I cracked open an eye. What was happening? What was with that horrible noise?

Then I remembered.

Oh, god, don't tell me they...

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUTUMN!!" I heard two voices shriek.

"Guys..." I moaned, turning around. "It's..." I checked the clock. "Seven in the morning!" I groaned. "Class doesn't start for another one and a half hours!"

"Who cares about class?" Amy bounced on my bed. "It's your birthday! It's YOUR day! Whatever you want will be yours!"

I glared at her. "Then I want you off my bed."

"Okay, everything except that." She amended, grinning.

"We have your presents!" Lily said smiling. She pulled out a small bundle of wrapped gifts from behind her back.

Suddenly I was wide awake. "Presents!" I jumped up off the bed and grabbed the pile. "Okay..."I muttered to myself. "One from Lily, one from Amy, the one from Mum, obviously, Henry, Kevin, wait a sec...wait, one from the Marauders?" I said disbelievingly.

"What?" Amy and Lily asked. Amy craned her neck forward to look at the tiny white box.

"The Marauders gave me a gift." I repeated.

"What is it?" Lily asked curiously.

"I don't know and I don't want to know." I said decisively. "It'll be a prank, no doubt, and I don't want to spend my birthday with an extra head."

"But if it's a prank, why would they sign it with their names?" Amy asked reasonably. "I mean, they would know you would think it would be a prank and not open it, so they wouldn't sign their names."

"True..." Lily said thoughtfully.

"I think you should open it." Amy told me, bouncing again.

"Yes, just to see what it is." Lily suggested.

Looking at both of their expectant faces, I sighed. I would so regret this later. "Fine." I picked up the gift with two of my fingers and held it away from me.

"Jeez, Tua, it's not going to explode." Lily laughed.

"Knowing the Marauders it will." I replied grimly.

I picked at the bow with a finger carefully, and the bow quickly fell apart. By now, all the rest of the sixth year girls had awoken and were staring at me curiously.

I leaned towards it to peel off the wrappings, but with a huge boom, the entire thing exploded.

I wanted to say 'I told you so' to Lily so bad right then.

But when it exploded, nothing offensive came flying out. Instead, a huge bunch of rose petals came floating out and fell over my bed. They were a deep red and when they settled on my hair and my bed, I'll admit, the tiny four-poster looked quite becoming.

"What-?" Lily started in a hushed voice, but suddenly a small white folded note appeared out of nowhere. It hung in the air for a moment before gently settling onto my bed and then it opened.

"What does it say?" Amy asked, her eyes huge.

"Thank you." I said strangely. "It says 'Thank You'."

"For what?" Nayu asked.

"I have no idea." I told her, picking up the letter carefully.

"The Marauder's sent you birthday card?" Kimberly Ann asked me disbelievingly. "There has to be some mistake."

I didn't even bother glancing at her.

"What, jealous?" Amy shot back.

"Of her?" Kimberly sniffed and daintily got out of bed. "Please."

Amy glared at her until she left to the bathroom. "I hate her." She muttered.

"Don't let her get to you." Lily said wisely, reaching for some clothes.

"I guess." She replied forlornly.

"Hey." I said surprised.

"What?"

"There's a signature." I said confusedly. "On the back. It's signed...James Potter."

"Potter?" Lily asked me, turning around.

"Yeah. I mean, yes. It's his name." I held up the note so she could see. The messy scrawl was unmistakable.

Lily pursed her lips and turned back to her trunk. "From one girl to another." She muttered, her face red.

I was almost positive that I had heard a bit of jealousy in her voice, but I refrained from commenting. Instead, I grabbed a skirt and a top, my robes and left to the Great Hall, ready to ask why on earth James Potter was thanking me.

I spotted them almost immediately.

When I reached them, I tapped James on the shoulder. He turned around, and when he saw me, broke out into a huge smile. "Autumn!" He cried. He jumped up and gave me a big hug. "How's my favorite birthday girl today?"

I just stood there in shock. Whatever reaction I had been expecting, this most certainly was not it. "Potter." I said sternly, pushing him away. "You are not my dad."

"So?" He laughed, ruffling my hair.

Blinking at the extreme oddity of this scene, I smoothed down my hair, not even telling him off for messing it up. I looked towards Remus.

He met my gaze, but his face was unreadable.

"Get away from here." Black said irritably. I hadn't even noticed him sitting there.

"Why?" I asked snobbishly. "Who wants me to leave?"

"Me." He stood up as well. I had forgotten exactly how tall he was.

But I refused to be cowed. "I don't want to." I said, looking dispassionately around the Hall. "I seem to like sitting here. Oh, look. An open seat!" Before he could react, I slid into his seat and smiled sunnily up at him. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

His eyes flashed angrily. "Get. Up. Now."

I looked up at him, my eyes narrowed, but the smile still firmly fixed on my face. "I don't want to."

"I don't give a damn whether you want to, Samuels, but you will get the hell out of my seat." Black said, his voice dangerously low. James was still standing, looking somewhat confused at the tone the conversation had taken.

"Hmmm." I said, looking around the chair. "I don't see a name tag..." I looked up at him. "I don't see, 'This Seat Belongs to The Most Arrogant and Annoying Git In the Universe' etched into the back of the chair, so I'll sit here." When he opened his mouth furiously, I cut him off. "And you. Can't. Make me."

Black looked like he was about to explode. I mean, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. His hand clenched into a fist and no doubt would have punched me in the face, but Potter grabbed his arm, Remus grabbed me and Peter pushed the four of us out of the Hall.

Needless to say, there were plenty of surprised looks directed towards us.

We had turned a couple of corners until we came to a deserted corridor, and then Potter released Black and Remus released me. By then, Black had cooled off somewhat, because he didn't seem quite as intent on killing me anymore.

But who cares about him?

I turned to Potter. "Okay, Potter, spill."

"What?" He asked me, his hazel eyes blinking behind his glasses.

I rolled my own green eyes. "The card, Potter, the card." I said, exasperated.

"What about it?" He asked me curiously. "Didn't you like it?"

"That's beside the point." I huffed, crossing my arms. Remus lifted an eyebrow. "I want to know why you sent that. Quite a few people have gotten the wrong impression, if you catch my drift, and your dear Lily isn't going to be impressed with a little show that looked like you were declaring your undying love for me!"

"Oh." He said, sitting back on his heels. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Obviously." I said, rolling my eyes again. "When do you ever think?"

"You shouldn't be one to say that, Samuels." Black snorted behind me.

"Oh, yeah?" I snarled, turning around.

"Yeah." He said simply.

"Well, it's not exactly like I'd take an insult from an idiot seriously anyway." I said, flipping my hair back with my hand. I knew perfectly well that acting like a Barbie Doll annoyed the hell out of him, and if that meant I had to look like Kimberly Ann, so be it.

"Who's the idiot here?" He sneered. "You didn't even know that we snuck into the girls dormitories two days ago!"

"You WHAT?" I shrieked. I whirled around, and was met by the same sheepish looks everywhere. "WHY?"

Black had shut up immediately after spilling his little secret. I couldn't take it.

Potter.

I strode up to him, grabbed him by the neck of his robes and practically slammed him into the wall. "You will tell me," I said, breathing fire. "Why exactly you were in the girls dorms in the middle of the night."

"Uh..." He trailed off.

"Or so help me, I will tell Lily." I growled, knowing perfectly well that this was all that was needed.

"It was after the little 'incident' with the truth-potion." I heard a voice behind me say. I let go of Potter and turned to Remus.

"What?"

"They, okay, fine, we," He amended, catching the looks on his friends faces. "Wanted to know what the girls were thinking after Sirius said those...things. So we snuck upstairs." He shrugged.

I had never quite realized how much like Black and Potter Remus was.

"And?" I asked, tapping my foot.

"We heard Lily say she thought James was cute!" Peter piped up.

Suddenly all my anger drained away. "Oh!" I laughed. "That's all. So you guys never came into the dorm itself."

"Well, I wouldn't say that..." James shifted uncomfortably.

"I loved your Powder Puff Girls underwear." Sirius smirked.

It was all I could do to not strangle all of them right there.

--

"Hey, babe." Kevin sidled up to me in-between classes.

"Hey." I smiled softly at him. I shifted my books around in my hands so that I could lean over and peck him on the cheek. "How are you?"

"Me?" He laughed. "I'm fine. Happy Birthday, babe." I smiled at him. "Did you like my present?"

I laughed. "Loved it. It was really beautiful." I lifted up my wrist so that he could see the diamond bracelet hanging off. "But you didn't need to spend quite so much money on me."

Suddenly he didn't meet my eyes. "Nah..." He trailed off, chuckling nervously. We walked down the hall together, and I was savoring the peacefulness of the moment.

Then, of course, it was broken by screams and yells a second away from us. "Crap." I muttered.

"What's wrong?" Kevin asked me, puzzled.

"Black." I hurriedly stuffed my books into my bag and then pulled him out of the way so that the stampeding horde of pigs wearing silver and green ties could pass, leaving us unharmed.

I sighed, wiping a bit of mud off of my nose. "So immature..." I muttered.

"Tell me about it." He said disgustedly. "Potter and his friends are such idiots."

"What is that I hear?" I heard an all too familiar voice say behind me. With a groan, I turned around, and saw Black turn the corner, loping into view. "Idiots?"

"Yes, Black." I said tiredly. "Idiots. Don't deny it, you all are. Now leave us alone, I have to get to charms."

"Sure." He smirked. "Going to spend some time with Pretty Boy over there?"

"Eff off, Black." I glared at him.

"Aww, is the little girl mad?" He mocked me.

"Listen, I don't know what has gotten into you today, but you are really pissing me off." I snarled at him, pushing my bag into Kevin's surprised arms.

"Nice to know." He grinned cheekily.

That threw me for a moment. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move, a red light flash, and without even thinking about it, I yanked out my wand and fired.

Unfortunately, my blocking spell came a second too late, but the spell that was to hit me, never even touched me. Out of nowhere, Black was in front of me, protecting me, and he suddenly crumpled to the ground.

I turned just in time to see a couple of Slytherins vanish around the corner, one of them muttering 'Mudbloods', before I dropped to the floor beside him.

"Black?" I reached out my hand. He wasn't moving. "Sirius?" I tentatively rolled him over. "Oh crap." I muttered. He had a gash in his robes that was no doubt meant to slash open his skin, but the spell had been too hasty, the object had been moving, and his robes had protected him, so there was only a cut through his clothes and a slight scratch on his skin.

I smoothed out his shirt, and suddenly I was thankful. If he hadn't jumped in front of me, the spell definitely would have caused some serious damage to me.

Then I realized he was conscious.

I froze, my hand still on his chest as his eyes locked with mine.

The seconds ticked by.

I had never noticed how incredibly big his gray eyes were.

"Why did you do that?" He broke the silence suddenly. His voice was soft.

"Why did you jump in front of me?" I countered.

His brow furrowed. "I don't know." He whispered. "I saw you, I saw the spell, and...I don't know."

I couldn't speak. For some reason, there was a lump in my throat.

I noticed that Kevin had vanished.

"Well, thanks." I said, suddenly business-like. I finished smoothing out his shirt and then stood up. "If you hadn't done that, I would have been hurt."

I held out a hand to help him up.

He just stared at it, like he didn't know what to do with it.

I sighed. "I'm helping you up, Black. You saved me, so I'll be nice to you today." He grabbed my hand and pulled himself up, dusting himself off. "And on my birthday too." I grumbled.

"Thanks." I looked up, startled. He wasn't looking at me, but I noticed the slightest bit of red on his cheeks.

Suddenly my mouth stretched into a huge smile. "You're welcome."

--

Okay, the whole reason that they hate each other is going to come out in the next two chapters!! Stay tuned, and please review!!

Fanta-Faerie