The Marauders: Moony

Remus And The Present

The end of term was fast approaching, and Remus hadn't seen much of Freya over the last week. He had just put it down to her being busy trying to complete all of her work before leaving for Christmas, but something still made him feel a little uneasy.

In a couple of days time, the Hogwarts express would be leaving, and he wouldn't see her for two weeks. He had made her a Christmas present, but he wasn't sure whether or not he would be able to work up the courage to give it to her. When he thought about it, he felt embarrassed, but even still, he wrapped it untidily in brown paper and put it in his satchel, so that if the chance arose, he would have it to hand.

Lily Evans had decorated Gryffindor tower so that it was a vision of Christmas. She had put up enchanted lights that twinkled like stars, and charmed the walls so that they looked like the scene outside the window, only covered in snow, with small snowflakes dancing and drifting to the ground. There was also a huge Christmas tree. Its large branches towered towards the ceiling, and each bauble had the face of a different Gryffindor member on it.

"Where's my bauble, Evans?" James asked.

"I missed you out." She replied in a sarcastic tone. Remus noticed a small smile play on her lips.

"There's no way you could forget about me." James replied jokingly, although Remus could sense the defensiveness in his voice.

Remus spotted the bauble with James on it. The little James on the bauble was on his broomstick, throwing the Quaffle through a hoop and scoring. Remus quickly found his own bauble and noticed that his own image was nibbling on a square of chocolate. Lily had really put a lot of effort into these decorations.

"I think you've done a fantastic job Lily. You just forgot about one very important detail." Remus commented, turning to face Lily and James.

"I have?" She asked, her amused smile fading a little.

Remus waved his wand and a branch of mistletoe began to grow and swirl across the ceiling above Lily and James.

"You really are the genius of the group Moony." James grinned in delight.

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to walk away.

"Oi, Evans! It's bad luck to ignore mistletoe!" James shouted, but he stood no chance.

James turned back to face his friends with a small smile on his lips.

"Anyway Remus, where's your little girlfriend?" James asked.

"She's not my girlfriend." Remus mumbled.

Peter scoffed. "She pretty much is!" He exclaimed.

"Just get on and ask her Moony!" Sirius added, nudging him with his elbow.

Remus sighed and thought for a moment.

"I think I'm going to go to the library actually. She may be there." Remus said. He didn't have any more homework to complete before Christmas, or any reason to go to the library really, but he wanted to see her. He felt that time was running out.

***

Remus's eyes began to burn. He checked his watch and noticed that it was late. Very late. He looked up and saw that he was alone. Everyone else had left the library. He pushed himself to his feet to leave, banging his shin on the table leg.

He groaned in pain. Something about his long limbs made him very clumsy.

Remus was disappointed that he had not seen her, but he wasn't suprised.

As Remus walked through the quiet corridors back to the Gryffindor tower, a faint sound made him pause.

He was sure he could hear someone.