A/N I have a feeling that the full moon in 1993 was later than Christmas Day, but for this story, I'm going with it being Christmas Eve, which I think is what JK Rowling implied.
Christmas 1993
Lyra was staying away from Hermione, she was very upset about the fact that her brand new Firebolt had been removed, although not for the reason Hermione thought. Lyra was staying away from Hermione for two reasons, the first being that it was the fact that Hermione had gone behind her back instead of voicing her worries to Lyra, and the second being that she knew the full moon had been the night before, and if she accidentally behaved oddly, said something she shouldn't, or looked at the moon too often, she knew Hermione would work out Professor Lupin's secret very quickly.
Lyra had known Remus' secret since the end of the first DADA lesson, where he had asked her to remain behind. He had taken her to his office, ignoring the curious looks from Hermione and Ron who had attempted to follow, and then every other student they passed, and explained everything. How he was best friends with her father and mother, how he had known her as a baby and treasured a few photos of them together ever since that Halloween. He admitted to having visited her one Christmas in Privet Drive when she was three, although Lyra hadn't remembered.
He had asked her forgiveness for never visiting again, or contacting her. He had asked her to think of him in private as Remus, or Uncle Remus, as that was how she would have known him - had the events of Halloween 1981 never happened. And then, looking at her kind emerald eyes, and trusting that she would in fact be like her mother and father, he told her he was a werewolf.
At this point, he had paused, expecting her to walk away even though he knew she wouldn't have. But instead, she had thrown herself into his arms, and she had promised him that she wouldn't tell a soul. Remus had hugged his niece for the first time in twelve years that night, and at dinner had mentioned in joyful undertones to Minerva what happened, whose own eyes glimmered with the emotion Remus was feeling, and gave him the kindest smile he had ever seen her give.
And so now, long after that lesson had finished, Lyra was worrying about him. Eventually, with an hour before curfew, she grabbed her cloak and left the common room, dashing down to his office.
Remus answered his door in surprise, he wasn't aware of anyone in the castle willing to speak to him at this time of night, the night after a full moon. All the teachers gave him his space, trusting that they would talk properly when he was stronger. But when he saw Lyra's worried face outside, his exhaustion vanished.
"Lyra! What are you doing here? It's late-" "it's not late, there is an hour before I have to be back" smiling at her quick retort, although his heart clenched at how her tone matched her long gone father's, he beckoned her inside and moved to the chair. Studying her, he asked again. "What are you doing here?" "I was worried, I don't like the full moons I can't concentrate! And I'm not talking to Hermione right now.." At his questioning gaze she continued. "I received a Firebolt today, without a note saying who it was from. Hermione thinks it is from Sirius Black.. And it might be, I don't know. But she went behind my back to speak to Mcgonagall, who confiscated it. And I understand the reasons why, but it was the way she did it.. Like I'm too young to understand, that my part in this is irrelevant.. Why couldn't she speak to me about it and then I could have listened to her and we could have gone to Mcgonagall together!"
Thinking over what she had just said, Remus paused for a minute, his fingers wrapped around a tea, his mind in the past. Eventually, he spoke "I understand her concerns, it would be something I could see Sirius Black doing, but I see your point as well, she handled the situation in entirely the wrong way and treated you as if you were not worth being part of the situation. " Lyra nodded, pleased he understood her and that she wasn't reading too much into the situation, before her brain processed all that he said and she looked up, startled. "You could see Sirius Black doing that, then.." Remus nodded. "We were best friends at Hogwarts; your father, Black, Peter and myself. And later your mother joined our group. The Sirius that I thought I knew, the one who.." Here, he paused, looking at Lyra. He had assumed that Lyra's concern was that of his knowledge of Sirius' actions, but Lyra's gaze was far too understanding for that. Pulling himself through their conversation, he realised that she could have meant that she was worried in case of jinxes and hexes on the broom, not of her teachers apparent friendship with an escaped mass murderer. Swallowing the frog in his throat at Sirius' betrayal, he eventually continued. "The Sirius that I thought I knew, who betrayed your parents.."
Here, he paused again, but seeing only hurt flash through her eyes rather than horror as the knowledge she had just gained flooded her thoughts, he realised he had been right, and continued. "Our Sirius, one of my best friends, not the person it turned out he was, was your godfather" again, he eyed her for any sign of distress. "He adored you, Lyra, we all did, but other than your mother and father, nobody loved you as much as he did. He always spent his money in huge amounts, then, to spoil you, and I can picture the murderer willingly doing the same. It would be something he would do."
Considering the situation, he thought it appropriate to bring out the photos he had taken from Sirius' flat all those years ago, the ones of he and Lyra, every photo, many times over. And the lockets. The one that Sirius had kept on his person all the time, and the one he had given Lyra that Remus had retrieved from the wreckage.
Remus had thought that the Sirius he knew would not have wanted those photos to be pawed over by Ministry officials, and even though he clearly did not know the murderer, he squirrelled them away in the dead of night in memory of those happy times they had spent together.
He slid the locket to her, and indicated for her to open it. "This is you and.. Black.. On the day you were born. He was thrilled, or rather, he pretended to be thrilled extremely well. And this is you and he on your first Christmas. We had not expected him to bring you down in that dress, but he transfigured it specially. He brought you lots of gifts that Christmas, if I remember correctly, perhaps more so than James and Lily, who said you were too young to get many presents. You got quite a lot from them, of course, but you were only a few months old, and didn't need anything from them that they hadn't already given you." He eyed her once more. "He spent a lot of money on you Lyra, he always did.. So yes, I can very easily see him buying you a Firebolt."
Her eyes widened in slight fear.
Remus suddenly remembered how they had got on to that topic. "And what are you going to do about Hermione?"
Lyra sighed, and looked down at her hands. "I don't know. I just wish she'd spoken to me about it instead of going to Mcgonagall and then coming back to the common room and pretending she hadn't. So I avoided her this evening, especially as it was the full moon last night and I can't focus the day after the full moon until I know you're ok. Hermione's clever, if I was talking to her properly about the Firebolt, she'd realise I was anxious and would probably work out why. And she's not going to find out about you from me."
"Lyra.." Remus almost groaned. "You shouldn't worry about me, I've been doing this for many years. And you definitely shouldn't let me come between you and Hermione."
"But-" "no, Lyra, your friendships are more important, and you shouldn't put off making up just to protect me. Now, it's almost curfew, so you should head back to the common room. Goodnight, Lyra."
"Goodnight Uncle Remus. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas."
After she left the room, he tidied back the photos and the locket into the drawer and locked it.
He thought of Sirius, the traitor, doubtless near by, and hoped that by returning to Hogwarts he would remember the happy times they had shared at school, and would realise the enormity of the betrayal he had committed to James, Lily, Peter, Lyra, and even Remus himself, and turn himself in.
And he thought of Lyra, someone who he had been reunited with against all the odds, who he had told his secret to very quickly for the first time in his life. It had taken him over a year to tell James, and less than an hour to tell Lyra. And she had accepted him, and welcomed him into her family with open arms, worrying about him as James and Petal had.
It seemed to Remus that if he had not known that Lyra had grown up without parents, he would assume she had, as she reminded him of them regularly.
A/N I know this is more of Remus and Ly than of Sirius, but I couldn't just leave Remus out! At this point, Lyra still thinks of Sirius as a traitor, as does Remus, and so they are all wary of him. So this is a celebration of Lyra and Remus' relationship, which will return to Ly's and Sirius' for Christmas 1994.
