Golden Boy

The sitting room floor is covered in a thin layer of pine needles and the tree has been awkwardly shoved into the corner where it does, fittingly, look as though it's lost about half of its needles. They’d tried to turn it in such a way that it's lopsided-ness was facing the wall but, after a tumble down a hill and some rough handling to get it through the door and into the sitting room, no matter what way they turned it, it remained crocked, awkward and very lopsided. The bag of baubles Peter had bought lays abandoned at its feet and they had made no effort to decorate when they had gotten home yesterday because Remus had had to go to work. The sight of it and the accompanying thought of having to attempt to decorate it, fills Sirius with despair as he heads into the kitchen for breakfast. 

James and Peter both have their backs to him, staring out the window, their bowls of cereal - because they still haven't gone food shopping - abandoned on the table. Sirius steals James’ cup of tea before announcing his presence.

“Ahem.”

“Sirius,” James gasps, spinning towards him, eyes far too bright and sparkling for the morning (and yes it's like 11 but his point still stands), “Look!” He crosses the kitchen in three easy strides to grab and shake Sirius’ shoulders. “It's snowing!”

James is trembling, though if that's from the cold or excitement it's hard to tell. Even Peter is grinning, one hand on the window, an amazement Sirius has never seen in his eyes. 

“Snow?”

“Yup!”

“And it's sticking,” Peter adds, eyes still fixed out the window, “It’s supposed to be all day.”

“We have to go to - to the cathedral hill! And sleigh down and - and snowball fight! And make a snowman!” James is bouncing with delight, his enthusiasm contagious. Sirius laughs easily with him and lets his curiosity lead him to the window. 

He’s surprised by how pretty the snow makes their shitty little bin yard and by how much is falling. An inch already covers the ground and bins and the dancing snowflakes are thick enough to blur their vision. He tries to take a mental picture of it to paint later. 

“I'm making pasta for breakfast,” he says at the same time that Peter says, 

“Bags not waking up Remus.”

“For breakfast Sirius?” James groans, “And yeah, fine then I will Pete, you're both cowards.” 

“For breakfast,” Sirius affirms, already grabbing a pot, “This wouldn't be happening if you just bought food - I refuse to eat cereal and then go out in the snow, I simply shant. I need something warm and sustaining.” He can tell the boys are no longer listening to his dramatic rant as he flicks on the kettle and pulls out their last packet of pasta from the cupboard but he means it. It's cold enough in here (they really do just need to risk it and put up some heating charms) and it's literally freezing outside, he's not going to have a cold breakfast. 

James just rolls his eyes and heads upstairs while Peter very pointedly sits down to eat his cereal. 

When James comes back down with Remus in tow, Sirius understands why Peter hadn't wanted to be the one to wake him up. The man looks ready to murder. For James’ sake, Sirius subtly pushes the knives behind the bread bin. Whereas the previous day, Remus had looked soft and gentle in the morning, his movements slow and lay, today even his hair spikes up angrily and his cheek sports a deep crease mark. 

He gains an unlikely ally however, when Remus eats pasta for breakfast with him, making a face at the proposed cereal. Sirius smugly sticks his tongue out at James as they settle down with their bowls. James is too busy stopping Remus from once more falling off the faulty chair to answer. 

After breakfast, they all bundle up - Sirius goes so far as to put on the two jumpers he owns and even borrows an actual coat off Peter and gloves and a hat off James. He feels proper ready. It feels like they're all going on a big adventure, not just outside the front door, and he doesn't think he's the only one feeling it as they all nudge and mess around each other, giddy and flushed. 

They head to the hill first. The Cathedral Hill is a very steep stretch of a hill that actually wraps all the way around from Hogwarts and up past and into the forest, right beside the cathedral. They aren't the only ones with the same idea and when they get there the place is filled with students, magical and muggle alike, sleighing and getting into snow fights, laughter and shouts ringing out. 

It doesn't take them long to find Lily, Mary and Marlene, who have found three massive steel serving plates and are using them to slide down the hill, right beside the road but not quite on it, bravely risking running into a tree in order to avoid the crowd on the road. Sirius whoops as he spots them as is immediately grabbed by Marlene and dragged into sleighing down with her. 

It's a terrifying, exhilarating, experience and they both go tumbling to the ground, breathless with laughter, at the end. The girls are gracious enough to share their serving plates and they all take turns in going down, roaring with delight. 

Sirius is having a great time until it's his turn to share a plate with a nervous looking Remus. He tries not to let the other boy's apprehensive look or Lily’s giggles get to him and sits down confidently, gipping the edge of the plate, and twists back to give him a questioning look. Remus visibly swallows but awkwardly sits down behind him, carefully placing feather light hands on Sirius’ hips. 

“You're gonna have to hold on harder than that,” Sirius rolls his eyes, having seen the werewolf clinging to Lily when they went together. Remus coughs but does as asked, scooching closer and wrapping his arms around Sirius’ middle. He's a warm weight. Must run hot. Sirius kicks off. 

What happens next is rather embarrassing. He's startled by Remus tightening his grip and steers them both straight into a tree. Like directly into the truck, not just some flimsy branches or something, nope of course not, go big or go home. He actually twists his hands, turning them off their straight treeless course, swervinginto a tree. It would be impressive if he was trying. z

“Sirius! Sirius?”  

Someone is roughly shaking his shoulders. He groans and splutters when he registers all the snow and ice in his mouth, sitting up with a gasp. Remus leans back, but not far, blinking anxiously at him. He has very nice eyes, warm, honey brown, though like the rest of him they're rather odd and mismatched. But it's nice, Sirius decides, suits him. 

“I'm ok,” he says when he realises Remus is waiting for an answer and he nods, leaning a little more away but still close. They're sitting beside the tree, covered in ice and snow and dirt. Sirius’ back is killing him. He winces.

“Did I just drive us straight into a tree?”

To his surprise, Remus laughs. Like, a tilting-your-head-back-in-delight, unabashed kind of laughter. Sirius finds himself giggling along, partly in relief, partly the irresistible delight in Remus’ laugh dragging him in. 

Lily and James find them still in place, giggling to each other, Remus’ face now falling down in front of him, the short strands of his fringe not doing much to hide his face, his shoulders shaking.

“Are you ok?” James worries, crouching down to peer at Sirius, while Lily tugs Remus to his feet. He nods, stretching out his back that, while a little sore, definitely didn't sustain any kind of lasting damage. 

“I don't know about your plate though, Lily,” says Remus, bending down to pick it up and at the same time offering Sirius a hand up that he gratefully accepts. “It’s uhhh…” It’s very bent. 

Sirius winces as he runs a hand over where the plate has curved upwards and bent nearly in half.

“Sorry, Lils, I didn't-”

“Oh it doesn't matter,” she reassures him, easily nudging his arm, “We knew they might get a bit bashed in.” ‘A bit’ is generous but Sirius doesn't press her any more. 

He's a little more cautious going down again but they thankfully don't have any more accidents before the snow gets too thick and they reluctantly (well Remus looks a little relieved) call it off and head home. They walk the girls most of the way to theirs, given that it's not much out of their way, and Remus apologizes again for denting their plate while Sirius gives Lily their customary loud “Muah, Mwuah,” kisses as a goodbye. 

He (strategically) lets James giggle in his ear about how Lily actually spoke to him today and even smiled at him as they walk through town, Peter and Remus trailing behind them, so he’s perfectly placed to grab and manhandle him into the supermarket as they pass by. James yelps and struggles against his hold but it's just for fun and he surrenders the moment Sirius gets him in a chokehold. Remus and Peter snigger at their antics behind them as the four of them track in a frankly alarming amount of snow with them that the bored teenager (probably upset about missing the snow) at the counter barely looks at. 

“We,” says Sirius with a threatening finger in James’s face, “Need food. I am not going another day without James, so help me Salazar-”

“Ok, ok,” James laughs, ducking away from him, “Whatever his highness wants.” 

They stock up on everything they're missing, which is pretty much everything, Peter and Sirius letting James and Remus do the actual serious shop up and grabbing snacks and treats instead. In the end they come out with enough bags that they each have to carry something, Sirius awkwardly hoisting the toilet paper under his arm, but at least with the promise of a proper meal and hot chocolate. 

The walk back is more subdued as they listen to James complain about the cold but no one else really offers much conversation. Sirius is a little occupied in taking in the sight of Hogwarts under the snow, something he definitely didn't appreciate enough last year. It creates the perfect british charm, he thinks, makes everything look even cozier and prettier. Everyone they walk past is smiling. 

He runs a hand over the snow coating a car as they turn into their street and glances ahead where an oblivious Peter is struggling to swap the bag he’s carrying to his other hand with a smirk. The snowball he throws is a perfect hit. Peter stumbles in shock before whipping around with wide eyes after it hits him directly in the head. There's no use in hiding who hit him, given that Sirius is folded over in laughter. 

It's pretty predictable that this causes an all out snow war, every man for himself. Sirius doesn't think he’s ever laughed so much as he dumps as much ice as he can carry down James’ back causing him to shriek like a little girl. His best mate tackles him to the ground and Peter and Remus, the bloody traitors, join him in piling Sirius with snow until he surrenders with difficulty, gasping with laughter and shock from the cold.

“Ok,” says James, rolling off him and flopping down beside him, “Ok, Merlin. It's so cold - i can't even - I can't even think, it's so cold.” Sirius just laughs. “We need to bring all the food and stuff inside.” Sirius starts to make a snow angel and James joins him, their giggles fading peacefully, snow falling lightly onto them, until James shakes his head.

“Nope, nope, no more, I'm too cold.” His teeth are once more audibly chattering and he scrambles determinedly to his feet with a surprising amount of grace and speed for someone Sirius knows for fact is wearing eight separate layers. “C’mon.” 

He lets himself be hauled to his feet and helps the rest of the boys find and gather their discarded shopping bags and items and bring them to the house. James is trembling so much he can't get the key in the door and Peter has to do it for him. Sirius feels Remus stop behind him as they head inside and he turns to send him a questioning glance. 

“We still haven't made a snowman.” There's snow on his eyelashes. Sirius swallows. 

“We can do that now,” he says. The snow might have melted by tomorrow. And it's probably not much warmer inside the house. “But I don't think Peter and James are going to want to join us.” 

Remus nods.

Sirius tosses the toilet paper into the hallway and lets Remus go past him to put his shopping bag in the kitchen, crouching down to get a start. He thinks he might be blushing when Remus comes back out, closing the door gently behind himself. This is the first time they've ever been left alone together, he realizes, which isn't really that weird because they've only known each other what? A day? Two? But now they're making a snowman together. A big commitment. Is this going to be weird? Is it -

“So, are you team roll out the classic three balls and stack them or team shove a bunch of snow together?” asks Remus, very seriously. Sirius presses his lips together as he considers this. 

“I don't mind,” he admits, shrugging one shoulder, “Whichever you prefer.” Remus grins widely and wickedly at him and he feels a tug on his stomach.

“Great! Get ready to shovel a bunch of snow into a snowman shape.”

Sirius laughs.

“What about the head?”

“Well that we obviously do need a ball for.”

“Oh obviously.”

“Hmmm.”

It's a lot of fun. He shouldn't have worried. By the end of it he's exhausted and freezing and soaking wet and he dropped their snowmans head twice trying to put it on it's shoulders so it's a little crushed looking. But Remus stands back and laughs and laughs and laughs when they get a good look at their final creation, after he's borrowed a carrot from the kitchen and Sirius has found some branches as arms, head tilted back, eyes narrowed into slits. Sirius laughs with him. It looks like some eldritch horror of a snowman, a somewhat forbidding tilt to its body and many many fingered arms. They laugh until their stomach ache and then Sirius makes James take a picture of them both with their creation before he insists they come inside. 

“You're both going to catch your deaths out there, Merlin, Sirius' mom would kill me and Remus Lily would kill me.” 

The moment he steps inside and the wonder of the snow wears off on him, Sirius starts to understand how cold he really is and he thinks James might not actually be too far off. It's with no small amount of horror that he remembers that they only have one shower. James and Peter have clearly already used it but he and Remus… 

“You can shower first,” Remus reassures him upon seeing the open horror on his face, “Werewolf, remember? I run hot.” Sirius just about holds himself back from saying, yeah you do, instead opting for a grateful nod. 

It's a quick, painful shower, pins and needles attacking him as he regains feeling in his limbs but he feels much better as he comes out. He does wish he owned more than two - now soaping wet and cold - jumpers, though, as he slips on a pair of black sweats, some fluffy socks James bought him and a white long sleeve. Potentially something to invest in. 

Remus is waiting for his turn outside the bathroom as he comes out, twisting his hair into his towel, leaning casually against the wall. He frowns and gives Sirius a quick up and down, opening and closing his mouth before hesitatingly trying again;

“You can borrow one of my jumpers? If you want? That - you don't seem to own many. And it's cold. In here - still.”

“Oh,” says Sirius, stopping in pleased surprise, ”Well, uh, yeah! Maybe? If you don't mind.” Remus shakes his head. 

“I don't mind.” He ducks his head to smile at the floor. “They're in my suitcase, the um, the one to the right. Feel free to take one.”

“Ok,” says Sirius, really hoping that he owns at least one not-ugly jumper because there are lows he won't stoop to but also, he's cold, “Thanks.”

He lets the other boy take his shower, slipping into Gildroys room a little hesitantly. It's very tidy. If it were Sirius, half of each of the two suitcases would be spread across the floor, but Remus has everything neatly folded away. He opens the suitcase on the right and can't stop his snigger. It's almost entirely filled with god awful ugly knit jumpers. Despite this, it takes some digging to find one Sirius doesn’t mind wearing. It's almost nice, a bright festive red decorated with little white snowflakes and christmas trees.

It's too big, hanging loosely around him when he pulls it on, but warm and soft and it smells good. He smiles as he heads downstairs, following the smell of hot chocolate and the sound of laughter.