The Marauders Era

Happy Birthday Lily : Part One

A/N

I am so so so sorry that it's been so long since I last posted. I'm almost embarrassed of the time it took to write this chapter. Like, two months since the last chapter was posted, god I feel so embarrassed. I was originally planning on posting sooner, but then I ended up with terrible headaches for almost four weeks, and then after that, everything just kind of got forgotten. I did sit down a couple of times, but I suppose it didn't really help with the fact that I struggled with this chapter. I have the next somewhat planned out, but I'm wondering if I should take a time skip, not a huge one, like six months from one chapter to another, but one where there's a few months between some of the next chapters so that we can get to the summer vacation even sooner. Because truthfully, it's been one chapter, and I already miss Cassie and Rabastan.

But anyway please let me know what you might think, any idea or suggestions would be so very much appreciated.

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Loud singing filled the dormitory the next day, or at least an attempt for it. Had Lily not been a bit too tired when they woke her up, she would have laughed at the terrible sound that varied from Dorcas's loud voice to Marlene's exaggerating singing as Alice and Cassie jumped up and down on her bed singing along.

It had been Alice's idea, or well, rather it was a tradition that had occurred ever since first year. A tradition that had started as Alice's idea. The birthday girl would sleep in while the remaining four would wake the girl up by singing the birthday song before showering her with presents.

"Come on, come on." Marlene urged excitingly, "You have to open the presents."

"You're not even going to give me a chance to wake up properly before you ambush me?" The birthday girl arched a brow, her eyes still tired but unable to mask the silent amusement.

The blonde shook her head in protest as she leaned down and pulled up a present at the size of a shoebox, wrapped in red paper with a golden bow. Very original, Cassie wasn't able to help herself as she chuckled.

"I'm just trying to spread some house love," Marlene said, hearing her friends chuckles.

"Certainly nothing wrong with that." She grinned, sharing a look with Alice, who had to bite back a smile.

As if her patience had run out, which didn't usually take long since Marlene was a rather impatient person. She placed the box on Lily's lap, who had managed to, despite the intense longing to go back to sleep, raise herself in a sitting position leaning her back against the headboard.

Lily only grinned as her eyes shifted from the present to her friend. "You know... maybe I should start with Alice's present." she joked, earning a pair of wide eyes.

"No, no, no. I was here first. Besides, she hasn't even found her present yet." She eyed the brunette sitting on Cassie's bed. "Come on, Lily, I've worked so hard on this," Marlene whined, causing the four girls to erupt in laughter.

"Alright, alright. I was joking with you." Lily laughed as she pulled the golden bow off. The other girls watched in curiosity as the red paper came off, not knowing what their friend had gotten her.

Marlene had been unusually quiet about this year's birthday present, so much that whenever the other three had talked about it, she had shut up and not said an entire word. Normally Cassie wouldn't have thought much about it, but when she asked Dorcas, who said that her girlfriend had been just as tight-lipped with her, she couldn't help the curiosity.

Lily shot her friend a playful look before throwing the paper to the floor and opening the lid of her box. Her brows furred for a moment as she saw a book lying in it. It was wide but not particularly long. She sent Marlene a questioning glance as she lifted the book from the box.