"I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand..."

"This is actually Indian," Remus muttered without looking up from the menu.

"...walking through the streets of Soho in the rain..."

"Is it Tandoori that James likes? Or the Tikka?"

"He was looking for a place called Lee Ho Fook's..."

"Do you remember if we liked the biryani here or if that was at the place by King's Cross?"

"Gonna get a big dish of beef chow meinnnnn..."

"Sirius."

"Ahhhh-oooh... werewolves of London..."

"Sirius."

"Ahhh-oooooh!"

"SIRIUS!"

Sirius looked at Remus, who was standing beside him in the foyer of the dumpy little Indian restaurant that was their downstairs neighbor. The whole place smelled of warm spices so thick that you could almost taste the air and the takeout counter was painted bright yellow with dirty windows that separated the kitchen from the takeaway lobby. In the corner was a folding table and chairs where the owner's young daughter was kneeling on one of the chairs, playing with finger paints. The cooler of bottled drinks hummed and sweated with perspiration. It was hot in the take away, despite being on the colder side outdoors.

Remus held out the menu. "Will you please just - focus - just for a second? Please?" 

Sirius sighed, "I was serenading you love."

"Yes, and I appreciate it, but please. Just five seconds."

"A moment ago it was only one, darling."

"And now it's five. Look at the menu. Help me figure out what to order so we can get upstairs, alright, then you can sing and do the fandango and whatever else it is you want to do."

"As it should be," Sirius piped up, taking the trifold paper menu from Remus's hands and opening it, "Seeing as it's SIRIUS DAY and all."

Remus sighed. "I know."

"It isn't REMUS DAY. We already celebrated REMUS DAY this year. But SIRIUS DAY is upon us and you know what that means?"

"It means -- look at the bleeding menu and pick what you want to eat or we'll never get upstairs to actually celebrate SIRIUS DAY, alright?"

"Pffff," Sirius muttered, but he did focus on the menu then. "Did you order the Tandoori for James?"

"No, I asked you if it was --"

"Or is the the tikka he likes?"

Remus smacked his forehead and wondered why the bloody hell he'd asked Sirius to come downstairs with him in the first place? He ought to have known the attention span level was not as it should be for something as important as dinner selections.

"OH REMUS THEY HAVE BIRYANI!" 

"You don't say?" Remus asked.

"We should get that." Sirius said, "Although it'll be hard to beat that ickle little place by King's Cross we found. Remember that place?"

"How could I forget it?" Remus rolled his eyes.

"What, Moony-poo?"

"Nevermind," Remus said.

The man who owned the place stood behind the counter, an order pad before him, pen poised, eyebrows raised and looking between the two boys with anticipation. "Is it someone's birthday today?" he asked, his accent thick and English comfortingly broken in that way that made you realize that the man was authentic and had worked hard to not only learn the language but to get to be where he was - Remus had always admired the man for this very reason, and he knew James liked the man as well. 

"MINE!" Sirius cried in reply to the man's question. He beamed. 

"Happy Birthday!" the man wished him. "This calls for an order of laddu!" The man ducked away into the kitchen.

"Nice bloke," Sirius said, leaning against the counter. He handed Remus the menu. "Why don't we just get a bit of everything?" he asked. 

Remus said, "That works." 

The man came back with a paper box and brought it right up to the counter, plopping it down and opening it up. A sweet, honey-coated scent rose up from the box and Sirius turned quickly. "Hullo. What is this?"

"Laddu," the man said, and he jabbed a wood skewer into the box, withdrawing a small doughy ball, sticky with honey and sugar, which he held out to Sirius. "Blessings to you on your birthday, my upstairs friend."

"Thanks!" Sirius said excitedly, jabbing the little cake into his mouth. "Oh bloody hell," he said around the mouthful, his cheeks puffed out to hold the little cake inside. "Remus, this is heaven on a stick. I want to marry these things." He looked at the man. "You make this?"

"Yes, fresh today," the man nodded. He pointed at the little girl kneeling at the table and painting. "It is my daughter's birthday as well, though she is many years younger than you are." He smiled brightly. "But you share her laddu! Please have some for your friends. Eat before dinner!" he added, "It is the tradition to have dessert first on your birthday!"

Remus looked interested, "Really?" he asked, fascinated.

The man nodded, "Yes, yes! The sweet thing in life should always come first."

Sirius grinned, "I bloody love that. That's wisdom right there, that is, Moonshine."

The pair of them thanked the man, ordered their dinner (tikka and tandoori, as well as the biryani, loads of naan and load of curry). They waved goodnight and wished the little girl a happy birthday as they carried their bags - and the box of laddu - out the little neon lit shop front and 'round down the alley that led to their stair well. 

"I sawww a werewolf drinking a pina colada at Trader Vick's..." Sirius sang, reaching into the box of laddu for another of the deliciously sweet, sticky balls, "His hair was perfect... ah-ooooh, werewolves of London..." 

"What is this rubbish you're singing anyway?" Remus demanded, leading the way up the steps to the flat's door.

Sirius's mouth was full of laddu. "Warren Zevon."

"It's an actual song?" Remus was incredulous.

Sirius grinned. "My new favorite."

Remus sighed and kicked the door opened, holding it for Sirius, who danced through, "AAhhh-oooooohhhh!" he sang loudly.

Lily looked up from where she was setting out plates and napkins on the coffee table before the couch. "Werewolves of London!" she sang in answer to Sirius's howl.

Sirius grinned, "See, even Evans knows it."

Remus sighed and plopped the bag down on the table and Lily started unpacking the clam-shell boxes. "I smell Tandoori," she said, "James will be thrilled when he gets here."

"When he gets here, what do you mean when he gets here? Where is he?" Sirius demanded, stopping dancing about.

"He just popped off to fetch something - no worry, he will be back before you know it."

"Excellent. What are we watching?" Sirius asked, then, turning to the stack of movies Lily had carefully arranged on top of the telly box.

Lily smirked, "Well, I put quite a lot of thought into tonight's line up and I think you'll be most delighted... First on -- The Music! The Songs! The Magic! The Colour! The Magnificence! It's ABBA: The Movie."

Sirius gasped. "There's a movie?"

"Oh yes, and it features - well, of course it features ABBA - and a good deal of live concert footage. I do apologize, Sirius, it is the closest that I could get to having Freddy and Juicy Bruce perform for you live in our living room. I do hope an hour and a half of Bjorn, Bennie, Agnetha and Frida will do for it?"

"Ruddy brilliant!" 

Remus snorted and went to get utensils from the kitchen.

"Next up, from one musical journey to another, we shall revisit Rydell High - because you have to be true to your school, as the Beach Boys say - and take a cruise with the T-Birds and Pink Ladies."

"Because John Travolta is the that I wanna-want, ooh-ohh-ohhh," Sirius sang.

"And - because I knew that is how you felt," Lily cut in, grinning, "We'll be capping off our evening watching Tony Mareno as he is livin' for the weekend, only barely stayin' alive - stayin' alive - stayin' alive - ah- ah- ah- ah-, as he trains for the big dance competition in..."

"SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER!" 

"Yes!" Lily said as Sirius clapped and hopped foot-to-foot. "Now, did I do brilliantly with this lineup or did I do brilliantly?"

"You did brilliantly Evans!" Sirius grinned, taking up the paper box and holding it out to her. "Here you are, Lilith, enjoy some of my laddu."

"Why I don't mind if I-addu," Lily said, eyes twinkling.

"Ohhhh!" Sirius cried, "Remuuuuu, did you hear Evans? Isn't she punderful?"

Remus returned holding a bouquet of spoons and forks. "You've got to get him riled up don't you?" he asked.

Lily grinned and popped a laddu into her mouth. "He was already riled up, I just figure if you can't beat'im, join'im."

"BESIDES IT'S MY BLEEDIN' BIRTHDAY!" Sirius cried out.

There was a knock and Remus put the utensils on the table, headed for the door and found Peter on the step, holding a wrapped package, twitching uneasily. "Hi," he said with a nervous air. "Happy Bir--"

"WORMTAIL!" Sirius danced across the room, "HULLO WORMY!" He grabbed Pete up and danced about with him as Peter's legs flailed a bit and he was only just able to hold onto the package. "I MISSED YOU, RUDDY HAPPY TO SEE YOU! IS THIS FOR ME?" Sirius excitedly scooped the package up from Peter's hands.

"Yes, happy birthday," Peter tried again. He looked at Remus as Sirius danced away with the package. "You lot really should be curbing his sugar intake."

Remus snickered. "You know Sirius, the sugar doesn't really make that much of a difference. Though if you want to know, you can blame the man downstairs for giving him honey balls."

"I love honey balls," Sirius sang from the couch. "Any kind of balls really will dooo..."

Peter looked at Remus. "Honey balls?"

"It's called laddu." Remus shrugged. 

"You should try it," Lily offered, picking up Sirius's box of laddu and holding it out to Peter. Pete took one and stuffed it in his mouth eagerly. 

Sirius meanwhile was tearing into the package Peter had brought along. "FILM!" Sirius shouted with excitement. He held it up.

"I thought you could use it for your camera. I know you enjoy taking photos of - of memorable things." Peter twitched, then glanced at Lily, who smiled and nodded, answering some unasked, silent question. Peter grinned in response, though Sirius didn't notice, he was too busy exclaiming over how much he loved the film and would put it to good use. 

"You just never know when you might want to take a picture and remember something for the rest of your life," he said, miming taking photos.

Remus sank onto the couch and took one of the laddu from the box. It was good, though he wished it had some chocolate in it.

Suddenly the floo turned green and Sirius let out a shriek of excitement as James came tumbling into the room. "HEY BOY!" he cried, waving. "You're here at last to enjoy SIRIUS DAY."

James grinned as he dusted off, "Here I am." He looked at Lily. "Evans - a moment?" He nodded to the kitchen.

Lily got up and the pair of them practically ran out of the room.

Sirius turned back to the film from Peter, turning the box over to read it, and Remus glanced over his shoulder at the kitchen where Lily and James had hustled off to. "If you lot don't mind bringing out my aconite when you come..." Remus called.

When they came, they not only had Remus's aconite, but they had bottles of butterbeer and goblets with scoops of vanilla ice cream to make floats. Lily magicked straws and little caramels on top of the glasses with whipped cream to go along. Sirius curled up next to Remus while James threw himself laying down over the arms of one of the chairs, Lily sitting on his lap while Peter hugged one of the throw pillows and they settled in with their Indian food and the tones of Dancing Queen filled the flat - Sirius singing along merrily.

Sirius sang with all three films, too, even getting up to dance during the Greased Lightening song, standing on the coffee table the way Kenicky and Danny Zuko jumped on the car, pointing and gyrating his hips. Remus flushed and told him to hop down, but even Peter was laughing, and James threw one of the pieces of naan at Sirius, shouting for him to stop blocking the telly screen. By the time the end of Saturday Night Fever had come and the credits were rolling, Sirius as leaning sleepily against Remus's shoulder.

Lily glanced at James and her eyebrows raised as a smirk danced on her mouth. 

"Well," said James loudly, waving his wand to clear off what was left of the mess from dinner, sending cups and styrofoam packages floating off to the kitchen, "I suppose if Sirius is asleep then we haven't got to give him his presents."

"I gave him film," Peter offered.

"An excellent gift," James said.

"I'm awake!" Sirius said, though his voice was sleepy.

James smirked and went over to the couch, squishing himself in between Peter and Sirius, and he said, "It's alright, mate, you probably won't give much of a damn for it anyway, it's a rather lame present, only a bit of paper, really." James reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope.

Sirius looked over at him, contented and a wee bit sleepy. "A bit of paper? Prongsy, have you written me a song? Oh are you going to serenade me, my harem?"

James shook his head, "Nah," he said, opening the envelope, and he held up five little stubs of grey paper with writing printed on. He held the bits of paper in front of Sirius's eyes. Sirius sat up, his mouth dropping open and his eyes widening as he stared at the tickets in James's hand.

"No. Fucking. Way."

Lilly covered her mouth, her eyes dancing with joy as she watched Sirius take the tickets into his hand as though he were taking hold of something made of pure starlight.

James said, "I figured I'd let Freddy Mercury do the serenading when we all go and see him in concert."