November 8th, 1977The weekend following Sirius's eighteenth birthday was spent without thought of
war or Death Eaters, or the worries of adulthood that waited for them upon graduation.
Sirius had taken to the sky, Beater bat in hand, as he, James, and the rest of the Gryffindor
Quidditch team faced off against Ravenclaw in the first match of the year. Neither had ever
flown better, and it had little to do with the new brooms they had purchased before
returning to Hogwarts in September.
Though Mia and Lily claimed they could not tell the difference from one broom to
the next, Sirius and James had spent a great deal of effort trying to educate their witches
about the obvious superiority that the Nimbus 1500 had over their previous Cleansweeps.
Ravenclaw was defeated in an epic showdown that put Gryffindor in the lead for
the Quidditch Cup by over four hundred points. In a show of support, both Mia and Lily
had run onto the field the moment their wizards landed, throwing themselves into the open
arms of their boyfriends, both of whom would be hard-pressed to find a happier moment
in their entire lives.
The usual butterbeer-fuelled celebration took place after the game, which included
a birthday cake for Sirius and presents from his friends. Buckets of sweets and things for
both his broom and bike were exuberantly appreciated, but he had stared in awe as he
opened Mia's gift: a black leather jacket.
It was the most beautifully Muggle thing he had ever owned, and it took less than
five seconds for him to cast aside his robes and slip into it.
James, Remus, and Peter all grinned at the sight while Lily rolled her eyes. Mia,
however, was staring openly, and Sirius was not at all shy about noticing the way her brown
eyes shifted to amber at the sight of him.
When Lily and James left Gryffindor Tower to return to their private rooms, Sirius
and Mia properly celebrated his birthday by slipping up to the boys' dorm, where Sirius let
her in on a Marauder secret that had begun years earlier. Each wizard was given a one-time
pass that allowed him to kick the others out for any reason. So far, none of the boys had
taken the opportunity, so Sirius gave himself a birthday gift by kicking Remus and Peter to
the common room for the night. Surprisingly, Remus was amused by the gesture; Peter, of
course, was a little put out.