A/N: writtenbyfreckles needed a pick me up the other week and I wrote her this drabble. Now I've managed to remember to post it! Merry Christmas my friends!

"What would you do if I threw this snowball at you?" Marlene smoothed her leather glove over the snowball she held. They'd taken a walk about the snow-covered grounds while everyone was finishing packing for Christmas hols.

Sirius raised an eyebrow at her and smirked.

"You wouldn't."

She would. He knew she would.

Her red lips twisted up and Sirius felt his own smirk widen.

"What if you're wrong?"

"I'm very rarely wrong." Sirius shifted his weight back, casually shuffling some of the snow at his feet into a pile.

Marlene turned her attention from him to her snowball. "It's a beautiful little thing. Be a right shame to destroy it."

"You could make yourself a collection of snowballs, McKinnon." Sirius gestured grandly to distract from the way he pushed more snow into his pile. "You could give them away to everyone as Christmas gifts."

"I've already done all my shopping," she laughed.

Sirius almost asked what she got him. The question surprised him, they were mates, sure, but certainly not the kind that would exchange gifts. He hadn't got her anything, hadn't considered it until right then.

Clearly, the cold was getting to him.

"But this is for you!" Marlene took advantage of his momentary distraction and threw the snowball at him, hitting him squarely in the chest. She bolted away, her laughter sounding better than the sleigh bells decorating the Great Hall.

Sirius reached down to his snow pile and began forming and throwing snowballs as fast as his arm could manage. He hit her shoulder, her back, her legs, and then he took the aim that made James spare because it would never touch a Quidditch pitch.

"Wotcher, McKinnon," he called out before letting the snowball fly.

The snowball hit his mark, hitting Marlene at the base of her neck where her scarf had risen up, sending snow all down her back.

She froze and yelled as the chill slid down her back, making the layers she wore useless.

Then she turned on him. "You'll regret that!"

She started running towards him and Sirius waited, looking casually at her until she was close enough to think she could catch him. And when he did start to flee, it was a gentle jog as he winked over his shoulder, his long legs giving him all the advantage he needed to outpace her.

He glanced back to tease her again when he found no one.

Sirius slowed, looking around, and then stopped.

She'd disappeared.

At first he was curious to her game, but then thoughts from the last few months infiltrated his brain. Teachers that reminded students to be careful and stick together if they were going outside without the staff. Classmates that pointed out the dangers were already inside Hogwarts' walls. Realities that made his blood run cold.

"McKinnon!" He bellowed, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut.

"I win!" Marlene wrapped her arms around his waist before shoving snow down his trousers.

The cold cleared his mind, while also causing him to back further into Marlene behind him, and Sirius was flooded with relief as he pulled her around in front of him and kissed her like his life depended on it.

"I won!" Marlene spoke against his lips and pulled herself closer.

"You won." Sirius grinned against her, sliding his lips down her jaw, shoving her scarf out of the way to reach her neck. "Merry Christmas, Marlene."

"Best Christmas present yet," Marlene sighed into his ear, spurring him further on. "Merry Christmas, Sirius."