Chapter 18: Birthday Surprise
The next morning, the Marauders were giving Harry the play-by-play of each Marauder's birthday. Every birthday, they would pull a prank, calling it the Birthday Surprise. A yellow Sirius and James (the Color-Mood spell was made to last a total of three days) were reliving their third year Birthday Surprise for Remus. It had involved bewitching Remus's old stuffed animal (a griffin) into running around the school, shouting insults at the top of its lungs.
"We also made sure that Remus would be the only one who could end the spell," James said between his gasps for breath.
"And the best part was that he was too embarrassed to actually admit it was his," said Sirius, his eyes reduced to slits as he laughed silently.
"And I remember that it was Professor McGonagall who finally cornered the little thing and made Remus change it back," Peter said, laughing shrilly.
"I take it you have another embarrassing trick up your sleeves for my birthday?" Remus asked in a bored voice. Either he was embarrassed or annoyed, because he skin was an unusually bright shade of orange.
"Your birthday? Is that coming up?"
Hermione, emitting a purple glow from her skin (she was pretty tired), sat down across from Remus and next to James. Lily appeared at her side seconds later.
"Er, yeah…" Remus said timidly. "It's the twenty-fourth."
"Of this month?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"Yep. The big seventeen for me," Remus said, as if it wasn't that important to him. But she could see it in his eyes that he was ecstatic.
"So you could take your Apparation test over the holiday," she mused out loud. "That's something."
"But it all seems pretty useless if you can't Apparate into or out of Hogwarts," Remus said idly.
Hermione's fork fell onto her plate with a clank. "You've—you've read Hogwarts, A History?" she asked breathlessly.
"Er, yeah, hasn't everyone?" Remus asked. James, Sirius, Peter, and Harry opened their mouths. "Other than you four," he added.
"Well, my friends never bothered to read it," Hermione said. She reached for the bacon. "They just expect me to tell about some information when it's needed."
"Exactly," Remus said, glad someone understood him. "That's what those three idiots do all of the time," he said, waving his hand passively at the other three Marauders. "And they trust me to do all the work when it comes time to work on our—"
"Yes?" Hermione said.
"Nothing," Remus said quickly. He had almost spilled the beans about the Marauder's Map. Hermione raised one eyebrow but questioned no further.
"So… anything you want for your birthday?" Hermione asked casually.
"Oh! You don't need to get me a present," Remus said at once.
"Yeah," Sirius interrupted, looking between Remus and Hermione, his eyes settling on the latter. "Don't bother asking him for what he wants. He doesn't even tell us. You really don't like birthdays, do you Moony?" he asked, giving Remus a sly look at he sipped his orange juice.
There was a sudden outburst by the doors that shifted everyone's attention, especially the Marauders.
"What do you mean 'we don't have proof'?" yelled a short of hysterical Snape. He was trotting behind a slightly peeved Professor McGonagall, his face contorted with rage. "It was Potter and Black! It's completely obvious!"
"I am sorry, Mr. Snape, but you have no evidence that Mr. Potter and Mr. Black performed that Color-Mood spell, and therefore they cannot be expelled," said a huffy Professor McGonagall.
"You mean they're going to get away with it?!" cried out Snape, his hysteria full throttle now.
"Unless someone caught them in the act or they confess themselves, I cannot give them as much as a detention," said McGonagall wearily. "So, please, Mr. Snape, go sit at you table and eat your breakfast."
Snape looked like a lost fish, his mouth opening and closing silently. He harrumphed, glaring after McGonagall. Turning his head sharply, he shot the most evilest glare at the four Marauders. They just smiled at him and waved back at the Slytherin boy, which angered him even more so. Snape looked like he could breathe fire at he angrily sat down in his spot at the Slytherin table.
"Did he seriously think that he could get us expelled from that measly little charm?" Sirius asked while shaking his head.
"He'll try anything to get us kicked out of here," James said, giving a laugh. "He just thinks that the littlest things can get us kicked out."
"Like transfiguring every single quill in the entire grounds of Hogwarts into a Billywig," Sirius pointed out, his eyes looking glazed as if he was reliving an old memory.
"Or trying to throw him into the lake," James added.
"Or flying a car to school," Harry mumbled.
"Hey, we've never done that," James said, his eyes starting to brighten.
"That's not a bad idea…" Sirius trailed off.
"Oh no you don't!" snapped Hermione and Lily harmoniously. "You could seriously be expelled from that," Lily said.
"Oh, Lily, I didn't know you cared," James said, giving a grin.
"I don't," she said sharply but never making eye contact with any of the Marauders. It may have been a trick of the light from the candles in the Great Hall, but it looked as her skin had wavered to a pink before settling back onto orange. "It'll just give Gryffindor a bad name if all of you got expelled."
"Sure Lily… we believe you," James said sarcastically.
"Wait, does this mean you've flown to school in a car?" Sirius asked curiously to Harry.
"What?" Harry yelped suddenly. "Oh, no. I'm not stupid enough to do that…" He avoided their looks. His eyes flashed to Hermione, who was smirking behind her forkful of fruit.
"Huh…" James said, unconvinced. "Could've fooled me," he said quietly before stuffing his face with bacon.
"Hey, I heard that," Harry said, glaring playfully at James.
James just gave an innocent look while he chewed his food, looking oddly like a cow.
"Well, we better go, since someone in our room wanted to sleep in today…" Hermione said, gazing pointedly at Lily.
"What? I was having a good dream," she said uncomfortably.
"About yours truly?" James asked slyly. His skin turned pink when he looked at Lily hopefully.
"You wish," Lily replied, finishing off the last of her fruit before standing up with Hermione. James's face fell when she didn't change her color. "See you all in Defense." And the two girls left.
"Er, we better get to Defense soon, too, mates," Remus said.
"But I haven't finished eating yet, Moony!" James complained.
"That's because you've been too busy staring at Lily throughout this entire breakfast," Remus said in an undoubtedly bored voice.
"Ouch," Peter commented.
"One point for Moony," Sirius said. "And it's only the beginning of the day."
James just glared at his four other friends (Harry had burst out laughing beforehand) as he piled in some eggs and bacon. They waited patiently (except Sirius) while James finally finished his breakfast.
"Are we still going through the duels or are we finished with those?" Peter asked as they walked up the stairs for Defense Against the Dark Arts.
"Naw, Harry was the last duelist," James said. He was fishing around in his bag hastily, as if making sure he had something.
"Missing something, Prongs?" Harry asked. He had quickly gotten comfortable with using the Marauder's nicknames.
James didn't comment but kept on searching in his bag. Seconds later, though, he let out a victorious "Ah ha!" and pulled out a piece of clean parchment. "I thought I'd lost it."
"Well, we all know you lost it along time ago, James," Remus said, "but what is that parchment for?"
"Another point to Remus," Sirius said in awe. He hadn't looked at the paper until that moment. "Is that what I think it is?" he asked James excitedly.
"Aye, it is," James said, unable to conceal his excitement.
"Mind letting us into this?" asked Harry.
"This is a great little something I bought at Zonko's," James started to say, rubbing the piece of parchment fondly before sticking it back into it's bag. "You see, it's a bit too small to hand in for a homework piece of paper, so it's most likely used to write notes on. What the beauty of it is, though, is that it speaks out whatever is written on the page once the writer is done with it."
"And let me guess," Harry said, grinning also, "you're going to lend it to one of our classmates, hoping that it'll reveal something embarrassing."
"Yes, but it's not who you think it'll be," James said. Harry gave a puzzled look. "Not Snivell—Snape," he said quickly, correcting himself at Harry's glare. "No, no it'll be someone more interesting…"
"Who…?" Harry started to ask.
"You'll find out, young Harry. Soon, you'll find out," James said wisely as they walked through the doors of the Defense classroom. Harry looked questionably at James but pushed no further. They sat in usual spots in the middle, right behind Lily, Hermione, Saumya, Katie Rawson, and Keegan MacTarnahan. Usually, the Marauders would sit in the back, but since Defense was taught by a Gryffindor alumni and definitely favored his old house (and the Marauders themselves), they thought it better to be closer.
Professor Aylward was busy at the front of the class. Perched on his arm was a hawk. He was feeding it and stroking its rich, deep brown feathers. When he noticed that everyone was in their seats, he slowly walked over to a large cage in the back and urged the powerful bird of prey inside. He faced the class once again, saw the puzzled looks on their faces, and explained. "Sorry, this is my pet hawk, Trouble. I was preparing it for my second years." He looked at a girl who had her hand raised up. "Yes, Miss MacTarnahan."
"Excuse me, but is it a Muggle bird? I mean, does it have any powers?" Keegan MacTarnahan asked quietly.
"No, it is not a common bird of prey," Aylward said, smiling at his students. "Even though a normal bird has keen eyesight and exceptionally good hearing, Trouble has all his senses three times more powerful than a normal bird. He also is very loyal to its master and can sense trouble a mile away."
"Remind me never to come into close contact with that bird," James whispered to Sirius. "I'd like to live to see myself turn seventeen." Sirius let out a quiet bark-like laugh.
"Have something to share with us, Mr. Black?" Aylward asked with a genuine smile.
"I just found it ironic that a bird that can sense trouble in a matter of seconds is actually called Trouble," Sirius said, smiling like mad.
"Yes, I found it ironic, too," Aylward agreed with a huge smile.
"Are we going to be talking about your bird, or are we actually, for once, going to learn something about the actual topic of Defense Against the Dark Arts?" sneered a Slytherin girl in the back of the classroom. The Marauders turned in their seat to find it was Daemos Eckhart, the heartless Slytherin Prefect.
Aylward's grin faded just a little. He looked at the direction of the girl, who cowered just an inch. "Miss Eckhart. I would appreciate it if you spoke to me as you would to Professor McGonagall: courteously and respectfully."
Daemos looked as if she was biting back a fierce comment.
"Good," Aylward said cheerfully, clapping his hands. "Will you all please open your books to page 91 and start reading. Once you're done, I want you all to write out five main points of the section." He glanced at James's raised hand. "Don't worry James, it's a short read." The class chuckled. "We'll discuss them once you are all finished."
Everyone head's suddenly bent down over their books to quickly finish the reading.
It was Hermione and Lily who had finished the assignment first. With nothing to do, Lily went through her bag for a scratch piece of paper to write Hermione note on. To her dismay, she found that she had no spare parchment. Feeling disgusted with herself, she turned around to ask the people behind her for some.
James Potter looked up from his book to find Lily Evans staring at him. He lifted his glasses and rubbed his eyes, not believing the green-eyed beauty in front of him.
"James, do you have a spare bit of parchment I could use?" Lily whispered in a monotone voice.
He looked over her shoulder to find the assignment complete and laid neatly on her book. Why would she need paper if not to write an assignment on?… "What's that?" he asked, not bothering to keep his voice down.
Professor Aylward looked up from his papers which he was correcting at the moment. He saw Lily turned around in her seat, her cheeks blushing.
"Is there a problem, Miss Evans?" he asked.
Lily's head snapped to Professor Aylward. Her blush increased. "No, Professor. I was just asking James for some paper."
Aylward nodded, masking a grin, and went back to correcting some first year's homework.
Lily quickly turned back to James, giving him a glare, but found him holding out a small piece of parchment. She tore it out of his hands and while giving an angry sniff, she turned back around in her seat.
Why does James have to be so obnoxious? Lily wrote on the paper. She slid it over to Hermione, who was spinning her quill uninterestedly in her hand. Hermione grabbed the paper, read it, and glanced at Lily before writing back.
Why do you care so much? Would you actually go out with him if he wasn't that annoying?
Hermione discreetly gave the note back to Lily. She felt Lily think for a moment before the red-head bent over the parchment again.
Well, there's no point in denying that he's not good looking.
Once Hermione read Lily's entry, she gave her friend an inquiring look, but replied straight away.
What would happen if you actually gave him a chance?
I guess I—Lily started to write, but stopped abruptly.
All of a sudden, through the eerily silenced classroom, a voice (sounding oddly like Lily's) started to speak, clear and crisp. To Hermione's, but mostly Lily's horror, the paper they had been writing on starting to speak out its contents.
"Why does James have to be so obnoxious?" the paper said. Everyone's heads snapped up at the sound of Lily's voice. They looked around at Lily, who had her face buried in her arms, probably blushing up a storm, and then at the paper, and finally at the smirking Marauders.
"Why do you care so much?" the paper continued, this time with the voice of Hermione. She turned around and heavily gazed at James, Sirius, and Harry, who were all paralyzed with laughter. "Would you actually go out with him if he wasn't that annoying?
"Well, there's no point in denying that he's not good looking," the paper said, using Lily's voice once again.
James's laughing abruptly stopped as he stared wide-eyed at Lily's huddled figure in front of him. This only made Sirius and Harry laugh hardly, Sirius giving his friend a playful elbow in the side.
"What would happen if you actually gave him a chance?" the paper carried on.
"I guess I—" and the paper stopped talking.
"What?!" Sirius yelled through his barking laughter. "It just had to stop there, didn't it?" Harry nodded numbly. This was just too perfect.
Professor Aylward had been watching the scene with great amusement. He could have done something to stop it, but he felt that things should be carried on without his help… until it was done. "Well, that was enlightening," he said aloud, his good-natured smile shining. The class laughed. "Now that that's over, are you all finished with the lesson review?" Everyone murmured a yes. Lily's head peaked over her folded arms which lay on her desk. "Good. Now, who wants to share their list?"
"James, that was excellent," Harry congratulated his father once they walked out of the Defense room.
"Not to be green or anything, but I must agree that I am a genius," James said, puffing out his chest. He saw Lily walking all too fast down the hall, Hermione trying to catch up with a grin on her face. "I never knew Evans thought I was hot."
Sirius barked out a laugh. "She used the words 'good looking', as I remember."
"Same thing," James said, waving his wand.
"Here's a tip, Prongs," Harry said. "Don't call the girl you fancy by her last name. Do you think she deserves to be called the same way you call Snape?"
James's face looked suddenly horrified. "You're—you're right! I've been so stupid—"
"Finally, you realize it," muttered Remus.
"Ow! Another point for Remus," Sirius said in awe. "Does turning seventeen do something to people's wittiness?"
"I'm not even going to answer that idiotic question," Remus said, rubbing his temples. "But if it's true, I wish you could turn seventeen soon, because you could definitely use a dosage of this wittiness you speak of."
"See what I mean?" Sirius asked, not speaking to anyone directly.
"Come on," James said, quickening their pace. "I want to finish my homework as soon as possible."
Sirius, Peter, and Harry sped up while Remus just kept on slowly walking.
"Hell has frozen over. James wants to study," Sirius laughed.
"Why, James, do you want to do homework when you don't have to?" Remus asked.
"I want to finish all my homework before this weekend," James said over his shoulder.
"Why?"
"So it can be free for Hogsmeade—to buy you a present!" James answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Remus stopped dead in the middle of the crowded corridor. "I don't want a present!"
"Shh!"
"What?"
"I said, shh!"
"Moony, it's broad daylight in an empty corridor! What's going to happen?"
"Do you really want me to answer that, Padfoot?"
Pause. "No."
"Now young Harry," James said, ignoring his other two friends at the moment. "You are being blessed with one of the many Marauder Secrets."
"Blessed?" Harry repeated, fighting against his laughter.
"Yes, now don't interrupt. We are sharing with you the secrets of how to sneak out the castle into Hogsmeade without getting caught." James looked anxious. "Ready?"
The four Marauders were leading Harry to the one-eyed witch statue that concealed the pathway to Honeydukes. It was the weekend already (James had finished all of his homework) and they were all planning to buy Remus some birthday presents. Peter came waddling down the hall moments later. He was positioned as look-out. He gave a thumbs up to James. His grin widened.
"Great!" he cried out. "Let's go."
They tread through the cave-like pathway, guided by the light emitting from the tip of James's wand. All of a sudden, from behind James, there was a noise that sounded like a dying animal.
"Quiet, you two!" James hissed towards the figures that turned out to be Remus and Sirius. Sirius was quivering while Remus just laughed.
"But Prongs, Remus was just attacking me… with his scarf!" Sirius cried out.
"Well, that's what you get for calling me a sissy," Remus shot back, still laughing. He smoothed out his scarf and put it back on so it hung loosely around his neck.
James shook his head and continued down the pathway, Peter and Harry walking closely behind. Remus strolled ahead to catch up with them. Sirius stood still.
"But I never called you a sissy!" Sirius yelled out after them.
"But you were thinking it," Remus said over his shoulder.
James, Harry, and Peter all burst out in mirth. Sirius huffed, but shrugged his shoulders and kept on walking.
Thirty minutes later, they were running through all the shops in the once quiet town.
"Ooo Moony! We know you want one of those!" Sirius cried out, pointing at a crystal ball through one of the windows.
Remus guffawed. "You're not serious, are you?"
"Er—yeah," Sirius said simply. "I'm Sirius," he said as if talking to a four year old. "You're Remus. That bloke's James. The little bugger in the back is Peter. The James-wanna-be is Harry…. You're really getting senile in your old age, mate."
"Okay," James said, clapping his gloved hands together, before Remus started to attack Sirius with his scarf again. "Now that we've done all this window shopping, Remus, go away."
"Oh that's real nice," Remus said sarcastically. "Throw out the birthday boy. I'm touched by your caring thoughts."
"We're going to buy you presents," James said exasperatedly. "Now go away!"
"Fine, fine…" Remus stuffed his hands in his pockets and shuffled off. "I'll be at the Three Broomsticks, that is, if you all really care about me…"
"Don't worry, we love you, Remy!" Sirius shouted to the retreating boy. Two elderly women who were walking past them gave Sirius an odd look before quickly hobbling away into the nearest store. Sirius, however, was oblivious. "Great. So what are we getting him?" he asked the others.
"Let's go in here first!" James said ecstatically.
"The Quidditch store?" Harry asked. "What would Moony want from there?"
"Er… I dunno," James said sheepishly. "But there's this really cool new uniform in there that I—"
"Oh, come on, we'll check out Dervish and Bangs, all right?" Sirius said impatiently, pulling a drooling James away from the Quidditch store.
"Fine," James said, but his pout was quite noticeable.
After forty minutes of shopping, they finally were sitting by the warm fire at the Three Broomsticks with Remus.
"Finally," Remus had said as they sat down. "You four seriously shop like girls."
The food had already been waiting for the four shoppers and had a special heating spell to keep the chips hot. They talked for an hour or so until Madam Rosmerta came up to them.
"Don't you boys need to be getting back to your school pretty soon?" she asked, still chewing gum.
Sirius grabbed Remus's wrist and looked at the watch. Before he could say anything, Remus spoke up wearily. "When are you going to get a watch, Padfoot?"
"When you give me one?" Sirius said hopefully.
"Forget it," Remus said at once, pulling his wrist out of his friend's grasp. "I love this watch. It's the only one I have."
"Remus!" Peter interrupted edgily. Everyone looked up. "What. Time. Is. It?"
"Oh, we should be going back soon," Remus said, still hugging his watch, his eyes flickering to Sirius. "It's already past dinner time there."
"And Remus the Prefect can't be caught doing something against the rules, now can he?" Sirius mocked.
They all stood up to get their coats.
"Shut it, or I'll give you detention," Remus muttered with irritation.
"But you can't give us detention," James said quickly. Everyone looked up. "I looked it up, just to make sure Evans—Lily couldn't place me in detention."
They all laughed and walked out the door.
"But she thinks you're good looking, James," Sirius mocked. "She wouldn't do that to you."
"Remus it right. Shut it."
Back in the common room, late that night (Sunday as it was), they were laughing about something (stupid) Peter had said when three other people joined them by the fireplace.
"We missed you boys at dinner," Hermione said as she sat down on the couch between Harry and Sirius. Remus got out of his chair for one of the girls, and to everyone else's surprise, so did James. Saumya Kim sat were Remus had previously been, while Lily warily sat down in James's.
"We were out," Sirius said casually. He watched Remus and James sit on the floor, leaning their backs against the chairs.
"Where?" Saumya asked.
All five boys looked at each other.
"At Hogsmeade," answered James nonchalantly.
"Hogsmeade?!" Lily cried out.
"Really?" Saumya asked excitedly. "How on earth did you get there?"
"But you all could've gotten in serious trouble!" said Lily.
"That's our secret," James answered Saumya. "And you forget who you're talking to, Lily. We're the Marauders. We get away with everything."
"Take our lovely Color-Mood spell for example," Sirius said. "We never got caught for that little prank."
"Yes, I'm so glad that stupid spell ended after the second day," Lily said, flopping back into her seat.
"What, hated turning pink every time you talked to James?" Saumya teased.
James turned his head like a whip to stare at Lily. Lily, on the other hand shot her roommate a glare before she hid her face in her hands.
"And see how she doesn't deny it," Sirius pointed out. Saumya and Hermione giggled. The other boys, minus James laughed. James, though, continued to stare, his eyes growing even wider. "Blimey, how I love this school."
"So Remus," Lily said abruptly, not daring to look James in the eye. "What are you doing for your birthday?"
"Nothing, really," he said quietly. "I just don't like big birthdays."
"A Marauder, not liking a day where they get free presents?" Saumya asked. "Is it possible?"
Everyone laughed. "You'd think not, eh?" Sirius said, casting Saumya a wink.
They spent most of their conversation teasing James and Lily, but somehow they got off topic and started to talk about floor rugs. Hermione, who had been thinking deeply most of the time (no surprise there), suddenly looked around the common room to find it completely empty. She looked at her watch to find it one in the morning. "Er, guys?" she said in a quiet voice (Sirius looked at her while everyone else ignored her). "Shouldn't we—"
Suddenly, the portrait swung open with a loud band, and in walked a seventh year boy, looking quite livid. On his robes, beneath his Gryffindor badge, was a crest with the letters HB on it: Head Boy. Henrick Larsson, a tall black boy, had raven black hair swinging in his face as he looked, outraged, at the eight sixth year students.
"What do you think you're all doing?!" he yelled. "Get to bed. Now!"
"Calm down, Henkie, we were just getting ready to leave," James said calmly as all the others jumped out of the seats at the shout.
"Don't call me Henkie!" he yelled.
"Good night," the three girls said hurriedly and scuttled out of the room.
As the four Marauders and Harry left the room, they could here the Head Boy muttering: "First that stupid Snape prowling around at night, now those stupid sixth years… this job is never easy."
"Jeez, I'd hate to be Head Boy," James said as they walked into their dormitory, with a set of stairs between themselves and Henrick Larsson.
Harry laughed silently to himself. It would be less than a year until James would be getting his Hogwarts letter, his Head Boy badge tucked neatly inside his usual envelope.
"Just think, Moony," Sirius said as he took off his shirt and hopped into bed. "This'll be your last night as a sixteen-year-old. Tomorrow, you will be of age…. Scary thought, huh?"
"Do you know what's even scarier?" Remus asked. Sirius shook his head. "You turning seventeen."
Sirius gave a pout. "That's not funny."
James, Harry, and Peter laughed fully. "Ah, but it is funny because it is true!"
Sirius huffed. "Fine, think what you like, but I'm going to bed."
"Good night, everyone," Peter yawned.
It was Monday night, Remus's birthday, and Sirius was retelling a Marauder birthday story with great enthusiasm; he almost had tears in his eyes.
"And remember—remember when McGonagall told James off for using a spell that extinguished every single candle in all of Hogwarts two years ago? And then—and then he said, he said, 'But Professor, it's my birthday. All Muggles blow out the candles on their birthdays!'"
"Sirius, did you really need to share that with everyone?" James groaned.
All sixth year Gryffindors were piled into the boys' dormitory (which had an enlarging spell on it, just incase it got too crowded in there). It had been decorated with Muggle streamers and balloons. There was some food laid out on the beds; some of it was a present from Remus's parents, some was from the kitchens.
Dana and Freya were huddled over by the licorice wands, giggling away at Sirius's story while Lily was leaning on a bed post, not looking as amused. Peter was giggling shrilly, glancing every now and then at James, to see if he found it funny. Remus was, at the time, looking at the little pile of presents he had from his friends. He decided to leave the Marauder's presents for when everyone was gone, just incase it had to do with some… secrets of himself. He reached for Lily's present.
"Hey, Lily?" he called out over Peter's laughter. Lily looked up. "Is it all right if I open your present first?"
"Of course it is," Lily answered, leaving her post and walking over.
He opened up the plain paper wrapping the present. "Wow, a bag." Remus held out a nice brown, leather messenger bag one would assume to use for school supplies and books.
"And what's really nice about it is," Lily started, "is that it adds however many pockets the owner wants at the time. Also, it had a feather-light weight charm on it, so your books won't be that heavy."
Remus looked admirably at the bag; his old one (the same one he had back in his first year) was breaking at the seams and wearing out. "Thanks, Lily. It's just what I needed."
"Oh, sorry, Remus," Freya called out. "We didn't know we were supposed to bring a present." Dana nodded in agreement.
Sirius, Peter, and James looked at each other, their eyes darkened.
"Do you know what I heard, Padfoot?" James said abruptly, loud enough for everyone to hear.
"No, what, Prongs?" Sirius answered, having a vague idea of what James was doing.
"I heard that the Hufflepuff sixth years were playing Spin the Bottle in the old history class," James said nonchalantly, examining his fingernails.
"Oh, you're right," Sirius said. "They said it was that Kyle McFly bloke who was hosting it." It was a miracle that Sirius had a straight face on while he spoke.
Dana and Freya both instantly sat up. "Really?" Dana squealed.
"Remus, happy birthday," Freya said, strolling over to the door. "But we forgot to do our history homework. Er—bye!" And the two giggling girls left the room.
"Should we even bother to tell them that they haven't taken history class for a year now?" Remus drawled.
"I think not," James said darkly.
"They wouldn't have enjoyed the party anyways," Sirius said impassively.
"And what makes you think we will?" Lily asked.
James raised his eyebrows. "Do I really need to answer that?"
"Actually, I'd rather you not."
"So what's next?" Harry asked.
"Well, we could finish opening the other presents," Hermione suggested.
"All right, but the Marauders have a special tradition to go through when opening each other's presents, so I'm afraid the rest of you will just have to hear about it," James said.
Hermione, as it turned out, gave Remus… a book. But it was a book about Ancient Runes and hieroglyphics. He excitedly flipped through it, saying that he couldn't wait to read it. Harry had gotten him a whole box of Chocolate Frogs. Sirius was convinced that he saw a tear form in Remus's eyes.
"What now?" Peter asked a while later. "We've opened up all the presents… that we can. Told all the stories we can," he added, looking at Sirius.
"How 'bout we take a leaf out of the Hufflepuffs' book," Sirius said slowly, "and play Spin the Bottle." He looked around at everyone anxiously. "What about you, Hermione? Care to play? Feel lucky?" he said in a deep voice.
"You do know," James said to Sirius, "that the Hufflepuffs aren't really playing that, don't you?"
Sirius, however, chose to ignore his friend and stare at Hermione intently.
"Are you suggesting something, Mr. Black?" Hermione asked, a grin creeping onto her face against her mind's orders.
"Maybe I am, maybe I'm not," Sirius answered smoothly. "Depends on how the suggested acts." Sirius cast Hermione a flirtatious wink.
"I always wanted to know how well a Marauder kisses," Hermione said to herself thoughtfully. Sirius's jaw dropped in surprise. He had certainly not been expecting her to say anything like that.
Remus had had enough of their stupid flirting. He searched around his head for an excuse. "Er—I'm going to get some more—er, sweets from my bag." And he turned and left the room in a flash.
James glared heavily at Sirius, whose figure seemed to wilt with sadness. He avoided looking anyone in the eye. James stood up and went to chase after Remus, but someone grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.
"I'll talk to him," Hermione said. James was about to disagree when Hermione kept on talking. "It'll be fine. I want to talk to him." James, seeing that he would not win this argument (and Hermione's duel against Remus from Defense class still fresh in mind), he stepped aside and let Hermione walk out.
Remus looked around the empty common room but didn't really see anything. His mind was reeling. What had happened back there? Sure, Sirius had flirted with Hermione. At his, Remus's, own birthday party, true, which was not the best place, but then again, it was Sirius. But Hermione hadn't swatted him down. She kept that ridiculous flirting going. Erg—that girl has toyed with our emotions for too long… Remus thought angrily. It's about time we found out if she really likes us or not…
His thoughts were interrupted by light footsteps coming from the stair case. Remus whipped around from his spot in the middle of the common room floor to find Hermione walking towards him. He stiffened.
"Let's go back upstairs, Remus," she said, her words dripping with sweetness and kindness.
Remus looked straight into her eyes. "Wouldn't you rather be with Sirius… alone?" he asked.
"No, of course not," Hermione answered. "Why would I?"
"Because you were practically begging him to snog you upstairs!" Remus said, sounding extremely touchy. He kept on staring deeply into her eyes, searching for something.
"Oh, but Remus, I was only being sarcastic," Hermione said quickly. "It's funny, I never used to be sarcastic, but this year, with you and the rest of the Marauders, I've actually started to—"
But Remus had tuned her out. He had kept looking at her eyes and noted on how she talked and blushed. I say now is a good time to find out if she really likes me or not, Remus thought. Without hesitation, he held two fingers up to Hermione's mouth. He leaned in and gave Hermione a short but sweet kiss on the lips. Remus took a step back to see how she would react.
Remus had expected Hermione to shout at him. He expected her to argue and scold Remus, saying that she didn't like him like that, or that she didn't want to be with him like that. At the least, he expected her to glare at him, or turn and leave abruptly. What he had not expected her to do was giggle, which she did.
Hermione had first been astounded that Remus would actually kiss her, but once she thought about for a second, it was actually quite funny. Remus John Lupin, her old professor, had just given her a sweet little kiss. And he even looked nervous, waiting for her reaction. She couldn't hold it in. She burst into a fit of giggles.
"Er—Hermione?" Remus said, definitely scared. "Are you… are you okay?"
Instead of calming down, Hermione giggled even more furiously. She shook her head, covering her mouth to deafen her cackle.
"What's the matter?" he asked cautiously.
"You just—you just kissed me!" Hermione managed to say.
Remus had never seen her face so pink from a mix of embarrassment and mirth. "Yes, yes I did," he said. "I don't see what's so funny."
"You, Remus John Lupin, just kissed me!" Hermione was hysterical now.
"Ye—wait, how did you know my middle name?" Remus asked distractedly.
Hermione's laughter faltered. "Huh?"
"How did you know my middle name?" Remus repeated. He paused, looking as if he was trying to recall old memories. "You know… now that I think about it… you've said and done a lot of things that a person, new to this school, let alone country, wouldn't know or do…"
"What are you talking about?" Hermione asked sharply, all trace of the giggles gone.
"You… you and Harry," Remus said slowly. "Both of you act... as if—"
But what Harry and Hermione act as if, Hermione never knew. She had jumped forward, acting on her emotions rather than her mind. Her slender hands wrapped loosely around Remus's neck as she stood on tiptoe to give him a long but innocent kiss. It took a few moments for Remus to register what was happening. His reflexes kicked in and he laid his hands on Hermione's hip and kissed back, putting all his emotion, how much he really felt for her, into the kiss.
Hermione pulled back slowly sooner than Remus would've liked. She smiled at him. She leaned back in and whispered in his ear, "Happy Birthday, Remus." She leisurely started to walk away, giving a radiant smile.
"Thanks," Remus said automatically, still dazed by the kiss.
Hermione gave a soft chortle as she kept on walking backwards. "You're welcome…. Good night."
"Good night, Hermione," sighed Remus. He watched longingly as she retreated up the stairs quickly. He sighed, ran a hand through his hair, but suddenly felt relaxed. He had done it. He had kissed a girl, a girl that not only he liked, but Sirius liked too. Actually, to state it correctly, he gave her a peck, and then she kissed him. Remus, feeling that his first day as a seventeen-year-old had been quite fun and rather full, started to make his way out of the common room and up the stairs, taking his time. He stepped through the door to his dormitory to find that it was only his four other roommates.
"Where'd Lily go?" he asked.
"She left a few minutes after you left, mate," James said from his bed.
"Yeah, after James re-suggested Spin the Bottle," Sirius said. He looked hard at Remus. "What happened? Did Hermione ever talk to you?"
Remus was glad his friends weren't mind-readers, because he wanted to keep his secret… secret. "Yeah, we talked a little. I offered her some candy, but it turns out it was stolen from my bag… so she went to bed and now I'm here."
Sirius and Peter seemed convinced, but James and Harry seemed skeptical. They didn't question him though; James just threw a Chocolate Frog at Remus. "Eat it. I want the card."
Remus smiled. "Oh James, you know me too well." He tore open the Chocolate Frog, tossed the card to James (who excitedly read the back), and bit off the head of the frog. Maybe it was the chocolate, but he felt brighter than he had been in weeks. Being seventeen sure is different, he thought as popped the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth.
A/N: Top of the morning! Sorry I took so long to update. One, I got a new laptop (very different than my old one). And two, I've been having football (soccer, for you Americans) practice twice a day since Monday, so I am one sore and tired writer. So I apologize again for the wait. I hope this one satisfied you all!
About this chapter. I'm going to be teasing all your readers with the whole Remus-Hermione-Sirius thing. I am not going to give anything away until that moment, which you will be able to tell who she ends up with. And I'm making that Hermione's hormones are finally going to kick in, at age sixteen… Seriously, can't she ever act like a girl?
To my BRILLIANT reviewers:
Thanks to Flaignhan (Pyro much? Lol…), dawn1, eman, Niphredel Black, Mangoes2oo5, Shelby H (scroll down), Dancerchaick314, WinterTwilight, Sissiro, khuu-khuu, keagen (you rock!), Nuova, stargazer starluver(thanks!), Tweedles, Secretly Smiling, the girl at the rockshow (interesting idea…), Romm, jessa1234, bobby, The Lady Elizibeth, Roxxie-Hart.
Doodler Girl: Not a REAL telepath, eh? This chapter's main thing was mentioned at the end of the last chapter! Tsk tsk, you're slipping! Thanks.
MasteroftheFlame: BORING CHAPTER? Jeez, I'm not J. K. Rowling, you know… Sorry , the Quidditch commentator won't be making a big appearance for some time, if at all…
StrawberriSpoons: Wow! You read my story in one go? Blimey… Wicked! Thanks a lot. You don't know how much I love it when people say that kind of things. So, er… -scratches head- what's your IM? It's kinda not in your profile. Thanks!
Hermione781: Do you know what's funny? I actually don't believe in Sirius/Hermione stories. I know that it's really Ron and Hermione who like each other. But I just love the Marauders, so I wanted to write this. Thanks!
A note to all readers! The Marauders will find out about Harry and Hermione's secret (the whole time-traveling thing) either in two or three chapters. It's going to be good! (I don't have it written, just an idea in my head).
I just want a poll from all you reviewers. Who do you want Hermione to end up with: Sirius or Remus? I have an idea for either of those two, so I just want to see what all of you are hoping for. Thanks!