128 Chapter 125

The next day passed in a blur. Harry wrote letters to each of his friends and had Hedwig go give them to Dean, who then in turn, sent them to their recipients with his own owl, bypassing whoever was filching his mail.

That little trick also confirmed that it wasn't the Flamels or Dumbledore who were stealing his mail since Hedwig was able to bypass whatever they were doing. Flamels & Dumbledore were the only people who could erect functional anti-phoenix wards after all. That one deduction had decimated his entire suspect list since nobody except a select few people actually knew where he was living.

And thus, having figured out a way to work around to the problem and not knowing where to look next, he put the search temporarily on the back burner and headed to Dean's house for his birthday.

They spent most of the afternoon putting up decorations and playing with Dean's baby sisters, until just before five, when someone rang on their doorbell.

"Would you get that please Harry?" Dean said with a groan from under both of his sisters, and their uproariously obese cat, who had decided to pile up on his chest.

Chuckling at the Thomas kids, Harry got up and walked towards the door. Dean's Mum and Dad had gone off to buy some stuff for the party, so the well-sized house felt oddly empty in the warm afternoon. Harry flipped the lock on the door and opened it.

It was a middle-aged man that looked like he was about thirty, and wore a long colorful coat and a cap that would have made Sherlock Holmes proud. He was looking down at a paper pad that had lots of writing on it.

'Clearly, a wizard' Harry thought as he noticed the ministry badge on his pocket, and asked, "Can I help you?"

"Yes please," the man said, not looking up "I'm looking for the house of one Mr. Thomas. Could you please point me towards it?"

"This is it," Harry answered, "I'm afraid Mr. Thomas is out for a few more minutes."

"That's really alright, I'm just here from the Fl-" the man looked up and stopped talking. He'd seen Harry's scar. "Er…"

Harry sighed, cursing the fact that the most famous scar in the nation was on his forehead. Why his forehead? Why not the back of his neck? Or his underarm? Or the foot?

Trying to diffuse any awkwardness, he extended his hand and said, "Harry Potter. A pleasure to meet you."

That seemed to shock the man into action. He grabbed Harry's hand and shook it, "Oh. Hello Mr. Potter, Gavin, sir, Gavin Melvinson. From the Department of Magical Transportation, here to install the Floo connection. Is Mr. Thomas's son a friend of yours?"

"Indeed," Harry replied while checking the floating window above him to make sure that it was indeed who he said he was.

Gavin Melvinson, DMT Floo Installer

Lv-28

"Who is it Harry?" Dean called from behind him, having freed himself from his sisters "Is it the Floo guy? You can let him in."

"Yeah. Got it," he called back and let the man inside, who made a beeline to the fireplace. Dean and Harry followed him to watch.

He pulled out a few odd golden looking contraptions and measured the fireplace with them. With a wave of his wand, he set the fireplace ablaze and pulled out a full set of bellows and other assorted instruments from his pocket, which must have been magically expanded to hold it, and blew on the fireplace with it once. Then he placed a flowerpot full of Floo powder on the mantelpiece.

Turning to Dean, he said, "That should be it. I've registered your address as 'Thomas Home' as your letter requested. You'll receive the manual for maintenance along with a receipt in a few days. You can go ahead and use the Floo now."

"Thank you Mr. Melvinson" Dean said with a smile.

"My pleasure Mr. Thomas. Would mind terribly if I apparate out from here. Finding a spot outside away from muggles is really hard this time of the day."

"Of course not. Please, go right ahead." Dean said.

With a tip of his hat to both Harry and Dean, Gavin Melvinson apparated away.

Dean sprang into action as soon as the Floo installer was gone. Grabbing some powder out of the flowerpot, he threw it into the fireplace and muttered an address before yelling into the green fire, "It is done! Come on through guys!"

He stood back from the fireplace, and seeing Harry's puzzled expression, explained, "Ron and Terry were waiting for the Floo to be set up to come through. Both of them live too far away to come by flying, so Terry just headed over to Ron's house and they should be Flooing in any moment."

And just as he had said this, the fire erupted into a massive blaze before two familiar boys stepped out of the flame, their faces split open in grins.

"Happy Birthday Dean!" they said in unison before stuffing the presents they'd brought into his hands. After a few minutes of catching up, they all moved to the party room to sip on lemonades.

"So who else is coming?" asked Harry.

There was no reply from Ron or Terry, both of whom were enraptured by the TV show DVD that Dean had left playing. Harry's observe on the TV playing the show showed what it was.

1991 Emerson TC1369 Television Set

It is a device that combines a tuner, display, and loudspeakers for the purpose of viewing television.

Currently playing - Doctor Who

There were some sounds of hustle and bustle from the kitchen, where Mrs. Thomas had started on the dinner after she had returned.

Dean, thankfully, had already seen the episodes and was available to answer Harry's question. "Just us, and Hermione with the Patil twins. Mum said we should invite one of Hermione's friends as well, so I invited Padma. Figured it would have just been rude not to ask Parvati. Hermione said that the Patils were really fascinated by their car when they visited her place, so Padma and Parvati will be coming with her by road."

The doorbell rang at that very moment.

Harry shot a grin at Dean. "Oddly convenient isn't it?"

With a grin back, Dean got up from his seat to open the door. A few seconds later Hermione, Padma and Parvati poured into the party room with him. The next half hour was spent trying to explain Doctor Who to the Patil twins.

"Out of the way, out of the way!" called Mrs. Thomas, entering the room with what appeared to be a football. Seconds later Harry realized that it was Dean's birthday cake. When the cake had finally landed in the middle of the table, Dean gave his mum a hug while Hermione explained to the Patils as much as she knew about the game of football. By seven o'clock all the adult guests had arrived, and the cake had been cut and moved into the dining room.

Everyone was nibbling on their own pieces, sitting content on the sofa, and at some point or the other, they had all collectively decided that they were getting bored and would wanted to play a game. Dean, having an idea, stood up and declared, "We could play I Dare You."

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