unpredictable - Sirius Black

Remus (ch.46)

February faded into march, leading up to Remus' and James' birthdays, both wanting to celebrate very differently.

On the 10th of March, Remus woke up to three bodies all sat on his bed, wide smiles on their faces.
He squinted his eyes at them, closing them shut drifting back into sleep, before jolting awake realising that they were in fact sat on his bed.

"Ugghhh what do you want?" The boy groaned, rubbing his eyes. He knew they had woken him up for his birthday, they always did, always woke him up early and smothered him with presents. In their earlier years, they'd make the boy wear a birthday banner all day long, so Remus was expecting the same old routine.

"We have a brilliant idea for a prank" Sirius grinned

Remus was about to respond 'thankyou' with a smile but he stopped before he could, "Wait..what?"

James scooted closer to Remus, who was still very confused. Why would their present to him be a prank? "So, heres the plan. We're gonna prank snivellous, but this time something big" James was smiling so wide his glasses were indenting his cheeks. The sandy haired boy looked from James to Sirius to Peter, all smiling at him expectantly.

"I'm sorry i'm-i'm lost, why would i want to prank snivellous?" Normally the boys would give him great things, not always expensive or big but meaningful, now Remus wasn't expecting much but it certainly wasn't this.

"We know you might not want to but it's too good of an opportunity to waste you see-" James started

"So - why - did you wake me up? Couldn't this of waited?"

The three boys gasped, "why no of course not" Peter shuddered, shocking Remus even more.

"You do realise what day it is" He looked at one boy to the next, all staring at him confusedly. They were probably just joking around, trying to trick him.

"Erm..Tuesday?" Sirius asked,

With that, the boys heart sunk. They'd forgotten. After 6 years of birthdays, this was the first time they'd actually forgotten. Remus was stunned for a moment, "Right," he sighed, diverting his eyes from his friends, rubbing his face "So - what is this prank?" he tried to act interested, but tears were welling in his eyes, his heart pounding against his chest.

"-all you have to do is go down to the forest at around 5 ish, follow the path we just showed you on the map and place this-" James handed him a small wooden cube "in the tree"

Inspecting said cube, he felt it was solid, but had a smooth coat. "What does it do?"

"Not important, just place it in the tree then we'll do our bit" Sirius stated

Remus placed the cube on his bedside table, sighing as he did so, "excuse me" the boy got up going to the bathroom. He locked the door and looked into his mirror. Gripping hold of the sides of the sink, he stared at himself- silent tears streamed down his face, his eyes pink. He wiped them away taking a quick breath and hopping into the shower. It wasn't a big deal.

When Remus returned from his shower, the boys were gone, beds left unmade,piles of clothes on the floor, the curtains half open. He huffed before getting dressed into his uniform , sitting down on his bed. The boy was thinking of what to do, a million thoughts racing through his head. Remus was an emotional guy, he knew it and all his friends knew it. He was tough and strong and could take a lot, but little things still got to him. This was one of them.

"Should i say something?" he spoke to himself, getting up pacing around the room, "what would i say? Oh yeah sorry to bring it up guys but todays kind of my birthday!" He threw his head back in frustration. "No, no i'll not say anything, maybe they'll - like - figure it out." he sighed "Yeah, i'll do that"