Chapter Ten

Happy Freakin' Birthday, Princess

I was actually sleeping peacefully and soundly, having a great dream, even if I couldn't remember what it was. I wish I could've stayed like that, but of course that wasn't the case. Not today, anyways.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I heard several voices bellow, and that was the only warning I had before I was attacked my several people jumping on top of my bed, and therefore on top of me.

"Gerr off!" I yelled, tugging with all my might on the bedcovers, trying to pull it over my head.

"Ready…" I heard James say, "…one…two…THREE!" And then they all started to sing so obnoxiously and loudly:

"HAPPY BIIIIIRRTHDAY TOOOO YOU! HAAAAPPY BIIIIIRRTHDAY TOOOO YOU! HAAAAPPY BIIIIIIIIIIRRRTTTHHHDAY DEAR ERIDANI…HAAAAAAPPY BIIIIIRRRRTTTTTHHHDAAAAAY TOOOO YOOOOOUUUU!"

"Oh for the love of Merlin, SHUT THE HELL UP!" I yelled. Oh how I felt sorry for any soul within a ten mile radius who was trying to sleep.

"Aww, but my dearest sissy, we loooove you! And I'm only returning the favor," Sirius said, yanking the covers off. "I could do what you did to me last year. Remember that?"

"Heh…nah. I'm okay. Save the best for the best, right?"

"You're lucky it's your birthday and I'm not you," he said, ruffling the hair on top of my head. I swatted him away, not able to hold back the laugh that escaped.

"I guess that's one miracle!" I agreed, pinching his cheek as I said in a crooning voice, "Happy birthday wittle baby brother!" It was his turn to swat me away as I turned my attention to the others.

"I want you to go ahead and open this now," Lily said, smiling sweetly as she handed me a small package wrapped in beautiful blue wrapping paper. "I'd say I hope you like it, but I know you're going to, so I'm not going to waste my breath."

I laughed, shaking my head at her as I slowly began to unwrap the gift. "I told you I didn't want—"

"And I told you I didn't care," she replied, watching me as I pulled out what was inside. A smile broke out on my face when I saw it. She'd gotten me a fitted orange lace t-shirt and a pair of dark blue shorts, along with a pair of dark brown sandals and a brown cloth headband.

"Lily…" I started to say, looking at all the stuff.

"Nope! I don't want to hear it! You and I had been looking at this outfit for quite some time, and I figured, hey! Why the hell not? If you'd wear this and actually look nice, then it'd be worth it." Her smile was almost as bright as her hair.

"If I'd 'actually look nice', huh?" I asked dryly, tossing her a smile.

"Yeah! So go put this on so we can start the next phase of your birthday!" Rolling my eyes at her, I got up and headed for the bathroom, laughing under my breath when I heard James ask,

"How come you never get me anything like that, Lily Flower?"

"Because the difference between Eridani and you, Potter, is that I actually love her." After getting dressed, I actually took the time to brush my hair and fix it with the headband so it looked decent, and when I was done, I took a step back and glanced in the full-length mirror, admiring Lily's handiwork. It fit perfect, and, for once, I did look good.

"Oh Lily!" I sang as I stepped outside of the bathroom. "You are an absolute genius! A gift from heaven! One of the best friends a girl can have! A— JAMES PUT ME DOWN!"

"Happy birthday!" James yelled over my shriek as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder, heading towards the door that Peter had opened for him. Laughing, I cast a mock glare at Peter as I slapped James upside the head, telling him once again to put me down. He just ignored me as he, with the others following him, walked down the stairs, singing the happy birthday song over and over again as loud as they possibly could.

By the time they'd brought me out of the common room I'd given up protesting and just settled for making faces at Remus, Lily, Sirius, and Peter. "You know, I can walk now, James," I said, wondering if he was ever going to get tired of singing that stupid song.

"Nah, you just think I smell bad," he said, hardly breaking a note from his song. "So, let me ease your pain, birthday girl. Moony, catch!"

Remus hadn't even had time to mutter, "What?" when James had tossed me over his shoulder.

"Goddammit James!" we both yelled at the same time as Remus just barely managed to catch me, staggering backwards a little at the sudden, unexpected amount of weight. I let out the breath I was holding once I was safely in his arms.

Patting his chest, I wrapped an arm around his neck and said in a grateful tone, "You're seriously my hero, Remy!"

Laughing quietly, he shook his head. "Nice try, but I'm not letting you go. We wouldn't want you to break a leg before tonight, would we?"

"Mmm…"

"No! I wanna see my sister blow the roof off this place!" Sirius said, throwing me a wink. "She owes me that much." He then threw open the doors to the Great Hall with a loud BANG! and all the conversations stopped as all eyes turned on us.

"Oh Merlin please tell me nothing embarrassing is going to happen," I whispered to Remus. But it was like Sirius and James had read my mind, because just then the ceiling erupted in streamers and confetti as my good friends from all the houses stood up and started blowing on noisemakers and yelling words that sounded like nonsense when it was mixed with all the noise that filled the room. To add on top of all that chaos, they all made these firework-type lights and explosions come out of their wands, somehow managing to not catch the streamers, confetti, or each other on fire.

Out of nowhere a big, red throne appeared in place of Dumbledore's chair, and, together, the Marauders and Lily cast a spell on me that lifted me up over all the student body in the room, carrying me through the thick confetti and streamers til I got to the throne, plopping me gently on its cushiony surface.

And, as if that wasn't bad enough, Sirius and James stood up on the Gryffindor table, locked arms, and pointed their wands at me, causing my clothes to transform into a fluffy pink dress-type thing, fit with a huge, crown that almost fell in my eyes. Then, as one, almost the whole room erupted in song, singing happy birthday like they were all drunk out of their minds. Through the haze of the streamers and confetti that started swirling around me, I saw Sirius and James skipping towards me, still arm in arm, using their free hands to hold their wands, swinging them around like they were conducting the students in their song.

The song ended just about the time they got to my throne, and, each grabbing a side of me, lifted me onto their shoulders and faced the room. Remus, who was making his way through the room to reach us raised his wand and all the falling decorations froze in their place, allowing everybody's eyes to focus on us clearly without any distractions.

"Now!" Sirius said loudly into the room that had fallen silent as soon as he had opened his mouth. "As we all know, today is a very important day!"

"Today is the day where our little girl turns into an old woman—"

"James!" I yelled, glaring down at him.

"Sorry," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "So we have to treat this day like none other!"

"We have to live it up!" Sirius agreed. "Let's treat this girl like the queen she is!" Lily flicked her wand, and silver goblets appeared in the air in front of every person in the room.

"LONG LIVE QUEEN SOZO!" Remus yelled at the top of his lungs, lifting his goblet high in the air, some of the contents spilling out at the abrupt movement.

"LONG LIVE QUEEN SOZO!" was the cry that echoed around the room.

"I absolutely hate you guys," I hissed at them as they set me on my feet, my face just now finally starting to cool down. They'd actually done it. They finally figured out a way to embarrass me.

"Revenge is probably the best feeling a guy could ever have," Sirius said, smirking.

"I can't believe you let them do that to me," I grumbled, probably for the thousandth time as Lily and I wandered around outside, waiting for the boys to show up again.

"Yeah, I know, but…" She smiled at me sheepishly. "It was just too perfect to pass up on."

"But—"

"Your brother and Potter came up with it, yes, but it was genius. And, for once, I actually had to agree with them."

"Rude. Just plain rude, Lily flower."

"Shut-up, Queen Sozo," she fired back.

"Okay okay no need to be mean," I laughed, bumping my shoulder into hers.

"I—" Lily started to say, but was interrupted by a sardonic voice off to my left.

"That's quite the outfit you've got there, Brochevska."

I rolled my eyes, turning to look at Rider as he strode over to us. "Thanks. There's no better way to turn heads on this freakin' day than to dress absurdly."

"Well, happy freakin' birthday, princess," he drawled, tapping the crown on the top of my head. I recoiled from his touch, bumping into Lily, who gave me a curious look.

"Queen, actually. I'm a queen today, not a princess. Weren't you there this morning to witness my coronation?"

"Ah that's right. That's surely a sight I'll never forget." He smirked before turning to be on his way to…well, whatever evil business he was involved in here. "See you tonight, my queen."

Once he was gone, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding, before I went mentally numb. What had just happened?

"He seems nice," Lily said, glancing at me sideways.

I puffed out my cheeks. "Nice? Hmph. That's one way to describe him." As was baffling and infuriating. I just didn't understand that man. These last couple days he'd been over-the-top friendly, and it was really starting to freak me out, and not to mention wear down my nerves.

Lily's eyes searched my face as she said, "Is there something you're not telling me?" Before I could answer her, another voice interrupted, only this one, if possible, was much more unexpected than the last.

"Eridani!"

Glancing over my shoulder, my eyes met Regulus' as he made his way over to us. All the happiness that I hadn't realized I'd been feeling just moments before evaporated at the sight of him. It hurt to even look at him, knowing what he was becoming and where his life was headed.

"Regulus, I'm really not in the mood for this right now." This day was getting too strange for even me. First Rider wanted to play nice with me, and then my baby brother gets the nerve to come up and talk to me, using my real name, in broad daylight, in the middle of the school grounds? At this rate, I wasn't sure I wanted to see what else this day had in store for me.

"No, please!" His voice rose a bit in desperation as he reached out and grabbed my arm. I froze at the touch of his hand. This had been the first physical contact I'd had with him in years. Blinking, as if realizing what he'd just done, he cleared his throat and moved away from me some, giving me a little bit of space. "Please, Eridani. This is important."

I stared at him for a long time, trying to read the expression in his eyes, the emotion playing across his features, all the while warring with myself internally. This is your baby brother! a persistent voice kept yelling. He's the same little boy that used to curl up next to you at night to hear you sing because he was afraid to be alone in the dark!

But he wasn't the same. And I wasn't sure he ever would be again.

"Lily," I said, going against my better judgment, "I'll meet up with you later, okay?"

"Sure," she said hesitantly, but the message within her words was clear: Be careful.

"What do you want?" I asked once she had gone, turning to face him full on. Looking all around him, he took my hand and led me towards the edge of the forest. And, because I was a complete idiot, I let him, not paying any attention to the warnings that were flying around inside my head.

"Listen," he said in a hushed tone once we were hidden in the tree line. "Something bad is going to happen."

"As if it hasn't already?"

"I'm serious, Eridani!" It was only because of the fear evident in his voice that I began to think he wasn't messing around.

"What's wrong? Are you in trouble?" I couldn't help it; I couldn't get rid of the urge to protect or help him, no matter what had happened in the past between us.

"It's not me. It's you." His blue eyes were wide, with a haunted look inside them.

"Me? I'm a dead thing, Regulus. Nobody seeks to harm the invisible."

"Except you're not invisible. He knows of you, and He won't rest until you're found." His voice had dropped down to a whisper, as if afraid somebody would catch him.

"Who? Rider? Honey, I know he's after me. But there's nothing he's going to do to me. Not until he has what he wants, and he's not getting it anytime soon."

"No, not him. The more dangerous one, his employer."

A shiver went down my spine. "What? What does he want with me?" All the different things that I'd done to go against Voldemort flashed across my mind, and let me tell you, it wasn't a small list by any means.

"Well…" He glanced down at his feet, which he was digging into the ground, showing his discomfort. "Look, I swear I haven't told anyone, and I'm not even sure if it's true, I'm just guessing here because it seems like something you would do, and Merlin knows that if He ever finds out it's you that—"

"Regulus, ssh. You need to calm down. I'm not understanding a single word that's coming out of your mouth."

"Then listen here, Eridani," he said, his voice lower than I'd ever heard it before. "I'm not saying you are or aren't a part of this, but heed this warning: do not interfere with His plans again, okay? He's waiting for not just the Order, but a certain member who is the cause of way too many of His problems. And next time, I swear to you, He's going to find out who they are, and then we both know that it'll be all over because He won't rest until He has their heads."

"You're crazy, Reg. I have no ide—"

"I know you have no reason to trust me," he said, taking my hands in his, "but I don't want you killed. So please, whatever you do, just be careful. Whether you believe it or not, there's plenty of people who love you and would be torn apart if you died." And with that, he dropped my hands and left, only looking back once to say, "Oh, and happy birthday, sis."

"I'm tired of this goddamn frilly little princess outfit," I grumbled. "The spell needs to wear off already."

"I think you look good in pink," Khriste argued, messing with her sound equipment, trying to get it ready for the show that started in twenty minutes.

"But I look better in orange."

"Well maybe you should try no clothes. I'd be willing to bet that you look stunning in the nu—"

"Brecc!" Khriste and I both shouted, she giving him the evil eye and me socking him in the arm.

"What? I was just being honest!" He rubbed his arm, pouting. "The birthday girl is just plain mean."

"And that's different from any normal day how?" I asked, laughing. "I'm not the one who has to be nice on my birthday. It's you people who have to."

"Looks like you're getting what you wanted," Adrian said as he came into the room, pointing at me. I glanced down at my clothes and saw that they were—finally!—changing back into what Lily had given me this morning. I sighed once the change was complete.

"That's so much better."

"Yeah, you look bet—"

"I swear if you finish that sentence I'm gonna knock you into next year," I threatened Brecc, to which he held up his hands in surrender.

"Just trying to give you a well-deserved compliment, Brochevska," he muttered, a grin on his lips.

"Always the charmer, Hanneken." I rolled my eyes, turning to look at Adrian who was still standing in the doorway. I was just about to say something to him when I noticed a figure approaching from behind him. "Remus?" I asked, confused as he got close enough for me to see his face clearly. He didn't look like anything was wrong, but he looked slightly uncomfortable, almost as if he were nervous.

He nodded a greeting to those that looked up at him before he raised his eyes to meet mine. "I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second. It'll be quick," he added as Khriste's brow furrowed, before she could protest.

"Of course." I followed him out the door and into the hallway, wondering what was wrong. I hadn't seen him all day except for this morning, and thinking about it now, it worried me. "Are you alright?" I asked him once we were alone.

"What?" he asked, confused. "I'm fine. I just wanted to wish you luck before you went out there."

I laughed quietly, shrugging my shoulders. "Thanks. As always, I appreciate it, but I've been doing this for so long that I don't think I really need luck anymore, you know?"

He smiled slightly, shoving his hands into his pants pockets. "Yeah, but consider it tradition. I've wished you good luck before every show, and I'm not about to stop now, especially on your birthday."

"Honestly Remy, you're too sweet to me," I said, punching his arm lightly before looking back towards the door we'd come through. "Well…I hate to cut this short, but I've got to get back before—"

"Wait." He'd grabbed my arm, turning me back to face him. I raised an eyebrow at him, watching as he seemed to gather his confidence, which confused me. He was acting so strange, I didn't know what to make of it. "I have something for you. A birthday present. It's why I haven't been around today," he added as an afterthought.

"Remus, you didn't have to get me anything…" I muttered, my face flushing.

"Yes I did!" He laughed, releasing my arm and reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small black box, handing it to me with slightly shaking hands. I took it from him, careful so I wouldn't drop it. But I didn't open it, only held it gently with both hands.

"Do you want me to open it now?" I asked quietly, smiling at him as he put his shaky hands back in his pockets, leaning against the wall.

"If you'd like to," he said kindly. "You don't have to. But I thought it'd go nicely with the outfit Lily got you."

"I hate to admit it," I said as I carefully opened the box, "but you guys spoil m—" I froze when my eyes fell upon what lay on the soft blue velvet of the interior of the small black box. "Remus John Lupin! You– you—" I fell speechless as I gazed down at the small, quarter-sized necklace. It was a gunmetal silver color, and the chain looked thin and delicate and shone as if it were made of stars. On the face of the circular necklace on the right-hand side was a carved crescent moon, and inside that moon was a piece cut out that was almost teardrop shaped and looked as if it were a lock that a key would be inserted in. I gently lifted it by the chain, surprised at how light it was.

As it slowly spun from the sudden movement, I could see that the necklace almost looked like a locket. But, if I had to say what the best part of the gift was, it would be the small, scrawled words on the front, to the left of the crescent moon. Written in his small, beautiful, intricate handwriting were the words "All my love, Remy".

I placed it back in the box and closed the lid, almost unable to breathe. I'd received many thoughtful, stunning gifts from all my friends before, but this…this just took my breath away.

"River?" came his voice, hesitant. "If you don't—" He was cut off when I threw my arms around his neck, crushing him with a hug. After a moment, his arms went around me, too, but not smothering me as I was smothering him.

I pulled back, holding on to his shoulders. As I looked at the gift, I couldn't imagine what he'd had to do to get it, or what he'd paid for it. I almost felt bad that he'd gotten it for me, and I would have, had I not known that me feeling terrible over his gift would be the last thing he'd want from me, and I'd honor that. "This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. You shouldn't have gotten this for me. I don't deserve it."

He smiled, and it was a bright, truly happy smile, if not a little bit shy. "Of course you deserve it. Besides. You've lived to be seventeen, something you never thought you'd do. That's plenty a reason to celebrate."

"Yeah but…you shouldn't have spent anything on me—"

"I'd spend everything on you," he mumbled quietly, almost too quietly for me to hear.

"There's absolutely no way, even if I lived a thousand lives, that I could or would ever deserve a friend like you." I gave him another bone-breaking hug, kissing him on the cheek. "Thank you so much, Remy. I absolutely love it." I released him and then handed him the box, turning around as I asked, "Will you help me put it on?"

I could practically hear the smile in his voice when he spoke. "I'd love to."

A/N: Oh my goodness guys I am SOOOOO unbelievably sorry that you have no freakin' idea how sorry I am! I really did not mean for an update to take almost a full couple years... I'm not even going to offer up an excuse, because excuse or not, this just isn't acceptable! I really hope you guys by some miracle forgive me for this...and I promise that I'll really try to never let this long of a delay happen again… Damn. I just can't believe how long it's been!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even though it isn't that good, and it certainly isn't matching the criteria for what ya'll really deserve…

Thank you for any and everybody who's taken time to read and review this story in the past two years that I've been M.I.A. You guys make my world go 'round.

Even though I haven't earned it, please R&R, even if it's to curse me out! I love all of you still, and, as always, would still love to hear whatever it is you lovely people have to say!

Once again, I'm beyond 1,000xSorry.

Witchy Nike