Harry Potter and the Love of the Dragon

It was a few days after Dudley's party and Harry was doing his homework on his bed. He was flicking through his copy of Fantastic Beasts and where to find them, searching through all the graffiti that he and Ron had added for a mention of 'The History of Magical Humanoid Creatures' for Professor Binns and his History of Magic class. There was a sudden pounding on the door.

"Harry..." Dudley whined from the hallway. "Gimme some sweets." He sounded like the spoilt two year old he used to be. It was days since Dudley had finished eating the supply of Every Flavour Beans and Chocolate Frogs that Harry and his friends had supplied for his birthday and had been begging Harry for more ever since. It appeared as though Dudley's fear of wizards and all things connected failed to stretch to their confectionary.

Harry's concentration at ignoring his cousin's whinging (Note: Dudley was whinging in Little Whinging!!!! LOL!!!) was interrupted by a squawk as a huddle of owls shot through the window and landed on his textbook.

"Hedwig!" Harry greeted his snowy owl lovingly and fed her a handful of owl treats. She pecked him on the ear and tucked in gratefully. Harry returned his gaze to the bed. "Pig! Wow, you've grown." Also sat on Harry's bed was Percy's owl Hermes and three other birds that Harry had never seen before. Attached to each was a letter and Hedwig, Pigwidgeon, Hermes and one of the others were together carrying a large package. He emptied the package of treats onto the bed so that each owl could have their share and detached the parcels that the birds were bearing. All together, there were four envelopes and five parcels. Harry stored all the letters and the four smaller packages in his wardrobe - he knew that they were intended for his birthday the following day and unwrapped the larger parcel that the four birds had been carrying together. His Firebolt rolled onto the duvet, returned at last by Hermione. Harry left the group of owls to recover from their journey in his room with the window open, swung his broom (still in perfect condition) over his shoulder, wrapped Draco around his neck and flung the door open hitting Dudley square on the nose in the process.

"Oww," Dudley whimpered.

Harry bounded down the stairs, high on the thought of the birthday presents stored in his room and strolled into the back garden. He hadn't flown his broom for weeks, and he was dying to do so. He swung his leg over the handle and pushed off the ground gently. He couldn't go above the height of the fence so he had to be very careful. Below this level he was safe to fly as Dumbledore had enforced special protection so that prying eyes could not see anything they might consider to be abnormal.

Dudley staggered out the back door and whimpered. "I can't believe that you freaks ride a broom. That is SO cliché."

"I can do this too," boasted Harry. He drew his wand out from the waistband of his jeans and flicked it lazily. "Florabunda," he exclaimed, and a large bunch of roses appeared in his left hand. He threw them to Dudley who caught them out of reflex, before dropping them at his feet as if they had burned his hands.

"You are just like Dad said you were. Full of a couple of magic tricks," Dudley attempted to taunt Harry.

Harry flew around the circumference of the lawn twice as fast as his Firebolt could go and landed gracefully at Dudley's feet. "Your parents are out, Dudley," he theatened, lowering his recently-broken voice to it's bottom-most octave. "I could do things to you that would strike fear into your heart like never before. And there is nothing you or your parents could do to stop me. You see this," Harry pointed out the scar on his forehead. It stood out clearly now ever since he had discovered a hair-gel charm that could style his hair in messy spikes the previous week. "I got this from a curse that an evil wizard aimed at me. I lived. I am the only person ever to live from it. It killed lots of Muggles like you. It killed my parents. It even killed Voldemort, the Dark Wizard who cast it for all intents and purposes. It could kill you. All I have to do is wave this wand," Harry moved closer to Dudley and held the wand up between their faces. "And say the incantation and POOF," Harry clapped loudly and stepped away from his cousin. "You will be no more." Harry jumped back onto his broom and released his practice Snitch ready to practice Quidditch leaving Dudley cowering against the fence.

*****

It was ten o'clock the following morning and Harry bounded out of bed. There was a tawny own tapping on the window and Harry strolled over, allowing it into his room. He untied the letter and the owl flew straight back through the window and into the bright summer sky. Harry quickly dressed, gathered up the other letters and parcels from the wardrobe and carried the lot downstairs and into the living room where the Dursleys were sat watching an early morning repeat of Eastenders on television.

"If any of you try anything, I will hex you all into your next birthday." Harry had finally had enough of the three of them taunting him over his supposed lack of friends and had decided to prove to them all that he, too, had people who cared for him. The Dursleys sat glued to their seats, but Harry wasn't sure if this was because of him and his birthday presents or if it was because Little Mo had just stood up to her evil husband Trevor.

Harry opened the five envelopes first. The first was a card from Ron.

'Hey Harry,

Have a good birthday. Looking forward to seeing you in a couple of weeks. Have you heard about Quidditch yet? Fred and George said that you would probably be made Gryffindor Captain this year been as Katie Bell left at the end of last year (Katie had been made captain during her final year and Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts). Chudley Cannons are moving up the league. It's a shame you missed the match last week. The new owl is Ginny's - Mum and Dad bought him for her last week when she was made Prefect. He's called Peacock.

See you soon, Ron.

The second was a card from Hermione, explaining how hard she was working and how much she was enjoying herself in the Isle of Wight.

Harry opened his third card. "Ah, this is from Hagrid," he said aloud. "You remember, the giant who came to the shack on my eleventh birthday. Dudley?" He opened the fourth card and looked at the three of the Dursleys in turn, laughter dancing in his emerald eyes.

"What?" demanded Uncle Vernon.

"It's from Sirius. My godfather, you know. The convicted murderer who escaped from wizard prison. He says that, should I need anything I should write and he'll apparate here straight away."

The Dursleys blanched. Harry opened the final envelope, the one that arrived earlier that morning. It was the annual Hogwarts letter. Harry tucked away the book list and skimmed the letter. "Oh cool!" he exclaimed. "I am Quidditch captain!"

The Dursleys exchanged confused looks but were too stubborn in their self-inflicted ignorance to ask Harry what exactly Quidditch was.

"I think I'll open the rest upstairs," grinned Harry, unable to contain his excitement. He gathered up the cards and packages and raced up the stairs. Immediately on reaching his bed he tore open the gift from Hermione. It was a wizard camera and all the potions he would need to develop moving pictures. He had been tempted to buy one himself last half term in Hogsmeade but Hermione had desperately convinced him not to. The next present was from Ron - a broom-case designed specially to hold a Firebolt (still the top-of-the-range broom) and the Care Kit Hermione had given Harry a couple of years ago. Hagrid's was the next gift that he opened. He had sent him a homemade birthday cake and six bottles of butterbeer. Harry had drunk the last bottle the night before so these arrived just in time. Sirius's present was the last to be opened, and was the smallest of all. Underneath the golden wrapping paper was a jewellery box. Harry gasped. He snapped open the box and took out the watch inside. 'To James, from Lily', the engraving said. It had been his father's watch. Harry fixed it around his wrist carefully and laid out the cards and other gifts on his desk, before settling down at his desk to write to the four gift-givers about the good news. Harry had been made Prefect the previous year, and was now the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain too. Could life get much better than this?