minnow // sirius black

twenty-one

21 : sunny

I went back to Hogwarts within the week, and worked extremely hard.

My professors were extremely lenient, given that I died, and allowed me to do a ridiculous amount of extra credit work. They allowed me to get my marks back up, before exams.

Which I passed, with absolutely flying colors. I scored higher than Lily and James, which annoyed both of them.

"You died," Lily said. "You died, and you still scored higher?!"

She had come to visit me and James for the summer, being overjoyed that I had made it to 17, a day which we all spent in the Common Room, hanging out, playing stupid board games and drinking Firewhiskey.

I knew it wasn't a great idea, to be drinking when I was a sickly girl, but I didn't care. I did not care, not on my birthday. Not when I was alive.

By the time the boys were drunk, I had barely drank enough to get tipsy, so it's not like I got smashed and fell down the stairs. James did, but that's just James.

Three days before I turned 17, Sirius had asked me to be his girlfriend again, which I agreed to only if he apologized to Severus. He admitted he already had, to which I asked Lily for conformation.

He had apologized the day after I left him, to both Severus and Remus. The latter forgave him, while the other sneered.

I was informed of a situation involving Severus, while I was dying, that made my blood boil. James had been picking on him, quite relentlessly, for the two days after he left the hospital wing. He didn't tell Remus, Sirius or Lily that I was in the hospital wing. They'd gotten used to not seeing me for a few days at a time, so they didn't press. On this particular day, James had used a spell I had just taught him the week before to levitate Severus and flip him upside down. My spell. One that I spent weeks creating. Lily had told James to leave Severus alone, and when he saw that his Slytherin friends - fellow future Death Eaters - were watching, he told Lily that he didn't need the likes of her defending him. When Lily asked what that was supposed to mean, Severus outright called Lily a 'mudblood', which caused James to bat-boogey him.

Now, Lily refused to speak to Severus, and told me that she wanted nothing to do with him. She asked James to leave him alone anyway, and because Lily was finally warming up to him, James agreed.

The first time I saw the way that Lily looked at him, with curiosity and fondness, we were laying in the sun in the backyard. James had commented that I looked practically translucent, so I told him I was going to go outside and sunbathe. Get a little tan.

So, of course, Lily followed - because she liked the idea and wanted to sit with me.

James followed because Lily did.

"Nice swimsuit," James commented to Lily, who wore a green tank top folded to expose her midriff and shorts. "You too."

He snorted when he looked at me, and I narrowed my eyes, growling. I'd worn an actual swim suit top, black and white polka-dots, and a matching bottom. The top came to the bottom of my ribs, with thin straps, and the bottoms were the kind that was a skirt.

"It's the only one that isn't made of an awful itchy fabric!" I protested. I gave Lily one side of our sheet, and she started to back up. James rolled his eyes as he used magic to flatten it, as well as getting four rocks to hold it down. "Just because we're 17 doesn't mean we need to use magic for everything."

"And why not?" James teased.

"You're annoying," Lily said. She messed with her tank top, and I sighed. "What?"