The Marauders: Moony

Remus And Christmas

It was Christmas Eve, and Remus was sat in his bedroom on his own. He was an only child, he had no brothers or sisters. Remus had always wished for a sibling. He had been very lonely growing up. The family had moved house often. As soon as neighbours became suspicious of Remus, they would leave, meaning that he never made any friends. Although his parents loved and cared for him, they didn't allow him to play with other children out of fear that he would let slip about his condition. 

The first friends he made were James Potter and Sirius Black. The two boys were loud and rebellious, while Remus was quite the opposite. Remus began to befriend Peter Pettigrew, a fellow Gryffindor student. Peter was short and shy, and James and Sirius would have never befriended him if it were not for Remus's persuasion. Three became four, and the rest was history.

Remus's parents, Hope and Lyall were downstairs. He could hear them in the kitchen, singing along to Christmas music, and probably dancing too. His father was a wizard, and his mother was a muggle, so he had been brought up with the best of both worlds.

Remus continued to turn the small glass globe over and over in his hands. He had thought about sending it via owl, but he felt that something wasn't right, he felt that she was avoiding him.

Remus set the globe down on his bedside table and ventured downstairs to join his parents. He walked in to the kitchen to find his parents dancing around the kitchen while Christmas cookies cooked in the oven. They smelled delicious. Remus felt lucky to have parents like his. Sirius wasn't so lucky. Remus was glad that the Potter's invited Sirius to their home for Christmas every year. Sirius didn't talk about his family much, but the things that Remus had heard weren't good.

The next morning, Remus awoke to the sound of an owl tapping its beak on his bedroom window. The dark creature stood out against the snow white background beyond the window.

He opened the window and the small black owl flew into his room and perched on his bedside table next to the globe. For a moment, he felt excited. Was the note from Freya? But then he recognised the owl.

He untied the small scroll from the birds leg and unrolled it. 

Moony

See you later.

Prongs & Padfoot

Remus smiled and threw the note onto his bedside table beside the owl and the glove. He glanced at the globe quickly before grabbing it and throwing it under his pillow out of sight.

He followed his nose downstairs to the smell of crumpets. When he opened the door, he noticed that his father was sat at the kitchen reading The Daily Prophet, while his mother stood at the cooker.

Remus sat down opposite his father. The sound of the chair legs scraping against the stone floor made his mother turn around. Hope smiled at him.

"Merry Christmas, love." She said, walking over to Remus and leaving a soft kiss on his forehead.

"Merry Christmas, Mum." He responded.

Lyall looked up from his paper.

"Those Welsh Boggarts are at it again." He mumbled, putting his newspaper down and taking a sip of his coffee. Remus could smell the strong liquid from the other side of the table.

Remus shook his head and poured himself a glass of orange juice.

After breakfast, Hope Lupin left the kitchen and returned a couple of minutes later with three parcels wrapped messily in brown paper.

"Sorry it's not much." She said, sitting down next to Lyall and pushing the parcels across the table towards Remus.

Remus smiled as he opened the parcels up, making sure to thank his parents after each one. The first present was a packet of socks. The good kind, made of thick wool. Remus had needed new socks as most of his had holes in them. The second present was a colour changing quill, and the third was the biggest bar of chocolate that he had ever seen.

After breakfast, the little family played Gobstones, an ancient wizarding game that resembles marbles, however the stones would squirt a foul smelling liquid any time that someone lost a point. Lyall always won when they would play Gobstones, and today was no exception. Remus's clothes stank from the liquid so he had to get changed after the game had finished.

Later in the afternoon, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it." Remus responded, making his way to the front door, where he was greeted by James Potter and Sirius Black.

"Merry Christmas, Moony!" James shouted with a grin.

Hope appeared behind Remus at the door.

"Come in boys! I was just about to serve dinner." She  smiled.

The three boys wolfed their food down, excited to get out in the snow and cause some mischief. As soon as they finished their dinner, they thanked Hope, darted outside, and mounted their brooms and headed towards Peter's house.

The journey took a little while. It was cold on top of the broom in the icy wind. The snowflakes hit Remus's face like tiny shards of glass. His eyes streamed and his nose ran. He was glad when his feet finally touched the ground again.

Peter was ecstatic to see his three best friends outside, and they were glad to be welcomed in to sit by the warm fire.

The four boys spent the evening playing card games in the living room of the Pettigrew's house. Peter's parents stayed in the kitchen. They always seemed a little quiet and reserved around Peter's friends.

Remus looked down at the glass bottle of firewhisky in his hands. He thought once more about the glass globe which was currently sat under his pillow over a hundred miles away. It was so far away, and now he just needed to push it out of his mind too.

The fire was becoming blurry. He felt warm, both from the fire, and the drink in his hands. He was surrounded by his best friends. That was all he needed this Christmas.