03/07/2020 Okay I can't not write about Remus' and James' birthday and they're 17 days apart- so are in the same chapter. I couldn't pick who to write it from so I chose Sirius as it is NOT his birthday...Hmm...

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Chapter 19 (Sirius Black)

A Couple of Birthdays

Friday 10th March 1972 - Remus' Birthday

When Remus woke up on his birthday, he acted like it was a normal day. Sirius was usually so excited on his own birthdays and couldn't understand why the boy didn't celebrate. Sirius had bought him a book, Abracadabra: An A-Z of Spooky Spells. He thought it may be useful and something he would enjoy. He also got him a dark red leather satchel, as his bag was now falling apart and he had watched James sewing it back together for him on countless occasions. He put the book inside the bag (and plenty of chocolate too) and wrapped it up in silvery paper. His other gift was a photography camera. Remus had only one photo of his family, which was faded and yellowing. He wrapped the camera up too.

Remus' owl tapped (Now called Iona) on the window and he went over to receive a letter, he presumed it was from home. He brushed Iona's feather's and opened his letter. Remus smiled softly and placed it in his draw.

"Come on we'll be late for breakfast you lot." Remus said slipping on his robes.

"You've still got presents to open mate." said James, chucking a box at him.

"Oh no. You can't get me stuff." Remus babbled. "I can't-"

"Just open them you muppet!" Sirius said laughing. "Honestly, we're not leaving until you open them all."

Remus gave a happy sigh and started to open his gifts. When he opened Sirius' presents he was absolutely astounded but started to make his usual refusal.

"I just can't take them, these are so expensive they must have cost a fortune." he said very quickly.

"Being part of the Black family does have its perks." Sirius said leaning back against his bed. "And you're not using that bloody bag again Remus, it's split four times this term." Remus gave a thankful smile and exchanged his school books into the satchel.

'''''''''''''''''

When they had finished their final lesson (and thankfully it was their half day) they went to the Great Hall for Lunch. Sirius and James has asked Mcgonagall the day before if they would be able to get a chocolate cake for Remus. She surprisingly agreed and said it would be there at lunch when the desserts arrived. After Remus had finished his food, they talked a for a while.

"So what do you usually do on your birthday Remus?" James asked.

"Oh nothing much, pretty much just a normal day." he replied with a neutral tone.

"Is that it?" Sirius blurted before he could stop himself. Just a normal day, he thought, my parents throw a party with all his relatives, not that it's enjoyable. Sirius just couldn't understand Remus' family at home. Did they just not care about their son? Sirius thought about his friends shabby jumpers and threadbare belongings. Maybe they aren't poor, maybe they just give him old clothes because they aren't bothered with him. And they must be starving him too, his arms and legs are so skinny. Maybe they really are beating and torturing him at home, and he could be hurting himself because he feels there is no way out.

"Sirius!" scolded James and aimed a kick at him under the table. "Not everyone has Galleons pouring out of their shoes."

"No it's okay." Remus said meekly.

"Sorry." Sirius looked away, something like shame ran through his body, but also pity. As if somebody had read his mind, the lunch on the table dissolved into dessert. A reasonably large chocolate cake with sugar icing appeared right in front of Remus, with the words Happy Birthday written on it. Remus' face lit up and Sirius felt his rush of shame turn into satisfaction as he watched his friend cut a slice with a large grin.

After they had finished eating, Sirius noticed a smear of chocolate just under Remus' bottom lip. He leaned forward to wipe it away but Remus jumped back.

"Calm down I'm not trying to kiss you, you've got chocolate on your face." he laughed and Remus chuckled. He wiped it off anyway. For some reason, Sirius felt his face get a little hot after made that joke.

"Come on let's go before someone takes our spot by the Beech tree." ushered James. As they walked through the courtyard, Lily came running over.

"Alright Evans." James called, "Has my charm finally worked?" Lily scowled and shot him a dirty look

"The only thing working for you Potter is that dirt on the side of your nose." she said with an expression of complete contempt. She turned round to Remus with a friendlier expression and handed him a small present.

"Happy Birthday." she said as she pulled Remus into a hug.

"Thanks Lily." he called as she ran back to Marlene and Dorcas. James' expression was something of admiration mixed with deepest loathing.

"How do you do it?" James mumbled bitterly.

'''''''''''''''''''''''

In the evening, the boys played a game of Exploding Snap, in which the game was never concluded because Peter's robes caught fire. eventually they put out all the flames and thankfully didn't have to find a teacher to help. It was quite late and they were getting tired.

Before they went to bed, Remus took out the camera he had got him.

"Everyone smile." and naturally, James pulled a stupid face, Sirius struck a pose and Peter, well Peter just smiled awkwardly.

"What a beautiful picture." he said sarcastically, as the photo came out of the camera.

"Of course it is, I'm in it." joked Sirius. "There's this certain potion, that if you put the photo in, it starts to move."

"Oh like a video?"

"A what?" James and Sirius said. And now Remus and Peter started to laugh.

"A video is just recording things, like if I took a video of, I don't know, umm, one of our lessons, you'd be able to watch and hear it again."

"Wow, things muggles do to keep themselves entertained eh." said James

Sirius changed into his red satin pyjamas and pulled his covers over him. He turned on his side to face Remus, who was smiling to himself in the candlelight.

"Goodnight Remus." he whispered.

"Night."

Monday 27th March 1972 - James' Birthday

James' birthday happened to be the first week of the Easter holiday. He had brought James some Quidditch books such as; Quidditch Through the Ages by Kennilworthy Whisp and Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland. James was delighted and was inspired to go and do some flying, right now. They walked over to the Quidditch grounds and to the Broom shed. They all picked a broom (although Peter was slightly reluctant.) James, Sirius and Remus managed to get themselves up in the air, while Peter just wouldn't budge. He resorted to just spectating and making sure none of the teachers spotted them. The three of them had been flying for minutes when Sirius noticed there was something wrong with Remus. He had pale and sweaty. He was panicking madly and breathing heavily. They flew him back to the ground.

"You alright mate?" James asked, concerned.

"I'm j- just-" Remus let out a airy huff. "afraid of height. Stupid I know." he looked embarrassed. Sirius half wanted to laugh and half wanted to give the boy a hug. There was something just so innocent and pure about Remus that he thought was brilliantly endearing in some way.

"We can go if you like?" James offered, but Remus shook his head.

"I'll just stay down here with Pete." he said shakily, taking a sit on the grass with Peter.

Sirius and James had been flying for over an hour when James had another idea.

"Sirius what position did you say you wanted to play on the Quidditch team?"

"Beater, definitely Beater."

"Right." he said swooping near to the storage cupboard entrance. "Let's get practicing." James threw a Beaters bat to him.

"Ready?"

"What- what do I do?" Sirius called. He was now starting to panic.

"Just hit it!" and with that, James released the catch on the bludger, which started zooming round the pitch. It started to come closer and closer until- *WHACK* he hit the bludger as hard as he could (perhaps a little too hard for his wrist was starting to hurt). The bludger swanned in and out of the Quidditch stands until he whacked it again.

"Nice swing mate." James called. "Try and angle it to a specific place." they carried on a little longer until they heard some shouts from down below. Remus and Peter were waving their hands about and gesturing for them to come down. They flew to the floor urgently.

"What-"

"Madam Hooch, quick."

They jumped off the brooms and dumped them on the floor in a heap. They ran to the changing rooms entrance.

"Get in there." Remus hissed. He shoved Sirius into one of the open lockers and slammed the door shut. He could only assume he had shut himself and the others in a locker too. It was then that Sirius really started to panic. He felt like the walls were closing in on him, crushing and suffocating him. He then heard footsteps enter the room. The person seemed to circle the room and leave quite quickly to Sirius' delight. Remus opened the door.

"Sirius you're panting." he said in a concerned tone. "You're not claustrophobic are you?"

"No!" he spat. "That's a very long word for such a small boy."

Remus pulled him out the locker and they left undetected my Madam Hooch.

Overall, James seemed to enjoy his day, especially after receiving 15 Galleons from his mother and-

"Finally!" he bellowed in their dorm as he unwrapped a present that had come that evening.

"What is it?"

"Sleekeazy's Hair Potion." he said in a complete dreamed state. Sirius chuckled.

"Nothing can improve those ruffled locks mate, your'e doomed." And sadly it was true. Yes, James' hair was a little less uneven and a bit more shiny looking, but it was still a bit of a mess. James looked like he could have cried.

"I say you just embrace it." said Remus hopefully.

"Yeah it can be part of your look." added Sirius "Like mine." he pointed to himself confidently.

"What do you mean 'like you'?" Remus mocked.

"I'm growing it out, couldn't you tell." he said giving a flick to some of the longer strands of hair.

"Didn't realise you were doing that on purpose." James laughed. "Thought you just forgot to get your hair trimmed."

"Ha ha very funny." Sirius replied drily. "You'll see next year, when I've got the best hair in the school, the girls will be pining."

"Want to bet?" James grinned mischievously.

"You're on."

"I really don't think-" started Remus but James interrupted him.

"Come on, Sirius is loaded, I could be rich after this. There's no way any girl is going to pine for him with that mop on his head."

"Says you, who can't even fix his hair with his father's famous hair potion."

"Well at least my hair is better than yours." and with that, Sirius lunged at James and tackled him to the ground. Sirius being the stronger of the two managed to keep James down and eventually sat on his chest lazily. Then they started to laugh and James gave Sirius a friendly clout around the head. He and James had had plenty of boyish scuffles before which always resulted in laughter or Remus pushing them away from each other.

"Night James." said Remus.

"Goodnight."

"Sleep tight."

"Don't let Evans-"

"For the last time if you make that joke one more time Sirius Orion Black I'm going to come over there and suffocate you with my pillow." Remus half screamed and half hissed.

"Sorry."

"Goodnight."

"Night.

"G'night."

"Goodnight.

(This is nothing to do with the chapter I just need advice haha) Okay so I was reading this interview that was with Rowling. One of the things she mentioned was that Sirius wasn't a gay character and neither is Remus (Although we know that because Tonks.) so I really wanted to keep this canon (although we don't know much the characters compared to Harry etc.) JK Rowling also said that Sirius was too busy being a rebel to get married - so what do I do? If Sirius is straight then 'wolfstar' can't really be speculated as canon, and I've already hinted at it. Could someone maybe send me suggestions? Obviously this REALLY isn't important, but yeah I'm kind of bored and Corona Virus really put my life on hold. Ideas would be appreciated :)