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James woke up on the day of his seventeenth birthday with a grin on his face - it was a Sunday, he was expecting it would be the best birthday possible.
He pulled open the curtains of his bed and his eyes instantly caught a tiny package on his nightstand. He reached for it, his grin not leaving his face.
His family owl must’ve dropped off the gift while he was sleeping. It was from his parents, a watch - as every wizard got for his seventeenth birthday - a letter in a shimmering golden envelope and a tiny box with James’ mum’s homemade gulab jamun. James smiled even wider, feeling his stomach stir at the sweet scent.
But he closed the box and put the package back onto the nightstand, deciding to treat himself to it after he’d already had breakfast.
He pulled himself onto his feet and looked around the unusually quiet dormitory.
“Lads?” he called out.
A collective groan erupted from all three of his friends.
“Piss off, Prongs!” Sirius grumbled from Remus’ bed. “It’s Sunday, way too early for this.”
James’ eyes darted to the clock. Right. It was barely eight. His early bird nature was as always a burden to his friends.
He shrugged and decided to have breakfast later, once they all got up, and now give himself the pleasure of a long morning shower - it was his birthday; he deserved it.
But apparently, Remus didn’t share the same opinion. About an hour later, he was banging on the bathroom door.
“Get out of there, Prongs, I need to change!” he yelled. Then there was some whining sound in the background and Remus added, “And Padfoot needs to pee!”
“Let him out onto the lawn!” James yelled back, a grin pulling on his lips. He turned off the water. “I’ll be out in a minute!”
Both Remus and Sirius rushed into the bathroom the moment James stepped out of it. He rolled his eyes fondly as the door slammed shut behind him.
“Remember about practice at ten, Pads!” he shouted.
“Shove off!” Sirius yelled back.
James let out a chuckle and looked around the room, searching for Peter.
But he wasn’t there so James figured he’d already gone to breakfast and made his way down to the Great Hall too.
And he was right - Peter was sitting at the Gryffindor table, Lily opposite him. James slid onto the bench next to Peter and grinned at the both of them.
“Morning.”
Peter snapped his eyes to him. “Hi Prongs, h—” He choked on his words. James’ brows pulled into a frown. “H— How are you?”
James scoffed amusedly and reached for bread. “Fine, thank you. Are you alright?”
Peter nodded vigorously. “Yes, it’s just these— these sausages are so good, Prongs, you gotta try them.”
Saying that, he picked one up with his fork from the tray in front of them.
James mmed and his gaze switched to Lily. Then, his brows dropped right back into the frown, an amused smile pulling at his lips.
“Why are you staring daggers at him?” he asked.
Lily snapped her eyes to James, her expression going back to normal.
“I’m not!” she exclaimed. “It’s just his fourth sausage.”
“I can eat however much I want,” Peter said through a mouthful of sausage.
“I’m not saying you can’t—”
James’ focus drifted off to the Slytherin table, all the way across the room. He craned his neck, gaze searching until it finally found the familiar dark curls and pale skin.
Regulus noticed James too and sent him a soft smile.
It was a little sad, how they had to hide their relationship. Especially on James’ birthday.
But he pushed that thought away and smiled back at Regulus. Then his focus was once again pulled away by a certain blonde dropping into the seat next to Lily.
James grinned at her. “Ready for practice, McKinnon?”
“Fuck you,” Marlene deadpanned. “If it wasn’t for you I’d still be sleeping.”
By the time they’d finished training, James realized that everyone seemed to have forgotten about his birthday.
Especially when Marlene kept mentioning that he couldn’t make practice longer because she had a date with Dorcas planned.
James hadn’t seen Regulus since that stolen glance in the Great Hall - and he knew they weren’t publicly a couple but still… it would’ve been nice to at least get birthday wishes.
And no one else mentioned it either. For a moment, James wondered whether he hadn’t confused the dates but then he remembered about the gift from his parents. It was his birthday. But no one cared.
And they always cared. One year, Sirius, Remus, and Peter woke him up at the brink of dawn, singing “Happy birthday” and standing over his bed with a cake.
The Marauders always remembered each other’s birthdays. And they always made a big deal out of it.
But not this time.
That made a heavy feeling settle in James’ stomach as he changed in the Quidditch locker room. He was slow, a bit sulky to be honest, and almost everyone was ready before him, leaving the locker room only with a brief “bye.”
The only one still there when James was finished was Marlene. She was fumbling with something in a cabinet when James peeked in to check on her and just as if on cue there was a crash and jars came tumbling onto the floor.
Why were there even jars in the Quidditch locker room?
“Fuck!” Marlene swore loudly, crouching down to pick the jars, or what was left of them, up.
“I’ll clean this up,” James said with a sigh and Marlene snapped her head to him in surprise - she hadn’t known he was behind her. He plastered a grin on his face. “You can’t be late for your date.”
“Oh, thank you!” Marlene exclaimed, getting up. She walked up to him, pressing a quick kiss on his cheek. “You’re a saint, James, really.”
And with that, she was gone.
James got to the Gryffindor Common Room ten minutes later, after having cleaned up the mess in the locker room. He considered attempting to find Regulus for a moment but that thought stung. Because how could even Regulus forget about his birthday?
James climbed through the portrait hole, not expecting anything anymore but then a loud cheer erupted:
“Happy birthday!”
James’ eyes widened as he stared at the Common Room.
Everyone was there - Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, Mary. And Regulus. He stood slightly in the back with a party hat on his head, grinning at James.
A breath of relief escaped James’ throat.
Before he could stammer anything out, Sirius was at his side, clutching him into a hug.
“You didn’t really think we forgot, did you mate?” he asked, a string of amusement in his voice.
James rolled his eyes, pulling away from the embrace. “What was I supposed to think?”
“It’s the most cliché thing possible,” Remus spoke up, his arms crossed on his chest.
Sirius groaned. “Yes, as you keep saying , Moony.”
“We’re lucky you’re so stupid and didn’t catch on,” Marlene said, bumping into James’ side. “Like, seriously, why would I have a date at noon?”
James opened his mouth in bewilderment. “Are you really offending me on my birthday?”
Marlene grinned. “Happy birthday, idiot.”
James looked around the room. “Where is everyone?”
“We kicked them out,” Lily piped up from where she was sitting on the couch’s back. “Turns out me being a prefect and Marls being absolutely terrifying has that effect on people.”
James snorted with laughter and shook his head. “That’s so cruel.”
Marlene smacked him in the arm. “It was for your party, you ungrateful arsehole!”
James only laughed harder.
And then, his gaze travelled to Regulus, who was still smiling at him softly.
“I thought even you forgot,” James said, walking up to him.
Regulus grinned wider. “Sorry, love. I was given instructions.”
James rolled his eyes and Regulus leaned in closer, lifting his chin.
“Happy birthday, James,” he said before pressing his lips to James’.
James smiled, kissing Regulus back and cupping his face.
“Yeah, one of those instructions was ‘do not snog my best friend in front of me’!” Sirius yelled.
Neither James nor Regulus pulled away.
“You two are disgusting.”