Remus and Lily both knew what they'd have to do, however James and Sirius were a little taken aback over the fact they needed to clean up the absolute mess the four of them made baking. When Sirius asked a house-elf, she replied they had all been informed by McGonagall under no circumstances may they help clean. It took the four of them quite a while to clean everything up, and the Marauders were getting worried they missed Peter coming back.

They swung by McGonagall's office on the way to the tower, and she informed them that Peter was not back yet. She gave them each a long look—the only one not covered in stuff being Lily and she had a few dabs and smears on her face and apron—before asking if they cleaned.

"Yes, Professor," Lily promised. She was carrying the cake and took the lid off to show her. Professor McGonagall smiled, and told them to have a good afternoon.

"Good," Sirius said as they resumed their journey to the Gryffindor tower, "we have time to decorate the dorm."

Remus wasn't allowed to carry anything which was good since he fell flat on his face trying to get into the common room. James snickered and helped him up.

"Oi, Potter, nice apron!" someone shouted.

James looked down at the pink frilly apron then back up. "Thanks!" he said cheerfully.

At the foot of the boys' staircase Lily hesitated then turned to give James the cake. "Here..."

"You can come up," he said and marched up the stairs. Sirius followed, carrying the biscuits. Lily looked at Remus who shrugged, and the two of them followed. The dorm was a mess like usual, but Lily picked her way across the floor and set the cake on Peter's desk.

"We should probably get showers," Sirius said, picking at some dried icing that was stuck in his hair.

"I already got one today," James grumbled, taking the apron off and tossing it in the laundry bin. "Besides, it'd be weird with Evans here."

"I'm not getting one in the boys' bathroom!" she said, recoiling slightly with a disgusted look on her face.

James rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean you were, I meant you waiting in the dorm. With us... you know... across the hall."

Lily folded her arms, raising an eyebrow. "Naked?" she asked.

James jerked back, obviously embarrassed. "Y—yes, exactly."

"It does feel weird," Sirius agreed.

"You boys afraid I'll come take a peek?" she taunted.

Remus began burning red at the thought. "Of c-c-course not!" he stammered.

Lily looked James up and down. "Don't worry, there is negative temptation for that!"

"What, don't want a peek at Remus?" James teased.

Remus knew he couldn't go even redder. He began choking, doubling over, feeling absolutely horrified at James for saying such a thing! It was bad enough Lily made a joke about all of them in general, but—but James—making it—personal—that—it—

"Jamie-boy, I think you killed Remus," Sirius said, hurrying over to smack Remus's back.

"I'm n—no—I—th—w—I d—w—" was all Remus managed to get out. He felt sick.

"I'd never," Lily promised gently. "Potter, you rat! Look what you did."

"Whoa, sorry, Remy, I was trying to tease Red, not you," James said.

Remus shook his head, feeling tears springing up from his throat and chest burning. "Fine," he managed to gasp out though it was further from the truth. He wanted to crawl under his bed and die. He couldn't even look at Lily. Or James. Or even Sirius. He just stared down at shoes, wishing he could disappear. It was so stupid to be this upset over such a—an innocuous teasing yet he couldn't help but feel on edge.

"I—I'm going to go." Lily hurried to the door, her own face rather pink. "I'll come back after we've all gotten showers, if you still want me here—"

"That'd be fine," Sirius said, rubbing Remus's back which was not helping. Lily shut the door and her footsteps retreated. Remus could still hear them but he figured the others couldn't because Sirius whirled on James. "Why did you say that?!"

"It was a joke!" James protested. "I didn't mean—I wasn't thinking. Remus, I'm sorry—"

"It's fine," he lied, trying to smile, trying not to shake. He couldn't believe he reacted like this. It wasn't fair! Why couldn't he take it in stride? But the thought of Lily... or anyone... peeping on him in the shower was... Merlin, he thought, clutching his stomach as he tried not to throw up. "We sh-should get showers though."

He gathered some clean clothes and his soap, hurrying across the hall to jump into one of the showers. He felt awkward as he shut the curtains, practically feeling like someone was looking. He quickly shucked his filthy clothes off and jumped into the shower part, shutting that curtain which made him feel slightly better. He turned the hot water on and leaned against the wall, fingertips pressed against his scar, sliding along the ridges. Sure, the idea of someone looking in and seeing his penis was bad enough, but—well, okay, more than bad enough. It made his blood run cold and made him contemplate the pros and cons of becoming a hermit for the rest of his life. But as horrifyingly, appallingly, death-worthy embarrassing someone seeing his penis was... it'd be better than someone seeing his arm. Seeing his scar.

Maybe.

Right?

Possibly they were on the same level. The scar wasn't embarrassing, it was dangerous. Someone seeing his genitals wasn't life-threatening, someone seeing his arm was. Still... either one was... sickeningly unpleasant. Okay. All of it was, the whole thing. The scar, the penis, everything! Even though he knew he had a lot of growing up to do, he doubted he'd ever be okay with his body. He looked too frail and delicate; he doubted he'd ever be masculine-looking. His scrawny body would only ever be a laughing stock.

In any case, I don't have to worry about anyone seeing my body since I'll never have a girlfriend, he thought as he finally stepped under the hot water to clean off. At least the anxiety over hating his stupid body took over the anxiety of being spied on.

Once all three Marauders were squeaky clean they began tidying up the dorm a bit, music playing; soon Lily knocked at the door and came in. She helped put up a banner Sirius drew that said Happy 13th Petey! with various drawings on it like a camera, a wonky owl that sorta looked like Cocoa, and various sweets. James blew up balloons, and Remus put the levitation spell on them to make them float. At one point Struthers came in to get something and he glanced around the room.

"Is he getting out of the hospital wing today?"

"He should be back today, yeah," Sirius said, lifting his side of the banner up a bit more and using a sticking spell.

"I didn't know it was his birthday..."

"It's not a problem for us to do this, is it?" James asked, slightly sneering.

Struthers shook his head. "Of course not. I—I'll let Andy know... we'll stay out of your way tonight."

After he left, Lily hopped down off of the desk she had been standing on and took a look around. "You know, you could probably make use of an empty, unused classroom for birthday celebrations," she said. "Not—not right this minute, I mean... in the future. That way you wouldn't need to worry about your dormmates."

"Who was worried about Spinnet anyway?" muttered Sirius.

Remus agreed—not saying so of course—about using a classroom, especially in this instance when they had no idea when Peter would be back. They could be waiting for ages! But after only another half an hour (during which time James went to get drinks and proper food from the kitchen in case Peter was hungry for sandwiches or something), Remus heard tired, slogging sort of footsteps.

"I think he's coming," Remus said, and the other three went quiet.

Peter opened the door, his entire body drooped, a frown on his face.

"Surprise!" James, Sirius, Lily, and Remus all shouted and Sirius threw a handful of confetti while James blew on a noisemaker he had kept from New Years.

Peter staggered back, jaw dropping open, eyes going enormous. "Wh—what?! Guys...!"

"Welcome back, and happy birthday!" James said, running over to give Pete a gentle hug. Sirius and Remus went to join, all three of them carefully hugging their friend. Peter gave a whimper and hugged them all back, the four of them clinging to one another. They fussed over him, pulling him into the dorm and to his bed so he could sit down.

"How are you feeling?"

"Are you doing okay?"

"Are you all healed up?"

"What was it like?"

"Does it hurt?"

"Do you need rest?"

"Did they let you keep it after they took it out?"

"Do you have a scar?"

"Do you need anything right now?"

Peter tried to answer but all the questions came too rapidly; he shut his mouth and shook his head. "I'm okay," he finally said. "It's been... really weird. I didn't like being at Saint Mungo's but... Sirius, you were right, they gave me a draught of the living death and then I woke up and my appendix was gone. I do kinda have a—Oh! Evans!" He suddenly realized they weren't alone, and went pink.

"Welcome back," Lily said, coming over a bit awkwardly, "I won't stay, since you need to catch up—"

"It's okay," Peter said though looked confused as to why she was there. Then his eyes traveled to the banner, and he went pinker. "Ahh..."

"Look what we did!" James jumped up and ran over to his desk, picking up the cake. "We made you a cake! And biscuits."

"A—cake?" Peter got up, going over to check it out. "A cake for me?"

"We made it," James said. "With our hands!"

Peter looked over his shoulder at Remus who nodded, laughing. "We did," he said. "Er, well, Lily did... most of it."

"Hey, we helped a lot!" James protested.

"Not really, we mostly just made a mess," Sirius said, and James elbowed him.

"They did help," Lily admitted, tucking some hair back. "It was a joint effort. I'm not going to stay, really, I mostly wanted to say I'm really glad you're feeling better, and happy birthday!" She approached Peter and gave him a quick hug before leaving the dorm.

Peter stared after her. "She hugged me," he whispered.

Sirius clapped him on the back. "She did! Congratulations!"

"It was a long hug too," James said, nudging Peter. He opened his mouth to say something, looking at Remus, then shut his mouth. Remus suspected he was going to make a joke about Pete stealing Lily from Remus, and he was very glad James decided not to go there.

Peter looked down at the cake. "You guys really made this for me?"

"The Muggle way," James said.

"Wow! Thank you, that's—ahh, wow, thank you!" Peter beamed at all of them, but he was looking rather haggard so Remus sat back down on his bed and pat next to him. Peter sank down, obviously not fully recovered. "I was gonna show you, I have a scar. It's starting to fade but..." Peter lifted his shirt and showed a pink mark down the side of his midriff. "It should be gone in a day or two."

"That's super impressive," James said, and Peter squeaked happily. "We were going to try to sneak into Saint Mungo's this morning to visit you for your birthday but Remus wouldn't let us."

Remus snorted at that, shaking his head.

"Oh! It's good you didn't though, Mum and Dad were there all morning, and Professor McGonagall came to visit too," Peter said.

"She did? McGonsie?" Sirius asked.

"Uh-huh. So most likely you would have been caught."

"What was it like, being in there?" Remus asked, very curious since he had never seen the place, or knew anything about it besides some information from a few books.

"I dunno. I was in a lot of pain and crying a lot by the time we got there. They took me to a room where Mum and Dad soon showed up. I was put in a gown and then given the draught, and fell asleep. When I woke up it was all over. Mum and Dad were still there. The scar was really awful looking but I was given some potion to put on it to help speed up the healing. It hurt a lot... well, not a lot, not like before, but it kinda ached, and then I was given a lighter sleeping potion to get through the night."

Peter lifted his shirt again and began poking at the scar.

"It's so weird to think they took something out of my body. Muggles do that a lot, with surgery an' stuff, but it's not that common in the magic world, Mum said. Pomfrey kept apologizing though, she says it was her fault it got that bad..."

"You saw Pomfrey? Did she visit?" James asked.

"Not 'xactly, she's the one who brought me back here and did a quick checkup before letting me come back to the dorm." Peter poked at the scar one more time then lowered his shirt. "I mean, it isn't really her fault, I was so confused where the pain was. I really thought it was my stomach."

"Speaking of stomachs, are you hungry?" Sirius asked, grabbing the tray of sandwiches.

Peter took one. "Yeah, a bit. Lunch wasn't that great there so I didn't eat much. What have you guys been doing?"

"Missing you," James said.

"Definitely missing you," Remus agreed, and Peter smiled.

"You did miss getting to see Jimsy in a pink frilly apron though," Sirius said, and danced away as James tried to kick him. "He looked fantastic!" Then he yelped as James successfully hooked his foot around Sirius's ankle, and he went crashing to the floor with a lot of laughter.

Peter giggled. "I'm sorry I missed it!"

James sighed and went to his laundry bin, getting out the flour covered apron and putting it on. He did a little spin and a 'tada!' motion. Peter clapped happily and James took a bow before throwing the apron back in the bin.

After they ate a few sandwiches, James, Sirius, and Remus lit up their wands to sing For He's A Jolly Good Fellow since none of them had candles. Peter pretended to blow them out and there was a chorus of "Nox!" and then laughter. Sirius cut the cake into several oozy slices and the four sat on Peter's bed getting bits of cake everywhere.

"This is the best cake I've ever had," Peter said, jam and buttercream smeared all over his fingers and face. "You're the best friends anyone could ever have."

Despite all of them being sticky they all hugged again, another group hug. Remus tried not to hug too hard and it was difficult because he wanted to hold onto them and never let go; he couldn't believe it... sitting here in a big hug like this with three guys who knew his secret and were still hugging like this, and calling him a best friend! He was a monster, and yet he knew perfectly well how honest Peter was about saying that. He meant it. He meant it, saying someone like Remus was his best friend, and that James and Sirius felt the same.

When they let go, Remus turned away in pretense of going for a glass of water when in reality he was trying not to let the emotions get to him.

They had more cake, washed up their hands, then Remus and James took the sheets and stuff off of Peter's bed and remade with clean ones so he wouldn't have to. Then, finally it came time for presents. Remus had knitted Peter some socks which was a stupid gift so he also included two bottles of grape soda (Peter's favorite, which Remus absolutely did not steal from the Hogwarts kitchen), and a promise to write an entire essay for him. Sirius had drawn him a picture of Peter giving a peace sign and a roll of film for his camera. James, however, showered Peter with a new strap for his camera, several boxes of sweets, a bottle of butterbeer, and a tripod. A really fancy looking one.

"Whoa," Peter said, running his fingers along the box. He quickly took it out of the box and set it up, placing his camera on the top. He fiddled with it then grabbed the others, pulling them in for a smushed together photo, all four of them laughing. "Thanks, guys, this is all amazing!" He stuck the drawing up on the wall and then kicked his shoes and socks off so he could put Remus's socks on.

"Ooh, I almost forgot, check out these," Sirius said and got the platter of sugar biscuits.

"Oh wow!" Peter said, taking one of them. "Tit biscuits."

Sirius beamed, proud of himself. "You mean... bisc-tits?"

All four of the Marauders collapsed with laughter at Sirius's pun, and decided from now on they'd call them bisctits.

But Peter obviously had done too much because he put a hand against his side, flinching a little. The others made him get into bed and sat down, chatting with him, batting some balloons back and forth. With the sandwiches and everything they didn't need to go to supper so they remained in their dorm for the rest of the night. James and Sirius danced a lot. Peter tried to dance too but was still recovering and Remus had to force him back into bed.

"You can dance in my place, then," Peter said innocently, and Remus glared.

"Come on, you didn't dance last night!" James said, then stopped, realizing something. "You never told us how it went. Oh Merlin, we were so wrapped up with Peter—"

"It's all right," Remus said quickly. Sirius had briefly asked him the night before, but Remus had been too tired to talk about it; Sirius had tried to get him to say anything and all Remus had said was it went fine, he was fine, and really tired. Now he didn't feel like talking about it at all. It felt... well, he should at least let them know about how wonderful their gifts were. "The box stayed intact, by the way. As did the blanket," he added, turning back to Pete. "There weren't any rips on it at all. They both held up completely. It... was so nice being able to have a blanket—a whole blanket—around me the night I didn't transform, and it was wonderful to read up until the moon—" He stopped, blushing slightly. "And of course I am forever grateful for the earplugs as well, James."

Peter crawled over, hugging Remus tightly. "I am so glad!"

"Hey, that's terrific news!" Sirius said, jumping onto Pete's bed to hug Remus too, arm wrapping around his chest, yanking him back against him, half in his lap. Remus let out a slight choking noise and then tried to get free while Sirius gave him a noogie. "Were they—were the nights too rough?" Sirius asked when he finally let go. "Your injuries lasted a long time... at least they seemed to."

Remus shrank back, fixing his hair. "No. It—it wasn't too bad. The wounds were deep, is all. I was well enough to be allowed to leave, after all." He didn't feel like talking about the full moon. For some reason he kinda felt nervous about it, and anxious. Plus it was Peter's big day and he didn't deserve everyone talking about a monster instead of focusing on him. "Anyway..." he finished smoothing his locks down and wriggled closer to Peter, leaning back against his headboard. "Why don't we play a board game or something, so Petey can join in?"

James snapped his fingers. "Good idea!"

Soon the four were playing Hogwarts House Cup. Since none of them wanted to be Slytherin, James put the pieces in a cup and shook them up, everyone reaching in to take a piece. Remus wound up with the green piece (he absolutely cheated so Pete wouldn't get it), and Peter was ecstatic to be red. They played several rounds, during which Spinnet and Struthers came up. They both told Peter they were glad he was doing better, and glad he was back. They both also wished him a happy birthday. Spinnet didn't complain about the loud music or the decorations everywhere, and Peter offered them both some cake and biscuits.

They both took a biscuit, Spinnet staring at the icing penis on the top of his. "Do I even want to know?" he asked, and broke it into pieces before eating.

"You... wanna join us for some exploding snaps?" James asked.

Spinnet stared at him. "Er. Why not?"

The six of them settled on the floor, playing cards until well into the night. It was one of the nicest evenings that dorm ever saw, with all six of them getting along. Remus knew it wouldn't last. Soon, Sirius and Spinnet would be back to fighting, and Spinnet would probably be insulting James and Remus too, but at least they had one good night.

They all said goodnight, doing their typical night routines to get ready for bed. The record player was turned off, but the decoration remained up since nobody felt like cleaning them. Remus crawled into bed after several goodnights and curled up with Gwyllgi in his arms.

/\/\/\/\/\

The next morning Remus was once again not the last to get out of bed. Peter was still sound asleep, and Remus got an uneasy chill down his spine remembering a few days ago when Peter was starting to feel unwell. However, once he finally got up he promised he felt okay, he just hadn't slept much.

"You feeling better?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah, much, thanks," Peter replied. He noticed the looks on James and Remus's face so he explained, "I, um, had a pretty awful nightmare last night. Sirius helped me."

Remus had woken up at some point during the night thinking he heard muffled voices, but they had been so soft he figured he was imagining them or dreaming them and went back to sleep. "I'm sorry you had one that bad," he said.

Peter shrugged. "It was... you know... from Saturday. I kept dreaming about hands reaching into me and—and pulling out my insides." He looked embarrassed as he began tying his shoes. "Kinda dumb, really."

"I told you last night it isn't dumb," Sirius said firmly, swiftly tying his tie perfectly without even looking at it.

"You went through something traumatic, it's natural to have nightmares about it," said Remus, trying to get his tie knotted even semi-decently. As usual he gave up, and instead flopped onto his bed to get socks on.

"There's nothing wrong with having nightmares," James agreed, glancing very briefly at Remus. "If I had my... um, apindeck taken out—"

"Appendix," Remus muttered.

"—I'd probably have nightmares too." James finished tying his shoes and jumped up to his feet. "Sirius, how do you even hear this though? I know you don't have the spell on your bed but..."

Sirius stiffened very slightly, so quickly that Remus thought he could have imagined it. Then he was relaxed again, a broad smile on his face. "I'm a light sleeper," he said, though there was something in the tone of his voice that didn't sit well with Remus. He just wasn't sure what, or why it would be... not so good.

Perhaps I'm imagining it, Remus thought as they left, or started to. James poked Remus's arm and informed him his jumper was inside out. Remus sighed, taking his robes off so he could get the jumper flipped, ignoring the amused looks on their faces.

"You really think it was traumatic enough to give me nightmares?" Peter whispered to Remus as they made their way down to the Great Hall.

"Of course," Remus assured him.

"But... I'm all healed up. My scar's almost gone, too."

Remus shrugged, shifting the strap of his satchel up higher. He tried not to feel bitter over those words. "Just because you've healed physically doesn't change the fact you've gone through it." Ugh, and how true was that? It'd be nice if once the physical aspect of injuries faded the mental side did as well.

Peter slowly nodded. "Okay, yeah. Thank you." He elbowed Remus who elbowed him back, saying again how happy he was Pete was back.