The next morning three boys were awake in the dormitory where James slept.
He shared the room with the rest of the Marauders, and now they were
whispering things to each other.
"Agreed, when he wakes up, we go nuts."
James woke up with vague memories of a dream he had had during the night. It had been about him, walking outside the castle on a snowy day. When he looked back over his shoulder he saw Lily and Chris walking hand in hand, smiling at each other, and when he looked at the snowflakes he saw that they weren't snowflakes at all: they were love letters. Then he had heard a voice calling his name:
"James.... James....."
He opened his eyes... and found himself staring right into the eyes of the three Marauders, all of them standing at his bed and leaning very close to him, as if they were going to kiss him.
"Is he awake?", Remus asked.
"Yeah, I think he is", Peter said.
Then they all three filled their lungs and shouted:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRONGS!!!"
James thought he would have a heart attack and sat up straight away. The others laughed and Sirius put a golden birthday hat on James' black, untidy hair.
"You've got presents waiting for you, old boy", he said and pointed at the end of James' bed where a pile of wrapped gifts were lying. They proved to contain a new shirt and a book on magical sports from his parents, a gigantic bag of candy from all of the Marauders and a pair of sunglasses from Lily along with a note, saying "Put these on and you can travel anywhere."
"Vedoscopes", James said and put them on. He didn't see his dormitory through the dark glass, but instead he saw clouds and clear blue skies all around him.
"Thanks, guys", he said. "You are great."
"You needed a little party, Prongs", Sirius said. "You've been so boring these past days, and we decided we wanted you back."
"So we will make it easy for you", Remus continued. Then he took out his wand and waved it through the air.
"Musicum", he said, and a complete set of floating piano keys appeared right under his hands. He started to strike them gently, playing a soft song.
"Either you let this calm music relax you and make you tell us what's wrong about you..."
"Or we will just have to hit you until you do", Peter said. James couldn't help but smiling.
"Listen, guys, it's nothing. Really nothing, I just haven't been myself lately, what with that big test in Transfiguration coming up. I'm sorry, I'll behave better."
"Thank Merlin", Peter said. "We were almost beginning to think that you had fallen in love."
James tried to look surprised, but then he almost really blushed when Remus started to play "The Wedding March" on his soaring piano.
"Knock it off", he said. "There aren't any girls for me to look at."
"Except for those that keep smiling at you and wave with their eyelashes every time they see you."
"Those girls are nothing, they've got no brains."
"Who cares?"
"Come on, I want breakfast."
They all got dressed and left the tower, Remus, Peter and Sirius carrying James on their shoulders. He had completely forgotten about his own birthday.
Suddenly Lily joined the boys, waving at James.
"Happy birthday, James", she said.
"Thanks, and thanks for the vedoscopes", he said and felt a new pair of hands on his body. Lily was helping the others carrying him down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He had never been so aware of touch before, it felt like his skin was shot with tiny electric flashes from her hands, and he became very tense.
They entered the hall and put him down on a bench by the Gryffindor table. Everywhere he turned he heard "Happy birthday"s being thrown at him. He started to eat his toast and eggs slowly, and it took a while before he noticed Chris trying to catch his eyes. James understood the look, Chris wanted to talk to him again.
After breakfast the four Marauders and Lily were ascending the stairs to get to their first class of the day: Potions. When they entered the room they got orders from their teacher, mr Yom, to get in groups of two and two. Immediately James saw Chris coming towards him, like an arrow through the crowd of moving people.
They got seated by a cauldron and Chris started to whisper.
"Happy birthday, James."
"Thanks, Chris. Hey listen, I've got to talk to you about Lily. She wants you to send her more letters."
"I figured that, so I got you a present. Here."
He gave him a small box and James opened it silently with his wand. Inside were envelopes and white sheets of paper.
"Oh no", James whispered, "Don't tell me..."
"Please, James. We'll keep it secret. You write the letters, I sign them, an owl delivers them to Lily and everyone is happy."
"It's not nice to Lily. Write your own letters, she's your girlfriend."
"Gods, that hurt" he thought to himself.
"I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff, she would laugh at me. You know me, I'm a cool guy and I know nothing about romantic stuff, but you do. She will never find out. James, I beg of you, please do this for me."
James looked into Chris' eyes and saw that the guy really seemed desperate.
"Do it for Lily" he thought.
"Okay", he said eventually. "I'll do it. She'll get a letter this evening."
"James, how can I ever repay you? You are the best."
They spent the rest of the class brewing truth serums without much talking.
After class Lily seized him by the arm and turned him to face her.
"Well, did you ask him?"
"Lily, this evening and every evening to come, you will receive an owl with a letter of pure love."
She looked impressed.
"Every evening?"
"Every evening."
"Wow."
"Come on, we're all going out to take a fly around school."
"Okay", she said, and they both took out their wands.
"Accio brooms."
A few minutes later the Marauders and Lily were darting through the air like bullets. James felt great, he always did when he was on a broom. Total control, complete freedom. He only wished that Lily could sit in front of him, riding the broom with him in a moonlit night with the stars as their only spectators.
Lost in his own reverie he almost bumped right into Peter without seeing him.
"Watch it, James!"
Later he was sitting in a big couch in the Gryffindor tower, writing a letter to her. He had no troubles at all writing, his quill seemed to have a life of its own as it flew across the paper, like a very tall ice dancer. Feverishly he threw out words, and yet they didn't seem enough. No matter what he wrote he knew that there was so much more to say and tell her.
Suddenly he felt the couch tip. He fell out of it and landed on the floor.
"What the hell?", he said and looked up. Behind the couch he saw five heads looking at him with big smiles on their faces. It was Peter, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Chris, the last one holding his arm around Lily's shoulders.
"What are you doing, Prongs?", Peter asked. "Studying?"
"Yeah", he lied and quickly hid the letter inside his robes.
"Well, cut it out, we want the couch to, you know."
Then they all took a leap through the air and landed hard on the couch, dragged him up to them and started to chat about everything that came to their minds.
"Agreed, when he wakes up, we go nuts."
James woke up with vague memories of a dream he had had during the night. It had been about him, walking outside the castle on a snowy day. When he looked back over his shoulder he saw Lily and Chris walking hand in hand, smiling at each other, and when he looked at the snowflakes he saw that they weren't snowflakes at all: they were love letters. Then he had heard a voice calling his name:
"James.... James....."
He opened his eyes... and found himself staring right into the eyes of the three Marauders, all of them standing at his bed and leaning very close to him, as if they were going to kiss him.
"Is he awake?", Remus asked.
"Yeah, I think he is", Peter said.
Then they all three filled their lungs and shouted:
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRONGS!!!"
James thought he would have a heart attack and sat up straight away. The others laughed and Sirius put a golden birthday hat on James' black, untidy hair.
"You've got presents waiting for you, old boy", he said and pointed at the end of James' bed where a pile of wrapped gifts were lying. They proved to contain a new shirt and a book on magical sports from his parents, a gigantic bag of candy from all of the Marauders and a pair of sunglasses from Lily along with a note, saying "Put these on and you can travel anywhere."
"Vedoscopes", James said and put them on. He didn't see his dormitory through the dark glass, but instead he saw clouds and clear blue skies all around him.
"Thanks, guys", he said. "You are great."
"You needed a little party, Prongs", Sirius said. "You've been so boring these past days, and we decided we wanted you back."
"So we will make it easy for you", Remus continued. Then he took out his wand and waved it through the air.
"Musicum", he said, and a complete set of floating piano keys appeared right under his hands. He started to strike them gently, playing a soft song.
"Either you let this calm music relax you and make you tell us what's wrong about you..."
"Or we will just have to hit you until you do", Peter said. James couldn't help but smiling.
"Listen, guys, it's nothing. Really nothing, I just haven't been myself lately, what with that big test in Transfiguration coming up. I'm sorry, I'll behave better."
"Thank Merlin", Peter said. "We were almost beginning to think that you had fallen in love."
James tried to look surprised, but then he almost really blushed when Remus started to play "The Wedding March" on his soaring piano.
"Knock it off", he said. "There aren't any girls for me to look at."
"Except for those that keep smiling at you and wave with their eyelashes every time they see you."
"Those girls are nothing, they've got no brains."
"Who cares?"
"Come on, I want breakfast."
They all got dressed and left the tower, Remus, Peter and Sirius carrying James on their shoulders. He had completely forgotten about his own birthday.
Suddenly Lily joined the boys, waving at James.
"Happy birthday, James", she said.
"Thanks, and thanks for the vedoscopes", he said and felt a new pair of hands on his body. Lily was helping the others carrying him down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He had never been so aware of touch before, it felt like his skin was shot with tiny electric flashes from her hands, and he became very tense.
They entered the hall and put him down on a bench by the Gryffindor table. Everywhere he turned he heard "Happy birthday"s being thrown at him. He started to eat his toast and eggs slowly, and it took a while before he noticed Chris trying to catch his eyes. James understood the look, Chris wanted to talk to him again.
After breakfast the four Marauders and Lily were ascending the stairs to get to their first class of the day: Potions. When they entered the room they got orders from their teacher, mr Yom, to get in groups of two and two. Immediately James saw Chris coming towards him, like an arrow through the crowd of moving people.
They got seated by a cauldron and Chris started to whisper.
"Happy birthday, James."
"Thanks, Chris. Hey listen, I've got to talk to you about Lily. She wants you to send her more letters."
"I figured that, so I got you a present. Here."
He gave him a small box and James opened it silently with his wand. Inside were envelopes and white sheets of paper.
"Oh no", James whispered, "Don't tell me..."
"Please, James. We'll keep it secret. You write the letters, I sign them, an owl delivers them to Lily and everyone is happy."
"It's not nice to Lily. Write your own letters, she's your girlfriend."
"Gods, that hurt" he thought to himself.
"I'm an idiot when it comes to this stuff, she would laugh at me. You know me, I'm a cool guy and I know nothing about romantic stuff, but you do. She will never find out. James, I beg of you, please do this for me."
James looked into Chris' eyes and saw that the guy really seemed desperate.
"Do it for Lily" he thought.
"Okay", he said eventually. "I'll do it. She'll get a letter this evening."
"James, how can I ever repay you? You are the best."
They spent the rest of the class brewing truth serums without much talking.
After class Lily seized him by the arm and turned him to face her.
"Well, did you ask him?"
"Lily, this evening and every evening to come, you will receive an owl with a letter of pure love."
She looked impressed.
"Every evening?"
"Every evening."
"Wow."
"Come on, we're all going out to take a fly around school."
"Okay", she said, and they both took out their wands.
"Accio brooms."
A few minutes later the Marauders and Lily were darting through the air like bullets. James felt great, he always did when he was on a broom. Total control, complete freedom. He only wished that Lily could sit in front of him, riding the broom with him in a moonlit night with the stars as their only spectators.
Lost in his own reverie he almost bumped right into Peter without seeing him.
"Watch it, James!"
Later he was sitting in a big couch in the Gryffindor tower, writing a letter to her. He had no troubles at all writing, his quill seemed to have a life of its own as it flew across the paper, like a very tall ice dancer. Feverishly he threw out words, and yet they didn't seem enough. No matter what he wrote he knew that there was so much more to say and tell her.
Suddenly he felt the couch tip. He fell out of it and landed on the floor.
"What the hell?", he said and looked up. Behind the couch he saw five heads looking at him with big smiles on their faces. It was Peter, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Chris, the last one holding his arm around Lily's shoulders.
"What are you doing, Prongs?", Peter asked. "Studying?"
"Yeah", he lied and quickly hid the letter inside his robes.
"Well, cut it out, we want the couch to, you know."
Then they all took a leap through the air and landed hard on the couch, dragged him up to them and started to chat about everything that came to their minds.
