Aunt Rose

59.

Harry really needed a haircut. And Rose was one morning of seeing his hair sticking every which way and looking like a mop on his head to taking a pair of scissors to it. His hair was exactly like his father's; never cooperating and always messy. It was longer than he'd ever had it and maybe it was the teenage hormones, but Harry refused to let her cut it.

Or it could've been the time when he was nine and Rose cut it. She wasn't exactly great at cutting hair, not like that. He'd vowed never to let Rose take a pair of scissors to his head again, only muggle salons, and perhaps he was really serious about it.

Regardless of his hair situation, his birthday arrived at the end of July and like Rose usually did, she tried to make it as big of an occasion as he wanted. She always asked because it had varied when he was younger. Sometimes he wanted lots of friends, sometimes he only wanted a few, and sometimes he wanted none at all and to just go to a movie with Rose and stay in.

That year, Harry asked to just have his closest magical friends if he could. Ron and Hermione. And heeding his request, Rose tried to coordinate with Molly and Hermione's parents to invite them to the house for the evening on his birthday.

Unfortunately, Hermione's family would be on vacation during Harry's birthday, so they couldn't attend in person, but there was a present sent for Harry which Rose kept hidden from him. He was impulsive, she knew that well.

Molly was more than happy to send Ron, and the twins along, with Rose's permission, to make it a real party. They could play a few games of quidditch. A birthday present even came along with the correspondence, as Molly said that Arthur had gotten a deal on some tickets to go watch the Quidditch World Cup and wanted to know if Rose and Harry were interested.

God, why did everything remind Rose of how things used to be? The first and only time she'd gone to the cup was with James' father and it was one of the best times of her life. There was no way she would deprive Harry of an experience like that. So Rose spoke for the tickets and paid Molly what they were worth through mail. No one would know if she accidentally overpaid and told Winnie not to come back until Molly kept the money.

It wasn't pity. Rose knew how awful it was for everyone in the world to feel pity for you. But it was just a helping hand because she and Harry, frankly, were loaded. With fortunes of the dead, they had more money than would ever last them a lifetime. Accidentally overpaying once, to thank Molly and Arthur for all they'd done for Harry, wouldn't hurt. Not at all.

When she received the tickets, she put them in a little envelope and hid them with the present from Hermione. He didn't need to go finding them before his birthday and ruin the surprise. In fact, there was also a present from Sirius. What he could acquire while on the run, that was. It was shaping up to be one of the best birthdays he'd had in a while.

They started their day like they always did on his birthday; visiting his parents in Godric's Hollow. It happened less as he grew up and went to school. But Rose felt it was essential he saw them on his birthday, to let him feel connected to them.

Their trip always started with the statue of Lily and James. Often there were messages there, old and a few new, and Rose let Harry read them on his own. Then they'd keep their heads down and venture to the cemetery, keeping their eyes only on the graves they were there to see.

She always made sure there were fresh flowers. It was one of the first things Rose did when they arrived. She would conjure fresh flowers to match the season and let them lay gently on the headstone before giving Harry some time alone to say whatever he wanted without an intruding ear. They had a bond in that; he'd say what he wanted to say and then they'd switch places and Harry's would give Rose some time to talk to her sister.