Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 86: Ginny's Gift
"Happy birthday!"
"Congratulations, Ginny."
She smiled and blew out the candles on the cake in front of them as her family and friends cheered.
Ginny didn't remember the last time she had been so happy, and not just for today's party, but for the wonderful summer she was having with Harry at her side.
The girl looked to her side, and he stared back at her with a warm grin on his face. Ginny could swear she even saw his hat smiling at her.
Under the table, she slid her hand towards him, and after a moment of fumbling around, she found his hand and grabbed it firmly. After that, they exchanged a loving glance.
He didn't need to say anything that she didn't already know.
"Okay, let's bring the presents." Molly clapped before making a gesture to her husband.
"Right! I'll go get it." Arthur went to the pile of presents that had been left on the other side of the living room and picked up one of them before bringing it to the dining table.
The rest of the people present did the same and went on to fetch their gifts from the pile, while the matriarch of the family got started on slicing the cake for everyone to have a share.
The first one she opened was from her father. It was a small box, and inside, she found a retractable ballpoint pen, a Muggle gadget that her father found truly fascinating.
Ginny, however, did not.
From her mother, she received two gifts: one handmade set of dress robes, as well as a cooking book.
"Mmm?" Ginny glanced at her mother with confusion.
Molly pointed at the book and simply said, "You may as well start learning. One day you will need it."
When Ginny understood the implication of what her mother had said, she felt her cheeks heating up.
She and Harry had only begun dating, but it appeared that her mother had been thinking very far ahead.
From her brother Bill, she received a cursed artifact in the form of a golden eagle. Of course, the artifact was no longer cursed, but it would make for a nice decoration.
From Charlie, she got an authentic dragon scale that came from an adult Welsh Green.
The twins gifted her with a box containing many of their prototypes that they were currently selling at their shop, including a love potion, which Ginny would end up giving to Hermione, since she looked very interested the moment she saw the pink bottle.
Ginny also had a good idea of who Hermione wanted to use it on.
Ron gifted her a Chudley Cannons poster. A very thoughtful gift coming from her clumsy brother, since she was a fan of the team.
It did make her think that someone had advised him on that front.
Then it came Hermione's turn.
Ginny had fully been expecting a book at this point and was only wondering about the genre. Much to her surprise, Hermione had brought her a couple of souvenirs from her trip to Germany: a nice black T-shirt with the name of some German city and a key chain with the country's flag.
Now, Ginny would normally not wear things like T-shirts, and her house had no keys except for the attic. But she was still happy with the presents.
They were at least more useful than some boring book she was certainly never going to read, like the three previous presents she had received from Hermione.
Finally, it was Harry's turn, who was now receiving very curious looks, as he did not grab any box from the gift pile and was now empty-handed.
A few of the present guests were dreading that Harry had completely forgotten to get Ginny a gift for her birthday and was about to sour the celebration.
But Ginny knew him better than that.
Taking everyone by surprise, Harry took a tiny box from a hidden pocket in his robes and held it in the palm of his hand.
A second later, they all watched in amazement as the box expanded many times its normal size before he placed it in front of Ginny.
"Harry! Did you use magic?" Hermione sounded startled. "You can't do that. It's against the rules."
"Relax, Hermione. He did not use a wand. No one has a way to know." Ginny had already gotten accustomed to seeing Harry use magic in such a nonchalant way without the use of a wand, but that was not the case for the rest of the people present, and even more so for Hermione, who had not seen Harry since the last school year ended.
Not wanting the conversation to deviate towards questioning her boyfriend, Ginny hurried to open the box that he had left before her.
"Whoa!" She gasped when she saw what was inside. "It's so beautiful."
The box contained an elegantly crafted set of green dress robes. But the most shocking part of them was the material used for their creation.
When Ginny pulled them out, everyone was startled by it.
"Are those… scales?" Hermione was the first one to notice.
"Dragon scales?" Bill narrowed his eyes. "There is a powerful enchantment woven into those robes."
"Those are not dragon scales." Charlie jumped into the conversation. "But I cannot identify them… they are definitely from some kind of reptile, and a magical one at that."
"Harry, where did you get these robes?" Arthur asked.
"They look very… pricey…" Molly muttered.
"Wait, I think I've seen this before." Ginny was staring at the scales on the robes.
"There is no need to worry about the price. I made the robes myself, and the materials came from a beast that I killed in my second year. In self-defense, of course," Harry explained.
Ron and Hermione immediately went pale. "That's from THE basilisk?!"
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