A Boring Day in October

On the morning of October the Twenty-Forth Sirius Black woke up uncharacteristically early. He didn't roll over and curse his bladder for disturbing him, which would have been silly considering that wasn't the reason. He didn't groan or kick off his sheets in a huff or any of the things he usually did in the mornings. Instead, he grinned.

He glanced to the small window by his bed and even the murky grey-blue darkness that greeted him didn't ruin his mood. He squinted around the dim room to get his bearings before he moved - slowly to prevent his mattress from creaking as he moved to the edge of his bed. He crouched down, paused to take a breath, them hurled himself across the chasm between his own bed and the one to his left, landing heavily on overly long legs.

Impressively, there wasn't so much as an irritable mumble before the beaming grin and messy hair appeared in the darkness. This was the one day of the year that Sirius was glad James Potter was a morning person.

' Alright, Birthday Boy!' He practically shouted, shoving Sirius off his knees. ' What time do you call this? It's nearly half five!'

' He needs his beauty sleep,' Remus yawned from somewhere to the right.

' Bollocks,' Sirius declared. ' I look this good without trying.'

James wiggled out from beneath Sirius and moved to Peters bed. He prodded the smaller boy, who protested with a few muffled squeaking sounds. Remus had dragged himself clear of his own beds curtains and was settling to sit on the end on Sirius'. He glanced down at the neat pile of presents stacked on the floor just in front of him.

Sirius made what he hoped was a manly exclamation, but feared probably came out more like a girly shriek, and dived at the gifts. He misjudged the distance rather severely, and slammed into the hard wood of the bed frame, knocking the brightly wrapped packages flying into the air.

' Bugger,' he muttered, pulling himself up just in time to catch Remus rolling his eyes. ' I hope you didn't get me anything breakable.'

' Not bloody likely,' Peter grumbled, as James dragged him from under his warm blankets.

' Nah,' James agreed, giving the blond an encouraging prod. ' We aren't that daft, Padfoot! We've known you five years!'

' We know better than to give you anything less than robust,' Remus finished, passing him a perfectly wrapped rectangular parcel tied neatly with string. ' That's mine.'

' Never have guessed,' Pete muttered grumpily, plonking himself on the mattress behind the werewolf.

Sirius took the gift from his friend. It was solid and heavy. He furrowed his brow.

' A book?' His voice only sounded half as disappointed as he felt, but he regretted saying it anyway.

Remus didn't flinch, his expression staying the same calm smile as always. ' Open it.'

Sirius shrugged and tugged at the corner of the paper. He didn't unwrap it neatly, simply tearing as much of the paper off as he could in one swipe. It was wrapped twice, and he smirked at Remus' overly-cautiousness.

It was a book. Bound with old green leather and gold stitching around the edges. It was a bit worn in places, and smelled musty. Pressed into the front where the neat, gold copperplate letters spelling out Quidditch Through the Ages. Then underneath, smaller, First Edition.

' Erm, thanks.'

' You're an idiot,' Remus said, rolling his eyes again. ' Open it.'

Sirius rested his thumb against the page edges and flicked it slightly open, glimpsing a few pages as they skittered by, before it closed again. It looked perfectly normal, if a little too full of tiny spindly writing he knew he'd never have the patience to read. He raised his eyebrow at the boy on his bed.

' Page four.'

' The acknowledgements?'

' Yeah.'

' Eticer 'Em' Libra and Kaeps 'Duola' Incarceconn.'

' Close the book. Touch the top of the spine with your wand, and say those surnames as you bring it down to the bottom.'

Sirius spared an exasperated look for his friend, but followed the instructions. Feeling a bit daft, he placed his wand at the top and mumbled ' Libra Incarceconn.' As he moved his wand down the spine, he got a tingly feeling in his fingers, but nothing happened to the book.

' Open it again,' Remus said, pre-empting the question.

He did, and instead of the overflowing pages there was now a distinct hole in the book, bigger than it had any right to be and completely undetectable from the outside. He felt his eyebrows jump up his forehead and his chin fall to his chest.

His brain frantically tried to think of something to say. Some way of expressing how much it meant to him. The gift, their friendship, the gesture in general. Everything.

' You're most welcome, Padfoot,' Remus said, grinning at his bewildered look. ' You really thought I'd get You a book? Please.'

The others laughed, and Sirius was glad he didn't have to try to express his gratitude for the gift, or apologies for his rudeness.

He continued ripping into his presents. He received more than his fair share of Zonko products from James, and a whole Honeydukes shelf worth of sweets from Peter. As usual his mother had sent nothing, nor had his brother after their fight over summer. He should have expected it, but it still caused a slight stinging sensation in his chest.

His cousin Andromeda sent him a muggle card with love from her husband Ted and their daughter, neither of which he had met. He placed it proudly on his bedside table, next to the muggle sweets his Uncle Alphard had sent. The foursome proceeded to wrestle each other back to their beds then, seeing as it was a Saturday, slept until noon.

When they finally made their way down to the Great Hall for some well deserved lunch, Sirius began to get suspicious. James and Remus were unusually quiet, and kept exchanging small smirks and amused glances. When they walled through the huge doors of the Hall, all became clear.

The tables were full to breaking point of nothing but cake. Chocolate cake, Victoria cake, Carrot cake, Cream cakes - everything sweet and sickly and covered in sugar and icing. Sirius swallowed to stop himself from drooling. His eyes flickered to the ceiling. It was overcast with grey clouds and threatening rain, as could be expected for October in Scotland, but just below that majesty of magic was a much simpler enchantment that drew his gaze.

The hundreds of candles that normally spread across the vast space had been arranged to spell out the words 'Help Yourselves' in huge glowing letters. Over towards the Slytherin end of the room were smaller words - 'Go on. You know you want to'.

Sirius started to laugh. This was great. But his thoughts were interrupted by a huge exploding splat sound that echoed through the hall, cutting across the chattering students. At the Hufflepuff Table Benny Abbot, a small plump boy with sandy hair and baby-blue eyes, had attempted to cut a cake. Clearly it had protested to such treatment, and imploded.

This time, Sirius couldn't stop the laughter if he wanted to. Benny looked like a toddler - covered in cake and icing, eyes wide with shock, glancing around the room waiting for someone to swoop down and punish him.

The whole room erupted into noise again when a Gryffindor third-year decided to test the charm by trying a different cake. This one, too, expanded and the burst like a balloon, covering the boy and his neighbours in chocolate sponge. A rebellious Ravenclaw followed suit, and soon the puddings were splattering left right and centre.

Sirius turned to his friends, beaming with delight, and them jumped at them and pulled them into a hug. It lasted only a few seconds, then he shoved James into the table to their left, where he landed in a Devonshire split, and Pete to right, where he slipped in some jam and fell heavily on his arse.

' This is brilliant, Moony!' He said taking the other boy by the shoulders. Remus tried to look surprised at the credit he was being given, and failed only because of the twinkle in his eyes. ' Come on, I know these two Pillocks didn't research touch activated expanding charms! That's post-NEWT work.'

' Hm,' the werewolf replied, grinning. ' You have a point.'

Sirius looked back over his shoulder to further appreciate the chaos, then turned back to add another 'brilliant'. He didn't get the chance.

' This wouldn't be anything to do with you boys now, would it?'

Sirius looked up at the stern face of Minerva McGonagall, and put on his best smile.

' I don't know what you mean, Professor. We'd never do anything so daring. Or messy.'

' No. Not like the Jelly incident on your last birthday, Mr Black. Or the Great Jam Disaster the year before that. You are, of course, notorious for spending your birthday celebrating quietly in your dormitories.'

Without missing a beat Sirius stepped forward, only realising as he moved round him that he had turned Remus around, still clutching his shoulders, and had been using him effectively as a human shield. He made a mental note to apologise for it later, but he'd probably forget anyway. He stopped about a foot away from his Head of House, and gazed up at her slightly alarmed expression.

' You remembered my birthday,' He said, with what he hoped sounded like adoration. ' That's so sweet, Professor.'

' That is hardly the point, Mr Black,' she said, but he caught the pink flush creeping up her cheeks.

' You're right, of course,' he said, reaching out and grabbing her hand. ' This simply isn't the place, my love. Later. Punish me if you must!'

They had gathered rather a crowd, and McGonagall delicately cleared her throat and straightened her back ad she prised her hand away. ' Twenty points from Gryffindor,' she said, maintaining her dignity and most of her calm. ' And detention tomorrow afternoon, the four of you.'

' You're worth it,' Sirius stage whispered, leaning in a bit closer. The Professors cheeks were definitely stained red when she turned promptly on her heel and walked away.

' I can't believe you sometimes,' Remus mumbled from behind him.

Sirius shrugged. ' It worked didn't it.'

Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed the nearest bit of cake and stuffed it into his mouth. Marauder Birthdays are wonderful.

Okay, here's the next chapter.

I'm sorry it's taken a few days, I've got a project due in on Monday so computer time has been a bit limited. I have got it all tonight though, so I am hoping to get another one up for you either tonight or tomorrow morning.

Anyway, this is chapter 5 and I was wondering what everyone thinks. Do the characters seem right? The group dynamic? And the format of the story itself, is it working for you?

Feedback keeps me going! Thanks for reading! Danke! Merci! Tak!