A/N: I listened to 'East of Eden,' by Zella Day and 'Be Together,' by Major Laser (Cat Dealers Remix), whilst writing this.


December 25th (Saturday), 1993

Forbidden Forest

7:30pm

"...Look to the future now, it's only just begun!" Roxana sang as Sirius spun her around in a circle.

The only source of light in the small cozy space came from the raging fire. Sirius had gone out of his way to decorate the place, while Roxana had brought dinner. It'd been a lovely little affair before they'd both gotten a bit too… comfortable. So, the liveliest Christmas music had been found and was currently being danced to.

"Merry Christmas everybody's having fun!" They sang with grins.

Roxana thought Sirius looked terribly handsome, he was wearing a green button down with black dress pants and his wavy hair was combed back.

"You look good!" Roxana shouted over the music.

Sirius's eyes were filled with mirth as he snorted, "I always look good."

"If looking like a hobo most of the time classifies as being well dressed, then darling, yeah, you dress fabulously." Roxana winked, teasing him as he tipped her down, but lifted her quickly back up so he could have a proper laugh.

"What about you? Coming here with heeled boots when there's two meters of snow outside?" Sirius gave her a 'really.'

Roxana shrugged, "I have a reputation to keep up, but I'm also just short."

"Sweetheart, you're fine. You always look like a million galleons." Sirius patted her hand as another song began to play, and he lead her to sit down.

Roxana smiled sweetly, rolling her eyes, before she gazed at him for a moment, "What's your favorite memory of Christmas?" She was trying to pull away from the feelings his compliments gave her.

Sirius leaned back on the sofa, an arm thrown over her shoulder, with a look of contemplation on his face. After nearly a minute, he replied in a low gentle voice, "It'd been two or three days since I'd run away from home, and the full moon fell on Christmas day that year. I was still facing the effects of the cruciatus curse…" Roxana shivered and held him tighter, "but I wasn't going to let that stop me from going out. When Remus came to the Potters, I think we were all ready to forget about the real world for a while. Remus had started facing job refusals, I was fed up with my family and James… well, James didn't have Lily." Sirius snorted, and a small sad smile appeared on his lips, "The real dangers hadn't come yet we thought our lives were ending," He let out a chuckle before smirking. "Don't think I ever ran as much as I did that night; it was even snowing and I just kept running. In the morning Mrs.P had cookies ready, a job offer for Remus, a letter from my uncle and a note from Alice that Lily had apparently been talking about James." Sirius grinned with a glimmer in his eyes. He looked down at her, "What about you?"

Roxana smirked, "My favorite Christmas memory would have to be... the time I ran through Scotland with the stars glimmering in the sky."

A slow smile appeared on Sirius lips, before he was pulling her up, "Let's go then."

9:00pm

Winter was at its peak. The trees were heavy with snow, but instead of another round beginning to fall, the sky was clear of any clouds. Though, the wind blew harshly, sounding like a defining sharp bell ringing in the forest to no end.

Roxana rubbed her hands together and blew into them as she waited for Sirius to tie his boots. "You almost done?"

Sirius nodded as he stood and took a step to fix her fur cap so that it covered her ears properly. "Ready?"

Roxana nodded excitedly, "Yeah. … Ready, set… hey!" Sirius had already changed and was running deeper into the woods, his figure getting smaller and smaller. She shook her head before turning as well and going after him.

As fast as she was, the high snow slowed her down and after twenty minutes of running, Roxana still hadn't caught up to Sirius.

With a loud hiss of annoyance she changed back and grinned smugly at her increased rate. Why didn't I do this earlier? She was a bit jealous that Sirius had no problem in the freshly fallen snow, however, the feeling disappeared with a shout of glee as she passed him.

"Couldn't see above the snow?" An amused yell came from behind her.

Roxana avoided a tree as she shouted, "Couldn't see past your furry bum!" She burst out into giggles as she heard a growl and two consecutive barks. Roxana had done it to herself, Sirius was now chasing her further into the forest.

10:30pm

They avoided countless trees and fallen branches, encountered a frightened fox and a frozen lake that seemed to spread farther than the one at the castle. Roxana hadn't begun to get breathless, but her heeled boots weren't doing her any favors. Still, Sirius was consistently a few feet behind her.

Roxana looked back with an amused glint in her eyes, "Have you just taken to staring at my ass or can you really not catch me?" Her brows rose and she smirked when he grumbled lowly.

She watched as he turned from dog to man. There was a dark gleam in his eyes that she'd seen before and her heart picked up.

"Bet you still can't… " She felt strong arms around her waist and suddenly she was up against a tree, facing him. How it happened she didn't know, but she felt quite miffed at how easily her words had been proven wrong.

His eyes lightened and he threw his head back as he laughed, "Darling, I let you get ahead."

Roxana blew a fallen strand of hair from her face, narrowed her eyes at him and hissed. Sirius stopped laughing and growled roughly. The sound echoed through the thick forest and his grey eyes gained the silvery glint they had when he was in his canine form.

It was Roxana's turn to chuckle, before she planted a swift kiss to his cheek.

It promptly shut him up. "No holding back. Ready, set, go!" She managed to pull from his grasp enough to sprint away.

Sirius' pov

She'll be the end of me. He shook his head with a sly smirk as he watched her disappear between the trees.

Five… four… three… two… one, he set off running.

Roxana's pov

Sirius passed her without looking back and her breath escaped with a confused, "Huh?"

Who's chasing who? Her eyes narrowed and she ran quicker, but he was good. Too good. He was letting me win. Damn it.

Roxana bit her lip as she jumped over a fallen, snow covered branch and narrowly missed a tree with her shoulder. Her hair blew from underneath her hat and her hands were numb due to the cold, but she pushed through and soon she was keeping pace with Sirius.

They looked sideways at each other with similar grins and continued on faster.

11:55pm

It was nearly midnight when Roxana and Sirius finally began to slow down their steps. They were still in the woods, but the trees were now rimmed with crystal like ice. Their breaths came in shallow gasps in the form of smoke through the frigid air.

A loud shattering noise came from above and Roxana heard Sirius shout something to her, but it was muffled by the loud beating of her heart.

She screamed as her feet left the soft snow where, seconds later, a knife sharp branch sank down without a sound.

"You're okay. You're okay, Roxana, I've got you." Sirius's voice came out in a hoarse murmur next to her ear.

Roxana gasped for air and gazed at him with amazement. "How'd you do that? How'd you know that it would land in my path?"

Sirius took a deep, shaky breath as he set her on her feet, his gaze lifting up, "...Instinct. I couldn't let you get hurt."

Roxana noticed the shadow of hair above his lip was frosted and she let out a breathy chuckle as she reached her hand out and gently brushed it off.

Like she'd expected, his gaze immediately returned to hers and she smiled gently, "You're frozen."

Her thumb brushed over his lips, and her lashes fluttered as they glanced up at his darkened stare. "Your eyes are as cold as ice. Yet… when I look at you, I can only see fire." Sirius leaned down carefully and their lips hovered over the others in the deafening silence.

With a saddened sigh, Roxana kissed his cheek and whispered a, "Thank you for the best Christmas I've ever had, Sirius Orion Black..."

Sirius smiled gently and placed a quick kiss on the tip of her nose, "The third."

She shook her head while they turned around, planning to head back. Sirius wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close as Roxana glanced up at him and said, "I know."


A/N: What did you think? Please review! All your kind words really motivate me to write more.

Side Note: I might not be able to upload another chapter for a little while because I live in southwest Florida and Hurricane Irma may cause the power to go out. (I'll upload as soon as I can after) For anyone else in the path of the storm, my prayers go out to you! Stay safe!

Thanks for reading!