Again, I am sorry for the delay, went on vacation to Utah, and had some bad-ass writer's block. But here is the next chapter. Please read and review. And, you all know the drill…I don't own anything here…just the idea and not the characters, those belong to J.K. Rowling…so there. :c) Enjoy. Check out my other story too…it's cool. ;c)
3 Mustangkels -àThanks to all those who reviewed before…:c) you make me feel special!!
08-01-02
Birthdays
"Today is the day!" James thought to himself. It was 6 o'clock in the morning and he was wide awake. He laid there in bed thinking of all the great possibilities that could be there for him today. "My friends are up to something for my birthday and of course, there are the Qudditch scouts." James thought, smiling to himself. He chuckled to himself, "today is going to be a great day." He sat up and looked at the closed curtains around his bed. They had been decorated. It seems that Sirius, Remus and Lily…well, even Peter, had made little birthday drawings for him and pinned them on the inside of his curtains. He took a couple of minutes to look at all the pictures and notes. Lily had drawn a silver flower and with a note she said, "Thanks for being my friend and I hope and wish you the best birthday ever. And well…just thanks. Love, Lily" James smiled as he looked at the picture a little longer.
He pulled the pictures off his curtains and put them in a pile on his desk. He went through them again, laughing at Sirius picture of James flying on his broomstick, Remus' drawing of him being Prongs and Peter's…well, he wasn't sure what Peter's drawing was…but it was still nice he guessed. He jumped in the shower and then quickly got dressed. It seemed at that point, the other boys in his dorm weren't there. "Must have gone down to breakfast early," James thought to himself. He shrugged it off, thinking he would meet them in the Great Hall. James skipped out of his room humming, "Happy Birthday" to himself. When he entered the Great Hall, he looked around to find his friends, but they were no where to be found. He remembered that Sirius had pretty much an all day detention, but what about the others? He looked at his watch and it said 8am. "Well, maybe since it is a Saturday, Lily must not be up yet…but what about Remus and Peter?" They couldn't have gone very far. James was a bit disappointed, but went down and got some breakfast at their usual table.
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Meanwhile
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Lily, Sirius, and Remus were all on the Qudditch pitch setting up for James' birthday party. Their excitement was growing, even though they felt kinda bad for leaving James' alone for breakfast. Lily sat down after hanging a bit of streamer, "Maybe I should go in there, so he doesn't suspect we are up to something…" Lily said thinking out loud. She looked up at the other two boys to see what they thought. "Besides, James thinks you are in detention Sirius…and I don't know about your Remus, I mean you share the same dorm room…" Lily said making her argument.
"Well, I guess that we are just about done here." Remus said to Lily, "All we need to do is have the house-elves bring out some food just before the Qudditch match is over." Remus said looking towards the castle. "Oh, you know what? I gotta go and talk to Professor Dumbledore about making this invisible to James…you know, so we don't spoil the surprise!" Remus said.
"Well, I will stay here and make sure nothing happens to our beautiful decorations, "Sirius said gesturing towards the balloons, streamers, a table with a red and gold table cloth, covered in presents from his friends and family, a big birthday cake that had James' name flashing on it and floating Chinese lanterns. " Well," Lily said looking at their hard work. "I suppose we should spilt up anyway. I need to get our slide show stuff, bring it down here and set it up." Lily said stopping to remember where she put it all, "Besides, someone has to act normal…as I know you two don't!" Lily laughed and got up. "I will see you guys at lunch, how's that?" Lily said to the two boys. Remus and Sirius agreed.
Remus decided to go and talk to Dumbledore about invisibility of the birthday party to James, and Sirius thought it would be best if stayed and "guarded the party place." Which was just as well, he could keep curious people away and make sure nothing was stolen. Lily decided to go and have breakfast with James, and to keep him away from the Qudditch pitch until Remus found them (and assured them it was "gone.")
Lily walked up to her room and got all of her slide show things together, she sat down on the bed, trying to think of anything she forgot. "Oh yeah…my present for James!" She said out loud. Lily went to her trunk and pulled out the bright present. "He is going to love this!" Lily thought to herself. She pulled out a duffle bag and stuffed all the slide show pictures and equipment into it. She put James' present on top and zipped it up. She smiled to herself and threw the bag onto her bed. She would come back later while James was busy to take it down stairs. She gave herself a quick look in the mirror and checked everything over. She brushed her long, red hair and put on a little make-up. She had been up since 5 am this morning; she could do with a little help. Satisfied with her looks, she went downstairs to meet James for breakfast.
Lily walked into the Great Hall and saw James sitting by himself at their usual table. The other tables were pretty full, talking about the Qudditch match, and of course, what happened with the scrimmage Friday. The practice went great and of course, the mighty lions had won. But, it was a very close match, but with James' being the seeker stole the game. He had caught the snitch after a half an hour with the rest of the team battling to keep the score up below. It was fun and it made Lily smile when he had flown by her and winked at her. Well, at least she thought it was for her, but she couldn't see James winking at Sirius.
"Hey! Lily! Over here!!" James yelled, catching Lily of guard. She collected her composure and went to go and sit by him. "Hey James, what's going on?" Lily said casually. She sat down next to him and pulled up a plate, grabbing a muffin and some pumpkin juice.
"Well, today is going to be a good day." James announced to her smiling. He looked at Lily and smiled. "Why is that Mr. Potter?" Lily said taking a bite of her muffin.
"Well, I'm sure you know, that first, today is my birthday," James smiled at Lily when he said this, "a great Qudditch game is coming up," he took another bite of his bacon, "And the Qudditch scouts are going to be here." James finished his sentence with a toothy smile at Lily.
"Well, Happy Birthday James. I hope that it is a good day for you!" Lily said meaning every word of it. Her eyes seemed to have an extra sparkle in them because James stopped and stared into them for a moment.
"You are up to something," James said finally breaking his stare. "I just know it, between you and your sparkling green eyes." James said stopping to stare at her again.
Lily wasn't sure what to think about this and she hesitated, "Well, what do you mean?"
"I am sure that we will all find out soon Lily my dear," James said as he squeezed Lily's arm. He put his fork and brought along some courage to say what he was going to say…
"Lily, I kinda wanted to ask you something," James said looking down at the food on his plate.
Lily felt the butterflies moving in her stomach, it was not much at first, but it was getting stronger. "Okay," Said Lily as she played with her own food.
"Well, there has been something different that I see in you and I wanted to know…."
"Hey guys!" Peter came in and sat down loudly. "Happy Birthday James!!" He smiled big at James and loudly started filling his plate with food. "Are you ready for today? It's gonna be great James…." Peter continued to talk, but Lily and James weren't listening. James sent Lily a pleading look and Lily looked at Peter annoyed. He didn't seem to notice, he just kept talking. "Well, I gotta go and talk to Professor Tweed about some extra Muggle Studies homework I am doing." Lily said interrupting Peter. "I will catch you later James?" She said with meaning, trying to let him know that she wanted to hear what he wanted to say. "Yeah, you are coming to the Qudditch game this afternoon right?" James asked. "I need her to be there today," James thought to himself.
"Oh yeah, don't you worry. If Sirius gets out of detention, we will all be there. Right Peter?" Lily said hoping to shut him up into not spoiling James' party plans.
"Okay, don't miss it. It's an important one!" James said trying to loosen the tension between them.
"Don't you worry. I wouldn't miss it for the world!" Lily said as she left the table and ran up to her dorm room. "What the hell was that all about?" Lily thought to herself. She felt face warm as she got to her room. "I hope that is what I think it is!" Lily smiled widely to herself. She gathered up her duffle bag and headed out to the side of the Qudditch pitch where the party was almost setup. "This is going to be great!!" Lily said out loud. On the way there, she ran into Remus who told her that Dumbledore had already put a charm on it, so James wouldn't realize that it was there. "This is just going to kick some major ass!" Remus said excitedly. "Let's get this finished before lunch. I am starving!" Remus said. Sirius, Remus and Lily continued to finish up the party scene. They even had time to do a dress rehearsal with the slide show. All three of them happy with what they had done, went to go meet James for lunch.
~*~*~*~
Later on that day…
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Lunch was over and James was getting antsy. He hadn't eaten much during lunch, he was way too nervous. He usual got like this for a Qudditch match, but this one was different. This one could change his life. Besides that, Lily was sitting next to him and he didn't know what to say to her. He had it all planned out this morning, but Peter had showed up and ruined the moment. "There has got to be another time today to talk to Lily," James thought, "maybe later on tonight, after the game…"
"Earth to James….hey…hey…" Sirius prodded
"HEY!" Sirius, Remus and Lily yelled at once to get James' attention
"Hey what??!?" James said snapping out of deep thoughts. "Sorry, got a lot on my mind, with the Qudditch match and scouts and all…. And Lily" his mind popped out. "I will be fine, honest!" James said out loud to his concerned friends. "They are all giving me that look like, "Don't worry James, your not really going crazy!" James thought to himself.
"We just want you to have fun on your birthday Prongs ole boy!" Sirius said, "Besides, I don't know if they will let me come and see the match…since I am detention and all…"Sirius said sadly. "I will certainly give it my best though!" Sirius smiled at James and quietly winked to Lily and Remus sitting across from him.
"Well, I gotta go to the lockers and get ready. You guys gonna come soon?" James asked his friends looking for comfort.
"Like I said, I wouldn't miss it!" Lily said smiling brightly at James, her emerald eyes twinkling again.
"I'll be there buddy!" Remus said. Peter raised his hand and pointed at Lily and Remus, then pointed back at himself and nodded. His mouth was full of food, and he couldn't talk.
"I think I gotcha there Peter," James said looking at his weirdo friend. "See you guys later!" With that, James got up, leaving his plate barely touched, and headed to the locker room, but his first stop wasn't going to be the locker room…
"Gosh, he sure looked nervous." Sirius said looking where his friend had just left the Great Hall, "I hope he doesn't let those scouts bother him. I'm sure he will kick some ass, like he always does!" Sirius said about his best friend.
"Well," Lily said, getting up from her seat, "I am going to go and change for the match. It is going to be a bit cooler so I want to bring a sweater." Lily said smoothing out her clothes. "Besides, you guys need to go a little early and make sure everything is in order on the Qudditch pitch. Okay?" Lily asked her friends.
"Sounds like a plan, Stan," Sirius said. "C'mon guys, lets go. Meet you out there Lily!" Sirius said and Remus and Peter followed him. "Meet you in the stands!" He shouted just before he left the room.
Lily ran up stairs to change into something warmer and to make sure everything she needed was already on the pitch. She grabbed her green sweater and her robes and started to head out the door. She just happen to glance by her bed and saw another rose. She stopped in her tracks nearly falling over on account she stopped so fast. It was a Sterling Rose, but it wasn't silver. It was an emerald green and a little bit smaller than the other roses she had gotten. It looked as if the rose had been made from emeralds and polished to shine. She held it in her hands, expecting it to be cool, but held warmth. She didn't want to leave it, it made her smile. So, she put her robes on and stuck the rose in her pocket and headed for the Qudditch pitch.
((A/N: Who do you think it was??? Well, we will see next chapter!! Keep reading and review!! Also, on a quick note, I reposted this chapter…hoping to make it not so blocky…ff.net is being funny these days. I hope that it works and it reads better. Sorry for typos and stuff!!))
3 Mustangkels
