"Hey Lily," James said, rushing up behind me on the last Friday of January. I don't think he expected me to answer him, because he was very surprised when I turned around.

"What do you want, Potter?" I asked absentmindedly.

"I was wondering if you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend..." He'd started out confidently, but under my glare he trailed off at the end of the sentence.

"You know, after all these years of you asking me out, I would've thought you'd learnt the answer to that question," I said.

"But I thought it might be different now," he said sheepishly.

"Well, I'm going with my friends this weekend." I turned away, and walked down the hall, not noticing the depression etched on his face.

**

"Jeez, what's up with you Evans?" Sirius asked me. I was sitting in the common room, trying to work on my Transfiguration homework. We were still studying Animagi, and we'd just finished the last week of working on them. Of course, Sirius and James were getting top marks in this module, much to my displeasure, and McGonagall's surprise, and Remus wasn't getting too bad either. I was doing horribly.

"This stupid topic!" I fumed. "It's the hardest thing I've ever had to grasp. How do you do it?"

"Determination?" he guessed. "I don't know, we did it in fifth year. I think we just really wanted to be with Moony at his... time, and so we just kept trying until we got it. We'd been trying since third year as well."

"Don't make me look bad," I said, pulling my book onto my lap. "Why are you still here?"

I'd noticed he'd picked up my piece of parchment and was looking it over.

"You've got all the questions right," he said, surprised, so I glared at him. "So I'm wondering, maybe you're fine with the homework, and you're just confused about something else..."

"What do you mean?" I asked, knowing exactly what he meant.

"Prongs asked you out again today..." he said.

"And I said no, as usual," I said, packing up my homework. I really did not want to talk about this topic. I was going to go to bed.

"Why did you say no?" he asked. I stopped. "Listen, everybody can tell that you're warming up to him lately, and I don't really know what's going on, but all the clues are saying that you like him. Why don't you just string him along. One date."

"Padfoot, it's none of your business who I go out with or what I say to them when they ask me, so butt out."

"Why did you say no?"

"Because -" I said.

"Because why?"

"Because it's my birthday on Monday, and I was going to celebrate with my friends in Hogsmeade." I paused for a moment. Earlier, after I'd said no to James, Alice had told me that Frank was going to be in Hogsmeade this weekend, and Mary had a detention so she couldn't go, and Nikki (Bella) was in the hospital wing... So really, I had nobody to go with.

"Where is James? I need to talk to him..."

"Kitchens," Sirius said. At my confused expression he elaborated. "We go down to the kitchens and get food for midnight snacks."

"Umm... okay?" I said. "That's the wackiest thing I've ever heard! How on earth do you get food from the kitchens?"

"The house-elves are really nice, actually," Sirius admitted. "He told me to stay here and he would go get the food. I saw you being all lonesome, and thought I might keep you company."

"Where's Remus?" I asked.

"Talking to old Dumbles I think."

"So how am I supposed to talk to James?"

"You can always wait up in the dorm. He'll turn up there eventually."

I glared at Sirius for a moment and then dashed up to his dormitory, Sirius right behind me.

**

The door opened cautiously, the person behind it not wanting to spill the food they had collected. Sirius motioned me to move behind James' curtains, where I wouldn't be seen.

"Padfoot, come help me with this... please," he said. Sirius laughed, pulled out his wand and summoned them to him, putting them on his bed.

"Oh, shut up," James said when Sirius started chuckling. "I would have if I could get to my wand. Thanks."

"No problem. Listen, I'm going to go find Remus. See you later!"

I made a face at Sirius, but James was two seconds ahead of me. He took a hold of Sirius' arm and stopped him leaving. "Just use the map."

What map? I asked myself.

"What map?" Sirius mirrored my thoughts, although he knew what James was talking about. I vaguely saw him motion towards me behind the curtain before he dashed out of the dormitory. James was left with a puzzled look on his face. He moved around his bed before collapsing onto it.

"OW!" I screamed out in pain as my leg snapped.

"Lily?" he asked, getting off of my now broken leg. "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"Waiting for you," I snapped, wincing when I tried to move my leg. "I was going to accept your offer."

"What offer?" Okay, so James Potter really was as stupid as he looked.

"Hogsmeade?" I asked, sitting on the edge of my bed to examine my leg.

"Oh," he said. "Uh, are you going to check your leg?"

"Yes!" I said, getting my wand from inside the robes that I was still wearing. "Ferula," I muttered, and a splint appeared on my leg. "I'm going to go see Madam Pomfrey. I don't trust myself to heal it by myself."

"I'll go with you," he said, helping me up from the bed. I was aware that I was in his arms, and his face was just inches from mine. The moment was interrupted by Remus coming into the dorm, and he quickly pulled one of my arms over his shoulders.

"Ah, Moony," he said. "Help me take Evans to the hospital wing."

"Okay," he agreed, taking my other arm. He seemed to have no question whatsoever as to why I was up in the dorm in the first place, so I suppose Sirius must have told him.

Note to self: Never break leg if not on fourth floor. Stairs are hell. Thankfully, I didn't really have to walk down them much, Remus and James carried me.

"Oh, what is it this time, Miss Evans?" Madam Pomfrey asked, bustling over.

"I was in the Common Room with my legs spread out on the couch and Potter accidentally sat on my leg, and it broke. I splinted it, but I didn't want to heal it in case I did it wrong."

"Good thinking Miss Evans," she said. "I'll heal it, but I'll keep you here overnight, just in case something went wrong with the splinting."

"Okay," I muttered as the Matron worked on my leg. "Uh, will I still be able to go to Hogsmeade tomorrow?"

"Of course," she said. "I'll let you out at breakfast if everything's okay."

With that she bustled off, leaving me with Remus and James. I looked at them.

"Remus, can you go get somebody in my dorm to get a pair of pajamas?" He nodded and then left, leaving me with James.

"Do you still want to go to Hogsmeade with me? I mean, I can understand if you don't, it's just..."

"No, I'll go with you," I said hurriedly.

"Lily?"

"Mmm?"

"Why did you change your mind?"

"Because none of my friends are going to be with me," I said, a bit glumly. "Frank's going to be there, Mary's got detention and Nikki is.... in here, actually."

"Hey Lily, I can hear everything you say," she warned. I made a face at her, but she was behind the curtain, so she couldn't see. James had to muffle his laughter.

"Well then, I'll see you in the morning," he said, getting up and heading for the door. "Goodnight Lily," he added as he closed the doors.

"Night James," I whispered, momentarily forgetting about Nikki being behind the curtain. I was asleep by the time Remus came back with my pajamas, so I guess I slept in my robes.

**

I didn't end up going to Hogsmeade. I'd damaged my leg when I'd splinted it, which James had to laugh at, and Nikki got to leave at breakfast, which I didn't know she'd been allowed to do. So I spent most of my day in the hospital wing. I was allowed to leave the next morning.

I spent the entire Sunday in the library, finishing off all of my homework. And studying, especially the Animagi questions I'd been doing on Friday night. When I finally got back to the dorm, it was nearing curfew time, so I didn't talk to anybody, going straight to sleep.

**

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Three people screamed, pelting me with muggle water balloons, which I guess Nikki must have bought.

"Eww," I said, opening my eyes and sitting up in the puddle of water that had formed around me. "You guys suck, you know that right?"

"Yes," Nikki said. "But you love us anyway."

The girl in the other bed groaned. We glanced at her for a few seconds before turning back and ignoring her for the rest of the morning. Alice dried my sheets and then handed me a stack of presents.

"Wait," Mary said as I put my hand on the wrapping paper of the first present. She reached behind her, to my bedside table, and pulled a tiara out, shoving it onto my head.

"Thanks, guys," I said, finally unwrapping the first present.

"Muggle fairy tales?" I asked, glancing at Nikki, the one who would have bought it.

"Happy eighteenth," she smiled, giving me a hug.

I unwrapped all the other presents, and found myself with so many books that I couldn't carry them, which was surprising for me. I quickly got dressed before going down to breakfast.

"Why are you wearing a tiara?" Remus asked as our group sat down next to 'the marauders'. I put my hand to my head before glaring at my friends.

"They gave it to me for my birthday," I said, taking it off.

"Keep it on Evans," Sirius said. "I like it."

"Yeah," James agreed. "It makes it look like you have a reason for being such a bitch."

Peter looked utterly conufused, and the six other people at the table shared a laugh. I was aware of my ears going red and I glared at Potter. "I am not! a bitch!"

"He was joking, Lily," Remus said. "Happy Birthday!"

"Yeah, Happy Birthday!" Sirius and James said, drawing everybody's attention to me.

I looked towards the Head table to see Dumbledore standing up. I groaned as he looked towards me. "Happy Birthday Lily," he said, and I was trying to stop my face from going red. "Everybody, let's sing Happy Birthday to our Head Girl."

I looked at James, who was laughing the hardest. And I tried to block out the sound of three houses singing Happy Birthday, as Slytherin definitely wasn't.

"You got him to do that, didn't you?" I hissed at James during Defence Against the Dark Arts. We were in the library, doing a study on Patronuses, and I had landed myself with James again.

"Yes," James smiled. "Happy Birthday Lils."

"Whatever," I said. "I'm sorry about Saturday."

"What was Saturday?" somebody asked as they passed our table. James face contorted into a look of rage, and I spun around to see Severus standing there, waiting for me to pay him attention.

"Oh, nothing," I said, although it was plain he didn't believe me.

"Right," he said. Man, this was really awkward. "Well, Happy Birthday Lily."

"Thanks Sev," I said, and he turned to walk away. James' expression softened a little. "What's wrong with you?"

"I don't like him," James said. "I really don't."

"Well, he gets on my nerves a bit, but he's really a good guy that just hangs out with the wrong people, I suppose."

"You really believe that don't you?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, turning back to the book I was reading through.

"You're a very nice person," he said. "To see good in someone a big a git as Snivellus."

My anger flashed, but I kept it under control. That was a compliment.

"Thank you, Potter," I said.

The rest of the day went alright, I suppose. Professor Slughorn gave me a present, which I'd been expecting from him. It was a bottle of Felix Felicis, which he usually only gave as a prize to the first lesson of his NEWT classes. I thanked him profusely, and then escaped, saying I was going to be late for Charms. I got hardly any homework that day.

I was going out to the grounds to meet my friends when I heard something in one of the hallways, from an empty classroom. There were two people yelling at each other, and the voices were very familiar. I came closer, slightly confused. My confusion turned to alarm as I saw beams of light dart across the room. I pulled my wand out and ran towards the classroom.

"Lily?" they asked. I looked between them, upset, angry, and confused.

"Lily, what's wrong?" the Gryffindor asked. The Slytherin came forward.

"Get away from me!" I shouted at him. "Don't you come near me either!" I said to the Gryffindor, who had stepped forward slightly. I looked between them both again. "I can't believe this..."

I couldn't even finish my own sentence. I ran out of the room and up to the Gryffindor Common Room, which was empty today, because it was the nicest day outside. This was defintely the worst birthday I'd ever had.

**

I don't know when, but it was night time when I was woken up. Looking outside, I could only see beautiful stars. I wasn't on the chair I'd fallen asleep in. In fact, I don't even think I was in the Common Room anymore. That was a bit weird.

"Oh, you're awake," somebody said. I sat bolt upright, looking around for the voice.

"Who's there?" I asked, after I couldn't see anybody. Right in front of me, somebody pulled off an invisibility cloak. "Oh, it's you," I said.

"Look, I'm sorry about earl -"

"Don't wanna hear it," I said as I got up.

"LILY!" he yelled.

"No, Potter," I snarled. "Every time I think you've changed, you change my mind by going and doing something stupid! Do you know how it feels to have the person you're in love with be a complete arse?"

He shifted uncomfortably at that. I stepped closer to him, tears running down my face.

"No, you don't," I said. "So if I were you, I'd take a good hard look at yourself, and think about what you could change. Like, for example, not duelling Severus. I know you don't like him, but duelling can get you killed!"

"I know," he said. "I know. He started it though. He told me to stay away from you."

"I don't care who started it!" I spat in his face. "The point is you fought back." I took a few steps back. "Where am I?"

"Room of Requirement," he answered cautiously. I was still angry, and looked at him questioningly. "It's a room that changes depending on what the person using it needs. If you need a library, it will turn into a library."

I looked at him. Did he seriously just use a library example?

"If you need a hospital wing, it will turn into a hospital wing."

"Why did you bring me here?"

"Because I wanted to apologise, and I didn't want you to yell at me in front of Gryffindor house. I really am sorry, I knew you wouldn't like it."

"You're a complete arse!" I yelled again. "You're in Gryffindor! Be brave, and be prepared to get yelled at in front of everybody!"

"Lily, you're even more adorable when you're angry," he said timidly.

"No time for flattery!" I said, unaware of how close we were. He leant over to a table and put something on my head. I put my hand up, feeling the tiara.

"When you ran off, you left it behind, and I picked it up. I thought you might like it back."

Then I did something I thought I'd never do. I got on my tiptoes, and kissed him, full on the mouth.

Definitely, the best birthday ever.

See, I told you it would have her birthday in it!! Ahaha, I'M FINALLY SIXTEEN!!! YAY!!!

That means I can now legally,

- Drive a car with the supervision of a licensed adult over 25 years of age in the passenger seat

- Leave School

- Move out of home

- Do.... it.

And probably some other things that I can't really think of right now.

So, I hope you liked the chapter... I do!!

And Raindrops, I told you I would steal it!! ahahaha I can change it if you beg me too... but the original wasn't so exciting.

Or you could just let me keep it and then put it in your own story, so it looks like we both had a good idea =]

You won't deny the birthday girl her fun, will you?

ahaha

anyway, review, and make me happy!

Love Gabi xx