The Losing One || Sirius Black

28. Hall of Hexes

James Potter

Monday, 27th March 1972.

Hogwarts

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES!"

He should have expected it, but James didn't believe that there was an actual universe where all of his friends would wake up before him, after all he was the morning person among them.

Just like they did to Sirius and Remus, James found himself underneath a pile of bodies wishing him a happy birthday. The happiness inside of him just grew at the thought of his friends actually managing to wake up this early just to surprise him. It was a beautiful gesture especially because all of them liked to sleep in.

The boys insisted that James should open his gifts before they go to breakfast, which he didn't really mind. Remus got him a bunch of chocolate frogs, it became somewhat of a tradition for the two of them to gift each other those. Peter surprised him with a month's subscription to Quidditch Weekly magazine, but Sirius' present took the cake.

He gifted James a book titled The History of Chudley Cannons: How to lead your team to greatness. It just came out a few months ago so the boy must have heard James talking about it. Sirius explained how he wrote to Mr. and Mrs. Potter and asked them to buy and sent him James and Remus' gifts. He couldn't ask his parents and the Potters were the only other normal adults he knew. And he didn't want to bother Andromeda since she just got settled into a new apartment.

Needless to say, James was over the moon from gratitude towards his friends.

The whole morning was magnificent and everything was just like James wanted. The Marauders made their way to the Great Hall while bowing and acting like he was royalty. Of course, the rose petals were now a must for these kinds of celebrations.

As they entered the hall, the birthday song started, but compared to Remus' classical rendition, his was more chaotic especially considering that Sirius was jumping up and down like some adrenalin freak casting the rose petals spell at everything in sight. Remus and Peter clapped their hands to the rhythm which the other students joined in like always. James loved it.

The trio prepared his breakfast and there was finally some quietness while everyone ate. The rose petals were unfortunately vanished by Anthony, but nobody really complained. Of course, the relaxed atmosphere was quickly changed back to celebratory one. On the way to Transfiguration, every student that passed them had to congratulate James. Sirius even made some portraits say happy birthday to him which was one of the highlights of the day.

McGonagall wasn't so approving of the erratic atmosphere in her classroom so she made the Marauders change their seats today. She scattered them all over the room, one in each corner. McGonagall didn't even want to give them a desk partner because of their bad influence, so the Marauders were left to sit alone.

James didn't mind this change one bit because he still didn't figure out what he wanted to do tonight so this was the perfect time to think. The previous prank on Snape was so good that it still made all of them laugh even two weeks later. Just the complete shock, cluelessness and confusion on the Slytherins' faces were priceless.

Because the high of that prank still hasn't died down, James didn't want to do another one so quickly. Perfection always takes time and if they are distracted with something else, like Snape's reaction to drinking syrup, their next mission would be sloppy and the Marauders needed to keep their reputation.

Then, when it came to the castle exploration, they still haven't found anything about the 1492. Quidditch World Cup which was pretty annoying. Compared to his first semester, James found himself at one of the library desks more and more often. It was always due to research for some prank, but the Marauders became regular library occupants. Madam Pince clearly didn't like this fact and she was not shy of showing it by giving James and Sirius up and down looks every time the two passed her desk.