Disclaimer: The person who wrote (and therefor owns) Harry Potter (AKA Joanne Kathleen Rowling) was a complete and utter genius with a fantastic imagination and more talent than me. I think therefor it is safe to assume I am not that person!
Thanks to the following reviewers: Kates Master, lostindreams1001, Bakakun, Princess Eclpise, Meggie-Moo, ilovedrew88, Lady-Mearle, Renna22, NickiB, Hannah, Tai Greywing and MoonylovesFlo.
: Squeals :
OMfreakingGod I love you guys!
A/N: Thank you: bows to imaginary applause :
This chapter is dedicated to Beth (AKA beacon of red light 2!) who is 14 today!
'Happy birthday to you, happy bir…'
: Muses jump on Tash and stifle her song :
Ouch! Guys! That hurt!
Fred: Sorry Beth, its not you we don't like, its Tash's singing . . .
Thanks guys, feeling loved . . .
Right couple of notices which I'll put at the bottom. Just coz this AN is getting rather big.
But anyway this is Beth's birthday present, and it's a very special one because its one which everyone can enjoy! So please do just that! Enjoy!
Another flashback scene in the middle, but it was begging to be written!
Lily checked her face in the mirror. It was strange. You never felt older on your birthday. You just felt the same. But of course, it wasn't just any birthday. It was her twenty first.
She certainly didn't look any different she thought as she observed herself in the mirror. She was the same height and shestill had the same eyes and the same hair that she had in Hogwarts. But she thought to herself, her face looked older and more mature. Everything she had learnt and been faced too over the last three years had left its mark on her.
She felt something cover her eyes and an arm wrap around her shoulders.
"James! Let go of me!" she giggled. "Everyone'll be here in a minute."
"Well they can wait," James said sweetly in her ear. "How often is it your wife's twenty first birthday?"
"Once in your lifetime," Lily said smartly. "But can we save it till later when we won't have guests arriving on our door any second?"
"You ruin the fun," James pouted uncovering her eyes. Lily ducked out of sight to check on the food.
"I don't see why you should have to cook on your birthday," James said. "We could have got takeaway."
"Its nice to cook," Lily said. "And it was either this or going out. And you know going out is dangerous."
It was sad but true. With the amount of Death Eater attacks people rarely went out any more unless it was to work or somewhere urgent.
There was a knock on the door and Lily hurried to open it. Frank and Alice stood outside beaming.
"Happy birthday Lily!" Alice said pulling her into a hug. From behind his wife, Frank smiled and handed Lily her present.
"Anyone else here?" he asked.
"Not yet," Lily said letting them both into the living room. James grinned at Frank as there was another knock on the front door. Lily went to get it. The person in the door was clutching a present under their arm and appeared to have no head.
"Woooo!"
"Hello Sirius," Lily said simply as Sirius pulled down his robes and his head appeared. Tash barged past him to hug Lily.
"Happy birthday Lils!" she said letting her go. "And I apologise on behalf of Sirius. He seemed to think that the 'Headless horseman' approach would scare you."
"Take more than Sirius with his head down his robes to scare me," Lily scoffed. Sirius tried to look hurt, but gave Lily a one armed hug anyway.
"So who are we missing?" Tash asked plonking herself into the nearest sofa. "Jenny and Remus obviously."
"Is Peter coming?" Alice asked.
"Nope," Lily said. "He said he had a lot of work to catch up on."
"That is the worst excuse for 'I have a hot date' that I've ever heard," James snickered, handing Frank and Alice glasses of wine.
"Must be one hell of a hot date," Frank said.
There was a knock on the door and Lily opened it again. She had to blink several times to register who was on her doorstep.
"Hi Jen," she said as she was enveloped in a hug from her friend. Jenny released her quickly and bounced into the living room.
"So? What does everyone think?" she asked doing a twirl and allowing her work robes to fly out around her. Lily stared at her friend as Remus came in through the door, looking slightly windswept, but calmer than Jenny was.
"Umm…have you been playing with colour changing charms Jenny?" Tash asked. Jenny sighed.
"No! I finally suggested that all the healers should have different colour robes!" She twirled again. "And they said yes! Look! They're green!"
Lily watched her friend bounce around the room. Her St Mungos uniform was indeed bright green, still with the conventional emblem on the front, the wand and the bone crossed.
"And they actually agreed to lime green?" Sirius asked in disbelief.
"Yep!" Jenny said cheerfully. "I told them the robes should be green because then people will be able to pick out the healers in a crowd. Especially if we're out in the field and everyone's hurt."
Lily had to agree rationally that bright robes were a good idea. Only the other week there had been another Death Eater attack in the Underground near Waterloo station. Many people had been in urgent need of medical attention, but in the chaos no one had been able to discern the healers from the rest of the crowd, especially in the darkness of the crowded underground.
"And now you've got them you don't want to take them off is that right?" Alice asked wisely.
"Of course not!" Jenny grinned. "I love this colour! No more boring porridge!"
Tash pulled her excited friend onto the sofa next to her. Jenny was still beaming like a lunatic.
"I'm going to check the food," Lily said.
"Then come and open your presents!" Jenny squeaked. Remus got up suddenly.
"Lily can I have a word with you?"
"Um… sure," Lily said slightly thrown by the abruptness. Remus followed her into the kitchen. Lily saw he looked very nervous.
"What is it?" she asked.
"I was going to propose to Jenny tonight," Remus said, so quietly that Lily almost didn't catch it. She fought not to shriek and settled instead for hugging him.
"That's amazing! And about time too if I may say so," Lily said, grinning at him.
"If I asked her tonight you wouldn't feel I was upstaging your birthday would you?" Remus asked worriedly.
"Not at all," Lily said. "I'm just glad you're finally going to ask her."
"Well with everything that's happened in the last month…" Remus trailed off and Lily saw the pain in his eyes at the thought of Jenny lying unconscious in St Mungos.
"You've got her now," Lily said, "don't let her go."
Remus gave a nervous smile and Lily wondered if James had been this scared before he had asked her.
"Come on Lily! Jenny says she has something to show us!" Tash called. "And it has nothing to do with the green robes!"
Lily shrugged and both she and Remus headed back to the living room.
"Look what I found when I was going through my old school stuff!" Jenny said dumping a stack of parchment on the table.
"What's that?" Lily asked.
"Remember I told you on your engagement night that I transcribed an argument between you two?" Jenny said. Lily nodded with a surge of dread. She knew what that parchment probably was now.
"Well…" Jenny said holding up the parchment. "This is the argument!"
"I can't believe you actually found it!" Tash said shaking her head.
"Wanna hear?" Jenny asked taking the first sheet and squinting at her tiny handwriting.
"God my writing was weird back then!"
FLASHBACK!"Okay, lets go over this one more time," Remus said wearily, rubbing his temples. "Who gave you the sugar Sirius?"
The boy in question had a wide grin fixed to his face and was fidgeting so much that he looked like he was trying to sit on a beehive. Fifteen year old Sirius still held the same handsome looks and charm, but he looked a lot more innocent now that he was sugar high.
"Do we have to stay in here?" Sirius whined. "I want to go have a snowball fight!"
Remus raised his eyebrows and glanced out of the window. The gale was blowing snowflakes against the glass of the common room window.
Over in the corner there was a snort of laughter. Tash had her hands over her mouth and was shaking with repressed giggles. Her long blonde hair was in braids, which were creeping out of the hair tie holding them back. Next to her, Jenny's green glasses were sliding down her nose as she bent over her book. She was absorbed in her potions homework, peeking up every now and again to peer at Remus from under her lashes.
"Natasha?" Remus asked. Tash stopped snorting and smiled sweetly.
"Remus?" she responded.
"Did you have something to do with this?" he asked.
"No," Tash rolled her eyes. "Why would I waste precious sugar on Black?"
"Because you think I'm hot?" Sirius asked hopefully. Tash snorted again.
"Suuuuure!" she said rolling her eyes again.
"You know snorting is very unlady like don't you Tash?" Jenny asked.
"I am unlady like," Tash retorted.
"I beg to differ," Sirius said, looking Tash up and down. She threw a cushion at him.
"Hot my arse," she muttered.
"You can't resist the hotness Tash," Sirius assured her, bouncing over and landing on Jenny's homework.
"Sirius," Tash turned to face him. "You have a girlfriend last time I checked."
"Actually he has two," Jenny put in, slightly annoyed by the hyperactive boy sitting on her Potions essay. Tash smacked him and he moved off Jenny's homework.
The usual buzz in the common room was shattered as Lily marched in, dragging a very sheepish looking James by the ear.
"Ow, ow, ow! Evans that hurts!"
Lily released him and he fell back rubbing his ear.
"Right Potter. Care to explain what you've just done in front of the whole common room?" At this point every Gryffindor in the room was listening to Lily rant at the top of her voice. Over the years it had become something of a show.
Over at her table Jenny grinned and pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment. She placed her quill on top, before muttering a spell. The quill quivered and twitched before standing upright, balancing on its point.
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide. No escape from reality…"
Everyone turned to look at Tash, who was singing dramatically. Lily shook her head and turned back to James.
"So go on then. Tell everyone how you earned yourself detention this time."
James grinned at the audience who were obviously eager to learn what he had done to the Slytherins this time.
"Open your eyes. Look up to the skies and see –" Tash continued. "I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy. Because I'm easy come, easy go, little high, little low…"
"Well it wasn't just me Lily," James began. As if on cue Sirius jumped up and bounced to his side.
"That's right Tiger Lily! It was my idea!"
"Get lost Sirius," Lily snapped.
"Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me. To me…"
Tash, still swaying where she sat, mimed playing a piano before pausing to take a dramatic breath.
"Mama, just killed a man…"
"Well we were on our way back from dinner," James started.
"Where I was given loads of chocolate cake!" Sirius put in, grinning like a three year old. Remus stood up and marched over to restrain him.
"Put a gun against his head. Pulled my trigger and now he's dead…"
"And Padfoot mentioned something about the Slytherins…"
"More specifically Snivellus!" Sirius added, as Remus dragged him away back into his seat.
"Shut up Sirius!" Lily snarled.
"Mama, life has just begun. But now I've gone and thrown it all away…"
"And he suggested," James continued. "That he should wash his hair. So we snuck into the common room…"
"Which by the way, ew!" Sirius chimed in.
"Sirius why are you talking like a valley girl?" Remus asked. Sirius's grin got much bigger.
"It makes me feel popular!" he smiled.
"Mama, oooo. Didn't mean to make you cry. If I'm not back again this time tomorrow…"
"So you jinxed their shampoo to explode when they used it!" Lily finished, glaring daggers at James.
"Pretty much yes," he nodded, smiling. There were cheers and calls of 'nice one!' from the Common Room.
"Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters…"
"Tash," Sirius turned to face the singer. "Would you like me more if I sang too?" Tash stopped swaying in time to the music, to stare incredulously at him.
"No Sirius I'd like you more if you moved to Vietnam," she stated. There was a chorus of 'ooooh' from the surrounding students. Tash stood up and bowed before changing track.
"Why do you build me up."
"Build me up," Jenny joined in with the backing vocals.
"Buttercup baby, just to let me down. - Let me down - And mess me around, and then worst of all - Worst of all - You never call baby when you say you will - Say you will - But I love you still."
A loud slapping sound caught everyone's attention. Lily had smacked James around the head.
"Keep singing!" Sirius cheered. Tash and Jenny shrugged and continued with their duet.
"I need you – I need you – more than anyone darling. You know that I have from the start. So build me up – build me up – buttercup, don't break my heart!"
The common room erupted into applause. Lily finally exploded.
"So how may I ask then Potter did I catch you and not Sirius?"
"Now where was I?" Tash asked before smiling and continuing to sing.
"Too late, my time has come. Sends shivers down my spine. Body's aching all the time. Goodbye everybody, I've got to go. Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth…"
James said nothing. Sirius had in actual fact, transformed to animagus form and got away down a secret passage (apparently being sugar high made him faster). Before James had been able to follow, Lily had cornered him. But of course James wasn't about to tell the whole common room this.
"Mama…oooo. I don't wanna die, sometimes I wish I'd never been born at all…"
"It would seem Sirius owes thanks to whoever gave him all that sugar at dinner," James said. "He was there. You just missed him while you were chewing me out Tiger Lily."
Smack!
Everyone in the common room winced as Lily slapped James around the head again. Tash had stopped singing abruptly, looking as though she had swallowed bobotuber pus. She was obviously regretting aiding Sirius in getting out of a detention. Sirius subtly winked at her and she ground her teeth. Seeing that Tash was about to explode, Jenny began to sing again.
"I'll be over at ten, you told me time and again, but you're late. I went around the bend."
Tash smiled gratefully and joined in.
"I run to the door, I can't take any more, its not you. You let me down again."
The common room began to clap along with them. Seeing that public humiliation obviously wasn't working, Lily dragged James into the corner.
"Hey hey, hey!"
"What the hell is wrong with you Potter!" Lily snapped. "You break school rules and you turn it in a mass publicity event!"
"And baby, baby, I'm tryin' to find."
"Hey, hey, hey!"
"It's a gift Lily," James grinned. "Along with extreme talent, charm, good looks and…"
"A little time, but I'll make you wait. I'll be gone I'll be beside the phone waitin' for you."
"A bloated ego?" Lily finished. "You are so unbelievable! The most selfish immature prat I have ever had the misfortune to lay eyes on!"
"Ooh brilliant material!" Jenny smiled, pausing in song. She glanced down at the table where her quill was scrawling furiously across the parchment, documenting everything that was said around it. Tash hauled her to her side again and they continued.
"Why do you build me up – build me up – Buttercup baby, just to let me down – let me down – and mess me around. And then worst of all – worst of all – you never call baby, when you say you will – say you will – but I love you still."
"Honestly I'm amazed you haven't been expelled yet! By all rights you should have been gone years ago!"
"I need you – I need you – More than anyone darling. You know that I have from the start…"
"I cannot stand the sight of you!" Lily finished. "You are… are… are…"
"So build me up – build me up – buttercup. Don't break my heart!"
"Frustratingly hot?" James asked. Lily gave a snarl of frustration and stormed off to the dormitory. The common room was silent except for the scratching of Jenny's quill, which was struggling to keep up with the singing that it had just had to document.
"She loves me," James announced to the Gryffindors.
"Course she does!" Sirius said encouragingly. James grinned and seemed to grow a few more inches. Slamming her essay down, Jenny followed Lily upstairs. Tash gathered up Jenny's abandoned schoolwork, and retreated still singing in the most annoying voice possible all the while.
"I see a little silhouetto of a man. Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the Fandango? Thunderbolt and lightning, very very frightening. Galileo, galile…OW!"
Someone had finally got sick of her and decided to throw a book at her head. She staggered back onto the staircase rubbing her forehead.
"Encore!" Sirius yelled, applauding. Tash glared at him before disappearing upstairs.
END FLASHBACK!"Right maybe we should stop there," Lily held up her hands to stop Jenny from reading any further. Jenny frowned and looked up.
"Why?" she asked. "We've still got you ranting upstairs in the dormitory to listen to!"
"No, I don't want to hear anymore!" Lily said pulling out her wand and summoning the parchment from Jenny's grasp.
"Hey!" Jenny said in an offended voice. "That's mine!"
"Not any more," Lily said, folding up the parchment and tucking it into her robes. Sirius and Tash were not paying attention to any of these events. They had started singing Bohemian Rhapsody. Jenny sighed and rummaged in her own pockets.
"I also found some pictures if anyone is interested," she said pulling out a stack of photographs. "That is as long as you don't steal them too Lily."
"No the photo's are fine," Lily assured her friend, leaning over to see them. Jenny spread them on the coffee table so everyone could look.
"Damn it we were good looking back then," Sirius said.
"Mmm…you were modest too," Tash nodded.
"There's us three by the lake," Jenny pointed at one picture. "When was this?"
"Umm that was fifth year I think," Lily said, wincing a little bit as she remembered the events that had unfolded shortly after that photo had been taken. "Just after our Defence OWL."
"That one was the end of the fourth year," Jenny said pointing at another.
"How d'you know that?" James asked.
"Because that was when Tash was going through her football craze," Lily said recognising the scene. "It was the World Cup."
"I remember that!" Frank said. Alice was nodding too. "Tash made it a habit to tear around the common room cheering didn't she?"
"Oh yeah," Tash grinned. "Would have been good if England had actually qualified. But we always had Scotland! Can't wait till the next World Cup!"
"When is it?" Jenny asked.
"Nineteen eighty two," Tash said. "Three years away. Can't wait to see it!"
"Look there!" Sirius said pointing at a picture of a darkened room. "That was the New Years Eve party during our seventh year wasn't it?"
"At James's house?" Lily asked leaning over for a look. "Yeah it was! When was this taken?"
"When me and Jen were taking a walk," Remus said. "And Tash had gone to hunt for Sirius. Jenny turned around and snapped this." In the background, behind all the people, Lily and James were seated in the corner of the room having a hushed conversation. Lily remembered the countdown, when James had uttered the three words that had made her the happiest she had ever been.
"Lily, you're dazing into space," Alice said waving a hand in front of Lily's face.
"She's reminiscing!" Sirius said dramatically. "She's thinking about James and how much she wanted to be with him that night!"
Tash snorted and Lily went slightly pink.
"Ooh look at that!" Jenny said pointing at another photograph. "That must have been first year!"
"Yeah it is!" Tash said. "My hair is in braids again."
"And I'm wearing my old glasses," Jenny said. "And look, Lily's wearing her favourite shoes! You know, the green pumps with the little white flowers on the end? The ones she always used to wear in the common room."
"I remember when we stole those," James said. "You came storming into our dorm and turned the place upside down looking for them." Lily glared at him.
"I think that was when you guys officially got in Lily's bad books," Tash said. "When you stole her favourite shoes!"
"How did you get inside our dorm anyway?" Lily asked.
"We'd fly up the stairs on our brooms," James said. "Or if we didn't want to be seen, we'd go in through the window."
"What was the best prank you ever pulled d'you think?" Jenny asked looking at the former Marauders. All three of them exchanged glances.
"Not sure," Remus said frowning. "I think the best idea we had was greasing the floor of the dungeon…"
"No way!" Sirius said. "It was when we dropped the nifflers down the chimney of the Slytherin common room!"
"I liked the time when we got their breakfast to explode and stick to them," James said. "Simple but effective."
"You had so much creativity," Lily said shaking her head. "Yet you chose to work it out on the Slytherins."
"Just think of all that chaos we caused," Sirius said dreamily, apparently having not heard a word Lily was saying. "All the fights."
"All the dungbombs," James added.
"The colour changing charms," Remus said.
"The growth solutions," Sirius said.
"The water balloons," Remus remembered.
"Our countless fireworks displays," James said.
"The hexes that made them sing," Remus added.
"Snape flying around the whomping willow…" James said, cracking up at the thought. "That was brilliant!"
"So wish I'd seen that," Tash huffed.
"D'you remember when we were in the fourth year," Sirius said. "And we managed to slip all that firewhiskey into their breakfast?"
"I knew that was you!" Lily said, trying not to laugh at the memory.
"I remember that!" Jenny said. "They were staggering around all day! Ramton thought they had all been partying the night before!"
"I remember that day too!" Alice said grinning. "I wondered what was wrong with them all, but when I offered to help they got a bit violent."
"That was a great day!" Tash said. "I hexed Bellatrix just because she couldn't jump out of the way quick enough!"
There was a further round of laughter.
"So any more exploits that we should know about?" Lily asked.
"Well…" James said slowly. "There was the time in the sixth year just after Christmas. We hexed Snape so that he kept slapping each girl he walked past on the ass."
"That was you!" Jenny exploded suddenly. "He did that to me! I never felt so violated in my life!"
Remus cringed and James and Sirius both had the decency to look ashamed of themselves.
"When did that happen?" Lily asked, for she could not remember this at all. "Where was I?"
"You were at prefect duties," Tash said. "I remember, me and Jenny were studying in the library and when we left Snape was walking past. I hexed him into the wall after he did that."
"And I hit him with a furnculus curse," Jenny said. "He broke out in horrible boils!"
"I screamed at him for a bit," Tash said smiling at the memory. "And then Jenny hexed him so he kept punching himself in the…"
She was cut off by a series of noises. First of all Apollo came shooting into the room yowling in panic. Then there were several cracks from outside in the street. Everyone fell silent.
"What was that?" Jenny asked quietly. Lily waved her quiet, trying at the same time to restrain her frantic cat. No one really needed to ask what it was. They could all recognise the sound of people apperating. James got to his feet and peered out of the window. He immediately recoiled back.
"What is it?" Lily asked getting to her feet. Tash shot to the window and took a look for herself. She went sheet white.
"Oh…crap," she said weakly.
"We're in trouble," James summarised.
A/N: Oooh I'm so very very evil! Leaving you there! But you know me well enough to guess what was going to happen. Social event means something bad happens.
Right announcements. Number one- Thank you to everyone who's been going onto fictionpress and reading So This Is! You're all amazing and I hope you'll continue reading it. Next chapter will be on Wedensday!
Number two - My Piczo site is now FINISHED! Wahoo! Well except that I haven't found two actors who I think look like Sirius and Remus. But all the biographies are in place and all the pictures. You can learn more about my stories and what makes my mind tick (though I'm not entirely sure of this myself)
Address is www . meiandthemuses . piczo . com. Password is stardust mirage (no caps)
Number three - Right as you may have gathered Jenny and I have been planning another wedding (three guesses who's now that you've read this chapter, and if you didn't spot it, shame on you!). Needless to say, like Lily's we had a lot of fun brainstorming but where as Lily's wedding was fairly canon, this wedding... well, you'll see as we spend the next few chapters preparing for it.
Anyway, hope everyone enjoyed that chapter!
Next Chapter: Twice defied. Death Eaters! Voldemort! Bellatrix! Chaos! Pandemonium! Wahoo!
May Stardust fall in your dreams!