Chapter 26: Monday, March 10, 1980

"The greatest gift you can give to others is the gift of unconditional love and acceptance."

-Brian Tracy

The days leading up to it, Remus had made it extremely plain that he did not want to celebrate his birthday. For anyone else, including herself, Hermione could understand not wanting to make a big to-do out of a birthday. In fact, her past birthday she had nearly forgotten about, the only gift she received was the fountain pen from Draco, and even then it had come weeks late, not that she really cared. Hermione was used to having quiet birthdays, spending the night in with Harry and Ron while she was at Hogwarts, they would agree to the night in the library revising or would spend the night at the Black Lake, reading or talking about theories she found interesting. She knew they hated it, but it always made her happy that they would do the things they thought were boring for her, even if just one day a year, for her birthday.

Remus, however, deserved the most elaborate and ridiculous birthday party they could muster. At least, according to James and Sirius.

This month's full moon had not been kind, and because the month held 31 days and the full moon fell on the 1st, there would be another full moon on the 31st. Two full moons in one month made for a very stressed out Remus Lupin, and after the last moon's injuries, stress was not a good thing for him. Hermione was certain that if Moony remained as tightly wound as he had been before the last moon, Remus would not find his next transformation to be any easier.

Peter had come home for the party, after two weeks of shameless begging from James and Sirius to Moody and Dumbledore to allow Peter to leave his position for just a few hours for Remus' birthday. Lily and Hermione had gone to a muggle bakery in town to find the most decadent chocolate cake they could buy, knowing that whatever Remus made would more than likely be better than something they bought but Lily was adamant that "under no circumstances is Remus allowed to bake his own birthday cake!"

They decided to have the party at Hermione's house, to keep it a surprise. Lily and Hermione said they were spending time together to shop for baby items during the day, and in the evening, they would have a quiet dinner at Hermione's of muggle takeaway for Remus' birthday. Remus, of course, denied the small gesture but ultimately agreed to come to Hermione's at seven in the evening for dinner anyway, after James explained he would not be cooking since there were already plans made for dinner. Hermione guessed that a few strong words from Lily had also convinced him the necessity of his attendance.

Instead of shopping, Lily and Hermione apparated to Dorcas Meadows' home to await Peter's arrival. Once he arrived, they went back to Hermione's to decorate and set up for the small party they had planned. Knowing Remus wasn't overly fond of large crowds, they decided to invite only a few others to the gathering, although Lily had put Sirius in charge of that so Hermione was certain half the Wizarding population would be in her cottage at some point tonight.

"Do you think he'll like it?" Lily asked, admiring her handiwork of the fairy lights that twinkled around the living room. They flashed between gold and red and twinkled in time with the music coming from the charmed record player. There were gold balloons that swelled and shrank in time with the lights and music and small paper cranes made of sparkling red paper that zoomed around the room, landing in bouquets of paper flowers that opened and closed, swaying gently.

"Oh, Lily! It's lovely!" Hermione sighed, a soft smile on her face as she looked around.

"I've got all the drinks set up in the kitchen," Peter said, entering the living room with a bottle of opened butterbeer. "Charmed the record player to switch out his favorite albums on it's own, so we don't have to worry about it."

"Brilliant, Peter!" Lily said, "And the food?"

"I talked to Tom, he's going to drop it off soon," Hermione assured Lily.

Hermione had arranged for Tom, the owner of the small place where Remus had taken her for their first date, to bring a slightly ridiculous amount of Remus' favorite fish and chips to the house. She had to nearly fight the man to get him to accept money, but in the end, he did and Hermione was thankful that he was willing to help on short notice.

Originally, Hermione had not intended to get the floo connection to the house up and running. She didn't really see a need for it when James and Lily lived only two houses down and if she really needed to floo somewhere, she could just use theirs. However, earlier in the week when they had decided to throw together this little surprise party, Hermione had spent the day at the Ministry filling out the proper paperwork to get the floo connection established to cut down the risk of Remus seeing anyone he knew apparate outside of the house.

Soon, the roar of the fireplace, accompanied by green flames, alerted the trio that their guests were beginning to arrive. Frank and Alice Longbottom were the first to arrive, followed shortly after by Emmaline Vance and Marlene McKinnon. To Hermione's surprise, Arthur Weasley stepped through last, a gift in hand from Molly, who stayed home with the children, having just had Ron only a week and a half prior.

"Had to get away from Molly's Auntie Muriel, didn't I?" Arthur mused when Hermione asked how he managed to sneak away. "We've been taking turns. Molly left for a spell yesterday, it's my turn today. Six children and the woman still thinks we haven't got a system down, but then again, perhaps she's right."

Soon Tom arrived with the food and Hermione invited him to stay a while and enjoy the party. At seven on the dot, Peter announced that James, Sirius, and Remus were walking over, having been on the lookout for them at the window. It was rather exciting, something so small as a surprise party. Hermione had never been apart of one before, and she knew there was no one more deserving of a good birthday celebration than Remus.

There was a knock at the door which caused everyone to immediately cease conversation and hold their breath for a moment as Hermione called out "Come in!"

"Surprise!" Everyone shouted the moment Remus' large frame was through the doorway, ducking slightly to avoid smacking his head.

Remus jumped backward, nearly toppling over and stumbled into Sirius, who gave him a slight shove forward as he laughed.

"What— what is this?" Remus asked, his eyes large as he looked around the room.

Hermione smiled, stepping forward from the crowd, "A birthday party," she said.

"Yes, I… I can see that."

"Then why did you ask?"

"I guess… I erm... I wanted to know why..?" Remus said, his eyes darting around the room at the people who were staring at him, smiling and waiting for his approval.

"Because it's your birthday," Hermione said.

"Yeah, I know." Remus said, shifting his weight nervously from foot to foot.

"Your girlfriend helped your mates throw you a birthday party, Moony. Kiss her and shut up so we can get our drinks, yeah?" Sirius said, clapping Remus on the shoulder and shoving past him into the living room.

"You did this?" Remus asked Hermione, his eyes following Sirius through the small crowd as James shoved past to make his way to Lily.

Hermione bit back a smile, tucking some of her curls behind her ear. "With a little help from my friends."

Remus' eyes pulled away from the crowd behind her and slowly, a smile stretched over his lips. "Using Beatles lyrics in normal conversation now, are we?"

Hermione shrugged, "If it gets you loosen up and enjoy this party we've spent all week planning, then yes."

Remus' eyes danced over her face, an amused glint shining in them as they twisted between gold and green. He finally stooped over, pressing his lips to hers. His hands snaked around her back, sinking into her curls as she pushed up onto her toes to deepen the kiss. She laughed into the kiss as Sirius whistled loudly and everyone laughed, presumably, at a rude hand gesture Remus made as he pulled his hand away from Hermione's back.

Remus pulled away from the kiss, smiling down at Hermione with blush stained cheeks as he realized everyone was looking at them. Hermione took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together and pulling him through the living room and into the small gathering.

"Peter?!" Remus said, a tone of pleasant surprise breaking through his voice.

"Happy Birthday, mate!" Peter said, smiling brightly.

Remus looked at Hermione, eyes wide, "You got Peter here? How?"

"That was all Sirius and James, I can't take the credit for that. They begged Moody and Dumbledore into total aggravation," Hermione said, laughing as Remus dropped her hand and moved to give Peter a quick hug.

As the night wore on, many drinks went around to the guests. Sirius was determined to get Remus drunk, despite knowing his tolerance was far higher than the average wizard's due to his extremely high metabolism. Hermione sat on the sofa with Lily as James, Remus, Sirius, and Peter danced about the living room, laughing and dodging small stinging hexes sent at one another. The rest of the attendees had cleared out within a couple of hours, most just dropping in to give Remus well wishes. Hermione was certain that Remus didn't mind that no one stayed long, he would've much preferred it just be the six of them, anyway.

"Grown men jumping around like children," Lily mused, laughing as James got hit with a stinging jinx from Peter, making his lips swell four times the size. Peter, Sirius, and Remus were nearly doubled over, laughing at James as he tried, and failed, to talk to them.

"It's good to see Remus laughing like this, though. I don't think he's been this carefree since I've been here," Hermione said, taking a sip of her butterbeer.

"He hasn't been this carefree since we were in school," Lily said. "It's been hard on him, since we left Hogwarts. He moved in with James, Sirius, and I almost immediately; he didn't want to go back home."

"Why not?" Hermione asked, "I know it's hard for him to find work, which is infuriating, but why wouldn't he go back home?"

"Doesn't want to burden his mum, is my guess," Lily said with a shrug. "She's sick a lot. Started getting sick our sixth year, no one really knows why. Muggle hospital isn't much help, said she has something called an autoimmune disease, I don't really know what that means. But she gets terribly ill sometimes and Remus couldn't live with himself if he thought he was adding to the stress."

Hermione frowned, "What about his dad?"

"Lyall?" Lily said, sipping at her water. "He's a good man, loves his wife, loves Remus. But he doesn't know how to act around Remus, he's afraid of him."

Hermione swallowed the emotion that built in her throat, her eyebrows creasing together, "How could anyone be afraid of Remus?"

Lily shrugged again, leaning into Hermione's side a bit. "Million Galleon question, isn't it? I've known him for nearly a decade now, and I can't figure it out."

"Moony!" Sirius loudly exclaimed, "Moony, you can't just let your girlfriend sit over there on the sofa looking so… sad! Come on, Kitten, come dance with us!"

Hermione and Lily looked up from their conversation to see Remus nearly strangling James as he tried desperately to get out of the choke hold Remus had him in. Peter and Sirius were egging them on, laughing and dancing with one another as James struggled against Remus, swearing at him and reaching back to smack him in the face.

"Girlfriend?" Hermione said, the word rolling strangely in her mouth. "Who said anything about girlfriend?"

Remus stopped his attack on James, dropping him from the headlock he currently had him in and turning to look at Hermione, his brows pulled together in confusion, "Are we… erm.. Are you… not?"

"Oh my god," Sirius mused, laughing loudly. "You haven't had the bloody talk with her?!"

"What talk?!" Remus asked, his eyes going wide with alarm.

"The talk, mate!" James said, howling with laughter as he picked himself up off the floor. "You two have been connected at the lips for a month and you never had the talk?!"

"What fucking talk?!" Remus asked, looking around at them frantically, his eyes landing on Hermione.

Hermione bit back a smile as Lily stifled a laugh. James, Sirius, and Peter were nearly red in the face as they laughed, wiping tears from their eyes as Remus sputtered and looked to them for help. He stared at Hermione, an exasperated look on his face. Finally, Hermione stood from her spot on the cushions and stepped over to Remus, smiling brightly at him.

"Well you see, Remus, usually when a wizard wants to pursue a relationship with a witch, he asks her," Hermione whispered, pushing up on her toes to peck his chin.

"I- I just… I thought we.. erm… I thought were just erm… on the, the same page! I- I didn't know I was supposed to properly ask! I would've! I- I hope I didn't-

"Mate, this is painful." Sirius said, shaking his head as he laughed, clapping Remus on the shoulder.

Remus looked over his shoulder to glare down at Sirius, "Well it's not like I've dated every girl in Hogwarts like you did! How was I supposed to know!"

"Even Peter knows you have to have the talk, don't you Pete?" James said.

"Yeah, of course! You can't just assume a witch is yours, Remus!" Peter laughed.

Remus jammed his fingers through his hair, scrubbing his face with his hands, "Bloody hell. I'm sorry Hermione, I didn't… Merlin, do you even want to be my girlfriend? I just assumed and I-

"Remus," Hermione said, standing up onto her tiptoes and reaching her arm around his neck, she pulled his head down to her level to look him in the eye. "I'm giving you a hard time. Of course, I would love to be your girlfriend."

"Really?" Remus asked, his brows pulls together has he tried to smile, which came out more of a grimace.

Hermione nodded, "Really. Do you think I would cover my house in ridiculous decorations for just anyone?"

"She doesn't really seem like the type for party streamers, mate." James mumbled.

Remus huffed out a laugh, "No, I don't reckon you would."

"I really wouldn't."

"Happy fucking Birthday, Moony! You got yourself a girlfriend!" Sirius said, "Shame though Kitten, we could have had a lot of fun."

"Shut up, Sirius." Lily said, smacking him in the chest.

Remus leaned down to capture Hermione's lips with his own, smiling into the kiss as James, Lily, Sirius, and Peter whooped and clapped loudly behind them, singing "Remus has a girlfriend" over and over.

It was after midnight that James and Lily went back to their house. Peter and Sirius had decided to hit the local pub for a bit before calling it a night. Hermione and Remus sat on the sofa, Hermione's head in Remus' lap as she read through a book on defensive spell building she had picked up. Remus held a small plate to his chest, eating his third piece of chocolate cake as she read.

When he finished the cake, he leaned forward to set his plate and fork on the coffee table, and Hermione sat up, swinging her legs over the edge of the couch and adjusting so her shoulder was touching his. He pulled his arm up and wrapped it around her shoulders, pulling her into his chest.

"Thank you," Remus said. "This was a really good birthday. I think the best I've had."

Hermione craned her neck, pressing a kiss to the underside of his jaw, "You deserve it."

"I don't know if I deserve it, but I appreciate it, nonetheless."

Hermione pulled away from him, her eyebrows pulled together and her face pinched in thought, "Why do you think you are so undeserving of good things?"

"I- erm… what?"

"You heard me," she said, raising an eyebrow expectantly at him.

Remus sighed, "I just… It's hard to think I can be happy sometimes."

Hermione frowned, "Why?"

"What do you mean why?"

"I mean," Hermione said, turning to face him. "You are so convinced that you aren't meant to have any happiness, like it's not for you. Remus, happiness is for everyone. It's not conditional. Everyone deserves to have happiness in their life, especially you."

"If I were normal, I would agree with you but-

"What do you mean normal? I'm not even normal!"

Remus scoffed, "You aren't a werewolf."

"So?" she said, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest. "You think that makes you so special? You aren't the only werewolf on the planet, Remus. Not even the only werewolf in the country! You don't see them moping about on their birthdays."

"Because they're living in caves, ostracized from society! I know you're trying to make me feel better, Hermione, but ignoring the truth-

"I'm not ignoring the truth," she said. "I know what you are. I know how you're expected to live, should the wrong people find out. I'm not thick."

"I didn't say… I don't think you are."

Emotion swelled in Hermione's chest as she looked at Remus. This younger version of the man she knew, a man she respected, who would never believe he was worth the time of day. Surely, making this Remus Lupin understand that he was worth something, that he deserved more than misery, wouldn't hurt the future. No one should be destined to be alone and terrified of letting people in for their entire life. He didn't deserve that.

"Listen to me, Remus Lupin," Hermione said, placing both hands on either side of his face as she pulled herself into his lap, straddling him. She held his gaze, watching with interest as his eyes swirled with gold, "You are so much more than just a werewolf. You are brilliant and kind and funny. You're a fair baker-

"I'm a damn good baker," he interrupted, his eyes studying hers.

She smirked, "You're a damn good baker. And one day you are going to change lives, you are going to be so important to so many people. I just know it."

And she did. She could tell from the ache in her wrist as she began talking about his future that she knew he would be important, she just couldn't place exactly how. Hermione held his face between his hands, watching as his eyes roamed over her face, waiting for her next words. She smiled as she realized he had a bit of chocolate on his lip left over from the frosting on the cake, she ran the pad of her thumb over it, collecting the chocolate.

"You've got some chocolate on your lip, you know," she whispered, bringing her thumb to her mouth.

Remus watched as her tongue darted out, sucking the chocolate off of it. Hermione counted as he blinked three times before surging forward, crashing his lips onto hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling herself as close to him as she could, happily parting her lips so his tongue could slip into her mouth. She broke away after a few moments, pressing open mouthed kisses into his neck and sighing as he whimpered when her teeth nipped the skin beneath his ear.

She scooted forward, rocking her hips into his and could feel the hardness in his trousers growing with every move she made, every suck to the skin on his neck, every nip on his collar bones. She pressed languid kisses up the column of his throat, trailing over his stubbled jaw and back to his lips.

"Hermione," he sighed. "I- I fuck, if you don't stop rocking like that… I can't… I don't…"

"If you don't want to-

"I do." Remus quickly interrupted, "I do. I just, I don't know if… If I can."

Hermione stopped kissing him, pulling back to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"I don't want to hurt you… I don't erm… I don't know if Moony will affect…"

"Why don't you let me take the lead here, then?" Hermione asked, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. She watched as his eyes dropped to her lip, dark with need.

Slowly, Remus nodded, leaning forward to pull her lips back to his. She sighed into the kiss as Remus' hands pulled her jumper up, untucking it from the high waisted trousers she had on. His hands landed on her waist, heat permeating through her skin as he slowly moved them up her sides and around her back, splayed over her spine just below the clasp of her bra. Hermione arched her back, pressing her chest into his and ground her hips downward again, pulling a low groan from his throat.

Hermione's left hand tangled into the back of Remus' hair, scraping her nails along her scalp as her right hand trailed down his chest, diving between them to palm his length through his trousers, his hips bucked into her hand and she smirked into his kiss, pulling away to stand up from his lap.

Remus whined, "Where are you-

"I can't very well help you take care of that," she said, with a pointed look at the tent of his trousers, "from on your lap, now can I?"

She watched as Remus opened and closed his mouth a few times before swallowing hard, his adam's apple bobbing. "No," he said, his voice thick. "I-I suppose you can't."

Hermione fell to her knees before him, his legs on either side of her shoulders. She nudged his feet apart so she could scoot closer, leaning forward to place her hand on the button of his trousers. She pushed the button through the loop and pulled the zipper down, grasping the material to pull it over his hips. Remus lifted from the cushion, helping to pull them down and free himself from the confines of his shorts. Hermione looked up at him as she wrapped her fingers around his length, he hissed as she grasped him, stroking him slowly as she watched his face.

Remus closed his eyes, his head lolling back as she continued to pump her fist, collecting the beads of liquid at the tip with her thumb, coating his shaft as she pulled her hand back down. She leaned forward and revelled in the gasp that he made when she pressed her lips to the base of his erection, leaving a soft kiss behind as she dragged her tongue up the length, when she took him into her mouth the sound that came from his throat was guttural, a rumbling growl in his chest.

She bobbed her head a few times, taking in the feel on him on her tongue. His cock twitched as she hollowed her cheeks, creating pressure on all sides and rolling her tongue over the head. She hummed as she felt a hand sink into her curls, which caused him to buck forward further into her mouth.

Hermione worked him a few minutes longer, her hand wrapping around the length as her tongue paid close attention to the tip, flicking and swirling around him. She looked up at him through her lashes and saw his chest heaving, his teeth sank into his bottom lip as the hand that wasn't fisted in her hair gripped at the cushions on the sofa.

"I… fuck.. I'm.. Hermione… fuck, shit…" Remus groaned, his hips bucking forward again as his fingers tangled tighter into her hair. "I-I think… I… fuuuuck."

Hermione chuckled, taking him deeper into her mouth, the vibration enough to push him over the edge as he tried to find the words to warn her. She squeezed his length, pumping him though his climax as he cried out, his hand leaving its grip on the sofa cushion to cover his face momentarily. When Hermione didn't pull away, instead swallowing every salty sweet drop of him, his hand fell from his face, his mouth falling open as he watched her, chest heaving in deep breaths.

When he started to soften, she pulled away from him only for the hand tangled in her hair to pull her head up and forward as Remus bent over, crashing his lips onto Hermione's, his tongue diving into her mouth with no care that his essence was still on her tongue. After a long minute, Hermione pulled away, placing a quick peck on his lips and tucking his cock back into his shorts.

"I'm sorry," Remus finally said, once Hermione had returned to her spot next to him on the sofa, curled into his side.

She looked up at him, her brows pulled together, "Why on earth are you apologizing?"

"I… erm… Merlin, in your mouth… Even I know that's not… polite. I should've warned you or- or something."

"I had plenty of warning," Hermione assured him. "If it bothered me, I would have moved."

"You… You didn't… It's okay?" Remus asked, his eyes going wide.

Hermione pressed her lips together in a thin line, nodding. "Yes, Remus. It was okay."

"Fucking hell," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her. "You are… amazing."

Hermione laughed, pulling away and grabbing her book off the coffee table. She flipped it back open to the page she was on and sighed as she sank into Remus' side.

"Happy Birthday, Remus."

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a/n: I know we're all cheering FUCKING FINALLY SOME SMUT. lolololol I was honestly so excited for this chapter I didn't want to wait until tomorrow to post it. So, have a bonus chapter this week.

Let me know what you thought! 3

xo