minnow // sirius black

six

"Lily! Let me put it on!" I protested as we reached the Common Room, where Sirius was sitting with Remus, four piles of presents sitting on the floor in a square. One of the piles was sitting slightly closer to Sirius than the others, so I knew it was mine.

Lily came to a quick stop, dropping my arm and leaving me there, in very little clothing. In full view of our male friends.

Remus looked away as he realized I didn't have the robe on, but Sirius' eyes were locked on me. I could feel my entire body turning red as I quickly pulled the robe on and moved to sit beside him. I hid my face with my hair, which was not pulled back or braided, and tumbled down to below my ribs. I gave Lily my best 'I hate you' look, before finally looking at a blushing Sirius.

"Devious little pixie," I said just loud enough for Lily to hear, and I knew she did when she howled with laughter. Sirius laughed too as Remus snorted. "You go first."

"No, you go first, you're the baby of the group." Lily teased.

I growled at her, just the slightest, but she shrieked in laughter.

She wasn't wrong - I was the youngest of the Marauder's, being born minutes after James. Sirius was the oldest of us, born on the 3rd of November the year before the rest of us were born. Next was Lily, born on the 30th of January, 1960. Remus was a little over two weeks older than James and I, born on the 10th of March. James and I were born on the 27th of March.

I didn't really know when Peter was born, just that he was born before Remus, but after Lily. He refused to tell us, as he knew we'd throw him a party in the Common Room, and he was quite nervous and shy.

So I picked up the smallest gift, but was stopped.

"Open that later," Remus said, and I raised both eyebrows. If possible, they'd both be off of my face. "Sirius made me say it, so you wouldn't freak out."

"Hey!" Sirius smacked Remus' arm, to which he shrugged and smiled. "It's not anything special, you just can't open it first."

"Okay," I said, drawing it out. I picked up another gift, and held it up. "Can I open this one?"

Sirius snorted, but when there was no protest, I began to tear off the wrapping paper.

I could tell it was a gift from James, as it was wrapped in blue paper that was dotted with tiny baby fish, plus there was a giant 'MINNOW' scrawled across the top in sloppy writing.

It was a box of candies that I had been told to avoid when I was sick, it was just recently that I found out it was safe for me to eat them. I smiled like an idiot.

Remus went next, opening a scarf that I had knitted. He raised an eyebrow.

"Mum taught me over the summer. I get bored during BTs," I shrugged as he snorted. "Check the end."

He laughed when he saw the bright orange wolf on one end of the black scarf. I smiled.

Next was Lily, who opened a smaller box. It was a small little pendant bracelet that James had gotten her, but didn't sign. He told me he felt she would be more likely to accept it if she didn't know it was from him.

I disagreed, knowing how kind of a gesture she'd take it as, but I let him leave the 'from:' blank.

There was this adorable, shy smile on her face, and she didn't ask who it was from. She didn't even move, she just held it, admiring it for a long time. Eventually we just moved on.

Sirius was next, being the old man of the group.

He opened the gift from James first, which was actually a terrible idea, as it was a prank gift.

I didn't try to warn him, simply sharing a look with Remus as he tore the paper off.

When he opened the box, he jumped to his feet, nearly falling back over as multiple toy spiders crawled over the edge.

I was extremely disappointed he didn't scream like a girl.

He frowned deeply, giving me and Remus equally evil glares. Lily was cackling as I was grinning. Remus was trying not to laugh, but it was a miserable attempt.

As soon as Lily was done cackling, I went to my next gift.

The next hour was spent like that, going one by one, opening each gift individually.

James had gotten me a similar charm bracelet to Lily's, which revealed who had gotten Lily her's. She blushed like a school girl when I said it was from James. It came with a stag on it. Lily's had a small flower that resembled a lily on her's. Sirius and Remus had gotten me charms for the bracelet, the same way we all had gotten Lily charms. Sirius' charm was the small box he'd told me to open later.

I had gotten her a small fish, while Remus had gotten her a crescent moon. James had sent a second one, a hoof, and Sirius got a small dog that resembled a pug. She found that particular detail hilarious.

James' charm was the stag, Remus gotten me a small howling wolf, while Sirius had gotten another dog charm - this time it closely resembled his actual animagi form, and was even transfigured to be black. Lily promised to get me a charm for my birthday, as she had no idea that was the theme.

I also got a charm from my parents, which was a tiny fake blood bag that had a black O- on it. I snickered, telling Lily to make sure I thanked them for such an amazing charm.

Sirius found it worthy of howling laughter.

Among the small things, like a new pair of gloves and a hat from my mum for each of us, there was a beautiful necklace that Remus shyly told me was from his mum.

It was made with beautiful blue beads that had wisps of black within them, as well as white and black beads that looked metallic. There were a total of 6 blue beads, and 12 of each of the white and black ones. There were 6 sets of beads separated with twisted thin black thread with a knot on each end of the sets, keeping them together. The pattern was white, black, blue, black, white, twisted thread and repeat.

"It's beautiful, Remus."

He smiled the littlest bit, avoiding looking at Lily or Sirius.

Neither of them knew about the arrangement he and I had for the last four years, but James had to learn how to brew wolfsbane for him when I was too sick to do it.

I could tell they were both confused, but I thanked Remus anyway, and motioned for him to open his next gift.

By the end, I had a wizard's camera from my parents, the charm bracelet and charms, the necklace from Remus' mum, an entire box of candy from James, and a muggle camera from Lily, which she said was great for photos of scenery or plants.

When we all were gathering our gifts, and cleaning up the wrapping paper, Sirius quietly told me to meet him in the Astronomy tower when I could. I agreed.

I followed Lily up the stairs to our dorms, and quickly changed into an over-sized sweater, which I wore alone, and a pair of black leggings. I pulled on some taller boots, and stuck my wand in a little pocket my mom had sewn into the left boot.

"I'm gonna watch the sunrise with Sirius," Lily's head whipped towards me quicker than I thought possible. I half expected her head to fall off. I sheepishly crossed my arms over my chest. "Its still dark out, so there's time, and he loves the sunrise and set."

"And you know this because?"

"He told me. We watch the sunset together almost daily."

"You do?" Her face continued the descent into pure confusion. Her eyebrows were so furrowed I was sure they'd connect, and she sort of resembled a red-haired ostrich with the way her neck was tilted.

"Most of the time I study while he watches it, but its still wonderful."

"Why are you telling me?"

"Because I plan on spilling the beans when I come back."

"How many beans are going to be spilled?" Her face lit up, a massive grin taking over the confusion, she looked excited.

"A lot of beans, Lily. Like... all the beans."

"Well go! Wouldn't want to keep your soulmate waiting!"