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“HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY!” chorused all his smiling friends. He had not been expecting this, he hadn’t been expecting anything. His birthdays were meant to be forgotten at the Dursley house. In front of him was a Weasley-size gathering.
Even his fellow Gryffindors were there, the whole Quidditch team, including Wood. His dorm mates; including Seamus who was looking mildly uncomfortable, were all in attendance. Batty old Mrs. Figg was sitting in a corner, playing with Crookshanks. Luna Lovegood was sitting next to Neville, Quibbler sticking out of her day-bag. Quite a few of the D.A. members had shown up, Ernie MacMillan, Hannah Abbot, and others, though he was quite glad to see that Cho and her friend were absent from the festivities. Order members were there; Tonks and Lupin, (Who looked very friendly indeed,) Moody, Hagrid, McGonagall, and, yes, Dumbledore had cleared time in his busy schedule and was now telling a joke about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar… Charlie and Bill (and obviously needing more on the spot English lessons was Fleur, standing in what Harry thought, was very close proximity for a “student-teacher” relationship), had shown up. Hermione’s parents were chatting with Molly and Arthur, or Mum and Dad, as he now so happily called them. He felt one of those now, all too familiar pangs, and thought for a minute about Sirius. How he wished he was here. He broke out of his reverie quickly, realizing it wouldn’t do to dwell on sadness when these people had worked so hard to pull this party off. When so many people who cared about him were in one room. He shook his head to clear it and after a quick scan around the room, his eyes landed on the three people who meant the very most to him. With a grin a mile wide he walked over to them, and hugged each of them in turn.
“How’d you guys do this?” Harry asked in amazement.
“Ginny planned it all, and everyone pitched in to help,” said Hermione, who had a watery smile on her face.
He turned to Ginny, unable to put into words how grateful he was that he finally had a birthday party. After years of watching Dudley go fun places and do fun things on his birthday, Harry had built up quite a bit of jealousy; but nothing Dudley had ever done even remotely compared to this.
They all walked over to a table, groaning underneath ‘mum’s’ fine cooking, and began to dig in, making sure the twins were at the other side of the room, and didn’t look anywhere close to guilty. Taking a leaf out of Moody’s book, they each sniffed their food, making sure is smelled at least relatively normal.
Hermione took out her wand and muttered a brief incantation, her food glowed lemon-yellow for a second and then returned to normal. Satisfied, she took a bite. When nothing happened after several moments, they all dug in. Too soon. Ginny and Ron’s red hair and Hermione’s brown, turned raven black, Ron and Ginny’s freckles disappeared, and their eyes turned the emerald color of Harry’s. And each had a different shaped scar on their forehead: Hermione’s in the shape of a book, Ron’s in the shape of a fork, and Ginny’s in the shape of a heart. Harry was the only one unchanged.
Fred and George waltzed over, as the room erupted in laughter, “We didn’t even think of charming the food until you all looked so skeptical. Then from across the room we did a little fancy wand-work. Harry of course, we didn’t change, since it is his birthday,” George said.
Turning to Harry, Fred said, “But as of tomorrow, you are fair game.” With a twin pair of winks, they were back across the room.
Harry looked around at his friends and laughed, the hardest he had ever laughed. Three pairs of green eyes glared at him, but each cracked in turn. Hermione first, who had conjured a mirror to look at herself, when she passed it to Ginny, she lost it completely, and then to Ron, who was looking wide eyed into, ran a finger over his newly acquired scar, and cracked up.
“If Fred and George start selling this,” whispered the Harry-Ginny quietly, so only the two other look-a-likes and Harry heard, “The whole world will look like Harry, bit of a scary thought don’t you think.” She laughed. After many assurances that the food was now ok, everyone began to eat, and slowly, the food piles decreased, eventually leaving only the plates.
“Present time!” yelled George, as he marched Harry over to the other table, which was completely covered under presents.
“This one first,” said Fred, handing him a large box, which was from Fred and George. Harry took the box gently, and opened it as if it would explode at any second, he held the box out away from his face and lifted the flap, and a shower of luridly-colored confetti came out with the noise of a bomb. Once the confetti had cleared, inside the box was a large supply of products from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes.
Harry was handed the next from the pile, which was a Chudley Cannons poster from Ron. Soon there was a pile of presents at his feet including; a soccer ball from Dean, a life-time subscription to the Daily Prophet from a sheepishly laughing Seamus, a book on Defense from Hermione. A book on Dragons was what he received from Charlie, (with a note saying, “Just in case Hagrid gets any more ideas”). Socks had appeared from Dobby. Bill gave him a miniature curse deflector, which seemed no more than a little crystal chip on a thick, black string, which Bill explained it sends most curses back at the person cursing you, and only worked if you were considered a ‘good’ person, ‘Mum and Dad,’ had given him a refilling tin of home-made fudge, Moody had given him a foe glass, (CONSTANT VIGILANCE), Tonks, a new pocket sneakscope, Hagrid, some rock cakes, and a less-fanged wallet.
He was now opening something from Dumbledore, who Harry was the most shocked to be given a present from. The heavy parcel sat on his lap as he gingerly opened the paper. Inside was, he couldn’t believe it, a pensieve. Harry looked up at Dumbledore, and the words barely came out, “Thank You.” Dumbledore nodded his reply, his eyes sparkling behind those half-moon spectacles, and gently placed the words, “You are most welcome,” in his head. Harry sat for a moment, looking at the pensieve, but eventually had to return to opening the rest of his gifts. Hannah Abbot had given him a white gold (because it is purest and offers the most protection), bracelet, which glowed blue when danger was near, Ernie, of course, another book on defense. Luna gave him a framed newspaper clipping, stating that Lucius Malfoy was in Azkaban. He shook his head at her oddness, but appreciated the sentiment behind it. On the back of the frame was in inscription, “Even in the worst of times, some good comes.” Harry smiled a bit, and took the last present off the table, from Neville, he received a remembrall. And though Harry said thank you many, many times, it didn’t seem sufficient for him.
Ginny came out carrying the cake, and everyone started a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”
He cut into the delicious strawberry cake, and served everyone.
Once all had a slice, Lupin pulled him aside and gave Harry his gift; a photo album of Sirius and his parents. Lupin seemed to not know what to say, so he just gave Harry a hug, and simply stated, “Your parents were good people, Sirius was a good person,” his voice cracked a bit, “And they would all be as proud of you as I am. If you ever need anything Harry, don’t hesitate to ask.” Lupin hugged Harry, and went back to the party. Harry sat outside for a moment, fighting with the lump in his throat. He had it just about beat when Ginny came out.
“Hey,” she said, sitting down next to him. She had a small wrapped package in her hands, and was smiling.
“Hey,” Harry croaked back. She put her arm around his shoulder and brought his head down to hers. They sat in companionable silence for a while, until Ginny spoke.
”I wanted to give you this without everyone seeing.” She handed him the package, which he slowly opened. Inside was a ring, silver, with a clear stone in it. Harry smiled, and slipped it onto his left ring finger.
Ginny lifted up her hand to reveal a matching one, “They were my grandparents. They’re mood rings. I can tell what you’re feeling and you can tell what I’m feeling just by looking at them. They only work for people who really care about each other.” She concluded.
Harry looked down at his, purple-blue, the word anxious floated over his mind. He realized she must be nervous about giving this to him. “It’s really wonderful Ginny,” he smiled.
She turned her head up to him and smiled back, “I’m glad you like it.”
He looked down at her and slowly moved his head down to hers. He caught her lips with his and kissed her. He didn’t need a mood ring to tell what she was feeling, and he was sure she didn’t either.
They broke apart and Harry put his arms around her. Hermione and Ron came out the back door and settled on the step next to Harry and Ginny. Ron slipped his arm around Hermione’s waist, and Hermione clasped Ginny’s hand. They all knew the challenges they would have to face when the time came. Whatever challenges they included, the now quartet, was confident they could meet them together.
A/n- The last chapter, hope you like it! Please review and tell me what you thought of my story! Thank you to all who have reviewed, it’s what kept me going with this story.