The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

XXXI: 24 December, 1993

Remus Lupin was bleary-eyed from working on his special project all day.

He sat at his desk, his things cleared away, his shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, biting his tongue as he worked, his face in sharp relief with the assortment of candles he had burning to light his work. The charcoal moved deftly across the page, turning his wrists smokey grey as his skin ran over the work he'd already done, and he was very careful with each detail he made, using his wand to undo bits he didn't like and redoing it... again, and again, and again... methodical perfection.

Behind him, the huge brass phonograph on the shelf behind him played an old big band record that skipped with dust on the vinyl and he had to keep kicking the bookcase to make it go on.

At last, it was perfect - precisely how he wanted it to be. He wrapped his gift and tucked it under his arm and set out on the long walk across the castle. 

Down a flight of steps and over a long corridor, back up a short flight and 'round a bend...

"Looooony Loopy Lupin!" sang Peeves, catching him up in one of the corridors. Peeves wore a pair of felt antlers atop his head as he spun along side Remus. "What are you up to tonight?" 

"No good, of course, Peeves," Remus said.

Peeves clapped his hands, "Not nearly as much no good as old Peevesy is up toooooo!" and he zoomed off loudly singing Jingle Bells Severus Smells.... Voldemort can suck my...

Remus stared aghast at the ghost. "Blimey, that song really stuck on all these years?" he murmured, shaking his head.

Remus arrived to his destination, stood outside the door, drew a deep breath, and knocked.

There was a long pause.

The door was flung open wide. "PEEVES IF YOU KEEP KNOCKIN AT MY DOOR EVEN ONE MORE TIME I'M GOIN' STRAIGHT TO THE BARON AND --"  Argus Filch stopped mid sentence upon seeing Remus Lupin in the spot he'd expected to see Peeves. He lowered the mop he'd been brandishing as his defense against the poltergeist. His expression was one of surprise, then suspicion, which melted into annoyance. "Whatever you're here for, you can go away and file a formal request for clean up or whatever it is you're needing - I'm a busy man on holidays such as this!" 

Filch started to slam the door, but Remus caught it, and he followed the old caretaker into the office. 

Oh how many times he'd spent hours in this office listening to Filch fill out permanent records cards! Remus glanced at the old filing cabinents and smiled when he saw there was still an entire drawer marked out just for the Marauders - and that three rows above it was a new one, opened and being freshly added to, marked for the Weasley twins.

Filch slouched to an old, worn out arm chair by a barely-lit fire that was hardly more than a single log smoldering in the grate. The decrepit old Mrs. Norris jumped onto his lap and curled up, purring.

"Mr. Filch," Remus began, "I only came to wish you a very Happy Christmas."

"Beh," Filch waved his palm at Remus, "Go off and make your jokes some place else, I ain't got time for none of your non-sense."

Remus held out the package he'd tucked under his arm. "It isn't much, but I made this for you. And it comes with an apology - one you were owed quite a long time ago, not just from me but from all four of us." He didn't have to say who he meant, Filch twitched with understanding. "I'm sorry that we were such gits to you - you didn't deserve half the things we put you through, and I do hope that you know that -- even if nobody else says it to you -- you're a very good caretaker, and Hogwarts would not be half the place it is if it were not for your relentless care for it's halls."

Filch stared at the package as though he'd never seen one before.

And perhaps he hadn't - not in a very, very long time at least.

Tentatively, he unwrapped the package. Remus could tell he was half expecting a fanged frisbee or some other Zonko's product to fall out of the folds of colourful paper, so that when he undid the last fold he ducked as though expecting an attack. But instead of any joke, there lay in his hands a book - a photo album with beautifully drawn frames around each photo, and meticulously hand-penned notes, copied from the backs of the photographs. 

Argus stared into the face of Hermes with a quivering jowl. 

"I know what it is to miss someone," Remus said quietly, "And for the photographs to be all that's left of the way things were when you saw them last. I know what a comfort it is... looking at the old photos... like having a piece of them back, if only for a moment..." he paused. 

"Where'd you get this?" Filch asked quietly.

"One of the old passageways," Remus answered.

Filch nodded, staring still into the face of his brother. 

"Anyway. I just wanted to see to it that you had a bit of Hermes back with you tonight... of all nights... and to let you know that now that I'm older and I understand you a bit more, I really am grateful for the things you do about the castle... and I hope that - perhaps you'll feel a bit less invisible."

Remus turned and started for the door. He was nearly out to the corridor when he heard the croaky voice, muffled as though blocked by a handkerchief. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Remus answered. "Happy Christmas, Mr. Filch."

He closed the door.

It was a long walk back to the Defense corridor, and by the time he'd gotten there his legs and back were so stiff that he wasn't even sure he wanted to go down to dinner in the Great Hall. But then he thought of Flitwick's words back at Halloween and the 5478 days that had passed since the wedding, and he decided he had better go - but he would stop and get himself some aconite leaves to put into his tea when nobody at the table was looking, and hopefully that would do to get him through the evening.

Remus entered his office and groaned as he climbed the steps to his quarters. The phonograph was still playing, low, and he didn't notice that the record had been changed, nor did he notice that the lights he'd turned off were on now, and when he stepped into his bedroom he  was so focused on getting the aconite leaves from the little cupboard beside the door that he didn't even give the room a proper once-over before focusing on his task. He found he had a small vial of wolfsbane still in the cupboard and his fingers locked on it with excitement, thinking of what a relief it would be... So he was completely shocked when --

"Remus."

He dropped the little vial and it fell to the floor, smashing at his feet, as he turned around to find Sirius Black, perched on the edge of his bed.