Sixteen Candles
What if you were granted one wish - anything you wanted, with no strings attached? On his sixteenth birthday, Harry is transferred to a world he has always dreamed of; a world where the lives of his parents are very much a reality. He doesn't know how and he doesn't know why, all he knows is that things finally start to make sense once more.
PG-13
This is a repost of Sixteen Candles under a different screen name - I'm not about to risk my other stories because of an idiot flamer.
If there's one thing I believe, it's life can and most definitely will screw you over every possible chance it gets. Of course, it's often said people only remember those particular instances instead of seeing the blessings that surround them on a daily basis. I shouldn't be one to talk – I had the two best friends a guy could ever ask for, fame, money, a godfather who would kill for me (mind you, he never has), even my own bloody Chocolate Frog Card. What more could I have ever, in my wildest dreams, asked for?
No one, not once, had ever asked me what I wish for most; I suppose they believed there isn't anything I don't have that I could ever possibly want.
Needless to say, they were wrong.
If asked, I would know exactly what my wish would be; I grew up in a cupboard under a flight of stairs, alone in the dork with only spiders and my thoughts to keep me company. Sure, I had family – an aunt who thought I was the worst thing to ever happen in her perfectly normal life, an uncle who thought me a wart on an otherwise unblemished chin, and a cousin who very simply hated me. They were nothing like the family I had once had, before I was orphaned at the age of one; a mother and father who had died to protect me. I was once loved – I wanted that back.
After I came to Hogwarts, I was forced into the spotlight; I had gone from Harry Potter, freak of nature and lonely boy, to Harry Potter, a hero's hero and the Boy Who Lived. I was never Just Harry, which was all I really wanted to be.
If I was ever asked what my greatest wish was, I'd know it would be normalcy; to have a mother, to have a father, but most of all, to simply be loved.
The last rays of the dying sun filtered through the west window into the cozy kitchen inside the Burrow, which was currently occupied by nine Weasleys, Hermione Granger, and myself. A gigantic chocolate layered cake was placed in front of me, sixteen candles glowing merrily and protruding proudly out of the sticky vanilla frosting. They had been provided by Fred and George, the Weasley twins who had a reputation for tricks and practical jokes of all sorts. I had been wary of the candles before George tested one out himself, proving to me they were sage and trick-free.
On either side of me were my two best friends – Ron Weasley and Hermione. Lined up and down the picnic style table was the rest of the redheaded Weasley clan, each looking at me with great anticipation.
"Blow out your candles and make a wish, Harry!" Ron urged, his eyes shinning with excitement. "Make a wish – go on!"
I grinned towards him, taking in a deep breath at the same time. Facing the large cake with its sixteen glowing candles, I exhaled slowly, making sure to get each and every one of them and at the same time, making the one wish I allowed myself each year.
Call me cheesy, call me naïve, call me weak, but there was really only one thing I could ever imagine myself wishing for that wasn't for the greater good. It was what I wished for every year, with or without a birthday cake and candles – which, by the way, my aunt and uncle never bothered providing me with. It had been the one hope I had as a child, locked away in the cupboard and denied freedom and basic human rights I had always been entitled to.
I wished my parents were still alive.
As soon as I thought the last word, my world melted before my eyes, black absorbing the colours until all that was left was complete nothingness.
Before I had a chance to think, breathe, or anything else for that matter, I felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around me. As the world around me slipped back into focus, I momentarily thought it was perhaps Hermione or Mrs. Weasley who had embraced me, until I looked into a pair of eyes that so resembled mine – the same glint, the same warmth, and the exact same shade of emerald I had seen each and every time I bothered to glance at myself in a mirror.
"Happy Birthday, son!"
What if you were granted one wish - anything you wanted, with no strings attached? On his sixteenth birthday, Harry is transferred to a world he has always dreamed of; a world where the lives of his parents are very much a reality. He doesn't know how and he doesn't know why, all he knows is that things finally start to make sense once more.
PG-13
This is a repost of Sixteen Candles under a different screen name - I'm not about to risk my other stories because of an idiot flamer.
If there's one thing I believe, it's life can and most definitely will screw you over every possible chance it gets. Of course, it's often said people only remember those particular instances instead of seeing the blessings that surround them on a daily basis. I shouldn't be one to talk – I had the two best friends a guy could ever ask for, fame, money, a godfather who would kill for me (mind you, he never has), even my own bloody Chocolate Frog Card. What more could I have ever, in my wildest dreams, asked for?
No one, not once, had ever asked me what I wish for most; I suppose they believed there isn't anything I don't have that I could ever possibly want.
Needless to say, they were wrong.
If asked, I would know exactly what my wish would be; I grew up in a cupboard under a flight of stairs, alone in the dork with only spiders and my thoughts to keep me company. Sure, I had family – an aunt who thought I was the worst thing to ever happen in her perfectly normal life, an uncle who thought me a wart on an otherwise unblemished chin, and a cousin who very simply hated me. They were nothing like the family I had once had, before I was orphaned at the age of one; a mother and father who had died to protect me. I was once loved – I wanted that back.
After I came to Hogwarts, I was forced into the spotlight; I had gone from Harry Potter, freak of nature and lonely boy, to Harry Potter, a hero's hero and the Boy Who Lived. I was never Just Harry, which was all I really wanted to be.
If I was ever asked what my greatest wish was, I'd know it would be normalcy; to have a mother, to have a father, but most of all, to simply be loved.
The last rays of the dying sun filtered through the west window into the cozy kitchen inside the Burrow, which was currently occupied by nine Weasleys, Hermione Granger, and myself. A gigantic chocolate layered cake was placed in front of me, sixteen candles glowing merrily and protruding proudly out of the sticky vanilla frosting. They had been provided by Fred and George, the Weasley twins who had a reputation for tricks and practical jokes of all sorts. I had been wary of the candles before George tested one out himself, proving to me they were sage and trick-free.
On either side of me were my two best friends – Ron Weasley and Hermione. Lined up and down the picnic style table was the rest of the redheaded Weasley clan, each looking at me with great anticipation.
"Blow out your candles and make a wish, Harry!" Ron urged, his eyes shinning with excitement. "Make a wish – go on!"
I grinned towards him, taking in a deep breath at the same time. Facing the large cake with its sixteen glowing candles, I exhaled slowly, making sure to get each and every one of them and at the same time, making the one wish I allowed myself each year.
Call me cheesy, call me naïve, call me weak, but there was really only one thing I could ever imagine myself wishing for that wasn't for the greater good. It was what I wished for every year, with or without a birthday cake and candles – which, by the way, my aunt and uncle never bothered providing me with. It had been the one hope I had as a child, locked away in the cupboard and denied freedom and basic human rights I had always been entitled to.
I wished my parents were still alive.
As soon as I thought the last word, my world melted before my eyes, black absorbing the colours until all that was left was complete nothingness.
Before I had a chance to think, breathe, or anything else for that matter, I felt a strong pair of arms wrap themselves around me. As the world around me slipped back into focus, I momentarily thought it was perhaps Hermione or Mrs. Weasley who had embraced me, until I looked into a pair of eyes that so resembled mine – the same glint, the same warmth, and the exact same shade of emerald I had seen each and every time I bothered to glance at myself in a mirror.
"Happy Birthday, son!"