i really loved him

chapter 25

The party commenced straight after dinner. As always, the lavishly decked out common room was absolutely rammed with people; everyone knew about the occasion, partially thanks to the shiny new password that Sirius had taken great pleasure in proclaiming to anyone who would listen.

No sooner had James been handed his first firewhisky of the night did he spot Mary squeezing through the crowd to reach him, eyes sparkling even brighter than the glittery miniskirt she was sporting. In her hand was yet another album cover from her seemingly endless supply that he hadn't seen before.

"Happy birthday, wanker!" Mary said brightly, and grabbed his wrist.

"Cheer—"

But she was already dragging him to the other side of the room, where her trusty record player stood waiting for them on the desk. Mary slid the vinyl delicately out of its case and set it on the velvety turntable.

"It's one of my favourites," she said. "Enjoy!"

At first when she lowered the needle onto the thin groove of the record and sent it spinning, only a faint echo of what sounded like fairground music floated from the player. James tilted his head, confused.

"Mary, what—"

"Shh!" She put a finger to his lips. "Just wait for it. Trust me."

He shut up at that, and heard as the weird background sound effects got louder and gradually grew into a fast-paced, chugging guitar riff. Then came the opening drum break, even faster now, and the song really began. A great roaring cheer rose from the horde of students and the makeshift dancefloor was soon filled.

Though James wasn't dancing; he was just listening, mouth slightly open with awe and newfound esteem.

"I knew you'd like it!" Mary looked very pleased with herself, and removed the hand from his mouth to point at him as she announced, "You, Potter, have taste."

"Cheers," he said, face breaking into a delighted grin. "Who is this?"

Picking up the album sleeve from the desk, Mary showed it to him. Four men lay together on their backs against a black background, and above them, written in bold red lettering, were the words,

'QUEEN – SHEER HEART ATTACK'

"That's Freddie Mercury," Mary told him, tapping the one on the far left, who was staring pensively out of the picture with a hand on his chest. "He's the singer. Great, isn't he?"

"Brilliant," James breathed.

After that, he did make his way onto the dancefloor where he and Mary were soon joined by Dorcas and Marlene, both of whom cheerfully wished him a happy birthday and even gave him a present each. A large box of Every-Flavour Beans from Marlene and a little handbook with information on British quidditch teams from Dorcas.

The four of them ended up dancing together for ages, chattering excitably about every new song that played; as it turned out, Sheer Heart Attack got even better as it went on, in James' opinion. Mary, who knew the lyrics to the whole album, outshone them all when she stepped up onto a coffee table and belted out Misfire in its entirety, using her empty firewhisky bottle as a microphone.

And that was only around nine o'clock.

"Phew!" she said, gracefully hopping down to the floor after being met with uproarious applause for her performance. "I could use another bloody drink after that!"

"Me too," laughed Marlene, who had by far cheered the loudest.

James gladly volunteered to grab the next round. He was just shuffling to the windowsill, where countless bottles of firewhisky had been lined up for the taking, when he caught sight of Lily coming down the stairs and just about fell over. She looked stunning, in a floaty, sage green maxi dress that brushed softly around her ankles and gathered at the haltered neckline. Almost immediately, she caught James staring and scowled, but he was too genuinely shocked to see her there to notice.