12th July 1977

"We should all go camping!" James announced enthusiastically. We all stared at him. James likes to come up with all of these mad fucking ideas every now and then, the trick is to just humour him.

"Camping? With insects and no toilets and mouldy tents?" Andromeda said, wrinkling her nose just thinking about it.

"Yes! In the great outdoors! Experiencing lift as Mother Nature intended us to," James said.

"Have you been drinking?" Lily enquired, placing a hand on James's forehead.

"What do you think Wormy?" I asked Peter. What Andromeda said has really been playing on my mind, so I've been trying to make Peter feel more needed in the group. Not that I'm going to admit it to anyone, but I feel sort of guilty too. I realised that we do always leave him trailing behind a bit.

Peter looked shocked that I had asked. "Me? Whatever," He mumbled.

"I'm sure we can find an old tent in the shed. There's shed loads of shit in that place!" James said, grinning at his own bad joke. I followed him in to the back garden to help him look.

We ransacked the shed from top to bottom, sweeping every corner and being showered with spiders, and other insects that didn't look like they belonged on the planet, as we did so. Eventually we found a crumpled pile of canvas on top of some rusted tins of paint. James bravely shook the canvas so that it rolled out across the grass. A set of metal poles tied together with frayed rope clanged to the ground.

"Right then," James said, surveying the tent and poles with a dumbfounded expression.

"You've never put up a Muggle tent before, have you?" I said, taking care to keep my voice low.

"Nope," James confessed.

"Wanker," I muttered.

Luckily for us Ava was making her way over. "I used to go camping all the time as a child," She explained, "I've sort of missed it." She crouched down and untied the rope from around the poles.

"You know what you're doing then?" James asked.

"Of course," Ava said, she looked up with a hand above her eyes to shield them from the sun, "Don't tell me you've never put up a tent?"

"I have!" James lied, sounding defensive, "It's just been a long time, that's all. It's like riding a bike though I suppose. Once you've remembered where everything goes..."

I let him ramble on, biting down on my lip to stifle my laughter. When I felt the first drop of blood I knew it was best to go inside. "He really is a fantastic bullshitter, our Prongs," I laughed finally when I got back to the others.

"Hopefully the excitement will fizzle out soon," Lily sighed, watching James and Ava bicker over the tent poles, "I don't really fancy camping. I've only been once, didn't find it all that great really."

"We'll bring plenty of beer," Andromeda chirped.

"Are we all going to fit in that?" Remus asked anxiously as Ava began constructing the tent. It didn't look big enough to fit a set of triplets in. I clapped Remus on the back.

"We can do the manly thing and sleep under the stars," I suggested.

"As long as you don't spend the whole night making us look for the Wolfstar with you," Remus said with an eye roll, but he was grinning. I suppose I did sort of pester them during Astronomy lessons.

Ten minutes later James demanded that we all stand outside to view his accomplishments. Well, Ava's accomplishments. The tent was the sorriest looking thing I've ever seen. It was all frayed and darned badly in several places. The canvas was covered in an assortment of sticky stains and there was a strange smell coming from the entrance.

"James if you really loved me then you wouldn't force me to sleep in that thing," Lily remarked finally.

"I think you speak for all of us there, Lil," Andromeda muttered. She was looking at tent like it was a decaying animal. James looked thoroughly dismayed. He was staring at me, knowing that I would eventually weaken beneath his puppy dog gaze and come up with some marvellous idea to save us all. Well, what are best friends for?

"We'll buy a new one. A bigger, better one. Then we'll get a few bottles of vino and turn it in to some sort of new wave, rustic party experience. Yeah?" I said.

Remus shrugged. "Sounds plausible," He said.

Slowly but surely everyone came round to the idea. I feel inspired to pursue a career as Minister for Magic. I'll simply turn everything in to a party, promise everyone a bottle of cheap plonk, and get some bird to get her knockers out for world peace! God, the world needs more people like me.

I would like to thank Ali G for being my inspiration.