McKinnon

| CHAPTER FOURTEEN |

    "Who would give me two hundred galleons though?" Sarai asked Remus. 
    She was sitting in his office, swinging her legs back in forth in her chair as she tried to figure out her mysterious gift giver. Remus, himself, hardly knew what to say. Neither of them had bothered opening the other gifts they had received yet. Remus was currently studying the wooden chest, checking for any hidden enchantments or messages that could be hidden inside the small box. He was currently muttering to himself, mostly to make sure there as nothing potentially harmful in the chest for his niece. 
  "Uncle Rem?" Sarai asked, realizing he hadn't responded. Remus snapped his head up to Sarai. He quickly let a smile grace his face and pushed the chest across the table back to Sarai. 
   "Well," He said, a little warily, "I don't see anything amiss with the chest or the gold inside of it." Remus ran a hand through his hair before taking a seat across from Sarai. "A very Merry Christmas to you then, Sar."
   "But no one calls me Siri." Said Sarai, "It doesn't make sense as to why they would give me a nickname." 
   Remus shifted uncomfortably in his seat, and cleared his throat, "Is it really a huge issue, Sar? Just be grateful for the gift. Speaking of," He paused and pulled out a small parcel from his desk drawer, "Here." 
  Sarai took neatly wrapped box from Remus. A smile formed on her face as she observed the dandelion pattern on the wrapping paper. She quickly pulled out a parcel of her own. Compared to the gift Remus wrapped, it looked as though the brown parcel was tossed around multiple times. Sarai was never great at wrapping presents either. 
   "Happy Christmas, Moonshine." She said cheekily. 
Remus rolled his eyes affectionately before taking the parcel, "Thank you." 
    Sarai turned back to her own gift she was given and began carefully, unwrapping the gift. She opened the cardboard box to see a oddly shaped wooden object. Puzzled, she lifted the object out of the boxes to study it further. It was a mahogany colored object, with all sorts of wood sticking out of it. On two sides of the object there was a dial on the object. Sarai turned one of the dials and watched as, one of the planks sticking out of the object retracted. She looked up at Remus, who was proudly beaming at her. 
   "It's a puzzle box." He explained, kindly. "The Japanese call is the Himitsu-Bako. It's a box that appears to be unable to open, unless the user solves the combination to open it." 
   Sarai's eyes widened as she studied the object, already focused on trying to solve the puzzle, while Remus spoke. "I thought it would be a good idea for you to have. Whenever you feel scared, or you feel as though things are out of control." 
   Sarai lifted her head to make eye-contact with Remus, "It's to help you through your anxiety. If you feel as though things are too overwhelming. Just pull it out and try to solve it." He said kindly. 
  Sarai smiled brightly at Remus, "Thank you," She turned back to Remus and waited patiently for him to open her gift. Remus chuckled at the poorly wrapped gift, 
  "Your mother was never any good at wrapping gifts either you know." Remus said amusement in his tone, "She made me wrap everyone of her Christmas gifts, and had Lily wrap mine for her." 
  Sarai giggled smiling fondly at the wrapping. "Somethings are hereditary." 
Remus carefully pulled out a small journal from the box. It was hardly fancy by any means, but the journal itself was actually a planner based off the lunar calendar. She had carefully decorated the journal with little moons and starts in the book, and had made sure to put the lunar cycle inside the journal. Something to help Remus keep track of which nights he had taken his potions, when the full moon was, and to track his symptoms. 
 Remus flipped through the notebook, smiling at the doodles and comments Sarai had scribbled down in the margins of the book. 
   "Since you barely remember to eat around that time anyway," Sarai teased lightly, "This will help you track when you've taken your potion, you old fart." 
   "Beautiful," Remus said sarcastically, before giving sarai  a hug from across the table, "Thank you, really." 
  The rest of the time, she spent excitedly opening the rest of her gifts. Dean had gotten her a heaping load of hot cocoa powder, to last her the rest of the school year. She had also received a gift basket, with many different options to customize her hot chocolate. Most likely from Honeydukes. Seamus had graciously had bought her a Nose-biting teacup, enchanted to bite the nose of anyone who tried to drink out of the cup. She laughed at the teacup as it changed shape into teeth that continuously clamped open and shut. From her Grandfather, Lyall. She had received a set of enchanted  gold vials for her potion making. Her love for potions was undefeated, despite the unhinged professor teaching the class. She had also received a very long letter detailing all the disappointment from her grandfather for not receiving a single letter from her after she had started her Third Year at Hogwarts. Sarai, admittedly, was a terrible Pen pal. And lastly, from Michael, she had received an enchanted cannister with a note. It instructed her to pour any liquid as she pleased into the cup, and the cup would magically refill itself anytime it was empty, until the cannister was washed. 
   Feelings very grateful for her friends and family, Sarai's spirits were certainly extremely high as she enjoyed the Christmas morning with her uncle. The two were enjoying their own Christmas breakfast quietly together as her and Remus showed each other the gifts they had received this year. She was especially jealous of the beautiful bottle of brandy Remus had received from Professor Flitwick. She jokingly had asked him if he would spare her a cup before receiving a stern look from Remus. She was enjoying the cup of tea, they had together when Remus finally got up from his desk, and waved his wand. 
  A set of clothes from Sarai's own wardrobe appeared, along with her winter coat, gloves and scarf. "You should have changed out of your pajamas before you came to see me." Remus chided lightly before continuing, "Go ahead and get dressed in that broom closet, We're leaving." 
   Puzzled, Sarai grabbed her clothes and did as he instructed. Once she was all bundled up, He dark curly hair pulled into a tight bun underneath her skull cap, the two set off outside the castle.

   "I got special permission from Professor Dumbledore," Remus explained as they stood in the courtyard. A small black carriage came into view from afar. Sarai's eyes widened as she realized what was happening. "Technically, We're on our holidays, so there isn't a rule against a legal guardian taking their child to Hogsmeade outside of School term." Remus said. 
   Sarai squealed and launched Remus into a big hug, "Thank you thank you thank you!" She exclaimed excitedly as they watched the carriage slowly trot towards them. 
   Remus had taken her to honeydukes first. The shop was lined with shelves of every sweet imaginable. Sarai felt like she was in heaven. There was creamy chungs of nougat, pink coconut ice squares, toffees, and her favorite section: Hundreds of different chocolate in neat rows. There was peppermint, strawberry, orange chocolate balls. A brand of chocolate bars dedicated to every emotion possible. A laughing chocolate, a sleeping chocolate, anything Sarai could think of. She had unregretfully bought a large handful of chocolate from the small stash of galleons she had been given that day. She had also gotten herself a handful of fragile sugar-quills that had been spun carefully. 
   After being on a sugar high, the pair made their way to Zonko's Joke shop. She perused through the aisles, as Remus went to go speak to the owners, catching up as though they were old friends. She observed the row of dung beetles, and boxing telescopes. When one item caught her eye. It was an ever-bashing boomerang. Said to return to the thrower constantly. She picked it up carefully examining the toy, before placing it back and returning to Remus. 
 He had taken her to the Post-office, that was filled with many different owls color coded. Next, Dervish and Banges, the quidditch equipment shop, and finally, the Three Broomsticks. 
   When they entered the pub, Sarai was blasted with a comforting amount of warm air. There was a large mirror behind the bar that reflected the bottles of butterbeer, fire-whiskey and all sorts of other drinks many patrons often requested throughout the day. 
   Settling for a butterbeer, after her request for fire-whiskey was sternly shot down, she cupped the mug with the fizzing soda close to her, as the pair waited on their food to arrive. She definitely noticed the light blush that appeared on Remus's cheeks when Madam Rosmerta (The pub owner) had made her way over to give him a light kiss on his cheek in greeting. 
   "Remus! Oh darling it's been ages, has it not?" She exclaimed happily. Her words were slightly slurred, and Sarai could see her face had a slight flush to it.
   "Too long, Madam Rosmerta, how are you?" Remus asked kindly, still a little flushed. 
"I'd definitely be a lot better if these dementors weren't around." Said Rosmerta darkly this time. Her happy aura replaced with a certain bitterness. "It's about time they catch Black isn't it? oh, I'm sure this must be so hard for you..."
   She trailed off, when her eyes flitted to Sarai. "Rosmerta, this is my niece, Sarai." Remus said quickly. The sudden change of subject did not go unnoticed by Sarai as she narrowed her eyebrows at Remus. A question for later. Rosmerta paused, dumbfounded as she stared at Sarai. 
   "Sarai--?" 
"Yes, Marlene's daughter." Remus interrupted before Rosmerta could get another word in, "Her father left when she was young." He said in a pointed voice, "I'm sure you're busy Rosmerta, don't let us keep you." 
  Rosmerta must have gotten the hint, because she quickly cleared her throat and collected herself, "Right," She said warily, her eyes flitting back and forth between him and Sarai. "Well, I hope you guys are having a good Christmas, let me know if you need anything while you're here." 
    The encounter left Sarai puzzled, but she pushed it to the back of her mind. Not wanting to ruin the day with any questions about her heritage, she happily dug into the shepherds pie that had been placed before her. 
  "Say, uncle," Sarai said after eating a small portion of her pie. Remus was currently digging into a platter of ribs he had ordered for himself, "Can we go to Gladrags?" She asked. 
   Remus looked up from his plate, confusion on his face, "Of course we can, sweetheart." He said kindly. "But why there?" 
  She cleared her throat and looked up at him.
"It's time for a wardrobe change." 

   Sarai was definitely worn out from her adventures with Remus for the day. It had taken Remus a lot of convincing to let her buy him new robes for the school term. But she had insisted that as a professor, and as her uncle, she needed to represent both properly. And that it was her money she was gifted to do as she pleased. She had also picked up some cute outfits for her to wear outside of school as well. Pleased with their shopping escapades, they had returned to the castle for Christmas dinner before parting ways to get some much needed rest. Remus himself, had begun to look a little worse for wear, with another full-moon around the corner. He definitely needed his rest. But as Sarai had settled into her bed in the dorm that night, she had a very pleased smile on her face. It had been a very nice Christmas indeed. 

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