It seemed to be the hottest day of the summer in Surrey. The sunlight was sweltering, there was no breeze and barely any clouds in the sky. The heat had forced the residents of Privet Drive inside their houses, where they were cooling themselves with air conditioners. The street was almost deserted except for two cloaked figures standing in front of house number four. Their faces were masked, and they were holding long sticks in their hands. They appeared to be looking at one particular window of the house.

Harry Potter slammed his trunk shut, having finally completed his packing. He’d received a letter from the Order of the Phoenix, informing him that they would come to fetch him at exactly five p.m. He went to the window and cursed when he saw the two Death Eaters still keeping watch on the house. He’d no idea how the Order members would get into the house without being spotted. He knew they could take care of two Death Eaters but things would certainly get worse if they summoned their comrades.

He went over to the desk and picked up the copy of the Daily Prophet, which had the news about the latest Death Eater attack, crumpled it up and tossed it into the bin. He remembered how desperate he’d been for news back in the summer of his fifth year at Hogwarts but now he didn’t have the heart to read about how Voldemort was terrorizing the wizarding world.

It was obvious that Voldemort was quickly taking over the wizarding world. There were Death Eater and Dementor attacks almost daily and the Ministry of Magic wasn’t helping much by insisting it was still in control. He’d received many letters from Rufus Scrimgeour, the Minister for Magic, asking him to reveal what he was planning to do about Voldemort but he’d never replied back. The Ministry had only made things worse ever since Voldemort had returned.

It’d been another long and lonely summer at Privet Drive, he’d no idea how he’d survived the last three and a half weeks. The Dursleys had been almost decent to him this summer; Aunt Petunia had always called him down for food, Dudley had been almost friendly to him (well, as friendly as Dudley could be) and Uncle Vernon had completely ignored him but he wasn’t complaining. Despite their improved attitudes, he had preferred to stay in his room. He was always miserable living with the Dursleys. He had only returned because he’d promised Professor Dumbledore he would do it. Mrs. Weasley had insisted that Harry should accompany her straight to the Burrow but he’d refused. He had told her he just couldn’t break his promise to Dumbledore …

Dumbledore

He was once again assailed by memories of that terrible night in the cave and everything that had transpired after it. The thing which hurt him the most was that Dumbledore had drunk the potion for nothing but a fake locket and he’d ended up losing his life because of it. He wished they’d known that it wasn’t the real Horcrux. Well, he wished for countless things to be different in his life…

He felt angry with Dumbledore for trusting Severus Snape so blindly even though he’d always preferred the Dark Arts. He’d never trusted Snape but Dumbledore would never hear a word against that traitor. Snape had told Voldemort about the prophecy, for goodness’ sake, and yet Dumbledore had still trusted him. Why? He was frustrated that he didn’t know all the facts.

He’d spent the last whole month thinking about the seemingly impossible task that his former Headmaster had left him. He often found himself muttering “the locket … the cup … the snake … something of Gryffindor’s or Ravenclaws� even though it didn’t help him with anything. He’d no idea where to find any of the Horcruxes and wasn’t sure whether he could do it without Dumbledore.

Harry rubbed his eyes and glanced impatiently at his watch. He still had half an hour to wait for the Order members to come and take him to the Burrow. He was elated that he was never coming back to Privet Drive and even the last thirty minutes felt like too much. He suddenly remembered that Lupin had mentioned something about taking the Dursleys into hiding, although he hadn’t revealed more about that. He was also slightly worried about the Dursleys safety, knowing the Death Eaters would probably storm the house as soon as his mother’s protection was lifted. He didn’t care much about the Dursleys but he’d never wanted them dead. It wouldn’t be easy to convince Uncle Vernon, though.

He snapped out of his reverie as he heard Hedwig hooting loudly. The snowy white owl was looking reproachfully at him.

‘Oh, sorry Hedwig,’ said Harry, remembering that he’d forgotten to give Hedwig her owl treats. ‘You must want your owl treats.’

He slipped some owl treats into Hedwig’s cage. She stopped hooting at once and nipped his finger affectionately before getting started on the owl treats.

Harry sat on his bed, waiting impatiently for the Order members to arrive quickly. His thoughts drifted towards Ginny once more. He always relived the agony of breaking up with her whenever he thought of her but he couldn’t help it. It’d been almost as painful as Dumbledore’s death. The few weeks he’d spent with her had probably been the happiest of his life. He’d never known that he could have so much in life before they’d started going out. No matter how painful it was, he knew he’d done the right thing. He’d to protect her. He was glad she’d understood and not protested too much.

He lay back on his bed, thinking about Ginny and the time seemed to pass away quickly. He jumped up when he realized that the Order members would be arriving within five minutes. He stepped out the room and ran downstairs as fast as he could. He saw Aunt Petunia watching him from the kitchen as he stopped before the front door.

‘Going, are you, Potter?’

Uncle Vernon came out of the living room, closely followed by Dudley. He’d a wide smile on his face. Harry knew he was bursting with joy because he’d never seen his uncle smile like that before.

‘Yes, I can hardly wait,’ said Harry, trying to stop the grin from spreading across his face. He knew it would only infuriate his uncle, he would be angry enough when wizards would enter his house.

Harry noticed Dudley looking intently at him from behind his father. He’d grown even larger over the last year and was almost a head taller than Harry. Harry glanced out the window, expecting to see the two Death Eaters and was surprised when he saw that the street was completely deserted.

He jumped as the doorbell rang suddenly.

‘There’s no one out there, Potter,’ said Uncle Vernon, looking fearful and stepping back from the front door.

‘They must be invisible,’ guessed Harry as if it was the most normal thing in the world. .

‘I-Invisible?’ his uncle stuttered.

The doorbell rang once again and Harry quickly opened the door.

‘You must always remember constant vigilance, Potter,’ said Mad-Eye Moody’s familiar voice. ‘You should’ve asked who it was – we could easily have been Death Eaters.’

‘I thought they couldn’t harm me in this house,’ said Harry, grinning. ‘Are all of you inside?’

‘Yes, close the door,’ replied Mad-Eye.

Harry closed the door at once. Mad-Eye, Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared before them, causing Uncle Vernon to gasp.

‘Hello Moody, Kingsley, Professor Lupin,’ greeted Harry, shaking hands.

‘Hello Harry,’ said Remus, who was looking younger and much happier than the last time Harry had seen him. ‘You should call me Remus. I’m not your teacher anymore.’

’So what happened to the Death Eaters?’ asked Harry.

‘We’ll explain after we sit down somewhere,’ said Mad-Eye, stomping towards the living room. ‘You three come with us – we’ve to discuss something,’ he said to the Dursleys.

Dudley backed away while Aunt Petunia exchanged an anxious look with her husband. Harry followed the Order members into the living room and they settled down on the couch, waiting for the Dursleys to join them.

’So what did you to do the Death Eaters?’ asked Harry again.

‘We ambushed them from behind,’ replied Remus, leaning back on the couch. ‘They never suspected we would in invisible. Arthur was also here but he’d to take the Death Eaters to the Ministry.’

Uncle Vernon entered, his face alarmingly red, and was closely followed by his wife and son.

‘No need to be nervous,’ snarled Mad-Eye, his magical eye whizzing in the Dursleys’ direction. ‘We’re not here to harm you.’

Dudley clung on to his mother’s arm, his expression suggesting he wanted to bolt in the other direction.

‘Why are you sitting over here?’ demanded Uncle Vernon. ‘I thought you came here to get Potter out of here!’

‘We’re not exactly enjoying being here,’ growled Mad-Eye.

‘We’ve to discuss something with you three before we can leave,’ said Kingsley in his deep voice. ‘The protection on this house would be lifted on Harry’s seventeenth birthday. We believe you three would be in danger if that happened.’

Aunt Petunia went pale, Dudley whimpered and Uncle Vernon’s face turned even redder.

‘And why would we be in danger?’ he asked.

‘Well, You-Know-Who generally likes killing Muggles like you,’ said Mad-Eye. ‘He’ll want to kill the three of you even more as you’re Potter’s relatives.’

Harry had a feeling Mad-Eye was enjoying intimidating the Dursleys.

‘Who’s this You-Know-Who?’ asked Uncle Vernon, his voice shaking with fear.

‘The madman who’s terrorizing Great Britain at the moment,’ replied Mad-Eye, rolling his normal eye. ‘Surely you Muggles have noticed that something’s going on?’

Dudley whimpered once again and clutched his mother’s arm even tighter. Harry was surprised that his aunt’s frail arm hadn’t cracked from the pressure of Dudley’s huge hand.

‘H-He’s the one who k-killed L-Lily?’ stuttered Aunt Petunia, looking absolutely terrified.

‘Yeah, that’s him,’ nodded Mad-Eye.

‘You mean to say that everything which is happening in Britain is because of this You-Know-Who person?’ asked Uncle Vernon, switching on the television. A news reporter was talking rapidly about something, standing in front of a collapsed building. Ambulance sirens were blaring behind the reporter and rescue workers were shifting through the rubble, searching for bodies.

‘Oh yeah, they got that building only yesterday,’ said Mad-Eye casually, looking interestedly at the Muggle contraption.

‘… local police are saying that terrorist organizations have done this horrific attack …’ the reporter was saying.

‘That attack was done by no Muggle terrorists,’ said Kingsley. ‘Although, I suppose You-Know-Who could be called a wizard terrorist.’

‘What about that collapsed bridge three days ago?’ asked Uncle Vernon, switching to the next channel, which was also reporting about the same attack.

‘All You-Know-Who’s work,’ said Lupin grimly. ‘That attack was led by Bellatrix Lestrange.’

Aunt Petunia looked like she was ready to faint while Dudley was visibly shivering from fright. Uncle Vernon was trying to keep up a brave face but Harry knew he was just as scared.

‘Why are those freaks attacking us, anyway?’ asked Uncle Vernon. ‘What’ve ever done to him?’

‘Nothing, actually,’ said Mad-Eye. ‘Nobody can change You-Know-Who’s mind, though, he loves killing Muggles. It’s like his favorite sport.’

Remus and Kingsley shot warning looks at Mad-Eye. The old Auror was scaring the Dursleys to death. Harry would’ve laughed normally to see his relatives cowering like this if things had been less serious.

‘T-This h-happened b-before, d-didn’t it?’ stuttered Aunt Petunia, reminding Harry of Professor Quirrell.

‘Yes, about seventeen years ago,’ said Lupin darkly. ‘We’re trying everything we can to protect innocent people but it’s not enough.’

‘It feels like things will get even worse this time,’ said Mad-Eye, taking a liberal draught from his flask.

‘So will they attack us?’ asked Uncle Vernon as if hoping the three wizards would deny it.

‘I would bet my house on it,’ said Mad-Eye. ‘They’ll be able to attack you any time and it’s up to us to protect you.’

‘How’re you gonna protect us?’

‘We’ll take you into hiding,’ said Remus. ‘You’ll have to accompany us to the house where we’re taking Harry.’

Harry sat up straighter in surprise. The Dursleys were going to the Burrow? He just couldn’t imagine the Dursleys and Weasleys living together.

‘Absolutely not!’ rumbled Uncle Vernon, the vein in his temple throbbing dangerously. ‘I’ll not allow my family to be taken to live with such abnormal people.’

‘You’re lucky we’re offering you any protection at all!’ snarled Mad-Eye, fingering his wand threateningly. ‘You don’t even deserve it after everything that you’ve done to Potter!’

‘I’m not going to any of your houses!’ said Uncle Vernon, not backing down, his face turning purple. ‘I’ve a job here and Dudley has to go to school.’

‘All right, you can stay here as you don’t seem to value your lives,’ said Mad-Eye indifferently, getting up and limping towards the door. ‘I don’t want to waste anymore time here.’

Remus shook his head at Mad-Eye. ‘We’re not leaving until we ensure their safety.’

‘They don’t want protection,’ argued Mad-Eye, the magical eye whizzing furiously. ‘I can’t I say I’m bothered by that.’

Dudley opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. He seemed to be struggling to come up with the right words and kept glancing nervously at his father.

‘Yes, Dudley, do you want to say something?’ asked Remus kindly. Mad-Eye stopped to hear what Dudley had to say.

‘I – er – I want p-protection,’ stammered Dudley, while Aunt Petunia nodded fervently.

‘I’m glad you two finally came to your senses,’ said Mad-Eye, looking relieved.

‘We aren’t going anywhere!’ insisted Uncle Vernon, his face turning an even deeper shade of purple.

Mad-Eye groaned in frustration while Harry exchanged an exasperated look with Kingsley. Remus seemed to be deep in thought.

‘Maybe you can stay here,’ said Remus thoughtfully. ‘The Weasleys wouldn’t allow you into your house anyway. One of us can stay here for your protection and get you out of here if too many Death Eaters arrive on the scene.’

Harry thought that it was a brilliant idea but Uncle Vernon didn’t seem to think so.

‘One of you is going to stay here with us?’ he cried. ‘I was so happy that we were finally getting rid of Potter!’

‘You’re being ridiculous!’ snapped Harry, jumping up from the couch, having had enough. ‘You can’t even imagine how horrible Voldemort can be. He’ll torture you and make you beg for death! You’re going to be helpless without the Order’s protection!’

Uncle Vernon deflated and his anger was replaced by fear.

‘V-Vernon, this might just work,’ said Aunt Petunia, clutching his hand. ‘We need protection. It won’t be too bad having one of them stay here. At least we won’t need to go to those Weasleys’ place.’

‘All right,’ said Uncle Vernon, his voice barely above a whisper.

Harry, Remus, Kingsley and Mad-Eye heaved a collective sigh of relief.

‘It’s a good idea, Remus,’ said Mad-Eye appreciatively. ‘But who’ll want to stay with them?’

‘I think we can each come here in turns,’ said Remus. ‘Kingsley, could you stay here for a bit? We’ll send Dedalus later, he doesn’t mind living with Muggles.’

Kingsley didn’t seem to like the idea much but he nodded reluctantly.

‘Let’s get your trunk, Harry,’ said Remus, getting off the couch.

‘Follow me,’ said Harry, leading Remus out the living room and up to his room. Hedwig hooted happily as they entered.

‘I’ll just transport this magically to the Burrow,’ said Remus, walking over to the trunk and pointing his wand at it. ‘Evanesca!’

Harry opened Hedwig’s cage and she flew out excitedly.

‘Hedwig, go to the Burrow,’ Harry told her as she fluttered around. ‘You know where Ron lives, right?’

Hedwig appeared to nod before flying out the window and soaring off into the darkening sky.

‘Your uncle is one stubborn man,’ said Remus, as he magically transported the cage as well.

‘Tell me about it,’ said Harry wryly, running his hand through his hair. ‘Did you see the color of his face?’

‘It was alarming,’ chuckled Remus, looking out the window. ‘It’s probably a good thing they didn’t go to the Burrow. Molly might’ve roasted them alive for the way they treated you.’

‘I would’ve enjoyed that,’ said Harry, grinning.

‘Let’s go, everyone must be getting worried,’ said Remus, heading out of the room. Harry took one last look at his bedroom and followed Remus downstairs. Mad-Eye, Kingsley and the Dursleys were standing in the hallway.

‘Well, goodbye,’ he said to the three Dursleys, eager to leave. ‘I’m leaving and will never come here again.’

Aunt Petunia had a rather guilty expression on her face while Dudley shifted his feet awkwardly. Uncle Vernon merely glared at him.

‘G-Goodbye, Potter,’ squeaked Aunt Petunia, and then she rushed into the kitchen. Harry wondered whether she was feeling guilty for the way her family had treated him for the first time in living memory.

‘Goodbye,’ barked Uncle Vernon, also heading to the kitchen. ‘And good riddance,’ Harry heard him mutter under his breath.

Harry was slightly amused by the way Uncle Vernon’s good mood had disappeared.

‘Goodbye, Harry,’ croaked Dudley, wringing his hands.

‘Bye,’ said Harry.

Dudley looked like was struggling for words once more. He really was one of the slowest-witted people he’d met in his life. Well, Crabbe and Goyle were just as thick.

‘Are we going to be safe?’ he finally asked, sounding more confident in his father’s absence.

‘The Order members will protect you,’ replied Harry dispassionately. ‘They’re a good bunch of people.’

‘That we are,’ muttered Mad-Eye.

‘I-Is he t-trying to kill you?’ stammered Dudley.

‘Yeah, he’s been trying to do that ever since I was born,’ said Harry grimly, taken-aback by Dudley’s question. Why did Dudley sound like he was sincerely worried about his wellbeing? He was surely imagining things.

‘Stop talking with him, Dudley!’ growled Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. ‘Let him leave already!’

‘He should really be taught a lesson,’ said Mad-Eye, taking out his wand. ‘You should let me jinx him, Potter.’

‘It’s all right,’ said Harry as Dudley paled considerably.

‘Bye,’ he said before hurrying into the kitchen.

‘Sorry you’ve to stay with them, Kingsley,’ said Mad-Eye, stowing his wand into his cloak.

‘I’ve been protecting the Muggle Prime Minister for over a year,’ said Kingsley, shrugging. ‘I’ve enough experience with Muggles.’

‘Time for me to go to the Burrow,’ said Mad-Eye, quickly stomping to the front door. He examined the street with his magical eye before opening the door. He exited the house and Harry heard a cracking noise after a few moments. He knew the noise meant that the old Auror had just Disapparated.

Remus opened the door of the cupboard under the stairs, where Harry had slept for almost ten years.

‘Did they make you sleep here?’ he asked suspiciously.

‘Er – yeah,’ mumbled Harry, feeling awkward.

‘This is outrageous!’ exclaimed Kingsley.

‘I agree with Moody now,’ said Remus, fingering his wand. ‘They deserve to be punished.’

‘Never mind them,’ said Harry. ‘I’m never coming back, anyway.’

He scowled and turned away from the cupboard, remembering how the Dursleys had used to lock him inside. He hadn’t wanted the others to find out as he didn’t want them to feel sorry for him.

Harry glanced around the house, not knowing how he was supposed to feel. He was definitely happy about leaving forever but he also felt strange. He’d lived a huge part of his life in Privet Drive and it’d some unforgettable memories like Dumbledore coming to visit and Aunt Marge blowing up. He knew he was trying to be positive about it even though he’d always been miserable here. He found it hard to believe that he would never have another miserable summer here.

‘Time to go,’ said Remus, still frowning. ‘I believe you have experienced Side-Along-Apparition before?’

‘Oh yeah, I did it with Professor Dumbledore,’ said Harry, his heart aching at the mention of his departed mentor.

Remus walked out the front door and Harry quickly followed. Just as he was closing the door behind him, he saw Dudley and Aunt Petunia staring in his direction from the doorway of the living room. He closed the door and joined Remus on the street.

‘Take my arm, Harry,’ said Remus. ‘It’s time to take you away from this miserable place once and for all.’

Harry smiled slightly as Remus turned on the spot. He got his one last look of Privet Drive before the darkness enveloped them, and it disappeared from view.

Harry opened his eyes, expecting to see the Burrow. He was left astounded when he saw that he and Remus were standing in an empty field. It was nightfall and he could barely see anything around him. He wondered whether Remus had brought him to the wrong place but then realized the surrounding areas still looked familiar when Remus lit his wand. They were definitely standing before the Burrow, they just couldn’t see it.

‘We’ve placed a Fedilius Charm on the house for better protection,’ said Remus. ‘Here, read this.’

Harry took the scrap of parchment and read the message in the light from Remus’s wand.

You’re allowed to enter our wonderful and chaotic house.

‘So who’s the Secret Keeper?’ asked Harry curiously, looking down at the extremely untidy handwriting.

‘Well, its Fred for today,’ replied Remus. ‘We keep changing every day to make it impossible for Voldemort to know who the Secret Keeper is. Minerva suggested this and I must admit it was a brilliant idea.’

He waved his wand in the air and made the scrap of parchment disappear.

The Burrow finally appeared before them. The ramshackle house might not have impressed many people but for Harry, it was the most welcoming place in the whole world. This was the place where the people who were like his family lived, where he felt loved.

He could just see some gnomes scampering around in the garden but the darkness made it difficult to see anything else. There was a delicious smell wafting out the kitchen window, and he knew that Mrs. Weasley was probably making food for his arrival.

He’d been apprehensive about coming to the Burrow in the morning, not knowing how Ginny would react when she would see him but now that he was here he desperately wanted to see her. He followed Remus towards the backdoor, wanting to get into the house as quickly as possible. Harry thought he could hear Mrs. Weasley shouting at one of her many children. Remus knocked on the door.

‘Who is it?’ asked Hermione.

‘It’s me, Hermione,’ replied Harry, grinning.

The door swung open and Hermione threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.

‘You’re finally here, Harry,’ she said when she finally pulled back. ‘We’ve been waiting for you all day. It’s great to see you.’

‘It’s great to see you too, Hermione,’ said Harry. ‘So will you allow me to come inside now?’

‘Oh, sorry about that,’ she said sheepishly, moving away from the doorway.

Harry entered the house, his mouth watering at the smell of treacle tart. He caught sight of Mad-Eye and Tonks sitting on the table before Mrs. Weasley rounded on him.

‘Oh Harry, you’re finally here!’ she said, pulling him into a bone-crunching hug.

‘Are you two gonna let the lad breathe?’ asked Mad-Eye.

Mrs. Weasley pulled back and examined Harry with a critical eye. ‘You’re definitely skinnier than the last time I saw you, Harry. You need some feeding.’

‘It wasn’t that bad,’ said Harry, glancing at the delicious food placed all over the table. He suddenly felt warm inside, Mrs. Weasley always treated him as if he were one of her sons.

‘Wotcher, Harry,’ grinned Tonks, her hair her favorite shade of bubblegum pink. ‘I hope the Death Eaters didn’t give you any trouble.’

‘No trouble,’ said Mad-Eye. ‘You-Know-Who sent a pair of idiots to keep watch there.’

‘Hi Tonks,’ said Harry.

Harry was just starting to wonder where the rest of the Weasleys were when Ron, Bill, Fred, George and Fleur piled in. Fleur glided over as soon as she saw Harry and pulled him into a hug. She gave him her customary kisses on both cheeks and Harry felt his face burn when she pulled back.

‘Hey mate,’ said Ron, patting Harry on the shoulder. ‘Glad to see you made it. Something sure smells delicious.’

‘Hi Ron,’ grinned Harry.

Hermione looked disapprovingly at Ron as he sat down on the table and began piling his plate with food.

‘Hello Harry,’ said Bill, shaking Harry’s hand.

Harry tried not to stare at Bill’s scars but he couldn’t help it. There were nasty-looking scars all over his face but he was definitely looking better than the last time Harry had seen him. He thought the scars made Bill look even cooler.

‘Hello,’ said Harry, pulling his eyes away from Bill’s face.

‘Hey Harry, good to see you again,’ said Charlie, shaking hands with Harry. ‘I’ve been in Romania far too long.’

Charlie looked even more muscled than the last time Harry had seen him. There were several burns running along the length of his arms, which he’d definitely received from the dragons he worked with.

‘The man has finally arrived,’ said Fred, grinning and clapping Harry on the shoulder.

‘Mum’s been worrying far too much about you,’ said George, clapping Harry’s other shoulder. ‘I hope she didn’t crack one of your ribs.’

‘She didn’t,’ said Harry, shaking his head.

‘Hey, where are the Dursleys?’ demanded Fred, looking around the kitchen.

‘They aren’t here,’ said Harry.

‘Oh, bugger,’ said George, looking disappointed. ‘We made such wonderful plans for them! Don’t tell me it was all for nothing!’

‘Yeah, we were looking forward to scare them to death,’ said Fred, sitting down next to Ron. ‘Even Mum didn’t think it would be wrong to punish them.’

Harry couldn’t help noticing the absence of one particular person. Dismay was rapidly building up inside him. It was just as he’d feared. It seemed like Ginny didn’t want to see him. She hates me.

‘Harry, dear, start eating already,’ said Mrs. Weasley, who had resumed working on the stove.

Harry was just about to sit down but stopped when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. The monster in his chest sniffed the air hopefully.

Ginny entered the kitchen and she froze as soon as she saw him. She looked even more beautiful than he remembered. Her lustrous waist-length hair looked so soft that he longed to run his fingers through it, and her brown eyes were as warm as ever. He was staring at her before he could stop himself. Her eyes met his and she’d that blazing look on her face which he liked so much. His heart felt like it would burst at the mere sight of her.

‘Hi Harry,’ she said brightly, walking towards him and pulling him into a hug. Harry inhaled her flowery scent and rubbed his cheek against her silken hair. She pulled away far too soon for his liking.

‘H-Hi Ginny,’ he managed to say.

He couldn’t stop the grin from spreading across his face. Maybe Ginny had wanted to see him after all. She smiled back at him, making his heart throb even faster. How on earth could he stay away from her if she could make him feel like this?

He suddenly noticed Bill’s raised eyebrows and Fred and George’s smirks as he sat down on the table. Harry ended up sitting next to her, which did nothing to ease his heart’s frantic beating.

‘You came just in time, dear sister,’ smirked Fred. ‘Harry was starting to miss you.’

Harry choked on the water he’d just sipped while a pretty blush crept up Ginny’s cheeks.

‘Shut it,’ said Ginny, quickly regaining her composure.

‘Yeah, no need to embarrass the poor kid,’ said Tonks. ‘He has just arrived.’

Harry was immensely surprised by Ginny’s reaction at seeing him. He’d thought she would be angry with him and he’d never expected a hug. She was acting like there was nothing amiss between them.

‘Harry, eat already,’ Mrs. Weasley called from the stove. ‘The food’s getting cold.’

Harry realized that he’d completely forgotten about the food ever since Ginny had arrived in the kitchen. He ignored Fred and George’s sniggering and started to eat.

‘What made you change your mind about bringing the Dursleys here?’ Hermione asked Remus.

‘His uncle was afraid of living in a wizarding house,’ replied Remus. ‘We decided that it was probably better if one of us stayed in their house instead. I decided that we could each go in turn to their house.’

‘Dad would love to go to a Muggle house,’ said Ginny, piling food on her plate.

‘Maybe our plans won’t go to waste after all, George,’ said Fred.

‘Yes, I was thinking the same thing, brother mine,’ said George, smirking dangerously.

‘We’ll make them pay for what they did to you all those years, Harry,’ said Fred, his eyes glinting mischievously. ‘Our products will come in quite handy. At least Mum won’t stop us from making their lives miserable.’

‘You could get in trouble for using magic on Muggles,’ admonished Mrs. Weasley. ‘It’s against wizarding law.’

‘Since when have we ever cared about law?’ George pointed out.

‘Point taken,’ muttered Mrs. Weasley.

‘Fred and George are right,’ said Remus, clenching his fists furiously. ‘They were horrible with Harry. They used to -’

‘Remus, it’s all right,’ interrupted Harry, certain Remus was about to mention the cupboard under the stairs. ‘I’m not going there, anyway.’

He suspected that the Weasleys would’ve set out to curse the Dursleys if they’d found out about the cupboard. It was all part of the past now, he didn’t want them to feel sorry for him.

‘Well, enough about the Dursleys,’ said Tonks brightly. ‘Let’s tell Harry the happy news.’

‘Happy news?’ repeated Harry.

‘Yeah, Remus and I got married!’ grinned Tonks, showing him the ring on her finger.

‘That’s brilliant,’ said Harry, surprised. ‘Congratulations.’

Harry felt incredibly happy for Remus; he didn’t know anyone who deserved more happiness than his father’s best friend.

‘Yeah, Remus finally pushed away his stupid, noble feelings and asked me to marry him about a month ago,’ said Tonks, a wide grin on her face.

Ginny looked sharply at Harry and he pretended not to notice, remembering that Ginny had also called his reasons for breaking up with her stupid and noble.

‘Sorry you couldn’t be there,’ said Remus apologetically. ‘It was a very secretive wedding and only Tonks’s parents and Molly and Arthur were there.’

‘We could’ve had a grand marriage,’ said Mrs. Weasley regretfully.

‘Glad we didn’t,’ said George. ‘Bill and Fleur’s wedding is going to be enough of a nightmare.’

They heard a knock on the backdoor and Mrs. Weasley quickly hurried to open it.

‘Arthur, is that you?’ she asked eagerly.

‘Yes, dear, it’s me,’ replied Mr. Weasley in his familiar voice.

Mrs. Weasley opened the door, looking relieved. Mr. Weasley walked in, looking thoroughly exhausted. His robes were extremely rumpled and the bald patch on his head was gleaming with sweat. It looked like Mr. Weasley had had a busy day at the Ministry of Magic.

‘Hello everyone,’ he said, dropping his briefcase on the floor and stumbling towards the table. ‘Good to see you, Harry. Glad you made it here safely.’

‘Good to see you too, Mr. Weasley,’ replied Harry.

‘Hmm … do I detect a trace of steak and kidney pie in the air?’ said Mr. Weasley, sniffing the air hopefully, reminding Harry of Ron.

‘Yes, Arthur, I made it especially for you,’ said Mrs. Weasley, rolling her eyes.

‘Things as bad as ever at the Ministry I assume?’ growled Mad-Eye, who was busy biting meat off the chicken leg in his hand.

‘They are, unfortunately,’ sighed Mr. Weasley. ‘There were more Dementor attacks and another collapsed bridge near Southampton. Scrimgeour keeps insisting that the Ministry’s in control. Death Eaters seem to be outnumbering the Aurors but he remains confident. He’s making no effort to round up the Dementors. All he does is stay shut up in his office.

‘So Voldemort’s trying to take over the Ministry?’ asked Harry, forgetting about his food once more.

‘We’re afraid he’ll do it quite soon,’ replied Remus. ‘If he does, only we will be left to fight against the Death Eaters.’

‘And our numbers are nothing compared to them,’ growled Mad-Eye.

‘We can discuss this some other time,’ snapped Mrs. Weasley as grim silence began to spread amongst them. ‘Harry has just arrived and he won’t feel any better if we discuss the war. Eat now, Harry. I made your favorite treacle tarts.’

Harry wanted to know more about what the Order was doing but he nodded and started to eat. Fred and George amused everyone by sharing some of their plans to make the Dursleys miserable. Harry had to admit it would be highly hilarious if Fred and George used some of their products on Dudley, he still hadn’t forgotten about the Ton Tongue toffee. Mr. Weasley appeared rather disappointed about the Dursleys’ absence as he’d wanted to ask Uncle Vernon about the latest Muggle inventions.

Harry ate slower than usual, owing to the fact that Ginny was sitting next to him and it was incredibly difficult to focus on the food. He ate nearly everything Mrs. Weasley had made for him and he was forced to refuse a fourth helping of treacle tart as he was too full. He suddenly felt sleepy as he moved out the kitchen even though it was only eight in the night. Mrs. Weasley seemed to notice the tiredness on his face and told him to go straight to bed. He could feel Ginny’s eyes on him as he forced himself up the stairs.

A smile crossed his face as he lay down on the camp bed in Ron’s bedroom. He was never going back to Privet Drive.

The Burrow was even more crowded the next morning as the Order members had arrived for a meeting. Mr. Weasley told Harry that the Burrow was the new headquarters since it was too dangerous to use Grimmauld Place. The Burrow had been provided all kinds of security and according to Mr. Weasley it was now one of the safest places in Britain. He seemed to be proud of his house.

Harry wanted to discuss his plans about Horcruxes with Ron and Hermione but talking privately with them was almost impossible because of the presence of so many people. The opportunity provided itself when the Order members went to the sitting room for the meeting and they quickly hurried up to Ron’s room. Harry saw Ginny glaring at them out of the corner of his eye as they climbed the stairs.

‘So what are we doing about the Horcruxes?’ asked Ron as soon as he had closed the door.

‘Be quiet, Ron!’ hissed Hermione, slapping him on the arm. ‘You can’t just mention the Horcruxes like that - the others could hear us! Let me put an Imperturbable Charm on the door.’

‘Sorry,’ mumbled Ron, rubbing his arm.

‘Hermione, just do that Muffliato spell,’ said Harry, sitting down on his camp bed. ‘It’s much easier.’

‘Harry, you know perfectly well that the Half-Blood Prince turned out to be Severus Snape,’ said Hermione crossly. ‘I don’t want to use any of his spells!’

Harry felt hatred course through his veins at the mere mention of the traitor.

‘It would make him really furious if he knew one of his spells was actually helping us,’ he said grimly.

‘Yeah, definitely,’ smirked Ron, plopping down on his bed.

Hermione didn’t look particularly pleased as she cast the spell.

‘Can we talk about the Horcruxes now?’ asked Ron.

‘You seem to be very excited about them,’ snapped Hermione, joining Harry on the camp bed.

‘We’re not going to have any time to talk about them later,’ explained Ron, taking out a chocolate frog from his pocket. ‘Mum’s planning to start the wedding preparations real soon and we’ll be really busy when that happens.’

‘The wedding’s not going to be as bad as you and your brothers are making it,’ said Hermione, frowning. ‘I think it’ll be wonderful to have something so normal in the midst of a war.’

‘You’ll agree with us when the wedding preparations start,’ said Ron, biting off the chocolate frog’s head. ‘Mum and Fleur are completely obsessed about it.’

‘I believe we were about to talk about the Horcruxes,’ said Harry exasperatedly, rolling his eyes. Some things never changed.

‘Oh, right!’ said Hermione. ‘So have you made any plans?’

‘Yeah, what else could I do at Privet Drive, anyway?’ said Harry dryly. ‘The first thing I decided was that I’m not going to stay here or at Hogwarts.’

‘Yeah, I guessed that much,’ said Hermione, nodding.

‘But are you sure about this?’ asked Ron skeptically, sitting up straighter. ‘Do you know of any place where we’ll stay?’

‘I just want to get away from here,’ confessed Harry. ‘Everyone here is in danger because of me. They’ll be safer if I stayed away from here.’

‘Well, I’ve been worrying about our safety as well,’ said Ron.

‘Ron, I told you it won’t be easy to find us,’ said Hermione irritably. ‘I can cast nearly every safety spell - I can even make wards. Well, they’re not as powerful as the ones on this house but they’ll get stronger over time. You-Know-Who won’t expect us to be wandering around on our own, anyway.’

‘Mad-Eye says you can never guess what You-Know-Who might do,’ said Ron.

‘You should really use his name,’ said Harry. ‘Fear of the name increases fear of the thing itself, remember?’

A lump rose in this throat as he spoke Dumbledore’s words. His death still hurt him.

‘I wasn’t using his name because Ron always cringes whenever I say it,’ said Hermione defensively.

‘Don’t start bickering again,’ he said as Ron opened his mouth to retort. ‘So I’ve been thinking that maybe you two can stay out of this -’

‘Don’t you dare say another word, Harry Potter!’ interrupted Hermione, her eyes blazing. ‘Dumbledore wanted Ron and I to be involved because he knew you can’t do this alone. You need us, Harry. Besides, you don’t even know any of the safety spells. Voldemort will find you in seconds!’

It was worth a try thought Harry, grimacing. He knew it was impossible to stop Ron and Hermione from going with him.

‘Yeah, you’re right, Hermione,’ said Ron, grinning. ‘We’re hopeless without you.’

Hermione blushed furiously, taken aback by Ron’s comment. ‘Er, thanks Ron.’

‘Good one, Ron,’ said Harry, smirking as Ron’s ears turned scarlet. ‘Hermione never suspected you would have the nerve to compliment her.’

‘Shut it,’ growled Ron, throwing his pillow at Harry’s head. Harry dodged it and the pillow landed on the floor.

‘Let’s continue talking about the Horcruxes,’ said Hermione, clearing her throat. She’d a self-satisfied look on her face.

‘Right, so where are we gonna stay?’ asked Ron, his ears still red.

‘Inside a tent,’ replied Hermione. ‘I’ll cast safety spells around it and we would be perfectly safe. Mr. Weasley has given me the tent we used at the Quidditch World Cup.’

‘That could work,’ said Harry.

‘I hope so,’ muttered Ron, not looking entirely convinced. ‘Do either of you know where we’re going to search for the Horcruxes?’

‘Yeah, there are plenty of places,’ said Harry. ‘We’re going to look in Riddle’s old orphanage, Hepzibah Smith’s house, Albania -’

‘Albania?’ scoffed Ron. ‘Are we supposed to search the whole bloody country?’

‘Professor Dumbledore told me that’s where Voldemort stayed when he lost his body,’ replied Harry, shrugging. ‘It’s possible he might have hidden one there.’

‘And don’t forget Borgin and Burke’s and Hogwarts,’ said Hermione excitedly, as if she were answering a question in class.

‘Borgin and Burke’s?’ frowned Ron.

‘Honestly, Ron, have you forgotten everything Harry’s told us?’ asked Hermione exasperatedly.

‘I only forgot about Borgin and Burke’s,’ grumbled Ron, searching for another chocolate frog in his pocket. He immediately stopped doing it when Hermione glared at him.

‘Hermione, I don’t think he would’ve hidden one there,’ said Harry, shaking his head.

‘It’s worth a try, Harry,’ said Hermione, clearly not pleased that Harry didn’t agree with her suggestion. She always wanted to believe she was right about everything.

‘I suppose,’ said Harry, not wanting to get into an argument.

‘We’ll have to search all of these places,’ said Hermione. ‘We can start by finding out about R.A.B.’

‘Maybe R.A.B managed to destroy the Horcrux,’ said Ron hopefully. ‘We would’ve one less Horcrux to find.’

‘I’ve told you countless times that we can’t leave it to chance,’ said Hermione irritably. ‘R.A.B’s life was in danger - we’ve to find the locket, as well.’

Harry pondered about R.A.B while Ron and Hermione continued bickering. He couldn’t think of anyone who knew about the Horcruxes apart from the three of them, Slughorn, Dumbledore and Voldemort. Maybe Dumbledore would’ve known who it was … he’d always known everything …

‘So when do we start?’ he asked Hermione. Hermione seemed to have planned out everything already.

‘After the wedding, of course,’ she replied.

‘The wedding?’ frowned Harry. ‘When is it, anyway?’

‘In a week’s time,’ said Ron promptly, grimacing. ‘Mum has reminded me far too many times.’

‘I really don’t want to wait for a whole week,’ said Harry. ‘I want to start as soon as possible - who cares about a stupid wedding, anyway?’

‘Just don’t say that in front of Fleur,’ Ron cautioned.

‘A week is nothing, Harry,’ said Hermione. ‘You’re not going to think about Horcruxes and Voldemort until the wedding is over. Enjoy this week as much as you can. It’ll be all about finding the Horcruxes after the wedding. It would do you no harm to experience something so normal.’

‘Yeah, well, I’ve never had a normal life,’ said Harry dryly.

‘So will we tell the others that we’re leaving after the wedding?’ asked Ron.

‘Yes,’ said Hermione. ‘We’ll tell them right after the wedding.’

‘It’s going to be horrible,’ said Ron, shuddering. ‘Mum will go bonkers when she’ll get the news. She’ll get that really scary look in her eyes, which always scares the life out of us. I don’t think she’ll ever agree.’

‘She’ll have to in the end,’ said Hermione. ‘We’re of age now - we can make our own decisions.’

‘Mum doesn’t think that,’ said Ron morosely. ‘She barely allowed Fred and George to join the Order and they’re almost nineteen now.’

‘We can convince her together, Ron,’ said Hermione confidently.

They jumped as they heard someone tap on the window. They all turned and saw Fred hovering outside on his broom, grinning wildly.

’What do you want?’ asked Ron, opening the window and frowning at his brother.

‘I was just inviting you three to a little game of Quidditch,’ replied Fred. ‘We won’t have much time for flying once the wedding preparations get underway.’

‘I’m coming,’ said Ron eagerly, jumping up from his bed.

‘Me, too,’ grinned Harry, also getting up.

‘I’m not playing,’ said Hermione, looking disapprovingly at Harry and Ron. ‘I’ve to go somewhere soon.’

‘Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that,’ said Fred apologetically. ‘You two can come join us.’

He zoomed out of sight. Ron hurried out the room immediately while Harry stayed behind, wanting to know where Hermione was going.

‘Hey Hermione, where are you going?’ he asked curiously.

‘To my parents’ house,’ replied Hermione, looking agitated. ‘I’ve been trying to convince them to come here for protection. There was a Dementor attack near their area about a week ago and they’re supposed to come here today. I’m always so worried about them – Death Eaters are killing Muggles daily.’

Tears appeared in Hermione’s eyes and Harry immediately hurried over to comfort her. He sat down next to her and patted her shoulder awkwardly. He’d never been great with crying girls.

‘It’s really horrible for them, Harry,’ said Hermione, turning her head and sniffling into his shoulder. ‘They’ve to leave their jobs and everything and come here! Mum’s not pleased and Dad’s pretending he’s ok with it but I knew he’s just doing that for my sake.’

‘Er - it’s better for them to come here, Hermione,’ said Harry, continuing to pat Hermione’s shoulder. ‘Their lives are much more important than anything else.’

‘Enough talking about me,’ said Hermione, wiping her eyes. ‘How’re you been doing?’

‘I’ve been all right,’ said Harry, shrugging. He didn’t want Hermione to start asking for his feelings about Professor Dumbledore’s death.

‘Ginny told me everything, Harry,’ said Hermione, watching him intently.

‘S-She did?’ stuttered Harry, his stomach fluttering at the mere mention of Ginny’s name. He stared down at his clasped hands, determinedly avoiding Hermione’s eyes.

‘Yes, everything,’ said Hermione quietly. ‘You shouldn’t have done it, Harry.’

‘It was the right thing to do, Hermione,’ said Harry grimly. ‘Her protection is more important than anything else.’

Harry thought he would have preferred talking about Dumbledore. Thinking about pushing Ginny away hurt him terribly.

‘She made you really happy, Harry,’ said Hermione gently.

‘Don’t I know it?’ said Harry, trying to keep his voice from shaking. ‘I’m never going to have happiness as long as Voldemort’s alive.’

‘Ginny was really upset,’ said Hermione testily. ‘Even Ron noticed something was wrong and he never understands other people’s feelings. She was far from her usual self. She used to talk nearly all the time but not this summer. She refused to play Quidditch and you know she loves flying. She’d this deadened look in her eyes and she hasn’t even been eating properly.’

Harry shifted uncomfortably, guilt rapidly building up inside him but Hermione kept talking.

‘I was not overly surprised when she told me - I suspected you would do something like this. I’d hoped you wouldn’t do it since she made you so happy but you always have been extremely noble.’

Harry wanted to hex himself for hurting Ginny but he resisted the impulse. The monster in his chest had lowered its head in shame. He wished he hadn’t stayed back to talk with Hermione.

‘Hermione, I never wanted to hurt her,’ he said, his voice cracking. ‘I hate myself for doing it. Breaking up with her was like the toughest thing I ever did but I’d to do it. I don’t want to lose her as well.’

‘Ginny doesn’t want protection, Harry,’ said Hermione. ‘She’s not the sort of girl who would sit happily in the background while you went to save the wizarding world.’

‘But she understood when I told her,’ Harry pointed out, still avoiding Hermione’s eyes.

‘Maybe she thought she could live with it,’ said Hermione, ‘but that obviously didn’t happen.’

‘Yeah, I can understand that,’ said Harry glumly. ‘It’s been harder than I thought it would be.’

‘Then don’t make yourself go through this agony,’ said Hermione, laying a gentle hand on Harry’s shoulder. ‘Professor Dumbledore wouldn’t want you to push her away.’

‘Hermione, please, I don’t want to talk about this,’ said Harry roughly, getting up from the bed.

‘Harry -’

Harry ignored her and fled from the room. He was feeling the familiar gaping hole in his chest, which had been there ever since Dumbledore had died, and had grown even bigger when he’d broken up with Ginny. Maybe some flying would make him feel better…

He was so immersed in his agonizing thoughts that he ended up bumping into someone in the small entrance hallway. He froze when he saw just who he’d run into.

‘Hey, watch it!’ said Ginny as she stumbled backwards. Her eyes widened when she realized that it was Harry.

‘S-Sorry about t-that,’ he stuttered, realizing that they were alone in the hallway.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said, absently twirling her hair. She’d a frown on her face and her eyes were blazing. He knew her well enough to know she was furious about something.

‘Er - are you all right?’ he asked guiltily, shifting uncomfortably. He hoped she wasn’t angry with him. It was certainly possible; Hermione had made it sound like she was extremely upset, and Ginny always got angry when she was upset.

‘Oh, I’m feeling just great,’ she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘It’s wonderful being left out of everything.’

Harry was tongue-tied, unable to think of something to say to make her feel better. It was probably best if he stayed quiet as he would only end up making things much worse. He simply looked into her warm brown eyes, which were sparking with fury. They softened as she looked back into his emerald eyes. She took a deep breath and the frown slowly disappeared from her face.

‘This is not the best time to talk with me, you know,’ she said, breaking the silence after what seemed like ages. ‘I always get like this whenever I’m left out of something.’

Now that he came to think of it, Harry realized that Ginny had been left alone while the Order members had their meeting and the three of them had hurried up to Ron’s room for their discussion.

‘It’s all right,’ he said, smiling slightly. ‘It’s good to see you, Ginny.’

I can’t really tell you just how much thought Harry.

‘Oh, really?’ she asked coldly, an unreadable expression on her face.

‘Yeah, it is,’ said Harry, nettled. ‘You can’t even imagine how happy I’m to see you.’

The last trace of anger disappeared from Ginny’s eyes at his words. The emotions in them were quite different now. Ginny stepped towards him and Harry was unable to back away. He was just too mesmerized by her eyes and the flowery scent was overwhelming him. She suddenly appeared to be very close to him and he couldn’t help but glance down at her lips.

Both of them jumped as the front door suddenly burst open and George entered. A smirk appeared on his face when he saw that Harry and Ginny were alone. They quickly stepped away from each other. Harry felt heat suffusing his face and he refused to look at Ginny’s brother.

‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything,’ he said teasingly.

‘You aren’t,’ snapped Ginny, glaring furiously at her brother. ‘I hope you weren’t spying on us, though.’

‘I just came here to ask you both to come join us,’ said George, holding out his hands.

‘Let’s go, then,’ said Ginny, hurrying out the front door at once.

‘Is something wrong between you two?’ asked George suspiciously, rounding on Harry. ‘We’ve all been noticing certain things.’

‘No, nothing’s wrong,’ replied Harry at once. He definitely didn’t want to get into trouble with one of Ginny’s brothers. He hoped desperately that Hermione hadn’t told Ron about what he’d done.

‘I’ll be keeping an eye on you, Potter,’ said George warningly. ‘Let’s play some Quidditch before Mum decides to get started on the wedding preparations.’

‘Right,’ said Harry. ‘Let’s go.’

Harry followed George outside, mulling over Ginny’s behavior. Ginny had been about to kiss him and he’d been unable to stop her from doing so. He needed to keep himself under control if he wanted to protect her. It wouldn’t happen again.

‘Come into the air already!’ George shouted, snapping Harry out of his reverie. ‘You can daydream about our sister later!’

Harry looked up and saw Ron, Ginny, Fred, George and Charlie hovering above him. The four Weasley brothers were smirking while Ginny was blushing. Harry frowned at the brothers and retrieved his Firebolt from the broom shed.

They played Quidditch for the next few hours and were forced to head inside when Ron started moaning about food. Ginny told Ron off for ending their Quidditch game because of his hunger. Harry was feeling better than he had for a long time, flying always made him feel better. They found Bill and Fleur eating lunch while Mrs. Weasley talked to them from her stove.

‘Ginny, you mustn’t go flying like zis,’ said Fleur, frowning at Ginny. ‘You’re ze bridesmaid and I don’t want you zo be injured.’

‘I don’t crash that often, Fleur,’ said Ginny, looking annoyed. ‘You don’t have to worry for me.’

Harry thought Bill looked rather disgruntled. Fleur had probably stopped Bill from playing Quidditch with them; obviously she didn’t want the groom to be injured.

‘Tomorrow, you won’t have time for Quidditch,’ said Mrs. Weasley. ‘We’re starting the wedding preparations!’

‘Oh no!’ cried Fred in despair while Ron looked up from his food in dismay.

‘It’s Harry’s birthday tomorrow, Mum,’ said Ginny. ‘Surely you don’t want us to be busy with the wedding preparations all day?’

‘Yeah, Mum, you can delay them for another day,’ pleaded George.

‘Yes, I suppose we should postpone the preparations,’ said Mrs. Weasley.

‘We’re ever so grateful to you, Harry!’ said Fred gratefully. ‘We shall never forget this as long as we live!’

Mrs. Weasley rolled her eyes.

Harry had almost forgotten that it was his seventeenth birthday the next day. He’d completely lost track of time at Privet Drive.

‘Mrs. Weasley, there’s really no need to do anything tomorrow,’ said Harry humbly.

‘Oh, don’t be silly, dear,’ said Mrs. Weasley, smiling at him. ‘It’s your seventeenth birthday tomorrow - it’s a big day in a wizard’s life. We’ve to celebrate it.’

Harry nodded, knowing it was impossible to change Mrs. Weasley’s mind.

‘When is Hermione coming?’ asked Ron.

‘She said she’d be back for lunch,’ replied Mrs. Weasley.

‘Are you missing Hermione already, Ronald?’ asked Ginny, smirking.

‘Shut it,’ said Ron, his ears turning red.

Harry couldn’t help the grin from spreading across his face and Ron smacked him on the arm because of it.

They were halfway through lunch when they heard a knock on the door.

‘That must be Hermione,’ said Mrs. Weasley, hurrying to open the door at once.

‘She’s here, ickle Ronniekins,’ said Fred, sniggering.

Mrs. Weasley opened the door and Hermione stepped inside, looking incredibly nervous. She was followed by her parents, who were glancing around warily. Mr. Granger had bronze hair with streaks of gray, sparkling blue eyes, a well-trimmed moustache and large front teeth like the ones Hermione had had before Madam Pomfrey had shrunk them. Mrs. Granger looked like a grown up Hermione as she’d the same bushy brown hair and the brown shade of her eyes was also the same. She was clutching her husband’s hand tightly and glancing nervously at her daughter.

‘Oh, welcome,’ said Mrs. Weasley brightly while the rest of them looked on uncertainly. ‘We’ve been expecting you!’

‘Mum, Dad, it’s all right,’ said Hermione, unconsciously pulling at a strand of her hair. ‘You met the Weasleys at Diagon Alley about five years ago, remember?’

‘Ah yes, I remember,’ said Mr. Granger, both he and his wife looked disorientated by the presence of so many redheads on the table.

‘Let me introduce you to everyone,’ said Hermione, smiling encouragingly at her parents. ‘This is Mrs. Weasley - she’s always very nice to me.’

‘Hermione speaks very highly of you,’ Mrs. Granger said to Mrs. Weasley. Hermione’s parents seemed to have calmed down.

‘You’ve a wonderful daughter,’ responded Mrs. Weasley, looking pleased. ‘You’ve raised her very well.’

Both women seemed to have warmed to each other already.

‘This is Fred and that’s George,’ said Hermione, pointing at the twins, who grinned identically. Hermione’s parents stepped back automatically; Hermione seemed to have told them about the twins’ reputation for mischief.

‘Hermione has told me some very amusing tales about you two,’ said Mr. Granger.

‘Always knew you appreciated our talents deep down inside, Hermione,’ said Fred, grinning.

‘This is Charlie,’ Hermione continued. ‘He works in Romania, remember? That’s Ron.’

‘Oh, so you’re the boy Hermione’s so taken with,’ said Mrs. Granger, looking interestedly at Ron.

Ron accidentally dripped water down his chin and his ears turned a deep shade of red. Harry and the Weasleys sniggered into their food. Even Mrs. Weasley looked amused.

‘Mum, you weren’t supposed to say that!’ said Hermione, blushing furiously.

‘Oops, sorry,’ said her mum.

‘That’s Bill and Fleur,’ said Hermione, pointing. ‘They’re getting married, remember?’

‘Congratulations,’ said Mr. and Mrs. Granger.

‘It will be an honor zo have you at ze wedding,’ said Fleur brightly. Like most men, Mr. Granger was mesmerized by the part Veela.

‘That’s Ginny,’ said Hermione, Ginny smiled brilliantly, ‘and last but not least, Harry.’

Mr. and Mrs. Granger stared at Harry with a mixture of awe and sympathy on their faces. Harry shifted uncomfortably under their gaze.

‘Well, it’s wonderful to meet all of you,’ said Mr. Granger, continuing to look at Harry. ‘I believe we haven’t introduced ourselves properly? I’m Hector and my wife’s Irene.’

‘Please sit down,’ said Mrs. Weasley, bustling over to the stove. ‘Let me serve you some food. My husband, Arthur, will arrive in the evening - he was most eager to meet you.’

‘That’s an understatement,’ muttered Ginny and Harry barely stopped himself from laughing out loud.

Harry and the Weasley siblings spent most of the time after lunch playing Quidditch. They were forced inside when it started raining unexpectedly. Fleur appeared highly relieved when she saw that her bridesmaid was still in one piece. They settled down in the sitting room after that and spent the evening talking about things which had nothing to do with the war and playing Wizard’s Chess and Exploding Snap. Harry didn’t see much of Hermione as she was with her parents in Percy’s old room. It felt good to be back amongst his friends.

Ginny sighed as lay down in her bed for sleep later in the night. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remove the image of the boy with the tousled black hair and green eyes from her mind.

The last month had been difficult for her to say the least. She’d been feeling emptiness inside her ever since Harry had broken up with her. She’d expected it to happen but it had still been too painful. She’d wanted to be with him for almost seven years and their relationship had only lasted a few weeks. Just a few weeks…

Those few weeks had been wonderful, the caresses, the holding hands, the kissing, everything they’d done together. The thing which had made her the happiest was the true joy in Harry’s eyes. She thought he’d smiled more in those few weeks than in his entire life. The tension which always hung around Harry had disappeared in those days. She was glad she’d been the one to provide him that happiness. Doing it meant a lot to her.

She wished he hadn’t broken up with her, though. Her heart had shattered into a million pieces when he’d said those words. She hadn’t taken it well at all, like he’d hoped. She’d raced up to her dormitory when he’d walked away and broken down completely. She hadn’t been able to stop her tears from flowing. She’d always prided herself on being tough but whenever Harry was involved, all that toughness always disappeared. Hermione had really helped her to cope. She could still feel the big hole in her heart but now she managed to hold back her tears. She hoped Harry never found out she’d cried; he didn’t want to think of her as weak.

Why did he have to be such a noble prat? Why was he denying himself a chance at happiness? It’d broken her heart when Harry had said that the time he’d spent with her had been like something from someone else’s life. Harry thought he didn’t deserve happiness. He was so wrong about that, he deserved happiness more than anyone else.

She’d wanted to be angry with him and tell him he was being a noble prat when he’d arrived but her heart had seemed to melt as soon as she’d looked into those beautiful emerald eyes. He’d stared at her with such intensity and passion that she couldn’t doubt that he still had feelings for her. She’d sometimes got the dreadful feeling that Harry had just been looking for an excuse to break up with her, but now she didn’t have any doubts. She hadn’t planned on hugging him due to the state of things between them, but it had just happened. Well, there was nothing wrong with that, Hermione had also hugged him.

‘Can’t sleep?’

She jumped as she heard Hermione’s voice in the darkness.

‘Yeah, unfortunately,’ said Ginny, sighing. She’d had trouble sleeping ever since the day Professor Dumbledore had died. His death had greatly troubled her; perhaps it was because he’d been Harry’s mentor and protector, and because she’d always thought all of them would be safe as long as he was alive.

‘Thinking about Harry?’

‘I’m trying not to,’ she replied. She’d been sharing her feelings with Hermione for about three years now, and Hermione was like an elder sister to her. She’d lived amongst six boys nearly all her life and she’d always wanted to have a sister.

‘He seemed very happy to see you,’ commented Hermione.

‘Yeah, I know,’ said Ginny, trying not to sound too pleased. She felt a smile cross her face as she remembered the look on his face.

‘I need light,’ said Hermione. ‘I can’t talk without looking at your face. Lumos Maxima!’

Light flooded the room and Ginny saw Hermione peering at her face. There were three beds barely squeezed inside the small room. There wasn’t much space left for anything else in the room, and Ginny was eagerly waiting for the day when Bill and Fleur would move to their own place.

‘I told you he still had feelings for you,’ said Hermione, an annoying knowing look on her face. ‘I hope you believe me now.’

‘I never thought that,’ lied Ginny, avoiding Hermione’s eyes.

‘Yes, you did,’ said Hermione. ‘I’m glad he managed to convince you by just looking at you.’

‘His eyes always tell me everything about his feelings,’ said Ginny, sighing dreamily. ‘They’re always so … intense.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ said Hermione, nodding in agreement. ‘So anyways, I saw Harry and you talking when I was leaving today. What happened? What did Harry say?’

‘We actually bumped into each other,’ said Ginny, feeling her anger rise at George’s interruption. ‘I was pretty angry - I was left out of everything once again - and I think I scared him a bit.’

Hermione giggled. ‘What?’ she said, noticing Ginny’s raised eyebrows. ‘It’s kind of amusing that Harry has battled a Dark Lord and yet he’s scared of you.’

‘He said it was really good to see me again,’ continued Ginny, ignoring Hermione’s comment. ‘I asked him whether he was saying the truth, and he said I couldn’t imagine how happy he really was. I nearly kissed him - he didn’t try to stop me - but then we were interrupted by one of my dear, overprotective brothers.’

She loved her brothers, even though she wouldn’t admit it, but they really drove her crazy sometimes. If George hadn’t showed up, they would’ve kissed and things could’ve possibly returned back to normal.

‘It must be hard to live with six brothers,’ said Hermione sympathetically.

‘Five brothers,’ Ginny corrected her coldly. The fact that Percy was her brother was like a slap to her face. She’d never forgiven him for abandoning them. Pompous git.

‘So what’re you going to do about Harry?’ asked Hermione, looking surprised by her reaction.

‘Oh, I don’t know,’ sighed Ginny, her anger at Percy quickly replaced by her heartache.

‘You must’ve thought of something.’

‘Hermione, I really don’t know,’ snapped Ginny, feeling slightly annoyed by her pestering. Hermione always had valuable advice to give but sometimes her questioning could be downright annoying.

’I suppose we’d better go to sleep, then,’ said Hermione, looking hurt.

’Hey, wait,’ said Ginny. ‘What was your Mum saying about you being taken by my prat of a brother?’

’It’s getting late,’ said Hermione, blushing furiously and pulling the covers over her head. ‘We’ll talk in the morning.’

She turned off the lamp with a flick of her wand and Ginny smirked in the darkness for some moments before her thoughts returned to Harry. She didn’t really know what she was going to do about him, but the way he’d looked at her had given her hope that he would come back to her, if she tried hard enough.

‘Your birthday really saved us, mate,’ said Ron as he and Harry got ready to sleep.

Harry was about to reply when he felt a searing pain in his scar. He groaned, clutching his scar. The pain disappeared after a few moments but Ron had noticed everything.

‘You ok?’ he asked, looking concerned.

‘I-I’m fine,’ mumbled Harry, feeling worried. His scar hadn’t hurt at all the previous year so why was it hurting now?

‘It was your scar, wasn’t it?’ inquired Ron. ‘I thought it’d stopped hurting.’

‘Yeah, I thought so too,’ said Harry. ‘Dumbledore said Voldemort was using Occlumency against me. Maybe he’s furious I got away from Privet Drive.’

‘Yeah, probably,’ agreed Ron.

‘Do me a favor and don’t tell Hermione,’ said Harry, leaning back into his pillows. ‘She’ll want me to learn Occlumency and we all know that I’m hopeless at it.’

‘Right,’ said Ron reluctantly.

‘Good night,’ said Harry, pulling the covers over himself.

‘Wait, I wanted to talk about something,’ said Ron.

‘Er - about what?’ asked Harry warily, turning over so that he faced Ron’s bed. He had a nasty feeling about Ron’s reply.

‘Ginny.’

Oh damn! I knew it!

‘Hermione told you?’

‘Yeah,’ said Ron. ‘She was actually expecting you to do it after the funeral.’

‘Am I really that transparent?’ asked Harry wryly.

‘Sort of,’ said Ron, shrugging.

Harry scrutinized Ron’s expression, trying to decipher what he was going to do next.

‘You must be angry about it,’ he said slowly, cringing at the pathetic nervousness in his voice. ‘Are you going to beat me into a pulp?’

‘No, I’m not,’ said Ron, grinning at the look on Harry’s face. ‘You can’t imagine how angry I got but then Hermione made me see sense. You’re just trying to protect Ginny and you obviously care about her. I would’ve really beaten you into a pulp if you had dumped her for some stupid reason.’

‘Lucky me,’ muttered Harry, feeling immensely relieved.

‘I think you’re trying to do the right thing, mate,’ said Ron seriously. ‘She’d insisted on going with us if you two were still together. I want her to be safe just like you and I think this could keep her away from danger. Don’t tell her I’m supporting you with this.’

‘It could slip out of my mouth,’ said Harry, chuckling at Ron’s fear of his little sister.

‘I would really beat you into a pulp if that happened,’ said Ron threateningly.

‘I want to see the Bat Bogey Hex,’ said Harry, smirking. ‘I’ve never really seen it and I’m really curious about its effects. I’m just kidding,’ he added as Ron prepared to toss a pillow into his face.

‘I’m not as kind as her other four brothers, though,’ said Ron, a smirk appearing on his face. ‘They’re never gonna forgive you so easily. Fred and George are especially protective of her and I wouldn’t be surprised if they beat you into a pulp for this.’

‘Maybe they’ll also think that I still care about her if I explained things to them,’ said Harry hopefully.

‘It’s good to hope,’ said Ron.

‘So you just wanted to scare me?’ asked Harry.

‘You’re scared?’ said Ron, laughing.

‘It would be pretty scary if you all ganged up on me,’ said Harry defensively.

‘I also wanted to give you another warning,’ said Ron once his laughter had died down.

‘Oh great! There’s another warning!’ groaned Harry, wishing it’d nothing to do with Ginny’s mother.

‘Don’t worry about Mum,’ said Ron, seeming to know what Harry was thinking. ‘She’ll never get angry with you. It’s about Ginny. I wanted to tell you that she can get mad when she’s angry and she’s downright scary when that happens. If she insists on getting back together with you, it would be better if you did. Otherwise, she’ll make you experience just how painful the Bat Bogey Hex really is.’

’Thanks for the warning,’ said Harry, rolling his eyes, he already knew about Ginny’s temper. Ginny wasn’t as scary as Ron thought, anyway. ‘I will protect her no matter what - I won’t change my mind even if she hexes me for it.’

‘That doesn’t seem likely,’ said Ron teasingly, ‘judging by the way you stared at her when you first saw her.’

‘Shut it,’ said Harry, lobbing his pillow at Ron. ‘You must be very happy – you never liked us together.’

‘I was just against the public displays of snogging,’ said Ron, looking uncomfortable.

‘Ha! You’re one to talk,’ said Harry, shuddering at the horrific memories of Ron and Lavender. ‘Ginny and I were never like you and Lavender - we preferred to do it in secluded parts of the school grounds.’

‘I’m going to have nightmares about that,’ scowled Ron, looking disgusted. His ears had turned red once more.

‘So Hermione seems to be very taken with you,’ he smirked, suddenly remembering the words which had slipped out of Mrs. Granger’s mouth.

‘Shut it,’ said Ron, his face also turning red. ‘I’m going to sleep.’

‘Coward,’ laughed Harry as Ron switched the lamp off. He continued chuckling in the darkness until Ron threw a pillow at him.

‘You’re a git, Harry.’

‘Thanks for that immense praise,’ smiled Harry as he closed his eyes.

Harry was awoken the next morning by the prickling in his scar. He sat up in alarm, quickly put on his glasses and looked around. Sunlight was streaming in through the window, making the orange colors of the Chudley Cannons blindingly bright. Ron was snoring loudly and sounded like he wouldn’t be awake for a few more hours.

He rubbed his scar in annoyance, wondering what had made it start hurting once more. He’d such relief the previous year without the nightmares. He didn’t want to start having visions of Voldemort once more. Why had Voldemort stopped using Occlumency against him? Why was it happening again? If only Dumbledore was alive, he would have had an explanation just like always.

The door burst open and Hermione entered with a wide smile on her face. She was holding a colorfully wrapped package in her hands.

‘Happy birthday, Harry!’ she said brightly, sitting down on the edge of his bed and hugging him briefly.

‘Oh yeah, it’s my birthday,’ said Harry, his tension about the scar had made him forget about it. ‘I’m finally seventeen.’

‘Yes, you’re finally of age,’ said Hermione, nodding.

‘No more worrying about underage magic,’ said Harry, grinning. ‘I’m free to use magic whenever I want!’

‘I felt just like this when I turned seventeen,’ said Hermione reminiscently. ‘So here’s my gift!’

She handed him the present and Harry didn’t have any doubt that it was a book.

‘Aren’t you going to open it?’ she demanded, glaring at him.

‘Oh, right,’ said Harry, trying to look interested as he took off the wrapping. It was a thick, leather-bound book, with the title ‘Advanced Curses and Counter-curses’.

‘So do you like it?’ asked Hermione expectantly.

‘Oh, yeah, it’s great,’ said Harry, trying to keep a straight face. ‘Thanks, Hermione.’

Hermione beamed.

‘You’d better come down,’ she said, getting off the bed. ‘Mrs. Weasley’s making a real feast for you. Wake up Ron - he sounds like he’ll go on sleeping forever.’

She smiled at Harry and left the room, glancing at Ron out of the corner of eye as she went.

Harry stretched as he got up and felt a wide smile cross his face. He couldn’t remember ever celebrating his birthday before as he’d always been stuck at Privet Drive. It would be great to celebrate it with his friends. He hoped Mrs. Weasley wouldn’t work too hard, though.

‘Ron, wake up!’ he said loudly as he headed out the room.

He quickly showered and was just about to head down the staircase when a door opened on the landing. His stomach somersaulted as Ginny hurried toward him.

‘Happy birthday, Harry!’ she said brightly, smiling radiantly at him. She moved closer to hug him but seemed to think better of it and stepped back. He thought he saw a trace of anguish cross her face but he couldn’t be sure.

‘Er - thanks,’ he said lamely, noticing that she was holding one of her hands behind her back.

‘Are you always going to speak like that with me now?’ she asked, a playful expression on her face.

‘Yeah, er, I -’ he stammered, feeling like a complete idiot.

‘There you go again,’ she giggled.

Harry didn’t look directly at Ginny’s eyes, remembering what had almost happened the previous day when he’d done it.

‘So what are you hiding behind your back?’

‘Oh, it’s your birthday present,’ said Ginny, tugging on her hair, which was still wet from the shower she must’ve taken. ‘I didn’t want to give it to you in front of everyone - you know what Fred and George are like.’

Harry could tell she was slightly nervous: she always tugged her hair when she was nervous.

‘Why are you nervous?’ he asked.

‘I’m not,’ said Ginny, biting her lower lip. ‘Well, here it is.’

Harry was slightly confused as she handed him a mirror but soon realized it was like the mirror Sirius had given him.

‘You must be thinking that this is a pretty stupid present,’ said Ginny, anxiously biting on her lip. ‘But it’s not for looking at your reflection, it’s -’

‘I know what it is,’ said Harry solemnly. ‘It’s a two-way mirror. Sirius once gave me one of these.’

‘Oh,’ said Ginny, regret suddenly appearing on her face. ‘Harry, I’m sorry I -’

‘It’s okay,’ muttered Harry, remembering how he’d smashed the mirror after Sirius had died. He’d been so stupid; he could’ve just contacted Sirius via the two-way mirrors. He wouldn’t have been tricked by Kreacher…

‘What’re you thinking?’ asked Ginny, snapping him out of his reverie. She looked even more nervous, as though she thought he wouldn’t accept her present.

‘Er … it’s nothing,’ said Harry, shaking his head in an attempt to clear it.

‘The reason I’m giving you this mirror is because I know you’re leaving,’ said Ginny.

Harry’s eyes widened and he gaped at her.

‘How do you know about that?’ he asked, thunderstruck. ‘Ron and Hermione said they haven’t told anyone yet.’

‘They didn’t,’ said Ginny, smiling guiltily. ‘I overheard them talking.’

‘Oh, I should’ve known,’ he said, his heart racing. Had Ginny heard Ron and Hermione talking about the Horcruxes, too?

‘What? Eavesdropping is completely normal in this house!’ she said defensively, her eyes glinting just like Fred and George’s did when they were extremely proud of a certain prank. ‘Do you think I’ve learned nothing from Fred and George?’

‘What else did you hear?’ he asked apprehensively, looking intently at her.

‘Nothing else,’ replied Ginny, looking rather disappointed. ‘I just heard Hermione saying that she expected you to leave after the wedding. Does it have something to do with getting rid of You-Know-Who?’

Her eyes clouded with concern.

‘Yeah,’ he said, determinedly avoiding her eyes.

‘Does it have to be you?’ she asked, her voice shaking.

‘Yeah,’ he said again. How he hoped it wasn’t him…

‘I really wanted to remain in touch with you and the mirror was the best option,’ said Ginny, her voice sounding a bit choked. ‘I’m going to miss you too much. It’s going to be nothing like actually being at your side but it’ll have to do. So - er - what do you think?’

‘It’s great,’ said Harry, looking up into her eyes, which were slightly wet. ‘I would love to remain in touch with you.’

‘Good. So I was thinking maybe I could also give you another present,’ she whispered, stepping closer to him. ‘It might be better than the first one.’

She smiled alluringly and kissed him on the lips for the briefest of moments.

‘Come downstairs, then,’ she said, ignoring the shocked look on his face. ‘Everyone’s waiting for you.’

She turned away and dashed down the staircase, her beautiful long hair bouncing behind her. Harry watched the last wisp of red hair disappear into the kitchen as he stood frozen on the same spot. He touched his lips where she’d kissed him with his fingertips, wishing Ginny had given him a longer kiss. Stop it, Potter! He couldn’t afford to think like this if he wanted to protect her.

He pocketed the mirror and hurried downstairs. He entered the kitchen where Mrs. Weasley, Fred, George, Ginny, Bill, Charlie, Fleur and Hermione were eating breakfast. They all looked up as he entered.

‘The birthday boy’s finally arrived,’ said Fred, grinning.

‘Harry, happy birthday!’ said Mrs. Weasley, making her way past the table and pulling Harry into a bone-crunching hug. ‘You must be glad to be finally of age.’

‘Yeah,’ said Harry, feeling a bit winded as Mrs. Weasley finally released him. His mouth watered as he caught sight of the vast amount of food on the table. It looked like a real feast just like Hermione had said.

‘Arthur and I got a nice set of robes for you,’ said Mrs. Weasley, smiling at him.

‘Thanks,’ said Harry, noticing the pile of birthday gifts at the end of the table.

‘Arthur wanted me to wish you a happy birthday,’ said Mrs. Weasley, beaming at him and moving back to the stove. ‘He’d to leave early for work - he’s very busy nowadays.’

‘Happy seventeenth, mate!’ said George, reaching over to shake Harry’s hand.

‘We got an entire box of our latest products for you,’ said Fred, shaking Harry’s other hand. ‘We hope they’ll help you get rid of You-Know-Who.’

‘They might,’ admitted Harry.

‘We’ll be so proud if that happens,’ said George.

Harry caught Ginny’s eye and she winked at him. Harry looked away immediately, feeling heat rising up his cheeks.

‘’Appy birthday, ’Arry!’ exclaimed Fleur, swooping towards Harry and kissing him on both cheeks. Ginny frowned at Fleur’s back.

’Happy birthday,’ said Bill. ‘Fleur and I got you a very fine perfume all the way from France.’

Harry thought that perfume wasn’t going to help him much in the future but he was grateful nonetheless. He’d never received so many birthday presents ever before.

‘You’re getting dragon-hide gloves, boots and jacket from me,’ said Charlie, grinning at Harry. ‘Dragon-hide is very good at protecting your skin from dark magic and I think you’ll have to deal with plenty of that.’

‘Thanks,’ said Harry, sitting down on the empty chair between Bill and Hermione. Hermione loaded his plate with the food and placed it down in front of him.

‘Happy seventeenth, mate!’ said Ron, entering the kitchen. ‘Sorry I was the last one to wish you that.’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Harry at once.

‘Here’s my birthday present,’ said Ron, placing a package with the rest of the birthday gifts.

‘Chocolate frogs, eh?’ grinned Harry, exchanging an amused look with Hermione.

‘I couldn’t decide what else to get you,’ said Ron, his eyes raking over the food. He sat down and began loading his plate with food.

‘Hey Ginny, aren’t you going to give Harry a birthday gift?’ asked Fred mockingly, a sinister smirk appearing on his face.

‘I - I’ve, er, already given it to him,’ stammered Ginny, blushing furiously. Harry almost choked on his food.

Who told them about Ginny and me, anyway? Harry thought.

‘Why did you give it in secret?’ asked George with mock seriousness.

‘Umm … well, that’s really none of your business,’ said Ginny, turning even redder.

‘What was it?’ inquired Fred. ‘C’mon, Gin, you can tell us.’

The five brothers were smirking, clearly enjoying teasing their little sister. Harry tried to sink as low as he could in his chair.

‘I don’t think I will,’ said Ginny, regaining some of her composure, though her cheeks were still pink.

‘Whatever it was, Harry certainly liked it,’ said Fred, turning his attention on Harry.

‘Was it really enjoyable, Harry?’ asked George, smirking suggestively.

Harry looked pleadingly at Ginny, hoping she would get him out of this awkward situation. She shrugged helplessly, and it was Mrs. Weasley who finally came to his rescue.

‘You two can at least spare Harry on his birthday!’ she snapped, glaring at the twins. ‘Stop smirking, all of you.’

The Weasley brothers stopped smirking at once, quailing underneath Mrs. Weasley’s fierce gaze. Hermione and Fleur looked highly amused at this.

‘You can continue eating, dear,’ said Mrs. Weasley, patting Harry on the shoulder.

Harry continued eating and tried to ignore Fred and George, who were smirking in his direction whenever Mrs. Weasley’s attention was elsewhere.

‘When are your two friends coming?’ Mrs. Weasley asked Ginny.

‘In an hour, I think,’ said Ginny. ‘Luna might take longer to get here, though, she said she wanted to walk all the way here as there’s a huge population of Wrackspurts in this area and she really wanted to see how it felt to walk in their midst.’

Ron snorted into his food.

Harry smiled; it would be wonderful to meet Neville and Luna. He was glad they were joining in on his birthday celebrations; they were two of his closest friends and had always stuck by him.

‘Wrackspurts?’ asked Mrs. Weasley blankly.

‘Never mind, Mum,’ replied Ginny, giggling.

Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny headed outside to wait for Neville and Luna after the long breakfast.

‘Why didn’t your parents show up for breakfast?’ Harry asked Hermione.

‘They aren’t used to sitting in the midst of so many wizards,’ replied Hermione, sighing. ‘It’ll take them some time to get used to living here.’

Harry looked in the direction of the gates as Neville Longbottom suddenly fell on the ground. He seemed to have arrived via portkey. Ron opened the gates and he and Harry helped Neville get up to his feet.

‘Hi Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny!’ he said, grinning happily as he wiped the dirt from his clothes.

The four of them quickly returned the greeting.

‘I’m never going to get used to portkeys,’ he said. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever land on my feet!’

‘Don’t worry about that,’ said Ron. ‘None of us can land on our feet, either.’

‘Read this, Neville,’ said Ginny, passing Neville a scrap of parchment. ‘You won’t be able to enter the house otherwise.’

Neville read the Secret Keeper’s message and passed it back to Ginny.

‘I can see it now!’ he exclaimed, looking amazed as the Burrow came into his view.

‘How’re you Neville?’ asked Harry as they moved back into the Burrow’s boundaries.

‘I’ve been OK,’ said Neville, shrugging. ‘The war’s got me a little worried.’

‘We’re all worried,’ said Ron grimly.

‘Is that Luna?’ said Ginny, peering into the distance. Harry turned and saw a blonde-haired girl strolling down a hill in the distance. Harry could tell by the way she walked that it was Luna.

‘Yeah, it is,’ said Ron, sounding certain of it.

‘She really shouldn’t have walked all the way,’ said Hermione, frowning. ‘It’s not safe nowadays with the Death Eaters roaming all over the country.’

‘You worry too much,’ said Ron dismissively. Hermione glared.

Luna finally arrived before the gate after two minutes and Ginny hurried out the gate to greet her.

‘Hi Luna,’ she said brightly.

‘Hello, Ginny,’ said Luna in her usual dreamy voice. Luna was wearing the usual Butterbeer corks’ necklace and carrots as earrings.

‘Read this,’ said Ginny, thrusting the scrap of parchment into Luna’s hands.

‘I always wanted to see a Fedilius Charm in work,’ said Luna vaguely once she’d read the message. Ginny and Luna walked back into the boundaries and Hermione shut the gates by performing an elaborate wand movement.

‘Hello, Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville,’ Luna greeted in a singsong voice.

‘Make this disappear with some magic, Harry,’ said Ginny, holding out the parchment for him. ‘You must want to do a spell without getting into trouble with the Ministry.’

‘Oh, ha ha,’ smiled Harry, taking out his wand and desperately trying to remember the right spell. ‘Evanesca!’’

The parchment disappeared.

‘Good one, Harry,’ said Ginny, patting him on the shoulder. Harry felt a swooping sensation in his stomach. The expression on Hermione’s face suggested that she thought there was nothing remotely impressive about a simple Vanishing Charm. Harry couldn’t help but smile.

‘So Luna, did you see any Wrackspurts on the way?’ asked Ron, looking genuinely interested. Hermione shot him a warning look.

‘Ooh yes, there’s a wondrous population of Wrackspurts in this area,’ said Luna dreamily. ‘I can’t wait to tell Daddy about it.’

‘Let’s go inside,’ said Ron. ‘I’m sure Mum’s saved some food for the two of you. You don’t want to miss out on it.’

‘So Harry did you like the second present?’ Ginny whispered playfully into Harry’s ear as the others started walking back towards the house.

‘Oh yeah, it was brilliant,’ whispered back Harry. ‘It was better than everything else I got.’

‘I knew it would be,’ breathed Ginny, looking pleased. She hurried to catch up with the others and Harry followed.

Mrs. Weasley had indeed saved food for Neville and Luna and the six of them sat on the table discussing everything they’d done in the last month, although Harry didn’t say much as his stay at Privet Drive was hardly worth discussing. Mrs. Weasley showed up and greeted Neville and Luna warmly and then went back to the sitting room, where she was probably making wedding plans with Fleur. Neville was purring in delight about Mrs. Weasley’s cooking when he finished eating, telling them that his grandmother’s food tasted horrible most of the time. He glanced around in alarm as if expecting to see his grandmother standing there and they all laughed at that.

Neville looked simply amazed when he met Bill and Charlie. He’d often heard tales about the two of them from Ron, Fred, George and Ginny and greeted them as if they were celebrities. Charlie seemed to like Luna but Bill looked like he couldn’t decide what to make of her. Neville and Luna both congratulated Fred and George for their legendary escape from Hogwarts. Fred and George had just started talking about their escape in glorifying detail when they heard someone knocking on the door.

‘That must be Hagrid,’ said Charlie, hurrying out the living room to open the door.

‘Hagrid’s here?’ asked Harry cheerfully.

‘Yeah, he said he has a huge surprise for you,’ replied Fred, grinning. ‘We begged him to tell us but he didn’t say a word.’

Charlie returned after a few moments with a huge grin on his face.

‘Come outside,’ he said, looking excited. ‘Hagrid’s waiting outside.’

They all hurried outside eagerly, wanting to see what had made Charlie so excited. Hagrid was standing in the garden and his face broke into a grin as soon as he saw Harry. He pulled Harry into a strangling hug before Harry could even look around.

‘Harry, it’s wonderful ter see yeh,’ said Hagrid when he finally released Harry. ‘Happy birthday!’

Harry stepped back, rubbing his ribs and then suddenly spotted a motorbike parked right behind Hagrid.

‘Hagrid, is that -?’ he began, looking at the motorbike in amazement.

‘It is,’ said Hagrid, nodding. ‘It’s Sirius’s flying motorbike.’

‘Oh, I remember Sirius mentioned this bike,’ said Fred, gaping at the bike incredulously.

Harry approached the bike, feeling a lump rise in his throat. It looked like Sirius’s bike as he also remembered Sirius describing the bike once. There were Gryffindor loins on the handlebars, streaks of red and gold on various parts of the bike, the Hogwarts emblem on the engine and the seat looked spacious. The bike was sparkling as if it’d been polished quite recently. He was overcome by memories as he touched the bike, which had once belonged to Sirius.

‘This is the bike I used ter get yeh from Godric’s Hollow,’ said Hagrid, patting Harry on the shoulder and nearly knocking him to his knees. ‘Sirius gave it ter me - I wouldn’ have got there in time withou’ the bike. Yeh were really tiny back then but the flyin’ didn’ scare yeh one bit.’

Harry smiled slightly, examining the countless buttons on the bike’s handlebars.

‘Sirius wanted ter give yeh this on yer seventeenth birthday,’ Hagrid continued. ‘He wanted ter make this day special fer yeh. I decided ter give it ter yeh since he’s not…’

Hagrid’s voice trailed off awkwardly.

Harry was annoyed to feel moisture in his eyes. He suddenly felt the heartache he’d felt when Sirius had died. What he would give to have Sirius here, giving him the flying motorbike himself …

Ginny brushed Harry’s fingers lightly with hers. She seemed to sense that Harry was troubled.

‘So do yeh wanna ride it?’ asked Hagrid brightly.

‘Ride it?’

‘Yeah, o’ course,’ said Hagrid. ‘Yeh can sit behind me.’

The motorbike sunk towards the ground as Hagrid sat down on it. The Weasley siblings looked envious as they watched Harry climb on to the bike behind Hagrid. He grinned at them.

‘Hagrid, are you sure it’s safe to go flying?’ asked Hermione, frowning. ‘Death Eaters could easily spot you flying about!’

‘Professor D-Dumbledore took care of tha’,’ said Hagrid, the grin disappearing from his face. ‘I needed ter use the bike fer some missions and he put some spell on it. No one can see or hear the bike except the rider when it’s in the air.’

‘Did he tell you about the spell in more detail?’ asked Hermione curiously, she probably wanted to know whether she knew about the spell or not.

‘Later, Hermione,’ said Harry. ‘Let us fly first.’

‘Yeh had better hold on ter me, Harry,’ said Hagrid.

‘Right,’ said Harry, grabbing the back of Hagrid’s huge overcoat.

Hagrid stepped down on the gas pedal and the flying motorbike roared into life. The bike moved several feet on the ground before it shot off into the air without any warning. Harry cried out in surprise and grabbed Hagrid’s arm as tightly as he could. He looked down at the Burrow as the bike rapidly gained altitude and the house was soon nothing but a tiny dot on the ground.

Harry knew they were thousands of feet in the air and he grinned when he realized that he’d never flown so high before. There just wasn’t any need to fly so high during a Quidditch match. Hagrid flew the bike around the village for the next fifteen minutes and then they returned back to the ground. Harry couldn’t help but grin as he got off the bike. The ride had really felt wonderful, well flying was always wonderful.

‘I’m going next, Hagrid!’ said Ginny excitedly, climbing onto the bike. The Weasley brothers had tried to make a run for it but their little sister had been too quick for them.

‘Let’s go,’ said Hagrid, starting up the bike’s engine again. Ginny smirked at her five brothers just before the bike shot off into the air.

They spent the next few hours having a go on the motorbike turn by turn. Hermione and Neville refused to ride the bike even once but the rest of them weren’t complaining about that. Harry, Ginny, Fred and George were particularly desperate about riding the bike, and even Luna was surprisingly enthusiastic about flying. Harry really wanted to fly the bike on his own so he decided to ask Hagrid and Charlie, who could also fly the bike, for some training later.

Lunch was splendid as expected. Mr. and Mrs. Granger also showed up and both still looked extremely nervous and barely spoke during the meal. Ron challenged Harry to a chess game in the sitting room which Harry lost brutally. He’d hoped some birthday spirit would make him play better but he’d been mistaken. Hagrid was teaching Harry and the Weasley siblings to fly they bike on their own in the evening when Lupin, Tonks, Mad-Eye, Kingsley and Professor McGonagall showed up to join in on Harry’s birthday celebrations.

‘Happy seventeenth, Harry!’ said Remus cheerfully, patting Harry on the shoulder and smiling warmly at him. He stopped short when he saw the flying bike.

‘Yeah, thanks,’ said Harry as he was hugged by Tonks.

‘Happy birthday, Potter,’ growled Mad-Eye, smiling crookedly at Harry.

‘Happy seventeenth, Mr. Potter,’ said Professor McGonagall, her voice as crisp as ever. She looked like she’d aged considerably over the last one month, he couldn’t remember seeing so many lines on her face before and her eyes were sorrowful. She’d clearly suffered ever since Dumbledore had died. ‘You’re a bit surprised to see me, are you not?’

‘No, not at all, Professor,’ said Harry quickly.

‘I’ve something to discuss with Molly,’ said Professor McGonagall. ‘You all can carry on what you were doing.’

Professor McGonagall slowly made her way towards the Burrow.

Remus was examining Sirius’s bike, a nostalgic expression on his face. Tonks was holding his hand and squeezing it comfortingly. The bike was probably making Remus relive some painful memories of Sirius.

‘So why did you want the three of us to show up at this time?’ Mad-Eye demanded, his magical eye whizzing in the twins’ direction. ‘You said you were planning something for Harry’s birthday.’

‘Oh yes, we were planning a little Quidditch game,’ said Fred. ‘We wanted to make Harry’s birthday memorable and we figured Quidditch would do the trick.’

‘It will,’ said Harry, nodding.

‘So this is why you asked us to bring our brooms,’ said Tonks, comprehension dawning on her face.

‘Yeah, obviously,’ said Fred.

‘We made the teams and everything,’ said George. ‘We borrowed the four balls from Oliver Wood.’

‘You must have failed to notice that we don’t have a Quidditch pitch,’ said Ginny, frowning at the twins.

‘We can manage without a pitch,’ said Fred, shrugging. ‘We just need to do something about the goal hoops and we took care of that easily enough.’

‘Observe,’ said George dramatically as he and Fred swished their wands through the air. At first, Harry thought the spells hadn’t worked but then he saw three red magical rings hovering near the gate. The twins waved their wands again and three more magical rings appeared at the end of the orchard.

‘Oh, clever,’ muttered Ginny.

‘The Chasers will have to score through those rings,’ said Fred.

‘The Bludgers and Snitch won’t go past the boundaries,’ added George when he saw the expression on Mad-Eye’s face. Obviously the old Auror didn’t want them going past the boundaries.

‘Now, Gin, you must get Hermione, Neville and Looney - I mean Luna,’ said George, when he saw Harry frown at Luna’s nickname. ‘Our teams won’t be complete without them.’

‘And why do I have to get them?’ demanded Ginny, glaring at the twins. ‘You know it’s almost impossible to convince Hermione and Neville to get up in the air!’

‘Because you can be quite forceful at times,’ said Fred, ‘and I’m sure you’ll be able to convince them.’

‘And don’t you want to play a proper Quidditch match or not?’ asked George, raising his eyebrows.

‘I suppose I do but I’m not going to beg them for it,’ said Ginny, hurrying towards the house.

‘Am I supposed to play, too?’ Mad-Eye growled at the twins.

‘Yeah, of course,’ said Fred, nodding. ‘We know you’re an old man now but I think you’re still a bit young at heart.’

‘Don’t call me old,’ grumbled Mad-Eye.

‘We wanted to see just how good you really are in Quidditch,’ said George. ‘Remember how you were bragging about being a world class Beater?’

‘Hey Kingsley, how were the Dursleys?’ Harry asked Kingsley, who was looking interestedly at the flying motorbike.

‘They were … all right,’ said Kingsley uncertainly. ‘Dudley and your aunt were fine but your uncle’s the real problem.’

‘Yeah, he always is,’ said Harry, grinning.

Ginny arrived back with Hermione, Neville and Luna after a couple of minutes. Hermione looked rather irritable. Harry could tell Hermione’s reading had been interrupted. Harry wondered how Ginny had managed to convince her to play but then again, Ginny was cleverer with words than he was.

‘Are we going to do anything besides flying today?’ she snapped. ‘I was reading such a fascinating passage about magical wards!’

‘Well, we were considering asking Fleur instead of you,’ said Fred, ‘but she’s too obsessed with the wedding at the moment.’

‘Tell me about it,’ said Bill grumpily, glancing warily in the direction of the house. He seemed to fear that Fleur might overhear him.

‘So anyways, Harry and I are going to be the captains,’ said Fred, smirking slightly at the look on Bill’s face.

‘Hey, I was supposed to be captain!’ said George indignantly.

‘I never agreed with you on that,’ scoffed Fred.

It was unusual to see Fred and George disagreeing about something, they were always on the same page normally.

‘You both can be captains,’ said Ginny exasperatedly, rolling her eyes. ‘You two can do this together - just like always.’

‘Yeah, that could work,’ said George.

‘So Ginny, you want to be on Harry’s team, right?’ asked Fred, sniggering.

‘Yes, of course,’ replied Ginny calmly. ‘I would rather be on Harry’s team than yours.’

‘That’s hurtful,’ sniffed George, wiping an imaginary tear from his face.

‘Harry, we can play against the five of my brothers,’ said Ginny, turning to Harry and ignoring the twins. ‘I really want to beat them.’

‘All right,’ said Harry.

‘Harry could never deny you anything, Gin,’ said Fred.

‘You two should really stop being such prats!’ admonished Ginny, swatting both of her brothers on the arm as Harry blushed next to her.

Well, he is saying the truth said an annoying voice inside Harry’s head.

‘You two are going to regret this in the end,’ predicted Charlie.

‘In your dreams!’ smirked Ginny.

They spent the next five minutes making the teams. Harry chose Mad-Eye and Remus as Beaters, Hermione as Keeper and Ginny, Luna and Tonks as Chasers. Fred and George were obviously the Beaters on their team, Charlie was Seeker, Ron was Keeper and the Chasers were Bill, Neville and Kingsley.

‘Let’s summon the brooms,’ said Fred. ‘Harry, you can have the honor of summoning Ginny’s broom as she’s still underage.’

‘Oh, come off it,’ said Ginny, frowning. ‘The Ministry won’t be able to detect my underage magic as I’m surrounded by so many overage wizards. Accio broom!’

Fred and George looked deeply proud of their sister as the broom soared into her outstretched hand. Hermione, however, looked scandalized.

They mounted their brooms and quickly got into position. Hagrid, who was also going to record the scores, ambled forward to release the balls. Harry thought Hagrid had a rather longing expression on his face as though he wished he could’ve been playing with them. Unfortunately, Harry hadn’t heard of any broom which could support someone the size of Hagrid.

Hagrid released the Snitch and Bludgers first; Harry tried to keep his eyes focused on the Snitch but it still disappeared from view.

‘Get ready!’ he yelled, preparing to launch the Quaffle into the air. Harry worried that Hagrid might end up tossing the Quaffle out of the Burrow’s boundaries. ‘Three - two - one - GO!’

No such thing happened, however, and Hagrid tossed the Quaffle right in the midst of all of them.

Ginny got to the Quaffle first, she easily dodged Neville, who had already turned green with fright and passed it to Tonks. Kingsley closed up on Tonks but she managed to slip the ball to Luna.

‘BACK HERE, LUNA!’ screamed Ginny, waving her arms wildly, startling Luna and almost making her drop the Quaffle. She attempted the pass but it was intercepted by Bill.

Mad-Eye whacked a Bludger with his bat and it came zooming right towards Bill. Fred flew in the path of the Bludger and smashed it back towards Mad-Eye, who barely dodged it in time.

‘HEY! Watch it!’ roared Mad-Eye. ‘I could’ve lost my other leg!’

‘You could always get another wooden leg!’ Fred shouted.

Harry zoomed around, hoping to find the Snitch but then returned his attention to the others. It was quite enjoyable to see all of his friends competing against each other.

Tonks had snatched the Quaffle from Bill, who’d been distracted by the Bludger and passed it to Ginny. Harry felt slightly nervous when he saw Kingsley close in on Ginny; Kingsley was like a giant in front of her. Ginny grinned at the Auror and easily dodged him.

‘Get her, Neville!’ shouted George as Neville was hovering uncertainly in Ginny’s path.

Neville was just too nervous to make a move and Ginny easily moved past him. Harry knew Fred and George had made the wrong decision to play Neville as a Chaser. A Bludger came flying in Ginny’s direction but she easily avoided it. George groaned in frustration.

Ron looked highly determined as Ginny moved towards the magical rings. It was surprising to see Ron looking so confident during a Quidditch match; he obviously had no problem playing without any supporters watching the game.

Ginny shot the Quaffle at the magical ring on the right and it went through it before Ron could get there due to the power in the shot.

‘No!’ cried Fred and George.

‘You’re the ones who are going to regret playing against me!’ shouted Ginny, grinning.

Ginny easily scored three more goals as she was just too fast for Bill, Kingsley and Neville and Tonks and Luna also played reasonably well. Harry search for the Snitch was proving to be fruitless and Charlie was having the same luck as well.

Harry watched Fred and George smash both Bludgers in Ginny’s direction as she closed in on Bill who was flying towards goal. He got past Ginny as she swerved away to dodge the Bludgers and passed it off to Kingsley, who had a clear run on goal. Hermione looked up, her face white with nervousness.

‘Save it, Hermione!’ shouted Harry encouragingly.

Harry’s shout seemed to make Hermione even more nervous and Kingsley easily scored.

‘You won’t get so lucky again!’ yelled Ginny.

The goal made Ginny even more determined as she scored twice and set up goals for Luna and Tonks. Harry thought his team would win even if Charlie managed to get the Snitch (which he was never going to allow, of course). Ginny was the only one who’d played as a Chaser before and she seemed to be enjoying showing off her skills. Fred decided to exchange positions with Neville in the hope of standing more of a chance against Ginny. Fred spent most of his time blocking Ginny and the plan seemed to work at first as Kingsley and Bill both scored twice but then Ginny started to dodge Fred easily, partly thanks to the Bludgers sent Fred’s way by Mad-Eye and Remus. George wasn’t doing so well with Neville as his partner. Ginny was soon scoring goals for fun but Fred, Kingsley and Bill also managed to nick some goals.

Harry was getting increasingly frustrated by his search for the Snitch. The sunlight made it incredibly difficult to spot the tiny golden ball. They’d been playing for almost two hours; he didn’t think he’d ever gone so long without spotting the Snitch. He often found himself watching Ginny as she flew. She’d a carefree smile on her face and her eyes were glinting with fierce determination. He thought she moved very gracefully through the air. He was just watching her score yet another goal when he spotted the Snitch fluttering several feet above her.

Harry moved casually towards the Snitch, not wanting to let Charlie know that he’d spotted the Snitch. Charlie, however, was much more skilled than any Seeker Harry had faced at Hogwarts as he also seemed to be going for the Snitch. Harry sped up but didn’t utilize the full speed of the Firebolt as he knew that would give him an unfair advantage over Charlie’s much slower and older broom.

‘Get it, Charlie!’ Fred yelled as the others noticed Harry and Charlie going for the Snitch. ‘We’ll win if you can catch it now!’

‘You can do it, Harry!’ shouted Ginny encouragingly.

Her encouragement made Harry even more determined to catch the Snitch. Charlie was soaring towards the Snitch from the other side but Harry thought he would get there first. The Snitch changed direction when Harry got near enough and fluttered away into the distance. Harry kept his eyes fixed on it, feeling exhilaration coarse through his body as he zoomed after the winged ball. Charlie was right behind Harry and they were soon flying neck-to-neck after the Snitch. Harry stretched his hand, trying to catch the Snitch, but he was a bit too far from it. Charlie’s arm was longer and his fingers were mere inches away from the Snitch.

Harry pushed Charlie slightly, trying to distract him from catching the Snitch. Charlie pushed back and reached for the Snitch at the same time. The Snitch suddenly dipped towards the ground as Charlie’s hand closed in on it. Harry maneuvered his Firebolt into position and dived after it. He was flying head-first to the ground after the Snitch. Charlie’s reaction was slower than his as he was left trailing after Harry. Harry leaned forwards, pressing his body against the broom and urged it to go faster. He was almost there, only a foot away, he stretched his hand -

A Bludger suddenly hurtled in Harry’s direction and he barely dodged it. A grin spread over his face as he raised his arm to show everyone the struggling Snitch in his fingers. He realized he’d almost crashed to the ground as he was hovering only five feet away from the ground. He quickly dismounted the broom, internally grateful Mrs. Weasley hadn’t seen him doing such a risky move.

‘Harry, we won!’ shouted Ginny as she landed on the ground. She ran over to him and hugged him.

‘You were brilliant, Ginny,’ he smiled when she’d released him.

‘Thanks,’ said Ginny, smiling brilliantly. ‘You were amazing yourself.’

Harry was left breathless by her smile. Her cheeks were flushed pink due to flying for so long, her hair was windblown and he thought she’d never looked prettier.

‘Hem hem,’ said Fred in a perfect impersonation of Dolores Umbridge.

Harry dragged his eyes away from Ginny and saw that the others had landed around them while they’d been busy staring at each other.

‘I thought the real Umbridge had arrived,’ said Neville, shaking his head at Fred.

‘I knew only such a despicable voice would make Harrykins and Gin-Gin look away from each other,’ he said, smirking.

‘Oh, never mind that,’ said Ginny as a grin spread over her face. ‘We beat you - I beat the five of you! You five never thought you’d actually lose to your little sister! I beat you - ha!’

Harry couldn’t help but smile at the proud look on Ginny’s face.

‘The shame is killing me here,’ said George as the Weasley brothers’ ears turned red.

‘I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life before,’ said George. ‘Things would’ve been so different if we’d picked the right players.’

‘You all always thought that I was no good at Quidditch,’ Ginny continued, clearly enjoying this. It seemed like Ginny had been waiting for this moment for ages. ‘You never allowed me to play with you because I was a girl. It turns out that I was the best Quidditch player in the family all along!’

‘This proves nothing,’ scoffed Charlie. ‘I’m one of Gryffindor’s legendary Quidditch players, remember?’

‘I won the Quidditch Cup twice for your kind information,’ said Ginny. ‘You also only won it twice the last time I checked. Harry and I are going to be much more legendary than you!’

‘You tell them, Ginny,’ said Tonks, snickering. Remus was having difficulty concealing his smile, Hermione was sniggering into her hands, Mad-Eye was chuckling and Hagrid was laughing.

‘Will you quit it, Ginny?’ asked Ron irritably.

‘I won’t until you admit I’m better,’ said Ginny smugly.

‘Hey Hagrid, tell us the score,’ said Harry, hoping to rub defeat even deeper into the brothers’ faces.

‘Righ’,’ said Hagrid, peering down at the clipboard Hermione had given to him for recording the scores. ‘The final score is 350 to 60.’

‘This means we’ve destroyed you real bad,’ said Ginny, her grin growing even wider, if that were possible. ‘We gave them a real beating, Harry. I’d the say the score could’ve been worse if he’d played for more time.’

‘Yeah, you were giving them a real thrashing,’ said Harry, smirking. The brothers didn’t look overly angry so maybe he could also join in on the teasing. Merlin knew Fred and George had teased him far too many times about Ginny ever since he’d arrived. It felt good to be getting some revenge.

‘It’s just a game,’ said Charlie, trying to appear nonchalant. ‘It doesn’t really matter.’

‘Sure , Charlie, I believe you,’ said Ginny sarcastically.

‘Excuse us,’ said Fred, ‘we’ve got some work to do.’

And the twins bolted back to the house without any further explanation.

‘Cowards,’ laughed Ginny.

‘Ginny, I think your Mum might need some help with the food,’ said Hermione. She appeared to be taking pity on the remaining three brothers.

‘Oh yeah, let’s go,’ said Ginny. She turned to look at Bill, Charlie and Ron, ‘Don’t think I’m letting you off so easy. I’m going to make you five admit that I’m the best Quidditch player in this family.’

She smirked one last time and hurried after Hermione, her ponytail bouncing repeatedly as she went.

‘She can really get on my nerves sometimes,’ grumbled Ron.

‘The twins’ presence is rubbing off on her,’ said Bill, shaking his head.

‘Look on the bright side, at least she’s not like Percy,’ said Charlie dryly.

All of them laughed.

‘We’d also better go inside,’ said Tonks, making her hair an even brighter shade of pink so that it would glow in the darkness. ‘It’s getting dark.’

‘Hey Luna, you can come down now!’ Harry called, spotting Luna drifting serenely in the distance. She appeared to be watching the sunset.

‘Oh, right,’ said Luna vaguely. She landed on the ground after a few moments, looking surprised that the game was over.

They went to the sitting room, where they’d a lively debate about the match. Ron then challenged Harry to a game of wizard’s chess and Neville and Luna decided to help Harry try to beat Ron. Ron won easily despite moaning about food throughout the game. Hermione showed up after about two hours just when Ron was beginning to get desperate for food.

‘Dinner’s ready,’ she said.

‘Oh, at long last!’ exclaimed Ron, knocking over the chess board as he jumped to his feet. ‘I’ve been starving - I always need food after I fly!’

‘The cake took a long time,’ said Hermione, rolling her eyes at Ron. ‘Wake up Moody as well. He wouldn’t want to miss any of the food.’

Mad-Eye was snoozing in an armchair, his magical eye swirling eerily in its socket. The others had left the sitting room when Harry, Ron, Neville and Luna had started their game. Ron had suspected they’d gone to talk about secret information.

’We’re eating outside in the garden,’ Hermione informed them.

‘Wake up, Moody,’ said Harry, tapping the old Auror on the shoulder.

Mad-Eye’s normal eye sprang open; he immediately reached for his wand and pushed Harry back roughly.

‘What’s going on?’ he growled.

‘Dinner’s ready,’ said Harry.

‘Oh right,’ said Mad-Eye, visibly relaxing. ‘Sorry about the push, you know I’m crazy about constant vigilance.’

‘Yeah, how could we forget?’ asked Harry, amused.

‘Let’s go, then.’

Harry realized he was feeling quite hungry himself as they hurried outside to the garden.

A long wooden table had been set up in the garden. There were empty plates and goblets placed on it. Harry spotted gnomes struggling against an invisible shield in one corner of the garden. They were croaking irritably, clearly not pleased of being stuck in one part of the garden. Streamers of all kinds of colors imaginable had been strung in the garden and the number seventeen seemed to be flashing around them.

‘My Shield Charm is really working, isn’t it?’ asked Hermione proudly.

‘Never mind that,’ said Ron, looking at the table in dismay. ‘Where’s the food supposed to be?’

‘It’ll appear once everyone arrives,’ said Hermione, scowling at Ron. ‘You can surely wait a little longer.’

‘No, I can’t, that’s the problem,’ grumbled Ron.

The rest of the Weasleys, Fleur, Professor McGonagall, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley and Hagrid arrived soon.

‘Happy seventeenth, Harry,’ said Mr. Weasley warmly, shaking Harry’s hand.

‘Thanks, Mr. Weasley,’ smiled Harry. ‘Did you just get back from the Ministry?’

‘Yes, just five minutes ago,’ replied Mr. Weasley, looking exhausted. ‘Molly wanted me to be here before the cake was cut.’

‘Mum - bring the food already!’ said Ron impatiently, clutching his stomach.

‘Yes, yes, I’m bringing it,’ snapped Mrs. Weasley, frowning at her youngest son. ‘I suppose we should start with the cake. Sit down everyone.’

Harry couldn’t stop himself from rushing to sit next to Ginny. She looked somewhat surprised at this but then smiled, looking pleased. Fred and George sniggered on the opposite side of the table. Hermione smiled at Harry in an annoying manner as she sat down on his other side.

You’re supposed to stay away from her, you idiot! Harry groaned at himself inwardly. Now everyone was going to think they were together. I wish we were - no, stop it!

‘Mum!’ said Ron.

‘Yes, yes, wait a few seconds,’ said Mrs. Weasley, who’d been looking amusedly at Harry and Ginny. She waved her wand through the air and then flicked it sharply.

Harry gasped slightly as the biggest birthday cake he’d ever seen appeared before him. It was a seventeen tier chocolate cake. Dudley would’ve given up everything he owned just to get his hands on this cake. Harry had to crane his neck to see ‘Happy Birthday Harry’ scribbled on top of it with icing. Seventeen candles had been placed it. Harry wondered how long it’d taken to prepare the cake.

‘Bloody hell,’ said Ron, gaping at the cake.

‘Language, Ron,’ Hermione and Mrs. Weasley scolded simultaneously.

‘It’s huge, Mrs. Weasley!’ said Harry, thinking he sounded a little childish. ‘How ever did you make it?’

‘It wasn’t difficult at all, dear,’ said Mrs. Weasley, smiling fondly at him. ‘Ginny and Hermione are the ones who made this cake. It was Ginny’s idea to make a seventeen tier cake - she was very eager to make it.’

Harry glanced at Ginny and saw that her cheeks had turned slightly pink.

‘You two shouldn’t have worked so hard for me,’ Harry said, it was obvious it’d taken a lot of hard work to prepare the cake despite what Mrs. Weasley had said.

‘Stop being silly, Harry,’ said Hermione, a hint of exasperation in her voice. ‘We just wanted to make you happy.’

‘Yes, your smile suggests it was worth it,’ added Ginny.

Harry smiled at her, warmth flooding inside his body. He was suddenly very pleased that Ginny had worked hard to make him happy.

‘Hey Ginny, how come you made a cake for Harry?’ asked Fred with mock seriousness. ‘You’ve never made cakes for the rest of us!’

‘That’s because you five are big, immature prats,’ replied Ginny with a smirk.

‘You can be very hurtful sometimes,’ sniffed George.

‘Cut the cake, Harry,’ said Mrs. Weasley, shaking her head at the twins. ‘Here you go.’

She handed him a gleaming knife. Harry stood up, as he couldn’t properly reach the top of the cake.

‘Let me get my parents first,’ said Hermione. ‘They’ve been spending far too much time in their room.’

Hermione ran off in the direction of the house and returned after a couple of minutes, followed by her parents. Mrs. Granger’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight of the immense cake.

‘Make a wish, Harry,’ said Hermione cheerfully.

Harry had never really done this before so he wasn’t sure what to wish for.

I hope I defeat Voldemort in the end and all of my loved ones survive he wished, uncertainly blowing out the candles. As he cut the cake, a painful lump rose in his throat. He’d never celebrated his birthday like this before; these were the kind of moments Voldemort had stolen by killing his parents. He felt his affection surge for the people around him, who were singing happy birthday as he cut the cake.

‘Happy birthday, dear,’ said Mrs. Weasley, putting a small piece of cake into Harry’s mouth. Harry was slightly embarrassed to be treated like a kid but he also enjoyed it. He’d never received any kind of affection in his childhood. The Dursleys had always treated him worse on his birthdays, if that were possible.

‘Yes, yes, Ron, I’m giving you your piece,’ said Mrs. Weasley, smiling sadly at Harry. She started to cut pieces for everyone on the table.

Mrs. Weasley made the cake disappear when everyone had eaten at least two pieces, saying they would eat the rest of it with the other desserts. Ron looked disappointed as he’d been going for his fourth piece. Harry thought the cake alone would’ve easily filled all of their stomachs. Mrs. Weasley flicked her wand and this time delectable food appeared all over the table. All of them piled some into their plates and started to eat. Ron overloaded his plate so Hermione had to give him another plate, looking disgusted at his table manners. Conversations erupted on the table and it was incredibly difficult to keep up with all of them.

Ginny was teasing Fred and George about beating them earlier; Mrs. Weasley and Fleur were arguing about something to do with the wedding preparations; Hermione and Mad-Eye were having an intense discussion about safety spells; Tonks and Remus were whispering while watching the others amusedly; Charlie and Hagrid were talking about Norbert, the Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, which Harry and Hermione had once sent to Romania; Bill was telling Neville and Luna tales about some of his exploits in Egypt; Mr. Weasley was eagerly asking Mr. and Mrs. Granger about some Muggle contraption; Professor McGonagall and Kingsley were discussing the latest happenings at the Ministry of Magic and Ron was too busy eating as if his life depended upon it.

Harry ended up staring at Ginny when he didn’t have anything better to do. Ginny didn’t seem to notice as she was too busy teasing Fred and George. He was sure he could feel Hermione glancing continuously at him. He was barely resisting the impulse to touch Ginny’s hair; he’d used to love running his fingers through the silky locks.

Ginny suddenly turned and caught Harry staring at her. She blushed furiously while her eyes travelled down to his left hand, which was only inches away from her hair. He felt heating rushing up his cheeks.

‘Have you been doing that for the last ten minutes?’ she whispered, her eyes twinkling. She didn’t seem to have minded his staring at all.

‘Even longer,’ said Harry without thinking. ‘I mean no, of course not!’ he quickly added.

Ginny giggled; Fred and George’s heads immediately turned to look in their direction. Hermione seemed to be having difficulty containing her giggles.

‘It’s all right,’ breathed Ginny once Fred and George had returned their attention to their food. ‘I don’t mind…’

Does that mean I can stare at you whenever I want?

‘You’re hopeless,’ murmured Hermione, who was still chuckling slightly. ‘That was real smooth, Potter.’

‘Shut it,’ hissed Harry, certain that Ginny was listening.

‘I think it won’t be difficult at all, Ginny,’ said Hermione, looking knowingly at Ginny.

‘I hope so,’ said Ginny.

‘Time for dessert!’ announced Mrs. Weasley before Harry could ask what they were talking about. The desserts appeared with another flick of Mrs. Weasley’s wand. Harry searched for treacle tart and reached for it as soon as he spotted it. He saw Ginny smiling at him out of the corner of his eye.

As Harry ate nearly all the desserts available, he noticed that Ginny had suddenly gotten exceptionally silent. She was gazing into the distance with a wistful expression on her face. She appeared to be deep in thought and he couldn’t bring himself to ask what was troubling her.

‘You’re not retiring to bed just yet, mate,’ said Fred as Harry got off the table. The treacle tart looked highly tempting but he knew he would probably end up throwing up if he ate anymore.

‘Yeah, we’ve got a surprise for you,’ said George, grinning.

The twins hurried away to the back of the house. Harry hoped Fred and George hadn’t planned to prank him.

‘Even they don’t have the nerve to attempt a prank in front of Mum,’ murmured Ron, sensing what Harry was thinking. Harry knew he was probably right.

Fred and George returned, levitating a wooden box in front of them. Harry leaned forwards, trying to see what was inside it.

‘The box contains some of our Weasley Whiz-Bangs,’ said Fred proudly. ‘We’ve made some especially for your birthday.’

‘You remember the Weasley Whiz-Bangs, don’t you?’ asked George, grinning. ‘We used them - and some of our other products - to make Umbridge’s life miserable.’

‘You could wake up the entire village with those fireworks of yours,’ growled Mad-Eye.

‘We took care of that easily enough,’ said Fred. ‘Only the people who can enter this house would be able to see them. The Fedilius Charm really helped.’

Hermione looked highly impressed.

‘Are you sure they’re safe?’ asked Mrs. Weasley apprehensively.

‘Yeah, Mum, perfectly safe,’ replied George innocently. ‘Don’t you trust us?’

‘I don’t,’ said Mrs. Weasley, looking suspiciously at the twins.

‘Just get them in the air already!’ said Ginny impatiently, stomping her foot on the ground.

‘That’s the spirit,’ grinned Fred, reaching over and ruffling his sister’s hair.

‘We’d better retreat to a safe distance,’ said George, backing out of the garden and toward the orchard. The others followed but Fred stayed in the garden. He moved his wand in a complicated movement and there was a white flash of light as the box opened up. He hurried towards them, grinning.

‘There goes the first one!’ said George, pointing into the air.

They all looked up. Harry saw what looked like a little rocket zoom up into the star strewn sky. He heard Hermione gasp as a huge Gryffindor loin appeared in the sky. The loin roared deafeningly and then exploded in a brilliant display of red and gold sparks.

‘That’s for Gryffindor!’ yelled Fred. ‘The best house at Hogwarts!’

Harry squinted at the sky as four creatures appeared on it at the same time. The first one was a stag, the second was a red phoenix, the third was a Hippogriff and the fourth was a familiar shaggy-haired dog. Harry knew Fred and George had meant for them to remind Harry of Prongs, Fawkes, Buckbeak and Padfoot. All the creatures meant something to him, he was deeply touched. He felt slightly dismayed as the creatures, especially the dog, disappeared in a brilliant explosion of colors.

Harry was left astounded as what looked like Draco Malfoy’s head appeared in the sky next. He was furious at Fred and George at first but then a wide grin appeared on his face as Malfoy’s head transformed into a twitching ferret. Harry heard Ron laughing uproariously next to him and he found himself joining in. Turning Malfoy into a ferret had been the only good thing any Death Eater had ever done. The ferret exploded, lighting up the sky once more.

‘This one might be even funnier!’ shouted Fred gleefully.

This time Severus Snape appeared and Harry immediately knew what was coming. Neville’s grandmother’s clothes appeared on Snape and all of them laughed at the sight, even Mrs. Weasley looked amused. Harry grinned; Fred and George had just made him relive two of the funniest memories of his life.

‘This one is special!’ screamed George, tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks.

There was a sharp intake of breath from Mrs. Weasley and Hermione as the Dark Mark appeared in the sky. Harry’s body shuddered involuntarily at the gruesome sight of the green skull with the snake protruding out of its mouth. A Hungarian Horntail dragon appeared next to it. There was a great roar of rage as the dragon launched itself into the skull. The explosion of colors was almost blinding this time and left Harry with several spots in his eyes.

He watched in amazement as letters appeared in the sky, forming a whole sentence. Harry read the message: Happy Birthday Harry - hope the next year finally brings you triumph over Voldy and you remain the Boy Who Lived forever!

‘So what do you think?’ asked Fred expectantly.

Harry was overwhelmed; he couldn’t come up with words to describe what he was feeling. Fred and George had really outdone themselves this time.

‘I-It was brilliant,’ he said, amazement in his voice.

‘Hey, wait up,’ said Ron. ‘We can’t let you two take all the credit for it.’

‘Yeah, I was the one who suggested to do this in the first place,’ said Ginny, nodding. ‘Ron, Hermione and I told you what to show in the sky.’

‘You never experienced Neville’s boggart, did you?’ said Ron, raising his eyebrow. ‘You wouldn’t have been able to do that without us.’

‘We’re the ones who really made the Whiz-Bangs,’ said George. ‘That certainly counts for something.’

Harry wanted to thank everyone present for everything they’d done for him. He wanted to thank them for making his birthday so special, so memorable … He’d never thought that he would actually get to celebrate one of his birthdays like this. Even Dudley hadn’t had such a grand birthday.

‘I-I want to thank all of you,’ said Harry, his voice choked with emotion. ‘For everything you’ve done for me.’

Ron, Ginny, Fred and George stopped arguing as they heard Harry’s words. Tears appeared in Mrs. Weasley’s eyes and she engulfed him in a strangling hug. He buried his head into her shoulder, urging the tears to disappear from his eyes. He was so grateful for the love and warmth that the Weasleys had shown him that he thought that he could never make it up to them.

‘I told you it was nothing, dear,’ said Mrs. Weasley. ‘We’re your family and this is what families do for each other.’

Mrs. Weasley finally released him and Harry stepped back, smiling at her. His eyes were still wet which he didn’t want the others to see.

‘Yeah, mate, you’re family,’ said Ron, looking at a loss for words.

‘You’ve been family ever since you first came here,’ said Mr. Weasley, patting him on the shoulder.

‘We’re your brothers, Harry,’ said Fred, an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face. ‘Your five big brothers.’

Harry’s affection for the Weasleys was rapidly soaring to new heights.

‘Ginny, why aren’t you telling Harry you’re his sister?’ demanded George, feigning to look offended.

‘Shut it,’ mumbled Ginny. Her eyes were also wet; she appeared to be struggling to contain her emotions. She suddenly ran towards Harry when she saw him looking in her direction and threw her arms around him.

’Oh Harry,’ she sniffled into his shoulder and squeezed him. Harry was taken-aback but that didn’t mean he wasn’t enjoying the unexpected hug.

‘I don’t think Harry wants to be Ginny’s brother,’ said Fred, smirking at Harry from over Ginny’s shoulder.

‘I think you’re absolutely right, brother dear,’ agreed George. ‘Isn’t he, Harry?’

Ginny released him and glared at the twins.

‘Fred, George, are you two ever serious?’ snapped Mrs. Weasley.

Harry didn’t mind what the twins were saying. He knew they couldn’t help it. They’d obviously tried to be serious but had failed to do that.

‘I think I can be Harry’s sister,’ said Hermione, smiling at Harry. There was a tear running down the length of her cheek.

‘Me, too,’ said Tonks brightly.

Harry suppressed a yawn. He’d suddenly got very sleepy and all he wanted to do at the moment was to lie down in bed. He also wanted to get away from everyone before he lost control of his emotions.

‘Time for bed,’ announced Mrs. Weasley, noticing the tiredness on his face.

‘C’mon, Mum, I don’t want to sleep,’ complained George.

‘We’ll see you at the wedding, Harry,’ said Neville as Mad-Eye led him and Luna to the Burrow’s boundaries.

‘Goodbye, Harry!’ called Neville.

‘Bye, Harry,’ said Luna dreamily. ‘Don’t let the Wrackspurts infect your brain!’

Harry exchanged an amused grin with Ginny as he waved at Neville and Luna.

‘Oh no, the wedding!’ exclaimed Fred, the grin disappearing from his face.

‘That’s right,’ said Mrs. Weasley, nodding. ‘We’re starting the wedding preparations tomorrow.’

‘We’re starting at nine o’clock tomorrow,’ announced Fleur happily.

‘Well, I’m glad we managed to enjoy ourselves as best as we could,’ said George, who’d turned extremely pale at the mention of the wedding. ‘Tomorrow is going to be a real nightmare!’