Christmas
Disclaimer: I don't own anything, not even great cake. That's a Caribbean recipe. Yum!!
But James sometimes remembered.
The list was coming around for people to stay at Hogwarts. Remus was exceptionally happy here in Hogwarts, but he knew, he knew very well he couldn't afford to stay. He would love to, but he couldn't. Because the full moon fell in the middle of the vacation, he wouldn't be able to get away with any excuse at all.
He was up that Saturday morning early. It was the first day of December, and already Hogwarts was becoming festive. All over the grounds he could see a light dusting of snow, glittering silver. It made him think of his mother's gingerbread, except that this was a huge castle.
Behind him, he could see James get up. Or rather sense/hear him get up.
"Morning Remus."
"Morning James. It's snowed." It was no surprise to James that Remus was up. He was an early riser. What was surprising was the snow.
He bounded over to the window to see. It had indeed snowed, not much, but just enough to class as snow.
"Cool." He looked sidelong at Remus, and realized that his friend looked sick. Remus nearly always looked sick, and sometime, he looked strangely cross at times. But now he just looked a little tired. Hmm.
'Remus, you need to get some sleep, man. You look dead on tired."
Remus laughed, but not before James saw him do quick thinking. "Yeah, that's why I'm going home this Christmas."
"What! Come on, you'd have a lot of fun," said James, disappointed. "Sirius and I are staying."
"That's why I'm leaving. To get away from you maniacs." He smiled; however, James could see that it was a forced expression. He pretended to look hurt. Remus pushed him, and he pushed Remus back.
"Don't pull the puppy dog look. It doesn't work with Lily, it doesn't work with me."
James had to laugh. "It works with Sirius though. Sometimes. And speaking of which . . ."
Sirius bounded out of the bed as fast as he could, his hair flinging in his eyes. "Good morning people, it's the first day of December, what's out the window?"
"Snow," said Remus. "And the cinnamon biscuits are next to your bed, the fudge next to mine, and the gingerbread next to James."
"That's not what I wanted," objected Sirius.
"What then?" asked James looking at Remus with his eyebrows raised.
"How much snow is there? And when's breakfast?'
They rolled their eyes.
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In almost unbelievably short time, it was Christmas vacation. Sirius and James came to the station to see him and Peter off. He felt hollow to see them standing and waving at him like maniacs. He turned back. He had wanted so badly to stay at Hogwarts with his only friends in the world. Then he turned to face front, feeling sad again.
Why couldn't he have been normal? Right now, he would be laughing at any nonsense letters they wrote, watching the snowball fights on the grounds, and probably indulging in quite a few of them as well. He would watch Sirius plow his way through the food on Christmas day.
He wrapped his hands in sweater, cold, though the compartment was warm.
He was glad when the journey was over. And there were his parents.
"Hi Mom, hi Dad!" he said, for the moment forgetting his troubles and feeling completely free and easy. And gloriously happy.
Cassandra's eyes sparkled, hugging Remus tightly when Tony let him go as he yelled "Geroff, geroff Mom, don't kill me!"
She laughed at him. "I trust that all the food came in useful."
Remus, extremely happy nodded. "Yes, and mom, we'll need more."
"More? But I gave you all enough to last you out till let's see, Easter!" she said, bemused. What were these children? They went through food so fast. It was no wonder that Remus was looking fatter.
"You forget the appetite of Sirius Black, Mom."
Tony's eyes twinkled as he asked Remus "And what about your secret passages?"
Here Remus smiled. He quoted a line from their pledge/poem "A Marauder never tells," said he. Then he added, "Except to another."
Tony laughed. "Figures. Well, let's be heading home. We've got a Christmas ahead of us."
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Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
Yeah right.
In Gryffindor tower, the few people left there were keeping as much noise as you could imagine. James and Sirius were building card castles with the exploding snap cards. The girls, Lily to be noted, were sitting down in a corner playing wizarding chess. Lily apparently was laughing as she tried to understand the confusing games.
The general air was loud and jolly, and students were talking at the top of their voices.
Sirius laughed as his card castle fell down and burned the ends of his hair. The building of card castles reminded him of Remus, who was brilliant at card castles, and once got as much as eight storeys, using about four decks in the process of building this remarkable castle.
"Well, James, wonder what Rem's doing now. Wonder why he didn't stay for Christmas?"
James frowned. "I don't know . . . he was very close mouthed about it. Kept avoiding the subject."
"I suppose it's not our business," said Sirius, pushing his hair back from his eyes, "but Remus is a dark horse about something."
'Like where he vanished to in the term. His reason doesn't seem quite water proof."
"Like I said, he's a dark horse. I wonder why he won't tell us."
They mused over this for a while, then James "Look, let's get to bed, tomorrow is Christmas."
'FOOD!" yelled the ever hungry Sirius. "Actually, feast!'
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Remus woke up on Christmas morning, very, very early. He crept downstairs to the huge Christmas tree, inhaling the sweet tangy smell. Sure enough, he had presents. His mother had given him a package of his favourite biscuits, not to mention a very interesting book that he had wanted. His father had given him a large book entitled: "Mischief Makers of Hogwarts." He flicked through it, it was most interesting. He was not surprised to see the name of James' father, nor his own father's. This most interesting book gave the history of the mischief makers at Hogwarts, including things like the passages found, number of times caught, and their girlfriends. He laughed as he thought what it would look like if Sirius was in it.
A loud pecking sound at the window caused him to look up in time to see an owl from Hogwarts. It looked slightly peeved, and a little singed. It had two packages, and he laughed as he read.
Remus, the mischief makers send you a favourite pastime. Sirius sent you some what else crackers. And James still can't keep his eyes off Lily.
Inside the packages, he had a set of exploding snap cards, decorated with maps of Hogwarts. Sirius sent him a huge set of crackers. That would explain the owl's singe.
His friends had remembered him. It was just a simple gesture, a little Christmas present, but it made him feel choked up. For a while, he forgot about hiding, lying, and he just thought
I have found my pack.
Years later, it was to be his mate, but he didn't know this. He only thought about his friends.
He felt so accepted. Never before had he had friends, in fear that they would leave him in revulsion when they found out his secret. But now he didn't care if they left him. He would cling to that last ray of hope, that last light till it failed him. And he would always remember them, and these little Christmas presents.
He wondered what they were doing now.
Actually, they were wondering what he was doing now.
After opening a ton of presents, Sirius was sniffing the delicious food smells that were wafting into the common room. James too was feeling none too composed with the food.
Sirius sniffed hungrily, and then said "I wonder what Remus is doing now. Maybe, just maybe, he's smelling such nice stuff."
Then, as an extra strong whiff of turkey blew in, Sirius groaned. "I'm starving." Another, different smell came in that none of any they knew, but a bit like rum. One of the Caribbean girls looked up, hungry.
"Great Cake!!"
"What?" said everyone else.
She explained. "It's a Caribbean cake made for Christmas, called great cake. It has fruit in it . . . and rum. If the person likes to make it with rum, you can get a little tipsy. But this one smells perfect."
And she was right. On the table was a huge dark brown cake at dessert. At once, the Caribbean girl sliced into it, showing fruit. She tasted it, then she said "Just enough of everything. Including ginger."
Sirius tasted some, then said "Ginger! This thing is spicy!"
The girl, Shakira, said "It's not that spicy, really," around a mouthful of cake. "There are spicier."
Later, they got three slices and sent them to Remus, and another rather smaller three to Peter.
Remus got them, and again, a few days before his transformation, he wondered: "Do I tell them or not?" It was the secret that haunted him, cut him to his core, and there was always that faint nagging worry that he would be discovered. And James' remarks and questions had made him very uneasy. His secret burned him.
Did he tell them?
The answer was the same as always: no.
He wanted to, but he couldn't. Never.
Or he would be deserted for good.
He couldn't lose his pack. And especially not on a Christmas holiday.
Never tell.
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