A Birthday of Truth

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A BIRTHDAY OF TRUTH

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"Love took me by the hand

Love took me by surprise

Love led me to you

And love opened up my eyes

And I was drifting away

Like a drop in the ocean

And now I realize that

Nothing has been as beautiful

As when I saw heaven's skies

In your eyes

In your eyes"

~part of "Drop In The Ocean" by Michelle Branch

***

Lily Evans wrinkled her nose as a fresh horrific stench wafted over the students. She held her breath while the Potions instructor added a new ingredient to the cauldron.

"You must add the powdered root of the asphodel before the dragon bile boils," Professor Murdick, the Potions instructor, barked.

Stirring the reeking green fluid, Lily began trickling the asphodel into the cauldron. Her red hair slid into her face, obstructing her vision, as she bent closer to even out the mixture. She suddenly was hit by the fierce noxious fumes, and blinked her eyes to stop the tearing.

"Will you take over?" Lily whispered to her best friend, Alexa Tarny. "I can't stand the smell any longer."

Alexa grinned. "I can do," she exclaimed, and performed a small salute. Lily laughed as she sat down.

Glancing around the Potions classroom--or rather, dungeon--Lily noticed Murdick was looking particularly murderous. James Potter and Sirius Black were flicking pieces of their dragon liver at each other--and everyone else near them. Lily stifled her laughter as a large piece accidentally smacked Professor Murdick in the face. Leave it to those two to cause trouble, she thought.

Her black eyes bulging, the professor rounded on the boys. "What are you doing?" she roared, jabbing her finger at them. "I suppose you find this hilarious, don't you?"

Twisting his face into a look of pure innocence, while his friends snickered behind his back, James faced the teacher. Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but James stamped on his foot and lifted his forefinger slightly, dropping a piece of liver in the process. The classic way to tell someone to quiet someone without speaking. "What are you talking about, Professor," he asked. "We aren't doing anything."

"If you weren't doing anything, Potter, then why do you and Mr. Black find yourselves with detentions?" snapped Murdick, glaring down her nose at them with a finger posed threateningly before James' face. "And twenty points each from Gryffindor," she added.

"Aw, come on Professor," whined Sirius. James shot a look at his best friend and elbowed him in the stomach.....a much more effective way to shut him up, she thought. Lily barely suppressed a giggle as Sirius pouted dramatically and pasted a similar innocent face as James had on his own.

Professor Murdick rolled her eyes and walked back to her desk. Lily and Alexa exchanged a look and burst out laughing as quietly as they could, each holding in their sides.

"Ooh, did you see her face?" whispered Alexa, stirring the potion vigorously before adding the rest of the ingredients. "No matter what points we lost, that look made up for it!" With a flourish, she then poured the steaming liquid into a large vial.

Lily grinned and raised her hand. "Professor Murdick, we finished the potion," she called. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed James complaining about Murdick (she assumed) to Sirius and the rest of his gang: Remus Lupin (a shy, smart boy) and Peter Pettigrew (who was short, rounded, and utterly inept when it came to school).

"Show-offs," she heard him declare, amidst the snickering of his friends. She sighed, although she also knew they didn't really mean it. She then saw Murdick rise from her seat.

"Thank you Evans. The rest of you should be done as well. Place your vials in the cupboard to settle overnight. If your Sleep Potion has been carefully concocted, the drinker should fall into a deep sleep. Tomorrow we will test Potter and Black's potion--" she looked coldly at the two boys, then searched the rest of the class "--and Evans will drink it."

Lily gasped. "What!" she cried, gripping the table so hard her knuckles turned white.

"You heard me. Class dismissed."

Bolting out of her seat, Lily hurried over to James. "James, you better have brewed the potion correctly. I have no intentions of sprouting extra limbs or turning into an animal or getting sick. Especially not on my birthday!"

Sirius jumped up, clapping his hands, and cried overzealously, "Lily, you never told me it was your birthday! How old will you be? Three? Eighty?"

Alexa came up behind Lily, restraining her from bodily harming Sirius. He could be so annoying, she thought. "I'll be seventeen," she muttered through clenched teeth. "You knew that."

"All right then," said James, packing his bag and standing up. "See you at the prefect meeting later."

The four boys then walked out.

James is so infuriating, thought Lily as she stalked out of the room after them, her best friend trailing behind her.

***

The prefect meeting was held in a room beside the Great Hall. The room had been Hogwarts' designated Prefect Lounge for as long as anyone could remember. It was really three rooms conjoined: the room containing the door leading outside was where the meetings took place; the room connected to the side of it was an actual lounge complete with armchairs and tables of varying sides; connected to that was a single loo.

In the center of the front room was a large semi-circular table. It was separated into four colored sections, each with six seats: on the left was green for Slytherin House, then yellow for Hufflepuff, red for Gryffindor, and on the far right was blue for the Ravenclaws. The prefects from each house (a boy and girl from each house for the fifth, sixth and seventh years) sat in their allotted areas. Facing the table was a long rectangular one where the professors sat, along with the Head Boy and Girl from seventh year

The meeting was to begin at eight, but some students started filing in long before that. Lily herself arrived moments before James a half hour early (they were the Gryffindor prefects from sixth year). She glared at him as he sat beside her in the red.

"Look, Lily," he started to say, grabbing her hand. She yanked it away, though, still being angry with him for goofing off. By the sudden downcast look on his face (of which Lily could see he was valiantly struggling to hide), she could tell that he knew she was still annoyed. "You know I don't want to hurt you. I was just having fun in class. I didn't think Murdick would choose you to be our test dummy. I'm sorry, really. If anything happens tomorrow -- that is, anything wrong -- I'll make it up to you, I promise."

Lily stopped glaring and sighed. As much as James aggravated her, he was still her friend. In fact, both she and Alexa were friends with James and his entire crew. She really hated being angry at him; she had been expecting James to make some kind of statement soon, anyway. "It's alright," she said, letting him grasp her hand when he reached for it again. "It's just, well.....I just don't want my birthday ruined, is all. I mean, I know you didn't mean for anything to happen. But when you do something and it ends up bad on my part, I don't like it. I mean, well, you know me." She smiled at him, slightly flustered. She always had wished that she could speak more clearly when it came to matters like this.

James chuckled softly. "Yeah, I do know you." For some reason then, his face flushed and he looked away for a few seconds. Lily looked at him, flummoxed. Why had he done that? Had Alexa told him or one of his friends about her? Something about her sleeping habits (she could not sleep without her bear, thank you very much), or another one of her quirks that only the girls in her dorm knew? She did have the tendency to sing in the shower and dance around the room when she was in a good mood. Or even..... No, she couldn't have. Alexa didn't even know that! She felt her ears and the back of her neck get warm, and quickly bent over to retrieve her Arithmancy book from her rucksack. She set her homework on the table as a diversion; a minute later she glanced back at James, who now looked perfectly normal (if anyone could call him normal). Her homework had quite effectively distracted them both.

"So, are we okay?" Lily asked.

James blinked, and then grinned brilliantly. "Of course we are. We're great."

"Well, then. What did you get me for my birthday?" she teased. She suddenly smiled sweetly at him, and titled her head slightly to the side.

"I didn't get you a single thing." Lily could tell he was lying: his smile was too mischievous; he kept avoiding her eyes; and he was drumming his fingers together.

"Oh, ha ha. What did you get me?"

He quickly dropped the charade. "My dear Lily, I can't tell you that! It won't be a surprise, then!"

"I can act surprised. I'm a good actress."

"No, you're terrible, and you lie horribly. Your ears always turn as red as your hair!"

"They do not!"

"Yes they do. They're even red now."

"No, they aren't."

James laughed. "Lily, you can't even see you ears. How would you know what color they are? Oh, and by the way? I got you a book."

"What? James!" Lily's mouth dropped open in surprise and she looked at him in shock. "Why the hell did you tell me?"

"You wanted to know!"

"But that doesn't mean you should actually tell me. What kind of person are you?"

James kept grinning, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly. "Make up your mind, will you? And I'll have you know that I'm a very nice person. After all, I was just kidding with you. Of course I wouldn't tell you what I really got."

"Of course not," muttered Lily as she turned back to her Arithmancy book. She then purposely ignored James.

Fifteen minutes later, all the students had arrived, and most of the professors. Lily still tried to work, but had long forgotten to ignore her friend. By the time Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster, showed up, Lily had already discarded her homework and was talking animatedly his James and a Ravenclaw fifth year, Athena Wingden, about the upcoming winter holidays.

The meeting was short, since nothing of import had happened recently, and nothing of note was going to happen. By eight thirty, Professor McGonagall had called the meeting to a close.

Lily rushed out of the room. She didn't get very far, though, before James called to her to wait. She slowed, and he caught up to her. They walked in unison to the Gryffindor tower.

Once they were inside, James stopped Lily before she could join her friends in the common room. "Lily, about tomorrow, you'll be fine. As far as I know, we didn't screw up the potion, so don't worry. 'Night."

Lily looked at him, slightly confused. "Are you going to bed now? It's not even nine."

"I know that. Tomorrow morning we have a Quidditch practice really early, so I wanted to get some sleep while I could. Good night." He leaned forward and quickly kissed her cheek, then turned and ran up the stairs to his dorm before she could say anything. Lily just stood and watched his retreating back, feeling inexplicably triumphant.

***

The next morning Lily woke up to find everyone had already left the dorm except Alexa. Her friend waited for her while she showered and got ready. They then went downstairs, in search of their other friends.

They walked into the common room, and before she knew what was happening, Lily was greeted with a raucous cry--

"Surprise!"

The room was filled with half the Gryffindors. A huge banner hung in the air above them, saying 'Happy 16^th Birthday Lily!' In one corner of the room was a pile of gifts; in another stood a table full of food (mainly with breakfast food).

The rest of her friends rushed up to her, laughing and hugging her. James then stood right before her. He smiled gently. "How's this as compensation for being the guinea pig in Potions today?" he asked. All Lily could do was grin back at him.

"So did you really have Quidditch practice?"

"If Quidditch is now the organization of surprise parties, then yes, I did have a Quidditch practice."

"Did you set this up then, or did Alexa?"

"It was Alexa's idea, but you know she's not really one to get a party together. She came to me last week to set it up, and left most of the decisions to me. So this is part of a joint birthday gift to you, Lily. Happy birthday."

And so Lily smiled broadly and hugged him before going off to enjoy her surprise birthday party.

***

Lily entered the common room late that night. She had been finishing her homework so she could enjoy the weekend (her birthday had managed to fall on a Friday).

Surprisingly, Potions had gone well. To Sirius' and James' credit, they had made the sleeping potion correctly. After she had drunk it, she didn't know anything had happened until Professor Murdick had wakened her with another potion, and quite reluctantly awarded the Gryffindor house ten points.

When Lily joined her friends, they made her open her presents. Since they had all had to go to class in the morning, they had been left unopened and untouched until now. That took awhile (many people had given her gifts, and her friends had to closely check out each and every one of them); by the time she finished, most of the students had gone to bed. It was almost midnight.

But.....there was seemed something odd about it all. Lily couldn't shake the feeling that something important had been missing.

An hour later, Lily was about to go upstairs herself when James stopped her. Her friends were already up there (with the exception of Alexa, who was of course waiting for Lily to gather her things).

Lily sighed. "Alexa, you don't have to wait for me. I'll talk to you in the morning, all right?"

Alexa smiled and hugged her friend. "Alright. Want me to bring up your presents?" Lily nodded, and Alexa left.

"Can I talk to you?" James asked. He was tapping his foot, something he always did when he was nervous.

Lily frowned slightly, but nodded. She followed James to the couch in front of the fireplace. At this point, the common room was entirely empty. "What did you want to talk about?"

James fidgeted, and she could tell that what he was about to ask was not the reason they were there. And she was right. "How was your birthday?"

"It was great. Thank you so much for the party." She paused, and looked down at her hands. "That was really sweet of you to set it up."

"You're welcome. And see, Potions was just fine. As far as I can see, nothing is wrong with you because of it!"

Lily bit her lip, and turned away from her. She spoke, looking straight into the fireplace, watching the flickering flames. "James, why did you want to talk to me? Seriously. For some reason I doubt it's about Potions or the party."

She heard him sigh, and felt the couch shift as he moved. He had slid over right next to her, and taken one of her hands.

"Lily, I wanted to talk to you because....." He drifted off. A few seconds later, he squeezed her hand gently, and started again. "Lily, I like you --" she gasped softly and turned to look at him "-- a lot. And I don't know how you feel, but I had to tell you. I've liked you for a long time now, more and more everyday. I just -- I just couldn't not say anything any longer. I know this probably ruins our friendship, and I'm sorry."

Lily turned back to the fireplace. She felt her throat close up, and couldn't stop a few tears from slipping down her cheeks. He liked her, she kept thinking. He actually liked her. Well, that made things a whole hell of a lot easier.

But apparently James was confused. Of course, he didn't know what she was thinking. "Lily, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

Without warning, Lily wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and buried her head into his shoulder. She felt his hand slowly slip from hers, and his arms crept around her back. She couldn't speak through the lump in her throat; they sat that way for several minutes.

Finally Lily pulled back from him. She had to say this as best as she could; she couldn't fumble her words this time. Looking at James intently, she spoke slowly. "James, why do you think I've been getting so mad every time you joke around? I never used to." She paused and took a deep breath. "But now, I'm always afraid that you don't really like me, or that you'll do something to hurt me. I like you, too, I do. And I couldn't tell anyone or say anything, either; Alexa doesn't even know. I didn't want to tell anyone because I was afraid.....I didn't want you to find out and not want to be friends anymore." Lily looked back down at her hands.

When James finally spoke, she could barely hear him. "That could never happen." He lifted up her chin with one hand until she raised her eyes to his. "I have something for you, Lily." James reached into a pocket in his robes and pulled out a small rectangular box. "This used to belong to my grandmother before she died. I'd like for you to have it."

It was only then that Lily realized there had been no present from him in the pile earlier. She took the box from his hands and opened it.

Inside was a necklace, with a small diamond pendant. It was in the shape of a heart, and very beautiful.

Lily looked at James and smiled. Without saying a word, he removed the necklace from the box and put it around the neck, clasping the ends together gently.

"Happy Birthday, Lily."

And when she leaned forward, they shared their very first kiss.