Harry Potter and the Book of Souls

Disclaimer: WE OWN NOTHING…DON‘T SUE!!

Authors’ Notes:

CHO: Thank you all once more for reviewing our fic. This is a lot more popular that we'd originally thought it would be!

HARRY: That's cause it's about me...

CHO: *THWAP*

RON: ....ANYWAYS, thanks to all of our reviewers. Raven, don't look at me about the fox thing, Hermy wrote that.

Hermione: ::grins:: You'll find out soon enough ::winks:: it's a surprise. Oh, by the way, COOKIES TO ANYONE WHO CAN GUESS THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH EATER ::goes off to bake a bunch::

Ron: Foofie, love your name, there are four of us total, but we're keeping it coming.

Thanx sooooooooo much to Color of Dusk, Hermione HP, Raven, Christian, and ESPECIALLY Asurahime. Mr. Anonymous, my deepest apologies, but if I can tie up Hermione and Cho in some distant corner in order to achieve some good, quality SLASHINESS, it'll be Ron/Hermione and MAYBE Harry/Cho. The Hogwarts Four have spoken (yes, tremble in fear) and those were the pairing upon which we decided. Ummmm, if we write another fic here (not related to Book of Souls), I'll prolly throw in some Harry/Hermione, cuz that's my second favorite pairing. Might even do a spin-off of Heaven's if she'll let me, lol.

HARRY: Jeez, Ron, don't you need to take a breath?

HERMIONE & CHO: :: glaring :: Don't you need to take a hike? Thanx to all of you in Fiction Alley who reviewed-- Lucy-Liza, Moonflower, Tringal, lilahp, and ESPECIALLY Hermione Potter 5000 (for always being the first to review for each chapter!).

RON: :: smiles innocently :: On with the story!

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>Chapter 4 - The Best Birthday>

Harry shook himself from his reverie and looked out the window. He almost leapt through the roof of the car, for Ron's ecstatic face was already pressed against the window as he turned. He mouthed a "Happy Birthday," to which Harry could only laugh. Ron's nose was flattened against the glass, and his hot breath was steaming the window up.

"Hey, you!" Remus jumped out of the car and ran to Ron as he watched in mock horror. "My precious car! That cost me four hundred fifty galleons, you know!" The blood drained from Ron's face, which made him stand out even more. His pallid face clashed violently with his bright red hair as he stood awaiting reprimand.

Remus only burst into laughter. "I'm just kidding, Ron! It's all right; it's a piece of junk anyway. The only thing keeping it running is a magicked engine." Ron breathed a deep sigh of relief, and the colour started coming back to his cheeks. Harry joined in Remus' laughter, and fell onto his back in the seat of the car.

"Oh, come on, Harry! I've got something to show you!" Ron opened the creaking door cautiously, still glancing at Remus to make sure he was still in good humour. Harry tried to climb out of the car, only to find Ron staring down at him with a fake pout on his face and his hands on his hips. Harry was desperately clutching his sides to keep himself from bursting into another wave of laughter as Ron finally decided to drag him out of the car.

"Stop, stop, that hurts!" he gasped through his writhing convulsions of hysteria. When he was finally able to subdue his overwhelming mirth, he attempted to get out of the car. He found it still took a great amount of effort to keep from bursting into another spell of the giggles at the sight of Remus, but he was able to restrain himself as Ron led him into the Burrow. Ron kept running ahead of Harry like an overly excited pet dog as he pulled open the door to see the Weasleys awaiting his arrival inside.

Mrs. Weasley gave him a hug that constricted his circulation to the point where Harry thought every last drop of blood had stopped in its tracks. He was able to thank her as he was released from her vice grip when he couldn't feel his feet anymore. He saw Ginny greet him with a shy wave from the corner of the room before turning to see Fred and George. Something in their large, identical grins told him that they were up to their usual antics. Percy was nowhere to be seen, but Bill and Charlie were there to wish him a happy birthday. Fred and George came up and patted him on the shoulder as they discreetly slipped something into his pocket. Harry had a feeling he didn't want to know what it was, nor did Mrs. Weasley, who caught the sly act by chance. With her piercing eyes, she drew Fred and George to her, where she made them relinquish what seemed like endless novelties and gags from their pockets, which Harry was sure they had bewitched for the occasion.

"Come and see all the presents you've got!" exclaimed Ron and he started jumping up and down beside his friend in ecstasy. He quickly subsisted, however, at the glare from his mother.

"Ronald Weasley, Harry's going to open his presents AFTER he eats his birthday cake," she insisted as she made her way into the small, brightly lit kitchen, followed by the rest of the Weasley procession and Harry.

The kitchen was just as Harry remembered it from his previous visits, with its usual clutter. There were a myriad of pots and pans on a magical stove and many more cluttered haphazardly in a nearby sink. The grandfather clock was still placed on the wall, showing all the Weasleys at home, with the exception of Mr. Weasley, whose hand was pointing at work.

All these things Harry noticed later, but at the moment, his eyes were glued onto a gigantic mound of chocolate cake that had so many layers that it almost touched the ceiling of the small, stuffy room.

"Well, what do you think?" asked Mrs. Weasley proudly as she looked at Harry's astonished gaze with amusement.

"It's amazing!" he breathed in amazement and awe. "I.I can't believe this is all.for me." He'd never even imagined a birthday party this elaborate, even if it was only the Weasleys celebrating with him. Harry wished his fellow classmates, even Colin, could be there as well. The Weasleys were more of a family than anything Harry had ever had after Voldemort took away the happy future that could have been.

Harry had only gotten the occasional stale cookie, if even that much, from the Dursleys. Now he was celebrating his sixteenth birthday, the best ever, in his opinion, with his best friends, a humungous chocolate cake, and, as he noticed it for the first time, a huge pile of boxes wrapped in wrapping paper with photographs in the traditional style of the wizarding world. He noticed the Chudley Cannons, streaking throughout the papers in their trademark orange robes, on one of the boxes. Albus Dumbledore himself even adorned the box with which Ron was running toward Harry and pulling him into the hallway.

"Here, Harry, open mine first! My mum doesn't have to know you opened it," Ron whispered with a grin. Harry carefully unwrapped the present, cautious not to tear along Dumbledore's already creased face. The image of the professor smiled back at Harry with relief.

"Oh, hurry up already, Harry!" exclaimed Ron. He took hold of the package and ripped off every last shred of paper in his impatience. Harry looked back at him aghast and confounded, as did the many shreds of what used to be the wizened professor.

Harry took the package back, a little cautiously just to be sure, and lifted the lid. He was surprised to see a burst of bright orange confetti fly out at him with a bang that resounded throughout the room like a canon blast, followed by robes of the same color with the Chudley Cannons logo. They floated out of the box and assumed the shape of a body. Harry couldn't decide which was better: the robes themselves or the enchantment by which they were suspended.

"That's bloody brilliant!" Harry said in the tradition of his good friend. "How on Earth did you pull that spell off?" He was wholeheartedly amazed at the robe, which was now flying about the room as though on a broomstick playing Quidditch. Ron only smiled, proud of himself that Harry liked his present.

At that moment, however, Mrs. Weasley stepped into the room to announce that the birthday celebration was about to begin.

Staring up at the robe that was still flying in great circles close to the ceiling, Mrs. Weasley said exasperatedly, "Oh, Ron," as she threw her arms into the air and rolled her eyes in a way that reminded Harry immensely of Hermione, before making her way to the dining room. Harry and Ron shared a glance, before bursting into hysterical laughter for the second time that morning, and followed Mrs. Weasley to the dining room.

When Harry stepped into the brightly lit dining room, which appeared much larger than the last time he saw it, he was amazed to see Sirius, Remus, and the rest of the Weasleys already sitting around a large, rectangular oak table. Ron led Harry to the head of the table, where a large chair with a vermilion cushion stood. Harry remained standing for a while, with his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do.

"Well, sit down Harry! This is your day!" exclaimed Ron, as he took a chair to his right. Harry followed his friends' example and sat down, still acting slightly nervous as he looked around the table. Mrs. Weasley had stopped at nothing in the preparation of the piles of food that filled the table, making the legs of the table below groan in complaint. The variety and the scrumptiousness of the food would have even made the Hogwarts house elves jealous. There was a stack of cookies with large chunks of chocolate that flashed in vivid rainbow colors right next to a large plate of gingerbread men who were making snow angels in the powdered sugar. In front of him sat his huge birthday cake adorned with 16 floating candles that burned with red and gold sparks shooting out of them.

"Make a wish, Harry," said Sirius, who sat beside him.

Harry looked at the table to think of an appropriate wish. 'What on Earth could I wish for?' he thought to himself. This had been the first time that he had been this happy; it seemed inappropriate to ask for more. His thoughts then slipped once again to his dream, and he realized that it wasn't fair for him to be so happy knowing the danger that faced the rest of the wizarding world.

Harry closed his eyes and wished with all his heart that his enemy, Lord Voldemort, were never evil, so that his parents would have been here to share his joy and see what kind of person he had become.

Opening his eyes once again, Harry took a deep breath and blew out all the candles with a single breath.

"Wow, Harry!" exclaimed Ron as he clapped with the rest at the table. "Now your wish is really going to come true."

"Maybe." Harry shrugged and turned to grab a chocolate chip cookie that had been enchanted to flash in different colours. After he ate it, Ron told him to open his mouth. Harry looked into the reflective wrapping paper on another of the gifts to see that the enchantment had worn off onto his tongue.

"Wow, that's bloody brilliant! I had to take my mum's word that they did that." Ron quickly grabbed a handful of the cookies for himself and shoved them carelessly into his mouth. Mrs. Weasley handed the cake knife to Harry, who was laughing as the charm from the cookies spread throughout Ron's horrified face, to cut the cake in honour of his birthday.