Back again! With bad news, unfortunately - circumstances have arisen which are going to make it...difficult...to continue updating every day, once a day. I'm still going to try my very hardest but if I don't quite manage then just know I'm doing the very best I can. Thanks!

Disclaimer: Not mine, unfortunately. Also, this is slash. As in m/m, as in yaoi, as in if you don't like the idea of Sirius and Remus as a couple then this is probably not the fanfiction for you. Thanks!


ADVENT - THREE

Alternatively titled, The Advent Of Something Entirely Wonderful and Remarkable On All Counts

Remus knew where they were going now. It hadn't taken all that long to figure out, actually, but he hadn't the heart to tell Sirius that yet. Sirius just looked so pleased with himself, that was the problem.

"Just wait, Moony." said Sirius excitedly, grabbing Remus' hand and yanking him down the nearest side passage, just past the Great Hall. "Just wait. It's an absolutely brilliant plan."

"Oh, I'm sure." agreed Remus, staring around as they passed by all too familiar portraits and tapestries. "…Sirius?"

"What?"

"I think…I mean, I – oh, never mind."

It really was no use – Sirius looked entirely too happy for Remus to spoil his fun. "I'm sure it will be an absolutely smashing surprise." he said at last, flushing slightly and staring studiously down at his feet as Sirius euphorically grinned at him.

"It will be." promised Sirius, taking a sudden left down a side passage and dragging Remus along after him. "It will be an absolutely smashing surprise. Just wait."

Finally they arrived, exactly where Remus knew they would.

And still, Sirius didn't say anything. Right. This had gone on quite long enough.

Remus had never prided himself on his theatrical ability. Overly dramatic gestures were usually reserved for Sirius, or even James, especially when the latter was caught in a fit of excessive unrequited love for a certain Miss Evans. Still, occasionally certain overtures were entirely necessary and justified.

"The Kitchens!" he exclaimed clapping a hand to his mouth and taking a step backwards for dramatic effect. "Really, Sirius, I'd no idea. This is all so…unexpected!"

Sirius stared at him, nonplussed. "Huh?"

It wasn't precisely the answer Remus had been expecting, and, feeling slightly let down, Remus lowered his hand and bit his lower lip. "Er…good job surprising me, is what I mean."

Sirius looked as though he very much wanted to laugh but was, for the sake of Remus' feelings, managing, with a great deal of effort, to restrain himself. "Moony, you didn't…this wasn't the surprise, you sap."

Remus was beet red by now, and rather annoyed to boot. "You just…you just looked so happy with yourself…" he muttered under his breath, as Sirius finally gave into temptation and laughed. "Fine. Fine. Laugh if you like, but I just…I didn't want you to feel bad…"

Sirius stopped laughing, although his eyes were still dancing. "Now see, Moony, you've gone and done just the opposite. I am now rather amused, and not at all sad or anything in the slightest. So there. Now come on, the surprise is inside…"

Sirius reached up and tickled the pear, which chuckled and swung open obediently. He grabbed Remus' arm and made to tug him inside but Remus just swatted his hand away and stood, his arms crossed in front of him as he glared at Sirius from the center of the corridor. "Padfoot?"

"Hmm?"

"What is the surprise, if it's not this?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, and grabbed Remus' arm again. "Come in and see!" he insisted, dragging Remus through the opening and into the Kitchens. "It's a really excellent surprise. It really is. And, coincidentally enough, it is also a 'surprise'. Which means that I'm not going to tell you what it is and you're just going to have to be patient and see for yourself."

Remus made a face, but followed Sirius through the portrait hole and into the Kitchens.

Even though most of the school had left for break the Kitchens were still in full swing. House elves were busy doing seemingly every task imaginable, from stoking fires to fetching ingredients from the enormous pantries at the far end of the room to overseeing the cooking. However, they all turned as one when Remus and Sirius entered the room, and bowed low. The obsequiousness was almost sickening, but Remus attempted to smile as small voices from every side of the room piped greetings at them.

"Yes, hello…good morning…hello…"

"Morning!" shouted Sirius brightly, wading through a sea of small elf bodies trying to press him with food and drinks. "No thanks, nothing for us…no, really, we're not hungry at all…"

This wasn't true, not in the slightest. Remus was starving, and still cold and wet with melted snow and he really could have done with a mug of steaming hot chocolate laced with butterbeer in front of one of the room's roaring fires. Sirius, however, seemed to have other plans.

"Your attention for a moment, please!" shouted Sirius, vaulting on top of the nearest clean countertop as the attention of every single elf in the room turned to him. "Right. I am Sirius Black, as most of you know. And this is Remus. Remus Lupin." Remus waved, feeling slightly foolish, and Sirius slightly to grin at him. "Now. As I'm sure you all know, it's almost Christmastime. Actually it is Christmastime. And it is almost Christmas. A time of great, you know, sentimentality and nostalgia, and all of that –"

Remus had absolutely no idea where this was going, and he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know, either.

"– For Remus especially. Good old Remus Lupin, sacrificing his family's company for the sake of his dear old chum, Padfoot. I mean, really. It's the least I can do to treat Remus to his favorite Christmas traditions, if he can't be with his beloved Great Aunt Bertha and her twenty cats for Christmas, right?"

Remus didn't actually have a Great Aunt Bertha, much less one with twenty cats. He did have a Great Aunt Mabel, but she didn't like him much and she was certainly one of the last people on earth he'd want to spend Christmas with. Sirius was very much preferable to her – again, yet another thing he'd never tell Sirius.

" – So your cooperation on this is very much appreciated, I'm sure." It appeared Sirius had finished – he leapt down from the countertop, ignoring the elves' disconsolate mumbling as he traipsed over to Remus and slung an arm over his shoulders, steering him over to the nearest empty oven. "What do you think of your surprise, then? Good, isn't it?"

Remus realized, belatedly, that he'd completely missed the great unveiling of Sirius' much-anticipated "surprise".

Damn.

"Er…yes. Yes. It's positively brilliant and absolutely everything I could have possibly hoped for." he said vaguely, staring about confusedly as half a dozen elves lugged over huge sacks of what looked like flour and sugar and trays piled high with mountains of everything from chocolate bits to eggs to bowls of creamy yellow butter. "…Sirius? Er, Padfoot?"

"Yes?"

"What – what, exactly, is the surprise?"

Sirius sighed self-deprecatingly, and wheeled Remus about until he was positioned directly in front of the oven. "We are baking cookies, the muggle way."

Remus gaped at him. "What?"

Sirius rolled his eyes again. "Baking cookies. You told me you used to do that, remember?"

"No! No, I don't! And, and…and that was back before Hogwarts, Sirius, that was back when I was five and I don't know –"

Sirius clapped a hand over Remus' mouth, rather effectively shutting him up. "Moony. We are baking. I am selflessly helping you relive the glories of your Christmases past. Okay? It'll be fun. And in the end we will have very delicious food that we will eat lots of, and there will be great happiness. Okay? Okay."

"Okay," murmured Remus, pulling Sirius' hand off of his mouth and staring around despairingly. Sirius grinned, and clapped his hands briskly.

"Right. What do we do first?"


Thank you very much to everyone who's reviewed so far! (and Bottlebrush - The socks were a Christmas present several years ago from Peter, who unfortunately is almost entirely lacking in the fashion sense department). They keep me going, they really do.

Again - there's a good chance updates won't be quite so punctual, but as that would really make me very sad I'm going to try my hardest to keep them on time.

Thanks so much for reading, if you enjoyed it (or even if you didn't!) then PLEASE REVIEW, and until tomorrow - bye!