El's birthday, May 10th, fell on a Monday that year, just over a week after the Hogsmeade attack, and in true marauder style, the day was made as memorable as possible, although El had warned everyone in advance that they were banned from singing 'Happy Birthday' to her all day.
At far-too-early o'clock, El was woken by James pulling the covers off her body, blasting ABBA from the record player in the common room. He stood at the foot of her bed, having put on clothes since he'd woken up, holding the duvet in both hands.
"HAAAPPY BIRTHDAY, LETTER!" he shouted. "Get up and get dressed."
El groaned and tried to pull the covers back up over her bare legs. "What time is it?" she grumbled, her eyes still closed.
James climbed onto the bed and hovered over her, "It's morning. Now get up." he placed a kiss on El's jaw, then trailed them up to her mouth, their lips connecting. His tongue glided against hers, shaking any remnants of sleep from her body.
"Prongs, your job was to wake her up, not to have sex with her!" a voice called from the other room.
They both chuckled into the kiss. "Happy birthday, love," James mumbled against her lips. "Now put some clothes on. As lovely as your tits are, i don't want Pads to see them." He picked up one of his jumpers from the floor and threw it at El, hitting her square in the face.
A quidditch jersey-clad Eleanor plodded out to the common room, followed by James, where Sirius, Peter, Remus and Marlene were waiting for her. They all ran forward and wrapped her in a group hug, each cheering about their friend's eighteenth.
"Yeh yeh, get off me all of you," she shoved them off with a playful glare.
They all took several steps back and settled themselves on the sofas. "Presents!" James exclaimed, clapping his hands together.
"I'm going first! I'm going first!" Marlene leapt up and passed El a fairly large box wrapped in brown paper.
El laughed at her best friend's excitement, tore the wrapping paper off and opened the box. Inside was a chunky pair of black Doc Marten boots.
"I knew you left your old ones when you. . ." Marlene cleared her throat awkwardly, "-when you moved in with the Potters, so i got you new ones!" she finished with a smile.
"Thanks, Marls," El smiled back and reached out to hug her friend.
"Happy eighteenth, El. I can already see your grey hairs coming through," Marlene laughed.
"Piss off."
"I'm next!" Peter leapt up this time, handing her a smaller package wrapped in the same paper.
El chuckled as she unwrapped it, revealing a metal pin, almost identical to her head girl badge, that read 'world's worst head girl'.
"I'll wear it with pride, Pete," El winked with a laugh, pinning it to the jumper she was wearing.
"I guess i'll go next," Remus chuckled, leaning over Sirius to hand El a book-shaped parcel.
It was a photo album, one filled with pictures of everyone over the years, some moving, some muggle. El flicked through the pages with a nostalgic smile, "Thank you," she breathed, not taking her eyes off the pages. Remus gave her a kind, tight-lipped smile and nodded.
"Pads, you go. I wanna give El hers in private," James said. Sirius wiggled his eyebrows. "No, nothing like that—well-" James scratched the back of his neck, "It's just a bit more personal."
El scanned James' face for any sign to give away what he was thinking, he laughed at her expression and squeezed a hand on her thigh.
"You don't need to look so suspicious, you'll find out later. It's nothing bad, i promise."
El nodded and turned her attention to Sirius, who was holding a small, black box.
"It's pureblood tradition for a witch to receive jewellery from her mother on her eighteenth birthday," Sirius began, "And since a certain evil cunt is dead, i'm taking that duty upon myself as the brother you never asked for." He opened the box to show her a mismatched pair of earrings. "It's to represent your favourite house," the pointed to one of them, which was a ruby surrounded by gold "And the unfortunate house that you and McKinnon ended up in," he pointed to the other, which was an emerald, surrounded by silver.
"Oi!" Marlene shouted.
"Sirius," El whispered, looking at the boy in shock. She suddenly wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him tighter than expected.
Sirius laughed and hugged her back. "Do you like them?"
"Yes!" El pulled away, "Thank you." There was a beat of silence. "Alright all of you, out. I wanna get my present from Bambi."
"Well, happy shagging you two," Peter said as he stood.
"We won't be shagging! I want my present," El chuckled.
"The two aren't mutually exclusive, my darling," Marlene kissed El's cheek as she left, winking before disappearing out the tapestry.
Remus left, El having to ignore his over exaggerated wink, followed by Peter and Sirius.
El sat back down on the sofa as everyone's footsteps began to fade and James pulled a present out from under the coffee table.
"This is the first of two things, actually. But this is the only one you're getting now."
She finished pulling the rest of the wrapping paper off and she read the title of the book the was now holding.
The house of Burke; a history.
"There's a chapter about your father," James paused to allow El to flick through the book. "I thought you'd want to read it since you said that you didn't know much about him."
The page finally settled on chapter 14, where, under the title, was a photo of a man who had the same blue-black hair as El, with green eyes and dark, bushy eyebrows. He looked young, around twenty, and next to that photo, was another one of him and a man around the same age, standing next to the sign of Borgin and Burkes.
El blinked, staring at the page with her mouth slightly open, her eyes flicking rapidly over the words.
"Where did you find this?" she whispered.
"I have my sources."
"James, i-" El cut herself off by crashing her lips against James'.
After a short minute, James pulled back. "As much as i'd love to continue, class starts in half an hour and you need to get ready and eat breakfast."
***
The day successfully went by without 'Happy Birthday' being sung at any of the meal times, and come seven o'clock, in true marauder style, a party was being held in the room of requirement. In hindsight, a party on a Monday evening several weeks before their exams probably was not the best idea, but everyone attending did not seem too bothered.
El arrived several minutes late, and the room was already filled with students. Bunting was draped across the walls, along with a banner reading: 'Happy Birthday, El!', that had been charmed to flash different colours.
"El!"
Theo pushed his way through the crowd of people, holding what looked to be a very expensive necklace.
"Happy birthday, cousin!" he hugged her tightly. "This is for you," he handed her the necklace. It was chunky silver, littered with emeralds and diamonds.
"This is for me?" El raised a dark eyebrow as she took the necklace from Theo's hands.
"Yep. It was Belvina's. I found it just lying around at Easter," he said casually.
"You're giving my something that you stole from my dead mother?"
"Yes. I thought you'd want to either destroy it or sell it," Theo grinned
El laughed, "Thanks." she said as she tucked it away in her pocket.
"Come on, you're far too sober for a birthday girl," Theo grabbed her wrist and pulled her further into the room, towards the drinks table. He poured her a fairly generous glass of firewhiskey before refilling his own. "Cheers," he tapped their two glasses together and they both took a sip.
"Ahh, there you are!" An already highly intoxicated Remus stumbled over to the pair, having to use the table to regain his balance.
"Have a good night, El," Theo patted his cousin on the shoulder and walked back to mingle with the mass of students.
Remus swayed slightly as he began to pour himself another drink. "I was looking for you for ages," he slurred, having to shout to be heard over the music.
"Well you found me," she chuckled. "Where's the others?"
Remus made some sounds that were not quite words and took El's wrist, pulling her to where their four friends were standing, along with Dorcas, Morgan and Evan. El tucked herself into James' side, his arm instantly going to her waist.
"You invited Hufflepuff and Rosier?" she made a face when she looked up at James.
"Nope, i want them here just as much as you do," James grumbled, glaring at the couple who were several feet away.
"Did you plan all this?" El gestured around at the large room.
"I won't take all the credit, but i had a part in it," James smiled down at her, intoxication glistening in his eyes. "It was an open invite to everyone exce-WHAT THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE?!"
James' eyebrows were furrowed in anger as he started at someone across the other side of the room. El followed his gaze to where Regulus was standing awkwardly by the wall.
After hearing James shout, the other three marauders had also turned their attention to the younger black brother, all of them storming over to him.
"Oi! All of you stop it!" El ran in front to block their path, "It's my birthday, so you do as i say! Leave him alone."
The four all clenched their jaws and begrudgingly turned away. El spun around and walked cautiously over to where Regulus was standing, seemingly taking particular interest at the contents of his cup.
"Reg, wasn't expecting you to be here."
Regulus tensed and looked up at the girl in front of him. "Sorry, i can leave if you want," he said stiffly.
"No!" El answered, a little too quickly. She sighed and took a large gulp of her drink. "I just wasn't expecting it, is all."
"None of your friends want me here." Regulus motioned to where the marauders were all glaring at him, the four of them pretending to be consumed in conversation when El caught them looking.
"Good thing it's not their birthday then," she smiled.
"You should get back to them, i just came to wish you a happy birthday," he hugged her tightly, as if that one action could make up for everything that had been going on.
"Thanks."
Regulus finished his drink in one swig and left, leaving El standing alone.
"Well at least he's gone," James said, walking up behind El to place his chin on top of her head.
"Fuck off, James," she snapped, walking swiftly away from him and back towards the drinks table.
"Woahh, what's got your knickers in a twist?" James ran after her, trying his best to dodge people on his way.
"I told you to fuck off, so fuck off." El poured herself another drink, even bigger than the last and took a large sip from it.
"El-"
"Go away, Potter."
She stormed off and merged herself into the sea of people dancing to the music. She ended up finishing her drink after only a few minutes, hoping to still enjoy the remainder of her birthday.
"Considering it's your birthday, you don't look very happy," an unfamiliar voice whispered in El's ear.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied, turning around to see who had spoken.
Behind her, stood a tall boy with dark skin, hair and eyes, presumably a sixth or a seventh year, but not one that she recognised. "You need a refill?" he asked with a kind smile. "And i'm guessing by the look on your face that you have no idea who i am." he chuckled and took El's cup from her hands, refilling it. "I'm Marcus, Marcus Harby, Ravenclaw seventh year."
"That's nice," El took her drink back and began to walk away.
"Not much of a talker, huh?"
"Nope."
El swerved her way through the bustle of students, Marcus following her. "I heard your argument with your boyfriend earlier, are you okay?"
"He's not my boyfriend," El said, casually taking sips from her cup as she avoided Marcus' gaze.
"Oh?"
"Doesn't mean i'm looking for one either, Harby."
"Right," Marcus rocked back and forth awkwardly on the balls of his feet.
El made a small humming noise and walked away, finishing off her third glass of firewhiskey.
***
By the time the clock struck one, El had lost count of how many firewhiskeys she'd had, but was having a significantly better time than earlier in the night as she was now dancing and singing dramatically in the centre of the room with Sirius and Marlene. James was sulking in the corner, also several firewhiskeys deep, leaning against the wall as he watched the head girl enjoy her birthday, any thoughts of their argument wiped from her head with the more alcohol she consumed.
El stumbled slightly, her drunken movements now messy as she struggled to stand up straight.
James rushed over and held her up. "You alright?" he asked her, still helping her remain on her feet.
"M'fine," she shoved him off and took another swig of her drink, ignoring the fact that half of it had spilled on the floor.
"You need to go to bed," James held her wrist and lightly tried to pull her towards the door.
"Fuck off, James," she whined, pulling her arm from his grasp.
"El, you're drunk."
"And it's my birthday, lighten up," El said into the rim of her cup before finishing off what felt like her hundredth glass. She stumbled again, James managing to catch her before she fell to the floor and removing the empty cup from her hand.
"Not any more, it's past midnight," James sighed, using his hold on her body to walk them to the door. "And you have school tomorrow, so you're going to bed."
"I can walk by myself," El huffed, shoving James off her again but continuing to exit the room.
The walk back to the common room was practically silent aside from the sound of their footsteps bouncing off the stone walls. The uneven, drunken rhythm of El's, contrasting with the methodical, slightly less drunk rhythm of James'.
That night was the first night they'd slept in separate beds since the final quidditch match.
***
a/n: word count 2.5k
that first screenshots is from a chapter i posted back in february, the other one was taken today, 2 months later. that is fucking insane. thank you so much all of u i genuinely love u all xxxx
pls vote if u enjoyed this chapter x