Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix

Chapter Two - The Party

'SURPRISE!!!'

Harry was almost blown off his feet by the explosion of noise as he entered the living room. Looking around in a state of disbelief, he recognised the whole Weasley family and Hermione, but also there were his fellow fifth year Gryffindor's: Seamus Finnigan, Dean Thomas, Neville Longbottom, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil.

'W-what going on?' Harry stammered.

'Birthday party dear,' said Mrs Weasley hurrying forward and giving him a big hug. 'We all thought it was about time you had one.'

No sooner had Mrs Weasley released him, Ron embraced Harry in a brotherly hug.

'Happy Birthday mate,' he said, thumping him on the back.

Harry slowly made his way through the crowd, greeting everyone while receiving birthday wishes. Finally, after about ten minutes, there was only one person left: Hermione.

As Harry looked at Hermione, it was as if time stood still. Her hair was still as bushy as ever, but she had certainly grown a few inches taller and her figure had improved greatly.

Before Harry could think about anything else though, Hermione rushed forward, wrapped him in a hug, and much like she did at Kings Cross at the end of last term, kissed him on the cheek.

'Happy Birthday Harry,' she said, pulling away and looking into his eyes.

Harry was temporarily speechless. 'Thanks,' he managed to spit out.

Fred, who cleared his throat loudly, rescued the situation. 'Right, everyone out the back. Let's get this party started.'

Soon, everyone was enjoying the vast amount of food that was on offer, Harry was using most of his time to go around and see what everyone else had been doing. Bill and Charlie were first.

'So what have you two been doing?' Harry asked them.

'Actually, we've both quit our jobs,' Bill told him.

'Really, why?'

'Given the current state of affairs, we both decided we should be here with the rest of our family.'

Harry understood what they meant. 'So neither of you have any new work yet?' he asked.

'I haven't,' said Bill.

'What about you Charlie?'

Charlie smiled. 'I've actually taken up Quidditch again. I'm the new seeker for the Chudley Cannons.'

'Wow, I've heard your really good,' Harry told Charlie.

Charlie snorted. 'After your performance against that Horntail last year, I'm nothing compared to you. That was unbelievable!'

Harry felt himself go red. 'Thanks,' he said before moving off, intending to talk to Fred and George. But before he reached them, he ran into Percy.

'Hi Percy, how's work?' asked Harry.

'Hectic to say the least,' said Percy, and Harry noticed that he didn't have his usual smugness in his voice. 'I'm now the Head of the Department of Magical Co-operation after Mr Crouch... well, you know.'

'Yeah, I do,' said Harry quietly.

'Anyway, a lot of people are not keen on working at the Ministry at the moment, what with all the rumors of You-Know-Who's return.'

'Do you believe it?' asked Harry.

'Yes, I do and I'm trying to convince others as well.'

'Must be difficult when Fudge is flat out denying it,' said Harry bitterly.

'It's certainly not easy,' said Percy grimly. 'Anyway, Fred and George look eager to talk to you about something, so I'll leave you to it.'

'Thanks,' said Harry, moving off towards the twins.

'How you doing Harry?' George asked while chucking Harry a butterbeer.

'Not too bad considering.' said Harry. He didn't need to elaborate. 'So how's that inventing going?'

'Thanks to you, thriving.' said Fred proudly. 'Only problem is that we've had to do it in Ron's room because Bill and Charlie are in ours.'

'Has Ron asked where the money came from?' asked Harry.

'Naturally. We told him it was from a private investor. I think he bought it,' said George.

'So all those items you sent me are everything that you've invented so far?' asked Harry.

'Yep,' said Fred. 'Basically it's everything that Mum destroyed last year. We figured that we should have some old stock before inventing new things.'

'We've put down a deposit on an old shop in Hogsmeade,' said George. 'Once this year's done, we open for business. Thanks to you Harry, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is becoming a reality.'

'And because of your generosity, we want to make you one-third owner of the company,' said Fred.

'No, really you don't have to do that,' said Harry quickly.

'Harry, as we have already said, if it wasn't for you, none of this would be possible,' said George firmly. 'It's the least we can do to repay you.'

Harry knew there was no point arguing the matter. 'All right then.'

'Good man,' said Fred, shaking his hand.

'Thanks again,' said George, also shaking his hand. 'We've got to go and check on one of our inventions.'

'You do that,' grinned Harry as the twins left.

Harry spent the better part of the next hour checking up on what his fellow Gryffindor's had been up to. He was pleasantly surprised that he had a relatively normal conversation with Lavender and Parvati, considering that they idolised Professor Trelawney, their Divination teacher at Hogwarts who kept predicting Harry's death, and because of the poor way Harry had treated Parvati at the Yule Ball the previous year.

Finally, Harry made his way over to where Ron, Hermione and Ginny were sitting.

'Finally,' said Ron good-naturedly. 'We thought you would never make it over here.'

'Well, I'm here now,' said Harry grinning. 'So how have your summer's been so far?'

'Noisy,' said Ron and Ginny together.

'Especially in my room,' Ron added. 'Fred and George got a whole lot of money from somewhere and have been inventing again. I'm surprised Mum hasn't found out yet. She'll go mental if she does.'

Harry laughed. 'What about you Hermione?' he asked, trying very hard to stay normal. From the looks of Hermione, she was trying hard too.

'Homework mostly. I've finished it all already,' she said.

'Me too,' said Harry. Ron looked horrified.

'I'm not even halfway through mine! What were you thinking?' he asked Harry.

'Well I had nothing better to do at Privet Drive,' said Harry.

Ron looked very apologetic. 'How were the Dursley's?'

'The usual,' said Harry. 'Meaning that they couldn't careless about me.' Hermione quickly changed the subject.

'Do you think Quidditch will be on this year?' she asked.

'It better be!' said Harry. 'We haven't played for sixteen months!'

The four continued to talk for the next two hours before Mrs Weasley called everyone into the kitchen at seven o'clock. Sitting on the table was the largest cake harry had ever seen in his life. It was about twice the size of a normal cake.

It was rather surreal though Harry, as he had 'Happy Birthday' sang to him for the first time in his life. After he had blown out the candles, everyone demanded 'Speech.'

Harry stood up. 'Um, well first of all, thank you all very much for coming, I really appreciate it. And....oh I don't know what else to say, let's just eat the cake shall we?'

Everyone laughed and immediately dug in.

About an hour later, Fred and George ended the night's festivities with a display of Filibuster Fireworks which the had arranged to form the words 'Happy Birthday Harry.' Everyone applauded and Harry thanked everyone again for coming before everyone departed via Floo Powder.

After everyone had gone, Harry turned to the Weasley's and Hermione, all of whom were grinning from ear to ear.

'Thank you so much,' said Harry. 'You really didn't have to do that, but I'm glad you did.

'It was our pleasure,' said Mrs Weasley. She let out a big yawn. 'Time for bed everyone, let's go.'

**********

It was one o'clock in the morning. Although Fred's snores weren't helping the cause, Harry couldn't sleep. Thinking some fresh air would help, he threw on a t-shirt and a pair of old jeans, grabbed his blanket and quietly exited Ron's room.

Harry made his way downstairs, went out the back door and sat down on the garden bench. Of course, it wasn't any old garden bench. It had been transfigured into a large squashy couch and had weather repelling charms placed on it so it would remain the same, no matter what the conditions were like.

Harry sat down and pulled the blanket around him. It was a pleasant night with the light breeze pleasant on his face. 'Forget about going back to bed,' Harry thought after about ten minutes. He was extremely comfortable and could finally feel sleep coming over him.

'You couldn't sleep either?'

Harry's head snapped up. It was Hermione.

Once again, Harry seemed mesmorised at the sight of her. She was wearing dark blue pyjamas with little ducks scattered everywhere and her fluffy pink dressing gown. There was a slight look of concern on her face.

Harry forced himself out of his daze. 'Um...no,' he said. 'You?'

Hermione shook her head. 'Mind if I join you?'

'Of course not,' said Harry. To his surprise and shock, Hermione immediately crawled under the blanket and snuggled up against Harry.

It was a weird feeling. Harry felt slightly uncomfortable, but at the same time, welcomed the feel of Hermione against him. Freeing his left arm, he gingerly put it over Hermione's left shoulder. To his relief, she seemed to welcome it.

They stayed that way for about fifteen minutes, not saying a word, both seeming to enjoy the other's presence. Finally, Harry spoke.

'Hermione, why couldn't you sleep?'

At first, Hermione didn't move and for a moment, Harry thought she had fallen asleep. But Hermione lifted her head and Harry was startled to see that she was in tears.

Hermione, what's the matter?' asked Harry.

'I'm - I'm just so scared Harry!' Hermione choked out. 'I'm so scared.' Immediately her crying intensified.

Harry instinctively pulled Hermione into a hug and tried to comfort her.

'It's OK Hermione,' he said quietly. 'It's OK to be scared. I'm scared too.'

After a few minutes, Hermione stopped crying. 'I'm sorry,' she apologised.

'Don't be,' said Harry, releasing her from the hug.

'What about you?' asked Hermione, wiping her eyes. 'Why couldn't you sleep?'

'Well, like I said, I'm worried and scared as well,' said Harry. 'I've been like that all summer. I found that doing my homework at Privet Drive helped me take my mind of it all. But when I finished, it all came back. Then yesterday, it was great seeing everyone at the party. For that entire time, I thought nothing about it, but as soon as Ron, Fred and George fell asleep, it all came back again.'

Hermione looked as though she was about to cry again. She knew her worry was nothing compared to Harry's. Harry had never told Ron or Hermione exactly what had happened after the Third Task, and Hermione wasn't going to force Harry into telling.

'Were you planning on going back inside?' asked Harry.

'I was, but now I don't want to,' said Hermione. 'You don't mind do you?'

'Of course not,' said Harry, letting out a huge yawn.

Again, Hermione snuggled up against Harry and rested her head on Harry's chest. Harry again placed his arm over Hermione's left shoulder.

'Good night Harry,' said Hermione quietly.

'Good night Hermione,' Harry whispered, as sleep finally overtook the pair of them.