Every Tear Falls Down For a Reason

Chapter 3

Neville had asked Harry if they could celebrate their birthdays together, so July thirty-first found a rather large group gathering at McGonagall Castle. All of the Weasleys – minus Percy, who seemed to be keener on sucking up to the Minister than spending time with his family, and Charlie who was still in Romania – were there, as were Minerva, Augusta, Neville, Hermione, Susan, Amelia, Sirius, Remus, and Cedric.

Minerva had once more thought about inviting a few of her colleagues, especially after hearing some of the compliments they had for her charge. Filius was very impressed with the change in Harry over the last year, and both Bathsheda and Septima were pleased with the effort he had expended to first make it into the fourth year classes for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, and then the effort he made to stay near the top of them. Septima, in particular, had told Minerva that Harry frequently competed with Hermione and Terry Boot, who had been the top two students during their third year, even going so far as to tie with Hermione for first in the class when the end of year results were tallied up. It had been amazing to see the way her charge began to shine, once he had someone there to care about his schoolwork, and his progress. Many witches and wizards began to show specialties in specific subjects by the end of their first year, but due to Harry's subconscious repressing of his abilities and intelligence, he really hadn't shown any talent in one field above the others, until this past year. Charms, Arithmancy, and Defense were his specialties, without a doubt; though he had done well in all of his subjects, that was the result of hard work and determination. He had wanted to understand the magic, and so he had practiced and persevered, until he had mastered each theory and every spell.

After a few days of thought, Minerva decided that Harry's party should remain small, given the uncertain times, and let the idea go.

Harry and Neville enjoyed their day, spending most of the morning flying with their friends, before converging on a rather fantastic lunch spread – with two separate cakes; one was Quidditch related for Harry, while the house elves had, on Harry's request, put together a rather impressive picture of a lifelike jungle on top of the second cake.

The afternoon was spent opening presents. Neville received many Herbology related gifts, a wand holster from Susan and Amelia, and a few other odds and ends. Harry had given him a Venus Fly Trap plant, which he loved immediately.

Harry's pile of gifts was surprising for the soon to be fifth year. He looked at a few tags and saw that many of them were from students in the DA. Blaise and Daphne had teamed up to get him a book on politics that spoke in detail about the ins and outs of the Wizengamot and, in a subtle manner, told the reader how to use the loopholes of the governing body to ones own ends. Harry mentally grinned at the very Slytherin gift. It could definitely come in handy.

Other presents from DA members included cards, a few gift certificates to various shops in Diagon Alley, packages of candy, and other little baubles that let him know that they were thinking of him.

Harry was almost speechless. I didn't realize I was this popular, he admitted to Ginny.

Ginny just pushed another gift towards him and gave him a mental smile. You put yourself out there last year. You opened up and got to know your peers. And guess what. They like you. You're a good person, Harry Potter.

Harry blushed a little, but dutifully opened the next gift. It was from Cedric, and was a book on Quidditch plays and strategies that included a lot of information he figured would come in handy if he were Captain. He looked at his fellow seeker, confused.

Cedric just grinned. "Hey, Angelina and Alicia are gone next year, so you've got a pretty good shot at it. You'll be one of the longest standing members of the team."