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Sirius normally liked flying the bike – and soaring high above bright white fields that shone luminous in the night sky made for a stunning view – but it was a bitterly cold Christmas Eve, the evening sky was light with the suggestion of more snowfall, and a he couldn’t wait for the promised warmth of the Godric’s Hollow cottage.
“Are you doing alright back there?” He asked as he touched the bike down a quite country road just outside of the village. James had his arms wrapped tight around him, but even though he’d healed his dislocated shoulder, Sirius was worried that he might fall off.
At least it was just his shoulder. Could have been a hell of a lot worse, and he’d come out a damn sight better than Dorcas had.
Still, neither of his friends had suffered any lasting damage in their latest face off with Death Eaters.
This time. Said a miserable, morbid little voice in his head, there would be other fights in this war. Sirius squashed it down quickly. There were all fine, it was Christmas Eve, they were all fine, and he was going to damn well enjoy himself.
“I’m good.” James said, though his voice still seemed slightly pained. “Nothing a strong cup of tea won’t fix.”
Sirius kicked the bike back to life and set off along the winding road in the direction of Godric’s Hollow. He had no intention of moving out of London now that he was back, but he could see why James had chosen this quaint little village. And, covered in snow like it was now, it looked like a Christmas card.
Lights illuminated the stained glass windows of the church, and the little cottages were decorated with pretty little fairy lights.
The village was so quiet that the roar of Sirius’s bike stuck out like a sore thumb, and one little old woman even opened her front door to see what was going on, a look of upmost disproval at the sight of him. Sirius took a hand off the handle bars and gave her a jovial wave – regretting it almost instantly; the bike was a lot harder to control on the slippy ground.
“Watch it.” James muttered as Sirius struggled for a moment.
“Sorry.” He muttered, pulling up outside James and Lily’s cottage. She hadn’t closed the curtains yet and their living room shone brightly in the dark street. He could see Marlene curled up in the arm chair, the stem of the wine glass balanced between two slender fingers of her left hand, and laughing at whatever Lily was telling her – his girlfriend always seemed to shine just as brightly.
“Not coming in?” James asked, he had slid from the bike and opened the gate while Sirius had been staring.
“What? ‘course.” He said, dismounting and following James into the warmth of the cottage.
“What happened? Are you alright?” Lily demanded. She had thrown her arms around James as soon as he entered the living room, but pulled back at the sight of him.
“I’m fine, it’s not my blood.” James assured her.
“Dorcas–”
“Is okay, she’s back with Moody, he’s patching her up.” James said, and Sirius slipped by the newly weds to give Marlene a kiss.
“You didn’t tell me you were going on a mission.” She murmured as Lily and James bickered, all trace of humour from a moment ago now gone.
“I wasn’t.” Sirius said, he didn’t want Marlene to think he’d lied to her. “I really had gone to do last minute Christmas shopping. James called for help.”
“And Dorcas is definitely okay?” Lily asked, turning to Sirius now.
“She’s fine, Moody will have got her good as new now. James,” he added a little louder so that his friend would hear him. “Didn’t fancy sticking around to face his wrath.”
Sirius ducked as a cushion narrowly missed his head.
“I’m just going to get cleaned up.” James said, detaching himself from his wife’s grasp, and disappearing back into the hallway.
“You want a drink?” Lily asked Sirius, though she was still staring after James, a small frown creasing her brow. “I was going to do some hot chocolates, seems like you could use a drop of brandy in there too, you know for medicinal purposes.” She added with a grin.
“I’ll take one too.” Marlene said, swallowing back the rest of the wine in her glass with one swig. “Too cold for white, don’t know what I was thinking.”
Sirius followed Lily into the cottage’s small kitchen. “Want me to do anything?” He asked, feeling like it was polite to offer.
“No, it’s alright.” Lily said, pouring milk into a pan on the stove and waving her wand to light it. “Is Remus still coming? When I saw him last Saturday he said he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make it.”
“Were you discussing Christmas plans while you were staking out Death Eaters?” Sirius smirked. “Don’t let Moody hear about that… so much for vigilance.”
“Oh shut up.” She said, but he was sure she was suppressing a grin.
“I saw him in the week, he said he’d be here– Hey, Marley?” He called, spotting the weather outside. “It’s snowing again.”
There was a rustle of movement from the living room before Marlene joined them in the kitchen, coat and boots back on.
“Shall I just bring your drink out to you?” Lily asked sardonically as Marlene slipped out of the back door and into the Potter’s garden.
She’d left the door open and Sirius moved to watch her. No one had been in the garden today it seemed, Marlene was making fresh foot prints and gazing up at the sky as snow fell on her face. Every time it snowed, it was like she had never seen it before. Sirius couldn’t muster up quite the same excitement, sure it was pretty, but it got in his boots and made his socks wet – plus the roads always turned into grey slush the next day.
But he could watch Marlene in the snow for the rest of his life.
James joined him in the doorway, a finger to his lips, before slipping past him and out in to the garden. He gathered up a handful of snow, crept up behind Marlene and tipped it out down the back of her coat.
Marlene let out a scream of shock.
“Jamie!” She shouted, whirling round to see who that culprit was. She bent over for a moment before straightening again, a large snowball in her hand.
“No wait, let me put my coat–” James began retreating, hands raised in surrender, but Marlene’s snowball hit him square in the face.
Sirius caught Lily’s eye and she grinned; the hot chocolate could wait until after they had joined in the merriment. Scooping up a snowball of his own he threw it at Marlene, she let out squeal and dodged.
Sirius ducked as she aimed one back and heard Lily shout “Marls!”
They carried on like this, no teams, no alliances, every man for himself. Sirius lunged forwards into the dog and bound towards Lily, barrelling her over into a pile of snow at the end of the garden that James had clearly started the shovel the day before and given up.
“Sirius!” She pushed the hair from her face and shoved him to the side, teeth chattering. “I feel like having a fur coat is cheating.”
Sirius turned back and pushed himself to his feet holding out a hand. “Cheating? I can’t throw snowballs without thumbs, it was clearly a disadvantage!”
“I think that was the doorbell.” James said, letting Marlene pull him up. He rubbed his shoulder as he returned inside, and Lily followed quickly behind.
“Did it pop out the socket again? Before I mean when he was out…” Marlene asked Sirius with a wince, and he nodded. “Shit, I shouldn’t have tripped him up.”
“Ah, he’ll be fine. I healed it before we got here.” Sirius said, trying to brush some of the snow from her blonde hair. “Probably just sore.”
The brief garden fun and been a wonderful distraction from the war that raged around them, but Sirius could feel it slipping through his fingers.
He could hear Moony wishing Lily and James a Merry Christmas and gave Marlene’s hand a tug.
“Come on, let’s go see Remus.”
Sitting in the warmth, drinking and exchanging presents with their loved ones would be just what they needed to forget about the dangers that lay before them.