- Happy Birthday to our favorite Furry Friend! -
Chapter Fifteen As the months progressed, the defence lessons with Professor McGonagall had really taken a toll on Remus. Every night he would return to the common room, literally dropping with exhaustion. It was so bad that one time James and Sirius had to hitch Remus up by his arms and drag him to the dormitory. Everyone knew that something was wrong with him, but no one dared question him. He wasn’t able to comprehend anything that was said to him, let alone the lessons he was still forced to take. In Transfiguration he was not exempt from the back breaking lessons for the pure fact that McGonagall wanted to act as though there was nothing unusual happening. Remus agreed with her, he did not want people to know what he was fighting against.
He had been making progress at first. He had been able to rid Wilkins power over his fear of fires (which took about two weeks to achieve) and his fear of drowning (which took even longer). But he still had a long way to go; he had too many fears to rid himself of in two months’ time. Professor McGonagall also proved to be a harsher teacher in this subject rather than in the actual classroom. When Remus asked her why she was, she merely said that this was more important than Transfiguration. So every night Remus would stumble into the dormitory, and fall down on his bed, the ringing still persisting in his ears, even if he hadn’t accomplished anything.
When the month of March rolled around, Remus found himself surprised to see that he had even made it this far with nothing bad happening. Wilkins had seemed to have calmed down for the time being, though Remus normally would consider this as ominous being that. In the stereotypical horror movie situation, every time the murderer or monster went into hiding, so to speak, it was usually because they were plotting. And he was absolutely right, although he didn’t find this out until mid March.
Remus was never really fond of the month of March, despite the fact that it contained a very important day for him. For an extremely good reason, Remus was usually very slow and not as happy in this month. It served as a reminder of both something terrible, and something wonderful. This month held the day he was bitten by the werewolf, and March 10th, his fourteenth birthday. This year, however, Remus had completely forgotten this day. So on the morning of his birthday, he could honestly say that he was highly shocked to find James and Sirius standing on the footboard of his bed, hanging off the pillars holding up the hangings.
He stared at them for a few minutes, fathoming all of the possible reasons they could be the way they were, until they started singing. Remus rolled his eyes, turned onto his stomach, buried his face in his pillow and yelled that it was too early for them to wreck his hearing.
James and Sirius immediately ceased singing and, instead, took on nearly identical looks of insult.
“I am offended, Sirius,” James said in a voice full of mock superiority.
“As am I, James,” Sirius said in the same voice. “What should we do about this?”
“Go and annoy Peter instead?” Remus suggested, coming out from his pillow and jerking his head towards the still slumbering boy. “Or Frank?” he nodded his head in the opposite direction towards Frank Longbottom.
“Oh, but they’re no fun!” James said, losing his superior voice and adopting a whiny one this time.
“Yeah!” Sirius shouted, losing his footing on the board and falling onto the foot of Remus’s bed, causing the front of the mattress to move up slightly. “Sorry, mate,” he said apologetically. “And it’s not their birthday!”
“If it’s my birthday, then let me sleep!” Remus argued, knowing that it was pointless. James and Sirius had too much energy in them and this was their way of letting it out.
“No, sorry, can’t do that now that we’ve got you up,” James said dismissively, hopping onto the floor, Sirius doing the same and joining James at his side. Remus raised an eyebrow at the two, wondering what they had up their sleeves. In almost split second timing, James and Sirius had grabbed Remus’s feet, giving him no time to react or pull them out of their grasp, and quickly pulled him off his bed, onto the floor.
Remus landed with a soft thud on his bottom and glared at the two boys who had deprived him of his sleep. “Saturdays are usually used for sleeping in,” he pointed out, motioning to the clock on his nightstand, the luminous red digits reading eight thirty.
“Yeah, well, it’s not every Saturday that one of our mates turns fourteen,” Sirius argued.
“You guys aren’t going to leave me alone unless I get up, right?” Remus said, knowing a lost cause when he saw one.
“Basically, yeah.”
Remus groaned in defeat and stood up off the dusty floor, straightening out his shirt. James and Sirius gave each other a high five from behind their backs as they watched Remus go grudgingly to his trunk to pull out some clothes.
“You guys need to learn how to sleep,” he muttered as he passed them.
James and Sirius simultaneously smiled proudly and James hurried forward, taking the liberty of placing his hands between Remus’s shoulder blades, pushing him into the bathroom. They waited patiently for Remus to come out, knowing without a doubt that he was deliberately taking his time. Peter woke up within Remus’s time in the bathroom and when he saw his two friends standing there, looking content with themselves, he smiled knowingly and looked towards the bathroom door.
“You guys are mean,” he stated, a trace of hilarity in his voice.
Remus came out of the bathroom fifteen minutes later, fully dressed with a disgruntled expression on his face. “You three know that I hardly sleep on a regular basis, don’t you?” he questioned, rounding on his friends.
“Yes,” James answered lazily.
“Okay, now can you explain to me why you couldn’t possibly wait two more hours to wake me up?”
“We want you to make the fullest of your birthday,” James explained.
“Yeah,” Sirius agreed, nodding his head enthusiastically. “And there was no way you could do that in your bed where-”
“Where I was nice and comfortable?” Remus interjected.
“- where you we incapable of having any fun at all,” Sirius finished as though he hadn’t been interrupted.
“So Sirius and I thought to ourselves.”
“‘How can we make sure Remus has the best birthday he’s ever had?’”
“And then it came to us!”
“Like a bolt of lightning from heaven or something.”
“We wake him up at the crack of dawn!”
“Although we decided to wake you up a little later because waking you up at five in the morning is a little mean.”
“So we held off until eight.”
“How very kind of you,” Remus said sarcastically.
“Yes we were extremely thoughtful, don’t you agree?” James said smugly.
“Is there a point to this?”
“Of course there is! I have never been so offended in my life.”
“Not again,” Remus said, placing his face in his hand.
“Okay, we’ll stop,” Sirius said.
Peter came forward and shook his head at James and Sirius. “At least I was considerate and didn’t wake him up like that,” he said pompously.
“Ah can it, Pettigrew,” James said playfully, shaking his friend in the shoulder. “Now, I believe we have a little surprise for you waiting in the Great Hall.”
Remus looked at them skeptically - surprises made by James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were hardly ever less than disastrous. Still, he merely shrugged his shoulders and followed the three out of the dormitory, through the empty common room (Remus looking around, thinking enviously of those sound asleep in their beds) and down to the Great Hall, which was considerably full for this time of morning.
Remus glanced around; searching for the source of the surprise, but everything looked as it usually was. There seemed to be nothing unusual about the atmosphere. Remus took his seat at the Gryffindor Table with James, Sirius and Peter, and waited patiently, loading his plate with scrambled eggs and bacon in the meantime. His mind still partly on what they were planning, he brought up the subject of Quidditch, which was enough to indulge them in conversation for a good ten minutes, veering their minds off what was going to happen.
As they were discussing Gryffindor’s chances of making it to the finals this year (after Slytherin’s stunning lose to Hufflepuff in the match at the beginning of the week) when there was a loud cracking sound, much like a House Elf appearing.
“What was that?” Remus asked, despite the fact that he had an idea.
James, feigning a look of utter shock, jerked his head in the direction of the Slytherin Table and saw that a large neon sign had erupted out of one of the bowls of porridge. It read Happy Birthday to our Favourite Furry Friend!
Remus stared at the sign, his mouth hanging open; they were out of their minds! “‘Furry Friend?’” he said incredulously.
“Well, we wanted to be vague,” James elaborated, looking at the sign fondly. The Great Hall was still looking at it, not quite over the shock of seeing it appear out of nowhere. It appeared the James was right in being vague. No one had the faintest idea about who this furry friend was.
“So I’m your furry friend now?” Remus went on, unable to tear his eyes away from the neon glow.
“Yes, you and your furry little problem.”
“My furry little problem? Well there’s one way of putting it.”
“Ah come on, Remus!” Sirius said happily, slapping his friend on the back. “It’s your birthday! Have some fun! Eat more than two helpings of eggs, have seven!” And before Remus could even say he was full, Sirius had dumped five more servings onto Remus’s plate. Remus looked mildly revolted at the large mound of scrambled eggs on his plate, and his expression only deepened when Sirius added twice as much ketchup to it.
“Am I supposed to eat that?” he questioned disbelievingly.
“What? Do my efforts go unappreciated?” Sirius gasped, looking taken aback.
“I have to agree with Remus on this one,” Peter said, wearing the same look as his friend. “That looks disgusting.”
“Finally, someone with some sense!” Remus exclaimed, looking relieved.
They spent the remainder of breakfast waiting for Remus to finish his breakfast, as Sirius refused to budge until every scrap of eggs was in his friend’s stomach. By the time he was finished, Remus looked as white as an eggshell.
“If I’m not sick by tonight, it’ll be a miracle,” Remus commented as the four made their way outside into the Entrance Hall. A voice stopped them as they were walking in the direction of the giant oak double doors.
“Clever display, boys.” The four wheeled around to see Professor Dumbledore standing behind them, the usual twinkle in his eye, and an amused appearance on his face. “I suppose that’s your new term for Mr. Lupin’s lycanthropy?” he assumed, glancing at James, Sirius and Peter.
“Well it’s catchy,” James said reasonably.
“Indeed it is,” Dumbledore agreed, nodding his head. “Well, I must be off. Rumor has it that Professor Slughorn is arranging one of his parties and requires my assistance. Have a happy birthday, Remus,” and, with that, he swept away back into the Great Hall.
“See, even Dumbledore thought it was funny,” Sirius stated with an air of finality in his voice. “Anyway,” he went on as they stepped out into the cool March air. “Another one of Sluggy’s parties? Gag me, James.”
“With pleasure,” James consented.
“What do you even do at those things?” Remus asked curiously, as he had never been to one, nor did he ever intend to go to one.
“Basically we’re tormented by listening to Slughorn talk about how he has all these connections with high up people. Those are usually the kinds of people he invites. You know, people who have rich mums and dads or other relatives. Some students he finds charming, or at least he does with Evans, and others are exceptionally talented, as he puts it -”
“Gee, that makes me feel so special,” Remus snarled sardonically.
“Don’t worry about it, Remus,” James said quickly. “You’re better than half the people he invites. I mean, come on! He invited Snape, can’t be that great, can it?”
“I suppose not,” Remus concurred, lightening up somewhat. He smiled broadly, recalling the time in February when they had jinxed three snowballs to follow Snape throughout the castle constantly, bounding off the top of his head until they saw it fit to lift the charm. They spent nearly that entire day following Snape around and waving their wands to increase the speed of the possessed snowballs.
“That was nice, wasn’t it?” Sirius said casually as they passed Snape as he made his way back into the castle.
“Brilliant,” Peter consented.
“Not our best, but definitely not our worst,” James agreed. They made their way towards a large beech tree next to the lake and made themselves comfortable on the grass. They watched lazily as the Giant Squid propelled itself across the lake, raising large ripples in the water. James picked up a rock and skipped it across the lake, accidentally hitting the squid and having it chucked back at him as he quickly moved his head out of the way.
“Ow!” Sirius said, rubbing the spot where the rock had hit him. “Stupid squid,” he added, throwing it back into the water.
“So,” James went on, rubbing his hands together. “What should we do today?” He looked over at Remus, hoping he would suggest something. “Remus?” he asked. “It’s your day, you decide what to do.”
“As long as it doesn’t involve studying or anything like that,” Sirius interjected quickly.
“Don’t worry,” Remus assured him. “I’m not that crazy.”
“Good,” Peter said, relieved. “So, have any ideas?”
“No, not really.”
“Remus!” James cried, pushing his friend sideways. “I’ll think of something then.” He jumped up and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, staring at the grass as though it would provide him with an answer. Meanwhile, while James was fathoming the many depths of his mind, Sirius began singing.
“Happy birthday to you!” he sang, purposely straining his voice until it sounded so bad Remus swore his ears began to bleed. “You belong in a zoo!”
“Hey!” Remus snapped.
“Well, not literally,” Sirius apologised. He stood up and began mimicking James in his thinking, rubbing his chin and staring at the ground. Suddenly James stopped pacing, gestured for Peter to come over and the three huddled together. Remus watched them interestedly, wondering what they were concocting, knowing that it had something to do with him. They stood that way for five minutes, discussing the many possibilities of their plan, talking in hushed voices.
After five minutes, James yelled out, in a football like manner, “break!” The three broke out of their circle and rounded on Remus, who was resting sluggishly against the tree trunk.
“Tell you what, Remus,” Sirius said in a business fashion. “You wait for an hour or so, and we’ll meet you back here.”
“You’re just leaving me by myself?” Remus said skeptically.
“Basically, yeah,” James said. “We’ll be back!” The three boys turned around and dashed back up to the castle at top speed.
Remus watched them go, feeling slightly disappointed. He knew they were planning something, but he didn’t want to be left by himself on today of all days. Remus usually never thought much about his birthday, as he wasn’t able to spend it with his family. Mostly, Blake would try to make a big deal about it, especially the year before when he turned thirteen. Though he wasn’t able to do much, he had made a small celebration out on the grounds, with the help of Hagrid, the school’s gamekeeper.
Remus rested his head on the tree trunk and closed his eyes, beginning to drift off to sleep. He knew he’d be feeling a little sad the day of his birthday, since this was the first time his brother wouldn’t be there to spend it with him, but he was surprised at how well he was taking it. He had only thought about it once that day, and it was a moment ago. Still, it was quite early, only about nine thirty, he wondered if his mood would persist throughout the day. He wouldn’t mind if it did because Blake would want that, and he really didn’t want to spend his fourteenth birthday upset.
Unfortunately, someone had strayed across his path that sent his mood into a downward spiral. He had heard someone crunching over the rocks near the lake and he opened his eyes to see who it was. Immediately he recognised the boy, although he didn’t look as strong or as witty as he usually did. He looked somewhat weakened, a sight that overjoyed Remus. Even so, why did Larry Wilkins have to choose this spot, of all spots, to be today?
“Hey, Lupin!” he said in a mock cheery voice. “Or should I say Furry Friend? Wonderful display your friends put on. Too bad they ditched you.”
“Stuff it, Wilkins,” Remus snarled. He was not in any mood to put up with the likes of this kid. “My friends haven’t ditched me; they said they’d be back soon.”
Wilkins rolled his eyes at this, obviously doubting that the three boys would be returning soon. “I guess they’re planning something nice for your birthday?” he inquired, folding his arms across his chest. “Nice… Your birthday might not end very well; you should enjoy it while you still can.”
Wilkins had spoken this all in a matter of fact voice, as though he was merely stating that the grass needed trimming. Remus was quiet for a moment, processing what had just been said to him. What was this boy doing? Something bad was going to happen… something that involved his friends. Before he even knew what he was doing, Remus had grabbed Wilkins by the neck of his robes and pushed him against the tree trunk. He didn’t need his wand… he had his hands and his hands could cause just about as much pain.
“What the hell are you going to do,” Remus growled fiercely, only to earn himself a set of raucous laughing from the Slytherin standing before him.
“What are you talking about?” he managed to say through his laughs. “I’m not going to do anything to them!”
“Then what are you going on about?”
“I just love to see you get all worked up over nothing.”
“Over nothing? You think threatening people is nothing?”
“Ah, Lupin, you really need to calm down a bit… All that stress can’t be good for your health.” Wilkins used all of his strength, as Remus was not too eager to let him go and shoved him backwards onto the ground. He strolled away as if nothing had happened.
Remus watched him go, his heart thumping madly against his chest as he did so. No matter what that kid told him… no matter what lies he said… Remus wasn’t going to believe him. He was up to something.
“Remus!” said a new voice that caused him to jump about a mile off the ground. He jammed his hand in the pocket that contained his wand and spun around, only to see his friends approaching, looking rather pleased with themselves. He relaxed slightly and waited for them to meet him.
“Alright, Lupy?” Sirius asked, using a new nickname he had just recently created.
“Fine,” Remus lied coolly. “So are you finished with whatever you were doing?”
“Indeed we are,” Sirius said, with a swagger in his voice.
“If you will kindly follow us to the Gryffindor common room, Mr. Lupin?” James held out his elbow for Remus to take, which he did in a joking manner. James pulled Remus all the way up the grassy slope towards the giant oak double doors leading into the castle, with Sirius and Peter at their heels. Remus pondered what they had created up in the common room, but his question was quickly answered as James forced him into a sprint up to Gryffindor Tower and through the portrait of the Fat Lady.
The moment they entered the common room they were met with a deafening explosion and a blinding mix of colours. Once the smoke cleared, all the while Remus trying to wave it out of his face and asking if his friends had robbed Zonkos’ while they were gone, he was able to see what his friend had been cooking up. They had completely cleared out the common room for the day, telling everyone that they’d make it up by treating all of the upper Gryffindor House to free butterbeers on the next trip to Hogsmeade. They then spent their time decorating and getting as many sweets as they could nick from the kitchens and from, unless Remus’s eyes were cheating him, Honeydukes.
“Well, Remus Lupin,” James said, in a game show host voice. “Welcome to… your fourteenth birthday party!”
“Yeah, you old fart!” Sirius added jovially.
“Quiet, Sirius, you’re only a month younger than me,” Remus reminded.
They spent the rest of the day on a sugar rush, having eaten every kind of sweet ranging from cake to chocolate. By the time they were finished, they not only had about five cavities each, they were also sick to their stomachs, but were too frenzied to even notice it. Remus chased James about the common room with his wand after James, on a whim as he said, decided to extend the length of his friend’s hair, making it go all the way down to his waist. Once he got it back to its original length, Remus contented himself by sitting in an armchair and ripping apart the wrapping paper on the present Sirius had given him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this kid so hyper,” James commentated in a sentimental voice.
“We’ve done our job, Potter,” Sirius proclaimed, slapping James on the shoulder.
Remus pulled his present out of the paper and observed it for a moment, his eyebrows raised even though he knew quite well what it was. He set it down on the table before him and rounded on Sirius. “You gave me dentures, you git!” he shouted, though not angrily.
Sirius nodded conceitedly and ducked as Remus went to shove him.
Remus’s other presents were far more pleasing than the pair of dentures, although Remus put them in a place of honour “ on his nightstand with a piece of parchment beside it that mentioned they would one day belong to Sirius. James had given him a book about the different magical sites throughout the world. Peter had given him a self-charting lunar calendar, which proved to be very handy, and also had a device built in so the calendar could disguise itself at will. From his parents he received the usual birthday cake, which was demolished in ten seconds flat by the four boys, despite the fact that they’d already eaten twenty pounds of sweets each. They also gave him a grey jumper with a dragon embellished on it and a set of Gobstones.
By the time they were through with the festivities, the common room looked as though another ten boxes of fireworks had shot off when, in reality, it was only two. Using a few nifty spells, they managed to get the common room perfectly spotless and just in time, as the moment they were through bringing everything upstairs and clearing out the smoke from the fireworks, Professor McGonagall strolled in, a serious expression etched onto her face. This was not good; Professor McGonagall never visited the common room, even if she was the Head of Gryffindor.
James, Sirius, Remus and Peter exchanged worried looks; they hadn’t done something wrong, had they? Perhaps a birthday party was a little too much? After all, they had spent a long time cleaning up… But Dumbledore always seemed to approve of these things. Professor McGonagall apparently sensed their worry, as she immediately assured them that they were not in trouble.
“Mr. Lupin?” she said, gesturing for Remus to follow her. She led him outside of the portrait hole, leaving his three friends confused. Remus never got in trouble… It couldn’t have been for a detention that he was being pulled out by a professor. Remus stared at the back of the professor’s hat, scared to even think about why she needed to talk to him. Maybe it wasn’t for something bad. Maybe she was just canceling their next defence lesson? Or maybe he had received a bad grade on his homework? That wasn’t life shattering; he could live with one bad grade.
They had stopped at the end of the hallway when Professor McGonagall turned around and looked him straight in the eye. “I’ve just received an owl from your father,” she began in a voice quite unlike the one she usually used. This voice was not stern or impatient, it was sympathetic, the voice she had used when Blake died…
Remus’s stomach clenched instantly. This isn’t happening, he told himself firmly, I’m overreacting. “What did it say?” he asked tentatively.
“Well, there’s been a… a disruption at your house,” she explained, choosing her words carefully so as to help soften the blow.
“What kind of disruption?”
“There was a fire, a large one, considerably out of control… No one was killed,” she added quickly when she saw the look on her student’s face.
This wasn’t happening… Remus had conquered his fear of fire! “But I’m not scared of fire!” he blurted out.
“That doesn’t matter; it’s just the fact of what else you were afraid of.”
“Is everyone okay?”
“Not exactly. Your house, for one, was destroyed. There is nothing that can be done for it, even with magic.”
Remus’s face paled. His house was completely and irreversibly destroyed. But what about the people who lived in it? “What about my family?” he asked, dreading the response he would get.
“Your older sister was at work so she’s fine.” Remus sighed in relief, one person down. “Your father and younger sister managed to escape with fairly minor wounds; they will have to spend a day or so in St. Mungo’s, however.” Remus nodded again. “Your mother… your mother, she was right in the thick of it.”
“What happened?” Remus said in a voice no louder than a whisper. There was no way he was losing his mother… no way! He had already lost his brother; he wasn’t losing anyone else, especially his mother.
“She’s not doing well, Remus. The Healers don’t know what else they could do.”
“She’s not going to make it, then?”
“They don’t know, Remus. I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this.” She nodded silently at him and retreated down the hallway.
Remus slid down the wall and held his forehead in his hand. How was this happening? He thought that he had gotten rid of his fear of fire… How could a fire have taken away his home? Now it was going to take away his mother. It was his fault… His mother was going to die and it was going to be his fault.
Happy birthday Remus…