Advent
Sirius could hear a commotion from downstairs, it was the chaos that had woken him up. But for once not in a cold sweat, fear crippling his every thought. He woke up to excited chatter downstairs, not muffled sobs or broken cries, pleas for it to stop. He couldn’t place why, after all it was an uneventful day as far as he was concerned. Yet the excited hollering was unmistakable.
He rubbed at his eyes and swung his legs out of bed, checking his calendar once more to ensure he hadn’t somehow missed a birthday. Shrugging he made his way a little down the hall and knocked on his brother’s door, not wanting him to miss any of the excitement.
Regulus opened it after a few ticks of the grand clock at the end of the corridor, “what’re you doing up so early?”
“There’s so much noise downstairs, can’t you hear it?”
“Of course I can.”
“So? Aren’t you curious?” Sirius pressed. He knew Reg hadn’t settled quite as easily as he had, after all James was his friend, but he wanted them to bond. He wanted the two most important people in his life to bond and love each other… or at least to talk for more than a millisecond a day. At this rate, he’d accept a vague conversation about the weather over the brief mutterings and glances he couldn’t figure out the reason for hiding.
“Not especially, no one’s dying, why should I be curious?”
“Reggie! You’re so dull, come on! Come down with me!”
The younger brother sighed but relented, grumbling some form of agreement before shutting his door and re-emerging a few moments later in a jumper that fell to his knees and a pair of fluffy socks. That was one thing Sirius had noticed, Reg had let himself relax with what he wore around the house, likely aided by Euphemia roaming around in her fluffy robe which was apparently inspired by a cat - it had ears, at least. The mixture of the shorts with the jumper fit for an arctic expedition was just so Reggie that Sirius didn’t bother questioning it. Apparently his legs never got cold. It was weird but hey, he was out of his room.
“Finally, you took forever.”
“I took less than two minutes, you’re so dramatic, Sirius.”
He shrugged and bounded the stairs, waiting at the bottom for his brother's more reserved footfall and sighing in a perhaps dramatic manner, “are you being this slow to annoy me?”
Regulus smiled and walked past him, “what was your first clue?”
The older boy groaned and followed him, watching with a slightly smaller smile as Reg’s barriers slowly came back up. The Potters were all sitting in the lounge, chatting, and James had a mug of hot chocolate which had seemingly calmed his excitement slightly. Slightly because he was practically vibrating in his seat.
“Pads! Regulus! Goodmorning!”
“What’s the occasion, Prongs?”
Euphemia smiled at him and shook her head fondly, “it’s the first of December, lovely.”
Sirius raised a confused eyebrow and watched his brother quietly walk to the other side of the room to settle in the chair which was mostly obscured from view, almost unnoticed by the others. “So?”
“So! We get our advent calendars! Come on, Padfoot, you have to know about advent calendars???”
“Uhm-”
“Oh my god, dad this is a tragedy! Mum!”
Fleamont laughed softly and reached into his pocket for the key to the big cabinet which sat in the corner of the room, “do you want to get them, Effie, love, or should I let that bundle of energy do it?”
“And bring the whole house cascading down around him?”
Sirius scanned his best friend again for some kind of clue but other than the broad smile and slightly sad eyes at his confusion, he found nothing of the sort. He chanced a glance at his brother and received merely a small shrug.
“Please? I’ve only knocked over the cabinet like once.”
“Once, he says.” She muttered with a slowly spreading smile before passing him the small brass key.
James beamed at her and flung his arms around her in a quick hug before he bounded up to the cabinet and unlocked the second draw down, apparently knowing the routine by now. The routine for what, Sirius still didn’t know. He pulled out a thin cardboard box that rattled? when he moved it and held it out to him. “Pads, it’s an advent calendar, it won’t explode, I promise. I tried it once and dad spent a week trying to get glitter out of the carpet.”
“Trying and failing,” Fleamont added with a fond exasperation, “if you look closely, there’s still flecks of glitter.”
Sirius smiled and took it, scanning it over, “there’s twenty-four?”
“Yeah! Like the lead up to Christmas! We all have one, mum always gets thorntons, dad is a galaxy man. I got you cadbury like me, since you always steal my chocolate anyway.”
He laughed softly and watched his best friend hand his parents their strange boxes, “so… it’s a countdown of chocolate?”
“Yes, dear.” Effie smiled at his still slightly befuddled expression and popped open her window marked with a small gold One, popping the chocolate into her mouth and nodding at him.
He grinned and scanned his eyes over the cardboard, searching for that One and grinning when he found it, a small italic 1 inside a candy cane. He watched his best friend and Fleamont find their respective boxes before uncovering the chocolate himself. Sirius didn’t think chocolate had ever been better than this, than the family who had invited him in without a thought. “Someone needs to tell Moony about this. He’d go mental.”
James snorted, “he probably already knows but why don’t you call him anyway?”
He blushed slightly at the sing-song tone and swatted him away as he walked into the kitchen where the phone was. Not that he was excited to talk to Remus, of course not, he was just… happy and Prongs was being ridiculous. It’s not like he liked Remus… maybe.
Regulus observed from his corner, as Euphemia and Fleamont started chattering about getting a move on breakfast, as his brother dialled the phone with a slightly flustered giggle. He was used to observing these moments, Mr and Mrs Potter didn’t seem to question that he was far more reserved than his brother, and usually let him decide how involved he’d be and once Sirius was assured he was safe, he let himself be dragged into the family. He didn’t mind being the observer, he was content with watching the dancing smiles and swatting hands which always landed softly, met with laughter and good hearted bickering.
Observing the family his brother had somehow found was probably his favourite thing to observe. Except Potter, James Potter who was currently walking towards him with his hands behind his back and a slightly unsure smile.
“Regulus?”
He looked up at him, as if he hadn’t been staring and raised his eyebrows in question, “yes?”
“I got you lindt, because, well, you have it quite a bit. And the picture was pretty too and-”
Reg cut him off with a slightly unsure quaver to his voice, one which was far softer than the brunette had heard him speak before, “you… you got me one?”
“Of course, Regulus, you’re part of the family, too, you know?”
“I- thank you.” He took the calendar from him, ignoring that his hands were shaking slightly.
“Don’t be silly, Reggie, it’s just some chocolate.”
What he didn’t know, Regulus supposed, was that it was far far more than chocolate. He didn’t say that though, he wouldn’t dare. Instead he merely smiled and inclined his head in a small nod, “well, thank you anyway.”
James shrugged and stepped back as if to move away and join the thrum of life that was merely a few feet away from them. And then he paused again, “do you want to help me with the lights? Dad said I can do them this year, the ones outside the front.”
“Oh, uhm, sure.”
“Great! We should get you a Christmas jumper for when we put up the tree tonight.”
Reg rolled his eyes with a smile, popping out his chocolate and placing it onto his tongue as he contemplated that, “I don’t do Christmas, Potter.”
“You’ll get there. You’d make a cute elf.”
He gaped at him as the brunette dodged his incredulous kick and gently placed down the calendar before bolting after the figuring retreating down the hallway, “take it back!”
“Nope! Cute elf!”
“Potter!”
James grinned at him and maybe it was the lights he had just bundled into his arms or maybe it was that damned smile but the holiday season was slowly seeming to be a little brighter. Even if he had to blame the cold for the pink tint to his cheeks and swat at the fool’s chest every time he said the same two blasted words, “cute elf.”