The Potter-McGonagall household was more packed than Hari had ever seen it before. Most people were milling about the garden, talking over plates of food, though a few people were in the living room or kitchen. From his vantage point up in the tree, Hari could see many familiar faces: Remus and Hagrid talking on the patio with slices of pizza; Augusta Longbottom, telling someone unfamiliar a story; Severus Snape, quietly drinking a glass of champagne; Kingsley looking around the garden with a glass of Firewhiskey to hand; Tonks was over with her parents, scarfing down a bit of onion bhaji, sauce on her nose and cheek; Filius and Charity sitting together at the outdoor table; and he spotted his twin cousins Padma and Parvati Patil grabbing food from the buffet together.

Hari wondered where Neville had gotten to and when the Malfoys would be arriving. It was his 11th birthday that day, which meant he had a Hogwarts letter to open. To celebrate his and Neville's birthdays a day apart, Minerva and Augusta threw a party for them both, ending with them opening their Hogwarts letters together. It was all a big show, of course, since Hari had already known not only that he was going to Hogwarts anyway, but also the contents of the letter. He had watched Minerva write out those letters hundreds of times before.

But it was nice to see everybody enjoying themselves over good food and conversation.

Hari was so focused on his spying on the rest of the party guests that he didn't even notice someone else arriving underneath his tree until he almost fell off the branch. Standing just below him, pale blond hair gelled back and grinning broadly up at him was Draco Malfoy. "Try not to fall head over heels for me, Potter," Draco teased, wiggling his eyebrows. Hari scoffed and carefully climbed down the tree.

Once he was on steady ground, Hari threw his arms around his friend, pulling him into a bone crushing hug. "When did you get here?" he asked right in Draco's ear, still holding tight. Draco, to his credit, hugged back just as fiercely.

Draco pulled out of the hug just as Neville reappeared, jogging over to join them. "I got here about three minutes ago," Draco replied, pulling Neville into a short hug as well. "Happy birthday, by the way. Both of you." He grinned back and forth between Hari and Draco.

"Thanks!" they said together.

"So, where are our presents then?" Hari asked, elbowing Draco in the side and winking.

Draco shoved Hari, rolling his eyes. "They're over with the rest of the presents, you impatient horklump," he snapped, though he lacked any malice as he grinned throughout. "Now, can we go and get some food? I'm absolutely starved," he said, wrapping an arm around Hari and Neville's shoulders and leading them over towards where all the food was set up buffet style.

Hari, Neville and Draco were sitting under the tree, shoveling slices of pizza, sandwiches and chips into their mouths between gulps of pumpkin juice when Tonks made her way over to them with a plate of food, her hair a vibrant, spiky purple pixie cut. "Wotcher, guys! Enjoying the festivities?" she asked, sitting cross legged next to Draco and stealing a chip from off his plate.

"Definitely. Any excuse for this much great food is a good one," Hari replied, lifting a forkful of bhaji as an example before taking another large bite.

"I'm with you there, mate," she agreed, showing off her plate piled with food.

Tonks was in the middle of making the three boys laugh by changing her nose into a pig snout when Hagrid came over to tell them all they had to go over to the patio for something. They all collected their plates and cups and followed him over to where Augusta and Minerva were standing side by side while everyone watched them patiently.

"Ah, here are the birthday boys!" Augusta announced, arms stretching towards Hari and Neville, both blushing. Someone—Hari would bet on Draco—pushed him towards the front by his back, almost dropping his plate of food. Remus, standing nearby, offered to hold it for him while Hari sidled over next to Minerva.

Augusta addressed the watching crowd around them. "Now that we have the guests of honour again, I'd like to make a quick speech," she told the crowd. Hari and Neville exchanged horrified glances behind her back and Hari heard Draco barely stifling his laughter. "Neville, ever since you came to live with me when you were just a little boy, I have watched you grow so much. I'll admit, we didn't know whether you'd be an actual wizard—" Neville groaned in embarrassment, "—but I couldn't be prouder to know that you'll be going off to Hogwarts just like your parents. I have no doubt they would be so proud of you and I'm so glad you're finally able to go to Hogwarts!"

Neville buried his face in his hands while the crowd clapped at her speech, talking amongst themselves about the contents of Mrs. Longbottom's odd speech.

"Minnie, please don't make one also—" Hari began, cutting himself off with a groan as Minerva gave him a wicked smile and moved forwards, clearing her throat. In the crowd, Draco giggled again.

"If you don't mind, I would also like to make a wee speech," she cried, glancing over at a betrayed and scandalised Hari. "Similarly, when I managed to talk Albus Dumbledore into letting me take you into my custody, it was the best decision I ever made. I have no doubt that you will do great things at Hogwarts, even if I have to give you detentions since you'll also undoubtedly take after your father as well." The crowd laughed at this and she caught Remus' eye, winking. "I look forward to getting to teach you properly for the next few years and hopefully not get too many more grey hairs because of you."

She finished her speech to more cheers and went back to Hari. Before Hari could complain to her, Remus stood up. "Oh, Godric. Not another speech," Hari muttered in horror.

But instead of a speech, Remus simply raised his glass of champagne in the air and stated, "To Hari and Neville!" The crowd echoed him and the air was soon filled with clinking glasses and excited chatter from all around.

While Minerva and Augusta were distracted, Hari and Neville sneaked off to where Draco was standing, still laughing at the looks on their faces. As they neared, he lifted his glass of pumpkin juice in a salute, grinning teasingly and eyes wicked. Hari groaned, shaving his friend's shoulder so that a bit of pumpkin juice spilled over his hand.

"Oi! Don't get it on my sleeve or Mother will have my head!" Draco whined, kicking Hari in the shins.

Whatever retort Hari was going to say back died on his tongue at the arrival of Hagrid carrying the cake to the table on the patio. Hari and Neville exchanged grins before pushing back through the crowd to get to the cake. Hari could feel Draco resting his chin on his shoulder to get a better look. The cake someone had made was a massive, elaborate sheet cake with pale blue and white frosting all over it. There was a detailed model of Hogwarts castle on its rock face, along with the lake in thick frosting. In slightly messy green frosting it said: Happy Birthday Hari and Neville! Stuck in the top of the cake were two candles shaped like the number 1, both already lit and flickering in the delicate breeze.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday to them both and then on a count of three, both boys blew out the candles. Blushing profusely, both boys took turns cutting into the cake, which was revealed to be chocolate.

"One last thing before you all get too distracted with this excellent cake." Minerva's voice carried over the talk of the crowd, sharp and clear, silencing the crowd at once. She was carrying two thick envelopes in one of her hands, parting the crowd easily like Moses to the sea and passed Hari and Neville their respective envelopes. Hari muttered his thanks and inspected the envelope.

He recognised the neat scrawl on the back, written in shining emerald ink and the Hogwarts crest on the seal. He rarely got any mail, being just a kid, so the look of his name and address made him smile slightly:

Mr. H Potter

Nivelles Cottage

Caithness

Highlands

"Open them, open them!" urged someone in the crowd. Hari peered at Neville beside him and together, they peeled off the seal of the envelopes and pulled out their Hogwarts letters. The crowd erupted in cheers and Hari caught Draco's eye somewhere in the centre of the crowd. He rolled his eyes teasingly but grinned at Hari nonetheless.

A few hours later, full of food and piles of sweets, Hari dropped back onto the couch in the living room in exhausted delirium. Most of the party guests had gone except the Malfoys, Longbottoms, Remus and Hagrid. Draco followed suit, plopping down next to Hari with a wide yawn and half falling onto Hari's shoulder. Neville, meanwhile, made himself comfortable in Minerva's seat with a leftover kebab. They could hear the rest of the adults still talking out back, no doubt drinking even more alcohol while the kids were occupied inside the house. Hari distinctly heard Hagrid's booming laugh over the rest of their chatter.

"Did you have fun?" Draco mumbled into Hari's shoulder, breath warm and ticklish against his chin.

Hari nodded through another yawn, stretching out wide so that Draco had to move away to avoid getting hit in the face. "I think I ate too much," he decided, patting his stomach which felt particularly more full than usual.

Neville nodded his agreement and mumbled, "Same. I won't be eating for a week." His face was half crushed into one of the cushions, squashing his round face comically.

"Not too tired or stuffed to open presents, are you?" Hagrid chortled, shimmying carefully into the room. The rest of the adults appeared shortly behind him, filing into the living room, still nursing their glasses.

Draco moved closer to Hari's side to make room for his mother while Lucius leaned against the wall beside her. Remus tucked himself easily into the window seat and Augusta insisted on taking Neville's seat while Minerva stood in front of the fireplace and Hagrid stayed in the doorway.

Minerva Summoned their presents into the room, ordering them into two neat piles for both boys to open together. Hari and Neville plopped down in front of the roaring fire and began opening their presents. It was a pretty successful pile that Hari got this year: the Magpies Seeker's jersey from Kingsley; a full set of the Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle comics from Draco; various gift vouchers to shops in Diagon Alley; a bag of Honeyduke's sweets from Neville; a copy of Quidditch Through the Ages from Tonks; and a collapsible telescope from Remus, which apparently used to belong to James.

Hari was so busy thanking everyone in the room individually, showing them all his new gifts, that he didn't notice Minerva and Hagrid had left the room until they returned. Hari looked up from inspecting the book from Tonks at the hush that fell around the room. He almost dropped the book on the ground when he noticed Minerva and Hagrid holding up a large bird cage between them, inside of which sat a gorgeous snowy white owl.

"Is that for me?" he asked breathlessly, getting to his feet. At Hagrid's affirmative reply, Hari crossed the living room in two strides and crouched down in front of the cage. The owl stared right at him with a pair of bright amber eyes which almost seemed to understand Hari. He looked away from the owl and beamed at Hagrid. "Thank you so much! This is amazing!" he exclaimed.

Hagrid waved his hand dismissively, but beamed at Hari regardless. "Ah, it was nothin', Hari. Thought you'd like it for sendin' letters and the likes," Hagrid said. He passed Minerva the cage just as Hari give him a big hug and muttered further hugs into his shirt. He barely reached past Hagrid's waist, but it didn't bother him after knowing Hagrid so long now.

As was becoming almost a tradition, Hari's birthday was even better than last year's.

¤¤¤

After a good 20 minutes of pleading, Draco and Hari managed to talk Minerva and Narcissa and Lucius into letting Draco spend the night at Hari's. The older Malfoy's said their goodbyes and last minute birthday wishes as Draco half chased them away down the path, promising to meet up in Diagon Alley the next day to buy some school supplies.

Minerva cleared away the furniture and Vanished all the rubbish left over in the living room, Transfiguring one of the cushions into a mattress fit for both Hari and Draco to fit in. Draco and Hari brought down Hari's blankets and pillows, setting up camp beside the dying fire, whispering enthusiastically about that day and looking forward to the coming weeks.

Draco and Hari were in the middle of trying out Hari's new telescope, setting it on the window seat and crammed together to look out together when Minerva entered asking them if they wanted hot chocolate before bed. Unsurprisingly, they both wanted one, much to Minerva's amusement. "Look how big the moon looks tonight!" Hari stage whispered, pointing the telescope in the direction of the huge white moon, which was almost 3 quarters full now.

Draco pushed Hari out of the way so he could see, moving the telescope around the sky. "I can't remember where the Draco constellation is. Mother showed it to me a while ago, but I can't remember where it was," Draco muttered, aimlessly moving the telescope in search of the constellation he was named after.

"It's pretty cool how you're named after a constellation. I wish I had a cool name," Hari admitted, leaning his head against the wall next to the window. He regarded Draco as he peered into the telescope, features lit up by the moonlight shining through the window.

Hari jumped as Minerva appeared with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, piled high with marshmallows. "I want you both in bed as soon as you finish these," Minerva said as she placed the mugs on the coffee table that was pushed aside. "We'll be going to Diagon Alley quite early tomorrow and you don't want to be so tired you don't enjoy it, do you?" Giving them both her famous stare over her shoulder, Minerva left the living room. Her footsteps could be heard going up the stairs shortly after, followed by her bedroom door opening and shutting.

Draco and Hari grabbed their mugs of hot chocolate and settled on top of the covers on the mattress. Draco was plucking the marshmallows off one by one, careful not to get his fingers too sticky and blowing on the steam rising through the gaps in the marshmallows. Hari smirked at his friend's careful habits, ingrained into him by his family as soon as he was able to feed himself. Hari, who grew up having to eat as quickly as possible to avoid getting his food stolen by his cousin Dudley, took little care in how he ate, burning his tongue as he took a hasty sip.

Draco glanced at him through narrowed eyes as Hari spluttered slightly from the heat, fanning his open mouth. "You can judge the way I eat all you want, but you don't see me carelessly burning my tongue, do you?" said Draco, popping another marshmallow in his mouth. Hari scowled and Draco kicked him in the leg with his socked foot, laughing at Hari's face. "I have a point though, don't I? If you didn't insist on eating everything so fast, maybe you wouldn't be burning the roof of your mouth almost every single time."

"Sorry I don't have your insane self control, then,

Hari goaded, poking Draco in the side so that he yelped and splashed hot chocolate and marshmallows all over himself.

"Hey!" Draco whined as he looked down at the mess they had made, "You're lucky I don't have a wand until tomorrow or you'd be sorry!"

Hari snorted, putting his mug on the floor and carefully heading to the kitchen to clean up the spill. Once they cleaned up the mess as well as they could without magic, they went back to silently enjoying their drinks while watching the fire going out in the hearth. The last embers were sparking here and there, pulling the room slowly into darkness until all Hari could see of Draco was his silhouette from the light coming from the moon outside the window.

"Which house do you think you'll be in when we get to Hogwarts?" Draco broke the silence, leaning over to put his empty mug on the coffee table. He rolled over until he was lying on one of the pillows, tilting his head to look up at Hari as he finished off his drink.

Hari sipped the last chocolatey dregs of his drink thoughtfully. "I dunno. I suppose Gryffindor would be cool. Minnie and Remus and my parents were all in Gryffindor," he replied after a moment's contemplation, putting his mug on the ground and lying down beside Draco. He rolled onto his side to face him, back turned to the faded fire. "What about you?"

Draco huffed. "Slytherin, of course. My entire family have been Slytherins," he replied, though he sounded slightly off "I don't know what I'd do if I got any other houses. Father definitely wouldn't be too happy, I'd expect." Despite the confidence behind his words, Hari could hear the anxiousness hidden behind his facade, driven further by the wrinkle between his eyebrows as he frowned.

Hari poked his friend's shoulder until Draco turned to look at him. "Hey, no matter what, I know your parents love you. Regardless of what house you get put in, I have no doubt they'd still love you unconditionally, yeah?"

"But what if they don't?" Draco's voice was so quiet Hari had to strain to hear it. Even still, his fear was the loudest thing in the room now.

"Then you have plenty of other people who won't mind if you get sorted into a house that isn't Slytherin." He elbowed Draco's side gently and he turned to look at Hari in the darkness. "For example, you have me." He was aiming for humour, hoping to cheer Draco up, but it sounded far more genuine than he expected.

"We should go to sleep. It's late and you don't want Minerva yelling at us for being tired, do you?"

Hari knew Draco just wanted to drop the subject, the air suddenly tense and awkward where it rarely was with them. Nodding, Hari shuffled under the covers more, trying to get comfortable. He could hear Draco shifting around next to him, sighing heavily again and again. The fourth time he sighed, jostling Hari as he shifted over, Hari sat up on his elbows, glowering at him.

"Draco, would you stop moving so much and sighing? I'm trying to sleep," he moaned, narrowing his eyes at the slightly blurry form lying next to him with his back to him.

"I can't get comfortable on this mattress. I can't sleep."

Hari groaned and dropped back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling like it had wronged him. "Weren't you the one that said we should go to bed?" Hari snapped, frowning.

"Yeah because I want to go to sleep, but I just can't," Draco retorted. Hari could feel his glare on the side of his face where Hari was still staring adamantly at the ceiling.

"Well sorry Minnie's transfigured bed wasn't good enough for your taste, Draco."

The tension grew thicker between them and they stayed like that for a long time, brooding in silence beside each other. Hari was practically glaring a hole into the ceiling while Draco turned away to pout out of sight from Hari. Hari knew he wouldn't get to sleep anytime soon, heart pounding in his ears and Draco's presence too noticeable just a few inches away. Hari was so distracted by his own irritation that it took him a long time to realise Draco was crying.

"Draco?" he whispered, finally turning to look at his friend's back. He was shaking slightly and Hari heard him sniffle. "Draco," Hari repeated. Draco didn't answer. Hari reached out tentatively and grasped Draco's shoulder. When the other boy didn't shrug away, Hari pulled him back to face him.

Even in the darkness Hari could see the wetness on Draco's cheeks, almost shining in the light cast into the room by the soft light coming in through the window. His face was bunched up and blotchy, trying to avoid looking at Hari. "I-I'm sorry I snapped at you," Draco breathed, "I just can't stop thinking about the Sorting…"

Hari moved closer until their sides were pressed against each other, wrapping an arm around Draco's shoulders in the only way he could think to help. He was never very good with his words. "Don't worry about it. It's not for another few weeks…" he attempted.

"I'll try…"

Eventually, a little while later, Draco calmed down fully. Hari moved his arm away as it was going number under the weight of his neck and rolled over, facing the fire again. It didn't take long to fall asleep after that as he drifted off with the knowledge that even if Draco got sorted into a house his parents disagreed with, Hari would be there for him no matter what.