Dear Mr. Potter,
We have received notice that today you are seventeen years of age. You are required to attend an Apparition License Test on the 19th of August at 12:00 AM. Enclosed is a book that you may use as a study guide. We expect you to be prepared on the given date to prove you’re ability to Apparate. If you fail, you will be allowed to retake this test exactly three months from the date above. Thanks you, and have a Happy Birthday,
Respectably,
Cortilda Venford,
Head of Apparition License Bureau
Harry stared in disbelief. He had completely forgotten the fact that he would be able to Apparate! He grinned broadly, and stroked Hedwig’s long, sleek white feathers affectionately. He looked further in the envelope, and saw a small, folded booklet. Wonderful, more studying to do, Harry thought with a sigh. But still…to be able to Apparate was something he had wanted to do for a very long time! Just then Ron and Hermione burst in.
“Harry! Did you get your…” Hermione started, and when she saw the letter in Harry’s hand and squealed excitedly and ran to give him a hug, sending her long, bushy brown hair swirling around her head. “You did! Now you AND Ron have yours! Oh, and they sent you both a book! I can’t wait to start reading mine when I get it, I’ve always thought Apparition to be fascinating, haven’t you?” Harry grinned at her and nodded.
“Honestly, I don’t see what’s so ‘fascinating’ about Apparition. I mean, I don’t understand why we have to read a whole book on it!” Ron said fervently, looking disgustedly at the little book.
“Well, Ron, not everybody grew up with their parents Apparating all over the place. If you’ll remember, Harry and I come from Muggle families! It’s all quite new to us,” Hermione said defensively, frowning slightly.
“I don’t see him jumping up and down, chomping at the bit to read the book,” Ron said, smiling at Hermione. Harry shrugged.
“I would be, but ever since I heard about somebody getting…what was it? Splinched?” Harry said, trying to recall. Ron winced, so Harry guessed he had been right. “It didn’t sound too fun to me.”
“Well, those people obviously didn’t read their book!” Hermione said, grinning. Ron shook his head.
“Admit it, Hermione, you're just jealous because your birthday isn’t until September,” he said, sitting down on the bed next to Hermione, who scowled ferociously at him. Harry shook his head, smiling at them.
“I had hoped that you two would stop your bickering if you were dating,” he said. Ron shrugged.
“It’s just habit now, mate,” Ron said, putting his arm around Hermione, who smiled delightedly. “Come on, we’d better get downstairs, mum has baked a cake for you and everything,” he said but then he stopped. “Oh yeah, and it was also supposed to be a surprise. How ‘bout you forget I said that,” he said smiling apologetically. Hermione rolled her eyes.
“Brilliant, Ron,” she sighed.
“Hey, it’s alright, I don’t even remember what you said,” Harry said with a wink. Ron grinned in relief.
“I owe you one mate,” he muttered, slapping Harry on the back as they all followed Hermione out of the room, and down the steps. When they reached the bottom, Ginny ran up to Harry.
“Happy birthday Harry!” she said, her eyes bright. Harry hugged her and kissed her quickly on the cheek. “Come on, there’s something in the kitchen I want to show you!” Harry glanced side-ways at Ron who blushed crimson. Harry allowed Ginny to pull him down the hallway. She smiled brilliantly, and told him to close his eyes. He did so, and Ginny opened the door.
“SURPRISE!” yelled a crowd of people. Harry opened his eyes, and smiled. The Order was jumping out of hiding places, and rushing to wish him a ‘Happy Birthday.’
“Seventeen! What an old man you’re becoming,” Sirius said, patting him on the back. Harry grinned and then feigned throwing out his back. Every body laughed.
“Come, Harry! Cake!” Mrs. Weasley said, bustling over to him. “Here, sit over there,” she directed, and Harry obeyed, seating himself at the head of the long, scrubbed wooden table. Ginny followed and sat down beside him.
“Congrats, Harry!” Fred and George said, elbowing people out of the way to get to him. “Come, have a Butterbeer!” George handed Harry a rather odd looking goblet. He unsuspectingly took a swig. It tasted rather funny, and then, without warning, his entire face aged in a split second. Everybody burst out laughing, but nobody harder than Fred and George.
“Geezer Goblet!” Fred roared over the crowd. “Age your friends and family for only six sickles each! It’s a bargain! Weasley Wizard Wheezes!” Tonks came up and handed Harry a mirror, and Harry laughed too. He had aged at least seventy years! His eyebrows had gone out of control, and were practically crawling towards his nearly bald head. He had a comb-over! But then, with a small popping sound, his face molded back to normal.
“Alright, everyone! Settle down! Arthur, turn out the lights!” Mrs. Weasley shouted excitedly. The lights went out, and only a large chocolate cake could be seen, as if floating in mid-air, seventeen candles ablaze. Everybody started to sing, and Harry couldn’t remember feeling happier. Mrs. Weasley set the cake in front of him.
“Make a wish Harry!” Ginny whispered. Harry stopped and thought. ‘I wish…’ Harry thought even harder. What could he wish for? ‘I wish I could see my parents again’ and with that he blew out the candles. For a second there was total darkness. Harry felt very cold. He was very sad. He frowned, he was very cold. Way too cold too be normal. His bones were cold, his soul was cold. He began to shiver, and memories of sadness overcame him. He heard a faint, high pitched scream. It was becoming louder, louder, so loud he couldn’t stand it. He put his hands over his ears, trying to stop the noise, but the noise was coming from inside his head! Blood trickled out of his ears and over his fingers. He needed to die. He needed to kill himself.
“Lumos,” he muttered, and saw a large knife on the table. Perfect. He dove for it, but strong arms grabbed him.
“Quick, turn on the lights!” somebody screamed.
“They are on, Tonks! Tonks! It’s a Dementor! Quick!” There was rushing as Harry struggled to get to the knife. He MUST die!
“Expecto Patronum!” Remus yelled. Suddenly, as though a bucket of warm water had been dropped over the room, everything was back to normal. The lights flickered back on, and the coldness was gone. Even the screaming was gone. Harry looked around and saw Sirius, Ginny and Arabella Figg were all holding him tightly. His own arm was reaching for the dagger. He withdrew his hand as if it had been burned. He reached up to his ears, expecting to feel blood. Nothing. He looked around. What had happened? A Dementor? They had never affected him like that before.
“Are you alright, Harry?” came a calm voice. Harry turned to see Dumbledore. Harry struggled to find his voice.
“I…what…that couldn’t have been just a Dementor!” he finally choked out. Dumbledore closed his eyes.
“I’m afraid, Harry, that it was. They affect you more powerfully now. Voldemort is as strong as ever, and the Dementors have abandoned Azkaban to go work for him,” Dumbledore said sadly. Harry moved out of Ginny's, Figg’s and Sirius’ grasps. Remus walked up, and handed him a piece of chocolate cake.
“Eat this, it will help,” he said. Harry sat down, and did so. Slowly people started to talk again, but it wasn’t nearly as loud as it had been before. It was almost as if everybody was whispering, which annoyed Harry.
“Harry? Would you like to open your presents now?” Mrs. Weasley asked hopefully, trying to cheer him up. He forced a smile.
“Thanks Mrs. Weasley,” he said, sincerely. She beamed at him, and then brought over a large pile of packages.
“Okay, everybody. Quiet now,” she said. Harry suddenly felt like a little kid (except that he never got this kind of treatment as a kid). Here he was, eating cake and opening presents. It made him feel a little better to know that he meant that much to these people though. He grinned and grabbed the nearest package. He read the card, trying very hard to smile, although his scar was throbbing painfully now. It was from Ginny. He opened the box, and smiled widely. It was the new Quidditch book, he had been wanting it ever since it had come out, but didn’t feel right about buying it for himself. He hugged and kissed Ginny, making her blush.
“Thanks a lot, I’ve been wanting this for so long,” he said. Ginny beamed. He grabbed the next package. It was very small, and very light. He looked for a card, but there wasn’t one. He pulled off the rather boring gray wrapping paper, and inhaled sharply. It was a small, two sided mirror. No, not again! He looked around. Sirius stared at him, shock and fear written all over his face. But just then, Fred and George burst out laughing behind him.
“Gotcha!” they yelled together, doubling over with wails of mirth. Harry grinned.
“Ha-Ha, very funny,” Harry said sarcastically. His heart was beating very quickly, what a scare. He moved on to his next present and then his next, until finally, he had opened all of his presents. Some of the best ones were the self-cleaning dragon hide gloves from Sirius, the speedometer for his broom from Ron, the rather nice scarf that Hermione had made for him, and for sentimental reasons, he also liked the glow-in-the-dark socks that Dobby had gotten him. When he was finished thanking everybody very much for their wonderful party, he went upstairs thinking very hard about the Dementor attack.
He remembered what Ron had asked him about last year. He had asked Harry what he thought Voldemort would do now that he didn’t have any of his mother’s blood to protect him. His only real family member is Petunia, and she is a little busy in Azkaban. Harry had replied without feeling that Voldemort would probably try and kill him. He had been right. Voldemort was ready, and he, Harry was as unready as they came. He closed his eyes, his scar aching, trying to sleep without dreams of Lord Voldemort to keep him awake.
A/N: Yes, I know first chapters are always dumb. Please bear with me, however, as there is MUCH to come that you won't want to miss out on. PLEASE REVEIW!!!!!!!!!