Florence had found herself not as preoccupied at training as she had anticipated. After the house raid during the previous month, she had thought that they were going to up their training hours and make them even more laborious then they usually were. But they had resumed to their regular training, while the senior Aurors worked like usual.

Tonks had approached her in the middle of practice one day, pulling her aside to discuss 'important matters', which made Florence worry instantly, as Tonks was a superior Auror and could mean something big.

"So... It's Remus' birthday in four days." she said in a low whisper, Florence releasing a breath she didn't even realize she was holding, her brows shooting up, "Oh...? I've known him quite a while and we've never really celebrated his birthday..."

"It's 'cause he doesn't like talking about it too much. Which is ridiculous, right? Everyone deserves a birthday party."

"Of course." She agreed, a small smile on her face, "So what do you have in mind?"

"Well I was hoping to throw him a surprise party. You know, it's gonna be his first birthday while we're, er...together, and I just want to do something nice for him is all." Tonks said, rather nervously, "So, would you help me out?"

"I'd love to help out!"

"Great!" Tonks cheered, clapping her hands together, "Great. Well, I've talked to Sirius about it, and Sloan. And Molly. Sweet woman has volunteered to make the food. I was just thinking of a small gathering you know? With family and friends... And if you could make him is birthday cake that would be lovely."

"Of course. I'll work on it at the flat and I'll bring it over. When's the party going to be?"

"I was thinking on Saturday. Most of us don't have work then, so there will be a lot of people who can go." Tonks said, "Could you ask Fred and George if they can make it to the party too? I'd love their help with decorations."

"I'm sure they can. I'll ask them tonight."

A birthday party was exactly what they needed to ease the tension a bit. It had been a good while since Florence had baked and decorated a whole birthday cake, so having a project in the horizon made her a little bit more excited.

The minute she got home, she immediately ransacked through the boxes that were kept under her and Fred's bed. There they kept all of Florence's books, including her most prized cook books, as they had yet to buy a bookshelf for all of them. Fred popped his head in to the room, before leaning against the door frame, as Florence had made a beeline for the room without greeting him or George who were at the living room.

"Hello there, busy bee."

She looked up from the dessert book she was skimming through, an apologetic look on her face, "Sorry. I just got excited. Its Remus' birthday this week. Tonks wants to surprise him with a party."

Fred's eyes lit up at this, "Sounds just like what everyone needs right now. What can George and I do?"

They heard a pair of footsteps coming towards the room, George peeking his head in moments later, "I heard my name... what's up?"

"Tonks was wondering if you'd like to help her with the decorations for the party?"

The pair looked at each other, before nodding, "Yeah, we can do that. When's it gonna be?"

"This weekend."

"We can close the shop." they said in unison, before scrambling down to the shop downstairs to see if they had any decorations in the supply closet. Florence smiled, before continuing to flip through her thick book of cakes and pastry recipes. She eventually settled with a triple chocolate cake, since Remus had a well-known fondness for chocolate. And because she wanted everyone to have at least a slice, she decided to make it a two tier cake.

The night before the party, Sirius had played his part by incessantly asking Remus if he could take him to the park the next day, whining about he was tired of being indoors, tossing in a few of his dramatics here and there to make it more believable. Getting annoyed at his best mate, Remus caved in and agreed to take him to a dog park, Sirius then going up to his quarters to send Florence a letter about the time he will be away from the house so she could sneak in the cake, and Fred and George could start the decorating.

It was a team effort, a very time strained one as they all rushed to do their individual parts at piecing the party together. Florence was on her tiptoes, an apron over her dress as she piped in the last few details of Remus' cake; Fred and George were hanging up the last of the streamers, while Molly was quickly putting all of her best dishes on the table, ordering Bill and Charlie to set up the plates and the silverware.

Tonks was hanging a big 'Happy Birthday' sign on the banister with the help of Moody and Sloan, while Julien was on the couch, holding Miss Mimsy down since she had a knack for trying to take down the decorations that Fred and George were putting around the house.

A few minutes later, George let out an audible gasp as he peered out the window, scuttling down the stairs to let everyone know that Remus and Sirius were already walking back to the house. Everyone scrambled to hide, Tonks quickly shutting the lights off as soon as they were in position. They could faintly hear the pair bickering about Honeydukes' sweets, Remus pausing in mid sentence as he opened the door to find it dark.

"What the... Padfoot—"

"Happy Birthday!" Everyone yelled simultaneously, Remus flinching at the sudden presence of light and the loud cheers from everyone in the room. He clutched his chest with both hands, the initial shock taking awhile to subside. He looked to Sirius, who had the biggest grin on his face, "Happy Birthday, Mate." He said, before enveloping him in a tight hug.

"Wow... I..." he said, as he parted from their hug, looking to everyone, "I don't really celebrate my birthday... this is so nice...."

Tonks came sauntering over to his side, fastening a cone shaped party hat on his head before planting a small kiss on his cheek, "Everyone deserves a birthday party at least once in their life, my love. Plus, everyone was kind enough to pitch in with the planning."

"Though Tonks was the one who got us all together." Sirius added, a faint blush appearing on the young woman's cheeks, "Oh stop it, now! This is Remus' day, not mine... Come on love, Molly cooked up all your favorite things to eat." she said, tugging him by the hand as everyone made their way to the dining room. Everyone took a seat, conversations immediately erupting as soon as they settled in.

It was very lively, a scene people often saw when people where in the midst of a war. But they needed a party. To remind them of what they were fighting this war for; a normal life, where everyone was around to enjoy simple moments with their loved ones.

Shortly after the food was consumed, Sirius had gotten up from his seat, proceeding to recall his best Remus memories when they were still in Hogwarts. He was still as wistful as he always was upon talking about the Marauders, especially James, but he had a smile on his face when he was telling a story about how Remus had tried asking a girl out by using one of James and Sirius' 'foolproof' pick up lines and getting laughed at. Remus looked only slightly embarrassed at this story at first, but his happiness was shining through.

After the story telling, Remus got his presents. Sirius had given him a photo book, filled with pictures of him, Sirius and James from the plethora of pictures Marlene had taken that he had found in the Price basement. It even had some of him and a very distinct ex girlfriend, Dorcas Meadowes, which made Tonks' facial expression turn slightly sour. Fred and George had given him a gift basket of the chocolates they had in their shop, Remus accepting it rather hesitantly after he made the twins swear that they were the the normal ones that didn't have any weird side effects.

And for his last surprise, Florence had gotten up from her seat, scurrying to the kitchen and emerging a few minutes later pushing a trolley that had Remus' birthday cake. Lighting up the candles, she went over and gave Remus a hug, who thanked her for the beautiful cake, "Merlin, I don't even know what to say... It's beautiful, Florence."

"You don't need to say anything, Remus. You've been like family to me since. You deserve nothing but the best." She smiled, "Now make a wish and blow your candles!"

He closed his eyes tightly, taking a short pause, before extinguishing all 37 tiny candles sitting on the top layer of his cake. Florence then handed him the cake slicer, as it was obligatory for the birthday boy to get the first slice.

Alexander and Nicolai arrived just in time for dessert, the two not being able to make it to the first half since Nicolai had to pull a double shift at the hospital, while Xander had to stay beyond his shift hours to finish filing some paperwork. They each bought Remus a greeting card, not really sure what he would like. They both still retained the habit of calling him 'Professor Lupin', though Remus did not bothering correcting them.

"Its just weird calling him anything else," Nicolai said, once Florence had pointed out their habit. They were sitting on the living room floor eating their share of the cake, their butterbeer bottles on the coffee table. The adults were still gathered in the living room, the three wanting to get away from the party a bit to catch up. "He was our teacher for a good year. It just feels weird calling him 'Remus' like you do."

"Sometimes I do call him Remus," said Xander, "But yeah, Professor Lupin still automatically registers in my head no matter what I do."

"It was nice of you two to get him something," Florence smiled, before stabbing at her piece of chocolate cake with a fork, "Considering I didn't really give you two time to prepare."

"A greeting card is always the best go to present," Nic said, consuming the last of her cake, "That, and socks. Didn't know how big his feet were so I went with the latter." she chuckled, "But holy Merlin, you've really outdone yourself with this cake, Flo. If I didn't have a shred of dignity, I'd lick this plate clean."

"Didn't know you still had any dignity left," Xander chortled, making her roll her eyes at him, "Don't even get me started, Xan."

"So... pretty busy at work then? We haven't eaten lunch with Hadley in awhile." Florence said, changing the subject before their bickering escalated any further.

"Mungo's is packed these days. I don't know why these people are getting themselves injured as much as they are now but they need to stop. For my sanity." Nicolai sighed dramatically, trying to swipe a piece of Xander's cake, only for the blond to move his plate away from her, "Same thing in my Department. Its been unusually busy."

"Well, maybe we can set a date when we're not too busy with work." Florence suggested, "Id love to do something fun with you guys again. Its been awhile, you know?"

"That's true." Nic said, "Yeah I'd like that. Maybe you can invite Hadley too."

"Sounds like a plan..." said Xander, "We'll check out our schedules."

The day ended as happily as it started. Molly and Arthur had to head home with Charlie and Bill, who both had to work early morning the next day. Eventually, Fred and George bade everyone goodbye, as they had to prepare the shop for opening the next day. Florence decided to stay a little longer to help with the cleaning up, as well as to talk to her friends, who then had to leave a quarter before ten.

The house was solemn once more, everyone else retreating to their respective bedrooms after everything was kept and cleaned.

She took the slice of chocolate cake she had put away, and made her way towards Matthew's room. He had been told that he was welcome to join the festivities, but Florence knew he opted not to for the sake of not making everyone else feel uncomfortable.

Florence knocked on his door, hearing him invite her inside before she opened the door, a small smile on her face, "Hey... you missed the party."

"Eh, it was for the best. Did Remus have fun?"

"He looked ecstatic." she said, before handing him the plate and fork, "I saved you some cake, though. Best part of the party."

"Indeed..." he smiled, "Thank you. It looks delicious."

"So.... how are you holding up here?" Florence said. She had not been able to check up on him since his discharge from the hospital, now being a week and change since then. Matthew shrugged, "Its okay. I mean, I don't come out of my room as much. Or when I do, I make sure no one is outside, just to avoid awkwardness. Emmy's been helping me get food, though. Little thing still remembers me, surprisingly. She's just as sweet as I remembered her to be."

"Well I'm glad you have a friend around here one way or another." Florence smiled, "Don't worry, they'll come around. Just need to give them a bit of time."

"I don't mind." Matthew said honestly, now picking at his slice of cake with the fork, "I understand why they're iffy. They trusted people in the past and lost people because of it. I know its not gonna be easy to prove myself to them but I'll have to give it my all."

"I guess that's the best thing to do right now..." she trailed off, "But, if you ever need anything from me, I'm just one owl away. You can ask Jules, he'll let you borrow his owl I'm sure."

"Thank you, Florence. I appreciate you looking out for me."

////

a.n: sorry for the month long wait! Life has just been a little hectic bc of covid. I go to college out of the country, as you guys probably don't know, and I got stranded there when the lockdown started. June was basically me just booking and rebooking flights cuz they kept getting canceled. But I've been home for three weeks now! (thank god. I was living with a very unpleasant family member bc my uni dorm kicked everyone out for quarantine) aaand I've just been resting and battling jetlag cuz it takes me forever to get rid of it. Updates will be regular-ish again :))

How are y'all doing during this pandemic? I hope, wherever you are, you're safe and healthy!

-Denise