10. Celtic Symphony.

It was far across the sea,

When the devil got a hold of me,

He wouldn't set me free,

So he kept me soul for ransom.

-The Wolfe Tones.

17th March 1973

"Hurry yourself up!" called Lynn, pushing through the door of the boy's dorm without bothering to knock. She was met with the usual mess of the boy's clothes strewn across the floor and open trunks with books thrown into it.

"Hello?" James called, shooting up from his sleep, squinting around without his glasses to aid him.

"What are you doing? It's not even nine yet! It's Sunday!" groaned Sirius, throwing his pillow at the girl, who only side stepped it.

"I know. But it's an important day!"

They all stared blankly at her.

"Why am I even friends with you people? It's the 17th of March!"

"Is it your birthday? Should have told us before hand Lynsie," yawned James.

"It's... it's saint Paddy's day."

Remus's face showed his understanding, so he wished her a happy saint Patrick's day and went back to sleep. But the others looked even more confused.

"What's Saint Paddy's day?"

"I'm gonna pretend you never asked that Black."

They still looked confused, so she sighed and sat down on the edge of Sirius's bed. "Saint Patrick is a muggle story, but wizards know him as Maewyn Succat."

They all made noises of understanding, before becoming confused again.

"That bloke that performed wandless magic to escape pirates when he was 10? Muggles celebrate him?"

"Well muggles believed that he was a messenger of God, and he was... sort of. He was some kind of seer. Really powerful. The muggle version is that he brought Catholicism to Ireland," she explained.

"The Wizard version is that he introduced magic into the community and had children there, starting the oldest Irish magical bloodline in Ireland."

"Oh," was Sirius's only response before going back to sleep.

11am

When students started appearing in the great hall, they were met with a bombardment of Irish flags and shamrock green... everything. The tables were green, the tapestries and school banners were covered in shamrock and large hand drawn posters saying "HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!" were on the walls with charmed dancing leprechauns on its coloured pages.

The Marauders sat down at the end of the table, near the second year girls, and Lynn pretended not to notice Lily scramble far away from them. She took out her sketchbook and continued to shade a piece she was working on last night.

"How the hell did you manage all this?" asked James, looking around the hall.

"My brothers helped me," she answered him, not looking up.

Pumpkin juice squirted out of his mouth as he choked unexpectedly. "Your brothers?!"

"Don't be so dramatic Potter."

They all looked at her, and she only shrugged. "Did I not mention this? I have a brother named Podraig in Ravenclaw. He's head boy. And Connor in fourth year, who's in Gryffindor with me."

"No, you didn't mention that!" Sirius exclaimed, looking at her.

"Oh, well, now you know."

"Connor McLaughlin's your brother?" James asked in disbelief. "The beater for the Gryffindor team?"

"Last time I checked we had the same last name."

"Don't get sassy with us young lady," scolded Sirius, snapping his fingers. Lynn only raised an eyebrow at the lad and shrugged.

"What I don't understand is how you get away with things like this?" James went on. "If we tried to decorate the hall for some holiday Mcgonagal would skin us alive."

"It's a skill she has," Sirius loudly whispered to the boys. "She uses the power of the gingers and the leprechauns to get what she- ow!"

He rubbed his shoulder where the Irish woman had smacked him and glared at her playfully, though she only continued to sketch and ignored his prescence.

"It's because Podraig refused to do it secretly and asked Dumbledore if we could," Lynn answered James. "Personally I thought it would be more fun to do it on the sly, but Podraig said it would be too obvious it was us, and he didn't want to lose his title."

They both snorted, grinning at the thought of caring about being head boy.

Sirius caught sight of someone entering the hall and nudged Remus beside him. "Speaking of Connor McLaughlin..."

They watched him enter, casually walking with his hands in his pockets and chestnut hair messed up from sleep.

Now that they knew, they could see a resemblance between the two, with the same piercing aquamarine eyes and playful smirk gracing his lips.

"Could you four be any less subtle," Lynn asked, rolling her eyes at the boys. "Honestly you're like those older girls that treat him like a God, when in reality he's an absolute twat."

"Why isn't he ginger?" Sirius demanded, turning back to her.

"Because not all Irish people are gingers Black."

He didn't bother listening to her response, instead his attention was on her sketchbook. "What are you drawing?"

She looked down at the piece and frowned. What was she drawing? "It's- it's a shadowy dog... I think."

The other Marauders leant forward and studied her drawing too, frowning slightly. "What do you mean you think? You're the one drawing, shouldn't you know?"

Lynn shrugged, starting to shade the background again. "Sometimes I just go on autopilot. Draw subconsciously."

"Yeah that makes no sense."

23rd March 1973

"McLaughlin for God's sake."

Lynn's eyes shot open in surprise, before slowly closing again. For a moment she thought she heard Lily-

"McLaughlin shut them up!"

She sat up, and turned her head towards Lily's bed, where the redhead was tossing around grumpily.

"What, are we on surname basis now Evans?"

"Stop being petty and tell Black to shut up," she groaned, shutting her drapes again.

It was only then did Lynn notice that the were two voices shouting her name, loud enough to wake up the entire Gryffindor tower.

"LYNN!"

"Oh my lord," she muttered, throwing her blankets off of her and slipping her dressing gown on. She exited the dorm, apologising to the girls who had their heads stuck out of their doors to glare at her.

When she got the the staircase, she realised that they had now converted into a slide, letting her know that one of the boys had attempted to climb them.

"What in Godric's Hollow do you two want?" She whispered harshly down the stairs to Peter and Sirius. "You've woken up half of Gryffindor tower you pricks."

"Don't you think it's unfair that you're allowed in the boys' dorm, and we can't even go up the stairs?" Sirius wondered, giving her a lopsided grin. "We were on our way to wake you and then, whoosh, no more stairs!"

"It's James's birthday, we need you to help surprise him," Peter added, answering her real question. She let out a sigh, and gracefully slid down the transfigured stairs.

"Could ye not have told me before this mornin'?" she asked them grumpily, stretching her arms to try and rid her of her drowsiness. They both only stared at her, until she threw her arms up in exasperation. "What?!"

"Your accent is showing," Sirius grinned, eyes shining playfully. His expression reminded Lynn vaguely of a puppy. "It shows when you're angry, that's adorable."

She half heartedly glared at the boy, who's grin didn't falter, before sighing in resignation. "Let's just give the birthday boy a loving wake-up call."

Imagine James surprised yells when four second years jumped on him, belting out happy birthday in different keys and volumes, with Sirius being the loudest and Remus, still half asleep, singing in a much quieter and more pleasant voice.

"Yep. Gryffindor tower is definitely awake now," Lynn smirked, giving James a hug after pulling Sirius off the boy. "Most were already awake because of those two eejits shouting up the girl's staircase."

James grinned, throwing his covers off him to get up. "Did they try and get up the stairs?"

"Oh yeah," Lynn confirmed. "Sorry I missed the idiot that was stupid enough to do it falling flat on their ass."

Sirius raised his hand proudly, waving it enthusiastically in the air. "I was the idiot that was stupid enough to do it!"

"Well done Black." She applauded slowly and sarcastically, which didn't stop Sirius from leaning into a deep bow.

Lynn grabbed the nearest pillow and wacked it across Sirius's face, wiping the smug grin off it. Peter looked around him and grinned, watching and cheering Lynn on as she leapt gracefully around the room trying to avoid an equally graceful Sirius, who was now trying to hit her back. He almost caught her, throwing the pillow with all his might. However she ducked last minute, meaning it hit Remus squarely in the face.

Lynn's eyes widened, and she sought (and failed) to hold her laughter in. Remus calmly picked up the pillow he was hit with, and turned towards Sirius.

"Now Remy, let's use our words."

With a speed Lynn didn't even know Remus possessed, he pounced on the pureblood.

"No! No, not the hair! Don't mess up the hair!"

Students passed the second year dorms, irritated from being harshly woken up at six in the morning. They raised their eyebrows at the dramatic screams of anguish, Welsh death threats and the howls of laughter coming from two boys and an Irish girl.