Sorry it's been a while since I last uploaded a chapter, but its here now.
Enjoy and please please review, Reviews make me write faster :)
only just realised this doesn't seem to break up, so sorry if you feel its too much text in one go, I'm sorry.
Remus opened his eyes and looked up at the darkness above of him, little chunks of light skittered across the edge where the folds of the thick curtain let it in at the top. He felt his mouth curl into a smile, for some inexplicable reason he felt exceedingly happy today, maybe the fact that Christmas was approaching was finally setting in or it was that he was soon to see his father again.
Still smiling, Remus pulled his duvet from over his legs and swung around so he could open his hangings without having to stretch, yanking the thick material back, Remus blinked a couple of times as his eyes adjusted to harsh brightness. The dorm looked the same as ever, discarded clothes and sweet rappers littered the floor around the other three boy's beds and Remus could see Sirius's dark mop of hair sticking over the top of his covers. Sirius never slept with his curtains drawn in case of the need for a quick getaway was suddenly required and the thick material got in his way.
Humming softly to himself Remus slid out of bed and padded over to the small bathroom they all shared and began to wash his face in the cool water that was spurting from the shiny metal tap into the clean enamel sink. Running a comb through his mussed up honey hair, Remus pulled his robes on and unlocked the door. None of his roommates had woken up yet so it fell to him to be the personal alarm clock of one Sirius Black.
Tugging at the bottom corner of Sirius's bed clothes, Remus pulled the duvet down so his friends head and shoulders were visible, causing the young boy to twitch a little then burrow lower into the warmth of his bed. Sighing, Remus tugged the covers more before ripping them unceremoniously from on top of Sirius, who in turn squealed like a small child and jumped up from bed.
"Merlin Rem! Its bloody freezing" Sirius roared before jumping on Remus who was laughing so hard that tears sprung from his eyes, yelping and laughing the two of them rolled around on the floor in mock fight before Remus pulled himself up and straightened his school robes. The commotion had awoken Peter and James, who peered blearily from their own beds to look down at Sirius who was still sitting disgruntled on the dormitory floor.
Remus offered Sirius his hand, who gladly accepted the offer and was soon on his feet again.
"Remus if you ever do that again I'm going to hex your arse into your ears" Sirius threatened him before he wandered into the bathroom, his dark hair sticking up at the back.
Turning round to grin at his friends, Remus laughed at their confused faces before making his way down into the common room, too hungry to wait for them to be ready for breakfast. Just as he entered the cosy room he caught sight of a flash of red hair bob above the back of one the overstuffed armchairs then disappear from sight again. Creeping over quietly, he placed one hand on either side of her head before shouting her name loudly.
"Lily!" His exclamation caused her to scream and spin around, an angry expression on her pretty face. Snarling in way that would scare of a pack of lions; she smacked her book against his head.
"Don't ever creep up on me again, Remus Lupin!" Lily hollered at him, her hair falling out of her bun at the edges.
"Whoa, clam down Lils, it was only a joke" he told her hurriedly as he placed his hands up in surrender, sighing up at him, she climbed off of the chair and began towards the portrait hole, Remus following behind silently.
When they arrived at the hall, it was mostly empty, only a few students sat at each table as the rest were probably still in bed. Lily and Remus parted ways when they reached the Gryffindor table, Lily going to join a fifth year prefect who she has become friendly towards, and Remus to sit in his usual spot on the table.
Piling up his plate with bacon and eggs, Remus began to listen to two older students with bright ginger hair who were talking loudly and laughing cheerily.
"Did you see McWhiskers face when you charmed Adam to sing Love songs to her whenever he opened his mouth?" One of the boys asked the other, a wide grin on his freckly face, the other nodded before falling back in peals of laughter.
"Though we have still to beat that rather magnificent octopus that sent McWhiskers into a relentless quest for blood and vengeance" One of them said to other, both looked so alike it was hard to tell which one had spoken before if you weren't playing attention. At the mention of the infamous octopus prank, Remus spluttered a little on food, bringing himself to the attention of the twin boys just along the table.
"You alright there?" The one closest to Remus asked, his brown eyes still shining with laughter.
"Umm, yeh I'm fine, just the mention of the octopus prank caught me off guard" He said confidently, his unusually happy demeanour taking over from his shyness. The two boys glanced at each other knowingly before speaking again.
"Take it you got caught up in all the goo then?" the farthest away boy asked him, a small smile on his freckly face. Remus smirked and turned back to his plate full of food before answering.
"Oh no, my friends and I were behind that whole thing" He said airily before taking a bite out of the sausage speared on his fork. Both boys grinned at each other before leaning forward on their elbows to talk privately to Remus.
"Well done, me and Gid here are going to have to keep a look out for you lot, this school needs some more trouble makers" With that they two boys slid from behind the table and walked out of the steadily filling hall.
Eventually Sirius, James and Peter immerged from the throng of students milling around in the entrance hall, two identical expressions of mischief of the former two's faces, almost at the same time the three of them sank down next to each other opposite Remus. Sirius's face gave him straight away, his arching grin and shining eyes, not to mention the fact he was practically buzzing with excitement, Remus narrowed his eyes and asked cautiously, "Siri, what have you done?"
However before Sirius could answer Remus's question a series of four loud explosions filled the air, extracting many shrieks of shock from all over the hall and the staff table, and causing an angry looking Professor McGonagall to storm out of the wide wooden doors, followed by a faintly amused looking headmaster.
A look of indiscretion washed over Remus as he stared at his three grinning friends; of course they would be responsible for blowing up the school, who else could it be? His happiness slowly died away inside of him, leaving annoyance and slighted anger. He glared at them stonily.
Sirius finally took note of Remus's less then pleased expression and began to peer into his eyes as if to see what was making Remus angry.
"Rem, you look like a dragon just ate your favourite book, what's up?" Sirius asked him carefully, in case Remus's sudden and frankly frightening wrath was released on him.
"Oh I don't know, maybe the fact you just blew up the school and they are obviously going to find out it was you and I'll probably be added along to your detentions" Remus answer crisply before turning away with a huff to look at Dumbledore who was re-entering the main hall. Every head soon turned to look the headmaster whose eyes were twinkling and a small smile starting at the right corner of his mouth.
"Due to a sudden…explosion on the second floor, all lessons are suspended for today. But I assure you that we will catch the culprits and they will be severely punished" after he had finished his small speech the students erupted into happy cheers at gaining an unexpected day off.
"See Rem, it's not all bad, I got us a day off of the boring lessons" Sirius crowed happily, but Remus looked back at him affronted.
"Oh, Erm okay Rem, calm down, I promise if we do get caught we'll tell McGonagall it wasn't you" James intervened quickly, obviously hoping he could appease Remus before he got angry.
Sighing, Remus relented and allowed himself to be dragged out of the hall by his friends and head towards the great oak doors, before they could exit however, the massive form Hagrid blocked their way. Sirius who had formed a tight friendship with the games keeper over the few months he had been at Hogwarts greeted him warmly.
"Hello Hagrid, mind if we come to visit you later?" Sirius called up to the man, who in return cracked a wide grin that was almost covered by his tangled black beard.
"'Ello Sirius, sure thing jus' come down whenever you please" He replied before lumbering over to the headmaster who was still standing in the great hall. Without a second glance Sirius grabbed Remus and Peter by the robes and pushed them out into the snow that had fallen about a foot deep, and soon followed them with James by his side.
"Gentlemen, I propose an all out snowball war that the likes have never been seen before" Sirius stated loudly before grabbing Remus by the arm and running behind a tree as James threw the first ball of compacted snow that hit Sirius's leather satchel with a thud.
Peeking from behind the tree, Remus saw James and Peter frantically gathering snow and making small piles of snowballs all over where they were sheltering, and then back at Sirius who also was bust gathering snow to throw back in retaliation. Grabbing his wand Remus pointed it at the snow and whispered the spell his father had taught him when they had once played a game of snowballs in their vast back garden, and the soft snow began to form into small balls on their own and line up in the air ready to be thrown or cast away.
"Awesome" Sirius breathed before lobbing his own icy handful of snow at James and Peter. Remus smiled and flicked his wand sending the dozen snowballs right to their targets, causing James to scream as snow was pelted at him from every direction.
The fight carried on much the same, until James managed to somehow cast the Disillusionment Charm over large amounts of snow and levitate them over Remus and Sirius, causing them to be continually showered with snow, but never able to actually tell when they were going to be covered in the cold white stuff. After this the attacks from both sides grew steadily more unusually, with Sirius transfiguring the snowballs into little ice birds that kept pummelling the target until they melted, and James charming the snow to hit Remus and Sirius from the back and from the front at the same time.
Remus, who had left his gloves up in the dorm room, could no longer feel his fingers and was fumbling with his wand, trying to charm the snow to move in a wave and cover Peter and James, when a well aimed snowball hit him in the back of the head causing him to stumble and slide down the steep decent just behind where he and Sirius where sheltering. Shouting in surprise, he slid headfirst into a small snow drift that had gathered in the dip.
Spluttering and rubbing the ice from his eyes he sat up and watched as Sirius edged his way down to him.
"You all right?" he asked when he was halfway down, his hat skew on his head.
"I'm hunky-dory Sirius" Remus laughed back up at him, smiling at the look of relief on Sirius's face. After hearing the commotion Remus had made as he fell, James and Peter rushed over to look at what was happening.
"Come on guys, let's go to Hagrids now, I've had enough of snow" Sirius shouted up at them before pulling Remus up to his feet and pulling him in the direction of Hagrids hut. The four of them all soaked with snow trudged up the path to the gamekeeper's door and stood their shivering whilst James knocked.
Hagrid swung the door open and ushered them into his cosy round house, the fire was blazing and a large kettle was boiling away happily on the oven.
"What ya been doin' ay? Yer all gonna freeze if yer not careful" Hagrid chuckled as he handed a mug of steaming tea to each of them, Remus cradled his and revelled in the warmth it gave his frozen fingers.
"Oh you know Hagrid, just the normal stuff" Sirius told him with a shrug before slurping his hot tea greedily. Hagrid smiled again before sitting down in his own large chair and taking a sip out of his own bucket sized mug.
"So what're you lot doin' over the holidays?" Hagrid asked the four of them, looking at each In turn.
"Oh me and James are staying here, can't wait be honest. Bet it will be a million times better than at my house" Sirius told him cheerily before elbowing Peter to tell him it was his turn to talk.
"I'm going home then I have to visit my cousins for the last week" Peter said glumly, obviously not to enthralled with his lot, and began to gulp his drink sadly.
"Remus" James prompted from where he sat next to Hagrid, breaking Remus from his slight daydream.
"I'm going home for Christmas" Remus said quietly, his carefree confidence gone from that morning. Hagrid looked at him for a few seconds then nodded.
"Your John Lupin's son aint cha?" Hagrid asked him eventually. Remus nodded then looked away embarrassed. "Good man your father, always liked 'im" He carried on before adding, "Liked yer Mum too, always smiling and nice to everyone, shame really" His voice went a little distant as if he was remembering.
Remus shifted uncomfortably and gazed down into the last dregs of his tea, hoping the stares his friends were giving him would end soon. After the uncomfortable silence had reached its breaking point, Sirius suddenly spoke up.
"Well Hagrid, it's been good talking, but I reckon we should go I'm kind of hungry and a little cold" Sirius said cheerily before dragging all three of his friends out of the door before Hagrid could protest. They all walked in silence until they reached the second floor corridor.
"Rem, you okay?" James asked him from the right whilst Sirius looked at him worriedly.
"I'm fine don't worry, it just makes me sad that other people know so much about my mum, and all I remember is jarred, broken memories" Remus told them sadly before an explosive sneeze shook him. He blinked then laughed.
"Huh, maybe we spent too much time in the snow" Sirius laughed, glad for the change in subject.
When they reached the Common room Remus made a bee-line for their dormitory, closely followed Sirius and James who had also begun to sneeze violently. They pulled off their soggy robes and dropped into their beds. Remus carefully pulled on a baggy green jumper his father had given him for Christmas and crawled into bed with a leather-bound book in his hand.
He only managed to read a chapter or two before his head began to swim and he was forced to close his eyes.
"Hey, you alright Rem?" James called to him from his own bed, his voice a little bit concerned but basically the same as normal.
"Yeh I'm fine, I think I've got a cold coming because I've got a terrible headache starting" Remus told him quietly before falling back onto his pillow with a groan and began scrubbing his knuckles over his eye sockets.
He heard the springs creak as James and Sirius both got out of bed and walked over to him, and felt it when they sat on either side of him when the mattress dipped. Sirius grabbed Remus's hands and pulled them away from his face so he could look him in the eye.
"You absolutely sure you're alright? Cause we could go and get someone if not" Sirius told him, his eyes concerned and his face kind. Remus's chest ached at how much they actually cared for his well being, and it made him feel warm and loved inside.
"Honestly I'm fine I just need to sleep it off" Remus assured them with a nod, but neither James nor Sirius left his bed though. "Umm what are you guys doing?" he asked him confused as to their actions.
"Just a precaution Rem, we can't be too careful" Sirius told him warmly before budging him up and relaxing back. Remus wanted to cry out at how wrong it was for them to be feeling protective over something that could rip their throats out in seconds, but he didn't, so just tried to get comfy in the limited space available to him since James and Sirius had taken over his bed.
After about fifteen minutes Remus felt himself fall into a semi sleep where he was plagued by strange images that skittered across his consciousness, after what felt like an age he was prodded awake by James. Groaning he shuffled towards Sirius so as to escape the prodding but it carried on even against his efforts, eventually he pulled open his eyes and glared at James.
"Hey Rem, sorry about that, just you got a letter" James told him sheepishly, emus turned around to Sirius who had a familiar owl perched on his knee. Remus fumbled a little with the tie on the letter but managed to release the parchment into his hand. Carefully tugging the seal open he began to read.
Dear Remus,
I am very much looking forward to seeing you next week; I am writing this to notify you of a slight change to our Christmas plans. Your great aunt Luminessa will be staying with us as her house has suddenly been taken victim by three very nasty ghouls that the ministry is having trouble with. I hope you don't mind this arrangement as she has always been fond of you. Remember to meet me by the floo gates on the platform.
Love Dad x
Remus smiled and showed the letter to Sirius who then showed it to James.
"So who's this aunt Luminessa then?" Sirius asked cautiously just in case she was anything like Remus's grandmother.
"Oh she's the best, I've always liked her best from my relatives" Remus told them before burrowing deeply into the duvet and letting sleep take him again
Don't be fooled by the endning, it soo does not portray the feeling of the next chapter, any way REVIEW please ;D