This shouldn't be a lonely time
Thank you, Merry Christmas", he said, trying to shut the door.
"If you get a little hungry, you're welcome to join us."
Remus nodded, "I'm fine, thank you, goodnight."
He finally managed to shut the door, and locked it for good measure.
The small gift basket sat on the table, and he opened it to find some baked goods. Like Peter used to make every year. And a large slice of fruitcake. Sirius' favourite.
He picked up the slice of cake, unlocked his door and walked downstairs.
As he stepped outside, he realised he'd forgotten his shoes and coat but couldn't be bothered to go back. He hurried down the street, to where a homeless man stayed.
He wordlessly put the cake in front of him and started walking back to his apartment, shivering from the cold.
"You look like you need this more than me, mate." The man said, Remus carried on walking.
As he got back, he bundled his arms with the baked food and sat in his bed, wrapping bundles of blankets around himself. And cried.
Sirius used to love Christmas, well Queermas as they called it. Because it celebrated their whole little chosen family being together.
What a stupid holiday. Sirius didn't care less about any of them.
.
It was freezing cold, and windy. Autumn or winter then. Although it was England, it snows in spring and rains all year round. There was no way of telling how long they had been in Azkaban, it could have been a couple of days, or months, or years.
Sirius stood up, wobbling as xe did so. Must have been a while since they last got up, at least they knew that.
They went up to the bars of the cell, leaning against it to glimpse at the window across the hall. But as xe did so, a dementor started floating closer so they staggered back to the corner of the cell once again.
Sirius drew and wrote in the dust of the floor, things they wished to say to James, to Lily, to Remus, Marlene and Dorcas, to Regulus, to Mary, and even to Peter.
They didn't know it was Christmas time at all.
"I hope you get eaten by a cat, if you haven't already", Sirius wrote in the dust to Peter with a small smile.
They had always joked about that at school. It was just a joke then, now it wasn't.
.
Peter ran down the stairs at the Weasley's house, and stopped as ze reached the bottom floor and heard noise.
They were all sitting on the floor, chatting and laughing. Two toddlers were playing jokes on their older siblings and a newborn slept in the arms of Molly Weasley.
The baby looked to be around Hari's age.
Peter imagined how Lily and James would have been celebrating the Holiday, he would have been invited. He would have been part of it. Part of the family.
She imagined Sirius sat in a cell in Azkaban for crimes they didn't commit, and Remus alone, his fears of loneliness coming true.
Peter felt a tear dropping from his eye, she regretted it. She wished he had never betrayed zir friends, his family.
He wished he could go to his mums, Lydia loved Christmas, well Queermas. But they had to think she was dead. If they knew he was alive… Well, they always had liked Sirius. They'd sell zem out to the ministry in a second, or contact Remus. He wasn't sure which was worse.
Then, ze saw Molly start crying as she clutched a photo of her brothers. The Prewett twins, they had died earlier this year, he remembered.
And the tears, the regret, the pain were washed away with a feeling of relief.
He made it out alive. That's all that mattered.