"Oi, Remus." Remus woke to a gentle shake of his arm. Peter was standing next to his bed. "Does Sirius sleep with his eyes open? I noticed he was staring at you while you were sleeping, and it was creeping me out."
Remus chuckled. "He was probably trying to have a staring contest with a lamp, or something."
"Oh. Okay. Oh yeah, also, happy birthday, mate!"
"Thanks. Can I go back to sleep now, please?" Remus said flatly.
"Sorry!" Peter rolled his eyes and went back to his bed.
"Sorry, mate. Just tired." Remus mumbled, adjusting his blankets.
"It's okay. Sorry for waking you up."
"Oh my Godrick, it's my birthday! Pete, what time is it?" Remus sat up quickly.
"I don't know, you're the one with the golden pocket watch." Peter grumbled sleepily. "Can I go back to sleep now, please?"
Remus grinned sheepishly. "Sorry."
Remus fumbled around in the dark, looking for the watch. He spotted it leaning against his bedstand on the ground.
4:36 a.m. Remus smiled. He was officially the same age as Sirius, now.
Remus decided he didn't need to go back to sleep after all, and started adding figures to the map, which James had named 'The Marauder's Map', after he had heard a group of 3rd year Slytherins complaining about their group's pranks, calling them 'filthy marauders, ruining everything'.
He smiled. Remus knew it was friends for life after they had named the group.
"Through thick and thin!" Sirius had proclaimed proudly, glancing at Peter and Remus, in that order.
Remus laughed at the memory. Peter hadn't gotten the joke, and no one wanted to explain it to him. Remus fell asleep with his head against the Marauder's Map.
~~~
"WAKE UP, MOONYYY!!" Sirius yelled in his ear.
"What's wrong?" Remus said, jumping and looking around, expecting a fire or lots of blood. Instead, he saw his friends with nicely wrapped presents in their hands.
"Happy Birthday!" James said, clapping him on the back. Sirius frowned slightly when he noticed Remus didn't tighten up like he did when Sirius clapped him on the back.
Peter handed him a present.
"It's definitely not chocolate!" Peter said, winking.
"Of course it's not, you would never get me chocolate!" Remus said, smiling and playing along.
He opened the gift, and he pulled out chocolate.
Remus grinned as he said, "Wow! Chocolate! I could have never guessed. Thanks, mate!"
"No problem!" Peter said, chuckling.
Next, Sirius handed him a small and expensive looking box.
"Do you pure bloods really have to prove you have money every birthday?" Remus said jokingly as he unwrapped the gift in suspense.
A blue bottle of cologne sat in the box, cushioned with soft foam around it.
"So you can smell like me! Not that you smell bad, of course. But I thought maybe it would be comforting to have during a full moon, to make you feel like I'm there with you?"
"You never fail to impress me, Black. This is incredible." Remus wiped a small tear from his eye, trying not to let his friends see. It didn't work.
"Aww, is wittle Moony getting emotional?" Sirius teased.
"Shut it." Remus glared at Sirius as James handed him his gift.
"Sorry it's not wrapped, I was worried it would break in a box." James explained apologetically.
A golden potion sat in a small vial.
"Is this...Felix Felicius? That's incredible! This is really rare! Wow, James, thanks!" Remus talked fast and full of excitement, now fully awake.
They headed down to breakfast, chattering noisily. When at the table, Sirius, James, and Peter lead everyone with a school wide singing of 'Happy Birthday'.
Remus felt like the luckiest person alive, even without the lucky potion.
~~~
Remus slammed his book shut, accidentally silencing the entire common room and making his friendship bracelets jingle.
He got up to walk out the portrait hole, but Sirius stopped him.
"Where are you going? It's your birthday, you're not allowed to be away from the marauders!" Sirius said, faking anger.
"Just going for a stroll. Care to join me?" Remus smiled, extending his arm for Sirius to take gracefully.
"But of course."
Once they were through the portrait hole and out of earshot of James, Remus stopped and whispered to Sirius.
"I'm going to get a cigarette from the Ravenclaw common room. It's like my lungs need one every birthday." Remus said chuckling. "This kid in our year, Lockhart, said he'd give it to me."
"Wicked! Could he get me one, too? I've always wanted to try." Sirius said hopefully.
"I'm sure he could. Ravenclaws are supposedly smart." Remus smirked when they came up to Lockhart, who was holding a pack of cigarettes away from him and plugging his nose, disgusted.
Once Remus paid him two Sickles he had found lying around, Lockhart pulled a face.
"You know those things could kill you, right?" He said, wrinkling his nose at the smell of the smoke.
"That's kinda the point." Remus said flatly, leaning forward and blowing smoke directly into Lockhart's stupid shocked face.
Sirius laughed loudly, and Lockhart scoffed and went back into the Ravenclaw common room from the hall, stomping furiously.
Sirius took his first breath in, and coughed all the way back to Gryffindor tower.
"Bloody hell, these things are strong!" Sirius gasped, his usually clear eyes now watering.
Remus couldn't stop laughing, especially once Sirius tried to make up an excuse to James on why he smelled like smoke and was coughing so much.
Remus could tell that James knew, and was angry, but James shrugged it off uncharacteristically.
The marauders spent the rest of the night singing karaoke until Frank came and told them to shut it or he'd take 100 points from Gryffindor, because he could hear the singing from four floors up the tower.
Remus fell asleep quickly, to the faint smell of Sirius's cologne from the bed next to him, and the sound of soft snoring lulling him to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
Those Ocean Eyes
Fanfiction"Chills. This was the type of book where I kept wanting to find out more and I didn't know what to expect, which isn't very common nowadays. The writing was so captivating and simply spellbinding, I will 100% be reading this again" - @Aintgotnobiscu...
