five a year of age
🧣
'HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO you! Happy Birthday to you!'
[y/n] opened her eyes to darkness, except for the small flicker of candlelight making its way towards her. A dark, spectacled face hovered behind the light as the five figures approached her bed.
'Happy Birthday dear [y/n]! Happy Birthday to you!'
Alice, Dorcas, Lily, Marlene and Mary laughed as [y/n] sat upright in her bed.
'Make a wish, Black!' Dorcas grinned, thrusting the chocolate cake towards the birthday girl.
'I wish that I never have to be woken up by your singing ever again,' [y/n] stated as the others chuckled. 'It's just as well none of you are in the Frog Choir!'
[y/n] closed her eyes tight before blowing out the candles, the time in which she would have made a wish occupied by the thought of what presents awaited her, namely what Remus had got her from Maestro's.
'Lumos!' Lily whispered, the other girls following suit. 'Happy Birthday, [y/n],' she smiled, hugging her pyjama-clad body in the cold.
'Thank you, ladies,' [y/n] grinned.
'So, to kick-off celebrations,' Marlene started, opening her bedside cabinet and handing [y/n] a bottle, 'I have decided that you deserve a wild day to begin your eighteenth year of life.'
[y/n] smirked as she took the Firewhiskey from the blonde, playing with the scarlet bow Marlene – or more likely, Dorcas – had tied perfectly around the cork of the bottle.
'I,' announced Lily, 'have bought you one of my favourite Muggle plays. It's quite famous – I'm sure you'll love it too.'
[y/n] glanced at the cover of the relatively thin book. It was beige and in the middle was a rather off-putting painting of what she assumed to be Cupid, straddling a heart and dangling a fishing rod over the side as a fish curled in the air. At the top of the page in elaborate cursive handwriting was the name Shakespeare, a Muggle [y/n] was knowledgable of due to his fame even in the Wizarding World, and below that in rather plain capital letters read the title of the play: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
'Thank you, Evans,' [y/n] said sceptically yet with a smile. 'Although I do hope it's not about Cupid's fishing trip down the Black Lake.'
Lily let out a snort. 'It's nothing of the sort.'
Mary bought [y/n] colour-changing scarf, proudly proclaiming that it could change its appearance to suit any outfit, hair colour or eye colour, so it could change to match [y/n] when she metamorphosised.
'Like a chameleon!' Mary exclaimed, whatever that was.
Lily laughed, so it must have been a Muggle creature that [y/n] missed hearing about in Muggle Studies.
'This is from me,' Alice said. 'Frank told me to let you know that it was his idea, to help you when you go into Auror training, so it's technically from him. But he's not at Hogwarts anymore so we'll just pretend it was my idea.'
[y/n] ripped the paper to reveal the cover of a leather-bound book reading, Fitting in: An Auror's Guide to Disguise and Other Essentials. She laughed loudly at the obvious joke behind the gift.
'It's brilliant, Al! This will be very useful, we all know how rubbish I am with blending in.'
'I've been rather typical, sorry,' Dorcas said, passing a small hamper of sweets from Honeydukes.
'Oh, perfect!' [y/n] smiled. 'Midnight feast tonight?'
'We haven't even had breakfast yet,' Mary pointed out.
'I'd better go give Sirius his present before that, actually.'
[y/n] heaved herself out of bed and grabbed her uniform from its pile on the floor before changing in the bathroom quickly. She re-emerged moments later with a toothbrush in her mouth, rummaging through the drawers of her bedside cabinet and eventually found the thin, square package she had been looking for.
'I shall see you all later,' [y/n] said quickly as she descended the dorm stairs with her rucksack slung over one shoulder, finally ready. 'Thank you for everything girls!'
'You're welcome!' they all shouted back.
[y/n] floated across the quiet common room with her Gryffindor robes gliding behind her as she raced up the stone stairs to the boys' dorm room. She burst through the door creating a sound that made it seem as though there had been an explosion. [y/n] presented herself through the doorframe with jazz-hands and a toothy grin plastered across her face.
'It's my birthday!' she yelled.
'Happy Birthday!' the boys chorused.
'Happy Birthday,' Peter squeaked in a high-pitched voice, holding the group's ginger kneazle up to his face.
'Thank you, Minnie,' [y/n] cooed as she scratched the creature behind its ears. 'And Happy Birthday, little brother,' she said, handing Sirius his present. 'Go on, I can see you've already opened the rest of yours.'
'We tried to stop him,' said Peter. 'You know what he's like.'
There was a short laugh from Sirius after the sound of the wrapping paper being ripped open.
'What?' [y/n] asked, snapping her head in her brother's direction.
'Here,' Sirius said, frisbee-ing a similar shaped package to [y/n].
[y/n] peeled back the wrapping paper to reveal an image of a Muggle power station.
'Oh, no,' she giggled. 'Oh, every year.'
'What?' James asked. 'What is it?'
In response, [y/n] simply flipped their records to show the boys the covers – they had both bought each other Pink Floyd's Animals.
James burst out laughing. 'Oh, Godric.'
'Didn't you do that last year?' Peter queried.
'Yeah, they both got ABBA's Arrival,' Remus reminded them with a chuckle.
'Right, come on then you lot,' [y/n] commanded, taking a seat on the end of Remus' bed.
'Me first!' Peter shouted, handing [y/n] a rectangular parcel.
[y/n] untied the string bow and unfolded the thick brown paper to reveal a stack of magazine-like books with Star Wars emblazoned across the fronts in bold, white writing.
'I remembered you mentioned how much you loved studying comics when you did literature in Muggle Studies,' Peter explained. 'So, you know, living in a Muggle village it's easy to come by them and Star Wars is my favourite so I thought you'd like it too and they're making a movie of them which comes out next month so it must be good and –'
'Wormtail, they're amazing,' [y/n] smiled, placing them gently on the bed beside her. 'Don't spoil them for me, though.'
Peter made a motion with his hand as if he was closing a zip across his mouth.
'Me next,' Remus announced, leaning down under the bed. 'Excuse the shoddy packing but you know I'm shit at it.'
Remus dumped very large, very heavy, pile of books on [y/n]'s lap, held together by a blue ribbon.
'Ooh,' [y/n] beamed, eyes shining as she flicked through the multitude of covers.
'That is every single Muggle book that I have ever heard you mention over the summer that you wanted to read,' Remus explained. 'Then at the bottom is some Muggle piano music I grabbed from Maestro's. They didn't have much, but you've always said you felt all those hours of lessons when you were little were wasted.'
'Ah ha!' [y/n] grinned, holding up a score with Moonlight Sonata on the cover. 'Prongs, we can finally put that piano of yours to good use. Thank you, Moony.'
She kissed him on the cheek and turned to James, who was dangling an envelope in the air for [y/n] to take.
'What's this?' [y/n] asked, opening the beige paper. 'Dear Miss [y/n] U. Black, your are cordially invited to ... Godric, your handwriting is shit.'
'Seriously, what is it?' Sirius pushed excitedly after [y/n] went silent.
Remus tried peering over her shoulder to read it.
'An invitation,' James said, 'to Quidditch trials. Which are tomorrow. You're going for Keeper.'
'Am I now?'
'Yes,' James stated forcefully. 'We all know how good you are and we need someone good on the team with matches starting in three weeks.'
'I'm not good enough for the team, though,' [y/n] said.
'Bullshit,' said James. 'You're amazing whenever we play back home.'
'That's only because Moony is chasing, and we all know how crap he is.'
'It's hard!' Remus cried, throwing his hands in the air. 'I have the coordination of a troll. How do you expect me to guide a broom with one hand and throw a ball with the other?'
'There, there, Moony-poos,' said Peter, ruffling Remus' hair.
'Ge'roff.'
'OK,' [y/n] said after some deliberation, 'I accept.'
'Great!' James beamed. 'That means this won't have been a waste.'
He handed [y/n] a long, thin package wrapped in brown paper. There was Peter's signature poor attempt at tying a bow with some string to keep the paper together and [y/n] chuckled at the thought of James struggling to wrap the present before giving up and asking Peter for a hand.
'Oh, Prongs.'
'Don't worry! It's mainly from Mum and Dad, I just chipped in.'
'Yeah, they even got me a new telescope!' Sirius exclaimed, showing off the shiny brass contraption strategically placed on the windowsill.
[y/n] dropped the paper on the floor and rested the pristine broom across hers and Remus' laps. She stroked the perfectly polished hand and traced the golden letters spelling out Nimbus 1500.
'This must have cost a fortune,' [y/n] said in awe.
'Well, you know what Mum's like,' James replied with a grin. 'Everything has to be simply the best for her only daughter.'
[y/n] suddenly burst into tears and dropped her head into her hands. Although hesitant at first, she received a hug from Remus.
'Oh, Godric, you're crying,' James flustered, turning to Sirius. 'She's crying! What did I do wrong?'
'I think she's happy, Prongs,' Peter said slowly.
'Oh, I love you all!' [y/n] choked, jumping around the room giving each of the boys a kiss on the cheek, ending with Sirius. She threw her arms around his neck from behind and clung on to him as he held her wrists.
'Two kisses today, Moony,' Sirius teased. 'You are a lucky man.'
[y/n] smacked her brother around his head but found herself burying her face in his wild hair when she caught Remus blushing.
'Breakfast?' James interrupted.
'Oh, thank Merlin,' Peter gasped. 'I'm starving.'
Breakfast had become a race to nab the morning's Daily Prophet before Lily did. Far too many Muggleborns and their Muggle families had been killed in the past year and her growing anxiety for the safety of her own family often meant she went without a proper breakfast. By the time the Marauders arrived at the Great Hall, they spotted Marlene sat on top of the newspaper as Lily protested through a mouthful off scrambled eggs.
'Happy Birthday, Black,' the girls sang as Sirius took a seat next to them.
'Thank you,' Sirius grinned, reaching over to get some sausages.
'Any news today?' Remus asked from beside Dorcas.
'Not today,' the girl replied, nodding her head in Lily's direction. She noticed the redhead was busy talking to James before adding in a whisper, 'Muggleborn and their family murdered in Surrey. We think it's a bit close to home for Lily to read about.'
Not long into a breakfast, a slim, black-haired figure bounced over to the Gryffindor table and took a seat opposite [y/n] and Sirius. The two looked up excitedly upon spotting the silver and emerald prefect badge pinned to the school robes.
'Reggie!' Sirius cried.
'Happy Birthday, you two,' Regulus grinned. 'I got you something. It's a sharing present so don't quarrel over it.'
'I mean, by the laws of inheritance, it'll technically be mine but I'm willing to share,' [y/n] winked, to which Regulus chuckled.
'I didn't want to spend on anything too much, just in case Mother suspected something,' Regulus explained. 'I'm sorry it's not much.'
'You didn't have to get us anything at all, Reggie,' [y/n] replied.
'Well, I did, because you're my brother and sister and I love you. It's only something stupid anyway.'
He handed Sirius and [y/n] a brown box with a large red and gold bow.
'Good choice of colours, mate,' Sirius chuckled.
'Mother would not be happy if she found out what I did to [y/n]'s old hair ribbon.'
'That's my old hair ribbon?' [y/n] asked as she untied the bow. 'I hated that thing. Everything we wore was black or green.'
[y/n] opened the lid of the box and Sirius peered inside. She pulled out an ornate gold frame with a large coloured photograph in it. The three children in the picture all looked slightly uncomfortable in the stiff, upper-class-looking clothes, but happy nonetheless. The youngest sat in the lap of a dark-haired boy with a perfectly combed fringe and they were laughing at the girl whose hair changed colours rapidly.
'Where did you find this?' [y/n] gasped as Sirius took the photo.
'In the drawer of the old nursery,' Regulus explained. 'No one's been in there since you left, so I thought you might want to have that.'
'It's perfect,' Sirius grinned. 'I thought she would have burned any memory of us. Have we been scorched off the family tree yet?'
'Of course,' Regulus said. 'But Mother and Father haven't been in any of your rooms as well as the nursery. I think they're scared you might have set up a trap inside them.'
'Bollocks, that would have been a smashing id–'
'Black!' someone called from the other side of the Hall.
The three students lifted their heads up to spot Evan Rosier standing impatiently with Wilkes and Snape by his side.
'I think that's my cue,' Regulus huffed, leaving the Gryffindor table. 'Have a good birthday!'
'Thank you!' the twins chorused after him.
He waved a quick goodbye as he left the a Great Hall before disappearing around the corner.
The day progressed quite quickly. Double Potions dragged a little but [y/n] and Peter took it in turns to take notes while the other napped throughout the first hour. The practical second hour consisted of James boasting aloud so that Lily could overhear how good his Hiccoughing Solution was going to be with Lily replying with comments in an attempt to distract him. They'd had a competition since O.W.L.s as to who would produce the best potions – currently, it was eight-twelve to Lily. Then it became eight-thirteen to Lily as she made the effort to skip past James to be the first to complete an effective Solution within the hour.
After first break and free-period, the group made their way to yet another theoretical Defence lesson on dementors. [y/n] and Remus spent the time playing several rounds of Defence bingo, a game they had devised due to the amount of unrelated yet repeated tangents that the professor went on every lesson. No one hesitated when the bell rang to indicate the start of lunch.
Transfiguration was possibly [y/n]'s favourite time of day, mainly because of Professor McGonagall, but also because of how easily she understood the spells. Following an hour of transforming teacups into gerbils, McGonagall called the twins to the front of the classroom as the other students left. After convincing [y/n] to hand over the gerbil she had transformed, the teacher handed the brother and sister a rather large tin of shortbread biscuits, a reminder of all the chats they had over cups of tea since they were fourteen.
By four o'clock that evening, the sun had already set. In the Gryffindor common room, Sirius could be seen lounging on the windowsill in an attempt to complete his star chart for Astronomy, peering through his new brass telescope in front of him after every scribble on his parchment. Peter and James were cramped onto one seat at the desk next to Sirius' perch, determined to see the arrangement through, despite Peter's numerous Herbology books becoming mixed with James' Arithmancy number charts. Much to the dismay of many of the younger Gryffindors, [y/n] and Remus shared the sofa between them, the gap in the middle that could have been occupied by a person taken up by Remus' Ancient Runes textbooks and [y/n]'s Muggle Studies notes.
[y/n] was rapidly growing very agitated. Her notes were messy and she kept flicking through them or throwing them back down when she didn't need them, also throwing more parchment and books on the floor in the hopes that clearing the space would clear her mind. It didn't work. She started swinging her leg back and forth, accidentally kicking a roll of parchment under the sofa and when she leant down to retrieve it, she could see it had rolled too far to reach. When she sat back up she spotted Remus peering at her over his cup of tea.
'Sorry,' she said in a hushed voice, despite the racket going on in the rest of the room. 'I can move if you want me to, I can just go up to the dorm.'
'No, no,' Remus insisted. 'It's fine, honestly. I'm just worried about you.'
'I'm just a having a bit of a mental block.'
'Promise?'
'Promise.'
The pair returned to their work, interrupted only once by Sirius telling a second-year, 'Fuck off, you son of a banshee!' after he was playing catch with a Jack Gobstone and threw it too far and nearly knocked Sirius' telescope out of the window. [y/n] still struggled to do her work and resorted to shaking her leg up and down in an effort to concentrate. The noise was less likely to be the distraction; it was more probable that it was due to [y/n]'s panic over whether she would complete the project in time. It was her own fault, really. She had the whole of the summer to make a start on it but when you lived in the Potter household, no work got done. She frequently visited the Lupins in the hopes that she'd be able to get more done there, but instead sat and listened to Lyall's stories of hunting down poltergeists and Boggarts in the forests of Wales. Hope would often interrupt with a smile, a roll of the eyes at her husband, a laugh and an offering of tea and chocolate biscuits, which alerted [y/n] as to who Remus got his personality from. She glanced to her right to take a peek at Remus, only to find him looking at her shaking leg.
'I'm sorry, I'll stop.'
'You seem a bit distracted.'
'So do you.'
'I just can't think of a good conclusion to my dementors essay,' Remus explained.
'So you're looking at me for inspiration?' [y/n] asked in a mock-offended tone.
'No, no. No. I just–' He hesitated before returning to his work. 'I'm just going to finish this.'
It didn't take long for Remus to let out a long sigh, flopping backwards against the sofa.
'Library, anyone?' he asked into the hum of the Gryffindor common room.
'Yeah, go on then,' [y/n] replied immediately, standing up and gathering her books and parchment. 'I could do with getting some proper research done for Muggle Studies.'
'Great,' Remus smiled. 'Anyone else?'
'There's barely an hour until the feast, mate,' said Sirius. 'What's the point?'
Remus rolled his eyes and turned to his attention to the group of girls hidden behind some giggling first-years.
'Lily,' he called. 'Library?'
'Not tonight, Remus,' Lily replied. 'I have a meeting with Dumbledore in a few minutes. There's a special announcement for the feast, isn't there, James?'
James jumped at the call of his name, causing his quill to snap and the ink to splatter over his Arithmacy calculations. He flustered to cover up his mistake as he turned to face the Head Girl.
'Yes?'
"The announcement,' Lily repeated. 'At the feast?'
'Oh, yeah!'
It was like a lightbulb flickered on over James' head. He winked.
'Are you going to come, Wormtail?' [y/n] asked, crouching down on the floor to pick up the parchment she had kicked under the sofa.
'Sure!' Peter replied excitedly.
Sirius nudged him in the side. Peter went to grab his books. James pulled him back down to his seat. Remus pointed his hands at the scene in frustration. [y/n] missed all of this. The four boys smiled innocently as she stood back up.
'Ready?' [y/n] asked.
'Actually, I just remembered I can't come,' Peter said stiffly, wedged between James and Sirius.
[y/n] squinted her eyes suspiciously. 'Why?'
'I–'
'He said he'd help me find some Mimbulus Mimbletonia from Herbology,' Sirius said quickly. 'To send some stinksap to Grimmauld Place,' he added with a mischievous grin.
'Brilliant! Make sure to the sign the letter from me,' [y/n] called as Remus guided her out of the common room through the portrait hole.
'Enjoy your date!' James shouted.
[y/n]'s laugh echoed in the corridor as Remus stuck his head back through the portrait hole and stuck his middle finger up.
'What work do you have to do then?' [y/n] asked.
'I have some Ancient Runes translations to do,' Remus explained. 'Then I have that Defence essay on dementors to finish by tomorrow.'
'Oh, shit. It's for tomorrow?'
'I could help you,' Remus suggested.
'I can do it, I'd just be in a rush to get it all done tonight.' [y/n] sighed and jumped off the staircase to the lower floor and made her way to the East Wing. 'And I have a Muggle Studies project due in a few days' time.'
'You could always pull on all-nighter in the common room,' said Remus, holding the library door open for [y/n] to make her way in. 'I'll stay up with you to keep you company.'
'You don't have to do that,' [y/n] whispered as they passed Madam Pince's desk.
They quickly pushed past some fourth-years which were heading for their table in the hidden corner at back of the library. When the younger students began to protest, the two pointed to the ruby prefect badges on their chests before chuckling with each other because of their seemingly telepathic, simultaneous action. [y/n] pulled out a roll of parchment, her almost-empty ink pot and her feather quill as well as a pile of books which she dropped onto the table with a resounding 'BANG'.
'Quiet!' Madam Pince hissed.
'Let me know if I can help,' Remus said quietly, pulling his own books and parchment out of his satchel.
[y/n] smiled in response.
Barely ten minutes of Remus writing ferociously with his quill and [y/n] twiddling hers between her fingers without a word on her parchment had passed. [y/n] sighed heavily and dropped her dry quill onto the desk, slumping in her chair until her arms touched the floor. She pulled the black and red hood of her robes over her head and as it slid off her [y/h/c] head of hair, she leant forward onto her desk, resting her chin in the palms of her hands and staring at Remus intently. He glanced up only briefly to smile at [y/n] before returning to his work.
'So,' [y/n] started in a hushed voice. 'Um. Mary's nice. Don't you think?'
'Never in a million years.'
'OK, thank Godric, that was going to be such an awkward conversation,' said [y/n], outwardly relieved.
'Why?'
'Well, you're just really awkward talking about girls,' said [y/n], finally dipping her quill in the ink pot.
'I'm not,' Remus said defensively. 'I can talk to Lily.'
'Because that didn't take two years for you to get comfortable with,' [y/n] scoffed.
'I spoke to you from the very beginning.'
'Yeah, but I'm all you've ever known here,' [y/n] argued. 'You were my first friend.'
'And you mine,' Remus replied, 'but that doesn't change the fact that you are, indeed, a girl that I have always been comfortable with.'
'Why not Mary, though?'
'I don't know,' Remus shrugged. 'I guess she's just not my type.'
'You have a type?' [y/n] raised an eyebrow. 'You have a type?'
'Well, no, I suppose not, I guess I just –'
'Than how can you say Mary's not your type?' y/n] pushed, pointing the end of her quill at Remus in an accusatory manner.
'I don't know!'
'HUSH!'
Remus flustered for a moment after Madam Pince's scolding before telling [y/n], 'Just focus on your work or you'll get slaughtered by your professor.'
The two continued in silence for the next forty-five minutes. [y/n] was like a yo-yo in her seat, leaving every so often to pick up more and more textbooks as the minutes went on. Within half an hour the pair's table was completely covered in large and small, red, blue, green and black leather books, only six of which [y/n] actually used. She sent a sorry intermittently in Remus' direction when she either closed a book to quickly, the wind sending the boy's parchment flapping over itself, or when she threw a book onto the table violently and it landed on his fingers, which he stupidly continued to rest on the table as he scratched away at his parchment aggressively.
'Moony, how much do you love me?'
'A lot, why?' Remus replied, finishing scribbling his sentence and throwing his quill down triumphantly.
'Could you help me with that dementors essay,' [y/n] asked, looking at Remus with pleading eyes. 'Please?'
'You mean this one?' Remus pushed the parchment he had been working on across the table.
[y/n] took the essay and a fresh roll of parchment and began to write her name at the top. It was only when she glanced at Remus' work that she noticed her name had already been placed in the right-hand corner. She looked up at a smirking Remus, head resting in his hands on the desk with a proud look on his face.
'Remus,' [y/n] sung. 'What about your work? You're going to get into trouble.'
'Oh, I finished it in the common room.'
'What?'
'Well, I could see you were struggling with all the noise from the first-years so I thought you could do with some quiet an ...' Remus trailed off under [y/n] smiling gaze. 'What?'
'You're bloody amazing, that's what,' [y/n] beamed. 'Now, come on. We don't want to miss the announcement at the feast.'
She grabbed her things and threw them into her rucksack, slinging it over her shoulder and grabbing Remus' hand, dragging him out of the library so she could get some food. They were still holding hands when they joined the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall but Remus snatched his hand back upon spotting their fellow seventh-years. [y/n] was mildly offended. They took their seats at opposite sides of the table. Naturally, as they had done since first-year, Sirius and James wound [y/n] and Remus up about the library trip. [y/n] brushed it off as she always did but couldn't help find her gaze land on Remus who had an angry red flush across the freckled bridge of his nose. [y/n] let a dopey smile form on her mouth as Sirius and James' comments went ignored.
'Good evening, students!'
Dumbledore's boom both filled a silenced the Great Hall, pulling [y/n] out of her daydream. His raised hands lowered to the sides of his star-covered periwinkle robes as the students turned to face the headmaster.
'I have only two announcements this fine evening,' he began, placing his hands on the owl's wings of his bronze lectern. 'Firstly, a rather exciting piece of news for students and staff, I believe.
'It has been many years since this event was last held at Hogwarts, and I'm sure many of you will not remember it. In late January, we will be celebrating the stars and the universe and the magic we are gifted with. Your Head Girl, Miss Evans, has taken much of her time to convince me of approving these plans and I must say, I am glad to do so.
'The Celestial Ball will return to Hogwarts!'
There was an excited cheer among students and staff, particularly Hagrid and McGonagall who turned to each other with ecstatic grins. Lily sat on the bench rather proud of herself as she was showered with thanks by Mary and Alice and James widened his eyes at the Marauders before gazing dotingly at the redhead. Sirius and [y/n] glanced at each other and rolled their eyes; they had lived their childhoods through balls with Purebloods and knew that they weren't as exciting as the reaction made them out to be. Remus and Peter looked scared.
'However,' Dumbledore bellowed over the noise, 'this is an honour only for students in their fourth year or above –' Groans from the younger students filled the Hall. '– unless you are invited, by one of these students. Yet, as this begins to be a revived annual event, you should not be too disappointed in the years to come.
'We will require a planning committee which I believe Miss Evans and Mr Potter would gladly take charge of, and I am hoping that some of our prefects and fourth-year prefect-hopefuls will take an interest in this.'
'I love a ball,' Marlene stated emphatically. 'Dorcas, wanna go together?'
'Obviously,' Dorcas replied, winking behind her glasses.
An identical look of approval at the swift conversation came across [y/n] and Sirius' face and the interaction wasnt missed by James.
'Lily –'
'Shut up, James, he hasn't finished yet.'
'And finally,' Dumbledore continued, a big smile growing on his face, blue eyes twinkling like the stars on the ceiling, 'nit-wit, bubble-bit and frumble. Goodnight!'
'He thinks he's hilarious, doesn't he?' Sirius groaned amidst the shuffling of students leaving the Great Hall.
'He's just trying to lighten the mood, Padfoot,' [y/n] said. 'Did you see the Prophet this morning? Give the man a break.'
'He is a bit of a twat though.'
'Dear Godric, are you moving back in with the family or something?'
'Well, that's the one thing they were right about,' Sirius started.
'Really, Sirius, where do your loyalties lie?'
'With myself, Prongs.'
'You need to get your priorities sorted, mate,' Remus said.
'You're really all ganging up on me, huh?'
Sirius stopped on the top of the moving staircase and turned to face the group. Lily went to speak but he held up a finger from his crossed arms.
'He made you Head Girl, you Head Boy, and you two prefects,' he stated. 'He's collecting you.'
'So, you're jealous,' [y/n] laughed haughtily. 'What about Wormtail, then?'
'He's probably doing something fun for him,' Sirius huffed, turning back around to step on to the next staircase. 'It'll explain why he keeps wandering off from us all the time.'
He motioned to the gap [y/n] and James has subconsciously left between them where Peter would usually be found.
'Well, don't get yourself down about it,' James humorously, patting Sirius on the back as the group entered the common room behind some fifth-years.
'I'm not. I don't need anyone to take pity on me.'
'Pity?' Lily asked.
'Look at you all!' Sirius exclaimed. 'A Muggleborn, a disowned blood-traitor, a you-know-what and, well, James Potter.'
'Cheers, mate,' James said.
'You're welcome,' Sirius said off-handedly. 'But don't you see? You're all outcasts.'
'You're just the same as me,' said [y/n]. 'Literally everything you're saying is invalid.'
'But I don't care about it.'
'Neither do I.'
'But you do! You've turned to Dumbledore as if he's some wizard Jesus. You think the sun shines out of his arsehole!'
'I think that's blasphemous,' Lily muttered.
'Fine,' [y/n] said. 'You enjoy rebelling. But when you need him most, he'll return the same amount of loyalty you gave him.'
'I won't need him.'
Sirius threw himself onto the sofa and stuck his black boots on the coffee table in front of the fire.
'Whatever, Sirius.' [y/n] sighed heavily. 'I'm going to bed. Goodnight everyone.'
'You're in trouble,' James cringed as [y/n] stomped up the stairs to the girls' dorms with Lily. 'She called you Sirius.'
'She's right though, Pads,' Remus said, setting himself and his satchel down on the floor.
'Of course you'd think she's right.'
There was a silence over the group as the younger students giggled on their way to bed.
'So,' Remus interrupted the quiet.
'So,' James repeated. 'Either of you fancy helping me convince Lily to come to the ball with me?'
'It'll cost you,' Remus smiled.
'Yeah, his cock and balls,' Sirius snorted.
'Thanks, boys.'
'I probably won't even go,' Sirius announced. 'I've been to one too many balls since birth.'
'I may not go either,' said Remus.
'Godric, you're so boring,' Sirius gasped sarcastically.
'Shut up.' Remus punched his shins. 'I just don't see the point if you can't get a date.'
'You've always got Mary,' James pointed out with a laugh. 'She's obsessed with you according to Paws. Apparently all the girls convinced her to convince you to go on a date with her.'
'I got a taste of it earlier.' Remus rolled his eyes and flopped backwards onto the floor with a groan. 'Girls, man.'
'Yeah, girls,' Sirius grimaced, letting out a small, 'Ew.'
'Who do you think Wormtail will ask?' James queried, twirling his wand between his fingers.
"More like, who do you think Wormtail will get us to ask for him?' Sirius corrected, to which Remus stuck a thumb up in the air from his position on the floor. 'But Paws, probably. He's always liked her a little bit.'
'He's not that stupid, surely,' Remus scoffed. 'He knows she'd tell him no.'
'Would you allow it?' James asked Sirius. 'You know, protective brother and all that.'
'I think you're forgetting who my sister is.'
'Who d'you think [y/n] would want to go with?' Remus asked quietly.
'She'd want us to go as a group,' James noted.
'Probably,' Sirius agreed. 'She's all sentimental and sappy like that.'
'Not Andrew Parsons, then?' Remus asked after a pause.
'Dear Merlin, I hope not,' Sirius spat. 'What a pompous twat.'
'Agreed,' said James. 'Now, enough of the girly talk. Anyone fancy stalking Snivellus? He keeps trying to copy my Potions notes from my Advanced Potion Making. I'm convinced it's so he can impress Lily.'
'We could whip up a batch of Veritaserum,' Sirius suggested, standing up from the sofa. 'Where's the map?'
'That would take a month to do' Remus said, sitting up from the floor. 'And it's in the dorm.'
'Well, you think of something!'
'Prongs' Levicorpus always works well with him.'
'Yeah, but we need something bigger ... What about some belch powder in front of Evans?'
'How would we get him to drink –'
'No pranks,' James said, pointing at the pair. 'No pranks. Lily would murder me.'
'Mate, come on –'
'Murder. That woman has a very strong moral sense of right and wrong but she would not hesitate to kill me on the spot if she found out.'
'Exactly,' Sirius said as they walked up the stairs. 'If she found out.'
'Padfoot, don't you dare.'
'Just one more prank.'
'Moony, I thought better of you.'
"You thought wrong.'
'Paws would be up for it, come on, Prongs.'
'Go on then.'
'Great! I was thinking we could...'
The resounding sound of their dorm room door slamming shut rung through the spiral staircase and their muffled laughter filled the tower all night long. It didn't take long for it to turn into an all out slumber-party by the time Peter returned later that night. They stayed up making jokes and eating Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, as well as holding a contest as to who could do the best impression of the others (which Remus won). They passed out in the early hours of the morning after basking in the nostalgia of happier times, only to be brought back to reality by the headlines of the Daily Prophet in the morning.
shout out to the hogwarts mystery game for the celestial ball prompt lmao