dark side • draco malfoy

33 | A Birthday

"Happy birthday Harry!" I exclaimed, wrapping my arms around my green-eyed friend and giving him a platonic kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks Ivy." He grinned, before being tackled in a hug by Hermione. As I walked into the kitchen to help Mrs. Weasley make breakfast, I saw Hermione give Harry several books on defensive spells and charms for his birthday. It didn't surprise me that she gave him books, but I knew that they must be very useful if Hermione was giving them to him - she would never give anyone a bad book. Harry's lips stretched into a grin, and he pulled her back for another hug. Her gift had definitely been a success.

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Later that evening, we had a special birthday dinner for Harry. I had conjured several purple and gold streamers to hang around The Burrow, Hermione had turned the crabapple tree outside gold in colour, and Fred and George had bewitched a few purple lanterns with "17" written on them to float around the kitchen. Mrs. Weasley baked a cake to resemble a Golden Snitch, and The Boy Who Lived himself spent the entire day opening gifts and enjoying his new magical freedom that came with his seventeenth birthday.

As Mrs. Weasley, Fleur, and Madame Delacour prepared dinner, Remus, Tonks, Hagrid, and Charlie Weasley all arrived at The Burrow. As strange as it sounded, The Burrow seemed to feel cozier and more comfortable as more people entered the house - it was like it was made to always be full and busy. Without many people there, it felt odd and out of place.

As I walked into the living room with a glass of butterbeer in my hand, I spotted Harry sitting on the Weasleys' couch, admiring the hand-me-down watch that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had given him. It was a tradition among wizarding families to give a young wizard a watch for their seventeenth birthday, and apparently this particular one had originally belonged to Fabian Prewett, one of Mrs. Weasley's brothers who died in the First Wizarding War.

"Hey birthday boy." I greeted Harry, giggling as he jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Merlin, Ivy! Don't sneak up on people like that!" He chuckled, clutching the left side of chest in feigned shock.

"Sorry." I cringed, before feeling my eyes widen as I remembered something, "Oh! I still haven't given you your gift!"

"Ivy, you really didn't need to get me anything." He started, and I rolled my eyes at his humble nature.

"Don't be ridiculous Harry, I wouldn't just not get you a present for your seventeenth birthday." I huffed, grabbing his wrist and pulling him off the couch and up the stairs to Ginny's room.

As he sat down on Ginny's bed, I fished around my trunk until my hands found the small red box that I had tied with a gold ribbon. Pulling it out, I stood up and handed it to Harry before sitting down next to him.

"Go on, open it." I nudged his shoulder, and he shot me a curious glance before untying the ribbon and opening the box. As his fingers found the gift inside, he pulled the object out and inspected it.

"A Sneakoscope?"

"Not just any Sneakoscope. This one belonged to my dad. He had several of them, and left them all to me in his will, because he knew that I wanted to be an Auror. When my parents died, I inherited them all." I explained, feeling my eyes burn as I tried to hold back tears.

Although my parents had died eight months ago, the wound of their loss could be easily reopened if I spoke of them or thought about them too much.

"Ivy, I... I don't know what to say. You don't have to give me this. I-"

"Harry, stop. Like I said, I have several of his old Sneakoscopes. He was a great Auror and you will be too, so it's only right that you should have one of them. Besides, Merlin knows you'll need it this year." I shot him a small smile.