Disclaimer: It's late. I'm tired. I didn't write Harry Potter.

Author's Note: Normally me and fluff do not go well together. This story is an exception to that, but my room is freezing cold right now since the heater is crap so I had a strange urge to write some sort of holiday thingie with Remus and Sirius. From Remus' perspective as always... I actually rather like how this turned out, despite still not being confident in my ability to write fluffy stuff. No real action but this does hint just a bit at the Sirius/Remus pairing.

Snow

It was a very cold winter day at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry but this didn't matter to the majority of the students since they were away on Christmas vacation where they were probably curled up by the fire telling stories and sharing memories with their family.

This was not the case for Remus Lupin. This year he had decided to remain at the school for Christmas due to several reasons, most of which he refused to admit freely. The one he had told his friends was that the full moon occurred over the break and Hogwarts was a much safer place to transform.

This, of course, was partially true but it definitely wasn't the real reason. The real reason came in the form of one Sirius Black, his best friend and fellow Marauder. Remus had stayed over Christmas to keep Sirius company.

Sirius always remained for Christmas because his family was, in Sirius' own words, 'a bunch of stuck up, pretentious, pure-blood maniacs with nothing better to do than sit around and brag about how much better they are than the rest of us lowlifes!'. As one might be able to imagine, Sirius didn't get along well with his family.

Still, anyone with eyes could tell that Sirius hated being lonely and frequently got depressed around the holidays. Thus his fellow Marauders always tried their best to show Sirius that he did have a family that cared. They were his family.

They really were a family too. They always looked out for each other when they were in trouble, comforted them when they were down, and would do anything to make each other happy. It was strange for Remus to think that only five years ago he didn't have any of them to rely on. It seemed like he had known Sirius, James, and Peter forever.

This year however, one of their numbers was missing. James had to return to his parent's house over the holidays to attend his cousin's wedding. Sirius had been jealous of him, Remus could tell. He was probably one of the few that knew just how much Sirius envied James for having such a loving family. The Potters were everything the Blacks weren't in the pureblood community.

Granted, Sirius hid his jealously well, and Remus knew that this was because Sirius hated to appear vulnerable. He suspected that was why Sirius always acted so immature, to cover up all of his real problems, almost to the point of not being able to tell the real problems from the fake ones.

Remus always had a soft spot for Sirius, he cared for him in a way he couldn't even begin to understand or explain. He wanted to take care of Sirius and protect him and he wanted Sirius to do the same for him in return. These thoughts scared him, almost as much as being a werewolf scared him, so he tended to push them aside and try to forget about them.

Taking walks had helped him clear his thoughts since he was a little boy, and today Remus' thoughts had definitely needed clearing. So, despite the cold weather he was out roaming the grounds, taking the time to stare up at the cloudy horizon and ask questions that he knew he would never get answers to.

He was the calm and collected one of their group, an attitude that had annoyed Sirius for years since Sirius was the complete opposite. Chaos and impulsiveness were his specialties and he loved every minute of it. Still, there were those rare times when Remus caught him without the prankster front and actually glimpsed the caring, reasonable adult behind. He lived for moments like those.

His boots crunched on the thick layer of snow covering the grounds. The lake was frozen over and his breath turned white in the air. He couldn't wait for spring to come when the weather would actually warm up.

Spring would also bring the end of his fifth year at Hogwarts and the OWL exams. He felt a weary sigh welling up in his chest. If the older years were to be believed the OWLs were exhausting, murderous affairs that made you want to tear your own brain out at the end of them. They didn't sound pleasant at all.

Remus paused underneath the tree the Marauders usual sat and plotted under during the warm months. They had claimed that tree by the lake as their own way back in first year. The though made him smile now.

"Remus!"

He had just enough time to half turn in the direction of the voice before he was hit in the side of the head by a large snowball. He shivered as snow began to melt down his collar and turned in annoyance to see who had thrown it. Naturally it was Sirius.

He scooped up a handful of snow and chucked it in his direction. Sirius tried to duck but merely ended up having the snowball hit him in the head rather than the chest. Remus started laughing as Sirius shook his head, causing the snow to fall from his hair.

The next snowball Sirius threw, Remus actually had enough warning to jump out of harm's way. He launched a counter attack and soon their fight had progressed into all out war.

Thirty minutes later they were both slightly damp and chilled to the bone, with water and snow dripping from their hair and scarfs. They were both tired from laughing so much. Sirius walked over to Remus' side, still smiling broadly.

Remus returned the smile before looking out over the frozen lake towards the horizon beyond. After several seconds Sirius followed his gaze and the two stood there in companionable silence. For once in his life, Sirius didn't move to break it.

Finally Remus turned to stare at Sirius, who was staring at the sky with a concentrated look on his face that Remus rarely saw. Sirius seemed to notice his stare as he turned towards him and their eyes met.

They were very close now, Remus thought as he looked into Sirius' eyes. Very, very close. That thought shouldn't be making his heart beat as fast as it was. Sirius reached out a gloved finger and swiped a snowflake off of his cheek before smiling at him.

Remus' breath caught in his throat and it occurred to him that he was waiting for something to happen. He wanted to say something but words wouldn't form in his mouth. Perhaps that was best, he didn't want to ruin the moment.

The look in Sirius' eyes was enough for him. Remus' hand reached up and touched the place on his cheek Sirius had just touched moments before as though it was sacred.

"You like me, don't you Moony?" Sirius whispered suddenly.

Remus frowned slightly. Of course he liked Sirius, he was his best friend. He continued to frown in thought, or maybe Sirius meant the fluttering he was experiencing right now because of how close the two of them were? He shook off the thought. "Of course I like you, Padfoot. You're my best friend, ever," he replied in the same hushed tones, though he had no idea why they were whispering.

"Mm," Sirius hummed as though mulling over Remus' reply, analyzing every detail of it before making a response. Finally, after an agonizingly long time he said simply, "Thanks."

"For what?" Remus asked automatically.

"For always being here for me," Sirius said with a warm, almost loving look in his eyes.

Remus paused and shifted a bit awkwardly before leaning closer to Sirius and giving him a hug. After several equally awkward seconds he felt Sirius return the gesture. When they broke apart both of their cheeks were pink, from the cold, embarrassment, or both, Remus would never know, nor admit.

They broke apart and Sirius suddenly cleared his throat, looked around suspiciously, and headed back up in the direction of the castle. He never paused to look back. He didn't have to.

"Your welcome Padfoot," Remus muttered to the wind