Chapter Sixty One
In a style fairly typical of the Marauders, but above all of James and Sirius, a fairly rambunctious party was organised to celebrate the beginning of the new year.
“Come on Lil,” Sirius whined as he sat on the kitchen counter, “it’ll be fun.”
“But why would I want to sit there and watch everyone else get drunk when I can’t touch anything?” she complained. “It’s like… the worst kind of torture.”
“Look, don’t complain at me about that. It’s not my fault you’re pregnant.”
“But it is your fault you want a party here.”
“James wants a party too!” he cried.
“Yeah I do!” shouted a voice from some distant part of the house. “Come on Lil it’ll be amazing!”
“James just wants a party because you want a party.”
Sirius pouted and widened his eyes at her. “That’s not fair. Stop casting aspersions on my perfect, flawless character.” She glared at him and crossed her arms. “Okay maybe I suggested it but you know you want a party too. It’ll be nice to see everyone again. It’ll be fun. And it’s an important year! It’s a whole new decade! Does that mean anything to you? Does it?”
“But it’s so stressful.”
“Don’t give me that Lily. You love planning parties. I bet you’ve been thinking about having one secretly since the summer but you’re just saying no because James and I are suggesting it.”
She snorted and turned away from him, moving to sit at the table with her tea. “How did you ever guess?”
Sirius whooped in triumph, knowing that he had destroyed her - admittedly already weak - argument and ignoring her sarcasm. “Magic,” he said. She glared at him again and he shrugged. “See the thing that you forget about me Lil is that I have lived with you for seven years. We’re friends too, right?”
“Right. Unfortunately,” she replied.
“I’m going to ignore that cruel and wounding comment due to the possibility of having a party,” he said, “but the fact that we’re friends means that I do actually know a little bit about you. And even though James probably knows more - because all he does is study you and stalk you - I do know a fair bit. Also I live with your best friend.”
“But you haven’t lived with me for a while,” James said as he entered the kitchen. “Also I so do not stalk Lily.”
“James you scared away pretty much every single one of her potential boyfriends when we were in Hogwarts.”
“Er no I didn’t,” he said. “I think you’ll find that the fact I was so vocal about my adoration for my now-wife just scared some of them away because they knew that they could never match up to me. I never knowingly did anything to interfere. I wouldn’t do that anyway, that’s way too creepy. And anyway, having a stellar reputation and constantly being annoying doesn’t technically count as stalking her so…”
“So anyway,” said Sirius, rapidly changing the subject since he knew that the argument was lost, “about the party…”
Thus, when the new year dawned, a lot of their old friends from Hogwarts were listening to the radio in their sitting room. Only Lily and Alice weren’t drinking, but the happiness of all their other friends went some way towards overwhelming their annoyance about not being able to celebrate properly.
“Happy New Year Lily!” shouted James as he grabbed her and planted a kiss square on her lips. “This is going to be the best year ever! And the year after that will be even better!”
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The Next Great Adventure (A Marauders Fan Fic)
Fanfiction(Companion piece to Dwelling on Dreams) James Potter has been Lily's enemy since the first day that they both started at Hogwarts. She has never been interested in his being his friend but, when they and their friends return for their fifth year at...
