This is just a short fic that I wrote as a Christmas present for my best fandom friend Emily, who loves Remus. Hope you like this too!
Have a fantastic Christmas, everyone!
Merry Christmas, Emily!
Emily exhaled deeply, her breath clouding in the cold air, and smiled. She scuffed her boots through the snow on the ground as she made her way across the white grounds of Hogwarts. The castle itself looked beautiful, almost like an iced cake, covered in unsullied snow with little mounds of white concealing the tips of the turrets.
There was quiet around her- rare, peaceful silence. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she didn't even hear the crunch of footsteps in the snow behind her, and almost leapt out of her skin when she felt a tap on her shoulder.
She whirled around with a gasp, then relaxed when she saw the lanky Gryffindor grinning sheepishly at her. "Oh, hey Remus," she said, trying to slow her breathing. "You gave me a fright!"
Remus smiled apologetically. "Sorry, I thought you heard me- I wasn't exactly being quiet."
He grinned at her, his smile lightening his face and making her heart skip a beat. She smiled back, reaching for his hand. His warm fingers curled around her's, a perfect fit.
"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing with his free hand to the wide expanse of untouched snow ahead of them. Emily smiled and nodded, and they started walking along in comfortable silence.
"Why are you up so early?" asked Remus after a while. "Everyone else is taking advantage of the fact that there's less people in the dorms and that there's no school to have a long lie."
Emily shrugged. "I just woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, and then I saw the snow and wanted to go for a walk."
Remus smiled. "I like the snow. It makes everything feel so Christmassy!"
Emily grinned. "Yeah, I've always loved snow. But I am cold though, maybe I should head back in..." She glanced mournfully back at the castle, but before she could move, Remus had pulled off his woolly Gryffindor scarf and looped it gently around Emily's neck.
The redhead blushed, inhaling Remus' unique scent and smiling at him. He smelt like chocolate and books and something else, something that was like wood smoke and was strangely comforting.
He wrapped his arms around her, pressing a kiss to her frozen nose. "I'll warm you up," he said cheekily, and kissed her again.
The days leading up to Christmas were equal parts peaceful and fun-filled.
They were fun-filled because Sirius and James took it upon themselves to stage huge snowball fights between all the people staying over the holidays. Emily couldn't even count all the times she had been frozen solid, exhausted and caked in snow, laughing so hard she couldn't breathe.
And they were peaceful because of the nights spent curled up with Remus in front of the fire, sometimes playing chess, sometimes reading, sometimes joined by Maura and Sirius and chatting until the early hours of the morning. And sometimes just snuggled up quietly, cosy and safe and simply revelling in each other's company.
Emily went looking for Remus on Christmas morning, wanting to give him his present directly.
He wasn't in the dorm, but Sirius, who was going to find Maura, told Emily that Remus had mentioned something about going for a walk. "Although why he'd go for a walk in the snow, I have no idea..." Emily just smiled, got her scarf, pulled on her cloak and headed outside.
Remus hadn't walked too far away, just to a bench a little bit away from the main doors. Emily walked over to him, drawing her wand and casting several spells in quick succession- one to clear the snow from the bench so she could sit down, one to dry the bench and another to warm the air around them.
Remus grinned at her as she stowed her wand back in her robes. "Show off!" Emily laughed and sat down on the dry, warm bench, smirking at Remus. He glared at her in mock-annoyance. "So last week, when I gave you my scarf, you could have just used that nifty little Warming Charm?"
Emily flushed and elbowed him in the ribs. He flinched away, chuckling.
"I didn't have my wand with me then, smart ass," she said indignantly. Remus wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"I'm just joking," he murmured into her hair.
Emily hugged him back. "I know, babe," she said softly, and then recoiled away with a gasp as she remembered. "Your present!" She reached into an inside pocket of her robes and pulled out a small packet, tapping it with her wand to resize it. It was a rough cuboid, about the length of her arm, wrapped in slightly wrinkled and extremely gaudy paper patterned with cartoon Santas.
"Merry Christmas, Remus," mumbled Emily, blushing as she handed it over. Remus took it carefully, stroking the wrapping paper reverently. "Thank you, but you didn't have to get me anythi-"
Emily elbowed him in the ribs again and he laughed. "Just open it," she said impatiently. He unwrapped the present with care, making sure he didn't tear the paper, and then gasped. "Wow," he said, as he carefully lifted the stack of Muggle records from their wrappings. "Are these-"
"Some of them are songs or bands you already like, and some are ones that I thought you'd like," Emily babbled nervously.
Remus grinned suddenly and pulled her into a hug. "I love them," he whispered. "Thank you so much."
Emily puffed out a breath, relieved, and then Remus backed off slightly, rewrapping the records and gently putting them down on the bench beside him. He pulled a small parcel out of his own robes, quickly resizing it, and handing it over to Emily with a blush. "Merry Christmas."
Emily held it for a moment. It was roughly the size of a paperback book, and the plain packaging was brightened with a red ribbon. "It's not as good as yours," he said anxiously as Emily unwrapped it. "But I thought that-" he broke off at Emily's delighted gasp.
"Wow, Remus!" she said. "It's beautiful!" It was an ornate silver photo frame, and in it was a picture of her, Remus, Maura and Sirius. It was a Muggle photo, and whoever had taken it had caught them mid-laugh. She smiled at the memory, then turned to Remus, enveloping him in a hug. "I love it," she said simply.
They stayed there for a while, simply cuddled together peacefully, both of them content to just sit.
Suddenly Emily beamed, and Remus looked at her in surprise. "What's that cheesy grin for?" he asked, smiling widely back.
"Oh nothing," said Emily happily, leaning back against him. "I just love Christmas."