Mischief Managed Y2 Part 2: The Truth of the Tournament

Chapter Forty-Five: A Good Bad Birthday

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Remus was relieved when his friends proved to be true to their word and there were no more rounds of 'happy birthday' as they ate their supper. There was one moment during dinner though when Patricia looked tempted to begin singing, but she resisted, which Remus deeply appreciated. About halfway through their meal Lily came over and hugged him from behind, making him jump but if she noticed she didn't comment on it. She simply reminded him that she still needed to give him her present. James predictably went tongue-tied and proceeded to pout for the rest of dinner at Lily hugging Remus. Sirius predictably had gotten snippety with Lily and the two of them had a row about who was going to hang out with Remus the rest of the evening until the birthday boy reminded them there was enough time for him to be around them both.

The previously bickering friends of his seemed a bit put off by this but Remus had just remembered the letters he had forgotten to read and didn't pay much mind to the varying levels of pouting going on around him. Peter was the only one who wasn't upset at all and he engaged Remus in the truly imaginative ideas he had come up with about hatching the egg. By the end of dinner, Sirius and James had recovered and joined in on the conversation which soon shifted into a competition to come up with the most ridiculous way to try to open Remus' egg. As everyone filed out of the Great Hall, James was declared the winner for his disgusting suggestion of rolling the egg in a pile of troll bogies.

"No wonder Evans thinks you have a dirty mind, Potter," Sirius teased playfully as James took a fake whack at him.

"Hey, Remus, would it be too much trouble if you helped me with the History of Magic Essay in the library for an hour? I know it's your birthday but I really need help," Peter pleaded quite suddenly, sounding very apologetic. Confused as to how out of the blue the request seemed, Remus agreed.

"Booo, Peter, that's not fair," Sirius groaned and James made a noise of agreement. Remus assured them it was fine which wasn't a surprise to any of them. As Lupin headed to the library with Pettigrew he realized Potter and Black had left the youngest Marauder off the hook much easier than they normally would have.

"Peter, do you actually need help with your History of Magic Essay or are you just coming up with something to distract me?" Remus asked after thinking through the odd behaviours of his friends for a few minutes. Peter let out a squeak of surprise.

"H-how did you know? How could you possibly know? They were working so hard to surprise you?" the boy asked, in a panicky voice.

"Don't worry, Peter. I'll act surprised when they get Elvis to deliver the present," Remus laughed, wondering why the lad was freaking out so much. Peter seemed to relax considerably at this.

"Oh. Good! But I actually do need help with my assignment...unless you really don't want to."

"No, that sounds great," Remus said honestly. It occurred to him his letters were still on the floor upstairs but Sirius had a blind spot for clutter and Remus trusted James at least to not go through his mail.

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Sirius headed towards the common room with James.

"He's going to be so surprised," James stated cheerfully.

"Of course he is. We're the best ruddy friends there are! Throwing him not one but two parties to make up for last year," Sirius declared proudly. While they did want to train Elvis he was mainly a diversion because they both considered the possibility that Remus, clever and attentive as he was, would see through Peter's distraction. This way when Peter and Remus came back and there was another party for him, they would have succeeded in surprising the birthday boy.