VII: JAMES'S BIRTHDAY
I was not ready for today.
Not only was it James's birthday, it was one of the very few days out of the whole year where his attention wasn't solely on Lily.
Which is why me and Sirius decided to throw him a big ass birthday party. It's the only time one turns 16 after all.
For today we had everything planned out. By we, I meant Sirius, Remus, Peter and Robert. We tried to pull Marlene in, but she was adamant in refusing.
So far, part 1 of the plan was completed. We had to pretend that today was a regular day. James was now sulking in class.
Part 2 consisted in surprising James with a cake and a gift plus an elaborate prank on the Slytherins at dinnertime. We would be surprising them with a special potion that would make them act like rats for a day or two.
Part 3 was leading James to the Room of Requirement. I would be the one carrying on this part, courtesy of Sirius. Fucking bitch.
Part 4 was surprising James with the party. Everyone from the Quidditch team was invited, as well as most people from the houses.
Right now I was sitting in Herbology class with Robert. We were learning about the Atropa Belladonna, otherwise known as Deadly Nightshade, a common poison mostly used by muggles.
A folded paper appeared in front of me. I opened it and it was a note from Robert.
"Are you sure you are ready to face James after dinner. I can find an excuse to help you out. Merlin knows how much weird stuff I've made up."
I quickly scribbled a no and discreetly passed it over, looking at the teacher to make sure she wasn't seeing us.
Robert made a disgruntled noise but didn't say anything for the remainder of class. However, as soon as the bell rang he was grabbing me by the hand and speed walking towards the prefect's bathroom, which he knew the password of, after dating the Ravenclaw prefect for a while.
He forced me to sit on a random chair and looked at me with what could be described as an annoyed glare.
"Spill." Was the sole word that came out of the boy's mouth while he looked down at me.
"Everything is completely fine, Rob. I don't know why you insist on the subject." I uttered, lowering my gaze. I knew he saw right through me.
"Damn it, Lucy! I'm vexed with you! You broke down on Lily's birthday and then on Valentine's Day you're at Madam Puddifoot's with him and then you're helping with his birthday party! When are you going to fucking understand that he's not good for you?" Rob said, an exasperated tone in his voice. His eyes were watery, with some stray droplets making their way down his face.
"I'm sorry, Robert. But I can't stop it now. I'm foolishly and irrevocably in love with James Fleamont Potter. And there's not a day that goes by where I both regret it and love it." I finally admitted. It felt like a weight was lifted off my chest as I said it out loud.
Robert simply stared at me, tears now falling freely from his eyes, while he struggled to from words. I too, felt tears falling from my eyes like salty rain. I immediately latched myself onto the boy and hugged him as tight as I could. And so we stayed like that for while.
"You are one of the smartest and stupidest people I've ever had the pleasure to meet. I hope you know that." He finally said, giving me a smile through the tears.
"I really am, aren't I?" I giggled while rubbing my eye and we both started laughing uncontrollably like a pair of idiots.
"Come on, now. We have to clean ourselves and get to dinner. You have a boy to distract." Rob said, grabbing his handkerchief and cleared his eyes of tears, doing the same for me.
We used a spell to hide our bloodshot eyes and red faces before making our merry way to the Great Hall.
When we arrived I picked the Marauders out in the crowd almost immediately. They were sticking out like a sore thumb. Sirius had a headband with two big golden J and P, Remus was holding a happy birthday flag and Peter had a red and gold box.
"Hi, guys! We were looking for you! Sirius said he saw you coming from the greenhouses a while ago." Peter said, a smile coming up on his face.
"Oh, I had to go to my dorm really quick." Rob smoothly lied and Peter ate it up. His charming smile always made people smitten enough to not care whether he had been lying or not.
Soon the double doors opened again, this time to let a certain boy in. The other 3 hid under the table while I waved my arms to show him where we were.
"Good morning!" James said, a cheerful tone to his voice. It made me happy to hear.
"Good morning, James. Happy birthday!" I said, hugging him. He hugged back.
"Thank you, Lucy Poo." He stated. We let go and he looked around. "Where are the others?" He asked, a confused expression on his face.
"We haven't seen them yet. Also, happy birthday, James." Rob answered, giving him a nod. James thanked him.
Suddenly Sirius' headband could be seen emerging from under the table.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Prongs! Happy birthday to you!" Remus started singing. Sirius and Peter joined in. Me and Rob last. By now, everyone in the Great Hall was staring.
James blew out his candles and closed his eyes tightly, wishing something. He then opened them and looked around at our smiling faces. People around the room turned back to their food, now gossiping about what had just happened.
"You lot are idiots." He said, wiping his eyes while laughing. The boys gave him their present and told him to look towards the Slytherin table.
He did as told and soon it started. First, they either grew or shortened. Next came the hair and eyes. Shortly after, the entirety of the Slytherin table was turned into James. They were gaping at each other with their jaws dropped, before focusing on the Marauders.
Before any sort of drama could happen, Dumbledore started to clap his hands. We all looked towards the man many believed to be crazy and he was lightly chuckling.
"I suppose we can all wish Mr. Potter a happy birthday from the bottom of our hearts. Now, I believe that the Slytherin house will be back to normal tomorrow, so please calm down." He affirmed. His tone, whilst having a playful overtone, had a threatening undertone. It was as if he was reminding the boys of what would happen.
The rest of the dinner was somewhat calm. Some Slytherins were still fuming and seemed like they were going to hex us at any given moment, but ultimately forgot their anger in favour of the dinner food.
As soon as they finished, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Rob took off, saying they "had to help Rob's sister in law with something." So this left me and James, all alone in our spot, with only a platter of fruit between us.
"Well that was weird. I didn't know Rob had a sister in law." James said, a perplexed look adorning his face.
"She's Marc Rousseaux's sister. Annabelle Rousseaux? Ring a bell?" I questioned, but he shook his head no.
We finished eating and I got up, telling James to come with me. He agreed and we both got out of the Great Hall, my heart thundering in my chest.
As we strolled through the hallways we kept a pleasant conversation about broom polish. I didn't understand much about the thing, but James still had the patience to answer all of my questions to the best of his abilities.
He suddenly stopped and looked sullen.
"Lucy, I have a question." He stated, looking down towards his shoes.
"What is it? You know you can ask me anything." I responded, dread beginning to set itself in my heart.
"Do you... Do you have a crush on Robert?" He asked, his gaze coming up to meet my own.
"What?" My voice ricocheted between the walls, its perplexed tone very apparent. "Who in Merlin's pants told you that?" I asked him, my voice squeaking in the end.
"No one. I just thought that you may fancy him, seeing as you're always red in the face near him." He answered.
It was at that moment that I found out James Potter was looking at me more than I initially thought. He had seen that happen plenty of times to associate the two, even if he was way off.
"No, I don't! He's in a relationship already, you know that. Besides, I have feelings for someone else." I blurted out, realisation installing itself moments later.
"Oh. Ok. I just wanted to make sure you were alright and not getting hurt." He told me, eyes searching mine for any sign of lying.
We continued down the corridor in complete silence until we reached our destination. I opened the door to the Room of Requirement and it was pitch black.
Suddenly, the lights switched on and everyone started yelling happy birthday while the rest of our friends popped open party poppers and confetti and glitter filled the air.
James turned to me and hugged me, yelling his thanks multiple times before jumping on Sirius doing the same.
____
The party was going great.
Sirius hadn't been drinking too much, which meant no drunkenly yelled speeches.
I had been separated from Rob about an hour before and was currently roaming the party, patrolling for any kind of stupid shit to immediately stop it.
An arm coiled itself around me and I stiffed before looking at the arm's owner.
My breath hitched.
James was looking at me, cheeks and nose red. He was obviously drunk on whatever alcohol the Prewetts managed to get their hands on.
"Lucy. Lucy I love you! You're my best friend and I want you happy!" He admitted, slurring his words in true drunken fashion.
I nervously laughed and pulled him to a chair but he stayed put. The more I tried to pull him, the more he countered it with his weight.
"Lucy, I'm sorry." James said out of the blue. Confusion washed over me.
"Sorry for what? You haven't hurt me." I asked him. He was swaying slightly and with his fixated on his feet.
"I'm jealous of Rob." He mumbled, finally looking up at me, eyes sullen.
"Why on earth would you be jealous of him? I told you I don't like him." I said while approaching him. I took his hand again and stroked it.
"No. It's not that. I feel jealous of the attention you give him." He continued. By now, we had gone to a more secluded area, where no one could hear us.
"Oh." Was all I could put out. My head was light, unknown feelings washing over me like unbridled tsunamis.
The more I stared at James, the more I could feel the firewhiskey I drank taking it's toll on me.
And then I felt it.
James Potter was kissing me.
The world stopped moving, my heart skipped beats. I could feel James's own heartbeat under my palms while my eyes fluttered close.
It felt so very magical.
But it also felt so very wrong.
"Lucy! Where are you?" I heard Sirius's voice coming in this direction and immediately pushed myself off of James.
He looked at me in shock and heartbreak. But I knew that we weren't supposed to kiss each other. It was all a fantasy that could never be.
I walked out into the main party area and Sirius spotted me almost instantly.
"Lucy! There you are! Have you-" Sirius cut himself off and looked at my very red face and grabbed my arm, pulling me to a bathroom.
"What in Merlin's underpants happened?" He asked, surveying my face like a mother hen.
"Oh you know, James just kissed me." I rushed out, face growing hotter the more I thought about it.
"Say what now?" Sirius spit out after a couple of seconds. His face seemed to darken before turning around.
"Yeah this is not going to fucking happen. He's got to get his act together." He muttered, pulling his wand out of the bun he had put it in.
"What do you mean by that?" I asked, quickly shuffling in between him and the door. He started to stammer. There was something he obviously didn't want me to know.
"Sirius. Say it." I told him. He sighed and rubbed his eyes before finally talking.
"Before, you know, getting drunk he asked Lily for a kiss. She said no, as usual. And I think it got to him so badly that he started drinking any sort of alcohol he could get his hands on. I managed to get him to stop but he slipped away when I looked somewhere else. And you know about the rest. I'm sorry, Lucy." He said, wrapping his arms around me to comfort me.
I felt tears coming up. He saw me as a rebound. The wrong feeling I had during that wretched kiss was right.
The more I sobbed onto Sirius's shoulder, the more i felt the need to go into my room and stop speaking to James. We were going away for Easter break next week anyways.
"I think I'm going back to my common room. If you see Rob, tell him for me, okay?" I asked Sirius, while wiping my eyes and washing my face.
Sirius agreed and I slipped away from the party, dodging Mr. Filch to the best of my abilities.
When I finally got to my dorm, it was empty, save for a girl. She was awake, and seemed scared when I stormed in.
"Oh, hi. I'm sorry for scaring you. I thought the dorm would be empty." I excused myself.
"It's alright. I would think it too. You're Lucy, right? My name is Andreea. Lovely to meet you." Andreea said, a smile brightening up her features.
"It's great to meet you too. What are you doing?" I inquired.
"I'm sewing a blanket for my niece. It's her birthday next week." She answered, hands diligently threading the needle into the pale yellow fabric.
And like that I finished my night, talking to Andreea and trying to forget about James and the bloody kiss we shared.
_________________
.........
......
...
I feel like some of you want to kill James, me or both.
Hehe.... Sorry about that I guess?
Anyways here's the update that's long overdue.
Tell me if you find any grammar mistakes. English isn't my mother tongue, ya know.
Also, thanks for reading, voting, commenting and adding it to your reading lists!
I love you all from the bottom of my heart and I'll see you next time!