By now you're probably thinking, Holy shit this girl must do nothing but write, but I'm currently going through my back catalogue of documents and attempting to get everything completed and posted so that I can move on. I originally began writing this on Christmas Eve, so excuse me if you find the Christmas theme a little outdated. Happy belated holidays everyone!
"Look at her. Just look at her, Moony," James muttered, "Isn't she just the fittest bird you've ever seen?"
Remus rolled his eyes. Usually he was quite a patient person, but James' persistent talks about Lily Evans were starting to bore him senseless, so he merely nodded quietly in agreement. Around him the Gryffindor common room was in a state of pandemonium. It was the last night of term, and by the next morning most of the students would be on the train home to spend some time with their families for Christmas.
As usual the Gryffindor's had grasped at any excuse to throw a party, and so now, although it was creeping towards midnight, music was roaring from a wireless and a huddle of tipsy teenagers had gathered to dance in the middle of the room. The remnants of the food that had been stolen from the kitchens littered every available surface, along with empty bottles of butter beer and whiskey, which had also been stolen.
If he was honest Remus was finding himself unexcited by the celebrations, but it wasn't as if he was usually the life of the party anyway. He was tired and his head was hurting, and James was only dampening his mood further by sitting beside him, rabbiting on wistfully about Lily. And with these thoughts in mind, Remus stood up.
"I'm going to bed, Prongs. I'm shattered," He mumbled, stretching and forcing out a yawn.
James nodded slowly. "You know what? I think I'm going to go over and talk to her," He said. And, after swigging the final dregs of his butterbeer, he stood up and left Remus without a backwards glance. Relieved that he hadn't been forced to stay, Remus quickly made his escape up the spiral staircase.
He had expected to find the dorm room empty, but when Remus walked through the door he found Sirius hunched up on his bed, staring broodingly through the window. The last time he had seen Sirius, he had been climbing through the portrait hole with Loretta Pritchard.
"Sirius?" Remus said hesitantly. Sirius grunted in response, not taking his dark gaze from the window. Remus closed the door, slowly walking in to the room, "Are you, er, alright mate?" He asked.
"I'm fine," Sirius snapped.
"How did things go with Loretta?" Remus said softly.
Sirius shrugged. "She threw up before we even got down the corridor. I told her to slow down on that whiskey," He said. His voice was tinged with gloom. Remus knew that Sirius took the matter of the opposite sex very, well, seriously, but even he knew that Loretta had nothing to do with Sirius's sudden foul mood. It had to be something deeper than a lost shag.
"James is pestering poor Lily again," Remus said, attempting to keep the conversation light in hopes of eventually cracking Sirius, "He'll never learn."
He sat down on the end of his bed to pull off his robes and shoes. Sirius sighed and finally tore his eyes from the window, stretching right out across his bed. "You looking forward to going home tomorrow, Moons?" He said.
"I suppose," Remus said with a small shrug, "You?"
Sirius laughed coldly. "You must be mad if you think I'mgoing home," He said, "I think I'll pass on sitting around the table whilst my mother compares me to my perfect brother and my father snatches every chance he gets to mention me being a Gryffindor to the rest of my oh so pure family, thank you very much."
"I'm sorry, Sirius," Remus sighed.
"Don't be," Sirius said, "I'll be fine here. I think that Irish girl in Ravenclaw is staying for the holidays too. Should keep me busy."
Remus hesitated. "I'm going the owlery to write to my parents," He said finally, putting on his shoes again and standing up.
"What for?" Sirius questioned.
"To tell them that I'm staying here this Christmas. I'll just tell them that I really need to study, they won't mind," Remus explained.
"But you were looking forward to going home," Sirius said blankly, looking at Remus with a puzzled expression.
"I'm not too bothered, to be honest," Remus said, "And it will be company for you."
"Don't stay on my account, Moony," Sirius insisted, "Really, that Ravenclaw girl seems very easy. I'll probably will have shagged her by Boxing Day."
Remus smiled faintly. "She has a boyfriend. He's much older. I heard Lily speaking to Alice Longbottom about in scandalised tones the other morning in Transfiguration," He said.
Sirius looked crest fallen, but then suddenly happy. "Looks like I'm stuck with you instead then," He said, beaming.
"And I can guarantee that you won't have shagged me by Boxing Day, either," Remus said with a wink as he left the dorm.
"Why is Christmas Eve so boring, Moony?" Sirius groaned.
"What's boring about it?" Remus questioned, watching Sirius in bemusement as he lay slouched on one of the common room sofas, his feet draping over the arms because his body was too long to fit the sofa completely, throwing a paper ball in the air and catching it again.
"You just spend the whole day waiting around, and nobody is ever in the mood to do anything because they're too busy running around stressing about tomorrow," Sirius explained.
"I think we've had quite a good day," Remus said, his eyes falling back down to the pages of his book.
"I suppose it hasn't been too-" Sirius began to say, then stopped as the paper ball came crashing down before he was ready for it, poking him in the eye, "Fucks sake!" He muttered.
Remus chuckled. "Some body's tired," He said in a sing song voice.
"Oh shut it you," Sirius grumbled, swinging himself in to an upright position in one graceful movement, "I wish it was full moon."
"Yeah, because it's fun for you," Remus said bitterly, his face darkening.
"Aw, don't be like that, Rem. You know what I mean," Sirius said.
Remus shut his book shut. "It's alright for you three. You can just change at will, quickly and easily too. You don't have to worry about accidentally killing one of your best friends - or anybody, for that matter," He snapped.
It was very rare that Remus acted at all angry, and this outburst shocked Sirius a little. He scowled.
"What, you think that it doesn't hurt me too, to watch you go through all of that? You think that I'm not constantly on guard, making sure you don't slip up?" He growled. Then he coloured, as if he had expressed too much.
Remus paused. He rubbed his eyes, confused by the sudden row. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I didn't mean to snap, I guess I'm just tired too," He said.
"'S alright," Sirius mumbled.
They both sat in awkward silence. Then finally Remus stood up, his book tucked underneath his arm. "Lets go to bed," He suggested.
"Yeah, the sooner we do, the sooner St. Nick can wiggle his fat arse down the chimney," Sirius chimed in with a grin.
Remus playfully threw a golden cushion at him.
"You had better hope that you wake up before I do," Sirius said as he got to his feet, "'Cause if you don't then I'm having your presents."
"I think you'll be very disappointed to find yourself opening a parcel of woolly garments knitted lovingly by my mother - two sizes too small for you as well, no doubt," Remus replied.
"In that case I'll just send them to Kreacher, put a smile on his ugly little face. That should piss my dear old mum off lovely," Sirius said with a wicked grin.
"Moony! Moony wake up!" Sirius yelled.
Remus tried desperately to cling on to sleep, burrowing himself further in to his warm mattress. He thought he had managed to get out of waking up for another five minutes, when he felt something crinkly and cushiony smack against his face. He snapped his eyes open. "Sirius you total wanker," He muttered.
"Oh wake up you old Scrooge, its Christmas day!" Sirius cried cheerfully.
Remus forced himself to sit up. He rubbed his eyes, prying them open. Sirius was parading up and down the room in a brand new leather jacket, which he wore with the rumpled pyjama bottoms he wore to bed and little else. His pale chest was smooth as marble and seemed to be emitting a pearly glow against the crinkled black leather.
"She might be an old hag, but my mother never fails to please with her presents," Sirius said smugly as he strutted around the dorm as if he were on a cat walk.
Remus managed to stop himself staring at Sirius long enough to climb out of bed and pursue his own smaller pile of presents. As prophesied the night before, his mother had knitted him both a power blue jumper and a matching blue scarf in a deeper shade. The other present from his parents contained a box of Honeydukes best chocolate. The rest of his presents were mostly books from various members of his family, a new pocket sized chess set from James, and a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans from Peter.
"Didn't get one off Regulus again," Sirius muttered as he returned to the abandoned parcels on his bed, "But I didn't get him one either, so I suppose we're even. Ah, how sweet, Kreacher's given me a tea spoon."
Remus grinned as Sirius chucked the rusty tea spoon to one side, where it was lost in the discarded wrapping papers on the floor. "Oh," Sirius said suddenly, "Almost forgot." He dug around under his bed and threw a messily wrapped parcel at Remus. "Merry Christmas, Moony."
Remus carefully began to unwrap his present. A book fell out on to his lap. "Quite an obvious thing to have bought me," He mused, then he looked down at the book, which was entitled How To Charm Any Witch - Without Using Your Wand! and frowned, "Or maybe not."
Sirius laughed. "Thought I'd give you a bit of help with the ladies. Right, shall we get dressed?" He said. He whipped off his new leather jacket and laid it out carefully on his bed spread before rooting around for clean socks.
Remus modestly turned his back as he slipped out of his pyjamas and began to dress. When the both of them were ready, they quickly tidied up around the dorm - on Remus's orders - and went downstairs to the Great Hall for breakfast. Hogwarts was, as expected, quite empty, and there were only three other students in the whole school left, including the Ravenclaw girl that Sirius had previously been interested in. Despite now knowing that she was out of bounds, he still couldn't help himself from throwing her one of his most dashing smiles as he sat down.
"Sirius Black you'll never change," Remus muttered as Sirius grinned at him.
They spent quite a pleasant day together. After eating breakfast they went back up to the common room where Sirius forced Remus to open up his new book, but they were quickly distracted by this as they noticed the flakes of snow dancing past the window. Sirius announced a snow ball fight and raced upstairs to change in to a warmer attire. Remus was quite reluctant to follow these orders, he wasn't really a fan of the snow, but Sirius's childlike excitement was tangible. After a furious snow ball battle between them and the other remaining students it was time for a quick change and warm up again before Christmas dinner. Remus loved his mothers cooking, but even he couldn't deny that nobody did a Christmas dinner like Hogwarts. After the feast he and Sirius went back up to the empty common room and spent a few hours playing lazy games of chess with the new set that James had given him, a collection of sweets lying open on the table between them.
Eventually Sirius's eyes began to droop. "I don't know what it is about Christmas day, but it really takes it out of you," He mumbled sleepily.
"Maybe you wouldn't be so tired if you hadn't woke up at dawn," Remus said teasingly.
"I can't go on, my eyes are burning too badly," Sirius said, "Lets call this one a draw."
"Piss off! I'm winning by miles," Remus argued.
"Fine," Sirius said. This surprised Remus, who had expected to find himself bickering with Sirius for the next ten minutes about who had played the game better.
Sirius curled up on the sofa, nestling his head between the cushions. He yawned and closed his grey eyes. Remus tutted, crossing his legs beneath himself as he gazed around the room, pondering what to do next. He suddenly remembered the Potions essay he had been meaning to finish and was about to get up to retrieve it when Sirius spoke.
"I've had a really nice time, Moons," He said.
"Oh?" Remus said.
"Yeah. I've always sort of secretly despised Christmas, you know? All of that family and love shit, but you made today really special," Sirius mused.
"Do my ears decieve me, or is Sirius Black being sentimental?" Remus gasped in mock tones of scandal.
"Don't be a wanker, Moony," Sirius muttered.
"Sorry," Remus said quietly, "I'm just not used to you being so..."
"Poofy?" Sirius grinned from underneath his mop of black hair.
"Sirius you are the castles resident play boy," Remus rolled his eyes, "You could never be poofy."
Sirius's eyes flashed open and he sat up. Remus realised that he had just made the mistake of telling Sirius Black he was incapable of doing or being something. Sirius cocked an eyebrow. "I could be poofy," He insisted.
"Hmm," Remus said. He pretended to appear disbelieving.
"Oh Remus, dahling," Sirius crooned, adopting a lofty tone and flapping his arms flamboyantly, "You simply must go upstairs and throw on that fabulous jumper your mother knitted for you, it's just so in."
"Sirius that was terrible," Remus sighed.
"You hurt my feelings, Moons," Sirius pouted.
"Stop doing that, you look bloody adorable," Remus grinned.
"Do I?" Sirius said.
Remus was suddenly aware of the mood change in the room. He was also aware of Sirius suddenly sitting just inches away from him, so close that he could feel his hot breaths and count every one of Sirius's long eyelashes. The two boys stared at each other in silence. An ember sparked in the fire grate and they both jumped, bumping foreheads as they did so. "Ow, shit," Remus cried, frowning as a small headache invaded his mind.
"Always so fragile, Moons," Sirius laughed.
And then suddenly they were kissing. Their lips moved perfectly together, one pair slightly dry and scarred, the other wonderfully smooth and full. A moan escaped, but from which boy it was impossible to tell. Sirius gently held the smaller boys face in his hands, rubbing his thumb over a jagged scar, whilst Remus's fingers danced in the wild tangles of black hair that fell before him. The air around them was suddenly warm and sweet, but this went unnoticed as Remus and Sirius engrossed themselves in each other.
Slowly they pulled away. "That was, um, wow," Remus mumbled, rubbing his fingers against his scalding lips like he had never noticed them on his face before.
"Yeah," Sirius croaked, coughing a little.
They smiled shyly at each other.
"I'm not gonna lie to you Moons, that was bloody incredible," Sirius grinned.
The grin seemed to relax Remus. It was okay, they were still friends, it wasn't going to be awkward between them.
"Merry Christmas, Pads," He declared.
"And then you ruin it with that lovely slice of cheese on toast," Sirius teased. He brushed a stray hair out of Remus's face.
"So now what?" Remus asked, holding his breath.
"Well," Sirius pondered, brushing his fingers tantalisingly along Remus's collar bone, making the smaller boy shiver, "We might as well make the most of our last free night before those other tossers get back."
"But... Then what?" Remus said, trying to ignore the sparks that seemed to be spiking his skin when Sirius touched him, "Do we go back to being the way we were, pretending like tonight never happened?"
"Let's worry about that when we get to it," Sirius said, "Right now I want you upstairs, and in my bed, so that I can unwrap you."
Remus shivered. He was still confused greatly by the nights turn of events, but there was no time to linger on those thoughts now. Sirius's eyes were gleaming.
"Oh, and about that chess game, I want a rematch in the morning," Sirius added as they left the sofa.
"Shut up you old dog, and get up those stairs," Remus growled.
"Remus, I love it when you're demanding," Sirius gasped.
"Now that was poofy," Remus grinned.
Yet again this was sloppily proof read, fuck it.