Sirius spent his first Christmas from home in a tree. The Christmas tree in the Great Hall, to be exact. No one knew quite how he'd managed to get up in it, but he had, and on Christmas morning Remus found him perched on a thick branch about halfway to the star. It had to be extremely prickly, though Remus mused that it might be the best place for a particularly prickly person, on Christmas day.
'Halloo,' said Remus, cupping one hand around his mouth and smiling a bit at the absurdity of it. 'Pardon me, Mr Eagle, but have you seen Sirius Black around?'
From the tree came a rude noise. 'Sod off.' Sirius moved, and the tree shivered with it. Tinsel rained down on Remus's head, sticking to his hair and tickling his nose. He batted at it, and sighed.
'Sirius,' he said. 'Come down.'
'No.'
Remus leaned against a table. A passing third-year handed him a candy cane, and when she'd gone Remus peeled off the wrapper carefully. 'There are presents,' he said, with the same precision, 'and food. You like food.'
Sirius peered down at him through the branches. 'M'not hungry,' he barked. 'And you can keep the presents. Take them back, I don't care.'
'Oh.' Remus paused, the candy cane stuck in his mouth like the end of a quill, staining his lips a sticky red. 'Well, all right. I'll just- We'll cancel Christmas then. For you.'
'You do that,' Sirius grunted, folding his arms over his chest. 'Christmas is a joke. Christmas is for berks. Christmas is-'
'-None of those things,' said Remus defensively. 'Look, I know you're a grump because you couldn't go home. I told you, you shouldn't have set off those dungbombs in the girls' toilet, it'd get you detention for a month, but you wouldn't listen-'
'That's not why I didn't go home!' shouted Sirius, chucking an egg-shaped ornament down at Remus's head. He heard it shatter against something hard, a lot harder than Remus's skull, which was a good thing though he was a bit disappointed. 'I didn't go home because they didn't want me to come home. My mother owled, and told me to stay here for Christmas, and not to come home, and I hate everything and- Oh, just leave me alone.'
Remus was silent for a long time. Sirius thought he'd finally gone, to leave him sulking in heavenly peace, but then the tree gave a great shudder, the branches lurching and pitching their ornaments. Frightened faeries fluttered away as brown hair and the head under it - wearing a disgruntled expression - appeared. Remus hauled himself up onto the same branch as Sirius, sitting next to him and picking pine needles out of his jumper.
Sirius stared at him.
'Could you have climbed a bit higher?' asked Remus, studying his candy cane with a frown. There was a needle stuck to it, which he plucked away with two fingers. 'Nearly broke my neck getting up here.'
'Why are you up here?' Sirius asked.
Remus sighed, and snapped his candy cane in two. 'Because,' he said, handing the other half to Sirius, 'I'm not letting you spend Christmas alone in a tree. And since you won't come down. Well.' He bit into the peppermint. 'Happy Christmas, then.'
After a moment Sirius found he could smile, and lean forward to the taste of peppermint, the piece Remus had given him forgotten in his hand. Remus gasped, and Sirius sighed, and from below a duet of two familiar voices could be heard chanting in sing-song tones.
'Sirius and Remus sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!'
Remus chucked a pine cone at them.
