“What are you doing Sirius?” Harry questioned, staring in confusion as Sirius pranced around the foyer excitedly. Severus leaned against the oak banister post with a blank expression on his face. Harry had absolutely no idea what they were up to.

“I'm waiting,” Sirius answered distractedly. “Why can't they be faster?”

“Who do you want to be faster?” Harry asked. “What are you on about?”

Sirius didn't answer. He acted as if Harry hadn't even said anything to him. Harry looked over at Severus, thinking he might clarify what was going on, but even he just stared at Harry, the tiniest of smirks playing across his lips.

The doorbell rang, causing Sirius to give Harry a wide smile as he raced to go answer it.

“Sirius,” came a friendly voice. Harry recognized the voice as Alex's. “I believe you've been expecting something?”

“Finally!” Sirius exclaimed, whirling around to motion Harry and Severus to follow him. “Come on you two, Mahon Hallow won't wait forever!”

Harry walked alongside Severus out the door. He looked up at him curiously, asking, “What exactly's going on on Mahon Hollow?”

“I'm not sure,” Severus said easily, though Harry had a feeling that he wasn't being quite so honest. “Perhaps we'll have to walk over there and find out, hm?”

Harry hadn't realized how dark it became. What time was it, anyway? He lost track a while ago.

“It's nice out,” Sirius called over his shoulder as he walked in front of Harry and Severus with Alex. It was almost as if he'd read Harry's mind. “Why did you want us out so late, Alex? It's pretty dark out. I didn't realize you meant around this time.”

Alex looked back at Harry and winked as he answered Sirius. “You'll see!”

The cool night breeze slipped along Harry's face, blowing his hair back some. The streets seemed so quiet and dark. Almost eerie.

“Mahon Hollow,” Severus said in a low voice to Harry, nodding his head to the street in front of them.

Harry inspected it closely. It had to be the darkest street they had come by. Possibly the darkest street in the whole town! Every single light was completely out. Why did they want to come here?

Harry felt Severus's hand rest upon his shoulder, and as he looked up, Severus gave it a light squeeze.

As if that had been the trigger, suddenly Harry was blinded by a burst of light, and an extremely loud, “Happy Belated Birthday, Harry!”

When Harry was finally able to wrench his eyes open, he saw that all of Mahon Hollow had been strewn with bright, mostly white, lights. They almost looked like miniature Christmas lights. An enormous banner was somehow stuck on a house on one side of the street and the other end of it was on the one across from it, hanging between the streets. In colorful script it read “Happy Birthday!” although between those two words, 'belated' had been squeezed in in cramped, messy writing.

Harry figured that probably the entire town, or most of it, was huddled through the streets.

Streamers were carelessly thrown everywhere, glitter littered the streets. It looked… amazing.

“There's a huge barbeque down on Crescent Avenue,” Alex finally spoke up. “We were all in such a rush to get this together, we held off eating supper, so we're considering this as a very late supper.”

“You didn't have to do this,” Harry breathed, his eyes wide and shining in disbelief. “I haven't had an actual birthday party in… well my whole life… but… thank you!”

Harry was too wrapped up to notice Alex's confused stare, so Severus spoke up quickly. “He means one as fancy and… extravagant as this.”

Alex grinned. “We tried our best, considering he didn't exactly have an appropriate real birthday…”

“Well I think it's great,” Sirius said enthusiastically. “It's a great way to introduce Harry to the town.”

Alex's confused look returned.

“Again,” Sirius added quickly. “After all, he's… been gone… long, of course. He needs to be reintroduced.”

Harry smiled weakly at Alex, and then quickly pulled Severus aside, looking rather scared. “What am I going to do?” he whispered, looking at the townspeople, who, satisfied with Harry's surprised reaction, began mingling and talking animatedly. “I don't know anybody!”

“It's all right,” Severus said soothingly. “Just stick with me, and act like a Snape.”

Harry bit his lip. “Mean and snarky?”

Severus scowled. “I am not mean and snarky!”

“Well maybe not you but—urgh, I don't know how the other me acted! I can't be like him! I give up.”

Severus stayed quiet, his features softening as he said, “Shall I rephrase, then? Just act like yourself.”

Harry swallowed, nodding his head. “Something I'm good at, at least. Should we go in there now?”

“I think that would be appropriate.”

Harry let out a breath, noticing then that Sirius had left them and was now laughing with a bunch of people a little way down the street. With an encouraging nod from Severus, the two approached the mob of people awaiting them.

“Twelve years old! Do you feel any older, Harry?” a young woman asked excitedly from Harry's right.

“Yes—yeah.”

“Oh, Harry.” An older lady approached him. Harry immediately recognized her as Mrs. Hammond. “I remember when you were just a little baby, and Severus moved in with you. So hard to believe it was that many years ago. Now look at you! So handsome, just like your father. You must be so proud, Severus.”

Mrs. Hammond smiled warmly as Severus nodded. “I certainly am.”

Another lady, obviously overhearing the conversation, immediately joined in. “Severus and Harry! I remember the day they moved in, too. Harry was just the cutest little baby, and Severus was so inexperienced…”

Severus scowled. “Inexperienced.”

“Don't worry,” she added quickly. “Look how he's turned out! You did a fine job.”

“Yes, well, we should be moving along,” Severus said, gently tugging Harry's hand. “Goodday, ladies.”

“Who was she?” Harry whispered as they walked away.

“Mrs. Judy Warbrough,” Severus answered. “Over there's Jen Bellingham. She's known for borrowing things and hardly returning them, though I figure you are already quite aware of that. Next to her, that's Jim, her husband. Over there… oh, yes, Anthony Ackerman. Quite annoying, if I do say so. Olivia Eaton, Joshua Burman, Jacob Worths—”

“Happy Birthday, sport!”

It was almost inaudible, but Harry still caught the groan Severus let out as they both turned around to find Evan Taylor beaming down proudly at Harry.

“Hi Mr. Taylor,” Harry said uncertainly, praying that that was actually his last name.

Evan chuckled. “No, no, what have I told you about that? It's Evan, kiddo, Evan.”

“Evan,” Harry amended. He quickly looked up to Severus staring at Evan coldly. Evan didn't seem to even notice, however.

“You know, it was my idea that we should throw this together,” Evan said brightly. “Do you like it?”

“I really do,” Harry answered honestly with a grin. “It's pretty great.”

“Well I'm glad, after all—”

Severus let out a loud, aggravated sigh, looking utterly annoyed. “Harry, your godfather will not cease calling your name. I suggest we go see what he could possibly want before he irks me more than he already has.”

“All right. It was nice talking to you,” Harry added as Severus gently began to pull him away, and he hardly heard what Evan's reply was.

“Is Sirius still calling for me?” Harry asked as he and Severus made their way through the crowds, smiling and saying hi to people that were merely strangers to him. It was difficult to pretend that he actually did know them. “I can't even see him.”

“He was never calling you in the first place,” Severus answered briefly, and he didn't care to add on to that.

“You really don't like Evan Taylor, do you?” Harry questioned curiously. Already the smell of the barbeque wafting down the street from Crescent Avenue tingled his nose.

“I don't care for him.”

Harry hesitated. “Is it because you're jealous?” Harry wasn't expecting Severus to stop in his tracks, causing Harry to stop as well and turn to give him a puzzled look. “What, whats wrong?”

A weird look crossed Severus's face, and he continued to remain still. “Where on earth did you get that absurd idea?”

Harry blushed. “Sirius suggested it to me. Why, are you?”

“I certainly am not,” Severus said indignantly. “Black and his suggestions. Harry, you're a fool to listen to one thing that comes out of that mans mouth.”

Severus began to walk forward again, and Harry gladly followed.

“But why, are you?” Harry pressed, looking up at Severus, waiting for an answer.

“Hardly,” Severus said shortly, but the way he said it made Harry doubt that, so he dropped it anyway.

They continued their way down Mahon Hollow, saying hi and making short conversation with people when necessary. Soon, Harry was introduced to so many people, and was trying desperately to remember names and faces, that his head began to hurt.

Then he saw the connecting street, Cresent Avenue, and the smell of the barbeque became more intense as they neared. Sure enough, Harry easily spotted Sirius amongst the enormous amount of people crowding the food. It seemed Sirius spotted them too, because he grabbed his plate of food and approached them with a look of enthusiasm.

“Have you met everybody?” Sirius asked, offering Harry something from his plate.

Harry snorted. “Not exactly. It'll take all night to meet everybody.”

Sirius gave Harry a grin. “Don't worry about it, just enjoy yourself. This is, after all, for you. Did you see Evan Taylor, by any chance? He came around looking for you.”

“Yes,” Severus said sourly. “We were quite lucky to get away.”

Sirius slid Harry another grin and gave his head a small shake. His eyes suddenly widened as he used his free hand to point to the food. “Did you know they had a plate of gherkins over there?” Sirius let out a low moan. “And Caroline Jursen made spring rolls. Can you believe how delicious they were? I think I may have burnt my chin, though.”

“You think?” Harry repeated, his eyebrows raised.

“There's a good chance that Black was too busy stuffing his face to notice whether he burnt himself or not,” Severus commented distastefully. “I'd hardly be surprised.”

Sirius scowled, but didn't object. A curious look began to slip onto Sirius's face as he looked at something behind Harry. Harry noticed that Severus seemed to be string at the same thing as well. Turning his head, Harry saw… oh what were their names? Two older women, the names were on the tip of Harry's tongue…. One was… Abigail Gavet, so the other was… Colleen Prindle?

The chatter that filled the streets began to fade away as the two, holding a medium sized box, approached Harry with warm smiles. Harry quickly glanced around at his surroundings. Everyone seemed to be staring expectantly at them, and it made Harry nervous. He looked up at Severus to see what his expression was of, but to Harry he found it unreadable. Noticing that Harry was looking at him, Severus gave a brief nod of the head, which, for some reason, Harry found comforting, and his nervousness began to fade almost as quick as the chatter had.

“Harry,” the brunette woman started with a smile. Harry figured she might have been Colleen Prindle, which meant the strawberry blonde woman was Abigail Gavet. “Since this was such an unexpected event… well, we just hope you're having a great time, and, well—this is a present for you, from the people of the town.”

They handed the box to Harry, which uncomfortably, Harry accepted. It was rather light, with only a little bit of weight on one side. Harry wondered what it could be, and suddenly, with everybody staring at him, he began to feel embarrassed.

“Thank you,” he murmured, keeping his gaze down on the box with the tiny bow and ribbons on top. He noticed holes in the sides of the box. Curious, he thought. “Honestly, you didn't need to….”

There was a smile in Colleen Prindle's voice. “No, we wanted to. Now go ahead love, open it.”

Quickly, Harry glanced up at the two women before looking back down, and trying to hold the box in one arm and take the ribbon off with the other. Harry felt that people around him were holding their breath, waiting for his reaction when he took the cover off. It was deadly quiet. Somewhere in the crowd, a voice yelled out, “It best not be socks!” and immediately disturbed the silence.

There were a few chuckles, and Harry smiled weakly, his nervousness surfacing once again. He took the lid off, his breath catching in his throat as he stared down into the box.

“What is it?” the same voice yelled again uncertainly.

Carefully and gently, Harry pulled his present out of the box, looking up at the two women in front of him with wide eyes.

“It's a kitten!” someone else whispered loudly to people who couldn't tell what it was, and several “aw's” emerged from the crowd.

The small, black kitten meowed in Harry's palm. Harry had never actually held such a small kitten before, and tried his best not to squeeze it too tightly as he inspected it. Black, with rather yellowish green eyes, a small patch of white on its chest, its tail and above one of its paws.

“Do you like it?” Abigail asked softly.

“I do,” Harry replied honestly. “Is it a girl or boy?”

Colleen laughed. “A boy. We realized the only pet you've really had was that hamster years ago, and, well, after Sirius thought that it needed a little fresh air and took it out of its cage and let it run around outside… it never did show up again… and with a kitten, they can go outside.”

Sirius frowned, but stepped up beside Harry to look at the kitten in his hand. “Good thing none of us are allergic to cats,” he commented, touching it gently with his finger. “What are you going to name it, Harry?”

Harry swallowed, looking up at Severus. He was staring at the kitten as well, looking as if he wasn't quite sure what to make of it. “I—I dunno,” he said. “Maybe… maybe just Black? Since it's your last name and… it seems to be Severus's favorite color….” Harry hid his grin from Severus as he glared. “Is the cat… y'know… can he go on his own?”

“Oh, yes,” Abigail answered quickly, nodding her head. “Litter trained and everything.”

“Thank you,” Harry said again, rubbing the kittens silky fur inbetween his fingers. “Very much.”

Abigail and Colleen beamed. “You're welcome,” Colleen answered. “Very much.”

--

“Weeeeeeell, kiddo,” Sirius said, drawing out the word 'well' as they returned to the manor after eating some of the food, meeting some other townsfolk and thanking everyone. “Did you have a good time at the party?”

Harry smiled and nodding, the kitten still tucked protectively in his arm. “It was really something, and I've never had a kitten before.”

Harry set the kitten down on the mat in front of him. It began to walk around the hardwood floor.

“I think I'm going to go to bed, I'm knackered. 'Night, kiddo.” Sirius kissed the top of Harry's head, and careful not to trip over the tiny black ball of fur, made his way up the angled staircase.

“Perhaps you should sleep as well,” Severus mused, studying Harry intently. “You do look rather tired.”

“There's just…” Harry hesitated, wondering how he could possibly ask Severus what he was about to ask. He swallowed. “I'd like… I want to know… Could you tell me…?”

Severus stared at Harry blankly. “I cannot comprehend one thing you're trying to say.”

Harry sighed, frustrated with himself, and picked the kitten up. He walked over to the staircase and sat down on the penultimate step, setting the kitten down beside him on the carpet runner. He began to touch the black wrought iron ballusters next to him nervously, avoiding Severus's eye.

Harry mumbled something, and Severus scowled.

“Speak up, I cannot hear you!”

Harry sighed again, staring at Severus directly in the eye, and pronounced each word carefully. “I want you to show me… my… funeral.”