written in the stars | sirius black | remus lupin

6

"I feel like I should get him something." Charlotte mumbled through a bite of fruit.

"Get him an alarm clock, he's going to miss breakfast entirely." James joked, glancing at the empty seat beside Remus.

"Don't get him anything." Remus said firmly, working his way through his third slice of toast.

"True, his whole birthday will be made if you even make an appearance." Peter added, rubbing some sleep from the corner of his eye.

"Sirius needs to get over that." Lily cut in, setting her coffee mug back to the table and watching as it refilled at once. "This little crush."

"I would say it's more than little." Peter laughed, James lips tugging into a smile despite shooting Peter a stern glance.

"Well, he should get over it. Because Charlotte has her eye on someone else- Ow!" She whined as Charlotte kicked her shin under the table.

"Char! Do tell!" James rested his chin on both hands, turning his attention toward the blonde as she resisted the urge to peek to Remus from across the table.

"Lily is imagining things." Charlotte said, plainly.

"God, you and Remus are so secretive, he's got ladies lined up down our hall and now you've got some mystery boy-"

"Leave her alone, Prongs." Remus finally spoke, grabbing the empty plate from the spot next to him and piling toast, eggs and sausage onto it.

"Lupin, we're going to have to have an intervention at this rate." James turned his focus to the sandy haired boy as he stood with the second breakfast, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"It's for Sirius. Sleeping prat." He rolled his eyes, lightly, starting out the door.

☾

Charlotte was sat on the couch nearest the fireplace, nearly regretting her outfit choice. Light jeans and a white short sleeved shirt which rode up only a bit too high, exposing enough of her stomach to keep her cool in the once again crowded common room. It wasn't as busy as the Halloween party had been. Obviously some people didn't feel that Sirius Black's birthday was cause for the Tuesday night festivity, while some younger students were likely still nursing hangovers from yesterday morning.

Still, despite Mary's promises that she looked hot and Lily's whispered assurance that if this didn't draw Lupin's attention, nothing would, Charlotte was already working her way through her third drink, and the birthday boy hadn't even arrived yet.

"Only Sirius Black would be late to his own birthday party." Lily pointed out, crossing one leg over her knee, looking impatient. In truth, there was quite a bit of homework to be done at the moment, and instead they were getting drunk and listening to loud music, likely keeping up half of the tower.

"You know Sirius," James announced his arrival, flopping carelessly onto the open spot on the couch beside Lily. "He has to wait long enough to pretend to be shocked that there's a party at all."

"He's can't be serious." Mary laughed, clapping a hand to her forehead.

"No, he is." Remus grinned, James wiggling his eyebrows at the girls as the room erupted into cheers and chatter.

"A party? You shouldn't have, you guys!" Sirius clapped a hand over his heart, looking around as if this was the biggest surprise. "And on a Tuesday, no less!" He grinned, winking at Lily as she shook her head with a glare.

"Happy birthday, Pads." James grinned as the dark haired boy approached their seats, flopping into the last remaining spot on the couch.

"Yeah, happy birthday, Sirius." Charlotte echoed, nerves flooding her stomach as the seventeen year old looked her way. She had hardly seen him since Halloween, since he had leaned in a bit too close and she had dashed away. But it was Sirius Black. And he had been drunk. He hadn't meant anything by it, and he probably didn't even remember much of the night at all.