A Happy Birthday(I)

After beating them an innumerable amount of times I eventually go downstairs to help Uncle Ted cook dinner. Harry and Ron just stay in my room playing Super Mario Cart while I'm gone, they offered to help but I turned them down.

Ron turned out to be way better at Mario Cart than at Zelda. By the time I get back, they both have practice and I can't catch a break. Blue shell after blue shell after blue shell. I think I am developing a trauma at this point.

The next morning I wake up far before everyone else and immediately feel a cold chill on my neck. I quickly get up and head outside as this is the signal I told my dementors to use to notify me of danger. Odd signal, I know.

As I sneak past Harry and Ron I close the door softly and check my surroundings. Seeing the coast is clear I shift into my dementor form. I phase through the wall and head to two dementors floating above the house waiting.

I notice there is an unconscious house-elf being held by the bigger dementor. I turn to face the bigger dementor.

'Did you feast?' My dry voice echo's out.

It shakes its head understanding my words. This surprises me a tiny bit since they never really responded before. They just did as they were told, but as Sid said, they did become smarter with more interaction.

'Give it to me' The dementor lowers its head and tosses over the house-elf as if it were a sack of potatoes.

I wave them off with a hand 'Continue your jobs, I will deal with this.'

At my words, the two turn and fly back to their hiding spots. I look at the house-elf with a scrupulous gaze as I carry him into the forest past Luar's pen. I land in an opening and shift back to human as I toss the elf towards a tree.

My shadow turns to fog as it wraps around the elf holding him against the tree. The elf's eyes snap open from the force of hitting the tree.

"Master Black?" The elf questions with wide eyes.

"Tell me elf, who sent you to harm my family?" I say with cold eyes staring through him.

"H-harm? Dobby would never. Dobby is a good elf." He stutters out with fear on his face.

"Then why are you here? You are not masterless that is for sure. So what are you up to?" I point my wand towards the elf as I step closer.

He looks panicked "D-dobby was…"

"Speak," I say as I press my wand up to the elf's neck.

"Dobby wants to keep Harry Potter safe." His ears fall as he speaks.

My eyebrows furrow "Are you the one who has been targeting Harry and stealing his letters?"

Dobby looks away "Dobby thought if Harry Potter thought his friends abandoned him he wouldn't go back to Hogwarts."

"Why can't Harry go back to Hogwarts?" I ask pulling my wand away.

"It's not safe for Harry Potter." The elf says with genuine concern.

"Yes, I get that. But why?" I ask sternly.

Dobby looks away again "Master said to not tell anyone. Dobby must obey his Master." His face is stricken with fear.

I nod no matter how much he wants to tell me an elf will not betray their master. "Who is your master?"

Dobby fidgets a little "Dobby serves the Malfoy family."

I nod slowly anger written on my face. "And why do you want to help Harry?" I release Dobby from my shroud now that I feel he is trustworthy.

"Because Dobby knows who Master serves." Dobby looks both sad and angry as he speaks.

"Who is that?" I ask quizzically already knowing the answer.

Dobby's small hands ball into fists as he answers through grit teeth "Dobby cannot answer."

I nod "As expected. You should leave. No one can touch Harry as long as I'm around and Dumbledore wouldn't slack off either."

"But Master Black, Harry Po-" He is cut off by my cold voice.

"I SAID LEAVE," I say in a commanding and slightly angry voice.

The elf snaps his fingers and vanishes. I stand there for a second rubbing my temples.

'Why did I get mad at the elf? He was only trying to help.' I sigh.

"Fucking hell… on my Birthday as well," I speak to myself as I head back to the house.

I realize on the way back that I've been in pajamas this whole time. I roll my eyes as I walk inside quietly and pour myself some tea. I've learned to enjoy the dirt water after being in England for so long.

I decide to just stay up since the sun will rise soon. I start to prepare breakfast for everyone since it's almost time for Auntie and Uncle to wake up. Since I am already awake I decide to make them a full American experience.

Not to brag but I'm pretty good at making breakfast since I made it every single day in my past life. I prepare 3 skillets, a pot, and a baking pan. We don't have any gravy so I have to make it myself.

I make bacon, eggs, pancakes, with biscuits and gravy using hickory-smoked sausage. I must have made too much noise because Auntie and Uncle came out in their pj's. The second they saw me setting the table I felt a chill down my spine. I turn to see Auntie giving me a killing glare.

"Soren, it's your birthday, you are supposed to let me cook for you. Not the other way round." She looks angry but you can tell she is kind of kidding.

Uncle Ted looks happy looking at the table. "You know I haven't had an American breakfast since I had a business trip in the '70s."

I smile "Glad to help spread the best thing about America."

Auntie smiles "What? Food?"

I chuckle "No. My cooking."

Uncle Ted laughs while Auntie just rolls her eyes. I finish setting up the table and look up at them.

"I'll go get Ron and Harry. Does either one of you want to volunteer to wake up Sis?" I give a wry smile as neither of them wants to.

Uncle Ted gets up "How about I get your friends and you can go get your sister. She won't hit you as hard anyway."

I roll my eyes nodding as I start heading to Sis Dora's room. As I reach her room I knock a few times to no response. I knock again, no response.

I sigh "Won't be that easy huh."

I slowly begin to open the door "I'm coming in." I notice her room is a lot cleaner than usual.

I see a big lump of blankets on her bed which I can only assume to be her. I grab the top of the pile and pull hard. The four or five blankets come flying off exposing the figure of Nymphadora hugging a pillow in disheveled pajamas.

She slowly opens her eyes and glares at me. "You are lucky it's your birthday."

I smile "Hurry up downstairs, I made an American-style breakfast for everyone. You don't want the pancakes to get cold now do you?"

I see her smile a bit at the mention of food. "You, my good sir, make a tempting offer. Get out, I'll get dressed then head down."

I nod as I walk out into the hallway and lock on to the tired faces of Harry and Ron. I smile at their zombie-like walk towards the stairs.

I sneak up to them and smack their backs. "What is with the long faces on such a nice morning."

Harry jumps a bit before he groans but Ron speaks up "Are you mental? The sun isn't even up yet."

I laugh at his suffering "Don't worry I made breakfast so you know it's good."

Harry back at me surprised "You made breakfast?"

I nod as we make our way down the stairs. "I'm pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself."

Ron groans "How are you so awake? You went to sleep AFTER us."

I shrug as we get to the dining room to see Auntie already laid out the food for everyone. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for biscuits and gravy. I do wonder what English people call it since their biscuits are very different from mine.

Auntie notices us and immediately asks "Where is Nymphadora?"

Before I can answer I hear an angry holler from behind us on the stairs "I said don't call me by that name!"

Auntie smiles "There she is. Come sit down boys."

Uncle Ted is already sitting at the end of the table reading the paper. I don't think he is actually reading though since he was taking peeks at the food every so often. After everyone sat down we start setting our plates the newspaper is quickly put down.

"Ah? Are we eating?" Uncles Ted quickly says as he grabs a few pancakes before anyone else.

I have never been one big on compliments but after we finished eating I had enough for the year. Although they didn't like the look of the biscuits and gravy they loved the taste. Being an American it doesn't look odd to me but I'm sure it looks like vomit on a plate to them.

After that, we brought the Wizard's chessboard downstairs and did a small tournament. Auntie, Dora, and I got eliminated immediately. I never claimed to be a wise man and chess has proven that I'm not. Uncle Ted and Harry had some good games but Uncle Ted ended up winning. The games with Uncle Ted against Ron, however, went on forever.

It really wasn't the best idea to do a best of three, win by two rule. It ended up going over an hour ending 7-5 in favor of Uncle Ted. Apparently in Hogwarts Uncle Ted had made a Chess club and was the captain for four years.

'The more you know, huh?'