Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Twenty-Five- A Black Christmas

TW: Abuse

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The next week was the most fun Remus would probably ever have at Hogwarts. Sirius and James were Patricia's "protegees," which basically meant they were her servants. She gave them ridiculous tasks and watched them scramble to fulfill them. Sirius and James had both questioned her ways after she told them to wash the common room windows, but one threat from her not to train them and they rushed off.

Remus knew he shouldn't be quite so amused, but James and Sirius finally seemed to have met their match, and truly the whole of the Gryffindor house found great amusement in it. It also allowed Remus to relax around the boys as he had never been able to before. Both of them were far too tired from Patricia's growingly challenging physical and mental tasks to even attempt to be curious about Remus.

He also realized Peter was a much better friend than he could ever hope to be, since the smaller boy would wait for James and Sirius with cool drinks, seeing as many days they finished their evening running laps around the Quidditch pitch. Meanwhile, Remus had to stop himself from teasing them further, a rather devious side of him appearing he never before realized he had.

They also spent several nights, since Sirius declared himself "too tired to sleep" which Remus thought made no sense, outside Hogsmeade Station. This had become their meeting place and they could fool around loudly without the worry of repercussions. Once again, Remus realized how easily he could be like the others, carefree and foolish.

If only he wasn't a monster.

So when Christmas Break came and the three boys left him with hugs and sympathies, he found that his amazing mood of the past week shriveled and deteriorated.

Three days from then, Remus would be in agony while his three roommates were gorging themselves on Holiday leftovers surrounded by family. He even envied Sirius, though he was still worried. But he'd still take being with a terrible family to being all alone and never hearing from his family, possibly not even having one anymore. He knew it wasn't fair of him to feel this way but he did, made much worse by the fact he still hadn't heard from his father. For all he knew his father was dead.

Luckily, no one was around to see him sulk. He was able to cry loudly in his dorm, for the whole floor was deserted all the first-year boys having gone home for the holidays. From the 23rd to the 7th, Remus would be all alone on the floor. In fact, only a handful of the fifth-year Gryffindors were staying to study. Other than that, it was Remus and surprisingly enough Patricia, who he avoided, preferring to sulk in solitude.

Considering all the students going home left early in the morning on Thursday the 23rd, Remus spent the next two days getting ahead in his studies and then exploring the castle, realizing he still had to find a secret passage. In the excitement of Patricia, James and Sirius had agreed to wait till after break to see the new passage the "Marvelous Remus" had found. He wished he had never lied about such a thing, wished he had never unknowingly suggested Patricia train James and Sirius, and wished they would stop calling him ridiculous names.

Saturday the 25th came. Remus found he felt too ill to join the feast, nor did he comprehend the small pile of presents at the end of the bed were his. Once more he was grateful his roommates weren't there, for as soon as he woke up he lost his dinner from yesterday into the toilet. He could tell he had a fever and he felt worse than normal the day before. The 26th would be the longest moon of the year, and one of those times it was closest to the Earth. He truly hated supermoons and just tried to be relieved no one was around this time to see what a mess he was.

Every step was agony and he was soon covered in sweat from the sheer exertion walking back to his bed took. He knew he should be in the hospital wing, but he was already making the matron miss spending the holidays with her family, he wouldn't make her miss spending it with her friends. Then he heard the knock on his door and his stomach lurched once more.