Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or the song "Let it Snow"

The snow was falling slowly, covering the path from Hogsmeade to the castle. It was beautiful, but unbearably frigid, so they had given up on spending the rest of the afternoon in the village, despite the allure of the cheery holiday decorations and displays. Anna shivered, despite the fact that she was bundled up within an inch of her life and walking arm in arm with Lily as the two sixth year girls trudged back to the school. Unbidden, she remembered Sirius's arms around her, warming her much more thoroughly, in more than just a physical sense.

Two Weeks Earlier

They had been doing homework in the common room that evening, huddled on the couch in front of the fire. Well, really, Anna was doing homework, while Sirius was whining about the fact that the other Marauders were unavailable. James and Peter were in detention with Filch, which they had earned for putting dungbombs in the Slytherin captain's bed. Sirius claimed it was a "rather derivative prank", and Anna did briefly pay attention, if only to wonder silently where he had learned the word. Remus was in the hospital wing, recovering from his "furry little problem" as James put it. Anna had always hated that euphemism—honestly, why not just announce to the whole school what Remus's condition was? Pet rabbit indeed—wouldn't Remus be expected to produce the fluffy thing at some point?

She was rather rudely jolted out of her thoughts by a pinch to her arm.

"Ouch!"

Sirius didn't even bother to wince as she gave him what she thought was a rather strong punch to the gut. Instead he grinned at her infuriatingly.

"Finally got your attention, Bird? I'm not used to having my propositions met with blank stares, especially not when the stares aren't even in my general direction."

"That ruddy well hurt, Black. Where's the chivalry you Gryffindor chaps are supposed to be lousy with? Are you all out after spreading teensy bits of it out to each of the zillion girls you've snogged?"

Anna inwardly winced as she heard the obvious jealousy in her tone. He had hit a tender nerve with the "propositions" line. Normally she could at least veil her fancy for him underneath a healthy dose of sarcasm, but that became much more difficult whenever he spoke of other girls or flirted with her. The flirting he had become much more prone to do, unless that was only her hopeful imagination at work. They had always bantered back and forth, but now he was touching her much more often than before, and certainly much more than Remus or James. All of this made it much harder to keep her own feelings at bay. Every time she resolved to think of him strictly platonically, he would speak to her in his deep, rumbly voice and brush a hand across hers or the small of her back and she would be putty in his hands again.

She swallowed, hoping he hadn't noticed and would just move on. She chanced a peek at him and saw that his smile was wavering a bit. Great, he had noticed. That hadn't been fair to Sirius. He hadn't been running around with random girls this year, not like the past couple of years. She had to apologize and give a believable excuse, and fast.

"I'm sorry, I'm just crabby because I'm still working on this homework and it's taking much longer than usual. What did you say before?"

He looked at her intently, and she was afraid for a moment that he could see right through her. She tilted forward a bit, trying to hide behind the light brown curtain of her hair.

"I said we should go play in the snow," more meekly than usual.

"Snow?!"

Anna's eyes shot up to meet his gray ones, which were now shining as he looked at her.

"You seriously didn't notice it was snowing? It's been coming down since at least lunchtime. You really are out of it today." He scoffed.

He glanced at her intently, as if trying to figure her out. In response, she closed her book with a snap and hastily shoved her books, parchment, quills and ink into her bag and jumped up, heading toward the stairs. She paused at the end of the sofa and looked at him as he was still watching her closely. She cleared her throat.

"Aren't you going to go get your warm clothes?"

"We're going? Yes, I'm getting ready now!"

He darted up the stairs before she could respond and she grinned as she climbed toward her own dormitory. No matter how hard it was not to give away her crush when they were alone, she would never turn down time with the object of her affection.

"That was a lucky shot, Bird. Now you're going down!"

Anna bent over laughing as Sirius shook his head like a wet dog to get rid of the remnants of her well-aimed snowball.

"You look like a sopping wet mutt."

"What did you just call me? Reducto!"

Her well-stocked snow fort was blasted to pieces by the curse.

"Oh crap."

She ran for it as Sirius bellowed and gave chase in the dark. Where she was going, she wasn't sure, but Padfoot was unshakeable once he had a target. She ran toward the entrance to the shack, unsure what she was going to do until she noticed the swaying branches.

"Wingardium leviosa!"

Anna shouted, swish-and-flicking at a stick on the ground and using it to hit the knot in the trunk. She figured at least she could climb faster than he could. The steps behind her had slowed to a walk as he watched her climb the tree and let her get rather high before he called out.

"That wasn't the brightest idea, Bird. I can sit down here all night."

She bit her lip, realizing that he was right. It hadn't been the best plan. She was already freezing and soaked through. Climbing the tree only made the wind feel sharper against her chilled skin.

"Won't you get cold?" she called back.

He chuckled evilly.

"Not if I transform and hunker down in my shaggy fur coat."

She groaned. It was already almost curfew and now she was stuck up in the willow, where she certainly couldn't let anyone catch her. But if she climbed down, she was certain Sirius would attack. Weighing the two options in her mind, she decided she would rather brave him, since otherwise they could be here all night and Hagrid would come out of his hut in the morning to find her frozen corpse.

"What are you going to do if I come down?" she asked timidly. Sirius could be incredibly devious and he was probably the most vindictive Marauder. He simply laughed back at her.

"Just come back down. I won't bite."

"It's not your bite I'm afraid of."

He just chuckled again, and she moaned at the deep rumbling sound, and hoped it came out sounding like dread rather than desire.

After mulling it over for a few moments, she decided her best option was to play the damsel in distress, at least as far as her dignity would allow. Sirius may be vindictive, but he always had a soft spot for stupid, simpering females, so maybe she could pretend to be one for a few moments. As long as it didn't make her vomit.

"Sirius, please help. I don't think I can get down."

Anna rolled her eyes in disgust as she dangled down a bit and pretended her feet were slipping along the lower branch.

"Not going to work." He sang back at her.

"Damn."

"But it was a nice try."

She could still hear his barking laughter below and reminded herself never to put herself in this position again.

"Okay, I'm just coming down, come what will."

"Alright, then. I might decide to take it easy on you if you do surrender."

Anna huffed, hating the thought of giving up, but she continued down the tree. Unfortunately, it seemed the tree had woken up from its frozen state. Her eyes widened in panic as she heard Sirius curse below. She clutched wildly at the nearest branch, intending to drop down as quickly as she could, but it whipped as soon as she got a grip and tossed her down toward the ground. Instead of the snowy ground, she found her fall broken by something solid that wrapped hard arms under her—Sirius.

She slowly opened her eyes, and found him staring at her, his gray eyes full of apprehension.

"Are you okay?"

Anna nodded, speechless as she realized that he had fallen when attempting to catch her. So now, she was awkwardly sprawled across his lap with her head in the snow as he held her and gaped at her.

"Are you sure? That was a pretty long fall."

She just nodded again as she sat up, her face heating despite the cold. They were so close that she could see the snowflakes on his dark eyelashes. He had the most beautiful eyes: they were always dancing with laughter in their gray depths, and at the moment they were wide with concern for her. She found his apprehension touching, and he had tried to save her. It made her want to kiss him worse than ever. She needed to move, but that was the last thing she wanted to do at the moment. His arms felt safe and she was warmed by his nearness as well as the pounding of her heart, caused by his proximity as she leaned against his strong chest. It made her want to kiss him worse than ever. So she was both relieved and disappointed when he cleared his throat and pulled back to stand up.

Sirius held out a hand to her, and she took it shakily. He pulled her up and steadied her with his hands before grabbing her hand and walking slowly toward the castle, glancing at her to make sure she was alright. Oh, great, now he thought she was injured. He was taking her reactions to his presence as hints that she needed to go to the hospital wing. She took a deep breath as she tried to reign in her crazy emotions.

"I'm fine, okay? Stop looking like I'm going to collapse at any moment. I just need to get warm." She said through chattering teeth. The wetness had seeped all the way through, and since she had been practically lying in the snow, it felt like there wasn't a single dry spot on her whole body.

Sirius started walking more quickly, trying to get her inside soon. They both noticed the closed doors at the same time. It was now past curfew. How had time gotten so far away from them? Sirius dropped her hand to grab the cloak from his pocket and she felt colder at the loss of his touch. He threw it around them both and her face heated again, despite her shivering, as he wrapped his left arm around her and pulled her tight against his chest.

"Merlin, you're freezing, Bird. I'm sorry."

She laughed as she shivered.

"It—wasn't your—fault. Willow—my stu—pid idea."

She managed to get a few words out through her clenched teeth as they chattered harder. He just looked down at her like she was mad and grabbed the handle of the door, trying to inch it open slowly so that it wouldn't groan as usual.

After a few painfully long moments, the door was open wide enough to peek inside. No one could be seen, so Sirius moved her to his side with his arm still clutching her tightly and stepped forward into the hall. Once inside, he painstakingly eased the door closed and then motioned her up the stairs. Anna was now shaking violently. After a few steps up the stairs, Sirius shook his head and then bent low as he picked her up.

Anna shook her head harshly at him, trying to indicate that she didn't need to be carried. But he glared at her ferociously.

"I'm not putting you down, so give it up."

She looked back into his glare for a moment and gave in with a nod. He was too determined to be swayed, and it was awfully nice and warm here in his arms. He started walking again and whispered at her.

"Just make sure you count this as one of my…what was it again? Right, count this as one of my "teensy bits of chivalry'."

He smirked at her. Well, she had deserved that. He was joking, but he had remembered her exact words, which let her know that her comment had smarted. She reached up to touch his cheek and he froze. His face warmed under her touch and she could have sworn he looked a bit pink, but that was most likely the cold.

"Sorry." She mouthed the one-word apology and he gave her a small smile in return and shrugged as if to forgive her.

A few minutes later, she was settled on the couch in front of the fire in Gryffindor tower. Sirius had insisted on carrying her up to her dorm room. Lily, the only one still awake, looked at her like she was crazy as Anna had carried her dry clothes into the bathroom to get changed and then looked pointedly at the supposedly empty air near her own bed.

Sirius had escorted her back down to the common room after making sure she grabbed a blanket—she had insisted upon walking since she had proven she wasn't going to keel over. He had headed down to the kitchens.

The portrait creaked as he climbed back through the entrance. He was carrying a tray with two hot mugs and some biscuits. He handed her a mug and sat down right next to her. She was no longer shivering, but Sirius was still hovering like a mother hen.

"I'm fine, mum. Really, I promise."

"Oh, okay, you won't be needing this cinnamon hot chocolate then." He grabbed for her mug and she deftly held it out of his reach.

"I wouldn't go that far. Thank you, Padfoot."

"You're welcome, Bird."

They sat in mostly comfortable silence for a few minutes as they sipped their cocoa. The fire crackled hotly and Anna enjoyed the feeling of his shoulder as she leaned against it.

"So, do you have any more muggle Christmas songs to teach me?"

She smiled softly in remembrance.

"Loads, actually. What type were you looking for?"

"Just thinking we had a pretty Christmassy evening tonight, snowball fights and hot chocolate. Got any like that?"

"Um…" Anna thought for a moment.

"I promise I'll let you go to bed afterward. Come on, now, it's tradition."

The first one that popped into her head was "Baby, It's Cold Outside," and there was no way she was singing that one to him. "Winter Wonderland" also came to mind, but it had that whole verse about getting married by a snowman, and that was weird as well as something she absolutely did not want to bring up in front of him.

"How about 'Let it Snow'?"

He grinned down at her as he slipped an arm around her shoulders and her heartbeat sped up again.

"It's all the same to me really. I just want to hear you sing one. "

She rolled her eyes up at him and grinned before giving in.

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful…"

Anna proceeded to sing, and then panicked after the second "Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow," as she realized the next lyrics that were coming up. She really hadn't quite thought this through. In her panic, she just stopped singing. Sirius cocked his head at her, in that way he had that reminded her of his animagus form.

"That's it? It's cute, but that's awfully short."

"Well, no, it's not the whole thing. I just got tired of singing. I'm too cold."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at her. She was always a terrible liar when it came to him or James. With anyone else, she could spin long, elaborate tales of colorful falsehoods, but for some reason, the two of them always knew when she was full of it.

"Come on, now, you can't leave me hanging."

She sighed. He was giving her the sad Padfoot eyes now, and there was no way she could resist. She tried for a moment to compose false lyrics in her head and finally gave up. Staring down at the floor, she sang the next few lines about kissing goodnight and being held tight, her face burning.

She stopped after the next "let it snow", hoping he would be satisfied. She could feel his eyes boring a whole in the side of her face. Her heart nearly stopped as she felt his rough hand against her chin. Involuntarily, she leaned into his touch and he turned her face toward his. He was searching her face with his warm gray eyes and she couldn't help but to stare back at him with her dark blue ones. Her stomach swooped as he stroked her cheek, then leaned toward her and kissed her.

Anna's eyes fluttered closed at the feeling of his mouth on hers. Kissing him was a million times better than she had ever imagined. He was much more tender and gentle than she would have thought. The kiss grew more heated as he hauled her legs across his lap to bring her closer and deepen the kiss.

This was much better at warming her up than the blankets or hot chocolate had been. The sweetness and passion of his kisses grew in intensity until she felt like she was being heated from the inside and the heat was flowing out through the tips of her fingers. Even her hair felt electrified, as he ran his fingers through it over and over. Anna's heart was bursting with joy.

They jerked apart as they heard the portrait hole creak open and looked up to see Remus standing there, staring at them. She couldn't tell how much he'd seen, but he definitely knew something had happened. She looked at Sirius, but he and Remus seemed to be having a silent conversation. Her heart sank and she pulled away from him and headed toward the stairs.

"Um, thanks for the hot chocolate, Sirius. Goodnight."

She looked back, hoping to see him looking at her, but he was staring at the floor with a look of horror upon his face. Seeing that look was like a punch to the gut. She turned and took off up the steps.

Present Day

Lily's green eyes were surveying her, when they weren't watching out for where to step on the slippery path. Anna was too quiet lately, brooding in her own disappointed hopes, and Lily had hoped today would buoy her friend's spirits. They had grown much closer, ever since the disastrous end of OWLs last year and her friendship with Snape. They had always been friends, but now she would have said best friends, or at least best girlfriends.

"Okay, Anna, come on. You can't let that boy ruin your holidays."

"Oh, I won't let him, not totally, but it's a little difficult when we're going to be in the same house, with him avoiding me the whole time. He hasn't talked to me since it happened."

She sighed, glaring at the snowy ground as if to scold it for reminding her of that night.

"It's just last year, we spent Christmas together, and it was wonderful. We had a great time, he was so sweet, in a just mates way…but this year, it's just going to be a huge old pile of awkward."

As a safety measure, due to increased Death Eater activities and some veiled threats toward her Uncle Albus, all students were expected to spend their holidays elsewhere unless they absolutely had no choice. Anna had even gone so far as to beg her grandfather to see if she could stay with him, but he said that the proximity of Hogsmeade to the school meant it was still too risky, especially for her. Or maybe he just hadn't wanted to be burdened with her presence. That left the Potters'.

Lily made a noise in her throat as though she were going to speak, but bit her tongue as she thought better of it. They had always had an agreement, in order to preserve their friendship, that their best male friends were off-limits unless the person had something nice to say, which of course never had happened in their five previous years. They both still held to their verbal contract, even though Severus was now out of the picture and Lily was starting to warm up to James, at least enough to think he might be a semi-decent person deep down.

"What is it, Lily? Just spit it out, whatever it is."

"I was just going to ask if you've reconsidered talking to Potter about what happened."

Anna snorted and smirked.

"James would kill him. I don't want Sirius dead; I just want him to fancy me back."

A knot in her stomach tightened, even just saying his name.

"Well…he did kiss you. Maybe he does fancy you."

Anna heard the skepticism behind the hopeful words of comfort and voiced Lily's unspoken words aloud.

"Or maybe he kissed me because that's just what he does and he forgot for a moment that he was with me, instead of some random girl."

Her friend looked at her, denial and apology in her eyes, but didn't say anything.

"Oh, come on, Lils, you know that's what you were thinking. It's what I've been thinking, and that's what is hurting me. That, and that he's been leaving rooms as soon as I enter them ever since. Ugh. Can we please…can we please just talk about something else? Tell me about your Christmas plans."

Anna listened sympathetically as Lily told her all about the Evans family plans, and complained about Petunia and her snotty boyfriend. She only found herself jealous of Lily and her family for a fleeting moment, which was a big step forward for her. Finally, they entered Gryffindor tower. She glanced over at the boys' staircase and her shoulders slumped.

"Go on," Lily said. "You need to talk to Potter anyway, about your plans."

She nodded at her best mate and slowly walked toward the staircase as if she were going to her doom.

Outside the boys' room, she could hear James ranting and raving about Lily again. She held her breath, praying that Sirius wasn't inside as she knocked and heard Remus call for her to enter. He sounded rather relieved to have an interruption.

Anna stepped inside and looked around the room. Her eyes met Sirius's startled gaze for a split second before he jumped up.

"I just remembered I have to check something."

He darted out of the room, not glancing her way again. She felt Remus's eyes on her as her cheeks colored.

"Hey!" James greeted her, unaware of the awkwardness that had just passed.

"Hey, James. I just wanted to find out what the plans are for the holidays. I need to know what to pack."

James grimaced at her.

"You're packing already? We still have two more days before we go home."

"Yes, well, maybe I'm just excited."

"Okay…um, well, Mum says we're going over to the Prewetts' annual New Year's thing, so you'll need to bring clothes for that. Other than that, no idea."

"Okay."

She turned to leave, wanting nothing more than to hide in her room for the moment, when James called out to her.

"Hey, Bird…now that you and Lily are so close…do you have any idea why she still refuses to go out with me?"

"I dunno, James. You know about our agreement. She doesn't tell me that kind of stuff."

James looked frustrated as he ruffled his hair. She took a little pity on him. He looked so dejected. Lily had turned him down after he'd asked her to go to Hogsmeade with him, which is why he'd decided to stay at the castle.

"I do put in a good word for you. And I think it helps, seeing us together. She does say nice things occasionally about you. She admits that you're a real person now, that's something."

Peter snorted awkwardly and then pretended to cough.

"Look, can you just give it a rest for a while? When you ask her over and over again she just gets mad that you aren't listening to her."

James scowled and slumped on his bed.

"I try to. She just makes me so…and I get all tongue-tied and speak without thinking. I like her so much and it hurts. You just…you don't understand."

The anger suddenly bubbled up out of Anna, surprising her with its force. She tried to force herself to stay calm, "Oh, I see. You're the only one who knows heartbreak, my mistake."

All three of the boys were now eyeing Anna warily. Quiet sarcasm from Anna was like a tornado warning siren. James stood up and moved toward her slowly as he said "I didn't-", but was cut off as Anna continued.

"There are books, plays, songs, movies, epics written about it throughout all the ages, potions designed specifically to prevent rejection, but no, it's only you who has ever dealt with it. And the rest of us are supposed to stop our lives because the girl who has turned you down repeatedly did it one more time. Well, I'm sorry, but I've got enough to deal with on my own without worrying about the latest blunder of yours that led Lily to turn you down again. You would think that you'd learn to move on by now."

Anna spun on her heel, and tried to push past James out of the room, but he grabbed her shoulder and hugged her. Anna pushed against him, but he held on.

Remus, behind James, gaped at him, wondering at James choosing this inopportune moment to display his Gryffindor courage.

"Hey," James whispered to her, "I'm sorry, okay? But what's going on, what's wrong?" Anna looked up at James' hazel eyes, filled with concern for her, and she felt guilty for losing her temper. After all, he was only feeling the same rejection that she felt, and it was nearly crushing her. To her horror, tears sprang to her eyes. "Anna?"

Anna tried to answer, but her throat was suddenly very tight. She finally choked out through her tears, "Did you really think you were the only one to want someone who doesn't want them back?" and she pushed past his shocked face as she broke into sobs and ran out of the room.

She stumbled down the stairs, through the common room where a few first and second years turned to gape at her, and up the girls' staircase. She would have preferred to run out onto the grounds but the Marauder's Map and James' cloak meant they would come find her no matter where she hid. It was really a bit cowardly to run to her room, but she knew he wouldn't follow her there, not with Lily inside. She slammed the door behind her and gratefully accepted Lily's startled hug as she continued to cry her heart out.

One Week Later

They had been home at the Potters' for a couple of days now. Anna had spent most of that time in bed, pretending to have a cold so she wouldn't have to socialize with the others. Guilt tugged at her as she thought of Elizabeth, James's mum, fussing over her, but it wasn't enough to make her go out and face Sirius again. It seemed from what Elizabeth said that the boys had been closed up in James's room most of the time anyway. This was really going to be a rubbish holiday. She had lied to Lily; Sirius was most definitely ruining this Christmas for her.

She heard a soft knock at the door and stared at it for a moment. James and his parents were out, visiting Charles's elderly mother for the evening. That left only one person…she debated about what to do before giving up and quietly telling him to come in.

Sirius really did look rather miserable himself. His eyes were cast down and his cheeks definitely had a pink tint to them. He was carrying a tray with some food and a hot mug. He set it at the table beside her loveseat at the other end of the room and glanced in her direction, but didn't seem to want to look directly at her.

"Can I…?" he gestured to the loveseat.

She opened her mouth to speak but found that nothing came out, so she just nodded. But then she remembered that he wasn't looking at her, so she said "I suppose so."

He swallowed and took a seat uncomfortably.

"I just thought we ought to talk."

Anna could help the snort that came out. One would think that he hadn't been avoiding her for the past three weeks. He looked up at her in shock.

"Yeah, I think so, too. Only you've run away every time I've set foot in your vicinity."

He winced.

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry about that. I just…Remus interrupted and it was so awkward…"

"Look, Sirius, if you want to just say it was an accident, then please just say it and get it over with, okay?"

He looked down at the floor.

"What if it wasn't?"

Anna started. He had asked that rather quietly. Had she heard him correctly? She hopped off the bed and strode to the loveseat. She needed to see his face in order to have this conversation. He determinedly kept his gaze on the carpet of her room. She sat down next to him sideways so that she could look at his face, which was now bright pink.

"What did you say?"

Sirius didn't appear to want to answer, so she reached out for his hand and felt the familiar zing as they made contact for the first time since the kiss. He looked down at her hand and then finally looked her in the eyes. He took a deep breath as if to steel himself and she was shocked at the raw emotion in his eyes.

"I said it wasn't an accident. I've wanted to kiss you for a very long time. Then you ran and I thought you were mad at me for doing it…"

"I wasn't. You just kept avoiding me and I thought you were trying to let me know that you were upset that it happened."

Sirius searched her eyes as if trying to find out whether she was lying. He seemed to be satisfied with what he found.

"So, basically, I avoided you for nothing, and now you're avoiding me for nothing?"

Anna smiled despite herself.

"Well, you avoided me for no reason, but I have been legitimately hiding from you because you were hiding from me."

The left corner of his mouth quirked.

"The other thing is that I was sure you could tell how much I fancy you. It was…one hell of a kiss and I got a little carried away."

Anna's heart was beating wildly now with joy. He fancied her? It wasn't all a misunderstanding?

"So," he continued, "does that mean that you didn't mind that I kissed you?"

His gaze was piercing in his intensity as he waited for her answer. She had never seen such vulnerability in his eyes, and it was hurting her heart a little that it was because of her.

"I didn't mind at all."

She felt his rough hand turn in hers to thread his fingers through hers.

"In fact, the only thing I mind is that you haven't done it again."

Sirius smiled at her and his gray eyes danced. The really were beautiful, she thought, as they beamed brightly at her.

"By the way," he asked, "what on earth did you say to Prongs about it? He hasn't killed me, so it couldn't have been that bad."

She squinted, trying to think of what he was talking about.

"I didn't tell him a thing."

"Really? The day of the last Hogsmeade trip, he got all weird and quiet after you came to the room. Then when we got here, out of the blue, he asked if I'm i…how I feel about you and then basically gave me permission to ask you out. Interspersed with threats of what will happen if I hurt you, of course."

Anna looked away from his intense stare and mumbled her answer.

"He was ranting about Lily, you know, and I just didn't have the patience for it at the moment. Then he told me that I couldn't understand and I sort of…chewed him out and burst into tears."

He frowned, and then reached up to cup her cheek gently.

"I made you cry?"

She half-shrugged, not really wanting to say it again.

"I'm sorry, Bird."

He stroked her cheek and she let the feeling of being cherished wash over her. Sirius's voice cut into her thoughts as he spoke low in her ear and she closed her eyes and shivered at the feel of his breath.

"I just have one more question."

"Argh, enough questions."

He chuckled slightly at her impatient face and waited until she opened her eyes to look at him.

"Fine, what?"

"That song—did you finish it? The one you were singing when I sort of interrupted you?"

Anna looked at his eyebrows as she tried to answer with a straight face.

"Yes, that was the entire thing. All of it."

"Liar. Lily already told me."

Her face flamed as her mouth dropped open indignantly.

"What?"

"I asked her to teach me the rest."

Sirius leaned in and whispered the words in her ear. She didn't let him finish "as long as you love me so, let it snow" before silencing him with a kiss, which he returned wholeheartedly. It was a different kiss, one that held promise and no hidden agenda. He opened up the curtains of her window, and they sat huddled on the love seat, watching the snow drift gently down as they let the fire die in the fireplace.

Author's Note: Well, that's it for now! I hope you all have a merry Christmas!