"Moons?" Sirius says loudly causing Remus to snap his head up and out of his focus on the book in front of him. "Yes, Pads? What did you say?" His response causes a ripple of laughter from the surrounding group of fellow students. Remus's cheeks flush a soft pink as he lowers his eyes slightly embarrassed. Sirius grins brightly at the soft pink across Remus's cheeks and nose as he responds in a joking tone "Too distracted to even help plan Christmas break?" This causes Remus to roll his eyes jokingly as he says playfully "Can't make any decisions without me? You are all sooo hopeless." The playfully said joke causes a small uproar especially from the small group of Slytherins sat in at their table. "As if! Your little group just doesn't seem to like any reasonable and completely fun ideas that I suggest!" Regulus snaps but everyone can tell he doesn't actually mean it, seeing as there is absolutely no heat behind his statement. Remus smirks slightly at the turn of the conversation and says, "And what were these wonderful ideas of yours dear Reggie?" This causes Sirius to roll his eyes as he whispers, "Do not get him started again." Remus laughs lightly as he looks over at Sirius with a mischievous smile "But I would actually love to hear his ideas." The moment after the words leaves his mouth Barty, Evan and Regulus seam to lean forward in unison as Regulus starts to ramble. "Okay, so I feel that this year since there is SO many of us going to be together. That we should go somewhere! Not just go to the Potter manor like the four of you have been doing for the last five years. We have nothing to do school wise." His eyes skip over to James and Sirius as he continues "Well most of us don't. We could actually go anywhere!" The little jab at Sirius and James has them both going to speak but Remus cuts them off swiftly and quickly knowing this will undoubtedly start some kind of argument between the two of them and the three Slytherin boys sitting across from him. "Let's go snowboarding then. It's something fun and winter based to do that everyone can learn." He says this as a joke, a way to divert the attention of the brewing argument, but he sees the moment that half the group starts to truly think of this as an actual idea. And he sighs softly inwardly scolding himself, he hasn't been snowboarding in almost two years. He knows he'll be rusty as hell and if he so much as falls, he knows that the boys will never let him live it down, plus there's the fact that the other marauders all excel in just about everything that he doesn't and he really doesn't want to make a fool out of himself. He goes to speak up but before he can he hears Barty say "That actually is the BEST idea anyone of us has come up with! I haven't been in over a year but gods this is perfect! We have to go." With Barty on board of course Evan would be willing, and if Evan's willing then so will Pandora. Evan is her twin after all, and with Pandora on board it's set to happen. Pandora could convince anyone of her friends to do anything with just pure passion and luck. Which means that Regulus will no doubt say yes when she goes to convince him, therefore James will say yes because of Reg. If James says yes then Sirius will say yes, those two don't do anything without the other, so it seems that snowboarding will be the plan for Christmas break. Might as well accept it, he thinks to himself. It's not that he's not good, it's just that it's been a while and knowing his group of friends if he falls, he will never live it down, but he honestly has no clue what everyone's skill level is in skiing or snowboarding so maybe it maybe it won't be as bad as he's imagining. As he seems to have slipped back into his mind and accidentally spaced out on the entire conversation the others seem to have been having, he only realizes this as Peter says his name again. "Sorry Pete, what's up?" This causes Peter to give his little nasally laugh before responding "Everyone seems to have agreed to this break idea of yours. So, we were wondering if you knew where we should be going? It was your idea after all, so I'm assuming you know where to go?" It's all sad so quickly that Remus has to try and keep up, which wasn't hard to do so he gives his signature small smile as before speaking "Well, we could research a spot for a wizarding space, or we could go to muggle Glenshee Ski Center in Aberdeenshire? It's where my mum always took me." He looks around at everyone waiting to see how everyone would feel about the suggestion, he's met with a few confused faces from Pete, Sirius and James; excited looks from Pandora, Marlene, Dorcas and Barty but just downright awkward faces from Evan and Regulus. Those two looks cause Remus to tailspin in his thoughts. Of course... He knows that Reg and Ev aren't as bad as they used to be but the looks on their faces remind him of the way they grew up, but also the growth they've both had in the same two years. He knows his own face probably shows a mix of hard thinking, panic and nerves but it doesn't last long as Barty speaks up. "That actually sounds perfect, I heard that they have a beginner's section and I assume I'm not wrong to guess that several of you haven't snowboarded or skied before, right?" His question caused multiple heads to nod in agreement and Remus's nerves die down and he gives a small smile. "Perfect. I can put in a request online so we can skip the queues and get straight to teaching and learning once we get there if you guys want?" Sirius gives Remus his bright smile, the one that always causes Remus's breath to stop for a moment, this allows him to realize that this is a great chance to just relax and have fun. After a moment he realizes he's staring at his boyfriend, and he blushes and turns to the rest of the group to see if the group likes the idea. Everyone is either smiling or nodding so he pulls out his phone and starts to open the website, putting in the request before realizing he's missing important information. "Uh so what is everyone thinking about doing? Skiing? Snowboarding?" Barty is the first to open is mouth and respond, "Either one works for me, I have my own skies and board, so I'll just bring both!" This statement causes Evan's head to snap forward to stare at Barty. "You've skied before? How did I not know this about my boyfriend?! You could've come with my family last year!" Barty barks out a laugh and smiles over at Evan. This causes Remus to change his focus to the others knowing that the two of them will have their own conversation for who knows how long, he smiles at the others and waits for their responses. He notices James and Sirius with their heads bent down as they discuss which one, they want to learn much like Dorcas and Marlene were sitting so he skips over those four and turns to Pete and Pandora. Peter looks as if he might throw up with anxiety over the question whereas Pandora seems lost in thought so he says softly "Well it's said that Skiing is easier to learn, and I must say it was easier for me to learn. But it's also harder to excel after you learn, whereas snowboarding is harder to learn but your skills are hard to perfect even with time." His words seem to calm Peter's nerves just as he had hoped they would, he watches as Peter seems to run his words through his mind before giving Remus a nervous smile and saying quietly "Then I think I'd like to learn to ski." Remus nods and writes that down in his note's app, he then turns to Pandora who give him a dreamy smile and says, "I think that's what I'd like to learn as well." With her answer he then turns back to James, Sirius, Dorcas and Marlene. James and Sirius now seem to be arguing quietly whereas Marls and Dorc are smiling at each other seemingly on the same page, he waits a moment to see if any of the four notice him waiting and smiles at Marls as she looks over. "Skiing for the two of us." This statement catches Sirius's attention, and he speaks up finally saying "Me too, if Marls can do it then so can I. '' Oh of course their little fake feud, the need to beat one another. This causes Remus to chuckle and at the three names under skiing before turning to James who had moved closer to Regulus to gauge what Regulus might be doing. "So... What are you two thinking?" Regulus rolls his eyes playfully and says, "If Sirius believe he can ski then I'm gonna prove I can do it better." No surprise there Remus thinks just as Sirius bursts out "Oh shut up. I will upstage you!" James laughs softly as he says, "Snowboarding please." No one seems to hear him other than Remus as a round of groans and laughs mix as the black brothers begin to argue. As usual Remus ignores the two siblings and look back to Barty and Evan "Evan?" It seems that Evan and Barty were so engrossed in their conversation the last few minutes that Evan jumps slightly and then blushes lightly in embarrassment. "Snowboard, but I also have my own, so you don't have to rent one for me. Just whatever everyone else has requested." With that response Remus nods with a small smile and then puts the request in on his phone before saying to everyone "All set. We can get there the day break starts!"
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Remus leads everyone through the doors of the lodge and up to the desk where he collects their room keys and the information for where the rental skis and boards are before handing out the room keys. One to James and Regulus, one to Barty and Evan, one to Dorcas, Marlene and Pandora, and the last one to Peter before pocketing Sirius and his key. "All the rooms are on the same floor; they are connected rooms too so you might have a room connected to one another." He explains to his group of friends before leading them up to their floor. Everyone splits off to their own or shared rooms after agreeing to meet back down in the lobby in an hour so that they can unpack now and then go and grab the groups rental gear and then head out to the beginner's location, on the way to the lodge Remus realized this might be a difficult first day seeing as over half of the group has NEVER been snowboarding or skiing. But he has a feeling it'll be more entertaining than difficult especially with Sirius and James around. Plus, the clear competition between Sirius and Regulus and Marlene and Sirius, he knows by the end of today everyone will have had a good time or at least a good laugh with the antics that are sure to go down. His mind runs through all the possible interactions that might happen today as he unpacks his bags and puts his gear to the side.
An hour later Remus stands in the lobby holding Sirius's hand next to Regulus and James who has his arm around Regulus and is staring down at him with the most adorable smile on his face as Regulus speaks softly to him about whatever seeing as Remus even with his wolf hearing can't hear. He moves his eyes off the couple as he hears Barty's barking laugh as Evan, Pandora and he come walking down the stairs. Behind the three of them he sees Peter smiling as he talks to Marlene who seems to be dragging Dorcas behind her who also doesn't seem to mind being dragged around by her girlfriend. As the six of them join the other four in the lobby they all turn their eyes on Remus, with this many eyes on him his self-doubt starts to run rampant in his mind as if sensing the change his thoughts Sirius squeezes his hand softly and gives him that bright and encouraging smile. That smile alone could solve every problem, cause away any self-doubt so Remus finds that courage that only Sirius brings out of him and says to the group "Alright! Let's get to it." He leads the group of nine to the rental area where their skis and boards are ready to be picked up. Everyone grabs their respective gear and heads to the lifts; Remus stands to the side explaining how they work and helping his friends three at a time into the lifts. First Barty, Evan and Peter because with the knowledge that Barty and Evan have done this before he thought it best, they go first to help the others get off and for Peter to be paired with them because of his clear nerves. He watches as the three of them are swept off before watching Dorcas help Marlene onto a lift, next he helps Regulus and Pandora into a lift leaving James, Sirius and himself to go last knowing it was best to keep these two with him. Finally, the three of them get into their own lift and meet the others up on the mountain, they move slowly to a beginner's spot. Everyone seems to look at Remus instead; none of them seem to be interested in learning from a stranger; this causes Remus to laugh nervously. He shakes his head knowing that no matter what he says, they will either insist he helps, or he will take pity and have to teach them later on when they start and half of them haven't listened. Well mainly Sirius and James. This causes him to look over at Barty and Evan "Are you guys good at this? Because I could use the help teaching." For some reason this makes the group laugh, and Remus rolls his eyes waiting for a response. Before either of them can answer Dorcas does "I can teach Marls and Pans." Remus smiles widely at her and watches as the three girls go off on their own a small bit away from them, he watches for a minute as Dorcas proceeds to explain the basics to the girls. Barty steps away from Evan and toward Regulus and Peter saying "We'll take these two, those two are your problem Rem." This causes the small group to laugh, other than Sirius and James who both fake surprised looks as they say in unison "US?" Remus rolls his eyes playfully before walking over to the two of them and begins to explain the basics, having to repeat himself a few times to make sure the two were actually paying attention. Once he feels confident that the two of them actually know what they're doing he starts to take them down the hill slowly every once and a while correcting their form or making sure they focus on what they're doing. He looks around to see how everyone is doing and sees Dorcas and Marlene skiing slowly next to each other as Pandora stand off to the side in her skis cheering everyone on, he tilts his head silently asking if she's okay and she nods pointing down to her skis and shaking her head indication she'd prefer to stay on both feet and just watch which has a bubble of laughter to escape him as he moves his focus to Barty and his group. Just as he looks over, he watches Peter fall and tries to contain his laughter as Barty out right laughs and overs Peter a hand up. He notices Regulus watching everyone from a far before turning back to James and Sirius. He smiles to himself as James moves slowly down the hill with a wide smile, he can only assume it's because he hasn't fallen again and just as he thinks this, he watches Sirius fall out of the corner of his eye slowly he boards his way over and helps him up with an encouraging smile saying softly "You'll get there love." Sirius smiles up at him and places a small kiss to Remus's hand before beginning to try again, Remus watches him for a while and this time when Sirius falls, he allows him to get up himself and smiles widely as he does. After about twenty minutes of watching, he realizes his friends are slowly getting better, all but Peter who had given up all together and was sitting watching everyone and Sirius who continues to fall over and over again but he doesn't seem to be giving up. This time he stays sat for a moment which causes Remus to start to panic a little and start to move toward him just as Regulus comes flying past, apparently he's a natural at this, he watches as Regulus fastly approaches Sirius and skids slightly causing pounds of powder to fly into Sirius's face even if he wasn't close he's sure he'd have heard Sirius all the way in the states at the way he shrieks at Regulus using every colourful word under the sun. Everyone burst out in laughter at the brother's antics as Remus moves forward and helps Sirius up with a smile. "I can't do this moons, how is he so bloody good! He hasn't done this any longer than I have!" Remus laughs softly and offers a solution "Darling hold out your skiing pole for me?" Sirius stops mid rant with a cute tilt of his head and a curious expression before doing as asked. Remus grabs onto it and turns slowly moving the two of them down the hill, the further they get the faster he allows them to move as he snowboards around their friends before slowly coming to a stop and smiles down at Sirius. "Happy, love?" Sirius stares up at him with wide happy eyes and nods before pulling Remus down into a kiss as the rest of their friends slowly meet them at the bottom, most of the group seems to be a little tired but Remus really wants to get back up there so he turns to everyone. "Again? Or?" Everyone seems to be looking at one another to gauge where they are before most of them shake their head with sorry expressions and smiles. Barty seems to be the only one who wants to go again so they lead the rest of the group into the lodge cafe and leave them to warm up and get some food by the big open windows. The two of them grab a lift back up the mountain and share a look, one that can only be described as excited and mischievous. As if they share one mind, they both move to go down the mountain at full speed, moving around each other each doing small tricks to try and one up another with huge smiles, bright eyes and laughter filling the air. Neither of them seems to realize the group of their friends and lovers can see them as they show off and move around each other in sync. They reach the bottom with ease smiling as if they had just won a million galleons. Their friends rush out without their skis or boards and bombard the two of them with praise and questions, neither of them stops smiling even with all the chaos around them, Remus takes Sirus into his arms and kisses him softly. "Did you enjoy the show darling?" Sirius seems to be left speechless at the cheeky tone that Remus is using which causes Remus to laugh. The group slowly heads back inside to rest and relax with hot chocolates and baked goods, talking among themselves with happy smiles. The energy stays as happy as it was in this moment until the very last day of their trip, they went home feeling connected to one another and knowing that this would be a core memory for the years to come.