***
11:56 p.m. Only four more minutes, Harry thought, until my birthday.
Harry Potter wasn’t used to great birthdays with piles of presents
and cakes, but strangely, he found himself almost looking forward to this
one.
He lay on his bed, staring over at the clock, watching the seconds tick
away. Harry Potter would be turning fifteen years old in two minutes,
but yet it seemed impossible that Harry was only fifteen. He had been
through so much in his short life. He sighed as he wondered where Voldemort
was right now, and what he was planning.
Harry had found it hard to sleep this summer. It seemed every time he
closed his eyes he would hear the words, “Kill the spare”, and
flash of blinding green light Cedric was gone. Dead.
He also couldn’t help thinking of his parents’ ghostly faces.
How he wanted to see them again, he needed them so much now…
Fifty-nine seconds. Harry couldn’t help but wonder if Ron would
send him something.
Forty-eight seconds. Surely Hermione had…
Thirty-two seconds…Harry almost laughed as he thought of his house-elf
friend, Dobby. Maybe he’d receive a new pair of socks…
Only five seconds now…
Four…three…two…
Tap. Tap. Clunk!
Harry looked over at his window and he saw what looked like small ball
of feathers repeatedly knocking itself against the glass of his window.
“Pig.”
He ran over and quickly opened the window (he didn’t want Pig to
knock himself out, he needed to get back to Ron).
In a whirlwind of feathers, Pigwidgeon zoomed into the room, twittering
like mad.
It took all of Harry’s Quidditch-born quickness to catch Pig. When
he finally did, it was another thing trying to untie the letter and small
parcel from his overexcited leg.
When he finally managed to detach the burden, Harry looked in surprise
at the minuscule package.
It wasn’t as if he had expected a large present, but he did find
himself wondering what Ron could have possibly fit into this tiny package.
He ripped off the brightly colored paper to find an even smaller brown
box. He opened it cautiously (he had finally learned to expect the unexpected
in the wizarding world) and looked inside to see a small golden…stick?!
No, it wasn’t a stick…it was a long, thin, piece of shiny gold
metal that (Harry turned it over, thinking possibly there was something
slightly more exciting on the other side) had his name engraved on it.
Harry was even more confused than before. Maybe this was one of Fred
and George’s jokes. Thinking of that he placed the…stick…a
bit farther away from himself, in case it blew up or something.
Harry was quite mad at himself as he couldn’t help but feel slightly
disappointed. Maybe a cake, or even a sweater? (Harry quite enjoyed the
sweater Mrs. Weasley had knitted him in his fourth year). But a stick?
As he put the stick back in its box and placed it on his bedside table
he remembered the note that had come with the gift.
He found it at the foot of his bed. Opening it slowly, he read:
Harry-
Happy Birthday! Hope you’re doing okay with the Muggles. Mum and
Dad reckon Dumbledore will let you come stay soon. I hope so. I’m
getting my pants bored off here. Fred and George have spent the entire
summer in their room, and Percy is still in mourning over Mr. Crouch (hasn’t
spoken nearly all summer, but I’m not complaining.) Hermione is coming
to stay next week. She still won’t tell me if she went to go visit
the git in Bulgaria. Girls.
See you soon-
Ron
PS- The present will make more sense after you read Mum’s letter.
Harry found another piece of parchment with a small note from all of
the other Weasley’s on it.
Dear Harry,
I hope you are having an okay summer. Ron seems really bored without
you. He wanders around all day talking about Hermione. Sorry, Ron made
me scratch that last part. And he would like to add, “Stupid prat.”
Don’t worry; it will make more sense when you see him. Anyway, I
hope you can come soon Harry. Because I love you, and Ugh! I hate brothers…sorry
about that. Hope to see you soon –
Love,
Ginny
Harry-
Hope you are having a good summer. Say hi to the great bullying git
for us. We have some great stuff now that we just know he would love.
Thanks so much for the money. We have big plans for it. We’ll tell
you later. You’d better get here soon; Ron and Ginny and Ginny and
Ginny and Ginny are really mopey without you. Talk to you soon.
Gred and Forge
Harry,
Happy Birthday.
-Percy
Friendly isn’t he? Shut up.
Dear Harry,
Happy Birthday, dear! I hope you are having a lovely summer. We can’t
wait for you to come and visit. Arthur and I think we have Dumbledore
convinced. Ron will send you an owl as soon as we know for certain.
Now, I’m sure you are very confused by your gift. As I think you’ll
remember we have a Family Clock. (I think I saw you watching it last summer).
It tells where each member of our family is at the present time. We would
like to add you to our clock. You are part of the family now, Harry. We
love you!
Love,
Mrs. Weasley
PS- Arthur wants to wish you a happy birthday, as well. He is out of
town on business right now, or else I’m sure he would have loved
to write you a note. He has discovered the “ant-ra-net” and
the “World Wide Web” or something like that. I think it’s
to do with spiders. Charlie and Bill also send their wishes. See you soon,
darling.
Harry sat on his bed for the longest time, just staring at the parchment.
His eyes wandered back to the sentence, “You are part of the family
now, Harry.” He felt a warm rush inside of him. It reminded him of
something. What was it? Then it came to him-it was last year, he was in
the hospital wing at Hogwarts…
He felt awful, Cedric dead...it was all his fault…
“It wasn’t your fault Harry,” Mrs. Weasley whispered.
“I told him to take the cup with me,” said Harry.
Now the burning feeling was in his throat too. He wished Ron would look
away.
Mrs. Weasley set the potion down on the bedside cabinet, bent down, and
put her arms around Harry. He had no memory of ever being hugged like
this, as though by a mother…
Harry began to feel the familiar burning in the back of his eyes. He
didn’t know what to do. He found himself standing up and numbly making
his way to the small desk across the room. It was littered with parchment;
books were stacked messily on one side, next to Hedwig’s cage. He
caught a glimpse of Flying with the Cannons and grinned.
He managed to find a blank piece of parchment and a quill. He sat down
at his desk and began writing.
Dear Weasleys,
Thanks so much for the gift.
Harry felt the overwhelming desire to write, “I love it. It means
so much to me.” But instead he wrote-
It’s great. I can’t wait to come visit. Tell Hermione I said
‘Hi.’ See you soon.
Instead of his usual “-Harry”, he couldn’t help but signing-
Love,
Harry
Harry grinned to himself as he jotted down the PS.
PS- You may as well just fix my hand permanently to ‘mortal peril’
and save the clock the trouble.
-Harry
