As Harry woke up on the morning of July thirty-first, he felt a sense of disquiet overtake him. The fact that it was his birthday only served to increase his worries, as he thought of how different this birthday already was from the seven that had preceded it. He'd grown used to staying awake until after midnight to await the flurry of owls that always arrived with cards and presents. Last night, he had not bothered to sit up late. He'd known it was an exercise in futility. But that was not the main reason behind his feelings now. He'd been working hard at trying to accept the fact that there would be no owls for him today. After all, he was at the Weasleys' so it wasn't as if his birthday was going to be completely ignored. No, the real reason for his worry now was the fact that Hedwig had still not put in an appearance.

She'd flown off in what he'd thought was a snit a little less than a week ago now, but he'd thought that would blow over in a few days. It hadn't apparently. He went over to the window and looked in vain for a flash of white feathers tipped with black, but the sky outside was empty. He was beginning to get the feeling she'd never come back.

It was just something else he was going to have to learn to accept, he told himself, but he still felt as if he'd lost a good friend. He remembered feeling something similar when he was twelve and Dobby had managed to stop the letters Ron and Hermione had sent to him. He'd thought he'd lost their friendship then, as well, but this cut much deeper. He'd owned Hedwig for seven full years now, after all. She'd been his faithful servant up--and more than that, his friend--until he'd let his temper get the better of him last week…

He made himself take out some clothes and head down to the bathroom. It was his birthday, and he resolved not to let this bother him. But he'd no sooner sat down at the breakfast table to a chorus of birthday greetings, when something else happened to make everything just a bit worse. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were already seated round the kitchen table when he came into the kitchen. As Harry reached for the butter to spread on his toast, several owls flew into the room. It was almost like being back at Hogwarts when the morning post arrived. One of the owls was simply delivering the morning's edition of the Daily Prophet, but the others crowded around Hermione, Ron and Ginny, vying for their attention.

Both the girls seemed to have received two letters this morning--Harry could see what looked suspiciously like a Hogwarts seal on one of the envelopes that was addressed to Ginny. But then Hermione had one too.

It was Ron, however, who opened his letter first. He let out a whoop of joy. "I can't believe it!" he shouted. "They've actually accepted me into Auror training!"

"That's wonderful, dear," said Mrs Weasley, as she came over with a skillet full of scrambled eggs, and began heaping them onto Harry's plate. She put an arm around Harry and gave him a squeeze. "Happy birthday, dear."

As Harry watched, Ron read through his letter, the tips of his ears growing gradually redder. "I don't believe it!" he said again, beginning to laugh.

"What don't you believe?" asked Hermione.

"Listen to this: 'Dear Mr Weasley,' " he read. " 'We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Auror training. You are to report to training headquarters…' Hang on, the good bit is further on. 'Under normal circumstances, we would have rejected your application, given the high number of illegal incidences you admitted to being involved with. However, due to the mitigating circumstances, which explained these aberrant occurrences, we have decided to overlook them…' What do they mean by that?"

Hermione laughed. "I think it means you gave them a good excuse for each case you had to explain to them."

"Oh, right. Well, thanks for helping me with that, then."

"Snape must have put in a good word for you, as well," said Harry. "He really is going soft in his old age."

"I've only got one problem here," said Ron. "They want me to have my Apparition test before I report for training."

Hermione patted his arm. "You've been doing loads better, Ron. You only miss the mark every fourth or fifth try now, and then it's only by a few feet. You'll get it, if you keep practising."

"Easy for you to say, Miss I-Can-Apparate-and-I-Don't-Even-Need-to-Know-How."

"Even if I am living up at Hogwarts, I'm sure I'll be able to find a reason to Apparate every now and then. It's a nice enough walk down to Hogsmeade, and from there, I can Apparate wherever I want to. Here to the Burrow, for example."

Harry was certain Hermione was avoiding anything that might sound like a conjugal visit to Mrs Weasley. She was keeping a much closer watch on all four of them since last week, it seemed to him. She had developed a knack for turning up unexpectedly if he and Ginny managed to find themselves alone for any length of time, at any rate. Ron seemed to have got the point, as well, for he didn't say another word about it.

"Speaking of Hogwarts," Hermione went on, "I've got a letter here from Madam Pince. She wants me to start learning how to take care of the library on Monday. That makes two of us starting work then," she added with a smile in Harry's direction.

Mr Weasley had told Harry last night that he'd been offered a position with the Department of Magical Law and could start on Monday if he decided to accept the offer. Harry had done so, since he doubted he'd be able to find anything better suited for him and still remain in the wizarding world.

"What else have you got there?" Ron had spied another letter addressed to Hermione. Harry noticed the envelope bore some strange, spiky handwriting that seemed familiar to him. Then he noticed that Ginny also had a letter addressed to her in the same handwriting. She was opening it slowly, her face reddening slightly as she did so.

Ron, meanwhile, had taken Hermione's letter out of her hand. "Ron!" she scolded. "That's my letter! I haven't even had a chance to read it yet!"

"What's Krum doing writing to you?" Ron asked, holding the letter out of her reach. Now Harry knew why the writing looked familiar. They'd seen it on a regular basis in Defence Against the Dark Arts class last year… for one term, at any rate. He wondered why Krum would be writing to both Ginny and Hermione.

Hermione managed to snatch her letter back from Ron. "I don't know why he's writing to me, and I won't know unless you let me read it." She took out the parchment and began reading it.

Ron then noticed Ginny's letter. "You've got one, too?" he asked, looking over at her. "What's the matter, one woman isn't enough for Quidditch boy? He has to chase two of them?"

"Honestly, Ron," snapped Hermione, "you know perfectly well what a decent person he is. This is just a friendly letter. Besides, he isn't going to be playing Quidditch this year."

"Is he mental? The league's sure to start up again."

"Perhaps, but he's taken a teaching position at Durmstrang."

"I thought you just got through telling me he was a decent person."

"He is. There's a new headmaster this year, someone who isn't going to teach the Dark Arts like Karkaroff did."

"What happened to Karkaroff?"

"It looks as if he was killed in some action on the continent. It happened a week or so before the Hogsmeade battle. Anyway, the new headmaster is opening the school up, according to Viktor. They're going to allow Muggle-born students to attend, and they're not going to hide the school anymore."

Ginny was reading her own letter and nodding as Hermione told the others what was in her letter. Ginny's version apparently agreed with Hermione's. Harry wondered why Viktor had written to Ginny, but then he remembered an overheard apology while he was lying in the hospital wing last month. It looked as if Viktor was making an overture at friendship, the sort he had with Hermione. They might exchange letters every now and then. It wasn't the sort of thing he felt he needed to worry about. After all, he didn't get the feeling Ron was really jealous of Viktor Krum; Ron only liked to pretend he was to get under Hermione's skin.

Harry continued to watch Ginny out of the corner of his eye, while he ate. She put down Viktor's letter and picked up what was evidently her Hogwarts letter. She opened it, and Harry saw her eyes run down the page. He leaned over to her. "You know, you can have any of my books… if you want them, that is."

"Well, it's just the two on my list."

Harry remembered his list from the previous year. All he'd needed where was the book on taking the NEWTs and the highest level of the Standard Book of Spells.

"Look at this," Ginny said to him suddenly. "I've got dress robes on my list."

"Looks like we got off lucky, eh, Harry?" Ron commented. "If they're having some sort of fancy dress occasion this year, we finished school just in time. We won't have to go to it."

"Well, you know, Ron," said Hermione, "you might have had more fun at the Yule Ball if you hadn't spent the entire time stewing over Viktor Krum."

"I did not…"

"Yes, you did. And if you didn't enjoy yourself, it's your own fault."

Ron opened his mouth and closed it again. Hermione had got him there, Harry felt. He'd not had a very good time at the Yule Ball, either. He remembered Ginny going with Neville that year and having her feet trodden on. He supposed she'd had a miserable time as well, and he wondered if things would have been any different if she'd gone with him, as Ron had purposed. In retrospect, he didn't really think so. He'd not been in a position to notice Ginny then. But now things were much different.

"Do you think there's going to be a Yule Ball this year?" he asked.

Ginny shrugged. "If they were going to hold another Tri-Wizard Tournament, you'd have thought we'd have heard something by now."

"Nah," said Ron, "they kept that a secret. We didn't hear about it until the Sorting Feast, remember?"

"I know, but Percy kept hinting, and that's his department. Mum, too. We'd have heard something."

"I can't imagine they'd be holding it again so soon," Hermione added. "Not after what happened at the last one. And we've been at war. Everyone has. Not just here in England but on the continent, too. I don't imagine the various Ministries have been thinking about organising anything like another tournament."

Harry knew Hermione was probably right. He was about to finish his last forkful of eggs, when a movement outside caught his eye. He thought he'd seen a flash of white. He got up quickly and went over to the window, but by the time he got there, he saw nothing.

"What's the matter?" Ginny's voice carried over from the table.

"Thought I saw Hedwig, but I guess I was mistaken," he replied, still looking out the window.

He felt a hand on his shoulder. "She'll come back." He put his hand over Ginny's, and hoped she was right.

After breakfast Ron and Hermione disappeared fairly quickly, saying that Ron needed more Apparition practice if he was going to pass his test in time to enter Auror training. Harry hung around outside not sure what to do with himself. He'd finished his letter to Remus Lupin and sent it off with Pigwidgeon two days ago. There had been no reply so far, but Harry wasn't really expecting one quite so soon. Ginny had kicked him out of the kitchen, and he suspected she was making him a birthday cake.

At one point, curiosity got the better of him, and he tried to stick his nose into the kitchen, but Ginny headed him off rather quickly. "If you can't mind your own business, I'll have to find you something to do!"

"It's my birthday! I shouldn't have to do chores!"

"So I've heard. It doesn't mean you can't make yourself useful. Go and de-gnome the garden!"

He knew better than to try to hang around the kitchen after that. He was damned if he was going to actually de-gnome the garden on his birthday. Just before lunchtime, Ginny came out into the yard with a large basket slung over her arm. "What's all this?" he asked as she came up to him.

"A picnic lunch. Come on." She took his hand, and they started walking towards the orchard.

"How did you manage to convince your mother to let us go off on our own like this?" he asked once they were out of earshot of the house.

"Well, it is your birthday, after all… and I promised we'd stay in sight of the house. It's better than nothing."

"We were better off back at school," he grumbled. But then he remembered she'd be going back to school next month, and he wouldn't. There really would be nothing left then. It was best if they could make good use of the little time they had, even if it did mean Mrs Weasley might be watching from a distance.

They went a little way into the apple trees, and Ginny spread out a blanket in a spot where they'd be visible from the house. "It's still not fair," Harry pointed out. "Ron and Hermione don't have to stay in a spot where your mother can keep an eye on them."

"I think they really are working on Apparition. That's why she isn't worried. Ron's really afraid he won't pass his test." She was taking a plate full of sandwiches out of her basket and setting it beside a jug of pumpkin juice.

"Ginny…" Harry began, but then he wasn't sure how he ought to continue.

"What?"

"Well, I was just thinking. If you have those dress robes on your school list, and well, if it's because there's going to be dancing, you're going to need a partner, aren't you?"

She stopped laying things out and pretended to smooth out the blanket for a moment. "I suppose so. If there's a dance."

"Ginny, I'm not much of a dancer, but will you let me know, and I'll make arrangements to come up to school?"

"Of course, Harry. Besides, you can't be any worse than Neville."

"I wouldn't want to bet on it." He reached for a sandwich, feeling hungry now that he'd got that out of the way. "If Hermione's there on staff, do you think Ron will come up and escort her?"

"You mean if there's a dance. Well, she's clever about it, she'll tell him it's a conjugal visit."

They laughed together and began to eat. After the sandwiches, Ginny pulled a plate of tea cakes out of her basket. "Sorry, I didn't put any candles on them. Mum's going to make you a proper cake tonight in any case."

"It doesn't matter." And he meant it. The time they were spending together was the important thing now. It was really all he cared about. So he was surprised when she took a wrapped package out of the basket and gave it to him.

"What's this?" he asked.

"A birthday present, silly. It isn't anything much."

He began to undo the wrapping, wondering when she'd had time to do any shopping. She hadn't gone out anywhere since they'd come home from school.

"A dragon?" he laughed when he'd got the box open and pulled out the plush toy inside. It was obviously not new, carrying that rough-about-the-edges look that marked most of the Weasleys' things.

"Sorry I didn't get you anything new. It used to be mine. Charlie gave it to me when I was little. That's why it's a dragon. His name is Puff."

"Puff?"

"Yeah, Puff. Is there something wrong with that?"

For some reason Harry thought of Ron's reaction to the name Ginny had chosen for his owl. "No, nothing at all," he said too quickly.

"Well, the twins always called him Poof."

Harry saw the corners of her mouth twitch as she tried to suppress a smile. He couldn't stop himself from laughing then.

"And, well…" She began again, but then she looked down and began to blush.

"What?"

"It's silly. You see, I'm going back to school next month, and I wanted you to have something of mine. I don't know why I settled on that. I used to sleep with it when I was younger, and… I guess I'm just being stupid…"

"No, you're not." He thought he knew what she was getting at. She was trying to give him a part of herself to keep with him while they were separated, and she'd chosen something innocuous enough that nobody else was likely to remark on it. But he could also tell it meant a lot to her. From the amount of wear on the toy, it looked as if she'd loved it very much.

"I wish it could be more."

"Ginny, you don't have to give me anything."

"It's not what I'd like to be able to give you."

"You've already saved my life once. What more could you possibly give me?"

"But I saved your life at a point when you'd rather I hadn't, didn't I?"

Harry was becoming less and less comfortable with the conversation. How did she know him so well? For years, she'd been Ron's little sister who had a crush on him. Even if she'd told him on other occasions that she loved him, there was still something about her feelings he had yet to fully comprehend.

"It's all right to admit it," she said when he didn't reply.

"I… I just don't know anymore. Maybe it would have been easier if I didn't come out of that confrontation alive… It would have been easier for me," he hastened to add. He remembered the talk they'd had last week as well as she did. It had given him a lot to think about. "It wouldn't have been easier for you."

"Not for me, and not for a lot of people. Ron, Hermione, Mum… the whole family. We're all glad you're still around."

"Even if I'm… less now?"

"But you're not. That's the whole point."

"Gin…" He wanted her to stop. There was something about the depth of her feelings that he didn't feel he deserved.

"You don't understand, do you? I may have started out having a crush on the Boy-Who-Lived, but that ended a long time ago. I got to know you, Harry. You." She put her hand over his heart. "And I fell in love with you. Not your fame, not your powers, not your talent for playing Quidditch, but you."

She'd said something similar to this a week ago, the day she'd found him in the bathroom, but he still didn't quite believe it. He couldn't bring himself to, and she could sense it.

"I know you don't believe me, but I hope you will someday."

Ginny suddenly moved so that she was kneeling over him, almost facing him. She brought up a hand and lovingly brushed his hair back out of his face. The sun glinted off the gold bracelet he'd given her for Christmas. "You gave me seventeen roses for my birthday. I still have them, they're pressed in my rune dictionary. I haven't got any roses for you," she whispered.

He caught his breath as she leaned closer and took his face between her hands. Then she kissed his forehead. "That's one."

Her next kiss fell on his chin. "Two." One cheek, and then the other. "Three, four…" The next fell at the corners of his mouth. "Five, six…"

He somehow managed to kneel facing her, and his hands grasped her waist, while her lips touched the end of his nose. "Seven."

He held his breath in anticipation of the next one, knowing where it would fall. His hands flexed on her waist. Warm lips pressed against his all too briefly. "Eight."

He didn't know how much more he'd be able to stand before he gave in to the desire to kiss her in a way her mother would definitely not approve of. "Nine."

He tried to prolong the next one, but she ducked away too quickly. He'd have to be faster the next time. "Ten."

He still hadn't been fast enough, distracted as he was by the thought that he couldn't remember the last time he'd kissed her properly. "Eleven."

She lingered a bit longer on the next, but she still didn't open for him and allow him to taste. "Twelve."

He tightened his arms around her this time, determined to keep her there. He had her this time. It had been a long time since he'd felt this alive. Maybe thirteen wasn't such an unlucky number after all…

A sudden blow to the back of his head caused him to topple forwards, and his front teeth struck hers.

"Ow!"

"Sorry."

He looked around to see what had so rudely interrupted them, half expecting to see Mrs Weasley glowering over him. But what he saw instead was Hedwig. She had landed on the blanket nearby and was glaring at him, but there was also a hint of satisfaction in her expression, which give Harry the sudden impression she'd been waiting for just the right moment to make her presence known.

There was a letter tied to her leg, and Harry hesitated before reaching out to untie it. From the way Hedwig was looking at him, he wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't try to bite him. Hedwig finally held out her leg rather stiffly so Harry could untie the letter.

What he saw on the envelope caused his hand to start shaking and his heart to pound. For it was addressed simply to Harry Potter, with no specific location mentioned. "Hedwig, you can find me," he blurted, surprised.

If anything, Hedwig looked even more offended. She flew off to perch on the limb of a nearby tree. Harry stared after her for a moment, before turning back to his letter. He tore open the envelope, and immediately recognised Sirius' writing.

Harry read the letter again in disbelief over his godfather's feelings. He didn't blame Sirius in the least for going after Wormtail. It was the only way Sirius could ever hope to clear his name. He handed the letter to Ginny so that she could see it. He saw no reason why she shouldn't know about this. She was as much a part of his life now as Ron, Hermione, or Sirius.

He looked up into the trees and considered Hedwig. So she'd gone to Sirius in a fit of pique. He couldn't blame her. He'd behaved as badly with her as he had with everyone else. He'd apologised to the others; he only had this final apology to make.

"I'm sorry, all right?" he called up into the tree. "I was acting like a stupid git. You've proven to me now you're clever enough to find me no matter what. You didn't have to, you know. I realised that almost as soon as you flew off the other day."

Hedwig ruffled her feathers--she looked as if she was puffing herself up--but she continued to glower down at him, and he knew she hadn't forgiven him. Harry remembered back to his fourth year when she'd been put out with him. It had been over a lot less then, and yet it had still taken her a while to come around. It was going to take a lot longer this time.

"You can find me, anyway, and that's something," he said as much to himself as to his owl. And it was something to be happy about. Somehow he didn't feel quite as cut off from the wizarding world as he had.

Suddenly Hedwig spread her wings and took off, soaring upwards towards Ron's window. Harry swallowed hard.

"Harry," Ginny began. She was following Hedwig's flight, as well. "What's Hedwig going to do when she sees the dent in her cage? You know, the one that got there when you threw it out the window."

Harry didn't have time to reply. Hedwig came back out the window and flew straight towards him. He didn't have time to duck. She cuffed him hard on the head again with her wing before flying back towards the Burrow once more, but going in through the open kitchen window this time.

Harry rubbed the back of his head. "I guess that answers your question."

"Looks like she's going to take up residence with Errol."

"At this rate it's going to take a year before she's over being mad at me."

Ginny put an arm around him and laid her head on his shoulder. "I forgave you. And if I did, surely Hedwig will."

"I didn't throw anything of yours out the window."

"You'd better not, either." She gave him an extra squeeze. "We'd best go in."

Harry helped her pick up the remains of their picnic and followed her back to the house. Just outside the kitchen door, Ginny pulled him aside. She reached up and pulled him down into a kiss. "Thirteen," she said, as she pulled back. Her eyes were dark with promise, but then she moved towards the door.

"Wait," he replied, taking her arm before she could go through the door. "Isn't that fourteen?"

"I had to do that one over. We were interrupted."

"What about the rest then?"

"I'll just have to surprise you, won't I?"

And she slipped into the house leaving him to wonder just how long he was going to have to wait for the rest. Her mother certainly wasn't making things easy for them, but he hoped Ginny could find a way around that particular obstacle, and the sooner the better. The month of August was looking as if it was going to pass very quickly indeed.

To Be Continued…