Chapter 17 of Year 4: Cake Wars
And so it transpired in the week that followed: Remus never got caught, though there was some slight suspicion when news of James and Lily pranking the Hufflepuffs got out. They received a week's detentions each writing lines with Professor Sprout. Peter served three detentions with Filch polishing trophies for his conduct in the Entrance Hall. While he may have been in James's blackbook for getting his broom confiscated until the next Quidditch match, thus being forced to use the school's ancient Clean Sweeps at practice, it was nothing compared to what Sirius faced during that week.
It seemed that around every corner, behind every door there was an angry Slytherin hell bent on obtaining their revenge for their one night of poor sleep. Worst of all he knew who to blame for spreading the word throughout the house. The one person he'd never raise a wand against. Why else would he be their only target when he had an accomplice? So he spent the week battling only those who were in his face, ignoring the bigger problem, sulking, growing quieter and broodier as each day past. What he needed was a distraction - a Gryffindor type, colossal sized, Potter extravaganza - that much was agreed upon. Everything was set in stone ten minutes before breakfast in the Common Room exactly one week later.
Sirius stumbled into the Common Room looking for his friends, unbeknownst and therefore completely surprised when he got a face full of funfetti. The room filled with loud noise makers and shouts of, "Happy Birthday!"
Sirius chuckled, wiping his face clean on his sleeve. "It's not my birthday."
"We couldn't do it on your actual birthday," James grinned, taking a defensive stance, knowing what was sure to come. "It wouldn't have been a surprise."
Without bothering to respond, Sirius bent, grabbed a large chunk of cake that had fallen to the floor, and threw it hitting James squarely in the chest. They charged and collided and rolled and threw getting cake and frosting everywhere. Lily and Eilidh jumped up onto a table to avoid the mess.
"When they sent us to the kitchen to get the cake I didn't think he was going to throw it at him," Eilidh laughed.
Lily shook her head and smiled as she watched Peter build a barricade of couch cushions to avoid James's and Sirius's attacks. "Do you think they'll ever stop surprising us?"
"Learn to expect the unexpected," Remus advised before sneaking up behind Peter to stuff a fist full of frosting down the back of his shirt. Peter shrieked and writhed away from Remus. James and Sirius laughed then moved their attention away from Peter to Remus.
"Potter!" Alice Prewett - the 6th year prefect and Frank's secret girlfriend - stomped forward looking irritated but thoroughly amused.
James stepped behind Sirius, threw a fist full of mush over his head, and politely gave Alice his full attention. "Yes, Prefect Alice."
"You promised you wouldn't make a mess." Alice said, waving her wand to block Peter's ill aimed cake.
"Oh," James shrugged, smiling sincerely at her. "I lied."
Alice rolled her eyes, stepped up onto the coffee table between James and Sirius and Remus and Peter, waved her wand again and all things froze; Peter behind Remus licking frosting off of one of his fingers, Remus approaching James with both frosting covered hands outstretched, James about to jump for the last bit of solid cake, Sirius with his eyes wide and panting.
"Holy shit," Sirius breathed, his lips twitching into a smile. Alice, paying no mind to his comment, waved her wand over him making him once again clean.
"Happy Birthday Sirius," Alice smiled.
"Thanks," Sirius muttered, his eyes still examining his frozen friends.
"The girls and I got you a present but you'll have to wait for tonight for it," she told him.
"You didn't - what about tonight?" Sirius asked thoroughly confused about why Alice would ever get him a present and why he had to wait for tonight. His eyes flashed to Lily and Eilidh still cowering on the table now looking slightly panicked as they shook their heads wildly at Alice.
"We're just putting the finishing touches on it, that's all," she smiled tightly and before he could ask any more questions she jabbed her wand at the frozen three. James hit the floor, Remus dropped his arms looking quite relieved, and Peter wiped his hands down the front of jeans, his cheeks pink. "This is the Common Room not your dormitory. You'll have to clean some of this up before you go to breakfast. I'll send a house elf up to do most of it but please clean up the big stuff. Sirius, you're pardoned of course."
The portrait swung shut behind Alice and immediately Sirius rounded on his friends.
"What have you done?" he demanded in exasperation.
"I wanted to call it 'Cake Wars', but Remus said it was our 'Birthday Tradition'," Peter answered, accepting the rag James handed to him.
"I'm talking about tonight," Sirius rolled his eyes and turned to Remus and James. "What have you done tonight?"
"How can we have done something tonight when it's only -" Remus stopped to check his wrist watch "- 7:30 exactly? We'd better hurry if we don't want to miss breakfast."
"We'll help," Lily said, jumping down from the table avoiding the splotches of frosting as best she could.
"James, you're being awfully quiet," Sirius observed, crossing his arms and staring at James, who refused to meet his eyes as he scrubbed away at the carpet.
"I know it's your birthday but could you be a mate and help? Like Remus said, it's breakfast and I'm starving," James said after a heavy moment's pause. Sirius marched over, ripped the rag from his hands, and forced James to look at him. "Alright! Guess the cat's out of the bag anyway." James sighed as he got to his feet. "We're throwing a party for you. The whole house is coming."
The room seemed to freeze again as they waited for Sirius's reaction.
"Every year I tell you I don't want to do anything for my birthday." Sirius spoke in a voice of measured calm which somehow seemed worse.
"Right. And every year we don't really do anything for your birthday. But this year is going to be different because birthdays are important and…" James trailed off, not really knowing what else to say.
"And you're important, Sirius," Lily finished for him and James nodded in agreement. Sirius breathed one long heavy breath out as he looked at the floor.
"The entire house?" he asked sounding like he didn't quite believe it.
"Yup. Everyone said they were coming and they've all put their own touches on it," James smirked, growing excited again.
"Please tell me you didn't invite anyone else," Sirius implored seeming to have one particular person in mind.
"Well, did you have anyone else you wanted us to invite?" James shrugged awkwardly his eyes flashed to each of his friends.
"James, I need you to say -"
"We didn't," Eilidh announced. Sirius's stomach squirmed as he very slowly turned to look at her. They hadn't exactly talked since… Halloween nor had he told anyone what happened between them. "After Halloween we didn't know if you would want us to. We were gonna ask you today -"
"Indirectly," James quickly added.
"Right. And then go from there…. So?" Eilidh watched him warily.
Feeling the weight of all five of their steady gazes on him, he turned away and used the rag he stole from James to help clean. "I just don't think it's a good idea after what happened," he muttered, focusing more on his working hands than the pit in his stomach.
"Fine. So Evans, when's your birthday?" James asked, quickly changing the subject much to Sirius's relief.
"I don't have one," Lily replied cooly. "Especially if this is your 'Birthday Tradition'."
"Everyone has a birthday," James explained looking at Lily like she was absolutely ridiculous for not knowing.
"Not me," Lily smirked.
"It was the aliens wasn't it?" James mused.
"Exactly," she winked. Lily Evans just winked at James Potter. That was definitely an excuse to have a party.
Thousands of fairies lit the field, trapped by the bubble that muffled the noise so the professors wouldn't wake up and put an end to their fun. Gabe Pevensie and his band played mediocre covers of rock songs while they danced on the Quidditch goal posts. There were more than a few students from other houses, but that was expected when they invited the entirety of Gryffindor - word was bound to get out.
Sirius was having fun. Gabe's amplified voice singing over his slightly off beat bassist echoed so loudly throughout the stadium that Sirius did not have to think about anything he didn't want to. The butterbeer calmed his nerves and the salted snacks gave him something to do with his hands as he chatted with two girls -one blonde and around his year the other was a seventh year with bright red hair and a face full of freckles.
James and Peter were huddled around one of the many floating jars of fire with Lily, Mary, and Marlene. James was obviously telling a story; he was pulling a one man show beaming when Lily laughed heartily. Remus was not too far off, talking with a group of Ravenclaws which Sirius thought was rather ballsy.
"Sirius can I steal you for a mo?" Eilidh had come out of nowhere, interrupting the girls he was talking to - the blonde of which seemed particularly affronted. Eilidh simply grinned at her. "Lily and I want to give you our gift."
"When you say things like that how could I possibly say no?" Sirius smirked, ignoring his flipping stomach and suddenly sweaty palms.
"Don't stay away for too long," the blonde called while the other tried to pull her away. Sirius smiled over his shoulder and waved.
"I hope they didn't make you too miserable," Eilidh said conversationally but there was obvious humour in her corked eyebrows and smirking lips.
"They were nice," Sirius answered trying to avoid trodding on people's' feet as they walked by a group of dancers. "Do you know them?"
"Althea's my cousin and the blonde she tutors for extra credit," Eilidh answered, peering over another group trying to wave someone over. "She's Professor Haas's niece." She turned and led them over to where James and Lily were. Sirius reached out and gripped her forearm so they wouldn't separate in the crowd.
James and Lily had for whatever reason moved. They were now on the outskirts and no longer huddled around a warm mason jar of fire. Lily was shivering and curled into James's side with his arm pulled around her shoulder, her cheeks and nose pink from the cold. Mary and Marlene shared Peter's coat while Peter stood shivering with his hands in his pockets trying not to look cold.
"Did you not find Josie?" Lily asked as they approached.
"She's right behind me, where's Remus?" Eilidh asked looking around.
"Oh, right. Pete go and get him," James ordered with a jerk of his head, obviously not wanting to break contact with Lily.
Peter threw his head back and yelled, "REMUS!"
The girls all laughed. Sirius sighed and rolled his eyes. James grumbled, looked back at the party searching for a second, and pointed his wand taking special care to aim. A moment later they heard a distinct yelp over the noisy crowd and music. James laughed then took a deep breath and forced himself to look completely neutral.
"Did you just aim a stinging curse at my bum, you absolute -" Remus hissed, rubbing his backside.
"Butt waffle!" James interrupted firmly, pointing his finger at Remus's chest as if to remind him not to use foul language in front of children.
"Not exactly my choice of insult but I always thought Lily was too nice for you," Remus insinuated, eyeing Lily who was now blushing into James's chest.
"Enough squabbling! I'm freezing," Marlene whined, her teeth chattering as she moved closer to Mary.
"You heard her Remus, go warm her up," James teased, lightly pushing Remus toward Marlene.
"I should probably remain available. Lily might get bored with you," Remus winked at Lily while James smiled but his eyes narrowed slightly. Remus smiled at him innocently.
"Where on earth is Josie?" Lily asked, using the excuse to step out from under James's arm. James stuffed his hands into his pockets and scowled at Remus. "Thank heavens! She's coming with heat," Lily sighed.
Josie was indeed approaching with a jar of deliciously warm fire being guided by her wand. "Right,' Josie said. "Let's make this quick. People are gonna come looking for this." Everyone took a needy step forward as Josie guided the jar into the middle of their sloppily formed circle.
"Okay, first we need to swear everyone to secrecy," Eilidh started, looking intensely more excited now that everyone was present.
"Come on, Nicnevin! It's like you don't trust us," James smirked.
"This present involves something that only the five of us know about," Marlene defended, her hands just shy of touching the jar.
"And letting you four know is a bit of a risk for us," Mary agreed, her eyes staring directly at the four boys in turn.
"You just have to swear not to tell anyone about any of this and to not use it so often that Filch catches wind of it," Lily said seriously but she was bouncing impatiently on the balls of her feet.
James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter looked at each other and seemed to be thinking the same thing. It was a risk to be sworn to secrecy with so little information - they could be trying to prank them which would doubtlessly be embarrassing. The curiosity burned so fiercely inside them that they hardly cared so James spoke with his right hand over his heart and his left hand raised. "We do so solemnly swear."
It was the girls turn to share a look after which each of them nodded. Lily then reached into her pocket, pulled out an envelope, and handed it to Sirius.
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