October had already come around the corner and Eleanor was sitting in the common room with Doris and Kathy. The girls were talking about Amelia's upcoming birthday on the thirteenth, which was tomorrow.
"I just hope she likes our presents," Doris said, magically wrapping the jar of crystallized pineapples and putting a bow around it.
Eleanor smiled to herself. "She will, Amelia likes everything she gets," she said as she hung over the bed to hide a present in her trunk.
Kathy nodded and looked very content with what they had done. In total, the three girls had bought fifteen pounds worth of sweets at Honeydukes. They honestly did not know what else to buy her, but Amelia loved sweets, so they couldn't go wrong with that.
When she sat back up straight she heard a loud 'tick' on the floor. The three of them looked up immediately and checked where the sound came from. But Eleanor already knew, and she had to talk her way out.
"Hey what's that?" Doris pointed at the pebble laying on the floor. Eleanor's heart pounded in her chest.
"Oh er- it fell from my pocket," she said hastily picking it up and putting it back in her pocket. She hoped they would just let it go, because honestly, what was going to be her excuse for having a pebble in her robe pocket?
But to her surprise, Kathy just smiled and Doris shrugged. They then resumed what they were doing.
That storm had to come, and it had to come soon, or else that bloody pebble would be the death of her.
***
"Happy birthday dear Liaaaa," Eleanor sang solo in an exaggerated manner.
"Happy birthday to youuuu!" the three girls ended in unison. Amelia laughed and clapped. Her face was red with embarrassment as some other Gryffindors looked over at her.
"Thank you guys," Amelia said with a chuckle. "But why did we have to do this in the common room again?" she asked, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Because it's your birthday Lia! And everyone should know!" Kathy exclaimed.
She was always very excited when it came to birthdays, and she insisted on them singing the birthday song in the common room every time it was someone's birthday. They always acted as they loathed it, but in the end, they loved Kathy for her enthusiasm.
"Did someone say birthday?" a boy's voice came from the other side of the room. A voice Eleanor knew belonged to Sirius Black.
She smiled and looked up to see the four Marauders making their way over to where they were sitting.
Remus frowned. "You never told us it was your birthday, now we don't have any presents," he looked over at his mates, but only Sirius seemed to care.
Amelia furrowed her eyebrows and looked up at Remus who was standing behind the sofa she was sitting on. "Why would you have to get me presents?" she chuckled, sounding a bit confused.
"Well, we're your friends," he shrugged. "They got you presents as well," he waved his hand at Eleanor, Kathy, and Doris.
"Well, I've had my birthdays here the past three years as well, but you didn't really seem to care then," she said with a soft laugh.
Eleanor bit the inside of her cheek and threw a sideways glance at her brother. But he clearly didn't know what to do.
"I just- Well I-," he looked away and cleared his throat. "Never mind," he mumbled. Remus put his hands in his pockets and climbed out through the portrait hole.
James and Peter followed Remus without hesitating, leaving Sirius behind. He ran a hand through his hair and looked very puzzled.
"I have no idea what just happened, but happy birthday Lia," he smiled down at the birthday girl. "We should celebrate tonight, Three Broomsticks, seven-thirty!" he yelled before climbing through the portrait hole. Amelia laughed and shook her head.
"Can you believe this guy? It's a Monday, we can't even go to Hogsmeade," she chuckled.
"Yup, he really is something else," Eleanor grinned as she gave Amelia her gift. Doris and Kathy followed and as expected, Amelia liked all of it.
Since it was just a regular school day, Amelia couldn't really enjoy her birthday until after dinner since they had classes until four o'clock. So when they were done eating in the Great Hall, the girls decided they would have dessert in the common room.
Once there, Amelia grabbed all of the sweets she had gotten that morning and they sat down in front of the fireplace. Eleanor helped herself to Liquorice Wands and Peppermint Toads, Fudge Flies, and Jelly Slugs. But not the crystallized pineapple, those were reserved for Amelia. And Amelia only.
Amelia, Kathy, Doris, and Eleanor were just talking about their friendship and about the past three years at Hogwarts when a group of loud boys entered the common room.
"Hullo ladies," Sirius said with a grin. He hopped over the sofa and sat down next to Eleanor. She gave him a strange look.
Remus rolled his eyes. "Sirius just leave them alone," he said.
"But that would be a shame Lupin, this is not a party," Sirius said with his arms spread, obviously meaning the group of girls who were stuffing themselves with sugar.
Eleanor nudged him in the elbow. "Hey! We're fun!" she said in an offended tone. Sirius turned to face her and just snorted.
"No I agree with Sirius actually, they could use some help," James said and put a reassuring hand on Sirius' shoulder.
"I don't trust this," Kathy said, squinting her eyes at the two boys. Doris shook her head.
Amelia put one last crystallized pineapple in her mouth and then closed the jar. "Okay," she started with her mouth full. "Show us." She looked up at them with a smirk. James and Sirius both had a mischievous look in their eyes.
"Okay, let's go then," Sirius said. He got up from his seat and went up the stairs to his dorm. James grinned and went after him.
Kathy and Doris looked very uncertain unlike Amelia and Eleanor, who had already reached the stairs. Remus noticed the expressions on their faces and chuckled.
"Trust me, it's safe up there," he reassured them. So the other two girls went upstairs as well, followed by Peter and Remus.
But when they were all inside the boys' messy dormitory, James and Sirius were nowhere to be found. Remus smiled to himself and shook his head as he sat down on the edge of his bed.
"So what is going to happen," Amelia said, sitting down in front of James' bed.
Eleanor sat down on Sirius' bed because he wasn't there, so she might as well take advantage of it. Peter took place on his own bed, so Doris decided to sit in front of his and Kathy in front of Remus'.
Remus ran a hand through his hair. "Well, knowing them they're off to the Kitchens," he said casually.
Amelia's eyes widened. "How do they know where the Kitchens are and how to get in?" she asked. Eleanor looked up at her brother as well. Why had he never told her this?
"I can't tell you that of course, brothers code," he said with a grin. Amelia rolled her eyes.
Remus was right. About fifteen minutes later James and Sirius appeared through the door with a basket filled with all kinds of goodies. Sirius set the basket down in the middle of the room and handed everyone a bottle.
"Firewhisky?!" Doris exclaimed. James grinned, but the other girls looked a bit uncertain as well.
Sirius' smug look turned into a smirk as he said, "Don't tell me you guys have never had a drink before." The four of them avoided his gaze
Then he shrugged and popped the lid off his bottle. "Everything has its first right?"
Eleanor didn't know why, but his grey eyes were fixed on her as he said those words.
Sirius then let the bottle opener pass around so everyone could open theirs as well. Once that was done, he stood in the middle of the room and raised his bottle.
"To Amelia, a very happy birthday, and many more to come," he smiled at her. Amelia blushed and wore a smile from ear to ear.
"To Amelia!" the others yelled together.
Eleanor saw Sirius, Remus, and James take a big gulp from their firewhisky. It seemed like Peter only pretended as if he took a sip. Doris and Kathy both just out down their bottles; they didn't like to drink. But to her surprise, Amelia was drinking as well, carefully, but she was drinking. Eleanor bit her lip and looked down at her own bottle, still full to the brim.
The mattress sank as Sirius sat down next to her.
"I see you've decided to finally join me on the softer grounds of our fortress?" he said with a grin. Eleanor let out a laugh and watched him take another sip.
Sirius' gaze shortly landed on her firewhisky before it returned to rest on the side of her face.
"You're not gonna drink?" he asked her. Eleanor shrugged. "It's really good, trust me. The first sip is a bit nasty I have to admit, but after that it's great," he chuckled.
Eleanor smiled, still debating whether she should do it.
How bad could it be?
She put the bottle to her lips and took a sip. Her eyes watered a bit as she felt the liquid go down her throat, leaving behind a soft, burning sensation. But as she opened her eyes again, she felt her body go all warm and fuzzy inside.
She looked over at Sirius, who was staring at her with an amused expression on his face.
"Wow, that's so weird," she laughed. Sirius sniggered and nodded. Her eyes met Amelia's, who was shaking her head and laughing a lot.
Two hours later, Eleanor had definitely gotten the hang of it. Doris and Kathy had already gone off to bed. They weren't really feeling it and they had to get up early for class the next morning.
"You know," Eleanor said earnestly, opening her third firewhisky. "I love you guys." She nodded, not to something in peculiar, but just in agreement with herself.
James broke down into laughter along with Amelia. Peter just chuckled, he hadn't drunk anything. Remus was just glaring at his little sister from his bed. He loved Sirius with all his heart, but he also didn't really trust him with these things.
Sirius sighed happily and wrapped an arm around Eleanor's shoulder. She smiled and leaned into his embrace.
"I love you too Ella," he said before gulping down the last drops of firewhisky left in his bottle.
Eleanor roared with laughter and ruffled up his hair. He grinned down at her and put down his bottle. In the meantime Amelia had dozed off, her empty bottle still in her hand.
Eleanor felt weird. She had a sort of lurching feeling in her stomach as she looked up into Sirius' eyes. But it was a good feeling. She noticed the look in his eyes soften as he wet his lips with his tongue. There was that coconut smell again...
"Oookay, let's get you to bed missy," Remus interrupted them as he lifted Eleanor up in his arms, making her drop the bottle in her hands. The firewhisky spilled all over Sirius' bedsheets. But he didn't seem to care.
"Noooooo," Eleanor cried out, but she didn't make any effort to release herself from her brother's arms.
He put her down and supported her with one arm. Peter gently woke up Amelia and helped her up. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"Bye guys," Eleanor pouted. "Thank you for the great night!" she waved dramatically and then let Remus lead her and Amelia out of their dorm and down to the common room.
All the while James noticed that Sirius couldn't keep his eyes off Eleanor. It was getting very obvious now. Sirius acted as nothing happened and started cleaning up the mess on his bed.
"You okay mate?" James asked him as he removed the mess with a flick of his wand. Peter stopped what he was doing and looked over at his two friends.
But Sirius just sat down on the edge of his now clean bed and shook his head.
"Something's wrong with me," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair.
James shrugged and had an unimpressed look on his face. He turned to face Peter.
"I told you if we were patient he'd find out himself."