Professor McGonagall walked calmly through the snow-covered courtyard. It was early on a Saturday morning but there were several students outside, enjoying themselves in the newly arrived snow before breakfast.
There had been no word from Severus Snape since he had walked out of the castle on Thursday morning in the middle of class and various attempts to track him down had no results.
Rumours about deteriorating health's of Death Eaters locked into Azkaban spread like wildfire. The rumours of something in their Dark Marks causing them to lose their magic, killing them slowly with no clear reason.
She did not like Severus Snape and never would. But the dislike did not stop her from wondering if the same thing was happening to him and if that was the reason he had left so abruptly.
Spotting the man she had been looking for she made her way towards him, intending to speak to him to see if he knew something more about what was happening with the Death Eaters.
"Morning Professor M!" Sirius' voice called out from a distance as he noticed her, waving from a distance before he ducked to avoid a snowball thrown at him.
"Morning Sirius," she called back, watching amused as Sirius threw a snowball at Remus, hitting him squarely in the chest.
Remus retaliated by advancing on Sirius, holding a large amount of snow in his hands.
"No...Rem, I'm warning you...no!" Sirius laughed, quickly moving backwards to try and keep distance between them.
"Run Sirius!" George cheered from a small distance away, laughing as Remus managed to grab Sirius, lifting him off the ground one handed; without breaking a sweat and dropping the large amount of snow, which he'd been holding in his other hand, over Sirius' head.
Sirius squealed, trying to break away from Remus' grip and the snow now dripping down into his clothes as Remus laughed.
"Let me go," Sirius laughed as Remus placed him back onto the ground again but didn't let go of him, a firm grip around his waist.
"Are you sorry for targeting me?" Remus asked.
"No!" Sirius shot back, laughing even louder when Remus began to tickle him mercilessly, squirming to try and get away from the cold hands.
His movements unbalanced Remus and, slipping on the frozen underground underneath the snow, they both went down with a yelp, a cloud of snow forming around them at their fall.
McGonagall laughed as she saw them sit up almost immediately, Remus dumping a hand full of snow onto Sirius' head again, making him laugh.
"I'll get you for that," Sirius threatened him as he shook his head like a dog, his hair soaked completely as he had lost his hat in the fall, mock-glared at Remus.
"And how do you plan on doing that? I'm stronger than you," Remus laughed, raising his hands to protect himself from the snow and water coming from Sirius' shaking.
"I'll just wait until you are nicely tucked in tonight to extract my revenge," Sirius laughed.
Remus' laugh immediately turned horrified before he grinned. "You won't dare or you will not be able to sleep warmly either!"
"I'll just crawl into Harry's bed then," Sirius shot back, scrambling to his feet as Remus pouted.
"That's not fair!"
"Nope," Sirius cheerfully replied before yelping as Remus pushed him over, back into the snow.
Out of nowhere snowballs began to attack Remus as the twins, Harry, Neville, Seamus, Luna and Dean teamed up in an attack.
"Oi!" he laughed, raising a hand to protect himself from the sudden assault when Sirius remained low.
Flicking a wand, snowballs suddenly began to return fire on their own, making the teenagers scream and duck for cover.
"That's cheating!" Harry called out as they all laughed.
"All is fair in love and war!" Remus called back as Sirius broke cover now that the assault had stopped.
"If it's love and war then who's the damsel in need of saving?" Sirius laughed, ruffling his hands through his hair to remove the snow stuck to the wet locks before putting his hat on again after drying it.
"You of course," Remus grinned as he grabbed Sirius from behind, slipping his arms around his waist in a hug before lifting him off the ground to help him stand up while rising to his feet himself.
Sirius yelped as Remus immediately slipped once more and they tumbled backwards into the snow again.
"You're getting heavier," Remus commented with a laugh as Sirius struggled to get away from him, slipping on the icy underground due to his own laughter.
"Not heavy enough if you can keep tossing me onto the ground like an infant."
"It was an accident," Remus laughed as Sirius slipped again, falling back against him.
"Do you two lovebirds need help?" Harry asked, almost doubled over in laugher at their struggles.
Sirius sat up; eyes narrowing and a small twist of his free hand had Harry slip suddenly and land in a heap next to Sirius who cheerfully hugged him.
"Nope, no help needed."
"That's cheating," Harry squealed as Sirius pressed his ice cold nose into his neck.
"Leave our Seeker alone!" the twins called out, joining the fray with a battle cry and attacking Sirius with snowballs.
McGonagall laughed at their antics as Remus scrambled away from the incoming missiles.
"Are you joining us, Minerva?" he asked as he brushed the snow off his clothes and moved towards her.
"Heavens no. I just wondered what the racket was about so early in the morning," she replied as she kept her eyes on the ongoing battle to avoid being hit by straying snowballs. No need to break up the playing early just because she wanted to speak with Sirius.
Meanwhile Sirius had managed to get up again and was defending himself against the six Gryffindors attacking him, surprisingly holding his ground without the aid of magic and returning fire.
She swiftly stepped aside as a snowball came her way.
"Sorry Professor!" someone yelled, running away with a scream as the twins turned with more battle cries, attacking the thrower and causing all the students outside to get involved in the snowball fight.
"It's rather cold again, isn't it?" Remus commented as he reached her side.
"I am surprised you notice. You don't look cold at all and they certainly don't."
"I've applied heating charms to Sirius' clothes to keep him from getting a cold despite getting soaked. Being so close to him kept me warm too as I forgot to add them to my own."
"A smart move. How long have you been out here?" McGonagall asked as she noted the healthy red flush on both men's faces.
"Since five. Sirius dragged me out of bed the moment he noticed it was finally snowing again."
"I remember how much he has always loved snow. It's been a long time since he could freely play in it. And while I normally would advice against such behaviour from teachers, I cannot begin to care when it is such a joy to see him act this care free," McGonagall admitted softly with a thick voice.
"He used to drag James and me out at the first snowfall, trying to catch the flakes falling before enough snow had fallen that we could build a snowman," Remus smiled at the memory even as she could see the emotion in his eyes.
"I remember. I'm happy to see that hasn't changed. It is wonderful to see him play, especially with Harry. I've never seen Harry as carefree or happy as when he's with Sirius," she laughed as Harry tackled his godfather, making them both fall into the snow again in laughter.
"He looks so young," she whispered, and it was true for both of them.
Harry indeed looked younger than ever, the worry lines that had always been present in the teenager's face were completely gone and his polite smile had become an almost permanent beam whenever Sirius was around.
He had also grown several inches and gained weight, though he'd always remain on the lean side, just like his godfather.
She turned her attention to Sirius, really looking at him as he played around with his godson and the twins who retackled him when he'd gotten to his feet again.
Sirius had always been slender, even before Azkaban had robbed him of the little bit of fat he had. But though he was still skinny it was now more on the slender side again and he'd long since lost the corpse-like image she'd seen when he had been taken prisoner at Hogwarts.
His face, though thin, was a lot fuller and he had regained some colour and his dark short hair, which was now soaking wet and mostly hidden underneath an equally soaked hat, had regained most of its former volume.
But the most remarkable change was that he was almost constantly smiling and laughing these days, a sound and sight she would never tire of.
Sirius' smile had always been able to light up the sun as a teenager and now it lifted up most of the lingering haunted look in his light grey eyes, though it would probably never disappear completely.
And although she would always feel a pang at not seeing him side by side with James, as they should have always been, he seemed more than happy to be with his godson.
"They are good for each other," Remus agreed, not noticing her straying thoughts at all.
"And they are both good for you. I haven't seen you this happy in years. You look a lot younger, too," McGonagall added softly, laughing when Sirius, Luna and Harry teamed up against Fred, George and Neville in a new snow ball fight.
"Sirius has always had that effect on people," Remus acknowledged the change in his appearances.
"Rem! Professor M! Will you two help us build a snowman?" Sirius called out with a wave as they ceased their battle breathlessly to begin gathering snow, calling out for them to join them.
McGonagall laughed. "Don't you think I'm a bit too old to be playing in the snow?"
Sirius shot her a boyish grin. "You are never too old to enjoy yourself."
"If memory serves me right you are rather awful at building snowmen. Maybe I should lend my assistance to ensure it actually becomes a snowman and not a large creature that scares the students," McGonagall nodded, secretly honoured that they wanted her to join even though she was both much older and a lot stricter, even the students were waving for her to join them.
And while she had originally come out to speak to Sirius, she decided that it would have to wait as she strode forward to join in on the fun instead of always watching on the sideline.
All the Death Eaters in the world could get what they deserved if it meant seeing them happy and relaxed.
She refused to be the one to take the smile off her boy´s lips, not now, not ever.
