Title: Glass Hearts
Rating: PG-13
Summary (of chapter): Sirius' birthday party, during which James spikes the punch with firewhiskey. Some romance, and a shocking article about giants.
--
James had done all right, Sirius thought approvingly. They were having a party for Sirius' birthday in the Quidditch shed. People were socializing over an abundance of snacks and drinks, Exploding Snap, cards, something else, some even dancing to the music.
"I think we should play Spin the Bottle," Sirius announced to James.
"Right," James said. "Good call, mate." He Summoned a bottle of butterbeer from the snack table.
They gathered a group of about ten people, and as the game went on, people joined and left. Sirius had the first spin, as birthday boy. The bottle pointed at Juniper when it was finished, and everyone cheered. He gave her a small peck on the lips, winking at her. "That was hot, wasn't it?" Sirius asked Jewel. Jewel just looked at him, rolling her eyes.
Marlene and Remus kissed again, of course. "Are they going out or what?" Sirius asked Lily.
"Not yet," Lily said, shaking her head. "Shouldn't you know? Remus is your best friend."
"He doesn't talk about girls," Sirius replied.
Juniper kissed Kingsley Shacklebolt. Peter kissed Lily on the lips quickly, blushing dark red, Debra and Jewel gave each other a small kiss, James and Lily kissed. Remus took a few pictures, and then they started playing truth or dare.
After a long game of that, James spiked all of the butterbeers with firewhiskey. Juniper noticed it tasted a bit different, and they all got a little buzzed, but no one really noticed until Alice Hodge started dancing.
"I love you, Prongs," Sirius said, laughing. He draped an arm around his shoulders. "I really do, I want you to know I admire your cleverness."
"Oh, it's nothing," James grinned at him.
Sirius sat in the corner some thirty minutes later, Jewel next to him. "All right, open it up," Jewel said, motioning to the gift in his hands. Sirius only looked at her. "Sirius, come on. Staring is rude, remember?"
Sirius leaned in, kissing her on the cheek. "Okay," he said, smiling. He opened the gift and inside of the box was a pair of Quidditch figurines. They wore Gryffindor Quidditch robes and looked remarkably like James and Sirius. "Is this . . .?"
"It's you two," Jewel said. The figurines flew out of the box, their mouths moving as they yelled. "I made them myself."
"Honestly?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows. The figurine that looked like Sirius started bashing James over the head. He let out a bark-like laugh. "These are awesome! Thanks."
"You're welcome," Jewel said, kissing him. She pulled away after a moment. "You taste like firewhiskey, you know."
Sirius grinned at her, pulling her in to kiss her again.
--
Lily had had one too many butterbeers, and she stumbled over to James. James had, being Head Boy, gone light on the drinks himself. "You know, James," Lily said, pointing at him. "I think that we're going to work out."
"What did you do to her?" Mary asked, walking over.
James looked at Mary with wide eyes. "She's probably never had a drink in her life."
"No, she has," Mary said. "She's just a lightweight."
Lily swayed on the spot. James wrapped an arm around her waist. She smiled up at him, leaning into him. He brought her over to a bench, and they sat down next to each other.
They sang Happy Birthday to Sirius and cut cake for everyone. James stayed by Lily's side. "Don't you want any cake?" she asked.
"I'm afraid to leave you by yourself," James said, amused. He took her hand. Lily leaned her head on his shoulder. "So, you really think we're going to work out?"
"Yeah," Lily said. "I really . . . like you."
Remus and Marlene had disappeared now, and Peter wandered over to the bench James and Lily sat on. Sirius visited everyone at least twice, dancing, drinking, laughing, talking, cheering, singing and being, well, Sirius.
The party was a hit. People eventually started to go back to their common rooms, wishing Sirius a happy birthday. Jewel and Juniper were of the last ones to leave. Jewel and Sirius shared a long nonverbal goodbye, and the twins only left when Juniper pulled her out of the shed. Remus and Marlene finally came back from the Quidditch stands, and Sirius made jokes and kissed them both.
Remus, Sirius, Marlene and Peter started to clean up as well as they could. The next morning Ravenclaw had Quidditch practice at ten o'clock, and they were definitely sleeping in until later than that. Sunday's were wonderful for sleep. "You think we should help?" James asked Lily.
Lily mumbled a bit, shaking her head. She lie with her head in his lap. She looked up at James and put her hand in his face. "You need to brush your hair," she mumbled. "Or you're going to end up looking like James."
"I am James," James said, grinning down at her.
"I think it's handsome," Lily said. "Messy, sure, but it's cute. It used to annoy me . . . a lot."
James smiled. "Lily?"
Lily looked at him, swaying as she sat up. He wrapped an arm around her. "Lily, I . . ." James trailed off.
"Oh, dear," Lily said. "I feel . . . woozy."
She bent over the bench and threw up on James's shoes. He winced, closing his eyes. "Oi," he groaned.
"Oh, no," Lily said. "Oh, I'm so sorry."
Marlene caught sight of this and started laughing. "You got her pissed?"
Lily threw up again, causing James to groan again. He took out his wand, making a face as he cleaned his shoes up. He Conjured up a towel and held it out for Lily. She giggled, taking it from him. "Thanks," she said. She stumbled onto her feet. James stood up, steadying her. She reached for a can of the spiked butterbeer, but Marlene gave her some water instead.
Lily drank a bit, then wrapped her arms around James's torso. She sighed, and her cup slipped from her fingers, spilling her water down James's back.
"This is sweet," Sirius said. He took the camera from Remus and snapped a picture. There was a flash from the camera, and James and Lily blinked from the light. "Blackmail."
"Right," James said, rolling his eyes.
"I'm blind," Lily said, covering her eyes. She leaned into James. "You smell all right, James."
"Come on," James said. The six of them went up to Gryffindor Tower as Sirius teased Remus and Marlene about disappearing for an hour. He danced and sang happy birthday to himself as they went farther. In the common room, there was a banner for Sirius that Remus and Peter had put together. "Marlene, will you take Lily?"
"Yeah," Marlene said. "Goodnight, Remus."
"Goodnight," Remus said, smiling at her.
Marlene took Lily as she leaned against her. Lily took a hold of James's hand, but let go as the two of them walked further away from them. "Happy birthday to me!" Sirius yelled, jogging up to his dormitory. "I love this day of the year!"
--
Lily blinked her eyes open when she heard voices in her room. She brought her hand to her head, which was aching.
"Is that a hickie, Mary?"
"Who was it this time?"
"Shut up, Candace, you're not really one to talk."
The memories of last night flooded back. Oh, gods . . . someone had put firewhiskey in the butterbeer. She had gotten tipsy, acting like an idiot around James. She sighed. She had thrown up on his shoes, too, hadn't she? She pulled the covers over her head, wanting to hide in bed all day.
"Is Lily awake yet?"
"Was she drunk last night?"
"I think Alice Hodge was, too."
As Lily heard Mary laugh, Lily felt relieved, even though it was her friend's humiliation. At least she hadn't been alone, right?
Lily finally got out of bed fifteen minutes later. After a long shower, she got dressed in jeans and a long-sleeved blue shirt, letting her hair down. Debra was doing homework in their dorm, and told Lily she hadn't been that bad last night. "Well, I'm going to go try to save face," Lily said.
"Good luck," Debra said.
Lily walked downstairs. Students were spread over the common room. Sirius had a small crowd of people around him, but she didn't spot James. Lily walked over to them, and she realized he was showing off pictures from last night. She would rather hold off on any embarrassing shots of her. She found Remus on an armchair. "Hey, you know where James is?" she asked.
"Still sleeping," Remus said.
"Oh," Lily said, rolling her eyes, "I could have guessed that. When does he usually wake up on Sunday's?"
Remus looked on his watch. "In about an hour," he said.
Lily glanced around. Everyone was distracted with Sirius's pictures. She couldn't believe she was even considering sneaking up there. She paused, looking at the spiral staircase that led to the boy's dormitories.
"Just do it," Remus said, smirking.
Lily smiled. "I'll be back soon," she said.
She jogged up the staircase, her heart beating hard. She thought about April Fool's in sixth year and grinned. She knocked on the seventh years dormitory door. After waiting a few moments, Lily knocked harder. No one responded. She tried the doorknob. It was unlocked, so she pushed the door open.
She walked into the room quietly, closing the door behind her. James's bed curtains were half open. She saw one of his feet sticking out of the covers. She pulled the covers back quietly. He was sleeping on his stomach, a red t-shirt on. She smiled a little bit, sitting down on the edge of the bed. She hadn't seen him without his glasses, and his eyelashes looked long against his pale skin.
Lily paused, watching him sleep for a moment. She put her hand on his shoulder. "James," she said softly.
James stirred. "What?" he mumbled.
"It's Lily," she said.
James looked up at her, furrowing his eyebrows. "What?" he repeated. He reached over to the nightstand and put his glasses on. He looked at her, confused. "What are you doing here?"
Lily shrugged. "I just wanted to apologize about last night," she said. She blushed a little bit. "I just - I was an idiot."
"No," James said. He sat up. "No, you were . . . cute."
"Cute?" Lily repeated, laughing. "Oh, my gosh. Are you kidding me?"
"No," James said, smiling at her. "You were adorable."
Lily rolled her eyes. "Oh, please," she said. "Just . . . forget about it, okay? Let's not ever mention it again."
"Okay," James said.
Lily smiled. "I can't believe I'm in your room," she said. She glanced around. It was pretty messy; there were clothes and things everywhere. Sirius's bed had a few presents on the ground. She paused. "It smells like dog in here."
James laughed. "That's all Sirius," he said.
Shaking her head, Lily said, "I don't want to know."
James lay back down. "You going to lay down with me?" he asked, grinning.
"No," Lily said. She stood up. "I'll see you later on tonight."
"Okay," James said. He pouted. "Are you sure you don't want to stay?"
"No," Lily said with a laugh. "I shouldn't even be in here."
"But you are," James said in a sing-song voice.
"See you later," Lily said, opening the door.
--
The weather began to get colder. Remus found they were going outside less and less, instead wreaking havoc in the common room and getting into trouble with Filch and McGonagall.
James had found a good way to balance Head Boy duties and class work and even his extra time with Lily. He came to bed around midnight each night, but snuck into the kitchens if he missed breakfast or just read ahead in class so they could sleep. This was one reason Remus envied James; he was carelessly smart. Remus didn't mind school, he found everything interesting, but he had to pour himself into a subject to get O's or even E's.
Remus saw Marlene around here and there, but really, he didn't know how to respond to her. She liked him, and she didn't want to just snog. Neither did he, of course, but if she did, it would have been easier.
Marlene had cornered him a week after Sirius's birthday party. "Remus, you've been avoiding me," she said after he tried to tell her he was meeting Sirius somewhere.
"Avoiding you?" he repeated. "No. I've been busy."
"Busy?" Marlene said. "Right, busy avoiding me."
"You know NEWT year and all. . ." Remus trailed off.
Marlene looked put-off. "Remus," she said. "I'm not stupid."
"I didn't say you were," Remus said quickly.
"If you're so busy, then how did you have time to fill Professor Slughorn's office with Puffeskins?" Marlene asked.
"I'm not involved with every prank James and Sirius do," Remus lied.
Marlene rolled her eyes. She paused for a moment, crossing her arms. "If you don't like me, just tell me," she said.
Remus's stomach balked. He did like her. But . . . what were they supposed to do? Go out? Act like Lily and James, who were walking everywhere together and staying up late? Call each other boyfriend and girlfriend? "I do like you," Remus said.
"And don't lie to me, either," Marlene said.
"I'm not lying," Remus said truthfully. He had enjoyed Marlene's company since they had first started to hang out with her. When they came back to school, he realized he did honestly fancy her, and then when Sirius dared her to kiss him, things had gotten . . . messy. "I just - I don't . . . maybe we shouldn't have started it all with snogging."
Marlene looked at him intently for a moment.
"I just mean it makes things complicated," Remus said. "I'd rather . . . have spent time with you or something."
Marlene nodded. "That makes sense," she said. "I mean, that's really nice, actually."
"Yeah?" Remus said.
"Yeah," Marlene said. "Maybe we should spend some time together, then."
"Yeah?" Remus said.
"Yeah," Marlene repeated. She laughed. "What if we go to the kitchens tomorrow night? Just eat some pie or something?"
Remus thought this over, then nodded. "You know, that's a great idea," he said.
"Yeah?" Marlene said.
"Yeah," Remus said.
They both laughed. Remus felt a little bit more easy about this. About her. Well, she was great. Funny, fun to hang out with, girly without freaking Remus out too much. His friends liked her, and she was pretty to top it all off. This would be fine. He could do this. Really.
--
Jewel decided she really liked snow. She liked making snow angels. She liked snowball fights. She liked shoving snow down Sirius's shirt. She didn't really like it when he did the same to her, but everything had its ups and downs.
Like going out with Sirius. It had it's ups - he was fun and cute. Not to mention a great snogger. And he was great at other things. It also had it's downs - after nearly a year, they were still trying to figure out how close they wanted to be. Did Sirius want to tell her about his feelings about Regulus? Did Jewel want to cry about him? It was as if neither of them wanted walls separating them, but felt obligated to make them.
The two of them panting from a crazy snowball fight outside, they found an empty classroom. Sirius locked the door behind them, grinning at Jewel. She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his torso. "I still have snow down my shirt," Sirius said. "I'm going to get you back for that."
Jewel laughed, kissing him. "Oh, really?" she asked.
"Really," Sirius said. He leaned down and kissed her again.
They sat at two of the empty desks. Sirius propped his feet up on her knees. She smiled, setting her hands on his shins. "So, how are classes going?" Jewel asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Good," he said. "How are yours going?"
"Good," Jewel said. They usually sat together in Charms. Although they had other classes together, it had become a bit of a custom that Charms was 'their' class. Jewel liked it that way because then they could help each other out. Especially with homework. "How many weeks until break?"
"Three and a half," Sirius said, smiling.
"Time flies when you're having fun," Jewel said. "So, how're James and Lily?"
Sirius shrugged a bit. "All right," he said. "They're a bit annoying, flirting all the time. I like her, though."
"Do I have a bit of competition?" Jewel asked.
"If I want to die," Sirius said with a smirk. "Honestly, I think James would kill me."
Jewel let out a small laugh. "Well, then, that is not a good idea," she said.
"Definitely not," Sirius said. "I like living."
Jewel smiled. "Well, hopefully you'll be living a long time," she said.
Sirius shrugged. "We'll see," he said. "James's dad said that Mad-Eye Moody really likes us. I think we're definitely going to be Aurors, providing we get all the right NEWTs."
"You will."
Sirius smiled. "Probably."
Jewel paused. "Did you read about Dearborn the other day?"
"Caleb Dearborn and how he was in St. Mungo's?" Sirius asked. "Yeah . . . crazy. Isn't he supposed to be out in a few weeks?"
"Hopefully," Jewel said. "His brother was a few years above us. Remember Caradoc?"
"Yeah," Sirius said. "He was a cool bloke."
"I wonder what he's doing," Jewel said.
"I don't know," Sirius said with a shrug. "Man, I wish there were Hogsmeade trips this year."
"It hasn't stopped you from going, though."
Sirius grinned. "True," he said. "We should go tomorrow."
"Tomorrow's Thursday," Jewel said with a laugh.
"Then Saturday,. No one ever notices. We should go."
"I'll think about it."
Sirius smiled at her. "Great," he said. "It's a plan. Saturday."
--
They didn't go on Saturday, to no one's surprise. James and Sirius went to Honeydukes the next day and snuck back candy. Lily gave them suspicious looks, but no one had squealed about the secret entrance yet, and they had no plans to. Lily was cool, but she was Head Girl. It didn't really matter that James was Head Boy. He was James.
Defence class was getting harder, but James loved it. He was reveling in the new spells he was learning. With the articles these days, he soaked it up.
One Monday, the front page's article sent the inhabitants of Hogwarts into shock. It was the talk of the school, a mix of fear and anger spreading around. The giants had joined Voldemort. They had finally come out of hiding, and their violence was now on the wrong side. There had been an attack on Sunday on Glasgow, killing forty Muggles and fifteen wizards and witches. It had been covered up as a terrorist attack (James still wasn't sure what terrorists were).
"Really, you wonder why neither sides thought of it before," James said as they sat in the Great Hall during lunch.
"Thought of what?" Peter asked.
"Thought of getting the giants on our side," James said. "I mean, You-Know-Who has used everything up until now - werewolves, dementors, vampires, banshees - and yet we never thought the giants might help him out."
Sirius looked thoughtful. Marlene was picking at her food. "Well, it's just getting worse, isn't it?" Lily said.
James looked at her. They met eyes. Lily sighed a little bit, pushing her plate away from her. "I'm not really hungry anymore," she said. "I'll see you guys later."
She got up and left the table. James watched her walk away. He sighed a little bit, glancing back down at the Daily Prophet. He felt someone's eyes on him. He looked up and saw Snape glaring at him from across the room. James held his gaze for a moment, then looked back at Lily, who had reached the doors now. He met Snape's eyes again and gave him a smug smirk. If Snape could kill with his eyes, James would have been dead.
--
A/N: LilyHeartsMarauders & WhiteCamellia - thank you for the reviews! Everyone, please review, I love getting feedback! :)
Next up: Lily begins to worry about her family's safety, and James keeps his Animagus secret from her.