Welcome to the end. This is the second to last chapter. I know. Enjoy.

Chapter 33

I leaned against the wall, grinning. I wasn't sure what was more amusing, watching James fumble around the room, a very determined look on his face or watching Peter as sneakily tried to dip his finger into the bright pink cake we bought. Almost as if he could feel my gaze, Peter instinctively looked up and saw me staring at him, not amused. He quickly gave me a sheepish grin and he turned around, pretending to actually help James organize the 'surprise' birthday party he had planned for Lily Evans.

That's right, he had (once again) fallen for Hogwart's very own fiery red-head. We didn't know what happened exactly to trigger his love again for Lily Evans however, it had come to a certain point where we wouldn't even bother trying to tell him that it wasn't a good idea, nor that she hated surprises. We decided to all just play along and pretend that we were all having a good time organizing something for a girl who probably would hate the idea of a birthday party.

As usual, James put me in charge of creating an 'aesthetically pleasing atmosphere' by that he meant good music and food. Which was as boring as it sounded, Peter was in charge of decoration and Remus and Sirius had the best job of all, distracting Lily Evans for as long as humanly possible. Though, I was certain that wouldn't last long.

I glanced at the clock opposite us, there was only an hour to fix everything up and make it look nice before the party.

"Winnie, where are the magic balloons?!" James said to me before he ran off to the side of the room, a banner in his hand.

"With Peter," I said, once again. This had been the third time he had asked me and I wasn't sure if he had heard me saying so the first two times. James nodded, clearly distracted. He quickly pulled out his wand and muttering the permanent stick spell to make the banner stick to the wall, I didn't feel obligated to remind him that the permanent stick spell was actually permanent.

That was before I read the words on the banner.

Happy 17th birthday

Lily Potter!

I raised my eyebrows at him, a surprised face etched across my features. Lily Potter? Really? Lily Evans was not going to be happy about that.

"Eh, James don't you think that'll kind of make her angry? I know you like to mess about but I don't think she'll like that." I said, unsurely. "Unless your goal is to anger her." I said, laughing slightly.

James wasn't paying attention, though. He was too busy giving instructions to Peter on how to properly tie the magic balloons to match the 'allure' of the room.

I coughed, "Eh - James?" I said louder, hoping that would catch his attention.

He raised his head higher, but his eyes were still fixated on the the table he was organizing. "Hmm?" He said, distractedly.

I rolled my eyes, feeling the anger boil inside me. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was being ignored. "James Potter! You listen to me right now or so help me I'll ruin this goddamned party!" I said, growling.

James jumped up from shock and turned around to me, covering his ears. His eyes alert and wide, "Merlin's blue trousers, you can shout. What, what is it? What do you want, Winnie?" He said, an annoyed look on his face.

I pointed at the banner, without saying a word.

James Potter looked at the banner for a moment and then gave me a shrug, turning back to his work. He was obviously still distracted but he would get it soon, enough. I stared at his back, waiting for him to realise. In less than three seconds, his back straightened and he turned around. His face was clear as a sheet and the expression on his face was that of pure and unrefined fear. Fear of Lily Evans, that is.

"What- who - Who did this?! Peter was it you?!" He said, turning to Peter practically seething.

Peter looked up, "Huh?" He said, confused.

"It says Lily Potter! Not Lily Evans! Lily Potter!" He said, his face red. "Winnie, help me take it down." He said approaching the banner.

I scratched the back of my neck, "Yeah about that. James, you performed the permanent sticking charm - we can't um- we can't take it down." I said, biting my lip and faintly shutting my eyes waiting for him to burst.

"We can't - we can't take it down." His voice began to quieten, his body movements had drastically changed from happy to dead. it was as if I had removed his batteries. James body slumped forwards and he moved towards the couch, lifelessly. He fell face down and remained there.

Peter and I shared an uneasy gaze.

"Eh, James? You alright mate?" Peter asked. "Prongs it's okay. We'll fix this."

"You can't fix this, Wormtail." James scoffed. "Just leave me here, to die." he said melodramatically making me chuckle quietly.

I put a hand on his shoulder, "It's alright James, honestly. We'll figure something out - we always do." I said, trying to cheer him up.

James remained where he was, impervious to my words of encouragement. I was sure that he could hear what I was saying, but he was not listening. The thing about James was that, he was lazy. He was, but when he cared about things - he became a perfectionist. Which had it's pros and cons, mainly cons. If things didn't go the way he planned, it would almost - drain him.

"What do you propose we do then, Winnie? Take it down? Oh wait, you can't. She's going to hate me, more than she already does." He said forlorn.

I sighed, "Let's just focus on the rest of the decorations and we'll figure out the banner later, okay? you worked so hard to plan everything! we're going to have this party, James."

James sighed, "I don't want to do it anymore."

I clenched my jaw, shaking my head slightly at James. It was obvious that the babying approach had no effect on him - I wasn't good at the babying approach anyway. James needed some tough love right now and that was basically my speciality.

I narrowed my eyes at him and swiftly grabbed the nearest pillow and whacked him squarely on the back."Get up now or I swear I'll tell your mother every single prank you have done this year including the one you swore us to never reveal! Get up James Potter! You're not a quitter! You need to finish what you started!"

He winced, "Ow! Fine, fine - stop hitting me, for Merlin's sake." James said reluctantly getting up. His eyes avoided the banner, shamefully.

"Get to work, people!" I said, clapping my hands together.

"Can't we have some cake or something, I'm really tired." Peter said, with a yawn. He lazily moved towards the table with cake and eyed it, a desirius look in his eyes. If I could look into his head right now, it would most likely him imagining the taste of the pink cake.

I laughed scornfully, "Do I look like I'll let you have a slice of that cake? It says Lily Evans. Not Peter whatever your last name is!"

"Pettigrew," He said sadly as he got back to work. James on the other hand was moving things around, looking absolutely miserable. I decided to ignore his misery and actually get things done, because at this rate - the party would be a total drag.

The door slammed open and Sirius walked in, a confident smirk on his face. His hands were lazily sitting in his pocket, giving off a very nonchalant and unperturbed vibe about him. He strided over to us, looking very pleased with himself. That was until he saw the expressions of all his friends, of course.

"What's wrong?" He asked no one in particular, eyes scanning the room before turning to me. "What did you do to them?" he asked jokingly, but I could tell that he was actually wondering.

I gasped, "What - why would you assume that I did something?!"

Sirius laughed, "Because they all look miserable." I glared at him. "I'm just taking the mick out of you, babe. Truly though, what happened? I thought things were going great. James looked like he was on a high, now he looks like he deserves to be in the grave." He asked, gazing over at his emotionless friend.

I laughed and then pointed at the banner behind him, "Look at the banner, darling." I said, directing his gaze to the banner behind him.

He turned around and narrowed his eyes, taking in the poster. His eyes widened, a moment later when he had become fully aware of the fact that it said Lily Potter not Lily Evans. "Oh shite." he said, laughing as he ran his fingers through his hair.

I nodded, "Shite it is, indeed. Also, James performed the permanent sticking charm. So, we can't take it down." I said, laughing. I didn't know why that was funny.

He cracked his knuckles, "Is that right? I guess we have to do something about it, but what?" He said inquisitively while gazing into my eyes. I wasn't sure whether he was asking me or if he was just staring into my eyes, not that I minded.

I shrugged, a smile stuck on my face. "Fix it." I said simply. "We have to, because they definitely can't." I said, pointing towards them.

He sighed, playfully. "Isn't it always up to the dream team?" He said, winking making me snicker quietly. "Come on, I have an idea." He said, grabbing my hand and tugging me towards the door.

"Hey where are you two going?!" Peter asked, confused.

Sirius paused, "Hmm, hell eventually. But right now, we are going to go and fix this!" He said, with an excited smile on his face before he intertwined his fingers with mine and ran out the common room, me following behind him barely containing my laughter.

"How did you think of that?" James said, clapping both his hands across our backs. "Merlin, I love you both. I love you both, so much. Do you even know how much I love the two of you?" He said, emotionally.

The music behind us was blasting and the common room was full of people, yet all of the marauders were standing and facing a painting. Well, what everyone thought was a painting. Behind it lay a banner that said, Happy Birthday Lily Potter - yet no one needed to know that. Sirius and I had managed to knick a painting off the second floor, one that people rarely noticed anyway and one that was large enough to cover the banner and we placed it on top.

"Well, you thought of how you could take it down - we thought about how we could hide it." Sirius said, a small smile on his face.

"Story of your lives." Remus said, nudging me with his shoulder making me throw my head back and laugh loudly.

"Very accurate," I said grinning. "But, hey - where is the birthday girl? Isn't she supposed to be here by now?" I asked scanning the room for the red-head.

The door slammed open as if it was just waiting for me to say that and Marlene rushed in, "Everyone! Hide!" She said, gleefully. "She's coming!"

I rolled my eyes at Marlene, the feeling of intense betrayal returning as my eyes lay upon her. "Sorry but no, I don't conform to society's needs or wants." I said, glaring at her blatantly. She turned to me, her excitement leaving her face and an expression of annoyance graced her features. The tension between both of us was almost, palpable.

Sirius laughed, placing his hand across my shoulder. "My girlfriend, in a nutshell." he said, making everyone laugh.

The lights flickered off and everyone hid, except for me. Until Sirius pulled me into the shadows and wrapped his arms around my waist. Then, I was okay with it.

Lily Evans walked in, "What?" She asked nobody. "Who turned off the lights?" She said, moving towards the light switch.

But before she could do that, the lights suddenly turned on and everyone said simultaneously, "Happy Birthday Lily!" The loudest voice was of course, the one that belonged to James Potter who was also holding the pink cake.

Lily Evans stood still, staring dumbfounded at everyone. Her face then turned red and her hand went up to her mouth, her eyes wide and filled with a certain emotion I couldn't pinpoint. She stared at everyone and her gaze lay upon James Potter, who looked increasingly uncomfortable at the silence that filled the room.

"Are - are you alright, Lily?" James asked, uncertainly.

"Oh shite, maybe she doesn't like surprises." Sirius whispered to my ear, making me nod. We both couldn't take our eyes off of her.

A sound emitted from her, a sob maybe. Sirius and I exchanged looks of unease, but the sobs turned louder, before her face broke out into a smile and she began to laugh, loudly. Lily Evans wasn't laughing, she was howling with laughter. Lily was now smiling brightly and happily, something she didn't do much with James.

"Oh my - Merlin, is this - this is all for me?" Lily asked James looking, touched. "Why?"

James let the cake float in the air with a simple flick of his wand, "Because, it's your birthday." He said simply before running a hand through his hair making it even more messy than it already was.

She laughed, "Thank you, really." She said, earnestly and then proceeded to hug him.

Everyone gasped at the sight that lay in front of us. The two people who have been fighting non-stop for five years were now, hugging? It wasn't a sight you saw every day, actually this was a once in a lifetime event. I was sure James felt that way as well because he looked like he had gone to heaven but he tried not to let that show (key word: tried).

"Hmm, I now see why everyone thinks they look good together." Sirius said to Remus and Peter as they made their way towards us.

"I think she would be the man in the relationship." Peter said, laughing.

I scoffed, "Why? Because a woman who has her own opinions or is strong with her beliefs is seen as a tough and strong woman and because dominance is characterized as a male trait so, you label her as the man in the relationship for her because she exudes strength which women can not have? Stop enforcing gender roles and just be happy for James, wormtail!" I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

Peter's eyes widened, "I'm so sorry."

Remus nodded, "I agree, in a world where it is systematically better for a woman to be submissive and quiet. A powerful woman is almost the biggest threat to society, which Winnie does not like to conform to."

I grinned, "Exactly."

Sirius grinned, "I'm so glad you're my girlfriend." he said resting his jaw on my head. I smiled happily.

"James and Lily," Remus said, "Who would've thought?" he said, beaming at them even though they were too distracted with each other to notice.