NinjaTerra: Merry Christmas, everyone! Wishing you all a great holiday. Right now, I am completely obsessed with the song Peppermint Winter by Owl City. It's a great Christmas song, very sweet. :) Well, this is like my Christmas present to all of you. Hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Werewolf in the Snow

Remus Lupin always wondered how he ever ended up friends with James Potter and Sirius Black. He also vaguely wondered where he got the patients to put up with the two of them. After all, when you're part of the infamous marauders, you barely have a single peaceful moment. Whether he was helping them brew up their latest scheme or trying (and failing) to keep them out of trouble, he could rarely ever catch a break. OK, so maybe he enjoyed it some of the time, but still, everyone needed some rest once and a while, right? Little Peter Pettigrew was easier to handle, on the other hand. He was more of the follower type, preferring to just go along with whatever the mischievous duo decided to do rather than come up with plans of his own. Still, all together, his friends were all a bunch of misfits who didn't seem to even know the meaning of "calm". Remus seriously considered the fact that they may have never heard of the word in their entire lives.

Sighing, Remus collapsed onto the snow coated ground by the large beech tree that stood by the edge of the lake. The marauder hoped that he might just be able to find some peace outside of the walls of Hogwarts. He had decided to spend Christmas at the school again this year, something that the James and Sirius had (unfortunately) decided to do as well. Despite the cold wind that pricked his exposed face, the young werewolf leaned his back up against the trunk of the tree and closed his eyes. Maybe, just maybe, fate would allow him a moment of quiet. Just this once.

SPLAT!

Or not, he thought sadly as he brought up a gloved hand to wipe of a blob of frosty, white snow from his face. His eyes scanned his surroundings until they rested on the culprit. A certain member of the Black family was doubled over in laughter, clutching his sides as he laughed at the annoyed look that Remus was bound to have on his face. A snickering James stood behind him and raised his arm for a high five, which Sirius gave him enthusiastically. Peter was the only one who wasn't present, for his mother had insisted that he should come home for Christmas this year. The other three marauders had promised to send him gifts after seeing the sad look the smaller boy had taken on when he realized that he would be the only one going home.

Remus made a sound similar to a growl in the back of his throat as leaned down to scoop up a clump snow in his hands. Patting the ball together tightly in his palms, his eyes sparkled with revenge. Standing up slowly, the teen brought his arm back and flung the snowball as hard as he could at the unsuspecting Black.

SPLAT!

The look of complete surprised flashed across Sirius's face just before the white ball made impact. For a moment, no one said anything. Then, Sirius raised his hand and slowly wiped the snow off of him. Glaring at the now smirking werewolf before him, Sirius knelt down and grabbed some more snow.

"This," he said in a deep, almost menacing voice, "means war!" And thus, the snowball fight began.

XXX

"Ha! Got you, James! I-Ugh!" Sirius exclaimed as got nailed in the back of his head. Spinning on his heels, he turned to throw another ball of snow at the chuckling Remus. "Remus!" Said teen continued laughing softly as he ducked behind his own small snow fort he had made to defend himself.

"Now, James!" Remus yelled from his crouched position. Before Sirius realized what was going on, a grinning James had snuck up behind him and stuffed a hand full of snow down his coat. The boy jumped about ten feet in the air and let out a loud scream.

"Oh my God! That's cold!" he yelled, jumping up and down, trying unsuccessfully to get the snow out of his coat. "You two are cheaters! There's no teaming up!" James and Remus smiled mischievously at each other.

"Who said we couldn't make alliances, Siri?" the Potter boy asked.

"Yeah, Sirius. You didn't say there were any rules, did you?" Remus added, smirking. Sirius glowered at them, and grabbed a large clump of snow. He quickly began form as many snow balls as he could, until he had dozens of small white clumps in his arms.

"I will show no mercy," he hissed and charged at them. The other two shared an alarmed look.

"Run?" James asked.

"Run," Remus agreed. The duo took off with an angry Sirius at their heels throwing snow ball after snow ball at their backs.

"Come back here, you cowards!" he yelled, still throwing snow at his friends' retreating figures.

As he ran, Remus's mind went back to his thoughts from earlier that day. It was moments like this, he realized, that made their friendship so great. He also knew that no matter how troublesome, ridiculous, and sometimes just plain idiotic his friends may be, he could never hope for anyone better.

"Oh shit!" Looking back, the werewolf saw that the black haired boy that had been chasing him had slipped on a small patch of ice and falling face first into the freezing snow. James and Remus laughed loudly at their friend's misfortune as they made no move to help him as he struggle to get out of the snow bank. As their laughter rang loudly through the crisp winter air, Remus smiled inwardly.

What more could he possible want?

NinjaTerra: It wasn't that great, but I hope you guys enjoyed it. Merry Christmas everyone!