Recap: They prepare for the Quidditch Final

Chapter 47: Happy Birthday, Sirius!

I put the banner up, and stepped back, to admire my work. The banner was the last of the decorations.

"Wow, Lily, it looks great." Marlene said, looking around the Gryffindor Common Room. "He's going to love it."

"I hope so." I laughed nervously.

"Well done, Lily." James said, coming down the boys' staircase. "Padfoot's going to love it." He said.

"Marlene just said the same thing." I grinned.

"She's right." He smiled at me.

"Where's Sirius now?" I asked, feeling more satisfied with my decorations.

"Bathroom. Washing his hair today. He'll be another half hour." Remus answered, coming down the stairs with Peter behind him.

"Camera ready?" I asked Peter. He nodded. Unless we won the Quidditch Final, this was probably going to be our last party of the year. I was determined to remember it.

"Perfect. We need to go get ready." Marlene said.

"What?" I asked as she took my arm.

"Lily, you're in your school robes." She said, giving me a disapproving look. She dragged me up the stairs.

"Don't let her take me!" I begged the boys. The traitors only gave me amused looks. She sat me down on her bed.

"Lily Evans, you are insane." Marlene sighed as she opened her closet. "After N.E.W.T.s ended, over half the seventh years stopped wearing their school robes, leaving you, a few Hufflepuffs, and the Ravenclaws. You're all insane." She said again, shaking her head. "I understand it's the end of school, and you don't want to admit it's over, but Merlin Lily, it's the weekend!" She put her hands on her hips and glared at me.

"They're comfortable?" I said with a feeble smile. She couldn't keep a straight face and her mouth split into a grin. She shook her head.

"You're impossible." She laughed as she turned back to her closet. "Is Sirius picking the music?" She asked, apprehension evident in her voice.

"Unfortunately." I grimaced. "But Remus promised to try to make him keep it somewhat normal." I assure her. Sirius was known for his wild, Muggle music taste. Sirius insisted that he was going to plan his own party. He refused to let anyone help, except me, with the decorations. "Misty?" I called out. The little elf appeared in front of me with a loud pop!

"Miss Lily! And Miss Marlene!" She squealed in delight. We introduced her to Marlene after we talked to her and Alex about the Order. We decided to ask Dumbledore the day before the last day.

"Misty, I was wondering if you'd join us all for Sirius' birthday party?" I asked her.

"Misty doesn't like parties." She smiled sadly.

"I completely understand." I laughed.

"Misty, maybe you can help me?" Marlene asked. Misty looked towards her eagerly. "Can you help me figure out what Lily should wear?" Marlene asked. Misty's face lit up like the lights in London at night. She was an ardent house elf, always willing to help us.

"Misty knows!" She squealed. She disapparated so quickly I thought she would splinch herself.

"I'm going to go put on my outfit and do my makeup." Marlene said. "You better put on whatever Misty gets you! I have a feeling that she'll bring you something that looks great!" She went into the bathroom. Misty apparated with a loud pop!She held out the outfit.

"Thanks a lot, Misty, I'm definitely wearing this." I smiled at her, taking the black top and the jeans. She smiled brightly at me and disapparated. I quickly changed and just then, Marlene came out of the bathroom.

"Perfect." She smiled. "Ready?" I nodded. We linked arms and went down the stairs, to where the party already started. I pushed past several people, and finally found Sirius in the middle of the dance floor.

"Lily-flower!" He yelled, allowing himself to be heard over the loud music.

"Happy Birthday!" I said again, since I'd already wished him that morning. Before I could hug him, He enveloped me in one of his infamous bear-hugs.

"The decorations look great, by the way." He said as he released me.

"Thanks, I'm glad the music isn't completely insane." I told him. He gave me a mischievous grin and I groaned.

"Don't worry, you'll like it." He said. I doubted that.

"Lily!" I heard from behind me. I turned around. It was James. "You look great." He smiled.

"You don't look back yourself." I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck.

"Are you two going to dance or just stand there?" Sirius asked, starting to do some kind of wild flailing arms movement. I stared at him.

"I'm never going get used to that." I told James.

"I haven't either, don't worry." He grimaced, looking at Sirius. "I'm starting to feel embarrassed because I'm just right next to him, do you want to go to the other side, the safer side?" He asked.

"Gladly." I murmured, and James laughed. I took James' hand and lead him towards the edge of the dance floor. We passed Marlene and Alex dancing and I smiled at them. As people cleared out a bit more, I saw the food and drinks table.

"Ah, how about we go that way?" James asked, tugging my hand in the opposite direction. I turned my head around to face him.

"Why?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes.

"The light's brighter over there, easier to see your pretty face." He replied easily, giving me a crooked grin. I rolled my eyes, but the corners of my mouth turned up into a small smile.

"It's getting easier for you to make up excuses with me. Come on." I laughed, pulling him forward. I reached the table, and James' eyes were suspiciously and nervously darting around the entire room. Suddenly, Remus and Peter appeared by our side.

"Hi, Lily." Peter said, smiling at me, a little too innocently. I looked at Peter for a little bit.

"You're hiding something." I said simply, looking from James to Peter to Remus and back to James. I took a glass and filled it up with the drink. I held it up to my lips and James took it from my hands.

"Uh, why don't we go dance or something?" He asked, shoving the glass in Peter's hand. I took the glass from Peter's hands, and quickly took a sip of the drink. I felt the liquid burn my throat.

"You spiked the drink." I glared at the both of them.

"Actually, it wasn't me." James tried. Remus rolled his eyes.

"If this is a feeble attempt to save yourself, Prongs, I guess I can help you here. No, this was not his idea. It was Padfoot's, and on Padfoot's birthday, you don't argue with Padfoot." Remus explained.

"Prongs tried, if that helps at all." Peter supplied. I looked at all of them, and then back to where Sirius was. I was ambivalent about whether or not I should let them keep it. I sighed.

"If McGonagall finds out," I started, and they all looked relieved. "I will not be around to save your skins. I'll deny even knowing about this. In fact, I might even deny being here."

"But you won't get rid of it?" Remus clarified, glancing back at Sirius.

"No." I sighed, wondering what had gotten into me. They smiled gratefully. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to sit over there," I pointed to the couches in front of my beloved fireplace, "And watch over everyone." Even after all these years, I still preferred to remain aloof during these parties.

"No, why don't you come dance?" James asked hopefully.

"Or, I can stay here, if you'd like, and make sure only those of age are drinking this." I offered. James' face fell. Sometimes, it was nice to have power over him like this.

"I'd prefer you stay over there, in that case." Remus said quickly. They were really desperate to make sure this went how Sirius wanted it. I walked over to the fireplace, wondering what I could possibly do. I wanted to go somewhere, somewhere I hadn't been in the castle. Then, I remembered the balcony. There was a balcony in the middle of the two staircases. I never went out there, since I'd made this couch my favorite place since my first day here. I got up and went to the balcony. It was small, meant for two people. I was glad the party was going on inside, everyone was sure to stay there and not come here. I looked to the night sky and admired the stars.

I looked around the castle and found that most of the lights were on. It probably looked beautiful from ground level. More than what Hogwarts had to offer as a school, I'd miss the building itself. It had an antediluvian charm to it, a traditional, majestic look that always made me feel like I'd fallen into one of my childhood dreams. The portraits and ghosts were rather funny, if you spent enough time with them. Those staircases, although annoying when you needed to get somewhere quickly, were truly wonderful magic. It's like they have a mind of their own. Every square inch of the place was fascinating, and even after so many years, it's hard to believe how amazing it is. I was really lucky to be able to come here and learn, and live in a place so wonderful. I just wished the real world was just as fascinating, majestic, and innocent. But, it wasn't, and I had a feeling I was going to miss the sense of protection Hogwarts gave me. To my knowledge, no one had been killed in Hogwarts. It was the safest place, since Dumbledore himself put up the protective enchantments. I'd grown up so much here, facing adversity for most of this past year. It was amazing, how even this time last year, I was more carefree, but now, all I can think about is how I don't want to leave, how I don't want to grow up.

"What are you doing out here?" James asked from behind me. I turned around. It was a picture perfect moment, and I wished Peter could take one right now. James' hands were in his pockets, his mouth was set in a straight line, but his eyes were honest and curious, but still rather bright. The wind was blowing the hair that fell on to his face.

"I've never been here." I shrugged, turning around to face the sky again. I heard his footsteps come forward and join me.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" He asked, looking up. I just stared into the sky, wondering what, or who, I'd become once I left here. Here at Hogwarts, I worked hard to create a name for myself. And after seven years, I was more than satisfied with the name I'd created for myself. Lily Evans, top of almost every class, Prefect, and Head Girl. Even the unofficial names I'd made for myself were once I was pleased with: Slughorn's favorite student, Enemy of the Slytherins, only friend of the Marauders, James Potter's girlfriend. Personally, I liked the last one best. "You're going to miss this place, aren't you?" He asked, in a whisper. I nodded as a tear slid down my cheek. He took my hand, and laced his fingers through mine.

"Where were you guys?" Sirius asked as we started cleaning up the Common Room.

"Out on the balcony." I replied, picking up a few cups.

"That's not a very good place to have sex, why didn't you just go to your Common Room?" Sirius chuckled. I took out my wand, and before he could react, I silenced him.

"No, not even on your birthday." I told him as he opened his mouth to protest. We picked up the remaining trash. Once we finished, the Common Room completely emptied except for me and the Marauders.

"Finally." Misty said appearing next to me. I jumped and let out a quiet shriek. "Sorry! Misty never meant to scare Miss Lily." Misty apologized.

"That's alright." I smiled. Sirius pushed past me and hugged Misty. He tried telling her he couldn't talk, but the flailing arm movements just confused her. I undid the silencing spell and Sirius breathed a loud sigh of relief. Misty laughed.

"Why did Miss Lily silence Mr. Sirius?" Misty asked, her amused eyes dancing between the two of us.

"Because she's mean." Sirius answered.

"No, because he suggested something highly inappropriate." I corrected.

"You know you dream about it every night." He winked.

"No, that's most likely him." I replied, pointing to James.

"I...what! I-I don't!" He stuttered.

"Well maybe not every night." Sirius grinned. James did some sort of a half nod before remembering I was in the room.

"Uh, I mean, why don't we all go sit over there?" He pointed to the seats in front of the fire, and didn't wait for our responses before heading there. Snickering, Sirius followed and Remus, Peter, and I followed him. Sirius and James sat on the couch, and I sat at James' feet. Remus and Peter sat on the other two chairs. Misty stood in the middle of the carpet.

"Misty has something for Mr. Sirius." She said. She snapped her fingers and a small box and a letter appeared. "It's from Mr. Potter." She added quietly. I felt James stiffen and I patted his knee. Sirius slowly stepped forward and took the box and letter from Misty. He eagerly opened the letter first. It seemed fairly short, since it didn't take him long to read it. He slowly opened the box and took out a watch.

"It's his watch. He gave me his own watch!" Sirius said in disbelief.

"You always joked about that watch." James said softy, smiling sadly.

"He seemed to always be talking to it." Sirius said, smiling, too. We heard a loud nose blow. It was Misty, blowing her nose into the cloth she wore.

"Sorry." She whimpered, and disapparated. I felt like we needed to call her back. James put a hand on my shoulder.

"She'll be alright." He said, reading my mind.

"I guess I won't be needing this anymore." Sirius muttered, pointing to his current one. "Stupid thing stopped telling the time halfway through this year." He told us.

"Whose was it?" Peter asked.

"Some relative of my Uncle Alphard." He said, taking the watch off and placing it in the box. He put the new one on. "This one actually tells time." He smiled sadly. James patted his back as Sirius' eyes started to water slightly, looking at the watch. His strained expression disappeared as quickly as it came, and I wondered for a moment if I'd imagine it. The clock over us struck 1.

"Lily, should we get going?" James asked. I nodded and we all stood up. I hugged Sirius simply because he looked like the needed one, and the others probably had some boy-code against hugging.

"I'm proud of you. You've done a great job staying strong." I whispered to him.

"You too." He said back, and by the look in his eyes, I could tell he wasn't just saying it.

A/N: This chapter is longer than the last 5, so hope you all like it! And, I hope none of you skipped past the large paragraphs :P

Also, I'm pretty sure half of you are ready to kill me by now, but I can't update until the week after next week, again. This time, I have a better reason than the last few: I'm going on vacation! For the first time in about 3 years, I'm going on a real vacation!

And if you've seen Harry Potter and you want to talk about it, PM me!
It was amazing, wasn't it?
If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest you get up off your ass and go watch it.

Three more chapters to go!

Love,
SAM :)