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.