good things fall apart • sirius black

Birthday boy

Unusually, Ellie was the first to wake up that morning, but she put it down to nerves. She hadn't played Quidditch properly since around this time last year, and so flying out on to the pitch later seemed like a daunting prospect. But she pushed that away when she heard Sirius starting to stir beside her.

Dislodging an arm that he was lying on and picking her left leg back up into bed, she rolled over to face him. He was lying on his stomach, taking up most of the room in the bed, but his head was still angled in her direction. Ellie smiled as he wiggled around restlessly, hair falling into his mouth that hung open, and she gently brushed the strands away so that the half of his face that was visible could be seen perfectly. He looked so peaceful, that it was easy to forget that he still got night terrors, and Ellie let her fingertips linger on his cheek a little too long.

Sirius woke at her touch, though he only opened one eye briefly to see if she was staring at him - he was very happy to find that she was. When a smile curled up the corners of his lips, Ellie brought her hand away from his face, waiting whilst he wriggled and grunted some more as he shuffled to lie on his side. Only when he was facing her properly, one of his legs was looped around hers under the duvet, did Sirius open his eyes properly, and he wasn't sure he'd ever smiled so wide this early in the morning before.

"Happy Birthday, fool." Ellie whispered, eyes fixed on the stormy grey ones that always captivated her so.

"Happy game day, Cubs."

Their little bubble of serenity was burst very quickly, as James woke, not stopping to grab his glasses as he charged to jump on top of the pair. He couldn't see, but that didn't matter, for this was going to be one of the best days they'd had in a long time. Despite Ellie and Sirius groaning on impact, they both found themselves laughing quickly as James squished his way in between them. Even if there wasn't enough space for him.

"You're sixteen today, and we're going to wipe the floor with the snakes! We'll party like kings later and already I can't wait!" James flailed his arms around in the air as he spoke before reaching for Sirius' face, "Happy Birthday, mate. This is going to be a good one."

Sirius barked out laughter as Ellie just rolled her eyes.

"You're talking to me Jamie. Not Sirius."

It appeared it did matter he couldn't see, and so James climbed off of the bed again, making Sirius groan as he took an elbow to the stomach. Grabbing his glasses off of his bedside table and setting them on his nose, he smiled wide again.

"That's better. Happy Birthday brother!"

Sirius was out of bed like a shot to attack James in a big bear hug, both of them ruffling each other's hair up dramatically.

"Quit making such a racket!" Remus' voice could be heard coming from behind his curtains pulled around his bed, "I didn't fall asleep until four in the morning 'cause Cubs was blabbering away about shit all, and now you want to wake me up before eight?!" The full moon was a couple of nights ago and the lanky boy was still recovering, though James, Ellie and Sirius all found themselves clapping hands around their mouths to hold in their giggles, "Happy Birthday Siri..." The end of his sentence was lost, presumably because Remus had drifted back to sleep, and so they left him to it.

Since they needed to be up and ready early for the match later, presents were going to be done in the Great Hall over breakfast this year, and that also gave the group an opportunity to let everyone know about the party they were planning in the common room later.

Peter rose not long after Ellie left to go and get dressed, and Remus was irritated again, when the smallest Marauder burst out into a badly performed rendition of 'Happy Birthday'. After that, Remus gave up, and decided to get up too - albeit begrudgingly. Spirits were higher than they had been in a long time as they all readied themselves for the day, Led Zeppelin records being rotated so that the handsome boy could scream the lyrics as he brushed his hair.