Sirius Black the dramatic princess
The train left a week before Christmas eve, all their friends boarding the train as the two boys stood back, waving from the platform as their friends settled into their compartments. The snow fell from the sky, coating Sirius’ usually black hair in a white blanket; he had forgotten to put on his hat when they left the castle and seemed to be regretting that now. Sirius had been complaining ever since they stepped outside but there had been no time to run back to their dorm room and get it. His ears were starting to redden into a deep burgundy blush, almost matching the Gryffindor scarf he proudly wore around his neck. Sirius had never been good at dressing for the weather, often going for his usual leather jacket in the middle of December. This usually resulted in him snuggling up to Remus when the cold became almost unbearable, making them both a lot warmer, but in relatively different ways. Usually, Remus would complain when someone got to close, but this was Sirius; he could stand as close as he wanted to.
As soon as the train pulled out of the station and James’ waves were no longer visible, Sirius turned around and dragged Remus back up to the castle by his gloved hand. His hurried stomps made small thuds as his soles quickly hit the crammed snow that covered the school grounds. Remus looked around admiring the landscape as they went up the hill; the forest which lay a few yards away, peacefully sleeping during wintertime. The big, dark trees that usually swayed in the wind were now quietly at peace, wrapped in a big coat of beautiful, pure snow. No birds sang and no animals howled, the forest just sat there quietly waiting for summer to come back, and the forest to get its soul back.
As their walk continued, the complaining Sirius had started hours ago came back into full swing, “Come on Moony! I’m freezing my tits off out in this cold.” Sirius had said in quite a serious tone, to which Remus snorted a laugh, making him turn around to grin at him, winking when Remus raised an eyebrow at his beautiful face. “Oh no. we wouldn’t want you to lose your beautiful tits; would we Pads?” With that he came from behind and picked Sirius up bridal style, and quickly carried him up to the castle. A small giggle escaped Sirius mouth as Remus twirled around with him in his grip. “Ah, finally someone appreciating my tits like they deserve.” Remus blushed and laughed while Sirius snuggled into his arms as much as possible, trying to make the ride up to the castle more comfortable.
When they reached the gate, Remus carefully put Sirius back down and twirled him like as if they were in a ballroom, dancing to the silent music the cold air provided for them. Sirius laughed in surprise but twirled back into Remus’ embrace and chuckled into his chest. “Merlin, you’re making me feel like a princess, Moony.”
Remus snorted and took of his knitted hat, crookedly putting it on top of Sirius’ head, making him look up in confusion and something that reminded Remus of admiration. “Every princess needs a crown right.” He smiled as Sirius huffed a laugh and pulled the hat down over his red ears, dragging Remus towards the castle by his hand, yet again. The school was relatively empty, not seeing anyone but a lone Hufflepuff as they walked through the halls towards their common room. Some of the portraits had put on silly little Christmas hats, making Sirius compliment them all as they walked past, making many of the ladies, and some men too, blush and blow him a kiss in return for the sweet words. Sirius took every single flying kiss he got and mimicked putting it to his heart, being as dramatic as ever. They walked on and after a few minutes they finally reached the fat lady. She stood there with a new, big, red ballgown that was so ugly Remus had to hold back his laughter from spilling out of his mouth.
When they finally were let through, after many minutes of her demanding more and more compliments, Sirius plopped down on the couch and pulled his wand from his bun, casting a spell on the fireplace making flames suddenly lick the wood within. They were the only Gryffindors to stay behind this Christmas, the whole tower suddenly belonging to them.
Remus sat down in his usual chair across from the couch, admiring Sirius fidgeting with his wand. He looked so peaceful where he laid, making Remus want to bottle up the sight and keep it forever. Remus had made many of these memories through the years; of his friends embodying a feeling so strongly that every color and every sound seemed tame in their presence. The way all of them had made their own room in his heart, some without knowing, and others who would make sure to keep the key forever.
They stayed in their dorm just talking for hours on end, gossiping and laughing their hearts out. Sometime during the evening, while Sirius was deep into his story about tripping Flitwick, seemingly forgetting Remus was in fact there when it happened, he took the time to really study Sirius’ face the same way he always did when they were younger. He noticed the way Sirius’ nose had toned, and the way his lips had filled out. His jaw had sharpened, and his cheekbones had filled out and were as high as ever. All this he had seen before; all this he had memorized to the tiniest detail. But now he noticed how his nose was a bit red from the cold weather outside, and how his soft curls were starting to hang low over his eyes again. He noticed all these new details that had changed over time, and in the middle of this he noticed how Sirius had stopped humming, and how he was now staring into his eyes, searching for contact again. Snapping back to himself, he smiled at Sirius and leaned deeper into his chair, sighing heavily. “You okay Moons?”
“Yeah. I’m fabulous in fact.” He grinned at Sirius while he barked a laugh. “Good.”
Remus snapping out of reality often happened the days right before the full moon. He would fall into this hole of thoughts, often staying there for hours on end if not disturbed by those around him. This had been happening ever since he was a child. He would get so caught up in these small changes that occurred on everyone and everything, all just reminding him how fast time went by. When he was a child, he would disassociate whenever his parents yelled or fought, using it as a defense mechanism; now it was used to ward off all pain and stress he usually felt, just morphing into this being only existing on thoughts and new patterns. Sirius was one of the first ones to notice this in first year, quickly figuring out how and when to snap Remus out of it, and when to leave him alone when he didn’t want to be disturbed.
They worked well like that, Sirius and Remus. Ever since meeting for the first time on the Hogwarts express, they had learnt every boundary, every thought, every feeling. They knew exactly how any emotion looked on each other’s faces, which made them the ultimate dictionary for any person trying to figure out how one of them felt. James and Sirius were practically brothers, but Sirius and Remus were soul bound; or so the people said.
They had been eating breakfast on a random Monday in March of fourth year when someone for the first time assumed they were dating. They had been sitting particularly close that day, Sirius snoozing on Remus’ shoulder while he ate his four-pieced toast. This fifth year girl had walked past them on the way to the Ravenclaw table, and when she spotted the boys who were just trying to wake up, she had scoffed and muttered, “Uh, fucking gays, can’t keep their nasty relationships behind locked doors.”
Remus had not been meant to hear that, she had been too far away; sadly, he turned into a wolf once a month, and his hearing was that of a pray animal: sharp and precise. He had sat up a bit straighter, making Sirius raise his head from his shoulder and look at him questioningly. Remus had just shrugged and finished his tea.
He would never be sure if that comment was actually directed at them and not some other pair of teenagers trying to survive Hogwarts in the 70s, but there was something in her tone that he felt was meant for him. The day had not been rememberable in itself, but that comment stuck with Remus for the rest of their school years. It had taken him eight months to let Sirius rest on his shoulder in the great hall again.
They kept on talking for a while, until Remus checked his watch and loudly exclaimed, “Fuck, we missed dinner.” Sirius stared at him for half a second before pulling up his pocket watch and groaning when he saw the time. Sirius wearing a pocket watch had been a joke, at first. He had gotten it for his fifteenth birthday as a joke from Marlene who had been calling him posh boy for years. It was not meant to be a serious gift, but after some time you would never see him without it. After a while he became the punk with the pocket watch.
“Kitchens?” Sirius asked, looking up at him with a raised brow. “Kitchens.” Remus answered with a huff as he stood up from his chair, his knees already hurting at the age of seventeen; that’s what lycanthropy does to a man.
When they arrived in the kitchens, they were immediately greeted by a swarm of house elves they had befriended through the many years at Hogwarts. They were welcomed with smiles and small yells of excitement as the house elves swarmed around them. “What can I get the masters today?” asked Giela, an elf they got to know in third year. They had been trying to steal some flour to use in a prank in the middle of the night, when she had come out of nowhere and asked them what they were doing; she had practically scared them half to death. The little elf had been very angry about their attempts at stealing, but after hearing who the prank would be directed at, she had helped with the setup herself. Turns out elves don’t particularly like when someone insults their cooking to their face, something Mulciber didn’t seem to have learned.
The teachers never found out who did the prank, but Remus believed deep down that McGonagall had seen them lurking around the hallways with Giela that night; she had seemed to hold back a snicker as they told her the ‘alibi’ they had come up with when they were called to her office the next day. It seemed like Minerva cared deeply about her elves, so when they were disrespected, she didn’t mind when the people responsible got what they deserved.
“Some food would be lovely Giela. We managed to miss dinner.” Sirius smiled at the elves around him as they all quickly went to work of preparing the food, which was served to them ten minutes later. A mountain of mashed potatoes, chicken and sauce were placed in front of them, all the elves gathering around the boys yet again to see if they liked the food, something they always did; Hogwarts food was famous for being the best of the best, Euphemia Potter being the only one, in Remus’ opinion, that could beat their cuisine skills.
Three hours later, they were back in the common room feeling quite heavier since when they left. They had cleared their plates two times each and were ready to go when the youngest elf of the bunch had asked them if they wanted to taste her signature cake. They looked at each other, both knowing they were both nearing the brink of puking from the amount of food consumed, but also knowing they could not disappoint this sweet summer child.
It had been the absolute worst cake Remus had ever tasted in his entire life, being even worse than his dad’s failed attempt at a birthday cake in 1968 which had resulted in a small house fire and unsigned divorce documents, but even when he felt the gagging sensation in his throat, they ate the entire piece they were given, and thanked the young elf afterwards, mentally noting to never eat honey and raspberry cakes from the kitchens ever again.
When they had walked through the portrait, Remus had crashed down on the couch, groaning from having eaten way too much, while Sirius ran to the bathroom to either shit or puke up the abomination that was the signature cake of Hiara the house elf; probably both.
It had already been late when they got to the kitchens for dinner, now they would have already gone to bed if it had been a school night. The sky outside had clouded over in the last few days, and Remus hoped it would clear enough to see the stars clearly before Christmas. He moved over to the window and opened it, letting cold air seep into the room. He stood there just breathing for a few seconds before sitting down on the cushion in the window and cracking a joint.
Taking a drag, he let the smoke fill his lungs, holding it in for as long as he could before breathing it out when he needed air. He repeated this, again and again, closing his eyes and getting so caught up in the pattern of breath that he startled when Sirius suddenly took the joint from him and took a drag himself. Remus had not heard him come out of the bathroom or sit down at the other end of the seat, for that matter. They sat in comfortable silence, smoking, breathing, existing in each other’s presence until they wordlessly decided to head off to bed. They threw the burnt out joint out the window before trudging up the steps into their empty dorm room. They were both high as kites, but tired enough to fall asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. As his eyes closed Remus faced the harsh reality of the next two weeks: He was so fucked.