He bent down to find his little five-year-old standing there, surrounded by John, Jacob, Mara, Caleb, and Alex. "Daddy..." said Sarah, "can we eat now? We're hungry."
Harry smiled and scooped his little offspring up. "Sure we can eat now," he said. "We'll cut the cake and sing first, and then we can eat, how about that?"
"Oh, goody!" exclaimed Sarah, leaping out of her dad's arms. "Come on, everybody!"
The adults all smiled as they followed little Sarah and all the rest of her friends into the backyard. There, in the middle of the long picnic table, stood the beautiful cake, iced to the hilt and decorated with lots of edible little goodies.
"Oh, wow, Potter," exclaimed Draco, "run a cake-making business or something?!"
Hermione blushed and smiled. "Nah," she replied, "too much work."
They all smiled, joining Sarah at the table. Harry got out his lighter and lit all five candles on the cake, making it glow with a special kind of magical energy. Harry grinned and winked at his friends, slipping his wand/lighter back into his back pocket. Sarah was practically giddy with excitement as she looked at her beautiful cake.
"All right, guys," said Hermione, "on the count of three.... one... two... three-"
"Happy Birthday to you!!!" everyone burst out singing, "Happy Birthday to you!!! Happy Birthday, dear Sarah... Happy Birthday to you!!!"
"And many mooore... on channel 4!" sang Draco. "And then the fat lady... on channel 80!" He stopped singing as everyone started cracking up.
"Nice one, Draco," laughed Hermione, "where'd you learn that?!"
Draco grinned and punched his wife lightly on the shoulder. "Gin here taught me that," he replied. "I take it they used to sing it at their house when they were little...."
Ginny and Ron looked at each other and blushed. "Okay, so maybe birthdays at the Weasley house were always a bit exuberant," Ron admited, his ears turning pink. "But-"
"Hey, better than mine," cut in Harry. "Unacknowledged and unimportant, right?"
"Well, hey," cut in Hermione, "don't you think it's time to blow out the candles, Sarah?"
"Oh, yeah!" Sarah exclaimed, for she had been watching the previous conversation. "Candles!"
"Hey," cut in Harry seriously, "don't forget to make your wish."
Sarah nodded, smiling. "Don't worry, Daddy," she replied, "I know exactly what I'm going to wish for."
And she closed her eyes, whispered her wish softly under her breath, bent over, and blew out all the candles in one humongous breath.
Everyone clapped as she drew back, smiling. "All in one breath!" she announced proudly.
"Very good, very good job," proclaimed Draco. "Man, I remember when I was a five-year-old, I couldn't even get one candle in one breath."
They all laughed, thinking of the five-year-old Draco. Harry smiled and picked up the cutting knife, holding it along with Sarah. Together they cut the beautiful brownie cake, revealing the yummy inside.
"Oh, beautiful," Luna breathed, enamored.
"Okay now, the daddy feeds the birthday girl a piece of cake!" called out Ron. "And then the mommy!"
Harry smiled as he broke off a small piece of the cake. As he was about to feed it to Sarah, Draco called out "wait!" and pulled a camera out of his pocket. "Okay, go," he said.
Harry and Sarah smiled as Sarah ate the cake and the camera flashed. This was repeated with Hermione and Sarah, and then the cake was cut up and distributed to all.
The kids retreated to a corner to eat their cake and the rest of the food and laugh over nonsensical things, and the adults retreated to another corner, lying around on the cool grass and chatting over random things.
"Wow, this is awesome food, Mione," commented Ron. "Great cook you've turned out to be! Man, I remember that one summer when you tried to cook for us-"
"What, what?" asked Draco, propping himself up on one elbow and appearing very interested. "What happened?"
Harry smiled. "Hermione, Ron, and I were spending the summer at the Weasleys' between sixth and seventh year," he explained. "Hermione went on this whole cooking streak thing and cooked bunches of stuff for us every day."
"Yeah," agreed Ron. "It was so crazy; she'd just be cooking away the whole day, sometimes even forgetting to read her books. And to make it worse, we had to eat everything she cooked and pretend it was all lovely."
"Hey!" Hermione exclaimed, swatting at him. "Okay, maybe my cooking wasn't the best-"
Harry, Ron, and Ginny all sniggered. "Hermione," said Ginny quite solemnly, "I'm sorry we're only telling you this now, but your cooking wasn't even in the category of best. More like-"
She broke off as she began giggling. Hermione laughed, too, remembering all the atrocities she had cooked up. "Oh, man," she giggled. "That was horrible." She smiled, and added, "Well, at least I've improved."
"All because of my expert teaching skills," interjected Harry, wrapping an arm around her. He explained to the others, "When we got married, I taught Hermione how to properly cook."
Hermione swatted at him. "Oh, shut it," she said. "As if it weren't enough to be The-Boy-Who-Lived. Now you have to be The-Boy-Who-Cooked, too?"
Harry laughed, squeezing her. "Of course," he said.
They all just lay there in contented silence for a few minutes, until Sarah and all her cronies came racing over, crying, "Presents!! Daddy, can we open the presents now?!"
Harry smiled and pushed himself up. "Sure, honey," he said. "Why don't you guys bring all the presents over here? Then we can all see them."
They all immediately rushed off to transport the presents over to the six adults. Rousing himself, Draco reached over and picked up the camera from where it had been lying on the grass.
Once all the presents had been brought over, Sarah picked up the nearest one. "This one's from Auntie Ginny, Uncle Draco, Caleb, and Alex," she announced. She blew them all kisses. "Thanks, guys!" Ripping open the present, she smiled with pleasure at the ginormous box of assorted candy. "Aww, thank you!!!" she exclaimed. "Oh, I LOVE it!!!"
She picked up the next gift. "This is from Auntie Luna, Uncle Ron, John, Jacob, and Mara," she said. "Thanks, guys!" This present was a book she had been wanting ever since she had learnt how to read, Simple Magic Taught by the Magic Clown. "YAY!!!" she exclaimed. "Thank you so, so much!!! This is the book I've been wanting since I ever learned how to read!!!" She blew them all kisses, and then reached over for the next present.
This one was a little blue teapot that sang and danced, compliments of Hermione's parents. "Be sure to write and thank them," Hermione reminded.
"I know!" Sarah replied as she picked up the last present, a long package. "This one's from Mommy and Daddy," she announced, tearing off the paper. Out fell a beautiful little toy broomstick, exactly her size, and exactly the thing she had been most wanting.
"Oooh, Mommy, Daddy, thank you!!!" Sarah exclaimed, running over and giving them humongous kisses. "Thank you so, so much!!!"
Harry smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "You're welcome, little munchkin," he responded. "I hope you go on to have many more wonderful birthdays."
Sarah smiled, and then Draco interjected, "Hey, Sarah! Are you going to tell us what special thing you wished for now?"
Sarah smiled indulgently. "Well... okay," she relented. "I wished for.... I wished for a little brother to play with.... someone to be my companion.... a little brother...."
Hermione suddenly made a funny noise. Everyone turned to look at her. Tears were shining in her eyes. "Oh, Sarah," she said, "your wish has already come true."
The world seemed to reel. Everyone stared at her in shock, not daring to believe what they had just heard.
"What?" said Draco.
"You're.... pregnant?" whispered Harry, staring at her.
Hermione nodded. "I'm pregnant," she said. "Pregnant, three months pregnant.... with a little baby.... boy."
There was complete silence, and then, all of a sudden, everyone exploded. "Hermione!!!" exclaimed Harry in rapturous joy, and he seized his wife and began kissing her. "Oh, we're going to have two kids, oh, this is wonderful, oh, Mione, I love you, I love you, I love you!!!"
Everyone else, squealing with joy, hugged random people and shouted in happiness. Sarah launched herself upon her parents, squealing, "Mommy, Daddy, I'm going to be a big sister!!!"
When they had all calmed down, Harry flopped back onto the grass, grinning. "Wow...." he said. "We're going to have two kids.... this is amazing...."
Hermione smiled at him, grasping his hand. "A little girl, and a little boy," she whispered softly. "It's perfect."
Harry smiled, hugging her again. "Mmm, I love you so much," he said.
"Well, goodness, Hermione!" exclaimed Draco, smiling. "How long have you known this?"
Hermione grinned. "I just found out a week ago," she said. "I saved it for today, and when Sarah announced her birthday wish, I couldn't have been happier."
Everyone smiled and lay back in contented silence as the sky darkened and the cool night air whisped around them in soft breezes. "Well," commented Ron softly, "I guess this is what perfect days are made of, huh."
Hermione nodded in agreement. "I guess so," she replied, as Harry's arms closed around her once more. "I love you," they both whispered together, and then sighed, happy, just happy to be alive.