"Well, good morning, everyone, anything special happening on this oh so wonderful day?"

Sirius was practically shining where he was sitting at the Gryffindor table in the great hall. Cassie was sure that even his hair looked a bit shinier than usual.

However, she just let a smile rest on her face, as she was almost equally excited, seeing that it was November 3rd. Namely their birthday.

"Well, happy birthday pads, although I've probably said it six times now, not including those from right after midnight and in the hour that followed."

Although said, Remus smiled brightly, and she could tell the congratulation was very much sincere. If Cassie hadn't known her brother as well as she did, she would have missed the slight redness that appeared on his cheeks, though it disappeared as soon as it arrived.

"Yeah, well... it's a special occasion, one worth mentioning."

"what special occasion?"

With his signature unruly hair, James made an entrance with Peter next to him, who bore a smile on his face. Sirius raised an eyebrow and shot his friend a glare of disbelief and pure annoyance.

"Don't play daft, James."

An innocent look covered James's face as he shrugged his shoulders, trying to seem obvious to what the older boy was talking about. Which were complete bullocks, and Sirius knew that. However, he gave the two boys a slightly curious look as he scooted slightly to his left, making room for James.

"Where were you two?"

The boys shared a look before Peter answered, putting his lying skill to use, and distracted Sirius. While at the same time, James sat down in between the twins and right across from Remus, sending a wink in his direction, immediately putting a grin on the sandy hair boy.

"Cas, isn't that Nova?"

Cassie looked up from the conversation that Dorcas, Lily, and herself had been so engrossed in. Her eyes immediately found the sight of the familiar white owl carrying a box.

Quickly she got on her feet and thankfully caught the box before it would have crashed into their breakfast. Upon inspection, she noticed the writing on top, declaring that it was for her brother and herself. She moved her head slightly to her left towards James but kept her eyes on the box, letting the curiosity fill her.

"It's from your parents James, for Sirius and I."

Sirius, who looked as excited as a child on Christmas morning, immediately switched seats with James and sat down next to his sister as she started to open the box.

"Look, it's presents!"

James let out a laugh at his friend's childish reaction. However, what came next was even better.

After all, they had been through that year and summer, the Potters and the rest of the Marauders wanted to do something special for their birthday, something to cheer them up.

"Wait..." Lily, who sat across from Cassie, drew the attention of the four marauders and her roommates while breaking the bubble Frank and Alice seemed so comfortable in.

"Is that a Howler?"

It was first now that they noticed the red envelope in the box, and truth be told, Cassie wasn't quite sure what to expect. However, she hoped that Mr. Potter hadn't recorded himself singing the birthday song, as his singing was not that good.

The twins shared a quick look before opening it. However, instead of Harold's singing voice or Dorea's warm voice congratulating them, a sudden sound of piano started to play. Their eyes shined in wonder and happiness as a big smile grew on their faces. Listening to the music, they swore that they could have fallen in love with it.

"You are the dancing queen.

Young and sweet, only seventeen

Dancing queen

Feel the beat from the tambourine

Oh, yeah

You can dance, you can jive.

Having the time of your life

Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene.

Digging the dancing queen."

"I absolutely love your parents' prongs."

The smile on the eldest boy was bigger and brighter than it had been for a while, and the same could be said for his sister, who was so amazed that anyone would ever do something like that for them.

"That was bloody amazing."

Her brown eyes twinkled brightly with happiness, which made her brother even happier. A smile spread across Lilys face before she moved her gaze down to the box and looked inside. There she saw what looked like a recorder, as it seemed almost identical to her father's one at home. Pulling the device from the box, she lifted it for everyone to see.

"Look, it's a recorder."

"A what?"

A soft laugh emitted from her as she saw the looks of confusion covering the birthday girl and the birthday boy. Sure the wizarding world had its version of a recorder; however, it looked slightly different, and it wasn't quite the same.

"It is a muggle device that allows you to store a sound, song, or something that someone has said, and then you can listen to it later. Like this"

Lily pressed down the play button, and for a moment, she was a bit worried that there was nothing recorded at all. However, within a few seconds, music filled the Gryffindor table, and the earlier song made yet another appearance.

Ooh, you can dance, you can jive.

Having the time of your life

Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene.

Digging the dancing queen

The piano riff filled the air as the amazement was clear as day on the twin's faces. Remus could feel the warmth fill his body as he saw his two best friends smiling at each other while opening the rest of the presents, which included some new quidditch gloved for them both, and each their own newly knitted scarf that Mrs. Potter had been knitting in all secret.

Remus was thrilled that they loved the presents seeing as he had spent a while with Mrs. Potter and James trying to figure out something perfect.

As Sirius was already humming the melody of ABBA's Dancing Queen while eating up the rest of his breakfast and proudly wore his new scarf, Remus had to admit that they had done an excellent job.

It was quite possible and most likely that they would hear the same song multiple times throughout the day, but seeing the brilliant smile of the twin who sat across from him, the werewolf decided that it was definitely worth it.

Cassie, who had been quiet for a little while, seemed a bit lost in thought. However, she stood up and looked at the rest.

"I'll see you guys soon, okay? There is someone I need to see."

Her eyes found her brothers for a moment while giving him both a look and a smile that said It's okay. You don't have to.

With a knowing look in his eyes, he made up his mind, stood up, and smiled at his friends while excusing himself.

The group of friends watched as the twins exited the great hall. However, James, who had been facing the same way as his two friends and had the view of the Slytherin table, saw the youngest black sibling excusing himself from his table before following his two older siblings in a discreet yet quick manner.

A soft smile spread across James's face, and Lily, who noticed it turned her head slightly just in time to catch the look of the younger boy exiting the great hall, in which she couldn't stop a small smile appearing.

"Alright, so you two talked to the house-elves, right?

Remus's voice broke the silence that had grown in the absence of the birthday twins. James nodded his head while taking a bite out of his sandwich while Peter was the one who answered.

"Everything's taken care of. You got the firewhiskey?"

Peter's eyes caught Lilys before she gave him a nod and moved her gaze back and forth between him and the two other marauders.

"All done, thanks for borrowing the map with that. Don't think the prefect excuse would have worked if Professor McGonagall caught us coming out of one of the secret passages."

A smirk grew on James's face as he heard of the mischievous deeds the female prefect had done along with Dorcas and Alice, while Marlene, Remus, and Frank had been working on decoration spells. How he didn't know, but still, after six years, he found himself falling even more in love with her every passing day.

"True that, well unless you're Remus, I suppose." Peter said while taking a sip out of his pumpkin juice while giving Remus a knowing look. The boy widened his amber eyes though a mischievous grin quickly spread across his face as he remembered that one-time last year.

When coming back from Hogsmeade late one night, Professor Slughorn had almost caught him coming out of one of the secret passages. However, making a quick lie that he was patrolling and giving his most believable innocent smile, Professor Slughorn believed him right away.

As they walked away, he asked Slughorn about some of the potions he had been reading about to distract him long enough for the other boys to get back to the common room.

"That was one time."

"One time, that you were almost caught or that you lied?"

James grinned at his friend's sudden silence. In the corner of his eye, he noticed the redhead trying but failing to hide her smile, making him grin even more.

However, it was a universal fact that if one of the marauders were going down, so where someone else, something so often used by Sirius and James himself that Remus wondered for a while if James had forgotten that fact. His grin ever-present on his face while his gaze met Peters for a moment.

"Hey, Pete, remembered what happened in March?"

With those words said, Peter was almost laughing himself out of his chair, just thinking about it. James, however, had not shared his friend's enthusiasm as his face had paled slightly, and he, in short, looked mortified.

"no.. no no no no. You promised... YOU promised that you wouldn't tell."

The wicked grin on Remus's face grew even more prominent if possible, and Peter's laughter was now heard clearly throughout the Gryffindor table. With tears running down his face, he struggled to keep himself on the bench.

"Oh prongs, when are you going to learn? If Moony's going down, so are you."

At this, James had no response, only closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair several times, as he accepted the losing battle. Muttering things under his breath like, oh dear merlin, help me.

A few minutes passed before the group of friends, minus James and Remus, who was sitting there grinning, feeling incredibly proud of himself, started laughing their hearts out. Peter, who couldn't help it anymore. Finally fell out of his seat and collapsed on the floor, continuing to laugh.

James was currently sporting red cheeks and found his remaining sandwich the most exciting thing in the world, not noticing a pair of green eyes staring at him. A soft smile present on her face, and though she wouldn't admit it out loud, she enjoyed seeing these sides of James.

It was like getting to know the real him, the one who would do anything for his friends, who agreed to have a little lunch date with moaning myrtle in the girls' bathroom because he couldn't bear turn her down and have her crying again, who'd turn into a complete mother hen if any of the boys were sick.

Although he didn't always enjoy homework, he wouldn't stop pestering his friends to finish theirs, ensuring they had all done their homework and essays on time. It was like she was getting to know the real James and not the boy she thought he was.

It wasn't until his eyes meet hers that she noticed that she had been staring for a little while. She immediately turned her gaze down to her breakfast, ignoring the warmth rising on her cheeks.

Remus, ever observant, except when it came to himself, noticed his fellow prefect's red cheeks and the slightly confused yet embarrassed look that James gave her. He opened his mouth, and just as he was about to speak, he was cut off.

"Class starts soon. We should probably go."

A smiling Alice brought them all out of their thoughts as she grabbed her bag and stood up, holding out her hand for Frank to take. Remus saw James give Lily a lingering look before gathering his things.

The prefect gently shook his head while standing up. He supposed that the universe had spoken for James, that maybe whatever it was that he was going to say was best left unspoken for the moment. At least for now.