"Ah nice choice there Mrs Lupin, mighty fine bird that one, you gonna manage to eat it just three o' you or 'ave you got family coming over?"
"Oh just the three of us this year Joe, we'll probably be eating it for about a week."
Hope laughed and so did the butcher, Joe. Remus laughed too, but quietly and somewhat awkwardly. He didn't mind helping his mum with the Christmas shopping, but why did they have to have a chat with the person behind the counter in every single shop? If he was with dad then they would have been done by now, dad never chatted to the muggles in town, partly because he didn't want to and partly in case he said something he shouldn't, and he had impressed on Remus from a very young age the importance that he do the same. So he laughed quietly, not drawing attention to himself, silently willing his mum just to pay for the turkey and be done with it.
"Well I expect you'll want to be feeding up your wee lad while you've got him home anyhow."
Well, that plan had failed. Oh well, just smile and say nothing, there you go. Why was every place they had ever lived in like this? No wonder they kept having to move. His parents had once considered moving to a big city where no one cared about anyone else and everyone minded their own business, but without much debate they had agreed it was too dangerous. Hopefully now he was at Hogwarts though people would soon forget him here and they wouldn't have to move again. It wasn't that he had any special attachment to the place, but he knew moving was hard for his parents, for his mum especially, she couldn't apparate like dad so every time they moved she had to look for a new job. And it seemed like every time they moved that got harder and harder. Remus guessed that people didn't want to hire people who kept quitting their jobs.
"Well, Lyall assured me that the food at that school is the best you can get, apart from mine of course," Hope rolled her eyes, "but you still can't help it can you, worrying that your child's not getting fed enough."
"Aye I don' agree with boarding schools me, bairns should be with their parents."
At that his mother finally seemed to start reading the danger signs of where this conversation was going and swiftly steered the conversation back to the price of the turkey, paid it and left.
"So, fancy a game later?" asked Hope as the two of them set off up the lane, laden down with Christmas goods.
"Okay," said Remus, smiling.
The Lupins had an impressive collection of board games, mainly muggle, but Hope loved Lyall's old wizard chess set, and of course, Dumbledore's gobstones, which stayed in Remus's room, unlike the rest of the games which were weighing down the shelves in the living room.
"Trivial Pursuit?" teased Hope.
Remus and Lyall were both hopeless at trivial pursuit. Lyall having the disadvantage of not growing up in the muggle world, and Remus having the double disadvantage of not growing up in world at all really, and being only eleven.
"Can we play Cluedo?"
"Alright then, Cluedo it is."
Lyall didn't get back from work until nine. Hope and Remus had already eaten dinner and Lyall's was stone cold.
"Sorry I'm so late," he said, rubbing his hands to warm them up, "it's been hectic, always is at Christmas, people importing blooming all sorts for so called funny presents. Did you get the food in?"
"Yep, got the Joe's best turkey as well."
"Didn't come to too much did it?"
"We've got plenty of money this year," said Hope, in her 'not in front of Remus voice', "besides, I've got magic chefs to compete with now haven't I?"
"You had a magic chef to compete with before Darling."
"Oh sorry I was talking about competent magic chefs who don't burning everything to ashes when they cook. I'm telling you Remus, I am not letting you leave home until you learn to cook."
"I think I'll be as rubbish as dad at cooking if it's anything like potions. Do you have to always add things at the right time?"
"Oh Lord it's genetic," laughed Hope, "anyway Lyall, your fish is on table and it's cooked to perfection so don't blast it into oblivion when you warn it up alright?"
"Heating charms I can manage love," smiled Lyall.
Remus yawned, but stifled it so that his mum would not send him to bed. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep if she did, he was just so… bored! It wasn't that he wasn't used to boredom, but after a couple of months at Hogwarts it takes a lot more to fill a day than just reading, drawing, doing homework, playing games and chatting to annoying butchers. He used to be so good at being bored, he could nearly always find something to do, even if it was just climbing a tree and sitting there for hours on end, just sitting there being content with the knowledge that he wasn't supposed to be there, that no one knew where he was. That was in their last house, there weren't any good climbing trees nearby here. He'd already done all his homework and written to all his friends he was that bored. Still, it would be Christmas in two days, and dad would be off and hopefully his parents would be more fun when it was the two of them, not as fun as James and Sirius and Peter though. He could write to them again, but what if they found him annoying, they were probably all busy doing fun things, even Sirius with his crazy family had his cousin coming over, the one he liked. And he had a brother, even if he said he didn't like him it's be better than having no one. Peter didn't have any brothers or sisters but he had a big family and they were all going to visit his grandparents for Christmas. James was an only child too, but James had friends, not just at Hogwarts but at home as well. All the Wizarding kids from his village would play quidditch together. Remus didn't have a broom, if he did he could at least practise flying so that he would be better when he went back to Hogwarts. He imagined the impressed look on James's face as Remus pulled off a smooth loop-the-loop and nearly laughed out loud at the very idea.
"Something funny?" asked Hope.
"Nothing," said Remus, "just thinking about… school."
"Tell me," said Hope.
"Nothing I was just thinking about flying lessons, my friend James, he's really good, and… he's really funny…"
Hope smiled fondly at her son.
"I was on the girls athletics team at school," she said, "high jump was my speciality. I'd love to try Quidditch, have you got to play any games yet."
"No, I don't know if we're going to, we only do flying lessons in first year and then you can't play any more unless you're on the team."
"Are you thinking of going for it."
"No I'm not good enough," said Remus.
And I'd miss too many practises from being sick and if there was a match on a full moon I'd have to let everyone down.
"Quidditch isn't the only club you can join at Hogwarts you know Remus, there's charms, chess, gobstones… you're good at them aren't you."
"I'm alright," shrugged Remus.
The truth was he didn't want to go to one of those clubs alone without Peter or James or Sirius with him. He had a good amount of friends already, there was no point going through the ordeal of meeting new people all over again. Three was good enough, more than he ever expected. He wasn't greedy.
"Alright, I suspect Coronel Mustard, in the Drawing Room with the Revolver."
Remus showed his mother the Drawing Room and took his turn. But it didn't hold his attention. It seemed like his parents weren't particularly interested either. But all three of them kept up the charade. Enjoying themselves for each others' sake.
Remus had though he had gotten the best he could at noticing things about his parents, but coming home after being away from them for a while was like looking at them from a new perspective. The first thing he had noticed when his Dad met him on the platform was that he was smaller, in every way, than he had thought. Smaller and more ordinary. The second thing he noticed was how much effort he put into his hello to Remus, into his hug, into the conversation on the way back home. When his mum got home from work he noticed the same thing. And now the same thing again.
I shouldn't be bored, Remus thought, they're trying so hard to make me happy.
Remus stopped himself from thinking that Sirius and Peter and James could make him happy even by accident. That was a bad thought. That was ungrateful and jealous. He resolved then to try doubly hard to be cheerful, it was Christmas after all, and if his parents were trying that hard then he should too. Besides, he had to work on his acting.