Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Forty-Eight- The Snitch

.................................................

James' birthday was on the 27th, a Monday. The plan was to take place on the 26th and James had no idea. It was a good thing Remus returned when he did, because they all had their roles to play. Sirius had asked Remus after the other's had fallen asleep if he was alright with attending James' soon-to-be massive celebration. He could tell Remus wanted to say no, but he really was a good friend so he nodded and said he'd come through tomorrow morning without fail.

So when Sirius woke the next morning to find both Remus and Peter gone he knew the plan was officially in motion. Their plan truly was brilliant. The party that would follow would be downright legendary, thanks a great deal to Remus' influence with older students like Patricia, and Sirius' personal pull with the Quidditch team who knew both him and James would be star players next year.

Step one was simply making sure James slept in, which wasn't at all difficult. In fact, it took Sirius blasting his Beatles music at top volume to wake up the berk.

"Ugh! Come off it, Black. It's the day before my birthday. I need my beauty sleep." James groaned, trying to pull the blanket back over his head. Sirius could not let that happen. He wasn't sure how long the whole of the Gryffindor house would wait for them. So he did the only reasonable thing he could think of and jumped on top of his best friend.

"Yeah well, you're going to need more than a few more hours to be beautiful," Sirius goaded.

"OUCH.....ouch, Sirius, get off me! Blimey, you're heavy!" The lump underneath him that was James moved in protest but didn't laugh or make another snarky comment. Sirius was beginning to feel worried. If James was sick all, the intensive planning would go to waste!

"Come on mate, what's up?" Sirius asked, sliding off his friend and giving him a gentle shake. He was surprised when James poked his head out from under the blankets, his hair so messy Sirius normally would have laughed at him, if it wasn't for the tears in his friends' eyes. "What's wrong?" he asked with concern. James regarded Sirius, his hazel eyes looking angry for an instant.

"You're gonna laugh. You aren't going to get it at all and you're going to laugh." He huffed, sounding more like whiny Peter than himself. Sirius' worry grew though he also felt a little irritated James was ruining his plans.

"I won't laugh. I solemnly swear, I won't laugh!"

James regarded him once more, then sighed and pulled the blanket over his unruly black hair. It looked like he had on some sort of granny shawl, but true to his word Sirius did not laugh.

"Fine. Well...it's just...my first birthday without my family here" James muttered, his cheeks going slightly pink. Sirius didn't laugh but he did not get it, not in the slightest. Personally, his best birthday was this year precisely because of the absence of his family and his mates actually being around. But James really seemed upset about it, and Sirius remembered how homesick his friend had seemed upon first arriving at Hogwarts. Back then, James had gone about mentioning his parents every day, just about, with a sort of longing in his eyes. However he also knew James' loved it at Hogwarts and loved his mates, and he highly suspected the best way to cheer him up was simply to remind him of that fact.

"Don't sulk about that. Listen, I know something that will cheer you up. Come on!" James seemed a little put-out, though Sirius couldn't understand why. But by the time he realized Sirius was pulling him away from the Great Hall where breakfast was just wrapping up James seemed to recover some, his curiosity getting the best of him.

"Where are you taking me, Black?" He asked in a tone torn between irritation and intrigue. Sirius stopped at the door leading outside and straightened his friend's cloak attempting to smooth his hair which made James laugh and duck away. "Look mate, I don't need you acting all motherly to cheer me up. It's not that big of a deal."