First Place - Angst

Harry certainly was surprised. He had not expected a party at all, let alone a joint surprise party for both him and Neville. Harry didn't need to scan Neville, the look on his face more than enough to show that he felt the same.

"Erm... sorry?" Harry ventured. Neville nodded rapidly in agreement, tongue-tied.

Charlie was still laughing as he came over to them and hugged Harry tightly, "Don't apologize. That was brilliant! We warned them but Ron, Fred, and George insisted."

Harry returned the hug and saw that the twins had been revived. They were acting as though they hadn't been attacked for their efforts and bounded over to Harry and Neville. Other Order members, and Ron, were not as pleased and rubbed their heads or sore spots that were bruised from their falls as they grumbled about Mad-Eye's paranoia spreading.

"Happy Birthday mates!" Fred exclaimed.

"We thought..."

"...you could use..."

"...a laugh..."

"...or two," Fred finished the twin-speak.

Harry grinned, instantly affected by their high spirits and Charlie's laughter, which was still there even if Harry was the only one who could tell, "Thanks. I've never had a party before."

"Never?" Neville looked surprised.

Harry just shook his head. The good mood he was infected with was too strong to dwell on the Dursleys and their neglectful 'care' of him. He saw the look that Ron shot Neville's way but ignored it. Tonks looked highly embarrassed that they had caught her with their rapid fire stunners, but recovered from that when she tripped over a chair and crashed into Mr. Weasley, causing an entirely new embarrassment.

Dinner was noisy and full of jokes and pats on the back. Harry checked all the food that made its way to his plate before eating it just in case the twins had tampered with it. Neville, who was sitting next to Harry, noticed and looked at him oddly.

"You're not of age until tomorrow," Neville commented.

Harry smiled and whispered back, "I'm not using a real wand. This is just a fake that Gred and Forge made so it doesn't look I'm using wandless magic."

Harry didn't mention that he still wasn't really able to use his actual wand for most magic. It was something he would probably be working on before school started up again.

Neville whistled, "Wow."

Harry noticed his father surreptitiously placing Neville's present on the pile when they all moved to the parlour after eating. He had never seen so many presents, not even at the last Christmas he had spent at the Dursleys where Dudley had gloatingly counted his more than fifty presents. Half of them at least had turned out to be junk food. That Christmas Harry got a mop. There were no brooms in the Dursley household, a fact that had amused Harry even when he didn't know why.

Most of the birthday gifts Harry received were dark detectors of some sort or another, or clothing. Moody had gotten him a full length foe glass with variable settings, just like the one he had seen in the fake-Moody's office. Tonks gave him a pile of T-shirts, both long and short sleeves, with statements on them that varied from interesting to questionable for display in public. Neville's grandmother turned up no long after dinner to join the party. Neville had already opened his gifts from his family that morning.

If Harry had ever been asked as a child what he thought his birthday parties would be like, granted that the Dursleys actually acknowledged his birthday let alone let him celebrate it, he was not sure how he would have responded. He most likely would have given a story of one of Dudley's birthdays. The party he was at would never have crossed his mind. To begin with, the majority of the people there were of his parents' generation and older and had known his parents. From what the Dursleys had told him when he was little he hadn't thought his parents had any friends. After all, none of them had ever come to see him.

Despite the oddity of the party Harry couldn't have thought of a better way to spend his birthday. Grimmauld Place had been transformed and almost no longer resembled the gloomy house full of dark magic that Sirius had despised. There were parts of it, the kitchen in particular, that were almost cheerful. After Molly Weasley had lived there for over a full year the house had started to get some of the feeling Harry associated with The Burrow, which was now empty except for the checks made by Arthur and Bill on occasion.

Once gifts were opened and cake was consumed the party degenerated into games of cards, both Exploding Snap and other less fiery but more challenging games, chess boards were brought out, and small knots of people formed discussion groups. Harry noticed that in groups of twos and threes the Order members were drifting into the kitchen. Fred, George, and Harry had been reliving their glory days of quidditch with Charlie and Bill as an audience. Ron and Snape were playing chess, having discovered the previous year that they were evenly matched, much to Harry's father's shocked dismay.

After Charlie and Bill heard all about the game that got the three Gryffindors banned from playing Quidditch, for perhaps the hundredth time Harry speculated as he saw Bill and Charlie exchange a glance, Fred and George wandered over to talk to Ginny briefly and Bill found Fleur avoiding Tonks's grand gestures and went to rescue her.

"How is everyone in Romania?" Harry asked once he and Charlie were left alone on the couch by the fire.

Charlie smiled just a little, "Confused, though we have a few ideas of what's going on." Harry looked at Charlie with interest. He hadn't been expecting that at all. "You'll hear it all in the meeting tonight. Speaking of, we should probably head out."

Harry and Charlie went down to the kitchen together and encountered Molly Weasley on their way. She was carrying a tray of tea things, probably for the students not allowed in the meeting, "Oh Harry dear, you'll be in with Charlie tonight. I've put Neville with Ron and Luna is with Hermione and Ginny. Their room is just a bit bigger."

She bustled past them and Harry saw his own shock echoed on Charlie's face, "I thought your mum wouldn't let..."

"She never has before. Fleur supposedly sleeps with Tonks here," Charlie grinned, "though I'd eat a dragon if she didn't sneak over to Bill's room once Mum was asleep."

Harry just shook his head and didn't bother trying to figure out exactly what Mrs. Weasley was thinking. His only thoughts were that he might not take his potion that night after all and that after weeks of staying at the Dursleys with no privacy whatsoever he might finally get some release. He was starting to get antsy.

The kitchen was crowded as Harry sipped his fifth cup of coffee for the day. He almost cursed Cho for introducing him to the drink at Madam Puddifoot's, where he had tossed back two cups rather quickly to mask his nervousness. It took him two cups before he was fully awake each morning ever since the previous summer. Mrs. Weasley did brew excellent coffee, though.

"The past two months have been bizarrely busy," Charlie told the Order as he ran his hands through his hair. It was getting a bit shaggy. "Eliza, that's the Welsh Green that adopted Harry, started a trend last June when she flew off to Hogwarts." Harry perked up and saw that other members were playing close attention. "Since then we've had five dragons escape the wards, two Chinese Fireballs, Harry's Hungarian Horntail from the Tournament, Norbert and another Norwegian Ridgeback."

"Did You-Know-Who...?" a nearly panicked voice started to ask.

Charlie cut them off with a shake of his head and a smile, "They've all turned up at other preserves, voluntarily entering those wards, except for one that's been seen in multiple spots where dragons have been living in the wild."

"They what?" Fred and George asked together incredulously.

"All the dragons had been agitated since Harry was with us last spring and their behavioral patterns changed dramatically," Charlie took a deep breath. Harry was astonished. "Dragons are not very social beings. Once they leave their mother they prefer to live mostly isolated, or with only one or two other dragons. That's why the preserves have so many problems, too many dragons in too small a place. Each of our missing dragons showed up at a different preserve and the dragons there became suddenly social and conversational."

Most of the Order members were just blinking at Charlie, not fully understanding what was happening or why he was telling them. It didn't help that only a few of them knew Harry could speak to dragons and had told the Romanian dragons his life story.

"Do you mean to tell me that the dragons are all gossiping about me?" Harry asked in disbelief.

"That's what we think," Charlie smirked at him. There was another Gryffindor spending a bit too much time with Snape. Gryffindors didn't normally smirk like that without Slytherin influence.

Harry shook his head, put his glasses on the table, and covered his face with his hands, "I can't bloody escape it anywhere, can I?" He rubbed his eyes and moved his hands back to tug at his hair a bit.

"If you wanted a different life you should have arranged to be born to different parents," Tonks said sagely.

Harry looked at her as if she was nuts. Tonks was never serene or sage-like. There was an uncomfortable silence interrupted by a few coughs and whispers when Harry started laughing.

"This could prove useful," Dumbledore mused with a twinkle in his eyes.

Harry snorted his laughter, "Yeah, The-Boy-Who-Lived and his army of dragons." Wide eyes met his statement from all over the room, some of them actually frightened. Charlie was shaking his head slowly and Snape had raised a single eyebrow. "Erm... I was just kidding."

"Harry," Dumbledore looked at him gravely, "I have a confession to make."

"Another?" Harry was instantly irritated. He had thought that all the secrecy was behind them for anything that affected him. He ignored the looks of astonishment he got for talking to Dumbledore like that.

"Many years ago I had to set up a system to divert the majority of the owls sent to you, mostly to avoid notice from the muggles in your neighborhood but also to protect against cursed or otherwise dangerous post. Everything from your immediate circle of friends and most Hogwarts students goes directly to you," Dumbledore told him.

Harry was certainly surprised... until he remembered Valentine's Day. That couldn't be the only day of the year someone like him got that much mail. "One of the Hogwarts house elves, I believe you know her, has been in charge of checking your diverted mail for some time now. She seems to be happy out of the kitchens. Winky gave me this today."

A letter was passed down the table and Harry opened it, dreading what he would find inside, especially as Dumbledore was giving it to him during a meeting rather than after.

HJP,

You have yet to complete your end of our bargain. I am waiting, and I am not a patient man.

Happy Birthday,

TMR

Harry dropped the letter on the table as if it was poison. Dumbledore was good at changing the subject.

"TMR?" Charlie asked in confusion as he looked at the parchment lying face upon the table.

Harry shot a glare at Dumbledore who smiled and addressed the order again, "Tom Marvolo Riddle, Hogwarts Head Boy in the class of 1944, also known as Lord Voldemort."

There was a spluttering cough from down the table, "That madman is Tom?"

"Yes Wilhelmina," Dumbledore said with a touch of sadness in his voice. "I know you could not have known when you were Head Girl with him. He had already solidified his path the year before by opening the Chamber of Secrets and framing Hagrid."

"Are you sure Albus?" Neville's grandmother asked in a small voice.

Harry took care of that, "He told me... and I saw his father's grave. He had to use his father's bone for his resurrection." He traced his wand in the air as the phantom Riddle had in the Chamber of Secrets and made the letters of his name bounce around and rearrange.

"That would mean he's a half-blood," Kingsley Shacklebolt spoke up, his face blank while he thought. "We can use this..."

"You should talk to Rita again Harry," Moody suggested gruffly. "She's an annoying twit but she's become a rather useful ally."

Snorts of laughter came from the twins but Harry was able to keep his in. Not many people were aware of why Rita Skeeter was writing unbiased articles at Harry's command. Charlie looked at Harry questioningly and Harry mouthed, 'Later'.

"You'll have to send a response Harry," Dumbledore said firmly. "Please write it before you go to Diagon Alley tomorrow and send it with a hired owl."

"I wouldn't even consider sending Hedwig," Harry said with conviction.

The rest of the meeting went over what little information they had concerning Voldemort's activities. It was clear that Dumbledore still had at least one spy in the ranks, though the information was not nearly as detailed or useful as what Snape had been getting for them.

The possibilities for what Voldemort might have in store for Harry were gone over again, with a few new ones thrown in the mix. One Order member even suggested that Voldemort might send a Death Eater to seduce Harry so they could raise the child of The-Boy-Who-Lived. Harry blushed bright red at that one and promised not to sleep with random girls. Tonks even made him swear to use protection at all times and Harry wasn't able to look any Order in the eyes again for the rest of the meeting.

Snape stayed in the kitchen when the meeting broke up to help Harry compose his letter in response to Voldemort, basically telling Riddle where to shove it.

It was just after midnight when Harry and Charlie walked into their room and found Bill, Fleur, Fred, George, Tonks, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna all waiting for them.

Fred produced a bottle of Vanyaev Vodka, from the Moscow wizarding sector Harry recognized, "Happy Birthday! Normally this would be Harry's introduction to drinking, but as Charlie's already taken care of that... Neville?"

The normally shy boy shook his head, "Nope. Dean got me last year."

"That rules out ickle Ronniekins as well," George sighed and shook his head. Harry leaned back against Charlie and let the twins dramatize.

"Sweet little innocent Prefect Hermione?" Fred asked hopefully. Charlie snickered while Hermione shook her head primly. Hermione could be sweet but was far from innocent.

"Luna?" George asked only to receive another shake.

"Our baby sister Imogene?" Fred ventured hopefully.

Ginny gave them a smug smile and shook her head before George tackled her in a hug, "We're so proud!"

"Enough of that," Bill took over and waved his wand. A large tray of shot glasses appeared and another bottle began pouring itself. Ginny pushed George off her and smacked his arm. He rubbed it and pouted at her, but brightened up quickly.

Fred rubbed his hands together, "Now for the real party!"

Bill looked over to Ginny with a charming smile, "Got time for a trim?"

She nodded and left the room, coming back with a pair of scissors, comb, and towel. Bill took his hair out of the ever present ponytail and Ginny put a towel on the floor behind his chair. Ron brought her a small table and she set her scissors down and started combing Bill's hair.

Charlie leaned over to Harry, "Ginny's been our semi-official hair cutter for years. No one trusts Mum anymore not to chop off all our hair." He grinned at his sister, "I'm next."

Ginny nodded, not taking her eyes away from Bill, "Ron?"

Ron shook his head. His hair was about chin length by then, "I think I'll let it grow a bit more."

The twins whispered to each other and Ron glared. Harry thought he might be trying to look more like Bill than Percy. Tonks was at the foot of the bed and started talking to Charlie about their Hogwarts days. Harry had gotten to know Tonks pretty well during his private lessons with her, which was more like playing than learning. She rarely took anything seriously until she was faced with a duel or dangerous situation and then she snapped into Auror mode. He knew Fleur from the Triwizard Tournament but not any more than that.

The group of them talked about anything except the war, the Boy-Who-Lived, dragons who did strange things, or the Dursleys. Ginny and Luna told Harry and Neville their O.W.L. scores. Ginny had tied with Bill for the most O.W.L.s in the family, much to the delight of her many brothers. To Hermione's surprise Luna had gotten the same number of O.W.L.s as her, though Harry figured the strange girl had been sorted into Ravenclaw for a reason.

Charlie and Harry discovered that Fleur knew Jean Pierre and Renee from the dragon preserve. Jean Pierre had graduated from Beauxbatons two years ahead of her, and Renee was a distant cousin on her mother's side.

Ginny, with a bit of help from the rest of the room, managed to convince Harry to take a haircut as well, though not until he had several drinks. He did warn her that her effort would probably all be in vain, as no haircut had ever lasted the night with him. Harry missed the looks everyone else in the room exchanged at that and just enjoyed his first ever haircut where the person holding the scissors wasn't yanking on his hair as hard as she could.

Drinking did not change Luna's personality one bit, to the vast drunken amusement of the twins. The younger girls were he first to leave, after much whispering between Ginny and Luna. Harry and Charlie had changed into bedclothes early on as they were much more comfortable and nearly everyone there had seen Harry's scars at some point or another. After displaying them to his potions class, though there were more now, and discussing them with his father he was less self-conscious.

Fred and George were the last to leave their room, and Harry's eyes were half-closed as he leaned on Charlie's chest. The twins snickered as they closed the door behind them and Harry was coaxed back to wakefulness by a warm mouth on his neck and hands roaming on his chest and lower. It was at least another thirty minutes before he fell asleep.

Finding the Key - Chapter 4

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