The Party, 00:03
As the clock struck midnight, more and more students retreated to their dorm rooms for bed. All that was left were the Gryffindor Seventh Years, half of the Sixth Years, and maybe three (brave or annoying, Lily couldn't decide) Fifth Years that were talking near the fireplace. Still, the music played and the upperclassmen danced and chatted, giving no indication that they were ready to leave the Common Room. Lily's entire being was itching to do something - something different. But she wasn't quite sure what.
She saw Sirius sitting on the loveseat, fiddling with the sleeve of his shirt, so she wandered over.
"Hey, birthday boy," she greeted, sitting beside him. "Why aren't you partying?"
Sirius held up the sleeve of his shirt, which sported a large pinkish stain. "Wormtail was clumsy with the punch. I can't get the stain out."
Lily took her wand out of her back pocket and tapped his arm twice. Immediately, the stain disappeared and his shirt was dry.
Sirius looked impressed. "Thanks. So, how are you?"
Lily shrugged. "It's a good party."
"Wow, don't get too excited," Sirius remarked sarcastically.
Lily laughed. "It's a fab party. I'm just kind of not in the mood."
"Ah," Sirius nodded. "You know, Firewhiskey tends to make any sort of engagement a whole lot better. And if we get Zoe drunk enough she'll probably start singing."
Lily paused. "You know, Sirius-"
"I'm just kidding, Evans," he cut her off hastily.
"No," Lily said, "You know what? I don't care. Bring some out, most of the people left are over seventeen."
Sirius looked shocked. "Who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?"
"Shut up," Lily laughed. "I'm just feeling a bit… rebellious."
He gave her a blank stare. "You know, if you return Evans safe and sound, we won't attack your organization."
"Sirius, I'm about to change my mind."
"Righto! Let me just go get James' stash."
Sirius returned two minutes later with several bottles of Firewhiskey. The people who noticed cheered, which grabbed the attention of everyone else.
Lily caught James's gaze from across the room and she smiled shyly at him. He returned the smile and ruffled his hair almost self-consciously.
"Hey, Sirius," Harley said after opening her bottle of Firewhiskey. "You normally do something on your birthday."
"I do a lot of things a lot of days."
"No," she continued impatiently. "I mean like a prank. It's kind of been expected since third year."
"Hmm," he considered this. "Well, I already got James, but I suppose you're right."
"We haven't really done anything big this year," Peter pointed out.
"That's true," James spoke up. "Blimey, what's wrong with us?"
"It's this thing called 'maturity,'" Lily answered. "Don't worry, it happens to everyone. You should probably ask your parents about it, though."
"I suppose we could just put up some banners," Sirius suggested half-heartedly, completely ignoring Lily's comment.
"That's boring," Harley said.
"Maybe," Marlene said, "because it won't actually be a birthday prank, it doesn't have to be birthday themed."
"We could decorate the Slytherin Common Room," Peter said.
"You know how to get into the Slytherin Common Room?" Zoe asked.
"Well… no."
"Not a good idea, then," Remus said. "Sorry, Pete."
"You could get into the Ravenclaw Common Room," Zoe said.
"We don't have an argument with the Ravenclaws," Sirius replied.
"What about one specific dorm?" Lily asked.
They fell silent.
"I mean, we could do it," Lily said with more determination. The air around them was tense as everyone caught on to exactly what Lily was suggesting and why. They exchanged glances. A few shrugged.
"I think it'd be fun," Harley added slowly, sitting up.
James followed suit. "I'm up for it."
Sirius jumped to his feet. "Let's do it!"
"Bailey!" James called. The sixth year turned around. "Make sure no one under seventeen touches the Firewhiskey, yeah?"
"Aye, captain!" She winked, turning back to Mary and the other Sixth Years.
"Why is a raven like a writing desk?"
…
"Is that it?" Sirius asked.
"That doesn't make any sense," Harley protested.
The eagle knocker looked at them sternly.
"What do you guys think?" James asked the group quietly.
He was met with lost and confused faces.
"Now come on, we can figure this out!" Marlene said, trying to rally the troops. "Let's just all think for a bit, yeah?"
They fell silent, all mulling over the question. Harley and Zoe were taking a team approach, discussing their ideas with each other. Remus had his eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating hard. Lily was muttering under her breath, as though reciting a novel.
"They're both black?" Peter suggested.
"They both have quills!" Zoe said triumphantly. Everyone looked expectantly at the brass eagle.
The eagle seemed to consider it, then shook its head.
"Bloody hell," Sirius said. "Here's an answer: why should we care?"
"Maybe we need to think about from a differ-"
"I haven't the slightest idea," Lily said suddenly, interrupting James and turning to the eagle knocker.
"Nor I," Remus supplied, catching on to her train of thought.
"I think you might do something better with the time, than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answer," Lily finished with a smile.
She and Remus beamed at each other.
Funnily enough, the knocker did as well. "I find only benefits come with being well read, Miss Evans, Mister Lupin." The door swung open silently.
"What in Godric's name was that?" James whispered to her once they were all inside.
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," Lily muttered back, barely audible. "Now shush, we're on a mission now."
James raised his eyebrows, but smirked and stayed quiet from then on.
Lily led the group towards the statue of Rowena Ravenclaw, where two doors were on either side of her. She reached out and slowly turned the handle of the one on the left. As quietly as she could, she opened the door wide enough for a person to get through. One by one, the eight of them stepped through the small opening into the almost pitch black staircase.
James ignited his wand and dimmed it, checking the label on the first door. First Years.
"We have to climb to the top?" Harley whispered.
Lily shrugged in response. They slowly and silently climbed the winding staircase until reaching the next landing. Second Years. This one had the names of the occupants written on it, but the handwriting was too difficult to read in such dim light.
"Yes," she answered Harley's question.
They picked up their pace a bit, not stopping to check the labels on every door. There were a few times when someone would stumble, or a stair would creak and they would all freeze, eyes widening and ears perking, listening for the smallest of sounds.
Finally they were at the Seventh Year door. Lily put her finger to her lips, reminding the party to be extra quiet. They all nodded, looks of determination on each of their faces.
She opened the door and was relieved to see the moon shining through the large window. The Head Girl indicated to James that he could put his wand out, and he understood immediately.
Once they were all in the dormitory, kneeling down in the center, they realized they had no plan.
They exchanged glances. A universal look of 'what do we do now?' was on all of their faces. Marlene looked at them all and shrugged. She then pointed her wand at the walls and muttered something, causing the walls to turn a sickly, bright pink.
Harley and Zoe suppressed giggles and followed suit, shooting toilet paper out of their wands and draping it over the midnight blue curtains.
The Marauders all smirked and soon everyone was adding their own decoration to the room.
James and Sirius went into the bathroom and transfigured everything into feminine cosmetics, adding a pink fluffy toilet seat cover for effect. Peter and Remus altered their robes so they said various things like "Wanker", "Pansy", and "Twat" on the back.
Lily stood next to Liam's bed and observed the blank space on the wall. With as little noise as possible, she took out her wand and printed "Love From Lily and the Gryffindors" in red and gold lettering.
"You sure about that, Freckles?" Harley whispered as quietly as she could.
Lily nodded. "Let's go," she said to Harley and to Zoe, who was still perfecting the placement of the toilet paper. They nodded and went to get Remus and Peter while Lily went to the bathroom to retrieve Sirius and James.
They were in the process of scattering tampons all around the small space.
"Charming," she whispered drily.
"Yeah, we thought so," James answered cheekily. "Are we leaving?"
Lily nodded and they followed her out. Harley and Zoe had gathered everyone else and together they left the room as though nothing had happened, calmly making their way down the staircase and through the castle.
Sirius sighed in contentment once they were safely back in their own Common Room. "This is the best birthday ever. Everyone!" he suddenly called to the room. "We will be having a tournament of Mugs to get really sloshed, so… divide into pairs of two." He and James high fived, signaling that they would be a pair. Lily looked at Marlene.
"Ah, Lily, you know I can't deny you with your puppy eyes and everything," Marlene said, rolling her eyes. "Even though I know you're absolute crap at holding your liquor."
Lily smiled mischievously. "Let's just get knocked out early, then, so I don't embarrass you."
"Deal."
"And - and - and then he just dumped me!"
"Evans, my love, I would never dump you," Sirius slurred, draping his arm around Lily's shoulders, both of them heavily intoxicated at that point.
They were sitting on the couch again, after Sirius and James destroyed everyone in Mugs. It was a rather spectacular sight. Sirius and James versus Mary and Bailey for the championship. Bailey had excellent aim, but Mary was very lightweight and barely made it five minutes into that round before she started swaying on the spot. From there it somehow turned into 'Who can drink this amount of alcohol the fastest', ending in James dramatically slamming his empty mug onto the table when he finished. It was quite a victory.
"In fact I have half a mind to go to that prat and just - just hit him. You know?"
"Yeah," Lily agreed, dropping her head onto his shoulder. "You understand me, Sirius."
"We are two loveless souls in a world full of twats," Sirius said dramatically.
"I think I'd be much happier if we were dating," Lily murmured.
"Aw, shucks, Evans, just because it's my birthday doesn't mean you have to say things like that. Besides, what about James?"
"Hmmm… I suppose our undeniable love would hurt his feelings. I don't want to hurt James."
"I know you don't."
"I think I love James."
"I know, love."
The Day After, Herbology
"That's wild, what happened with you and Evans," Sirius said.
"More like insane," Remus supplied.
"But, you know… you're not dead, so it turned out all right," Peter said encouragingly.
"If I could bloody remember what happened it might ease some of the pain, but I don't," James said sourly, remembering to keep his voice quiet. Though it was always active in Herbology, he didn't want any of the girls to hear them from their spot only a few stations down.
"Yeah, you don't even know if she was a good shag or not," Sirius said. "Dammit! I hate this fucking plant!"
"Diffindo!" Remus cried, pointing his wand at the Venomous Tentacula. It seemed to cry out, but it released its vines from around Sirius's waist.
"It wasn't like that," James rolled his eyes, as though nothing had just happened. "We were both clothed." More or less. But just the memory of Lily in her lacy midnight blue ensemble made James's ears turn red, so he kept it to himself.
"Merlin, did you even snog, or did you just tuck her into bed and fall asleep?" Sirius asked, inspecting his skin for injury.
James punched him on the arm. "I wish I knew!"
They fell silent.
"So, do any of you remember a time when and Lily and I weren't with you?" he asked, getting conversation started again.
"Not really," Peter said. "I… kind of vaguely remember going down to the lake. On the dock. And high heels. I definitely remember high heels."
"No shit, Wormtail, every girl in the place was wearing high heels."
"Sirius, you're being an arse again."
"Sorry."
"It doesn't matter. Maybe we should all just forget about last night, and stop obsessing over it," Remus suggested.
James looked up, smirking. "Why? Did you do something you never want to remember?"
Remus glared at him. "No, I didn't wake up with a girl in her underwear in my bed."
"I said didn't want to remember."
"I just meant, maybe if we stop trying so hard to remember, something simple will just jog our memory."
James thought about. "Hmm… maybe. But I don't see how that'll work. What do you two think?"
He turned to Sirius and Peter, only to see them looking at a large golden thing on a piece of fabric in Sirius's hands.
"What's that?"
"Dunno," Sirius said. "I found it in my pocket; I'm wearing the same robes from last night-"
"No kidding, you smell like shit-"
"And I just felt it there and pulled it out. It's kind of smudged, but it looks like someone enlarged a galleon and wrote on it in ink."
Sirius passed the medal to Remus and James, and they both inspected it. It was in fact just an enlarged galleon, and the ink was illegibly smudged, but they could just make out "winner" on it.
"What do you think it is?" James asked them.
"Haven't the foggiest," responded Sirius.
Remus turned it over in his hands and inspected the hair ribbon that was magically attached to it so that you could wear the medallion around your neck.
"Huh. Maybe we had some sort of drunken contest last night, and Sirius won."
"Or he nicked the medal because he was jealous," James suggested, smirking.
"You're hilarious, Potter."
"Wait!" Peter suddenly spoke up after being in silent thought. "I got it! Don't you remember?"
"Obviously not," came Sirius's impatient reply.
"Mr. Teen Hogwarts!"
AN: Lol short chapter. I hate to tell you, but the next one is even shorter (woops) but then you get like 5000 words Friday night yay!
Two updates left guys!
Thanks for the reviews as always! 3 I always look forward to checking my email when I get home (:
Beta'd by Stefanie over at Bigger and Beta on tumblr! :D