Here we are everyone! The last chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
~Mssr TaC
Christmas is magical. Not in the way that witches and wizards are magical, or in the way Hogwarts' moving staircases are magical. Christmas has a special magic that only comes once a year and it has the ability to do anything. It can make snowfall look like something from another world and warm the hearts of even the most forlorn and miserable souls. Most of all, Christmas magic is noted for it's ability to bring hearts together. The magic of love has always been so potent through the decades, that it is no surprise that even in a place where magic is so common, something truly special and magical was happening.
Remus Lupin loved the way Christmas lights looked. Especially in the Griffindor common room, where the brilliant orbs were wrapped around everything from stair railings to portrait frames. The little white lights were each individually like a burning spec of hope. Combined, it made the room glimmer in overwhelming feelings of excitement and heartwarming anticipation. As he looked at each of the shinning lights, each doing its part to be beautiful, he couldn't help but think of Sirius.
To Remus, sitting in the armchair that Christmas eve, each little light was something about Sirius. The glint in his mischievous gray eyes or the way his face lit up when he smiled. It was the way it sounded when Sirius laughed and when he sung in the dorms on cold mornings. It was the feeling in Remus' chest when their eyes met and he thought about the millions of star-like snowflakes in his perfectly black hair. Sirius shone brighter than all the lights in the room put together. Sirius was hope.
Sirius stepped through the portrait hole into the amazingly lit common room and paused to appreciated it a moment before pulling the scarf from his neck. He spotted Remus' all to familiar form in the armchair closest to the fire, a book abandoned on his knee. Sirius smirked and made his way over to the other boy.
"Saint Nick won't come until you are asleep you know." He said casually, leaning against the large armchair next to Remus. The other boy startled and looked at Sirius, takeing in his wet combat boots and cloak.
"Where have you been?" Remus said pointedly, narrowing his eyes. Sirius had been gone all afternoon after borrowing James' invisibility cloak. Without asking.
"I told you. Saint Nick doesn't come until you are asleep." Sirius replied evasively. There was something in his eyes that said he was planning and up to no good at all. Remus looked around the common room. They were the only two who hadn't gone home for the holidays in Griffindor tower. This wasn't surprising though, it had been then same the year before. Most people leaped at the chance to go home for the holiday. Sirius had no home and Remus didn't want Sirius to spend Christmas alone. This left them with the whole glittering common room to themselves the next morning. Remus thought of his gift, Wrapped and waiting to be given the next morning. His heart sped up.
"Do I want to know where you were? You sneaked out didn't you?" Remus picked his book up an put his nose back inside it.
"You will see soon enough." Sirius said softly. Remus narrowed his eyes as his book slowly hid his face. Sirius just smiled on like a right berk.
The night continued on, and then, at midnight the Christmas magic was sprinkled over the rather empty castle. It swept through dark corridors, empty classrooms, and common rooms whose fire had died to nothing but hot coals. The whispering walls seemed to sing the soft murmurs of the inevitable falling into motion. Everything was perfectly still.
When the first ray of brilliant morning light caught the frosted glass of the dormitory windows, the curtain was yanked back from the further of two occupied four posters with such vigor that the whole scarlet length almost came crashing down around the bed. Sirius Black propelled himself across the gap between his and Remus' bed and he flung back that curtain as well. Looked at Remus, who was staring at him with wide-eyed alarm, then tackled him.
"IT'S CHRISTMAS!" He hollered, rubbing his face against Remus' chest.
"GAHH-Sirius! Ouuf! Hey! Stoppit you tit!" Remus yelped as Sirius accidentally tickled him. Sirius sat up on Remus chest, grinning so wide his face looked like it might split right in half.
"Yes it is, Padfoot!" Remus choked out between laughs. "Now would you kindly get off my chest?"
After Sirius had deemed that Remus could not in fact, give Sirius his present while he was pinning the present giver at the chest, he got off and sat at the end of the bed, ignoring all the other parcels at the foot of his bed in favor of Remus'.
"C'mon man! Let me have it!" Sirius bounced as Remus got up slowly and went to his trunk.
"If you are impatient I will make it invisible and hide it in here and make you look for it yourself." Remus said over his shoulder. Sirius made a face of horror missed by the other teen.
"You wouldn't."
"I would. You are a terrible influence on me." Remus stood, a brightly wrapped parcel in his hands.
"If you are referring to that time in third year, that is completely unfair." Sirius glowered, until his eyes hit the box and he started making grabby hands for it. Remus gave him a look. Sirius went stock still and shoved his hands in his lap.
Remus took the parcel to him and set it in Sirius lap. It wasn't terribly big or heavy, but it seemed to hum at Sirius' fingertips. Sirius turned the square of perfectly wrapped parcel over in his hands. It made no odd clanking noise, and was suspiciously light.
"It's...not a book." He said slowly, sounding surprised.
"It isn't a book." Remus repeated, affirming Sirius' words with his own.
Sirius proceeded to tear the paper away from the present with excited vigor, not caring for the state the shining silver paper would be in when he was done. Under the paper was a plain white box, the lid secured with a single piece of Spell-O-Tape. Sirius slid a finger underneath the lid of the box and popped it open. He peered inside and blinked.
Sirius lifted out a peace of mistletoe. It was an ordinary piece of mistletoe. He gave Remus a confused look. Remus smiled.
"It lasts all year. It won't wither when Christmas is over." Remus explained. "So you can have a little piece of Christmas all year long, since you like it so much."
Sirius set the mistletoe back into the box gingerly and then lurched forward on the bed to hug Remus around the middle. Hard.
"Thank you." He said earnestly, looking up at Remus with his large, puppy eyes.
"Y-you're more than welcome." Remus said softly, blushing and looking away.
Sirius suddenly pulled away and leaped from the bed, grabbing the box.
"We can put this to good use right now." He said with a smirk, then pulled a very confused Remus from the dormitory to the common room.
Once downstairs, Sirius fixed the mistletoe by a piece of string from the ceiling with his wand with a smile. He was looking very smug and sure of himself.
"Sirius, we are the only people here, who do you think you are going to catch doing that?" Remus asked, throughly baffled by Sirius' strange antics and confidence.
Sirius turned to Remus and smiled gently. It was a sort of smile Remus had never seen on Sirius before. Soft and unwavering, with some sort of gentle intent Remus knew was directed at him.
"You see, I couldn't really wrap your present, So I was going to give it to you in here, and I think..." He lifted his wand and stepped a little closer to Remus in the darkened common room, "Your present completes it."
Remus said nothing as Sirius waved his wand in a complicated gesture. The lights came on around them with a dim warmth, Sirius and Remus were looking right at each other. Remus wasn't breathing. What was Sirius talking about? What was he doing?
And then he saw it.
It was just one at first, then several. Remus tilted his head upwards. Snowflakes were falling softly down from the now enchanted ceiling. Remus gaped. Each little, very real flake twirled down to cling to the furniture, lights, floor, and the two of them.
"How?" Remus whispered.
"In a book, oddly enough." He smiled wryly. "I altered the magic that was used to enchant the ceiling in the great hall. On a smaller scale of course." Sirius said softly.
"It's wonderful Sirius..." Remus looked around the room in awe, the glittering lights and flakes of snow making the magic in the room swirl almost tangibly. He looked back to Sirius, his golden eyes glimmering with light and questions. Sirius shifted a little on his feet.
"I wanted to give you something special...for Christmas. I wanted to give you something special that I could share with you...and thats when I thought of it...that first snow...That was something special. We are always together when the snow falls and it makes it special. So I wanted to give you the snow. With us together..." Sirius tried to explain, taking a step backwards, as if nervous. Remus took a step forward.
"Sirius," He said softly. "That is the most thoughtful gift I have ever been given." He didn't know what to say, or what to do.
"It's not over yet." Sirius said, suddenly burst into a grin. Remus looked confused. What more could Sirius possibly give him after all this. Sirius pointed up. Remus' eyes followed. Above the was the mistletoe, it's teeth gleaming in the lovely snow.
"You-" Remus blushed. Sirius touched Remus' cheek tenderly, a soft smile on his lips.
"I have always wanted to kiss you." Sirius said quietly, then leaned in and pressed their lips together.
Remus would have thought he was dreaming if it hadn't been for the almost painful blossom of emotions that lit inside his chest, knocking the breath from his lungs. Something that felt this way couldn't be a figment of his imagination. The lights and snow were dull in comparison to the touch of Sirius' lips against his.
When Sirius pulled away from Remus both their cheeks were very red. He smiled and took Remus' hand, lacing their fingers together.
"Happy Christmas, Remus." Sirius said softly, still smiling.
"Happy Christmas, Sirius." Remus replied.
Hearts can be very difficult to understand. Hearts aren't like books. They don't have unchanging words, set to page permanently. Hearts change. Hearts learn. Like each flake of snow a heart is a single unique piece of art so complex that it is impossible to take it all in with a glimpse. Hearts are also brilliant, and like Christmas magic, create miracles that can change the course of lives.
Sometimes all a couple of hearts need is some snow, a little magic, and the chance to make a memory that will last a lifetime.
Happy Christmas Everyone!