Birthday at the Burrow

Su Yu and Hermione arrived at the Weasleys' with a huge cake in their arms. By then, darkness had already fallen.

The Burrow looked crooked in the twilight. Smoke rose from its chimney, and several chickens wandered around the yard, pecking at the ground.

Mrs. Weasley came over from the other end of the yard, sending the chickens scattering in all directions. She wore a floral apron and still gripped a spatula in one hand. When she saw the sky-blue Ford Anglia parked in the yard, she froze for a moment. Then she charged over, transforming from a plump, kind woman into something like a saber-toothed tiger.

"Ah!" Fred shouted.

"My God!" George exclaimed.

Mrs. Weasley stopped in front of them.

"Hello," she said.

"Good evening, Mum," George said with a smug look.

"Do you have any idea how worried I was today?" Mrs. Weasley whispered terrifyingly.

"Sorry, Mum, but look, we—"

All three of Mrs. Weasley's sons were taller than her, yet they were terrified of making her angry.

Fred shrank back. George's smile froze on his face, while Ron simply hid behind Harry.

"The rooms were empty! No note! The car was gone... what if there'd been an accident... I was worried sick... do you understand? In all my life, I've never been through anything like this... just wait until your father gets back. Bill, Charlie, and Percy never caused this sort of trouble..."

"You should learn from Percy!" Mrs. Weasley shouted, jabbing a finger into Fred's chest. The poke sent Fred stumbling back a step. "You could have died, Muggles could have seen you, and you could have gotten your father fired—"

It looked like this would continue for several more hours.

It was not until Mrs. Weasley turned and noticed Harry that her throat had gone hoarse from shouting. Harry backed away in fright, thinking he was about to be scolded too.

"Oh! It's lovely to see you, dear Harry," she said, her voice suddenly softening as though a storm had instantly turned into sunshine. "Come on, come inside for dinner!"

She turned and led Harry back into the house. Harry nervously glanced at Ron, who nodded encouragingly at him, before following her inside. Ron gave him a thumbs-up, and Fred gave him a shove from behind.

Then Mrs. Weasley noticed Su Yu and Hermione.

"Oh my goodness, what day is it today?" Mrs. Weasley said dramatically, covering her cheeks with both hands. "Su Fuli! Why are you here too, you good boy? And who is this?"

Su Yu quickly set down the cake on a table in the yard, then explained everything that had happened that day to Mrs. Weasley—the Dursleys' abuse, Harry being trapped in his room all summer without receiving any letters, surviving on only one bowl of cold canned soup a day, and the fact that it was Harry's birthday, so they had come to celebrate it with him.

Mrs. Weasley's eyes reddened after hearing this. She was hugging Harry now, constantly comforting him and saying that the poor child had truly suffered. She stroked his hair as though soothing an injured little animal.

Just then, a short redhead in pajamas appeared in the kitchen doorway. When she saw so many people in the yard, she let out a quiet shriek and ran back inside, the wooden door slamming shut behind her.

"Ginny," Ron quietly told Harry. "My sister. She's been talking about Su Yu all summer."

As Ron said this, he glanced at Su Yu. Su Yu remained expressionless. Kurama poked his head out from Su Yu's arms, glanced at Ron, then at the kitchen door, and buried his face again.

The Weasleys' kitchen was small and rather cramped. In the middle stood a clean wooden table and several chairs. A checkered tablecloth covered the table, worn around the edges but freshly washed.

Su Yu, Hermione, and Harry carefully sat at the edges of their seats. Hermione sat perfectly straight with both hands on her knees, as though she were in Professor McGonagall's class. Su Yu leaned back in his chair while Kurama jumped from his arms onto the table, crouching beside an empty plate with his tail curled around himself. Harry looked around everywhere.

Harry had never been inside a wizarding home before. On the wall hung a clock facing away from him with only one hand and no numbers, its rim covered in words like "Time to Make Tea," "Feed the Chickens," and "You're Late." Three thick stacks of books sat on a shelf, titled Making Your Cheese Delicious, Cooking Charms, and One-Minute Feasts. It was incredible! If Harry had heard correctly, the old radio beside the sink had just announced that Witching Hour was coming up next, hosted by the popular wizard singer Celestina Warbeck. Cheerful, strange music drifted from the radio.

Mrs. Weasley clattered around the kitchen as she prepared a lavish dinner. As she poured sausages into a frying pan, she shot her sons a somewhat disgusted look. The sausages sizzled in the pan, grease splattering everywhere. From time to time, she muttered, "I don't know what you were thinking," and, "I simply can't believe it." Then she hurriedly added, "I'm not blaming you, dear"—which was directed at Harry.

"Arthur and I were worried about you too, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said while cooking, her wand moving rapidly. "We were discussing last night that if you hadn't replied to Ron by Friday, we would come and get you. But honestly, flying an illegal car through the countryside—anyone could have seen you—"

She casually pointed her wand at the chopping board, and the knife on it began cutting potatoes and bacon on its own. The blade fell swiftly, slicing the potatoes into even rounds and the bacon into neat pieces, all piled tidily in one corner of the board.

"Mum, it was cloudy that day," Fred said.

"This is when you should shut up!" Mrs. Weasley cut him off, fiercely flipping the food in the pan with her spatula.

"They were starving him, Mum!" George said.

"You too!" Mrs. Weasley said, though she still cut a slice of bread, buttered it, and handed it to Harry. Her expression had softened considerably. The poor child needed something to fill his stomach first.

At that moment, Ginny came downstairs. She had changed into a clean pale-blue sweater, and her hair was neatly combed into a ponytail behind her head. Her cheeks were still red.

Blushing, she explained that she had been dressed too casually before, then greeted Su Yu, Hermione, and the others. Afterward, she shyly sat beside Su Yu, leaving one chair between them before inching a little closer.

Kurama lifted his head from the table, looked at Ginny, then at Su Yu, and thumped his tail once against the tabletop.

Suddenly, the front door banged open.

"He's back!" George said. "Dad's back!"

Mr. Weasley came in, took off his glasses, and tiredly closed his eyes. His robes were covered in dust, and his hair was a mess. He was thin and slightly bald, but his hair was as red as his children's. He wore an old, dusty green robe with the collar open and his tie crooked to one side.

Then he saw Su Yu and the group of young wizards and hurriedly greeted them.

"Good heavens, are you Harry Potter? Lovely to meet you, Ron has told us so much about—" he said to Harry. Then he sat at the dining table, got up to fetch the teapot, and poured himself a cup without noticing that the tea had gone cold. He lifted it and drank.

"Your sons drove that car to Harry's house today and brought him back!" Mrs. Weasley shouted from the other side of the kitchen, her voice keeping rhythm with her spatula striking the iron pan. "What do you have to say about that, hmm?"

"Was it really you?" Mr. Weasley said eagerly, his eyes widening at once. He looked at Fred and George, and both of them lowered their heads at the same time. "How did it drive? I—I mean," he stammered upon seeing the look in Mrs. Weasley's eyes, "that—that was wrong, boys—really wrong..."

"Ignore her," Ron muttered to Harry as Mrs. Weasley puffed up like an angry bullfrog. "It's your birthday today! Cheer up, Harry!"

Gradually, a huge spread of food was brought to the table. Roast beef, fried chicken legs, mashed potatoes, sausages, gravy, peas, carrots—the plates and bowls filled the entire table, some still steaming around the edges. Quite a few of them had been made by Carson, Su Yu's butler—the roast meat and fried chicken. Mixed in with the Weasleys' dishes, they did not seem out of place at all.

Everyone sang Happy Birthday and urged Harry to make a wish. Hermione started, Ron joined in, Fred and George deliberately sang off-key, Ginny covered her face and laughed, and Su Yu hummed along. Harry closed his eyes and clasped his hands together. Candlelight danced across his face, illuminating a tear at the corner of his eye.

At that moment, he finally cried. It was the first time in his life that he had celebrated his own birthday. There was cake, there were friends, and people singing beside him. He was not sitting alone in the garden singing to himself. He had people with him.

He blew out the candles. Smoke rose from the wicks and slowly dispersed through the air.

Fred grabbed a handful of cream and smeared it over Ron's face from behind. Ron shrieked, turned to chase Fred, tripped over a chair leg, and went sprawling face-first onto the floor. George was even more ruthless. He circled behind Mr. Weasley and planted a piece of cake on top of his bald head. Mr. Weasley froze for a moment, then laughed louder than anyone.

Hermione and Ginny also secretly smeared plenty of cake onto Su Yu's face in the darkness. Hermione dipped a finger into some cream, dabbed it onto the tip of Su Yu's nose, then quickly pulled her hand back and pretended nothing had happened. Ginny was bolder. She smeared a piece of cake across Su Yu's cheek, then ran off the moment she finished.

Su Yu pretended not to notice. He sat there with a dab of white on his nose and cream smeared across his cheek, his expression as calm as though nothing had happened.

Then he suddenly picked up Hermione and Ginny and kissed each of them once.

He kissed their cheeks through the cream. Hermione's cream was sweet, and Ginny's cream was sweet too.

When the candles were lit again, Hermione and Ginny had been turned into little cake-covered cats—cream clung to their hair, cake crumbs covered their faces, and colorful sugar sprinkles stuck to their collars, but no one noticed that their faces had already turned bright red.

After celebrating Harry's birthday, Su Yu saw that it was getting late and took Hermione back to Foley Manor. Ginny stood at the door with her hands behind her back, tracing circles on the ground with her toes.

"I'll definitely bring you some gummy candy when school starts!" Ginny waved at Su Yu. Her voice was quiet, but she sounded very serious.

Su Yu looked back at her, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly, and nodded.

When Su Yu returned home, Fa-jie was lounging against the sofa with a bag of chips in her hand, watching television, while Ka-jie sat beside her with a magazine spread across her lap. When they saw Su Yu come in, Fa-jie merely raised an eyebrow, while Ka-jie smiled.

Su Yu had Carson take Hermione upstairs to find a room and freshen up before returning to the hall to play. As Hermione followed Carson upstairs, she looked back at Su Yu once. Su Yu waved to her.

Su Yu also sat down on the sofa, squeezing himself between Fa-jie and Ka-jie. He rested his head on Fa-jie's lap and draped his legs across Ka-jie's knees.

Kurama struggled out from Su Yu's arms. She had nearly been squashed flat just now...