A/N: Thanks so much to Mike, JayaMioneDurron, and Blueshoe06 (the only ones who reviewed ). The reviews are what make me want to write, so please, after you read a chapter, just put in your 2 cents worth, it means a lot to me, even if they are flames. So, just take 30 seconds of your time to review, it will make me want to write the chapters faster, so here's chapter two:
The Best Birthday
Harry couldn't believe his eyes. Grimmauld place looked nothing like it had the last time he had been there. No longer was it the dim, dusty place it had been before. It didn't have that gloomy feel about it either. The place was sparkling clean, the house elf heads had been removed from the walls, and the screaming picture of Mrs. Black had disappeared, along with the curtains used to cover it. It was replaced with a wizards photo of James, Sirius, Remus, and Lily (Pettigrew seemed to be missing from it). They were on the grounds of Hogwarts, Lupin was reading a book, Sirius was bothering him, and James and Lily were talking, laughing every once in a while.
Lupin came back down stairs and saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione admiring the portrait.
"I'd hoped you'd like that Harry, I've had that for a while, and thought it would look good in here. It used to be in your old house, back before everything happened. I managed to save it from the wreckage though." He hadn't seen Harry look that happy since before Sirius died.
Harry looked up at him, "James isn't making a fool of himself, and Lily doesn't hate him, so this must have been taken during your seventh year, right?"
"Yes." He paused for a moment, dwelling on some thought from long ago. "That was one of the best times of my life, but enough about me, you haven't seen the rest of the house, come on."
He turned and went back up stairs, Harry, Hermione, and Ron following behind him. He gave them a full tour of the newly renovated house. It was amazing, especially Harry's room, which was Sirius' old one. It was decked out in Gryffindor colors. The bed was scarlet, with gold pillows. The rest of the room was similarly decorated, including scarlet curtains, and a big Gryffindor lion on the carpet.
They finished exploring the rest of the house; Ron's room was across from Harry's and Hermione's across from Ginny's. The attic where Sirius had kept Buckbeak was also cleaned out; there were no more dead mice, or other repulsive traces that a hippogriff had been there. Harry also learned that Kreacher had been replaced with Dobby. He wasn't really sure who he liked better at first; Kreacher was one of the main reasons Sirius was dead, and Dobby hounded Harry wherever he went, but in the end he decided with Dobby. After all, Dobby at least did something, and Hermione was happy because he was being paid.
It was when Lupin was done showing them around that Harry realized that they were alone in the house. It was just he, Lupin, Ron, Hermione, and Dobby.
"Professor," He was cut short.
"Harry, please, I'm not your professor any more, so there's no reason for you to call me it, just call me Remus."
"Ok, then, Remus, where is everyone?"
"Oh, they will be arriving later." Lupin said, looking nervous.
"No, I mean everyone that was with us. Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Dumbledore were with you when you picked me up."
Lupin paled. "They had to, umm, do, something."
Hermione glared at Lupin, and then turned to Harry. "They'll be back soon Harry."
He looked at her, "How do you know?"
She had a brief look of uncertainty, "Dumbledore told me before we picked you up."
"Oh." Harry didn't really believe them, but decided not to push it. He just wanted to spend some time with his friends for the first time in three months; he didn't want to spend all that time asking questions.
Harry hadn't realized how long it had been since breakfast. Lupin seemed to notice this.
"Why don't we have lunch, I think we're all hungry."
They all agreed, and sat together, eating a simple, but nice lunch of sandwiches, and pumpkin juice.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Hermione sat on the couch in the library, "studying up" for N.E.W.T.'s the next year. Harry and Ron had nearly fainted when she told them this, especially Ron.
"Bloody hell Hermione, N.E.W.T.'s aren't until seventh year! In case you forgot, this will be our sixth."
"I know that Ron, but you can never be too prepared."
Lupin had been listening to their conversation, "She's right Ron, your N.E.W.T.'s will basically decide what career paths you can take."
She smiled at him, "Exactly, thank you Remus. Now Ron, I'll bet you haven't even done your summer homework!" Ron looked at her.
"Well Harry hasn't either, right?" He said, looking over at Harry.
Harry looked down, "Actually Ron, I didn't really have much to do this summer and"
Ron cut him off, "Geese Harry, you're turning into Hermione!"
Ron was in a bad mood until Harry asked him to a game of Wizard's Chess. Ron happily obliged, and was successfully creamed.
"Hah!" Ron said with his winning move. "Harry, have you ever beaten me?"
Harry laughed, beating him at something always put Ron in a good mood, and Wizard's Chess was one thing that Ron always won at. "No Ron, I don't think I have. Of course, the fact that you've been playing since you could talk, and me for only five years has nothing to do with it."
"Oh, shut up Harry, you're ruining the fun." Ron said laughing. Harry laughed too.
It was nearing 4:00, and figuring that Harry had been up since 11:00 the previous night, he was growing tired. He yawned loudly, and Hermione glanced at Lupin and Ron.
"Harry, you're probably tired having been up for so long, why don't you go upstairs and catch up on some sleep." She asked hopefully. "We'll wake you up before dinner."
Harry didn't particularly want to, since he wanted to spend some more time with Hermione and Ron, but taking a rest suddenly felt very appealing at that moment.
"Ok, but wake me up when everyone gets here, I can't wait to see them all." With that he got off the chair he had been sitting in and went up stairs.
He walked into his new room. He looked to Phineas Nigellus' empty portrait on the wall, remembering the last time he had seen him. It was in Dumbledore's office last year after the events in the Department of Mysteries. He had gone from the portrait in the office to the portrait here in order to see if Sirius had really died.
Harry pushed those thoughts from his head, and lay down on the bed. He fell asleep before he even had a chance to get under the covers.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The dreams started out normal, but quickly turned into what they had been ever since the Department of Mysteries. He had been dreaming of someone, someone with bushy brown hair that he knew, but couldn't quite place. Just as he thought he was about to figure it out, he heard the crack of Ginny's ankle breaking. Then the rest began; Neville's legs moving wildly, out of control, the marks on Ron's arms after they had finally managed to get the brain off of him, Sirius falling through the veil, and, unlike normal, he didn't wake up after Sirius. He saw Hermione hit by Dolohov's purple flame, the panic, and then woke up.
He had dreamed of that before, but never had he slept past Sirius falling through the veil. He wondered why for a moment, before drifting back off to sleep. This time his sleep was dreamless.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Harry woke up to Hermione softly saying his name. He opened his eyes.
"What?"
She smiled, "Get up; it's almost time for dinner."
"Oh." He sat up, feeling hungry all of a sudden, and then noticed that it was very dark.
"Hermione, why is it so"
"SURPRISE!"
Harry was instantly wide awake. It had gone from pitch black, to very bright, which was just doing wonders for his already bad eyes.
He picked up his glasses from the bedside table, and put them on. Looking up he noticed that everyone was there; Ron, Hermione, Tonks, Remus, Mad-Eye, Dumbledore, and all of the Weasley's, every single one of them except for Bill, who they told him was on a secret assignment for Gringotts, and Percy, who still hadn't redeemed himself since siding with the ministry instead of his own family last year.
Everyone was wishing Harry a happy birthday, and Fred and George had set off some of the fireworks from there fifth year. Harry couldn't believe that they had done it all just for him.
The party continued late into the night. The dinner table that night had looked like the house tables at Hogwarts, completely covered by every food imaginable. After the wonderful dinner (which had been prepared by Molly) it was time for Harry to open his presents. He was shocked when he saw all of them.
"I don't deserve all this." He whispered to Molly.
She looked at him with a sad look on her face, "Of course you do dear. Looking at how you grew up, I can't think of anyone who deserves it more."
He felt a little better after that, and proceeded to open his presents. He sat down by the pile and didn't know which to open first. Fred and George seemed to recognize this, and immediately handed him theirs.
"Here Harry, open ours first."
Harry tore off the wrapping paper. He pulled out a box that said "Weasley's Wizarding Weaseys Special Edition Prank Kit".
They looked at him, glad that he liked it, "It's a kit we made especially for you Harry. It has every single thing we've come up with so far. Read the card."
Harry hadn't even noticed the card that had fallen out when he first opened the kit. He picked it up and looked at it: Harry, we wanted to thank you for giving us the chance to start our dream, because of your…donation. We don't think we'll ever be able to make it up to you completely, but we're certainly going to try.
Harry looked up at them, with an annoyed look on his face, and mouthed "no need" to them. Ron looked at him questioningly, but Harry acted as if he hadn't noticed it.
He then picked up the next present, it was from Ron. It was light, and wasn't sturdy. He opened it, and out fell a Cannons jersey.
"Awesome, thanks Ron."
"Your welcome, I hoped you'd like it." He had a relieved look on his face.
Remus then handed Harry a present from he and Tonks. Harry looked at him suspiciously, but he just blushed a little bit. He winked at Harry, and then went back over to sit next to Tonks.
Harry opened it, and pulled out an album. He opened it up. On the inside cover was a message Harry, this was given to me by James in his will. I decided that I should pass it on to you. He opened it up, and saw what was inside. It was filled with pictures from when The Marauders were at Hogwarts, and pictures from Lily and James' wedding. Harry wanted to look at it then, but held back, because he still had presents to open. He would look at it before he went to sleep.
He set the album down with his other presents, and thanked Lupin and Tonks, picking up the next present in the pile. It was from Mad-Eye. Harry looked over at him, and saw that he was smiling. That's when Harry got a little scared, Mad-Eye smiling. That would scare anybody. He slowly tore the wrapping paper off, and saw, much to his relief, that it was a sneak-o-scope. Unlike the mini-one that Ron had given him, this was a real one, which many aurors, and definitely Mad-Eye, used. Harry thanked him, and put it with the rest of his things, wondering why he would need it, figuring that he already knew when Voldemort was near him.
He tried to go through the rest of the presents quickly. He got a book on Quidditch tips from Ginny, a dragon hide robe from Charlie, and new dress robes from Arthur and Molly. Now all that was left was Dumbledore and Hermione's presents.
Harry picked up the one left on the table (Hermione was holding her present for him; she obviously wanted him to open it last). It was heavy, and Harry didn't have any idea what it was. He opened it and saw that it was a pensieve, just like the one that Dumbledore had. He thanked Dumbledore; this would make it a lot easier to share the prophecy with the others.
And now it was time for the last present, Hermione's. He had been looking forward to hers. He didn't really no why, he just was. She walked over to him and handed her present to him.
"Happy Birthday Harry." She said, and then headed back over to where she had been sitting. He opened it slowly, and pulled out a necklace. It had a silver chain, with a small gold heart pendant. He admired it for a minute before reading the note that had come with it. Harry, this is a necklace that I found this summer with my parents. They allow the wearer to sense when someone with one of the matches is feeling sad or angry. I have the other one. I just want you to know Harry, that last year in the Department of Mysteries wasn't your fault. We followed you there. Don't blame yourself.
Love,
Hermione
He looked up at her, "Thank you Hermione." She couldn't have gotten him a better gift. In the back of his mind he was glad that she hadn't given one to Ron. He didn't really know why.
She smiled, "I'm glad you like it."
After that they had a huge cake that probably could have fed them for a week. When they finally finished there was a lot left. By that time it was very late and Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, and the twins headed off to bed. The others stayed to discuss some things about the order.
Harry lay in his bed. He had finished looking through the entire album that Remus and Tonks had given him. He was now admiring the necklace that Hermione had given him. Harry fell asleep thinking about her, and for the first time since the Department of Mysteries, slept peacefully, and dreamless the entire night.
A/N: I am leaving for Easter first thing in the morning, and was lucky to get this chapter up before I left. I probably won't be able to upload for a few days, but I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Remember, I'd really appreciate it if you take the time to review; they make me want to keep writing!
-->