www.memory

by Nox

Author's note: I apologize for basically skipping a whole year at Hogwarts, but I promise I will include more in their second year. Also, if I hadn't skipped to now I would never have gotten to the plot. It would have just gone on and on and on and on and on and… well you get the point. So- yeah… Anyway, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait. I'll try to make up for it soon. Summer vacation woohoo!

Chapter 3: The Birthday of the Remus

www.memory

I'll be waiting for you patiently

If you ever feel the need just click on me

At www.memory

-Alan Jackson

It was a nearing the end of the school year and the entire Hogwarts student body had long since become aware of the Marauders and their antics. Both Sirius and James had received multiple armfuls of detentions for their various pranks (one of which had involved getting the Slytherin password, but James ended up getting it for Remus had refused). Even Peter had received one or two.

Many realizations had been made about each of the Marauders by the rest of the students. Peter, once getting over his fear of all the food disappearing, was known to be quite the gluttonous little thing. Remus, while clearly the cleverest of the grade (maybe of a few other grades as well), seemed to keep more to himself and the Marauders; he was extremely shy around anyone else, and many thought it very odd how quickly the smallish boy had become comfortable with those three when he barely spoke to anyone else with the exception of teachers. Sirius and James, while both clever, strutted around the castle with an air of "Hello, yes, I am an 11 year old sex god, thank you." This attitude was either extremely amusing or extremely confusing to the rest of the school for quite a few reasons. One of these reasons was that the girls the two first years were old enough to flirt with had not hit puberty yet. Another popular reason was that the two flirting tornadoes had not yet hit puberty themselves. It seemed quite improbable that they would even know how to flirt, yet they somehow pulled it off… even though first year girls still had no clue what to do about it.

Well, today, the 9th of March, the day before Remus's birthday, was like any other day: it was evening and Remus was doing his homework in a big chair by the fire in the Gryffindor common room, Peter was in his bed with the curtains drawn munching down on a humongous pile Honeyduke's candy that he had pilfered from on of the third years, and James and Sirius were hunched over a table in the dark corner of the common room. Undoubtedly, the two pranksters were planning some illustrious prank that would redefine Saturday night detention for the rest of the world.

There was only one thing wrong with this picture.

strange voice over of a pre-school teacher and her class: Can any one tell me what it is, kids? No, Bobby-Jo, it is not that Peter should not be eating in bed, but good guess… Anyone else? Yes, Nox, tell us what the problem is.

Well, normally when the Marauders were working on a prank, James and Sirius recruited Remus to help with the technicalities. So, when his friends did not include him in the planning of a prank the day before his 12th birthday, Remus became very depressed. He knew he shouldn't be worrying about it; after all he hadn't made a big fuss about his birthday. He had told his fellow Marauders only after they had asked him when his birthday was, and that had been back in September, he shouldn't expect them to remember… right?

Remus sighed. He couldn't concentrate on his homework anymore. Besides, it was Friday, and Remus had all weekend to finish his homework.

"Good night, guys," he said to James and Sirius as he walked upstairs. He only received a very faint, distracted answer.

Eyes downcast, he went to bed. Peter didn't even notice him as he brushed his teeth, put on his pajamas, and closed the curtains around his bed.

After putting a silencing charm around his bed, Remus bit his pillow and tried to keep himself from screaming out all his frustrations.

Meanwhile, in the Common room…

"Remus looked a bit off, don't you think?" Sirius said quietly to James.

James nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We're just about done here; I'll go find Lily, and you go check on him. Don't say anything about the you-know-what, though." With that he was off to find Lily. Sirius smiled to himself and headed up the stairs.

If it had only been Remus in the dorm, Sirius would have knocked on the door, but he knew that Peter was in there, so it would be pointless. Remus had drawn his bed curtains and no doubt had charmed them shut. Peter was immersed in his candy, so he wasn't paying any attention at all and hadn't even noticed that Sirius had entered the room.

Sirius kneeled down next to Remus's bed and gave a soft tug on the curtains. "Are you in their Reme?"

"No…"

Sirius chuckled. "Well, wherever you are, can I please just talk to you for bit?"

"Why…"

"Because goblins have stolen all the chocolate in the world," Sirius heard Peter give a small whimper, "and the house elves have refused to ever restock the kitchen's supply of Cockroach Chip Pie Crust Dough ice cream…"

Remus muttered a little charm to un-stick his curtains; then he promptly whipped them open to glare at Sirius, "Don't you ever joke about desert like that." He snapped the curtains shut, but before he could charm them again, Sirius was sitting on his bed.

Grumbling slightly, Remus charmed his curtains shut and placed a silencing charm around his bed. "What do you want?" he asked staring at his hands.

"Remus, look at me." Remus looked up with tears in his eyes. "What's wrong? Please tell me, I'm your friend…"

"Do friends forget each other's birthdays?" Remus looked back down at his hands as a tear slid down his cheek.

"Oh, Reme…" Something in Sirius's heart broke at seeing Remus cry and knowing that it was his fault. I'm sorry, Remus, but I'll never make you cry again… and I'll make sure know one else does. "How could you possibly think we forgot your birthday? We just thought that," Sirius thought as quickly as possible to come up with a suitable excuse, "because you didn't put too much emphasis on it, you didn't want us to. Of course we didn't forget your birthday! You… you… silly… Remus, come here!" Sirius wrapped his friend in the warmest hug he could muster. (A/N: oh this paragraph is so sappy…)

The next morning, Remus woke up to a strange moaning noise. At first he didn't remember where he was… then he remembered he must have fallen asleep in Sirius's arms the night before. He grinned at the memory of being held close. It was the first time he had been truly hugged since he had been bitten. His parents loved him, they really did, but they had become afraid of him. Even when the full moon wasn't near, they kept their distance.

He was startled out of is reverie when the moaning noise reach a higher pitch and grew a lot louder. He sat up, pulled open his curtains, and listened closer… the noise was coming from the common room, and he realized it had a very familiar tune. He smiled broadly as he climbed out of bed, opened the dorm door, and ran down the stairs to the common room.

There before him were Sirius, James, Peter, and the entire Gryffindor house singing to him. "Happy Birthday dear Remus… Happy Birthday to you!" (With a somewhat subdued chorus of "And many more…")

Remus knew he was blushing furiously, but before he could run back upstairs and hide, James and Sirius rushed forward to plop a crown (that a 7th year had transfigured from a spoon) on him and carry him to one of the large chairs by the fire. Remus then noticed that there was a not so small pile of gifts by the chair.

"Those aren't for me are they?" Remus asked Sirius and James quietly.

James burst out laughing. Sirius chuckled and said, "Of course, they are you silly muffin-head!" James stopped laughing and raised an eyebrow at Sirius at the epithet "silly muffin-head." Sirius returned the look with a "what!" glance.

Remus just rolled his eyes. "When did you guys manage to get this together?"

"Well," James started, "we've been planning for over a month so you wouldn't find out, but only last night did we tell people the exact plan. I found Lily to get her to tell the girls the plan, and we had told the guys when you were visiting your aunt last week."

Remus colored. "Visiting my aunt… yeah…"

"Well, anyway," Sirius piped in, "let's get to the present opening! Ooooh… I'm excited… are you excited, because I'm excited. This is really exciting isn't it! Wow, I'm excited…"

"Sirius," Remus chuckled, "be quiet."

By now everyone had gathered round Remus in his chair. There was a chorus of encouragements like, "Come on, we wanna see!" or "Don't be shy, Lupin, just open them!"

Blushing furiously, Remus started to open his presents. The first one he opened was from a 7th year prefect named Adriana. She had given an enormous box of chocolate. (She had first noticed his love of chocolate when she caught him sneaking an extra chocolate bar from dessert one day at lunch.) His next present was from a first year name Matthew who had noticed he was the only one who had liked this odd treat on the first day of school, so he presented him with a bowl of cockroach chip pie crust dough ice cream he had obtained from the house elves in the kitchens (with a charm on it to keep it cold, of course). The Marauders' favorite of Remus's presents so far was a bar of pretty smelling pink soap from a 3rd year named Chartreuse. When asked why she had chosen this, she replied, "Honestly, I don't see what's wrong with a little pink… Besides, remember that time he wore the pink tie?"

James and Sirius chuckled as they remembered the pink tie incident. In truth, Chartreuse had been the one to charm Remus's tie pink. However, Remus was always the gentleman. "Thanks a lot, Char, I'd almost run out of soap. Someone," he glared at Sirius, whose ears turned red under Remus's scrutiny, "keeps using mine."

Remus's favorite gift was a beautiful quill given to him by his friend Lily Evans. The quill was made from a golden eagle feather, and instead having a tip carved into it, it had an elegant brass nib that attached to the feather with a small brass tube that fit snugly onto the stem of the feather. Lily had also given him a small container of interchangeable nibs in different sizes and styles. Remus was speechless as he opened Lily's gift. In the end all he could do in thanks was hug her. She laughed and said "you're welcome."

Among other gifts, Remus received a strain of "For Dummies" books (A/N: I know, not from the '70s or the wizard community… oh well) such as Potions for Dummies, Overcoming Your Fear of Broomsticks for Dummies, and… oh joy… Life at Hogwarts for Dummies (which was, apparently, extremely rare)Remus chuckled at these books; he thought it absolutely ridiculous that there was actually a book series 'for dummies' as it were. They didn't seem to be the type of book that Remus usually read, but he was sure they would give him a good laugh.

Remus thanked everyone graciously, and then James and Sirius stood up to make their oddball speeches about how Remus had always been a good egg and that they were extremely proud to present a breakfast fresh from the kitchens in his honor.

Everyone went to chow down, but as Remus went to go eat, James, Sirius, and Peter blocked his way, making him settle back into his chair.

"Now, Master Lupin," said James in the most exaggeratedly proper voice he could muster, "I do believe there is one more gift that you have neglected to open. Do you agree, Sirius?"

"Rather," Sirius grinned, going along with James's posh accent.

Peter nodded in agreement.

"May I present the final, and definitely most important, gift," James continued. "This, your gift, is courtesy of the Marauders."

Sirius produced a red and gold wrapped box from behind his back and plopped it on Remus's lap. Blushing slightly at the amount of attention he was getting, Remus tentatively opened the wrapping paper; his eyes widened as he uncovered…

"A wizard camera!" Peter chipped in brightly.

James rolled his eyes, "He knows what it is, Pete."

"We all saved up to chip in for it," Sirius interjected. "James's mom got it for us, though, and she sent it in the mail."

"This… this is…" Remus couldn't even begin to say how amazing it was that they had gotten him a camera.

So the others tried to say it for him.

"Ingenious?" James said knowingly.

"Absolutely spiffing?" Sirius asked hopefully.

"Nice?" Peter added softly.

"All of those." Remus had only mentioned it once or twice, but he had always loved photography and any form of art. He had once stated that he would love to have a camera so he could take pictures of everything that he loved. He couldn't believe that they would remember that. Then again, he hadn't expected them to remember his birthday. "Guys, I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. Everything you've done for me. Today and all year. Thank you so much."

"Well," Sirius chipped in, "if you love it so much, let's use it! OH! Let's take a picture! YAY! We're going to take a picture, we're going to take a picture!" With that he started doing his made-up-on-the-spot "We're going to take a picture" dance. (It involved grabbing his ankle and jumping around."

However, they couldn't figure out what to photograph. Remus wanted to take a picture of the Marauders, Sirius wanted to take a picture of himself, and James wanted to take a picture of the Gryffindor banner.

Then Peter piped in, "Why don't we take a picture of all the Marauders in front of the Gryffindor banner."

Sirius looked at him as though he had just announced he was wearing ladies underwear and he was, in fact, going through menopause, but he paused for a moment… then shouted, "Brilliant!"

In the end, the Marauders gathered around a chair they moved in front of the Gryffindor banner. Remus sat in the chair, with Peter at his feet, Sirius on the chair arm at his right and James on the arm at his left. Remus was nearly certain that the moment the picture was taken was the happiest of his life.

Author's Note: Ok, I know… this chapter kinda sucks. I'm not too proud of it myself, but I have no beta, and I needed to get to the plot before I die. So, flame me all you want. I'm terribly sorry about the wait, and I'm even sorrier at the sucky outcome. While I can't promise that the next chapter, The Last of the Presents, will be better, I can promise that I'll try.

SPOILER: OK, who here finished HBP and found out about Remus and his hook-up with (CENSORED)? I thought it was awesome! I was so excited that JKR finally thought about Remus needing a honey! And I'm glad it was this particular person because I've always liked her! Anyway… Nevertheless, I believe that the reason Remus said no in the first place is because he still loved Sirius. Still does. Always will… but there can be more room in his heart to love someone else as well… I've always believed that. I will still be a Remus/Sirius shipper until I die.