FicWad

Chapter 78 - Birthday Celebrations

Dimension: 563 - Earth
Date: 16th September 2001 AD
Country: Britain - Scotland
Location: Hogwarts - Corridors
Time: Afternoon

"Fancy some duelling practice?" asked Ron as he, Hermione and Fleur walked back through the corridors of Hogwarts.

Ron could tell that the girls had begun to wonder why exactly they had been sent back early when it made more sense to just hear the information again and then come home with the others rather than going to the trouble of making a second portkey.

He was pretty sure that Fleur, if she wasn't certain about what was going on, at the very least had an inkling of Harry's motives about sending them back were, but he was not going to say anything because Hermione certainly didn't know, he still couldn't believe it had never occurred to him to find out when her birthday was.

"You really think you can beat me Ron?" Fleur asked sceptically, either playing along with the deception or genuinely curious to see how good he was "I was The Under Eighteens Duelling Champion remember.

"How will we know unless we duel?" he replied smiling "I enjoy a challenge."

Changing directions, he started moving them towards Harry's classroom.

"Ron, what are you doing?" whispered Hermione "You can't challenge a professor to a duel."

"Why not? It's only a friendly duel."

"He can if he wants Eermione." Agreed Fleur "I want to see how good he is."

"Well I'm not going to watch while you make a fool of yourself." Replied Hermione "I'm going to the Library."
________________________________________________________________________

"Again." Panted Ron as he climbed to his feet.

"Ron, don't you think that's enough? We have been at it for nearly an hour and I have already defeated you twenty five times in a row. And besides, I need to get ready for the girl's night that Beaky is organizing"

"Once more, I'm feeling lucky." He breathed, moving back into a duelling stance.

"Sorry Ron, I have to go," she apologised as she stowed her wand in her robe and went towards the door. "But maybe we can duel again sometime."

"Ok, I'd like that." He nodded, stowing his wand in his own pocket.

"Goodbye Ron, see you later."

"Bye." He agreed.

As soon as the door was closed Ron dropped to the floor as if he was made of jelly.

"Bugger, that wasn't half exhausting." He groaned "That must have been a record for the most amount of curses received inside an hour."

He lay there for a few more minutes before hauling himself to his feet, casting some cleaning charms on himself and moving towards the door.

"Hermione and Fleur better appreciate all this."
________________________________________________________________________

"Anything Padma?"

"Nothing yet." She replied, closing another tome and returning it to its shelf "You?"

"No." Hermione sighed as she too returned her book to the shelf "This is almost as aggravating as trying to find information about The Guardian?"

"About that what?"

"The Guard...." started Hermione before remembering that only a couple of students actually knew who Adam was, the rest just thought he was a very powerful wizard "Oh God, I should not have told you."

"Told me what?" asked Padma again, turning all attention to Hermione.

"I shouldn't really tell you," replied Hermione "It's rather a big secret."

"Well, tell me then, you have already partially done so," urged Padma.

"Thinking about it, he never actually said it was a secret, it's just no one really told anybody."

"Well get to telling me then."

"Well, you see." Said Hermione uncertainly as the pair seated themselves at their table "You know Adam."

"Professor B.M. you mean?"

"Yes, well, he's not an ordinary wizard."

"Well that obvious, normal wizards don't carry staffs around."

"It's more than that," added Hermione "He's not a real wizard."

"What do you mean?" asked Padma, looking confused.

"Well he's actually a protector who works for the Gods."

Padma, moved back shocked.

"I know it's a lot to take in." added Hermione.

"Oh it's not that, I mean that's a surprise, but that's not what shocked me."

"What was it then?"

"You, someone who does not believe in anything unless there is hard proof, talking about ‘Gods' as if they are fact."

"You don't seem to have any problem with the concept." Countered Hermione.

"My sister and I are Hindu Hermione," replied Padma "We already believe in deities, but knowing how you feel about some of Luna's ideas, I didn't think you would even consider the idea of ‘Gods'."

"Fair point." Nodded Hermione "But seeing some of the magic he can perform as well as knowing that the Headmaster trusts him, you have to admit that the evidence leans towards ‘The Gods' being fact."

"What magic do you mean?"

"Well for a start he is powerful enough to use a staff and after one of the MD lessons a portal opened in the classroom and tried to swallow him and Buffy, he was single handily able to close it."

"Why was it after them?"

"It was artificial; it was trying to pull them both back to Buffy's own dimension as her friends tried to bring her back from the dead."

"What, what and what!" exclaimed Padma "Artificial portals? Home dimension? Dead? What in Merlin's name is going on?"

"Well, they both fell through a portal during the summer and arrived here, Adam and the Headmaster are old friends apparently, they knew each other over a century ago."

"He can't have, he can't be more than thirty years old at the most."

"Try fifteen billion."

"That's impossible."

"Well that's what the book said, and he didn't disagree with what I said. He moves between dimensions protecting those that need protection."

"They why is he teaching at the school?"

Hermione sighed.

"You remember that creature that attacked us on the train."

"How could I forget?"

"Well that was given to Voldemort by Adam's twin brother, who you have probably guessed is evil. Adam is staying until he can deal with his brother."

"The whole DA needs to hear this." Commented Padma.

"You're probably right;" nodded Hermione "We will have to explain all we know during our first get together."

"Hey Hermione, hey Padma." Greeted Ron lowly as he walked up to them, earning a warning glance from Madam Pince.

"I take it you lost then." Smiled Hermione, noticing how he was breathing deeply.

"I didn't do too badly." He countered "I could have done worse."

"Did you win?" Hermione asked sceptically.

"Well, I wouldn't say win exactly...."

"What was the final score?" asked Padma.

Ron mumbled something inaudible.

"Sorry, we didn't catch that." Teased Padma.

"Twenty five....to none."

Both of the girls snorted while trying to keep their laughter as quiet as possible.

"I could have done worse." Pouted Ron.

"What, fifty to none." Returned Padma in the midst of her laughter.

"Why," tried Hermione "Why did you come here in the first place?"

"Harry's back, we're all meeting in the Room Of Requirements." Ron replied quickly, desperately trying to change the subject.

"When?"

"Now."

"Ok," gasped Hermione as their laughter finally started to die down "Give us a minute to pack up."

When they left the Library a few minutes later, Padma told them she had left her bag in the Library and doubled back.

As soon as Hermione, escorted by Ron, were out of sight she cast silencing charms on her shoes and took off like a rocket down the other route towards the ROR, she had to get there first.
________________________________________________________________________

"Come on, come on!" urged Harry as he filled up a row of glasses with wine that Dimitri had given them (subtly including a slight charm that reduced the affect of the alcohol, at least for several hours) "They will be here any second."

"Serves you right Harry," replied Dean as he swished and flicked a few streamers over the recreation of the Gryffindor Common Room "You should know what girls are like when they go shopping."

He barely had the chance to duck as over two dozen different objects were levitated and thrown at him by most of the females in the room, and considering there were DA, Order and Alliance members, Hogwarts teachers, more students from three of the four Hogwarts Houses, several Beauxbatons Alumni who arrived early and a few miscellaneous people like Andromeda who had come to help Harry, all inside of the room, there were quite a lot of ladies to throw things.

But luckily for Dean, most of the objects were cushions.

"I'll have you know Dean that you and Seamus were in the Quidditch shop a lot longer than any single woman spent in Madam Fontaine's." scolded Ginny as she helped Kreacher, Dobby and Winky arrange the food, her revelation causing much amusement to the ladies in the room and the embarrassment of aforementioned males.

"Stop talking, keep decorating PLEASE!" begged Harry.

"Calm down Harry," called Katie as she and Parvati flew around on her broom, charming candles to hover above the party "Fleur and Hermione are going to love you for this."

"The charms on the door are done." Andromeda interjected before moving over to help with the drinks.

"I have five years worth of missed parties to make up to Hermione and I promised Fleur that her party was going to be even better than my sixteenth." He replied, accepting Andromeda's words but not having the time to respond to them as he drew his father's wand so he could pour drinks from two bottles at once, no one seemed to notice him using two wands other than Adam on the other side of the room who was conjuring up furniture at an alarmingly fast rate.

"And it will be." Smiled Colette as she portkeyed in.

"Is everyone...."

"Yes Harry," she soothed, cutting him off in the middle of his panicked question "They will be here in about five seconds."

"Thank god. Is everyone coming?"

"Everyone except my sister," she replied, her mouth spreading into a grin "After the way you defeated her during the Duelling Competition and spurned her advances, I don't think she will ever be seen near you again."

On queue the portkey that Colette had taken with her brought another two dozen people into the room, Harry was thankful that he had had the sense to make the room many times larger than the actual Common Room that it was modelled after.

He wanted everything to be perfect, he had even tweaked the design so that the boys stairs led up to a couple of bedrooms (most of the rooms occupants were over the age of consent so he thought it was best to be prepared) and several quiet rooms filled with sofas if people just wanted to talk, whereas the girls stairs now led up to a door that somehow opened into the Astronomy Tower on the other side of the castle, in case any couples wanted to disappear up to it and....‘stare at the stars'.

In the party that had just arrived where Olympe, several other Beauxbatons Professors, The Nets, Monique, Colette's parents, Viktor, quite a few Alumni from Beauxbatons and a few from Durmstrang (most of whom were from Fleur's year) and finally several younger and older Veela and their partners, including The Matriarch herself.

"That's more than I thought." Said Harry, about to work himself up into a panic again "We are going to need more glasses."

"Arry." Called Olympe, as she walked over to him, others rapidly moving out of her way to avoid being crushed "It will be fine, Fleur is going to fall in love with you all over again because of all the trouble you have gone to. From what I have heard you have spent over ten thousand on this party, including paying the fees for multi-person international portkey travel in Britain, France and Germany, travelling arrangements for the guests to get to the international portkey coordinates, new clothes for everyone who wanted them, catering arrangements, supplying cash to those who only received a few hours warning so they could buy presents for the birthday girls and the cost of sending out as many invitations as you did."

"Colette sent out the invitations for Fleur." He corrected as he tried to get busy again, only for Olympe to clamp her hand down on his shoulder, before pushing him back into a chair where she held him while Dimitri directed Gabrielle to sit on him and not let him move until the birthday girls arrived, much to Gabrielle's amusement and Harry's frustration.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, the door opened and Buffy, Tonks and a very exhausted Padma skidded in.

"They're coming!!" called Tonks.

"Ron and Hermione are coming in from one direction." Explained Padma.

"And Fleur is coming from the other direction." Finished Buffy.

Harry had never moved so fast, Gabrielle was so surprised when she was thrown off him by his rapid movement that she shrieked as she felt a moment of weightlessness before landing (luckily) on her feet.

"Everyone in positions. Quickly! Quickly!!" He urged "Nox."

As the candles went out, everyone went quiet.

As the door opened the three people entering were almost blasted back out again by the lights being relit and the combination of no less than sixty people from three different countries, two governments, three Hogwarts houses and two vigilantly organizations all calling out surprise in three different languages.

Fleur just stood there with wide eyes, looking like she needed to pinch herself to actually believe what she was seeing.

Hermione was leaning against the wall, with one hand clutched over her heart and her eyes bulging as she stared at the banner saying:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMIONE & FLEUR

Even Ron who knew about the party almost jumped out of his skin at the scale of the thing.

"Wha....how....when di...." Hermione tried, but just could not manage the words.

"Happy birthday Hermione, Happy birthday Fleur." Smiled Ron, giving both a little push towards the crowd.

There were several minutes before either of the girls managed to say anything other than the names of the people shaking their hands or hugging them at their surprise at seeing them all in one place.

Finally Hermione managed to shake everyone off and call out.

"Who....Who....Who did all this?" Whilst gesturing to the scene around them.

As one, almost every eye or finger in the room was directed at Harry, another problem with having a distinctive scar, even those that didn't know him knew who he was.

"Harry?" she asked, walking up to him, her expression somewhere between shock and disbelief "You....you....did all this?"

He nodded slightly. Was it ok? What had he done wrong?

"All by yourself?"

"I had help." He replied. His voice rather uncertain.

"Only with the decoration." corrected Buffy.

"He got everyone together," added Neville "Arranged the transportation, got all the permissions for the portkeys from the Ministries, took everyone out to get new outfits and paid for every single thing, from the candles to the drink."

"Annoyingly." Muttered Dimitri, Harry had somehow managed to arrange with the Goblins that anything party related that he paid for would actually be taken out of Harry's vault instead of his own, including the new dress he had bought for his daughter.

"He also came up with the idea for the charms on the door to change your clothes." Grinned Tonks.

"He wh....oh my." exclaimed Hermione as she looked down and realised that she and Fleur were both now dressed in deep blue cocktail dresses that fell to just above their knees accompanied by matching high heeled shoes.

Conjuring a full length mirror, Tonks turned it so that the pair could see what they looked like. Their hair had also somehow been made to look like it had just been done by a hair stylist, Fleur's was hanging straight down her back and Hermione's was curled lightly around her face and shoulders, both of them had very light make up around their eyes and mouths.

"You did all this....for us?" asked Fleur, turning to Harry, walking up beside Hermione, her expression was also half way between shock and disbelief.

"It's ok isn't it? I know it's a few days early Hermione, but I thought it better to celebrate both yours and Fleur's at once. That's alright isn't it?"

The pair just stood in front of him for a moment before Hermione launched herself at him and pulled him into a death grip of a hug, any harder and she would break bones.

"Harry," she said sounding teary "It's....I'm....No one has ever done anything like this for me before."

She pulled back slightly, there were tears running down her face, but the beaming smile she was wearing offset some of the tension that had been gripping Harry for the last week.

"It's wonderful Harry, thank you SO much."

She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before moving aside as Fleur pulled him into an even tighter hug which was followed immediately by an extremely passionate kiss (and an earth shattering amount of love poured down the link), earning many wolf whistles and cheers from the crowd.

Eventually she pulled back slight and rested her forehead against his.

"Arry." She whispered "When you promised me a party bigger than yours, I knew you would keep your promise, but I never, ever suspected ANYTHING like this, it's the best birthday present I have ever had."

"I would go to hell and back for you Fleur." He whispered back.

"Stop kissing," complained Gabrielle "I want to eat."
________________________________________________________________________

The better part of the first hour was spent with people congratulating the two ladies, renewing old acquaintances and making new friends, Harry had managed to find a secluded corner where he could sit down and relax for a few minutes out of sight of most of the room, he was joined temporarily by Ron and Neville before Colette and Luna dragged the pair out onto the dance floor to give him some time to relax after all the work he had done that day. He had at least ten minutes to himself before someone called out.

"Potter!"

It wasn't loud enough for the entire room to hear but several people did turn their heads to see a dark haired young woman marching towards him.

Heaving himself out of his seat, not really putting much effort in due to his tired state, he had just managed to straighten up when the slap hit, almost knocking him over.

It took him several seconds to recover before he looked up to see an annoyed looking French woman glaring at him and half a dozen people looking at them both.

"Good to see you to Monique." He smiled, a slight twinge remaining on his cheek were she had hit him, it wasn't an overly powerful hit, just enough to get her point across....whatever it was.

"I've got a bone to pick with you Potter." She glared, putting her hands on her hips.

"You're not angry because I didn't tell you who I was are you?"

"No, I'm not angry at you for not telling us who you were, I'm angry at you for telling the entire school that I was going to take up the DAA post before I had decided to take it."

"But you probably were going to take it." He smiled.

"Yes, but you did not know for certain that I probably would."

"I probably did."

"Yes, you probably knew that I probably would, but you couldn't certainly know."

"I probably certainly knew that you probably would."

"Yes, but even thought you probably certainly knew that I probably would, you didn't certainly know that although I probably would there was no probability that I certainly would." She finished satisfied.

There was several seconds of silence before Harry managed:

"What?"

"I have no idea; I don't think I could say that again if I tried." Sighed Monique dropping her arms to her sides. The entire conversation thus far had taken place in French so most of those around them must have been completely lost by the constant repetition of words.

"You finished being angry?"

She paused for a second before nodding.

"Good, then give me a hug and let's have a chat."

After hugging and seating themselves the pair settled down to talk.

"So how's Beauxbatons without me?" grinned Harry.

"Less fun for all the young witches." Smirked Monique "But luckily for me their grades are still as high as last term so I'm obviously doing something right."

"You were the best student I had." He smiled "Of course you would do well."

"It still feels weird to know that I was taught by someone a year younger than me and that he was still a better dueller."

"If it makes you feel any better, I was using a Time Turner to repeat almost every day of the summer six more times to train, that's why I got better throughout the term."

"I would ask how you got hold of a Time Turner, but then again being with Fleur Delacour I don't think I need to ask. So you are what, almost seventeen now?"

"I'm older than that," he replied with a sly smile "I spent a long time training with another of Hogwarts new Professors."

"How long?"

"My secret." He replied, grinning as one tune from the Wizarding Wireless ended and a slow tune began "Would you care to dance?"

She looked at him surprised for a moment before smiling and standing.

"Yes My Lord, I would."

Standing, he took her hand and led her out onto the dance floor, he was vaguely aware of Luna and Neville dancing to his left, their bodies pressed together, Luna's head lying on Neville's shoulder as they gently swayed.

As the pair reached the floor, Monique glided into his arms.

"Let's see how well the most handsome Professor Beauxbatons has had in years can dance." She smiled as they began to move.
________________________________________________________________________

Fleur finally managed to get away from the mass of friends, relatives and distant relations surrounding her and made her way towards the food table for a breather and a drink.

Picking up a glass of wine she took a long drink before taking a deep breath.

"Happy birthday Fleur." Smiled Ron as he came along the table to stand beside her, holding a much smaller plate of food than he normally would "Hungry?"

"Thank you." She smiled, helping herself to one of the king prawns off his offered plate "So how exactly did you and Harry do all this?"

"You would not want me to give away the secret would you?" He grinned, before spotting something in the crowd and tensing slightly.

Fleur followed his line of sight and saw Hermione dancing with Viktor.

An idea sprung into her mind as she sent a mental message to Harry.
________________________________________________________________________

A smile spread on Harry's face as Fleur's message came through.

"What?" asked Monique, wondering what his change of expression was caused by.

"An idea," he grinned "Tell me, have you met Viktor Krum?"

"No."

"Would you like to?"
________________________________________________________________________

"Do you think it will work?" asked Tonks as she, Buffy, Adam and the recently arrived Dumbledore stood watching the game play out "If they are in fact actually doing anything."

"They are," said Adam with one of his half smiles "Fleur asked Ron to dance seconds after he had looked at Hermione and Viktor and at the same time Harry smiled and he and Monique changed direction, they are definitely doing something."

"And it is almost certainly involving Miss Granger and Mr Weasley." Added Dumbledore.

"There they go." Commented Buffy as Harry and Monique came to a stop beside Hermione and Krum and after a few words and a bow by each of the men they swapped partners as Harry and Hermione started moving over the dance floor.

"Told you." Smiled Adam as their eyes followed the two couples around the dance floor, before in a very clever and even quicker move Harry and Fleur pushed their partners together and danced away before Hermione and Ron even realised they were dancing with each other "I believe you both owe me a galleon."

"Shoot," Grumbled Buffy "We will pay you tomorrow."

"These dresses don't really have any places for money storage." Grinned Tonks.
________________________________________________________________________

"That worked well." Smiled Fleur as she and Harry slowed their dancing as the music changed.

"Do you think it will work?" replied Harry.

"It already is, look."

Turning them around Harry could see Hermione and Ron doing a strange attempt to dance closely but not make it look like they were touching, though as the new song began they both looked at each other slightly nervously before Ron gently put his arm around Hermione and pulled her close.

"Finally!" he exclaimed "I thought it would never happen."

"This really is wonderful Arry, thank you." Beamed Fleur, lowering her head onto his shoulder.
________________________________________________________________________

The rest of the evening proceeded well, with much dancing, laughter and fun all around with people coming and going all the time, some just stopping for flying visits, others intending to stay until the end.

It was many hours into the party when Harry found himself dancing slowly with Ginny after getting passed around through almost every female in the room. He had tried to escape the game of ‘Pass the Potter' once but it was Fleur no less that directed him back towards the next lady in line who at that time happened to be a very eager Gabrielle.

"I hope you do something like this for my birthday Harry." Smiled Ginny as she laid her head on his chest "Hermione looks so happy dancing with Ron, I don't think they will ever forget it."

"Let's hope not," he smiled "Or else I will have to arrange another party for them."

Ginny giggled into his chest, her laughter was nice and soft, just like her hair, she looked right leaning against his....

Harry almost tripped over his own feet when he realised the line of thought he was just engaged in.

"What's wrong Harry?" she asked.

"What, I'm not allowed to trip once after dancing for an entire evening?" He joked, quickly recovering from his mistake "I think I might need to sit down for a while."

Ginny began to guide him over to a nearby chair but much to Harry's relief she was caught by a slightly tipsy Colin Creevey and he pulled her back onto the dance floor.

Harry quickly made his way back to his secluded corner.

It wasn't possible; he could not think about anyone other than Fleur....The mating prevented it....It must have been the alcohol....Yes, yes, that was it, he had had several glasses of wine, and even with the charms making the drink less alcoholic it must be affecting him, Colin's state was proof enough that the charm only went so far.

He did not get the chance to think for long as Colette pulled him back to the floor for another slow dance.

For the moment Harry forgot about whatever it was that just happened with Ginny and continued to enjoy the party, whilst at the same time the eyes of the Phoenix necklace that Ginny had given him stopped glowing and dimmed back to their original state.
________________________________________________________________________

It was hours later in the early hours of the morning when the party had died down and less than twenty people remained, that the group, most of whom were under twenty five consisting mainly of DA members and the newer Hogwarts teachers, were seated in one of the rooms full of comfy sofa's that Harry had created, where Fleur and Hermione were presented with a huge pile of presents.

"Dive in." smiled Harry at the pairs gob smacked looks, only to have Gabrielle, who had been falling asleep until the presents appeared, make a dash for the pile and began dividing up the presents, much to the mirth of the others.

Gabrielle was a lot faster at dividing up the presents than the pair were at opening them but as there were so many it was unsurprising that their smaller individual piles were growing rather than shrinking.

Amongst the many gifts that were opened (of which a large portion of Hermione's were books), some of the most noticeable were Hermione receiving a complete set of Wizarding Encyclopaedias from the DA (there were a LOT of books in the set), a book called ‘Magical Cryptids: A Wizards Guide To All The Magical Creatures That May Exist' from Neville and Luna (probably an attempt by Luna to convince Hermione that half the creatures she believed in were real), a small thirty centimetre crystal sculpture of an otter from Buffy (someone had obviously told her about her Patronus shape), a fifty galleon voucher for WWW from the twins (half the people there wondered if she would EVER actually use it), a pair of wand holsters from Tonks and Bill (one for her torso and one for her arm which could be made to turn invisible), a book on wandless magic from Adam and a couple of Muggle fictional books from the start of a series entitled the ‘Discworld Novels' by Terry Prachett from Ron and Ginny, when asked they said that they had talked to Hermione's parents to get some suggestions, they hoped Hermione would become hooked and start spending some of the money that Sirius's Will demanded that she spend buying the rest of the very long series.

On top of all that were three presents that caused Hermione to go the colour of Ron's hair when she opened them. Fleur gave her a rather sexy flowing red night gown, Lavender and the Patil twins gave her a book entitled ‘The Best Way To Get The Most Out Of Your Man' and from the sly looks on their faces it was not referring to how to get him to open doors for you, and lastly and most embarrassingly was a very skimpy and provocative set of underwear including stockings and suspenders from Colette as well as a card which Ginny managed to read aloud before Hermione could stop her saying:

"If these don't get Ron into your bed nothing will."

Earning lots of laughter and giggling from everyone else present, with the exception of Hermione who was so red she was almost spontaneously combusting and Ron who subtly slipped a pillow into his lap in an attempt to cover up his reaction to the mental image he had just formed; fortunately Gabrielle was too busy dividing up the rest of the presents to hear the comment as well.

Fleur also received many gifts including a crystal sculpture like Hermione's of a stag from Buffy, a selection of hairs from Tonks and Bill with a note saying:

‘We thought you might like some different shapes and proportions to test drive'

Which utterly confused everyone else in the room except for Colette who grinned and Delphine whose eyes widened slightly before a grin appeared on her face as she realised what it meant.

Fleur also received several sets of lingerie from Colette, that along with Hermione's were going to be on the minds of many member of the DA's for weeks (and from the looks that the Patil twins were exchanging it wasn't just the boys who liked the imagery), a few books of varying types including her own copy of ‘The Best Way To Get The Most Out Of Your Man' to which Fleur leaned over and whispered something in the ears of Lavender and the twins which caused their eyes to bulge before they turned to look at Harry with lop sided beaming smiles. She got several other things including a beautiful dress from her parents but nothing else of much note until they got to the presents from Harry.

Once all the other presents were unwrapped and Gabrielle and Delphine made their exits, Harry produced several small piles of gifts which he placed in front of Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna.

"What's this Harry?" asked Ginny, staring at the pile in front of her.

"These are the presents I should have given you for your birthdays since I have known each of you."

"Oh Harry," sighed Hermione "You didn't have to go to...."

"Yes I did and no I won't take them back." He interrupted, before grinning widely "So get unwrapping."

Harry had tried to get each of them a present for every year of Hogwarts he had known them though it had not been easy.

Luna, as he had only known her since the previous year got a single Muggle book called ‘On The Track Of Unknown Animals'.

Ginny, as he had known her for five years now, received three books, ‘How To Be A World Class Seeker' as she would probably be his reserve this year, the Autobiography of the last England Seeker, containing all the training techniques he used to get as good as he was, and ‘100 Different Ways To Use The Bat Bogey Hex' just for fun. She also received a gold necklace, similar in design to the one she had gotten him, also with a phoenix on it.

Neville got several books; ‘Rare And Exotic Plants', ‘How To Master Duelling', ‘The History Of Magical Plants' as well as a pair of wand holsters like Hermione's and a Muggle plant called a Bonsai Tree.

Ron received the Autobiography of the England Keeper that played along with the Seeker whose autobiography Ginny received, he also got a book called ‘The History Of Quidditch At Hogwarts' as well as two other items. At this point Ron made a comment about Harry turning into Hermione with all the books he had given out, but quickly retracted the comment when he unwrapped the last two items. A set of new wizard robes (so along with the set that the twins gave him when they started becoming profitable he now had two sets) and a small box containing the snitch used by the Chudley Cannons in their first ever Quidditch match.

Then they finally got to Hermione's presents.

Much to her delight the first four presents were books; Harry had chosen them very carefully; ‘Magical Schools: The History Series' (contained ‘Hogwarts A History' and the corresponding books for Beauxbatons and Durmstrang), ‘Powerful Magical Beings Through the Ages', listing the most powerful magical being in Wizarding history (including a small bit on the Avatar, just to tease her, knowing that she would try to look into his history, and the tiny paragraph would only spur her on), ‘The Magical Theory Behind Magic', that one just looked interesting and lastly ‘The Lost History Of Wizards', which told all the bits of Wizarding history that the Wizarding World had tried to forget, including a rather interesting chapter on the history of the Elementals, all four books were very early editions which made them all the rarer.

Hermione's last present was the one that Harry was most nervous about, it was the one that Adam had suggested because of the way that ‘Hermione moved her fingers'; he just prayed she liked it.

Harry was on tenterhooks as she undid the wrapping around the very carefully detailed wooden box.

As she undid the catch Fleur took a hold of his hand and squeezed it comfortingly, whilst sending soothing thoughts down the link.

As she lifted the lid Hermione gasped before turning to him in shock.

"How did you know?" she asked, her eyes so wide that Harry thought they were about to fall out of their sockets "I never told you, I never told anyone at Hogwarts."

"Adam recognised the way you moved your fingers." Explained Fleur as Hermione withdrew the hand carved wooden instrument.

"A violin!" exclaimed Ginny "You play the violin?"

Hermione nodded slightly embarrassed.

"I know everyone was put off from me because I love books so much, I didn't want to risk losing any more chances at making friends by admitting that I am rather good at playing what's considered a rather boring instrument, so I left it in my trunk all through our first year."

"Oh Hermione." Parvati sighed "Don't be silly."

"We were a bit put off by your bookish nature at first," added Lavender "But that was virtually gone by the end of our first year and nonexistent by the end of our second."

"By then we had got to know you." Continued Parvati "You were good to go to with essay problems,"

"You knew everything any of us could ever want to know about magic,"

"You were good to talk to about the correct way to cast spells,"

"You were fun to talk to because you could always be relied upon to roll your eyes when we started talking about what to wear and what boys to date,"

"And you constantly made sure we pushed ourselves to get the best grades possible." Concluded Parvati, ending her and Lavender's string of points.

"Your part in protecting the Philosophers Stone knocked the idea of you being just a bookworm for six." Agreed Padma "Besides, us Ravenclaw's just thought you were in the wrong house."

"That is until the stone," grinned Seamus "That's when we all knew you were a ‘Gryff' through and through."

"Here here." Agreed Dean.

Hermione was crying happy tears by the time they had finished.

"Thank you." She said softly looking around at the crowd, before turning back to her new violin "I never wanted to risk mine getting damaged by bringing it to school, so I never brought it after first year, even if I only were to play in private."

"This one won't get damaged," explained Adam "It's got enough protective charms to stop anything short of a blasting hex from damaging it. It will also stay permanently in tune, you will never need to replace the strings so they only thing you need to do is the odd bit of polishing, I removed that charm as I thought you might like to do that yourself."

"Yes, it's relaxing to do." She agreed, before moving over to Harry and pulling him into a hug "Thank you Harry, thank you."

"My pleasure." He smiled as he returned the hug.

Pulling back, Hermione returned to her seat and carefully placed the violin back in its wooden case and closed the lid.

"Aren't you going to give us a tune?" asked Luna.

"I get embarrassed playing in front of crowds." She replied, shaking her head "Besides, I haven't practised in a while. And there is at least one gift I want to see."

"What?" asked Ginny.

"Harry's gift to Fleur." She smiled turning to the man in question, glad that her change of subject had worked.

"Yes, come on Harry," smiled Lavender "What have you got for your lovely lady?"

Smiling, Fleur turned her head towards her mate and put on a joking expression that clearly said ‘Well?'

She had no doubt that he had got her something, she just wondered if he was going to be embarrassed because it was something he did not want his friends to see.

Smiling, Harry produced a large flat box that he handed to Fleur.

Curious, Fleur opened the box and unfolded the thin paper wrapping.

The others watched as Fleur's eyes went from excited to downright astonished in a second.

"What, what is it?" asked Colette moving to have a look before almost tripping over her own feet when she saw "Merlin's....Merlin's...."

"What in the name of the founders could make Colette so speechless that she can not even think about one of her Merlin's garment exclamations?" Asked Tonks moving to the pair.

"Holy Merlin's Beard." she exclaimed "Where on earth did you get your hands on Acromantulas silk?"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, every woman in the room was on their feet and moving towards the box, everyone but Buffy.

"What's so special about the silk from a giant spider?"

"It's nigh on impossible to get, Acromantulas don't like giving away their silk as it has to be made specially if you want to turn it into garments." replied Padma, who was almost salivating over the material "It more expensive than platinum, more expensive than, than, well you get the idea."

"It's also wonderful to make dresses out of," explained Colette "Its extremely strong and tough, and won't easily fray or tear."

Fleur carefully reached into the box and held up the uncut silk, it was currently just a sheet of silvery semi transparent material.

Fleur, whose face was still staring in shock, slowly looked to Harry, but she seemed unable to voice her question.

"Aragog," he answered "He gave me enough for one dress for you and he promised me by the day after tomorrow to have enough for all those ladies going to the Equinox Ball."

More chins dropped, but most surprising was when Colette rushed over and dropped to her knees in front of Harry.

"Harry, please let me design and make the dresses, I'm willing to beg if it will help."

"I was going to pay you to get your company to do it but if you want to do it yourself that's ok with meEEEE."

The slight yell at the end of his sentence was caused by Colette hugging him so hard he groaned.

"Is that the lot?" asked Seamus, trying to distract the ladies away from the silk.

"I do have one more set of gifts," explained Harry, pulling out a long thin box, the same box that he had purchased from Madam Enigma's in France "But there were only seven available."

"They are for Arry, myself, Eermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna." explained Fleur, still slightly stunned from receiving the silk.

"What are they?" asked Luna as the others named moved closer to Harry to see what he was about to show them.

Opening the box revealed, set in foam padding, seven gold watches on chains. Except these watches had no hands or numbers on them, but around the edge of the box were slots filled with lots and lots of little hands and discs with worlds like ‘Sleeping', ‘Work', ‘Home' and ‘Mortal Peril' as well as many more blanks.

"Are they what I think they are?" asked Ron.

"I think they are what you think they are." Nodded Ginny.

"Watch Clock's?" asked Neville.

"Watch Watches actually, but yes they are." Confirmed Harry "Mobile versions of what The Burrow has."

"Just one costs a small fortune." Exclaimed Hermione "And you got seven of them."

"It was worth it." Replied Harry before he started taking the watches out and handing them out, there were four smaller more delicate watches which Harry handed to the ladies and three slightly larger ones for the men.

"You can have as many hands as you want on them," explained Harry "And a simple enlargement charm works on them if they get too crowded to be seen at the size they are."

"All you need to do is get a bit of hair or blood from the person you want to watch, drop it on the hand then hold it to the face of the watch and hit the button on the top and it will attach," explained Fleur "Likewise with the points of the dial, hold your wand to them, say the word you want them to display and then hold then do the same as for the hands, you can have as many as you can fit on the face, they will rearrange themselves to the best possible fit."

What followed was a process of much hair exchanging and attaching as they all added each other to their watches as well as clock points until they all at least had ‘Sleeping', ‘Work/School', ‘Home', ‘Hospital', ‘Shopping', ‘Making Love' (several of them were a bit unsure about that one), ‘Out', ‘Hiding', ‘Secret Mission', ‘Locked Up', ‘Fighting' and ‘Mortal Peril' around the edge and each of the watch owners as hands.

"We had better send out owl's tomorrow for hair from our families." Said Ginny as everyone had done all the hands that they could.

Before the talking could continue Adam spoke up:

"Before everyone continues their conversations, I have a present for someone."

"You've given both of us gifts already." Said Fleur "Whose this one for?"

"Harry." He replied standing up and moving over to him and moving the coffee table which had been off to the side so that it was closer to Harry than everyone else "Call this a birthday present for all of your birthdays that I missed and a gift for someone who I think will appreciate it."

"What?" asked Harry cautiously.

"Everyone close your eyes please." Asked Adam.

With a bit of coaxing everyone did as he asked.
________________________________________________________________________

Harry was rather apprehensive as to what Adam was about to give him, he didn't think that Adam was the sort to give chocolate or any other sort of small gift, he got the feeling that whatever he was about to receive was going to be important.

Harry felt magic being cast in front of him, a summoning charm of some kind if he had to guess, this was followed by the sound of something hard being placed on the table but the sound did not make it obvious as to what it was. He then felt a charm similar to Finite Incantatem shortly followed by a cracking sound.

"You can open your eyes."

As his eyelids slid back and his eyes readjusted to the light, he just had time to recognise the sight of a large fifteen centimetre tall shiny blue stone before it burst open.

There were many gasps and a couple of small screams as people jumped back or shielded their eyes from the bits of what looked like, but obviously were not stone.

Lowering his arm, Harry found himself looking at a small creature.

It was no more than twenty centimetres long.

It was coated in a stringy substance that had obviously made up the inside of what was evidently an egg.

It was a blue sapphire in colour, had a long slim body covered in scales, its head was pointed and reptilian and its spine and tail had a line of dark blue fur running down its length (similar to that of his Avatar form, except obviously Harry had fur over the rest of his body as opposed to scales).

Its eyes were currently closed.

But its most striking feature were the two limbs which it stretched out from its shoulders, they were long and covered in a thin membrane of skin.

Wings.

The creature that was on the table in front of him....was a....

"A dragon."



AUTHOR NOTE 1: For all those of you that started shouting at the screen, no I did not steal the egg idea from Eragon for one very important reason.

I came up with the idea and everything else you will hear about the subject in the next chapter long LONG before I ever heard of Eragon or Saphira and although I have since read the books and watched the film the idea is much older than my knowledge of said stories, and I also assure you that although VERY similar the names of the two dragons are complete coincidences, though I have had to add an autocorrect option to Word to stop me writing the wrong name accidentally as my fingers work on automatic and I have written down the wrong name more than once.


AUTHORS NOTE 2: Also I am sorry for this chapter took so long, I thought this chapter was with my grammar and spelling beta who I need to hear back from before posting when in fact it was not, so my blunder there, very sorry.