Harry's First Birthday Memory - Sequel to: Harry's Best Cupboard Memories

Harry was lying in his cupboard, fast asleep, his stuffed green teddy bear safely tucked under his arm, while a beautiful black snake with an interesting green pattern on its back slithered through the Dursleys' garden, finding its way through a well-known hole into the small cupboard.

It was two minutes after midnight, when the snake transformed into a tall man in black clothes, who crouched down in front of the small mattress and lightly shook the child's shoulder. "Wake up, Harry," he whispered in a soft, silky voice that caused Harry to stir immediately.

"Dad?" Harry mumbled sleepily and lazily opened his eyes.

"Yes son, it's me. Happy Birthday, Harry!" Severus said softly, placing a kiss on the child's forehead. "You are nine today and a big boy now, aren't you?" He pulled two small boxes out of his robe pockets, both of them beautifully wrapped in colourful paper, and handed them to the child.

Harry glanced horrified at the boxes. 'Are they for me? Are they presents? But I mustn't have birthday presents, because I'm a freak,' he mused.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Severus asked gently, seeing that the child made no move to take any of his presents.

"I don't have birthdays; only Dudley has birthdays, and I'm not allowed to have presents either," Harry confided in a small voice, hesitantly averting his green eyes to look into his father's obsidian eyes.

Severus carefully pulled Harry onto his lap. "Harry, why do you think you don't have birthdays?" he asked softly.

"Because the Dursleys told me only normal people had birthdays and not freaks like me," Harry replied in a hardly audible voice.

"Harry," Severus began to explain patiently, "You are not a freak; you are a very normal child. On the contrary, you're a very powerful wizard. You have birthdays exactly like Dudley and everyone else, and today is your birthday. Of course, you are entitled to have birthday presents, and I brought you these presents because I love you very much, and because I thought you might like them. This present," he pointed to the dark blue paper with colourful balloons on it, "is from me for you. The other present," he showed Harry the other one in yellow paper with orange lions and green roaring dragons on it, "is from Minerva, my colleague, who knows that I'm here with you tonight. She knew you well as a baby, and she also loves you very much and looks forward to seeing you in Hogwarts in two years' time."

Still uncertainly looking at his father, Harry hesitantly reached out for the first present. It held a small box with nine chocolate frogs, and Harry noticed amazed that the box grew bigger as he held it in his hand. "These are chocolate frogs, Harry," Severus explained patiently. "Each single package contains a frog, which you can eat; however, you have to be careful that it doesn't jump away; moreover, each package has a card with a witch or wizard on it, and many children in the magical world collect these cards."

"Thank you so much," Harry replied happily and took the other small present that had been in his father's wrapping paper together with the frogs. It looked like a miniature book, and as soon as Harry took it in his hands, it expanded to a normal sized book. "A book," Harry whispered, totally amazed. 'I absolutely love books, and I've never had a book just for myself,' he thought, excitedly trying to figure out what the book was about. 'A Children's First Introduction into the Fine Art of Potions Making,' the title said.

"I told you before that I am the Potions teacher at Hogwarts, and I remember well that your Mummy loved Potions just like I love it. Therefore, I thought that it might interest you as well, child," Severus said softly, watching amused as Harry cuddled the book close. "By the way, Harry, all your presents are charmed, so that only wizards can see them. The Dursleys won't be able to see any of your presents."

"That's great," Harry replied in absolute relief. "Just like my teddy, right?"

"Correct," Severus replied. "Moreover, they are charmed to return to their original size, once you put them away. As soon as you take them into your hands, they will grow again." He quietly handed the boy Minerva's present, noticing that Harry's eyes began to shine happily as he held another book in his hands and read, 'Hogwarts: A History.'

"Um... Daddy? Who is this Minerva, and why does she give me a present?" he asked incredulously, not believing his luck to receive another book, which sounded as interesting as the first.

"Harry, as I told you she is my colleague, and she knew your Mummy well too. She often baby-sat you, when you were a baby and your Mummy and your adoptive father were still alive." He remained pensive for a moment, before he asked, "Harry, have you ever noticed a gray cat sitting on the wall next to the Dursleys' garden?"

"Oh yes," Harry replied excitedly, remembering too well an incident that had just happened a few days ago. "The cat is there often. She often watches me doing my chores in the garden or in the kitchen." 'I can't tell him that Uncle Vernon slapped me in the face and the cat became so angry that it jumped on him, biting and scratching him in the arm several times.' "She is a very nice cat; a few days ago, she scratched my uncle and bit him when he was unfriendly to me," he just managed to explain, before a huge yawn escaped his mouth.

"I don't think that she would mind you speaking to her," Severus said thoughtfully. "However, you mustn't talk about her to anyone. She will surely come to watch you today, considering that it is your birthday and a Sunday at that. And now I believe it's time for you to go to sleep," he added, seeing that Harry was hardly able to keep his eyes open. He pulled the child into a light embrace before he helped him lie down and carefully tucked him in.

"Good night, Daddy," Harry mumbled sleepily. "Thanks for coming and waking me up, and for the presents."

"You know that I come every night; I love you, son," Severus replied softly, before he placed a kiss on Harry's forehead and transformed back into his snake form to leave the cupboard on his normal way.

Many hours later on the same day, Harry was out in the garden doing his chores, while the Dursleys left to take Dudley out to the zoo. As soon as he noticed their car pulling around the corner, he hesitantly stepped over to the wall, where the gray cat was sitting patiently. "Are you Minerva?" he whispered anxiously, seeing that the cat nodded her head. "Thanks a lot for the interesting book. I've already read the first few pages, and it's absolutely brilliant," Harry whispered and carefully stroked the cat's fur as he spoke, noticing that she was purring contentedly. "You're a beautiful cat. I hope that I'll be able to become an Amigus too when I'm big." He lingered on the thought for a short while before he dismissed it, not able to decide what animal he would like to become as an Animagus. While he proceeded to play with the cat, Harry mused, 'There are at least two people, who love me; I'm not alone. This was my best birthday ever!'

The black snake that was hiding under the bushes a few metres away noticed with satisfaction that a huge smile was playing on the child's lips.

The End

I am not a native speaker of English. So please excuse my mistakes - or tell me, so that I can correct them!

All recognizable characters belong to Mrs. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.