Moonlight

Chapter Twenty-Six

Christmas with the Potters

As it turned out, the reason Aurelia had burst into tears was because, in fact, she was one-month pregnant with her and Sirius' child. She had apparently known about it for a while, without telling Sirius, and while still going on that dangerous solo mission to Albania that Sirius had been fretting over, and from which Aurelia had returned alive and in one piece, though not without narrowly escaping death. But she had been afraid to tell anyone, even Sirius, because she was afraid of what people would think. Unlike James and Lily, who had waited until after they were married to stop using contraception, she and Sirius had spent just one night where they'd discarded the precautionary measures.

For a little over a month since finding out that Aurelia was with child, while she wasn't too happy about being grounded from her job and her Order work, she was happy about having a child. And Sirius was too, for that matter. He was ecstatic, after he got over the initial shock. They were already brainstorming names for the baby too--a list of girls' names and a list of boys'. But Sirius did want to make one thing clear.

"We are not--I repeat--'not' going to follow the Black family tradition and name it after a star or a planet or a constellation or a nebula or whatever," he said firmly. "Even if it's a girl, we're not naming it Sunny, because a sun is in the sky, and I want nothing in the sky involved in its name!"

Aurelia laughed and said that she wholeheartedly agreed.

But this happiness was to be short-lived. Sometime in late August, Remus and his friends learned that Aurelia had a miscarriage--the baby was lost.

This time Sirius was in a different kind of shock: a shock that did not turn to ecstatic anticipation, but rather to one of numb grief. Aurelia was completely broken up by it, even though she'd only been a little over two months along. Just like Remus, Sirius began to bury himself in his work, both for the Ministry and for the Order, and amidst it all Sirius and Aurelia had a number of rows, followed by a separation, where Aurelia moved out of Sirius' flat. Sirius turned taciturn and brooding, and wouldn't even talk to James about any of it.

In late November, Remus, Sirius, James, Peter and Lily (Harry was being looked after by Oswald and Augusta Longbottom, who were also looking after their grandson Neville while Frank and Alice were off on assignments for the Aurors), were all caught in an ambush while investigating a murder at a Muggle residence in Ottery St. Catchpole. The Death Eaters were Dolohov, Macnair, Bellatrix, Rudolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange, and two they had not faced yet--a brother and sister who had just been recruited by the Death Eaters, by the names of Alecto and Amycus Carrow.

Remus dived behind a sofa, just barely escaping a green blast of the Killing Curse, a trickle of blood running down the side of his face. As he did so, he found James had been taking cover there too.

"Remus!" James sent a curse around the corner on his side of the sofa.

Remus did the same on his side, saving Lily from getting hit with a blast from the Cruciatus Curse from Alecto Carrow, leaving her free to take cover behind a chair. Peter meanwhile was up on the coffee table dueling with the Lestrange brothers. Then he spotted Sirius blasting curse after curse at Amycus Carrow and Bellatrix and Dolohov screaming at the top of his lungs, "Come on and get me you cowards! I'm right here! C'mon, you can do better than that!"

Bellatrix gave a shrieking cackle. "Leave him to me!" she ordered Dolohov and Amycus.

Dolohov and Amycus obliged, and while Remus raised his wand to aim a curse at her, he was not quick enough, and before he knew it Sirius was hit with a particularly nasty blast of the Cruciatus. Sirius doubled over with a hoarse shout of pain, dropping his wand--

"Sirius!" Remus yelled. "James! Sirius!" He tried to aim another curse at Bellatrix, but he was forced to twist out of the way as the bit of the floor he'd been leaning his hands on was turned into a crater by the curse coming from Dolohov.

"Lupin!" he taunted. "Come on out and play!"

Remus leapt out from behind the sofa and dealt Dolohov a hex that knocked him clean off of his feet. Meanwhile James was helping Peter duel the Lestrange brothers, Lily was dueling both of the Carrows, and Sirius was on his knees now, screaming and writhing in agony--

Stupefy! Remus cried in his head, hurling the jinx at Bellatrix, who unfortunately jumped out of the way. It did however cause her to lift the curse off of Sirius.

Sirius staggered slightly, but he grabbed his wand and hurled a hex at Bellatrix, as did Remus, but Bellatrix deflected them both, and then from her non-wand hand she threw something shiny and silvery at Sirius--

Sirius screamed and fell back, slumping against the wall.

Buried deep in his shoulder was a silver dagger. Even now, from where Remus was he could see that the injury was bleeding excessively as Sirius desperately tried to wrench it free, his breathing ragged--

Bellatrix raised her wand, about to deal the fatal blow, and Remus raised his wand but--

"NOOOO!"

Bellatrix screamed and fell flat on her back, completely unconscious. In through the door had burst three cloaked figures, only one of whom Remus recognized as Aurelia, the one who had hit Bellatrix with the curse that had knocked her out. She was accompanied by two people Remus did not know, a man and woman, and both of them were hurling hexes, jinxes, and curses at the Death Eaters, giving the Order members the upper hand at last.

"Let's get out of here!" shouted Amycus. "Grab Bellatrix and Dolohov and let's go!"

Even as the Death Eaters cleared from the house by Disapparation, Remus, James, Lily, Aurelia, Peter, and the other two newcomers continued to bombard them with spells until they were gone.

"Sirius!" Aurelia stumbled over to where Sirius was still crumpled at the bottom of the wall.

"Au...relia...!" Sirius gasped, feebly reaching out a hand to touch her hair.

"Here, let me have a look at that dear," said the newcomer woman, a rather stout and sturdy one who looked like someone with a firm hand and an open heart. She bent over the dagger stuck in Sirius' shoulder and began working on getting it out, while Aurelia whispered, "I'm sorry, Sirius, I'm so sorry...you're okay, you'll be okay...shhh...try not to talk...oh Sirius I'm so sorry...please...you'll be alright..." over and over and over.

"Will he be okay?" James croaked, standing nearby with his arm around Lily. Peter stood beside them, his lip bleeding.

"I think so..." muttered the woman.

Remus got to his feet, but he swooned and clutched the minor injury to his head as cool blood continued to flow down all the way to his neck.

"That looks nasty," said the newcomer man, catching Remus' arm and steadying it.

"It's nothing," Remus muttered.

"I'll have Molly take a look at it," said the man.

"Molly?" Remus blinked up at the newcomer man, and for the first time saw his face.

He was young and rather gangly, like Remus, with flaming red hair and telltale freckles on his face, and wore glasses that were slightly askew, a bit like how James' glasses were, except they were square instead of round in shape. He wore a kind smile.

"I'm sorry, we haven't been properly introduced," he said to him and the others. "I'm Arthur Weasley, and this is my wife, Molly."

Molly Weasley glanced over her shoulder and gave a wave and a smile before returning to Sirius' wound. And in her smiling eyes, Remus thought he'd seen something familiar.

"Weasley..." said James slowly. Then a grim smile graced his lips. "Wait a minute...Molly Prewitt?"

"That's my maiden name, yes," said Molly.

"Guys, it's Molly," James said.

"Molly?" Peter frowned.

"Oh, I remember..." said Lily.

And Remus realized that he did too. "Of course...Molly...." Gideon and Fabian Prewitt's little sister.... A lump rose in Remus' throat as he thought of the Prewitt brothers' grinning faces, now nothing more than a memory.

Arthur and Molly were both of a Good Samaritan nature. They offered Remus and his friends to stay with them in their house not too far from here while Sirius recuperated. They explained that they had known Aurelia through some sort of familial tie, and that she had come to them asking for help when she'd gone after Remus and his friends, having gotten this sort of intuitive sixth sense that they were in trouble. And as it turned out, she had been more than right.

So they all went to the Weasleys' enormous house, which they called, the Burrow, and Remus thought it was magnificently wonderful, just because the whole house was so wackily out of proportions, held up undoubtedly and solely by magic. When they came they saw that one room in the house--the kitchen--was aglow. They went in through the kitchen door, and were greeted by a gathering of no more than five children. All of them had flaming red hair, and faces and arms covered in freckles.

"Mum, Dad, what's going on?" said a boy who was gangly like his father, and appeared to be the eldest of the lot.

"Everything's fine Bill," Arthur replied to his son, "now all of you, step out of the way," he told them, and then he gave Remus and James the all-clear to carry Sirius in, who had either of his arms draped around Remus and James' shoulders. Then Molly led them through the kitchen, past the gasps of the small children as they took Sirius into the sitting room and laid him out on the sofa, closely followed by Aurelia, Lily, and Peter. Then Molly proceeded with tending to him, with Aurelia kneeling by him.

"Aurelia darling, hold that there while I get the dittany," Molly said to her.

Then there was the sound of a baby crying.

"Oh my," said Lily, looking towards a bassinet in a warm corner of the room.

"Oh dear, we've woken little Ron," Molly muttered, though she sounded amused. "Arthur."

"I've got him, Molly," said Arthur, going over to the bassinet and scooping up an infant that looked to be a few months older than Harry, with a tuft of flaming red hair, just like the rest of his family.

Then the children came trickling in from the kitchen. The boy called Bill, and a younger boy, who was stocky rather than gangly, came into the room first. As Remus sat down in a chair, clutching his bleeding head and observed them, a much younger little boy, probably no more than four came trickling in after them, followed by two little tots that had to be about Ramirus' age when Remus last saw him, at least two. He could have sworn that they were identical.

"Who's that s'posed to be?" asked the little four-year old boy, tugging on the sleeve of the second-oldest's bathrobe. "Charlie, who is it?" he asked again, pointing to the sofa.

"Percy, shush," the stocky boy called Charlie admonished.

"Bill, would you bring in a couple of wet cloths from the kitchen sink?" Arthur asked young Bill as he dandled baby Ron.

Bill, who seemed to Remus to nearly be old enough for Hogwarts, probably about ten or eleven, nodded and went back into the kitchen. He could see that Bill was slightly mature for his age, and he wasn't surprised, considering that he was the oldest of so many siblings. He came back, and gave a cloth to Peter and Remus as his father instructed, so that Peter could press his to his bleeding lip, and Remus' to the nick on his head. After he gave one to Peter he handed the other to Remus, who thanked him kindly. But instead of running off to rejoin his siblings, as Remus had expected him to, Bill lingered, as though Remus interested him.

"It's no trouble at all, mister," he said. "My name's Bill by the way. Bill Weasley." He held out his hand, and Remus shook it with his free one, while the other he used to hold the cloth to his head.

"Hello, Bill Weasley," he said. "I'm Remus Lupin."

"Pleased to meet you, Mister Lupin."

They released hands, and still Bill lingered.

"So...Bill: is that short for William?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," said Bill. "But please don't call me Billy, I only let my mum do that."

"I'll keep that in mind," said Remus.

Then Bill did the proper host thing of pointing out all his siblings to Remus as a way of introducing them. "That there's Charlie--he's the second youngest, he's seven--and then that there's Percy--third youngest, only four--"

Remus watched as four-year old Percy Weasley tugged incessantly at his mother's sleeve, while seven-year old Charlie Weasley tried to get him to leave her to her work.

Then he heard Peter in the chair next to him give a yelp.

"My shoes! Where'd they go? They were on my feet a minute ago!"

Then Remus heard giggling behind him, and he and Bill looked around behind his chair to find the two identical toddler boys grinning impishly, each of them dressed in feet-pajamas and clutching one of Peter's trainers in their little hands.

"Fred! George! Give those back!" Bill laughed.

The twins hid the shoes behind them.

"No, give back!" said the one called Fred.

"Yeah, no give back!" said the one called George.

Or was it the other way around?

"Yoink!"

Fred and George gasped and looked around in surprise to see that James had snuck up behind the little tricksters. He held up both shoes for them to see.

"If you're going to be biddy marauding scamps, you've got a lot to learn," he told them, and handed a grateful Peter his shoes back.

"James," Lily admonished, though she was smiling. "Don't be so mean, they're just having fun."

"Gee, I wish you'd have said that about me when I was 'just having fun'," James teased, straightening up and draping his arm around her.

Meanwhile, Fred and George gazed up at James in awe, instead of bursting into tears, as Remus had expected them to. Then they looked at each other, giggled, got down on their hands and knees, and crawled in and out of James and Lily's ankles.

"Oh! Look out, coming through!" James laughed.

Luckily Molly had placed a charm on Sirius so that he would be deaf to all of this racket while she worked on him. Apparently she knew that in this house, there was no "other room" they could take him where he'd have more peace and quiet.

"Oh, Mister Lupin, I forgot," said Bill.

"Ah, yes Bill?" said Remus.

"Well, you've seen Fred and George now, obviously. They're both two years old--they're twins, you see. Identical twins."

"I guessed that," Remus chortled.

"And that there's my youngest brother, Ron," said Bill with a grin, pointing to the baby in Arthur's arms as Arthur went on dandling him while he went on whimpering because of all of the hubbub around him. "He's only about nine months old or so."

"And how old are you?"

"I'm ten, sir. Ten today actually. It's my birthday today, you see."

"Well, happy birthday."

"Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, and I can see that you're a big help to your mum and dad," Remus complimented.

Bill shrugged. "I'm the biggest brother. It's my job, right?"

"Yes," said Remus, becoming a bit sad as he thought of his brother Ramirus. "Yes...."

"Hey? Where am I?" croaked a faint voice.

"Sirius!" James gasped.

He and Lily made a beeline for the sofa.

"Excuse me," said Remus to Bill. Taking the cloth away from his face, he rushed over to join them, not feeling so woozy now.

But Remus, James, Lily, and Peter weren't the only ones gathered. While Charlie had managed to drag the inquisitive Percy away, and Molly had passed the dittany to Peter and was seeing to other things now, the twins Fred and George were peeping over the arm of the sofa at him. Sirius peered back up at them, and despite how pale he was he was smiling mischievously.

"What're you looking at?" he asked amusedly. "I'm not seeing double, am I?"

"No silly," Fred teased.

"Silly," added George. "Freddie's my twin!"

"Twin!" said Fred as he and George threw their arms around each other, grinning hugely, and then toppled over onto the carpet, giggling hysterically.

"Quiet down, you two!" Molly scolded. Obviously she'd lifted the charm off of Sirius. "Bill! Charlie! Help me get this lot back up to bed."

"Yes, Mum," said Bill. "C'mon guys. Time to go back to bed now."

"You heard Mother and Bill," said little Percy to the twins. "C'mon, up to bed. Chop, chop!"

Remus heard Fred and George blow raspberries at Percy.

"Don't worry, mate, you're not seeing in double," James assured Sirius.

"How're you feeling?" Remus asked. He could see Sirius' exposed shoulder was still covered in bubbling, lightly smoking dittany, and the wound itself looked very nasty indeed. And deep to boot. He couldn't be sure how Molly had managed to get that dagger of Bellatrix's out.

"I've been better," Sirius admitted with a feeble chuckle.

Aurelia seemed to be unable to speak. She sniffed, her smile quavering. She brushed a few of Sirius' bangs out of his eyes and kissed his temple. Sirius gave her hand a squeeze and the two affianced lovers gazed deep into each other eyes. Remus saw a lot of things pass between them, and felt that the two of them had finally reconciled after their brief estrangement partly caused by their unborn child's death.

"You'll be okay now though, right Sirius?" Peter asked as he passed Remus the dittany.

"'Course I will, kiddo," said Sirius.

Remus promptly began to apply the dittany to the tiny gash in his forehead. He felt it sting and sizzle as it bubbled and smoked green, but he did not care. The relief that Sirius would survive far surpassed the small amount of burning.

The next morning Sirius had recovered well enough that he could travel, and he and his friends all agreed that it was best they leave as quickly as possible. All of the Weasleys were there to see them off, and Molly, handing baby Ron to Arthur, gave them all hugs. Remus thought of his own mother as she hugged him, and when he looked in her brown shining eyes, he could see her late brothers Gideon and Fabian there. And he thought of that time they had come in once and cheered him up about losing his baby brother without even realizing they were doing it...without knowing that that same day...they would die....

"Molly," he said hoarsely. "I didn't know your brothers well...but...they meant a lot to me."

"Oh Remus..." said Molly. She gave him another squeeze. "Godric bless you."

~

On the first of December, Remus received a notice in the inbox at his desk.

It was on pink parchment.

He opened it up, and read:

Dear Mr Lupin,

We here at the Department of Mysteries have come to the conclusion that we need to do some outsourcing due to lack of government funds for research which is the reason why we have been cutting your pay in the first place (sorry we didn't inform you initially) so it is with our greatest and deepest regret to inform you that you are one of the Unspeakables-in-training whom we have chosen to constructively discharge. You are asked to have yourself and your desk cleared out by noon today.

Thank you, and good day. We hope that new opportunities will open for you in future.

Sincerely,

Mafalda Hopkirk, Ministry of Magic

Remus reread and reread the note over and over. But there was no escaping those two terrible words: "constructively discharge"....

He buried his head in his hands thinking to himself, This is going to be about the coldest winter yet. Then with a great sigh, he pointed his wand at the note, shredded it to tiny bits, and then proceeded to clear out his desk.

"Remus? What is it?" Lily asked, seated in the desk in the cubicle across the aisle from Remus'. "What did that note say?"

"I've been given the axe," Remus replied bluntly, giving her an fake smile. "I've got to be out of here by noon they said."

Lily's jaw dropped. "Remus, that's.... They can't do that!"

"They already have, my dear. Now if you'll excuse me. I'll see you later for tea." And with that, he magically gathered up his few belongings and papers in his father's tatty old briefcase, and swept from the cubicle room in the Department of Mysteries--a room that was tucked away from the main rooms, because it was the only room in the department that looked...normal.

Later that day at tea at the Potters' cottage, James, Sirius, Aurelia, and Peter also expressed their outrage at Remus' having been so eloquently fired.

"First all those pay-cuts, and now this!" Sirius exclaimed, pacing restlessly about the room. It was a habit of his when he got frustrated. He'd prowl about like a dog in a cage, itching to bite something.

"What I love best is how they can't even say it to your face," Aurelia put in acidly, her cup slopping a small amount of tea because her hand was shaking so badly from righteous anger. "Cowards," she growled under her breath and took a hasty swallow.

"It's rubbish, what they told you," said James, who also couldn't sit still, and was pacing about the sitting room like Sirius. They were careful though, of course, to watch where they stepped, because Lily was on the floor with four-month old Harry lying out on his back on a blanket, batting at the magic mobile above him with his hands and feet, dressed in warm blue fleece feet-pajamas.

"They've been changing their policies a lot up there," said Peter. "And a lot of those changes involve werewolves."

"I'll bet you anything it was you being a werewolf, the gits," said James, smacking a fist against an open palm.

"Ba!" Harry asserted, now at the age where he could babble, and at times with great enthusiasm. "Ba, ba!"

"That's right, Harry!" said James. "See Remus, even my son agrees it's unfair! He wants you to go up and complain too, right Harry?"

"James, I'm still not going to go up there and rile things up, they've got enough on their minds," said Remus sensibly, who was quite calm despite his own anger. Yet he had been expecting this, especially since they'd started cutting his pay. He was touched though that his friends wanted to stand up for him on his behalf.

Just as they'd always done.

Lily crawled a few inches away from Harry and touched Remus' knee.

The sensation sent a shiver through Remus, but he did not let it show.

"Remus, if there's ever anything you need," she said kindly, fixing him with her kind, warm green eyes, "anything at all...."

Remus gave her a brave smile and patted her hand. "I'll be alright, Lily. Honest. But thank you. I'll keep the offer in mind."

~

Remus was very sad that he couldn't bring them all presents to the Christmas party at the Potters' that year on Christmas Eve. But his friends told him not to worry about it and come anyway. Remus could not even find the words to thank them. They were too nice to him. He had never known them to be otherwise, but especially now that he was unemployed and desperately looking for another job amid the lower regions of the wizarding workforce without much success so far. He felt so grateful of their friendship despite what he was that at times he teetered on the edge of feeling undeserving of it.

Nevertheless, he arrived on the Potters' doorstep on the late afternoon of Christmas Eve, wrapped up in an cloak that was starting to get worn out and a scarf that was starting to get stretched out. But Remus saw that as a plus, because then he could wrap it more times around his face against the winter chill.

After exchanging the security question, the door opened, and Remus was met with a rush of warmth from the warmth and merriment within the little home, as well as the bright, smiling face of James, who immediately pulled him into a rough hug that Remus returned gratefully and just as fiercely.

"Good to see you, mate," said James.

"And you, mate," said Remus.

They broke apart, and James eagerly ushered Remus inside, and shut the cold out behind them as he closed the door and locked it up tight, replacing the wards with his wand. Inside Remus heard "God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs" playing low on the victrola in the sitting room. After James had taken his scarf and cloak and went to hang them up in the cloakroom, Remus went into the sitting room to find Sirius, Aurelia, and Peter sitting in chairs and Lily on the sofa, all of them laughing and chatting over eggnog. He spotted Harry on the floor with his magical mobile, batting at it with great exuberance and babbling, nonsensically but excitedly, dressed in red and green feet pajamas that made him look like he were dressed like one Father Christmas' house-elves. James' cat Abra was curled up nearby him, watching the little baby as though she didn't know what to make of him. And not too far away from them stood the Christmas tree, bright and beautiful and splendid as ever, gleaming with fairy lights of red, green, blue, pink, gold, and white, garlanded with gold and silver, with pretty red, green, blue, gold, and silver baubles hanging from the branches. At the top was a fake, silver, spiraling unicorn's horn. Beneath the tree, there was a cornucopia of Christmas parcels big and small. When Harry's spastic and spontaneous movements frightened Abra, the cat backed away and interested herself in batting the Christmas baubles with her forepaw. Adding to the warmth of the room was the merrily crackling fire in the fireplace on the side of the room opposite the tree.

James brushed past Remus and announced him.

"Look who's here, everyone!" he said.

"Remus!" chorused Sirius, Aurelia, Lily, and Peter.

Everyone set their goblets of eggnog on the coffee table and stood to take turns pulling Remus into more rough hugs. Harry didn't seem to mind all of the hubbub. In fact, he babbled with even greater excitement as if he wanted a turn hugging Remus too.

"Da!" he cried. "Da! Da!"

"He's not saying, 'dada', is he?" Sirius asked when they'd all finished greeting Remus and were sitting back down to their eggnogs.

"Well, technically, he is," said James, "but he doesn't understand what it means yet. Can I get you some eggnog, Remus?"

"Thank you, James, that'd be lovely," said Remus, taking a seat in an empty chair between Sirius and the Christmas tree.

He watched with an odd swoop of amusement as Harry suddenly rolled over off of his back and onto his stomach, jerkily flailing his limbs about.

Lily gave a theatrical gasp and clapped her hands. "Look at you, Harry! Look at you rolling over!"

Harry laughed out loud, squealing with delight.

Remus was reminded painfully of Ramirus' first laughs, and looked away. James brought him his eggnog and he took it and drank, feeling the effects of the brandy and rum in the concoction take a relaxing effect on him, brightening his rather melancholy mood.

Then Lily scooped Harry up in her arms and dandled him a bit. "C'mon Remus," she said. "Won't you hold him for just a teensy bit? You and Peter are the only two who haven't held him yet, and Peter still won't budge...." She left a hopeful note hanging in the air.

"Oh, Lily, come on, I'm sure he won't be psychologically damaged if I never hold him as a baby or anything," said Remus, waving a hand.

"No, but...I'd like Harry to know that he has more than just me and James and Sirius for family. He's got Aurelia, and he's got Peter, and he's got you too."

Remus wasn't sure how having him hold the boy was supposed to show him that when at this age he wouldn't even understand. But he found he simply could not say no to the look on her face right then.

"Come on, Remus," Sirius urged. "It's Christmas."

"Yeah, Remus, go on," added Aurelia, clasping Sirius' hand in hers.

"He won't bite, I promise," laughed James.

"Well, alright...."

He set aside his eggnog and held out his arms, and Harry's weight sank into them. He caught the small wriggling boy to his chest, and cradled him close. Harry beamed toothlessly up at him, the greenness in his eyes more pronounced than ever. In them he saw Lily, radiant and true. He reached up with his small hand and grasped at Remus' chin and squealed with delight again. He was laughing, and Remus found it contagious, because he was laughing too.

Then they heard a low gurgle from Harry's stomach, and Harry started to whimper.

"Oh dear, somebody's hungry," said Lily.

Remus handed Harry to his mother, and she carried him out and up the stairs to nurse him, presumably in her and James' bedroom.

"You see, Remus?" said James as Remus picked up his eggnog and sipped at it. "You'd make a good dad too, you would. Harry took a real shine to you, just like he did with Sirius."

"James, I doubt I'll ever be married, much less with children--even with one child," Remus admitted, a little less reserved on account of the brandy and rum in his eggnog.

"Remus, don't be silly," said Peter.

"Peter's right, don't talk like that," Aurelia added. "What's not to like about you? You've got a great personality."

"And you've got these soft eyes that are all deep and sensitive," Sirius teased, "and you know there are lots of women out there who find 'soft eyes' just bloody attractive."

Remus gave him a playful shove, and James, Sirius, Peter, and Aurelia laughed with him.

And then there was a loud knock at the door. James started to get up to go answer it, but Sirius forestalled him.

"It's alright, James, I'll get it," he said with a mischievous wink.

James sank back into his seat on the sofa, and after Sirius was out of earshot he muttered, "Oh dear Godric, what sort of surprise has he got planned...?" rubbing his face in his hands. He shot a glance at Aurelia, and Aurelia shook her head.

"No idea what he's up to," she said and sipped her eggnog.

Then they heard the sounds of joyful greetings coming from the front hall:

"'Dromeda, dear, how've you been? It's so good to see you!"

"Just fine, and good to see you too, Sirius. You remember Ted, right?"

"Wotcher, Ted!"

"Wotcher, Sirius! C'm'ere you!"

Remus exchanged looks of curiosity with James, Aurelia, and Peter.

"And who is this big girl, eh? That can't be little Nymphadora, can it?"

"It is me, Sirius you barmpot!"

"Aw, okay, I'll make it up to you: griffyback ride?"

"Alright!"

"Oomph! Bloody hell, you are a lot bigger!"

"C'mon Griffy: up, up, and away!"

Lily came into the sitting room with a happily well-fed Harry, and asked, "James, who's just arrived?"

She got her answer, as did everyone else in the room asking the same question. Sirius came in through the other door to the sitting room--or rather he mimed zooming in as though he were a hippogriff on the wing--and on his back rode a seven-year old girl all dressed up in a Christmas-y red and green little dress to match her red and green hair, which she wore in high pigtails that jounced as she laughed and urged Sirius onward. He whirled around in a circle, stopped, and straightened.

"Time to get off now," he said to Nymphadora Tonks on his back.

"Aw, just one more go around?" Nymphadora pouted. "Pretty please?"

"Come on now, Dora give Sirius a break," laughed Ted Tonks, standing in the doorway with an arm around his wife Andromeda, who toted a huge bag of what was probably a boatload of presents.

Remus remembered them all from James and Lily's wedding. He too agreed that Nymphadora had grown since he last saw her.

"Nymphadora..." Andromeda said warningly.

"Oh, alright." Begrudgingly, Nymphadora slid off of Sirius' back. She spotted Abra at once, and knelt down holding out her hand. "C'm'ere kitty-kitty...here kitty-kitty..." she coaxed.

"See who I've brought?" said Sirius to the room at large. "More friends! And more prezzies too!"

Lily, James, and Aurelia gave cries of delight as Andromeda and Ted Tonks moved in to join them all and sit down in chairs beside the sofa, Andromeda setting the bag of presents down at her feet. James hurriedly went to fetch them goblets of eggnog, Sirius at his heels trying to explain himself for having brought them this surprise, and Lily sat down on the sofa, and gave Andromeda and Ted a proper look at Harry.

"Oh, look at you, you've got your sweet mother's eyes!" Andromeda fawned.

"He sure is something," said Ted. "Of course, you at least didn't have to deal with him changing his hair color every five minutes."

Everyone looked at Nymphadora, who had now managed to coax Abra to her and was petting her and murmuring to her. She seemed to notice the adults looking at her, because she raised her head to see them doing it.

"What?" she said, sounding offended.

"Nothing dear," said Andromeda with a laugh. She turned her attention back to Lily, and everyone else seemed to follow her lead. Peter muttered something about needing to use the lavatory, set his goblet of eggnog aside, and left the room. Aurelia meanwhile engaged herself in conversation with Ted.

Remus on the other hand, continued to watch Nymphadora as he sipped at his eggnog. She pulled something out of her pocket. It was a wind-up mouse, but charmed so that it looked like a real mouse, not like one of those fake Muggle contraptions. She wound it up and released it on the floor. Abra watched the mouse scurry along, moving like a real mouse, and began to creep behind it, the slit-pupils of her eyes dilating as the predatory instincts of her distant cousins of the wild began to take precedence in her feline mind.

Nymphadora meanwhile, did not fail to notice that Remus wasn't ignoring her again like the other adults were. "What?" she repeated in the same offended tone, but before Remus could say anything in his defense, her expression changed to one of realization. "I remember you," she said. "You're that Mister Lupin. You were at James and Lily's wedding." Unconsciously, it seemed, she scooted closer on her knees to kneel beside Remus sitting in his chair.

"Indeed I am the very same," said Remus, grinning wanly as he traced the rim of his goblet of eggnog with his finger. "And I remember you, Miss Nymphadora."

Andromeda came over to stand behind Nymphadora with the bag of presents. She began pulling the parcels out two at a time and setting them under the tree.

"Mummy, it's Mister Lupin from James and Lily's wedding," Nymphadora informed her excitedly. "Do you remember him? Did you see him there?"

Andromeda looked up from what she was doing.

Remus, recalling the very civil and friendly conversation they'd had at the mini-bar during the reception, gave Andromeda an amicable smile.

Andromeda however, did not return the smile. Instead, she squinted at him, as though trying to see him properly, or recognize him perhaps from memory. Then she did smile, but the smile was not the same smile she'd given him at the wedding. Instead it was coolly distant. She continued to squint a little too, and this time it made Remus' heart squeeze with hurt confusion, because it reminded him of the looks his former "colleagues" at the Department of Mysteries (other than Lily of course) had given him as he'd made his way out of the office room on the day he'd been given the sack--the eyes of disapproval.

"Yes, yes, I remember him," she said flatly. "Good to see you, Remus."

"And you, Andromeda," said Remus, letting his smile fade away and assuming an air of aloofness like Andromeda was doing. "And Ted? How is he?"

Andromeda had returned to placing parcels from the present bag she'd brought underneath the tree. "He's fine. Just fine. I understand you've been terminated from your position at the Ministry?"

"Mmm," said Remus, as he took another sip of his eggnog. He cast a glance at Ted, and noted that he too was being distant. Though he didn't fix Remus with disapproving eyes. In fact, he noticeably avoided fixing his eyes with him at all, weakly attempting a half-sincere smile before turning away, as if becoming more engrossed in what Aurelia was talking to him about.

"Lily, where shall I set this?" Andromeda asked. Remus looked to see that she'd already straightened up and was completely ignoring Remus. She stepped away from the tree and rejoined Lily while she sat on the sofa, dandling Harry.

He realized with a jolt that Lily had her eyes on him, and only took them away when Andromeda said her name again. Had she seen the whole thing? And what was worse--in her eyes she saw her compassion for him, but she quickly hid it away and turned her attention to Andromeda with a bright smile.

Remus glanced at the Tonks' once more. They did not look at him, not once, even when James arrived with their eggnogs, and then went back into the kitchen to finish preparing the fondue. Remus shook his head, and made a silent snort as a wave of ire swept inside of him which quickly turned to a miserable mush. Melancholically he knocked back the rest of his eggnog and set it on the table nearby with perhaps more force than he'd meant to. The only one who appeared to notice Remus' brooding moroseness was Nymphadora.

"What's the matter, Mister Lupin?" she asked. Her voice conveyed her genuine concern.

Remus was touched. "Nothing," he lied, smiling at her, yet his smile was very sad, he knew.

Nymphadora seemed to know that too. She rolled her eyes at him. "Just because I'm seven doesn't mean I can't tell when something's bothering somebody. I'm really good at...oh what did Mum call it? Oh yeah...I'm really good at 'reading people'."

Remus tilted his head. "Are you now?"

Their eyes locked. Something passed between them that Remus could not understand. Yet he found himself looking into her indigo orbs, not only wondering if indigo was her real eye color, but also feeling like he'd found a missing piece for which he hadn't realized he'd been searching. But a missing piece of what?

As if in a trance, Nymphadora reached up with her small hand and ever so lightly touched the scars on Remus' face with her small fingertips, but for some reason, Remus didn't mind. Yet as soon as she touched him she withdrew, and a strange light seemed to have been blown out.

She was downcast. "I'm sorry, sir," she murmured. "I was just...curious...."

"It's quite alright," Remus said softly, and he meant it too.

"I mean...Mum and Dad told me you were a werewolf and.... Did you get those from fighting another werewolf?" By "those" she meant Remus' scars.

"Sort of," Remus mumbled, averting his eyes. When Nymphadora did not say anything, he risked meeting her gaze, and saw that she was staring at him--not critically, though, but rather thoughtfully. It made her look quite precocious.

Then she brightened and beamed at him, which returned the seven-year old aura to her features. "Hey! Watch this! This'll cheer you up!" She screwed her face up like she was trying really hard to remember something, and then, all of a sudden, her nose morphed into one that resembled a pig's snout.

Remus laughed out loud. For the first time that evening, he felt genuinely amused and happy. He watched with great amusement as Nymphadora changed her nose back to normal and said, "See? Told you you'd feel better," with a puckish grin that was very much like Sirius'.

"Nymphadora, would you like to come over and see Harry?" Andromeda called.

"Sure," said Nymphadora happily. "I'll be back," she added to Remus.

He watched her as she skipped over to see baby Harry cradled in Lily's arms. Then he looked to see that Sirius was standing in the doorway, leaning against the frame with his arms folded. He was staring intently at his cousin and his cousin's husband. There was no amusement in his face. Only what appeared to be disappointment.

"Ted? Andromeda?" he said, putting on a cheery façade.

Andromeda and Ted looked up at him.

"Do you two have a moment? I wondered if you could help me with this one present I need wrapped. It's...rather big, you see." Being one of the Marauders, Remus knew all too well that Sirius was completely feigning the innocence on his face. Being one of the Marauders, he was also secretly curious--curious, in this instance, to know what Sirius was up to. As soon as Ted and Andromeda obligingly rose from their seats and followed Sirius out, Remus discreetly managed to excuse himself and trail after them down the hall.

The hall was gloomy, but he saw a crack of light from one spare bedroom door from which he could distinctly hear the hushed voices of Sirius, Andromeda, and Ted. Silently he sidled up against the wall, came right up next to the door, and listened.

"...lie to me," Sirius' voice hissed. "You're both purposefully avoiding him."

"He's a werewolf, Sirius," Andromeda's voice hissed back.

"You've met him before though! You're only acting like this because I told you what he was when I told you he'd lost his job and you wanted to know why. I was telling the truth."

"Well, I wish you'd told us before we ran into him at James and Lily's wedding."

"Why? So you could've ignored him then too?"

"He's a werewolf!"

"I'm his friend! And so's James, and Lily, and Aurelia, and Peter. Isn't that good enough for you to know he's a perfectly decent person?"

There was a pause, and then Sirius' voice appealed to Ted.

"Ted? I thought you liked Remus."

"I did--I do," said Ted's voice apprehensively.

"Ted!" Andromeda's voice snapped, though it was strained to be kept at a low volume.

"'Dromeda...."

"Don't you ''Dromeda' me...."

"Look, Sirius, all we're saying is that we wish you'd told us before."

Remus heard Sirius snort.

"Well I wish I hadn't at all: then you two wouldn't be treating him like dirt."

"Sirius," Andromeda started, but Sirius forestalled her.

"No, I don't want to hear it. I thought you of all people would be understanding, considering you for one married someone our mothers wanted dead."

"There's no harm in being a Muggle-born. There is harm in being a werewolf."

"Only at the bleeding full moon! What you think, he's going to go around--Oh Godric, you do, don't you? Just like everybody else in this fucked up--"

"Sirius!"

"Werewolves are not vicious as humans. And if they are it's because of the way they're treated! Remus is a human being, he's just got a...a furry little problem, as James put it when we were at school."

"Sirius--"

"But Remus is just about the nicest bloke you'll ever meet, and hardly anyone who doesn't know him really well--like you two for example--"

"Sirius...."

"--ever gives him enough thanks for all the kindness he gives. In fact, most don't give him thanks full stop. They just treat him like vermin because they think that's what he is. Like he isn't a person. Well, newsflash for you: he is."

There was a tense pause. And then--

"Sirius," Andromeda tried again.

"I don't want to hear it, Andromeda. I don't. Let me say that I am absolutely disgusted with the way you've been acting towards him tonight...."

Remus crept away, unable to listen anymore. For a moment, he stopped just outside the door into the sitting room, and a pressure squeezed at his heart, and a terrible stinging in his eyes was followed by a single tear running down his cheek. It wasn't like he hadn't been treated this way before at work--he remembered all of that. And he'd never let it get him down. He'd always had his friend Lily for one, and for another, none of the people at work had never been friendly to him one minute, and then unfriendly the next the minute they found out about his affliction. He breathed in deep, and forced his melancholy back. He hardened his bruised heart a little, toughened it up, and imagined it was made of the kind of stuff that old Mad-Eye was made of. Then he walked back into the room, all smiles, and watched with pure fascination as Nymphadora sat with Lily on the couch, allowing Harry to grasp her finger while she asked Lily lots of questions.

"What do you like best about being a mummy?" she was asking now as Remus resumed his seat by the tree. He noted that Aurelia had gone, presumably in search of Peter, who was still gone. Maybe he'd gotten lost inside the lavatory...?

Lily laughed. "I dunno really. I just love my son, I suppose. Loving your child, that's what's best I think, about being a mummy or a daddy." She caught Remus' eye and gave him a mysterious wink as if she knew something Remus didn't.

Nymphadora followed her gaze, and her face lit up. "Remus! Hey, I got a present for you, I think in there! I knew you were coming but I didn't remember who you were until I got here, but anyway, I got you a present too, because I got one for everyone because Mum and Dad said I had to," she prattled to Remus as she got to her feet and skipped over, stumbled, caught herself, and continued skipping to kneel beside him like before.

Peter and Aurelia came back into the sitting room.

"Found him," said Aurelia laughingly.

Lily and Nymphadora laughed as well.

"The light went out, and I couldn't find my wand..." Peter mumbled, going red in the face and curling up in his chair with his eggnog.

Aurelia sat down in her own chair. "So, what's been happening?" she asked.

"Mummy, can we open presents now, please?" Nymphadora inquired excitedly.

Remus looked up to see Sirius, Andromeda, and Ted trooping rather somberly back into the sitting room.

"Of course not, Nymphadora," Andromeda snapped. "You know we don't open presents until morning. Come along now, get your cloak on: we're leaving."

"But--"

"No 'buts', Nymphadora!"

"Do as your mum says now..." Ted cautioned.

"Here, I'll fetch your cloaks for you, shall I?" Sirius said icily, striding out of the room.

"I've got to go," Nymphadora said sullenly to Remus.

"That's alright, I had a lovely time chatting with you," Remus told her kindly. "And thank you for the present. I'm sure I'll like it, whatever it is."

Nymphadora's features illuminated. "It's--"

"Ah-ah-ah: don't tell," said Remus, wagging a finger and grinning.

Andromeda huffed and left the room in Sirius' wake. Ted lingered a little, watching them, before he too followed suit.

"I'm just sorry I didn't get you anything," Remus went on. "I didn't know you and your mum and dad were coming, you see."

"I know, but that's okay, you didn't have to," said Nymphadora sincerely.

"No, no, I insist," said Remus. He reached into the pockets of his wearing-out robes, searching for something...anything.... A Knut maybe...or a...a....

A chocolate?

Remus felt it over with his fingers, and discovered that it was indeed an individually wrapped little chocolate from Honeydukes' Best. He withdrew it and handed it to Nymphadora with a very small smile.

"It's not much," he mumbled.

"I love chocolate!" Nymphadora squealed. She accepted his present and threw her arms about his neck before he could stop her.

"Oomph!"

"Thank you, thank you, Mister Lupin."

After recovering from his initial shock, Remus smiled a little more widely, wrapped his arms around the child and returned her hug. "You're quite welcome," he said quietly. "And...Happy Christmas."

"Happy Christmas to you too," said Nymphadora, pulling away and beaming at him.

"Nymphadora, come along now," Andromeda scolded from the doorway, shaking Nymphadora's little cloak as though she were a matador and Nymphadora was the bull.

Nymphadora waved to Remus. "Good-bye," she said.

Remus waved back.

"Good-bye, everybody," she said to everyone else just as James was entering with the steaming fondue pot.

"You're leaving?" James looked a little hurt.

"So sorry, James, but lots to do at home, got get this one to bed you know," Ted was explaining rather hastily, jerking his thumb in Nymphadora's direction. "Don't want her to miss Father Christmas."

"Ah, right," said James with a nod. "Well...sorry to see you go so soon.... But can't we at least take a picture?" he added, setting the fondue pot down on a hot pad on the coffee table.

The Tonks' argued, but James was relentless in his insistence, and in the end Andromeda threw up her hands and agreed. Despite the atmosphere, everyone managed to put on a bright smile while the camera took the picture (it had an Automatic Snapshot Spell on it). The moment it was over with, James said brightly, "I'll send you all copies," and the smiles disappeared from Sirius', Andromeda's, and Ted's faces. James frowned about this but said nothing, and followed his unexpected guests out with Sirius, who was still glaring at his cousin with extreme disappointment, while everyone else in the room sat back down.

Aurelia reached over, took a poker from the platter, skewered a small pre-cut hunk of meat, dipped it in the melted cheese in the fondue pot, and offered it to Remus.

"Fondue, Remus?"

Remus accepted her offering and chewed and swallowed the meat in one, thinking it was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted, for some reason. When James and Sirius returned he asked James with a rather impish grin if he was planning on doing chocolate fondue and strawberries.

James winked and said, "For Christmas morning, you chocoholic."

That night, before Remus went to sleep in the spare bedroom he was staying in with Peter, while Peter snored softly away in the other bed, Remus sat up on his and watched the spinning alexandrite for a little while. This time, curiously, along with the sound of boys' laughter and that of a girl probably about the same age which he'd also heard before, he thought he could also hear the radiant laughter of another girl.

~

The next morning opened one eye as he woke to the sounds and smells of cooking in the kitchen, and to find Peter sitting up looking at his parcels at the foot of his bed.

"You're awake!" he said excitedly when he noticed Remus' one-eyed peeking over his blanket. "C'mon, open your presents!"

Remus felt like a younger boy again, a grin spreading across his face. He opened his other eye and sat up to inspect the wrapped parcels at the end of his bed. From Peter he received a tin of treacle tart and a tin of chocolate biscuits.

"Thanks, Pete," he said.

"No problem Remus," said Peter.

Next, from Sirius, Remus received a book on how to "charm witches", at which Remus simply had to laugh. He nibbled on a bit of treacle tart as he unwrapped Aurelia's present, a little wooden treasure box with a gold phoenix painted onto it. Then he opened James' present, a bunch of bars of translucent soap shaped like winged golden Snitches. He found this rather odd until he examined them closer and saw that inside were gold Galleons imbedded into the soap. Then his teeth hit something hard as he chewed Peter's tart, and he spit out a silver Sickle into his hand. He glanced over at Peter, who was busily tearing through Lily's present--a pair of hand-knitted gloves. Hastily he flicked through the book Sirius had given him, and in the bookmark that came with it, he found gold Galleons tucked inside. He opened up the box from Aurelia, and in a compartment, he found a stack of gold Galleons tied together to hide the sound of them clinking.

Seizing Lily's present, he ripped that open and found a beautiful, red green and gold hand-knitted wool scarf that was so warm and soft and long it would wrap several times around his neck. He did so, and felt it was much warmer and softer than the scarf he had. He also felt one side was weighed down by something. Something that clinked. And sure enough, attached to the tassel at one end was a small velvet bag.

He opened it up to find several gold Galleons.

Remus grabbed his hair in his hands. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve their charity. He wasn't able to get them anything this Christmas--he had low funds as it was living solely off the inheritance from his father now--and here they were not only giving him presents, but sneaking money into them...making the money part of the their presents so that Remus couldn't give them back without insulting them, which they knew he would never want to do....

"Something wrong, Remus?" Peter asked, his brow furrowed.

"No," Remus lied, putting on a smile. "Not at all."

Peter shrugged and tugged at a licorice wand with his teeth.

Remus set his presents aside in a neat pile on the side table, deciding he may as well keep the money. His friends would kill him if he tried to give it back anyway--figuratively speaking of course. He forced himself to push his guilt to the back of his mind and reached for the last parcel--the present from Nymphadora. He tore it open, and at first he thought it was a single brown sock. He pulled it out all the way and saw that he was half-right. It was actually a single sock puppet. In fact, it was brown sock puppet with a face and whiskered nose and pointed ears, and a long black and white banded bushy tail. The tail in fact was about as long as the body.

A ring-tailed cat, perhaps...?

Well, whatever it was, it was cute. Chuckling softly under his breath, he set that with his other presents, making a mental reminder to remember to write Nymphadora a thank you note later. Then he got up, dressed, and went out to see his friends gathered in the kitchen. Peter followed shortly behind him, quickly dressing, not wanting to be left behind.

"Happy Christmas!" everyone cried, except for Harry, who clapped and babbled, squealing with peals of giggles instead.

Sirius strode over and gave both Remus and Peter a hug. When he pulled back Remus saw that Sirius wasn't even wearing a sweater. Instead he was wearing an old Witching Hour t-shirt--a red shirt with a bright gold bird on it--the band's insignia. Remus, James, and Peter all had one just like it.

"Aren't you cold?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Nah, I got my warmth right here," said Sirius, sitting down at the table and slipping an arm around Aurelia seated beside him. Aurelia laughed and leaned into his shoulder.

"I remember when we first got those shirts," said James, who was busy making the Christmas turkey while Lily buckled Harry into his high-chair. "Do you remember Sirius, when we first wore them?"

"Summer of seventy-seven," Sirius said reminiscently. "I was living with you at your house by then, and we were testing out my motorbike to see if I'd gotten it to fly like I'd wanted."

"Oh, I've heard this story only about a million times," said Aurelia, rolling her eyes as Remus and Peter joined them at the table. She glanced over at Lily, who was making the same gesture, though she too was smiling.

"It's okay, so have we," said Peter with a grin.

"Are you finished?" Sirius said with theatrical indignance.

"Oh, yes, of course, Sirius," said Peter in a rather carefree manner, pretending to stifle a yawn.

"So as I was saying," said Sirius, clearing his throat, "we were out testing the bike, and we wore the shirts for the occasion, and we ended up getting chased by the London police for speeding and...what else did we do wrong, James?"

James chuckled. "Failure to wear helmets on our heads, oh and to...er...stop for the police in the first place."

"Do remember when they asked for our names?" Sirius asked, the laughter building in his voice. "They just said, 'Names?', so we were all like, 'Well, let's see. There's Wilberforce...Bathsheba...Elvendork--'"

James laughed out loud, and he and Sirius quoted together, "'Elvendork! It's unisex!'"

"Honestly you two," Remus chortled, "you could have gotten into so much trouble when you used magic to lift that car on end and frighten those two Muggle coppers out of their wits."

"Moony, I thought you weren't a prefect anymore," James teased.

"Ha-ha, very funny, Prongs," said Remus facetiously as Abra leapt up into his lap. As he scratched her ears, Sirius asked if he liked what he'd gotten Harry for Christmas.

"I don't know," Remus chuckled. "What did you get him?"

"He's wearing it," said Sirius with a wink and a jerk of his head in Harry's direction.

Remus finally got a good look at Harry the first time that morning as Lily had finished buckling him into his high-chair. As the four-month old sat in it, clapping his hands and his feet, and laughing expectantly, he saw something that looked like a black leather studded Muggle motorcycle jacket--only it was for infants, being so small and all. Lily's amused eyes met Remus' before she started to pull the jacket off of him, not wanting him to get it dirty, for Harry would certainly make a mess of eating his breakfast, being only a baby. The removal of the jacket was much to Harry's dismay, and began to cry as Lily gently guided his arm out of one sleeve. Remus meanwhile glanced at Sirius and raised his eyebrows, but he could not suppress a grin.

Sirius acted in a mock-bashful fashion and said, "Well...I was thinking of getting him a toy broomstick, but I just fell in love with this little Muggle trinket, and the shop they were in in Muggle London said they were a one-time offer. I couldn't pass it up."

"And where'd you get the Muggle money to pay for it?" Remus inquired.

Sirius winked. "I did a little job for the Muggle bloke who owned the shop, and he gave me the jacket as payment. Don't worry, I didn't let him find out I was really a wizard or anything," he added before Remus could put the question forth.

"So, Remus, did you like the Snitch soaps I gave you?" James asked.

Remus grew red in the face and said yes, he did. And over and over he kept saying "Thank you" for them, as though he could not show his undeserved gratitude enough.

"Really, don't worry about it, it's nothing," James said, and he knew that Remus was really thanking him over and over for the money, not the Snitch-shaped soaps.

And then Remus did the same to Lily, and Sirius, and Aurelia, and to Peter. They all knew what he was really getting after, and over and over they assured him, "It was nothing, Remus. We were more than happy to do it."