metanoia

Chapter Sixty-eight

James looked up from the birthday letter his mum sent him early that morning, absentmindedly petting his family owl's head as it perched itself in the Common Room window. Before he could write back to his mother, thanking her for the gift, he was tackled from behind by his cousin.

"Happy birthday, Jamie," she sang, tightly wrapping her arms around his neck as his roommates and girlfriend descended the staircases for breakfast.

"Yes mate, happy birthday," Sirius laughed, clapping his shoulder before Lily kissed his forehead and gave him her gift.

James thanked them happily, reciprocating the kiss swiftly before accepting the present. Before he opened it, he glanced across the room to the two tired werewolves, "How are you two doing? This weekend seemed to be very hard on you."

"I'm okay, I guess. Just drained, physically," Letti answered with a yawn, thanking him as she led her boyfriend and Marlene out of the Common Room for breakfast.

Remus nodded in agreement, mumbling incoherently with the only word that could be understood being caffeine. Sirius chuckled, following his friends into the corridor, "Well, he's still alive and you're another year older. What could possibly go wrong?"

"Don't jinx it, you know our luck," Alex insisted, closing the portrait door behind them.

The morning went by painlessly, Professor Flitwick couldn't contain the class so he just assigned an essay about the previous class period and let them play games and Professor McGonagall, knowing it was James' birthday, taught a fun lesson on Conjuration.

After their classes, a group of Gryffindors returned to their Common Room to relax and hang out before lunch and Quidditch practice later that afternoon. Remus sat in his usual armchair near the fireplace, reading a book Charlie had given him for his birthday. Alex and Sirius sat on the couch nearest the fireplace, one reading while the other did schoolwork. James and Peter played Gobstones with Letti and Fabian.

Remus came to a passage in his book, not understanding what it said because he couldn't read the language.  He rose from his armchair, sitting beside Alex and pointing out the passage, "I'm not sure what this sentence means. Alex, do you know what this says? It's in Latin."

Looking up from her own novel, she raised an eyebrow at the request, "I don't know. Why do you just assume I know Latin?"

"Because you do."

Rolling her eyes at Letti, she took the book from Remus to see the sentence he did not understand. The sentence read: Nam et vita est linearibus unum scio verum quod est praeteritum, non definias et futurae.

"For life is linear and the one thing I know to be true is-"

"My past does not define my future," Sirius finished for her, shocking her to no end that he could read the Latin. He shrugged innocently, returning to his Charms essay, "I've read it before."

Remus and Alex stared at him in awe, their jaws slack, "You can read Latin?"

"You can read?!" James and Lisette gasped together, poking fun at their friend.

Sirius looked between the two tousled hair brunettes,  pretending to be hurt by their question, "Rude, guys. That's just cold. You're lucky it's your birthday, Potter."

"Since it is my birthday, and that I haven't asked for much, can we cancel Quidditch practice and just watch movies? Or even play some Muggle games?" James sweetly hummed, lightly chuckling at Peter's reaction as the Gobstones expelled nasty smelling fluid on him as he lost to Letti.

Alex looked at her cousin in genuine shock and horror, wondering if her cousin, the former Gryffindor team Captain, actually just asked her if they could cancel Quidditch for the evening. And she wasn't the only one. Everyone of them stopped what they were doing, staring at him in confusion. "Did you, the Quidditch fanatic, just ask if we could cancel Quidditch practice? You've never missed a day nor a chance to play Quidditch, like ever."