Chapter 65

He decided to remain silent for the rest of the 'lesson'. While he didn't really care for wine, their may come a time where he had to entertain guests. Knowing how to properly taste wine would probably be a boon in helping him with that endeavor. At the very least his knowledge may impress the rich nobles who enjoy a good wine.

After pouring the wine into the glass, Selene stood up and walked over to Harry's side of the table, glass in hand.

She gently set the glass down and moved behind Harry. Said boy felt a jolt of shock, embarrassment and... something else he could not determine but was pleasurable nonetheless as the daughter of Dracul pressed herself against his back.

Grabbing his right hand in her own, Selene guided Harry to take the glass of wine.

"The first step," Selene's hot breath whispered in his ear, causing him to shudder. "Is judging the color. We do this on a white background because white is a combination of all colors and won't cause us to see colors within the wine that may not actually be there..."

That day, Harry Potter was taught the art of wine tasting from Selene.

It was a very, very good thing he had eidetic memory or he would have not remembered a single word she said.

XoX

It was later that night that Harry appeared within his room at the Dursley's residence with a silent pop.

After eating out with Selene, Harry had felt much better, though also incredibly flustered for some reason. His good mood had improved even more when he took a long, six hour nap before using the time turner to go back fourteen hours so he could do all of the activities he normally did in England.

Lisa had commented on his very much improved attitude from his recent grouchiness.

Walking over to his desk, Harry set down the stack of letters in his hands. He had gone over to Andromeda's that night for dinner after spending an entire day, minus the two hour sparring session he had with Katrina, with Lisa Crawft and retrieved the mail that had been sent to her residence for him.

Harry was very pleased to see that his idea to insure his mail was not intercepted worked. He also had to thank both Lisa Turpin and Tracey Davis for sending word along to his other friends.

Hedwig had not been as pleased as he was. His partner had made her displeasure known with a rather nasty pecking to the forehead when he got home the first time after getting his mail from Andromeda. He had only managed to make her stop by suggesting she stay with his adviser-slash-barrister for the duration of his summer, or until he managed to catch the fool trying to steal his mail.

Andromeda had not been very pleased, especially when Hedwig attacked an owl bringing mail to her.

Looking over the letters, Harry took note of who they belonged to. He had one from each of his friends minus Blaise, who was still in Italy and would not be back until the end of July, and Hannah and Susan, both of whom were in the States.

Reading over the letters, Harry took care to reply to each one. Nothing had changed since he had seen Lisa and Tracey two days ago, so his response was very short. Terry had gotten a new muggle telescope, which he was going on about in his letter. Harry decided it would be a good idea to direct him to some of the more advanced muggle telescopes the Ravenclaw could observe at one of the science centers he had been to.

Daphne's letter was the same as always, asking how he was doing while unloading a few of her frustrations about her father. He wished he could do more for her, but until he found out what it would take to convince Nathaniel Greengrass not to sell his daughter off like chattel, there was little else he could do but listen.

The letter that interested him the most was the one from Neville:

To the Heir Apparent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter,

Hey Harry. I'm glad to hear you're doing well. That muggle sport you mentioned, martial arts, sounds really interesting. I really want to learn it. I even tried to convince my gran to let me sign up for classes, but she turned it down saying I needed to get stronger before she would do something like that. I'm hoping I can do that this year when we get back to Hogwarts and begin doing those work outs.

Did you know that our birthdays are in the same month? I always knew, but I wasn't sure if you did because you live with your muggle relatives and I never told you my birthday. The reason I'm telling you this is because my gran suggested the two of us having a small party at our house. I've already sent invitations to our friends, and I am hoping you'll be able to come as well.

The envelope is actually a portkey that will take you to Longbottom Manor. The password to activate it is Birthday.

The party will start at noon.

Hope to see you there,

The Heir Apparent of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Longbottom.

Neville Longbottom.

Harry read with a thoughtful look. How interesting. He had not actually known when Neville's birthday was, seeing as the other boy had never told him. Of course, everybody knew when his birthday was because he was a wizarding celebrities for the most ridiculous of reasons.

Which would explain why Neville knew their birthdays were in the same month.

Harry absently set down the letter and picked up the envelope. It was made from a heavy, thick parchment, the kind Harry had come to expect from old magical families.

The wax seal was of the family crest, a squarish shield with rounded tips at the bottom and a sharp point in the center. The shield was divided into three segments by a thick line that gave the three segments multiple rounded bumps. Within each segment was curved Nordic style horn tied to a string.

Above the shield was a knights helm, highly detailed with a flat top and sharp visor. Flaring out behind it were large, leaf patterns that wove around the helm and shield. At the bottom of the family coat of arms was the family motto: Labor Omnia Vincit, Work Conquers All. It was a surprisingly Hufflepuff motto for a family that has been traditionally Gryffindor for the last five Centuries.

The choice of whether or not he should go to the party was not hard. It just meant he would be using the time turner twice on July thirty first. He would need to get permission from Nicolas Flamel, as this was outside of the jurisdiction of what his teacher had allowed him to use it for, but if there were no problems on that front, then he would be good to go.

It looked like he would be celebrating his birthday twice this year. How fun.

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