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On Christmas Eve, Remus awoke to the sound of the dormitory door creaking open. He heard heavy winter boots cross the floor, and the bed springs groan as a form came down upon them.
Still half-asleep, Remus raised his head off his pillow and blinked open his eyes to see Sirius looking straight at him, a wide grin spread across his face.
“Sirius?” Remus slurred, still blinking to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him in his groggy state.
“Morning, Moony,” Sirius chirped, still smirking. Melting snowflakes covered his black hair and his coat.
Remus was wide awake now. “Sirius, what are you doing here?” Remus asked, worriedly.
“It’s lovely to see you too, Moony. No need to fawn over me.”
Remus was not in the mood for jokes. “Sirius! Come on – what are you doing here? Are you alright?”
Sirius shrugged. “Let’s just say, Walburga and Orion weren’t feeling in the festive spirit,” Sirius walked over to Remus’s bedside table and grabbed a chocolate frog off the top of it. “Figured you’d be bored out of your mind spending Christmas alone here at Hogwarts, so I thought I had better come back to save you from yourself. You’re welcome!” He took a big bite of the chocolate frog.
“Sirius—" Remus began, feeling concerned for his friend – he knew how awful Sirius’s parents could get.
“I’m fine, Moony,” Sirius said, waving Remus off with his hand. “It was more of the same, really – I was fighting with my parents since the moment I got home from school. I got into another argument with them last night after dinner, and then I realised, why stay here with these miserable old bats, when I could join my pal Remus and make some unforgettable Christmastide memories?”
“Well, do you maybe want to talk about what happened—”
“Nothing to talk about, Moony, really,” Sirius interrupted as he opened up the wrapper for another chocolate frog. “As I said, what you should be doing right now is thanking me for coming back to Hogwarts to make your Christmas merry and bright.”
Remus rolled his eyes and smirked at Sirius. He knew that they’d talk about what happened at Grimmauld Place later, when Sirius was ready.
For now, Remus was just thrilled to have Sirius back at Hogwarts for Christmas. But of course, he wasn’t about to say that to Sirius now.
Remus tossed his pillow at his friend’s face and affected his most exaggerated posh accent: “Please forgive me for not expressing my boundless gratitude for your lordship’s benevolence and charity, bestowing his noble presence on such a sad, lonely creature as myself on Christmas. I cannot begin to fathom how I shall ever be able to repay this monumental debt!”
“Doing my Potions homework for the rest of the term would do quite nicely, thank you,” Sirius replied, chucking the pillow back at Remus, then getting up to start unpacking his suitcase.
Remus looked down at the puddles of melted snow on the floor, which had trailed behind Sirius wherever he went in their room.
“So. Tell me the enthralling tale of how you stole away in the middle of the night and landed here in Hogwarts,” Remus said, sitting up in bed now. “And take off your boots, would you? You’re creating a moat around your bed.”
Sirius kicked off his boots and let out an exaggerated huff, before he launched into his escape story while grabbing armfuls of clothes and shoving them into his dresser. “Right – the epic saga of how I ran away from home…
“To start from the beginning: I was immediately confronted with a large obstacle that made my prospects for success bleak: it seems Walburga and Orion had known I was going to make a break for it before I did – they had locked away my broom and shut off the floo network. But what didn’t occur to them was the possibility that I would stoop so low as to take other means of transport… that is, muggle means.” Sirius grinned at Remus mischievously.
“I took the muggle night train to get here,” he said, puffing out his chest a bit. “The journey was quite pleasant, actually. I mean, dinner was rubbish, of course – the chicken was dry as a bone… I really can’t understand how muggles can cook without magic. But I sat beside an older chap from Edinburgh in the dining car who bought me some Scotch and taught me how to play muggle chess (horribly dull compared to the real game, obviously) and another muggle game… called cabbage, or crabbage, or some silly word like that – the game was quite quaint, of course, but I suppose there was a certain appeal in its simplicity.”
Sirius sat down on the foot of Remus’s bed, his unpacking now complete, and continued drawling: “Overall, I’d say that my experience on the train was perfectly charming, really. And the Edinburgh bloke gave me his address for a visit, in any case I’m ever in town – capital fellow.
“Anyway, the train dropped me off in some muggle town at about 5 o’clock this morning, and I walked the rest of the way here.” He took another bite of his chocolate frog and gestured at the window. “Lovely morning, isn’t it?”
Remus smirked. “It’s cribbage, Sirius. And let me get this straight – you walked through the snow for three hours, and you enjoyed it? You’re nuttier than I thought.”
“I like to think of myself more as a goblet-half-full kind of wizard,” Sirius said, tossing his head.
Sirius’s stomach then rumbled. “But I definitely am starving. Let’s go down for breakfast.”
…
After a full English breakfast of eggs, sausage, back bacon, beans, fried tomato, and toast, the boys found themselves alone in the Gryffindor common room. With only a handful of students staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, Remus felt like he and Sirius had Gryffindor Tower all to themselves. He liked the feeling.
The common room, much like the entirety of Hogwarts, was decked out for the season, with garlands of evergreen branches adorning the walls and streamers of holly and mistletoe criss-crossing the ceiling. Even Nearly Headless Nick was in the festive spirit, floating through Gryffindor Tower singing, “God Rest Ye Merry Hippogriffs.”
Outside, it truly was a beautiful winter day – uncharacteristic for the Scottish Highlands. A thick blanket of snow covered the grounds (heavy snowfall also being atypical for the Hogwarts valley). From a clear blue sky, the sun shone down on the snow atop the hills, making them sparkle like diamonds, and sunlight burst through the common room window, illuminating the room and everything inside it.
Sirius was lounging in his favourite plush chair, legs draping over the armrest, lazily shooting green and red tinsel into the air from the tip of his wand.
Remus was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the fire, contemplating how much he had lucked out to have Sirius at Hogwarts this Christmas. Of course, he and Sirius had spent most of their waking hours together for the past four and a half years, but James and Peter were almost always around too. For some reason, Remus felt a strange excitement in the pit of his stomach at the thought of having Sirius all to himself this weekend… just them.
His thoughts were interrupted by someone snapping their fingers.
“Earth to Moooonyyyy…” Sirius sang, snapping his fingers again at Remus. “Did you even hear what I was saying?”
“Honestly,” Remus groaned with mock exasperation. “Can’t a man have a moment’s peace, without you constantly talking his ear off?”
“I know you love it,” Sirius replied, winking. “Anyway, I was saying…” he continued, “it is Christmas Eve, and a gorgeous day! We’ve got the whole day in front of us and we can do anything our hearts desire – the world is our oyster!”
“Actually, Padfoot,” Remus replied, “I was planning on doing my History of Magic reading today. It’s about the Goblin Wars of the 1700s – now, does that not sound enthralling?”
Of course, Remus had dismissed any notions of studying that day when Sirius arrived, but he knew the idea alone would horrify Sirius, so he had to carry out the charade for a bit.
Remus continued: “You know, you can’t expect me to change my entire schedule for the holiday just because you popped up. When my parents came down with the flu and I decided to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas, I created a very detailed study plan that I intend to follow. If I miss the Goblin Wars reading today, my entire schedule will be thrown off and I simply could not tolerate that happening.”
Sirius poked his tongue out at Remus, having picked up on his sarcasm.
“How are your parents doing anyways?” Sirius asked, casually shooting another burst of coloured tinsel into the air and levitating it in circles above his head.
“I got a letter from them yesterday. They’ll be fine – just need to get some rest. That reminds me – I got a postcard from James yesterday. The tosser – he told me I should join his family on the Portuguese coast for the holidays.”
Sirius laughed. “Yeah, he wrote me the same thing too. But I’ll take the haunting beauty of winter in the Scottish Highlands over the Algarve any day of the week!”
“Don’t speak too soon, Padfoot. I bet it’s going to rain buckets tomorrow and wash all the snow away. That’s a Hogwarts winter for you.”
Sirius had now moved on from levitating the tinsel to levitating the greenery decorating the fireplace mantlepiece. His wand picked up a sprig of mistletoe and he levitated it over to where he and Remus were sitting, so that it hung in the air between them.
“Look, Moony, mistletoe!”
Remus froze, his pulse quickening. Mistletoe! He knew what couples usually would do under mistletoe… he felt his heart almost leap at the thought.
Sirius looked at the mistletoe hanging in the air. “You know,” Sirius said contemplatively, turning his gaze to Remus with one eyebrow raised. “If this is a mistletoe, where is the mistlefoot?”
“Er… right – haha… good one,” Remus stammered, trying to give a believable impression of laughter. What had come over him in that moment? Why had he felt so queasy? And why did he now feel… disappointed? He tried to push that thought down.
Remus must have looked frazzled, as Sirius eyed him strangely while breaking the levitation spell and letting the mistletoe drop on the rug.
Not wanting Sirius to comment on Remus’s discombobulation, he tried to change the subject.
“Right… so, er… activities for today… activities for today,” Remus said, looking around the room, trying to be nonchalant.
His wandering gaze passed the blazing fire, the sprig of discarded mistletoe on the rug, the evergreen garlands decking the walls… wait, he had it! He had the perfect activity for today.
“Hey, Padfoot – have you noticed what this room is missing?”
Sirius narrowed his eyes in response, scanning the room for the missing item.
“It’s greeeennn…” Remus began slowly, giving hints. “It’s taaaalll…”
Sirius perked up, his eyes shining with recognition.
“Why, my dear fellow!” Sirius exclaimed animatedly. “The Gryffindor common room is only missing the most quintessential emblem of Christmastide. Why, we’re missing the obligatory object for the advent season, the symbol of everlasting life, the one yuletide tradition that sparks joy in even the coldest of hearts!”
“Correct, my good sir!”
“And, naturally,” Sirius continued, “It follows that you propose we procure said seasonal requirement and erect it in this very room?”
“That is precisely what I propose, Mr Black.”
“Then let us make haste, Mr Lupin,” Sirius said with a wink.
...
Soon afterwards, Sirius and Remus were trudging across the Hogwarts grounds, Remus with an axe, a sled, and some twine in hand, all items surreptitiously borrowed from the Hogwarts greenhouses. (“Sprout won’t even notice anything is missing,” Sirius had affirmed, brushing Remus’s concerns off.)
The boys made their way across the blankets of sparkling snow to the edge of the grounds. Their feet and legs plunged deep into the untouched snow, which was nearly up to their knees, leaving craters with every step. Sirius blithely bounded metres in front of Remus, practically hopping across the field.
“Come on, Moony!” Sirius called from ahead. “Let’s see some urgency! We’ve got a Christmas tree to chop down!”
Remus smiled to himself at Sirius’s enthusiasm for putting up the tree. Even when things were tough (and they were for Sirius – after all, he had just run away from home), Sirius could find the fun in anything. No, Remus thought, actually, Sirius brought the fun to everything.
Remus groaned as he sloughed through the heavy snow, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. They had walked a good distance already, and the castle was now out of sight behind them, hidden by rolling hills.
“God, Padfoot, how did you walk through this frozen tundra for three hours this morning?” Remus huffed as he followed Sirius. “I don’t know how those little legs of yours could do it – this is exhausting!”
Sirius turned back to Remus, cocking his head. “Hm, that's interesting. I don’t find the walk difficult at all.”
And before Remus knew it, there was a big, black dog sitting before him where Sirius had been. Wagging his massive tail, the dog let out a loud bark at Remus, before turning and galloping across the snow at breakneck speed.
Padfoot will be Padfoot, Remus thought with a grin, as he ran to follow the dog.
They finally approached a cluster of fir trees on the outskirts of the Hogwarts grounds. Remus and Sirius, having transformed back into his human form, took some time examining the different evergreens until they agreed on the perfect one – full, symmetrical, and a manageable height, being several inches taller than Remus.
Remus then grabbed the axe and began chopping.
He deftly cut the tree down in a matter of minutes. After delivering the final blow to bring it down, he became aware that Sirius was staring at him with an odd look on his face, his eyes wide and his lips slightly parted, which he immediately closed when he became aware of Remus looking at him.
Remus laughed awkwardly. “Um… what were you staring for?”
“Nothing,” Sirius said quickly. “Nice work.”
For whatever reason, Remus blushed slightly at that remark and quickly turned his head so that Sirius wouldn’t notice. Remus himself had been rather impressed by how easily he was able to chop the tree down, and he felt strangely glad that Sirius had been there to see it.
Sirius and Remus then tied the tree to the sled and made their way back across the snowy fields to the castle.
…
An hour later, the boys had set up their tree in the common room and procured the decorations. They had decided to decorate the tree old-school with popcorn and cranberry garlands, as well as gingerbread ornaments, Sirius having sweet-talked the kitchen house elves into giving them full boxes of each. (Naturally, Sirius had ensured the elves gave them far more gingerbread men than they would actually need for the tree, allowing for plenty of leftovers.)
Then came the fun part. Remus set to work on the popcorn and cranberry garlands, while Sirius took on the gingerbread men.
Using some basic levitation and locomotion charms, as well as a needle and some string, Remus threaded the string through the popcorn kernels and cranberries, alternating between each, to create a pretty red and white garland. He then levitated the garland towards the tree, and using a spiralling motion with his wand, wrapped the garland around the tree, gently draping it in a swooping pattern.
Meanwhile, Sirius worked on the gingerbread men. After a refresher reading from his Charms textbook and several failed attempts, he eventually succeeded in enchanting the gingerbread men to each do a little jig, shimmying their little hips and arms. He hung up the enchanted cookies evenly across the tree, making it come alive with two dozen dancing gingerbread.
Their tree-decorating completed, Sirius and Remus stood back to look at the finished project, surveying their handiwork.
Remus had to admit, he was quite proud of their little tree. The white of the popcorn kernels and the bright, crisp red of the cranberries added some lovely colour to the tree, and the shimmying gingerbread men would bring a smile to even Scrooge’s face, Remus thought.
But the tree was missing something.
Sirius caught on at the same time. “Oh Moony, you forgot the tree topper!” Sirius exclaimed in mock exasperation.
Remus rolled his eyes. “Oh, sure, it was just me who forgot.”
“Well, you can’t expect me to always be the beauty and the brains. Honestly, Moony, you need to bring something to the table in this friendship.”
“Obviously, Padfoot, I bring the wisdom. You know, 90% of our friendship consists of me talking you out of pursuing some asinine plan that would probably lead to your death or —”
But Sirius hadn’t registered any of Remus’s insult.
“That’s it!” Sirius cried. “You’ve done it again, Moony!”
He ran over to the tin of leftover gingerbread men and pulled out his wand, talking quickly to himself. “Well, I’ve done it again, actually – Moony just provided the inspiration… I knew I was missing a wise man in this room!”
Remus snatched the gingerbread man out of Sirius’s hand. “So, are you going to tell me what this genius idea of yours is, Padfoot? You know I might be able to help.”
Sirius thought for a second. “Well, I suppose you could help. But let me do the first bit. You’re lousy at transfiguration.”
Remus gave the gingerbread man back to Sirius. “But you know I can out-Charm you any day of the week,” he said, smirking.
Sirius gave him the side eye. (While Sirius usually came top of the class in transfiguration, Remus almost always beat Sirius in Charms. It was a constant rivalry.)
Sirius held out the gingerbread man and pointed his wand at it. It slowly transfigured into a three-dimensional figure that Remus immediately recognized. Tall and thin, with a long silver beard and silver hair, twinkling blue eyes under half-moon spectacles: the little cookie figurine was unmistakably Albus Dumbledore.
Using his wand, Sirius made a couple more tweaks to the miniature Dumbledore, pointing both his toes, raising one of his legs high in the air, then spreading his arms out wide to assume the arabesque ballet position, his colourful robes billowing around his figure.
Remus took over after that. He secured the Dumbledore Ballerina onto the top of the Christmas tree, then charmed the elaborate cookie figurine to slowly rotate on its supporting leg in a circle – like a doll turning around inside a wind-up music box.
The boys stood still for a moment, necks extended, gazing up at the graceful figure spinning around and around on the top of the tree.
They looked at each other, each grinning wide. “It’s perfect,” Remus affirmed.
They spent the rest of the afternoon leisurely playing wizard chess and Exploding Snap, snacking on chocolate frogs and the leftover gingerbread cookies, and listening to their favourite David Bowie records.
…
“FA LA LA LA LA…” Sirius bellowed overdramatically in a deep baritone, as he slumped onto the Gryffindor common room couch.
“LA LA LA LAAAAAA!!!,” he finished emphatically, waving his glass of eggnog high in the air in time with the rhythm. On the triumphant finish of the song, a tiny bit of eggnog spilled onto the carpet.
“A little too much firewhiskey in the eggnog for you, Sirius?”
“Naahh… I added just the right amount that is required for holiday cheer,” Sirius said, slurring his words slightly.
Remus poured himself another glass from the pitcher of eggnog, which they had snuck out of the Great Hall after dinner. “You’ve always been such a light-weight.”
“Am not,” Sirius said, petulantly. “But it would do you well to remember that not all of us are 6’2.”
Remus had to admit, even after a Hogwarts feast of ham, roasted baby potatoes, and buttery carrots and parsnips, he still felt a bit buzzed from the eggnog… which he knew meant Sirius was feeling the effects of the firewhiskey in full force.
Remus was sitting on the other side of the couch from Sirius, in front of the fireplace, dunking the remaining gingerbread men in his eggnog. The common room fire in front of them was ablaze, giving off a substantial amount of heat. Remus had ditched his woollen jumper quickly, leaving him in just his pyjamas.
Sirius was also wearing his pyjamas, which were white with blue stripes, with a woolly red jumper on top. (It had been Sirius’s idea to wear the pyjamas down to dinner in the Great Hall, which had elicited a good bit of pointing and giggling from the other students – exactly what Sirius had wanted, of course. McGonagall raised her eyebrow in reproach as the boys walked past her into the Great Hall, but she didn’t tell them off for it, and Remus thought he heard her try to mask a chuckle after they had gone by.)
Apparently, the common room fire (or the firewhiskey) was also making Sirius warm. He pulled his jumper off over his head, exposing a sliver of his white stomach while doing so.
Something stirred within Remus. God, he thought, Sirius is so good-looking. Sirius took another swig of his eggnog. He looks like a Greek God, Remus thought.
Sirius’s eyes flicked over to Remus, who quickly looked away and hoped Sirius hadn’t noticed him staring. Remus shoved another gingerbread cookie into his mouth, which he hoped would serve as a distraction.
“How are you still eating, Moony? You practically ate an entire ham hock at dinner.”
“Oh, I am definitely stuffed from dinner,” Remus mumbled, his mouth still full of cookie. “But there’s always room for more.”
Sirius looked at Remus earnestly. “You know who is never hungry at Christmas?”
It took a second for Remus to catch on and he smiled. “Who?” he asked expectantly.
“The turkey,” Sirius replied. “It’s—”
“Stuffed,” Remus finished, rolling his eyes. “You need to get some better material, Sirius. Between this joke and the “mistlefeet,” you’ve really hit a new low.”
“Thank you, Remus. I will take that as a compliment.”
Remus chucked a gingerbread man at Sirius’s head in response, who caught it, dunked it in his eggnog, then bit off its head, grinning at Remus.
Their little tree stood proudly in the corner of the common room. It may have been a little plain, especially when compared to the twelve magnificently-decorated trees in the Great Hall, but Remus loved it just the same. And, of course, the gracefully spinning Dumbledore the Ballerina was the cherry on top.
“It looks pretty great, eh?” Remus said, gesturing at the tree as he took another sip of eggnog.
“Yeah. Yeah, it does,” Sirius said softly, gazing at the tree.
They sat in silence for a while, drinking their eggnog.
After some time, Sirius walked over to the fireplace, picking two pinecones off the greenery that decorated the mantlepiece.
Taking out his wand, he transfigured the first pinecone into a small wooden figurine – a happy-looking dog, textured to show its fur and painted black. Similarly, he transfigured the second into a slender grey wolf. Then, pointing his wand at the two wooden models and concentrating hard, he muttered an incantation quietly. The dog and the wolf began chasing one another in a small circle on the table, joyfully playing with each other. The likeness of the figurines and the accuracy of their movement stunned Remus – it was as if he was looking at him and Sirius frolicking in the Forbidden Forest during a full moon.
Sirius became shy as they watched the dog and wolf playing in silence. “It’s us,” he offered, redundantly.
Remus looked at Sirius, at a loss for words for a moment. “Sirius – it’s… it’s wonderful.”
Sirius smiled, his cheeks colouring slightly.
“Yeah, I’ve been practicing. I was going to use it for your Christmas gift, but then I thought it would be… well, a bit lame.”
“Sirius, I love it. Thank you.” Remus felt warm now and quite strange inside… like butterflies were fluttering in his stomach. Why did he keep getting this feeling?
Not wanting to let Sirius catch his agitation, he downed the last of his eggnog and grimaced – it tasted pretty alcoholic, the firewhiskey having settled at the bottom of the glass.
Sirius was also trying to come up with a distraction, apparently. He thought of one soon.
He abruptly jumped up off the couch.
“I almost forgot!” he exclaimed as he bounded up the stairway leading to their dorm. He came barrelling down several minutes later with a small object in his hand, which he tossed to Remus.
Remus caught the packet, looking at the writing on the front that read “CIGARETTES.”
“Picked it up on the muggle train this morning,” Sirius said proudly, his blue eyes twinkling.
Remus raised his eyebrows at Sirius. “You smoke?”
“Yes,” Sirius said, with a toss of his head. “Now and then.” He snatched the packet back from Remus and cocked his head. “Are you going to have one with me or what, Moony?”
“Well, let’s at least open up a window. McGonagall’s going to kill us if she picks up the scent in here.”
They walked over to the window alcove and propped the window open. Sitting down on the small window seat, their knees touching, Sirius handed Remus a cigarette from the pack, then took his own.
Holding the cigarette in place with his teeth, Sirius then pulled out a matchbox from his pocket and lit his cigarette.
Sirius offered Remus the matchbox. With a deadpan expression, Remus put his own cigarette between his lips, then snapped his fingers to magically light it up, using a combustion spell that he had recently taught himself to help with Potions. (They weren’t covering combustion until seventh year.)
“Hm, funny that you lit your cigarette the muggle way, isn’t it, Sirius?”
Sirius rolled his eyes. Clearly, Remus thought, Sirius hadn’t smoked that often before, or he would certainly have learned the combustion spell by now.
Sirius was now taking a long drag from the cigarette, blowing the smoke out of the open window pane. The cloud of smoke billowed out into the dark night.
Remus tried to copy Sirius. Holding the cigarette tight with his teeth, he inhaled deeply… then immediately burst into a coughing attack.
Sirius slapped Remus’s back as he coughed. “Ah, Moony. Don’t be discouraged – same thing happened to me when I smoked my first ciggy.”
“So last week?”
“Something like that,” Sirius admitted, finally conceding. He took another drag from the cigarette, then started coughing too.
This made the two boys start laughing, but the lingering smoke in their lungs turned the laughter into more coughing… which, of course, made them laugh even harder.
“Well, I guess, we both need some more getting used to this,” Remus said, still cough-laughing, as he tossed both their cigarettes out into the dark night.
“You might be right on this one, Moony,” Sirius replied, giving Remus his most winning grin, which made Remus feel a flutter inside again.
They both fell silent then, looking out into the black night sky. It was a clear night, and the stars shone at their brightest.
Remus looked over at Sirius, who was also looking out into the starry sky. Suddenly, Remus became very aware of how close Sirius’s face was to his. Feeling Remus’s gaze, Sirius flicked his eyes at him, giving him a small side smile.
And then, before Remus even realized it, his lips were on Sirius’s.
And it felt wonderful.
Sirius’s lips were so soft, and they moved against Remus’s so gently.
… And then Remus realized what was happening. Oh my god, he was kissing Sirius Black!
Remus immediately pulled back in shock.
“Holy shit, Sirius, I’m so sorry – I didn’t mean to do that… I…” he stuttered, not knowing what to say.
Oh god, oh god, his mind screamed, he couldn’t believe he had kissed Sirius! What had come over him? Was that something that he had wanted to do, to kiss Sirius? Remus didn’t even know at this point.
Remus’s mind continued racing. Sirius surely had never wanted to kiss Remus. But wait… Remus thought suddenly. Hadn’t Sirius kissed him back? Remus could have sworn he felt Sirius’s lips respond to his kiss. But that wouldn’t make sense – he was sure that Sirius didn’t like him in that way. Remus couldn’t make sense of what had happened at all, and he especially couldn’t make sense of what he was feeling inside.
Sirius was staring at Remus, his blue eyes widened. Oh lord, Remus’s mind groaned. What must he think of me now?
Remus needed to remedy this situation. He opened his mouth to apologise again, or say anything to make everything alright –
But he never got a chance to say those words. The next thing Remus knew, Sirius had leaned forward towards him and pressed their lips together again.
They stayed like that for some time, each moment better than the last. Remus thought he had never felt happier in his entire life.
Finally, they both pulled away, their eyes locked on one another.
Then Sirius’s face burst into the widest grin, letting out a bark of laughter. Remus laughed along with him, and they sat like that in the window alcove, laughing and grinning like maniacs, against the backdrop of a starry Christmas sky.
They would awake the next morning, their bodies stiff and sore and tangled together on the window seat… the soft patter of rain against the glass welcoming them to Christmas at Hogwarts.