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Harry was dreaming. The floor was dirt beneath him, and there was a storm raging outside. He felt smaller, and a young Dudley was sleeping on a sofa beside him. Vaguely, Harry realized that he already knew what would happen next; Hagrid would knock down the door right after Dudley’s watch flipped over to midnight, in three… two… one…
Bang!
Harry woke with a start. He had fallen asleep on the couch, just like every night this month, but now his house was strangely full. The grandfather clock was just chiming midnight, and there was a chorus of “Happy Birthday” surrounding him. Reaching for his glasses, Harry saw Ron, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasleys all around him, joined by Luna, Neville, Dean, Seamus, Pansy, Blaise, Alicia, Angelina, and Hagrid. None of them had been there when he’d fallen asleep, but they were all there, beaming at him and cheering. And there, in their midst, emerging from the kitchen with a cake balanced in front of him, was Draco.
“Happy birthday, love,” he said, coming to join Harry on the couch and letting him look properly at the pink and green cake.
“Thank you,” Harry said, accepting his kiss somewhat dazedly. “Thank you, all of you. But what-”
Draco cut him off. “Molly made the cake, and Hagrid decorated it for you. We wanted it to be special.”
Harry looked around at the beaming faces filling his home, suddenly overwhelmed with a rush of emotions. He had spent his eleventh birthday with the family he couldn’t wait to get away from, and now, twenty years later, he was beginning his thirty-first birthday surrounded by the people he had chosen for himself.
“Make a wish,” Draco said, but when Harry blew out the candles he couldn’t think of a single thing to wish for. He was eating birthday cake at midnight surrounded by the people who loved him most, what more could he possibly need?