I want to murder the monsoon for killing my internet for an entire week. I really do. So I guess it's better to say that fast updates aren't going to be possible until this ABYSMAL weather is gone.

Hope you like this one though, it was fun to write :)


Lily's peaceful dreams were thrown aside ruthlessly as she woke up to the sound of a din so great that she thought it might blow up her ears. Shouting, laughing, singing- a mixture of sounds erupted in the background as her eyes flew open sleepily.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Everyone said this in unison- loudly- and she started to wonder who exactly 'everyone' was before Hestia's face came up right in front of her own. She blinked and yawned.

"Petal! Get up! You'll be missing the fun," she said, looking flustered.

"Hest… what's… the time? Who are… all of them?" Lily grumbled.

"Gryffindor common room, 12:02 a.m., on the very auspicious thirtieth of January," she could recognize Sirius' voice even before he finished saying 'Gryffindor'.

To be honest, Lily just felt like sleeping again.

"Oh no you don't," she heard Hestia say before a brief swishing sound, and then she was awake, all the sleep drained out of her like magic.

"W- What? What did you do?" Lily asked, sitting up and finding that she was on a couch in Gryffindor Tower. How funny. Last she checked, she had gone to bed in the Heads' Dorm.

"A handy little spell that I use to wake people up," Hestia grinned.

"How on earth did I even get here? I slept in the Heads' Dorm last night-"

"Easy. The good old Locomotion Charm never lets you down."

Standing up, Lily looked around at the enormous mass of people crowding the common room, Butterbeer bottles clutched in their hands (where on earth did they get those from?), music blasting off at full volume with people dancing on a magicked- up dance floor, a dozen people coming forward and hugging her, wishing her a happy birthday, dazed looks in their eyes…

"Lily! Happy seventeenth- Oh, My God, I am so jealous of you!" Alice came forward and hugged her as well. Lily smiled. "I can't believe it- you can apparate now, and… ooh, you can use magic outside of Hogwarts! Here, I've gotten you a present-"

And suddenly something large and clumsily wrapped was stuffed into Lily's hands, Alice beamingly gesturing for her to open it. It felt extremely heavy. Raising an eyebrow, Lily tore off the wrapping paper.

She knew what it was even before the first fold was uncovered: Books.

"Like them? I know everyone gives you books, Lily, but I just had to- wait till you read them, they're fantastic!" Alice started gushing. "It's because your life's ambition is to kill evil people. Believe me, I know," she added as Lily gave her a quizzical expression. "You've been talking about becoming an Auror for months."

Five. Five humungous books, their covers made of leather and having that absolutely wonderful smell of new paper wafting up through the pages. Lily ignored the shouting of people around and spread them out on the sofa, feeling her heart rise. Facing the Unknown… Getting Along With Dragons… A Thousand Ways of Disguise… Lily read the titles in her head, finally giving Alice a large hug when she was over.

"Thank you, I love them!" she squealed as Alice hugged her back.

"Don't get excited just yet," someone tapped her on the shoulder and Lily turned around. Hestia was grinning, her lipstick smudged halfway across her face (she wondered how that happened) and her hands clapping together eagerly. "You've got way more presents to open. Come on!"

Following her through the waving arms of a dozen dancing fifth years, Lily gasped as she came face to face with a large pile of gifts mounded over one of the corner tables. Suddenly, she felt kiddish- wanting to open all of them at once and screaming in the pleasure of having so many new things.

"Mine first!" Hestia gestured, pointing at huge box right in front. It was long, almost two meters, and Lily grabbed a hold of the taped ends, tearing them off.

"You. Are. Kidding. Me." Was her first reaction.

"I'm really not."

"Holy Mother of Merlin, Jones!" James came up from behind, gasping in astonishment. He couldn't believe his eyes. Lily took one look at him and smiled. She was overjoyed that he had recovered tremendously since the run- in with Bellatrix. He had almost become sane now.

But Lily looked back at the abominable present and tried not to think about that. She just held the uncovered present in front of her, her eyes looking glazed as she saw it again.

"You got her a-"

"A broomstick?" Lily finished the sentence for Remus, even questioning her own statement as she stared at the shiny new handle and the bristles rising out of its end. As far as she'd known, broomsticks had always been rough and dull- or maybe that was just James' and Sirius', because they were quite old, but this was unbelievable. Unexpected of Hestia. "I thought this was an oversized makeup kit or something! Merlin!"

"What design?" James asked curiously, pushing off the wrapping paper that covered the end.

"A Cleansweep Five," Lily read.

"It's not just a broomstick, Lily-Petal. It's a special order," Hestia beamed. "It's got a safety mechanism built into it. So that you won't crush your bones if you fall off. See?" without waiting for consent, she grabbed the handle and pressed it. All of a sudden, it spewed out around a hundred feathers non-stop. Lily ducked and covered her head as they sped around, apparently looking for the rider in distress, but after finding none, angrily restored themselves back inside the broom.

"Nice job safeguarding my dignity," Lily stood up straight, and her best friend, along with James and Remus, laughed.

Within the next fifteen minutes, Lily was bombarded with presents so exquisite that she couldn't hold in her pleasure. Remus had actually gone and bought her a cat, of all things (much to Sirius' distaste. 'My worst enemy', he had said, although Lily didn't know why). It was a marvelous tabby, swirling brown patterns decorating its fur and its eyes looking intimidating. James had backed away at once.

Peter had generously gifted her a huge packet of every single Chocolate Frog card ever known to mankind, to which Remus and Sirius simultaneously screamed 'AESALON! I WANT HIM!', and with smug looks from Lily as accompaniment. The cards were so unexpected that Lily actually went and gave Peter a firm hug, to which he started blushing profusely, causing his friends to snicker loudly.

After going through around ten of her gifts, Lily felt her head buzz in excitement at the thought of what James would have gotten her. Snapping her head up eagerly, she caught his eye and non-verbally conveyed her thoughts. To her annoyance, however, he didn't seem to get the message and just looked away again.

"Jerk, what about you? Didn't you get her something?" Hestia nudged Sirius, and Lily was snapped out of her reverie.

"You cause shame on the name of Black!" Sirius gasped in offense. "Padfoot would never forget his Lily-Flower's birthday! Never in a mil-"

"Out with it, Sirius."

"I have gotten her a present, okay, Moony?" he frowned. "It's just a secret. Flower, come here."

Curious, Lily hastened forward and allowed Sirius to whisper something in her ear. After he withdrew, she started to grin. It was typical of him to do something like this. She wouldn't have expected anything less from a Marauder.

"Well?" asked Hestia, quirking her eyebrow.

"Stop nosing, Twat. It's a surprise. Trust a fellow for once," Sirius grumbled. Lily, patting him on the shoulder a couple of times, shook her head and walked through the crowd, leaving them all behind.

Everyone was having so much fun, and she thought she actually saw someone throw a lamp out of the window as she jostled through some laughing sixth-years. She felt like she was in a muggle club. But there was just one difference: all of it, it was for her. She wondered who organized it. She didn't know anyone who would do something so wonderful for her.

And she should have felt on top of the world at that moment, but for one thing.

Furrowing her eyebrows, she pondered on the topic, because she didn't know what exactly it was that was making her feel so unhappy. It wasn't as if she was shockingly depressed, but it was just a twinge of sadness, digging into her brain like a centipede. Something that had happened just a short while ago. Was it something Sirius had said?

What was it?

"Lils!"

Snapping back to reality, she caught the movement of some familiar messy black hair out of the corner of her eye. Stopping, she allowed James' smiling face to approach until he stood right in front of her.

"Did I forget to mention happy birthday?" he asked, instinctively reaching for her hand, holding it in his own. "I think I did."

"I think you did too," she said, feeling her heart beat faster than it had ever had. It always did that in front of him, but this time, it was particularly rapid.

"Well then. Happy-" pausing, James lifted his hand and placed it at the back of her neck, and without waiting for her to acknowledge what he was doing, he pulled her into a kiss. Lily felt all thoughts vanish from her mind as his other hand found the small of her back, drawing her up close. She had missed this. She couldn't even remember the last time they kissed; it was probably in the Christmas holidays, back at the Potter Mansion. It seemed like a forever ago. And now it felt unreal, like she had somehow forgotten what it was like to kiss someone, so soon.

Trailing his hand down her arm, James let it rest on her wrist as she raised her hands to his shoulders. They stood there for almost half a minute, Lily feeling like her chest was on fire, never wanting to step away for even one second; it was so perfect, the music in her ears and the vibrations of the floor and just here, being here with him.

Almost the best kiss they had ever had together.

"-Birthday," James ended, breaking away from her at last. Lily wished he hadn't. To her, there was no better heaven on earth.

But still, something just didn't feel quite right to her.

And it was the first time she noticed the silence in the common room. Everyone had stopped dancing and was just staring at the two of them. For how long, Merlin knew. The only sounds were of a few people 'Aw'ing in the background, and even a couple of sniggers here and there. Feeling extremely self-conscious, Lily hung her head and began to shuffle around on her feet, yearning for everyone to just stop looking at them.

James must have noticed her awkwardness.

"Lily Evans," he cleared his throat, "You are by far the most beautiful and flawless creature I have ever met." She could tell he was grinning. And she could also swear she heard Sirius cat-calling somewhere in the crowd. Apparently he had been loud enough for every single person within fifty meters to hear. Of course he had done it on purpose, simply because he knew she was flushing enough as it was. She made a mental note to kill him whenever they were away from all the people.

Feeling herself blush harder than she ever had in her life, her hands began to shake in flattery and embarrassment as half the Gryffindor population giggled and clapped, like they were a couple of cute squirrels sharing an acorn.

"And you are the most handsome toerag I have ever had the pleasure of confronting," she replied bashfully, keeping her voice as low as possible. Nonetheless, everyone burst into whispers once more, James grabbing a hold of her arm and pulling her across the room, into a tight knot of girls, attempting to lose themselves in the crowd. Lily felt extremely grateful.

"You are going to regret that," she seethed. "You just made a complete fool out of the both of us."

"But you enjoyed it," he winked. "Otherwise you wouldn't have said how I was the most 'handsome t-"

"Shut it."

Knowing he was biting back a taunt, Lily kept her mouth shut as well, allowing James to lead her to wherever it was they were going. It hardly seemed like a moment before they were standing in front of a long table with platters of food piled on top of it. Lily had never seen anything like it; it was almost as if a miniature version of a House table had erupted in front of her, delicious aromas arising from the vessels placed on the white tablecloth. Scores of Butterbeers were lined up towards the end.

Eyes shining in hunger, James picked up a bowl and scooped some ice-cream into it. Lily could still not catch hold of the nagging feeling that was reminding her of a huge bother on her shoulders.

"You should eat," he said as he gulped down the ice-cream. "Especially this food. It's phenomenal."

"No thanks, I'm just not hungry," she replied, feeling her stomach go numb. What was making her so sad? "So how's everything going for you? Prepared for N.E.W.T.s?"

"Trust you to bring that up on your birthday," James rolled his eyes. "And to answer your question, I'm good with everything except Divination. I'll probably fail in that."

"Precisely why I didn't take that subject."

"Oh wait!" he suddenly straightened up, as if he remembered something. "You know, yesterday, me and Padfoot were reading tea leaves-"

"They're utter rubbish," Lily snorted.

"True. But listen to this. The ones in my cup sort of looked like a decapitated horse in a lake, all mutilated like it had lost half its bones," he described, and Lily chuckled. "Or it could have also been a crooked umbrella. But the umbrella one doesn't matter. Apparently the horse, roughly translated, means 'Red grows prosperous and wealthy and lives till a ripe age'."

"And that's supposed to mean…?"

"I'm guessing it's you," he shrugged. "Nothing else could replace the 'red'."

"That's good to hear," she smiled. "Prosperous and wealthy. And what about the umbrella?"

"Oh, just some gibberish about 'Dying before time, creating and leaving behind many broken lives'. I don't believe that one though. No way am I going to be dying early."

"Oh, you never know," she joked, and he frowned.

"Let's try and stick to the first one."

Lily didn't reply, precisely because she was thinking about what James' umbrella had said. Of course, she would never believe in any stupid tea leaf predictions, but the thought was just unsettling.

Standing together in silence for a few moments, with only the Weird Sisters blasting out of the walls, Lily thought about how, if he died, she'd never enjoy watching Quidditch anymore, she'd never even want to look at the broom Hestia had given her…

And then suddenly she realized it.

She was a bit sad, and now, she knew why.

James hadn't gotten her anything.

She grasped it by now; if he were to have gotten her something, he would have given it already. There was only one explanation, and that was that he had forgotten to. It was as simple as that, as trivial as that, but it meant the world to her. After all the astounding presents she'd gotten from her friends, it was James who had not even showed the slightest inclination towards giving her something. It was the present she had most expected, and it never showed.

"Lils, you okay?" he tilted his head to the side, worriedly. She probably looked terrible right now.

"Yeah. Yeah," she waved it off. "How about-"

"Flower! Prongs! I've been looking for you everywhere since that perfectly hilarious moment you two had back there. Seriously, Prongsie, couldn't have done better myself," Sirius barged in suddenly, a half-filled Butterbeer bottle in his hand, giving his best friend a high five. Lily cut herself off. "Care for a Butterbeer?" conjuring another two bottles in his other hand, Sirius shoved them in Lily's face, but she pushed them back.

"No thanks. I don't want to drink."

"Give me them," James demanded, grabbing them both and popping one open. "Lily, come on. You should enjoy today. Have a bloody beer."

"No!"

"Want me to thrust it down her gullet, Prongs?"

"That probably won't be a wise idea," James considered the thought before dismissing it. Lily just folded her arms.

"I don't want it, and that's final."

"Fine," James said, taking a long swig of the one he had opened, and sighing in content after swallowing its deliciousness. "But you're going to want it soon, trust me."

"He's right, no one can be in the presence of a Butterbeer and not drink it," Sirius agreed. Shaking her head slightly, Lily ducked away from them both as soon as their backs were turned, and concealed herself behind a curtain after losing herself in the mass of people. They would probably turn around and wonder where she went, but she would sort that out later. She had other things to think about.

The party was fun a few minutes ago but it just wasn't. All she wanted was peace and quiet. She just wanted something to make her forget the fact that James had not remembered to get her anything. Staring out of the window at the Hogwarts grounds, now pitch black, she watched Fang, Hagrid's dog, take a late-night walk around the vegetable patches. Trying to focus her entire mind on him, she attempted to drive all the unnecessary thoughts out of her head.

But of course it didn't work.

"Argh," she laid a hand across her forehead. She needed to forget. Who cared if he didn't buy a gift? It wasn't as if it was the end of the world, or if Voldemort had attacked, it was just a tiny dent in her otherwise messed up life…

Oh, who was she kidding?

Throwing the curtain aside, Lily stepped into the din once more and made a beeline towards where she had seen James and Sirius last. This couldn't go on, especially on her birthday. She wouldn't let her over-analyzing brain get in the way of the fun she could be having.

"James," she called as she spotted them close to the food table. He turned around. "To hell with the Butterbeer. Bring me a Firewhisky."


Stars flashed.

She didn't know where she was.

The world turned upside down.

She didn't know why she was there.

Multicolored lights erupted like popping balloons.

She couldn't feel her legs.

She couldn't remember anything short of what she did ten seconds ago.

But boy, it felt good.

Lily, a wide, lopsided smile on her face, collapsed in a pool of soft, creamy pudding (actually, it was the sofa). The party was still going on around her, but she had lost track of time. It felt like a million years. A small pile of Firewhisky bottles were cluttered around her feet, and she wasn't even aware of herself drinking that much.

She was so lost in the pleasure of alcohol that suddenly, the party didn't seem fun enough for her anymore. She wanted the world around her to be in paradise just like she was. Grumbling, she took another huge gulp of the burning liquor, and felt it lick her stomach violently. She had gotten used to it now.

"Petalll….."

Blinking, she didn't even notice Hestia come up in front of her. She must have been calling her name at least ten times.

"Petal, get up," Hestia's entire face went out of focus and Lily had to blink again to see it clearer. "Keep that stuff down…"

Lily zoned out after that.

"Yeah. Fine," she was vaguely aware of herself saying. It took her three tries to stand up properly, and she did even that with Hestia's help. Gripping her arm as tight as she could, Lily took another sip. "I'm bored, Hest. Life isn't interesting. MORE, PLEASE!" she yelled, holding her just-emptied bottle high up in the air. It was a fifth-year boy who came up and gave her another one.

"Lily!" Alice walked up.

"Hello, Alice. I never really did like your face. Your nose is all messed up," Lily gave her a disgusted expression, and Alice looked taken aback. "Hest, please. I need something exciting. Can I get a roller coaster?"

"I'm going to pretend like I know what that is," Hestia replied, trying to explain to Alice what had happened in sign language, and apologizing about the 'nose' insult.

"WHY IS EVERYONE SO UNAMUSING?" Lily screeched, making half the crowd go silent. But she wasn't aware of that. And then after a few seconds, James was at her side, his hands clutching her shoulders.

"Uh, how many of those have you had, Lils?" he asked worriedly. Lily shrugged his hands off.

"Don't ask," Hestia sighed in James' direction.

"You know what? Let's play a game," Lily's eyes lit up like she had gotten the most brilliant of ideas. Her friends exchanged looks that spoke of a terrible feeling arising, but of course, she didn't notice them. All she wanted was to have fun. "HOW MANY OF Y'ALL ARE UP FOR A GAME?"

"I'm in, Flower," Sirius showed up, a grin on his face. Clearly he was proud of her for departing from her usual self and having a drink for a change, like he was to get all the credit for it.

"Wonderful," she said, draining her Firewhisky bottle of half its content. James did her a favor and snatched it away before she could have any more. She didn't notice. "Birthday girl's order anyway. Everyone listening?"

A silence echoed.

"Okay. So how about uh… no… maybe…" she trailed off, trying hard to recall anything she had ever played in her life. It wasn't easy.

"Lily… this is going to end really badly," Hestia tried to warn her.

"TRUTH OR DARE!" she shouted suddenly, making everyone jump in surprise. Clapping gleefully, Lily attempted to walk but stumbled on her first step. James grabbed hold of her arm in caution.

"Seriously, you're going to end up doing things you'll regret," he bit his lip, but she only threw an irritated glance back at him.

"Please. Have courage, sweetheart. Scared I'll dare you to do something embarrassing?" she taunted, patting him on the cheek. He narrowed his eyes.

All the muggle-born wizards in the room had erupted into talk once more, explaining to their clueless friends how to play, and the game of Truth or Dare had already started before Lily even realized it. Yes, it was childish and unnecessary, something she used to play with Petunia as a young girl, but you'd be surprised how popular it had become in the minutes since she yelled it out. Before she knew it, she was sitting in a circle with around twenty people, James on one side and Sirius on the other, laughing her head off for absolutely no reason.

Now this was fun.

Or maybe she was just too drunk.

"Clark!"

"Dare!"

"Hmm. I dare you to go shove Firewhisky into MacDonald's face."

"Oh, you're kidding me," Lily exclaimed loudly. "You call that a dare? Pathetic. That's what all of you are. You should have seen the dares I used to give Petunia-"

"Okay, Lily!" Mary MacDonald stuck her head out through the sea of faces. Lily wondered why she was even here. "I dare you to tell your wonderful boyfriend the last horrible thought you've had about him. Let's see you do that."

Everyone burst into whispers, including Sirius and Remus, who were currently grinning to each other. Hestia just huffed at Mary, her tongue sticking out, worried that this was going to end terribly, just like James had said. Clutching her hair in her hands, she threw an annoyed look at Alice, who nodded in agreement. Mary was evidently finding pleasure in this, her eyes twinkling devilishly, waiting for Lily to make her move.

And Lily was sure that if she weren't drunk, she would have said no to the dare. She would have made her ask something else. She would have done anything but what she was about to say. At first, the sane side of her brain screamed for her to make up some nonsense about how she had never had even one bad thought about James since November, but she was drunk. And being drunk messes up your mind. So when she remembered how he had failed to get her a gift that day, something inside her just snapped and she started to gush non-stop. Who cared what happened next? She was on top of the world, and nothing could bring her down from there.

"Okay," she fumed, turning to face James. He looked surprised at her outburst. "Last horrible thought? That's easy, it was probably just five seconds ago."

"Uh, what did I do?" he asked in a puzzled voice, dread spreading all over his face.

"What did you do?" Lily gave a hollow laugh. "You're kidding me. It's my birthday, you idiot, and you didn't even think of getting me a present? What kind of a boyfriend are you? AFTER ALL THAT BELLATRIX DRAMA YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD BE THERE FOR MY BIRTHDAY, YOU LIAR!"

For the third time that evening, everyone present in the common room stopped what they were doing to watch. James looked so speechless that many people around were feeling sorry for him right now.

"Petal, I think that's enough-" Hestia tried to calm her down.

"No, my darling, it is most certainly not enough!" Lily snapped, and Hestia backed down. "After all I've done for you, you couldn't even think of doing something for me? A self-centered bastard, that's what you are. A BASTARD!"

"Lily, maybe I-" James started to say, but Lily cut him off sharply. Leaning forward furiously, she grasped his knees so tightly that they felt they were going to crack.

"Shut up!" she yelled straight in his face, and he closed his eyes, as if afraid she were going to breathe fire. "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! A bloody handkerchief would have been good enough for me, Potter, just as long as you'd given it! But no! You couldn't even spare a lousy sickle-"

"Uh, Flower, you might want to stop right about now," Sirius cleared his throat anxiously, his eyes darting around the gossip-absorbing crowd. Lily ignored him.

"But that's not enough for you, right, Big Mac?" she flashed at Mary. "So I'll be more open. You," she turned back to James. "I felt like punching your pathetic face when you came back that night all hurt and acting like you didn't care, I could have murdered you. But no, of course I didn't, because pretty little James Potter has such a perfect secretive superhero life, always wanting to save the world, being a defender of mankind - you and your absolutely idiotic flings with women like her-" she gestured towards Mary, "And your bloody revenge plans, going and firing Unforgivable Curses at random women- YOU DRIVE ME INSANE AND I SHOULD HAVE PUNCHED YOU WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE, YOU UNGRATEFUL SON OF A-"

"PETAL!" Hestia flared.

"-YOU GO AND SHUT ME OUT, ACTING LIKE YOU'RE SO COOL-" Lily stopped at that moment, taking a second to lunge for a bottle of firewhisky that she saw a few feet away, and draining it in one gulp. "I should have walked out of your life because you so obviously don't give a damn, but of course I couldn't. OF COURSE I COULDN'T! I'm just another naïve girl letting herself be charmed by James Potter. And you're just one of those miserable guys who go and make girls like Lily Evans FREAKING FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU!"

"Lils…"

"And that is how you're supposed to answer a dare," Lily gave one final message to Mary MacDonald before everything went black and she passed out.