A/N: This chapter is much lighter than what I've written before. Honestly, I don't even know why I'm writing angst. I'm not a very angsty person. Enjoy!

WC: 802

Wednesday 23rd December 1970, 9:30 AM

The first thing Regulus notices when he wakes up is how clear the sky is today. The sun shines brightly up ahead, and the sky is the strange sort of blueish white that is so special to the month of December. It's a sky full of promises and happiness, or at least, that's what he thinks.

The next thing he notices is Sirius, at his door, dressed in his warmest winter clothes: thick coat, hat, scarf and even mittens, boots trailing snow on the ground, which will probably make Mother scream, despite the fact that it's the house-elves who will clean up the mess and not her.

"Sirius?" he says in amazement.

"Get up and put your stuff on, we're going to build a snow-wizard," Sirius replies gruffly and scratches his head.

Regulus looks at him, positively discombobulated. "What?"

"You heard me the first time," Sirius says with an exasperated sigh.

"Are you being serious?" Regulus can't help himself but ask again.

"I'm always Sirius," he deadpans and a small smile lifts both of their cheeks up. The boys don't necessarily notice it, but they look so alike in that small tentative smile they have, lifting up one corner of the mouth, then the other, and with teeth peaking out at then. "Hurry up! Or the snow's going to melt."

They both know that's extremely unlikely, but because it's Sirius, his older brother, asking him to go out and play, Regulus doesn't waste a moment getting dressed as he hops around the room madly, trying to get dressed as quickly as possible. The result is a slightly ruffled Regulus, with hair sticking out in crazy directions – which his brother doesn't help as he ruffles his hair playfully – and mismatching socks.

"Come on, let's go!" says Sirius and they both rush downstairs.

Regulus takes a moment to hurry into the Dining Room, to wish Mother a good morning, and she looks up, amazed to see Regulus dressed in such a way. None of his cousins are up yet, but Aunt Druella promises to send them their way if they do.

Sirius rolls his eyes when Regulus finally comes out of the drawing room and suddenly they're out, together, under this clear beautiful sky. Regulus takes a deep breath of the icy cold air and runs after his brother.

Together, they attack and destroy the pure white blanket of snow that had been covering the grounds and that had been until now, untouched. Regulus revels in the feeling of drawing his own path in the snow. He likes to follow the tiny prints of the robin's passage, but it's much more fun to make his own way.

"Come and help me!" Sirius calls out to him as he pushes a ball on the ground.

Soon the little ball becomes a big one, and even with the both of them, it becomes heavy to push around. They attack the torso of the snow-wizard, and it's about as heavy as the last ball. It takes all of Sirius strength to lift it up, and even then, it breaks up slightly, but Regulus quickly patches it up. For the last one, Sirius has to lift up Regulus so that they can get the head on, but Sirius isn't quite strong enough and they both topple over, almost knocking the snowman over. Their stomachs hurt from all the laughing.

"We need to decorate it now," declares Sirius. "Run up to the house and get us some stuff."

"Why me?" Regulus whines.

"Because Mother will never say yes to me!"

Of course, it's an undeniable argument, but Regulus also thinks he enjoys bossing him around a little too much. But he doesn't mind, not at all. He hasn't had this much fun with his brother since who knows when.

He runs up to the house, and puts snow everywhere and asks Mother is they can borrow some clothes and a couple of carrots. Mother fins him absolutely endearing, and the elves come back with a pile of clothes and bag full of carrots, so many that Regulus has trouble carrying it all over back to their snowman.

"Here you go!" he says, throwing the stuff down.

"Here I'll stick the carrot!" Sirius starts.

"We've got coal for eyes and mouth," Regulus explains.

They end up choosing a rather pretty blue hat that probably belonged to Aunt Druella once upon a time, a black coat and a thick woolly green scarf Regulus insisted upon and look absolutely absolutely magnificent.

"Wow, he's brilliant!" Regulus exclaims.

"Yeah, we did a pretty good job," Sirius admits looking proud.

Regulus notes he used 'we', and the thought makes him so happy, he doesn't even mind too much when Sirius throws him a handful of snow in the face and a huge snowball fight begins.