Illicit | 𝘚𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬

Chapter 45

Amelia had been right. McGonagall disturbed their very first class the next morning and to tell her she had to sit in detention with Professor Slughorn that night. It hadn't been too bad though, she had told the others afterwards.

After deliberating for a long time, Eleanor eventually decided to just ignore Regulus' letter. So far he hadn't acted upon it. She left him alone, amd so did he. Eleanor thought it was best for both of them, even though she had cherished their friendship at the start of the year.

The rest of their days consisted of studying, studying, and even more studying. Eleanor desperately counted down the days until James' grand birthday party.

But of course, as any other day, James' birthday on March twenty-seventh arrived. They had been planning everything and even went shopping together in Hogsmeade without him. In the end they just got him a bunch of sweets and goodies from Zonko's.

Somehow Professor McGonagall found out about their plans concerning the Great Hall, so they decided to just celebrate in the common room, which James thought was fine as well.

"Happy birthday dear Jamesieboy!" Eleanor sang together with the entire common room.

"Happy birthday to you!"

James grinned proudly, sitting on his throne on top of two tables as he looked down on the other students.

"Thank you, thank you," he said, getting up. The table started to wobble dangerously so Sirius and Remus leaped forward to hold it down.

"I want to thank my friends for doing this for me. Moony, Padfoot, Wormtail, Ella, Lia, Lily, Mary, Marls, Alice," he looked at them one by one. "Thank you."

He raised his glass and everyone did the same. Eleanor had the biggest smile on her face as she raised her bottle of Butterbeer.

"Now have a great time okay! That's all I want for my birthday!" James said with a laugh.

On cue, Peter turned up the music on the radio. James carefully jumped down to join his friends. Eleanor walked over to the boys and wrapped her arm around James.

"That was so cute!" she said with a grin and then kissed him on his cheek.

James gave her a weird glance and laughed. "Oi! I'm your boyfriend!" Sirius pouted. He grabbed her hand and dragged her away from James.

Eleanor chuckled. "Jealous Black?" she teased him.

Sirius huffed. "Jealous, me? Believe me, I'd be the last one to get jealous," he said, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Right, yeah, certainly not cause of that giant ego of yours," Remus mumbled as he took a sip of his drink.

She had to hold back the urge to laugh as Sirius shot daggers at his friend. Eleanor held on to the hem of his jacket and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek as well. Sirius smiled contently.

Amelia stumbled over as well. "Hey Remus, didn't you figure out the radio thing?" she asked him.

He frowned slightly but then smiled and waved his finger as he realized what she was talking about. The others curiously followed him as he walked over to the radio propped up on another table. Remus crouched down and pushed several buttons.

"What are you doing?" James asked and then finished his already fifth bottle of Butterbeer.

"Shh," Remus put a finger to his lips. He furrowed his eyebrows as he listened closely while he turned a knob.

And then Eleanor heard it. Paul Simon's voice sounded through the radio's speaker as he sang one of his latest hits.

A big grin spread on her face. "How on earth did you do that?" she asked him.