The Birthday

A/N: Sorry this took so long. After I posted the last chapter my director saw the error of his ways and gave me the lion. The play went well but took up every second of spare time that I had. Then, I lost my notebook with this story in it. It finally turned up and now I am typing vigorously to try and post this before I go to Ireland for two weeks. And no one really cares. You just want the story. All right, this is the last chapter.

Disclaimer: you know the drill.

Lily's POV

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday to me

Happy Birthday dear Lily

Happy Birthday to me

It's my birthday! Sadly my parents aren't home, yet. Great Aunt Mable is still sick. They will probably send me a card and a present, though.

The Potters are going to throw me a party tonight. Sam, John, Brandon, Kristen, Sirius, Alice, and Frank re all coming. I'm so excited.

Knock knock

"Come in," I called. James walked in carrying a tray with pancakes, eggs, milk, and my perfect bagel. There was also a rose and a little box wrapped in shiny wrapping paper on the tray.

"Here you go breakfast in bed for the birthday girl. Happy birthday."

I sat up in bed. This was him trying to win me over again. Well, it wasn't going to happen. Not now, not ever. And I was going to make him see that.

"What is it with you? I'm never going to go out with you! Why can't you get that through your thick skull?" I shouted. James was startled to say the least.

"I wasn't trying to get you to go out with me," he said.

"Oh, don't pull that crap with me. I know that's what this is all about. I'm not stupid you know," I shouted back made even angrier by his calm reply.

"That's it. You know what, I've had enough of your drama! Why are you such a drama queen?" James shouted back.

Now it was my turn to be surprised. This whole summer James hadn't yelled once. Now he just exploded at me worse than he ever had. I guess it had been building up this whole time.

"What's the matter, Lily? Does the cat finally have your tongue for a change?" he shouted.

"James-"

"You know what, Lily? Forget it. I'm just going to leave!"

I couldn't get my mind to start working in time to stop him. James left me alone in my room.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to hurl myself on the bed, bury my head in the pillow and scream myself hoarse. I picked up the tray that was on the bed and put it on the desk. Then I spent at least an hour crying. Finally I decided I should at least try to eat something. I wasn't exactly hungry and by the time I started eating it was cold. I only had few bites before I started crying again.

It didn't make any sense. Why would what James Potter thought of me matter so much? He was arrogant, mean, and a bully. So what if he thought I'm a drama queen. But for some reason, it mattered. It mattered a lot.

I saw something glisten out of the corner of my eye. It was James's present. There was a card with it, which I read before opening the present. It simply said "Happy Birthday!" and James had bewitched it to sing the song. The tears were welling up in my eyes but I refused to start crying again. I unwrapped the tiny box and took of the lid. Inside the box was a bracelet. All the charms were shaped like hearts and had something written on them. One had "you're beautiful", one had "you're smart", one had "you're sweet", one had "you're funny", and the last one said, "you're special." It was the best present I had ever received. I launched into another round of tears.

Soon, there was a knock on my door.

"Who is it?" I called.

"Mrs. Potter, dear. Can I come in?"

"Okay."

"James said that you two got into a fight this morning. He didn't tell me what it was about, but I thought you must be pretty upset to be in here all this time. And on your birthday no less."

"My birthday. That's right." I mumbled.

"So how are you?"

"I'm fine. Really. It's nothing."

"Okay. Do you still want to have your party?"

My party! I had forgotten all about that, too. Alice would be there. She'd know what all this meant. I could talk to her.

"Yeah! Yeah, I want to have it."

"Okay. Whenever you're ready come down. Take your time, though. And happy birthday, dear."

"Thank you."

The door closed. Another round of tears.

At about 6:30 I started to get cleaned up and at 7 I went down to the party.

Everyone was already there. They gave me a hug and wished me happy birthday. Alice was the last one to do so and afterwards I pulled her aside and told her what happened this morning.

"Isn't it obvious?" she said when I asked her what my feelings meant. "You're in love with James!"

"What? No way. That can't be it!"

"Think about it. Think about everything that's happened this summer."

Like a cheesy montage at the end of a movie, all the memories of this summer came flooding back to me. The whole time he was so sweet and I was so mean to him.

"Oh my God! Maybe I do like James. I mean he is really sweet."

"OH! I'm so happy for you!"

"Alice, I didn't say I like him for sure. I only said I might. And don't go in there and tell everyone what I told you, understand?"

"Perfectly."

"Not even Frank."

"Fine."

I tried to have fun the rest of the party, but the events of today were weighing heavily on my mind. It all went pretty fast. I can't remember much of what happened at the party. I know everyone said they had a good time. It certainly seemed they were telling the truth, too. Everyone looked like they had fun.

Eventually they all left and I went back up to my room. I examined myself and my feelings for James. I discovered that I was in fact a drama queen and that I was in love with James. Of course, I needed to stop acting like such a drama queen with him first.

About a week after my birthday, I went down to breakfast. I hadn't spoken to James since our fight. Now, he was sitting at the table reading the Daily Prophet just like the morning we went to Diagon Alley together. I decided it was now or never.

"Thank you for the present," I said.

"What? Oh, you're welcome, Lily." Slight pause.

"I'm sorry," we both blurted out at the same time. We both chuckled.

"I'm sorry, Lily. I never should have blown up like that," he said.

"No, no. I am a drama queen, but I'm trying to change," I said.

"Friends?" James asked.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you bout that, too. This is kind of hard to say."

"What is it, Lily?" I took a deep breath.

"I love you, James." Silence. There was an incredibly long pause. It seemed like an eternity before James finally spoke.

"Lily do you know how long I've waited to hear those words. I love you, too!"

We ran to each other. James picked me up and pressed his lips against mine. We stayed like that for n eternity, it just felt so right.

We started dating after that. We had our fair share of fights but I was still the happiest I'd ever been.

The End

A/N: Well, that's it. It didn't turn out the way I wanted it to and I don't really like it but oh well. Thank you to everyone who stuck it out with this story. You're great!

I'm not doing praises because a) I really don't have the time and b) I'm confused as to who I have replied and who I haven't. Sorry!