Part Thirty Seven – Birthday Plots

"Happy Birthday to yooooooou!" sang the Gryffindors in an enthusiastic, if off key, rendition to the beaming James Potter.

Sirius, Remus and Peter produced their presents at the breakfast table and James took great pleasure in opening them with all the due ceremony he thought was required.

"I wonder what this could be," he said as he shook one of the presents enthusiastically before opening it to reveal a bumper pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. "Thanks Peter. I just finished off the last box last night."

"No surprise there. You do get through them at a rather rapid pace," Remus pointed out.

James opened the sweets and popped one into his mouth before passing them around. He then turned to the rest of the presents.

"It's not much," Remus said when James began to open his gift. "You're difficult to buy for since you've got so much stuff already."

"Quodpot Teams of America," James read from the cover of the book.

"It explains about the game as well," Remus said. "I know you were confused when I tried to explain it over the holidays so I thought this might help."

"You're so lucky getting to go to America," Peter said as he looked at the book too.

Remus shrugged without replying. He had made the trip to the United States of America sound like nothing more than a luxurious holiday. He couldn't tell his friends that it had been an expensive waste of time during which his parents had explored yet another dead end to find a reported cure for lycanthropy, only to discover that it was nothing more than a rumour.

"The book's great," James said as he flicked through.

"Told you he'd like it," Sirius said. "Plenty of pictures in it."

"Git!" James said as he tossed a sweet across the table at his friend.

"And this one's from me," said Sirius, pushing his own parcel forward. "I know you've got one," he continued as James tore at the paper to reveal a new wizard's chess set. "But yours is looking a bit battered after that thrashing I gave you last week."

"They're all great," James said as he gathered his presents together.

"What did your parents send you?" Remus asked, knowing that the Potters' owl had arrived earlier that morning.

"Fifty galleons to spend as I like," James said with a wide grin. "I'll have to borrow your catalogue for ideas."

"Fifty galleons?" Sirius asked with a low whistle. "My parents wouldn't send me that much even if I were in Slytherin."

"What can I say?" James grinned. "They like to spoil me a bit."

Remus rolled his eyes whilst Sirius snorted with laughter.

"We do have one more surprise for you," Peter said with a grin.

"A surprise party," Sirius whispered as he leaned across the table to make sure that no one else was listening to their conversation. "We thought we'd take a trip to the kitchens tonight and then find somewhere in the school to have a party."

"What's wrong with the Gryffindor common room?" James asked.

"Andromeda can't go in there," Sirius pointed out. "She overheard us talking about it in the library and wanted to come along. She's taking every opportunity she can to skive off and have fun while she still can."

"Party tonight then," James declared in a voice louder than the others would have liked, though it didn't stop them from agreeing with him.

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"Remus, wake up!" the voice hissed in the darkness.

"Why are you whispering James?" asked Peter. "There's only four of us in this room and we're all in on the party."

Remus opened his eyes to see a rather sleepy looking James standing over him. "I'm up," he muttered before dragging himself from the bed.

"Great! Now for Sirius," James said as he bounded across the room to try to wake up the last of their group.

"Try a wet sponge," Peter suggested when Sirius continued to snore.

"Try a spell," Remus suggested instead.

"The only one I can think of would wake up everyone in the tower," James replied.

"We could always have the party without him," Peter said in a loud voice.

Remus grinned as that, like nothing else, got through to the sleepy Sirius and spurred him out of bed.

Five minutes later they were creeping down the stairs towards the common room.

"Did you hear something?" Sirius whispered just before they took the final bend.

"Someone's down there," James answered, lifting his hand to hold the others back whilst he went on ahead.

A moment later James reappeared and confirmed that the room was empty. "I think someone else might have been sneaking out," he said as they entered the room. The portrait was just swinging shut and I heard someone giggle."

"Probably some girls sneaking out to the kitchen," Sirius said. "We'd better hurry in case they beat us to the good stuff."

With that the four boys made their way out of the common room, much to the annoyance of the Fat Lady who was far from pleased at being disturbed for a second time in as many minutes.

They made their way to the kitchens, occasionally ducking around corners as they spotted other students engaged in their own midnight wanderings. The NEWT Astronomy class had apparently overrun and several of the students were still making their way back to their common rooms. They also caught sight of one or two students who, like themselves, shouldn't have been wandering about at all.

"I love how different the school is at night," James commented in hushed tones. "We practically have the run of the place."

"Pity you still don't know your way around," Sirius muttered. "Andromeda's waiting for us this way remember."

"Forgot about her," James admitted as he turned towards the Slytherin quarters.

"Charming," said Andromeda, appearing as though from nowhere, and clearly having heard the discussion. "You've met Ted Tonks haven't you?" She pointed behind them.

They turned towards the corridor leading to the kitchens where one of the older Hufflepuff boys was waiting for them.

"Are we expecting anyone else?" Sirius asked once they were all crowded around the entrance to the kitchens.

"Not unless you invited McGonagall," James replied. "The way you were flattering her earlier I half thought you might."

"Just keeping on her good side," Sirius said with a grin. "In case we get caught later."

"I don't plan on getting caught," James retorted. "I've had my share of detentions this year. I don't plan on getting any more."

"If we don't get a move on you may get another one," Ted pointed out as he tickled the pear to open up the entrance to the kitchens.

Once the entrance was revealed they crowded inside. They had barely stepped over the threshold when they realised that they were not the first students to make requests of the Hogwarts house elves that night.

"Snivellus," Sirius muttered.

Remus looked around him and saw that Severus was indeed sitting at one of the stools in the kitchen. He was not alone and it was clear that there had been plans made for another party that same night.

"Just ignore him," Lily said as she nudged Severus. Lily's friend Veronica sat quietly beside her and Remus guessed it had been those two who they'd heard leaving the Gryffindor quarters earlier that night. Severus seemed to be taking Lily's advice but the final person in the room, another first year Slytherin student by the name of Justin Wilkes was clearly unhappy with their arrival.

Although the boy didn't seem bothered by the insult to his friend he made it obvious that he was far from happy with the idea of sharing the treats the house elves had already provided.

"We were here first," Wilkes said as he pulled out his wand and pointed it towards Sirius and James.

"Students share, students share," one of the house elves said pleadingly. "Plenty to go around."

"Share with Slytherins?" James looked aghast at the very idea.

"Hey!" Andromeda said with a glare at him as she poked him in the back and pushed herself into view for the others in the room.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Forgot you were that house. You're more normal than the rest of 'em."

"I have some friends in my own house who'd disagree with that," Andromeda said, the warning in her voice clear. "Of course we can share," she added to the nearest house elf who looked relieved at her words.

"I'm sure we can all get along for an hour or two," Remus added.

"We'll need more food though," Peter pointed out and the rest nodded in agreement.

The house elves were happy to oblige and it wasn't long before they were loaded down with more food than they could ever be expected to eat.

"So where are we headed?" James asked as they filed back into the corridor. "You did find somewhere for us to have our party, didn't you?"

"I thought we could use one of the empty classrooms," Sirius replied as he juggled a bottle of pumpkin juice from one hand to the other.

"We were going to head to one of the second floor ones that aren't used for regular classes," Veronica piped up.

"First years," Ted muttered. "Gotta love 'em."

"You got a better idea?" Sirius asked.

"The room of requirement of course," Ted replied. "Found out about it in my second year and it's come in right handy over years."

"What's the room of requirement?" several of their group asked curiously.

"Best room in Hogwarts," Andromeda said. "Lead the way Ted. You'll love it."

Remus was as curious as the rest of the group as they made their way up the stairs to the seventh floor. His gasp of astonishment was echoed by the rest of the first years as he watched a door appear in the wall in front of them.

"After you," Ted said as he waved the rest of them inside.

Remus looked around the room and wondered how it was they hadn't come across it before. It seemed to him that all the students would use this room if they knew where it was.

There were more than enough comfy chairs and sofas inside the room and a roaring fire making the large room nice and warm. There were plenty of tables for them to place the food and drinks on and plates and cutlery stacked up ready for them to use.

A wizard wireless was set up near an open space on the far side of the room and Andromeda made her way across the room to tune it to a station with lively dance music playing.

"Won't the professors hear it?" Lily asked.

"The room's soundproof," Ted replied. "And the door will have sealed behind us so no one can follow us in here."

"I'm surprised the teachers don't use this room themselves," Sirius commented.

"They do when they need it," Ted confirmed. "But the room is different depending on what you want it for. It only appears when someone has a real need for it and is equipped for whatever you want it for."

"So why did you go to the kitchens for food?" Severus asked.

"It can't make food or drink appear," Andromeda said. "Though we've tried it often enough just to make sure."

"Trust Snivellus to ask a stupid question like that," James muttered with a smirk at Sirius.

"It's not a stupid question at all," Ted said with a harsh look at James. "The room can produce other things that seem more complicated than simple food. And I asked the same question myself when I was told about this place."

Remus smiled himself at James being taken down a peg or two by the older student. But his friend's mood was soon one of excitement again as they began to dig into the food.

Remus wondered, albeit briefly, whether the party might be a way of mending bridges between the rest of the first years. When Lily approached him with Severus in tow, he knew that she'd had the same idea.

Unfortunately no one else seemed to want to make the effort to get along. James and Sirius entertained the rest of the Gryffindors with jokes and stories whilst Andromeda and Ted chatted together.

He chatted with Lily and tried to speak with Severus as well but the other boy made it clear he didn't want to speak with him and eventually drifted off to talk with Justin.

"I wonder if it's always like this," Lily commented sadly. "Surely more of the Slytherin students get along with students from other houses than just Andromeda."

"It'd be a war zone instead of a school if she was the only one," Remus replied.

"Sometimes it seems as if it is," Lily replied. "If it isn't James firing off hexes, it's Sirius jinxing someone."

"They're just having fun," Remus said. "They're just high spirited. They've never inflicted any permanent damage on anyone."

"I don't think the students they hex would agree with you," Lily muttered. "And the prefects just let them get away with it."

"They are quite careful about not doing stuff like that in front of prefects," Remus replied. "And when they do get caught they take the blame for their actions."

He could tell that Lily knew exactly what he was talking about. She turned to him with a defensive expression on her face. "It may interest you to know that Severus joined me in detention of his own free will."

"He did?" Remus asked sceptically.

"Ask Hagrid if you don't believe me," Lily retorted. "Or Dumbledore himself. He saw us coming back to the school."

"Okay, okay." Remus raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Besides, you stand need to talk about my choice of friends," Lily continued. "Are you expecting James and Sirius to take notes for you when you're away next month?"

"Away?" Sirius asked as he suddenly appeared beside them. "What are you going to be away for?"

"I don't know that I am yet," Remus said hurriedly with a glare at Lily. "Just my grandmother's taken a turn for the worse."

"You should have said something," Sirius chided.

"Didn't want to ruin James's birthday with bad news," Remus lied. "But they're going to see how she goes for a couple of weeks and only summon me home if it's really necessary."

"You're going home again?" Severus asked as he joined the group.

"I don't know yet," Remus replied at the same time as Sirius told Severus to mind his own business.

Pretty soon everyone decided to call it a night and Remus found himself walking alongside Lily as they made their way back to the common room.

"I don't think our friends are ever going to get along, are they?" Lily asked with a sigh.

"It'd take a miracle," Remus agreed. Unfortunately there didn't seem to be one forthcoming, even if it would have made both their lives that much more peaceful.