Not-So-Secret Admirer -A Jily Story

Part 5- James

I STORMED INTO LILY'S ROOM AT SEVEN IN THE MORNING. She was just about to head out.

"James, I know you have trouble with your eye-sight but this is my room," she said, gesturing to the space around her "What are you doing here?"

"You do not want to go outside," I said. She raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Well... uh... you see... Pad- Sirius, Remus, Peter, and I were setting up a prank and the glitter detonated early so now our common room is covered in purple glitter," I lied "Sirius and Remus are cleaning it now so I thought I'd warn you."

"Where was this glitter supposed to detonate?" Lily asked. She was wary and I don't think she believed me.

"Um... the girls' dormitory," I said. Lily smiled.

"James, if you wanted to cover the girls' dorm room in purple glitter, you need to find a way into the girls' dorm room in the first place." Shit, I forgot about the little staircase problem. "Step aside," Lily said and she opened the door. Padfoot, Moony, and Wormtail all looked at her. Moony fell off a stool while hanging a banner. I took out my wand and hung the banner for him.

"James! You were supposed to stall her!" Padfoot yelled.

"I'm sorry I did the best I could," I defended. Marlene and Dorcas came into the room soon after.

"What the hell is going on?" Dorcas asked. I pointed at the banner which read 'Happy Birthday Lily'.

"You do know my birthday is in January right?" Lily said. I glared at Padfoot.

"What the hell mate?! You were supposed to ask Marlene when Lily's birthday was!" I said.

"Oh, so that's why Sirius wanted to talk to Marlene," Lily said. I was cross with Lily but that didn't mean I wouldn't do something special for her birthday... even though it wasn't her birthday.

"I did ask! Marlene said it was today," Padfoot defended.

"No, today is my birthday!" Marlene said. I sighed and rubbed my forehead.

"Why would you tell me your birthday?" Padfoot said "Not that I don't want to know your birthday. I want to know everything about you, just not now, or now I'm free anyti-" Padfoot didn't get to finish his sentence because Moony covered his mouth before he made an even bigger fool of himself.

"You asked me when my birthday was," Marlene said. Sirius groaned and I sighed. I knew I shouldn't have told Sirius to talk to Marlene. Remus waved his wand and the Lily on the banner changed to Marlene.

"Sorry about that, love," I said.

"It's all right," she said, "And don't call me love." I smiled and rolled my eyes.

"I'm going to need a drink if I have to deal with this," Dorcas said. She left and Marlene followed.

"It was really nice of you to plan this," Lily said.

"Yeah, although I'm going to have to return so many gifts," I groaned. Lily was going to turn eighteen so I got her eighteen presents. "Or I could just keep them until your actual birthday on January..."

"Thirtieth," Lily completed.

"Thirtieth!" I repeated. There was a little awkward silence and I started looking around the room to find things to talk to Lily about. She tapped on my shoulder after a while and pointed towards Sirius and Marlene who looked like were having a delightful conversation.

"Who knew that alcohol fixes Sirius' brain?" I said.

"We are good matchmakers," Lily said.

"Yeah, next we are going to get you and me together," I said. Lily laughed softly and rolled her eyes.

"Let it go, James," she said and she left me alone in the corner of the room. Sirius hobbled over to me.

"Hey man, How did it go with Lily?" he asked "Also, there is a weird noise in my brain and it kind of sounds like Remus knocking on a door."

"Okay, um... why is it Remus knocking and how many drinks have you had buddy?" I asked.

"Not a lot, just four," he said "Plus ten." I sighed and slapped my forehead. I noticed then that the knocking sound that Sirius heard wasn't in his head. Someone was actually knocking at the door. I turned the music down and opened it. One of the Gryffindor prefects was at the door.

"Uh... Headmaster Dumbledore is calling all the seventh year students to the Great Hall," she said, twirling her hair and smiling a little.

"Thanks we'll be right there," I said, winking. I closed the door behind me.

"What did she want?" Lily asked, looking concerned.

"Nothing, Dumbledore is calling everyone to the Great Hall," I said. Dorcas and Lily rushed out and I helped Remus with Sirius.

"A little too early to be day drinking isn't it buddy?" Remus asked. We dragged Sirius all the way to the Great Hall. We were one of the last to arrive. Professor Slughorn closed the door and Dumbledore stood at his podium-thing.

"I'm sure all of you are wondering why I've called you all here," Dumbledore began "Each year we say good-bye to our seventh years as they graduate from Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry and we wish them all a good luck as they start a new chapter of their lives as they work and establish careers. To some we welcome back as Professors, some own stores and others work at St. Mungo's or the Ministry of Magic. With that being said, Minister of Magic, Harold Minchum." Everyone applauded.

"Good Morning to all of  you," he said "Normally the Minister doesn't come in here to announce this but I felt like I should make an exception to this year's students." he paused for effect and then continued "Each year the Ministry holds a ball, a gala if you will. We hold this event to show the students what a job at the ministry would entail. You will be meeting with some of the Ministries greatest assets and minds and I assure you that this event is the event of the year. The heads of the houses will tell you more about the gala and with permission from the Headmaster. Fifty points each to Head boy and Head girl this year."

Headmaster Dumbledore dismissed all of us and we headed to our classes. It was weird how Minchum said that this ministry ball was the greatest event for all seventh year students since I've never heard the previous seventh years going to this.