1976

"Surprise!"

Remus' eyes widened. The entire Gryffindor common room was decked out in streamers, and his fellow housemates were all wearing birthday hats and grinning. Today was Remus' 16th birthday, and the Marauders had decided that Remus needed to celebrate—even if he didn't want to himself.

"Happy birthday, Moony," Sirius grinned, holding out a clearly handmade chocolate cake. The icing read something that, while unintelligible to most, Remus could make out as a simple:

Moony!

"Guys," Remus started, rolling his eyes. "Is this why you were being so weird all week?" Peter nodded vigorously.

"Oh yes," He said. "I had the most difficult time—almost let it slip—"

"—But he didn't," James finished, handing Remus a drink and a party hat, "And now, you absolutely have to celebrate with us."

Remus sighed, attempting to push away the drink. "You know I don't do that," He said quietly, feeling everyone's stares. Remus never drank. One night more of losing control did not appeal to him—and worse: inebriated, Remus might let something slip.

"It's okay, mate," James whispered, "I'm on Moony duty—it's my job to make sure you don't do anything egregiously stupid," He explained.

"Mildly stupid only," Sirius confirmed. "Strictly low-level nonsense."

This changed things for Remus. He knew his friends wouldn't let him down. After all, they knew everything about him. They had no secrets and knew how important it was to keep the more private and wolfish parts of Remus' life a secret from everyone but themselves.

"Only low-level nonsense," Remus repeated sternly. "If there's even a chance that I say or do anything, you stop it. Agreed?"

"Agreed," the three boys chimed.

"Well," Remus grinned, grabbing the drink from Sirius. "Happy birthday to me!"

His friends had wanted him to give a sort of birthday speech. Sure, Remus had said, but he had other business to attend to. The business of finally letting go, just for one night.

As the night went on, however, Remus had no intentions of giving a toast. With a bit of old-fashioned liquid courage, and the confidence turning 16 can bring a young man, he had successfully (and with much "really?" and "is this okay, are you sure?") managed to bring a girl back to his room. And not just any girl: Marlene, who had been a crush for... how long? A few drinks in and Remus couldn't remember. What he did know was that snogging Marlene on his bed was nothing short of fantastic. Which of course made what followed that much more difficult.

"Ahem."

Remus, in the midst of finding Marlene's bra strap, heard an all too familiar sound.

"Prongsie!" He cheered. "Shhhhhhhhh, mate, you've got to go," Remus said, grinning wildly and pointing to a red in the cheeks Marlene. "I've got a girl in my bed."

"Yes Remus, but—"

"Shhhhhhhhh," Remus repeated, holding his finger to his mouth, "Later, mate, later."

"Not later, Moony," James insisted. "Marlene, if you don't mind—"

"James," Remus began, "Please," he begged, "It's my birthday..."

"And you," James pointed out, "Are entirely too drunk."

Marlene, understanding, kissed Remus on the forehead, scurried out giggling or something of the sort, likely leaving to talk to Lily and Dorcas. Remus flopped on the bed, tie swing over and onto his face. James sighed. But before the newly minted voice of reason could explain, Sirius bumbled in, drink in his hand and lopsided birthday hat on his head.

"Oi! Moony had a girl in here!" He grinned, stopping when he noticed James' glare. "Prongs, mate, what happened?"

"What happened," James said, "Is that I saved our dear Moony a week's worth of, well, moonying about." Remus groaned.

"I don't...I wouldn't...I want to shag, Prongs," he complained. "And I was," with his fingers, Remus attempted to demonstrate how close he had been, though the lack of hand eye coordination made this hard to see, "This close before you walked in." This prompted Sirius to whack James on the back of the head.

"Ow! Padfoot, what in Merlin's—"

"You don't cock block a mate!" Sirius yelled. "Rule number one!"

"Really," James hissed, "Because I was under the impression that rule number one was don't let Moony do anything stupid." James paused, and rolled his eyes. "Moony, would you mind unbuttoning your shirt?"

"But James," Remus moaned. "I don't want to shag you, I want to shag Marley." Sirius sniggered.

"Oi!" James yelped. "I don't want to shag you either, but I'm trying to make a point." Tired of his friend's nonsense, James walked over to the bed and yanked Remus' shirt right off. There, clear as day, was the worst injury Remus had gotten since October: three very clear claw marks on his abdomen.

"Now, if I were a bird and I saw that, I'd have more than a couple of questions. And the Remus I know would not want said bird asking these questions. The Remus I currently see," James said, pausing to see if any of this was actually catching, "Is in no such state to come up with any sort of lie."

"Oh," Sirius said, a bit despondent. He put down his drink and sat on the foot of Remus' bed. James had a point: with a clear head, Remus could come up with something clever. The drunken mess in front of him could not. Sirius always prided himself on not letting Remus' furry little problem get in the way of his being a normal teenager, but at the end of the day, it did to some degree. And to keep the rest of Remus' life normal, concessions had to be made.

"Moony, listen. Prongs has a point here. Sure, you'd be happy tonight, but you'd spend the rest of the week cursing yourself for letting this happen. You know that, right?"

Remus, however, was slower to see this point. This whole year had felt like a certain kind of normal and this might in particular, he had been able to forget what he was. It had felt amazing, and freeing, and to have this be a problem on his birthday...

"But it's not fair," Remus pouted quietly. He began to sit up, his tie falling to the wayside. Bleary eyed, he tried to see straight, and tried his best to understand the situation. "One night. All I wanted was one night where I could be normal, like you lot."

"And you are normal," Sirius insisted. "Look, all you want to do is shag Marlene. Can you imagine third year Remus saying that? Can you even imagine saying that in September?" Remus paused his pouting. It was true what Sirius was telling him—he had in fact come a long way. "I get it, Moony. You're 16, Marlene's a looker, it's all normal. But tonight isn't going to be that night."

Remus pursed his lips, deep in thought. It wasn't fair. None of it was. But deep down he knew his friends were right. He could almost agree with them. Almost.

"Because I'm a werewolf," He spat.

James, who had been smiling, felt his face fall. He tried to think of some other reason, anything else. But he couldn't. If it were Sirius, he wouldn't have intervened. He knew that, Sirius knew that, and Remus knew that too. But before James could say anything, Sirius mustered up the courage to say what he absolutely hated even thinking.

"Yes, mate. This time, it's because you're a werewolf. But you know what else?" Remus' eyes narrowed. He was clearly miffed.

"What," he muttered.

"You're also more kind and understanding than anyone I know, because you're a werewolf. You make such an excellent friend, and bring something entirely wonderful to our little group, because you're a werewolf. James and I can't do it—we're as filthy rich as our bloods are pure, for whatever that's worth, but we are never going to be as brilliantly good as you are." Sirius felt a tear roll down his cheek, and he rolls his eyes. "Here I go, getting all sappy. I'll blame the drink. Look mate, there's a lot of bad that comes with what you've got, and for a while, I think that's all you've ever been told. But beneath all of that there's a silver lining—well, maybe not silver—but there's something positive that comes from all this."

Remus wiped at his nose. While he wasn't sure if he felt the same, the fact that Sirius, and an eagerly nodding James, did feel that way was worth a thousand shags.

"Another night," he whispered. "It'll happen another night." Remus looked up at his friends. Pausing, unsure of how to phrase the following question.

"But I'm not...unshaggable?"

James burst out laughing. He couldn't help himself. "No, mate, as objective as I can be, you aren't unshaggable. That belly of yours will get all patched up and you'll be good to go."

"Besides," Sirius added. "We've all gotten plenty of looks of what you've got down there. I think you'll do just fine with the ladies." Remus felt his face get hot. He had tried to forget that bit. "Now, are you feeling a bit better? Do you want to give your birthday toast? You've got an adoring crowd and they are dying to hear you," Sirius said with a grin. Remus, having perked up a bit, nodded, and began to slip on his shirt. The boys all left the bedroom after making sure Remus was straightened out and presentable.

"Make way for the birthday boy!" Sirius exclaimed, pushing Remus ahead of him. James rolled his eyes—the birthday boy could hardly walk into the common room. Sirius turned around, to give James an 'are you coming?' look and James replied,

"In a minute, Pads. Go on and start without me."

James knew something was wrong. As soon as he had stepped outside, he smelled a hint of lavender—a smell that had no place outside the room he shared with his friends.

"Evans," James said cooly. "I know you're here."

Lily's eyes widened. How did he...

"Your hair smells like lavender. It's a lovely smell, really, but not what I wanted to smell right now."

Lily had enough sense to know when she had been caught. When she had heard the boys stumbling out, she hid behind one of the tapestries hanging in the wall. Marlene had told her what happened, and Lily had come to tell James off—apparently, those giggles had been sobs and Marlene thought that Remus' friends had deemed her not good enough for the birthday boy.

"James, I—"

"How much did you hear," James asked, eyes staring right at she emerged.

"Everything," Lily whispered, "But James—"

"You tell a living soul—or a ghost, for that matter—about anything you may or may not have heard—"

"James," Lily interjected. "Listen to me: I've known. Two years, I've known. If I had wanted to say something, I would have, but I don't." James seemed to relax. Lily was able to continue. "He's my friend too."

"Two years?" James whispered. "And you never—"

"I figured Remus wouldn't want me to know," Lily said softly. She then seemed to squirm a bit. Clearly she was about to say something that made her uncomfortable.

"You're a good friend."

This gave James pause. He wasn't sure Lily had ever complimented him before.

"And so are you," He replied. "But Remus will want to talk to you. Not now, clearly, he's bonkers, but soon." Lily nodded.

"I completely understand. In the meantime..." Lily pursed her lips. "You can tell him Marlene would love nothing more than to spend more, er, quality time with Remus...you know..."

James snorted. "He'll be most pleased, I'm sure. Now come along, Evans, we're missing Moony's speech. Unless of course you want some quality time with me..." He added, eyebrows wiggling.

Lily rolled her eyes. Just as quickly as James could, in the most serious terms, defend his friend, he could go back to being a prat.

"Sod off, Potter."

The two walked back to the common room just in time to hear the last of Moony's speech.

"—And screw going to class, the party continues!"

James snickered. How very un-Moony. Still; he couldn't help but smile for something else. Whether or not Lily had realized it, she had called him James.