A/N: Hello everyone! Happy New Year to you all!! I know I'm a bit late, but I was in London for two weeks with no Internet access. Anyways, here's the next chapter I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is still not mine!! Everything belongs to J.K.R. I'm simply borrowing her wonderful characters!

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6. AN UNUSUAL BIRTHDAY PARTY

Hogwarts, March 1973

Remus was laid on his back under the comfy, warm blanket and sheets of his four-poster. Outside, the dark was melting in more warm colors, as the first rays of the sun hesitantly touched the sky. He was breathing deeply and after a few minutes he kicked the sheets off of him. It was the end of March and, although it was still quite cold out, he was getting easily hot. Especially around the full moon, and the full moon was in less than twenty hours, and it always had a bad impact on him.

For Remus Lupin was a werewolf. He was a thirteen-year-old werewolf, who also happened to study in Hogwarts in order to become one day a fully licensed wizard. And Remus Lupin, werewolf and wizard, happened to have three friends. Three best friends, for whom he would be grateful for the rest of his life. Because they cared enough for him to discover on their own his secret, and they loved him enough not to care about it and accept it without any questions.

His whole life, Remus had been afraid of people, just because they, in return, were afraid of him, of what he was. His parents had tried to protect him from all this without turning him into an introverted and an unsociable child. He was timid, sure, but he craved affection, sociality and companionship and that gave him strength to come out of his shell, long enough, to befriend the three boys that were softly snoring on his right.

He had tried to be himself as much as possible without revealing his secret, but in the end it proved that it mattered not, because they had accepted him unconditionally. He still didn't feel comfortable talking about his lycanthropy, as he was not used to that, but he had answered most of the questions he was asked. Most of them, concerning his transformations and the myths surrounding werewolves.

He still wouldn't undress in front of the other boys or expose any parts of his torso or upper arms. These parts of his body were the more scarred ones and, although he knew his friends had gotten a glimpse of them, he felt embarrassed and revolted by the idea of fully exposing his whole body. It was not a pleasant sight for him and it wouldn't be one for them either. And he still wouldn't let them visit him in the hospital wig after the full moon, no matter how hard they insisted.

Before his first transformation, after the boys had told Remus they knew about his 'condition', James had asked him if he would like them to visit him the following morning. He had refused, quite heatedly too. He had been terrified that, once they would see him lying on the bed in the Infirmary, covered in bandages, wounds and perhaps blood, they would instantly realise what they had gotten themselves into and would turn their backs to him. When he had come back in the dorm that night, they were all waiting for him with big boxes full of chocolate. Peter and James had gasped when they noticed the new scar gracing his pale face. He had tried to hide the thin, red-soon-to-be-silver line that connected the base of his nose with the bottom of his left ear, by turning his head slightly to the left. Sirius had grabbed him by the shoulders and told him not to be ridiculous, it was barely visible. It was a lie but it made him feel better.

After that, they had asked him again to visit him in the Infirmary, but he had once again declined. Today, it was going to be the third transformation after The Talk (as Remus had named, in his mind, the night the three boys had talked to him) and they had, once again, tried to convince him to let them come to see him. This time though, they had insisted more than usual and he was upset. Not with them, but with this whole stupid situation. James had tried to persuade Remus by telling him that it would be a great birthday present (James' birthday was the day right after the full moon: the 27th of March) for him to be allowed to visit his best friend in the hospital wig, but Remus told James that, unfortunately, he had already bought him a present.

He had gone to his bed without leaving them time to complain or discuss the matter any further and had fallen asleep quite easily. But he had awoken early, after a not-so-calm sleep. The night before the full moon, he would always feel nervous and wouldn't be able to concentrate or relax. He decided that the best thing he could do was to get up and start getting ready for classes.

He took his clothes with him in the bathroom and, after a hot shower, he dressed and went back to the dorm. His eyes slowly travelled over the room and a smile crept to his lips as James and Sirius gave a loud snore at the same time. He looked at his watch and thought that it was about time to wake his friends. Remus briefly closed his eyes and relished the silence that he knew was about to be broken…

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"Ouch! Sirius, watch where you're stepping!" whispered James on his right.

"Sorry mate, it's hard to see where I'm going." Sirius whispered back to his friend.

"Do you have any idea where we're going, or is Filch going to find us?" Peter said anxiously.

"Shhh, Pete! We're invisible not…in-hear-able!"

"James, that's not a word!" Sirius said as he stopped walking and thus, forced the other two to do so.

"I don't care if it's a word or not! I think we are lost."

James, Sirius and Peter were currently under an Invisibility Cloak and, as very well stated by James, lost.

The Invisibility Cloak had arrived this very morning by Jarred, James parents' owl. It was his birthday present by his dad. His mum had no idea that James now owned his dad's old Cloak and, as Harold Potter sated in his letter to his son, James was not allowed to let his mother discover that her husband had found where she had hidden the Cloak and had given it to his son. That had also been the reason why he had sent the present one day earlier. James had been thrilled to find out that it was a real Invisibility Cloak and had no idea why his father had never told him anything about it before. Perhaps it had something to do with James already causing enough mischief without it, as Remus had wisely pointed out.

"Remus is going to be so pissed when he finds out about this," Sirius whispered to his friends.

"Well, he doesn't have to find out!" reasoned James. "Anyway, I think it's this way."

"Why? Can you actually smell something?" Peter asked.

"Don't be daft! I'm not a dog! I remember this corridor!" James' voice was as quiet as possible.

"So, lets say that we get there. How are we going to enter?" Sirius thought that they should have planned just a bit better their little trip to the kitchens. Because that was their destination this ungodly hour.

A few days ago James and Peter had been complaining that they were hungry and should have been able to pay a visit to the kitchens to help themselves on a second dinner. After the whole complaining thing was over, James had headed up to their dorm. As he entered he saw something greenish moving near his bed. The house elf had turned his head upon hearing footsteps behind it and for a couple of seconds they both stood there staring at each other; James blinking and the house elf blushing. Slowly a smile crept to James' face and it mustn't have been an encouraging one, because the elf had looked terrified and apparated with a loud crack.

When it reappeared in the kitchens, it wasn't alone anymore. It had a laughing James attached to its left arm.

James had taken as many pies as he could hide in his cloak and headed back to the Gryffindor common room. Needless to say that the other three boys had been abashed to see him enter through the Portrait, since they had witnessed him climbing the stairs leading to their dorm a few minutes ago. Of course in all his excitement he had forgotten to ask the elves how to re-enter the kitchens and if a password was, for example, needed.

Now, all of them were standing in front of the portrait James claimed to have climbed out of, as he had left the kitchens.

"Maybe we need to give a password…" said Sirius looking thoughtfully at the portrait.

"Like what?" Peter asked confused.

"I dunno…something like I'm hungry," replied Sirius.

"That would be a stupid password. And besides, we're not here to eat but to take a big chocolate cake for Remus!" reminded them James.

"I know, but it wouldn't hurt us to eat something while we are here…"

"I agree!!" exclaimed Peter, a bit too loudly.

"Anyway, we can talk once we get inside!" interrupted them James. "Maybe there's a secrete lever or a button," he tried, while scanning with his eyes the frame of the portrait.

"I guess we have to search then, don't we?" Sirius said impatiently, as his stomach rumbled.

Hesitantly, they stepped closer to the portrait and three pairs of hands sprang seemingly out of nowhere and started touching and exploring the portrait and the frame. After some moments, Peter's hand brushed accidentally over the pear and it immediately giggled.

"Did the pear just giggled or have I gone mad?" asked dumbfounded, James.

"How did you do that?" Sirius asked Peter, who was looking as taken aback as the other two.

Before he could answer that, the pear disappeared and in its place a door handle appeared.

"Bloody hell! There's a door handle!" Sirius forgot to keep his voice low and before anyone could hear them, James opened the door and shoved the other two boys in.

Almost a hundred pair of eyes turned towards them and stared at the, now closed, entrance. The three boys stared back before they remembered they were invisible. James took off of them the Cloak and the house elves gaped surprised.

"Um…hello! Good evening…er…house elves," begun James uneasy.

Before he could say anything else, about ten house elves surrounded them and starting bowing and offering pies and puddings and many other goodies. Sirius, and Peter of course, were only too happy to accept the offerings, while James explained that they would like to have a big chocolate cake with icing on top of it with the words For Remus written.

Twenty minutes later, they were making their way back to the Gryffindor tower very pleased with themselves. Sirius and Pete had eaten as much as they could and James had just eaten a small mint pie. The cake was wonderful and looked delicious and James was thankful that both of his friends were too full to even consider tasting it.

Once they reached the dormitory, they placed the cake on a bedside table and decided to visit Remus after their first lesson was over, during the free period they had just before lunch. That way, Remus would have had the time to rest a bit.

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Remus woke up with a headache that morning. It hadn't been a very bad transformation but his whole body hurt nevertheless. There was no cure for werewolf wounds, so the only thing Madam Pomfrey could do to help him, was to stop the blood from his wounds, give him a healing potion for the bruises and, if the pain was intolerable, a sleeping potion. That particular time Remus assured her that he did not need a sleeping potion and that he could fall asleep perfectly on his own. But he had awoken earlier than he had counted because of familiar loud voices coming from the door of the Infirmary.

"We know everything about him and his 'condition'! We just want to see him," a voice said and Remus recognised it immediately as James'.

"We won't disturb him for long. We brought him a present too! Now let us pass!" and there was no doubt that this irritated and kind of demanding voice belonged to Sirius.

"Oh no…" Remus whispered. I can't believe they're actually here! I hope Madame Pomfrey won't let them in…

And just as he thought this he heard the nurse's characteristic voice saying "Fine, but you can't stay for long! Remus needs to rest. And you're not allowed to shout either."

She turned around then and motioned them to follow her. She led the three boys at the very back of the Infirmary, where a separate small room was located. It had been built specially for Remus, so other patients wouldn't disturb him and no one would be able to ask weird questions about him.

She knocked gently on the door and asked "Remus dear, are you awake?"

Remus was so shocked that he couldn't find his voice. His brain screamed to him to shout that no!I'm not awake and I don't want to see anyone at the moment, but his voice just wouldn't cooperate. Then, the door opened gently and the nurse leaned in and gave Remus a questioning look.

"Your friends are here to visit you. Should I let them in?"

"Of course you should let us in! We won't bite him! We just want to say hi!" Sirius said impatiently.

"I-I…um well, you…" Remus was trying really hard to form coherent sentences but before he could try and say something again, the door opened completely and James walked in with a very big smile on his face and a very big cake in his hands.

"Happy birthday to me! And how are you this morning Remus?" he said and all Remus could do, as the other two boys got in the small room, was to pull the sheets up to his neck.

"Um…happy birthday James. I thought I-I had asked you to not visit me in the hospital wing." Remus sounded tired and a bit sad. That made the faces of the other boys fell and Madame Pomfrey, ever so discreetly, got out of the room and closed the door behind her.

"Come on Remus!" said Sirius, "we just want to see how you're doing. There's nothing you should be embarrassed about."

"We even brought you a cake! A chocolate one!" said Peter.

"I just don't want you guys to see me like that…all covered in bandages and…and weak." said Remus in a small voice looking at his hands.

"We don't think you're weak Remus. Now, can we please finish this conversation and begin eating this cake? The smell has almost broken my nose!" whined James eyeing adoringly the cake in his hands.

"You never cease to surprise me guys. And I don't even wanna know how you got this cake!" Remus said giving them a small smile. "It looks delicious though!"

The other boys gathered around him beaming happily and Sirius took out from his bag four spoons, some napkins and a gift wrapped in red paper with small snitches on it.

"Happy birthday Jamesie-boy!" Sirius said handing the gift to his best friend.

"Thanks mate! What is it?" the question was quite philosophical, as he unwrapped the gift immediately. "Wow! It's the history of the British Quidditch teams and a poster of Puddlemere United!! It's amazing!"

"I left my gift up on the dormitory. I guess you'll have to wait till I leave the hospital wig."

"It's okay Remus. Don't worry about it!"

"And this is my gift," said Peter handing James a small box. "I hope you like it!"

James opened the box, which proved to be full of chocoballs.

"Ha! And they're shaped in the letters of my name! That's great Pete!! Thanks a lot!" said James while taking a closer look, and taste, of the chocoballs.

"Well, I must admit that this is the most weird birthday party I've ever attended my whole life," announced Sirius with a mouth full of cake.

"I have to agree with that, but it also happens to be one of the best too!" said Remus beaming.

Soon after the cake had disappeared and there were left enough chocoballs to create only three times James' name, Madame Pomfrey came in and told them that they should go, so Remus could get some sleep. The boys didn't argue since it was obvious that Remus was very tired and promised to take notes during the next lessons, so he wouldn't miss anything important.

"Thank you very much for coming. I guess it was a bit silly of me to forbid you to visit me." Remus told his friends as they left.

"Not at all Rem! Get some sleep and we'll see you tonight at the dormitory," replied Sirius smiling, and the three boys made their way to the Great Hall for their lunch.

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A/N: I'm very sorry for any mistakes you may find…My chapters are not betaed, so it's just me and my knowledge of English! If you liked it (or even if you didn't) tell me so by reviewing!! cheers