Remus Lupin lay in bed awake. He knew it was Christmas but he wasn't sure if he wanted to get up. It was the first Christmas he'd spent away from home and he wasn't sure what to expect. Would Christmas at the Potters be the same as it was at home or would the house be completely full of friends and family, or perhaps it would be completely empty apart from the Marauders and James' mum and dad. Would they open their presents as soon as they got up or would they wait until the afternoon? Would they have Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner? Would they go to a party or- "Oi!" Remus shouted sitting up in bed and wiping the water out of his eyes. He glared at James and Sirius who were now doubled over laughing with identical water pistols on the floor by their sides, "What was that for?" he demanded, looking from one to the other, "Sorry mate," said Sirius hiccuping from laughing to much, "but it's eight O'clock on Christmas day and you were still asleep, I mean who stays asleep 'till eight on Christmas"
"Hmm, let me think." said Remus sarcastically, "Oh, I know! It's me!" James and Sirius rolled their eyes at this before proceeding to drag him out into the hallway. Remus tried to protest, saying that he ought to get dressed first but they just ignored him and continued to drag him to Peters room, presumably to wake him up in the same way.

Soon they were downstairs with Mr and Mrs Potter opening their presents. They spent most of the morning trying them out before going to visit James' Grandma and Grandpa who lived about and hour away for lunch and presents for James from everyone on that side of the family. Lunch was nothing special but it was nice all the same. There was pre-sliced turkey from the super market as well as potatoes and brussel sprouts which James' uncle Charlie kept offering to Mr Potter, knowing that they were his least favourite food. After they'd finished lunch James' Grandma and Grandpa took them to the rubber duck race that the village had every Christmas. They all bought a rubber duck and hoped that they would win. None of them did though and the prize went to duck number eighty nine. By three O'clock they were ready to go and they all got into the car talking about everything from the food to (in Sirius' case) the fact that the people around here must really be mad if they have a rubber duck race. At this comment James just shrugged and said, "It attracts American tourists." Sirius gave him a strange look, "Why American in particular?" instead of James Remus answered,
"I don't know, they just seem to like these kind of things. I mean, I was reading in a muggle newspaper about how the national Pooh Sticks championships were almost cancelled-" he was cut off by Sirius' shout, "What! They were going to cancel the national Pooh sticks championships! I snuck out on my dads broom to see them when I was nine! This is an outrage!" Remus rolled his eyes, that was just like Sirius, sneaking off to do things on someone else's broom.

Once they were back at James' Grandma and Grandpa's house they all got into James' mum and dad's car to go back to James' house. Except this time they took his Grandma and Grandpa with them so that they could join in with the party that seemed to have already started by the time they got there. Apparently one of James' aunts had let herself in using the key hidden in the fake stone in the garden and they'd thought they might as well just start. The four Marauders spent most of the time they were there hanging around with some of James' cousins who had come down from Scotland but they also had a great dinner that had been cooked by James' dad who was one of the best cooks Remus knew.

The day ended all to soon and as he lay in bed Remus knew that he wanted to spend every Christmas like this.

***
Remus sighed at the memory, that had been the best Christmas he had ever had, his friends knew what he was and accepted it, he had got the chance to spend it with the Potters and Sirius and Peter had come too meaning that the four of them spent it together, the full moon that had been on the twentieth had been completely driven from his mind and although it hadn't snowed they'd managed to have a great time.

It was almost the complete opposite of this Christmas which he thought was probably the worst of his life so far. It was the first Christmas he'd spent alone. James and Peter were dead and Sirius was in askaban for killing them. He got up out of the tattered armchair he had been sitting in and went to make himself a cup of tea, carefully maneuvering around the boxes of books that he had never got around to putting into bookshelves in the four years he had lived here and putting on the kettle in his tiny kitchen. He didn't have one of the nicest houses in the world, or indeed, on his street, but he supposed he was lucky to have a house at all; money was hard to come by if you were a werewolf. It was the bottom of three floors in an old Victorian house. The person who had bought it had only needed two so she'd sold the bottom one for use as a flat. This arrangement worked out quite well since as the house was built on a hill the front door lead onto the first floor while the back door was on the ground floor so that neither of them would have to walk through the other's house so as to get in or out of their own. It was just as well because he wasn't sure what Mrs Smith upstairs would think of his monthly trips to the shed at the bottom of the garden which he would lock himself in and not come out until the sun came up.

He finished making the cup of tea and went into the sitting room to drink it, setting it down on the table and lighting the fire. The fire and the tea seemed to give the draughty room a bit more warmth but it still lacked Christmas spirit. The tree by the window had been decorated as well as was possible with the few decorations he had and there was tinsel hanging from the mantle piece, sparkling with the reflection of the twinkling Christmas tree lights. The little gold bell with the model wolf on top that he always took out at Christmas was sitting in the middle of the table reminding him of his childhood when one of his favourite things to do at Christmas was ring it and listen to the beautiful jingling sound it made. The room was everything it should be at christmas but still there was something missing, something that made Christmas the wonderful time that it was: friends and family.

Remus wondered what harry was doing this Christmas, he wondered if he was enjoying himself and whether his aunt and uncle that he had been sent to stay with were treating him well. From what Lily used to say about her sister he had his doubts but he pushed them away knowing that if he thought that James' son was being mistreated would just make him even more miserable. After all, Petunia was an adult now, she had probably got over her silly jealousy of Lily for getting to go to Hogwarts, and even if she hadn't, it was unlikely she would mistreat a child because of it, that would just be completely immature. Harry would most likely be ripping open presents and having a wonderful time, perhaps he'd got the Thomas the tank engine jigsaw puzzle he'd sent him. Remus wondered if he was enjoying it and if he had started trying to do it. He wished that he could be there to see him and help him open his presents but Dumbledore had forbidden anyone from visiting Harry without permission, and anyway, Remus had no idea were the boy lived.

Suddenly something came flying towards the window, stopping just in time to prevent a crash. Remus went up to let the owl in hoping it would be quick because the open window was making it rather cold inside. The owl was unlike any he had ever seen, it was huge and it's whole body was pitch black, including the beak. It swooped in and dropped a parcel on the sofa before flying right back out the window which Remus quickly closed behind it.

Remus turned back towards the sofa and picked up the parcel, examining it. It was wrapped in a rough brown paper and had an envelope taped onto it. He pulled the envelope off and turned it over to look at the other side. What he saw gave him quite a shock, in bright red letters surrounded by a similarly bright red box was stamped:

ASKABAN:
Searched and approved

He stared at it, unsure whether opening it would be a good idea. After a minute or so he decided that it was unlikely to be dangerous if it had been searched and opened it. Inside were three wooden Christmas tree decorations; one the shape of a dog, one the shape of a wolf and one the shape of a stag. The rat was missing. There was supposed to be a rat, why wasn't it there? He puzzled over this for a minute or so before finally deciding that it must just be a coincidence, after all, no one knew about the Marauders being animagi except the Marauders themselves. Yes, it was probably a coincidence, that's all. He dumped the ornaments down beside him and turned his attention to the envelope, it looked much like the Hogwarts letter he had got when he turned eleven except it didn't have a seal. He opened it up to find a Christmas card depicting a forest that was covered in snow. He opened to card and read: To Moony, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, Padfoot. He closed the card, crumpling it slightly as he did so. Sirius Black, the man that'd killed his three best friends felt that he could send him a Christmas card! He walked over to the fire, ripping the card into as many pieces as he could while he did so. Once he got to the fire he dropped the pieces into it, watching them catch fire and curl up with the heat. Sirius had no business sending him a card, they were no longer friends. Remus turned back towards the sofa, planning on throwing the present into the fire too but decided not to. Even if Sirius had given it too him, he might as well keep them.

He sat down again and thought, he may as well open the only other present he had got, the one from his mum and dad. This one had been wrapped in tissue paper and looked much nicer that the one from Sirius, he ripped it open and found that it contained a book on defence against the dark arts and a calendar with a different scene from somewhere in Britain for each month, this reminded him of something, he really ought to check when the next full moon would be. He went into the bedroom and picked up the piece of paper that he had scribbled down the dates of the full moon on at the beginning of the year, the next one was on the thirtieth, making it a blue moon. That's just great, he thought sarcastically. Another reason that this christmas would be the worst christmas ever.