The date was March tenth, 1972, and Remus had officially decided not to tell the Marauders that it was his birthday.

It wasn't because he thought they wouldn't want to know. He knew for a fact that James Potter in particular would have a field day with the information. No, it was because he was afraid that they would make a fuss, and he didn't want a fuss. Remus' birthday, after all, was a quite somber event. Not so somber as February sixteenth, but somber nevertheless. Another year older? Eh, it wasn't that exciting. He was only adding years to his horrendously miserable life. No biggie.

But still, he was twelve. Twelve! Now that was strange. He reminded himself of the fact over and over again in his head, changing the inflection every time. I'm twelve. I'm twelve! I'm twelve, he thought, but he still couldn't really believe it. Twelve years, and seven since he'd become a werewolf. Easily over half his life.

Had it really only been half his life? Remus remembered the attack clear as day—more clearly than he ever would have wanted—but Remus could not remember the years before for the life of him. He'd been told that he had been a happy, carefree young child—he'd spent his time playing outside with his dad, running around the house, talking to strangers, and jumping into piles of leaves. But, for the most part, he did not remember what it was like to be human.

He'd lost nearly five years. Remus had lived five years before the attack, and he remembered none of them. That was a little under half his life, and he'd lost it all.

Or was he losing years now? Was that the only time he'd really lived?

That was ridiculous. He was a werewolf, not the undead.

But was there a difference between living a human and surviving a werewolf?

No, he told himself, sitting up and yawning. He couldn't think like that. This was his birthday, and he was celebrating it at Hogwarts—not in his home, where it was all fake smiles and hollow platitudes. Merlin's beard, birthdays had been painful around his parents, who had stepped around the subject of just about everything werewolf-related as if Remus were made of glass—as if he were a fragile china doll, like James sometimes said. The prospect of Remus growing closer and closer to adulthood always depressed his parents a bit. Maybe they were the china dolls.

Remus loved his parents, but today, an escape was just what he needed. This birthday would be a good one.

"Remus! You're awake!" cried an overjoyed James Potter as he bounded out of bed. Then he turned to the lavatory door and called, "It's okay, Sirius, you can come out now."

Sirius emerged from the showers, but his hair wasn't wet. "Thank goodness," he moaned. "I was so bored."

"What...?" Remus rubbed his eyes. "What happened?"

"Well," said James, "since today is your birthday, I wanted to let you sleep in, 'cos usually we wake you up too early and you don't like that. It's eight-forty-five. Breakfast starts in fifteen minutes. Take your time getting dressed, though. Sirius and me can wait."

"Speak for yourself," Sirius grumbled. "I've been waiting for ages. James said that I was being too loud, so he shut me up in there."

Remus giggled and took his robes to the lavatory to change. "How did you remember it was my birthday?" he asked through the door. "And where's Peter?"

James struck a pose—Remus couldn't see it through the door, but he could hear the thwack as James' hands hit the walls (as they were wont to do when James was striking dramatic poses). "I never forget anything," James said, and, judging by his marks, it was true. "And Peter's already in the common room. He woke up at about eight-fifteen and he couldn't be quiet, either. You're lucky you have a friend like me who lets you sleep! You know, since you're ill and all, you only need tell us when you need to sleep more..."

Remus crossed his arms, even though James couldn't see him. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that, James. I know you're worried and all, but I hate pity. I have plenty of people looking out for me—I know my limits—it's not fatal—and I don't like to be babied. Please don't worry about me."

"Fine! It's your birthday, I'll do whatever you want. But we won't judge you, you know, even if your mum is a werew—"

"Don't say it," protested Sirius. "It's not true. She's not. And I'll definitely judge him if his mum is a werewolf; don't put words in my mouth."

James clapped his hands. "Let's not talk about this!" he said, and Remus had never loved James more as he did in that moment. The less they talked about werewolves, the better.

"Anyway, happy birthday," said Sirius. "We've got something amazing planned, you know!"

"Yeah? What is it?"

"We weren't sure what you'd like," said James. "You're really... I guess secretive, you know? You sorta keep to yourself unless prompted. But Peter said that you might not like decorations in the Great Hall. He mentioned that you don't want attention. Which is stupid, because attention is the best. But to each his own, I suppose. So we didn't decorate. But we made the most boring, Remus-Lupin-y party ever that we'll give you in the afternoon. And we're going to eat breakfast up here! Pete says that your shoulders get all scrunchy when we eat in the Great Hall. Why is that?"

Remus stepped out of the lavatory, fully dressed and smiling widely. He only managed two words before James launched back into his warp-speed chatter. "It's too—"

"Noisy? Okay. We'll go under the Invisibility Cloak and snag some breakfast, and then we'll take it up here."

"That's... wow." Remus hoped that Madam Pomfrey wouldn't be watching for him. She'd kill him if he missed another meal.

"Thank you," Sirius whispered. Remus wondered what he was thanking him for, and then realized that he was prompting Remus to thank James.

"Thank you," Remus managed. "This is brilliant."

"Aw, it's not brilliant yet," said James, ruffling Remus' hair. "But it will be!"

"Did you see that Slytherin's face when James poked him in the arm?"

"I was literally wheezing!"

"Yeah, so was I after you dropped your Pumpkin Juice. Filch is gonna have a ball cleaning that up."

"I hope a Slytherin slips on it!"

"That was so fun, wasn't it?"

"Thrilling!"

Remus participated in the amicable chatter with a newfound excitement. It was his birthday, James had remembered, and here they were treating him like they treated any other Marauder. They had noticed when he was uncomfortable. They liked him anyway. And here they were, working around it and giving him something to enjoy. And, unlike Remus' family, all of their smiles were completely genuine.

And so was Remus'! In fact, his smile was probably the most genuine. He was smiling so much that his cheeks hurt, and it was only about nine in the morning. If the day carried on like this, then Remus would be in terrible pain by lunchtime.

He helped James spread all the plates out on the floor, and then all four Marauders sat cross-legged around them and ate crumpets and toast. None of them had nicked any meat, and Remus was thankful. The dormitory was so much smaller, and the scents would have bothered him immensely.

They ate like kings that morning—even Remus, who wasn't always hungry this early in the day. Today was a wonderful day for a birthday. It was nineteen days away from the full moon and ten days past the last one. Remus felt normal—he felt perfect—he was well enough to do most anything.

They talked about everything and anything... except the topic of Remus' illness or his mum. Sirius even mentioned being "hungry as a wolf", and James held his tongue admirably. They discussed school and rabbits and spells and books, and then Sirius led the other Marauders in "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow". Remus joined in immediately, which made Sirius laugh.

"You're not supposed to sing your own birthday song!" said Sirius, practically rolling on the floor from laughter.

Remus grinned winningly. "But I am a jolly good fellow!"

Sirius giggled harder. "Ah, now you sound like James."

"Shut it!" said James and Remus simultaneously.

All things considered, it was the best breakfast that Remus had ever had.

DAD was first, and Remus was pulled to the back of the classroom to sit with James and Sirius. They'd gotten there early, just as Remus liked it. Remus always tried to get his friends to go to class a little earlier, but they always ended up dilly-dallying, and then of course Remus had to dilly-dally with them so that he didn't feel left-out.

But not today!

"I want to sit with Peter," Remus said, and Peter gave him a glorious smile.

James sighed dramatically. "Fine. I guess I'll sit with Evans." He grinned. "Ooh, it'll make her so angry. I can't wait to see her face."

So Remus sat in the back, sandwiched between Peter and Sirius. Evans, upon seeing the new seating arrangements, stole the seat of a Ravenclaw student. Said Ravenclaw snatched someone else's seat; soon enough, the entire class was in different seating.

Professor Questus walked into the room and raised his eyebrows. "This is different," he noted. "Sit wherever you want, though. I couldn't care less. Anyway, we'll be having a practical lesson today—I'll be teaching the Knockback Jinx. I must warn you, this is a very dangerous spell, even when used correctly."

Some students made frightened noises, and Questus rolled his eyes. "Don't be cowards. I thought you Gryfindors were supposed to be the brave ones."

"Won't we get hurt, though?" asked a Ravenclaw. "We'll be blasting each other into the walls."

"What do you take me for, a bad teacher? Well, I might be that, but I do have a solution." Questus cast a charm nonverbally; suddenly, the floor felt a lot softer underneath Remus' feet. His chair and desk did, too. Sirius grinned and started bouncing up and down on his spongey chair. "Split into pairs and move your desks to the edge of the room," said Questus, and no one wasted any time at all in doing so.

Sirius and James immediately moved to be together, as did Peter and Remus. Remus wasn't sure he liked the idea of trying to blast Peter across the room—even if the walls had the consistency of a stuffed animal. He levitated his desk and chair to the wall, and then he smiled at Peter nervously. "This is a little scary, isn't it?" he whispered.

"Yeah," said Peter, looking relieved. "I hoped I wasn't the only one who thought so. What does the Knockbacker Jinx do?"

"Er. The Knockback Jinx... well..."

"It knocks you back!" shouted Sirius gleefully. "I can't wait!"

"Would you like to help me demonstrate, then?" said Professor Questus.

Sirius scowled. "I wouldn't help you if you were the last person on earth," he said, and then there was dead silence.

Remus internally groaned. He'd known that Sirius was still angry with Questus for the unconventional detention, but this was just stupid. Was he really going to risk yet another detention? What was he, an idiot?

But Questus didn't give Sirius a detention. "I wouldn't help you if you were the last person on earth, sir," Questus corrected, and the class tittered. "It's all right, Black. I won't force you. Any volunteers?" He raised his eyebrows in Remus' general direction, and Remus was very careful not to make eye contact.

"I will," said Evans, and Questus nodded. Remus breathed a sigh of relief. Getting blasted into walls during duelling sessions was one thing (well, not into walls—Questus was usually pretty careful to be gentle enough that Remus could catch himself). Getting honest-to-goodness blasted into a wall in front of the whole class was something entirely different. Remus did not need to call more attention to himself, not when he had such a terrible secret.

Evans walked to the front of the classroom, twiddling with her wand nervously. "Good," said Questus. "Stand right there... no, there. Yeah. Now, the incantation is Flipendo. Watch very carefully. You ready, Evans?"

"For what?" asked Evans nervously. Remus realized that she was Muggle-born and probably had no idea what the Knockback Jinx was supposed to do. That would be an unpleasant surprise, to be sure.

"Three, two, one... Flipendo." Before Remus could so much as blink, Evans had crashed into the wall and was rubbing her head. "All right?" asked Questus, and Evans laughed.

"That was fun!" she said, and Remus exhaled.

"Did everybody see how I moved my wand?" Questus demonstrated again, this time without magic. "Good. Now face your partner... not at a close proximity, Potter and Black. Most important thing is that you make sure you aim straight. Look around you and ensure that no one is in your expected path... I don't want anyone crashing into anyone else; only the wall. That's it. Wand to the left a little, Jones. Looks good. You may begin."

As soon as he said the words, both Sirius and James cast the spell at the same time and went flying to opposite sides of the classroom. They stood up, laughing, and proceeded to cast the spell again. "Very good, Potter and Black," said Questus. "You can try blocking if you want. Incantation's Protego."

Remus was almost glad when he saw that both James and Sirius had trouble casting the spell successfully (after all, Remus could do it nearly perfectly now), but they didn't seem to be trying very hard. They were the type of people who liked crashing into spongey walls.

Remus glanced at Peter, who seemed rather too terrified to move. "Do you want to go first?" Remus offered.

Peter gave him an incredulous look. "I can't! You're fragile!"

"...What?"

"You said you bleed easily, and you're all thin. And your low pain tolerance! I can't blast you against a wall!"

"I'm not fragile," Remus insisted, emphasizing every word. "I'm fine. The walls are spongey. I'll be okay."

"You look like a baby bird! You'll break in half!"

Okay, that was a bit of an exaggeration. "Wow, Pete. On my birthday, too. I'm wounded."

"You do!"

"Flipendo!" said Remus, and nothing happened. "Flipendo!" he said again, yet still nothing happened. "Flipendo!"

This time, Peter flew backwards a bit and landed on his rump by a desk, bouncing on the spongey substance. "See, it's not so bad," said Remus. "I've fallen off my broomstick harder than that and I'm fine."

"Yes, but..."

"Oh, now you're just stalling. Cast the spell!"

"Flipendo," said Peter. Nothing.

Professor Questus walked past. "You're reluctant, Pettigrew. I assure you, Lupin will survive a Knockback Jinx cast by an eleven-year-old."

"Flipendo!"

"Wrong wrist movement. Make it sharper."

"Flipendo?"

"Is that a question?"

"Flipendo."

Remus heard Questus inhale—he actually caught it this time—and was completely ready. "Protego," he said, just as Questus sent a Knockback Jinx towards him. He managed to deflect the jinx easily, and he grinned.

"Well done, Lupin," said Professor Questus, looking quite impressed (which was always an odd look on Questus). "There, see? You couldn't hurt him if you tried, Pettigrew. Again."

"Flipendo!" said Peter, and a small blue wisp shot out of his wand. Remus didn't try to block it; it caught him on the arm with enough force to make him step back. "I did it!"

"That was nothing," Questus said dismissively. "It was barely a spark. But you got it to work, at least, which is more than I can say for Miss Mullins. Mullins! You're pronouncing it wrong. Stress the second syllable..." He wandered off before Mullins could hurt someone, and Remus gave Peter an encouraging smile.

"That was good!" he said. "Questus is just being picky."

"Thanks!" Peter flushed with pride. "I'm gonna try again. Flipendo!"

Remus put up a nonverbal shield, but it wasn't forceful enough and he fell backwards, catching himself with his right foot at just the right moment. It twinged a little to do so with his injury, but not too badly. "If I hadn't put up a shield I'd probably be across the room by now," he said. "That was brilliant."

The class proceeded, growing exponentially more enjoyable every time someone was blasted into a wall. They all left the class in high spirits that day, especially Remus, who had received a proud little nod from Professor Questus for his stellar Shield Charms. All of the Marauders were ginning ear-to-ear... well, all of them but Sirius.

"I still hate him," Sirius grumbled. "He didn't even mention your birthday. And you talk to him all the time—you two are super close. He should have known, right?"

"I didn't tell him," said Remus. "I don't like attention. And we're not that close. It's not like I've told him all my personal information."

Well. He kind of had. But Sirius didn't need to know that. And besides, it hadn't been traditional personal information—mostly just werewolf information.

"Oi, Remus, give us more excuses to hate him," said James, and Remus laughed weakly. "No, I'm serious. Actually. Has he done anything horrible?"

"No."

"Nothing?"

Remus thought very hard. He wanted something jovial, something that wasn't actually a fault of Questus', and something that, most importantly, did not imply that Remus was a werewolf... "Once he gave me tea that was too hot," said Remus.

"That's not nearly interesting enough!"

"What did you do?" asked Peter with interest. "Did you spit it out?"

"No, I just drank it and didn't say anything." That sounded weird. "Well, first I waited for it to cool, of course."

"Why were you having tea with John?" asked James.

"Er, he's giving me lessons, remember? Sometimes there's tea. And he offered me tea after I... you know, got scared with Peter in the dormitory at the beginning of this year."

"What are the lessons on?"

"Just... just DAD things. You know? I know lots of the curriculum from higher years so he's... you know. Teaching me things. Upper-level things." He knew that it would not be suspicious at all to disclose that he was duelling, but frankly, he didn't want to answer all the questions at the moment.

"Hm," said James. "You said he wanted to cure your mother one time. Didn't you? He knows, doesn't he? That she's a..."

"She's not. She's ill. It's my birthday, James, and I don't want to talk about it."

"Fine. Speaking of which, I was thinking we could eat lunch in the courtyard. Sound all right to you?"

"Yeah, that sounds—" Suddenly, someone tapped Remus on the right shoulder. He turned around and came face-to-face with Professor McGonagall.

"You weren't at breakfast," she said, not looking pleased about the fact. "Your mother sent this over owl post."

"Oh, thank you." Remus took the parcel and letter. "Have a good day, Professor."

"See you around, Minerva," said James.

McGonagall sighed. "That's another point from Gryffindor. When will you learn?"

"They already know, Professor," said Remus. "They just don't really care. Sometimes I suspect that they're secretly Slytherin spies trying to win the House Cup by depleting all of our points."

"That," said McGonagall with a slight twitch of her mouth, "wouldn't surprise me one bit. Potter, your tie is askew. Black, stop looking so murderous. And Lupin—I'd run far away from Black if I were you."

Remus looked at Sirius and jumped back at his expression. "Ack! Sirius! You scared me!"

"Take it outside, boys. No running in the corridors," said McGonagall, and Remus left the castle at a very brisk pace and then sprinted the rest of the way to the Greenhouses for Herbology.

As promised, they took their lunch out to the courtyard. They found a nice open spot next to a tree and set up a small picnic, just like they'd done in the dormitory. "For March, it's beautiful weather," James commented. Remus still rather thought it was a bit cold, but he didn't say so. It was better than the bitter weather of February. He was so thankful for Dumbledore and his Warming Charms on the Shrieking Shack.

Remus' lunch was delicious, and he'd almost finished when James nicked one of the biscuits that Peter had gotten for him. "Hey!" said Remus incredulously. "That's mine!"

"Not anymore," said James. His mouth was full.

"For someone who yells at me for skipping meals..."

"This isn't a meal, it's a biscuit."

"I must warn you, Professor Questus taught me some very high-level spells in my extra lessons," Remus bluffed.

"Yeah, like what?"

"Rictusempra!" said Remus, and James suddenly doubled over, laughing.

"H-hey... th-that's n-not f-f-f-fair! R-Rictusempra!"

Remus smirked. "I'm not ticklish."

"S-s-s-s-s-siriusss! Help!"

"That's my friend!" yelled Sirius, tackling Remus to the ground. "I must avenge him!"

"Ahhh, no!"

"Ventus! Ventus! Ventus!" Jet after jet of cold air hit Remus directly in the face.

"S-Sirius! Oh, fiddlesticks, that's cold. Hey, stop!"

"Never!"

"Siriussss, you d-d-d-dolt!" cried James. "T-take the s-s-spell off-f-f me! The incantation's Fini—"

"Silencio!" cried Remus, and James went silent. Remus was very happy that it had worked. That was... what?... a fifth-year spell?

"What's the counter-curse?" asked Sirius. "What is it, Remus?"

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you. Come again?"

"Flipendo!"

Remus was already on the ground, so it just made him skid back a little, and now he was free from Sirius' clutches. "Ha! I'll never tell you—"

Sirius tackled him again. "Tell me, you git!"

"Fine!" said Remus, laughing. "You can just use Finite Incantatum."

Sirius did, and James sat up. His face was positively wolfish, Remus thought. "First you call us Slytherin spies, and now you're tickling me to death? Oh, Remus Lupin, you are in for it."

Remus showed up to Flying class sopping wet from a few well-placed Aqua Eructo charms, but the odd looks were totally worth it.

The Marauders returned to the dormitory that afternoon, smiling and rosy-cheeked. "Presents!" said James, and Remus nearly dropped his wand.

"You... you actually got...?"

"Yeah, obviously. Like we did for Peter and Sirius. Duh."

Remus wondered why he hadn't heard them talking about it before, and then realized that they probably had in detention. The fact that they all spent time in detention without Remus—at least an hour every day—made him feel a little left-out sometimes. But it wasn't as if he wanted a detention or anything, so he tried not to complain (not even in his head).

"Open the one from your mum and dad first," James ordered.

Remus fished the parcel from out of his bag and unwrapped it carefully. It was a small stuffed shark. Remus gasped and held it to his chest in sheer happiness. "This is wonderful," he said, grinning.

"I didn't know that you were a fan of stuffed toys," said James mockingly.

Remus paused. Was it supposed to be embarrassing to like stuffed toys? He didn't know; he'd never met another preteen boy before the Marauders. It didn't matter. "Only this one," he explained. "It was mine when I was younger. Before I..."

He paused.

He'd almost told them about getting bitten.

He'd never before come that close to revealing his secret. It had always been too important, too large to accidentally let slip. Too embarrassing and horrid. But now he talked about it freely with Madam Pomfrey and Professor Questus, and it had become almost second nature to disclose that information. He really needed to be more careful.

"...before I started getting ill," he finished. "I used to like sharks a lot. Mum got this for me. His name's Baynie."

"Baynie?"

"Yeah. And then I... stopped using him, when I got older. But it's good to see him again." The truth was, the felt teeth had scared five-year-old Remus. The attack had still been fresh in his memory, and he'd started ripping himself to shreds on similar teeth every month... but now Remus was twelve, and felt triangles didn't bother him anymore. He grinned and hugged Baynie closer. Even though he didn't really remember anything before the attack, Baynie represented simpler times, for sure. He'd seen photos and heard stories of Baynie, and seeing him in person for the first time since Remus was five certainly brought back memories.

"So your parents just gave you a stuffed toy that was already yours for your birthday?" asked James, wrinkling his nose. "Oh, right, I s'pose you don't have much money."

"I love Baynie," said Remus defensively.

James shrugged, apparently tired of the stuffed shark already. "Now it's time for our presents," he said. "We thought that you wouldn't want us to make a big spectacle out of it, so it's gonna be all nice and quiet-like. Here, I'll go first. Accio!" he summoned a present from under his bed, wrapped in red and gold, and handed it to Remus. Remus pulled the wrappings off carefully.

"Why do you do that?" asked Sirius. "It's more fun to rip it open!"

"To save the wrapping paper. Now I can reuse it, see?"

"Oh. 'Cos you're poor."

"Frugal is the word, Sirius." Remus removed the last bit of wrapping paper and saw... lo and behold... a book.

"You're the easiest person to shop for, Remus," said James with a massive eye-roll. "You only like three things: tea, jumpers, and books."

"Three guesses as to what the other two presents are, then," Remus joked, flipping through the book. "This is empty, James. But I know you can barely read, so I don't blame you for..."

"No! It's a journal."

"Like a diary? Okay."

"No! Like a journal. And I have one, and Sirius has one, and Peter has one. Mum got them for a ridiculously high price. Watch." He pulled a journal out of his bag and pressed the tip of his quill to it. A dot appeared on the first page of Remus' journal. Remus gaped.

"You're not... you can't... you can't be serious!"

"Nope, not Sirius, I'm James. Everything that's written in one of these notebooks appears in all of them. I was thinking that we could write each other in these books when we're away. Sirius is overjoyed." Indeed, Sirius was grinning like a maniac. So was Peter. "Best part is, we'll never run out of room. It's magically expanding, but it never gets any bigger! Isn't that cool?"

Remus couldn't even begin to imagine how much money the four notebooks had cost. That was very, very advanced magic. He almost protested the fact that James had spent so much money on him, but he didn't dare after taking another look at Sirius' face. "Wow. Thank you."

"That was more of a Marauder present than a Remus present," said James. "Hope you don't mind. I got you another one, but you might not like this one. It's currently in Myrtle's bathroom, so I have to go get it. Stay here." James dashed out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

"You can open up mine while you wait," said Sirius, sliding another red-and-gold present over to Remus. Remus thanked him and opened it slowly, savoring every second.

It was indeed a jumper. "Can't say I didn't expect that," said Remus. "It's lovely."

"James suggested it," said Sirius. "We even got it in a bigger size. Figured you liked wearing clothes that are way too big for you."

"I do, actually," said Remus. He didn't really, but he did prefer long sleeves that covered his scarred hands when in a pinch. "Thank you."

The jumper was red with shimmery threads of gold weaved into it. It was just the kind of gift he'd expect from Sirius—showy and low-effort (which wasn't a bad thing. Sirius was just naturally laid-back). When Remus lifted the jumper out of the box, and a small photo fell out. It was a picture of Remus and Sirius wrestling, Sirius blowing wind into Remus' face with his wand, and Remus laughing. Remus figured that Peter must have taken it while he wasn't looking. "This is from earlier today!" he said.

"Yeah, Pete took it and I slipped it into the box. It's a good picture, isn't it?"

"No. I'm blinking."

"Of course you're blinking, you git, I was blowing wind into your face."

"Still not a very good picture. I think there's a great big ugly smudge right... there."

"That's just me!"

"Your point being?"

Sirius pretended to be angry, but he was laughing. "Anyway, I made copies and gave one to Peter and James. We can all put it in those Marauder photo albums."

"Yeah, that sounds—" Suddenly, Remus felt a little choked up. Emotion? He inhaled.

Wolfsbane.

In the corridor, coming closer—oh, fiddlesticks. James had gotten him wolfsbane. Probably to keep his "werewolf mum" under control. "I have to go," Remus said, the scent of the plant filling his chest with a weird itchiness.

"Go where?"

"Loo." Remus briskly left the dormitory, passing James in the corridor. James raised his hand to wave, but Remus passed him as quickly as possible. Even with his speed, the wolfsbane filled his nostrils and he choked a little, stifling the noise with his fist. He felt lightheaded. He did hope that he wouldn't faint...

He made a beeline for the dungeons and knocked on Professor Slughorn's door. "Professor. Professor. It's Remus Lupin. Emergency."

Slughorn opened the door. "Remus! Decided to rejoin the Slug Club? Meeting next month! None of your friends are invited, I'm afraid. They didn't quite make the cut, talented as they are. Perhaps they will... oh, in a few years, when they mature a bit. Why are you all pale?"

Remus ran a hand through his hair, which was wet with sweat. "I have reason to believe that my friends have illegally acquired wolfsbane and are storing it in our dormitory," he said.

Slughorn blinked. "Ah. You could tell them that you have an allergy, could you not?"

Remus gritted his teeth. "Not to be disrespectful, but it is a bit obvious that one might be a werewolf when one has an airborne allergy to wolfsbane and disappears every month around the full moon."

"I see. What would you like me to do?"

"If you could go up to my dormitory and tell them that you noticed it was missing and suspected them? And then cast a Locating Charm?"

"Yes, yes, brilliant idea! I'll do that. You stay here, and I'll let you know when I'm finished!"

Remus entered the classroom and put his head down on a desk, listening to Slughorn's footsteps disappear.

Despite the setbacks (and Knockbacks), it had still been a pretty great birthday.

AN: The earlier I tell myself I'm going to bed, the later I end up actually doing so. What's up with that?!