Remus always liked the first snow, the first real snow, when everything around the castle was softened for a while, sharp edges of the Forest melting away. Inside Hogwarts, it was anything but calm, with students rushing around giddy, trying to focus on the bare minimum required schoolwork before they could escape outside. Strange, he thought, how nature managed to top magic every now and again.
But this year the first snow came too soon after the moon. Still sleepy, he curled by the window, blanket around his shoulders. He read for a while, but his attention drifted, trying to identify people on the grounds below him.
"Looking for someone, Moony?" He turned to see Sirius in the doorway of their room, nose and cheeks still red from the cold, a mug of hot chocolate in each hand. "Stopped by the kitchens on the way up," he said. "Was going to drink them both myself, but you looked so pathetic."
Remus took a mug. "Thanks. Awfully self-sacrificing of you."
"That's me, generous to a fault with my friends," Sirius said, pushing Remus closer to the window and settling in facing him in the window seat. "And sometimes? Even with you."
But this year the first snow came too soon after the moon. Still sleepy, he curled by the window, blanket around his shoulders. He read for a while, but his attention drifted, trying to identify people on the grounds below him.
"Looking for someone, Moony?" He turned to see Sirius in the doorway of their room, nose and cheeks still red from the cold, a mug of hot chocolate in each hand. "Stopped by the kitchens on the way up," he said. "Was going to drink them both myself, but you looked so pathetic."
Remus took a mug. "Thanks. Awfully self-sacrificing of you."
"That's me, generous to a fault with my friends," Sirius said, pushing Remus closer to the window and settling in facing him in the window seat. "And sometimes? Even with you."