Amulet of Time 2: Two Worlds, Two Wars

Chapter 32: Summer's End

The two weeks following the trip to Diagon Alley were spent in much the same way as the two before. In addition to training and reading, the four time travellers were also taking some time to teach Dumbledore a few useful tricks they knew he would need in the future. As most of Grindelwald's followers had now been caught, they had some free time on their hands. He had progressed well at the beginning in wandless magic, as he had been practicing for months. However, he seemed to have come to a standstill at a level approximately equal to a third year student. Harry had anticipated this, and had warned the headmaster before their lessons had even started, but the man was still a little disappointed. To make up for it, though, Harry had taken the headmaster aside one day and asked him if he wanted lessons in invisibility. The Boy-Who-Lived had been thinking back to his first year when Dumbledore had caught him looking at the Mirror of Erised. He had been invisible without the help of an invisibility cloak, and the only way Harry could think that he would have learned it would be if one of the four had taught it to him. Hermione, Ginny, Ron and Minh had thought it strange when their friend and the headmaster disappeared for two days. They had holed up in a distant part of the East Tower, where nobody could find them. There, Harry had been able to pass on the secrets of invisibility without distractions. It had taken the older man two whole days to master it, but it had been worth it in the end. Both emerged exhausted, but satisfied.

The highlight of the second week was Harry's birthday. With all that had been going on, especially Dumbledore's lessons, it quickly became apparent to the others that the boy had completely forgotten about it. Gaerwyn, Lolide and Minh had taken it upon themselves to organise a traditional elven birthday celebration for him. The night before, after Harry had retired to his room with a book for the night, the three had gone to the ball room and done the decorations. After that, they had headed down to the kitchens to sort out the food. For the occasion, they had enlisted the help of some of the Hogwarts house elves, who had been thrilled to leave the castle for a while. When everything was ready, they headed to bed themselves, charming themselves with elven magic to make sure they were up before Harry.

The morning of the 31st July, Harry woke from a rare pleasant dream about chickens and chocolate frogs to the sound of faint music. Sitting up in his bed in confusion, he listened for a minute to determine where the sound was coming from. Unable to discover the source from where he was, he went into the bathroom and cleaned up, before throwing on a purple robe and heading out of the room. As he made his way to the ground floor, the music seemed to be getting louder, and he realised that he recognised it from somewhere but couldn't quite put his finger on where he had heard it before. When he reached the bottom of the staircase, he realised it was coming from the ball room. Opening the doors cautiously, he poked his head in the door and gasped in surprise. All of his friends, including Gallatea, Peeves, Eustace, Gaerwyn and Lolide were stood in the room facing him, the Order of the Phoenix in its entirety standing behind them. He suddenly realised what the music was. It was a traditional elven birthday song. A grin spread across his face when it occurred to him what day it was. Opening the doors fully, he stepped into the room and looked around. The ceiling and walls were decorated in leaves and vines, with light blue material draped here and there; making it feel like it was outdoors. The enchanted ceiling, much like the one in the Great Hall at Hogwarts, only added to the effect. A long table was set in the middle of the room replacing the Order table, and it was covered in a yellow cloth, with various elven decorations adorning it. At one end was a large pile of presents from all of the guests, and the rest of the table had dishes with various elven breakfast foods. Beaming in delight, Harry went over and hugged his friends.

" This is just…amazing! However did you manage to do all this?"

" It was Gaerwyn's idea," Ginny told him, " She, Lolide and Minh spent all of last night getting it ready. They thought you would appreciate a traditional elven birthday party."