Marauders & their Evans

Fourth Year 1974

Chapter Twenty Four

Like every year on November third Sirius woke up to find his dorm empty. The beds were un made, there were socks, sweaters and shoes all over the floor. He had the biggest smile on his face, some would even say he looked like a maniac. Ever since he turned twelve on first year, his birthday had become his favourite day. Before he attended Hogwarts, birthday celebrations back at Grimmauld Place were all about appearances. After all he is the heir of the Black fortune, and turning a year older meant he was one step closer into becoming the next man of the house.

His day would start by being woken up by a maid, he would walk downstairs to eat breakfast, where his father was always reading the papers, and his mother was preparing every last detail for the evening feast. When the clock struck 8 o'clock sharp, he would stand next to his parents greeting every wizard from the sacred twenty eight that had been invited.  He would fake a smile making polite small conversation, and thanking everyone who wished him well. This party was never really about his birthday, or even for him. It was all a power play from his parents to show just how powerful and wealthy they were, and that someday all of it will belong to Sirius. It was only near the end of the day, after all the guests had left and only his family remained, that he would slip away along with his brother and cousins and spend the last few hours of the day with people who were genuinely happy for him.

So when he arrived at Hogwarts he expected to again spend his birthday pretending. Only to be surprised by his four friends, waiting for him in the Great Hall, with big smiles, singing to him, and telling him to blow out the candles. All of it had become a tradition, even Peter smashing his face on the cake everytime, all of it made it his favourite day ever. So slipping out of bed, he put on some jeans, a shirt and those tennis shoes with a star his cousin Andy had given him, and made his way to the Great Hall. Just as he, and everyone else expected, as soon as he reached the entrance, four voices started singing Happy Birthday. His eyes drifted to his red haired friend, the  only one who could actually carry a tune, for a second his smile faltered remembering she had a date next week, but he shook his head and pushed that thought aside, it was his birthday and nothing was going to ruin it.

****

Remus and Peter were bickering about which chocolate was better, Remus said something about him not having tried muggle chocolate. James was gazing down at the table staring at my sister, ignoring the fact she had already glared at him a dozen times, when finally I saw Sirius walking in. "Hey lads, he's here!" Just like that all three turned to look at the door and we all started singing happy birthday as he walked to the table. Just as he sat down we stopped. "Happy Birthday mate." James said, patting him on the back. "Happy Birthday Padfoot." I said. "Thank you." Just after he said that his face was covered in icing and we were all laughing, especially Peter. "How do you manage to catch him by surprise every year Wormtail?" Remus asked between fits of laughter. "It's the element of surprise." He answered. "Happy Birthday." "Yeah, yeah, thank you Pete." He said, wiping the icing off his smile.

"So what are we doing today, Padfoot?" James asked him. Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, prank someone, hang out by the tree." "In that order?" Asked Remus. "I guess so." He answered. James clapped his hands. "Then it's settled. Breakfast, prank, talk to Lily, the tree, and then sleep over." We all looked at him. "Prongs." "Yes." "You know talking to my sister isn't part of the plan." James said nothing, then talked. "Right, well then I will save that one for later."

We finished breakfast and started brainstorming ideas when we finally came up with one. We were hiding behind a statue waiting for an innocent bypasser, so far only some students and professor Flitwick had been the victims of our prank. We had charmed some dung bombs to explode in puffs of difrent colors instead of smelling bad and we threw to anyone who walked through the hallway. No one had passed for a while so we were talking and laughing at who had been the funniest reaction so far, until we heard a boy and a girl walking towards us. We quickly hid once again, and just when they were passing we threw the bombs. The shriek she let out was so hilarious it completely blew our cover. We stepped from behind the statute to discover that our latest victims had been my dear sister and Snivellus.