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Remus was 11 when he realized something about Hogwarts was different.
He thought it was weird that no one had celebrated the High Holidays in the fall, but he waved it off as a secondary school thing. They wouldn’t be making apple prints and tasting honey in secondary school, he reasoned. His parents still had to go to work on Rosh Hashanah, so he probably still had to go to school.
He was really confused when people started dressing up at the end of October. Didn’t these people know about Purim? Where were the noisemakers, the hamantaschen, the spiel?
He started to suspect something really bizarre was going on when, on the first of December, two huge evergreen trees had sprouted on either end of the great hall.
“This is getting ridiculous!” he exclaimed to no one in particular.
“What is?” asked Sirius as he sat down beside him.
“Why are there trees in the Great Hall?” he asked, exasperated.
“Because it’s Christmas?” Sirius responded, confused, “Do you not put up trees for Christmas?”
“Why would I put up a tree for Christmas? It’s not like it’s Tu BiShvat! What does it even have to do with trees?”
“Remus, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Sirius said quizzically, “Do you not know what Christmas is?”
“I mean, um,” Remus stuttered, “I’ve heard of it? But I’ve never done anything for it.”
“Why not?” asked Sirius, genuinely confused.
“Merlin Sirius, did you not know? I’m Jewish.” Sirius stared blankly at him. “You know,” Remus pressed, “I celebrate Hanukkah, and Pesach, and-“
“I mean, yeah!” said Sirius, “But how did you make it this far without knowing about Christmas trees?”
Remus looked down, ashamed, “I was homeschooled Sirius. Do you really think my dad would let me anywhere near a muggle school?” He absentmindedly rubbed at his hip, where his robes hid the telltale scar. “So I didn’t have many friends, I had my parents and my cousins and maybe one or two kids from shul and that’s it. So I’m sorry I’m not as worldly as The Noble And Most Ancient House of Black, but-“
“Hey,” Sirius responded, gently, “Do you want to celebrate Christmas? We could have crackers and pudding and a roast and-“
Remus wrinkled his nose.
“Are you kidding me? December is for donuts and latkes and chocolate, and you can pry them out of my cold dead hands.” He laughed, and Sirius laughed with him.
“Come on then,” replied Sirius, standing and grabbing Remus’s hand, “Let’s get the house elves to make whatever the hell a late-key is.”
“Sirius!” Remus laughed. This was going to be one hell of a holiday.