March 27

It's been a little over a month since Laura's crash. Her broken bones had healed rather nicely. All of her bruises and cuts had finally faded. After being released from the hospital wing, everything had returned to normal, despite Sirius, James, Remus, and even Peter, being more overprotective than before.

Much to the boys' dismay, she had even still been able to accompany Remus on that month's full moon.

Sirius's motorcycle had been transported to Potter Manor and would remain there throughout the rest of the school year.

Remus's birthday had passed much the same as Sirius's had. But James and Laura, the dynamic twin duo were determined to outdo both of them with the birthday party of the century.

****

"Happy birthday, Princess!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing the blanket off of me.

Instinctively curling up to protect myself from the rush of cold air, I mumbled a few incoherent curses before flipping him off.

But Sirius hadn't seen for he had already turned his attention to my twin.

Throwing James's blanket off of him, Sirius shouted, "Happy birthday, Prongs!"

James had the exact same reaction as me.

"Well there's no denying you two are related," Sirius responded sarcastically, flopping back onto his (and my) bed.

Shoving him off of my leg, I raised up and looked around the room, running my hand through my hair as I did so. Remus was adding a present to the pile of them on the windowsill. James, like me, was still in bed. Peter was nowhere to be seen. I assumed he was getting breakfast from the kitchens.

Confirming my assumption, Peter burst through the dorm door with multiple platters of food and drinks. Sitting all of it down in the center of the room, the five of us sat in a circle around the food.

"Happy birthday, guys," Peter said, obviously breathless from the long journey.

"Thanks, Wormtail," I told him through a yawn as I reached for my coffee cup.

"So what are the Potter's planning for their legendary sixteenth birthday party?" Remus asked.

James perked up instantly, all signs of morning grogginess gone. "I'm glad you asked, Moony. We've already informed the entire house of Gryffindor that after dinner, there will be a huge party in the common room (all fellow Gryffindors welcome, no matter their year). The house elves will be bringing up firewhiskey, butterbeer, and tons of food for the party. Since it's a Saturday and we have nothing to do until then, we're mostly winging it. Maybe some pranks, maybe some quidditch. But at exactly midnight, fireworks will go off that everyone in Hogwarts or on the castle grounds will be able to see."

"Impressive," Sirius commented. Peter nodded in agreement.

I smirked in response, digging into my chocolate chip pancakes.

****

The day passed at an alarmingly fast rate. James and I had been wished a happy birthday more times than I could count. We had set off a few pranks on the Slytherins (and didn't get caught). We played a small game of quidditch with a few of the Gryffindor quidditch team members (we're not sure who won bit James insists that it was his team).

I was currently in my dorm with Lily, allowing her, despite my many protests to do my hair and makeup for the party.

She was wearing her hair in a complicated French braid and had her usual amount of makeup on. Her outfit consisted of leggings, a sexy red top, and red flats.

My outfit was skinny jeans, a slightly revealing black top, my favorite pair of boots, and the golden necklace Sirius had gotten me for Christmas that I wore every day. My hair was left in it's naturally messy state and I had no idea what makeup Lily was putting on me.

Stepping back to admire her work, Lily smiled. "Finished. You look lovely."

"As do you."

I stood up and admired our reflections in the full length mirror. We looked amazing.

Linking my arm through hers, I asked, "Are you ready?"

"Only if the birthday girl is," she responded, smiling.

Giggling, we headed down the stairs together. "Well she is."

Reaching the common room, I scanned the wonderfully wild scene. Even though dinner had only ended five minutes ago, the party was already in full swing. Music was blaring and half of the crowd already seemed to be drunk off their arses. A giant banner had been hung over the fireplace that read, "Happy birthday, Laura and James Potter!"

As the crowd noticed our arrival, a course of slurred birthday wishes were shouted in my direction. Nodding in thanks, I spotted Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter on the other side of the room. Lily, I just realized, was no longer by my side.

Pushing my way through the crowd, I made my way over to the boys. Grabbing a glass of firewhiskey off of a nearby table, I took a large drink as I leaned into Sirius's side.

Smiling ecstatically, I shouted to be heard over the deafening music. "How do you like the party?"

"It's great," Remus shouted back.

Peering into his glass, I realized that even he was drinking, which was a rarity.

As one of my favorite songs came on (who am I kidding, I love almost every song), I downed the rest of my glass before dragging Sirius to the center of the crowd. We danced, kissed, drank, and danced even more. Somewhere in the midst of it all, I had even managed to get Remus to dance.

Around eleven, Lily, James, Remus, Sirius, Peter, and I sat down in a circle in a secluded area we had managed to find in the chaotic common room. The younger years had already went to bed so that cleared out a majority of the room.

"So who starts?" Peter asked, surprisingly sober.

"Since I'm the older twin-"

"Only by three and a half minutes," James slurred, leaning against Lily in his drunken state. Lily, also having been drinking, didn't seem to care.

Continuing as if I hadn't been interrupted, I said, "I'll start. Lily," the red head perked up. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," she responded boldly.

Smirking, I knew that she was too drunk to remember anything from tonight so she wouldn't kill me tomorrow. Unlike her, despite having most likely drank even more than her, my mind was still clear and my words weren't slurring.

"I dare you to kiss James."

James's face brightened as Lily blushed slightly. Looking down at his slumped figure, she pecked a quick kiss on his lips. Sirius wolf whistled as Remus applauded.

Okay," Lily said, desperate to get the attention off of her. "Remus. Truth or dare?"

Smirking, Remus said, "Truth."

"If you were to marry one guy from your group of friends, who would it be?"

Not at all embarrassed, Remus instantly answered, "James."

Sirius placed a hand over his heart, his dramaticness flaring up. "Excuse you! Why him? We would be the ultimate power couple and you know it!"

Everyone laughed at his outburst and I slapped his arm playfully.

As the laughter subsided, Remus looked at me, a devilish glint in his eyes. I mentally prepared myself. Remus was the most mischievous when it came to truth or dare.

"Truth or dare, Laura?"

"Dare." I had way too much pride to choose truth.

Remus smirked again, knowing I would never back down from a dare, no matter how crazy it was.

"I dare you to go skinny dipping in the Black Lake. And someone has to go with you to make sure you do it."

It's reckless shit like this why I was put in Gryffindor. Smirking arrogantly, I stood up, dragging Sirius up with me, and stumbled over to the portrait hole. The drunken cheers that followed only boosted my ego and stupid determination.

With Sirius keeping pace beside me (he was able to hold his liquor as well as I can), we made our way out of the castle undetected. The cool night air was at a stand still around us as we reached the edge of the lake. The blank, unrippling surface stared back at me.

"You know you don't have to do this," Sirius reasoned, though a glint in his eyes told me otherwise. "We could splash some water in your hair and say you did."

"Where's the fun in that?" I asked teasingly. "Now turn around so I can undress and don't turn back around until you hear a splash of water." Sirius followed my command. "If you even think about hiding my clothes, I will hex you into next week," I threatened.

"I would never do such a thing."

"Mhm."

Slipping out of my boots and outfit, I layed my necklace gently on top of the pile of clothes before turning to the Black Lake. Not bothering to give myself time to worry about how cold the water would be, I sprinted forward and jumped in.

It was freezing. But I wasn't about to let Sirius know that. As my head broke above the surface of the now rippling water, I looked at where Sirius was standing, grinning broadly.

Waving my arm and swimming out even further, I said, "Come on in, my prince! The water is lovely."

"How cold is it?"

"Not cold at all." I put my arm back in the water, hoping he couldn't see the goosebumps from this distance.

Slipping his shoes, pants, and shirt off, Sirius took a running start just like I had before jumping into the freezing cold lake in only his boxers. As his head popped up a few feet away from where I was, he shot an accusing glare at me.

"Liar! It's f-f-freezing." he complained as he swam closer to me. "How are you not cold?"

"Oh I am," I answered, pushing a few wet strands of hair away from his face. "I just wanted to see if I could get you in the water."

He glared playfully before splashing me. Before I could retaliate, a loud booming noise sounded above us. Followed closely by another. Looking up, I realized that it must be midnight.

The night sky was lit up in red, gold, green, and grey fireworks. Gryffindor colors as well as mine and James's favorite colors.

Grinning, I looked at Sirius, who had gotten closer while I had been distracted. Wrapping his arm around my bare waist, he pulled me closer to him. His body heat felt amazing in the freezing lake. No longer caring about the fact that I was naked and he was basically naked himself if it hadn't been for the boxers, I leaned into his embrace and  looked up into his perfectly stormy grey eyes.

"Happy birthday, Princess," he murmured, pressing his lips tenderly against mine.

The fireworks continued to boom and crackle, almost as if they were applauding us. Running my hands through his damp hair, I pulled him closer, deepening the kiss as I did so. His hands trailed up and down my back, never going too low. As the kiss quickly became more heated, I moved to wrap my legs around his waist.

"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" Came James's furious voice from the edge of the lake. "YOU BETTER HAVE PANTS ON UNDER THAT WATER!"