July 31 was greeted at midnight by Harry and Dudley from the library of Merlin's castle.
"happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy Birthday Harrikins!
Happy birthday to yooooou!" Dudley sung, getting whacked on the head by a pillow at the Harrikins line.
A small cake popped onto the table next to them, with just enough cake for the two of them to share. Lily smiled from the doorway to the library, the boys hadn't noticed her... at least not yet.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!" She sung from the doorway, making the two boys jump, then look at her guiltily, cake crumbs stuck to their mouths.
"Happy birthday, Harry." She then joined the two boys on the sofa and wrapped herself in blankets. The three of them wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep.
At seven o'clock, they re-awoke to give Harry his gifts, which included a writing set, a drawing set, a mountain of chocolate, a new set of robes and a bag of owl treats for Hedwig. Sirius gave him a set of books about snakes and some defensive magic books. Lupin gave him practical books for school and some that he thought would help with H.E.L.P. Sirius and Remus had also collectively put together a Photo album of the Marauder's school days.
Harry looked at the album and a lump formed in his throat. He always felt funny when he thought about his father, who he, apparently, looked like. Lily sniffed back a tear looking at all of the old photos. Sirius began to explain them all to Harry, who found himself laughing at the stories- a much better emotion for one to be feeling on their twelfth birthday!
"So James, Remus, Peter and I were in the tree and McGonagal came along, and she didn't realise we where there. While nothing much happened, we were much more careful after that... especially after curfew!"
"Or another time, we were bored and decided to have a quiddich match,two v two, at midnight... word got around and we had quite the crowd. Everyone wanted to watch, so it seemed. James played with Me, and Sirius played with Peter. I'm always surprised he picked me over Sirius... I guess it was because he thought Sirius was better than me and that it would be unfair otherwise..." Remus recalled, "McGonagal found us, though... we had detention for a week."
Harry laughed, always pleased to hear about his father, even though it stung a bit still.
Pleased by everything he'd been told, Harry went down to breakfast, looking forward to hearing more about his parents later.