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.
Dedicated to Alliane.
Happy Birthday…hope you have a wonderful year! Sorry it's late but was going through some sort of revival thing and I wasn't able to upload on Wednesday. But it's here and hopefully you can forgive me for it being late.
James POV—Third Year
December 20—The Birthday
My eyes shot open and I sat up in bed, stretching my arms high above my head. I hardly needed an alarm clock anymore since I seemed to get up at 6:30 everyday by myself so I jumped out of bed and reached under my bed for my broomstick just like I usually do…
…only to find that it wasn't there.
I wrinkled my eyebrows in confusion. I always put my broom under my bed and while I may not be the most organized person in the world, I never lost anything when it came to Quidditch.
"God, get away Regulus! I thought I told you…no marshmallows until after we finish hiding James' broomstick."
I pulled my head up in surprise and looked at my best mate. He seemed to be sound asleep but you could never tell with Sirius. I continued to watch him as he rolled over in his sleep, snoring and mumbling about broomsticks.
I slapped my head with my palm in realization and dropped my head backwards, groaning. Sirius must have sleepwalked again and hid my broomstick somewhere.
God damn it.
I got to figure out a way to stop this madness.
Looking around wildly, the broomstick was nowhere to be found.
Sigh.
Time to resort to drastic measures.
I cleared my throat and headed over to Sirius' bed as quietly as I could without waking anyone else up (contrary to popular belief, I do care about others' feelings). In my best Regulus Black impression, I leaned down towards Sirius' ear.
"Hey, brother. Um, I can't remember where it was that we put um…James' broomstick?" I asked hopefully.
Sirius snorted. "Idiot. Merlin, how on earth can you be related to me, the perfect Sirius Black? We charmed it to float above the wardrobe."
I looked around and found my broomstick floating above my four-poster bed.
Great.
What a way to spend my 14th birthday.
My eyes widened in surprise.
Huh, I actually remembered my birthday this year. That was weird, I never remember my birthday…Carina or Sirius always have to remind me.
Shaking my head free of thoughts, I tried bringing the broomstick down with my wand but found that it was stuck there.
Merlin and Agrippa, Sirius can perform spells perfectly in his sleep?
No wonder he always passes exams brilliantly.
I piled up the biggest books I could find in the room (pretty hard since many were just Quidditch magazines) and climbed up the stack of books carefully (Remus wouldn't be very happy with me right now). I had just managed to grab my broomstick when...
"James? What in Merlin's name are you doing?"
"AAAHHHH!"
I tumbled down and put my hands out to break my fall but I ended up falling onto the floor violently with the books crashing down onto my head.
"Oh, god! James, are you okay?"
Understatement of the century.
"Remus, you're supposed to be one of the smartest kids in our year. What do you think?"
"Oh, sorry. Need some help?"
I shook my head and tried to get up but found that any movement resulted in a wince and sometimes a yell.
I looked down at my hands and found both my wrists and my left thumb completely swollen. My head was throbbing violently and somewhere, on one of my legs I think, I was aware of a sharp pain but I couldn't figure out what was actually in pain.
Probably my knee.
I looked up to see if all this pain actually resulted in my broomstick coming down.
But of course, Merlin just doesn't seem to have pity on me and my broomstick is still up there.
I groaned.
Just my luck.
But, that doesn't seem to be all that Merlin has in store for me. Oh no, he has managed to conjure up something else for me.
As I was looking up, I happened to notice something else. Remus' oh-so-wonderful bloody dictionary was balancing on the top of the bed, teetering on one of the poles attached to my bed.
"Remus?"
"Hold on, James. I am trying to find that first aid kit we should have around here." He said, running around the room all the while frantically throwing random clothes around.
I have no clue why Tracy gave Remus that first aid kit for his birthday last year but Remus insisted that we keep it.
Most probably for situations like this.
"Yeah, that's nice but if you move too close, that dictionary of yours will fall and hit me directly on the head."
Remus stopped moving. He turned his head and looked up, with a frown on his face. He sighed and mumbled, "How is it that we get into these situations? We're supposed to be the smartest in our year."
"No," I replied, "You're the smartest in our year. We just happen to do extremely well on tests."
"Just forget it. Let me just find my wand and I'll summonthe dictionaryhere."
Before Remus could get his wand, Peter woke up (It's amazing how Peter could have slept through all this. Then again, Sirius is still sleeping through all this but I didn't expect any different from him).
"Hey guys, happy birthday by the way James, what are you doing?" Peter asked, all the while jumping off his bed.
"PETER, NO!" Remus shouted.
Unable to withstand any more, the dictionary fell and the last thing I heard before blacking out was…
"God, I know it's James' birthday and all but I need my beauty sleep!"
---------
"Is he awake?"
"Peter, if he was awake, wouldn't he have said something by now?"
"Remus, ever the logical one."
"Sirius, you're not one to be talking."
"Well, excuuuuse me."
"Could you guys not talk so close to his face? What if he wakes up? I don't think the first thing he wants to see is inside your nostrils."
"Rina-baby, you wound my heart so."
"Shut up, Sirius."
"God, what is it? Bash on Sirius day?"
"It's always Bash on Sirius day."
I groaned loudly and put a hand to my head, silently wishing for them to stop. I opened my eyes but it was so bright that I yelled.
"James! You're awake!"
"Way to state the obvious, Peter." Sirius stated, with a dramatic roll of his eyes.
Carina and Remus ignored their daily banter and turned towards me instead.
"How are you feeling?" Carina asked with sympathetic eyes.
"Okay. My head is hurting a bit though. What happened?" I asked, turning towards Remus. "The last thing I remember is Mr. Beauty Queen over here (Hey!) getting up."
"Well, after you blacked out, Sirius woke up and started complaining about being woken up so early in the morning. Then, he noticed you lying on the floor and yelled so loud that Carina, Lily, and Tracy all came running into our room. After everyone finally got over seeing you on the floor all bloodied up and whatnot, I told them what happened and the six of us brought you over to Madame Pomfrey. She fixed your hands and your leg in a second but we had to wait for you to wake up. Lily and Tracy went off to get you some food and the four of us stayed here."
At this point, Lily and Tracy came in with two plates of steaming hot food.
"Hey, thanks Lily! I am starved…I haven't eaten anything since James knocked himself out." Sirius exclaimed while reaching for the plate of food.
Lily slapped his hand away (Ow!) and glared at him.
"You idiot! James wouldn't even be in here if it weren't for you. Honestly, bewitching his broomstick?" Lily said, flipping her long, beautiful hair back.
Wait a second.
Freeze and rewind.
…Long, beautiful hair?
Since when did I think that Lily had long, beautiful hair?
Lily sat next to me, with a concerned look on her face, and gave me my breakfast plate.
I turned to thank her but found myself amazed by the green eyes of hers. I was shocked and speechless by how incredibly complex and deep her eyes were. Suddenly, I felt like I could stare at those eyes for the rest of my life and still be completely happy.
My eyes widened.
No, no, no.
What in the name of Dumbledore is going on?
Did Sirius' spell last night accidentally hit me too? What—why—how can I be thinking like this?
Lily is my friend. My very good friend. My very good, stunning, nice, and talented friend.
I shook my head hard and gripped it with my hands.
What is the matter with me?
I cannot fancy Lily Evans.
I don't fancy Lily Evans.
It must be the aftershocks of my accident. Yeah, that's the only explanation for all this.
Lily narrowed her wonderful eyes (Stop it James!) at me and asked if I was alright.
Oh, yeah. I'm alright. I'm perfectly peachy…
…except for the fact that I seem to be fancying the bloody pants off of you!
"Sure, everyone asks if James is alright but nobody seems to care if dear ol' Sirius is feeling alright." Sirius said, glaring at everybody around him.
"Stuff it, Sirius." Remus said firmly.
Sirius cast one final glare in Remus' direction and turned towards Tracy instead.
"Doesn't matter. Tracy will give me some food, won't you Trae?"
She shook her head, albeit a little more nicely than Lily.
"Sorry, Sirius. This is especially for James…I made the sausage and eggs myself. I know they're your favorite James."
I grinned largely and smirked at Sirius, who looked shocked at no one wanting to give him any food.
"Thanks, you guys."
Sirius whimpered and put on his best puppy dog face to get some food from me.
"Come on, James. Old buddy, old pal. Won't you give your best mate some food?"
"Suck it up, Sirius." Carina said, rolling her eyes.
I cheekily grinned at Sirius, shrugged my shoulders, and dug into my breakfast.
Maybe after I get some food in me, I'll be back to normal again.
---------
After much convincing, Madame Pomfrey finally let me out of the Hospital Wing and the six of us headed back to the Common Room (Peter had to leave for home like he usually does).
As soon as I hit the comfortable couch, I had 3 different presents thrown in my direction (luckily, the largest one was not thrown).
"What was that for!"
"James, hurry up and open your presents! The quicker you open them, the faster we can get to Hogsmeade. You spent half your birthday in the Hospital Wing anyway." Sirius whined.
I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Well, if someone hadn't bewitched my broomstick, then—"
"Just open them, James." Tracy cut in hastily.
I opened up Tracy's gift first and found some yummy-looking desserts: chocolate, lollipops, and cookies. God, I love Tracy's presents…she makes the best food in the world.
"Um, thanks Trae, they look great but why are they all shaped like music notes and guitars?"
"Open the rest of the gifts and you'll see." She said simply.
My mind burning with curiosity, I opened Lily's present and found two books: one was titled Guitar for Dummies: A Wizard's Guide A to Z Guide and the other was a diary.
"Lily, I don't mean to be mean, but men don't write in diaries."
She rolled her eyes at me. "Some man you are. Open the diary James."
I opened the diary and found myself smiling as I flipped through pages of lyrics and music to my favorite songs.
"It really bugged me how you used to just sing 1 or 2 lines from songs, claiming not to know the rest of it so I got the lyrics for them. I marked the songs that I liked and left half the book blank so you could either add more songs or write your own."
I looked at her to say thanks but found my throat closed up and dry again and instead, I just smiled and nodded at her.
Maybe I should go back to Madame Pomfrey to get checked up again.
Peter's gift consisted of a book of chords and songs that can be played in every situation (and I mean every situation…they had one for OWLS and one for History of Magic too).
Carina, already impatient with how slow I was moving, threw her gift at me and threatened to kill me if I didn't open it.
Inside was a new pair of Quidditch gloves that were super-resistant to keep the Quaffle from slipping from my hands (not that it does) and a note that said:
For the rest of your gift…
…see Sirius and Remus'.
Confused, I took the last gift and slowly opened it to find something that I have wanted for the longest time.
A guitar.
No way.
There is no freaking way.
"You guys bought me a guitar? How did you know that this was what I wanted?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "You were going on about one for as long as I can remember you and this year, Remus and I each paid half for it."
Remus stared at him and finally turned to me. "I can't believe you Sirius. James, you know better than to listen to Sirius' lies. It was my idea, mostly my money,and Sirius just thought it was so brilliant that he just had to take some credit for it."
Sirius blushed. "Well, I chose the style! Anyways James, did you see the rest of Carina's gift?"
I looked around the guitar but found nothing.
Carina sighed in annoyance. "Honestly, why I am friends with such a thick git is beyond me. James, did you look at the back of the guitar?"
I opened my mouth in understanding and turned the guitar around to find autographs of the players from my favorite Quidditch team, the Arrows.
I grinned. My friends knew me way too well.
"Now that the presents have been opened, let's head off to Hogsmeade!" Sirius said, clapping his hands together.
"Wait, didn't you guys get me a cake?"
Lily fidgeted. "Do you see one here James?"
"Well, you always get a cake. What, did you forget or something?"
"Why do you think we are going to Hogsmeade?
---------
I have never had so much fun anywhere in my whole 14 years of existence.
First, we headed off to Quidditch Supplies Store (by popular demand) and looked at new supplies.
Then we went to Scrivenshaft's so Remus and Lily could buy new quills (seriously, from how many different feathers can you make quills? I mean, a quill's a quill).
Afterwards, we headed to the Three Broomsticks to have butterbeers where all six of us had a drinking contest (Sirius and Carina tied).
Thankfully, we skipped over Madame Puddifoot's by unanimous decision.
Finally, we went to Honeydukes to have some the wizarding world's best chocolate (but I think Tracy's chocolate could rival theirs anyday). Sirius tried some blood-flavored lollipops and spent the rest of the day gagging every two seconds.
It was almost six o' clock when we headed back to Hogwarts but none of us wanted to go inside so we all sat around in the snow (after Lily performed some heating charms).
"Today was the best birthday ever."
Tracy looked at me in amusement. "You say that every year James."
"Yeah but I never knew that birthdays could be such fun. I thought that birthdays were just drinking tea with your parents' friends."
Lily shook her head. "You are so lucky you have us as friends."
Yeah, friends. Wish we could be so much more than that though.
Argh. Not again.
What is wrong with me? Why can't I stop thinking about Lily and how much I want to grab her and snog her like there's no tomorrow and—
Stop it, James Tristan Potter.
I groaned inwardly and starting punching the snow beneath me.
When will this madness stop?
I think Pomfrey struck me with a love spell when she was mending my arm.
"I think we should all head back inside…the cold must begetting to us." Remus said, looking at me curiously.
"But we haven't even had a snowball fight yet!" Sirius whined.
"Let's just go inside before McGonagall or someone yells at us." I said. I didn't want to be yelled at on my birthday. Besides, at least inside, I could make some excuse and head upstairs. That way, I wouldn't have see Lily and maybe by tomorrow, these feelings would leave.
The three of us started heading inside when all of a sudden…
Whack.
I stopped suddenly and shivered as the snowball went sliding down my neck and down my back. I quickly whipped around to see Lily, Carina, and Tracy doubled over in laughter, each with a respective snowball in their hands.
Beside me, Sirius started mumbling and I turned around to see both Sirius and Remus pelted with snowballs also. I narrowed my eyes.
"You didn't." I said flatly.
"Well, James. It looks like we did." Lily said, a grin breaking out onto her face.
"You know what this means, right?" Remus asked, his mischievous eyes breaking his calm stance.
"But of course." Carina and Tracy stated.
"SNOWBALL FIGHT!" Sirius yelled in happiness.
We spend the next 30 minutes throwing snowballs at each other. It was originally without magic but that rule went out the window 2 minutes into the fight.
I reached down to make another snowball and, with my wonderful Chaser aim, threw it at Lily, who shrieked and fell to the ground.
Oh shit.
Oh no, no, no, no, no.
Please don't let her be hurt. I would never forgive myself.
"Lily! Are you all right?" I asked and hurriedly ran towards her side. I kneeled down next to her to help her up only to have Lily grab me by my arm and pull me into the snow with her, smashing a snowball into my hair. I sputtered indignantly and tried to get all the snow out of my hair and off my clothes while Lily laughed right next to me.
I tried to glare at her but failed miserably. Her laugh was just so contagious and amazing that it was impossible to stay mad. I could listen to it all day.
Slowly, a grin appeared onto my face and I found myself laughing right alongside with her.
Screw it.
I admit it. I fancy Lily Evans.
You just can't fight love spells.
We were just sitting there and laughing our heads up when Sirius finally noticed our absence.
"Oi, James! Get over here and help, mate! We are losing the battle and I never lose snowball fights!"
Lily shook her head and stood up, brushing her sweater off.
"Come on, James. You wouldn't want Hogwarts to know that you lost to three girls now, did you?" She asked, grinning wickedly.
She reached a hand down to help me up and as I reached towards it, she pulled it away and ran towards Tracy and Carina.
"Come on, Potter! No pain, no gain!" She laughed, while sticking her tongue out at me.
Another goofy grin appeared on my face.
I am going to marry that girl.
So…finally, huh? James finally comes to his senses and falls for the wonderful Lily Evans. The question now is…when will Lily come to her senses and fall in love with James?
Read, review, and wait for the next update to find out.
I really won't try to put this much time between updates but sometimes, I don't have much choice when I don't have enough birthdays to choose from (hint hint).
Hopefully, the next chapter will be up soon. I have to leave in about 5 minutes but I will post review responses when I get back. Hopefully by tonight.
The Big Dance
P.S. Wish me luck on my World History AP Exam!