15 Birthday surprises

Fo r the remaining week they were actually using their holidays for relaxing. Ginny was usually found either drawing paintings, animating objects or a combination of both. Something about making things obey her every wish was bringing immense pleasure to her and Harry was sure he was soon to be replaced by a talking table.

Harry on the other hand spent most of his time either playing around with potions or cooking too much food for two people, which put Ginny in a tough spot as she loved eating but yet started to become self-conscious about her body and feared getting fat. Harry’s suggestion of starting to work out again did fell on deaf ears though as she said that working out the muggle way was beneath them. Something he agreed wholeheartedly with and so he started researching and brewing potions that would build muscles, burn fat, remove pimples and possibly deal with any other unfortunate problems teenagers might encounter.

As the time flew by Ginny saw her soul mates birthday approaching and she was certain to make it the best day of his life. Unfortunately she had absolutely no idea what Harry could want, even prying into his mind didn`t help as he himself seemed to be clueless. The only thing she was sure about, the thing that brought happiness into his live was herself. It had taken her some time to realise and some more time to accept that there was a person who valued her so much. Much more than he thought himself worth.

Buying something as his birthday present was out of question. Obviously she would give him a painting, as it had become tradition. But maybe she could spice it up a little? Turn the painting into something more, something special. Sitting in the library scouring through books she finally found the perfect gift.

She would create a perfect world for him, a spot where he was safe it would forever remind him how loved he was. Taking out her canvas, she started gently drawing lines, adding shades and colouring it with her wand. All while she was mumbling the needed incantations. The dream potion needed to use on the canvas was quickly found in Harry’s ever growing storage of potions and his and her blood was another ingredient Harry had started to stockpile. A vampire would love his laboratory.

On the 31 of July she greeted him with a tender kiss, just as his eyes started to flutter open. Watching his blissful smile for a moment, she left for the kitchen and came back with a tablet of breakfast.

“Carefu l, otherwise I might get used to waking up like this.”

“I doubt it, we both like to eat edible food.”

“It`s not that bad… the eggs are just as fiery as you are.”

“Uh, I hoped I didn`t burn them. “

Both grinned widely and ate in companionable silence. Afterwards Ginny was getting up retrieved the big wrapped canvas and put it on Harry’s lap.

“I have to admit, I was looking forward to receiving another painting. The suspense of what the motive would be almost kept me awake yesterday.”

“It’s a little bit different than usual, I hope you like it.”

Gen tly, he started tearing the wrapping paper apart and a painting of a landscape came through. It was idyllic yet, unlike all the other painting it felt empty. Harry felt a tiny bit of disappointment but tried to supress it, obviously when sharing a mind it did not work. But to his surprise Ginny grinned knowingly and said: “This painting won`t remain empty forever, concentrate on the painting and speak the words ‘Take me wherever my heart soars free’”

H arry glanced at her uncertainly for a moment but complied. A small gasp left his mouth before he fell into a state similar to sleeping. Ginny followed his example and soon both minds were no longer in London.

They found themselves standing on grass surrounded by soft green hills. Turning around Ginny said: “This is our dream land, we can shape it to whatever we want. There are no threats in here and whatever changes we do to the landscape, it will be shown in the painting. Try it and create a tree, just imagine it standing next to me.”

Har ry was narrowing his eyes, imagining a big oak tree where he had spent a lot of time with Ginny last school year. And not long after, a sapling was starting to grow in time lapse. Mere seconds later a beautiful tree was standing next to Ginny and she was casually leaning against it.

“That`s amazing, you truly are a genius.” Harry shouted and flung himself at Ginny wrapping her in a tight hug. The next hours were spent creating flowers, forests, possible dream houses or hexing copies of the Weasley’s, Daniel and Malfoy.

After the most part of the day was spent inside a painting, they went out to see another movie in the cinema and afterwards to an Italian restaurant.

The following days Harry was desperately trying to come up with an idea of what he should give her as a Birthday present. She had played to her strengths and gave him something amazing, his present would have to be at least equally valuable. His strengths lay in transfiguration and potions, while creating jewellery was the most obvious choice and his first thought, he quickly dismissed it. He wanted something better, something useful. Scouring through countless potions books he finally found something that peaked his interest.

While they were already taking various strengthening potions, this one seemed to take the cake. The ingredients would be difficult to acquire in such a short period of time, but Harry was sure he could do it. Deciding a present for Ginny was more important than being possibly prosecuted for underage Apparition by the ministry, he said a hasty good bye to Ginny and asked her not to pry. Mere moments later he reappeared close to Hogsmeade and made his way to the Forbidden Forest.

Unicorn heart and Acromantula blood were two of the key ingredients. The blood of both beasts was enlaced with magic and the reaction between the poisonous Acromantula blood and the strengthening Hippogryph heart would, if combined with a strong antidote and their normal muscle strengthening potions, create a web of magic around their muscles that should at least double if not triple the capabilities of their muscles.

Entering the forest, Harry quickly disillusioned himself and made his way close to Hagrid’s paddock. Luckily he had overheard Professor Snape ranting about Hagrid`s choice of animals for his new class. How that creature could have ever become teacher was beyond Harry, but right now he was glad to have a fresh supply potion ingredients at hand.

He spotted the beast and hid behind a tree. While he had faith in his charms, he did not want to take a risk. Who knew what magical creatures were capable of?

Leaning around it, he took careful aim and yelled: ‘Silencio’ followed by two Incarcerous spells as fast as he managed to cast them. The thick ropes snaked around the Unicorns body and Harry ran over. Taking out a thick leather pouch he aimed his wand at where he suspected it’s heart lay and said:  ‘Sectumsempra’ and watched in disgust as a wide bloody wound opened in front of him. A moment later he sent a cutting curse into the wound and took a deep breath. Slamming his hand inside, he needed some moments to find the heart. When he was sure to hold the right organ in his hands, he quickly ripped it out. Another cutting charm to clean it from any left overs later he stepped back and had to concentrate to no puke in disgust. His entire body was splattered with blood, but he realized that he should leave as fast as he could, as he still had to get some Acromantula blood.

After banishing all evidence, casting a cleaning charm on himself, and burning the dead animal in front of him to a pile of ash, he quickly disillusioned himself again and made his way deeper into the forest.

Remembering about the adversity between snakes and Acromantula he quickly summoned one and let her search for any spider traces. Barely a minute later had the snake come back begging to be de-summoned. Apparently spiders left a strong scent behind and after getting a hasty way description he fulfilled the snakes wish.

After some time of sneaking through the woods, Harry spotted a rather small Acromantula feasting on a deer. Not taking any chances, Harry whispered: ‘Sectumsepra’ sprinted over, put as much blood as he could from the wounds into his vials and disapparated. Only after he was back in the front yard of Grimmauld Place he allowed himself to take a breath and made his way into the house.

A calm routine settled in Grimmauld Place 12, Harry and Ginny researched and trained all aspects of magic daily while making it a point to spend enough time enjoying their hobbies or just relaxing together. London’s upper class restaurant owners were soon talking about the filthy rich kids who visited them regularly and Diagon Alley’s curators were glad for the steady influx of paintings. Knockturn Alley slowly started to equal the name Potter with high class potions.

The routine was just broken as one day the Daily Prophet flew in with the headline:

Sirius Black broke out of Azkaban

Sirius Black, one of You-know-who’s most devoted followers, mass murderer and betrayer of the Potter family has recently broken out of Azkaban.

After carefully reading the article multiple times, the pair came to a simple conclusion. Black had to die. He had betrayed Harry`s parents to Voldemort, he was the reason Harry had to grow up with the Dursleys, to grow up feeling hated.

Both in Harry’s and in Ginny’s eyes was a murderous gleam fuelled by lust for revenge. They got up and quickly made their way to the Ministry of Magic.

Walking straight towards the Auror office Harry said to the secretary: “I want to talk to the head auror, we have important information about Black.”

Seconds later a stern looking woman came out, looking at them expectantly.

“Is Black fair game? We will take care of him, it`s personal.”

“Indeed, he has been sentenced to death. I urge you to not engage him, he is a highly dangerous criminal and you are mere children. If you have any information about his whereabouts, please let me know.”

“Don’t worry, we will send you his head.” Leaving a stunned office behind, nobody could believe the determination and hate seen in the young couple’s eyes.

“He is a Black, we are living in the Black house. I bet he is going to come to us.” Ginny said.

“You are right, but he must have some disguises or powerful disillusionment spells on his body, otherwise he would have never been able to escape without being immediately caught.”

“Wait a second, we were so much in the news lately he is bound to know we are living here. What if he finds out where your brothers lives, he will take him out first. I guess looking for him close to you brother makes more sense.”

“Uhh, I never thought I would play bodyguard for my brother. But you are right, he is bound to be around there.”

Taking the Knight’s Bus to Little Whining they went into a tiny hotel and started searching for clues. After hours of observation, they finally saw something a little bit off. In such an uptight neighbourhood would never be a stray dog. Especially not a dog that looked this messy.

“Using the imperius charm on a dog is pretty smart, commanding it to start barking loudly as soon as Daniel comes out or something like that should work.” Harry praised.

“I wonder where he picked the dog up, the way he looks around. It seems almost… sentient? If that`s the right word.”

“Are there magical breeds of dogs? Ah, never mind, where would he have gotten one.”

“Uh it’s getting late, let`s try something bold. We will put some charms on you to make you look more like your brother… well not much needed really, we just have to make your clothes uglier and give you a scar.”

Ginny made a short process of the charms and send him along towards the dog while aiming her wand at his head, to curse the dog into oblivion at the tiniest threat.

Approaching the dog slowly, Harry knelt down and opened his arms to him. “Come here boy, where is your owner?”

The dog came over quickly and let Harry pet him. After a while the dog bit into Harry’s shirt and softly dragged him along.

Rounding a corner, into some bushes the dog was suddenly transfiguring himself into a human. But Ginny would not take any chances and before the man, Sirius Black, could open his mouth a cutting curse was sent towards him. Harry whipped his wand out and quickly casted a silencing spell.

“You are the reason my parents are dead!” ‘Sectumsempra’

“You are the reason I had to grow up with these horrid people!” ‘Incendio’

By now the man was trashing around and screaming, but no sound came out. Ginny watched in morbid fascination as the man who was the cause for her soulmates horrible child hood withered in pain.

The flames were licking up his body, turning it black. But before it reached his face, Ginny cast a barrage of severing charms in quick succession to keep the head form becoming unrecognizable.

The ashes were dealt with by using an ‘Evansesco’, and they apparated into the city of London, close to the ministry.

“I really don`t give a damn about the apparition license anymore. We just dealt with an escaped criminal in a matter of hours while the entirety of the English Auror squad was unable to. I think we are good.”

T he couple walked worldlessly into the Aurors office, placed the head and the department heads table and left. Behind them hell broke loose.

Early August, Ginny was woken with a gently kiss and the first thing she saw after opening her eyes was a luxurious breakfast placed on their bed.

“Come on, spill it. What kind of present did you make me that let you run off somewhere just to come back soaked in blood?”

Harry grinned and placed a potion vial in her lap. “You don`t like working out, but you said you are scared of losing your beauty because of my cooking… therefore I made you a potion for just that.”

< em>“With that potion I can eat as much chocolate as I want without ever getting fat? I will keep my figure without working out?”

“And much more, the potion will enlace your muscles with magic making them a lot stronger. I originally wanted to also make a potion that would make you skin more durable, but it would hinder your growth and you are …. Well… you always think there are parts you want to grow…You are already perfect to me, but…”

Lu ckily Harry was saved from digging himself into a hole by Ginny who engulfed him in a tight embrace and whispered a thank you. “Do I have to drink the entire vial? I hope you made one for yourself too.”

“Yes drink the entirety of it, I already drank mine. I had to test if there were any side effects because I played around with the potion a little.”

“Oh wow, the potion even tastes good!”

“Glad to hear it, that was one of the things I changed, I couldn`t let you drink something awful on your birthday. So… is there anything you want to do today?”

With a cocky grin she said: “How about some sport? Shouldn`t be too exhausting now. By the way, if you were able to create this muscle potion, did you already find something for your eyes?”

< em>“Not yet. I read about a potion but I doubt I am able to brew it… maybe in a couple of years.”

“Huh, but this muscle potion was surely immensely difficult to brew, too?”

“It was surprisingly straight forward, only the ingredients were a little… unusual. The only reason I can think of why this potion is not widely used is that it needs strong magic to feed on. I figured we are naturally stronger than other people, you being the seventh child of a seventh child and the first female Weasley in seven generations and I … well I have a bond to you so I share you power.”

“Oh come on, don`t act like you are weaker than me, remember you had the latest piece of Voldemort in your head for twelve years. That reminds me, we should probably check on our guest in our minds soon.”

< em>“Right, but we I don`t want to attack them or use them yet. We are just not strong enough, using Legilimency on them would give us knowledge beyond any other being has, but…”

“But we were almost defeated by just one piece, the first piece. I know, we can’t make the same mistake twice. But we can keep on training and researching and when the time comes, we will take their knowledge!”

“That we will.”

T he remaining holidays flew by in a whim and on the last day of their summer holidays they found themselves at Kings Cross.

Stepp ing through the wall, Harry and Ginny were greeted by an astounding silence. It seemed like the very moment the teens appeared, all conversation halted for a second before resuming while making a point of not looking into their direction.

Slightly bewildered and unsure about the odd behaviour, they made their way straight to the train looking for a cosy compartment. Ginny was levitating their luggage above their heads while Harry was pushing through the mass of bodies, trying to reach the doors. Their newly gained strength made this a surprising easy endeavour and they were only stopped when the Malfoy clan with his cronies stood before them, looking down on their faces.

“Oh, the mighty Potters are gracing us with their presence. I heard you killed Black in you holidays…” Lucius Malfoy’s lips twitched slightly as if he was suppressing laughter and added: “How did it feel to avenge your parents? How did it feel to kill? I am sure you liked it, it was for a good cause am I correct?”

“What we do is solely our business but to answer yes question, yes he did deserve justice and that is what we brought.” Harry replied hotly.

“Too right of course, Black indeed deserved to die. But are you aware that he never got a trial? Was he really guilty of betraying your parents or was he merely an innocent in the wrong place at the wrong time? But of course, you would have made sure whether he was innocent or not.” And with that he turned around and left a confused couple behind, a slight chuckle could be heard leaving the senior Malfoy’s mouth and Draco was looking as smug as if he had somehow won the Quidditch cup.

Harry felt Ginny’s temper flare as she could not explain what Malfoy talked about and he had to push her into the wagon to avoid any bloodshed. Leaving a body behind on the first day of the school year, surrounded by people, was after all not a good idea.

He half dragged her into an empty compartment, where he quickly cast a powerful locking charm on the door. Remembering his poor attempts at the charm last year he started to laugh, but stopped immediately when he saw Ginny`s face.

“Whatever the gits talked about, I want to know it! I want answers and have you seen Draco’s smug grin? He thought he was superior to us, I will wipe that smile from him. Forever!”

“I am not surprised if that`s the case, Malfoy was probably rather busy over the holidays making friends and discrediting us. He took losing the Black inheritance really bad.”

“I think he will have to be punished for daring to upset my beautiful wife. As soon as we get a nice opportunity we will single him out and use Legilimency on him. You got the Obliviation charm down, right?”

“Of course I have, well and if it fails and leaves his brain scrambled… not a loss.”

H arry was making himself comfortable leaning against the window and Ginny snuggled up to him.

“I am so glad we have our own rooms at Hogwarts, can you imagine sleeping with Malfoy or Parkinson in one room? Ugh!”

“Yeah, our rooms are amazing. We have to make sure Snape doesn`t get any ideas about us not needing them anymore.”

“Guess this will be a pretty relaxed year, we just have to make sure Voldemort stays in his cage.”

< em>“Relaxed sound boring! We have a lot to do this year!”

< em>“Oh really, like what?”

< em>“We will finally start to explore Hogwarts, even if I have to drag you through the entire castle. And Quidditch!”

A frown flew through Harry’s face at the mention of their favourite sport.

“I don’t think we will be able to play Quidditch. Malfoy bought the team, remember?”

Ginny’s eyes turned into slits and Harry felt the anger pulsing through her body. “Oh that bastard will pay! You sure we should use Legilimency, I am warming up to the idea of torture.”

Most of the train ride was spent by alternating between snogging and coming up with creative torture plans for Malfoy. While they were generally rather impractical, the mere thought of inflicting pain and demonstrating their superiority appealed to them.

Only a small interruption disturbed their enjoyment. A loud banging on their compartment door let the teens smile. There were only two guys in the entire school who acted like Gorillas. And those miscreants were usually escorted by no one other than Draco Malfoy.

With a flick of her wand, Ginny opened the compartment door and let the boys stumble in. Crabbe and Goyle were immediately hit by stunners while Malfoy disarmed and silenced.

The door locked again and the two big boys were levitated up to the storage shelf, leaving Malfoy cowering in fear on the floor.

“Hello Malfoy, thank you for passing by.”

“I am quite glad, you saved us a lot of hassle in getting you alone.”

“And we were really looking forward to having you alone with us.”

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way”

“I hope you choose the hard way”

“But it’s not like we are giving you much choice”

‘Legilimens’

Momentarily the couple was assaulted by memories of a live in wealth and luxury. Splitting up, they were quickly passing through the memories until they found something interesting. “Come here Gin, I think we both want to see this.”

Draco was standing in front of his father in their sitting room. Behind them was a huge with golden inscriptions decorated chimney.

“Son, you are now thirteen years old. I deem you old enough to hear the truth about our world. Thirteen years ago, my master the Dark Lord fell. Defeated by the Potter miscreant, I was only able to escape Azkaban due to my influence and grand intelligence. But now, Potter hurts us again. The brother of the boy-who-lived.” He spat the title. “He stole something from us, he stole the title of the Black house. It should have become your house. And your children would have worn the names of Malfoy and Black. And now he killed Black! Our only chance of getting the inheritance into our hands is dead. I want you to make Potter and his whore suffer.”

Draco nodded eagerly, nobody could get away with stealing from him without facing the consequences!

“Black was innocent.” Lucius Malfoy laughed. “Yes, you heard right. He was an innocent man, he did not betray the Potters. He never would have, it was only a combined effort of Wormtail and your dear Professor Snape that made the Dark Lord kill the Potters.”

Unable to hear any more, Harry breached out of Draco’s mind. “Snape betrayed my parents! Snape is the reason I grew up with the Dursley’s! He is the reason for my forsaken childhood! He will pay.”

Ginny stood behind him and hugged him tightly to her body. Ginny felt his anger, but was not able to smother it like Harry usually did with her. She was equally enraged and lusted for blood. The revelation of Black’s innocence surprised them, but Ginny knew having him dead was a lot better than having him alive. Otherwise they might lose the Black inheritance.

She mentally slapped herself for thinking like that. “Am I a bloody gold digger? He could have become a good friend of Harry and here I am glad he is dead because of money!”

“Shh, don’t worry. I don`t know him and from what I heard I am not impressed. If he ever cared about me, he could have escaped Azkaban sooner and help me. Besides, you are a much better Lady Black than him, the Blacks are supposed to be powerful! And that you are.”

Their eyes fell on Malfoy, who was shaking in fear. Harry’s grin turned feral as he knelt down to him. Grabbing him by his hair he pulled his face close towards his own.

“Don’t worry, you will pay in dear time. But not today.” Ginny started to protest behind him. “No, our revenge will be carefully planned. Snape, your father and you will suffer. But for now, I think you should go back to your friends. Gin, if you would do the honors?”

Ginny kicked Malfoy between his legs and then said: ‘Obliviate’

“Kicking him in the crotch? Ugh that’s horrible.” Harry said as he felt a sliver of sympathy for the pathetic piece of human being on the floor.

“Well, he was almost a decent Occlumens, I had to bring down his concentration to eradicate all memories. And I wanted to try that on a boy since basically ever.”

Harry just looked at her with fear in his eyes, unconsciously hiding his holy place behind his hands. The next moment Crabbe and Goyle were reanimated and Malfoy’s mind snapped back into reality.

“Potter, are you sure you got the right one when you killed Black? Would be a shame if he was innocent.” Malfoy spat.

Not willing to go through another conversation with him, the couple quickly sent two weak ‘Reducto’ and blasted the boys out of the compartment.

Ginny turned to Harry, looking straight into his eyes and said: “So, how do we want to deal with Snape. I think it would be best if we kill him first.”

“Oh why, the Malfoys are much easier to kill. Draco is a wimp and I doubt his father is a strong wizard either.”

“It doesn’t matter how strong they are, it’s not like we are going to challenge them to a proper duel or something. Right?” Giving him a glance that left Harry no room to argue as she said again: “Right?” “Yes Ginny, we are smart we will kill them by using our brains not our brawns.”

“Good. Lucius Malfoy is too far away, Draco is kind of funny in an oddly pathetic way. That leaves Snape.”

“Well, that actually makes sense. So how do you want to kill them?”

“Harry, this is your revenge. I will help you succeed in every way I can, but I want you to enjoy it, I won’t take this opportunity from you.”

He smiled and kissed her on her forehead. “Thanks.”

The remaining train ride went without any further interruptions and soon they found themselves sitting in a carriage heading towards Hogwarts. Being disliked by the entire student population held the advantage of not having to share. “I wonder why the other houses dislike us. I mean, I doubt they all listened to Malfoy,” Ginny said.

“The Gryffindors never liked us, the Ravenclaws are probably mad about our good marks and the Hufflepuffs… don’t know, they remind me of vegetables.”

Most of the student population was giving them dirty looks in the great hall, but Harry and Ginny took it in stride. Seemingly unaware of the open hostility they started chatting with each other in Parseltongue.

The effect was even better than they expected, as most glances turned either fearful or for some almost respectful.

The couple did give the sorting process not even a sliver of their attention and only after being admonished by Professor McGonagall, they switched from chatting in Parseltongue to mind speak.

After having eaten, Harry and Ginny were once again turning their attention away from the head table, but something let them perk up. 3rd years and upwards were allowed to visit Hogsmeade, if they had a Permission Slip from their legal guardians.

Ginny leaned over to Daphne and asked: “Hey, were can you get one of those slips. We still have to sign it.”

“Oh, I am so jealous. You can sign those by yourself. I had to do all kind of chores for my mum before she gave me the permission. I bet they created this slip just for the sake of blackmailing!” She moaned.

Ginny replied cheeky: “You might want to try a Soul Bond, I heard they come will all kinds of features.”

Just as the Slytherin table started to rise, fashionable late as always, Daniel walked over. “Hey Harry, how are you doing?”

Eying him from head to toe, he replied: “Fine. What do you want?”

“Huh, you didn`t see me for such a long time and you don`t even ask how I am doing?”

“I don`t care. What do you want?”

“Well, I missed you. Living without you over the summer felt weird. As you know, we can go to Hogsmeade this year, but only if we got permission by a legal guardian. You are off age and my brother, so you would qualify…”

“Could it be?”

“Oh my, Christmas has come early!”

“Yes, I would.”

“So, ehh…” Daniel stammered, “would you sign my permission slip, please, please please?”

With a last calculating glance, Harry turned around and walked away. Right before he was stepping through the door, he said: “I will think about it.”

“Oh this will be fun!” Harry exclaimed.

“This year is really shaping up to be great. We will avenge your parents, kill Malfoy and can humiliate your brother.”

“Let’s see how much of a best friend your brother is to Daniel, he will have to take part in all humiliations. I wonder if we can get a profit out of this, charging the spectators of their humiliation and all.”

“Ohhh, this is going to be so much fun.”

Kn ocking at the Potions Masters door, they didn`t have to wait long for Snape to come out. “Good evening Mrs. and Mr. Potter, may I congratulate you on successfully getting rid of the bastard named Sirius Black? I heard it was quite a feat how you accomplished it this fast.”

“Thank you Professor. We wanted to know if you have another three Hogsmeade permission slips on you.”

“Indeed I do, but why would you need three?”

“For my wife, me and possibly my brother. Depending on his attitude.”

“You have truly the mind of a Slytherin.”

He turned over the pieces of parchment and they said their good byes. Both teenagers did see Snape’s lingering glance on Ginny and she had to pour all her love and reassurance into the bond to keep Harry from ripping Snape’s heart out in this very moment. “Have you seen the way he looked at you? I don`t even want to imagine what ugly thoughts he has. If he looks at you like you are a piece of meat once more, I will torture him into insanity. If he thinks you look like my mother, and had feelings for her, he shouldn`t have betrayed her!”