first year - j?
March 6th
"Remus"
"James"
"Remus"
"Sirius"
"Remus"
"Peter"
"For Merlin's sake Remus just let us plan something!"
"James..."
"Rem-"
"No, we're not doing that again."
"But ma-"
"The no goes for the birthday as well."
"Come on Remus... This is exactly what I went through with Sirius" James piled some mashed potato onto his plate "He outright refused to have a celebration. Thought it'd be terrible. After my continuous efforts of telling him how much he'll enjoy it, he gave in. " James was waving his knife around - he always used his hands when talking "And now... well he can tell you himself how right I was."
"I don't like saying it, but he is absolutely right Lupin." Sirius backed James up as memories of his joyous birthday surfaced
"Still a no from me" Remus stood up from his seat “I’m sorry, but I’m just used to having a quiet birthday with my parents”
"Oh, ok then" James shrugged as seemed to deflate a bit.
"Sit back down" Sirius tugged on Remus' sleeve "You're not going anywhere until you agree"
"Sirius, you have to realise that that was his final no." James explained "Unfortunately our persuasive methods haven't worked. You have to come to terms with that. We can't force him to have a party now" he finally set down his cutlery, and relief washed over Sirius as the threat of a knife being poked in someone’s eye was no longer around
"Says the guy who forced me to have a party"
"I didn't force you, I only insisted"
"Sounds a lot like forcing to me"
"You came to the decision by yourself!"
"Only after your nagging"
"You're glad for my nagging, without my nagging, you wouldn't be nagging Remus"
"Since whe-"
"For Christ's sakes stop talking!” Remus stood back up "You know what? Fine. Plan something"
"See Sirius he came to his own decision" a smile enveloped James' face "and we didn't have to force him"
"You annoyed him into it instead. Much better guys." Peter nodded dryly
"All jokes aside mate." James said, expression turning sincere "Are you sure you want us to throw you something?"
"Yeah... why not... " Remus hesitated "Just us four though, no other people, I do still want a somewhat quiet birthday"
"Brilliant" James flashed Remus a grin as the other boy sat back down and they continued on with their food in silence.
Then Sirius had an idea, so he pulled out a scrap bit of parchment and a quill.
He wrote:
Present ideas for RJ?
he then drew a little ghost in the corner of the parchment and passed it to James who read the note, took his quill and wrote back.
Hm, not sure… chocolate? Bloke eats a bar a day
Also.. pls don't call Remus 'RJ' thats weird.... and why J?
He looked at Remus who was eyeing them suspiciously
"Its nothing that concerns you RJ" Sirius said as he smirked at James "You will know soon enough"
"Ok..."
He then turned over the scrap bit of parchment and started to write.
Ok, we can get him chocolate, we need to think of something else though, and quick.
Just as he was about to write his next sentence, Remus interrupted.
"Hang on. Did you just call me RJ?"
"No...." he replied grinning
"Never call me that again"
"No can do RJ" he turned back to writing as Remus groaned putting his head into his hands "Please..."
"Nah"
He’s almost finished eating so we’ll make our way to defence early and I’ll ask him about it…Found out the other day that his initials are RJL.. no clue what J stands for
Sirius saw that James had added a little moustache on to his ghost so in reply he hastily scribbled on a hat and a tie and then gave the parchment back for James to read. He nodded, showed the note to Peter across the table and handed it back to Sirius for safekeeping.
"Come on RJ lets go to our lesson" he quickly stood just as Remus swallowed his last bite of food
"We still have fifte-"
"Just come" he grabbed his bag and rushed out the great hall, Remus following
“What about James and Pete?”
“Too slow” Sirius shrugged
"We do have time you know"
"Early bird gets the worm Remus"
The other boy snorted "The worm being..?"
"Sweet sweet knowledge" Sirius grinned
"About defence against the dark arts?"
"Exactly" he pointed at the other boy, grinned and then sighed changing the conversation “Now on to the important topic, what do you want for your birthday?”
"Quick change of conversation"
"Well that's just simply how I like to roll RJ my boy"
"Christ"
"Now tell me your answer, what do you desire?" he wiggled his eyebrows expectantly, showing that he had no choice but to answer
“Is this what you want to talk to me about?" he asked, looked at him weirdly "You can’t be serious”
"What do you mean?” he smirked “I'm always Sirius" he then snorted, thinking he wouldn't get much of a reaction to his brilliant pun, but to his surprise Remus completely broke down, bursting out into laughter.
The type of laughter that was so pure, so genuine, so wonderful. It made Sirius grin from ear to ear with a sort of giddiness. He’d never really realised it before, but laughing really suited Remus. Maybe Sirius had been blind and not looked close enough, or maybe something had just changed with Remus to make him laugh in a way he’d never done before. It made his eyes crinkle at the corners, and made him look so much... lighter and happier. Of course it did. Laughter was generally a happy emotion. But there was something different about Remus' laugh that sort of made him... glow? He was having a hard time explaining it.
Remus then met Sirius' eyes and seemed to register the fact that he wasn't alone and he was laughing at probably what he thought to be a pretty pathetic joke. Sirius was quite offended at the thought of that, what he had said was the opposite of pathetic.
The other boy then immediately tried stifling the laughter that had escaped from him, and failed at twisting his features to look more stone-faced
"Not as cold-hearted as you seem Lupin" he smirked, looking at him as he struggled to contain himself
"Shut up Black it wasn't even funny"
Sirius snorted, the absolute nerve of this boy
"Then why are you laughing?" he raised an eyebrow
"M'not laughing" but Remus' strained voice told him otherwise “That joke was too lame to make me laugh"
"Oh” Sirius puffed “Sure, sure" he nodded, as they fell into a pleasant quietude.
They had arrived at defence ten minutes early, and he hadn’t even gotten the answer to his first question. That was ok though, Sirius was enjoying this moment, he’d ask again later.
He turned to look at the door and leaned against the nearby wall. As they waited, Sirius shot Remus side-looks every couple of moments, waiting to see if he would possibly laugh again. Every time he looked at the other boy, he had to try and fight the smile threatening to overtake him.
Friday 10th March 00:01 am
"Happy birthday to youuuuu"
Remus groaned
"Happy birthday to youuuuu"
No. Just. No.
"Happy birthday dear Remusssssss"
What did he do to deserve this?
"Happy birthday to youuuuuuuuu"
The three idiots cheered as Sirius yanked one of his curtains back.
"Oh, fuck off" he rolled over, turning away from the others
"We will not fuck off!" Sirius declared yanking his other curtain back "Today RJ, you turn 12. Another year older. Fucking off would mean the celebrations won't commence"
"Sirius Orion Black I swear, I'll hire a hitman to come kill you if you don't stop calling me that"
"Sure you will RJ"
"What's the J stand for anyway?" Peter sort of giggled and climbed onto his bed. Sirius and James of course followed. Giggling included.
"That secret dies with me" He sat up and tucked his legs underneath him, not exactly comfortable having three other boys piled onto his bed.
"Ok, mystery man" Sirius tutted
"I swear to God, don't you start calling me mystery man"
"Maybe I will since you hate it so much"
"Prick"
"Dickhead"
"Wanker"
"Idiot"
"Not a very good comeback you pillock"
Sirius hesitated, obviously trying to think of more rude insults.
"Arsehole"
"Git"
Sirius bit his lip, looking quite stuck. Remus raised his eyebrows and almost laughed. He himself could think of about a million more.
Hah. Not knowing any insults is the price you get for being so blue blooded.
"Jerk?"
"Tosser"
Just as Sirius was about to say something else, Peter butted in.
"For my sanity, stop"
"I agree with Pete, I've never heard such foul language before" James said, standing up from the bed and walking to his own.
"Looks like I win" Remus turned to Sirius, smug at his small victory over him
"I demand a rematch" the other boy crossed his arms tightly, petulant and staring Remus down as if he was personally offended. Hah, Remus thought, sore loser
"Nope"
"James"
"What?" James returned with an abundance of presents and was then bombarded with both of their voices at the same time
"Are those all for me?! " "I want a rematch with Remus"
"Hang on! I only have one set of ears"
Before Sirius could say anything else Remus carried on with his point
"Guys you didn’t have to get me anything"
"It's your birthday!" James almost yelled this out. "Birthday's without presents are just plain sad mate, especially when you have friends like us"
Ok fair enough, but Remus still felt bad. He hadn’t got a birthday present for Sirius in November, he hadn’t got a present for James’ upcoming birthday and he didn’t want to ask his parents for money so that he could get Pete something when his birthday would inevitably come. They had already been very generous by giving him enough funding to buy Christmas presents for them all and Remus felt awkward asking for more.
"Just accept them Lupin, we're friends" Peter said as he took a present from James and handed it to him
"I can't give you anything back"
"Don't have to give us anything, it's your birthday." James sat back down on his bed and piled the rest of the presents onto Remus' lap "The point is that we give stuff to you"
He gave in and laughed "All right..." he still felt bad but he’d push that aside for the time-being "'ll open them when it's not an ungodly hour though thanks" he pushed the presents off his lap and smiled at them, grateful for their generosity.
James was on the verge of protesting this, but Sirius interrupted.
"Right, now on to my thing" he said, eagerness evident on his face "Lupin won't give me a rematch"
"So... just leave it?" Peter replied with a confused shake of his head
"I don't want to leave it." Sirius looked stunned at this suggestion "I want to win this battle that Lupin has initiated! Not lose it"
"You've already lost it" he rolled his eyes
"Once." Sirius put a finger up "That's why I demand a rematch. So James, come on."
"What do you mean 'come on'?" James, like always, flung his hands out "This weird thing you've started isn't a duel. I'm not your second"
"I want you to do that persuasion thing"
"What persuasion thing?!"
"You know, that thing where you practically annoyed me and Lupin into celebrating our birthdays?"
"I only use that for stuff that's important to me"
"This is important!" Sirius raised his voice far too loud for his liking and Remus was sure McGonagall would come running any second now.
"Well it's not to me!"
"But it is to me!"
"You know what Sirius?” Remus intervened “We'll have a rematch next year. Ok?" he then placed a hand onto Sirius' shoulder to stop him from jumping up excitedly.
"Ok, least it's better than nothing" Sirius lay back putting his arms behind his head, giving a little giggle. Then James followed. And eventually Peter.
"Did someone slip you guys a laughing potion or what?"
At this the three boys burst into even more hysterical laughter. Even he could feel the beginnings of giddiness form inside him as he beamed at them, feeling slightly drunk. Why did the idiots have to be so infectious?
Eventually they all calmed down and they returned to their beds while Remus fell into a deep sleep.
Then, not even what felt like a second later he was awoken by the sound of music, the beginning of Baba O’Riley playing - a song in The Who’s album ‘who’s next’.
"Come one Lupin! Sirius said you'd love waking up to this" Peter threw his curtains wide open making Remus wince as the light came in.
He groaned "Who said I'd love waking up at all?"
"Come on..."
"Come where?"
"Just get out and follow me" Peter then grabbed his duvet and threw it aside, great, now he was cold.
But even though he had just had his comfort stripped away from him, he climbed out of bed and followed Peter, who was levitating Sirius' record player down the stairs to the completely empty common room, where they were greeted by James and Sirius’ cheers, a massive chocolate cake held between them and his pile of presents neatly placed on the table behind them.
“Do you like the record!?” Sirius exclaimed on sight
“Yeah, I do actually” Remus grinned at the boy, happy that he had remembered their conversation just after the Christmas holidays. Sirius and Remus had been listening to Sirius’ Christmas present - Hunky Dory - and somehow the subject of the muggle band ‘The Who’ had come up where Remus had told Sirius about their new album release and how he wanted to have a listen since over the Christmas holidays he had seen some good reviews on it. The only song he had already listened to was the first one, the one that was currently playing, Baba O’Riley.
As Sirius and James put the cake down, he proceeded to take a present off of the table and rip open the quidditch wrapping paper it was wrapped in; pleased to see a book poking out from underneath it.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
This was definitely a wizard's book.
"Thanks” he looked at it curiously “what's it about?"
"Just a bunch of children's stories really, me and my brother used to read it together" Sirius smiled at him, looking happy at the thought of his brother.
“Yeah my parents used to read it to me all the time” James nodded
“Same with my mum” Peter added, as he set the record player down and put a stop to the music
"Children's stories?" Don't get him wrong, Remus was really thankful for the present, but children's stories seemed a little odd to him. It didn’t mean he wouldn’t read them though, Remus had grown up with muggle fairytales, so he was curious to see how wizarding ones would differ.
Sirius smirked "Sounds a bit.. well... childish doesn't it? But they are actually really good stories. Take my word for it Lupin you'll enjoy them."
"You won't find a wizard or witch anywhere that hasn't read it" James yawned, pushing his glasses up his nose.
Along with the book, they had gotten him yet another pair of pyjamas - really good quality ones as well, that grew along with you. A box filled with homemade fudge, pastries and chocolate, and a notebook that had 'RJ' on the front. There was also a present from his parents which turned out to be a massively oversized cardigan, and he loved it with every bit of his soul, no matter how much Sirius teased him for it.
The rest of his day was pretty normal as they had their usual lessons, however, James had insisted on carrying Remus' stuff, and Peter and Sirius’ combined efforts meant that they had managed to persuade all of the professors to not give them any homework just because it was his birthday.
Oh and he forgot to mention how delicious his cake was. James said Euphemia had made it and gracious was it stuffed full of flavour.
The evening then came and they spent it wandering around under the guise of the cloak and plotting down a new section of the castle onto the map which was far from being complete. So far they had made little to no progress, due to the castle’s general size and detail - they hadn't even started on the tagging and tracking idea yet.
"You know what we should start doing?" James asked as they started heading toward Gryffindor tower
Remus looked at him to show he was listening.
"What?" Peter asked.
"Planning our next prank, we haven't done one in ages"
"What d'you mean ages?” Remus snorted “On Monday you and Sirius levitated water buckets over people's heads "
"That's a tiny prank though, we need something big that all four of us are involved in"
"Well then what should we do?" Sirius asked
"We'll come up with something now" James replied, confidently
"You have any ideas?"
"Nope”
“Excellent”