The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 22

"Hey, mum?"

"Hello dear." Molly smiled as her youngest son walked into the kitchen. "Did you need something?"

Ron looked around the room to make sure no one was listening in before turning back to his mother. "I was wondering, well, Harry's birthday is coming up in a few days. And I thought that it would be nice to do something for his birthday..."

"Oh, course we can do something for Harry's birthday!" she put down what she was doing and walked over to the table and sat down. "What day is his birthday?"

"The 31st." Ron took the seat across from her.

"The 31st ok..." she summoned a piece of parchment and a quill and started writing. "That gives us a week to prepare. We had better start sending out invitations tonight, so people don't make plans. I'll handle inviting the adults, I'll leave inviting Harry's friends to you."

Ron nodded, "I'll start writing letters right after lunch. I think Fred and George wanted to run some Quidditch drills with Harry now that Madam Pompfrey cleared him to fly, so that'll keep him busy for a while."

"Good, good..." Mrs. Weasley continued scribbling. "Ok, so we will of course need a cake, Ginny can help me with that. Fred and George have a... flare for the dramatic," Ron snorted, "So they can help with decorations. Tomorrow, you and your father can sneak off to Diagon Alley to get him some presents. This year, money is not an issue. I want to pull out all the stops."

"All of this sounds great mum!" he leaned over and hugged her.

She smiled at him, "Ron Weasley, you have grown up to be a very nice young man, caring about your friends like this."

He blushed, "I just want to make sure he has a good time. I doubt he's had very many good birthdays over the years."

"We'll make sure this is one to remember," She stood up and stuffed the parchment into her pocket as Ron ran up the stairs to get started on letters. She was bound and determined to make sure that this was the best birthday Harry had ever had.

*****

Several days passed, and the day of the party finally arrived. Harry rolled out of bed and was none the wiser as to what was going to be occurring later that evening.

Once he had changed, he went downstairs to help Mrs. Weasley make breakfast. "Good morning Luv, did you sleep well?" she smiled at him and gave him a kiss on the forehead. Her motherly mannerisms had taken some getting used to, but after living with the Weasleys for over a week now, he was beginning to relish in them.

"Yeah, I did." He smiled at her and started working on frying the bacon.

"I set out an extra pack dear," she turned back to her work, "Bill, Charlie, and Percy will be joining us this morning."

"Really?" Harry said in surprise and smiled. It had been a while since he had gotten to see the elder Weasleys. It would be nice to see them again. "Is today some sort of special occasion?"

Molly had to keep herself from frowning. Today was the poor boy's birthday and he didn't even seem to remember it. The night before, they had all agreed not to say anything to him about it before the party because they were afraid, he would realize that something was up. If he assumed they didn't know when his birthday was, there was no chance that the surprise would get spoiled for him. but it was still very sad. "Nothing in particular. Charlie and Bill both had some time off, so the three decided that they would all make the trip together."

"Is Charlie going to want his room back?" Harry asked with worry.

"Oh no." she waved him off, "He'll be fine. We've already made arrangements for him to stay in Bill's room. That's your room now dear."

"Oh... cool..." Harry smiled to himself as he continued to cook the bacon.

A half-hour or so later, everyone came down the stairs and took a seat at the table. Not long after that, the elder three Weasleys arrived. There were a lot of hugs given out. To Harry's surprise, he received quite a few himself. He could tell that they all knew about his previous living situation, but they were polite enough not to mention it.

As it stood, all three of them treated Harry as if he had always been a part of the family. Bill told Harry stories about his time in Egypt, telling him about the ghosts of several pharos he had met. Apparently, magic was a big deal back in ancient Egypt. Charlie practically talked his ear off about all the different types of dragons. He went into exquisite detail and had Harry on the edge of his seat as he told him about his many near-death experiences. And Percy, just like any good older brother, reprimanded his younger siblings, and Harry, for not having finished their summer homework yet. The other kids were annoyed by this, but Harry couldn't help but give Percy a smile as he went over the importance of achieving high marks. And if Percy gave him a small wink in return, he wasn't going to be the one to tell them. He couldn't help but smile at the total normalcy of this family. It was so unlike everything he was used to, but he loved it all the same...

(A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading. I hope you're liking it so far.)