Little Lupin

Chapter Ten: Alyssa's First Christmas

Ever since Alyssa found out that she would get to celebrate Christmas, she worked hard to figure out what to give her daddy. She wished she could buy something for him in Hogsmeade with the little pocket money she had, but she wasn't allowed out of the castle due to the Dementors. She settled on drawing a picture since she was a good artist, she thought. Alyssa hoped he'd like it.

One day about a week before Christmas, while Remus was grading papers, she sat at one of the desks on the front row with her quill, crayons and paper. She began studying his face to get an accurate picture of what she was going to draw. Every so often, she would pause drawing to study him more.

"Cub? What are you staring at me for? Am I that ruggedly handsome?" he asked, then winced. He sounded just like Sirius. No, Black, he corrected himself.

Alyssa just chuckled and shook her head at her childish father. "It's a surprise, Daddy," she said and went back to drawing. It took a while before she was satisfied with how her picture looked and then saw how ink-stained her hands were. Maybe she should've just used crayons, but only a quill could have achieved the detail of some of the lines she drew, plus it looked better.

"Er-Daddy?"

"Yes?" he asked looking up from his grading. Alyssa held up her hands and he chuckled.

"Looks like you got more ink on you than the paper," he joked. "Come over here, we'll get them cleaned up. Ink is sometimes too stubborn to wash off, so I'll use magic."

Alyssa went over and let Remus wave his wand over her palms to get rid of all the ink.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome," he said.

Just then, there was a loud knock at the door.

"Come in," Remus called. In came Hagrid, carrying a large cypress tree and leaving a trail of needles as he went.

"Here's the tree you asked for, Remus. Where do you want me to put it?"

"Just over by the window is fine. I'll get it upstairs later. How are you, Hagrid?"

"Daddy? What's the tree for?" Alyssa asked.

"Remember, we're going to decorate it," Remus replied.

"Oh!" Alyssa said excitedly. "Hello, Hagrid!" she added.

"Hello, Alyssa," Hagrid said brightly. "How are you?"

"I'm good. How's Fang and Buckbeak?"

The last time Alyssa had been down to visit Hagrid in his hut, Hagrid had introduced her to Buckbeak. At first, she was terrified of the large beast, but once Buckbeak allowed her to pet him, they formed a sort of friendship, much like she and Fang had.

"Fang's good. Buckbeak-oh, Buckbeak. They've got it out for him. After that incident with Malfoy, the board's got it in their head that Buckbeak is dangerous! He's nothing of the sort. Malfoy insulted him, Beaky didn't know any better," Hagrid said, starting to sob.

"I'm sorry, Hagrid. I know how much that hippogriff means to you," said Remus. "Is there anything you can do to change their minds? Will there be a trial?"

"Yeah, a few months from now. Harry, Ron, and Hermione have offered to help me with the case. Don't know how much good it'll do, but I appreciate it all the same."

"That's nice of them," Alyssa said. Hagrid smiled through his tears and nodded.

"It is. I need to get back to Buckbeak and work on your present, Alyssa. I think you'll like it," Hagrid said and left the room to go back to his hut.