I dedicate this chapter to our outdoor cat Percy – who we're afraid has something wrong with him.

Disclaimer: I own only the plot and Remus and Hermione awkwardness.

EDIT: I am so sorry you guys! I had just finished a oneshot and then this chapter and I completely uploaded the wrong thing! Forgive me and my sleep deprived brain! Everything should be righted now and I'm so sorry for confusion and what not. *goes to hide under a rock*

Marauder birthdays were always a big deal. Nobody ever forgot one, and they were always a big hit with those involved.

"Wake up, Remus!" James and Sirius screamed happily into their friend's ears, beaming when he toppled into the floor.

Remus, one with messy bedhead, glared at his friends as he stood up, "What?"

"Happy, happy birthday, from all of us to you! We wish it were our birthday so we could party too!" James and Sirius sang. Once they were done, Peter and Frank threw confetti in his face. He stared dully at the grinning boys' faces before finally grinning and rolling his eyes.

"Thanks guys," he smiled as he turned around, preparing to go get ready for the impending day. He stopped when he saw Lily, Alice, Marlene and Hermione all perched at the foot of James' bed.

"Good morning, Remus!" they grinned.

He chuckled, "Well it is now."

"Hey," James and Frank both glared at him before their respective girlfriends each threw pillows. Lily and Alice high-fived while they laughed at James spitting out feathers, Frank frowning as they fluttered around him.

"I loved that pillow," James muttered as he pretended to glare at his girlfriend, who only grinned and waved at him.

Hermione hopped gracefully down from the bed, Marlene following suit.

"So, any plans for your birthday?" Marlene asked with a grin, "You are seventeen now."

"Well there's not much to do besides go to classes, is there?" he arched an eyebrow before checking his watch, "Which, by the way, we're all about to be late for if we stand around and talk."

With sighs and groans, the group relented and got ready for their impending day. During Potions, upon hearing that it was Remus' seventeenth birthday, Slughorn conducted the class as they sang to him, but he was shrinking down and refusing to look at anybody. Professor Sprout gave him a Crawling Vine for use as a bracelet, only it grabbed onto Hermione's ankle and refused to let go, which Sprout and Lily kept smirking at. (Which could've been because the plant's real name was the Crawling Valentine Vine.) Professor Flitwick used a charm to give him a party hat, which made the other Marauders quickly don their own conical hats, leaving the rest of the class left to giggle.

"Enough! I get it, it's my birthday," Remus frowned at his friends as he pushed them out of the Charms classroom, "But please, treat this as any other day."

"So you don't want presents?" Sirius asked, tilting his head and arching an eyebrow.

"Well I never said that," he muttered before Sirius and James laughed and slung their arms over his shoulders.

"Oh come on, mate," James grinned as they began their walk to lunch, "Lighten up! We have so very little to be happy for nowadays, what with N.E.W.T.s – "

"Which none of you have studied for," Remus interjected with a frown.

James continued as if he hadn't heard him, his tone a little dejected now, " – What happened last month – "

"Oh Merlin, don't bring that up again," Sirius muttered, sharing a grimace with Remus.

"And with Fred and George…."

"Are you trying to make us cry?" a passing second year snapped, already dabbing at her face with a sniff.

"Anyway," James tried to reclaim the smile, but it was a little more forced now, "Just let us have this, huh, Moony?"

"Remus!" Marlene screamed before she jumped up and latched onto his back, making him stumble a little, "My big brudder!"

He laughed a little, "Hey, Mar."

"Having a happy birthday yet?" Lily asked as she, Frank and Alice joined the group.

"So far, its fine," he shrugged before frowning, "Hey, where's Hermione?"

"Oh, her bag split and everything fell out," Marlene answered, twirling a lock of his hair on one finger, "She told us to go ahead, but I suspect that you're going to want to go help her."

"Yes," he said, stopping and turning around, huffing when Marlene didn't jump off of his back. He found Hermione kneeled to the floor, quietly cursing her bag and its former contents.

"Hey Mar, hop off," he instructed.

"No!" she exclaimed, "You're my mule – mules must carry their owners places. Move it, mule!"

"You just basically called him an ass, Marlene," Hermione chuckled as she picked up a book and examined its spine.

"I know," Marlene giggled.

"Gee, thanks girls," he rolled his eyes, "You make me feel so loved."

"But we do love you, Remus!" Marlene said as she finally jumped off of his back, pouting at him, "We love you lots!"

"Uh-huh," he said as he stooped down to help Hermione gather her books and papers, "Sure you do."

"Oh you silly boy," Marlene sighed, pacing a little behind his back, "You silly, silly boy."

"What now?" he said with a sigh before he was shoved roughly into Hermione.

"Marlene McKinnon!" he yelled as he tried to stand up to chase after her retreating steps, but frowned once he saw that his hands and knees wouldn't budge. He yanked again, frowning at his appendages before gasping in horror, "Oh no. Oh no, oh no."

Hermione shifted uncomfortably underneath him, not meeting his eyes, "Err, Remus? Please tell me this is all just a joke and you aren't really stuck to the floor over me in a very awkward position."

"Oh Merlin I wish this was a joke," he said as he yanked harder at his hand.

"Oh no," she hissed, "My shoulders..."

"I'm going to kill them," he vowed, "I just know there are other people in on this."

"So, umm…" a blush crossed her cheeks, "This is…."

"Awkward, yeah," he cleared his throat a little. And the situation was very awkward. Her knees were up on either side of his hips, rather close. His hands were on either side of her, one near her head and the other near her hip. He could very well hear her heartbeat, and it was thrumming away just as fast as his was.

"Uhh…so…" she shifted a little bit more, "I…well…ahh…."

He chuckled suddenly, making her arch an eyebrow at him. "You're blushing like crazy!" he told her with a grin.

"So are you!" she huffed, sending a whiff of peppermint up to him.

"But you're blushing more," he smirked.

"Well! Look at our position!" she frowned.

"So?" he shrugged.

"So! Well, it - ! Ugh!" she huffed again, making him grin wider as she blushed a little bit more. "You're impossible!"

"I'm a Marauder!"

"You're a prat," she grumbled.

"You are a prude," he grinned.

"Are we really going back to that?"

"Yes, yes we are," his eyes got a spark to them, "Now, let's see…."

She groaned, "Oh Merlin, Remus!"

"Uuhhh, what?" a fourth year asked as they passed by, eyes wide as he looked at them.

"No!" they shouted together, "It's not what it – no!"

"We're stuck!" Hermione told him.

"Yeah," he shuffled away, blushing and refusing to look at them, "Err, yeah, sure, let's go with that."

"To the floor, you halfwit!" Remus huffed, "Our friends are prats."

"Oh!" he sighed and looked relieved, "Okay! That's way better!"

"Just help us," Hermione rolled her eyes as the boy finally got out his wand.

The small group at the table was giggling.

"So, so they were stuck?" Sirius giggled.

"Yup!" Marlene said happily, "And blushing as red as Lily's hair!"

"Hey!" she said indignantly, but smiled all the same.

"Oh bo-oys," a voice sang, making them jump and whirl around to find that Hermione was batting her eyes at them, Remus standing behind her and smirking at them with his arms crossed.

"Err – h-hey Hermione," Sirius gulped as he hid a little from her, "W-what's up?"

"Oh, y'know," she and Remus shrugged, "Nothing much."

"Ahh – really?" James fiddled with his collar, "Nothing at all?"

"Nope!" Remus answered brightly, "Just, y'know, plotting our revenge is all."

"And it's going to be big," Hermione smirked as she watched Sirius hide underneath the table.

"That was really stupid you know," he growled a little. "It won't end pleasantly for you."

"Anyway," Hermione clapped her hands and smiled sweetly, "We're off to plan your doom! Tah!"

Remus waved as he and Hermione walked to the other end of the table, already in discussion.

"Oh Merlin, what have we done?" James whispered as he hid behind Lily's hair.

"We're all going to die," Sirius whimpered.

"Well, tah!" Marlene, Alice and Frank jumped up, ready to bolt when Lily hopped up and plunked them all back down.

"No, no!" she chided, "You're all going down with us!"

"Lily, why!" they cried.

"I didn't do anything!" Frank protested.

"You took the picture!" Sirius accused.

"But they don't know there's a picture so I'm safe!" he glared at his waving hand.

"Oh Merlin," Alice was pale, "They're both brilliant, and Remus is a Marauder…."

James sighed, rubbing an eye, "Alright. I leave my Cleansweep to my dad, and all my other possessions will be thrown into a free-for-all heap."

"I want your glasses," Sirius said as he finally sat up, only to be met with questioning looks, "What? Have you looked through those? The world looks funny!"

"Alright, I get it, I'm blind," James frowned, "Lay off, okay?"

"So," Hermione began as she twirled her fork around on her plate, grinning up at Remus across from her, "How long until they realize we won't even do anything?"

He chuckled, "Oh, about the time they realize they worried for nothing."

"So…never?"

"Sounds about right."

Later that day, Remus found himself alone in the Common Room, twirling his quill as he examined his Charms essay. The fire was crackling, munching on the left over confetti he'd hastily thrown in. James and Sirius were going to be nursing massive hangovers, so he'd left the potion for them in the boys' bathroom and hidden downstairs.

He looked up when the couch dipped with a new weight being added, looking over to see Hermione smiling at him, her hair tied up hastily in a ponytail.

"Hey," he said with an arched eyebrow, setting his homework next to him, "What's up?"

"I forgot to give you your birthday present," she shrugged, making him finally notice that a box with a red and gold bow was sitting by her feet.

"Oh, Mione, you didn't have to get me anything," he said.

"Too bad, I did," she stuck her tongue out at him before she swooped down and plopped the box in his lap.

"It won't kill me?" he asked with a grin.

"No," she laughed.

"It won't scare the crap out of me?" he was still grinning.

"No," she was smiling now.

"Okay," he said warily, still grinning up at her before taking off the bow and the lid. His smile faded as he looked down at the present.

"Remember when you told me that you were worried about our friends? And how you would be even more worried after Hogwarts?" she asked softly as he picked out the clock with James, Lily, Sirius, Peter, Marlene, Frank, Alice and Hermione's names on them, all of them pointed at 'School.' There were other labels, such as 'home' and 'work.' "I got the idea from a friend."

"This is…" Remus trailed off, looking at the clock, "This is amazing."

She shrugged before leaning forward on her hands, placing a peck to his cheek, "Happy birthday, Remus." And with that, she stood up and yawned as she made her way to the girls' staircase.

"Hermione!" he called out before he could stop himself.

"Hmm?" she questioned sleepily.

"Err…" he winced, "When's your birthday?"

"Oh," she blinked, "September. Sorry I didn't tell you, but I didn't really know you that well then."

He stood up, making his way over to her, "Well, to make up for it…." He swooped his head down and placed a peck to the corner of her lips, "Happy belated birthday, Hermione."

She blinked and blushed as she bit her lip, "Thanks…good night, Remus."

"Good night," he nodded before he turned back to the couch, waiting until he heard the soft 'click' of the girls' dorm door before he let out a groan and dropped his head to his hands.

Because they're just so cute and I wanted more awkwardness from them. And Mrs. Weasley kinda-sorta is a cameo! YAY! :D

Review if you love Remus-x-Hermione! (Haha, now you have to!)