There are some people in life that will never be considered normal by any standards. In fact, these are the people whom most would believe to be abnormal or weird. This was true even in the wizarding world, where weird and abnormal were everyday occurrences. Harry Potter was one of these people. His appearance was similar to that of every other fifteen year old boy. The only outward sign that Harry was different was the scar on his forehead shaped like a bolt of lightening. He had received it on Halloween, the year he turned one. A powerful Dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, had tried to kill him after murdering his parents, James and Lily Potter. The curse meant to kill Harry had rebounded back onto Voldemort, causing many to believe that Harry had killed the most feared Dark Lord in history! In reality, the reflected curse had cast Voldemort out of his body, leaving him almost powerless. There had been no choice but to flee, searching for a way to regain what he had lost. Harry became known as The-Boy-Who-Lived; the saviour of the wizarding world, famous for being the only person to survive being his with the Killing Curse. Despite this, he was sent to live with his aunt and uncle, the most anti-magic muggles on the face of the planet.

Aunt Petunia was Lily's sister, but so unlike her. She abhorred Harry and anything to do with her sister or the wizarding world. Her husband, Vernon, was no better. They kept Harry as a slave for their son, Dudley. By the end of his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry they had had enough. Harry had accidently inflated Vernon's sister, running out of the house while she gently floated against the ceiling. They had sent Harry to an orphanage where, truth be told, he was much happier. He had just completed his fourth year at Hogwarts, competing in the Triwizard Tournament, which ended in the return of Lord Voldemort and the death of another Hogwarts student, Cedric Diggory.

Harry felt guilty; it had been his idea for the two of them to take the cup together and he had survived whilst Cedric had died. And to cap it all off, no one believed him. Well, some people did, but most of the wizarding population believed Fudge when he denied Voldemort's return.

After everything that had happened it was no wonder that Harry regularly woke in the middle of the night screaming, drenched in cold sweat, with the words 'kill the spare' haunting him. His abrupt returns to consciousness had the unfortunate side effect of disturbing his roommate, Jason Smith, Harry's best friend at the "Home". Such was the case this particular twilight.

Jason woke to the sound of thrashing combined with low moans and pleads of, "No…Please… I'm sorry Cedric, I didn't know…"

"Hey Harry. Mate, wake up, you're dreaming." When that didn't work Jason took hold of his pillow and threw it at Harry's head, waking him up.

Harry sat bolt upright, breathing heavily.

"Mate, you've got to get over this. I don't know the whole story but from what you've said, it was an accident. You didn't kill Cedric!" Jason said, as though he could force Harry to believe him.

"I know, but it was still my idea, which means that I'm partially responsible. Can we change the subject?"

"Sure. What do you want to talk about this fine middle-of-the-night?"

"What time is it?" Harry asked, registering that it was, indeed, the middle of the night.

"About 2.30 on the 31st of July. Happy Birthday mate!"

"Thanks Jase. Hey, what time are we on tomorrow?" Harry and Jason were part of a band in the orphanage. Harry played the drums, Jason was lead guitar and vocals and another boy their age, Brad, played the bass. They were doing a gig at a fair held in the orphanage's grounds to raise funds for new facilities.

"Its today at 11.30. Then we get first pick at the barbeque!"

"And then we get to go on the rides free of charge!"

"Bingo. Hey, open the window, there are some owls that want to come in," Jason said, pointing. After sharing a room with Harry for the last two summers, Jason was used to owl post, though they had both had a good laugh over the number of stamps Mrs Weasley put on the envelope when she had written to the manager to check that Harry was allowed to stay with the Weasley's for the Quiddich World Cup.

After Harry opened the window the owls settled themselves on the bed, waiting to be relieved of their duties. Jason tended to Hedwig, who was used to the muggle teenager and gave him an affectionate nip while she waited for the intruders to vacate her water dish.

Hedwig had bought a letter and a present from Hermione, which Harry opened first. It consisted of a box of (sugar-free) sweets and a book about World Famous Seekers. After reading the blurb of the book, Harry turned to the letter.

"Dear Harry,

How are you? I hope you're not leaving all of your homework until the last minute, as usual. You have all your books and plenty of time this year so there's no excuse! I won't help you. Or Ron.

Everything here is the same as usual really. I'm going away on your birthday but I don't know where. All I'm told is that it's a surprise.

Anyway, I hope you have a good birthday. I saw the book and thought of you. You might even read it!

And I know you'll bottle everything up and insist that you're fine so I'm not going to push, but when you want to talk I'm here.

Love, Hermione."

Harry felt a rush of gratitude towards his friend. Even just a year ago she would have pushed until he told her everything, no matter how frustrated he became with her in the meantime.

Not wanting Jason to read the letter, Harry put it back into the envelope and moved onto Ron's gift and letter. The present contained some of Mrs Weasley's home-made fudge, some samples of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes new products, an hour-glass filled with white sand and another book. Puzzled, Harry turned to his friend's letter, confused by the un-Ron-like gift.

"Hi mate,

How you doing? I'm ok. Fred and George seem to have come into a bit of money recently and bought me some decent new dress robes. They also bought something for everyone else and have spent the summer creating new pranks, some of which they've sent you. When I asked them about it your name was briefly mentioned. What do you know?

Oh, right, presents. The hourglass will help you get to sleep. It's a bit like that counting cows thing. Watch it when you're in bed, it's supposed to relax you and help you fall asleep! I figured it might help. You know… Anyway, carrying on, the book is about famous Witches and Wizards. Take a look on page 53! I hope you're doing ok. See you soon,

Ron.

P.S. Hermione's threatened to make me do my own homework. Help!"

Harry smiled at Ron's parting comment, having predicted such a response. He was also appreciative of the way Ron tactfully helped him with the whole Cedric situation. It felt good knowing that his friends were there for him. He flipped to page 53 as Ron told him to and was horrified to find himself staring back at him. Quickly shutting the book, he moved onto the package delivered by the Tawny owl from Hogwarts. This consisted of a few photos of Harry himself and the Hungarian Horntail and a big bar of Honeydukes chocolate.

"Cool photos!" Jason exclaimed, examining the movement carefully.

Harry panicked, desperately attempting to think of a plausible explanation for photos of a moving dragon.

"Your friend must be good with a computer," the muggle continued. "The combination of Photoshop and holographic paper makes it look real!"

"I know," Harry replied, closing his eyes in relief. Deciding that the best thing to do was to distract his friend until the photos were safely hidden, Harry focused his attention on the last, rather large, package, which had been delivered by the barn owl. He opened the envelope first, just in case, and found two letters in the envelope. He picked up the first one and read,

"Dear Harry,

Sorry I had to leave so soon, you've no idea how much I wanted to stay. I'm safe now, though I probably shouldn't tell you where. At risk of repeating what everyone else has said, Diggory's death wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself when the real blame lies with Voldemort and Wormtail. I know I've been doing the same thing, but there was no way you could've known about Moody.

I hope you like your present; it's from both us Marauders. There's more to come, but you'll get it later. Take care,

Snuffles."

Realisation dawned and Harry turned to the other letter, knowing who it was from.

"Dear Harry,

I hope you don't mind me writing to you, your Godfather said it would be alright. Congratulations about winning the Triwizard Tournament, although it probably doesn't seem like a good thing at the moment. Your gift is from both of us, though it was Snuffle's idea, I merely provided the materials. Take care,

Moony."

Curious, Harry turned to the parcel. Inside were two leather-bound books. The first was a book of defensive spells, which dealt with both dark creatures and dark witches and wizards. Harry flipped through the book, noting the colour illustrations and how the spells got progressively harder. He was pleased to note that the Patronus Charm was over halfway through the book.

Harry turned to the second book, expecting it to be similar to the first. Instead, he found that it was a photo album, filled with pictures of his parents, from before Hogwarts through to the Halloween that they died. Also included were some photos of the Marauders and Snape being pranked! It was defiantly one of the best presents Harry had ever received, but then, that wasn't really hard after growing up with the Dursley's.

"Hey mate," said Jason, breaking Harry out of his revere. "Happy birthday!" With that, Jason handed him a present, which contained a set of carbon drumsticks. Harry grinned. He had a habit of snapping and fraying wooden ones.

"Don't want me to hit someone with half a drumstick later then?" he asked mischievously.

"No I don't. Speaking of tomorrow, well today, we ought to get some sleep. See you later," Jason sighed, moving back to his bed and lying down with his back to Harry.

"Night Jase," Harry replied, turning the hourglass over and watching the sand fall. He fell asleep almost immediately, and slept through until morning with no more nightmares.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast and shower, Harry was out on stage helping to set up the amps and the microphones. From where he was standing Harry could see the fair employees putting the finishing touches to the rides and stalls that were scattered around the Home's grounds.

At 11:00 the band was sent inside to get ready, whilst the visitors were shown to their seats, which were really just blankets on the ground.

That was why he didn't see Remus, Sirius (as Snuffles), Hermione and the Weasleys (bar Percy) enter the grounds. They allowed themselves to be herded towards the stage, where they sat under a tree to one side. No one noticed anything unusual about them (they were all dressed in muggle clothes) or about the Tabby cat walking behind the tree.

If they had, they might have noticed that it was a woman that emerged from behind the tree, not a cat.

Minerva McGonagall made her way over and sat beside her former colleague.

"How's he been?" There was no need to ask who 'he' was.

"Well enough. He seems to have problems sleeping, which is no great surprise, but during the day he throws himself into practise and seems perfectly cheerful. He doesn't seem to have experienced any pain in his scar, he has friends and the people are certainly better than the Dursleys.

At the mention of Harry's relatives, Sirius let out a low growl and Molly Weasley got a closed off, tight-lipped look.

"I've never met them. What are they like?" Remus asked.

He was saved the reply by Marie, the manager of the home, who announced that the band was ready to perform.