Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The wonderful JK Rowling does! I wish I did, then I'd be rich! Just kidding! Please don't sue me for writing a fan fic that I really hope you enjoy!

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"So James, what do you want for your birthday?" asked Marissa. It was the middle of March, and James birthday was on the 23rd. "We have a Hogsmeade trip this weekend, so I need to know before then." Lily shot Marissa a grin, that's when her date with the cute Hayden was.

James shrugged. "I dunno, whatever you think I'll like. I ran out of ideas for my birthday when I was six."

"So mate, with your party, do you want people from other houses to be there or just Gryffindor?" Sirius asked.

James smiled. "Cool! I get another birthday bash! Well, in third year we had different houses and that was hard to get them in and out of the common room without them hearing the password. So I guess just Gryffindor."

Remus nodded. "And I guess you want the works, WWN, food, dancing, staying up late..."

James nodded. "Yep, the usual Gryffindor party package."

Lily looked confused. "Gryffindor party package? What's that?"

"Well, in first year when we threw a party for Sirius, we came up with different party packages. We even advertised it for a while. We would plan a party for some one and it cost 10 galleons. Gryffindors got a discount of 5 galleons. We have thrown two Slytherin parties, seven Ravenclaw, three Hufflepuff, and too many Gryffindor to count." Remus said, ticking off his fingers.

Marissa laughed. "Why so few Hufflepuff and Slytherin?" she asked.

"Well, Hufflepuffs are complete duds and rarely ever throw parties. Slytherins just don't like Gryffindors and they only enlisted our help when we signed a magical contract saying we wouldn't prank them during the party." Sirius grinned. "Those contracts are really binding. We tried a prank on one of the parties, but the spell backfired. It was quite funny..."

Sirius stopped talking abruptly. A large barn owl flew in the common room. Everyone in the room tensed. It flew over to Chris Abbott and dropped a Ministry letter in his lap. Chris buried his face in his hands.

"Oh no," breathed Lily. Everyone now knew what the Ministry letters looked like that brought you the fateful news. That Voldemort has killed your family. So far, three people in Hogwarts have lost families due to him, James included.

"We'll hear it in the Daily Prophet tomorrow." James said, anger in his voice. "Some one needs to kill the bastard."

Lily entwined her finger in his, squeezing his hand. Chris' girlfriend, Gena Deschesnes hurried across the room and put her arms around him, whispering comforting words in his ear.

"Why does he have to split apart families?" Lily asked tears welling in his eyes.

"Because the world's never peaceful. Some one has to be the bad guy." Remus said, hatred in his eyes. Peter stood up and headed towards the stairs to the boys dormitories.

"Hey Wormtail, where are you going?" Sirius called.

"To lie down. I don't want to talk to any one." Peter said, not turning around.

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"Here comes the post." Sirius said the next day at breakfast. A barn owl landed in front of Lily and handed her the Daily Prophet. She put a Knut in his pouch and the bird took flight again.

Lily opened it up and gasped. "It made the front page," Lily whispered.

Everyone gathered around her. The headline read: 'Death Eaters Kill Two Muggle Families' There were two pictures on the front page. Each of them had a glittering skeleton above a different house.

"How awful! Look, that Hufflepuff's family got murdered too! Regina Hamlin! Oh she must be in a right state," Marissa said, her eyes swimming with tears.

Peter looked at his friend's horrified looks. This is wrong. I can't help this murderer, he thought to himself. He left the Great Hall and went to the Common Room.

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"Alright, how about I shop for James' gifts first while you guys hang out with him, then we switch?" Lily asked.

Sirius shook his head. "We already have James' gift. Just go shop and we'll meet you in Three Broomsticks in an hour okay?" Lily nodded.

"What's my gift?" James whined.

Remus just smiled. "We can't tell you, it will ruin the surprise."

Looking around, Sirius asked, "Hey, where's Marissa?"

Lily laughed. "Very inquisitive. She has a date with Hayden Greble."

Sirius' eyes darkened. "I hate that stupid Ravenclaw. Always when I don't have the Invisibility Cloak he catches me out at night. Why would she want to go on a date with him?"

Sighing, Lily said, "He's a dream…"

James cleared his throat. "I'm a dream."

Lily ignored James' comment. "A little jealous, are you Sirius?"

"Why would I be jealous?" Sirius asked a little too quickly. "Besides, I think the only jealous one here is Jamsie," he said, patting his friend on the shoulder who was currently sending daggers Lily's way.

Crossing his arms in an all too girly fashion, James asked Lily, "If he's such a dream, why don't you go out with him?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Because I love you. See in a bit!" she called merrily, giving James a quick kiss and running off.

"Hmph, if she loved me she wouldn't look at other guys," James said grumpily.

Remus glanced at Sirius. "Should I do it?" Sirius nodded. Remus smacked James upside the head.

"You look at girls all the time, James," Peter put in, who had been watching the scene amusingly.

Meanwhile, Marissa was having a perfect day at Hogsmeade with Hayden. He was so sweet, so nice, and so funny. Everything he said made her laugh. As soon as they had entered Hogsmeade, he entwined his fingers around hers. Currently they were having a butterbeer in the Three Broomsticks, talking about everything and anything.

"Oh come on!" Marissa said, nudging his arm gently, "You cannot tell me you never broke a school rule!"

Hayden hung his head in an ashamed way and Marissa laughed. "Just once, in first year. I was lost and I accidentally found a secret passageway to Hogsmeade. I thought it was a shortcut to another part of the castle. I was caught by Professor Snelling and had to clean the trophy room without magic."

Marissa frowned sympathetically. "I haven't had that one yet, but I've had others. When your friends with the Marauders, you can't help but get a detention here or there." Hayden grinned. He had the most beautiful smile.

At that moment Lily walked into the pub, searching for Marissa. When she spotted her she flounced over to the table, smiling. "I hate to interrupt, but I need your help, Rissa. I saw the Marauders in the joke shop and they didn't let us in on this one."

Smiling, Marissa turned to Hayden. "You wouldn't mind if you cut our date short?" she asked.

First Hayden gave Marissa a sad look, then yelped looking at his watch. "I was supposed to meet with McGonagall a half hour ago about NEWTS. We're going to have to cut it short anyways." Hayden stood and helped Marissa out of the booth. Lily was already at the door.

"It was the perfect day, thank you," Marissa said, holding his hand. Hayden gave her a small smile then leaned down and kissed her gently.

"See you at dinner?" he asked hopefully.

Marissa was in a dreamlike state. "Y-yeah. Dinner, yeah, that sounds good." Bravely, she reached her hand around his neck and kissed him again. Hayden gave her a quick hug and rushed out the door. Marissa had this huge lovesick smile on her face and she spun towards the door. "He is so cute!" she squeaked and dragged a laughing Lily out the door.

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"...no, this would work better," said James, pointing to a glass case.

"Are you sure? This would seem better..." Sirius said, pointing to another item.

"This is a huge prank! Not as big as our end of the year one, but still huge." James argued back.

Remus sighed and stepped in. "Look, James' has a bigger effect. But Sirius has better quality. Just get both and we'll mix them."

Peter also stepped in, looking at each item. "No, I don't think it would be a good idea to mix them. Look at the warnings on each. That would make it dangerous-"

"And our mandate says nothing to endanger, just to humiliate, cause laughter, cause trouble-" James was cut off.

"We get the point. Maybe we can find a different one. This has to go perfect. We still have to go to the Hogsmeade Apothecary. We need to get a few more ingredients that the potion calls for." Remus said, examining other items.

"What potion?" said a voice behind them. They all spun around to find Marissa and Lily.

"Er, nothing! We were talking about an assignment." Sirius said, his voice an octave higher than usual.

Marissa raised an eyebrow. "You weren't thinking about leaving us out on a prank, were you?"

The Marauders all said "No, never!" at the same time.

Lily looked at Marissa and winked. She walked over to James and crossed her leg over his. She put her arms around his neck and pulled him as close to her as possible. Then she kissed him deeply, running her hands through his hair.

She broke the kiss and locked her eyes with his. "If you don't let Marissa and I help you with the prank, then I won't give you my special birthday present to you."

James cleared his voice. "What is it?" His voice was ragged. Sirius and Remus rolled their eyes and Peter was making pretend gagging noises. Marissa stood there, smiling mischievously.

Lily smirked evilly and whispered something in his ear. James eyes grew wide and he started grinned. Lily pulled away and walked over to Marissa, crossing her arms.

James turned to his fellow Marauders. "We have to let them help."

Sirius gasped. "No! This will be the biggest yet! This is a Marauder signature prank!"

James shook his head. "This isn't just about Lily's, er, present. We do need all the help we can get with saying the spell. It would make things a load easier. Please guys?" He gave them the puppy dog pout.

All three of them turned their face to the side. "Don't make eye contact!" Remus said. But Peter accidentally looked.

"Well, they would help us. We agreed I wouldn't do the spell, it's too complicated. But they are really good at this sort of thing." Peter said. He walked over to James' side.

Remus sighed. "It would be easier. Alright, I'm in." He looked over at Sirius, who was still avoiding eye contact. "We need all the Marauders in."

Sirius glanced at James and groaned. "Fine! Whatever!" He stomped over to James and glared at Lily. "You're evil!" he said. Lily just grinned.

James started jumping up and down. "I can't wait until my birthday!"

Marissa nudged Lily. "What is the present?"

Lily grinned sexily. James' knees buckled. "That is my little secret."

Sirius started gagging. "Don't...gag...make her...gag...say!"

Remus grinned. "Let's go to Three Broomsticks and discuss it over a Butterbeer."

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"HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!" yelled everyone in the common room. James walked in with Sirius, Remus, and Peter. James was jumping on the balls of his feet with excitement.

There was a big banner saying 'Happy 16th Birthday James!" It was red and gold with a lion roaring at each end. There was a large table full of food and drinks that replenishes when it runs out. The WWN was blaring through invisible speakers and there was a dance floor in the middle or the room. Along the walls were couches and chairs.

A few minutes after he walked in, Filibuster Fireworks started going off, spelling out various things. Lily walked up to James and kissed him. "Happy Birthday James," she whispered.

James started jumping up and down. "When do I get your present?"

Lily laughed. "When the party is over. Lets go dance! I love this song!"

They started dancing together, and other Gryffindors took the lead. Sirius grabbed Mara and spun her out to the floor, her head thrown back in laughter. It changed to a slow song and Sirius pulled her in close, hugging her to his chest. His heart was beating wildly.

It was strange; he had never felt this nervous with a girl before. When Marissa leaned her head on his shoulder he grinned and pulled her closer. Maybe I should kiss her when the song ends…he thought to himself. He mentally shook his head. No, she has a boyfriend. Needless to say, Sirius was very gloomy when that song ended and she was swept away by a seventh year.

After a few hours, The Marauders, Lily, and Marissa flopped down on the couch, exhausted. James sat up a little. "Present time!" he yelled. All of James' friends and some of his fellow Quidditch players summoned presents down.

When James had a stack of presents around him, he started ripping into them, looking like a kid at Christmas. He was surprised by how many people in Gryffindor (mostly girls) bought him presents.

Marissa handed James her present. He ripped it open and started laughing when he saw it. It was a book, entitled Pranks Through the Ages. "Cool Mara! This will give us great ideas!" He pulled her into a hug. As soon as he let go, he began flipping through it.

Lily cleared her throat and James looked at her. She held a present in her hand. He smiled at her and took it from her hands, ripping the wrapping paper off. It was a flattened box. James lifted the lid and saw a pocket watch inside. But it wasn't one that told time. It had no hands, but there were words where the numbers should be.

For instance, there was Hogwarts, Traveling, Home, Shopping, and Mortal Peril. Lily lifted up the watch and underneath there were a dozen hands with little picture frames on the ends. "You put your friends pictures on the hands," she pointed to the picture frames, "Then you put the hands on the watch. They will point to where ever they are."

James smiled. "This is brilliant! Thank you sweetie!" He kissed her softly.

Sirius groaned and threw a couch pillow at them. James put his lightening fast Quidditch reflexes to use and caught the pillow, throwing it back at Sirius without breaking the kiss. "You have enough time for that later. But first, we want to give you a gift," said Sirius.

Remus has something behind his back. He pulled it in front of him and held it up to James. James gasped in surprise. "A Nimbus," he whispered. Chatter filled the room as everyone stood gaping at the broom.

Remus smiled. "The fastest broom in the world. We all chipped in to buy you this. So you better buy us all something damn good for Christmas."

James was just staring at the broom. His mouth was hanging open. "This is amazing! Thank you guys!" James said, his voice barely above a whisper. He pulled them all into a hug.

Sirius was struggling to get out of his grip. "Alright mate, I'm not like that. You have a girlfriend." James laughed and released them, staring at the broom.

Peter sighed. "You can touch it you know. It's not going to curse you." James slowly placed a hand on it. The broom vibrated at his touch.

"Okay, enough with the presents. Let's get back to the party!" Sirius said, finding the opportune moment to grab Marissa and pull her on the dance floor. And for some odd reason, he didn't want this dance to end.

It was four in the morning and most of the Gryffindors had gone to bed. The common room was a mess; Sirius and Remus were in the process of cleaning it up. James and Lily were lying on the couch, exhausted from the dancing. Marissa had snuck out to meet Hayden in a dark corridor.

"Go get the map and your cloak," Lily said suddenly, standing up.

James looked confused. "Why?"

Lily grinned. "Time to give you your present."

James shot up and ran to the dormitories. Lily giggled and Remus looked over at her. "What's up with James?" he asked.

"Oh he's just excited about his other birthday present from me." Lily said simply.

Sirius stopped cleaning and rolled up in the fetal position, his hands over his ears. "Don't want to know! Bad images! The horror! The horror!"

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Author Notes: ok the thing that was different in this one was Sirius getting jealous. Could this possibly amount to a new romance? Stay tuned to find out!