Ellie the Marauder | Sirius Black

|15| HAPPY ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE

"UUUUGGGGHHHHHH POTTER! I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT YOU WOULD DO SOMETHING SO INCREDIBLY AND UTTERLY STUPID! I TOLD YOU I WOULD BRING HER DOWN AFTER WE TOOK A PICTURE TOGETHER!!!" Lily bellowed, red faced and absolutely irate at the now human James standing guiltily in front of the door.

"Lily flow-"

"Oh don't you 'Lily Flower' me James!" She spat. At least she called him James, right? "Do you know what would happen if people saw you prancing up those steps as a deer?" That right there folks is a sentence I never thought I would hear Lily say.... "Do you not care about potentially going to Azkaban!?!? And all for what?! So that you could ruin our picture!?!" She berated the boy who was madly in love with her.

"I'm sorry Lils... I was just excited..." he said softly, head low, hazel eyes looking at her from behind his dark lashes like a kicked puppy. Lily how can you resist that face?!

"You need to be more careful." She huffed, noticeably melting from his charms. "I guess since your here now, we'll head down."

"Can we please slide?" I begged her and James. The staircase leading to the girls dorm, in case you didn't know, was charmed to turn into a slide whenever a boy tried to walk up them. This is why Sirius couldn't carry me up to my room when I fell asleep, why Remus had to be levitated in by Alice when she needed him to help get me ready, and why James had to transform into a damn deer in order to get up to me and his precious Lily Pad. It wasn't often that I had the opportunity to utilize this decidedly more exciting way of traveling downstairs, so I was fully planning to capitalize on it. Lily merely rolled her eyes and gestured for us to go out onto the stairs.

James put a foot on the steps, instantly turning them into a slide. "I feel so used." He said melodramatically before sliding down to the common room, with the two of us following shortly behind.

I stood up with a wide smile on my face, my hair falling down my back in smooth golden waves. I looked down to make sure my Beatles shirt was still tucked into my bell bottoms and tried to gain my balance as I walked forward on the heels Alice had forced me into wearing. It's surprising how different the common room looks when you were only a few inches taller. Wait. No. The common room definitely looks different.

I looked around to see that the entire common room had been transformed. It was like I had died and gone to bohemian heaven. There were great billowing sheets with all different patterns charmed to make it look like we were in some sort of large cozy tent like structure. There were fairy lights strung up all across, with lanterns hanging low, casting sparkling and glittering light down upon the dimly lit room. In the corner there was a table with a large cake and various drinks, and Led Zeppelin was playing rather loudly from an enchanted record player someplace near where the dance floor space had been cleared.

I looked in awe. If I could have planned my dream party. This is what it would have looked like. Frank's dog was one lucky b-

"ELLIE!" squealed Mary, engulfing me in a large hug.

"Ooomf... hi Mary." I said through her dark hair. Then, just as soon as she arrived, she disappeared, running into the crowd of people mingling and dancing with drink cups in hand.

Suddenly, I heard muffled shushing noises. Then the room went quiet. Next thing I know there was a very large banner that appeared above the cake that read, 'HAPPY ALMOST, BUT NOT QUITE, 16th BIRTHDAY ELLIE!'

I laughed and looked up completely bemused as everyone began cheering and singing for me I guess. I was pondering the fact that I had apparently smuggled in fire-whiskey for my own surprise party, and so distracted by all the hubbub around me, that I didn't even really take notice when Sirius crept up beside me grinning until he whispered into my ear. "It's nice isn't it."