Chapter Text
Harry Potter, the boy who lived, wakes up in his room in his Godfather Sirius' house on the outskirts of London. He jumps out of his bed, the golden and red beddings falling on the floor, but he doesn't bother picking them up. He ignores his usual slippers in his excitement and runs downstairs.
There's a reason why he's in such a hurry, because today is the 31st of July, Harry's 12th birthday. And just as he expected, when he rounds the corner into the living room there they are. His loving family. Remus and Sirius are standing there waiting for him with smiles that rival his own, their wands out lit like candleflames. As soon as Harry lays eyes on them he breaks into an even bigger grin. Remus uses his lit wand to write in big, glowing, elegant letters in the air;
Happy Birthday Harry
The words fly up high above their heads where they hang in all their glowing glory before exploding into small golden-and-red fireworks. Before the flickers have even faded Harry runs up and envelops his family in a big hug. He can't stop smiling all throughout the brilliant breakfast nor afterwards as they start preparing for the following party that afternoon.
Sirius and Remus didn't hold back at all and pulled out all the stocks to celebrate his big day, with everyone gathering at Sirius' place. Naturally his favourite aunt Andromeda along with her husband and daughter, Ted and Dora, is there. Not only them but also the whole Weasley clan and Grangers are on the list, though from the latter only Hermione could attend because her parents were busy with their work as dentists. The second she arrived she forwards their apologies and happy wishes to him. It doesn't dampen Harry's mood in the slightest as he soaks in everyone's presence, especially after the inexplicable drought of letters during the summer despite how many he himself had sent to them using Hedwig, their family owl. But none of that matters at the moment.
He even gets to make some new acquaintances, as for the first time he is properly meeting Ron's family. One of those new connections is Ron's younger sister Ginny, who doesn't seem to be able to stay in the same room as Harry for a long period of time, which prompts Ron to joke that Harry doesn't smell that bad. He also meets Percy properly for the first time, having passed by him at Hogwarts before but never actually had a proper chat with him. The older boy goes on and on about how if Harry ever has a problem in school he could talk to him because he is a Prefect so it is his duty to hear out his younger classmates. Needless to say, Harry slips out of that conversation rather quickly in favour of joking around with Ron, Fred and George, leaving Hermione and Percy to discuss the electives for next year, as Hermione had loads of questions about it.
Overall the party is an absolute success full of joyous laughter with a variety of party games like pin the tail on the kneazle, which is harder than it sounds since the paper feline won't stand still and instead runs around the room and squeezing between the guests' legs with Crookshanks hot on the heels of the tailless lookalike. There is candy Quidditch, where Sirius would enchant a small sweet to fly through the air while everyone else must try and catch it in their mouth, with no use of their hands of course. Harry is dominating everyone, though Ron nearly takes a win from him before he stumbles over a very disgruntled Crookshanks and faceplants into the couch.
Finally, after the games and mingling, it's time for cake! A giant golden snitch that slowly is flapping it's golden chocolate wings up and down, curtesy of Mrs. Weasley, which everyone sits down to enjoy together spreading out over the dining and living room. As they do, they naturally get to talking, Dora is telling them about her adventures as a Auror in training and about all the new places she gets to visit.
As she's telling the story of how she went to Edinburgh she abruptly cuts off in the middle of her retelling to turn to Harry, who's just about to serve himself some more of the delicious cake along with a piece of chocolate wing that has now stopped flapping.
"Speaking of which, Harry, did you get that funny postcard I sent you?" Harry looks a bit confused, never having received any mail at all, and he tells her as much.
"No, I haven't received any letters all summer." He says honestly.
"Wait, Harry is that why you haven't written back to me?" Ron asks suddenly. Harry now directs his confusion towards his best friend. He hadn't forgotten him?
"Have you written to me? I haven't gotten your letters. Did you not get the ones I sent you?"
"What do you mean? We haven't received anything." Hermione chimes in, with Ron nodding in agreement.
"That's rather strange." Remus contemplates as he breaks off a piece of the cake on his own plate with the side of his fork. "Maybe... What do you think Sirius?"
"I'm not sure." Sirius says with a shrug. He doesn't seem too worried about it as he's stuffing cake into his mouth, chewing and swallowing before he adds in an almost nonchalant tone, though Harry knows better and Sirius is just trying not to freak anyone out. "Maybe one of the old protective spells are degrading and is counting mail as threats."
"Maybe so. We have to look into it later." Remus decides, seemingly picking up on Sirius small hints to keep the party panic free. Remus turns to give a reassuring smile to Harry, which all but confirms his theory. "For now, let's enjoy this lovely cake. Your birthday only comes once a year."
With that the subject shrinks into the background as they all join in to enjoy the cake and each other's company.
As the dishes are doing themselves in the kitchen and everyone are conversing in the living room, satisfied from the cake and finger food, Fred and George go to use the bathroom. Not long after the guests can all hear them from upstairs exclaiming loudly in surprise.
"Blimey! Someone got Harry a house-elf for his birthday!" Everyone laughs and writes it off as another one of the twins' pranks. Which is why it comes as ever such a shock when Fred and George wanders down the stairs a minute later with a small elf between them.
"What the-?" Harry almost shouts as the entire party comes to a screeching halt spotting the little creature. The elf looks like any other house-elf that Harry has seen before. Large batlike ears, this one has green bulging eyes like tennis balls and wearing a particularly dirty and tattered pillowcase. Though it looks rather dishevelled, it isn't near the level of Kreacher, the Black family house-elf still living in Sirius' childhood home. He certainly wasn't a very friendly being the only time that Harry had the displeasure of meeting him.
On that note, this house elf seem much nicer than him, not that it was a particularly high bar to pass.
"Harry Potter!" The elf speaks in a high pitch voice. Crookshanks in Harry's lap watches the elf with distrustful eyes. The elf bows as low as he possibly can, almost touching the top of his head to the floor. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, sir... Such an honour it is..."
The house-elf Dobby steps closer, causing Crookshanks to hiss and crook his back and instantly prompts Sirius to fly up from the couch and stand between Harry and the trespassing elf.
"What are you doing in my house?" He bluntly asks.
"Dobby has come to protect Harry Potter, to warn him, even if he does have to shut his ears in the oven door later...Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts." He says the last words with such urgency, locking his tennis ball eyes on Harry's. There's a moment of silence in the room before Sirius breaks it with a harsh scoff.
"That's rubbish." Sirius barks. "What master do you serve?"
Dobby hesitates, unwilling to answer but the words seem to be pulled out of his mouth. "The Malfoy family, sir."
Harry's mind begins to race. The Malfoy's. Everything seemed clear to him now, and the truth also dawned on Sirius at the same time as he scoffs even harsher. Clearly, just like Harry, he comes to the conclusion that this is just some juvenile attempt on Draco Malfoy's part to ruin Harry's birthday.
"Well, well, look at that. Goldilocks Jr seems to share his father's lack of humour." Sirius snarls.
"Goldilocks?" Hermione asks in a whisper beside Harry, but he is too occupied with the situation to answer her.
"Well, listen here Dobby." Sirius' voice is stricter than Harry is used to hearing it, making him unwittingly flinch back in surprise. "I, Sirius Black, orders you to get out and to not bother Harry again. Do not interfere with his, or our, lives in any way."
Dobby, with a last pleading look at Harry that seem so oddly helpless, snaps his finger and with a loud crack he disapparate. Sirius stalks back to the couch and sinks down, muttering to himself in an annoyed tone. The only other sound in the room is Crookshanks content purrs as he settles down again on Harry's lap, pleased with the disappearance of the uninvited guest.
"What was that?" Hermione asks. Harry, first now realizing that it must be Hermione's first time ever seeing a house-elf, turns to her while absentmindedly stroking the orange cat.
"That was a house-elf, Hermione. They're like... servants so to speak. They help their master's with whatever they need." He tries to explain but Hermione's furrowed brows make him feel like he's doing a bad job at it.
"Mum always says she wishes she had one to do the ironing." Ron echoes, followed by the sound of Mrs. Weasley giving him a light slap on the back of the head.
"So, does it have to do anything that any wizards tell them to?" Hermione questions, her eyes lingering on the spot Dobby disapparated from.
"Well, no. Not precisely." Harry says, he's not sure how to explain it to her. It's so simple and obvious to him who grew up in the wizarding world but for her this must seem rather odd indeed.
"Well, you see, Hermione, house-elf's serve a specific family. They're inherited down through generations. The house-elf must listen to any and all orders from a witch or wizard that shares blood with their masters." Remus explains in a calm manner, much better than Harry every could so he just nods in agreement.
"But Dobby said he served the Malfoys, didn't he?" Hermione asks and he can see the cogs turning as she tries to fit the puzzle pieces into place in her mind.
"Yes." Remus confirms still calmly, waiting for her to come to the answer on her own as if he was teaching a class. Harry always did feel like Remus would do really well at teaching, too bad the stupid school boards will never give him a shot due to his condition as a werewolf. Harry pushes down the second-hand rage he feels on Remus' behalf as Sirius cuts in, clearly not as patient.
"Which is why it had to listen to me." He says with a disgruntled look on his face as he too looks at the spot the elf disappeared from. "It would have listen to Andromeda or Dora too. You see, Hermione, the Black family has blood ties with the Malfoy's, just like any so called 'pure-blooded' family. No matter how much they want to deny any relation with the three of us, the house-elf can't deny that we do share blood. Not to mention Andy's sister is married to that pompous idiot, which makes us in-laws."
"I see." Hermione mumbles. She seems to feel uneasy, though Harry suspected it isn't about the blood relationship between their bully at school and his own family but rather about house-elves themselves as her eyes never leave the spot.
Sirius, perhaps sensing her feelings along with the rest of the room's dampen spirits, claps his hands together and plasters on a big grin on his face. "Well, let's not let this get us down. This is a party, is it not? I say it's time for presents."
With that, they all put the incident aside and soon enough the party is able to return to its' previous joyful state as Harry unwraps his gifts, with the group laughing about Malfoy's obvious prank by the end of the night.
When evening does arrive, the Weasley's and Tonks' return home with Hermione and Ron having decided to stay with Harry at Sirius' place for the next nearly three weeks until they all meet in Diagon Alley to go shopping for school supplies. Which Harry is absolutely overjoyed about. All in all, despite Draco's prank, this might have been the best birthday he had ever had.