Forever and a Day ~ James Potter

Happy Birthday, Moony!

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Wednesday 10th March 1976 ~ 08:27 ~ waning moon

Rosie had spent the past few weeks begging the Marauders to borrow their map. She had no idea what she would do with it, but now that she knew she could spy on anyone in the castle at the flick of a wand, she presumed that she and her friends would have a right laugh using it.

Everyone else in the castle had spent these last few weeks theorising about Rosie and Remus's kiss in Hogsmeade. The news that everyone's favourite Marauder was actually interested in someone for the first time ever had spread like wildfire around Hogwarts – it had gone 'round faster than any other rumour Rosie had ever heard. As far as everyone else knew, Rosie had been interested in Archie or even James, and Remus had turned down every single girl who had ever asked him out. The two were sick of hearing about it.

It was Remus's birthday today, and Rosie was dreading the inevitable questions about whether or not they were going out or something else of the sort. She had been forced to use an owl order service to buy his present since she had spent the last weekend in Hogsmeade with him – not that she was ever going to forget it after that stupid kiss.

She was waiting eagerly in the Gryffindor common room with the girls, ready to give Remus his presents before they went off to lessons for the day. Finally, the four Marauders skipped down the stairs, laughing together as they talked about the presents they'd given to Remus.

"Happy sixteenth birthday!" the girls shouted songfully when they saw Remus step down into the common room.

He grinned and walked over to them, putting his bag down on the floor. "You didn't have to buy me anything," he said, looking at the small pile of gifts on the floor.

"Course we did," Rosie said excitedly, standing up and giving him a hug. "You got us something on our birthdays."

He smiled gratefully and gave all the other girls hugs before sitting down in front of the fire and looking at the gifts.

The other boys sat on the couch, and Rosie turned to face them, smiling, "Can I have the map yet?"

"Nope," Sirius grinned back, chuckling when she pouted and turned back around. She was actually quite shocked at James's willpower of not giving it to her as she'd tried everything possible to get him to crumble since February, including giving in to a select few of his remarks. But he was too stubborn when it came to his hard work.

"Open mine first," Lily demanded, handing him a square box.

Remus tore open the paper and took off the lid of the box, revealing a birthday cake inside, topped with red and gold icing. "Wow!" Remus exclaimed. "Did you make this, Lily."

Lily turned a little pink around the ears as she smiled, "Yes, Rosie told me how to get into the kitchens, and I made it in there last night. It took forever, so you better enjoy it."

"Don't worry, I will," he grinned at her, placing it down carefully next to him.

Alice bought him a new quill set with nice new parchment to go with it, Mary had bought him some aftershave, and Marlene had bought him a massive bag of chocolate from Honeyduke's. Finally, he went to open Rosie's present, which was a special edition of the White Album by the Beatles, which included posters for his bedroom.

He gasped when he saw it and leaned over to give Rosie a tight hug. "Thank you so much, Rosie!" he said, looking at the album as if it were his firstborn son.

"It's nothing," she said humbly before adding. "Well, it cost an arm and a leg, and I had to find a way to get it here without you noticing, but other than that, it was nothing."