Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 4: Happy Birthday, Harry and Jim!

The Front Lawn of Potter Manor
30 July 1994

As Jim Potter surveyed the house that had been his home for just shy of fourteen years, his stomach churned with mixed emotions. For the first time in his life, Jim was on this property as a guest.

"No, not a guest," he thought ruefully. "I'm here as the entertainment!"

Despite all the many reversals the Potter family had suffered over the last few months, Jim Potter's birthday remained a national holiday, and the Jim Potter Birthday Gala™ was still one of the most important charity events of the year. Only now, the charitable trust that had been set up in Jim's name was no longer under the control of the Potter family but rather a Board of Directors picked by Harry Black. And the newly appointed Board had already begun making changes, one of which was that this year's Gala would be held on July 30 since it was a Saturday. Another was that the event and the grounds were open to the public (though the house itself was locked up tight) instead of invitation-only. Security for the event was stringent, but Jim was still uncomfortable to see so many people on the grounds of his family's former estate that his parents would never have allowed inside the wards if they'd still been in charge of things.

"At least none of them can get into the house," the birthday boy muttered to himself as Lord Parkinson, a known Death Eater, strolled by nonchalantly.

In addition to its usual offering to St. Mungo's, this year's gala was also set to raise funds for the ongoing repairs to the Ministry complex needed after Pettigrew and Rookwood's dramatic escape and also to provide financial support to the families of those who were killed or seriously cursed by the Death Eaters in the same incident. Both of Jim's parents were also in attendance, but this year, James wasn't the host. Rather, he was part of the security.

Unlike Jim's more recent birthdays, few of his friends were on hand. The Weasleys were all here—in fact, so far this year, the Weasleys had spent more time at Potter Manor than Jim himself—but for the most part, they were helping Molly in the kitchen with preparing the lavish catering Harry had ordered. The only exception was Percy, who was in attendance with his new boss, Barty Crouch, the Director of International Magical Cooperation.

As for Jim himself, he spend most of the day sitting at a table next to a stack of books: Jim Potter and the Mystery of the Aztec Warrior, the latest entry in the Boy-Who-Lived series. Apparently, as part of this year's celebration, Jim would spend several hours today personally autographing copies for anyone willing to donate 20 galleons to the cause.

"I feel like Gilderoy Bloody Lockhart," he thought angrily.

Then, to the boy's shock (and barely restrained outrage), the next person in line was Lucius Malfoy, who casually dropped 100 galleons in exchange for five books.

"Early Christmas presents for dear friends," the former Death Eater said with a smirk.

Jim fought down the urge to respond in a way that might cause a scene, but as he dutifully autographed the books, he could barely keep his hands from shaking in anger. And then, to add to the boy's amazement, after Malfoy banished his books back to Malfoy Manor with a wave of his wand, he moved off to meet with Arthur Weasley and chatted amiably with his former mortal enemy (and James's boss!) for several minutes as if they were old friends.

Not for the first time in recent months, Jim wondered when the whole world had gone mad.

Earlier that morning, the boy had participated in his usual birthday press conference. Most of the questions had been fielded by Lady Augusta Longbottom, the Chair of the charity's Board of Directors, and she'd handled the press conference quite ably. Jim only had to answer a few questions, mainly because Augusta had laid out strict ground rules that forbade any inquiries about Peter Pettigrew.