Disclaimer: I don't really have any witty things to say, so, yes, everything does belong to J.K. Rowling, our favorite writer!
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Three days later and it was finally July 31st. Hermione woke up when the alarm clock went off, which was set for seven o'clock in the morning. She knew Harry didn't wake up till eight, and would have plenty of time to get ready and finish his present. Her legs still hurt a little from running the last three days. She conceded it might be helpful to work out some, but she refused to work out on the bench. She only would run and practice dueling while Harry did his workouts.
After she got out of the shower and put her jogging clothes on, she went and got Harry's present from under her pillow. She had bewitched it to look like a journal and charmed the pages so only she could see what was on them. She would have to remove both spells when she gave it to him, but it kept everyone from finding out what it was.
She had owled Colin Creevey and asked him for duplicates of some nice pictures of Harry and his friends, or him playing Quidditch. Anything that looked good and that she would pay him for whatever he asked for on his return owl. He had of course only taken two days to get his pictures copied, and they had arrived last night. Thankfully all you needed for pictures to be magical pictures was a special potion that you let your prints develop in. Luckily Colin had tons of it already made. He had only asked for one galleon, twelve sickles, but Hermione thought the pictures were so extremely good, so she went ahead and gave him three galleons. They were of excellent quality. There were pictures of just Harry, Harry and his friends, him during Quidditch, pictures taken from the Yule Ball, and all sorts of things. She was very proud of herself for thinking of this idea; she knew how much he loved his other photo album that Hagrid had given him.
After she got through with removing the various enchantments, she bewitched it again to resemble Hogwarts: A History. She then wrapped it and went to wake Harry up.
When she went into his room, it was not the sight she had been thinking of finding. He was not sleeping contently in bed. He was thrashing around and sweat was falling down his face.
"Harry," she called as she gently shook him. "Harry...........HARRY! WAKE UP," she cried hysterically as she shook him vigorously.
He suddenly reached out and grasped her arm hard. He didn't release until she gasped from the pain, and he seemed to come too himself. "I'm sorry. I'm not sure what just happened," Harry told her.
"Harry, it's okay. I'm not worried about my arm. Were you having a dream?" Hermione asked, not sure if she wanted to hear the answer.
"Yeah, I had one of those dreams, where I'm sort of in Voldemort's mind," Harry told her. "I remember seeing someone being cursed, and then a man screaming 'Stop, I can't see, leave me alone!' That's when you woke me up, but I can't help but feel as if I am missing something, like I forgot an important part of my dream."
"Oh Harry," Hermione said, while embracing him for a hug, "you need to OWL Dumbledore immediately," she said sternly, setting his present down on his desk.
"No, I will wait till I get his letter from Fawkes tonight. I will send it back that way. Hey, what's that?" he asked, noticing the present on his desk."
"Oh, it's your present," Hermione replied, thinking over Harry's dream. "Harry, did you say the person said he was blind?" she asked, trying to think of someone who was.
"Yeah, they were being cursed or something. Then they screamed they were blind," Harry replied, getting out of bed to get his present. "But it's getting really fuzzy now, like its being suppressed from my memory or something."
"Actually, Harry, it might be. Voldemort might be trying to block the memory from you. Umm, Harry, you might want to put more clothes on next time. Your wearing less now than when I saw you coming out of the bathroom," giggled Hermione.
"Oh my god, Hermione, turn around!" yelled Harry, reaching down to grab his pajamas. Come on Harry, think next time, this is the second incident in a week that Hermione has almost seen you naked, thought Harry.
"Okay, I'm proper," Harry told her, "you can turn around."
"Here's your present, Harry," said Hermione, trying to suppress her giggles over seeing Harry in his knickers. She had already gotten over seeing Harry in his towel.
As Harry unwrapped his present she was waiting for the downfallen face he would try to hide when he saw his 'present'. When he finally succeeded in unwrapping it, and looked at the cover, he was momentarily surprised, and a little disappointed. She knows I could read this book at Hogwarts, thought Harry, but when he looked up at her he did his best to smile and act like it was a really nice gift. Seeing his face as she thought it would look set Hermione off and she started busting out laughing.
"Are you off your rocker?" asked Harry.
"No, it's just your not a really good actor Harry. If someone made a movie about your life, they wouldn't let you portray yourself," laughed Hermione. "That's not really your present, it's bewitched, watch I will show you." And with that, she removed the spells, and the cover now was entitled Harry Potter; Pictures From Your Past in elegant, gold writing. As he flipped through it, Hermione noticed his smile grow more and more, and was sure she had gotten him a good birthday gift. She was even more sure when he gave her a huge hug, a quick kiss on the cheek, and left the room to go shower. They would be skipping their morning run today.
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Since Harry had the morning off, they were in Hermione's room talking when an owl flew in. Neither of them recognized it, but they did recognize the small, tawny owl that had flown in behind it.
"Harry, it's Pigwidgeon," Hermione told him, although he was perfectly able of telling this himself.
"Yeah, but whose owl is that?" asked Harry.
"It has a paper with him, but the paper will not even start coming out till ten, so I'm not sure how it got here this early. I'll check while you get your present and read your birthday card from Ron," Hermione told him.
There wasn't really much he could say about the matter. She could be demanding sometimes, but he was eager to see what Ron had gotten him. As he was tearing off the first half of the wrapper, he looked at Hermione who had a surprised look on her face.
"What's wrong?" asked Harry.
"Harry, let me see your birthday card from Ron," demanded Hermione.
"But I haven't even opened up my present," Harry started to say when he was cut off.
"Harry, the card please," Hermione demanded again, while holding her hand out.
When Harry finally gave her the card she read what Ron had written and said, "Well, that explains it. I'm so happy for them."
"What are you talking about?" asked Harry
"Read the card," Hermione said simply.
So Harry took the card and read what Ron wrote.
Harry,
Happy Birthday! I have sent my present and a paper. Dad has been promoted at the Ministry! As you will be able to read in the advanced copy of the Prophet dad got, he was promoted by the new Minister. I am so glad Fudge resigned. Mum thinks it was from fear. Sorry you can't visit us, but I will see you on the train on September first. I got my letter from Hogwarts yesterday; I got seven OWLs, and didn't make it into Potions. I also didn't get the 6th Year Prefect Badge. I wonder who got it.
Hope you like your present,
Ron
P.S. Ginny says Happy Birthday too, and that she paid for half of the present.
"That's great!" exclaimed Harry. "I'm really glad Mr. Weasley got promoted. They really do deserve it so much. What job did he get promoted too by the way? And who is the new Minister?"
"Read the paper," Hermione again said simply. So once again, Harry took the paper from her hand and sat down to read.
Big Changes at the Ministry
By: Special Correspondent, Emily Parks
Just last night former Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, stepped down from his position and the Wizengamot had the task of deciding who should replace him. Albus Dumbledore was of course the top vote, but he has once again declined the offer graciously. He instead backed Amelia Susan Bones, who in turn did become one of the very few female Ministers of Magic. Minister Bones was the former Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Her successor is Arthur Weasley, former head of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts office.
Minister Bones has stated that she will take a more public stand against Voldemort and his followers, also known as Death Eaters...
That was as far as he got when Hermione asked him if Minister Bones was one of the main interrogators at his trial last summer. He told her it was, but decided to stop reading the article. He had gotten what he needed to know and approved of Minister Bones. He then thought of something else. "Hermione did you know you aren't guaranteed the prefect badge every year?" asked Harry.
"Yes, I knew. I'm not worried yet though, our letters usually arrive by August first. I still have a chance. The badges usually come with our book lists and such," Hermione replied.
"I wonder whose going to get the other Prefect Badge for Sixth Year?" Harry asked.
Hermione didn't say anything at first but she did give him a look.
After a few minutes of silence she finally spoke. "Oh honestly Harry, don't tell me you really can not figure this out. The new prefect is going to be you," she told him, in a manner like explaining two plus two will always equals four.
"Well," began Harry, "Dumbledore did say that the only reason he didn't give me the badge was because he didn't want Voldemort to see how close we are. Now that that is out of the bag, I guess it could be possible," but as he said it he knew it was true, and hoped Ron wouldn't be mad or even jealous again.
"Well, I'm glad you see the light. Now open up the present Ron and Ginny gave you and see if it compares with mine," Hermione told him. Harry wasn't sure if she really wanted him to choose, but figured she was joking.
When he opened up his gift he was surprised to find a snitch. He didn't think the Weasleys could afford to spend money on something frivolous like this. But then he realized that with Mr. Weasleys promotion, there would be a lot more money for being head of a department like that. He was actually thrilled Ron could afford more things now. It was another thing he would become moody or upset over; also another thing that caused jealousy.
"So?" asked Hermione.
"What do you mean 'so'?" replied Harry.
"So, which present did you like better?" Hermione asked.
"I thought you were joking about that," Harry said. "You can't honestly want me to choose. Yours was careful and thought out, more of an emotional present. Ron and Ginny's was more of a playing to what I like sort of thing. They're completely different. Why does it matter? It never has before."
I'm not sure why it matters, Hermione thought to herself, it just does. "I was just trying to make sure you appreciated my present. You couldn't have thought I honestly wanted you to choose," laughed Hermione, even though she really did want him to choose, for reasons unknown.
As Hermione sat there thinking, Harry pointed towards the windows. "A bunch more owls are coming," he told her.
"I wonder if they are more presents. Or maybe it's our Hogwarts letters!" exclaimed Hermione, jumping up and crossing towards the back window.
"Thankfully nobody can see anything on the back of the house. It would be sort of weird to see that many owls traveling in a pack to your house," pointed out Hermione.
"Yup, that's one of the great things at the Dursley household," Harry commented sarcastically. "There almost here, look."
And when Hermione turned her head back towards the window, the birds were indeed very close, practically upon them.
When the owls finally landed and stuck out their legs, Harry and Hermione found a present from Hagrid, a present from Fred and George, which was accompanied by a scarf, and a note from Tonks. The last owl that landed also brought the annual Hogwarts letters.
"I have always loved getting these," Hermione told Harry. "They always remind me of the first time I received my letter."
"Yeah, I had Hagrid to explain mine to me. What did you do when you red it?" Harry asked her.
"Oh, as soon as I finished reading the letter, Professor McGonagall knocked on the door and asked to speak with us about my education. She was dressed like a muggle, so my parents thought she was from the local school. They hadn't read the letter yet. She asked me for my letter, explained it to them, they agreed, and here I am," explained Hermione. "Let's open our letters now."
As Harry opened up his letter, he received a double shock. Two badges fell out of the envelope; he was a Prefect and the Quidditch Captain.
Coming from the excited noise behind him, he determined Hermione had made Prefect as well. Sure enough when he turned around, she was pinning her badge to her clothes.
"I told you that you would get the prefect badge. Hey, why do you have two though?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, this is the Quidditch Captain Badge. The other one is the Prefect Badge," Harry told her.
"That's great Harry!" screamed Hermione, while rushing over and giving him a hug. "Although, I had sort of hoped Katie would get the badge. Ron will probably not like this."
"Yeah, I know. I remember when he looked into the Mirror of Erised and saw him being the Quidditch Captain and Head Boy. I'm sort of taking that away from him," mused Harry. "Wow that was so long ago."
"Yeah, it was. Remember the troll?" asked Hermione.
"How could I forget? It was the day we became friends. It was one of the best turning points in my life," Harry told her.
"Aww, that's so sweet! It's nice when you actually say what you mean. You should try it more often," Hermione told him bluntly. She hated having to make Harry talk, or wait months for him to finally open up. It was rather frustrating actually.
The two continued to reminisce about the times when they had met and on through the years of their friendship, and before they knew it the morning had become afternoon. They had barely even noticed the time go by, and had forgotten all about the events of the morning.
Harry received a few more packages during the day, and wrote Ron and Ginny a letter while Hermione reviewed over the material of classes she would possible be taking, and before they knew it was night. As they walked from the living room to their bedrooms Harry turned towards Hermione and said with a sly grin, "Get some sleep tonight, I have a surprise for you in the morning." And with that, he smartly walked into his room and shut the door.
But when Harry entered his room, he did not immediately go to sleep. He got out his photo album and had a look through it and once gain realized just how lucky a person he was. He would have endured another eleven years with the Dursleys to have friends like his.
As he got ready for bed, he thought over his plan for the next day. It was a nice thing to do. Nothing big, but it needed to be done for Hermione. I hope she's not mad was Harry's last coherent thought before he fell into a deep untroubled sleep.
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a/n: Thanks for the reviews in the last chapter! It was extremely appreciated. I do hope that some of you didn't just feel like reviewing instead of loosing interest in the story. I do hope this chapter is more to you're liking!
-EthanG
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