Disclaimer: Nothing you see here is mine.
Summary: James and Lily have had many encounters over the years, some pleasant and some…not so pleasant but the most memorable ones happened during their birthdays. Join them as they go through one birthday after another throughout their years at Hogwarts.
A/N: Uh, hi?I know that nothing I say will make up for this late update even though I swore I would never wait so long before posting another chapter. I'll spare you the drama and just explain to you that I tried my best to write this before lilyheartsjames's birthday (so, so, so sorry for the late update…actually late is an understatement. Hopefully you will be able to forgive me). But, it's here now and let's…let bygones be bygones?
IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: This journal of Lily and James works like a pensieve. Each entry is actually a memory implanted into the journal so we feel like we are actually there. Basically, it replays certain memories of theirs. So, if you are reading it and you don't believe that you are reading a journal…well, it is because it is not an actual journal. Understand?
Okay, on with the chapter!
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Dedicated to lilyheartsjames, one of the nicest people for letting me post this for her so late for her birthday (please forgive me) and the author of one of my favorite stories.
James POV—First Year
December 20 (The Birthday)
I woke up to the annoying alarm next to my bed.
"What?" I said. I turned off the alarm last night, I know I did. Why would I want to wake up early during the holidays? Turning back onto my side, I clamped my eyes shut trying to get more sleep but after a half an hour of tossing and turning, I got up, already annoyed with the way the day was turning out. I got up out of bed and, spotting my broomstick, decided to go for a ride outside. I didn't have anything better to do anyway. As I closed the door, I saw a light flicker on and off. I opened the door to see if maybe Sirius or Remus was awake but saw them both sound asleep. Staring at the room one more time, I walked out of the room.
I must still be half asleep.
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Oh wow.
I can't believe I haven't flown yet at Hogwarts. Sure, there was flying class but everyone was learning so slow that we hadn't even gotten off the ground yet.
But this was so cool. I have never been so amazed by flying before.
I must have been in the air for hours. I saw the early morning sun, which I didn't even know existed. All those colors and birds and snow and—
Oh god. I am starting to sound like a girl.
Shaking my head clear of thoughts, I started racing around on my broom. Flying back and forth, weaving between trees, over and under the Quidditch hoops. Finally I just stopped and floated in mid-air, staring at the sky.
This was so cool.
From now on, I am getting up early every morning.
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Getting off my broom, I rushed to breakfast, thinking it must be almost over by now. As I got there, I saw Carina sitting there with an extra plate of food next to her.
"Hey, Carina. Anyone eating that?"
"Take it. It's for you anyway."
Grabbing the plate, which I noticed had all my favorite foods, I quickly ate the food and before I knew it, I was looking for seconds.
"Wow, slow down! What did you do that made you so hungry?"
"Been flying." I said, my mouth full of eggs.
"Oh…Oh! Did you get the new Comet 300 that my dad sent for you?"
"Broke it in this morning." I grinned.
Carina is so cool, she and I have been neighbors for over 6 years now and her dad owns the local Quidditch Supplies store in our neighborhood. Thanks to him, I have been getting all the latest Quidditch things and all for half off!
"That's great, James! By the way, you might want to stuff yourself up."
"Why?"
"Well, um…you don't know what kind of food they might be serving later on?"
"Fair enough."
I didn't want to risk making her mad by asking her more questions. She mighttake my broomstick back.
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What is wrong with people today? God, I haven't eaten anything since breakfast ended because the stupid people I call my friends don't want me to. I am starving, really mad, and above all else, locked in the stupid boys' dorm room!
First, it was Remus during lunch who, for some reason, sat down next to me and started to tell me about some tribal cultures who eat bugs, dirt, and animals' insides. You know, hearts, arms, and legs.
That put me off food for while.
And then at 2:00, body parts or not, I was going to eat some food so I started to sneak off to the kitchens which Sirius and I found in our second week in school. I got about 2 feet outside the common room when Sirius walks by and starts telling me some bizarre story about the house elves being sick and how there was "house-elf throw up" in the food and that I shouldn't eat in the kitchens. Of course, the hunger got to me and I screamed back "I don't care! I am going to eat some food, poisoned or not, and no one in this entire school is going to stop me!"
This exact moment of course, Carina and Remus came together and the three of them dragged me back to the Common Room.
-
At 2:30, Carina, Remus, and Sirius had all left to go get something. They had been guarding me for the past half hour and after they left, I jumped up and ran towards the kitchen. I managed to escape from their hands and almost got to the portrait of the Fat Lady when Evans walks by.
"Going somewhere?" she asked.
"Um, actually, I just wanted to talk a stroll in the hallways."
"Yeah right. What, do you think I was born yesterday?"
"Well, actually—"
"Be quiet, Potter. Now, I am under strict demands to not let you go anywhere near food so I am afraid you must go back to your seat."
I looked at her 5'0" body and smirked slightly.
"Come on, Evans. You don't really think you could take me?"
"Oh, yes. I could. Petrificus Totalus!"
My arms and legs snapped shut and I fell on the ground with a thud. She levitated me into the couch and as she came over, I glared at her as hard as I could.
"Sorry, Potter. It is for your own good."
-
At 3:14 (seeing as to how I was facing Evans' watch this whole time), Sirius, Remus, and Carina came back. Sirius took one look at me, nodded towards Remus, Carina, and Evans, who undid the spell. After stretching my arms and legs, I glared at all of them. Sirius and Remus came next to me and held my arms down.
"It's time." They said at the same time.
"What?" I was starting to get a little bit scared.
They started dragging me towards the dorm room and I frantically tried to pull away from them.
"Carina, Evans, McGonagall, Dumbledore! Someone HELP me! I am being kidnapped by these people! Come on, Carina. After all those years, would you really let these people do this to me?"
Carina nodded her head, a solemn smile on her face.
"It's for your own good." She said.
I widened my eyes and looked towards Evans.
"Evans, I know we don't know each other that well but you gotta help me! Look at this…you can't let them do this to me! You don't want me to die in their hands now, would you? I would be on your conscience for the rest of your life. "
Evans just shook her head, a slight smile on her face, and said "It's for your own good."
I started whimpering as we reached the top of the stairs.
"MERLIN, AGRIPPA…GOD! GOD, PLEASE! HELP ME, I AM BEING ABDUCTED AND I HAVEN'T LIVED LONG ENOUGH…I HAVEN'T EVEN PLAYED ON THE HOGWARTS QUIDDITCH TEAM YET, FOR MERLIN'S SAKE!"
Sirius and Remus pushed me into the room and closed the door, locking it from the outside.
"It's for your own good." They said.
Okay, that phrase is starting to scare me now.
I pounded on the door and after 5 minutes of pounding, I gave up. Looking around, I spotted my broomstick and squealed in happiness. Grabbing it, I almost leaped out the window only to find Evans and Remus standing guard.
"Don't even try it, James (Potter in Evans' case)."
And I didn't. At least in the dorm room, I had a better chance of living.
With Evans down there, I would have died the minute I jumped out of the window.
Which is why I, for the first time in my life, listened to my friends and stayed in the dormitory.
-
It is now 6:30.
And in case you haven't noticed, I am still locked in the dormitory.
Although it isn't as bad as I thought it would be. I don't know what is going on in the Common Room that they don't want me eating and watching but Sirius and Remus really thought of everything. I mean, there is some muggle game they left here called Monopoly and I really like it!
I was just about to buy Park Lane for ₤200 (I bargained with myself) when Remus burst through the stairs with a giant smile on his face.
"Come on, James! Sirius is dying down there!"
"What? Wait, I was just about to win and there is so…" I trailed off when I saw the look of confusion on Remus' face.
"Never mind then. Er, why is Sirius dying? A new prank he wants to try?"
Remus rolled his eyes and dragged me down the stairs with him. I got about 1 foot outside the dorm rooms when I saw balloons floating around every which way.
What the—
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JAMES! (Potter in Evans' case)"
Huh? It's my birthday?
Okay, three days ago we turned in our Charms essays for Flitwick, which was the 17th of December. On the 18th we went to Hogsmeade so yesterday was the 19th, which would make today the 20th—
Oh, right. My birthday.
"Potter, why are you counting how many fingers you have? Even you can't be that stupid." Evans said.
"Oh come on Lily. It's his birthday. I don't think you should be insulting him…OR calling him Potter. At least call him James on his birthday." Carina exclaimed with a roll of her eyes and her arms crossed across her chest.
"Fine. But, James, why were you counting your fingers?" Evans said, mimicking Carina by rolling her eyes also.
"Oh, I didn't realize it was my birthday."
"What? How can you not know it is your birthday?" Evans said, scrunching up her nose.
"It's simple really. We, me and my family, don't really pay attention to these sort of things, so it's normal for me to forget my birthday." I replied while shrugging my shoulders.
Evans looked at Carina and she and Sirius nodded their heads together sympathetically.
"So, what'll it be James? Cake or presents?" Remus asked, all the while heading to the presents.
The mention of cake hit me like a bullet and I glared at the people I called my friends.
"Okay, speaking of cake, because of this so called birthday party you didn't allow me to eat food for nearly 9 hours! What does starvation have anything to do with birthday parties?"
At this point, Carina glared at Sirius, who whimpered and hid behind Remus.
"It's all Sirius' fault! When he told the house-elves to make food for the first years, he assumed that the house-elves knew that we are the only first years staying in Hogwarts for the holidays. But of course, the poor house-elves didn't know and have made enough food to feed the entire first-year population. I didn't want to starve you, Jam-Jam, but someone has to finish all that food! We knew that if you were starving you would eat it all so we had to stop you from eating. That's why we kept you in the dorms for so long (sorry about that also) since we had to get all that food in here somehow. I am so sorry, you know that I am feeling extremely guilty right now, please don't kill me!" Carina finished, in one extremely large breath, and kneeled down on her knees with her hands clasped in front of her.
Evans and Remus started snickering from the sides and Sirius looked on with an extremely hopeful look.
"I don't blame you, Rina. But if someone doesn't give me food right now, I will be doing something."
"James, you are the bestest friend, and brother, that anyone could ever have! If I ever do—"
"Sirius, if my hunger wasn't so high and the cake didn't look so tempting, I would be chasing you right now. And Rina as well, for the Jam-Jam comment. So, someone give me some of that cake or I will change my mind."
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God, Rina was right. That was a whole lot of food.
I thought I would never say it but I am stuffed.
Seriously.
"Presents!" Sirius yelled.
I jumped up and ran towards the presents, behind Sirius by an inch.
For people who just had tons of food, you would think they wouldn't even be able to walk and talk, let alone jump up, run, and yell.
"Open mine first!" Sirius shouted.
I eagerly opened his present and found a huge bag of dungbombs.
"Cool! Now we can pull all those pranks we wanted to pull!"
"I know," Sirius yelled, "that's why I got something for you that we could both use!"
Setting Sirius' gift carefully aside on the couch, I opened Remus' gift to find a book titled "Handy Spells for Handy Purposes—an A to Z guide of spells for passing notes, pranking and more!
"Wow, Remus! This is amazing! We can use this if we want to pass notes in class and now we won't get caught by Slughorn anymore." I replied, while flipping through the book and looking for spells that looked interesting.
"James, why do you have to actually read everything you get the minute you get it? You waste so much time! Open mine next!"
Rolling my eyes while putting Remus' gift down, I quickly opened Carina's gift, just to please her, and found a book that I was dying to have.
"Quidditch Through the Ages! Finally, I thought I would never find this book, it's been sold out for weeks!"
"Well, Daddy knew you wanted it so he set aside a copy of it for you. I knew this would be the perfect gift for you." Rina said, while smirking at Sirius, who looked annoyed that his gift was not exactly the best.
I started reading the first page when I heard someone clearing their throat.
"Something in your throat, Evans?"
"No, there's nothing, but you never opened my gift."
"Yougotme something?"
"Well, seeing as to how you and I are both here during the holidays and we were going to be celebrating your birthday, I thought I should probably get something."
Curious, I grabbed at the last gift (it was the smallest) and opened it. Inside the box, I found a broom. A tiny broom almost the length of my hand with a weird little point at the top.
"Um, thanks Evans. But what is it?"
Evans rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Wizards. It's a pen, James. Muggles use it to write things with. Except yours is different, since I transfigured it into a broom and muggles don't generally use broom-shaped pens."
"How does this work?"
"You pull that lever thing that's next to the sweeping part of the broom and ink comes—HEY!"
I pulled the lever as she said and to my surprise, ink did come out. Just not where I planned it.
"Sorry, Evans!" I said, while reaching for her shirt to wipe it off, "It was an accident!"
"Accident, my foot. You planned that, James Potter!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Jamesdidn't do it on purpose!" Sirius replied.
"Thanks Sirius. At least someone believe me."Isaid while looking at Evans.
"And even if he did, what are you going to do about it?" Sirius said, standing up to get next to her.
I hit my head with my book, sometimes Sirius can be such an idiot.
Evans narrowed her eyes and walked towards the leftover cake. Taking some in her hand, she calmly walked up to Sirius and put it on top of his head.
Sirius stood there, shocked. Remus started to stand up and walk towards Sirius with a worried look on his face and Carina just stared at Evans in awe.
Then, Sirius walked up next to the cake, took some in his hand and threw it towards Evans, who ducked causing the cake to hit Remus instead.
Remus wiped it off his face and kept walking, as if he didn't even notice. But then, he took some cake, threw it to his right (seeing as to how he couldn't really see through the cake) and hit Carina, catching her completely by surprise.
Soon they were in a full-blown food fight (actually there was only cake and pie left), every man (or girl) for himself. It was quite funny that everyone seemed to have forgotten me and just kept hitting each other. Then, Evans spotted me and gained this mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Hey! Potter, James, Jam-Jam, whatever you want to call him, is completely dry!"
Everyone looked at me, holding their food in their hands.
"Well, we can't have that, can we?" Remus said.
"Besides, it's his birthday! We can't have him feeling left out." Carina said, with a matter of fact look on her face.
I started to back away and looked towards Sirius for help.
Sirius just looked at me, nodded his head in understanding, and turned towards the others.
"Get him."
I widened my eyes and ran for my life with Evans, Sirius, Remus, and Carina chasing me all around the room.
Man, this was the best birthday ever.
Okay, up to par with the first chapter? I hope it is anyway. So, again (for the 50th time) I am sorry for the lateness and maybe this somewhat long chapter made up for it?
Thanks to all my reviewers, I love you all! I did send review responses to all registered users but I am afraid that the story will be taken down if I answer the anonymous reviewers on the story.
Keep reviewing and any new readers, please leave your birthdate (for further explanation refer back to chapter 1's author note)
The Big Dance