Reading Between The Lines ~ Remus Lupin

chapter 9

Monday, 25 October 1976

"For he's a jolly good felloooooow, and so say all of us!" Peter's friends sang as Peter blew out his candles.

His sister hugged him and said with laughter in her voice, "Happy Birthday, Petey!"

Peter began to cut his lemon blueberry drizzle cake and pass out the slices to his friends, who sat in a circle. Lena sat to his left and Remus sat next to her. Beside Remus sat James, who somehow managed to get Lily to sit next him. Marlene sat next to Lily and Alice and Frank cuddled next to Marlene. Dorcas sat next to Frank. Sirius on Peter's right and Mary Macdonald sat between Dorcas and Sirius.

"Alright," James exclaimed, clapping his hands together, "Time for presents!"

Soon, Peter was surrounded by gifts. All of his friends have gifted him with sweets in addition to other, more personalized presents. Marlene and Dorcas had pooled together some of their money and got him tapes of some of his comedy series like Fawlty Towers and Monty Python's Flying Circus. Peter received several records from Lily by Muggle artists like Bob Dylan. Peter was delighted by the rare Magical Creature playing cards that Mary gifted. Dorcas, who was Muggle-born, was not all that amazed until it was explained to her that if two people start a game of Magical Creature, the creatures on the playing cards animate to miniature two-inch versions of themselves and battle each other. James had presented Peter with a brand new wizarding camera with some film to go with it. Remus gifted Peter with some broom cleaning kit supplies and a series of little trinkets that represented their inside jokes. Sirius gave Peter a bottle of Firewhiskey that was seventeen years old just like Peter. Sirius grinned as Peter opened it, gleefully admitting that had stolen it from his parents' house before he left. He also gave Peter a Tutshill Tornados rugby shirt. Lena gave her brother three framed sketches she had done. One was a solo portrait of him, another was of him, her, and their parents, and the final was of him and the Marauders. Lena was pleased that her brother liked her gift but she was even more pleased when Remus commented to her that she was talented and he would love to see more of her drawings some time.

"Alright," Peter announced, "Let's open this bottle of Firewhiskey up and play a game!"

"Ooh! Let's do Paranoia," Mary cried and Marlene nodded in agreement.

"How do you play?" Lily asked.

"So you whisper a question to someone and that person has to answer with someone playing the game. If you want to know the question, you have to take a shot," Mary supplied.

"I'll go first!" Sirius offered.

His grey eyes circled the room, looking for a target. His eyes landed on Alice and came over to her and whispered something into her ear. Alice pursed her lips and looked up at the ceiling. "Dorcas."

"Would you like to know the question, Dorcas?" Sirius raised his eyebrow.

"No, I don't really care what others think of me."

Sirius groaned. He wanted everyone to get pissed.

Alice went to Peter and he grinned at what she whispered to him. "Lily," he declared.

Everyone looked at Lily, waiting to see if she would ask what the question was. She remained silent.

Peter looked at Lily and whispered into her ear. Lily gave a small smile. "James."

James' eyes bulged out of his head and he immediately took a shot. "What did you ask her?!"

Peter shot him an apologetic look. "Most likely to commit a crime."