Harry came back to himself with a start. In all of his wildest imaginings, he had never expected this. To have Meadowsweet here, for his birthday. It was the best—the very best—present in the world. "I still can't believe you're here!" he murmured. "You and Erik. When did you get here?"

"This afternoon. Your dad picked us up," Sasha answered, a warm glow filling her. She cupped his wrist in her hand and saw the bracelet. "You still wear it."

"Always. I never take it off. Good thing it's waterproof."

Sasha nodded. Then she turned about to face the others, drawing Harry with her.

"Da, you planned this whole thing, didn't you?"

"Of course. I figured it was about time you had a surprise party." Severus said, setting Jilly on her feet so she could hug Harry.

"Thanks. It's great." Harry said, then knelt to hug the youngest Witherspoon. "Hey, Jillybean."

"Happy birthday, Hawwy!" Jilly said and gave him a long hug and a kiss.

Paul laughed. "Boy, mate, you've got all the girls after you. What are you wearing? Babe magnet cologne?"

"Uh, yeah. Want some?" Harry joked. "Paul, meet Jilly. She's my friend Jace's little sister."

Paul smiled and ruffled the little girl's hair. "You're cute, kid."

"Thanks! So r'you."

"Paul, you were in on it too, weren't you?"

Paul shrugged. "Yeah, your dad asked me to keep you occupied so he could fix up everything. And it was a great excuse to go to the arcade." He moved over to the snack table to get some food and a Coke.

Harry introduced Paul to the rest of his friends, and then the teenagers went up to his room to play video games and just hang out and talk. Jilly went to follow, but Jace told her to stay with Severus. "If you ask nicely, maybe he'll read you a story," he whispered to his sister.

Jilly smiled, no longer feeling left out. She would rather be with Severus than with all the older kids anyhow. She ran back to her 'fessor Sevvy and asked, very sweetly, "Can you read me a story? Please? Please?"

Severus was unable to refuse, much to the amusement of the others, and ended up finding one of his old picture books in the bookshelf called I Am A Bunny and reading it to the little minx.

Upstairs, Ron watched Paul and Darkmoon square off with Mortal Kombat, and said, a bit enviously, "Do you have one of those . . .SuperNintendos?"

"Yeah. I got mine for Christmas," Paul answered.

"No, but I used to play all the time when I was younger and I still haven't forgotten," answered Darkmoon. Funny, how some things stayed with you.

"Oh. Wish I did," Ron said, meaning it, for the system was wickedly fun to play.

"Why don't you?" Paul asked. Then he shook his head. "Sorry, none of my business."

"Too expensive," Ron replied, which was the truth. He had been prepared to not really like Harry's Muggle friend, but he soon found that Paul was a nice kid, and very likable. He wondered how his father would react when he told him that there had been real Muggles at Harry's party.

"Yeah, they're not cheap," Paul agreed. "But at least you can come over here and play Harry's."

"Sometimes," Ron said, wishing he didn't have to hide the fact that he was a wizard. It really was a bother.

Darkmoon trounced Paul, and Paul surrendered the controller to Ron. Darkmoon glanced about. "Hey, any of you girls want to play?"

Hermione shook her head and so did Sasha, the two were deep in conversation about books, they were discussing Andre Norton's Witch World series, which both of them had read several times, and had absolutely no interest in playing any kind of fighting video game.

Ginny was sitting on the edge of Harry's bed, still fuming over the fact that Harry had a girlfriend, and one who wasn't even all human at that! Sure she was pretty—all right, beautiful—but she wasn't even a witch, and Ginny had been waiting for Harry to notice her for simply ages only to discover that he had found another. She was tempted to push the wolf-bitch off the bed and act like it was an accident, only she didn't quite dare. She looked up and caught Darkmoon's knowing look and flinched guiltily. Could he tell what she had been thinking? Who knew what creepy powers these wolfen had?

"Here, Ginny, right? Come and play, it's fun. I'll bet you can beat your brother," Darkmoon offered, trying to distract the jealous girl from her brooding. He held out the controller.

"Ha! That'll be the day!" Ron laughed.

"Shut up, Ron!" Ginny snapped, coming forward and taking the controller. The boys all seemed mad over these "video games", maybe if she played with them, Harry would notice her instead of that—that silver-haired hussy. She plopped down on the beanbag chair Darkmoon had vacated and began to attack Ron's character. It was actually rather theraputic to rip and stomp things.

Paul was telling Jace and Vince about how he volunteered at the animal shelter, and Vince told Paul about his pony, Puck, and shared annoying little sister stories with Jace. Harry was very happy to see all his friends getting along with each other, and he sat down next to Ginny to watch the tournament.

It went on for several rounds, surprisingly Ginny was quite good, better than Harry or Ron expected, and she seemed determined to beat her older brother. She was playing Kitana and Ron was Scorpion. Finally, Ginny managed to do a Fatality from sheer luck and she won the tournament.

"Ha! Take that, Ron!" Ginny cried.

"How'd you do that?" Ron was flabbergasted. "You went like all nuts and just ripped me to pieces! That's gotta be illegal."

"No, it's a special move called a fatality," Harry explained before they could start fighting. "It's allowed."

"Where'd you learn it?"

"I don't know. I just pressed buttons." Ginny said, feeling very proud of herself.

"I want a rematch," Ron grumbled.

"Okay. Harry, how do you do that?"

Harry leaned over and pressed the reset button.

They were all having so much fun that they didn't even realize two hours had passed. Not until Severus called them down for pizza and cake. Harry had chosen pizza for dinner since he didn't want to make Severus cook anything and he loved pizza anyhow. He hoped all his wizarding friends would like it too. There were pepperoni, extra cheese, and Sicilian with sausage and garlic. Plus breadsticks.

"Mmm! This's fantastic!" Ron said, trying all the kinds at once. "We've never had it this good at home." Then he leaned over and asked Harry, "What do you call this again?"

"Pizza," Harry told him.

"Right." He bit into the sausage piece and gave a soft moan of pleasure. "Oh, but this is my new favorite thing! I wish we could get this at Hogwarts."

"So do I," Vince sighed. "Maybe we could . . .err . . .ask the cooks to make it for us?"

"Think they would?" asked Jace.

"Only one way to find out. Ask."

"It's yummy!" Jilly agreed, she was now sitting in Darkmoon's lap, much to everyone's astonishment. She had sauce all over her face, but was enjoying her dinner immensely.

Hermione laughed. "She's not afraid of anything, is she?"

"Not much," Jace said. "But I'm surprised she gave up her professor for you, Erik."

"I'm not," chuckled Sasha. "He's a real charmer, my cousin. He likes to play stoic Marine, but he's really a big stuffed bear, and Jilly knows it."

By the adult end of the table, Albus was telling the others about his vacation at Skegness and all the mishaps they had encountered. He had everyone in stitches in two minutes flat. Sirius laughed so hard he snorted Coke up his nose, and Remus had tears streaming down his face.

After they had all eaten their fill, Severus went and got the cake, which he had baked from a recipe of Trudy Mosier's, it was chocolate with real banana filling and dark chocolate frosting. On top was written Happy 16th Birthday Harry and the cake had sixteen candles around the top edge.

Everyone gathered around and Harry found himself surrounded by all his friends and family as they all sang "Happy Birthday" and then Severus was leaning over and saying, "Blow them out, son, and make a wish."

Harry leaned over and blew out the candles, wishing as he did so that things could be like this all the time. He knew it was something that would never come true, but somehow it didn't matter. He cut the first slice of cake and served it to his father.

Everyone had slices of cake, ice cream if they wanted, and the adults had coffee and the children milk or Mexican hot cocoa. Ron was continually amazed at the variety of food served, how good it was, and how different things were now with his professor and his best friend. He also noticed Ginny frowning some at Sasha and elbowed her.

"Hey, Gin. Why are you staring at Sasha like that?"

She turned. "Like what?" She returned to eating her cake.

"Like you wanted to punch her out?"

Ginny shrugged. "She gives me the creeps. Her and that other one."

"They're nice enough, I think." Ron said.

Ginny ignored him, eating her cake quickly. If only Harry had never met that Meadowsweet things would be perfect.

"When are you gonna open your pwesents, Hawwy?" asked Jilly.

"Uh . . .maybe a little later." Harry said, thinking quickly. He knew he couldn't risk opening presents in front of Paul, since there was bound to be magical items in there.

Paul glanced up at the clock on the wall. "Ah, hell! Gotta go, Harry. I promised my little brother I'd take him to the movies. Talk to you tomorrow."

Harry was a bit disappointed but also relieved. Once Paul was gone, they could now discuss magic openly. And open the presents.

Severus had Harry sit in the recliner and allowed Jilly to present the smaller gifts. The little girl took her duty very seriously, bringing Harry each gift carefully.

The first one he opened was from Ron, it was several products from Weasley Wizarding Wheezes and Honeydukes chocolate. Harry thanked his friend and Severus rolled his eyes.

From Ginny there was a new broom servicing kit, which he also liked, though he hadn't ridden his Firebolt in awhile.

Paul had given him a brand new video game, Mario Kart.

Jilly put a small green and brown package into his hands with a large card. "This 'un's from me and Jace. I made the card."

Harry smiled. "Thanks, Jilly. The card's cool." He carefully undid the paper and found a box. Inside the box was a certificate to Slug and Jiggers Apothecary and a tin of homemade biscuits from Grace.

Hermione gave him a photoalbum filled with their school pictures and she had also taken some of the birthday party. "It's sort of a memory book of things you did with your friends and family."

"It's a great gift, Hermione."

"You can put some photos of Skegness in it, my boy," suggested Albus.

Harry giggled. "Sure thing, Grandpa."

From Vince and Marietta he got a handpainted box with a Gryffindor lion and Slytherin serpent on it, made by Marietta, and inside was a small amulet with a hawk charm on it. "Vince, wow! Did you like make this yourself?"

Vince nodded. "Aye, but my da helped me a lot. It's got protection charms woven in it and when you speak a word, the charm sort of comes alive and it can fight for you."

"It's great! Thanks!"

Darkmoon's gift was a leather wand sheath with wolves and hawks carved into it. "Made that myself. One of the few artsy things I can do is leatherwork. You can wear it either on a belt or around your leg. I figured it would be easier to get to that way."

Meadowsweet's gift was also greatly appreciated and she received a kiss as well as a thank you.

Sirius and Remus gave him more gift certificates to Quality Quidditch Supplies and the ice cream shop in Diagon Alley.

From Albus and Minerva he received a travel journal and quills and also a magical carryall that could hold almost anything. "Great for traveling, my boy!" Albus said, and then he winked at Severus.

"And this is from me." Severus handed him an envelope.

"Da, you didn't need to get me a present after all of this—" Harry protested.

"I did. Now open it."

Harry did. Inside were tickets to Rome. "Holy Merlin! You mean we're going to go back to Rome?"

"I promised we would, didn't I? We can go in December, when the weather's warm, on Christmas break." Severus told him.

Harry gave him a hug too, grinning from ear to ear. This had been an incredible birthday, so much so that he almost didn't think it was real. Except it was. He knew it was one he would never forget. And not just because of the presents he had gotten, but because he had finally discovered what it meant to have friends and family to celebrate with and that made all the difference. He had, at long last, what he had always wanted.

Soon after that, the party wound down, and one by one, Harry's guests departed. Finally, only the Weasleys and the wolfen were left. It had been decided that Darkmoon would remain overnight and go back to Sylvanor in the morning, and Sasha would remain for the weekend before going to spend August with her new mentor, Poppy Pomfrey, who had agreed to make the young Healer her apprentice, much like Harry had done with Severus and Vince with Hagrid.

Hedwig had delivered a package from the gamekeeper as well earlier in the day, it was a package of his special tea and clover honey with crumpets. Harry planned to have it tomorrow morning for breakfast.

"All right, mate. Guess it's time for us to go," Ron said, standing with the Floo powder at the fireplace. "See you on the train."

"Right. See you."

"Bye, Harry." Ginny said, then on impulse, she hugged and kissed him, but not a quick kiss, a real one, on the lips.

A minute later she pulled away and followed her brother through the Floo, leaving a startled Harry gaping after her.

"What was that all about?"

"I think she has . . .uh . . .the hots for you, kid," Darkmoon said quietly.

"Ginny?" Harry sputtered. "But she's . . .Ron's sister! Like my family. I've never thought of her like that."

"Apparently, she doesn't feel the same way. Sasha's not going to like that," warned her cousin.

Meadowsweet had missed that surprise intimate moment, she had been in the kitchen with Severus, helping him clean up.

"What do I do, Erik?"

"You're asking me for advice on girls?"

"Well, yeah. You're older than me."

"Harry, I've never been involved with a girl since I was locked away in the forest. An alpha doesn't usually choose a mate unless she's an alpha too, and the only female alpha in my pack is also my cousin. Here's the best advice I can give you. You're going to have to make a choice."

"I thought I already did."

"Obviously, Ginny doesn't think so."

Harry groaned. "Damn it! Why is nothing in my life ever simple?"

Darkmoon gave a soft laugh. "Whoever said life was simple, Harry? Usually, just when you think everything's going along, life will throw you a curveball. That's just how it is."

Harry sighed. "I'll have to make her understand. I'll . . .I'll talk to her when we get to school or something."

"Good idea. Hopefully, she'll get the message." Darkmoon said, though he foresaw trouble ahead for his friend and his cousin.

"You want to play cards?" Harry asked then, since it was too early to go to sleep.

"You know how to play poker, kid? Texas Hold'Em?"

"No. But I can learn."

Darkmoon nodded. "You're a quick one. Okay, here's how it goes . . ."

Harry concentrated on the rules of poker, because it kept him from focusing on the new complication that had suddenly come into his life.

Meadowsweet and Severus soon joined them and they played several hands before Harry ended up winning the entire pot of pennies and a few pound notes.

"Beginner's luck," Darkmoon said.

"No. Birthday luck." Severus corrected. "It's late. We should get some sleep."

And then all of them went to bed, Harry and Severus upstairs, and the two wolfen settled down upon the couches with pillows and blankets.

Just before Harry went upstairs, Sasha came to him and kissed him, gently. "I missed you, Harry. I counted hours and days. I prayed and finally my prayers were answered. And now we're free."

He kissed her back, deep and long. "And nothing will ever keep us apart." He vowed.

He reluctantly drew away, and then he started up the stairs, his lips still tingling from the heat of her kisses. He slid inbetween the sheets, his body flushed from holding her, and when he finally surrendered to sleep he dreamed of Sasha on one side of him and Ginny on the other and he woke up hearing Darkmoon's words in his head.

You have to make a choice.