Chapter 55: Birthday Bash

March 10th, 1994

Naples

Remus woke up to a tremendous pile of presents on his floor.

"What the…"

"Happy birthday!" shouted a bunch of voices all at once.

Remus whipped around to see almost all of his students, even some Slytherins, and a few of his co-workers (McGonagall looked as if she was here grudgingly, and Snape wasn't anywhere to be seen), plus James and Tonks in the front, grinning.

He caught his breath before saying, "What are you all doing here?"

"It's your birthday," said James, rolling his eyes.

"I figured that out, thank you very much," replied Remus, "but why are you all in my room? Why are my students here? And… Minerva, is that shampoo in your hair?"

"Trelawney dragged me from the shower," she snapped, her eyes warning Remus not to inquire further.

"Ready?" whispered Harry.

Remus blinked.

"Yeah," mumbled Lavender.

"Three… two… one… go!" cried Ron.

"You're a great teacher!" started Neville.

"And you have some great features," continued Hermione.

"Giving us one try, giving us two," sang Dean quietly.

"Making the class the funnest we do!" they finished grandly.

Remus decided not to mention the fact that "funnest" wasn't a word. "Thank you. That was… something."

"Yeah!" cried Neville.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Kylie, reaching inside her bag and pulling out her frog. "Felix dies natalis tibi. Felix dies natalis tibi! Felix di-i-i-i-i-i-i-e-s natalis Professor Lupin. Felix dies natalis tibi. Plurimos annos, Professor!" she sang, the frog croaking at every other beat.

Remus didn't exactly know Latin songs, but he did know a few words in Latin. "Thank you, Kylie. That was very… nice of you."

"I asked Professor Flitwick and the assistant Frog Choir teacher to teach me that song after practice."

"That's what you were doing when you came back, like, half an hour later than class!" cried Liana. "You told us you got lost!"

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Kylie replied. "And anyway, who gets lost for thirty minutes?"

"We're first years," Candice reminded her softly. "Of course we get lost."

"Alright, Remus, open your presents," interrupted James. "You've got a lot."

Remus stared at his presents in disbelief. "You're not saying you guys got me… all of this?"

"We are," Lily told him. "Take it or leave it."

Remus turned to Tonks, who had been surprisingly quiet throughout the entire "ceremony". She gave him a smirk, with a look like, The choice is yours. He grinned and turned to his presents. There were a lot. He went through them one by one, all with cards and signatures. Some gifts were crazy (a bottle of perfume, a heart-pendant necklace, a can of dog food), and others were more sane (a new tie, robes).

"Thank you guys so much," he said after what seemed like hours of going through the presents. "These were amazing… but unnecessary… but thank you." Then he frowned. "Wait. How did all of you guys know today was my birthday?"

James looked away pointedly.

"You have got to be kidding me," groaned Remus.

"I'm not-"

Just then, there was a rapping on the window. Remus walked over and opened it, and an owl landed on the windowsill, a package attached to the talons.

He opened the package, and it had a glistening gold watch with an extremely tiny wolf image carved on the rim. His eyes widened. This couldn't be a coincidence. One, the fact that there was a wolf, and two, the fact that… the fact that he got a gold watch instead of silver.

Because silver hurt him.

And the gifter seemed to know that.

James seemed to understand too, because his eyes widened. Apparently Tonks got the message too, because something flashed in her eyes.

There was a small piece of parchment attached, and it read:

Be proud of the wolf

It took all of his might not to… to scream. To tremble. To ask what was going on. What made it worse was that the parchment had been printed out, not handwritten, so he didn't even have a clue about the handwriting.

Remus carefully stowed the watch away in his robes.

"Thank you," he repeated to the people in his room, smiling. "This was amazing."

"Don't use the past tense," piped up Kylie, grinning mischievously. "There's still a lot of day left."

"This watch is getting old. I really want a new one," complained Remus, picking at the wearing away material.

"Can't you buy one?" Peter asked him.

"No. You guys know I'm poor." Remus flung the watch across the Grounds before running to pick it up and coming back.

"I can buy you a new watch," Sirius suggested.

"It's fine. I don't need you spending money over me."

"But-"

"Don't even bother. If you get it for me, I'll give it back to you."

James looked at him quizzically. "Why not?"

"It's not fair for you guys."

Sirius laughed and nodded, but his insides were burning. Remus was never sad. He was always brave in front of them, despite being a werewolf, and he always was wearing a smile. He deserved some happiness. Sirius couldn't find a cure to his lycanthropy, but he could buy Remus a new watch. Yes, his insides were burning.

With a promise.

A promise to get him that watch.

Sirius sighed. The good times. When his friends trusted him.

He doubted Remus even remembered that moment. When he'd gotten the watch, would he think of Sirius? Probably not. Sirius had maken sure not to give a thing away. He'd even done everything with a typewriter, because he was sure Remus was able to put two and two together if he saw Sirius's handwriting.

Sirius sighed again.

He couldn't be there - and they wouldn't want him there - but he still hoped that Remus would have a great birthday.

It would make him feel complete.

For now.

Remus was just leaving the room to go to breakfast with the others when Tonks slid up to him.

"Wait," she whispered.

Remus stopped and turned around, his eyes twinkling. "Yeah?

She put her arm around his back and pulled him towards her. "I didn't get to give you a proper happy birthday."

"What do you call that?" Remus demanded. "You guys just pulled up in my room and gave me gifts and surprised me and… wait, I never got to thank you for your gift."

Tonks's eyes glinted.

"Right. Well, thank you for the dark chocolate almond filled with mousse and marshmallows and the warm, fluffy electric blanket."

"You're quite welcome," she said in a husky voice.

"Like I was saying, though, what do you mean you need to give me a proper happy birthday?"

"Like… I need to give you a proper happy birthday."

"But you just did that!"

"That was a group effort," murmured Tonks. "Kylie and James organized that."

He coughed. "Kylie?"

"Yeah. Kylie." Tonks smirked. "I heard the funniest rumors about her and you, actually, something about-"

"Stop," moaned Remus. "I don't want to hear any more."

Tonks laughed. "But as I was saying, I need to do my solo happy birthday. You know what I mean? That was just all of us screaming."

Remus laughed.

Tonks leaned forward so that their faces were barely apart. "Happy birthday, Remus."

"Seriously, Remus? Even on your birthday you don't eat?" James asked him in disbelief.

"I am quite happy with this lemon tart, thank you very much," Remus replied.

"That's barely anything," groaned James. "But since it's your birthday, we won't push."

"Thank you, James."

"You should take, like, a muffin or something," Lily told him. "Chocolate chip? Blueberry?"

"I'm fine," he declined politely. "This is good."

Once they'd all finished their breakfast, James said, "Okay. We're all going ziplining today."

Remus coughed. "For my birthday, you want me to go ziplining?"

"Yeah. It's going to be fun!"

Remus sighed. "I'm sure."

"Sni… Severus, you coming?" James called.

"Ziplining? No way."

"Severus, you don't even get off the ship!" exclaimed Charity. "You have to get off once in a while, dude! Learn to live! The cruise isn't just for exploring the ship, you know."

"I know. But I am not going ziplining."

"You don't have to actually zipline," said Kylie, as though it was obvious. "Just come and watch."

"Great," he said sourly.

Almost everyone in Hogwarts who had come on the trip got off the ship and they all went to the ziplining location, where a woman was standing. She had short brown hair and a camouflage shirt. "Welcome to Zipliner's Quest. I'm your host today, and let me explain what we're about to do. We're about to go on one of the longest and fastest ziplines in all of Europe. It's really long, but really fast. We'll also be really high. We have… sixty people here, am I correct?"

"That is correct."

"Wow. That's a lot. Are you guys all on tour together, or are you friends, or… or what?"

"We're friends," Flitwick explained. Except it was pretty obvious that some of them wanted to rip each others' throats out. Just some of them.

"Oh. Okay then. So, here's how it works. I'll attach you to this harness, and there's virtually no way it'll break, okay? It won't loosen and you won't fall. You are completely safe. It's been checked, like, a billion times."

"You sure?" Neville asked, whimpering.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

"Okay…" Neville tugged on his lower lip. "I'm scared."

"Don't be. Anyway, you have to just step into the harness like this," - she stepped into a harness - "and then you've got to just attach the buckle into this. In between your two legs. And then you're good to go! This one covers a lot of Naples, so be sure to be looking under you to get the full experience! If you're that terrified of looking under you, that terrified of heights, you can just look ahead, but I assure you… you won't fall. Are we all cool? Any questions?"

"Nope," they chorused.

"Okay, so just… step in a line… and just climb up that really tall tree and onto the platform."

"Wait," interrupted Severus. "I'm not doing it. So that makes fifty-nine people, actually."

"Oh. You already paid, though."

"I don't care-"

"I do!" cried Dumbledore. "We shall not waste money."

"Excuse me, I-" started Severus angrily.

"You must come!"

"No, I will not-"

"I will make sure you come!"

"If I may-"

"There is absolutely no way you will not come on this zipline!"

"Can you just let me-"

"I insist, Severus! You shall come!"

"If you would just-"

"You have to come on this zipline!"

"I am trying to say something-"

"You may not waste my money!"

"Would you just-"

"If you don't come, I will make sure I throw you into a pool!"

"Let me fin-"

"Excuse me," cut in Charity, annoyed. "Everyone else is gone!"

The two of them stopped and turned to her before realizing that everyone else had already started climbing to the platform.

"Oh," said Dumbledore.

"I've been trying to get your attention for minutes, now!" Charity snapped, stamping her foot on the ground. "You guys just wasted so much time on your useless bicker!"

"Oh," repeated Dumbledore.

She turned to Severus. "For Merlin's sake, stop causing all this useless drama and come!"

"I won't come. I don't want to."

"You. Will. Come."

"Fine," he said in a bored manner. "I. Will. Come."

"Good." Her face brightened. "Yikes, I just had a mood swing. Well, we can't have that! Anyway, come on. Now I'm the last person."

Severus shook his head at her.

She was one crazy person.

"Enjoying your birthday so far, Professor?" Hermione asked Remus.

"Yeah."

"Yeah?" she continued, her heart thumping in her chest. This was Remus she was talking to. The same Professor Lupin she'd always known.

Except she knew something else.

He was a werewolf.

"And, er…" Hermione didn't know what to say. It was awkward enough, talking to your teacher on the cruise. It was also his birthday. And to just throw in the mix, he was a werewolf. "Ready to go ziplining?"

"Yep," he repeated, looking over at the long rope that Harry was currently going down. "There are a lot of people, though."

"Why didn't you want to go first?" asked Hermione. "Sorry, I mean, Professor?"

"Don't worry. It's not a big deal. You don't have to call me Professor if we're not in class," he told her.

"Er, okay, Professor Lupin. Anyway, why didn't you want to go first?"

"I mean, other people wanted the chance. So I let them do it. It's not an act of sacrifice or bravery or… or anything like that. Somebody else wants it, I don't have a preference, they get it. It doesn't affect me at all."

Out of instinct, Hermione plunged her hand down to where her bag normally would be (to grab a quill and write notes), but it wasn't there.

Obviously.

She turned slightly red. "That's quite… wise."

Remus smiled as Neville nervously got on the zipline. "Thank you. How're your parents doing?"

"They're fine. They've been kind of distant, but… I don't know. Since Hogwarts started, they're trying to accustom themselves with magic. It's difficult for them, though, so we haven't really been… as close. As we used to be before Hogwarts started." She looked up at him. "That makes no sense, right?"

Remus frowned. "No, I understand what you mean. I think Lily, James's wife, had that same thing with her sister."

"I know all about it," she told him. "Harry told me. At least my parents still love me."

"Yeah," he said.

"Anyway, how's Tonks?"

He turned to her, looking surprised. "Who?"

"Tonks. You know, the Auror. Your girl-"

"Why do you ask?" he cut off sharply.

The corners of her mouth twitched. "Just wondering. How are both of you doing?"

"Fine…" He looked at her suspiciously. "We're both doing good."

Hermione smirked. "Just good?"

He stared at her like she had turned into a dolphin. "Er, no. We're great. We're… happy together."

"Cool." Hermione flashed a grin at him before taking a large step into her harness and starting onto her long, zipline journey.

"THIS IS AMAZING!" yelled Fred.

"YOU CAN SAY THAT AGAIN!" bellowed George. "HOLD ON… MOUNT VESUVIUS! THE LEGENDARY VOLCANO!"

"THE VOLCANO WITH FIRE!"

"IS IT ACTIVE?"

"YES! WE MIGHT BLOW UP! BUT… AH! HERE WE GOOOOO!" Fred cried, just as the zipline took a major decline. "OH MERLIN THIS IS AMAZING!"

George's loud laugh could be heard. "MY STOMACH IS DOING FLIPS!"

"I LOVE IT!" Fred shouted back.

"ME TOO!"

This certainly was a long zipline. They hadn't gotten off once, but it was going quickly to a lot of different places.

"I'M ZIPPING PAST THESE PLACES!" screamed Fred.

"ON A LINE! THAT'S WHY IT'S CALLED A ZIPLINE!"

"OH, VERY FUNNY!"

"Hey, guys!" came another voice. They turned around to see Percy zooming down behind them, but they couldn't see him well enough because they were zipping too quickly. "On three, we shout happy birthday to Professor Lupin. I've gotten everyone else on the plan too."

"Why?" asked Fred.

"Because."

"Okay…"

"THREE! TWO! ONE!"

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY PROFESSOR LUPIN!" shouted all the people who were going down the zipline. Well, not all of them. Snape certainly wasn't. Neither was McGonagall. But Dumbledore's voice could be heard loudly.

"Hey, I can see the end!" called Fred.

"You can?" George asked. "GO FOR IT!"

And with the wind whipping past his face, Fred Weasley landed at the end of his first ever zipline.

A/N: Actually just a really fun fluff chapter. Review! :D