The piano

It was a morning like every other in Number 12, Grimmauld Place. Remus Lupin was sitting down in the kitchen, sipping his tea and scimming through the Daily Prophet. He didn't hope to find much in there, though, seeing that it mainly comprised articles about Harry and Dumbledore being mad liars who threatened the ministry. Snorting at a particularly implausible sentence about Hogwarts' headmaster no longer being the wizard he once had been, Remus threw the paper across the table and returned his attention to his cup of tea and his toast. As even-tempered as he usually appeared, the way the Prophet was going at his mentor and his best friend's son did have a toll on him. He'd give anything if he only could be able to go out into the world and make them see reality. But he couldn't. No one would believe a werewolf, if they even let him come close enough to speak to them at all. Shaking his head in frustration, he let his gaze wander over the kitchen. Molly hadn't been at Grimmauld Place for the last few days, she was busy enough with housework at the Burrow and didn't need to come to London every single day. Remus missed her cooking, though. Of course he was able to provide for himself, as he had needed to do for longer than he cared to take notice, but it wasn't quite the same. Although he'd rather do it himself than let Sirius and Tonks come anywhere near the kitchen for more than eating. They once attempted to cook together out of a mood and Remus had been busy restoring the kitchen for days, before Molly could get a glimpse at the chaos. Remus smiled at the memory, though that smile faded rather quickly.

There was no need to worry about Tonks and Sirius interrupting his musings for another go at the poor hearth. They had avoided him for quite some time now. Of course that sounded ridiculous and he couldn't think of a reason why they should try to get out of his way all of a sudden, but thus it was. He had hardly caught a glimpse of them these last few days. The time the two cousins spent together had increased enormously for a while now. Remus didn't mind, as they hadn't met for years, but he couldn't deny that he was a bit jealous. After all, Sirius was his last remaining best friend and he had thought that Tonks saw him as a friend, too. He missed their conversations, all the laughter and even Sirius' at times very grumpy mood. Everything to distract him from the otherwise empty house. Grimmauld Place wasn't really his favourite location to stay in, but he had about as much of a choice as Sirius. He was trapped in here, there was nowhere else he could go. At least nowhere he could call home. And up until lately, that had been all right with him. He had had his friends and order members running across the house, trying to clean it up a bit, or there had been Molly, cooking for a group at least twice their size. Since the children had returned to school, though – could he still call them children that age and with all they'd had to go through? - people showed up less and less, only to deliver a report for Dumbledore and hurry out again straight away. The only one showing up frequently was Tonks. He thought of her colour-changing hair and smiled to himself. The young with had grown very dear to him over the last few months and sometimes, the feeling sneaked upon him that he had perhaps grown too fond of her for his own good. There was no way there could ever be anything between them, surely she was going out with someone her age and would laugh at him for the very idea of them being together. Although sometimes Remus was almost sure that she sent different signs, that she was indeed interested and wouldn't mind him doing the first step. But then again, his fancy probably fooled his mind. Why would a straightforward girl like Tonks wait for him to make the first move if she really wanted him to take her out? She didn't seem much of the romantic type. Though he had to admit that he had never talked to her about it. It just wasn't a theme to get on about between platonic friends.

Another reason why he was somehow upset this morning, other than his friends letting him down all the time and a rather unpleasant breakfast compared to Molly's cooking, was the fact that it was his birthday. The tenth of March, his 36th birthday. And nobody thought of congratulating him up until now. Of course he should have been used to this after years of living in isolation, but it still hurt to know that the people naming themselves his friends or at least colleagues hadn't thought of it. He didn't want a celebration, he just wanted them to show him they cared. Grinning bitterly, Remus shook once again his head over himself. He knew that he was way too dependent on other people's opinion and that he put too much emphasis on being liked by everyone. He'd never forget someone's birthday, just so that maybe there was a chance they'd remember his and he'd get a card or at last a clap on the shoulder or something. But being a werewolf was not only causing physical damage, it was also pressing on the psyche. The more hatred he received for something he couldn't do anything about, the more he wanted to be liked for the rest of his personality. He was the one who always stayed calm and he knew people appreciated that. So that was what he did. But at times, his temper was just as much on the point of boiling over as other people's. He just didn't want to show it as to not lose his image. He knew that letting his temper get the better of him wouldn't do any good. For example as he had nearly given in on Christmas, as he had been caught under the mistletoe with Tonks. A nice trap made by Sirius, who out of some weird train of thought seemed to think that they'd make a great pair. He had felt like kissing her the way he had dreamed about for weeks – though he'd never admit that to anyone, not even himself, of course -, but he had suppressed that wish, had let it come down to nothing more than a quick peck on the cheek and thus rescuing their friendship. Or so he had thought, as Tonks obviously didn't talk to him anymore, anyway.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the horrible noise from upstairs until Kreacher came bursting into the kitchen, muttering angrily to himself.

"Shame of my mistress' flesh... Oh, if she knew... Chasing old Kreacher out of the room... Unworthy murderers and freaks besmirching the Most Noble House of Black..."

Remus, concluding that Tonks and Sirius were trying to decontaminate another room, chasing Kreacher for trying to steal anything sporting the Black family weapon, decided to look after them. Obviously, they were somewhere upstairs and now that he paid attention to it, he could make out the noise. It wouldn't be too hard finding them.

When he had reached the second floor, he definitely knew where to find them. He could hear their barely concealed whispers on the corridor.

"You don't think he's already up?"

"Well, the full moon's not for another few days and apart from that Moony usually gets up quite early. We really should hurry up, he could come by here any minute now..."

"Sorry, but I'm doing what I can, all right? It's not my fault we're not done yet, I sneaked out of office and refused as much order duty as I dared to. You could have done something yourself while I've been at work."

"And how? I'm not much into that kind of stuff, I don't have the slightest idea what to do here. Besides, Moony and I are mostly trapped in this house on our own and it would've become suspicious if I had sneaked off on my own too often."

"You always spend hours on end up there with Buckbeak when you're sulking, you could just have pretended to be upset with Snape or something and acted as if you're going up to your mother's room. It's not that difficult. Or give him a good book, he won't notice anything when he's got something to read."

"And how am I going to get my hands on a good back in here? I'm not so sure that How to hunt down half-breeds would be his lecture of the day and that's about the most human stuff you will find down there."

"Okay, okay. I'm not saying anything. But you could have wrapped it by now."

Remus' heart beat faster. Wrapped what? Had they been working on a birthday present for him?

"You don't actually want to wrap that? It'll take ages and he'll vanish it anyway with a flick of his wand, otherwise he'll sit here until after the next full moon and then our whole work would be ruined."

"Well, we don't have to wrap it completely, but a ribbon or something would be nice. Or we could put a table cloth on top of it, so that he doesn't get it immediately."

"Yeah, because a table cloth would really cover up the whole affair. Surely Moony would be unable to get his mind around his present when we put a table cloth on top of it.", Sirius went on sarcastically. Before the two could rip of their hands over their bickering, though, Remus decided it was time to join the party. He entered the room and took a look at the object hardly covered by Tonks' and Sirius' arguing forms. It was a piano, white as snow and polished to the point where it reflected the sunlight coming in through the windows so much it hurt. There were gleaming patterns of gold engraved in it, forming the Gryffindor lion, Remus recognised it even though he looked at it from the wrong side.

Sirius and Tonks stopped their argument over the sound of Remus' sharp intake of breath. Finally, they noticed that they had been discovered.

"Oh, Remus, I'm so sorry, we wanted to show you when it looks a bit more festive", Tonks began tentatively, but stopped dead when she saw the look on Remus' face. It was one of absolute awe. He tried to force himself to close his mouth, but he couldn't. He still stared at the piano, not able to form words. Sirius stepped aside to grant him a better look at his birthday present beaming widely.

"Seems we've hit the right point. Well, then, won't you have a closer look at it, mate?"

But Remus was still frozen to the spot. He had never imagined them doing something like that for him. Helplessly, he stared at the instrument, mouthing the first thing that came to his mind.

"That must have cost you a fortune! I can't accept such an exclusive present!"

He betrayed his words by not taking his eyes off the piano. He had a weird feeling that he'd outright murder anyone who'd try to take this treasure away from him.

"It's not been expensive!", Tonks interposed.

Remus stared at her disbelievingly, hardly letting the glorious instrument out of his sight.

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, no, really. We knew you wouldn't fancy a costly new piano, so I managed to get a used one from a colleague. Sirius and I spend the last few weeks restoring it, that's why we've spent so little time with you. I hope that's okay with you. You don't have to worry, we checked on it yesterday, sounds just as it's supposed to", she added as Remus' disbelieving stare finally left the piano and wandered from her to Sirius and back. Sirius' was still grinning madly, but Tonks seemed to be unsure whether he liked their present or not.

"You... you restored a piano for me?"

"Well, yes, why not? Sirius told me you played a lot when you were younger and Grimmauld Place really needs some cheering up, so we thought that it both would make you happy and the house less gloomy. And as you live here, that'd do you some good, too."

Remus stared back at the piano, unable to look into Tonks' eyes.

"Must have been in a real good state then, when you managed to make it look like that."

"Oh, no, it was a total wreck when Tonks brought it here. Originally, it was black, but most of the paint had peeled off and the wood was a bit rotten in places. There were keys missing and it sounded horrible. We had to look up quite a few spells to get it in a state halfway acceptable, some things we had to do the Muggle way. It was quite some fun, actually. Tonks painted it and I did the engravings. What with the keys and stuff, that was mostly Tonks' doing. Had her head in books about magical tuning all the while I had to peel off the rest of the paint and that's some work, even with magic!"

Sirius broke out in barking laughter, but Remus was still thunderstruck. They had put so much work in his birthday present and he had thought they'd abandoned him! He was such an ungrateful git. Tonks took a careful step forward and awkwardly placed his hand on his arm, causing him to look up at her.

"Don't you like it? It's okay, we can get you something else if you rather won't have it..."

Worry was evidently lined in her face. Finally, Remus freed himself of his stupor, able to speak once again.

"No! I mean, I love it, that's the best present I've ever had..."

"Ha!", sounded Sirius laughter from near the piano. "I told you he'd love it, Tonks."

His cousin smiled at him and looked back at Remus. Still a bit numb, he smiled back. He saw the expectant glint in her eyes and decided that he could just as well stroll over to the piano and test it. Almost tenderly, he sat down on the stool and placed his fingers on the keys. They were highly polished, as the rest of the piano. Remus closed his eyes and tried to remember one of his favourite tunes. It had been a while since he had last played anything, he hadn't been able to get his hands on a piano for ages. Struggling to remember the notes, he finally found the memory and stroke the first key. The melody in his head transferred itself onto the keys and within seconds the room was filled with wonderful music. Tonks stared at him with tears of joy in her eyes, happy that he obviously liked their present. Sirius had his hand on her shoulder and still beamed at his best friend. Finally, the tune ended and Remus reopened his eyes. The piano reflected the sun, blending white and gold, the ivory of the keys smooth beneath his finger tips that were still resting on them. It was perfectly tuned and so beautiful it hurt his eyes. Even the choice of room was brilliant, the walls reflected the tones exactly in the right way. Smiling, he looked up at his two benefactors. He felt pleasantly warm as he looked at them, they seemed so overjoyed that they had made him happy with their surprise. At closer look, he could see the scratches on their arms where splinters had ripped at their skin, there were still traces of paint on Tonks' hands and both of them had several bruises in all possible colours on every visible and possibly even not visible part of their bodies, but none of them seemed to care. Sirius was still beaming and Tonks smiled wider than he had ever seen her do it before. When they caught his gaze, they couldn't hold it back any longer.

"Happy birthday, Remus!", they called in unison.

"And in case you think the rest of the order has forgotten about you...", started Sirius.

"There will be a party tonight! Molly's bustling around the Burrow to prepare everything, and Kingsley took a day off!", ended Tonks.

Both of them still beamed as though Voldemort had suddenly died on Christmas Eve and Remus couldn't resist to grin broadly in response. He hadn't felt this happy in a long, long time. Acting on his exuberant feelings, Remus got up from the stool and hugged both of them tightly.

"I love you, too, mate. But please, leave me some air."

Laughing, they parted. Tonks looked somehow a bit nervous, though. Sirius gave her a quick sideways glance and smirked.

"Well, you guys, I have to leave you alone, then. Need to prepare the decors."

With that he left the room. Remus stood there, completely confused. Where was this going to lead?

"Er... Remus?"

"Yes?", he asked, turning around to face her.

"I've got another present for you."

Remus raised his eyebrows.

"Don't you think you've done enough for me already? I meant it, that is definitely the best birthday or otherwise present I have ever received."

Tonks sighed and seemed to gather her courage.

"Listen, I... I understand if you don't accept this one and if you want to forget about it, it's okay. It's just been a stupid bet with Sirius and, well... Merlin, this is so embarrassing. I better get over with it now."

Still blushing to match her bubblegum pink hair, Tonks rose to her tiptoes and pressed her lips to Remus' in a soft kiss. Before he knew what he was doing, his eyes were closed and his arms around her waist, pulling her closer, her hands sneaking up their way to his neck. The kiss became deeper and he felt as though the touch of her tongue and her taste of strawberry would burn themselves into his brain. Finally, they broke the kiss for lack of air and Remus just stared at her for a minute before he could force himself to say something.

"So... That's what you betted with Sirius?"

"Well, actually, it should have been nothing more than a quick peck on the lips but I sort of got a bit too indulged in it..."

She was blushing furiously once more and that look of concern she gave him was so irresistible he pulled her in for another kiss. He knew he might regret that later, but maybe he could explain it away with birthday euphoria or something. For now, he had a hard time staying true to his word because if he could choose now, he probably wouldn't stay with the piano as his best birthday present ever...