Remus woke up on Christmas morning feeling quite cheery. It had been years since he had spent Christmas morning in Hogwarts. He realized that the festive mood in the castle was contagious.
He hummed a tune under his breath as he made tea and went to his table where all his presents had magically appeared.
There were packages from Minerva, Poppy and Albus. There was also a neatly wrapped package from Andromeda that he received every year as well as cards and trinkets from many students. On the far end of his table, there was a larger package without any name on it.
Curious, Remus ripped apart the paper packaging to find a collector's edition premium quill and parchment set along with various bottles of endless ink. He remembered looking at it solemnly on the display case of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop and wondering if he should buy it with his next month's salary and deciding that he should use it to repair his broken rook instead.
He wondered who had given him this, none of his students had this much pocket money and all of his colleagues whom he was close to had already given him presents. Moreover, this present was not something generic like a sock or a mug that anyone would buy him. Only his closest friends knew about his obsession with quills and parchments. With a chill, Remus realized that only one such person was alive right now.
From the moment he got that idea, he was sure that this was Sirius's work. He had always been great at giving Remus the exact presents that he always wanted. A hundred possible fatal curses and hexes that could be enchanted in his present ran through his mind.
He knew that he should burn this as soon as possible, or take it to Dumbledore. Instead he closed the door of his office and headed down for breakfast, he will deal with this later. Also, if Sirius had wanted to kill him, he could have done so easily when he was weak after his transformations. Instead he had taken care of him. So there was no possible explanation why he would spend hundreds of galleons on it.
Down in the great hall, professor Sprout approached him as soon as he entered.
"Merry Christmas Pomona." He said.
"Merry Christmas Remus. We have a problem, harry potter received a Firebolt in his Christmas presents from an unknown person. We think it may be from Sirius Black."
"What's that?" said Harry entering the history of magic classroom.
"Another Boggart," said Remus, stripping off his cloak.
"I've been combing the castle ever since Tuesday, and very luckily, I found this one lurking inside Mr. Filch's filing cabinet. It's the nearest we'll get to a real Dementor. The Boggart will turn into a Dementor when he sees you, so we'll be able to practice on him. I can store him in my office when we're not using him; there's a cupboard under my desk he'll like."
"Okay," said Harry.
So…" Remus took out his own wand, and indicated that Harry should do the same. "The spell I am going to try and teach you is highly advanced magic, Harry — well beyond Ordinary Wizarding Level. It is called the Patronus Charm."
"How does it work?" said Harry nervously.
"Well, when it works correctly, It conjures up a Patronus," said Lupin, "which is a kind of antiDementor — a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the Dementor." "The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the Dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the Dementors can't hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it."
"What does a Patronus look like?" said Harry curiously.
"Each one is unique to the wizard who conjures it."
"And how do you conjure it?"
"With an incantation, which will work only if you are concentrating, with all your might, on a single, very happy memory."
"Right," he said.
"The incantation is this —" Remus cleared his throat. "Expecto patronum !"
"Expecto patronum," Harry repeated under his breath, "expecto patronum."
"Concentrating hard on your happy memory?"
"Oh — yeah —" said Harry, "Expecto patrono — no, patronum — sorry — expecto patronum, expecto patronum"
A slight puff of silvery gas whooshed suddenly out of the end of his wand.
"Did you see that?" said Harry excitedly. "Something happened!"
"Very good," said Lupin, smiling. "Right, then — ready to try it on a Dementor?"
"Yes," Harry said,
Remus opened the lid of the packing case and pulled.
A Dementor rose slowly from the box, its hooded face turned toward Harry, one glistening, scabbed hand gripping its cloak. The lamps around the classroom flickered and went out. The Dementor stepped from the box and started to sweep silently toward Harry, drawing a deep, rattling breath.
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto —"
Harry collapsed on the ground."Harry!"
Harry jerked back to life. He was lying flat on his back on the floor. The classroom lamps were alight again
"Sorry," he muttered, sitting up and feeling cold sweat trickling down behind his glasses.
"Are you all right?" said Remus.
"Yes…" Harry pulled himself up on one of the desks and leaned against it.
"Here —" Lupin handed him a Chocolate Frog. "Eat this before we try again. I didn't expect you to do it your first time; in fact, I would have been astounded if you had."
"It's getting worse," Harry muttered, biting off the Frog's head. "I could hear her louder that time — and him — Voldemort —"
"Harry, if you don't want to continue, I will more than understand —"
"I do!" said Harry fiercely, stuffing the rest of the Chocolate Frog into his mouth. "I've got to! What if the Dementors turn up at our match against Ravenclaw? I can't afford to fall off again. If we lose this game we've lost the Quidditch Cup!"
"All right then…" said Remus. "You might want to select another memory, a happy memory, I mean, to concentrate on… That one doesn't seem to have been strong enough…"
"Ready?" said Remus, gripping the box lid.
"Ready," said Harry
"Go!" said Remus , pulling off the lid. The room went icily cold and dark once more. The Dementor glided forward, drawing its breath; one rotting hand was extending toward Harry —
"Expecto patronum!" Harry yelled. "Expecto patronum! Expecto Pat —"
He fainted again "Harry! Harry… wake up…" Remus thought maybe this was a bad idea.
"I heard my dad," Harry mumbled. "That's the first time I've ever heard him — he tried to take on Voldemort himself, to give my mum time to run for it…"
"You heard James?" said Remus in a strange voice.
"Yeah…" Face dry, Harry looked up. "Why — you didn't know my dad, did you?"
"I — I did, as a matter of fact," said Remus. "We were friends at Hogwarts. Listen, Harry — perhaps we should leave it here for tonight. This charm is ridiculously advanced… I shouldn't have suggested putting you through this…"
"No!" said Harry. He got up again. "I'll have one more go! I'm not thinking of happy enough things, that's what it is… hang on…"
"Ready?" said Remus,
"Concentrating hard? All right — go!"
He pulled off the lid of the case for the third time, and the Dementor rose out of it; the room fell cold and dark —
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry bellowed. "EXPECTO PATRONUM! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"
"Riddikulus!" roared Remus, springing forward.
"Excellent!" Remus said, striding over to where Harry sat. "Excellent, Harry! That was definitely a start!"
"Can we have another go? Just one more go?"
"Not now," said Remus firmly. "You've had enough for one night. Here —"
He handed Harry a large bar of Honeydukes' best chocolate.
"Eat the lot, or Madam Pomfrey will be after my blood. Same time next week?"
"Okay," said Harry. He took a bite of the chocolate and watched
"Professor Lupin?" he said. "If you knew my dad, you must've known Sirius Black as well."
Remus turned very quickly. "What gives you that idea?" he said sharply.
"Nothing — I mean, I just knew they were friends at Hogwarts too…"
Remus relaxed.
"Yes, I knew him," he said shortly. "Or I thought I did. You'd better be off, Harry, it's getting late."
Remus slowly opened his eyes after his transformation. His eyes skimmed the dark room and landed on a big black dog
"Sirius" he gasped. Even though he knew that Sirius had been taking care of him after the full moons and that he had even been there for his transformation back last month, the last thing he had expected was for Sirius black standing in front of him.
Even though he looked malnutrition and half dead, Remus still found him beautiful in a way. The mischief and laughter in his eyes were long gone, replaced with dread and sorrow. After all that happened, Remus still wanted to pull him into a tight hug and keep him protected from the whole world.
"Remus" said Sirius and cradled him against his body. Remus was not feeling very weak from the full moon this time, he was almost felling like he was transforming with the marauders again. He realized that Padfoot had been there with him the whole night.
"Are you alright Remus?"
A bout of anger shot through his veins, how could he do this to them? How could he betray them all in the worst possible way and then hold him like this years later and ask him that. No Remus was not fine. Not even close. But there was no way he was going to tell him that, if Sirius had really expected him to be fine after all these years then he dint know him.
"I mean are you sick—"
"What" asked Remus, confused. Why would Sirius think he was sick?
"last night, moony was— he was sick or something. I noticed it last month but I just thought he was exhausted. I've never seen moony so quiet and subdued Remus what happen"
It took him a minute to process what Sirius was saying. When he did, he almost wanted to laugh; of course this is what Sirius noticed. After years and years of keeping moony company during the full moon, Sirus could pick up even the slightest changes in the werewolf's moods.
"Oh that's the wolfsbanes doing"
"A cure?"
"More of a drug"
He could feel Sirius sigh under him. He remembered all the days they had spent in their dorm discussing the possibility of a cure. He remembered when the wolfsbane was finally made available for consumption after all the trials. The day would have been a one for gear celebration for the marauders instead; Remus had drunk a whole bottle of firewhiskey and thought about how he would never be able to afford it.
"I'm so sorry moony" he said.
The sincerity of his voice broke Remus. Even though his face was fixed with a scowl, he knew his eyes were secretly smiling at Sirius. It was pathetic really, how fast Sirius could win him back with his words, but Remus swore that he would not be manipulated by them ever again.
"How is our daughter Remus?"
"What?" asked Remus confused
"Our baby girl" said Sirius with a little smile, "how is she?"
"I don't know what you are talking about" said Remus. Neither of them had children. Sirius knew this. What was he trying to do? Is this how he planned on manipulating him?
"Please moony I need to know. I know I haven't been much of a father to her, I know that I should have listened to you moony. I'm sorry but please tell me"
Remus pushed him away and tried to get on his feet. "You don't have any daughter"
"Please don't say that Remus. how is she just tell me she's fine. Please." His voice was desperate now, tears in his eyes.
Remus pushed Sirius back and moved away from him. He was stupid to think that Sirius would return from Azkaban sane. Sirius black had definitely gone mad.
"Get out of here Sirius and don't come back" he said.
"Please please moony. You know I'll never hurt her moony. I just need to know what happen to her—"
They both paused at the sound of footsteps from the tunnel. Madame Pomphrey did not come to collect him every full moon like the time he was in Hogwarts but she insisted that if Remus hadn't returned by an hour, she would come looking for him.
On the last possible moment, Sirius transformed into a dog and got out.
"Are you alright Remus" asked Madame Pomphrey.
"I'm fine poppy."
"I thought I heard voices."
"Voices? It's just me here"
"Right of course do you need to be healed or shall we head back"
"I took care of it. Let's go"
