The month of November went by very slowly. It seemed to take forever to get to each Friday. Especially for Remus. He spent the month caring for Harry, who did indeed catch Dudley's illness, and dealing with being sick himself.
Sirius didn't have the best month either. He spent part of it begging the auror office at the ministry to allow him to complete the classes he dropped out of when the war began and the other half wishing he hadn't. It became quite clear that the new head of the auror office, Alastor Moody, lived up to his reputation as a hard-arse.
Home wasn't much better for either man. They spent part of the time fighting about Harry, part of it missing James and Lily and part of it trying to find a moment to sleep or be alone. A sixteen-month old baby who lost their parents could be rather clingy. But it was now the first Saturday in December and Sirius was sure things would get better.
"So," said Sirius, picking Harry up out of his crib first thing Saturday morning, "you have to behave today. Moony and I are both tired of being cooped up in the house, so you have to be good so we can go out and do something. Understand?"
Harry stared at the wall, babbling away while sucking on his fist.
"I'll take that as a yes," said Sirius, pulling some clothes out of Harry's wardrobe along with a clean nappy. He got Harry dressed and then, holding his hand, walked Harry to the stairs. He and Remus, at the advice of Remus' mother, were starting to let Harry go up and down the stairs while they were watching. So, as he had been doing for a while, he set Harry down on the top step and holding his hand, helped him walk down the first few steps. It was a slow process, but finally, they were at the bottom of the stairway.
At the bottom of the stairs, Sirius picked Harry up and walked into the kitchen with him. Remus was making breakfast.
"Do you want tomatoes? Because Harry doesn't seem to like them and I'm not going through the effort if I'm the only one who'll eat them," he asked, still holding a spatula. The kitchen smelt like fried potatoes and bacon.
"Sure," said Sirius, putting Harry into his highchair. "So, what do you want to do today?" he asked as he snapped the tray into place.
"Honestly? Sleep," said Remus, laughing a little and stifling a yawn. "Here, can you put these on the table?" he asked, picking up some plates, glasses and utensils from the counter and handing them to Sirius.
"D'you want me to get out the juice?" asked Sirius, grabbing the plates and setting them on the table. The moment he said it, Harry looked at him.
"Duce?" Harry asked, no longer interested in gnawing at his hand.
"Yeah," responded Remus, "Apple for Harry, though, I don't think he cares much for orange and the pulp keeps getting stuck in his sippy cup's holes."
"Maybe we could go to the cinema," said Sirius off-handly, pouring the drinks. "That new Katherine Hepburn film, 'On Golden Pond' opened yesterday. I heard it's supposed to be good. Here's your juice, kiddo," he said handing it to Harry who took it without hesitation.
"I never liked her much. I know her characters are supposed to be eccentric, but I always found them irritating. Bet you this film is her swan song."
Sirius looked confused. "Swans don't sing though."
"Muggle term. Means your last performance before you die, or leave entertainment or whatever," he walked over to the table carrying a plate of scrambled eggs and another of bacon. "Could you-," he gestured with his head to the other plates of food on the stove top.
"Sure. So, aside from sleep, what else do you think would be fun? We could visit... no, that's right, he and Fabian died...Or... no that closed, the man who owned it got killed during the war. The library is fun; we could go to the library."
"I may be speaking for my librarian mother here, but no, going to the library with a baby is a bad idea. We could go to the park."
"It's too cold," said Sirius as Remus sat down at the table. He dished Harry up some eggs, potatoes and toast, deciding to save most of the bacon for Remus and himself. "Christmas is coming up, we could go shopping for gifts."
"Other than my parents, each other and Harry, who else do we have to buy gifts for?" asked Remus, digging into his potatoes. He had covered them, his eggs and even bacon and tomatoes in ketchup.
"You know, you're a better cook than you give yourself credit for. Your food isn't like James' where you have to drench it in ketchup to even eat it, you know," said Sirius, biting into his toast. Remus gave him a puzzled look.
"I like ketchup," was all he said.
The telephone rang. Remus started to stand up, but Sirius gestured to him that he'd get it.
"Hello?" asked Sirius, picking up the receiver of the black rotary phone that sat in the hallway between the kitchen and the front rooms.
"Hullo, Love," said Ferdinand Lupin from the other end, "How are you today?"
"I'm well, Ferdy. How are you and Josie?"
"We're doing great. We're actually headed down to around where you all live today to pick up a Christmas tree. Would you like to come with us? We thought you all probably need to get out of the house for a bit. When was the last time the two of you went out at all?"
"I have to discuss it with Re-"
"We'll buy you lunch." That was a weak spot for Sirius. Offering free food. He may have been raised in one of the richest wizarding families in the world, but free food was still the way to get him to do whatever you said to do.
"Okay, when will you be here?"
"About a quarter of an hour. Josie stopped at a petrol station and I decided to call and invite you two. Because she's been whining and moping about not getting to see the baby that often and it's getting kind of annoying. She keeps reminding me she's only thirty-nine and that we can have more children, but honestly, I'm not sure I want to go down that path... you know with Greyback still after me for some of my reports."
"Josie really fudges her age, doesn't she?" asked Sirius amused at her claim.
"No," said Ferdinand, sounding puzzled and a little hurt, "She is only thirty-nine. She had Remus when she was seventeen at the end of her seventh year."
"Oh..." feeling he had wrecked the conversation, Sirius said "I'll see you in a bit, Harry's crying. Got to go." He hung up the telephone and walked into the kitchen, back to his breakfast.
"Did you know your Mum is only thirty-nine?" asked Sirius, taking a bite into his fried tomato.
"She called?"
"Your dad did. Apparently she's been harassing him about having more children since Harry came."
"Oh? And how does Dad feel about this?" asked Remus, looking mildly amused as he took a sip of his tea.
"He doesn't want any more. Invited us to go hunting for a Christmas tree with them. They're taking us out for lunch too."
"Oh, the mighty Christmas tree, one of the most dangerous creatures in the entire world. Kills twenty-five people a year. Garners a 5x rating in Extraordinary Plants and Where to Find Them, the far less popular sequel to 'Fantastic Beasts," said Remus more dramatically than usual.
Sirius smiled and playfully wacked Remus with his napkin. "Shut up and eat; they'll be here pretty soon. We need to get this show on the road."
"I'm done. You on the other hand aren't. You're the one holding things up."
"I had to answer-," tried Sirius.
"Eat. I'll get Harry all ready. Like you said, they'll be here soon," said Remus looking amused.
"Oh, bugger off."
Sirius finished up breakfast and got ready for the day, just in time to hear the sound of a car horn outside.
Finding their trees with Remus' parents had been far easier than Sirius expected. All one simply had to do was drive to a place that farmed them, pay the people some money and look around for the perfect tree and cut it down without using magic. It was the last bit that tripped him up.
"So," he asked, feeling more than a little puzzled as he held the saw and looked at the tree while everyone else, including Harry, who sat on a sled Mr Lupin had brought, looked on in either amusement or pity, "How do you do this?"
"You take the saw, put it up by the tree and rub into it," explained Remus' mother patiently, placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder.
"I don't get it. Can't I pretend to do it and one of you use a spell to cut it?" he asked. Truthfully, Muggle technology made him more than a little nervous.
"Nope, you have to do it, Sirius," insisted Remus, "Family tradition, newest to it has to cut it down."
"Fine, but if I end up in St. Mungos, you have to visit every day. And bring cake."
"Deal," agreed Remus.
"On the count of three then?"
"Sure. One, Two, saw."
Sirius started sawing down the tree and with only a few small cuts, it was down.
"See," said Josephine, smiling smugly, "Was that so hard?"
"Quiet," was all Sirius had to say.
"You shouldn't talk like that to the woman whose buying you lunch," said Josephine, pretending to pout.
The drive to the nearest restaurant didn't take that long. There were almost no people there when they got there. The rush of people headed to the countryside stopping for breakfast had ended and the rush of the lunch crowd hadn't quite started yet. The only person there was a waitress behind the counter playing solitaire.
"Hello, folks, table for four and a highchair?" she asked in her most pleasant tones.
"Yes, Ma'am," said Remus, speaking for the group.
"Booth or table?"
"Table, I think," said Ferdinand, interrupting. He looked at the door nervously as it opened with a small ring of a bell hanging in the doorway.
"I'll be right back with the menus," said the young waitress chipperly.
"Josie, do you have some paper and a pen?" asked Ferdinand, still looking very nervous.
"Sure, Ferdinand," she said, reaching for her purse off the ground and pulling both things out.
Ferdinand wrote something quickly on the paper and then caught Sirius' eye. "Would you like to play tic-tac-toe?" he asked Sirius, calmly, passing him the pen and paper.
The scrawl on the paper read, 'We need to leave now.'
Sirius took the pen and paper from him 'Why?' "Your move, Ferdinand," said Sirius, handing it back.
'I'm pretty sure that's Greyback. The way he moved when he walked... Get Remus' attention, but be subtle about it! Only he'd know for sure.' "You go."
"Oi, Remus, I think your Dad's cheating making that move, can you check?" asked Sirius, trying to stay calm. He looked at the man, trying not to make it obvious he was watching him. He did look like some of the pictures of Greyback they'd put in the papers. The last time Sirius had seen the man in person had been back in '77 and a man could change a lot in five years, especially if a man was a werewolf.
Remus studied the note carefully and quickly took a look at the man across the room. "No, Sirius, Dad's right. That's a legal move."
"I don't think so," said Sirius, "Josephine, what do you think?"
Josephine, who had not been paying any attention and had instead been playing with Harry, finally turned to the rest of the table. She glanced at the note and then at her watch. Her voice sounded calm, but Sirius could tell she wasn't. "Who cares if that move is legal? We have to leave. The film starts in fifteen minutes. Ferdinand, you were supposed to be keeping track of the time. Come on, I don't want to miss it! They say 'On Golden Pond' is going to win best picture this year."
She grabbed her keys out of her purse, grabbed Harry out of his highchair and passed him and the keys to Remus. Each of the next couple steps here were carefully calculated in an unspoken mathematics. Remus was the fastest. Giving him Harry and the keys pretty much guaranteed at least two people would end up safe.
Ferdinand went out last. He was the one Greyback truly wanted dead. Him going last would ensure it would be harder for anyone else to get harmed.
Sirius put his hand into his coat pocket and got a grip on his wand as they walked out the door.
The man didn't follow.
The next day in the local paper, there was an article in the local paper about the murder of a local waitress who had been murdered in the same restaurant they had gone to lunch at. According to the paper, the killer had scrawled a note in her blood. 'You're on my list, Lupin family. You and the Boy Who Lived.' As Sirius read it, a chill went down his spine. Perhaps the month wouldn't be as good as he though.