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On a bluff, tucked away between pines, there sat a small, squat cottage a short distance from a quaint town. A porthole-shaped window glowed yellow and warm from the hearth within. All around the cottage, a storm raged. Wind howled and shrieked, flurries of ice battered the shingles and windowpanes, drifts of snow swept across the frozen ground. The stone chimney continued to send merry smoke signals up into the trees.
Inside the cottage, through the cluttered living room, past the crackling fireplace in the kitchen, and all the way up the rickety stairs, loud snores echoed from an open bedroom door. The nightside table was decorated with picture frames containing a chuckling man with long curly hair, side by side with a bright-eyed laughing baby, and then a squashy-cheeked toddler, and later still a knobbly-kneed little kid with round glasses.
Sirius Black was snoring beneath a mountainous pile of blankets. He wore a jumper and a woolly toque, and there were flannel blankets stuffed in the cracks between the window and the sill to keep away the freezing drafts and bits of snow that tended to find their way through the house’s gaps.
The room was dim, the only light emanating from the embers of the fire in the main room. Sirius was sleeping so deeply and snoring so loudly that he didn’t hear the pattering footsteps on the creaky hallway floor. A shadow shuffled across the room, stopping just shy of the large curtained bed.
“Padfoot?” A tiny voice whispered into the darkness. The snores stopped abruptly.
Sirius blinked through his grogginess, and then yelped when he found himself staring into a pair of massive green eyes looming approximately one inch away from his face.
“Harry!” He sat up, heart racing. He wheezed out a laugh. “Oh my God, you almost gave me a heart attack.”
Harry’s chin wobbled. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
Sirius yawned and reached out, patting his godson’s shoulder. “No, no, it’s okay. What’s up? Did you have a bad dream?”
Harry’s green eyes were not only large and close, but also tearful. “This is not my owl.” The weepy four year old held out a stuffed snowy owl for Sirius to see.
Sirius rubbed his eyes, suppressing a sigh. “Yes it is, kiddo.”
Harry shook his head insistently. “It’s not Hedwig.”
Sirius glanced over at the clock, which read 2:34am in glaring red font. He swore internally, and then petted Harry’s hair reassuringly. The owl was fluffy and white, it had yellow marble eyes and a chipper beak. “Er… that is Hedwig, hon.”
“But look.” Harry shoved a name tag in Sirius’s face, which he squinted to see. “It says Pigwidgeon on it.”
Sirius squeezed his eyes shut. He could have sworn he just heard his son say ‘Pigwidgeon.’ It wasn’t a word that Sirius knew to be in Harry’s vocabulary- or anyone’s vocabulary, for that matter. It occurred to him that he was quite possible dreaming, or that perhaps Harry was sleep-walking and sleep-talking and sleep-crying-about-his-stuffed-owl.
Hoping to get this whole thing sorted out, and reassure Harry that this was just a bad dream so that they could both go back to sleep, Sirius sighed. “Alright, let me see it.”
Sirius flicked on the lamp at his bedside and immediately swore aloud. Harry stared at him with those watery, wide green eyes.
The name tag very clearly read ‘Teddy Lupin’ in neat, teacher-like handwriting. Underneath it, the name ‘Pigwidgeon’ was printed in green ink.
Sirius had to squint and read it a couple more times to be sure he wasn’t hallucinating.
He wasn't.
Fuck.
It took immense willpower to get up. Sirius hauled his legs over the side of his bed with a groan, fumbling for his slippers. “Right you are, Haz. That’s certainly not ours.”
Harry’s lower lip trembled. “I can’t sleep without Hedwig, Padfoot. I’ll have nightmares.”
Sirius fluffed his godson’s hair consolingly. “I’m sorry, honey, but it’s past two-thirty. We can’t really do anything about it tonight. Nobody’s awake right now. Can we take care of this in the morning? I’m sure you just misplaced it with someone in your class."
Tears were falling faster down Harry's face. "But-"
Sirius cuddled him consolingly. "Kiddo, I promise I’ll call your kindergarten teacher first thing, as soon as the sun is up. We can straighten this up tomorrow-”
“But I miss Hedwig.” Harry was crying in earnest now. “Please, Padfoot. I just want my owl back. She’ll be lonely without me. She’s scared of the dark.”
That damn stuffed owl.
Sirius grabbed another jumper. He stood up and took Harry’s hand. “Oh, all right. Come downstairs. I’ll pull up the contact list and call whoever this owl belongs to and hope to dear God that they have your owl and that they don’t hate me for the rest of eternity."
The phone rang before they were even halfway down the stairs.
Sirius picked it up while stifling a yawn. “Hello, Sirius Black speaking.”
A tired man’s voice responded on the other end of the line. “Hi, it’s Remus Lupin. I’m sorry to call you so late, but I think we have your owl.” The caller was presumably the father of Teddy Lupin and the elected caregiver of Pigwidgeon the owl.
Sirius laughed. “Hi, Remus. You don’t know how relieved I am to hear that. And, er, I think we have YOUR owl.”
Remus made a sound of exasperated disbelief. “You’re serious?”
“I’m always Sirius.” Sirius said with a smile. He was connecting the dots between this soft-spoken Welsh man and the tall, lanky father in earthy jumpers who picked Teddy up after school. Suddenly, his stomach felt fluttery, and he immediately chided himself. It was entirely inappropriate to feel butterflies in this particular moment.
The man- Remus- groaned, but Sirius could hear him smiling. “God, it’s too late at night for jokes.”
Sirius checked the clock again and grimaced. “I think it’s earlier than it is late, to be honest. Wee hours of the morning, and all that.”
Remus yawned. “You’ve got that right. So, hold on, you’ve got Pigwidgeon?”
“Yes. And you have Hedwig?” Sirius replied, grinning stupidly.
This whole scenario was seeming more ridiculous by the minute. Who thought that he’d be talking on the phone to the handsome father that he’d blushed about for three months, despite never having the chance to exchange more than pleasantries with him? And this conversation was taking place in the middle of the night, no less. During a snowstorm.
It might be romantic if not for the shenanigans that had led them here, and the children standing next to them sniffling about their swapped matching owls.
Sirius also could help but hope that maybe (just maybe) they could figure this whole fiasco out soon enough that Sirius could still get some sleep before he had to wake up and shuttle around a hyperactive five-year-old all day.
Remus finally said, “Yeah, her name tag says Hedwig. In very nice cursive, might I add.”
Sirius laughed and leaned against the wall, feeling sleepy and foggy, and far happier than he should have been given the circumstances. “Thanks. I’ve got practice. I’m a translator. And anyway, this name tag says Pig- Pigwedge-”
Remus murmured, “Pigwidgeon. And yeah, sorry about that. Teddy named him.”
“You’ve got a creative kid there, Lupin.” Sirius said wryly. “Sort of a genius name for a five year old to come up with.”
Remus laughed quietly. “I sort of thought it might have been a sneeze when he first said it, but then he said it again and I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.” His words felt like a secret whispered directly into Sirius’s ear. He shivered.
Blushing and pretending furiously like he wasn’t, Sirius quipped, “Well, however you say it aloud, your handwriting is excellent. Like a schoolteacher. I thought it might have been labeled by Ms. McGonagall.”
Remus snorted. “Thanks. I, er, I actually am a schoolteacher, so…”
“Ah. I see.” Suddenly, Sirius wasn’t sure what to say. He glanced down at Harry, who was now sucking his thumb sleepily and leaning on Sirius’s leg. “So…”
Remus cleared his throat. “Right. The owls. Well, thank goodness you’ve got Pig. Teddy’s been inconsolable. The storm woke him up, and I couldn’t get him back to sleep once he realized his owl wasn’t actually his owl.”
“Yeah, Harry’s been in a right state too.” Sirius turned to Harry, realizing he’d forgotten to explain what was going on to his godson. He said, “Teddy’s got your owl, Haz.”
Harry beamed, tears drying up right away. “He does?” He bounced on his heels. “Can we go get her, Padfoot? Pretty please?”
“Right now?” Sirius glanced out the window doubtfully. The blizzard was raging. He looked back at Harry, opening his mouth to protest, but Harry was giving him puppy dog eyes. Sirius swore under his breath.
Sirius returned to the phone. “What should we do about this, then?” He frowned at Pigwidgeon. “It’s really storming outside.”
Remus sighed. “I honestly don’t know if I can get him back to sleep without his toy.” He sounded guilty. “Sorry. This is such a mess. If it makes more sense, we can do this in the morning and I can see what I can do for Teddy in the meantime-”
“No, no.” Sirius bit his lip. “It’s fine. Harry won’t sleep either. We might as well just exchange them now.”
“Right. Well, where would be best for us to meet?”
“Anywhere, really.” Sirius answered truthfully. “We’re by the edge of Hogsmeade, out by the bluffs. I can come farther into town if it’s easier, though.”
“No, no, that’s alright. We can come to you. We’re by Honeydukes.” Remus sounded shy.
“That’s quite a walk for you to do in a storm.” Sirius worried his lip between his teeth. He was remembering that Remus walked with a cane. That might be tricky for him in the snow... "You really don't have to-"
“We’ll be fine.” Remus said hastily.
Sirius shook his head vehemently, forgetting that Remus couldn’t see him through the telephone. “No, I can’t ask you to do that. We’ll meet in the middle. How about by the post office? That’s pretty much the middle point between us, I think.”
“Well… sure.” Remus relented. “That sounds good. I’ll bundle Teddy up and try to get there by a quarter past three.”
Sirius glanced at the clock. It was 2:48AM. “Alright. I’ll get going, then. Thanks for doing this, Remus.”
“Of course. Thank you.” Remus replied warmly. “Anything for the owls.”
“Anything for our kids.” Sirius corrected gently.
Remus hummed in agreement. “Exactly. See you in a little while, Sirius. Walk safe.”
“You too, Remus. See you soon.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Bye.” Sirius placed the phone down, a senseless smile lingering on his lips. He wasn’t so tired anymore. He felt exhilarated. He reached down and scooped up his godson, who was rubbing his eyes sleepily. “Come on, Harry, let’s get dressed.”
Ten minutes later, they were hand in hand as they hurried through the snowy streets through the flurries. In one hand, Sirius tugged Harry along through drifts of snow, in the other, he clutched Pigwidgeon the owl, wrapped in a scarf so it didn’t get damp. Harry was layered in snow pants and a parka, a red and gold woolly toque, and scarf, and mittens. Plus his little snowboots. He was padded so thickly with protective clothing that he was almost unrecognizable, just a little lump trundling along in Sirius’s footsteps.
They ploughed through drifts of snow that were up to Sirius’ knees, meaning they practically buried Harry. Sirius swung him into the divots he made in the snowbanks, and ended up carrying him through most of the walk. They eventually made it to a cobbled lane with less snow. By that point, Sirius’s pyjama pants and three jumpers were soaked through. Served him right for wearing a leather jacket in a blizzard, but he’d been stressed and in a rush and hadn’t thought it through.
Frozen to the bone, hands bitterly cold and numbing at the fingertips, Sirius finally made it to the square by the post office. A frozen fountain with a glittering waterfall of ice spewing from the mouth of a dragon was the centerpiece to the little gathering place.
Two streetlamps burned brightly, illuminating the thick flakes of snow as they rushed all around Sirius and Harry in whirls and arcs of white. The whole world was blurred with the storm. It was beautiful.
“Sirius!” A voice called. A tall figure was carrying a boy by piggyback through the square.
Sirius waved enthusiastically. “Remus!”
Remus came to a stop in front of Sirius.
His cheeks were rosy, and his sandy hair was frosted with snowflakes. He was dusted with white, and he looked like winter itself had come to grace this man with unearthly beauty. He looked very cozy, and incredibly charming. His freckles stood out against his flushed face.
“Er…” Remus coughed awkwardly, and he held out a tote bag with a picture of a bear on it. “Here.”
At first, Sirius was bewildered. He had been distracted by how pretty Remus looked in the lamplight, struck by the moon and glowing in a strange, otherworldly way in the snowstorm. “Oh!” He blushed. “Oh, right. Hedwig.”
He stuck out his hand and retrieved the tote bag, handing over the parcel that was Pigwidgeon in a chunky scarf. “Here you are.”
But Remus had frowned, catching sight of Sirius’s red knuckles. “Where are your mittens?”
Sirius tried to tuck his hands into his pocket, but Remus stopped him, taking Sirius’s ungloved hand in his own gloved hand. “I forgot them. I was in a rush.”
Remus clucked his tongue, setting Teddy on the ground lightly. Harry toddled over to him with a wave, and then grabbed the tote bag from Sirius, fiddling with it until he unearthed Hedwig. He let out a happy shout and hugged his owl.
Remus smiled, and then turned to Sirius again. “You forgot your gloves?” He took off his own mittens. “Your hands are frozen. Take these.”
Sirius shook his head. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly-”
“Please, Sirius.” Remus was smiling, the corners of his eyes crinkling. “Take the mittens.”
"Oh, all right." Sirius relented and put on the mittens. His hands really were quite cold. "Thank you."
"Sure."
They stood and stared at each other for a long moment.
"So-" "Would you want to-"
They stopped and laughed. Sirius gestured at Remus. "Go ahead."
Remus smiled bashfully. "Would you maybe want to see each other again?"
Sirius blinked, a grin growing on his face. "Really? I mean, yeah, yes. I'd love to."
Remus grinned back, obviously relieved. "Great. I'm exhausted, or I'd invite you back to ours for tea."
"Oh." Sirius smiled. "Well, we can make a plan. Harry loves playing with Teddy at school. It would be nice to get together. And... well... you seem very-" He was blushing. "I wouldn't mind getting to know you better."
"I'd like that. Getting to know you." Remus rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "I've noticed you for a while, Sirius."
"Me too." Sirius was smiling like a fool. He almost forgot that their sons were chattering away about their owls, that the snowstorm was raging all around them, that he was tired and the sky was dark and this was entirely poorly timed.
It didn't matter that around them, a blizzard blew through the town. Right now, they had a warm bubble around the four of them. And it was enough.