Remus tosses a handful of polaroids in the bin, laying out the rest on his bed. It's been roughly over a month since Abigail had been expelled from Hogwarts. Life was different. But in a good way.

Except today. Today was especially different.

The oddness had begun early in the morning:

"Remus!" Peter shouts joyously bounding out of bed. James swipes his curtains aside, glaring at Peter. "It's Saturday!" Peter finishes meekly. "I love Saturday's. Mary likes Saturday's."

"Good to know," Remus replies skeptically.

"Well, I'm going to see Lily," James announces.

"Me too!" Peter says joining him. "Well, not Lily. I'm going to see Mary. Because we're dating." He throws on a new shirt, fluffing his hair slightly. "Bye Remus! Have a good Saturday!"

It was odd, but Remus didn't think much of it. Peter was always a little odd in the morning. He carries on with his day, though he had nothing planned really. As said, James and Peter were gone. It was like they had disappeared from the castle completely. Not once had Remus seen them since the morning. But then he sees Lily in the Great Hall.

"Hello Lily," Remus greets sitting across from her. "I thought you were with James."

Lily's eyes widen, but she plays if off casually. "I was. I needed a break from him." She chews a crisp slowly, avoiding his eye.

Remus chuckles. "Well, do you want to do hang out?"

"I'm sorry." Lily frowns, patting her mouth with the corner of her napkin. "I promised Hestia I would help her with some homework."

"No problem. I'll just go find Sirius, I suppose."

Hestia Jones doing homework was a funny thought. Let alone on a Saturday. She was the 'wait until Monday morning' type of student. James and Peter weren't in the common room when he arrived, only adding to Remus' suspicion. It wasn't like them to disappear for hours. Peter needs a snack almost every hour, and James can't go five minutes without talking to somebody new. The second Remus pushes open the door, Sirius scrambles in his bed, shoving things away under his covers.

"Hey Moony," Sirius says with a slightly higher tone than usual. "What's up?"

"I was looking for you," Remus answers. He eyes the lumps under the blankets and raises an eyebrow. "What're you doing?"

"Oh nothing." Sirius slams his hand down on the lump, flattening it out. "Just hanging out."

"Well, do you want to do something?"

Sirius yawns loudly, stretching his arms out. "You know, I would love too, but I can't." He swipes aimlessly for his bed hangings when he finally grasps them, slowly drawing them to a close. "I'm very tired. I'm going to take a nap! Don't check on me for the next thirty to forty minutes!"

Remus rolls his eyes, hurrying down to the common room. Marlene and Alice are playing wizards chess on the table. "Hey, have you two seen James or Peter around?" he asks while passing them. "I haven't seen them all day."

Marlene shakes her head. "No, sorry," she replies, watching her knight destroy Alice's bishop.

"Maybe they don't want you to find them," Alice suggests. "Ow!" She stretches her leg out from under the table, rubbing her shin gently. "I mean, maybe they're just not where you are."

"Sorry Remus," Marlene butts in. "Haven't seen them."

Remus groans, heading back up to the dorm. Sirius was playing music from his bed, though the curtains were still drawn tightly. His humming could be heard from a mile away. "Sleeping my ass," Remus mutters. He flops onto his own bed, staring around the empty dorm. The books on his nightstand weren't stacked neatly, as he'd left them before, but completely disarray. He picks up his small box behind them and pulls out his stack of polaroids. There were a few he never wanted to see again, most of which included Abigail, and so he tosses them into the bin on the ground. The rest he splays across his bed.

Remus furrows his eyebrows, counting the number of pictures on his bed. The last time he checked, there was far more than twenty. Even with the amount he'd thrown out. As he scans over the remaining photos, he gasps. His favorite picture. It wasn't there. "Shit," he mutters, searching under his sheets. Leaning over the edge of his bed, he peers underneath his bed and around to make sure none had fallen. "Fuck."

You're just overthinking, he tells himself.

A nap. A nap is what he needs.

Remus stuffs the pictures back into his box, placing it carefully on his nightstand. He lays down comfortably, wrapping his blankets tightly around himself. His active mind wasn't much help, thinking over every scenario of why his friends were acting so weird. Especially today. Of all days. Remus scrunches his eyes shut thinking, When you wake up, everything will be fine.

"Remus!" Sirius whispers, nudging him.

Remus rolls over, squinting at the bright lights. "Sirius?" he mumbles.

"James is in trouble!"

"James - what?"

"Hurry!" Sirius exclaims.

Slowly sitting up, Remus sees that the dorm is just as empty as before. Before he can get a second to wake up, he's pulled out of bed by Sirius. His vision blurs at the sudden rush but settles out in seconds.

James is in trouble?

"Come on!" Sirius shouts, hurrying out of the door.

Remus picks up his wand and runs after, not even bothering to put on a pair of shoes. "Sirius!" he shouts trailing behind. "Sirius!"

"Moony hurry up!" Sirius calls back.

Gasping for breath, Remus leans on his knees when Sirius finally stops running. "Where is he?" Remus asks. "What happened to him!" Sirius smirks, all signs of worry fading; he starts to laugh, sending an array of mixed signals. Remus stands straight, looking around. They're standing in front of the Room of Requirement. "Sirius, what is going on?"

Sirius grips the handles of the large door in front of them, pushing them open. Noises start blasting and confetti falls from the ceiling in an assortment of colors.

"Happy Birthday!" a chorus of people shout.

Standing in the room are James and Peter, along with Lily and her friends, as well as all of the Gryffindors in their year and other houses. Balloons fill the room, both on the ceiling and crowding the floor. Sirius puts a hand on Remus' back, guiding him in. "You really thought we'd forget?" Sirius whispers.

James and Peter rush over to Remus, pulling him and Sirius into a group hug. Remus has barely even processed what was happening when James pulls away first. He rushes across the room, standing up on a box. "Everyone!" he shouts. The room quiets down as everyone turns to face him. "If you didn't know why you're here, it's Remus' seventeenth birthday! And because I love my best mate so much, we're going to kick off the party the right way." He hops down, moving the needle of the large gramophone. "This one's for you, Moony!"

Remus stands amongst his friends when Dancing Queen by ABBA, his favorite muggle band, starts blaring throughout the room. His jaw drops as everybody around his starts to dance and jump around. Never in a million years would he have expected this to happen.

It was hot, a little sweaty, and very loud. But Remus was having more fun than he'd ever had in his life. Even Peter, who had two left feet, was spinning Mary around the floor. Balloons kick up in the air and streamers fly wall to wall as everybody has the time of their lives.

"I have a present for you!" Sirius shouts over the music.

"You what?" Remus shouts cupping a hand over his ear.

Sirius grabs Remus' hand, leading him out of the crowd and over to the corner in privacy. "I have a present for you," he repeats. He pulls out a large wrapped box, handing it over to him. The wrapping is a sparkly red and on top rests a large gold bow.

"You didn't have to," Remus says sitting down.

"But I did."

Remus undoes the bow, sliding the ribbon aside as he starts to rip at the paper. Nerves build up in his stomach, anxious of what it could possibly be. He lifts the cover of the white box and stares at the brown book. It was big, with the picture of the Marauders from Christmas on the cover. He picks up the book and Sirius rids of the garbage around him. Opening the cover, Remus' eyes widen in surprise. It was a scrapbook of sorts, with clippings of Sirius' drawings and the missing polaroids from Remus' collection.

"You made this?" Remus asks, running his hands over the pages.

"Yeah, I know," Sirius says. "It's pretty cool."

Remus laughs, flipping through in awe. "My picture!" he exclaims spotting the one he thought he'd misplaced. "It's my favorite."

Sirius glances down to see the picture of himself underneath a tree by the Great Lake in the fall time. "Why?" he questions.

"Because," Remus answers. "That was the day I realized that I liked you." He closes the book gently, reaching up to touch Sirius' face. His thumb caresses Sirius' cheek. "Thank you Sirius. I love it." A warmth flows through his body when Sirius smiles; he could stare at him all day. "I love you."

Sirius leans in, pecking Remus' lips delicately. "I love you, too."

If you asked Remus Lupin 6 months ago to describe his life in three words, he would respond with: lonely, reserved, and competent. He was better off than most, however. Two parents who love him. Two best mates he could depend on anything for. And a girlfriend of roughly 6 years. On paper his life was great, but he was dying on the inside. Somethings are never just quite how they appear.

His father resented him, as Remus stood for everything he despised. Lyall Lupin could not unconditionally love his werewolf child like his counterpart could. And so, Remus Lupin only had one parent who loved him for who he was.

His two best mates were just about the best thing in his life, aside from his mum of course. James Potter, stubborn as can be, and Peter Pettigrew, loyal to his superiors, refused to let Remus back out of their crazy ideas. If anything, they were better than they appeared. They were his saving grace.

His girlfriend ensured that he would always see her on a pedestal, the best thing in his life. Abigail McHealy believed that in order to preserve their relationship, Remus must always doubt himself. It was the only way. And as anyone could imagine, they were never destined to be together forever.

If you asked Remus Lupin now to describe his life in three words, he would respond with: lucky, exciting, and loved.

It was crazy to think how much could change in such little time. He still has two parents - that would never change. He doesn't have two best mates. And he doesn't have a girlfriend of 6 years anymore. He was a guy of order, knowing what to expect and when to expect it. But that all changed on September 1st, 1976. Everything he'd known was completely flipped upside down. But, that was okay. The unknown was exciting, exhilarating even.

Down to the core Remus was still the same; he loves to read and always will. But why does he read? To escape. Not from his own life anymore, but to a world of possibilities. There was no need to run away from himself anymore. In fact, Remus could proudly say he loves his life, with the minor inconvenience of his "furry little problem."

Now, Remus knows which parent to lean on. He has not two, but three best mates. And he doesn't have a girlfriend.

He has Sirius Black.

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A/N: The End.

Thank you to anyone who has read this from the bottom of my heart. Xx

XOXO -G