Author's Note: I have started posting updates on my profile. Because I am not getting these chapters written and posted as quickly as I would have liked when I was originally planning for this summer. Life happens and I have not had enough time to sit down to write a chapter. Mostly due to the fact that I have seven summer reading books and journals that I am responsible for, NOT FUN!

So if you want more updated information on what I might be working on at any given time, just check my profile out to see what my little blurb has to say. Now on with the story…

Disclaimer: Once again, I do not own the date of this entry or any of the characters created by J.K. Rowling. However, I do claim the rights to Alice, Vanessa, and Beth. (Yes, you heard me correctly; she is going to be back in the story now.)

Charmed Love Chapter 25

January 31

Kitchens

The most perfect day to have your birthday on is a Saturday.

You ask why? Well, I will tell you.

It is for the simple facts that if your birthday is on a Saturday, as mine is this year because it is today, then you get to spend the entire day in complete birthday abandon. Presents, cards, friends, no homework, no classes, and the endless possibilities of what are in store for you.

While the weekend has all of those things, minus the presents and cards, it pales in comparison to a weekend when you are celebrating your "coming of age" party in the wizarding world with a bunch of your friends and James Potter.

However, I do have to say that when some of your friends persist in singing "Happy Birthday" every single time that they see you during the day…some of the birthday appeal does tarnish rather quickly. I suppose that I am just going to have to deal with that because I do know that she meant well, but sometimes I think that Vanessa takes what others may call "Birthday enthusiasm" to a whole unheard of level. In my own personal opinion, there is a very good reason why that type of enthusiasm is unheard of, and that is because no one wants to or should be subjected to that.

Anyways, I have to say that the method of alarm clock that I was in for did leave a lot to be desired. When I rolled over in my bed around 8:00, the bright light of the morning was streaming in through my window effectively throwing all possibility of further sleep out the window.

So I threw the covers off and skipped to the bathroom with all possible haste only bothering to stop when my jubilant movements knocked my copy of the Phantom of the Opera off the foot of my bed.

I took my shower, using up the last of my Lily of the Valley shampoo that I had saved specially for this day. I stood in the shower, enjoying the feel of the hot spray hitting my head and shoulders. I normally am not the type of girl that just stands in the shower, but I thought that since today was my birthday, that I could indulge myself a little bit.

Wrapped up in my bathrobe, I padded over to the window to stare out at the Black Lake. I have to say that one of the benefits of being Head Girl is that the view from the tower is absolutely breathtaking. I leaned against the wall thinking about why I had been standing there last night and why the curtains had been pulled back this morning.

I had left the curtains of my bedroom open the night before because I had wanted to experience the moment at Midnight when I was officially seventeen. It was something that I had done with Petunia when we were really little; we used to stay up as late as we could and when the clock struck Midnight we would make a wish…

That is, we did that until it was my 10th Birthday. Because that summer I had received my letter from Hogwarts, things between Petunia and I had been ruined forever. Not that I regret getting my letter from Hogwarts, but rather that I wish things could be differently between Petunia and myself.

I have tried to give her little magical trinkets, hoping that that would somehow make things even between us. I don't use magic around her during the holidays, even going as far as doing my school work at night or on the weekends that she is at some friend's house. But nothing has worked. She just scrunches up her face and calls me a "freak"; when she even acknowledges my presence. Now she usually just pretends that I do not exist, ignoring me when I ask her even the most trivial of questions. I thought as I felt a tell-tale stinging in my nose and eyes. I am not going to get upset about this again. It is not going to change anything, and it is my birthday for the love of Merlin's floppy wand.

So I closed the curtain with the resolve that I was not going to think about that anymore today. I finished getting dressed with just the tingles of the loss of Petunia hanging in my chest.

I dressed in a light blue button down blouse and a pair of jeans and walked down the stairs with every intention of going straight down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

At least that was my plan before my hand was suddenly caught and I was spun around so that I bumped into something very firm, warm and human-like. I looked up and saw that James was standing there holding my hand, acting for the entire world like I do this every morning. Admittedly I do, but my balance has nothing to do with this particular instance.

Before I even got the chance to say sorry or anything for that matter, I felt James's free hand slide around my neck, cupping the back of my head and his mouth descended on my own. All thoughts of Petunia's coldness fled my mind; the only conscious thing that I was aware of was of the sweet barely-there brushes of his mouth moving over mine.

Eagerly I tilted my head back so that I could return and deepen the kiss. And following my lead, James moved his hand from the back of my neck down to the small part of my back. I felt a small amount of pressure and responsively took a step closer so that we were only a few inches apart. I let my left hand drift up to his hair so that I could run my fingers through it.

And as I ran my fingers through his hair, an awkward comparison flashed through my mind. Unable to help myself, I let out a burst of laughter. But I immediately regretted it because that broke off our kiss, and now James was looking at me with a confused glint in his eye.

"What is so funny, Lily?" He questioned searching my face for an answer.

Even though this is James, the guy that I am crazy for, I could not give him an answer. There was no way that I was going to tell him that his hair reminded me of how Beth's hair used to feel back in 3rd year when I used to brush it for her. Even though I knew that he would not judge me because of my answer, I just could not tell him. "It is really nothing. I assure you; I feel foolish for even thinking about it in the first place."

But since this is James Potter, and he is more stubborn than I am, he persisted. "It is not nothing if it made you laugh. For the love of Merlin's brass coat button, I have been trying to get you to laugh for most of my Hogwart's career. And here I am, bloody kissing you and you burst out laughing."

I wanted to say something really witty just then but I could not because another burst of giggles erupted from my throat. I did not even mind that it was a full frontal laugh and not the little peals of laughter that is considered lady-like by my sister's etiquette teacher. All I could think about was all of the stupid pranks that he and the Marauders have pulled over the years. From putting red dye in the Slytherin's plumbing to the fire-crackers in the classrooms, all of the pranks had been amusing.

As the rule abider that I was, I had to frown disapprovingly on all of their antics, but secretly when I was safe in my bed that night I would replay the looks of shock on people's faces and start laughing. James Potter has certainly been amusing.

"I did not know that you were trying so hard to make me laugh." I confessed as I looked up into his hazel eyes again that were dancing with amusement.

"There is no way that you could have possibly have gone the past six years of your life without knowing that I wanted to make you laugh as you are doing now. And now that I am successful, I really don't think that it was fair that you started laughing when I was kissing you." He ruefully stated as he exhaled loudly.

"Did you know that you sounded exactly like one of my friends when you commented on my social cluelessness?" I smiled even wider as I thought of how many times exactly one of my friends had said that exact same statement to me over the years. It was one of their favorite things to say to me I imagine. And then I started laughing all over again because I was thinking about James and Beth and that brought me back to why I was laughing in the first place.

"I can only imagine how much." He said under his breath as he rolled his eyes.

"You think I am teasing you? No, I assure you I am telling the truth. Ask any one of them and they will tell you just how many times they have said exactly that same thing to me over the past seven years." I leaned up to give him a soft kiss on the cheek.

As I kissed my way over to his mouth, I marveled at how smooth his cheeks are. And then I decided that it is definitely much more enjoyable to kiss James just after he is freshly shaved, because after a few days of growth it starts to get, well, sandpaper-y.

Trust me; I have become an expert on all things James Potter, especially in the kissing category. I most certainly do not complain.

I once again let his arm slide around my waist and in turn I let my hand rest on his shoulder, very careful not to let my hand go to stroke his hair. I most assuredly was not going to start laughing again.

However, seeing as he was not going to take this kiss to the next level, I took a step forward and decided to take matters into my own hands or in this case lips.

I gently let my tongue trace his lips and another odd thought occurred to me. He actually tasted quite good. I know that I am probably not meant to think about that, but it has to be a pretty important thing if one is to enjoy kissing their boyfriend.

But James is not technically your boyfriend the annoying and nagging voice said in the back of my mind. We have not changed out status from friends-with-benefits-who-act-like-a-couple-so-that-their-honor-is-not-called-into-question. (As archaic as that sounds) But that is what James insists would happen if anyone found out the truth…which is that we just kiss and stuff because we can't keep our hands off of each other.

No matter how much I might wish that it were otherwise, I cannot bring myself to open a can of worms and ask James to start analyzing out relationship. Because as soon as that happens I know that he would just want to break everything off and then where would I be…

Oh yeah, nursing a broken heart while he moves on with his life.

Which is what we all know will happen eventually, but I really do not want to rush it along.

I plan on enjoying him for as long as I can, as thoroughly as I can.

And just as I was about to tease his lips into opening, he abruptly changed role, so that the perused was now the pursuer…something that I could tell by the ease of which he slid his tongue into my mouth was much more up his alley.

How I lived most of my life without this I will never know.

But I do know one thing. I am not going to let it go now that I have it.

Because the tingles that were spreading across my nerve system so that even the tips of my toes were alive with sensation are just too precious and special to ever let go.

I was the one to break off our kiss again, not because I was laughing, but because I was out of air and I needed to take a breath to keep from fainting.

"You will not distract me so that you can get out of telling me why you were laughing before." James said as he moved to kiss along my jaw-line over to my ear.

"Then you are just going to have to learn to live with the disappointment because there is no way that I am going to tell you what I was laughing about." I affirmed as my hand on his shoulder tightened into a little ball to keep from saying anything that I will regret later.

"Oh really?" He laughed. "I have vays of making you talk." He warned adopting a very poor Russian accent probably in a lame attempt to sound dark and dangerous.

Unable to help myself, I replied "I highly doubt that." The very idea was ludicrous; I can be extremely stubborn when I want to. And plus, torture was banned from England years ago.

"Is that a challenge, Lily?" He asked and without waiting for an answer he continued saying "I think that it is one. You should be careful before you go making bets that you are going to lose. Because you forget, I am best mates with Sirius Black, I know all about how to get a woman to tell you what you want to hear." He started kissing a path down the column of my neck. "I can be very persuasive when I want to be."

I tried to think of a suitable retort to that last statement, but my mind was not functioning. All I could concentrate on was the intoxicating way that his lips were placing hot, long kisses all over my neck and the parts of my collarbone that was exposed by the cut of my shirt.

I felt the hand that had still be holding mine slip out of my grasp and wrap around my back right under the level of my shoulders pulling me right up against him. I kept thinking that I was going to explode, that my mind would suddenly snap because of the torrent of sensation that was clouding my senses.

In a futile attempt to clear my head I tried to pull my head back as far as I could, unfortunately that only further exposed my neck to his kisses and finally I just got tired of trying to fight it, and I surrendered to the warmth and just decided, what the hell, as long as I do not say anything I see no reason why I cannot enjoy this. Just as long as nothing happens and we both keep all of our clothing on our respective bodies where they belong. Because I am just not ready not to be a virgin anymore, and I do not even know if it would be James's first time too…And why for the love of Merlin's nose hairs am I thinking about THAT!

"Is that persuasive enough for you?" James asked as he suddenly pulled away to rest his forehead against mine, effectively bringing me back down to Earth.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" I questioned as I blinked a couple of times to clear my head and to reorient myself to the planet.

"Nothing of any really significance." He said as he gently tucked a piece of hair behind my ear. "I was just telling you how wonderful you look today and how much your Lily of the Valley shampoo really suits you." He smiled as he stepped out of our embrace but not before giving me a quick kiss on the nose.

I stood there with my eyes closed for a few minutes as I just absorbed how content I truly was. I know that it seems stupid how many times I think that while I am with James. But I really do have to agree with what James used to say when he was teasing me about us being a match made in heaven, because we just perfectly suit each other.

He is lighthearted when I get to serious. I make him smile when he is stressed out over a big Quidditch Match even though I will never get why it is so important to him. He respects my need to do all of my homework two days before it is due, and I understand why he likes to hang out with his fellow Marauders and pull a few harmless pranks.

In short, he does complete me.

"Lily" I heard him call from the other side of the room. I finally opened my eyes to see that he was standing by the portrait hole with his hand outstretched so that we could walk down to the Great Hall together for breakfast as is our recent custom.

So instead of replying, I simply picked up my battered copy of Northanger Abby and walked over to the door.

When I got there, I slid my hand into his, never getting over the feeling of security that it brings. I looked up into his smiling eyes and I find myself smiling for no other reason than he is smiling.

"Oh and Lily?" James starts saying as he leads me up the stairs and then pauses to allow the staircase to move.

"Yes, James." I reply giving his hand a slight squeeze.

"Happy Birthday, love." He whispers into my ear after giving me another kiss on the mouth.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Author's Note: So I had originally planned to have her entire birthday be in one chapter, but as I started writing this I decided that I was not going to do that. I know that one huge, monstrous chapter on steroids would be what you, my darling readers want, but I just do not have the patience to do that. That was part one of Lily's birthday. I hope that you enjoyed it.

I know that it is a little more PG or possibly PG-13 than I usually write, but I wanted to test my writing abilities and see if I could actually write a few decent romantic-kissing scenes. But don't worry, this is not going to turn into anything smutty or into an English Class Sponge (literary porn).

So until next time, I remain your dedicated servant in Fan Fiction,

All my Love, Allison.