A/N: I knew you could do it. As of the last time I checked, exactly 100
reviews!!!! As promised, here's the next chapter, and I'd like 120 this
time, only twenty more. Also, since someone didn't appear sure in their
review, I'd be curious to hear your guesses as to whether I'm a boy or a
girl, say in your review if you have a guess. If you know me, don't bother
cos it'll give the game away for everyone else. I might tell you in
another few chapters, if I get a good enough response. Don't worry, its
just mild curiousity, I haven't finally lost it (I think).
St Valentine's Day, February the fourteenth, was the next major event in the Marauders' collective calendar. James was looking forward to his next major date with the lovely Lily Evans. The others, without his knowledge and for lack of anything else to do, were planning a set of entertainments for the whole school.
It was six o'clock in the morning when James finally decided that he couldn't sleep another moment in anticipation of the day to come and got out of bed.
"What do you want?" Harry said sluggishly, as the boy landed on the floor with a resounding thud. "It's far too early for us to get up, isn't it?"
"I don't know which of my dress robes to wear, Harry," James whined. "Do you think she'd like the green, the black or the red. I like the black, but do you think it looks too Slytherin. The red's Gryffindor but. . ."
"Oh shut your mouth James," Sirius groaned. "Wear green, it'll match her eyes. Now, can we please sleep? Anything more and I'll do Perificalus Totalus on you, and leave you hear all day without telling Lily it's my fault."
"Sorry Sirius," his friend said quickly. "I'll go down to the common room now if you're being this grouchy. Who knows, Lily might be there!" He bounded out. Harry groaned. Enthusiasm at this time in the morning was too unreal!
"Not bloody likely at this time of night," Sirius muttered darkly after his departing back. Then he blinked until his eyes would stay open. "Oh damn it, James is right - it's Valentine's Day. Get up, you three - we've got stuff to do! Harry! Wake up!"
Harry, just dozing off again, rolled out of bed with a start and landed with a crash on the floor. He winced, rubbed his eyes and opened them, glaring at Sirius.
Remus and Peter had somehow managed to sleep through all of this. Harry looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at Harry. Identical smirks were playing at their lips. Wordlessly, Harry scooped up his wand and conjured a wet sponge above Remus's head. Sirius, with much the same idea floating in the depths of his mind, had conjured lumps of ice, which he was slowly lowering onto Peter's neck. Harry magically squeezed the sponge and Remus shot out of bed with a start.
"What did you do that for, Harry? I was just getting up anyway, without your help."
"Didn't look like it. Oh Sirius, can't you even manage to get Peter up?"
"Boy sleeps like a log," Sirius grunted. "That's it, I'm really going for it now."
Sirius, very frustrated by this point, poked the ice cubes down inside the back of his pajamas with the end of his wand.
"Sirius!" Peter squealed. "Get it out! It's February, for pity's sake. James wouldn't have done that."
"Yes he would. Rise and shine Petey, we've got work to do today. As you just observed so accurately, it is February, after all. Everyone knows what he's meant to be doing? Great, let's go. Remus, will you help Wormtail before dragging him off to the kitchens? It would be such a shame for him to be walking around with ice cubes down his back, and I made them so they wouldn't melt."
"Sure."
Harry was dressed by this time, and ran down past James in the common room towards the Great Hall. His dad, glanced curiously after him, but thought no more about it when he remembered that getting into rows on Valentine's Day wouldn't be the best way to impress his date. Sirius had dashed off towards the Owlery, and Remus dragged Peter out a few minutes later in the direction of the kitchens, the smaller boy protesting vigorously against this treatment.
Harry had just finished an extremely complex charm as the first few people began to enter the hall for breakfast, most yawning but determined to either impress their dates or avoid the dating couples. With a flourish, he activated it, looking at his beautiful display proudly.
A choir of cherus, with doves above them, was singing love songs that Sirius had found in the library. They'd persuaded James to sing one to Lily once, but after that one experience he'd been made to promise never to sing again in their presence. A male angel, who looked remarkably like the mindless Professor Lockhart before his memory charm went wrong, conducted them with a number of meaningless flourishes of a bendy baton. He'd decided it would be too dangerous to provide him with a real one.
Underneath the display, on a large pale pink banner, read the words,
'This performance comes with the compliments and good wishes of the Marauders for a productive and enjoyable day.'
Sirius came in himself a moment later, looking satisfied and twirling his wand absently.
"All done," he said smugly. "Didn't take too long, and I added some flourishes on top of our original idea. Yours sounds good so far, but the third kid from the right is slightly flat."
"What?"
"Only kidding. Seen Peter and Remus yet?"
"No, but I suppose they have more to do than either of us. We eat a considerable amount of food, even for breakfast. Besides, it will have taken some of Remus's time for him to drag Peter bodily out of bed and downstairs."
"There are two of them," Sirius pointed out. "And he did deserve it. They've only got five minutes to finish off in, so they'd better hurry up. Ah, there's Marjorie. I'd better go and say hello to her, or she'll think I've forgotten our date." Harry grinned at his departing back - Sirius's crush on fifth year Marjorie was almost as major as the famous one that James had on Lily, just a lot less obvious.
Remus and Peter dashed in themselves just as the food appeared on the table, looking as though they'd sprinted all the way, which, in fact, they had. They appeared far more drained than Sirius had. Harry had to admit that they'd done a good job, mostly Remus's work probably. The food looked somewhat different from their usual breakfast fare, although he himself knew that actually there were just illusion charms on most of it. Everything was red or pink, including the fruit, milk, cereal, toast and even the honey. Pink loaves of bread were speckled with little red hearts, and Remus had even found the time to transfigure the spoons so that they too were heart shaped as well.
"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, taking it all in. "That's brilliant!"
"It wasn't so hard," Remus said carelessly. "Sirius wins the bet by the way. The house elves were overjoyed that we were so interested by the food, they didn't care at all that we were modifying it a bit. Besides, nothing harmful in it."
"Where's Sirius?" Peter asked.
"With Marjorie, where else? I guess James and Lily are still up snogging in the common room if their past behavior's anything to go on. They'll have to hurry up, the post will come soon."
James appeared a few seconds later, looking totally star-struck and holding Lily's hand tightly. They took seats next to each other. Harry snickered, but felt glad all the same for about the hundredth time that he'd got to know them at last, despite the time problem.
The meal ended without further incident, and everyone waited impatiently for the post to arrive. Harry groaned loudly, did he have to do everything for himself? He got up, under the curious glances of all of the single people at the Gryffindor table, walked down the table and prodded Sirius roughly.
"Harry! I was just coming to it," he exclaimed defensively, flicking his wand. "Push off, this is a private conversation, or it was until you came along!" Harry sighed, muttering under his breath about lovesick incompetents, and went back to join Remus and Peter.
A troop of little cherubs flew in, in a little throng. Their harps appeared to have been discarded in favor of mail bags, and they flew around happily, distributing the cards.
Every girl in the school had received a card from the Marauders. Some of the other boys, especially the Slytherins, looked offended, but most of the girls looked pleased. Harry noticed that the younger ones in particular were overjoyed, since most of the boys their age appeared to be very shy about sending cards to girls. Needless to say, most of the boys had got a few, and looked very embarrassed about it.
Harry couldn't really care less what the Slytherins thought. Sirius had insisted that they handwrite every single card, and, even divided between the four of them, that still left a considerable amount. Harry himself had insisted that they also did cards for all the female members of staff - another job that needed doing. They had also sent Professor Dumbledore one, just so he didn't feel left out.
When everyone seemed done, and the little postmen had flown out again, the Headmaster stood up.
"Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I'd like to thank those of you who arranged this lovely surprise for us and to remind everyone here that all years have today as a holiday. Anyone above third year who has permission from their parents may go to Hogsmead. I hope you all have wonderful days!"
"A holiday?" Remus murmured incredulously. "For Valentine's Day?"
"Just think what we can do," Harry thought blissfully. They sat there for a moment before getting sorted to banish their spells.
"Ah, Mr Jamieson," Professor Dumbledore said suddenly from beside Harry. He jumped, having been certain that the teacher had already left. "Thank you for your card, I shall treasure it, I'm sure. I wondered if it might have been you to arrange this, it has a lighter touch than young Mr Black can manage. Tell me, who organized our postmen today?"
"Sirius, sir."
"That would explain their enthusiasm. Which means that we have Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew to thank for the food then, correct? I assume that young Potter is, ah, busy today. A most seasonal idea, ten points to Gryffindor."
Harry's eyes were drawn automatically to the great hourglasses standing at the end of the hall, showing the house points. A stream of crystals dropped into Gryffindor's. Checking quickly, Harry noted that this new addition put them into the lead, overtaking Slytherin house by about five points.
"Thanks Professr!"
"Off you go then, young man. Have some fun." They left, Harry wondering exactly what Dumbledore had meant by fun. He hoped it hadn't been a suggestion that he should get a girlfriend. Dating a kid from his parent's generation was just gross!
Unfortunately it was a rather depressed group that trouped around Hogsmeade that day. Minus both James Potter and Sirius Black, they weren't likely to get into any trouble at all. How boring!
St Valentine's Day, February the fourteenth, was the next major event in the Marauders' collective calendar. James was looking forward to his next major date with the lovely Lily Evans. The others, without his knowledge and for lack of anything else to do, were planning a set of entertainments for the whole school.
It was six o'clock in the morning when James finally decided that he couldn't sleep another moment in anticipation of the day to come and got out of bed.
"What do you want?" Harry said sluggishly, as the boy landed on the floor with a resounding thud. "It's far too early for us to get up, isn't it?"
"I don't know which of my dress robes to wear, Harry," James whined. "Do you think she'd like the green, the black or the red. I like the black, but do you think it looks too Slytherin. The red's Gryffindor but. . ."
"Oh shut your mouth James," Sirius groaned. "Wear green, it'll match her eyes. Now, can we please sleep? Anything more and I'll do Perificalus Totalus on you, and leave you hear all day without telling Lily it's my fault."
"Sorry Sirius," his friend said quickly. "I'll go down to the common room now if you're being this grouchy. Who knows, Lily might be there!" He bounded out. Harry groaned. Enthusiasm at this time in the morning was too unreal!
"Not bloody likely at this time of night," Sirius muttered darkly after his departing back. Then he blinked until his eyes would stay open. "Oh damn it, James is right - it's Valentine's Day. Get up, you three - we've got stuff to do! Harry! Wake up!"
Harry, just dozing off again, rolled out of bed with a start and landed with a crash on the floor. He winced, rubbed his eyes and opened them, glaring at Sirius.
Remus and Peter had somehow managed to sleep through all of this. Harry looked at Sirius. Sirius looked at Harry. Identical smirks were playing at their lips. Wordlessly, Harry scooped up his wand and conjured a wet sponge above Remus's head. Sirius, with much the same idea floating in the depths of his mind, had conjured lumps of ice, which he was slowly lowering onto Peter's neck. Harry magically squeezed the sponge and Remus shot out of bed with a start.
"What did you do that for, Harry? I was just getting up anyway, without your help."
"Didn't look like it. Oh Sirius, can't you even manage to get Peter up?"
"Boy sleeps like a log," Sirius grunted. "That's it, I'm really going for it now."
Sirius, very frustrated by this point, poked the ice cubes down inside the back of his pajamas with the end of his wand.
"Sirius!" Peter squealed. "Get it out! It's February, for pity's sake. James wouldn't have done that."
"Yes he would. Rise and shine Petey, we've got work to do today. As you just observed so accurately, it is February, after all. Everyone knows what he's meant to be doing? Great, let's go. Remus, will you help Wormtail before dragging him off to the kitchens? It would be such a shame for him to be walking around with ice cubes down his back, and I made them so they wouldn't melt."
"Sure."
Harry was dressed by this time, and ran down past James in the common room towards the Great Hall. His dad, glanced curiously after him, but thought no more about it when he remembered that getting into rows on Valentine's Day wouldn't be the best way to impress his date. Sirius had dashed off towards the Owlery, and Remus dragged Peter out a few minutes later in the direction of the kitchens, the smaller boy protesting vigorously against this treatment.
Harry had just finished an extremely complex charm as the first few people began to enter the hall for breakfast, most yawning but determined to either impress their dates or avoid the dating couples. With a flourish, he activated it, looking at his beautiful display proudly.
A choir of cherus, with doves above them, was singing love songs that Sirius had found in the library. They'd persuaded James to sing one to Lily once, but after that one experience he'd been made to promise never to sing again in their presence. A male angel, who looked remarkably like the mindless Professor Lockhart before his memory charm went wrong, conducted them with a number of meaningless flourishes of a bendy baton. He'd decided it would be too dangerous to provide him with a real one.
Underneath the display, on a large pale pink banner, read the words,
'This performance comes with the compliments and good wishes of the Marauders for a productive and enjoyable day.'
Sirius came in himself a moment later, looking satisfied and twirling his wand absently.
"All done," he said smugly. "Didn't take too long, and I added some flourishes on top of our original idea. Yours sounds good so far, but the third kid from the right is slightly flat."
"What?"
"Only kidding. Seen Peter and Remus yet?"
"No, but I suppose they have more to do than either of us. We eat a considerable amount of food, even for breakfast. Besides, it will have taken some of Remus's time for him to drag Peter bodily out of bed and downstairs."
"There are two of them," Sirius pointed out. "And he did deserve it. They've only got five minutes to finish off in, so they'd better hurry up. Ah, there's Marjorie. I'd better go and say hello to her, or she'll think I've forgotten our date." Harry grinned at his departing back - Sirius's crush on fifth year Marjorie was almost as major as the famous one that James had on Lily, just a lot less obvious.
Remus and Peter dashed in themselves just as the food appeared on the table, looking as though they'd sprinted all the way, which, in fact, they had. They appeared far more drained than Sirius had. Harry had to admit that they'd done a good job, mostly Remus's work probably. The food looked somewhat different from their usual breakfast fare, although he himself knew that actually there were just illusion charms on most of it. Everything was red or pink, including the fruit, milk, cereal, toast and even the honey. Pink loaves of bread were speckled with little red hearts, and Remus had even found the time to transfigure the spoons so that they too were heart shaped as well.
"Wow!" Harry exclaimed, taking it all in. "That's brilliant!"
"It wasn't so hard," Remus said carelessly. "Sirius wins the bet by the way. The house elves were overjoyed that we were so interested by the food, they didn't care at all that we were modifying it a bit. Besides, nothing harmful in it."
"Where's Sirius?" Peter asked.
"With Marjorie, where else? I guess James and Lily are still up snogging in the common room if their past behavior's anything to go on. They'll have to hurry up, the post will come soon."
James appeared a few seconds later, looking totally star-struck and holding Lily's hand tightly. They took seats next to each other. Harry snickered, but felt glad all the same for about the hundredth time that he'd got to know them at last, despite the time problem.
The meal ended without further incident, and everyone waited impatiently for the post to arrive. Harry groaned loudly, did he have to do everything for himself? He got up, under the curious glances of all of the single people at the Gryffindor table, walked down the table and prodded Sirius roughly.
"Harry! I was just coming to it," he exclaimed defensively, flicking his wand. "Push off, this is a private conversation, or it was until you came along!" Harry sighed, muttering under his breath about lovesick incompetents, and went back to join Remus and Peter.
A troop of little cherubs flew in, in a little throng. Their harps appeared to have been discarded in favor of mail bags, and they flew around happily, distributing the cards.
Every girl in the school had received a card from the Marauders. Some of the other boys, especially the Slytherins, looked offended, but most of the girls looked pleased. Harry noticed that the younger ones in particular were overjoyed, since most of the boys their age appeared to be very shy about sending cards to girls. Needless to say, most of the boys had got a few, and looked very embarrassed about it.
Harry couldn't really care less what the Slytherins thought. Sirius had insisted that they handwrite every single card, and, even divided between the four of them, that still left a considerable amount. Harry himself had insisted that they also did cards for all the female members of staff - another job that needed doing. They had also sent Professor Dumbledore one, just so he didn't feel left out.
When everyone seemed done, and the little postmen had flown out again, the Headmaster stood up.
"Happy Valentine's Day to you all. I'd like to thank those of you who arranged this lovely surprise for us and to remind everyone here that all years have today as a holiday. Anyone above third year who has permission from their parents may go to Hogsmead. I hope you all have wonderful days!"
"A holiday?" Remus murmured incredulously. "For Valentine's Day?"
"Just think what we can do," Harry thought blissfully. They sat there for a moment before getting sorted to banish their spells.
"Ah, Mr Jamieson," Professor Dumbledore said suddenly from beside Harry. He jumped, having been certain that the teacher had already left. "Thank you for your card, I shall treasure it, I'm sure. I wondered if it might have been you to arrange this, it has a lighter touch than young Mr Black can manage. Tell me, who organized our postmen today?"
"Sirius, sir."
"That would explain their enthusiasm. Which means that we have Mr Lupin and Mr Pettigrew to thank for the food then, correct? I assume that young Potter is, ah, busy today. A most seasonal idea, ten points to Gryffindor."
Harry's eyes were drawn automatically to the great hourglasses standing at the end of the hall, showing the house points. A stream of crystals dropped into Gryffindor's. Checking quickly, Harry noted that this new addition put them into the lead, overtaking Slytherin house by about five points.
"Thanks Professr!"
"Off you go then, young man. Have some fun." They left, Harry wondering exactly what Dumbledore had meant by fun. He hoped it hadn't been a suggestion that he should get a girlfriend. Dating a kid from his parent's generation was just gross!
Unfortunately it was a rather depressed group that trouped around Hogsmeade that day. Minus both James Potter and Sirius Black, they weren't likely to get into any trouble at all. How boring!