Author's Notes: Sorry for the delay. Again. Writer's block. Again. Oh! And excitement had me distracted because I got a job! You get distracted by such things after a year of not having one. So I've been going to training and stuff, so I don't have as much free time as I've had recently. Meaning there will be long pauses between updates, and for that I'm sorry.

This chapter will be the party and some looking back on Halloweens past. Next chapter is going to be Halloween (another reason for my delay... my deciding on what shall happen on this popular holiday).

Chapter 26: Birthday Surprises

Sunday, October 23, 1977

Dinner was interesting, to say the least.

We didn't want to eat much, since Sirius and Peter really went all-out in the kitchens ("She's the first of us to turn eighteen!" was Sirius's excuse). At the same time, we didn't want to eat too little, since that would tip off Marlene. All while pretending nothing was going on in the Head's Common Room.

It was all rather exhausting.

"You guys realize that not only is it Sunday, it's my birthday. Meaning you shouldn't be allowed to make me do everything you made me do today," Marlene grumbled, staring into her cornish pasties and mash.

"You do realize you didn't have to agree to any of it, right?" Sirius asked in reply, stealing one of Marlene's pasties from her plate.

"At least you enjoyed lunch, right?" Remus asked, unable to ride the worry in his eyes.

Marlene laughed a little and kissed his cheek. "Of course. Highlight of my day, really!"

"Hey!" chorused Dorcas, James, Sirius, and Emmeline. Peter and I laughed at their unanimous reaction.

"Dorcas, you and I did Runes homework. James, you worked on Transfiguration with me, then continued to kick my arse in Quidditch drills. Does that sound like a good time?"

"Then why are Peter and Lily exempt from the attack?" Sirius asked her.

"Because I haven't seen Peter since breakfast, if seeing the top of his head peeking out from behind a tower of waffles counts as 'seeing him' ("Hey!"). Shut up, Peter. And Lily I saw briefly by the library and she outright refused to study with us! She needs more help with Transfiguration than I do!" Marlene exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air (which left her cornish pasties unguarded again, thus losing another to one Sirius Black, who she promptly slapped over the back of the head, which resulted in his exclamation of "Hey!" like Peter).

Now it was my turn to mimic Peter. "Hey!" They all laughed. "My Transfiguration isn't that bad."

"You said that you couldn't stay because you'd take up all of James's time away from me with how much help you need," Marlene said, flatly.

You could barely hear my response of "it's true" over the noise of the Great Hall at dinnertime, although I'm certain my timing of taking the World's Largest Bite of Lamb Chop didn't exactly help the situation.

"You know what I've always wanted?" Marlene asked the group, a far-off look in her eyes.

"What's that?" Dorcas replied.

"A costume party. You know, the whole room decorated in creepy Halloween decor, much like a Muggle Halloween party, all the guests in fun costumes, creepy themed food, the works."

I thought about the brightly-colored and fun decor in my common room, and all the deliciously normal snacks. Well, wish you said that sooner! I thought to myself, keeping all my emotions and thoughts off my face by keeping my focus on my delicious lamb.

"Well, I wish you'd mentioned that sooner," Peter grumbled aloud. Sirius knocked him on the back of the head, resulting in another "Hey!"

I was holding my breath, and I noticed I wasn't the only one. Remus, James, Emmeline, and Dorcas all looked like they were as well, and were all glancing between each other and Marlene.

As obvious as they were acting, Marlene was more oblivious.

Thank Merlin.

Remus volunteered to "play decoy" again so we could all make it to the Head's Common Room to be there when they arrive. Dorcas, Emmeline, and Sirius haven't seen the completed product, yet (although Emmeline and Sirius had an idea of what it would end up as). James saw it when he came to shower and change for dinner.

"Wish she did say something about a themed party sooner," Sirius mumbled. "It would have been fun to do!"

"Don't you have a birthday coming up, Mr. Black?" Emmeline said with a grin. "We could always do it for you," she added, wrapping her arms around Sirius's neck from his side.

"No parties for Sirius," James said. "He never lets us."

Emmeline looked disappointed. "My birthday is the day before Halloween," he added. "We have that huge feast and all that then, so I feel I can't enjoy it if I have a separate party the night before, seeing how I'd still be partied out and possibly hungover."

"Besides," Peter said with a shrug, "we do a prank every Halloween to celebrate Sirius's birthday, instead."

"Wait, it was you four that charmed the owls to hoot to the tune of 'Happy Birthday' last year?" Dorcas said, he shocked tone echoing amongst the sounds of the Wizard Wireless Network.

"Guilty," Sirius said through a smug grin.

"In perfect harmony," James said with pride. I just rolled my eyes.

"Magnolia hooted in a B-Flat Minor for a week after that, I hope you know," I told him. I tried my hardest not to smile because even though my owl was obviously annoyed by her inability to hoot in any other key for a week (which resulted it more bit fingers), it was extremely funny to hear at the time. But I could feel the corner of my lips betraying me.

Damn lips.

"Since when do you know about things like 'B-Flat Minor,' Lils?" Dorcas asked.

"Doesn't everyone know things like that?" I replied.

"Most people have heard of it, but can't identify it," she replied.

I just shrugged. I didn't get a chance to answer because my pendant heated up just then.

Birthday girl in 5... 4... 3...

-R.L.

"They're coming!" Emmeline exclaimed before Dorcas or myself could.

We agreed ahead of time that we wouldn't hide and scream "Surprise!" ahead of time for our own good. Marlene is quick with a wand and will hex us if we startled her too strongly. So we just stayed where we were (Sirius in his normal place by the fire with his head in Emmeline's lap, James and I had the sofa, and Dorcas and Peter each had an armchair) and turned our heads toward the portrait hole. We heard it open and then close, letting Remus's and Marlene's laughter fill the room.

Marlene froze as soon as she entered the room. "What's all this?" she asked, a smile forming across her face and reaching her eyes.

"Christmas party," Sirius answered, not missing a beat. Emmeline slapped his chest.

"Shut up, Sirius. What do you think it is, Marles?" Dorcas said, smiling. "Happy Birthday!"

"Happy Birthday!" the rest of us chorused. Remus added a kiss to her cheek.

"You guys are amazing! It's perfect!" she said, her eyes glistening from fresh tears forming.

"It would have been more perfect if you mentioned the costume party idea sooner," Sirius added.

Emmeline flicked his nose and said, "Shut up, Sirius."

"I'm serious, guys!" Marlene explained.

"No, I'm Sirius!" Sirius stated, matter-of-factly.

"Do you want to get hit, again?" Emmeline told him.

"Guys, this is perfect. Thank you!" And she started crying.

"Marles, it's okay!" Dorcas told her, walking up to her and giving her a hug. "The boys were about to tell us about their annual Halloween prank for Sirius's birthday next weekend."

"We were?" asked the Marauders, all in the same flat tone.

"Weren't you?" Dorcas asked them.

"No, we want it to be a surprise," Peter said.

"It's better that way," James added.

"It will be better than the owls, though," Remus stated.

"Although that was brill," Sirius said with a prideful laugh.

"Did it effect your owl?" I asked him.

"Don't have one. I use James's. And it didn't effect him. We excluded Aether in the charm," he replied. I glared at James.

"Which reminds me," Dorcas said, taking her seat again while Marlene took the other side of the couch and Remus took the floor in front of her. "Why can you identify a B-Flat Minor, Lils?"

"Didn't you know?" Marlene asked the group. "Lilypetal can play-"

I cut her off by throwing a pillow at her. "And don't call me Lilypetal."

"I'll call you what I want, and why am I the only one that knows?" she asked, starting at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Knows what?" James asked. "Why don't I know?"

"Because I don't share it with everyone," I said, flatly.

"You spill the beans on that and I'll share something about me," she said, smiling.

I just glared at her.

"Come on, Lilypetal! It's my birthday!" she exclaimed, still smiling and ignoring my glares at the use of that name.

"Fine," I said through a groan. "You just have to go first."

"Fine by me," she said. "I sing and have done musical theatre. I'm damn good, too."

My reply came out in a mumble.

"Didn't catch that," Dorcas said, giving me a look.

"I can play piano," I said quietly.

"Why hide that? It's nothing to be ashamed of!" James said, squeezing me close. "It isn't like Moony who just does Muggle magic tricks."

"Hey!" he exclaimed in his defense. "I got bored a lot as a kid! I had to do something, so I learned card tricks and slight-of-hand. It's helped us a bit!"

"I've been playing since I was six," I elaborated, ignoring Remus to spare him any embarrassment from the other Marauders and levitating a tray of cupcakes over to the center of the group. "I sing a little, too, but nothing like Marlene here."

"I think that's awesome," James said. "Maybe you'll play something at Christmas? We have a beautiful white baby grand piano at home. Mum used to play, but doesn't much anymore. It just sits there. I'll send Aether to Mum tomorrow to make sure it's in tune, just in case." He kissed my temple and I rolled my eyes.

"You have to spill something, now. Marlene and I both said something, and you ratted out Moony. Spill."

"Fluent in French," he said, then took a big bite of a cupcake.

"Me, too!" Sirius said from the floor.

All the girls just stared at them, myself included. My eyes darted from James to Sirius and back again.

"Why didn't I know this?" I laughed.

"We never have a reason to use it," Sirius said with a shrug (well, as well has he can shrug while laying in Emmeline's lap). "It's a pureblood thing, I guess."

"It might be," Emmeline added. "I was learning it as a kid, but stopped. It's really just the really old bloodlines. I'll spill something. I've been playing violin since I was four. It's soothing for me."

"We already knew that, Em," Dorcas told her, rolling her eyes. "You play in the dorms."

"Is that who that was?" Peter asked. "I always wondered where that was coming from." Emmeline turned to Dorcas and gave her best See? Not everyone knew! look.

"I'm a dancer, and I've been dancing competitively for about ten years in many fields. Helps keep me on my toes for Quidditch!" Dorcas said.

"No pun intended," I said with a smile. Turning to James I added, "I saw her dance in Swan Lake last summer."

"What about you, Pete?" Dorcas asked him. "Anything to spill?"

"Wormtail, here, is actually quite skilled in the kitchen," Sirius stated before taking a bite of another cupcake. "And I'm not just talking about raiding it."

Peter just shrugged and blushed a little at the complement.

"We're quite a talented bunch," Marlene said with a grin. "Just wish you guys would grant me one birthday wish..."

"What's that?" I asked her.

"Tell me what is going to happen next weekend! I want to know what the prank will be!" She had a huge smile plastered on her face.

"Not a chance," James said, grinning.

"What were the ones before the Owl Choir last year? I can't seem to remember," Emmeline said, thinking hard.

"How could you forget?" Sirius exclaimed from her lap. "The year before last we charmed all of the pumpkin tarts to jump away if someone tried to grab them without saying, 'Down with Slytherin.'"

"That was mean, you know," I said flatly. "Took Remus nearly twenty-five mintues to realize I still haven't had my tart. And you don't get between me and my pumpkin goodies."

"That exclaims the Jelly-Legs Jinx that was cast on us randomly on the way to Gryffindor Tower," Peter recollected.

"And why Moony here was the only one not affected," Sirius amended. I grinned and bit into another pumpkin cupcake. "Let me see, fourth year we fired the fireworks off in the Entrance Hall."

"No, that was third year," James corrected. "Fourth year we filled the Entrance Hall with balloons, remember? If Filch touched them they'd explode in different colored smoke?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sirius said, laughing. "He had different colored dust someone on him for a week."

"Hot pink suited him," Remus said with a chuckle.

"Was second year the exploding pumpkins?" Dorcas asked. "I remember exploding pumpkins... there was pumpkin goo all over everyone during the Halloween feast."

"I remember that, we all fought over the showers," I added. "I remember having to help Em. She had her head under the water and I had to help get all that gunk out of her curls. That wasn't fun."

"That hurt, you know," she remembered. "I was afraid I was going to have to shave my head or something."

"Yeah, that was second year's prank, sorry about that," Sirius told her.

"I can't remember anything funny first year," Marlene said.

"We bribed Peeves to be annoying," Peter said. "He ended up starting that food fight."

"Now I remember!" Marlene exclaimed. "We all ducked out of there quickly."

"We were so green," James said. "How things have improved since then!"

"I'm afraid for next weekend," I mumbled. James squeezed me into a hug.

"I will just say it won't be in the Entrance Hall or the Great Hall," he assured me.

"Thank you for canceling out two rooms out of a castle," Dorcas said, rolling her eyes.

"I have an idea," I told her. "And I have a feeling they aren't going to like it."

"It will be fine," James said. "It's our last year. We need to go out with a bang."

"Whatever," I told him, resting my head on his shoulder. "Just don't expect me to clean up after you."

"We aren't asking any of you to," Sirius said. "Just to sit back and enjoy the show."

"And to appreciate the sheer brilliance of this plan," Remus added.

We enjoyed chatting and chilling the rest of the evening, but I had a small sense of dread the rest of the evening.

The Slytherins are not going to be happy.