Hope's Children

Chapter 6: Christmas and More Lies

Last Chapter

Remus glared. Why wouldn't Sirius just leave him alone? "Sirius, will you please just leave me alone?" He knew he was whining and he couldn't help it.

"Fine, but if you aren't looking better by lunch I'm taking you to Madam Pomfrey, ok?"

Remus didn't hear him; he was already halfway to Charms and trying to keep his stomach from coming up through his mouth.

This Chapter

"Are you ready Mr. Lupin?" Remus nodded and pulled himself out of the hospital bed. "Good. If you follow me please, we'll go down to the tree." Remus nodded again and followed her out of the hospital wing.

Ten minutes later he was sitting on a small twin bed in the beat-up upstairs bedroom of the shrieking shack awaiting the rising of the full moon. "Odio la luna piena," he whispered before an excruciating pain wrenched through his body, starting in the small of his back: the place where the oldest scar on his back lay, that of the first werewolf's bite.

"You said Remus went to visit his mum?" Peter said, plopping down next to James on the couch.

"Yeah. Where's Sirius?"

"Detention, he turned McGonagall's hair green."

"Again?"

"Last time it was Flitwitck and purple. But yeah, same basic idea. Do you want to play a game of chess?"

"No way, you are not going to kick my ass at chess again. Who ever thought that some one who wasn't even raised by wizards would be so good at wizard's chess?"

"It's just like muggle chess, and I had to do something in the long boring hours. My dad and I used to play chess, and that's all there ever was to do in town."

"You weren't kidding when you said it was a small boring town."

"Did you think I was?"

"I thought you were exaggerating, no place can be that boring."

"Why do you think I was so happy to come here?"

"Because it's the best school of witchcraft and wizardry there is in all of Britain."

"But I didn't even know that, I just had to get out of there."

"Oh, remind me never to come and visit you, it sounds like we'd run out if things to do in the first day."

"More like the first hour."

"No place can be that boring."

Peter rolled his eyes. "The population is one hundred, everyone knows everyone."

"You're kidding, so where do they think you are?"

"Boarding school in Iceland."

"Iceland?"

"Yeah, no one would look for me there."

"Look for you where?" Sirius said, sitting on the floor.

"Iceland."

"And what would you do to have to hide in Iceland?"

"Ah…not want to tell the people in my town that I went to a wizarding school."

"Oh yeah, sounds like a good reason. Have you seen Remus lately?"

"He went to visit his mum, remember?"

"He told me his aunt died."

James opened his mouth to answer, but Peter beat him to it. "Maybe his aunt died and he has to go visit his mum because they were close and his mum's sad."

Sirius shrugged. "Maybe. Anyone up for a game of exploding snap before the feast?"

The three boys played exploding snap for the remainder of the evening. Thoughts of Remus and his aunt were forgotten.

Remus snuck back in to the dorm late the next night after being kept in the hospital wing until the late hours of the night because of a broken arm he had given himself at some point the previous night. Though Madam Pomfrey could heal the cuts and scrapes he had given himself, she wasn't as apt at fixing his bones. He wasn't sure why; all he knew was that there was a cast on his writing arm, and he was doomed.

"Remus? Remus, is that you?"

"Hey Sirius. You guys have a fun time when I was away?"

"Not really, how's your mum?"

"My mum? Oh yeah, she's much better."

"Remus!?"

"Hm?"

"What happened to your arm?"

"Oh yeah, I fell down the stairs, landed on it, and it broke."

Sirius looked at him skeptically. "All right, but it's late, you should go to bed. No offence, but you still look sick."

"I am not ill Sirius, but thank you for the concern."

"Good. Come on, bed time."

Remus loved school; to him it was freedom. He was not, however, looking forward to Christmas break. How was he supposed to explain staying at school for Christmas when he went home every month anyway? Two days to the first day of break, and he still didn't have an excuse, not to mention Sirius was staying, so it wasn't as if he could just hide out.

"Sirius?"

"Yeah, Rem?"

"Are you staying for break?"

"Unfortunately mum's making me come home."

"Do you not like your mum?"

"Can't stand her, or the rest of them for that matter. How about you, are you going home for break?"

Remus racked his brain for a good excuse. "My parents live close to school; they're picking me up. So I'm going home, but I will not be on the train."

"You took the train on the first, didn't you?"

"Ah…my madre thought it would be easer to make friends if I was on the train for the first, she said that's where every one makes they're friends."

"Too bad you can't come with us on the train this time, we'll miss you when we prank the Slytherins."

"I will miss you guys as well."

"Have fun with your mum and dad."

"I would say the same, but it does not seem as if your Madre and Padre are as nice as…as…James or Peter or…me Madre and Padre."

"It's mum and dad Remus, but I call them mother and father. We're not all that close."

"What are mum and dad?"

"Madre and Padre; it's mum and dad in English."

"Oh, I didn't know that."

"See, we're all learning things."

Christmas came and went, as did Easter, and Remus, Sirius, James and Peter became an inseparable (and insufferable) group, which Slytherins and teachers feared. Though the other three knew next to nothing about Remus and his background, he had learned a great deal about them over the year; Peter was not looking forward to the holidays as his house and town were far too boring for him, and Sirius was about to throw himself under the Hogwarts express because of the antics of his family. James on the other hand promised to have them over as soon as possible; his parents and life were apparently perfect. Remus himself had been invited by Dumbledore to stay in Gryffindor tower for the summer, and he would be able to use the shrieking shack. He was musing over this when his thoughts were interrupted by Sirius' loud voice.

"You all set to go, Rem?"

"Yeah. You do realize that I'm only coming on the train with you guys and then I have to take it back to Hogsmeade to meet my parents, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Mai mente, stolto."2

"Huh?"

"Come on Siri, we don't want to miss the train."

"You might not want to." Sirius muttered.

"I don't care, remember. I'm just going to take it right back here."

"To Hogsmeade, you mean?"

"Ah…yeah…Hogsmeade."

"You guys, come on!"

"There's James, we'd better get going."

"Yeah." He reached over to help Sirius with his trunk; his had already been taken 'home'.

Peter and James were both at the bottom of the stairs waiting for them. "Come on you guys, the carriages'll be leaving." The four of them decided on that trip that pranking the Slytherins was a must, and that they would be friends for life.

1 I hate the full moon

2 Never mind silly

A/N another chapter ::stairs in aw:: and a long on ::continues stairing in aw:: sorry about the sappy ending, I was in the mood. Please review on your way out. Smiles.

Xandria Nirvana