It was known to each marauder that Sirius Black did not like celebrating his birthday. In past years, the four of them had always done something small, but this year was his seventeenth! James was trying to tread lightly when it came to this topic, however, tomorrow was his birthday, so there wasn't much more time to plan anything.

"Sirius," James began, not wanting to argue too much, "What do you want to do for your birthday this year?"

"Nothing," he replied shortly. Before James could protest, he continued to speak. "Walburga ruined my birthday a long time ago."

"Celebrating would be like your final break away from them though," James said, Sirius snorting at the comment.

"Prongs, I just want to act like it's a normal day," Sirius said, his tone not as light as it was moments before.

As Sirius moved the next chess piece, someone entered through the portrait hole and they could hear the Fat Lady grumbling about having been woken up.

"Midnight rendezvous, Evans?" Sirius said, his usual smirk returning to his face.

James had always found it weird and slightly concerning how Sirius could turn his emotions on and off at the speed of light. He had decided a few years ago this was just one of many survival skills he had picked up while living with the Blacks.

"Nope," Lily said, popping the p and yawning. "I fell asleep in the library."

"Pince noticed you were still there now?" James asked curiously.

"No! That's the weirdest part about it," Lily said, Sirius shushing her behind a laugh as she spoke far too loudly for the hour they were up now. "She wasn't even there."

"Must've been having that affair with Filch then," Sirius suggested, watching as both Lily and James broke into snickers at this.

They dissolved into silence as the two boys continued playing the chess game. Lily shifted on her feet before sitting down on the floor. She noticed something was definitely off between the two, but she wasn't really sure what to do about it.

"I'm off to bed, unless you'd like to talk about what's bothering the two of you," Lily said quietly.

It didn't shock either of them that Lily could tell they were arguing moments before she arrived. She had been known for her intuitive trait in the past, and it seemed that that would never change.

"James is insisting we celebrate my birthday-"

"I never insisted, I was just saying-"

"Alright, well, he wants to celebrate and I don't," Sirius said, not taking his eyes from the chessboard.

It took Lily a moment to construct her response, only looking at James briefly so she didn;t forget completely what she was going to say. Just as she was about to speak, James spoke instead.

"I think mum and dad sent some gifts by owl," James said casually and Sirius laughed slightly at this.

"They're too good to me."

"No, they're treating you like you deserve to be treated."

After feeling a little out of place, Lily smiled at the bond the two shared. She was absolutely certain that that would never be broken.

"Well, if you're up for it, Sirius, we could always have something small," Lily suggested.

"Sure thing Evans. Up for more partying?" He asked her, smirking once again.

"Ugh, I had far too much whiskey last time," she groaned, "the last thing I remember is singing ABBA."

While Lily was distracted by James's laugh, Sirius nicked the pack of cigarettes from Lily's pocket. Unfortunately for him, Lily noticed this right away and started to try to get it back from him.

"Why is it empty?" Sirius said curiously, but gave it back to Lily as he was no longer interested in an empty pack of cigarettes.

"Really Sirius? You truly thought that Lily-flower was going around carrying cigarettes?" James said, Sirius shrugging in response.

The name that James had called her triggered something because she snapped her head quickly in his direction. He tried to ignore this as Sirius continued on.

"Why do you carry around cigarettes?"

She thought to herself with a nostalgic smile on her face before she answered.

"My dad used to always carry a pack wherever he went. It's kind of my way to remember him." She smiled softly as she spoke. Lily pulled her knees to her chest as she stared at the ceiling. "And, James, my dad used to call me that."

"Call you what?" He asked, rather confused and stupidly.

"Lily-flower. That's why I looked at you like that."

"My dad used to call me an ass," Sirius said, and they all laughed without caution.

...

"Y'know the best part about my birthday was probably the part where Marlene punched Mulciber in the jaw," Sirius said, staring up at the ceiling.

James laughed at this and pulled another piece of chocolate from the bag we had gotten from Honeydukes three days before.

"If James didn't punch him in Potions, then I figured I might as well be the one who did it," Marlene replied, making the group laugh harder.

They currently sat in their dorm in a circle sharing candy. Lily was writing Sirius's introduction to his Charms essay for his present. (This was by far the most appreciated gift anyone had given him.) Remus laid on his back next to James. He could tell the Full Moon was going to be a hard one this month, given the fact that he had hardly moved up off the floor.

"I'm surprised James made it through Potions without punching him," Pete added, everyone nodding in agreement.

Lily looked up from the parchment, "Sirius, how long do you usually make your intros?"

"Uh, like four inches maybe. Depends on what it is and how long I have until it is due." Sirius scratched his chin.

"It's a miracle if he actually does his homework before the class prior to the class it's due in," Moony said with a gravelly voice. Sirius chuckled.

"Fair point."

...

James had to replace one chaser and one keeper the next day at Quidditch Trials. Sirius and Marlene were the beaters. Thomas Longg was a fourth-year chaser that had gotten on the team a year prior. Their seeker, Alyssa Freed, was at detention with McGonagall.

James was still unsurprised when ten people showed up to try out for two positions. Fighting a mild hangover and dealing with people was not one of his favorite activities, but it had to be done.

"Mate, maybe we should've waited to celebrate my birthday," Sirius whispered to him as they watched Marlene scold a group of three for being too loud.

"Not one of my finer ideas, mixing alcohol and Quidditch." James said before turning to the group forming in a circle around him. "Alright, first I want Marlene's group to fly the length of the pitch." It was probably better to get them away from her as soon as possible.

James watched as only one flyer stood out to him. The other two were subpar. He then instructed the three to toss a quaffle around and the two subpar flyers dropped it. Kayley, the only good flyer from Marlene's group, went over to grab a drink of water.

"Okay now, you five fly the length of the pitch." His voice was already strained from yelling at them all.

James got a little distracted by all the people in the stands. Usually Moony and Wormy were there too, but the full moon was coming up, so they were planning. It felt like half the school was here because of all the noise in the stands.

Could this take any longer?

The five flyers were mostly decent, but one managed to fall off their broom. After the keeper drills, only two stood out, Laura Mayfield and Timmy Eliope. James wanted to choose Laura out of spite, but Timmy wasn't half bad. He ran the keeper drills again and Timmy missed one, while Laura saved them all. James wasn't sure what he would've done if it were the other way around.

James was relieved and walked back to the changing room with Laura, Kayley, Marlene, Thomas, and Sirius when someone tapped on his shoulder aggressively. When James spun around, he saw Timmy glowering at him.

"What's up?" James asked with a positive mask over his face, hoping this wasn't going the direction it was going.

"You think you can get away with choosing Laura just because I cheated on Mary? I'll take it up with McGonagall." He practically spits in his face.

As if McGonagall would ever listen to him, James knew that Minnie had always secretly favored the marauders above everyone else.

Sirius and Marlene had shooed the other team members away at this point and were supporting James by his side.

"For the record," he spit back with the same amount of venom and aggression, so much for the positivity mask. "I chose Mayfield because she saved more goals than you did. Quidditch doesn't interfere with my personal life and neither should you."

He glared at James a second more before stalking his way up back to the castle.

"Blimey, I thought there was about to be a fistfight," Sirius said, grabbing his broom off the grass.

"There is still time for one," Marlene replied.

James scoffed. As soon as he got up to the castle, he was eating and going to bed.

...

Author's Note:

That chapter didn't take as long to finish as I thought! I told you a few chapters ago I would include the Brotp between Sirius and Lily. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Lmao anyways thanks for reading
-teddy✌️

**edited July 2021