Let it Snow by Mydnyte Houre

I've never written anything like this, certainly not about these two characters. It's a sweet little oneshot about Lily and Sirius' friendship (after her marriage to James) Very important: this is only their friendship. There is no illicit relationship between them. I just noticed that it was snowing today and I wanted to write about them.

"You know, you were always my favourite."

The two stepped outside to the Potters' backyard. Sirius pointed his wand towards a nearby bench and sent the snow flying off in a flurry of white. With a gentlemanly wave of his gloved hand, he indicated that Lily should sit first. She smiled up at him and took her seat, patting the cold metal beside her. Sirius sat down obligingly and leaned back. He shook his shaggy black hair out of his eyes and stared up into the grey expanse of sky above them.

The redhead interrupted his reverie. "Your favourite what?"

He only smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

"Your favourite what?" Lily persisted. "Your favourite redhead?" She tried to flatten her hair, but the breeze made it impossible.

"No," Sirius chuckled, "although I suppose you win in that category, too. Very little competition, though." He sighed and threw his arm over the back of the bench, running his fingers lightly against her shoulder.

"Your favourite Head Girl?"

He laughed outright at that one, a deep, barking laugh that broke the snowy stillness around them. "Please, Lily," he said, shaking his head. "You were the only Head Girl who ever let the Marauders get away with anything."

"There was that one Head Girl two years before me. Christine? Kristen?"

"I thought her name began with an R…"

"Sirius!" Lily laughed and gave him a playful smack upside the head. "You dated her for a month!"

"Her name didn't come up much in conversation." Sirius stroked the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. "Come to think of it," he added, "there wasn't much conversation at all. Oh, the memories…"

"Well," Lily said, brushing snow off of her jacket, "I thought perhaps she might have been your favourite Head Girl. But I can see I was wrong."

Sirius grinned at her, a glint in his dark eyes. "Favourite Bed Girl, possibly." Then he wrinkled his nose and gave a doglike snort. "No, not even that. That wasn't even worth the pun. She wasn't very high on my list."

Lily tried to hide her smile. "Your bad jokes will be the death of me, Sirius," she said. "Besides, you're only trying to distract me." She pouted. "I'm your favourite what?"

He tweaked her nose. "That pout only works on Prongs," he chided gently. "Speaking of which, that's what you are. My favourite, I mean."

"Your favourite pout? Or your favourite Prongs?" she asked innocently, green eyes glittering with mischief.

Sirius closed his eyes and exhaled with pretended exasperation. "No, my dear. Being a human female, you fit neither category." He paused, and Lily sensed another joke coming on. "Of course, females could include Prongs, I suppose. I've always found his masculinity rather questionable; I don't see how you put up with it."

"I'll thank you not to insult my husband's masculinity," Lily said shortly, but her eyes still danced. "And are you trying to insinuate that I'm a lesbian?"

Sirius looked up at her eagerly, but she cut him off. "Mr. Black, you will never catch me in bed with another woman. And you promised James you'd stop fantasizing about me."

"You alone," he corrected. "I said nothing about—"

"Sirius!"

"Only kidding, darling." She shivered, and he pulled her tighter against him. "In all seriousness, though," he continued, "what I meant is that you're my favourite of Prongs' girls."

"I'm his wife. I should hope that I have no competition."

"I mean all of them, over all the years. Out of every girl he ever dated, kissed, slept with—and believe me, there were a fair few—you're far and away my favourite." He kissed the top of her head.

Lily's face softened into a smile, and she blushed. "Really, Sirius?"

He smiled back. "Of course, Lils. For a number of reasons that, due to time restrictions and this bitter cold, I will not list."

"Bitter cold?" Lily pushed his shoulder playfully. "You little liar, you love the snow."

In response, Sirius stood up suddenly and grinned before transforming into a large black dog. Lily laughed and reached out a hand to pet him, running her fingers through his shaggy fur. She scratched him behind the ears, and he licked her hand in response. She gave him a pat and watched as he bounded away across the back yard, wagging his tail and kicking up snow in his wake.

Lily chucked softly and leaned back, wrapping her arms around herself for warmth as her friend played in the snow. She glanced over her shoulder at the house behind her and caught James' face in the window, smiling brightly at her. She waved a gloved hand and blew a kiss towards him, which he pretended to deftly catch and place to his heart.

She was distracted by a rough, insistent snout being pressed into her knee. Discreetly, she picked up a handful of snow and pretended to blow another kiss to the dog; instead, she blew the snow into his face. Sirius instantly transformed back, brushing snow off his nose with his hand as though it were a paw.

"Evans!" he shouted reflexively, crouching to pack his own snowball.

"You can't call me that anymore!" Lily countered as she dove behind the bench for protection.

"I'll call you what I bloody well want, woman!"

The first snowball came flying over the bench like a rocket, breaking on the tree just behind her head. She shrieked, "James, get out here and help me!"

Her husband's laughter rumbled from the doorway. "I'm perfectly happy with my hot chocolate, thank you very much. You can handle Padfoot, love, I believe in you."

Furious at this betrayal, Lily quickly lobbed a snowball towards Sirius. He dodged it and fired another one over the bench, catching her square in the chest. She shrieked again and dove for his waist, pushing him to the ground. He tried to grab her ankles and bring her down with him, but she danced out of his grasp and watched with amusement as he sputtered in the snow.

Lily stuck her tongue out at him and sat down again, crossing her legs. "All right down there, Sirius?" she questioned innocently.

When he finally managed to get to his feet and brush the snow out of his hair, Sirius retorted, "This is why I don't enjoy the bitter cold."

Grinning, she asked, "Am I still your favourite?"

He sighed and scratched his head mockingly. "I don't know, Lils… I'm not sure I can forgive you for—do not pout, little missy, it doesn't work with me—don't try to—" He exhaled loudly and sat down beside her. "Who am I kidding?" he muttered. "Of course you're my favourite. That's not going to change."

"You never told me why I was your favourite," Lily pointed out, readjusting her scarf.

"Didn't I?"

"No, you complained about time and the bitter cold."

"And well I should. It's below zero out here; why do you insist on subjecting yourself to this torture?"

"It's not torture. I happen to like the cold."

Sirius snorted and looked over his shoulder. "Watch it, Prongs!" he shouted towards the house. "You've gone and married a masochist!" He winked at Lily, and she punched him lightly in the shoulder.

"Tell me why I'm your favourite," she demanded.

"Fishing for compliments, are we?"

"I'm not fishing. I'm outright asking."

Sirius shook his head, shaking bits of snow into her face. "At least you're honest. And actually, that's one of the reasons you're my favourite. You've always been honest to James." He ran a hand through his hair in a distinctly James-like gesture. "All the other girls… they'd say whatever it took to get a second glance from him." Straightening up proudly in his seat, he added, "Of course, they did the same thing with me. I just didn't mind as much."

Lily pulled her legs up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her knees. "Why else?"

"Well… I suppose because you gave us something to do. Merlin, the effort Moony and I put into those silly romantic setups for you two… not to mention the clever little schemes that Prongs put us through to get you to go out with him."

"He really tried hard, didn't he?" she asked, smiling.

"My dear, you have no idea." He stretched his legs. "Where was I? Oh, yes… I also like you because you make James happy."

"Sirius, how uncharacteristically sentimental of you." She put her hand over his. "I didn't know you had it in you."

He made a face. "You wound me, Mrs. Potter. I'm not being sentimental. He's just been considerably easier to deal with since you two got together. You don't know what an arse he was before—"

"Beg to differ."

"Fair enough, but that was a different kind of arse-iness. He was intolerable on the days you turned him down."

"I turned him down every day for years."

"My point exactly." Sirius shuddered.

"So you only like me because I made James less annoying?" she asked wryly.

He kissed the top of her head again. "I do like that about you," he admitted, "but in all honesty, I'm glad he's happy. And he's never happier than when he's with you."

Lily smiled and leaned her head against Sirius' shoulder, stretching her legs and pushing her foot against his. He reached down and placed a gentle hand against her slightly swelled stomach.

"Now," he said, his voice taking on a more authoritative tone, "I expect to have some sort of reward for telling you all of this. Naming rights to the firstborn will do very nicely."

She giggled. "James and I have already decided. If it's a boy, we'll name him after James' dad, and if it's a girl, we'll name her after my mum."

"And if he's exceedingly handsome, you'll change your mind and name him after me?" her friend requested hopefully.

Lily looked up and kissed his cheek. "Tell you what. Let me name my own child, and you can be godfather."

Sirius ruffled her hair. "It's a deal, Lils." He stood up, pulling her by the hand towards the house.

-(Wow, I haven't spilled fluff like this in a long time… I wasn't really sure where this was going, but I'm mildly satisfied with it. Mind you, I wrote it over the course of two snow days. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'd really love some feedback on this since it's so unlike my usual style. Thanks for reading!)-

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