Hello everybody, this is the third in my Shadows Series about Lizzy Potter.

If you havent read The first Shadows or Collecting Shadows yet, you might want to read them first, otherwise the characters will be quite confusing!

Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter, which should have been up on Friday it just wouldnt upload!

If you regognise them, I dont own them!

"Sirius Black cut it out! Just because it's her birthday doesn't mean she wants to be woken at the crack of dawn!" James`s voice cut through Lizzys bedroom door like knives as she sat up groggily.

Sirius laughed "This is Lizzy we are talking about!"

Marlene yawned "We are supposed to wake her up on her birthday; it's a tradition after all"

Sirius sounded confused "Is it?"

Lizzy smirked as she slipped out of bed silently and crept over to the door.

James laughed "Yeah, you see it became a tradition to scare people awake on their birthday, unfortunately on Lizzys eighth birthday I scared her so much that she didn't sleep for weeks so we stopped that tradition."

Sirius laughed "Aww, ickle Lizzy! I can just imagine her in her little pink nightdress screaming her head off"

Lizzy scowled at the door but grinned when she heard two things collide, hard.

James growled loudly "Do not ever picture m little sister in a nightdress!"

Lizzy could hear Marlene giggling "James!"

Sirius swore "That bloody hurt, calm down mate!"

James sniffed "Yeah well don't perv on my sister then!"

Sirius coughed indignantly "I wasn't perving on your sister! Anyway you don't attack my brother?!"

Lizzy chose that moment to strike; flinging open her door "ROAR!"

The reactions were absolutely classic!

Sirius jumped back and came out with words Lizzy didn't even know.

Marlene screamed and jumped behind Sirius.

James had been standing at the top of the stairs; in his shock he had managed to topple right down them and was now cursing loudly in a heap at the bottom.

A laugh came from their parent's room "So everyone's already up now then?"

"Ow" complained James as he rubbed his head for the millionth time.

"Here James" Mrs Potter hand a potion and frowned at her daughter "Have you actually apologised yet Elizabeth?"

Lizzy looked sheepish "Not quite, sorry James"

James grinned "It's alright, I`ll get you back!" Vixen brushed past his leg "And your little cat too!"

Marlene smiled "Very funny"

Mr Potter appeared from the kitchen with a large tray covered in steaming drinks "Coffee dear?"

Mrs Potter pecked him on the cheek and took her mug "Oh you are an angel"

Sirius`s eyes widened "Ooo hot chocolate!"

Marlene rolled her eyes at him "Thank you Mr Potter"

Mr Potter smiled at them both fondly "That's quite alright dear, shame my own children aren't as enthusiastic!"

James raised his eyebrows "Dad, you seen hot chocolate once, you`ve seen it a thousand times"

Sirius clutched his chest and started making a crucifix with his fingers "Be gone evil spirit!"

Lizzy pouted and widened her eyes "Pretty please can we go open my presents now?"

James studied his sister carefully "You know you kind of look like a duck when you do that..."

Mrs Potter sighed "At this rate we won't even make it to the beach!"

Lizzy looked up hopefully "Are we having the birthday special?!"

Mrs Potter smiled and nodded slowly.

Sirius began to ask "What's the Birthday..."

James pushed him out of the way and hustled Lizzy into the living room "Hurry up and open your presents!"

"Sirius, remember to breathe" Marlene said slowly as Sirius stared down at the plate in front of him, piled high with pancakes and syrup.

"This is breakfast?" he asked in awe, still staring at the sugary pile of goo.

James grinned at his best friend "Yeah, glad you could come!"

Mrs Potter smiled as she sat down with her own porridge "You know you are always welcome at our house Sirius"

Sirius grinned "Thank you Mrs P"

Lizzy was fidgeting in her seat "Do I have to have breakfast? Can't we just go down to the beach?"

"Hey" James held up a sticky for "We are spending the entire day at the beach!"

"I can't wait for the beach barbline" Sirius said confidently; his face falling when the entire table burst out laughing.

James clapped his friend on the back "Barbie-queue!"

Marlene smiled reminiscently "When I was little I thought you all queued up and got a Barbie doll at the end!"

The Potters all looked confused "What's a Barbie doll?"

Marlene's smile faded slightly "It's just a muggle doll..."

James grinned at Lizzy "Remember Rowena?"

Lizzy paled "Shut up!"

Sirius burst out laughing "You had a Rowena Ravenclaw doll!?"

Lizzy went scarlet "When I was seven! Anyway James had a Godric Gryffindor doll!"

Mr Potter smiled "Now you cant talk James, I remember you solemnly asking or a Helga Hufflepuff doll because Lizzy wouldn't let Rowena marry Godric!"

James slowly opened and closed his mouth like a fish as Mrs Potter gasped "Dear!"

"Try jumping more Sirius" Lizzy advised from her perch on her new purple body board.

"Whatcha think I'm trying to do!?" Sirius managed to haul himself into an inflatable dingy "Ah ha, I am unstoppable!"

"Hey Lizzy, heads up!" Fabien yelled from further in, as he and Gideon prepared to catch a massive wave.

"Oh my..." Marlene's eyes widened and even Sirius looked a little daunted.

James and Lizzy spoke in unison "Wicked"

Lizzy turned her back on the wave and got ready, next to her James was doing the same.

Marlene coughed "I`ll sit this one out..."

Lizzy felt the sea disappear beneath her slightly and jumped; "Whoooooo!" she rode the wave almost into the shallows were Arthur, Bill and Charlie were paddling happily.

Bill ran over to her "Daddy I wanna go surfing with Lizzy and twins!"

Lizzy smiled at her small cousin "It's too deep, look you're already up to your tummy"

"You could piggyback us like you do in the garden?" Charlie put in hopefully, he had followed Bill blindly even through each wave now threatened to splash his face.

Arthur scooped up his youngest son "Leave Lizzy alone. Tell you what boys why don't we go and build a sandcastle?"

Bill grinned "Will Mummy help?"

Arthur sighed "I'm sure she will, I say Lizzy what are they doing?"

Lizzy turned and laughed "I think that the twins want a turn in the dingy..."

Fabien and Gideon were actually trying to tip up Sirius, who was clinging on for dear life.

Lizzy swam over to Marlene and James who were both laughing, Marlene markedly more subtly.

"Guys that's pathetic!" James yelled at his cousins "There are two of you!"

"Thanks mate" Sirius said dryly, kicking out at Gideon who dodged easily.

James waded in to join the fray leaving the girls as spectators.

Marlene prodded Lizzy on the arm and pointed to the large wave heading towards them with a frothy white top.

Lizzy glanced round; none of the boys had noticed it.

They both stood and watched as the wave crashed down on top of the surprised boys.

Lizzy burst out laughing at their spluttering as Marlene went and rescued the abandoned dingy.

Lizzy jumped nimbly in "Do you want a go Marley?"

Marlene climbed into the dingy and watched the boys stand up nervously.

Fabien looked outraged "What!"

Gideon grinned "Right birthday girl, you asked for it!"

James held him back and smirked "Like you can stay in any longer than we could!"

Lizzy rolled her eyes "It involves looking when there's a wave!"

Marlene prodded her "Like now?" another wave crashed down on top of the boys.

Lizzy laughed "That and not standing exactly where they crash!"

"James you git! That's utter sabotage and corruption!" Lizzy shouted as James kicked sand into her moat.

"It was an accident!" James protested loudly as Sirius laughed next his own unimpressive sandcastle.

Lizzy stood up and put her hands on her hips "It was not!"

Mrs Potter sighed from her deckchair "Kids..."

James stuck his tongue out "It's not like you were going to win anyway!"

Mr Potter spoke warningly "James..."

Bill jumped up and rushed over to the older kids "Look! We`ve finished!"

Sirius raised his eyebrows but Marlene elbowed him quickly "That's brilliant you two!"

Bill took her compliments at face value "Well Daddy did help a bit..."

James grinned "It's cool but mines way better..."

Lizzy winked at her cousin then shoved her brother over into his sandcastle "How about now?"

James jumped up and lunged at his sister who dodged him and ran off across the sand towards the sea.

James ran after her "You are so going to get it now Titch!"

Lizzy kicked some water at him "Bring it big head!"

Then she tripped over a stone and fell backwards; plunging into the water with a scream.

The water went right up her nose and in her eyes as she pushed herself up.

She spluttered and coughed as someone grabbed her arm to pull her up.

James looked worried "Lizzy, are you alright?"

She rubbed her eyes "Yeah, I think so..."

Sirius could be heard from the beach "Merlin, how`d she make it to a teenager with those reflexes?"

"Right so this muggle games called rounder's..." Arthur explained enthusiastically to his watching in-laws.

Sirius pointed at the pile of equipment "Why does it involve a beaters bat?"

Arthur smiled happily "Well Sirius you use the bat to hit the ball as far away from you as possible so that you can run round the posts."

Molly sighed "Dear, there aren't any posts..."

Arthur looked round "Err..."

Gideon grinned "You don't know what your doing do you?"

Marlene smiled and walked over "Here, like this" she fitted the poles into their stands.

James watched curiously "Now what?"

Marlene started to assemble the other bases "You take that one and put it over there and Lizzy..."

Pretty soon they had the pitch set up and Marlene turned to the others "Right, now we need to split into two teams..."

"BAGSI CAPTAIN!" both twins shouted at once.

James looked outraged "No way, I'm the school captain!"

Lizzy stuck her tongue out at him "Exactly! Give someone else a turn!"

Mr Potter grinned "I and Defius are captains and I'm picking first!"

"What?!" Uncle Defius exclaimed, though he shut up at the glares his wife and daughter gave him.

Mr Potter laughed "Line up then"

They obeyed quickly, some with less enthusiasm than others; Molly sighed from her deckchair "All right Charlie, Mummies coming..."

Mr Potter laughed "Aw I couldn't leave my little sister out; Arctua!"

Uncle Defius smirked "Two can play at that game; come on Dorea"

"Fabien" Mr Potter called, much to James`s disgust.

Uncle Defius beckoned him over "James, you're with me"

Mr Potter rolled his eyes "Gideon then"

Lizzy crossed her arms and looked impatient "Sirius, come join the winning team"

"Molly"

"Marlene"

"Lizzy"

"Bill"

"Charlie"

Arthur coughed "Does this mean that I'm umpiring then?"

Molly, Aunt Arctua and Mrs Potter spoke at once "You can play for me if you want?!"

"You ready Charlie? You throw the ball so Sirius can hit it, o.k?" Arthur explained as his eldest prepared to bowl.

Sirius was waiting impatiently to bat; there were only three of them still left in.

Bill swung his arm back and lobbed the ball at Sirius who walloped it towards the sea.

"Come on Gideon!" Lizzy screamed as her cousin ran towards the ball.

Sirius was flying round the bases glancing smugly back at Lizzy as he flew past her on second base.

This image was ruined slightly by the slight pothole in the sand which sent him crashing down.

Marlene bit her lip to stop herself laughing "Sirius, are you alright?"

James was less sympathetic "Forget that! Just get to the next bloody base!"

Molly looked outraged "James Potter!"

Gideon passed Sirius who was trying to get up "Bye bye!"

Sirius grabbed his leg making fall over pinning him to the floor.

This probably would have worked quite well had Bill not decided that it was cheating and jumped on his head in punishment.

As Arthur pulled his son off Sirius Lizzy ran to recover the ball from her cousin.

Unfortunately James had the same plan "My ball!" he said, pushing his sister out of the way.

She jumped onto his back and they ended up wrestling on the floor over the small ball.

Bill pouted up at his father "See Daddy! The older ones do it too!"

"I`ll be down in a minute" Lizzy yelled as she ran up to her room to change for the barbeque.

As she hurriedly pulled on a comfortable dress and tied up her hair she noticed a peck of owls waiting on her desk.

Laughing she went over and took a bulky package of a scruffy brown owl; inside was a present and two cards.

Lizzy Fizzy!

Happy Thirteenth! You are finally joining us in the realms of teenagerhood, actually is that even a word? Anyway I picked your present! Never mind what Eddy says! I hope you like it, Welsh joke shops are so good!

Anyways see you soonish?

Millie, the cookie monster!

Hey Lizzy

Happy Birthday, I hope you are having a good one. Erm I'm sorry about my sister's card if you read mine first. She was writing it after eating a ton of sugar quills, so fingers crossed she didn't think it would be funny to booby trap your present

Edgar

Lizzy grinned and opened her present which was a giant box of magically adapted muggle pranks.

"Brilliant!" she muttered as she moved onto a much more neatly groomed white bird whose sender had considerably neater handwriting.

Lizzy!

I hope you're having a brilliant birthday and summers too come to that! I'm having a brilliant time in France and Newts actually managed to write from Down Under, OMG! That means Oh my God, it's a muggle expression that David taught me, and so you can't say I'm completely useless with muggle things!

Happy birthday again!

Charlotte XXX

P.S: Marlene hasn't sent me any pictures yet, could you ask her about it and remind her about my*tastes* Thank you!

Charlottes present was neatly wrapped and contained a large amount of fancy chocolate and some fancy hair stuff which was labelled As you have gorgeous hair you could at least do something with it!

Lizzy smiled and moved onto the last owl; a large magnificent black bird.

She took her present cautiously; reminding herself that if it was too expensive she would have to give it back.

Elle

As you have a strange habit of opening cards first I will take this time to argue that your gift was not that expensive! Just very pretty, like you. Happy birthday darling, I hope my brother isn't completely ruining it! My cousin Narcissa told me to pass on her regards as well.

Love you,

Regulus XXX

Lizzy smiled at her boyfriend though she knew full well they would have very different ideas about what too expensive was.

She unwrapped it and discovered a small silver charm bracelet with one beautiful charm attached.

It was an ornate green heart with silver vines twisting around it.

"Lizzy hurry up!" a voice yelled from downstairs.

Lizzy considered putting it on but thought better of it; it would get broken.

"Coming!" she shouted putting her presents carefully away.

"Dad" James yelled from the veranda "Am I supposed to be dying of smoke inhalation at this point?"

Lizzy rolled her eyes "Drama queen!"

Gideon coughed "Your upwind! Those things are death traps!"

Arthur practically bounced outside "Now now boys, this will be fun!"

Marlene grinned "Let's leave them to it"

The girls walked inside the house and found Molly on the point of collapse.

Lizzy grinned at them "Why don't you two go and help Auntie Arctua with my amazing birthday cake?"

They both grinned up at her "Will we get any chocolate?" Bill demanded.

Lizzy adopted a mock stern voice "Only if my candles are completely perfect!"

They ran out of the room leaving Molly to relax "Thank you!"

"No problem, though how are you going to cope with this one?" Lizzy asked touching Molly's stomach gingerly.

Molly laughed "It might be quieter, besides they can keep each other occupied!"

Marlene smiled "They are very sweet!"

Molly smiled "They really are"

Mrs. Potter walked in "Dinners ready now girls and Molly I suppose..."

Molly smiled "Hey, I'm still a girl Auntie Dorea!"

Mrs Potter smiled "Come on then"

They all moved onto the veranda where Aunt Arctua had laid out a magnificent buffet.

The boys were already digging in; "Sirius you greedy dog!" James yelled as his friend piled any form of meat onto his plate.

Sirius bit into a burger "Why do you care? Go get some grass stag boy!"

Lizzy rolled her eyes as she helped herself to a hot dog "How was that supposed to be funny then?"

James and Sirius just smiled down at her smugly "Maybe one day you`ll find out"