Title: blood red Black seal
Rating: PG
Pairing: Remus/Sirius

"Come on, you're going to freeze," Remus said gently as he approached Sirius from behind and tried to pull his arm back towards the castle. Who knew how long he had been standing out here, staring at the frozen lake. Remus hadn't even thought to look for him out here until he saw him on the map.

"No, I'm fine," Sirius muttered and went to pull his arm away. It was then that Remus noticed the small bit of paper in his hand.

"What's that?"

Sirius shrugged and pulled up his hood around his cold face as the snow started coming down.

Remus took the paper from him, and when Sirius didn't say anything, he read it silently.

"Wha- what are you going to do?" Remus asked quietly.

"I guess I'm staying here this Christmas," Sirius replied bitterly. Remus played with the note in his hand, running his cold fingers over the blood red Black seal.

"They won't take me back, now," Sirius said. "I should be happy, I've been trying to get away from them for years. I don't feel happy though, I feel…" he trailed off and Remus didn't try to substitute a word like he normally would. He didn't know how Sirius felt, how could he? It wasn't like his parents had just disowned him.

"I – " Sirius started again, but his voice broke and he fell silent. From where he was standing slightly behind Sirius, Remus could see his shoulders shaking subtly. His eyes shifted back towards the castle. Where was James? James was always better at dealing with these sort of Sirius emotional issues. Remus dropped the note on the ground and stepped in front of Sirius. He didn't meet his eyes but instead pulled him into a hug.

It was awkward at first, the unfamiliar warmth pressed against him. Sirius' breath came shakily as he cried silently and Remus patted his back tentatively. Patting turned into rubbing and the unfamiliar warmth became welcome until Sirius' breath came steady again and they pulled away.

They cleared their throats and Sirius dried his eyes with his palm under his hood.

"Ready to go back?" Remus asked, motioning towards the castle with his head.

Sirius nodded and they started to walk back towards the castle, but not before Sirius stepped on the note in the snow, causing the red seal to bleed further into the snow.

"Thanks," Sirius murmured, barely audible as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

Remus felt a warmth spread through him like the warm of Sirius' body against his.

"Any time," he said with a small smile, "Any time."