Chapter 3 - Happy Birthday, Remus

Though not fully contented, Remus really didn't mind living on the small dirt road. Over the year and a half, Remus was amazed at how much he had learned. The small town he lived in was known as Mainland's Place, and it was a community full of Muggles. He now went to the town's primary school, Mainland's Mulberry. At school, he was named a prefect and that status had allowed Remus to make friends with a few of the friendlier boys on his street and in the neighborhood. In addition to his new success at school and social standards, the Lupin family had finally managed to paint their house. It was now a beautiful golden color with white windows, and doors. The weeds were cleared out, and his father attended to the grass every now and then. The whole deed took time and dedication, and now that it was all done, Remus was proud that his family actually decided to keep permanent housing for once.

Though he really didn't mind her company, Remus continued to socialize and play with his friend, Alanze. Surprisingly, Remus found out a few days after first meeting the girl that she was actually a good two years younger than him. It stunned her deeply when Remus told her he thought she was maybe four or five. Though he tried avoiding her at first, after a year and a half, however, Remus really didn't mind the little girl tagging alongside him. Alanze was a really good person on the inside, and despite the fact she was really talkative and sometimes rather annoying, Remus enjoyed her company.

One windy May day while Remus was outside kicking pebbles up the road, he saw someone open his gate and approach his doorstep. The stranger knocked once or twice on the door, and patiently waited for someone in the house to greet him or her.

"Excuse me…" Remus called, as he got nearer to his house. "… My parents aren't home. They told me to tell you if you are from the Daily Prophet that they would pay you on Tuesday for the deliveries."

"Well, I wasn't actually looking for your parents," said the stranger, turning around to face Remus as he walked closer to his doorstep. "I was looking for you. You are Remus Lupin, am I correct?"

"Yes I am," answered Remus, wiping his smudged hands nervously on his trouser jeans. "But who are you?"

The stranger smiled. "My name is Gwendolyn Jaccsirk." She introduced herself; "I was the Healer that rescued you from that incident nearly two years ago,"

Remus grinned at the woman in the dim sunlight. The pretty woman had the same long, blonde hair, and pearly blue eyes. Surely, as he didn't notice it before, it was the same woman who had carried him to his mother the night that… it happened…

After a few moments of uneasy smiling and silence, Remus eyed the Healer and noticed that her white hat was missing, along with the matching white robes. The woman was wearing what she thought was proper Muggle clothing; white trainers and stockings, a neat-looking blue-denim skirt that came down to her ankles, and a nice button-down shirt with a vest over it. Remus found himself snorting at her attempt, and decided to get them into the house before anyone else noticed her weird appearance.

"What happened to your white robes?" Remus asked, walking around her and getting his spare key from under the hollow first step on the stoop. "Are you not a Healer anymore?"

"I am still a Healer, but I have a different job. Remus, tell me… how old are you?" the pretty witched asked, as she watched him struggle with his door keys.

"I'm - eleven," Remus said incredulously, blinking. He looked up from the door, leaving his key wedged in the lock. "Cripes, I almost forgot that today was my birthday!"

"Well I have something to deliver to you." Gwendolyn replied, pulling a letter out of her cloak pocket and handing it to Remus. She smiled heartily as he read it.

The letter was addressed:

Mr. R. Lupin

34 Mainland Place

Deal

Kent

The ink was dark green. Remus turned the envelope over excitedly, and saw the purple stamped seal of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He yelled out loud happily, and glanced up at Gwendolyn very excited.

"I got into Hogwarts!" Remus' jaw dropped. His response was more of a question of awe than a statement.

"Indeed, you did," Gwendolyn said, showing off her perfect pearly teeth as she smiled once again. "Congratulations, Remus."

After hearing his name, Remus' smile faded. "I got in… but do they… they… know…" he dropped his voice and looked at Gwendolyn sadly, "What I am?" he finished. Remus felt like he had a lump in the center of his throat as he waited for her answer. Hiding his secret from the Muggle community had been effortless, as they were always blissfully ignorant of what they did not know. All his parents had to do was place proper Muggle wards about the area of forest he roamed when he transformed, and no Muggle could ever come near him. But Wizards… especially in an environment where most of the Wizards would be of his age…

How could he possibly keep them away from knowing what he was?

"We have a new Headmaster and Healer at Hogwarts now." Gwendolyn tried to explain gently. "Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster has decided that if we take the right precautions, nothing else should stop you from learning magic… just like every other Wizarding child your age. Only he, the main Healer, and I would know."

Remus hugged Gwendolyn around her waist, happiness flourishing once more. She grinned happily down at him as she hugged him back.

"Thank you, Gwendolyn!" Remus told her, "You're a great friend. You've done so much for me. I don't know how I could thank you enough."

"No problem." Gwendolyn answered modestly. She paused as Remus returned to his battle with his keys in the door lock. "Would you mind if I came inside for tea?"

"Sure. As long as you don't mind making it… I'm not too much of help in the kitchen." Remus said, laughing as twisted the key in the lock one final time. Satisfied, he heard the clicking of the lock being undone and then turned the knob.

The inside of his house was extremely dark. It was eerie, and Remus peered down his hallway, without taking a few steps inside. He stepped backwards, and stepped on one Gwendolyn's fine white trainers.

"Ouch!" the woman pouted, grabbing Remus by the shoulder. "Is anything wrong?"

"It's dark inside." Remus told her, his eyes wide. "It's midday and it's really dark inside my house. It's not natural."

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine." Gwendolyn waved the thought off, taking Remus with the same hand she had on his shoulder and leading him inside the darkened hallway.

"No… it's scary!" replied the eleven-year-old, scraping his shoes on the polished wooden floor. He wasn't going to walk any further. He had a feeling he was being dragged right into the center of something very suspicious…

As he and Gwendolyn reached the arch leading into the combined kitchen and dining room, all the house lights suddenly clicked on. The shock of the sight waiting before him caused Remus' jaw to drop.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REMUS!" cheered a small surprise party.

Remus grinned happily as someone blew a noisemaker, and put a party hat on his head. Slowly, he watched as a light layer of confetti fell from the ceiling. Looking around with a smirk on his face, he spotted who he was looking for and he beamed up at his parents.

"How long have you been planning this?" he questioned them, as he walked into his dining room and saw a stack full of presents on the kitchen counter. His grin widened as he saw to the left of the gifts there was a rather large cake, and written in gold icing was his name and his age.

"Not too long," answered Remus' father with a grin. His name was Artemus, and he was a tall man with dark brown hair, and kind light brown eyes. "We were just going to throw you a regular party… and we got overruled. Your good friend Alanze insisted we make it a surprise for you."

Remus' jaw dropped once more. "Where exactly is Alanze?" he questioned his parents, who couldn't stop smiling despite themselves.

"Boo!" yelled a high voice from behind him. "Surprise! Happy Birthday, Remus!"

Alanze Haru-Daniels was still quite a mousy little girl that hadn't changed much over the last two years. She still wore jet-black spectacles that blocked her hazy dark jade eyes, and instead of the plain retainer in her mouth, she now had sets of metal called braces that completely covered all of her teeth. Remus knew that his other friends had a habit of calling her braces 'train tracks'. Despite her other features, there was one other thing that Remus really liked about his friend. Alanze's hair was very long and braided down into a long waist-length brown plait. Alanze lived with her mother, whom Remus now knew was of Arabic origin. Fascinatingly, Alanze's mother kept her hair braided back and out of her face, and often if Remus looked hard enough he could find different coloured threads or synthetic gems woven into her hair. Blushing as he thought of it, Remus eyed her as she waited anxiously for him to speak. Though she was now nine, she was still rather short. Alanze only came up to Remus' collarbone.

"I should have known you planned this!" Remus playfully nudged Alanze, who grinned. "Golly, Alanze. You're a great friend!" the older boy continued, reaching out and playfully tugging on Alanze's earlobe.

Alanze blushed through her dark skin, swatting Remus away as he continued to pull on her earlobes. "Well… I just thought you needed something happier to make up for you being ill last week. You missed two days of school!" she reprimanded, now serious. Remus eyed her wearily as she folded her arms at him. He knew that Alanze's mother also kept her nose wedged firmly in her studies and that the younger girl took schooling very seriously.

"But besides – I just figured since your birthday was coming I though a surprise party would make you feel better. Your mum and dad were very helpful." Alanze smiled at Remus' parents as she handed him a specially wrapped present that looked like she had made it herself. "This is for you!"

Remus took the gift, eying it wearily. After a moment, he turned the present over in his hands, and turned to smile at his friend. "Thank you." He said, going over to put the gift in the living room along with the others. "I'll open it later."

Alanze smiled toothily and nodded, showing off all the horrible metal in her mouth. Remus had gotten quite used to it and really didn't stare at the tracks of braces on her teeth when she smiled anymore. He thought that she boosted her confidence when she gave toothy smiles, and he would never think of discouraging his friend. Confidence to stand up to people was the first thing Alanze needed as she grew older. He knew he was quite an icon to the younger girl, and spent most of his time carefully thinking of how he could teach her certain things as they applied to their friendship.

His thoughts were interrupted, when he felt Alanze tugging on his hand. He blushed as he noticed it took two of her hands to yank on one of Remus' own.

"C'mon Remus! Hurry up! We have to play all the party games before we eat up all your cake!" Alanze yelled at him, letting his hand go and tapping him playfully on the shoulder.

Remus couldn't remember when the last time he had been so happy was as he followed Alanze to the living room for party games. A slight thought kept nagging at the back of his mind as he spun around aimlessly blindfolded. As hands let him go, he wandered about the room with the "donkey's tail" in his hand, looking for the game board.

'What if Alanze finds out what I am?' said a voice in his head, 'She wouldn't want to be my friend anymore.'

He had to force himself to put that thought out of his mind as he placed his donkey tail somewhere near it's ear. His guests giggled as he took off his blindfold to discover his horrible positioning. All afternoon Remus played games with Alanze and a few other kids on his street that his parents had invited over. As the sun was beginning to set and before it was time to cut the birthday cake, Remus had decided to open his Hogwarts letter and his other gifts.

"Mum! Dad!" Remus called excitedly, holding up the letter, "Look! Gwendolyn told me I got into Hogwarts!"

Remus' parents looked shocked for a minute, but they yelled excitedly as they re-read his letter from Dumbledore. The three Lupins and the pretty woman sat in a corner for a while, discussing things in hushed terms. Alanze was beginning to get impatient. She just didn't understand what was so exciting about a place called Hogwarts.

"Why are you going there?" she asked Remus. "What is a Hog-wart?"

"Hogwarts is a School," Remus told her rather hype. He tried to keep things in a rational explanation. "I'll be going to Hogwarts when September comes instead of Mainland's Secondary Mulberry."

"Why are you leaving Mulberry?" Alanze didn't really understand. "What is so special about a Hog's warts?"

Remus grabbed Alanze by the shoulder as his parents debated in the corner with Gwendolyn. Silently, he led the girl over to a corner when no other child at the party would've noticed them.

"Can you keep a secret?" the older boy whispered, brows knotted together.

"I can!" chimed Alanze cheerfully, and then noticing his seriousness, she lowered her voice. "Yes."

"Well… do you believe in magic?" Remus asked skeptically, folding his arms.

"What type of magic? Faerie tales and such?" questioned Alanze in return, scratching her head.

"No – just… wizards and such." Remus went on, curiously. "Do you believe in them?"

Alanze blinked, thinking about what he was asking her for a few minutes. She spoke up only after she debated on her answer. "I guess so. Everything can't always be explained."

Remus could've kissed her. Boy, this girl was pretty smart for just a Muggle at nine. "Well listen…" he started, "Hogwarts is special because it's a school for only witches and wizards."

"Like the ones you just mentioned?" questioned the girl, looking as skeptical as he once did.

"Yes. Hogwarts… is only for those types of people. Only those who have Magical Powers can go there."

There was an uncomfortable pause between the two friends.

"But you don't have magical powers." Alanze told him, matter of factly as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. "You are a normal boy. Just like I am a normal girl."

"Do you remember what you said about some things that can't just be explained?" Remus reasoned. "Well, some people who seem normal actually do have magic… it's just against the law to show it to those who are actually normal. The people who don't have magic are called Muggles."

"Muddles?" asked Alanze with her face scrunched up.

"No, MuGGles." Remus tried to explain. "Those are the normal people. And the people with magic are witches and wizards."

"But Remus-" laughed the girl, "This is a fun charade and everything, but… you still don't have magical powers. So even if Hogwarts is real, why would you be going to that school instead of Mainland Secondary?"

" 'Lanze, what did I just get done explaining to you?" the boy growled, becoming annoyed now. "What I was trying to say is that I do have Magical Powers!"

"Then why haven't you ever used them?" the younger girl asked tartly.

"Because I can't until I go to school to learn what I can and can't do!" Remus snarled back, "That's what Hogwarts is for!"

Alanze looked deeply into Remus' nearly golden eyes, and laughed a little. "Stop playing."

That statement made Remus almost furious. "Look, Alanze. I knew I was a wizard ever since I was littler than you! My parents told me!"

"But there are NO such things as WIZARDS!" Alanze screamed at him so loudly that Gwendolyn and Remus' parents stared at them, hidden in their corner. "Why do you keep talking about this rubbish?"

"Lower your voice. Just because you don't believe me, doesn't give you the right to start a scene." Remus grumbled. He sometimes amazed himself at how mature he sounded when he spoke.

"You've changed." Alanze's lip quivered as she gazed over her one and only friend. "I don't know if I like you like this, Remus."

"Fine." Remus questioned sourly, folding his arms.

"Fine!" was all Alanze could muster as she rushed out of the Lupin household, and ran across the dirt road to her own house. Though not as serious of an argument that Remus understood their misunderstanding to be, Alanze didn't return for the rest of the party. It was in the instance that he realized that Alanze really wasn't coming back when Remus spotted her present on the counter and didn't bother to open it

-x-

"Good night Remus," Artemus told his son as he ruffled his hair and watched him climb into bed. "I hope you had a Happy Birthday."

Remus nodded at his father, who gave him a small hug and then stood at the doorway. Selena came in; carrying the sloppy package Alanze had gave to Remus as a present. Remus stared at it.

"You've forgotten to open a present," Selena said simply, laying it on Remus' nightstand. "You left it downstairs, so I thought it would be nice to bring it up to me."

"I'm not opening that," Remus told his mother firmly, sneering at the gift. "She gave it to me. She's being a real git because I tried to tell her a secret and she didn't believe me. So that doesn't deserve to be opened."

"This town is full of Muggles." Selena tried to explain, sitting on the edge of her son's bed. "And I pretty much doubt that any of them has ever heard the term Wizard before, Remus. You must understand that."

"Remus, watch your language." Artemus snapped from the doorway. Remus eyed him wearily, before turning back toward his mother.

"I did understand!" snapped the younger man. "I tried to make her understand. I didn't even get angry until she kept being… what's that word you said yesterday?"

"Skeptical?" his mother asked, sighing.

"Yeah! That! Until she kept being like that!" Remus protested, climbing under his bed sheets. His mother looked at him worriedly, as she absentmindedly began tucking the sheets about his thin figure.

"Still, Remus, you didn't actually expect her to be okay with the concept, did you?"

Remus thought about sticking his tongue out at her. "No," he thought out finally, "Not really."

"It's good to see you make some progress." Selena smiled, kissing Remus on his left temple. He swatted at her playfully. "But still, I think you should apologize to Alanze."

"I am not apologizing to her," Remus said. "I don't see why I have to apologize when she had the misunderstanding in the first place."

"Remus, you did introduce her to foreign things, including Wizardry and Muggles." Selena told him simply. "It was a lot to force on a nine-year-old girl who doesn't know anything about magic beyond Muggle fairy tales."

Remus crossed his arms, and glanced out the windows on the side opposite his bed. Without another word, he turned his back on his parents. He thought they were awfully foolish for telling him this, he knew what he did and he knew that he made a mistake in trying to tell Alanze his secret. Still, he was eleven years old! If he knew his mistakes and how to repair them, then why were his parents still lecturing him?

"Fine then." Selena told her son stuffily, feeling offended. She stood up, and hovered over Remus' bed. "Well, Gwendolyn says she will see you at Hogwarts in September."

Still, when no answer responded, Selena sighed once more, biting her lip. "Goodnight. I love you. Happy Birthday, Remus."

With those final words, Remus kept his eyes plastered on the window as his mother kissed his forehead, ruffled his hair affectionately, and left, closing the door and shutting off the lights as she went.

As soon as the door shut, Remus rocketed out from the cocoon of sheets his mother wrapped him in and sat up to open his window. His room was in the very front of the house, facing the dirt road.

After a few seconds of fumbling with the latch, Remus pried the window open and spied about his home and the street. A stray cat launched across the street in pursuit of a field mouse. Remus watched the cat stalk it's prey and his eyes followed it to a direct beeline ending at Alanze's house.

Idly, Remus surveyed the building. With a sudden pang, he realized that like him, Alanze also had a bedroom in the front of her house. His eyes traveled to her window wearily, and with a shock he realized that she was staring at him too.

It was a surprise to see Alanze sitting in her window, arm firmly about the opened out glass, and in her nightshirt. Usually many layers of clothing accompanied Alanze. As part of their Arabic traditions, Alanze usually wore a long black dress as casual clothing outside of school uniform. She never wore trainers, but black Mary Janes, and her dress sleeves always came past her elbow and rose above her neck. She was always sweating, but Remus knew it was nothing he could do to waver Alanze's mother strong tyranny on her daughter's clothing.

But this… this was different…

Alanze was in a silky dark purple nightshirt. She actually had all of her bare arms out… up to the shoulder, neck, and collarbone. Remus stared with hungry eyes, and as he took in the sight of her bare skin, he scarcely realized that…

His heart dropped into his stomach, as he had to steady himself on his own window ledge before he fell out.

Alanze… had her hair out of that braid he always liked. She had it down and about her slim figure. When her hair was down and in that purple nightdress… Alanze scarcely looked like she was nine. It was then that Remus realized how wavy her hair was, and not as straight as he thought, and how the glittering ribbons tangled into it made her dark locks even more… more…

What could explain it?

Alanze stared at him beadily, before smirking. She obviously got her message across, because Remus watched in horror as the girl purposely flung her window shut. The boy then watched in amazement as Alanze calmly closed her shutters, a soft smirk on her face. She obviously had accomplished what she wanted to.

In a daze, Remus quickly shut his own window and climbed back under his covers. It was that night that he had a sudden realization that he was getting older and that his new hormones and bodily functions were more evident now more than ever.

-x-

Shaking, Remus woke up from a… rather enjoyable dream. He felt… different somehow. Slowly, he sat up in his bed and glanced out the window and towards Alanze's house. There was no one in the window.

Wondering if seeing the young girl in the window in the first place was a dream, Remus turned over in his bed silently, so he was lying on his stomach. As quietly as he could, Remus rummaged for something through the little light the outside street lamps gave off. In the faint light, Remus opened his eyes and grabbed the package from Alanze that his mother put on his nightstand. Feeling a little guilty, Remus sat up in bed and clicked on his bedside lamp. He then took the parcel and brought it to his lap.

There was a tag on the lumpy gift. It read, '-To Remus, from (Your Friend) Alanze-'

Remus shifted uneasily as he unwrapped the present slowly. After a few moments of anticipation, Remus saw that her gift was a picture frame with a small, unmoving picture in it. It was one of Remus and Alanze together last year, for Alanze's 9th birthday. Remus had put bunny ears behind Alanze's head and Alanze had her tongue sticking out at the camera.

In silence, Remus laughed but still felt bad as he turned the frame to read the inscription on the sides.

'-Because the moon never fades sometimes even in day, we'll always be true friends, and never part away.-'

With a sigh, Remus heaved the frame upside-down into one of his bottom nightstand drawers, and rolled over again into an uneasy sleep.