Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin

Invitation to the Party

Later that night, Harry appeared within his room at the Dursley's residence with a silent pop.

He felt much better after going out for lunch with Selene, though he also felt flustered for reasons he couldn't understand. His good mood had improved even more when, following Selene's suggestion, he went back in time by six extra hours and took a really long nap. He'd felt very refreshed and, upon returning to England, he'd managed to complete all of the activities he normally did without becoming irritable.

Lisa had also commented on his improved attitude, stating that he was no longer acting like a sour puss.

Walking over to his desk, Harry set down the stack of letters in his hands. He had gone over to Andromeda's that night for dinner after spending an entire day—minus the two hour sparring session he'd had with Katrina—with Lisa Crawft, and retrieved the mail that had been sent to Andromeda's residence for him.

Harry was very pleased to see that his idea to ensure his mail was not intercepted worked. He also had to thank both Lisa Turpin and Tracey Davis for sending word along to his other friends.

Hedwig had not been as pleased as he was. His partner had made her displeasure known with a rather nasty pecking to the forehead when he got home the first time he'd retrieved his mail from Andromeda. He had only managed to make her stop by suggesting she stay with his adviser-slash-barrister for the duration of his summer—or until he managed to catch the fool trying to steal his mail.

Andromeda had not been very pleased, especially when Hedwig attacked an owl that had been delivering her mail.

Looking over the letters, Harry took note of who they belonged to. He had one from each of his friends, minus Blaise who was still in Italy and would not be back until the end of July, and Hannah and Susan, both of whom were in the States.

Reading over the letters, Harry replied to each one. Nothing had changed since he had seen Lisa and Tracey two days ago, so his response was very short. Terry had gotten a new muggle telescope, which he was going on about in his letter. Harry decided it would be a good idea to direct him toward some of the more advanced muggle telescopes, the large ones that were stationed in observatories and not just the ones anybody could buy in stores.

Daphne's letter was the same as always, asking how he was doing while unloading a few of her frustrations about her father. He wished he could do more for her, but until he found out what it would take to convince Nathaniel Greengrass not to sell his daughter off like chattel, there was little else he could do but listen.

The letter that interested him the most was the one from Neville:

To the Heir Apparent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter,

Hey, Harry. I'm glad to hear you're doing well. That muggle sport you mentioned, martial arts, sounds really interesting. I really want to learn it. I even tried to convince my gran to let me sign up for classes, but she turned me down, saying that I needed to be stronger before she would let me do something like that. I'm hoping I can do that this year when we get back to Hogwarts and begin doing those workouts.

Did you know that our birthdays are in the same month? I always knew, but I wasn't sure if you did because you live with your muggle relatives and I never told you my birthday. The reason I'm telling you this is because Gran suggested the two of us have a small party at my house. I've already sent invitations to our friends, and I am hoping you'll be able to come as well.

This envelope is actually a portkey that will take you to Longbottom Manor. The password to activate it is Birthday.

The party will start at noon.