Disclaimer: I don't own Christmas. Poo.
AN: I was in a rather Christmas spirit mood. In the past I've avoided writing the Marauders like the plague, but they really seemed to be the best candidates for a sappy series of vignettes. Don't you agree?
I'll Be Home for Christmas
Like it tends to do every year, Christmas rolled around at Hogwarts again, bringing along a healthy dose of holiday cheer. The twelve giant Christmas trees in the Great Hall were hung with popcorn bobbles that never went stale, twinkling fairy lights, and a songbird or two whistling tunes.
By each table there was a tree bedecked in the proper House colors, each complete with a candy cane for each student at every meal. The halls were lined with holly and streamers and tinsel.
There was even a fair share of tastefully positioned mistletoe, resulting in a number of red faces rushing down the halls.
Sirius Black couldn't get enough of it. Christmas at his home had often consisted of the manor being decorated expensively for visiting guests. Sirius had to get into his best dress robes, and circulate throughout the crowd, showing off what a good job his parents were doing of raising a clever and handsome young boy.
This year he wore sweaters, and threw snowballs, and made a spectacular fool of himself by gaping when they entered the Great Hall. He had always known Christmas was supposed to be a time of happiness and contentment, but he had never gotten into the spirit before.
It was much better, he decided, to get into the spirit.
"Candy canes at breakfast?" Remus Lupin asked, looking at the Gryffindor tree, streaming with ribbons of red and gold. "Mine from yesterday is still here," he noted, looking at the two identical tags where somebody had scribbled Remus J Lupin.
"You should eat both. People will think that you don't appreciate what Dumbledore's doing," James Potter said, pulling his own candy off the tree, and sitting himself at the table.
Lupin looked at both thoughtfully. "I'm not very hungry right now. You and Sirius can have them if you want."
James looked affronted. "Oh no, Remus I couldn't-"
"My pleasure. Thank you." Sirius shot a flashing grin to his friend, and sat down opposite James.
"With manners like that, you'll never get a girlfriend," James warned, piling eggs onto his plate.
Sirius wrinkled his nose. "So what? I don't want a girlfriend."
"Good," Lupin said mildly, "because I'm fairly certain no girl will ever want to deal with you." He took a seat next to Sirius, and started drinking his goblet of pumpkin juice.
Unable to think of a retort, Sirius settled with sticking out his tongue.
"Sirius, I know you say you're eleven, but are you sure it's not a few years younger?" Lupin asked, finishing his juice, and setting the goblet aside. Without waiting for a response, he stood up, "I have some presents to wrap for tomorrow," he said, "I'll see you in Transfiguration." With that, he disappeared.
James's hazel eyes watched him go with concern. "He hasn't eaten anything for about three days. Do you think he's sick?"
Despite the fact that he hated good manners, Sirius could not allow himself to talk with a mouthful of food. "He'll start eating again. He always does."
"But Sirius..."
"James. He'll tell us if or when he wants to." Being patient and mature was not something Sirius Black regularly did, so James decided to listen to him.
"I just want to know what he's hiding from us." James said after a long silence.
"He'll tell us when he's ready," Sirius said firmly. And that was that.
~~~~~~~~~
"Christmas at Hogwarts just gets better every year," Sirius said in awe, as they entered the front doors from a particularly fierce snowball fight. "They always outdo themselves."
"The teachers or the students?" Lupin asked amusedly from his left side, as a couple walked by, the boy looking at the red and green scarf in his hands with amazement. "Who came up with that scarf idea?"
Sirius gave him a smile that would make many of the girls melt into puddles, and his eyes flashed. "One of my many admirers, of course."
Lupin didn't doubt it. At the beginning of December, a rather clever Ravenclaw witch had approached Sirius with a red and green scarf as a present. Soon, every girl was learning how to knit in order to bestow a Christmas scarf to the boy they fancied. Sirius had already gotten twelve. James had been given one by a begrudging Lily, who stated that she hadn't wanted to, but if she didn't then the girls would start to think that he was free. As a result, James hardly went anywhere without it on.
"Moony, what would say to some hot chocolate?"
Lupin stamped his feet. "No thanks, I have some last minute Potions to finish up. You go along without me. Maybe you'll receive lucky thirteen."
Sirius grinned again. He kept every scarf he had been offered, but instead of wearing them, preferred to tie them to the bedpost. Every night he would count them off with a smug grin on his face, until James threw a pillow or heavier object.
"If you ever mixed with people, maybe you would get one. I'll go get some cocoa from the kitchens, and meet you in the common room, all right?"
"All right."
Upon entering the common room, Lupin was greeted with the sight of a roaring fire, and possibly the best decorations yet. Passing by a few occupied couples, he took a seat in a squashy chair near the fireplace, and took out his essay.
When Sirius showed up with two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, he displayed yet another scarf, and sat there gossiping about it while Lupin worked. "I'm surprised that they keep handing these out to me," he was saying, "when they just know I'm never going to wear one. The girl who gave this to me suspected that I was taken already, you know."
"Hmm." Lupin had learned long ago to ignore Sirius when he went off on a rant.
"Yes, she asked me if the girl I fancied hadn't given me one yet, and that's why I wasn't wearing them. I told her that I wasn't going to wear any of the scarves that anybody gave me because I thought it was silly. She then suggested that I was involved with somebody who wasn't clever enough to knit."
Despite the fact that Lupin quite agreed with Lily that the scarves were ridiculous, he couldn't help envying Sirius somewhat. The fact that thirteen separate girls had gone to the trouble of knitting a scarf for him, while not even one had bothered to try for him was more than just a small blow to his self-esteem. Still, he was determined not to care.
Or at least, appear not to care.
The next morning, the Marauders trooped down to the common room to open presents. Halfway through unwrapping her gift from James, Lily burst into tears. Bewildered, James put an arm around her. "What's the matter? I thought you would love that color, you always said that you-"
"Oh, it's not that James. I do love the color. It's just that" – she choked on her words – "this is our last Christmas at Hogwarts. I don't think I can stand to leave this behind."
"We don't have to," Sirius said brightly. "Every Christmas from now on we'll have it together. Not one of us will be alone on Christmas or Christmas Eve."
"Promise," Lily said tremulously. "Promise we'll always have this."
~~~~~~~~~
"The house looks great. Let me guess, Lily did all the decorating." James made a face at Lupin, and hung the final globe on the tree.
"I'll have you know that I had put up all the lights outside."
"Oh no," Sirius deadpanned. "Waving a wand is such strenuous work."
"For James it is," Lily laughed, coming out of the kitchen with a plate of gingerbread men. "Although, apparently, making dozens of cookies is not. They look wonderful James."
Sirius coughed discreetly. "I fancy some fresh air. Come on Moony." Lupin followed him dutifully outside, in order to let the newlyweds have some time alone.
Snow was falling gently outside, making the neighborhood appear like something out of a painting. "You know, sometimes I hate James," Sirius commented.
Lupin was taken aback. "You what?"
"Hate him," Sirius repeated. "I'm so jealous of him. He has a wife, and a house, and a job. Then there's me. The eternal kid, the bachelor with the swinging pad. I'd almost like to settle down somewhere. Don't you ever feel that way?"
"All the time," Lupin admitted, taking a seat on the swinging chair. "If it makes you feel any better, I hate James sometimes too."
Sirius took a seat beside Lupin in the chair, and they rocked back and forth for several minutes. Finally, Sirius turned to look at his friend. "I know I have a present for you under the tree, but I wanted to give you something else as well." He produced a bulky package. "I didn't want to give it you in front of Lily and James, or I'd never hear the end of it."
He handed the package over, and Lupin stared at it for a minute. "Sirius, if you-"
"It's not a joke."
Convinced, Lupin undid the paper, and laughed at what was inside. Lying on his lap were the thirteen scarves Sirius had received their seventh year at Hogwarts. "The scarves?"
"I just wanted you to, you know, feel like somebody thinks about you. I think about you all the time, Moony, I care about you a lot."
It was the first time Lupin ever truly felt the Christmas spirit seep into him. "Thank you," he gulped.
The front door opened. "Hey, stop hugging like that, the neighbors will stare," James said lightly. "It's safe to come inside now."
Lupin concealed the scarves under his cloak, when they entered the house. "Dinner smells wonderful," he commented.
"Of course we have to go, popular bachelors like us have got too many appointments on Friday nights." Sirius pulled on his cloak. "We'll be back tomorrow morning to open presents."
James looked at him woefully. "I know."
Lupin picked up his own cloak, causing all the scarves to fall to the ground.
"Are those...those aren't all those scarves that were being handed around a few years ago, are they?" James asked, close to laughing.
"They are," Lupin managed to say with dignity, picking up and winding it around his neck. He gathered the remaining twelve in his arms, and moved for the front door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
James was laughing for real this time. Sirius and Lupin exchanged confused glances. "What's so funny?" Sirius asked. "I thought you didn't want to see us go."
"I don't," James chuckled, then pointed above their heads at the doorframe. It's just that, you're standing under the mistletoe."
Fin