Chapter nine: Christmas Back Home
The next month or so passed quickly and uneventfully, and everyone grew excited as Christmas drew near. Remus found out that some students stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas break and some went home. All of Remus' friends were going home, so Remus decided to go home as well. To his delight, James invited the whole gang to his house for the second week of break. Remus was surprised that his parents had agreed to this, he didn't think his mom wanted him around wizards more than necessary.
The last day of the term came, and after a particularly difficult potions lesson, Remus, Sirius, James and Austin retreated to their room and began to pack. After a few minutes, they were surprised to notice Peter sitting on his bed, reading. He usually only came to their room to sleep, now that he was friends with the biggest group of bullies in the school.
"Hi Peter," James said tentatively.
Peter barely looked up. "Hi."
James tried again. "Why aren't you packing to go home?"
"Parents went on a trip. Staying here," Peter replied shortly.
Sirius looked annoyed at the conversation, but said sarcastically, "Where are all of your little friends?"
This made Peter look straight at Sirius, his eyes shooting daggers at him. "Going home." He glared at everyone and went back to reading his book.
Everyone got the hint that they had better leave Peter alone for now, and they were all glad to be leaving him behind, even Austin, who Peter hadn't abandoned.
The packing was quickly finished, and they went down for dinner. Remus inhaled his food, he was so excited to be getting back home, he couldn't wait. It wasn't that he didn't like Hogwarts- he loved it- he just missed his parents and he wanted to share his experiences with them. He also wanted to hear some of the stories from his dad's school days, since they had never spoken of them.
After dinner, Remus played James at wizard chess, but uncharacteristically, lost quite badly because his thoughts were so preoccupied. It seemed like an eternity before it was time for bed, and Remus fell asleep quickly.
The next morning, everyone rushed around, packing last minute things, saying goodbye and taking their trunks to the waiting carriages. After much chaos, the carriages left, taking the students to the Hogwarts Express. Remus, Lily, Sirius, James and Austin shared a compartment on the train. They talked excitedly of what they hoped to receive for Christmas, as well as what they would do when they were all together at James'. As the train pulled into the station, they all bid each other goodbye.
"Have a nice Christmas," Remus called.
"See you all in a week," shouted James.
Remus waved to everyone, then turned around to take his trunk and ran right into Arthur Weasley.
"Hello, Remus," Arthur said smiling. "Happy to be going home for the holidays?"
"Yeah," Remus said, grinning back. Arthur's sister Meg came over and together they went to find their fathers. They were sure that they would be talking to each other, and they were. Nick greeted Remus with a big hug.
"How are you, my boy?" he said warmly.
"I'm good, dad, how's mom?" Remus said.
"She's doing as well as can be expected," Remus' father replied. Meg smiled consolingly at Remus, thinking Nick referred to his wife's illness, when in fact he meant she was dealing with the wizard world as best she could.
Nick and Remus began to say their good-bye's to the Weasleys when Meg interrupted.
"Oh Remus, I almost forgot," Meg exclaimed. "Arabella Figg asked me to give you this, since you had already left when she came looking for you. She's staying at school." Meg held out a small package, wrapped in bright paper.
"Thanks, Meg," Remus said with confusion. Why had Arabella gotten him a present? He hadn't gotten her anything. But Nick nudged Remus and he came out of his daze to say goodbye. Father and son walked together out to the space between platforms 9 and 10.
"It's good to have you back, son," Nick said, his cheeks turning a bit red.
Remus smiled reassuringly. "It's good to be back, dad."
When Remus and his father walked into their house, Remus' mother was waiting at the door for them. Her eyes were shining with tears, but she had a genuine grin of happiness on her face. Before either of them could say anything, she pulled Remus to her in a tight embrace. After a minute or so, she let him go, but held him at an arms length and looked him over.
"You're doing well?" she asked.
"Yeah, mom, I like school. But I really missed you guys," Remus said quickly. The last thing he wanted was to upset his mother during their short time together. He was relieved to see her smile back and him.
"We sure miss you, too, honey," she said.
Remus' dad intervened. "Enough of that, we're together for now, let's make the most of it." Remus and his mother agreed, and they sat down around the kitchen table. His parents asked him a million questions about school while they ate dinner.
"So nothing has gone wrong at the full moon...?" Nick's voice trailed off.
"Nope." Remus shook his head. "Dumbledore planned well for me and I have followed all of his instructions." A voice at the back of his head said, 'No you didn't. You came out of the shack and James saw you.' But looking at his parents' relieved faces, Remus pushed the thought aside, telling himself that he had only promised to stay out of danger, not keep his condition a secret.
It was late before Remus got to his room to unpack, and it wasn't until then that he remembered Arabella's present. He quickly found the brightly wrapped package and sat down to unwrap it. It was a book. Remus read the title (That's Wizard's Chess! A Strategy Guide for the New Wizard) and smiled. He could sure use a few pointers. He flipped the book open to read a bit, and a note fell out. 'What's this?' Remus wondered as he picked the parchment up from the floor.
The note said:
Dear Remus, I hope you enjoy the book, I have often noticed you playing chess with Sirius or James in the common room. I also hope you are enjoying your wizarding life. In case you were wondering about Mike, he's a nice kid and I like him, but I have a feeling that you are going to be much more important than him in the future. Have a nice holiday! Your Friend, Arabella
Remus set the book and note aside, feeling a bit confused. What did she mean by he'd be more important to her in the future? But his mind was soon distracted by thoughts of Christmas and seeing Lily and his friends soon, and he forgot about Arabella's strange letter.
Remus spent the next couple of days enjoying his parents' company, reveling in the attention he got from them. His mom was a bit overprotective, but after months at school, the extra attention felt nice for a few days.
Soon, it was Christmas morning. Remus woke early, excited to find so many packages beneath the tree. He tried to wait patiently until his parents woke up, but he was eleven years old and he just couldn't wait. He knocked lightly on the door to his parents' room.
"What is it?" his mom answered sleepily.
Remus pushed the door open and smiled. "It's Christmas morning!!"
His dad laughed. "So it is. We'll be out in a minute. Why don't you look in your stocking while you wait?"
Remus ran out of the room and took his stocking off of the mantle above the fireplace. He took out lots of candies, Muggle candy like Hershey's bars and candy canes as well as wizard treats like chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's beans. He was happily eating a pizza-flavored bean when his parents came into the room.
His mother smiled. "It looks like Santa was extra busy this year."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Mom, I'm too old to believe in Santa."
Nick laughed. "You used to be too old to believe in magic as well."
"Are you trying to tell me that there really is a Santa?" Remus asked, wide eyed (he was after all, only 11.)
"No, son, I'm sorry to say Santa really is a myth," Remus' father said, trying not to laugh at Remus' crestfallen expression. "But there are lots of lovely presents for you under the tree."
Remus' eyes brightened and he began to tear open a package. To his surprise, inside the package was a broom. It was a Comet 50, which James had said was the newest and best broom on the market. Remus looked at his dad in wonder.
"Do you like it?" Nick asked hopefully.
"I love it, dad," Remus said as he gave his dad a big hug. "I can't wait to try it out."
"Now you know you can't take it to school this year, right?"
Remus nodded as his mother said, "It's a good thing, too, that thing looks dangerous."
Remus turned to look at her and opened his mouth to reassure her, when her face broke into a smile. "I'm just kidding, dear. I'm sure you'll be careful." To Remus, his mother's trust in him and his new world was a much better gift than his broom.
Remus opened many more gifts, which were a mixture of Muggle and wizard. His favorites, other than his broom, were an owl, a wizard chess set and a new bike. The bike would be useful for the summer, because riding his broom would have attracted the attention of every Muggle in his town.
Then his parents opened their presents from Remus. His mother was pleased with her bottle of Madam Hubert's perfume, which boasted it "could charm any wizard into a romantic mood." For his father, Remus had bought a book on a local quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons.
"This looks interesting," Nick said, smiling. "I never have gone to see them play. Would you like to go this summer and see them?"
Remus replied excitedly, "Sure dad!" Then he added, "Wait, isn't the World Cup this summer?"
"You're right, it is," his father said. "I'll try and get us some tickets for that instead."
"James, Sirius, Austin, Lily and I all wanted to go together this summer," Remus said.
"That's no problem." His dad smiled. "I'll get enough tickets for all of us."
"Great, dad. Thanks so much!" Remus smiled.
"You're welcome," Nick smiled back. "Now let's get some food in our stomachs."
The Lupins had a pleasant lunch, during which Remus' dad announced to Remus that they would eat Boxing Day dinner with the Weasley family.
"That's great, dad. I haven't gotten much of a chance to talk to Arthur or Meg at school, but they seem really nice," Remus said.
"The whole family is, as I remember, and there are a lot of them I haven't seen in many years," Nick replied.
"I think I remember Mrs. Weasley," Remus' mom ventured. "She seemed very nice."
After lunch, Remus took his new owl to his room. "I need to think of a name for you," he said to his owl. "And then I need you to take letters to my friends to tell them about the World Cup." The brown owl hooted softly as Remus tried to think of a good name. He flipped through one of his schoolbooks for ideas.
"How about Aidan?" Remus said. "That's the name of an Irish wizard who saved a whole town from a blood sucking vampire." The owl hooted loudly in appreciation of the name.
Remus laughed. "That settles it then, Aidan." Then he wrote quick notes to his friends telling them that his dad was going to get them tickets to next summer's world cup. He couldn't resist adding that he had received a Comet 50 broom for Christmas. He tied the notes to Aidan's leg, and Aidan flew out the window to deliver them.
The next month or so passed quickly and uneventfully, and everyone grew excited as Christmas drew near. Remus found out that some students stayed at Hogwarts over Christmas break and some went home. All of Remus' friends were going home, so Remus decided to go home as well. To his delight, James invited the whole gang to his house for the second week of break. Remus was surprised that his parents had agreed to this, he didn't think his mom wanted him around wizards more than necessary.
The last day of the term came, and after a particularly difficult potions lesson, Remus, Sirius, James and Austin retreated to their room and began to pack. After a few minutes, they were surprised to notice Peter sitting on his bed, reading. He usually only came to their room to sleep, now that he was friends with the biggest group of bullies in the school.
"Hi Peter," James said tentatively.
Peter barely looked up. "Hi."
James tried again. "Why aren't you packing to go home?"
"Parents went on a trip. Staying here," Peter replied shortly.
Sirius looked annoyed at the conversation, but said sarcastically, "Where are all of your little friends?"
This made Peter look straight at Sirius, his eyes shooting daggers at him. "Going home." He glared at everyone and went back to reading his book.
Everyone got the hint that they had better leave Peter alone for now, and they were all glad to be leaving him behind, even Austin, who Peter hadn't abandoned.
The packing was quickly finished, and they went down for dinner. Remus inhaled his food, he was so excited to be getting back home, he couldn't wait. It wasn't that he didn't like Hogwarts- he loved it- he just missed his parents and he wanted to share his experiences with them. He also wanted to hear some of the stories from his dad's school days, since they had never spoken of them.
After dinner, Remus played James at wizard chess, but uncharacteristically, lost quite badly because his thoughts were so preoccupied. It seemed like an eternity before it was time for bed, and Remus fell asleep quickly.
The next morning, everyone rushed around, packing last minute things, saying goodbye and taking their trunks to the waiting carriages. After much chaos, the carriages left, taking the students to the Hogwarts Express. Remus, Lily, Sirius, James and Austin shared a compartment on the train. They talked excitedly of what they hoped to receive for Christmas, as well as what they would do when they were all together at James'. As the train pulled into the station, they all bid each other goodbye.
"Have a nice Christmas," Remus called.
"See you all in a week," shouted James.
Remus waved to everyone, then turned around to take his trunk and ran right into Arthur Weasley.
"Hello, Remus," Arthur said smiling. "Happy to be going home for the holidays?"
"Yeah," Remus said, grinning back. Arthur's sister Meg came over and together they went to find their fathers. They were sure that they would be talking to each other, and they were. Nick greeted Remus with a big hug.
"How are you, my boy?" he said warmly.
"I'm good, dad, how's mom?" Remus said.
"She's doing as well as can be expected," Remus' father replied. Meg smiled consolingly at Remus, thinking Nick referred to his wife's illness, when in fact he meant she was dealing with the wizard world as best she could.
Nick and Remus began to say their good-bye's to the Weasleys when Meg interrupted.
"Oh Remus, I almost forgot," Meg exclaimed. "Arabella Figg asked me to give you this, since you had already left when she came looking for you. She's staying at school." Meg held out a small package, wrapped in bright paper.
"Thanks, Meg," Remus said with confusion. Why had Arabella gotten him a present? He hadn't gotten her anything. But Nick nudged Remus and he came out of his daze to say goodbye. Father and son walked together out to the space between platforms 9 and 10.
"It's good to have you back, son," Nick said, his cheeks turning a bit red.
Remus smiled reassuringly. "It's good to be back, dad."
When Remus and his father walked into their house, Remus' mother was waiting at the door for them. Her eyes were shining with tears, but she had a genuine grin of happiness on her face. Before either of them could say anything, she pulled Remus to her in a tight embrace. After a minute or so, she let him go, but held him at an arms length and looked him over.
"You're doing well?" she asked.
"Yeah, mom, I like school. But I really missed you guys," Remus said quickly. The last thing he wanted was to upset his mother during their short time together. He was relieved to see her smile back and him.
"We sure miss you, too, honey," she said.
Remus' dad intervened. "Enough of that, we're together for now, let's make the most of it." Remus and his mother agreed, and they sat down around the kitchen table. His parents asked him a million questions about school while they ate dinner.
"So nothing has gone wrong at the full moon...?" Nick's voice trailed off.
"Nope." Remus shook his head. "Dumbledore planned well for me and I have followed all of his instructions." A voice at the back of his head said, 'No you didn't. You came out of the shack and James saw you.' But looking at his parents' relieved faces, Remus pushed the thought aside, telling himself that he had only promised to stay out of danger, not keep his condition a secret.
It was late before Remus got to his room to unpack, and it wasn't until then that he remembered Arabella's present. He quickly found the brightly wrapped package and sat down to unwrap it. It was a book. Remus read the title (That's Wizard's Chess! A Strategy Guide for the New Wizard) and smiled. He could sure use a few pointers. He flipped the book open to read a bit, and a note fell out. 'What's this?' Remus wondered as he picked the parchment up from the floor.
The note said:
Dear Remus, I hope you enjoy the book, I have often noticed you playing chess with Sirius or James in the common room. I also hope you are enjoying your wizarding life. In case you were wondering about Mike, he's a nice kid and I like him, but I have a feeling that you are going to be much more important than him in the future. Have a nice holiday! Your Friend, Arabella
Remus set the book and note aside, feeling a bit confused. What did she mean by he'd be more important to her in the future? But his mind was soon distracted by thoughts of Christmas and seeing Lily and his friends soon, and he forgot about Arabella's strange letter.
Remus spent the next couple of days enjoying his parents' company, reveling in the attention he got from them. His mom was a bit overprotective, but after months at school, the extra attention felt nice for a few days.
Soon, it was Christmas morning. Remus woke early, excited to find so many packages beneath the tree. He tried to wait patiently until his parents woke up, but he was eleven years old and he just couldn't wait. He knocked lightly on the door to his parents' room.
"What is it?" his mom answered sleepily.
Remus pushed the door open and smiled. "It's Christmas morning!!"
His dad laughed. "So it is. We'll be out in a minute. Why don't you look in your stocking while you wait?"
Remus ran out of the room and took his stocking off of the mantle above the fireplace. He took out lots of candies, Muggle candy like Hershey's bars and candy canes as well as wizard treats like chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's beans. He was happily eating a pizza-flavored bean when his parents came into the room.
His mother smiled. "It looks like Santa was extra busy this year."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Mom, I'm too old to believe in Santa."
Nick laughed. "You used to be too old to believe in magic as well."
"Are you trying to tell me that there really is a Santa?" Remus asked, wide eyed (he was after all, only 11.)
"No, son, I'm sorry to say Santa really is a myth," Remus' father said, trying not to laugh at Remus' crestfallen expression. "But there are lots of lovely presents for you under the tree."
Remus' eyes brightened and he began to tear open a package. To his surprise, inside the package was a broom. It was a Comet 50, which James had said was the newest and best broom on the market. Remus looked at his dad in wonder.
"Do you like it?" Nick asked hopefully.
"I love it, dad," Remus said as he gave his dad a big hug. "I can't wait to try it out."
"Now you know you can't take it to school this year, right?"
Remus nodded as his mother said, "It's a good thing, too, that thing looks dangerous."
Remus turned to look at her and opened his mouth to reassure her, when her face broke into a smile. "I'm just kidding, dear. I'm sure you'll be careful." To Remus, his mother's trust in him and his new world was a much better gift than his broom.
Remus opened many more gifts, which were a mixture of Muggle and wizard. His favorites, other than his broom, were an owl, a wizard chess set and a new bike. The bike would be useful for the summer, because riding his broom would have attracted the attention of every Muggle in his town.
Then his parents opened their presents from Remus. His mother was pleased with her bottle of Madam Hubert's perfume, which boasted it "could charm any wizard into a romantic mood." For his father, Remus had bought a book on a local quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons.
"This looks interesting," Nick said, smiling. "I never have gone to see them play. Would you like to go this summer and see them?"
Remus replied excitedly, "Sure dad!" Then he added, "Wait, isn't the World Cup this summer?"
"You're right, it is," his father said. "I'll try and get us some tickets for that instead."
"James, Sirius, Austin, Lily and I all wanted to go together this summer," Remus said.
"That's no problem." His dad smiled. "I'll get enough tickets for all of us."
"Great, dad. Thanks so much!" Remus smiled.
"You're welcome," Nick smiled back. "Now let's get some food in our stomachs."
The Lupins had a pleasant lunch, during which Remus' dad announced to Remus that they would eat Boxing Day dinner with the Weasley family.
"That's great, dad. I haven't gotten much of a chance to talk to Arthur or Meg at school, but they seem really nice," Remus said.
"The whole family is, as I remember, and there are a lot of them I haven't seen in many years," Nick replied.
"I think I remember Mrs. Weasley," Remus' mom ventured. "She seemed very nice."
After lunch, Remus took his new owl to his room. "I need to think of a name for you," he said to his owl. "And then I need you to take letters to my friends to tell them about the World Cup." The brown owl hooted softly as Remus tried to think of a good name. He flipped through one of his schoolbooks for ideas.
"How about Aidan?" Remus said. "That's the name of an Irish wizard who saved a whole town from a blood sucking vampire." The owl hooted loudly in appreciation of the name.
Remus laughed. "That settles it then, Aidan." Then he wrote quick notes to his friends telling them that his dad was going to get them tickets to next summer's world cup. He couldn't resist adding that he had received a Comet 50 broom for Christmas. He tied the notes to Aidan's leg, and Aidan flew out the window to deliver them.