House: Ravenclaw
Category: Themed
Prompt: Christmas
Word Count: 640

The Last Christmas

Sirius watched the Whomping Willow intently, as it stilled long enough to coat itself in a layer of the ever-falling snow, then shook it off with great force. It wasn't unlike a dog shaking off water, he thought, as it covered nearby students from head to foot in wet, cold mush. He liked that it worked like clockwork - still, shake, repeat, again and again. It took his mind off things, how everything was changing so quickly and he couldn't seem to keep up. More than anything, it made him forget he was feeling any emotion other than happy. Happy for Christmas, happy life was moving on, happy everyone was finally growing up.

The problem was, he just couldn't pretend. He couldn't stand the thought of it being the Marauders' last Christmas at Hogwarts.

That was why Sirius had taken the time to think, undisturbed in the Hogwarts' grounds. He had recently been taking a lot of time away from the people he cared about to clear his head. While he felt guilty, he couldn't help but enjoy the peace.

Sirius was still sitting outside a few hours later, when the rest of the Marauders went outside, deciding to take a break from the seemingly endless studying.

"What're you doing here, Padfoot?" James asked, grinning as he went to his best friend, slinging an arm over his shoulder.

"Ah, nothing. Just thinking," Sirius answered vaguely.

"Well, we were thinking too. As it's the Marauders last Christmas together, we're all going to stay at Hogwarts and celebrate it together."

Sirius smiled. He was hoping they would agree to stay, as he knew from experience that the Gryffindor tower got incredibly lonely when he was on his own at Christmas.

"That's a great idea, Prongs."

On Christmas morning, Sirius was woken by a very excited James jumping on his bed. Remus appeared to have been given a similar wake-up call, as he was rubbing his head and glaring at their friend.

"Prongs, what…" Sirius looked over at the alarm clock. "It's half four James, go back to bed!"

"I couldn't possibly do that!" James said, excitedly. "Most of the day's already flown by!"

"Okay, okay," Remus sighed, already sliding out of his four-poster. He sat down on Sirius' bed and was soon joined by Peter.

"Have we got the presents?" Peter asked the group, shyly.

They all simultaneously took out their gifts for each other. Sirius got Honeydukes' chocolate from Peter, new Quidditch gloves and a book on jinxes from James, and colour changing ink and liquorice wands from Remus.

He didn't receive anything from his parents which was okay - he hadn't expected anything.

It was still early morning, so the four went out to the grounds and engaged in a snowball fight, which they got really into, leaving them all soaked to the skin and freezing cold. Going inside to warm up, they skipped breakfast and were pleasantly surprised to find a sizeable stack of toast waiting for them in the Gryffindor Common Room instead.

The Christmas dinner was, as usual, the best thing Sirius had tasted all year. He was going to miss the house elves' cooking, he thought, grinning, as he stuffed himself with turkey, roast potatoes and peas.

"Slow down, Sirius, you look like you haven't eaten in a year!" Remus scolded, but for once

Sirius was backed by James and Peter, who couldn't deny that the Christmas dinner was, in fact, wonderful.

"So, Sirius, last Christmas at Hogwarts. How's it been?" Remus asked him that evening as they sat by the fire toasting marshmallows and playing Exploding Snap.

"Better than ever," Sirius said, and he meant it. He couldn't have asked for a better last Christmas at Hogwarts. Maybe it wasn't so bad to leave Hogwarts if he got to leave with his friends.

The End