Disclaimer: I don't own this.

The clock beeped loudly from the end table, the red luminous letters eyeing him eerily. Remus knocked his hand on the clock, which effectively shut it off. With a sigh, he got up, realizing that it wasn't even light yet, and yawned.

And the minute that his eyes fell open, Remus smiled like he had never smiled before.

With a final stretch and a satisfied smirk on his face, Remus slipped out of his bed and scurried over to the bathroom to get ready.

Today was the one day that Remus actually looked forward to.

He brushed his teeth two minutes longer than he usually would, beaming so broadly in the mirror that he thought that his lips might rip apart, and brushing his hair with such carefulness that he was laughing at himself at the end of his drawn out ritual.

His hair was actually bouncy.

With a rather girlish giggle, he took a step backwards from the mirror and looked at his reflection. He pursed his lips and posed sideways, ignoring the littering of scars.

With a manly chuckle, he held out his hand. "Oh my, Sirius, you didn't have to do all this for me…" He said with a blush, raking his hand into his hair. He could almost see Sirius giving him a highly personal and expensive gift…

But that had been enough dawdling around in the bathroom. With one more look at his appearance, Remus left the sink and dressed quickly into his robes after polishing his prefect badge. He heard stirring from of the beds.

"Remus?" Remus identified it immediately as James' groggy voice, and walked over to his bed and peering into the curtains with a smile.

"Good morning, James." He replied, seeing James rub his eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Remus. How does it feel to finally be seventeen?" He asked with a proud look on his face.

"Just like yesterday, honestly," Remus confided, laughing, and closing the hangings again. "I'll see you at breakfast."

He wondered what Sirius would do. Would he pat him on the back with a Marauders-Genuine-Guy-Smile and then wish him a Happy Birthday? Would he shove ice cubes down his back and then slap him on the arm? Would he perhaps sweep him into his arms into a very passionate embrace and kiss him until the stars would explode in his head, and then huskily whisper… "I hope that was good enough of a present."

Remus smiled inwardly at the situation forming in his mind when he had reached the Great Hall. Seating himself, Remus delivered himself eggs and bacon on his plate when Peter and James arrived, both rather disheveled and sleepy looking.

"'Morning, Pete," Remus said courteously, pouring himself juice from a pitcher. "Juice?"

"Sure," Peter replied tiredly. "Happy Birthday, by the way." He congratulated with a weary smile.

"Thanks." Remus was tempted to say 'you too' out of politeness, but bit on his tongue to refrain from sounding like a complete freak.

"Is Sirius coming?"

"Yeah…" James muttered. "I woke him up but I think he fell asleep again," He shrugged. "He'll come down… eventually."

Remus chuckled. "So what are your plans for the day?"

"Well, I thought that after we have classes, we'll have a big fiesta in the common room to celebrate your birthday, and we can give you our gifts."

Remus bit his lip and smiled. "What did I ever do to get such great friends?" He asked.

Sirius appeared suddenly, sliding next to Remus at the table. He groaned tiredly, burying his face in his hands. "Oohh…" He groaned exhaustingly. "Yesterday was a bad day to stay up late with four bottles of firewhiskey."

Remus stared almost expectantly at him, and when Sirius finally looked at him, he wasn't congratulating anything.

"…What? Is there something on my face?" He asked self-consciously, his hand flying up to his face.

Remus rolled his eyes. "No…"

"Well," Sirius said, looking a little annoyed. "Then stop staring. It's getting creepy."

Rather shocked, Remus looked at him incredulously before flashing a look of surprise to Peter and James.

"Er… Sirius?" James started.

"Yes?"

"Do you know what day it is today?"

With almost a nervous glance at Sirius and the rest of them, he laughed. "Of course I know what day it is. It's a Friday."

James gave a slightly amazed look to Remus. "Yes… yes, it is a Friday…"

Sirius chuckled, starting to cut up his bacon.

Remus stared down at his plate, rather confused, but still mostly sad and miserable. He refused to cry in front of everyone in the Great Hall and his friends, just because Sirius had somehow forgotten his birthday.

With a slight sniff, Remus looked up quickly, seeing James and Peter looking at him rather concernedly. Remus shook his head at them.

---

By six o'clock, James had not lied. Especially after Sirius had forgotten his birthday, he made sure to still have Remus enjoy his special day as much as he could. He had cracked open more than fourteen bottles of firewhiskey for all of them – and surprisingly still wasn't drunk – and had talked to Remus most of the night. Peter kept on throwing Sirius dirty glances that he was sure would make Sirius aware of something by the end of the night.

James had slipped him a small little box that seemed to be either Honeyduke's or Zonko's merchandise, and when Remus had opened it at a safe distance on his bed, it had been an assortment of chocolate and pranking items.

From Peter, he had gotten three books, one of them missing several pages, and he already owning the second one. But he had appreciated the gesture nonetheless, and let the books join his collection in his trunk.

Sirius…

Had gotten him nothing.

Remus waited all the way until the end of the day, and still there was no apology or "SURPRISE!! I didn't really forget your 17th birthday!", and there was no present or congratulations. However, Remus wasn't going to wait for Sirius.

It was, after all, only his birthday.

---

The next day Remus still hadn't received any sort of apology from the day before, and perhaps a bit more than an apology, but Remus had gotten over it by then. It was just Sirius who was being himself and forgetting his birthday. It was normal.

He didn't realize, though, when he was staring catatonically at his plate, a fork full of eggs halfway up to his mouth but his mind obviously somewhere else.

"Hey Remus, is something wrong?" Sirius asked concernedly from beside him, and by placing his hand on his back Remus jumped again, bringing his hair behind his ear hastily.

"No, no, not at all."

Sirius looked at him suspiciously, crossing his arms. "You've been shooting me nervous glances and avoiding me all day and yesterday too. Is there seriously something wrong with my hair?"

With not a trace of a smile, Remus shook his head and turned back to his plate.

"Okay," Sirius said firmly, turning his shoulders around. "What have I done?"

James finally piped up. "You forgot his fucking birthday!" He shouted across the table loudly, knife still in hand.

Sirius' mouth fell open, staring from James to Peter, and then very, very slowly to Remus, who was staring at the table gloomily.

"I… oh my god, why the hell didn't anyone say anything yesterday?" Sirius demanded, his head snapping back to James and Peter. "I-I'm soo sorry, Moony." Sirius said softly, pulling Remus into a gentle hug and burying his face in his shoulder.

Remus awkwardly returned the embrace, sliding his hands past his waist before pulling back quickly, but Sirius held him there.

"I can't believe I forgot… I can't believe it…" Sirius whispered disbelievingly, still pulling Remus closer.

"It's okay, Sirius. It was only my birthday."

Sirius jerked back as though he had been burnt. "Please, Remus, your birthday is a very special day!" He insisted. "I'll have to make it up to you."

Remus grinned. "That's really okay, Padfoot, I–" He was mentally cursing himself for denying Sirius' offers of 'making it up'.

"No! You'll get your birthday. And only from me."

Remus couldn't help smiling, finally swallowing the mouthful of eggs from earlier, when all of a sudden he felt Sirius stand up and tug on his arm.

"Padfoot, wait – what are you doing?" Remus shouted, being dragged rather swiftly out of the hall.

"It's weekend. We have time. I'm making your birthday up to you."

"What's your plan?" He asked.

"Well… I have one thing really clearly in my mind. I… I guess it's your present."

Remus smiled gently from the back until Sirius pulled him up to the front so they were side to side, and pushed him inside the Portrait Hole.

Nervously fidgeting with his hands, Sirius looked at Remus. "Okay, look. This is kind of a tricky present, since if you don't like it, I won't like it either."

Remus raised his eyebrows interestedly. "I see."

Sirius pushed him onto the armrest of the couch and sat on the floor, facing his knees.

"There's been something I've wanted to do lately… well, something I've wanted to do a lot." Sirius emphasized with a slight smile.

"Okay…"

"And, well, it's been hard for me to not do it a lot… but – oh, why am I being all poetic?" Sirius said frustratingly, and reached for Remus' wrist, pulling him effectively off of the couch and having him toppling right over him, causing Remus to squeal and roll over rather rapidly.

He looked over to see Sirius' hands on his elbows and his eyes staring intently into his, and Remus' smile fell off almost immediately as Sirius pulled him somewhat closer, seeing their position with a gulp.

Remus leant his head back rather uncomfortably, trying to avoid the situation. He knew what Sirius would do if he pulled him forward any more.

He would kiss him.

He'd dreamt of kissing Sirius, but now that he might finally be here, he was actually scared. What would he do?

Sirius jerked him forward the last few inches hungrily, bringing his head back into position and kissing him on the mouth a lot gentler than Remus had expected, since Sirius' hands were fastened rather tightly around his shirt.

Remus' hand curled almost instantly at Sirius' face, sliding to the nape of his neck and pulling him as close as possible while bumping their noses together.

Sirius groaned greedily and tugged at his hair, running his tongue around the seam of Remus' lips, almost causing Remus to spring apart in surprise.

His mouth fell open and the kiss intensified immediately, but faster than Remus wanted it to end, Sirius pulled apart.

Remus' nerves set on fire in anticipation on what Sirius what do.

His face was expectant to no end, however Remus wasn't going to give words. In another second their lips were attached again and he was kissing fiercer and harder than he had before, every part of his body coming alive.

Remus moaned into his mouth, showing him that this was what he wanted, and then pulled apart tenderly to see Sirius' facial expression, which was oddly blank even though his eyes were dazedly fogged over.

"I – er, uhm… right – Happy Birthday, Remus." He murmured awkwardly.

"Was this… was this just a present?" Remus asked quietly.

"I dunno," Sirius responded truthfully. "I love you, you know." He said in a small voice, and Remus' heart soared, his brain finally shutting off and the nervous thoughts dissolving into nothingness as he leaned forward and captured his lips with Sirius' for the third time ever, and smiling at the same time.

"I love you too." He told him softly, stroking his cheek before cupping his jaw.

Sirius' eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets as he almost jumped up in surprise and buried his face at the crook of his neck and kissing him there.

"Oh." Remus moaned.

Sirius smiled against his skin and kissed his jaw, his chin, and then very tenderly, his mouth in a simple touch.

"Happy Birthday."

And this time, Remus doesn't have to feel polite and say 'you too' or feel miserable because Sirius forgot his birthday, he can actually just smile and lean forward, giving Sirius his birthday present too.