Boys Will Be Bugs

Chapter 85: Birthday

It was March. Remus's birthday. He couldn't believe he was already fifteen. He still felt like a child sometimes, like he was an eleven year old first year again, but then he thought of all that had happened to him. He worked in a bar now, he had a boyfriend; all he needed now was his own house and he'd practically be an adult.

Remus wasn't much looking forward to his birthday, mainly because it would be the first one without his mum. It would be a stark reminder that she'd never get to see him grow up, and considering he already didn't like his birthday much anyway, he was content in not celebrating it at all.

His friends were having none of that, though, and they attempted to distract him with cake and the few presents they were able to get their hands on. James gave him a cuddly wolf toy as a joke, but Remus actually ended up really liking it. He did like cuddly toys, even though he'd never admit that to his friends. They were comforting and he liked how soft they were, so the wolf toy took pride of place on his pillow.

He named it Wolf.

He had a shift at the bar, even though his aunt insisted he was allowed a day off. He said he'd prefer working there, but she tried to make it as nice as possible for him. She put on whatever music he wanted and let him have free crisps to snack on, which was always a bonus. His friends joined him, of course, and Remus found he was actually enjoying himself. He was so far away from any reminders of his mum that he was able to not think about her constantly and actually focus on where he was and what he was doing. He'd chosen to play Elton John songs, a singer he had recently started listening to. He had heard Your Song a few years ago and he'd essentially fallen in love with Elton John ever since.

Your Song wasn't really fitting for the bar though, so he'd chosen the more upbeat Elton songs, such as Honky Cat and Saturday Night's Alright. James had specifically requested The Bitch is Back which was currently his favourite, and for good reason. He and Sirius had fun with that song.

All in all, the day hadn't been as bad as he'd thought it would be. He didn't forget his mum though, and as it turned out, he wouldn't have been able to anyway. When he returned from his shift at the bar, it was late. Very late. He and his friends had stayed up for a while just celebrating together with the rest of the patrons and it was hard to break away from the party when everyone was having so much fun. By the time Remus was finally able to call it a day, it was getting on one in the morning, and all he wanted to do was flop down onto his bed and go to sleep. He almost didn't notice the letter that had been dropped onto his pillow by Arianrhod.

He opened it, confused, and out popped a card and a letter from his dad. His dad had already sent him a card that morning, so he didn't know why he had sent another. It was a nice card, light blue with a cartoon boy on the front, relaxing in a deckchair. It had a big '15' on it and 'Happy Birthday!' in big, green letters. He opened it first, which in hindsight might have been a mistake, because the contents nearly made his heart stop beating.

Dear Remus,

Happy Birthday! I can't believe you're already fifteen! You're growing up so quickly, it's hard to keep up! I hope I'm there to see your big day, but if I'm not then just know that I'm so proud of you and I love you, and I hope you have a lot of fun today!

Lots of love,

Mam. x x x

It was definitely her handwriting, and for a moment Remus wondered how on Earth she had written to him, almost believing that she was suddenly alive again and no one had told him. But it said in the card that she didn't know if she'd be there or not, so obviously she had written this before she'd died. He hadn't been expecting this at all. He remembered his dad's letter and hurriedly went to read it.