first year - technicalities
March 13th
“Phew, I am done” Lily set her quill down stretching her hands out
“About time” Remus quipped
“Shush, I’m still not used to writing with a quill!”
Remus shrugged. Neither was he and he still managed to get his essay done quickly, with time to check and even time to finish off a reply to his parents, who were already desperately trying to get him to come home for the easter holidays after Remus had told them he wouldn’t be coming due to James’ birthday.
Remus had come face to face with a choice and he had decided that although he would’ve like to go home, see his parents, possibly get a little more peace and quiet, he opted to stay where he was and make things easier for everyone. What made things a bit difficult though, was that his dad really didn’t agree with his choice, not that Remus was surprised of course. Ever since the Christmas holidays where Lyall had found out his son had done the exact opposite of keeping away from people, they had been disagreeing on things more than ever before. And honestly Remus didn’t mind this all too much, they never got on well anyway, but the person who he did feel bad for was his mum, who all throughout Christmas and in their correspondence, had been trying desperately to keep the peace.
“What’s that face for?”
“Don’t get why wizards use quills of all things”
“Thank you! I’m glad someone agrees!”
“Who doesn’t?”
“Marlene”
“Marlene, really?” Remus said, surprised, she seemed like a no-nonsense type person and feathered quills were certainly full of nonsense
“Yeah me and Mary have been trying to get her to try a biro, she refuses of course” Lily shook her head as Remus started packing all his things up. Madame Pince, the strict librarian, had been staring at them funny for the last five minutes and he didn’t want her coming over.
“Oh speaking of Mary” Lily nodded to the door of the library where Mary had just entered
“Glad to know Marlene wasn’t lying about your whereabouts” she smiled as the girl approached their workspace
“I was just telling Remus how she won’t use a biro”
Mary laughed, eyes glistening “God, stubborn girl she is”
“You know she used my perfume the other day, and then at the end of the day she had the gall to criticise it and proceed to tell me that it ‘suited me though’ like Marls I love you, but that kinda hurt”
“Ah well each to their own I guess, although I agree it wasn’t very nice of her was it?”
Remus almost scoffed out loud in disbelief. He quickly shoved the last of his parchment into his bag so that he didn’t have to listen to anymore of this conversation. He did enjoy Lily’s company and after today’s homework ‘session’ he would even consider her a friend, but sometimes the things she talked about got a bit boring which meant that he was glad to leave the library when Mary and Lily had started jabbering on about a 5th years relationship. Like! Who cared?
After a quick bye he left the library and made his way up to Gryffindor tower where Peter, James and Sirius were in the common room completing five different pieces of homework all at once which made Remus want to laugh because that’s what you get when you let it all pile up.
"Merlin, are the teachers trying to kill us?" James stretched, yawned and returned to his work "Probably" Sirius replied looking up as Remus sat down next to Peter on the floor, taking out a book to read
"You won't die from homework" Peter said putting away a textbook “Where have you been Remus?”
“Finishing off my homework with Lily”
“With Lily?” James looked up from his work, furrowing his brows, an odd expression on his face
“She asked for help” Remus shrugged, he didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. Sure his new found friendship had been sprung upon him quite quickly since he himself was unsure why and when they had started hanging out more often, but that wasn’t a reason to act weird about it, was it?
“Ah! So you’re willing to help?” Peter asked, casually sliding his essay an inch closer to Remus.
“Why didn’t she ask her best-buddy Snape to help her?” Sirius also had a weird look on his face
At least Peter was acting normally, so instead of answering Sirius’ question he took a closer look at the beginning of Peter’s essay
“Hmm well it looks alright, just maybe write the rest of it with one of those spell-check quills”
“Thanks mate” the boy smiled gratefully
“Here Peter, take my spell-check quill” Sirius took the quill he was writing with and handed it to his friend. James sniggered next to him.
"Don’t you need it?” Peter asked
“Nah I’ve got another one” Sirius sighed, leaning back and putting his hands behind his head, kicking his feet out onto the table “also I’m done with homework for today, as we’ve already established it’s killing us”
“Homework can’t kill you” Remus rolled his eyes
“Well with everything else it can, homework combined with map making, all around mischief, general schoolwork, detention and life in general, all of it piled together, it’s the recipe for disaster" Sirius then stole James’ quill and starting doodling in the corner of his transfiguration work.
"Exactly the point” James slumped down in his seat “I feel like I'm having some sort of midlife crisis with all this work" he sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose.
"That's stupid" Remus set his book down "You can't be having a midlife crisis, you're not even twelve yet"
James tutted "Technicalities"
"You wouldn't even feel so stressed if you had organised yourself a bit more"
“Sirius I think your quill is broken” Peter sighed, obviously a bit frustrated
James sniggered again
“I don’t think so” Sirius shrugged, wagging his finger at him “That there is the finest quill in Britain”
“Ok well the finest quill in Britain corrected ‘Troll’ to ‘Snivellous’” he grinned, and chucked the quill at him
James sniggered again
“It’s the finest quill in Britain for a reason Petey” he shrugged and giggled tiredly. It was getting late now and lack of sleep apparently didn’t agree with them
Sirius then whined “James fix my quill”
“Only if you tell me something about Goblins” he groaned and sat up straight, taking his quill and poising it, ready to write.
“I did that essay long ago, Remus or Peter probably know something”
"They work at Gringotts" Peter offered "And speak gobbledegook"
"Thanks..." James gave a small smile and ran his spare hand through his hair, Sirius was surprised that James’ hair hadn’t become as greasy as Snivellus’ from the amount of times he did that in a day "but I was thinking in more like a history of magic context. I don't take in anything Professor Binns says. He could be speaking... “ James waved his quill around, obviously struggling to think of something “...gobbledegook and I wouldn't notice, he's that boring. "
An idea struck Sirius. "We could do that" he sat up straighter, more attentive. This was an important matter after all
"What?" James set down his quill "Make all the teachers speak gobbledook?"
“Well I was thinking just Binns but I like that idea a lot better”
“Yeah well my genius wants to get us out of all our lessons, not just History of magic” James grinned at them all, homework long forgotten and a plan forming in all four of their minds.
27th March 1:00 AM
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"
James was absolutely delighted to be blinded and awoken by the tired, yet enthusiastic smiles of Sirius, Peter and Remus as they wrenched open his curtains, and launched themselves on to his bed (with Remus carefully climbing in), illuminating the room with wandlight, meaning he could see the presents bundled in his friends’ arms.
James would have murdered them in their beds if they hadn't woken him up early to celebrate his birthday. Turning twelve was important to him, it meant there was only a year to go until he was a teenager. Growing up was all so exciting.
"You're mental you know" Remus shook his head as he crossed his legs underneath him
A small part of James felt a bit bad, the bloke looked exhausted, with dark purple rings under his eyes - he made a mental note to be as quick as possible opening his presents.
He smiled at his friends, grateful, and then replied
"Being mental isn't always a bad thing"
"You sure about that?" Sirius smirked, handing over presents to him which James ripped open pretty much on contact.
It had been a seriously good haul. His friends had gotten him countless sweets, a new book on quidditch and a set of pyjamas which had seemed to have become a thing - every time presents were given, someone got a new set of pyjamas. These ones had little broomsticks on them.
And then, as he looked at his friends, he realised
“Guys!” he could’ve cried “You’re all matching!”
“It’s your birthday James!” Peter squeaked
“Obviously we’re matching, it’s for you Potter” Sirius rolled his eyes
“Even you Remus!”
“Even me” he gave a bemused smile
“Wow, thanks guys” James beamed at them all “You’re all so great”
“We know” Sirius grinned but then suddenly gasped “Oh! I forgot” he then leaned half his body out the bed and reached out for something on the floor, and gave James a small box which he then proceeded to open.
"New glasses!" he inspected them, they were the exact same shape and size as his current ones, a little too big for him at the moment but would be sure to fit as he grew up.
They were the exact same colour too, black, maybe a little less faded and scratched than his current ones but black nonetheless. In actuality the only difference between new and old was that these new glasses had the initials J.P printed neatly in small gold letters on the sides of the thin temples.
“From your parents" Sirius said, grinning "probably because you've broken them so many times"
That had only actually happened once - at Hogwarts anyway.
“I take great care of my possessions thank you very much”
“Lupin?” Sirius then turned his head to look at Remus next to him
“What did Remus do?” Peter asked, confused, he hadn’t been there at the time
“Fixed his glasses” Remus shrugged
“Yeah the twat stepped on them the other day” Sirius grinned as he recollected the panic that had struck James when he’d heard something crunch under his feet
Peter leaned closer to James, inspecting his old glasses that he was still wearing
“They look fine to me”
“Magic is flawless I guess” James shrugged “but thanks for your little inspection anyway Pete it’s good to know I can trust Remus not to mess up a spell”
“Ohhh you fixed them with magic”
Sirius barked a laugh “Yeah with magic you dolt”
He then took off and put his current glasses to the side, carefully taking out the gifted ones out from it's case and putting them on for a test.
Absolutely perfect - they were a whole lot more comfortable as well. James suspected that maybe his mum had put a charm on them or something because he had complained about how sometimes the bridge of his nose and the backs of ears started to get sore after wearing them for a prolonged time, which was quite often because James had such poor eyesight.
He was grateful, so so grateful.
The rest of his day had been glorious, since his friends and surprisingly the rest of the first years treated him like royalty the entire day, singing happy birthday to him in the great hall (something Sirius had orchestrated), making a big display out of bringing him the red velvet cake his mum had sent over, it had all been very fancy and just as well, today was James’ day.
They had then spent the day doing all of James’ favourite things, flying, map making, slipping dungbomb’s into Snape’s and the other Slytherins’s pockets while under the invisibility cloak, allowing them to watch chaos unfold without being blamed for it.
Sirius had even agreed to target Bellatrix, which had been bloody scary but also really satisfying attacking someone with such a high status and superiority complex at the school. It had been especially satisfying for Sirius who hadn’t even dared to walk in the same corridor as her since coming to Hogwarts, out of pure fear for what she might do to him.
Apparently she could be really nasty when she wanted to be and James believed that from all the stories he had heard. Sirius had told him that at one family banquet his cousin had glued his mouth shut with a spell after getting irritated by Sirius' constant chatter. A similiar thing had happened when a few weeks ago a rumour went around that a Slytherin first year asked Bellatrix for directions which were given, but then forgotten and so when the poor boy had asked for the directions to be repeated she glued his mouth shut.
No wonder Sirius didn't want to speak to her, if she got irritated at something as small as that then James wondered what she'd be like about 'traitors' like Sirius.
It made James a bit sad actually, how scared his friend was of his own family, even if he pretended like he wasn’t by not speaking about it. It wasn’t normal and James hated that they had abandoned him, he hadn’t gotten one singular letter from them! Not one! It’s why he was staying here for easter, he didn’t want to leave Sirius behind at Hogwarts which is where he had insisted on staying when Remus had mentioned that he wouldn’t be going home for the easter break.
So when James had invited Sirius to his, he said he’d just stay at Hogwarts with Remus, which then made James follow which then consequently made Peter follow. So all in all, all four of them were staying right there.
By the end of the day he was exhausted from all the celebrations, but also so brilliantly happily and incredibly grateful for the three other marauders who, as the sun had started to set, had taken him outside by the Black Lake for something exciting.
"3, 2, 1" Sirius counted down and as he said ‘one’, the three of them waved their wands making bursts of bright colours shoot out. It was like a beautiful picture had been painted across the night sky, and James was in awe. Not just at the colours, but at his friends too, who were stood by his side, doing this just for him.
A couple of seconds then passed and the colours started twisting in the air to form the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMES POTTER”
He cheered.