Yes, well... I wrote this for a friend for her birthday earlier this year, but i didn't want to post it until this morning. I used to LOVE Harry Potter, but then the sixth book came out and i LOATHED it, but then after the fifth movie and the seventh book i like it again. I'm still not as avid a fan of it as i am of anime, however. This is the first and only story i have every written for Harry Potter, so i hope the characters aren't too OOC.

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" Is this homework you're doing?"

Sirius waved the paper he had snatched from James' hands around, trying to read it as he kept it from James' attempts to retrieve it.

" No, it's not- Give it back!" James grabbed for the paper, standing up to full height where areas before he had been on his knees.

" Well then," Sirius continued, shoving James away with his free hand, " A love letter? To Lily, perhaps?" James flushed violently at the mention of Lily's name and pushed Sirius' hand away.

" Shut up- And give it back, Padfoot!"

Sirius snickered and stopped waving the paper around in the air, instead turning around and trying to read it. James took the opportunity and snatched the paper back from his friend's hands. Fuming, he stalked over to where he had been sitting and sat back down, gathered himself, and tried to revise it. Sirius, who hadn't reacted when James had taken the paper away from him, let what he has just read run through his brain before turning around to make a mockery of it.

"Jewelry? Books? A Cat? What is that, Prongs? Some sort of jacked-up grocery list?"

James bit his lip and crossed something out with his quill. "Nah. I'm brainstorming."

Sirius sat down under the wiry old tree next to his friend. "Brainstorming? What kind of an essay are you planning to write?"

James huffed, but responded without looking up from his paper. "I'm not writing an essay, you prat. Its ideas of what to give Lily for her birthday…its a few days away, and I've got nothing."

James looked up at Sirius hopefully. "Hey- you know girls! You could give me some ideas, right?"

Sirius tipped his head back and laughed. He didn't snicker, he didn't chuckle, he – for lack of a better word- guffawed, so loudly and so heartily that James looked around, panicked, at all the people who were now staring at them before clamping a hand over his friends mouth. "Shut up!" he hissed, looking around again. "What was that for?" Sirius took a few moments to cool down, before taking his friend's hand off his mouth.

"Nothing, it's just – [snicker - I can't believe- [chuckle - I mean, a cat? - [snickersnicergigglesnort"

"….it's not that funny, Sirius."

Sirius took a deep breath and fanned himself exaggeratedly with his hands for effect before responding.

" I think we should talk about this as a group. You know, consult Remus and Wormtail – not that I think Peter will have anything of value to say anyway, but still, it's the gist of it."

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" Chocolates! Everyone likes chocolates!"

"….Lily doesn't. She's not really one for sweets- besides, anything from she'd think is poisoned or something." James said flatly, fiddling with the fraying edge of a bed sheet. The four of them were in their dorms, huddled around James' list in the few feet of space between Sirius and Remus' beds. Peter frowned. " How about stuffed animals? All girls like stuffed animals."

"I guess…." James muttered off-handedly before scribbling it down on the now worn page.

" Or Je- oh, but you already have it on there."

"Jewelry? Yeah- besides, I'm flat broke- I don't think I can afford anything of much stature."

" How about clothes?" Remus suggested. The other three stared at him, horrified at the thought of getting clothes for one's birthday. "I know it may not be appealing to any of you, but my mom and cousin both love getting clothes for their birthdays."

"Wow." Sirius said, his voice raspy. "I think your relatives need to get out more, mate."

"But he's right, Sirius." Peter put in. "My older sister loves clothes- they used to take up her entire closet! Before she moved out, of course. There wasn't any junk in it at all!"

James and Sirius' heads turned towards Peter simultaneously, as if on swivels. "No junk?!" James screeched. "What does one put in a closet, if not useless crap?"

Sirius clung to his friends shoulder dramatically. "Hold me, Prongs- I think I might faint…"

"Very funny." Remus' deadpan voice rung out. " Well, if you don't like the idea of clothes-" He peered over at the list. " Oh, books- that's a good idea- how about a book?"

James shoved Sirius off his shoulder and put his head in his hands. " Only one problem- I have no idea what kind of books she likes. Whenever I see her reading, it's either a text book or shoved in her book bag so fast I couldn't catch the title."

The room was quiet for a moment, each marauder lost in their own thoughts, before Peter finally spoke up.

" H-How about a journal? That way, she can put whatever she wants in it, so there's no way she won't like it!"

For the third time that day, three of the four marauders stared at their friend in complete shock. In the lack of responses, Peter flushed and looked at the floor, beginning to mumble something about it being a stupid idea before Sirius cut him off, in utter amazement.

" Wormtail, I believe that was the single most intelligent thing I have ever heard you say in my entire life."

Nobody bothered to point out the fact that Lily Evans may not like to write.

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Many hours, a few borrowed galleons, some bickering, and two unfoldings of the Marauder's Map later, they were back in their dorm, in between the two beds like before, but huddled around a different object. In between the bodies of four sixteen-year-old boys who hadn't a clue what they were doing but liked to pretend that they did lay a leather-bound book, the size of your average paperback, with the golden engraved letters that used to say ' journal' on the front in very simple, bold faced font that had been charmed to instead say 'Lily' , for Remus had pointed out it would add an elegantly personal touch.

James put his wand down, as the letters settled down, and flipped through the book one last time. The blank, slightly yellowed pages stared back at him, uniform throughout the book. In the very back of his brain, where James rarely ventures in his consciousness, the part where intelligent thoughts resided, thought that it looked a little lost without any writing. Of course, James didn't hear it and dismissed any sign of having a thought as profound as that, and closed the book, looking back up at his friends. " So, it's fine? You don't think we should do anything else to it?"

" How about you write a love poem for her in the front flap? ' Oh, darling Lily- your eyes are like stars -'" he was cut off brutally by a shove in the shoulder that caused his jaw to connect with the nearby bed frame. Peter snickered, and even Remus chuckled a little bit as Sirius recovered from the hit, rubbing his jaw and glaring at James. Sirius and James both opened their mouths to start at eachother, but Remus stopped them with the Very Profound Thoughts Of Remus Lupin That You Have To Listen Closely To Because It Is Very Unlike Him To Say So So You Probably Won't Hear It Again- Infact, they were so profound that they could be spoken in nothing above a murmur.

"You deserved that, you know."

Sirius opened and closed his mouth a few times, as if to check to make sure his jaw still worked and redirected his glare to Remus.

" Seriously, guys. Is that it? Do I just package it now?" James asked, his eyes imploring. "What am I supposed to wrap it in?"

" Jeez, James. Make some decisions for yourself. You're the one stalking her, so you know her best. Whatever you think she'd like." Sirius put in offhandedly, leaning against the bed frame that had just moment ago threatened to knock his bottom teeth out.

" Whatever I think she'd like?"

" Yeah….Just…whatever." Sirius clutched at his stomach. " Well, I dunnoe 'bout you guys, but I'm starved."

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It had been three days and a few hours since the journal had been purchased and fiddled with until just right. It lacked wrapping paper, a card, and a way to be delivered.

James had never wrapped a gift in his life, nor did he have any wrapping paper. When they had been handing out any sort of artistic ability that could be useful in making a decent birthday part, James had been home sick with the flu. And James' mind, both conscious and unconscious, were void of any ideas whatsoever as to how to deliver the gift.

But let's put that aside, and focus on the positives.

What James did have was two hours, a length of parchment, a quill, no homework that he was planning on doing, and opposable thumbs.

But he still needed a plan.

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It was rather late- the common room was surprisingly empty, which was odd for a Saturday night. Though, Lily supposed, everyone else was probably at dinner, guessing by what time it was. Lily didn't know, and Lily didn't care. All Lily wanted to do at the moment was finish this stupid paper about stupid civil wars between stupid goblins that Lily didn't really care about and couldn't honestly see when she'd need the information in the future. She just wanted to finish it before tomorrow, so she could maybe take a bath and read a bit on the night before her birthday.

Lily heard the portrait swing aside and heard someone step in and walk up to her. When worn sneakers with inked doodles and initials on the rubber part of the toe and the sides stepped into her vision, Lily knew exactly who it was and refused to look up from her paper.

The silence stretched between them, pressing in on their ears and making them both blush a little. Lily pressed the parchment closer to her face and wondered what was wrong with her. Finally, after Lily had written two more number-ridden paragraphs, James spoke up. Well, more accurately, he cleared his throat first before speaking.

" Erm…Lily."

He stopped and waited for an answer. Lily ran through the possible courses of action she could take- she could answer ( but, no, Lily, that seems like you're interested) she could look up, ( Isn't that a bit nice, though?) or she could ignore him. She chose the last one, and instead realized she had spelled 'revolutionary' wrong and made to correct it.

" Lily?"

Him again. She could ignore him, but then he'd never go away. She decided to take a different approach.

" What do you want, Potter?" She asked him offhandedly, without looking up from her paper. She was almost done, just a few more inches to go-

" I- erm- I have something for you. T-to give to you."

Not being able to keep her uninterested act up any longer, she stopped writing and looked up.

He was closer than she had though he was, and she felt her cheeks grow hot.

" What?"

James shoved a small package in her face, about the size of a paperback book. His face ( what little she could see of it past the package) was flushed with steely determination. Lily would've laughed, had she not been in this situation. He looked like a little boy.

Her eyes refocused on the object in front of her. Slightly dazed, she took it from his hands and put it on her lap. Lily looked up at him, and then back at the package. Then back up at him. Then at the package.

" It's a- erm… I mean….er…." James rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Er…Happy Birthday?"

Lily wanted to smile. She really did. She wanted to smile, jump up and thank him profusely for the four-hour-early birthday present and apologize for being so mean to him- maybe even hug him, or go down to dinner with him, unless he'd already eaten, but then they could-

But then the part of Lily that she considered sane whacked away the preposterous thoughts with the help of her trusty frying pan and installed some more 'Lily-esque' courses of actions to take. So instead, Lily gave him half a smirk and returned to her essay.

She thought he had gone away, but she had been wrong.

" Er- aren't you going to open it?"

Lily coughed and urged herself to think up a response. When nothing came up, she instead did what people always do when they're found in situations that they don't want to be in unless they knew better.

She left.

She packed up her quill and ink, rolled up the essay, and went up to her dorm room without so much as a glance in James' direction.

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It was wrapped in parchment. The parchment had " Happy Birthday Lily" in James' untidy scrawl that Lily could identify anywhere written repeatedly the length of the page. Lily doesn't know why she smiled- where was sane Lily when you needed her?- and she realized, though she didn't try, she swears, that she didn't rip the paper at all when she unwrapped the object.

It was a journal. Smaller than a textbook but larger than a pocketbook, bound in leather and tied with a thin leather strip. On the front, in plain block letters, LILY was engraved, and on the inside, the pages were slightly yellow lined with thin black lines with a curly cue embellishment at the beginning and end of each page. Needless to say, she absolutely loved it. It was just what she needed- no more jotting things down in the margins of history notes, and no more writing on her hands ( it was a horrid habit really- it looked rather unbecoming and her friends had advised her to stop). Now she could write her thoughts down in one collected place. The perfect birthday gift, if you asked her.

She had reached the end of the book, having been flipping through the blank pages as she thought. She was about to close the book when something caught her eye.

In the back cover, on the bottom corner, there was some scrawl.

Hope you have a happy birthday.

James.

Lily wondered why the irresistible urge to scratch it out didn't come. She wondered why, instead, she smiled and rubbed her thumb over the writing, almost tenderly.