Birthday Socks

Remus rolled over unceremoniously in his bed. The clock next to him kept ticking. And ticking. And ticking. He cracked his eyes open. Was the clock always this loud? He thought. The innocent clock continued to tick away. After a few moments, Remus couldn't take it any more. He sat up. Checking the noisy clock, he realised that he had slept in.

"Why did you guys let me sleep in so late?" he asked, yawning. There was no reply.

"Guys?" Remus flung back his curtains to find the room empty. The other three beds had their curtains drawn back and were made very neatly. It was unlike his friends to be so…tidy. He looked over to Sirius' bed. Sirius never made his bed. Something was up.

Remus frowned and decided that his friends must have just left early for class (which they never do), and had let him sleep in (which they also never do), while being very particular with the state of their dorm (which is completely unheard of, for sixteen year old boys anyway, and especially so for Sirius). He shook his head and started to get dressed. He followed routine, as usual, and was up to putting on his socks, when he realised, that he couldn't find them. He emptied out his truck, courageously looked under his bed and searched the whole dorm, but couldn't find any of his socks.

Still in only his underwear, Remus started to worry. He couldn't go out with no socks. He would have to borrow someone's. He cringed at the idea. It couldn't be Peters, since he chewed holed in all of his, and Sirius' socks smelled like a dozen stink bombs. James had pretty good hygiene when it came to socks, at least since Lily started demanding that he do his laundry regularly. Remus went over to James' trunk, flipped it open, but was shocked to find it completely empty. Everything was gone; his clothes, his books, his photos of Lily. Even his broomstick repair kit. All of it was gone. He franticly checked the other trunks. Sirius' was empty too. Even the wrappers from the chocolate he had stolen from Remus were gone And Pete's trunk was emptier than his head.

Remus frowned. This was most disconcerning. Where were his friends? And where was their stuff? It was if they had never existed. Not a trace of Sirius, James or Peter could be found. Nothing to indicate that they have ever taken up space here. Maybe they were out already. Remus put on the rest of his clothes (which thankfully, weren't missing) and went without socks as he left the dorm and passed through the empty common room. It wasn't that unusual for the common room to be empty at this time, but he was becoming desperate to find someone who might tell him what was happening.

The Great Hall wasn't as packed as it usually was at breakfast time when Remus was normally there, but it was typical for late breakfast. Remus had been relieved to find some people. He scanned the Gryffindor table, but his friends weren't there either. Feeling a bit sick, he rushed a quick breakfast of a piece of toast and a glass of pumpkin juice (while sitting with some second years) and left quickly. Maybe his friends were in class already.

When he got to Transfiguration, he was disappointed once more. Remus sat alone at the front of the class. James, Sirius, Peter, and even Lily were all missing. It wasn't that uncommon for Lily and James to be missing these days, since they had officially become a couple, but for them to be missing during class was a first. And Sirius and Peter weren't really likely to be with them.

When Professor McGonagall came around to hand back their essays, he stopped her.

"Professor, you don't happen to know where Sirius, James or Peter are, do you?"

"Who?" she replied, looking at him questioningly.

"My friends, Sirius, James and Peter?" Remus frowned. This was odd.

"My dear, I don't know who you are referring to."

"You know, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Peter Pettigrew."

"I'm afraid I do not know any students by those names. Now, please sit down, Mr Lupin."

"What? Please, I know you know what I'm talking about! James, Sirius and Peter! The pranksters. The ones you're always giving detention. They've been giving you hell for the past six years!" Remus exclaimed.

"Mr. Lupin. I do not have time for you stories, will you please sit down and – "

"What about Lily?"

"If you do not stop talking out of turn I will have no choice but to give you detention for the rest of the week. Do you hear me, Mr Lupin?" she said loudly.

"Yes Miss." Remus replied quietly. This was all so strange.

Remus collapsed in the library chair. He had had the worst day of this life. Firstly, he had slept in. Then, he couldn't find his friends anywhere, McGonagall yelled at him, Flitwick gave him a B- for his charms essay, and he had lost all his socks! The only way things could be worse would be if everyone discovered his 'Furry Little Problem'. And knowing his luck today, it was probably only a matter of time until someone found out. Remus proceeded to hit himself on the head with a book again and again, simply out of desperation of his situation.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." said a voice.

Remus looked up. "Why?"

"Because you're making it angry." the girl gestured to the book.

Remus looked at the book in his hand. Its cover spread around to the pages, almost like teeth. It growled. He dropped it in surprise. The book snapped at him and scuttled off the table and under a bookcase.

"Thanks." he said to the girl.

"You're welcome." she flicked her dark brown hair out of her eyes.

"Are you new or something?" Remus asked.

"No. I've been here since first year."

"Oh. What year are you in?"

"Sixth. Same as you."

"Oh." Remus scolded himself. Why didn't he know who she was? "Um, who are you?"

She smiled. "The name's Jade."

"Remus." he replied, shaking her hand. "How come I don't know you?" he asked stupidly, a little slow after beating himself over the head with a book.

She shrugged. "Different social circles I suppose. Don't worry. You're not expected to know everyone. I'm one of the girls that Sirius is yet to ask out."

"Oh, that explains it." He replied. Now that he thought of it, the main reason that he did know most of the girls in their year was because they had dated Sirius at one time or another.

"Are you alright? You look a bit…weary. And confused." she added, as an afterthought.

"It's just; I'm having a really bad day."

"Oh."

"Like, really, really bad."

"Why is it so bad?" she asked with genuine concern.

Remus told Jade about his day and all the things that had happened. It felt good to talk about it with someone, and Jade was so understanding. Especially about the socks.

"And all on my birthday too!" he exclaimed.

"Aww, that's so terrible. I think you need some chocolate." she sympathised.

"Yeah, you're right. I don't know why I didn't think of that earlier." He replied, reaching into his bag. For years now, Remus had kept a secret stash of chocolate in a magical pocket in his bag to keep it from Sirius. He reached into it now. But, to his annoyance, it was empty. "What? I don't understand. There's no way Sirius could've gotten into there!" he exclaimed.

"What's wrong?"

"I had a secret stash of chocolate, and now it's gone. Damn that Sirius!"

"Aww, don't worry, you can have some of mine." Jade consoled.

"Really? You keep chocolate in your bag too?" Remus looked up in surprise.

"Of course; if I didn't, my friend Sasha would eat it all. She can usually sniff out chocolate a mile away. I've had to take certain measures to keep her from finding it." she smiled.

"She sounds a bit like Sirius."

"Oh she is very much like him. Just slightly less obnoxious."

Remus laughed. Jade handed him a chunk of chocolate. It was milk chocolate, his favourite.

"Thanks Jade."

She shrugged. "No problem. Always happy to help a fellow chocoholic."

They sat there, in the library, eating chocolate and smiling for a while. When Madame Prince walked past, they both ducked under the table until the coast was clear. Everyone knows about her strict "No eating in the library" rule. Many a student had paid dearly for it. Remus blushed at being so close to Jade, while hiding under the table, and was thankful to sit back on the chairs when the librarian had gone.

Remus and Jade talked for ages about all kinds of things; their favourite books, poetry, Shakespeare, how their friends were terrible at grammar, which teachers also had bad grammar and other topics, long until it was dark.

When Remus finally looked at his watch, which had started ticking loudly all of a sudden, he discovered that it was nine thirty. They had spent all afternoon in the library.

"We should probably go." he said.

Jade smiled. "Yeah, we have been here for a while."

They packed up their books. Neither of them had done any work, but Remus didn't care. He'd had too much fun.

"Thanks Jade. It was really great to talk to you." he said, as they were leaving.

"Yeah, I had fun"

"Me too."

They gazed into each others eyes for a few moments, until they were interrupted by Madame Prince, ushering them out.

The walked down the halls of the school.

"So, do you wanna walk with me to the common room?" Jade asked, batting her eyelashes subtly.

Remus blushed. "Sure."

They continued to walk, making awkward conversation. Remus mentally swore at himself for being to awkward around her. He had been fine just minutes ago.

Before he knew it, they reached the common room portrait.

"So, you're a Gryffindor too?" he asked

"Ah, yeah." she replied, almost laughing.

Remus mentally slapped himself for sounding so silly. He studied his shoes with sudden interest.

Jade broke the silence. "Remus, I know why you're suddenly so awkward."

He looked up, embarrassed. "You do?"

"Yeah, and I know how to fix it."

Remus looked confused. "How?"

She leaned forward. Suddenly understanding what was happening, Remus leaned forward too. They were so close to recreating a classic Hollywood moment, when…

-cough-

Startled, Jade and Remus pulled back.

"Will you two please just get inside? I'm am so sick of watching love-sick teenagers every single night." the fat lady in the portrait said crossly.

She swung open without asking for a password and a blushing Remus and Jade entered, mumbling their apologies as they went. They stepped into the common room. It was pitch black.

"Who turned off the – "

"SURPRISE!!!!!!"

The lights flew back to life and Remus was shocked to find the entire of Gryffindor house cheering. The room was decorated with balloons and streamers. People wore pointy paper hats and a large pile of gifts overloaded a table in the corner. And right in the middle of it all were Sirius, James, Peter and Lily, leading the celebrations.

Sirius stepped forward and slapped him on the back. "Happy Birthday, mate."

James did the same. "Sorry about the whole 'disappearing' thing, Moony. Sirius thought it would be funny to make you think you were crazy for a while. And Peter didn't want to tell you, but he accidentally turned all your socks into soap."

Lily came up and hugged him. "Don't worry, McGonagall was in on it too. And I tried to tell Sirius it was a bad idea, but, you know, he's just so stubborn."

Peter was last. "Sirius stole your stash. And I made the cake. It's chocolate!"

Jade stepped up next to him. "Happy Birthday Remus."

"You knew about this?"

"Sirius promised that he wouldn't date me if I went along with it."

"Oh." said Remus, feeling disappointed. Was it all an act? Maybe she didn't really like him at all.

"But…I got you a birthday present."

"Really? You didn't have to." Remus became interested in his shoes again.

"I think you'll like it." Jade replied. She quickly lent up and kissed him. He kissed her back.

The crowd cheered.

"What? He can't get a girl before she's been though me." Sirius said in mock outrage.

Sasha ruffled his hair and smiled. Sirius winked at her.

James pulled Lily towards him and kissed her on the cheek, in the sprit of the moment.

Peter looked around. Couples everywhere. And no-one for poor Peter. He looked down dejectedly.

"Hey, I heard you made the cake." said a voice.

Peter looked up. A girl with wild pink hair and glasses smiled. He puffed up his chest, aiming to look as macho as he could. "I sure did."

"I like a man who can cook." she batted her eyelashes. Peter blushed.

Remus finally broke apart from Jade. "This is the best birthday ever!"

"GROUP HUG!" shouted Sirius. Everyone jumped forward onto Remus.

After everyone had recovered from the sudden stampede of hugging, James fought back to Remus.

"Just so you know, that grade you got in Charms wasn't us. You really got a B-."

"What? But how?"

"Don't worry about it, Moony. Just drink some Firewhiskey and snog your girlfriend some more. It'll all be better in the morning." Sirius replied, indicating that he was slightly drunk already.

Remus blushed as he looked at Jade. "Happy Birthday, Remus." she said, before kissing him again.

A/n: Aww, wasn't that just adorable? Well, I hope it was anyway. This is an extra special present for my extra special amigo, discombobulated.shoe. It's her birthday today. And since she wrote me an awesome fic for mine, I thought I'd return the favour.

So, if any of you awesome reviewers would like to wish her a super happy birthday, that would be super awesome.

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to everyone, and a extra special Happy Birthday to my buddy, discombobulated.shoe.!