"Where's Moony, Pads?" Asked James, he and Peter walking in to their dormitory.
"Hospital wing," said Sirius, who was sitting on Remus's bed, holding his pillow. "Full moon tomorrow"
"Full moon?" Said James, startled. "No, it can't be! It's not been a month, has it?" He sat down on his bed, looking at Sirius.
"It has," said Sirius.
"But it's Christmas tomorrow!" Exclaimed James. "That's not fair!"
"I know, Prongs!. But what can we do? Moony has to go through the transformation tomorrow, and there's nothing we can do about it." Sirius said. He sounded more defeated than James and Peter had ever heard before.
"Well what are we going to do about it?" Said James.
"What can we do!?" said Sirius hitting the bed with his fist. Peter stood up. He'd been silent throughout all of this.
"Well, I mean, it's past curfew now," he said. "Madame Pomfrey will be in bed..."
"So?" Said Sirius, scowling. "It's nearly midnight and the transformation is tomorrow, Remy will be asleep-"
"And if we're quiet, we can set him up a little Christmas down there. Bring our presents, transfigure a small tree, bring some decorations, and then we can have our own quiet Christmas with him. Loads of people are staying over the Christmas holidays, what with the awful weather, and it'll be mental here tomorrow morning. Madame Pomfrey won't kick us out, it's Christmas!" There was silence in the dormitory.
"Wormtail," said James. "That's brilliant! Must be the only good idea you've ever had!"
"Thank- Hey!" Sirius jumped up from the bed.
"Well we've got some work to do!" he said, grinning. "Prongs, will you work on Transfiguring that lamp in to a tree, and Wormtail, you go down to the common room and nick some tinsel and baubles or something!" Peter nodded.
"On it!' Ever since he'd become an Animagus, he'd become good at sneaking around and was always their go to when they needed something taken.
Not ten minutes later and they had a mini Christmas tree, covered in baubles and lights, and a bag full of tinsel and more lights.
"Let's go past the kitchens on the way," said Sirius, picking up the bag. "We can convince some of the house elves to bring us a breakfast tomorrow." He frowned. "And we can get some food for now, too. I'm hungry."
"You're always hungry," said James, laughing. He picked up the tree and his invisibility cloak, and covered the tree with it. "The tree will be toughest to explain, so I'll just cover that."
"We won't get caught," scoffed Sirius, "Bring the map Peter, will you?" Peter nodded again, and picked it up, stuffing it in to his robe pocket.
"Let's go, then!" Said Sirius, bounding over to the door.
The three Marauders walked down to the common room - it was empty, apart from one girl sitting beside the fire, facing away from them and a hat covering her head. The boys, who wanted not to be seen, tiptoed quietly across the room to the portrait hole. They nearly made it too, but, just as Sirius put his hand on the handle, the girl spoke up.
"You boys are going to have to try harder than that, you know," she said, standing up. They all turned around and Sirius and Peter cursed.
"Evans!" said James, swallowing hard. "Didn't recognise you there, with your hair in the hat."
"It's cold," she said, shrugging. "Now, where are you going?"
"None of your-"
"Don't be rude to Evans, Pads!" Said James, smiling at her. "We're going to the kitchens, we're hungry."
"Of course you are," said Lily, sighing. "And where's Remus? I saw him earlier, and he's not one to miss a trip to the kitchens-"
"His mum is sick again-"
"Oh no, on Christmas?" Said Lily, "Can I go visit him with you? Maybe not tonight, if you don't want, but tomorrow?"
"What-? No, he's gone home, to be with his mum-"
"I know all about his -what is it you call it? His 'furry little problem'?" said Lily. The three Marauders stood there, shocked.
"You know?" Said Sirius, after a moment of silence.
"Yes, it's not that hard to guess," she said, "and I know about you and him, too, by the way, Sirius." That stumped Sirius.
"How do you know all of this, Evans?" Asked James.
"Because, Potter, I observe. Things aren't hard to work out once you try and figure them out." Again, this was greeted by silence.
"Wow, I've stumped you all!" She said, triumphantly. "I'm rather proud of that! And I'm not going to stop you if you're trying to make things easier for Remus, so go, before someone else comes and stops you. You know what Greta Catchlove is like about curfew, so go!" That spurred them; Sirius, Peter and James all nodded their thanks, before walking quickly out the portrait hole.
"You know, Prongs," said Sirius, "I think that's the first conversation I've seen the two of you have where she didn't insult you."
They made quick time to the kitchens. As was always the case at night, only five elves were working, the others all slept. When James, Sirius and Peter entered, the fives elves on duty scampered up to them. One, who they all recognised as Misty, was carrying a large silver platter of muffins and biscuits.
"Master Black, Master Potter, Master Pettigrew! To what do we owe the pleasure?" said the largest, Felly, bowing as he did.
"We need a favour," said Sirius, picking up one of the muffins and stuffing it in to his mouth.
"You know the morning Christmas breakfast?" Asked James. The House Elves nodded feverishly. "Well, we need enough of that for four teenage boys, in the Hospital Wing at around 11 tomorrow."
"I will make sure of it, Sir!" Said the smallest of the five, Lolly, standing to attention. The three bots grinned.
"Thanks a million!" They said, as they all darted put of the kitchens again. Not before, of course, they each took a large armful of muffins and biscuits from Misty.
"Gotta love them House Elves!" Said Sirius, quietly, as the all crept up the stairs. "They never question anything, they just do-"
"Shh!" Said James. "Filch!" They were all silent, and could hear their caretaker moving around nearby.
"I swore I heard someone," he said, and was greeted by a purr. "If it's those Marauders, my lovely, we must find them. Out of bed after Midnight, well away from their dorms, Professor Dumbledore must let me punish them. Come, let's find them!" The Marauders listened as he walked away, down towards the Dungeons. Soon, the sound of paws and footsteps died down, and the boys deemed it safe to move on. Silently, they moved up the stairs, sticking close to the shadows of the walls. It was freezing, and snow could be seen on the window sills as the Marauders rushed past them. A fresh wave had fallen since the students of Hogwarts had been outside, and it covered the grounds evenly all around. If the Marauders had been paying any attention, they might've been awed by the untouched beauty outside, but making a perfect Christmas for Remus was much more important than trivial things like looking out the window.
As usual, the doors of the Hospital Wing were locked. Sirius, however, flicked open his pocket knife and, a few seconds of fiddling later, Sirius managed to unlock the door. They all darted inside. The door clicked behind them and they all grinned.
"Pomfrey is in her room, sleeping by the looks of it," said Peter, looking at the map. "Peeves is in the Great hall, and the Bloody Baron's just outside, so we're safe there. McGonagall is in her room and Filch is in the dungeons. Probably still looking for us. Mischief Managed." He touched his wand to the map and the lines all crawled back on themselves, leaving the parchment blank.
"Excellent," said Sirius, walking to the other side of the room. He stood outside Remus's private room, and tried the door. Unlocked. Sirius frowned. If he had the energy, Remus always looked his door. When he didn't, it normally meant the moon would be very bad. Sirius turned to James and Peter, who were know standing behind him.
"He needs his sleep, so if either of you wake him I swear to Merlin-"
"We know, Padfoot," said James. "We've known him just as long as you have, we know that he needs to rest right now. We'll all be careful." Sirius nodded and walked in to the room.
"Sweet Merlin, Remus, you have an annoyingly protective boyfriend," muttered James, as he and Peter followed Sirius.
Only a small shaft of moonlight, creeping it's way through the curtains, lit the room, giving the room an unusual silver glow. Remus was lying on the bed, his face screwed up in distress. He was asleep, but moving around and whimpering slightly.
"This is why he comes here a night early, is it Pads?" Asked quietly James, after a few moments silence. Sirius nodded; he was the only one who'd seen Remus like this. He walked forward and sat very carefully beside Remus. Every few seconds, Remus would jerk and arm or a leg violently, clearly in the middle of an awful dream. Curled in on himself on the bed, he looked very small, like a child who needed a hug. Sirius could hardly bare it, seeing his Remus like this, and reached out to take his hand. As soon as Remus felt Sirius's hand in his, he clenched it tight.
"Pack..." he murmured in his sleep.
James looked at his best friend, who was simply watching his boyfriend. Sirius's face nearly matched Remus's.
"Come on, Pads," said James, pulling Sirius away from the bed. "Let's get the room all ready, it'll be a great way to wake him up tomorrow!"
"Yeah, it'll cheer him up, I'm sure," said Peter. Sirius nodded.
"Ok!" He said, slapping what James and Peter were sure was a fake smile on to his face. If it was, however, they didn't say anything. "Let's go, then!"
Decorating shouldn't have taken more than half an hour. But, of course, this was the Marauders decorating. Tree and tinsel were up in fifteen minutes, but they all decided that it simply wasn't enough.
"Lights!" Said Sirius, after a minute of brain storming. "Let's make a lights display!"
"What do you mean, a lights display?" Asked James.
"The Muggles have them all around at Christmas," said Sirius. "They're in Moony's Muggle Studies book! They're all twinkly and they run on ecklectricity-"
"But that doesn't work in Hogwarts," said Peter. Sirius frowned.
"Oh, yeah," he said, and they all went back to thinking.
"I could try transfigure a fire place out of that stupidly big plant?" Said James, pointing at the plant in question.
"Yeah, try it!" Said Sirius. "That'll make a huge difference, there's always a fire in the Common room!"
At three am, the room was lit by the warm glow of the fire, and it's crackling filled the silences.
"Well done, James," said Sirius, yawning. "We should probably go to sleep now, shouldn't we."
"Yes, finally!" Said Peter, excitedly. "I'm exhausted!" He sat down in the arm chair in the corner of the room and closed his eyes. It took only minutes for his snores to arrive.
"Prongs, you take the other armchair," said Sirius.
"But where will you slee-" James was cut off by a soft bark. He turned around and Padfoot stood in front of his. With a little dog smile, he carefully jumped on to Remus's bed. The werewolf stiffened, but as soon as Padfoot curled down in to a ball at the end of the bed, Remus settled down. If anything, he was calmer than he had been before.
"You always do manage to calm him down, Pads," said James, softly, before sitting down in tot his armchair. Soon, all four Marauders were fast asleep.
"What on earth-?"
Padfoot was woken up the next morning by Remus sitting up and shifting the bedsheets around.
"Padfoot? What're you doing here?" Asked Remus. Padfoot stood up and barked happily, before licking Remus's face.
"Ew, Padfoot! Ow!" Padfoot backed off. James, who Padfoot had woken up with his bark, grinned.
"Is it possible for a dog to look guilty?" He asked. Padfoot jumped off the bad and changed back to himself. Shooting a dirt glare at James, he walked over to Remus.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, Remy," said Sirius.
"You didn't, not really," said Remus, who was looking around the room. "Now, what're you all doing here? And what's going on?" James and Sirius looked at each other.
"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" They yelled together, startling Peter awake, who fell out of the armchair. Remus, however, still looked confused
"What- why aren't you in the dorm?" He asked.
"You can't be alone on Christmas, Remy," said Sirius, sitting on the side of his bed and talking his hand. "Besides, the dorm is boring and crowded!"
"It was Peter's idea, actually," said James, and Peter shrugged.
"Thanks, Pete," said Remus, smiling. "But none of you had to go through all this trouble-"
"Shut up, Moony," said James, grinning.
"Yeah, no complaining, Remy. Presents!"
"I- uh- My presents are in the dorm?" Said Remus.
"No they're not!" Said Sirius, holding a bag of presents up.
"How did you find those?" Exclaimed Remus.
"Ah, Remy, dearest, I know all of your secrets, my dear. I know where you hide your things. But don't worry, I'd never steal your precious chocolate supply!"
"Right," said Remus, blushing slightly. He didn't know that the boys knew about his chocolate supply.
"I wanna go first!" Said Sirius, fishing out his presents from the bag. "Prongsie, here you go, Wormtail, that's for you, and for my Remy!" James and Peter had to catch the presents that went flying through the air, but Sirius handed his to Remus. James and Peter, who ripped off the wrappings, said their thanks happily, both of their minds scheming the possible pranks that could be pulled by the new Zonkos products they'd gotten.
"Welcome!" said Sirius, but he was looking at Remus. "Come on, Remy! Hurry up!"
"I'm just being careful," said Remus, who was indeed, being very meticulous with his opening of the present. Eventually, however, he managed to get it. A box of fancy Honeydukes chocolates fell on to his lap first, followed by two heavy books: "A Guide to the Forest Creatures of Britain and Ireland" and "Unusual Jinks and Charms".
"Sirius, they're brilliant!" He said, examining the books. "But it's too much-"
"Shut up, it's not my money, remember. It's my wonderful parents! And I thought those boos looked suitably boring enough for you!" He finished with a wink. Remus rolled his eyes.
James and Peter's presents followed the same pattern - prank supplies for all of them, except Remus, who got chocolate. Remus, too worried about what would happen if he bought his friends pranking supplies, had gone halfway, and bought them all pranking books, in an attempt to get them to read (thought, Sirius's did have some extra sweets from Honeydukes).
"Thanks, Remy!" Said Sirius, who was now lying on Remus's bed, with Remus's head lying on his chest. "We'll get great ideas from these!" Remus groaned slightly, but was too happy to really sound angry.
At eleven o'clock sharp, two house elves, Milly and Raffy, arrived, each carrying two huge platters of food. Remus, who normally didn't eat a huge amount on full moon days, sat back and watched his two best friends and boyfriend scoff their faces full of food. And, despite the full moon, he couldn't remember ever having a happier Christmas morning,
Madame Pomfrey, who could see in to the room through the window on Remus's door, knew that she should've reported the blatant use of Hogwarts House Elves without permission, as well as the many other school rules that had clearly been broken over the night. But she didn't; the Marauders were some of her favourite students in the history of her life in Hogwarts. And watching them doing their level best to make a hard day better for each other, on that Christmas Day, made her feel happier than she could ever remember.