CW: snow, Christmas, trains, food
:FORTY-SIX:
But work came around, as it always does. Remus and Sirius kept themselves quite busy as autumn fell into winter, ignoring the changing seasons in favor of the dusty tomes Remus kept bringing back to the flat. They had tracked Rowena Ravenclaw's entire life, legacy, and descendant, Helena Ravenclaw. But they had found nothing that told them where the diadem could be.
Sirius, in a fit of frustration, had practically thrown himself out of the flat and into a pile of snow. His muffled screams echoed up to their window, where Remus rolled his eyes. Not that he wasn't annoyed as well, he just was much better at hiding it. He set down the book he'd been browsing and rubbed at his tired eyes.
"...Remus!" Sirius yelled from outside. "Remus, come here!"
Remus let out an exasperated sigh, then dragged himself over to the window. He opened the window and looked down at Sirius in disdain. "What?"
"Harry's going to be home soon!" Sirius yelled up, grinning widely and damp from the snow. "And this snow is amazing - come out and see!"
"No, I think I'd rather not -" Remus sputtered as a snowball hit him directly in the face.
Oh, so it was going to be like that? Remus' eyes glinted mischievously. "You wait right there, Sirius Orion."
"No way!" Sirius yelled. "You're going to have to catch me first!"
Remus put on his shoes and coat quickly, racing down the stairs and after Sirius. The both of them had been cooped up for far too long, so they proceeded to let out all of that energy in a massive snowball fight. Dashing around the park and using trees as shields, the two of them flung snowballs at each other until Remus got close enough to tackle Sirius to the ground.
"I win!" He said triumphantly, laughing as he kissed Sirius.
Sirius laughed too, his chest vibrating under Remus' with the force of it. "Not really, I got you outside after all."
"That is true." Remus acknowledged, flopping over next to Sirius in the snow. "But you were right, it's nice to just get outside without it being for transformations."
"Yes!" Sirius sighed, looking up at the snowflakes as they fell. "And we have to prep the house for Harry too - he'll be home soon for Christmas."
"I wonder how he's doing." Remus mused. "He hasn't written in a while."
"He better have remembered to get sweets from Hogsmeade like I asked." Sirius huffed, sitting back up. "We'd better write to him and make sure he knows. Their last visit is right before the holidays."
He helped Remus up, then held his hand as they walked back home. They were freezing by the time they got home, but felt more alive than they had in weeks. Warming up by the fire with hot chocolate, Sirius penned a letter to Harry casually reminding him of all their favorite Honeydukes sweets. Remus contented himself to watching a movie while he organized their research into piles. It would all have to be put away when Harry arrived, and they weren't anywhere near finding an answer besides.
"Maybe we'll get some inspiration when we go to pick up Harry." Remus sighed. "Because I think we've hit a dead end otherwise, Sirius."
But Sirius waved him off. "Nonsense, Remus. Where there's a will, there's a way and all that."
"Besides," Sirius put down his quill and stretched. "I bet Hogwarts will look lovely with all that snow. Just imagine all the fun Harry must be having - I almost feel bad stealing him away."
"Well," Remus smirked. "We better get the house ready for him then, haven't we?"
They spent the next few days happily decorating the house - it was Kreacher's first Christmas with them and they wanted him to enjoy every moment of it. Kreacher kept complaining about how 'garish' everything was, but Remus stubbornly kept the Christmas spirit alive. He eventually found a butter cookie recipe that Kreacher deemed 'decent', which was high praise coming from the elf.
Finally, the time had come to pick Harry up from the Hogwarts Express. They left Kreacher to finish up a batch of cookies he had started, apparating over to the train station to wait for him. They knew it was breaking from tradition, but they'd just had too much to do before Harry's arrival to pick him up at Hogwarts.
Plus, they weren't particularly keen on seeing Dumbledore again. They'd finally decided to send a letter instead, writing simply that they'd 'taken care' of the cup Dumbledore recommended, but hadn't found the rest of the set. Remus was proud of his own cleverness as he sent that letter off. Dumbledore had replied that he was pleased and would keep a look out for them.
They gathered with all the other parents, clapping their hands together to keep them warm as the train came forward onto the platform. Sirius was jittery with excitement, while Remus kept looking to see which compartment Harry might be in. They stood back though when the rush of other students came pouring out of the train, not wanting to be trampled.
"Papa! Dad!" Harry yelled, jumping up to see them. "Over here!"
"Harry!" Sirius called back, rushing through to get to Harry and hugged him tightly.
Remus carefully worked his way through the crowd, beaming when he caught up to them both.
"Have you got your things, Harry?" He asked. "Kreacher's got cookies waiting for you back home."
Harry nodded, pointing to where his luggage and Hedwig stood right behind him. He let go of Sirius and held onto Remus hard enough to make him gasp.
"I missed you." Harry muttered, looking embarrassed.
Remus softened, mussing up Harry's hair. "We missed you too, Harry."
They quickly separated themselves from the rest of the crowd, waving to all Harry's friends and their families as they left. Once they'd apparated away and were going up to their flat, Harry said.
"So, Kreacher's making cookies?"
"Yes," Remus smirked. "I introduced him to Christmas butter cookies and he's become a little obsessed."
Harry snorted, but then his jaw dropped as he took in the simply massive amount of butter cookies covering their flat. They'd been stuffed on every available surface, making the whole flat smell mouth-wateringly good.
"You weren't kidding." Harry whispered in awe, stepping further into the flat and setting down his luggage.
Remus smirked, letting Hedwig out of her cage so she could fly while he cleaned it out. Harry was simply atrocious at cleaning her cage regularly so it needed a good scrubbing down.
"Wait till you see the rest of the house. Kreacher decided that he liked fairy lights too."
Harry looked appalled at them both. "And you just let him have at it?"
"We were a bit scared telling him no, to tell you the truth." Sirius smirked.
"Oh," Remus lightly smacked Harry on the shoulder. "Get into the Christmas spirit, Harry! Kreacher's having fun. We'll just have the Weasleys over and these cookies will all get eaten."
"That is true." Sirius nodded. "Those boys could eat the whole world if Molly allowed it."
Harry laughed, picking up his luggage again. "Right, well I'm going to go unpack."
He dragged his luggage off to his room, closing the door behind himself. Kreacher came out of the bathroom soon after, smiling happily at the two men even as he vanished the snowy mess they'd tracked into the house.
"Is our Harry home?" Kreacher said in his gravelly voice. "I thought I heard him in the hall."
"Yes, Kreacher." Remus replied. "He went to his room to unpack."
Kreacher nodded, his ears flapping with the motion. Then he went back off into the kitchen, alerted by a ringing bell tone that his latest batch of cookies were finished.
"We really ought to get him a recipe book for Christmas," Sirius noted. "Unless we want to eat butter cookies for the rest of our lives."
"I dunno," Remus replied, taking a cookie and biting into it. "These are pretty good."
Sirius laughed, then collapsed back onto the couch. The holidays had begun, and he couldn't be happier.
Notes:
Oooh we love a Christmas-happy Kreacher!
Happy Reading!
