Well. This could be seen as taking place in the same world as my other HP fic "Birthday Celebrations", or it could be a very mild AU in the canonical world of HP, because if Remus actually did this he wouldn't be so poor. But for those that asked for more in the way of "Birthday Celebrations", go ahead and see it as AU. I own nothing.
James noticed it first, as would be expected. Lily was his obsession and Remus was one of his best friends, so he realized with a sort of shock that Remus was spending far too much time with the beautiful redhead upon their arrival at Hogwarts for their sixth year.
"It's just Prefect duty," Remus said, rolling his eyes in the exasperated way he did when James didn't get something that should be obvious. He was so convincing that James almost believed him - except that he knew what a masterful liar his friend was.
"You were Prefects last year and you didn't spend this much time together," James challenged. Remus raised his eyebrows.
"I'm sorry, I was unaware that I had to check with you before I could have other friends," he said coolly. James stared at him, hurt.
"That's not what I-"
"I know it's not," Remus said wearily. "I'm sorry, and I didn't mean it. We're just friends, okay? I swear."
"All right," James muttered. "Look over my homework for me?"
"Of course."
And the moment passed. James tried to convince himself that it was just his imagination, but even he couldn't imagine the hours Remus and Lily spent talking earnestly together, and how he could be seen pacing in front of the fire anxiously while she read a scroll of parchment , occasionally marking things out with her quill. The Marauders might have assumed that she was helping him with his homework, except that Remus was one of the best students in the sixth year.
It was Sirius who noticed the next odd thing.
"Has Moony seemed... off, lately?" he asked James one day as they strolled around the lake a week and a half after arriving at school. "I mean, he wasn't like this last year. I think something happened this summer."
"What do you mean, off?" James asked, frowning. "You mean besides the whole Lily thing?"
"Yes, Prongs, besides the whole Lily thing," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "He's been acting... I dunno, cranky."
James snickered. "Cranky?" Sirius nodded somberly. "When's the full moon?"
"It's new moon," Sirius said flatly, and James frowned.
"New moon? Really? Well, he has seemed a bit short-tempered, but I thought he just wasn't getting enough sleep."
"You noticed that too, then?" Sirius asked as they resumed walking. James nodded.
"Yes. Seems like he's not sleeping at all lately. I woke up at two last night to get some water and he was up writing. Said he was just doing homework."
"Trying to get a headstart, you reckon?" Sirius asked.
"I don't know," James said, frowning. "He's done that before, true, but never at two in the morning."
"He might be having nightmares," Sirius suggested. "And trying to bore himself to sleep."
"Well, History of Magic would certainly do that to you."
"Merlin, I thought Binns was never going to stop speaking yesterday..."
It was two weeks later, just before the full moon, that Professor McGonnigal dismissed their Transfiguration class, then looked up and said, "Oh, Lupin, a word with you, please."
"Of course, Professor," Remus said evenly, and continued packing his things quite calmly, but he was suddenly blushing. "You lot go ahead, it's probably about my furry little problem," he added to the Marauders, and they nodded.
Remus caught up with them in the Great Hall for lunch, and he just rolled his eyes before he sat down.
"Oh, you know, she thought now might be a good time to find out why I've stopped getting beat up so badly each month," he said in a low voice when they questioned him. "What with it being the first one of the year and all."
They nodded sympathetically, but James and Sirius shared a look, and James raised his eyebrow when he noticed Lily trying to catch Remus's eye. The other eyebrow sideled up to join the first when Remus shot her a glowing smile and she laughed delightedly, turning back to her salad and chatting with her friends.
"What do you think?" James muttered, and Sirius shrugged.
"Beats me. But something's fishy."
A week later, Peter ran into Remus in the Owlery when he went up to send a letter to his little sister.
"Hey, Moony," he said, smiling. Remus jumped and whirled around. He was trying a thick package to one of the school owls. Attached to the package was a white envelope.
"Oh, hey, Wormtail," he said with a quick smile. "Letter for Elizabeth?"
"Yes. What's that?"
"Book I picked up in Hogsmeade," Remus said cheerfully. "I thought Marlene might like it."
"Mm hm," Peter said absently. "Right then." He sent his owl out the window, then turned away and walked towards the stairs and was about to ask if Remus was coming when he realized that the werewolf was struggling with the knot on his package and trying to attach it to the bird's leg. Peter meandered on down the steps.
For the next week Remus's head whipped up every morning as the owls flew in, but this wasn't unusual for him. He was always eager to receive letters, though his shoulders didn't usually slump that much and he wasn't usually that disappointed when he didn't.
Once a week had passed, Remus woke up before the other Marauders and was already at breakfast when they stumbled down to the Great Hall. He was poking morosely at his eggs and talking to Lily, who seemed to be trying to cheer him up as she piled sausage onto his plate.
Just as James, Sirius and Peter were about to sit down at the opposite end of the table from their friend (any and every time James had ever sat within ten feet of Lily she would get up and move to a different spot), the owls flew in, and one of them dropped a single letter on Remus's plate before ruffling its feathers and taking off again. Remus just stared, and Lily, after looking from him to the letter on his plate several times, finally snatched it up and opened it, her eyes scanning the words quickly. Remus watched her anxiously, and she looked up solemnly, her eyes sad, before bursting into laughter and leaning across the table to wrap her arms around his neck.
"Yes, yes, yes!" she cried, and Remus's face drained of color, his mouth flapping up and down uselessly.
"I... they..."
"Read it!" Lily gushed. "Oh, Remus, I'm so happy I could just burst!"
He snatched the letter from her hands - his were shaking - and read it quickly, still looking shocked, and the Marauders crowded over. Lily had snatched the letter back from Remus, grinning widely as she read it again. However, the grin was replaced with a disgusted look as she saw James approaching, and she wrinkled her nose as she stood abruptly and moved down a ways to sit with her friends, not seeming to realize she still had the letter with her.
"What's wrong, Remus?" Peter asked curiously, plopping down into the seat next to the other boy and heaping kippers onto his plate.
"Nothing's wrong," he said, shaking his head and finally starting to smile. "I'm just shocked, is all. I didn't think he'd ever actually do it!"
"Who'd do what?" Sirius asked impatiently. "No dramatics, Moony."
"Genevieve's boyfriend proposed," Remus said, grinning. Genevieve McKinnon was his adoptive sister who had graduated Hogwarts several years previously, and she and her boyfriend had been dancing circles around each other for the past few months. Remus had spent a while griping about it and how it was all she would talk about in her letters.
"Good for her," James said approvingly. "I liked that Gregor guy when he was here."
"You seem really happy about that," Sirius pointed out, immediately suspicious after Remus's odd behavior for the past month.
Remus raised his eyebrows. "What, I can't be happy for my sister? Just 'cause you hate your sibling doesn't mean we all do."
Sirius shrugged and let it go.
Remus barely spoke at all for the next three weeks, and when he wasn't doing homework he could be seen almost frantically writing things that he never would show anyone but Lily, and he started meeting with Professor McGonnigal after almost every class. He would come up with some sort of excuse for everyone else and tell the Marauders it was about his 'furry little problem'.
Finally, after several weeks of this, his dorm mates cornered him in the dormitory, where Remus was reading his Potions book and making notes on a scrap of parchment beside him.
"All right, Moony, what's going on?" James demanded, eyes narrowed.
Remus smiled slightly as he sat up, laying the book aside. "Why does this seem familiar?"
"Don't give us that," Sirius snapped. "You're hiding something."
Remus frowned in puzzlement. "What do mean?"
"Remus," Peter said exasperatedly. "We're not idiots. You're always going off by yourself, you're spending tons of time with Lily, and McGonnigal keeps holding you back at the end of class! What's going on?"
Remus shrugged. "I like being by myself, Lily and I are friends, and I told you, McGonnigal's suspicious. She's keeps asking-"
"No, she doesn't," James said flatly. "We'd know if she really was. What's up, Moony, really?" he asked, allowing his friend to see that he was truly concerned.
"You can tell us," Sirius said earnestly. "We're your friends."
Remus shrugged. "All right. The first two, there really isn't anything. Lily and I are good friends, and I've just been stressed with all the homework lately. The thing with McGonnigall..." He shrugged. "It's just something she and I have been working on. Extra credit, sort of."
"'Extra credit' meaning..."
"It's a bit of a special project," Remus said with a small smile. "I swear it'll be done soon, and I think you'll like it."
"Tell us," Sirius whined, giving Remus his best puppy-dog eyes (a feat which he was understandably good at), but Remus just laughed and shook his head.
"Absolutely not. I swear you'll know by Christmas, at the latest, but no worries, I'll definitely tell you soon. If you stop bothering me about it," he said, eyes narrowing suddenly. The other three nodded reluctantly, and Remus beamed at them all. "Great. Now let me do my homework."
Shrugging and grumbling, they left, and Remus returned to his homework.
His fellow Marauders left him pretty much alone, apparently hoping the silent treatment would convince him to tell them, and it usually did after a few days. But a few days passed, and then a few more, until it had been almost two weeks, and still Remus didn't crack.
It was almost time for Christmas break - all the Marauders were staying at school this holiday - and again Remus was sitting with Lily one breakfast when two owls carrying a large package between them. They dropped it in front of him and Remus grinned at Lily. She was staring in apparent awe.
"Are those..."
"Yes," he replied, his grin widening. She squealed, and Sirius and Peter shared a confused look. Normally Sirius would have shared this confused look with James, but James was currently off in Lily-land and had no idea what was going on.
"Can I see?" Lily asked in a hushed voice, so that the other Marauders had to strain their ears to hear. Remus shook his head.
"No way. This is a Christmas present, Lily, you can't see what it is beforehand!"
Lily groaned comically. "Plea-ea-ease? I helped you get it!"
"Doesn't matter," Remus replied firmly. "Christmas isn't for a week. You can get it then."
With a sigh, Lily threw one last longing look at the package before returning to her oatmeal.
After finishing his meal, Remus stood, picked up the package, and walked away. The other Marauders stared after him, trying to figure out what was in the mysterious package, but he just looked at them smugly and kept on walking.
The Marauders had always refused to give hints about their friends' Christmas presents, but that didn't stop Messrs. Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs from begging Remus for information. He just laughed and shook his head and was thouroughly annoying and extremely unhelpful.
Christmas morning dawned bright and cold, and Sirius was the first one up. He shouted loudly to wake his dorm mates and dived at the pile of presents at the foot of his bed.
"Happy Christmas, Pads," James said, grinning maniacally as he sorted through the numerous packages on his bed. "Happy Christmas, Moony, Wormy."
Wormtail moaned as he attempted to drag himself out of bed, and Remus murmured "Happy Christmas" in reply as he read a card from his parents. His stack of presents was considerably smaller than his friends', with a total of six packages, but it had never seemed to bother him before and it didn't now.
James wasn't thinking of that, though. He was frowning at his presents. "Moony, where's the one from you?"
Sirius looked up from the box of chocolate he was opening, then back down at his presents. "Yeah, I don't see anything either."
"Me neither," Peter added, peering over the end of his bed. Remus grinned at them, seeming suddenly shy.
"I wanted you all to open them at the same time," he admitted, reaching underneath his bed and pulling out three packages wrapped in brown paper. "Catch."
He tossed the small packages to each of them, and James flexed it in his hands. Sirius had quickly ripped the paper off and was now examining the present.
"It's a... book."
"Um, thanks, Moony," James said uncomfortably. Remus was grinning.
"Did you see who wrote-" he began, but Peter cut him off.
"No way," the boy breathed, and they all looked at him. "R.J. Marauder?"
Sirius's and James's heads whipped down to look at the books in their hands.
"Unseenby R.J. Marauder," James read, then looked up at Remus, his eyes wide. "You're kidding. This is some kind of weird coincidence, right?"
"You actually... is this really..." Peter said weakly.
"Read the dedication," Sirius said softly. He had opened up his book to the first page and was staring in awe at the words written there.
James flipped his book open and read out lout, "To Messrs. Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs, Mlle. Lily, and a certain Professor, without whom this book would not be possible."
"Remus, you wrote a book!" Sirius bellowed, diving across the space between his bed and Remus's to tackle his friend. Remus laughed and shoved him off.
"Yes, I wrote a book."
"I can't believe you!" James cried. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"I wanted to surprise you," Remus shrugged.
"Then why did you tell Lily?" Sirius said, pouting. Remus laughed a little.
"I didn't. All last year she and I would talk about plot ideas and characters, and she was the one who convinced me to write it all down and publish it."
"And McGonnigal?" Peter asked, barely looking up from the book. He was reading the table of contents.
"I needed an adult to help get it published," Remus said, unable to stop grinning. "And I knew she'd, you know, get it."
"Get it...?" James asked, completely lost, and Remus shrugged.
"It's a wizarding publishing company, James," Remus said patiently. "And there are certain regulations for my kind."
"By 'kind', I'm going to assume you mean 'student'," Sirius remarked, flipping through the book to look at the illustrations at the beginning of each chapter. "Who drew the pictures?"
"Someone at the company," Remus said with a shrug. "I've never met him, but he did a good job."
"They don't move," Sirius said, puzzled. Remus grinned.
"That's the thing. It's published in the wizard world and the Muggle world, so no moving pictures."
"Wait, you published the same book with two different companies?" Peter asked, puzzled. Remus shook his head.
"No, it's the same company. They have a Muggle division, for authors who want Muggles to read their works."
"Aw, Moony, you're an author now!" James cooed teasingly, and Remus laughed. "Really, though, this is great," James said seriously, and Remus smiled.
"Yeah, it is. I mean, I'll have trouble finding a steady job outside of Hogwarts, so this... this is wonderful."
"Why's it say R.J. Marauder, though?" Sirius asked curiously. "Why not Remus Lupin?"
"It's a pseudonym," Remus said, and Peter's brow furrowed in confusion.
"A suit of what?"
Remus snorted. "A fake name. I don't like the spotlight, you know that."
"Of course," James said, nodding wisely. "He's already got girls throwing themselves at him because he's so 'sensitive'. Finding out he's an author as well could very well be the end of dear Moony's peace and quiet."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Ha ha, James."
"Great job writing a book, Remus!" Sirius enthused. "Now I'm going to open the rest of my presents."
And he did just that.