PRIORI INCANTATEM by Arianna Waters (read with me .TXT) 📖

two went inside, and party resumed. The cake was shared. Delicacies appraised and complimented. The Weasley Twins urged Harry to open his presents then and there, much to his annoyance.

He opened the largest of the presents, wrapped in red paper first, which was from his father. It turned out to be a muggle television set — an oddity in magical world, thus drawing everyone’s attention.

“For the holidays,” James explained. “I, Lily, Remus and Arthur have worked upon it so that it can work without electricity.”

“That one now!” Sirius shouted over, pointing to a box in gold. It was a giant CD case, having a rather large collection of muggle movies and games.

“I’ve always wanted to watch a muggle movie,” Tonks said, eyeing it.

“Yeah, we’ll all watch one together, please,” Harry said, giving everyone a pleading look.

As everyone nodded, Remus asked, “Which one are we going to watch then, Harry?”

Harry looked around to the eager and excited faces. His gaze fell on Dumbledore and he yelled, “The Wizard of Oz!”

All those who could make out a connection, and were not Hermione, doubled up with laughter.

Sirius had given him a candy shop’s worth of sweets, while he got a huge collection of rare books on Defense Against the Dark Arts from Remus Lupin.

Hermione had got him a chocolate cake and a two-year subscription to Quidditch Weekly. Ron had given him more candy. Bill gave him an Egyptian Pyramid, but kept rather secretive regarding it. Later, it was found that it opened when kept down, and a mummy emerged from inside, which frightened Hermione and caused Tonks to tumble over.

Charlie had sent him the model of the Hungarian Horntail he had picked out of the bag for his first task. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave him a large platter of home-made cookies. Ginny gave him a diary and a beautiful greeting card with another one of her poems (Harry sheepishly remembered the first one he had got on the Valentine’s Day back in his second year, and was relieved it wasn’t even distantly related to that one).

Cedric Diggory had given him more spell books for fighting the Dark Arts, more sweets, and a special book named How to befool the Hogwarts Caretakers, which got a laugh from everyone, and a ‘Not that he would need it’ comment from the Weasley twins.

Albus Dumbledore had given him his personal works on Defense Against the Dark Arts, which caught everyone’s eye.

Harry was surprised when he found a present from Ludo Bagman. It was the golden egg he had retrieved in his first task. He halfheartedly opened it and was rather pleased when he did not hear the wails it used to previously whenever he opened it. It was empty but still a memorable thing to keep. He also got a batch of French cookies and other sweets from Fleur Delacour.

He also received a poorly wrapped present containing six single brightly coloured socks from Dobby; and homemade chocolate cake and pasties from Hagrid.

Tonks, Kingsley and Mad-Eye had given him a rather large collection on books on Aurors, including Popular Aurors of Twentieth Century, Seven Tips for an Auror’s Success, From the Quill of Auror Department Heads and many more.

By the time he had opened all presents save those from Weasley Twins and the ones from his parents, he could boast of having more candy than two Honeydukes shops combined, but thankfully there were enough people at Grimmauld Place to share it with.

Almost reluctantly, he turned to the Weasley Twins’ presents. He knew better than to expect something straight from them. He removed the wrapping paper to reveal three boxes kept one over the other.

He opened the first box to reveal a mound of books on . . . POTIONS?

“Snape reckons you’re dumber than a troll at potions,” Fred said.

“So we thought you might as well learn a bit more,” said George.

“In potions, books are better teachers!” said Fred.

“So, there you go . . . all the books ever owned by Fred and me, on potions,” George finished.

“Fred . . . George . . . we’re talking about Harry, not Neville Longbottom,” Ron said. “And again, Harry and not Hermione!” he added.

“Care to explain?” Hermione smugly said.

“Well — er — Harry is bad at potions — but I’m as bad — and it’s Neville who’s got troll brains on potions.” Ron elaborated. “And then — Hermione’s the one who reads books on boring subjects, not Harry!”

“Well,” Dumbledore spoke up, “Now with Lily here, I don’t think Harry will ever feel the need for another Potions Master. She is clearly as good at Severus!”

Lily blushed as everyone looked at her in awe.

Harry moved on to the second box. He had barely opened it when a head peeped out, firstly belonging to Snape and then changing to Malfoy.

“Hated hags —” Fred said.

“— tells you whom you hate the most —,” George said.

“— got the idea from Boggarts —” said Fred.

“— but looks like your soul has more hatred than usual, you got two heads!” George said.

“Yeah, I could never decide whom I hate most,” Harry said. “Snape or Malfoy!”

Many people gave it a go afterwards. Ron got Draco Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle; Hermione got Rita Skeeter; Sirius got his mother and Bellatrix’s head switching places; Remus got Dumbledore; James got Snape and Vernon Dursley; but surprisingly Lily got none.

“Looks like Lily-flower has got a loving soul,” James said.

“Ah yes!” Dumbledore said. “But may I know why you hate me so much Remus?”

“For sending Harry to the Dursleys I suppose!” Remus snarled at him.

Harry felt his heart warming once more to the affection his father’s second best friend held for him. He got up and hugged Remus.

The third box turned out to be the real one. It included a lot of joke stuff from Fred and George, wrapped up separately to save it from the eyes of those who will later fall prey to them. It also contained the twins’ entire Chocolate Frog Card collection, which they had given to Harry to add to his.

Harry turned to the large pile of presents from his parents.

The first one held a note saying — “Memories from first birthday”. It included a toy broomstick (similar to the one Sirius had gifted to him on his actual first birthday), stuffed animals — a wolf, a dog and a stag and a lot of other toys.

Then, there was a box for each of Harry’s next fourteen birthdays, from second to fifteenth.

For his second birthday, Harry got storybooks including The Tales of Beedle the Bard and a lot others, more toys and some candy.

For his third one, he got more books, toys and candy.

It went on till he got a picture of a broomstick on his eighth birthday. (Lily explained that he already had one so they needn’t buy a new one.)

For his tenth, he got a puppy — a dark brown and white beagle.

He got more books, sweets, toys, clothes and a lot of different things for subsequent years.

Finally, for his fifteenth birthday, he received a particularly small box with a note instructing him to open it later, when alone.

Thus, after an hour and a half of present opening, he found himself sitting with the others watching The Wizard of Oz, with Snitch (the beagle) sitting on his lap.

It was nearly midnight when Harry returned to his room, laden with his presents, dead-tired, but really very happy. He hadn’t been amongst those who looked forward to birthdays, but his mindset had changed now. This had been one of the best days in his life.

He sat down on his bed to open the small box which everyone had been so curious about. The packing held a very small jewelry case, in which lay on red velvet a beautiful ring. Harry didn’t have much knowledge of jewelry, but even he could tell that the ring was a specimen of brilliant craftsmanship. The band was an intricately woven pattern of platinum and gold with diamonds in between, which ended in two fire-opals lying opposite to each other, showcasing a red diamond in the centre.

Another note had fallen out of the case. It said:

Dear Harry,

This is the ring my father proposed my mother with. The same one Lily wore on her finger when she agreed to marry me. It has been in our family for a long time. Hope you’ll make the best decision when time comes and may this ring lie on the finger of the girl who completes you.

Your father,

James.

P.S. I got it when I came of age, so did my father and his father, but I suppose having the Darkest Wizard on your tail has got its own perks!

Harry smiled. He had made a lot of guesses regarding this last present, but he hadn’t definitely imagined this. He looked fondly at the ring, before locking it with a spell and securely keeping it inside his trunk. Finally, with a wide smile on his face, he fell asleep.

Imprint

Text: Arianna Waters
Images: Arianna Waters
Publication Date: 03-06-2016

All Rights Reserved