Remus was bored. Not only that, he didn't feel well. It was the day after the Full Moon and he was still recovering. However, to top i that /i off, it was also Christmas Day. He had decided to stay at Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays, his transformations were generally more comfortable when he was able to roam in the shack Dumbledore had given him to use, than the small space he had while he was with his parents. Not only that, there was a relief almost that he wouldn't be a danger to his parents. However, that didn't change the fact that he was bored, alone, and it was Christmas Day.
He spent most of the day staring out the window, watching the snow fall or reading. He received presents from Peter, James, and Sirius. Apparently, Sirius was staying with James over the holidays, he had gotten a very long and very interesting letter from the both of them. Of course, halfway down the letter they had obviously gotten into some sort of row over who got to use the quill next and there was ink all over the page. James had won and Sirius pouted the entire rest of the letter. He had to smile, his friends never changed.
Around ten that night, after Madame Pomfrey had visited him for the last time, to make sure he was comfortable, he heard a sort of squeak. He raised an eyebrow and looked over his hospital bed. There was a rat trying to fit under the door.
i Someone's rat must have gotten lose /i , he thought before lying down again. He thought nothing of this and quickly fell asleep. A while later, he was woken up to the sound of scratching at the door and the squeaking of the rat, half of the rat was still under the door and it was struggling.
Remus frowned, he hated seeing anything struggle like that, but on the other hand, he wasn't sure if it was someone's rat or diseased one from who knows where. He decided to take his chances and got out of bed. Madame Pomfrey would have his head, but he didn't want to leave the rat like that. Plus, the squeaking was kind of irritating.
He threw his covers off and stepped onto the cold floor. When he reached the door, he helped pull the rat out. It took him a bit, but he finally managed to pull it out. It struggled to get out of his hand as soon as it was free, Remus shook his head.
"You're welcome," he told the rat, heading back to bed. He lay down again, at least that was taken care of. His blankets were warm and he made his way off to dreamland again.
Remus was startled awake, or so he thought, by a large dog jumping onto him and licking his face.
"A-" Remus started before the dog turned into to what looked like Sirius and shoved his hand over his face.
"You scream like a fucking girl," Sirius said.
"You would know," James replied, jumping onto the foot of Remus's bed. "'Ello Remus."
"Oh ha ha ha, Prongs you are oh so clever," Sirius said, sarcastically, taking his hand off of Remus's mouth. "Good morning, Moony."
"Wha-Moony?" Remus questioned, still bewildered. "What are you doing here?"
"S'not very happy to see us, is he?" James said, pouting. "Ruining our surprise."
"Yeah, well you know, it's his time of the month, Prongs," Sirius said, teasing. "Oi, Wormtail get your arse over here."
Peter entered the hospital wing and waved.
"What are you calling each other that, you…you…how did you get here?" Remus asked, he had a thousand thoughts in our head.
"Well, it's called the Floo Network, s'not very complicated," Sirius explained.
"Wormtail can manage it," James said.
Peter was frowning.
"Anyway, we wanted to see our very best mate-"
"I'm your best mate, you stupid sod," James said, interrupting Sirius.
"-and give him his Christmas present!"
"I already got your gifts," Remus said, still very confused.
"But you didn't get our real gift," Sirius said, seriously.
"Which is much better than my mum's cake," James said, just as serious.
"It is," Peter agreed.
"Anyway, if you two will shut-" James hit Sirius upside the head. "That hurt."
"That was the point," James said.
"Anyway, your Christmas present. You already met Wormtail, but I don't think you realized it was him," Sirius said, pretending as if he'd never been interrupted by James.
"What?" Remus asked.
"Just do the thing, Wormtail," James commanded.
One minute Peter was there and the next he wasn't. There were a lot of squeaks though and Remus peered over the side of the bed to see the rat from earlier. "You mean…"
"Yes, the ungrateful little rat from earlier was Peter," James teased.
"Nearly blew our surprise," Sirius mumbled.
"Peter's an Animagus?" Remus asked, in disbelief.
"Well, I sure as hell didn't turn him into that," Sirius said.
"All right, you go now, idiot," James commanded Sirius.
"Fine. Prat," Sirius mumbled before he turned into the dog from earlier.
Remus gave James a very alarmed look. "Sirius, too?"
"Well you didn't think Peter managed it on his own, did you?" James asked.
Sirius jumped on the bed and began licking Remus's face.
"Aww, isn't that sweet? Padfoot's trying to snog you!" James said. "There's a good boy!" James began rubbing Sirius's belly. The dog, Sirius, began to growl and jumped on James. "And now you're trying to snog me," James said, laughing. "Geroff so I can have my turn." The dog jumped off James and where James was there was a stag.
"You're all?"
The stag nodded and they all turned back into their human shape.
"Happy Christmas, Moony," Sirius said, sitting back down on the bed.
"What did you do that for?" Remus asked. "I hope you got registered-"
"Whoa," James said. "We did it so we can be with you and we bloody well are not registering because that would really defeat the purpose."
"Be with me?" Remus asked.
"You know for a Prefect, you're really not very quick on the uptake," Sirius said. "We are going with you on your transformations."
"You can't," Remus said. "You'll get hurt or get in trouble-"
"Not as animals," James said. "We did research. It'll be different, we promise. Let us go with you next month and you'll see."
"I don't…"
"Just say yes," Sirius said.
"James and Sirius will be able to stop you from hurting us," Peter said. "They're big animals. I reckon James is bigger than you."
"It's overcompensation," Sirius mock whispered. James clocked him in the head again. "THAT REALL-" It was Remus who shoved his hand over Sirius's mouth this time.
"Be quiet!" Remus, Peter, and James hissed all the same time.
Sirius rubbed his head and glared at them all. "I hate you."
"We know," James said, smiling sweetly.
"You guys still aren't going with me next time," Remus said.
"Yes we are," James said. "You can't stop us, we've got it all worked out."
Remus made a nervous sound.
"Just this once," James said. "And if it goes badly, not again. But you have to let us this one time; we've been working on this for three years."
"A lot and you know how bad I am at Transfiguration," Peter said.
Boy did Remus ever. "Fine," he finally said. "Just once and we'll see how it goes."
Their faces lit up. They were proud of themselves, they wanted to be with him. Remus felt the most secure he had in the long time.
"Thanks, I mean it," Remus said.
"Happy Christmas, Moony," James said. "Now, about that cake I sent you…"
"Mmmm," Peter said.
"Fine," Remus said, smiling. "I wondered why you sent me so many plates."
"Yes, well, that's me, Mr. Thinking Ahead," James said.
"Or Mr. Thinking With His Stomach," Sirius muttered.
"Oi!" James said, pretending to look hurt.
"No one believes you, Prongs," Sirius said.
"I'm hurt," James said.
"Nothing cake won't fix," Remus said, before getting the cake and passing it out to his friends. It was a very Happy Christmas, indeed.