Ch. 4

AN: this might not be the best chapter.

James munched happily on his breakfast: Captain Sausage on the USS Wheat Toast with delicious marmalade as a protective shield as it sailed the high seas of an egg, tomato, and cheese omelet. When no one was paying attention, he would add his own sound effects.

"James, please don't play with your food," Lily said as she plopped down beside him. James froze just as an eggy wave was going to wash out the toast boat.

"I wasn't," James replied defensively. To further prove his point, he shoved the entirety of the beloved Captain Sausage in his mouth. For a sea bearer, he was quite magnificent. James made a mental note to eat his wife and two kids on the apple half shore.

"That's a lot of food," Lily continued, wrinkling her nose at the overcrowded plate. Lily helped herself to a bagel and cream cheese and a grapefruit.

"I'm hungry!"

"Are you really that hungry?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

"Lils, when you play quidditch as much as I do, you tend to find yourself packing in a little more than that guy over there," James explained, pointing to a twig thin first year Hufflepuff.

However, Lily wasn't paying attention to what James just said because she was reading a letter from her mother. James noticed a shockingly white and stiff sheet of parchment folded inside the envelope.

"What's that?" He asked, reaching for the paper. Lily quickly snatched the envelope from James' prying hand and eye.

"It's nothing," Lily said. "Just my mum wishing me happy birthday."

"Today's your birthday?"

"No, it's on Thursday." Without waiting for James to respond, she walked out of the Grand Hall without finishing her bagel.

As James watched her leave, a light went off in his head. Since it was a Hogsmede weekend, he will take the time to get his beautiful flower a birthday present that she will least expect. He needed to take that extra mile and go beyond the small town.

"Padfoot," James called. Sirius looked over from his spot further down the table, beside his girlfriend, Camilla.

"What?"

"Do you have plans for today?"

"What do you think?"

"Cancel them!" James shouted down the table.

"Why?"

"I need you on some very important business," James explained.

Sirius rolled his eyes, but gave in because he knew James' 'important business' could mean he will finally come back to the rule breaking side of the world. Ever since Lily's prank, James had taken a sharp turn in the opposite direction. He even had the nerve to give Sirius detention for picking on Snivellus. Of all people, Snivellus!

"Great, to Hogsmede!" James declared. He hopped up from his seat and was about to bound down the Hall, but he saw his sea voyage adventure breakfast. He couldn't just leave his meal at a cliffhanger, especially since the children of Captain Sausage were half eaten by the Jameslochness monster,

"We finish breakfast first!" James called back to his friend.

"So, what sort of tomfoolery to you in mind?" Sirius asked, anxiously rubbing his hands together. He had just met up with James at Three Broomsticks in Hogsmede.

"No tomfoolery, Sirisus," James said. "I've ended that chapter of my life. No, I need your help with getting my beautiful Lily flower a birthday present. But not just any present, no. I need to get her a present that let's her know she means the world to me, that I will do anything for her."

"Why don't you just ask her to marry you?" Sirius rolled his eyes. All the potential he sacrificed for in vain. "I mean, what you just said sounded like wedding vows to me."

James looked at his friend as though he had just been told he was from Mars. "Sirius, that would be crazy! Why would you even suggest such a ludicrous thought?"

"Because your whole speech sounded like wedding vows! I've wasted a very great day with Camilla because I thought you had something promising planned," Sirius cried.

"This is promising!"

"I'm not helping you plan your wedding!"

"Who said I was planning a wedding?"

At that moment, Lily along with her friends walked in. James almost thought that the entire pub went silent because she walked in. Then he realized that the whole pub was silent because of the quarrel between Sirius and him.

"Why is everyone so quiet?" James heard Alice mutter to Lily as they walked to the bar. He was about to hear what Lily's response was when Sirius grabbed the back of his robes and dragged himself outside.

"What?" James demanded.

Sirius paced a little, occasionally looking over at James, "fine, I'll help you look for a birthday present for Lily as long as you don't start spouting out vows again."

"Deal, let's change," James said eagerly, bounding back toward the castle.

"Change?" Sirius called after him.

"Yeah, into muggle clothes. We're going shopping at a muggle store."

"Bloody hell..."

James and Sirius traveled through the shopping mall with their shoulders pressed together. For some reason, the entire place was teeming with muggles. The entire building was packed wall to wall with the muggles; and they weren't polite either. They had been shoved twice, laughed at a five times, and had been given several disapproving looks from mothers. One time, James went to ask a girl he saw for some help finding a girly stuff store. The girl opened her mouth to answer, but the girl's father yanked her away from them, saying, "them blokes are bad new they are. You best steer clear from boys like that"

"Since when did we become criminals?" Sirius asked, frowning.

"Your guess is as good as mine," James replied. Maybe this extra mile idea wasn't as good as he thought it was.

Still refusing to give up, James approached a small group of what looked to be 13 year olds. He duly noted that they were giving him a weird look and were giggling amongst each other. Is it my outfit? He asked himself, looking down at his muggle clothes. Can't be. Lily helped me perfect my muggle look.

"Excuse me, but I was looking for a good shop to buy a present for my girlfriend, do you know of one? Maybe one you frequent?" James asked.

"Are you serious?" One of the adolescents asked.

"Completely."

"Maybe you should crawl out of the hole you live in," one of the other kids said. They all walked away laughing at the top of their lungs while one of the boys did a mockery of James' question.

"You're lucky it's illegal for me to hex you!" James called after them. He then decided that the court's jester of the group should make a mockery of himself. He pulled his wand out, concealing it so that no one would see and gave it a quick flick in the direction of the group. The boy that was mocking James immediately fell over, knocking a woman passing to the ground before stumbling into a face plant himself. The woman's shopping spilled everywhere and she spent five minutes shouting at the boy. A small group of spectators gathered and laughed at the boy's misery.

When the crowd cleared, the boy looked back over in James' direction and James responded by pointing his at himself and then thrusting it in the boys direction as a way of saying, "that's nothing compared to what I'll do next if you don't keep to yourself." The boy's eyes widened with fear and he ran off, his friends in trailing behind him, inquiring as to why he was running.

"He had it coming," Sirius nodded. "Let's just hope the Ministry doesn't get a hold of this."

"Oh, come on, Padfoot," James said. "Do you really think that in these hard times, aurors have nothing better to do than to chase around a harmless prank?"

"Good point," Sirius agreed. The two boys continued on their quest to find Lily a birthday present. They eventually settled on a lava lamp and a nice looking dress that James figured she could wear when he takes her out to dinner during Easter break. Little did he know that Lily had other plans for Easter for Lily, while James was doing his shopping, spent her Saturday filling out the form that her mother sent her in the mail that morning.

AN: reviews= love! And remember: I don't own Harry Potter!