and buy a flying monkey,’ and ‘Malfoy joined the magical traveling circus because he finally realized he looked like a baboon and decided to act like one and join the freak show,’ and ‘Both Malfoys are acting as human piñatas as part of You-Know-Who’s stress management program.’ I thought that one would get you for sure but you just weren’t paying attention. What were you thinking about anyway?”



“I was wondering if I left anything at Privet Drive.” Harry lied quickly, blushing a little.



“Oh. Did you?” Ron asked, his smile saying he knew that that wasn’t what he was thinking about.



“Err…no. Hey; does this staircase seem longer to you?” Harry asked suddenly noticing they had been walking for a solid 5 or so minutes.



“Damn it, not again.” Ginny said, “Another one of Fred and George’s inventions. ‘The Never Ending Staircase.” Ginny pulled out her wand, mumbled Exeo, and they found themselves at the bottom of the real staircase.



”That’s a good one,” Harry said, impressed.



“You just wait. One night you’ll be half asleep and be trying to get to the bathroom and you’ll be walking and walking. It’ll be an hour before you wake up and finally realize,” Ron said, shaking his head.



“Nah,” said a voice that made them all jump. George was walking down the stairs closely followed by Fred.



“We wouldn’t do that to you Harry, we respect you too much,” Fred said.



“Right,” said Harry highly skeptically.



“Harry, I’m surprised at your distrust!” Fred joked.



“Ron, Percy, and Ginny were the unsuspecting test subjects,” said George with a laugh, “Ron is just sulky because it happened to him 3 times. We only did it to Ginny once.”



“Just last night,” Ron said, “OH, and HA I know how to get out of it now! Ginny said it. Exeo!”



“SHH!” George whispered, “Don’t want Percy to hear you! It wouldn’t be much fun trying to keep him in there anymore!”



“So Percy is still in there?” Ginny asked pointing towards the staircase.



“Yup,” said Fred proudly.



Ginny, Harry, Ron, George, and Fred burst out laughing.



“How does he get out then?” Harry asked.



“He hits a part which we like to call a magical pothole, where he falls through, or he takes a full 3 hours to get down the stairs and not a second less, one of us let him out, or, he finds out he exit word.”



Suddenly, Percy fell out of thin air at Harry’s shoulder.



“Percy, how unkind of you to drop in,” George said bitterly, shooting daggers at him with his eyes.



Percy stood up rubbing his tush, and cowered behind Harry, the only one of the group who had accepted his apology.



”I, well, uh, yes, I seem to be hallucinating, it keeps taking me longer than usual to get down and up the staircase.”



As if Percy had ordered it, Mrs. Weasley called that dinner was getting cold in the kitchen.



They all walked into the kitchen and noticed the table groaning under loads of Mrs. Weasley’s excellent cooking. Dinner was so enjoyable. No uncomfortable conversations or strained smiles, like at the Dursley’s. After 2 weeks Harry was really tired of their looking like they forced the look of disgust off of their faces.



Too soon, Harry was in bed, hoping he wouldn’t have to get up during the night, even though he had gone to the bathroom because of Ron and Ginny’s advice. Despite his worries about the Never Ending Staircase, his continued grief about Sirius, and the weight of defeating Voldemort or dying trying, Harry was happier than he had been in a almost a year. He was where he belonged, with the people who were closest thing to his family that he had had in over 14 years. With that thought in his head he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.



Suddenly Harry sat up. He had heard something. He went slowly too the door, careful to make no noise, and quickly opened the door. No one was there. He must have been hearing things. It was then that he remembered. Ron’s room was right under the Ghoul in the attic, so his must be too. With that he decided to go back to sleep.



When Harry woke up there was light coming in the window. He got up and dressed and went down to the kitchen. He found Ginny alone there, looking pretty upset.



“Is there something wrong Ginny?” He asked, looking genuinely concerned.



“Nothing, just a memory," she sniffled, trying to gain control of herself.

Harry sat down next to her and looked her in the eyes, "Want to talk about it?” he asked, surprising even himself.



Ginny let a few more tears roll down her cheek and just looked at Harry. He figured she was trying to get her voice steady. She opened her mouth to say something and continued to cry soundlessly. Harry kept his arm around her as he waited for her to regain composure.



“I w-was just thinking about Sirius," she mumbled, looking down, "About how wonderful a person he was, caring, strong, friendly, and just... wonderful." She stopped talking and started crying harder.



Harry felt himself starting to break, and he really didn't want to cry, he wanted to be there for Ginny… he didn’t want her to see him weak. Hard as he tried though, he couldn’t control himself. He started to cry too. Ginny wrapped her arms around him and they cried together.



Harry had a quickly passing thought of how good it felt to have his Ginny in his arms.



“My Ginny? Since when is she my Ginny?” he thought. He swiped the thought away and just enjoyed the closeness.



He remembered how much Ginny cared about Sirius. He had been like another older brother. Next to Bill’s, his opinion was the one that mattered most. Harry’s tears subsided, and he sat stroking Ginny’s hair, and rocking a bit, while she cried into his neck. After about another fifteen minutes, Ginny stopped crying. She looked up at him and his breath caught in his throat. Even with red eyes, she was beautiful. She smiled a sad smile at him, and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned in, and kissed her sweetly.



“When did she become my Ginny?” Harry thought again to himself, “Just now.”

The Weasleys Find Out



“About bloody time.” They heard a semi-groggy voice say, and they quickly broke apart. A smiling, sleep-rumpled Ron was leaning against the doorframe. He pushed himself off the doorframe and walked over to the sink to get a glass of water. He then came back and sat down across from them, still smiling.



”So… you’re not angry?” Harry asked tentatively.



“Angry? No, why should I be angry? None of us ‘big brothers’ are. We actually had a bet going… and I won! If this little… shall we say… rendezvous,” he paused, waggling his eyebrows, as the two blushed mildly, “had been tomorrow, Bill would have won. But anytime between when Harry first got here and this evening would have been me. Oh, and uh, Harry, I doubt you will, but if you hurt her, you won’t just have 6 angry brothers to deal with, you’ll have Ginny, and I can’t promise you coming back alive from that.”



“I’m not worried then,” said Harry with a smile. He then grabbed Ginny’s hand.



Mrs. Weasley bustled into the kitchen.



“Morning Mrs. Weasley,” Harry said.



“Oh Harry, please call me Molly,” she said with a motherly smile.



Ron said after while, “Mum, if FINALLY happened.”



Mrs. Weasley stopped in her tracks, turned around and looked at Harry and Ginny. She was smiling but her eyes were filled with tears. She hurried around the table and gathered Harry and Ginny up in a bone-crushing hug, “I’m so happy for you two! And Harry dear, if you like, you can call me Mum.”



Harry smiled like he had never smiled before. He finally had someone to call Mum. He hugged her like he had never hugged anyone before.



After a couple of air-lacking moments, Mrs. Weasley went back to starting breakfast, a huge motherly, yet somewhat youthful smile on her face, muttering something along the lines of, “I knew it, I just knew it.”



Something seemed to have just caught up with Ginny, “You guys had a bet??? Who was in on it??” she asked indignantly.



“Oh everyone, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Hermione, Professor Lupin, and even Professor Dumbledore put a couple of galleons in on it,” Ron laughed.



“Professor Dumbledore?” Ginny asked, wide-eyed. Thinking to herself that perhaps he really was a nutter like everyone said.



“Yup, said he had known it for years. Said there was just something about the two of you. I think he said you were two of a kind really. Oh what was the word he used??? Both… fighters. Survivors. Plus, he said all Potter men go for redheaded girls, and they’re thick about it.” Ron paused for dramatic effect, and Harry and Ginny hold back snickers at Ron talking about people being thick. Ron began again, “Of course he bet it would take longer than this, I think he took the last week before school started.”



Mrs. Weasley could be heard laughing in the background. “I knew I should have bet. But for some reason I didn’t think it was fair to you two. I regret that now. Should have bet with Ron.” She said only semi-jokingly, causing all of them to laugh.



“Mum, you seem in an awfully good mood this morning. What’s going on?” Fred said when he and George entered the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley and Ron looked at them, and then to Harry and Ginny, and a look of dawning comprehension appeared on the twins’ faces, closely followed by identical grins. They walked over and clapped Harry on the back, (much harder than was strictly necessary), and each gave Ginny a kiss on the cheek.



“Couldn’t you guys have waited another week?” George asked jokingly.



“There go 6 galleons I’ll never see again,” Fred said with a sigh.



A light seemed to dawn in the twins’ eyes, as if the same thought had occurred to both of them. They started talking in quiet whispers, pulled out chairs and sat next to each other as was usual, but this time, Harry and Ginny shared a worried glance.



Harry leaned over and whispered in her ear, “Oh God, what are they planning?”



Ginny replied, “I don’t know, but I’d be ready for anything.”



“Glad I have my wand, then.” He joked, causing Ginny to giggle.



Fred and George seemed to have caught the just of what they were saying, because they looked up.



“Tut, tut, such a self absorbed little couple,” Fred said with a look of false-disdain.



“Do we think the whole we think the whole world revolves around ourselves?” George smiled with a raised eyebrow.



“So tell us what you are planning then,” Ginny retorted.



“Now, Now, sister dear, you know we don’t tell what we’re planning. It’s less fun that way,” Fred said with an all to happy smile.



“It’s for us then,” said Ginny with a sigh.



“Well, as you seem to be wanting a fun little joke to come your way, we’ll be happy to oblige.” George’s practiced angelic look fooled absolutely no one. Harry involuntarily shuddered at the thought of what the twins might find fun.



Percy walked in a little scared looking, choosing a seat between where his mother usually sat and Harry. He sat looking down at the table, looking at no one. Harry felt sorry for him, to be so alienated by his family, like back at Privet Dr.



“So Percy,” Harry began, “How’s work going.”



Percy looked up, thrilled anyone was talking to him besides his parents.

“Good, really good. I’m still working as Undersecretary to the Minister. Only now, he trusts me, so I can help Dumbledore, pass information to him. It’s always helpful to have another set of eyes and ears someplace as corrupt as the Ministry.”



Harry was happily surprised about how much Percy’s take on the Ministry had changed.



“Must be hard to have your faith in some place you love as much as the Ministry shaken.” Harry said as sympathetically as he could. He could always use another person who believed him, even if it was Percy. Hell, he was happy to have Luna last year, and look how that turned out. She really proved herself. Hopefully Percy would be the same way.



Mrs. Weasley was putting down breakfast as Mr. Weasley was walking down the stairs.



“Morning everyone!” he called. A chorus of “Morning dad/ Morning Arthur/ Morning Mr. Weasley echoed in the kitchen.”



Mr. Weasley looked at Harry, “Harry, you can call me Arthur.”



Harry grinned. “Ok.”



Fred shouted out, “Or Dad.”



Mr. Weasley smiled, “Or Da-!” He stopped short and looked around wildly. The twins, Ron, and Mrs. Weasley were all nodding.



Mr. Weasley’s smile brightened, the way only a proud father’s could. “Or, Dad." He concluded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



“HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!” chorused all his smiling friends. He had not been expecting this, he hadn’t been expecting anything. His birthdays were meant to be forgotten at the Dursley house. In front of him was a Weasley-size gathering.



Even his fellow Gryffindors were there, the whole Quidditch team, including Wood. His dorm mates; including Seamus who was looking mildly uncomfortable, were all in attendance. Batty old Mrs. Figg was sitting in a corner, playing with Crookshanks. Luna Lovegood was sitting next to Neville, Quibbler sticking out of her day-bag. Quite a few of the D.A. members had shown up, Ernie MacMillan, Hannah Abbot, and others, though he was quite glad to see that Cho and her friend were absent from the festivities. Order members were there; Tonks and Lupin, (Who looked very friendly indeed,) Moody, Hagrid, McGonagall, and, yes, Dumbledore had cleared time in his busy schedule and was now telling a joke about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar… Charlie and Bill (and obviously needing more on the spot English lessons was Fleur, standing in what Harry thought, was very close proximity for a “student-teacher” relationship), had shown up. Hermione’s parents were chatting with Molly and Arthur, or Mum and Dad, as he now so happily called them. He felt one of those now, all too familiar pangs, and thought for a minute about Sirius. How he wished he was here. He broke out of his reverie quickly, realizing it wouldn’t do to dwell on sadness when these people had worked so hard to pull this party off. When so many people who cared about him were in one room. He shook his head to clear it and after a quick scan around the room, his eyes landed on the three people who meant the very most to him. With a grin a mile wide he walked over to them, and hugged each of them in turn.



“How’d you guys do this?” Harry asked in amazement.



“Ginny planned it all, and everyone pitched in to help,” said Hermione, who had a watery smile on her face.



He turned to Ginny, unable to put into words how grateful he was that he finally had a birthday party. After years of watching Dudley go fun places and do fun things on his birthday, Harry had built up quite a bit of jealousy; but nothing Dudley had ever done even remotely compared to this.



They all walked over to a table, groaning underneath ‘mum’s’ fine cooking, and began to dig in, making sure the twins were at the other side of the room, and didn’t look anywhere close to guilty. Taking a leaf out of Moody’s book, they each sniffed their food, making sure is smelled at least relatively normal.



Hermione took out her wand and muttered a brief incantation, her food glowed lemon-yellow for a second and then returned to normal. Satisfied, she took a bite. When nothing happened after several moments, they all dug in. Too soon. Ginny and Ron’s red hair and Hermione’s brown, turned raven black, Ron and Ginny’s freckles disappeared, and their eyes turned the emerald color of Harry’s. And each had a different shaped scar on their forehead: Hermione’s in the shape of a book, Ron’s in the shape of a fork, and Ginny’s in the shape of a heart. Harry was the only one unchanged.



Fred and George waltzed over, as the room erupted in laughter, “We didn’t even think of charming the food until you all looked so skeptical. Then from across the room we did a little fancy wand-work. Harry of course, we didn’t change, since it is his birthday,” George said.



Turning to Harry, Fred said, “But as of tomorrow, you are fair game.” With a twin pair of winks, they were back across the room.



Harry looked around at his friends and laughed, the hardest he had ever laughed. Three pairs of green eyes glared at him, but each cracked in turn. Hermione first, who had conjured a mirror to look at herself, when she passed it to Ginny, she lost it completely, and then to Ron, who was looking wide eyed into, ran a finger over his newly acquired scar, and cracked up.




“If Fred and George start selling this,” whispered the Harry-Ginny quietly, so only the two other look-a-likes and Harry heard, “The whole world will look like Harry, bit of a scary thought don’t you think.” She laughed. After many assurances that the food was now ok, everyone began to eat, and slowly, the food piles decreased, eventually leaving only the plates.




“Present time!” yelled George, as he marched Harry over to the other table, which was completely covered under presents.




“This one first,” said Fred, handing him a large box, which was from Fred and George. Harry took the box gently, and opened it as if it would explode at any second, he held the box out away from his face and lifted the flap, and a shower of luridly-colored confetti came out with the noise of a bomb. Once the confetti had cleared, inside the box was a large supply of products from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.




Harry was handed the next from the pile, which was a Chudley Cannons poster from Ron. Soon there was a pile of presents at his feet including; a soccer ball from Dean, a life-time subscription to the Daily Prophet from a sheepishly laughing Seamus, a book on Defense from Hermione. A book on Dragons was what he received from Charlie, (with a note saying, “Just in case Hagrid gets any more ideas”). Socks had appeared from Dobby. Bill gave him a miniature curse deflector, which seemed no more than a little crystal chip on a thick, black string, which Bill explained it sends most curses back at the person cursing you, and only worked if you were considered a ‘good’ person, ‘Mum and Dad,’ had given him a refilling tin of home-made fudge, Moody had given him a foe glass, (CONSTANT VIGILANCE), Tonks, a new pocket sneakscope, Hagrid, some rock cakes, and a less-fanged wallet.




He was now opening something from Dumbledore, who Harry was the most shocked to be given a present from. The heavy parcel sat on his lap as he gingerly opened the paper. Inside was, he couldn’t believe it, a pensieve. Harry looked up at Dumbledore, and the words barely came out, “Thank You.” Dumbledore nodded his reply, his eyes sparkling behind those half-moon spectacles, and gently placed the words, “You are most welcome,” in his head. Harry sat for a moment, looking at the pensieve, but eventually had to return to opening the rest of his gifts. Hannah Abbot had given him a white gold (because it is purest and offers the most protection), bracelet, which glowed blue when danger was near, Ernie, of course, another book on defense. Luna gave him a framed newspaper clipping, stating that Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban. He shook his head at her oddness, but appreciated the sentiment behind it. On the back of the frame was in inscription, “Even in the worst of times, some good comes.” Harry smiled a bit, and took the last present off the table, from Neville, he received a remembrall. And though Harry said thank you many, many times, it didn’t seem sufficient for him.



Ginny came out carrying the cake, and everyone started a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”
He cut into the delicious strawberry cake, and served everyone.



Once all had a slice, Lupin pulled him aside and gave Harry his gift; a photo album of Sirius and his parents. Lupin seemed to not know what to say, so he just gave Harry a hug, and simply stated, “Your parents were good people, Sirius was a good person,” his voice cracked a bit, “And they would all be as proud of you as I am. If you ever need anything Harry, don’t hesitate to ask.” Lupin hugged Harry, and went back to the party. Harry sat outside for a moment, fighting with the lump in his throat. He had it just about beat when Ginny came out.



“Hey,” she said, sitting down next to him. She had a small wrapped package in her hands, and was smiling.



“Hey,” Harry croaked back. She put her arm around his shoulder and brought his head down to hers. They sat in companionable silence for a while, until Ginny spoke.



”I wanted to give you this without everyone seeing.” She handed him the package, which he slowly opened. Inside was a ring, silver, with a clear stone in it. Harry smiled, and slipped it onto his left ring finger.



Ginny lifted up her hand to reveal a matching one, “They were my grandparents. They’re mood rings. I can tell what you’re feeling and you can tell what I’m feeling just by looking at them. They only work for people who really care about each other.” She concluded.



Harry looked down at his, purple-blue, the word anxious floated over his mind. He realized she must be nervous about giving this to him. “It’s really wonderful Ginny,” he smiled.



She turned her head up to him and smiled back, “I’m glad you like it.”


He looked down at her and slowly moved his head down to hers. He caught her lips with his and kissed her. He didn’t need a mood ring to tell what she was feeling, and he was sure she didn’t either.




They broke apart and Harry put his arms around her. Hermione and Ron came out the back door and settled on the step next to Harry and Ginny. Ron slipped his arm around Hermione’s waist, and Hermione clasped Ginny’s hand. They all knew the challenges they would have to face when the time came. Whatever challenges they included, the now quartet, was confident they could meet them together.


A/n- The last chapter, hope you like it! Please review and tell me what you thought of my story! Thank you to all who have reviewed, it’s what kept me going with this story.