Chapter Text
Sirius Black loved getting gifts as much as the next boy, but this Christmas season, all he wanted was for Remus Lupin to agree to meet his favourite uncle. Alphard Black had offered Sirius a place at his flat over the Christmas holidays, having somehow heard about his being burned from the family tree in a heated argument with his mother, probably through Andromeda (she always seemed to know what was going on among the extended family). McGonagall and Pompfrey even came to an agreement that it would be okay, given that the full moons were far enough apart.
And Alphard said he could invite the boyfriend Sirius had told him all about in his letters, which made the prevailing fact that his mother tried to torture him into submission a little bit more bearable.
It made the Christmas season feel a bit better as well ever since his startling realization the other day that it would be the first one in his sad, short life he wouldn’t get to spend with his brother, Regulus. He thought about asking if Reggie could come instead, knowing how much fun he always had with Uncle Alphie, but he knew that it would only bring his parents’ wrath on Regulus himself next summer, and then Sirius wouldn’t be there to take the brunt of it.
For Regulus’ sake, Sirius thought it best to invite Remus instead. He hoped Reg wouldn’t think he forgot about him.
There were other friends that Sirius could ask instead, too, but… well, James Potter would never leave the warm, festive home of Monty and Euphemia Potter on Christmas, and Peter Pettigrew had a loving family of his own to spend the holidays with.
They weren’t even in question, though, really. Remus was the perfect candidate for this as he was for everything.
And above all, Sirius wanted to spend Christmas with Remus. Ever since they started dating officially, albeit in secret to those outside their close-knit circle of friends, he’d wanted to do everything with him, and this opportunity would mean getting to date pseudo-publicly for once. Why couldn’t Remus see that?!
“He’s accepting of people like us, Moony! I swear, I would never—”
“I’m not worried about him not accepting… this part of me,” Remus gestured at the space in between them, hinting at the relationship that was still so new and so scary for both of them.
Sirius blinked. “You’re not worried about…? Er—the gay thing?”
Remus leveled him a look. When Sirius still didn’t understand, Remus pointed at his face and covered torso, at his beautifully crafted facade that was not so much as cursed, in Sirius’ opinion, but blessed with crisscrossing scars that only—
Oh.
“You’re worried he’ll judge you for being a werewolf?!” Sirius asked, only remembering after Remus’ wince that his natural volume was a tad bit loud for this particular topic. They were alone, but it was anyone’s bet whether some lurking first year felt like eavesdropping on private conversations today. “As if we’re going to tell him that!”
Remus shushed him, his gaze a mishandled weapon. “Pipe down, Sirius, for Godric’s sake! D’you really got to let the whole school know?”
“Right. Sorry.” Sirius looked down at his socks, jutting his lip out and tucking his hands under his arms in his best attempt to garner sympathy. It never worked at home, so he wasn’t quite sure why he still did it. Sometimes James would fall for it, though. He supposed that was why.
“Don’t do that, Padfoot,” Remus said, exasperated. He let out a sigh and turns to leave. “You coming to dinner or no? I’m bloody starving.”
Sirius’s mood lifted in an instant. “Okay!”
He didn’t try again until they took their seats at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. James hadn’t arrived yet, so naturally, neither had Peter. The girls were here, but they were all in too deep into a discussion of which Professor was the most attractive.
“Merlin’s sake, Marlene,” Lily Evans gasped for air in a fit of laughter, “Argus Filch does not have ‘bedroom eyes’!”
Marlene Mckinnon, who couldn't take a game seriously if she was paid in galleons to do so, shrugged with an air of casual arrogance. Her best friend Mary Macdonald—whom Sirius had some back and forth tension with up until his fateful kiss with Lupin the prior year—was not having any of it, not at all.
“Marls, I know you’re joking but with all due respect,” he heard her say, “you’ve lost all authority to speak on the matter when you suggested McGonagall.”
“I don’t know on that one,” Lily shrugged halfheartedly, scooping peas onto her fork, “I could see it.”
“But she’s a girl.” Mary’s cheeks blushed.
Marlene gasped. “She is?!”
Sirius leaned out of the way to not get hit when Mary ripped off a piece of bread and tossed it at Marlene with the strength of a declawed cat. He faintly heard Lily say something along the lines of, “No, she’s a woman actually,” before noticing his little brother entering the Great Hall alone, absentmindedly adjusting the collar of his shirt.
His stomach tightened, knowing that he couldn’t reach out to him. Sirius burned that bridge when Walburga burned Sirius off the family tapestry.
Sirius glanced away from Regulus, ignoring him for the more interesting boy sitting next to him.
“Look, if I promise not to tell him about the whole wolf thing,” Sirius whispered at the end, bringing the two back to the conversation they were having earlier, “which I wasn’t going to do anyway, by the way, will you please consider meeting him? Think about how lovely it’ll be to get all that time at his place with no schoolwork and all…well, you know.” Sirius winked.
“I don’t want to meet each other’s parents—or parental figures or whatever,” Lupin corrected himself. “Just drop it.”
Sirius frowned. He stared down at his plate, thinking. “You don’t want to meet Alphard,” he looked back up at Remus, “because you don’t want me to meet your dad? Is that it?”
Remus' face reddened. “Shove off, Padfoot.”
He stood up to leave, but Sirius grabbed his wrist quickly. “Sorry, I just,” he let go of him, “don’t leave. You barely ate.”
Remus sat back down with reluctant resignation. “I don’t want to talk about my deadbeat dad anymore, and I don’t want to talk about your all so glorious uncle, so bloody drop it, okay?”
Sirius nodded. “Sorry.”
James’ presence always helped to ease the tension. “Hiya! What are we talking about?”
“Most attractive teacher,” Marlene answered promptly, having been blissfully unaware of the whispered conversation between the forbidden lovers. “Go.”
“McGonagall.” James answered even more promptly.
Marlene howled. Lily rolled her eyes in deference, while Mary grimaced.
“Where’s Pete?” Remus asked James then.
“Hell if I know. Thought he was with you lot.”
“Where even were you then, Prongs?” Sirius asked. “It’s not like you to wander around without us!”
James opened his mouth to speak, his head twitching to one side as if he had to stop himself from looking in a particular direction. At a particular person, perhaps. “I—”
Sirius gasped slowly. “You were with a girl?!”
Lily snapped her head over at James. James replied, “I—No, I was—wha…?”
“Mhm.” Sirius smiled, looking over at Moony with a proud look in his eyes. “He was definitely with a girl.”
“It is none of your business who I do or do not involve myself with, Padfoot. Evans, do your prefect duties and tell him to behave himself.”
“I’m more interested in your new paramour, Potter. Who’s the unlucky lady?” Lily asked him, biting back some secret jealousy perhaps.
Funny how the tables turned. It was James going for Lily since their first year, and the moment he stopped, she seemed to see what she was missing.
“It’s…no one. I wasn’t with a girl. Mind your own business!”
“We’re going to figure it out one of these days,” Sirius tsked, turning his focus back to his dinner.