Christmas

Year 2

James

Something weird has been going on with Remus. We think we've figured it out. Sirius and I have been charting the days that his mom has 'gotten sick'. It's not that we don't believe him, it just seems so suspicious. On the calendar, it seems that every time Remus goes missing, it is a full moon. It's a little bit of a scary thought, living with a werewolf. Pete was the most scared about it once we figured it out. Sirius and I figure that we've lived with him for about a year and a half now, and he hasn't hurt anyone.

"Are we gunna ask him?" Sirius seems so stressed about the whole thing.

"Sure, I'll go get him. You wake up Pete." I sigh as I exit the room. This isn't exactly how I wanted to start Christmas this year. "Remus, are you down here?" I call; I'm not worried about other people. We're the only Gryffindors left behind.

"Yeah, I'm on the couch." Remus sounds so small. He looks it too, all curled up in a ball, just looking at the fireplace.

"Oh, uh, hey. Happy Christmas." I start off kinda awkwardly. I think that's why he's looking at me now.

"Yeah, Happy Christmas. Present time? I learned how much you and Sirius love it last year…" I see Remus smiling at the memory.

"Yupp! We're doing presents in our dorm room this year though." I try to sound cheery, but for some reason I think I just sound weird. Remus looks up at me, a little confused then he just shrugs. He gets up off the couch and stretches and yawns, like he's been there all night. In fact, I think he has.

"Remus, did you sleep on the couch?" I ask him, I'm really confused.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep last night. So, I came down here to read and I fell asleep. One of the house elves brought me a blanket, I guess." He said as he folded up the blanket he had been under. Weird, I don't even know how to fold.

We headed up the stairs and Remus was rambling about something, but I can't for the life of me listen. I'm too distracted by what's waiting up there for him.

We get to the door, and I look at him. He looks at me with a what's-going-on kinda face. Oh, this is going to be hard.

I walk in the room and immediately I go to Sirius's side. We're standing across the room from Remus, I feel like someone should go over next to him. Something shifted next to me; Sirius was walking across the room and put his arm around Remus.

"Remus," it was the most gentle I'd ever heard Sirius talk. "We need to talk to you." Sirius gestured to Pete and I as he said it.

"Ok…?" Remus looked a little bit scared, a little bit worried, and a little bit of something I can't quite put my finger on.

"We, um, we…Well, we know." I say. I'm trying to be as kind as possible, but how do you tell someone that you think they're a werewolf?!

"Y-you know?" He looks sad a scared and I think I see tears in his eyes. "Don't make me leave, p-p-please don't make me leave!" He starts bawling and Sirius pulls him into a hug.

"Make you leave?! Why would we make you leave?" Sirius asks, he sounds like he's about to cry, too.

"Because I'm a monster!" Remus is wailing now. It's really a good thing that we're the only ones here.

"You aren't a monster. You just…have a problem." Pete speaks up for the first time.

"Yeah, a furry little problem." I say. I'm really just trying to keep it together. I won't let myself cry. I won't. I won't. I won't.

Remus lets out a rueful laugh; he's still hugging Sirius tightly. "You guys aren't afraid of me?"

"Afraid? Us? We're the Marauders. We don't know the meaning of that word!" Sirius says... his voice is starting to go back to normal.

"You really don't care that I'm a…a…" Remus doesn't want to say the W-word.

"You're a what? You're a boy. You're also a Gryffindor. You're a study freak. You're practically a genius. We won't know what you mean unless you finish your sentence!" I say, trying to lighten the mood.

"He's a chocoholic!" Peter chimes in.

We all laugh. And, carry on opening our present. Remus looks around the room at us, he looks happy.

You know, he and Sirius are still holding onto each other. Sometimes, I wonder…

AN: I know that there is a lot of spelling mistakes in here. I'm trying to get across that it is a 12 year old telling the story. I plan on the spelling/grammar to progressively get better.