ADDICTED | j.p x oc

44

El's birthday, May 10th, fell on a Monday that year, just over a week after the Hogsmeade attack, and in true marauder style, the day was made as memorable as possible, although El had warned everyone in advance that they were banned from singing 'Happy Birthday' to her all day.

At far-too-early o'clock, El was woken by James pulling the covers off her body, blasting ABBA from the record player in the common room. He stood at the foot of her bed, having put on clothes since he'd woken up, holding the duvet in both hands.

"HAAAPPY BIRTHDAY, LETTER!" he shouted. "Get up and get dressed."

El groaned and tried to pull the covers back up over her bare legs. "What time is it?" she grumbled, her eyes still closed.

James climbed onto the bed and hovered over her, "It's morning. Now get up." he placed a kiss on El's jaw, then trailed them up to her mouth, their lips connecting. His tongue glided against hers, shaking any remnants of sleep from her body.

"Prongs, your job was to wake her up, not to have sex with her!" a voice called from the other room.

They both chuckled into the kiss. "Happy birthday, love," James mumbled against her lips. "Now put some clothes on. As lovely as your tits are, i don't want Pads to see them." He  picked up one of his jumpers from the floor and threw it at El, hitting her square in the face.

A quidditch jersey-clad Eleanor plodded out to the common room, followed by James, where Sirius, Peter, Remus and Marlene were waiting for her. They all ran forward and wrapped her in a group hug, each cheering about their friend's eighteenth.

"Yeh yeh, get off me all of you," she shoved them off with a playful glare.

They all took several steps back and settled themselves on the sofas. "Presents!" James exclaimed, clapping his hands together.

"I'm going first! I'm going first!" Marlene leapt up and passed El a fairly large box wrapped in brown paper.

El laughed at her best friend's excitement, tore the wrapping paper off and opened the box. Inside was a chunky pair of black Doc Marten boots.

"I knew you left your old ones when you. . ." Marlene cleared her throat awkwardly, "-when you moved in with the Potters, so i got you new ones!" she finished with a smile.

"Thanks, Marls," El smiled back and reached out to hug her friend.

"Happy eighteenth, El. I can already see your grey hairs coming through," Marlene laughed.

"Piss off."

"I'm next!" Peter leapt up this time, handing her a smaller package wrapped in the same paper.

El chuckled as she unwrapped it, revealing a metal pin, almost identical to her head girl badge, that read 'world's worst head girl'.

"I'll wear it with pride, Pete," El winked with a laugh, pinning it to the jumper she was wearing.

"I guess i'll go next," Remus chuckled, leaning over Sirius to hand El a book-shaped parcel.

It was a photo album, one filled with pictures of everyone over the years, some moving, some muggle. El flicked through the pages with a nostalgic smile, "Thank you," she breathed, not taking her eyes off the pages. Remus gave her a kind, tight-lipped smile and nodded.

"Pads, you go. I wanna give El hers in private," James said. Sirius wiggled his eyebrows. "No, nothing like that—well-" James scratched the back of his neck, "It's just a bit more personal."

El scanned James' face for any sign to give away what he was thinking, he laughed at her expression and squeezed a hand on her thigh.

"You don't need to look so suspicious, you'll find out later. It's nothing bad, i promise."