The First Snow
The weekend had been pretty event-free for Sirius. On Sunday he had to take Regulus to the rink for hockey practice so he did that then went to Lily’s for the hour and a half so he could avoid whatever inevitable chaos was going on in his house.
They talked about lots of things and Sirius stayed for lunch because Lily’s mom insisted he eat.
Lily’s sister Petunia didn't like anything to do with figure skating or hockey, she does curling instead.
She knows how to skate as their parents thought it would be a good skill for Lily and Petunia to have, but after Petunia turned 11 she decided to try curling and hasn't looked back.
Sirius left right after lunch to pick up Regulus even though he's almost old enough to drive himself, and took them both home.
Walburga, Sirius’s mom made him vacuum most of the house because he forgot to put a few bowls in the dishwasher from breakfast. He did, however much he hated it.
Sirius went up to his room when he was done and saw he had a few unread messages.
*The Ice Kids*
James: we should hang out after a game again, that was fun
Lily: it was fun
Remus: what do you guys think about thursday?
Lily: depends on when, I work after school until 7
James: you could come after, our game starts at 6:10, come when you can and we can go to the cafe together after
Sirius thought that that was a great idea, the prospect of watching hockey had become more exciting now that he knew people on the team.
Sirius: I’ll save you a spot
Remus: thursday after the game it is then
James: yeah
Remus: we’ll meet you guys in the lobby again ok? dont run away
Lily: deal
The next day, Sirius woke up late which wasn't unusual considering it was Monday and half the time he would much rather stay in bed than go to school.
He ran around the house, throwing a random assortment of food into his backpack and picking up whatever clothes he saw first then booked it out the door before anyone could make any comments on his frantic demeanor.
What did not help his circumstance was that it had snowed overnight so Sirius had to spend some time brushing just enough off of his car so he could see, then drove to school.
Sirius made it and parked his car right before the bell rang, lucky for him, his first class was really close to the door near the parking lot so he came into the room during the start of announcements.
He got a couple looks from the other people in the class but at this point in the year they were expecting Sirius to be late at least once a week.
Class went as usual, then his next class, then lunch.
Sirius and Lily had an established lunch plan since grade 9, meet up at Lily’s locker then go get lunch together.
Lily’s locker has always been on the first floor and Sirius had his on the second, but considering he almost never used it, he didn't frequent it very often.
Once the bell rang, he ran down all the stairs to get from the third floor to the first and to Lily’s locker.
She was already there and putting her biology textbook away so she wouldn't have to carry it everywhere.
Sirius leaned against the locker next to hers “so how was biology?” Lily grabbed her coat and closed the locker, “good, we were learning about organic chemistry a little to help with our unit but I know you don't really care so I won't bore you” she said, “thanks for sparing me” Sirius said and they laughed.
They walked to the door closest to the side of the building that would lead to places that sell food. Sirius pulled on a pair of gloves and Lily put her hands in her pockets stating that she forgot her mittens.
It started to snow again which made the town look very pretty but they both knew it would be a pain to get the cars clean again.
“It's literally November, why doesn't the snow start in December?” Sirius wondered aloud, “because it's the second half of November which means it's closer to December than October” Lily responded. Sirius nodded, he already knew that the weather does what it wants but that doesn't mean it isn't mildly annoying.
“Where are we gonna go?” Lily asked, “well I just threw random food in my bag and I think half of it is granola bars so I’m gonna get something more filling than that,” Sirius said.
“Yeah, I have a lunch packed but I want to see if I can get something sweet from the bakery,” Lily said.
Once they got to the corner of the street their school is on, and main street, they split up because the bakery was to the left and Sirius wanted to get a burger and that was down the right side of the street.
During the warmer months they would go together to both places and wait for each other but not when it's cold out, the goal is to get the food as fast as possible then go back to school and eat it there in the warmth.
About 10 minutes later, Sirius and Lily had both gotten their desired foods and were back in the school.
They ate on a landing because the cafeteria was always too crowded and loud but on the landing they could have actual conversations without needing to yell or have others listening constantly.
Lily had picked out some kind of chocolate peanut butter cupcake which looked really good. Sirius had a burger with just about everything on it.
After they ate, Sirius took a small hairbrush out of his backpack and started brushing his hair.
“When did you get up? I know Mondays are usually a rush for you but most of the time you’ll brush your hair in the car during the three minutes you spare in the parking lot” Lily commented.
“Well I would’ve had time to do that today too, if I didn't have to brush all kinds of snow off my car this morning” Sirius said. “Yeah, I guess winter decided to start now, I mean we are past halfway through November, but it's not like it snowed an entire foot last night” Lily pointed out.
“Yeah I’m glad it wasn't melting yet cause that would have been worse” Sirius said
They sat in silence for a while while Sirius finished brushing his hair.
---
The next few days sort of blurred together for Sirius. Wake up. Go to school. Have lunch with Lily. Have other classes. Go home. Try and do some homework. Sleep. Repeat.
That was until Thursday, at lunch Lily and Sirius had talked about how excited they were to hang out with James and Remus, because if for no other reason, at least it's different.
“I think I have a way to narrow down which one is Remus on the ice that I forgot to tell you about” Sirius said, Lily nodded to tell him to continue because her mouth was full.
“When we were at the little café place, he held a fork in his left hand and always held his mug with his left. I'm willing to bet he also plays hockey left-handed. I don't think every defenceman is going to be left handed so I think I’ve got a good chance of figuring it out” Sirius explained.
“That is a good point, we’ll have to see if your idea is right tonight” Lily said, “yeah, I think it's a pretty solid piece of evidence, my problem will be if there's more than one person on defence that's left handed, or if he plays right-handed for some reason” Sirius said.
“That is possible, remember when we were little and learning to jump and I could do a waltz jump both ways comfortably so they didnt know if I was a left or right handed jumper? Maybe hockey is the same?” Lily reasoned.
Sirius nodded. Lily started to pack her lunch pail in her backpack as the five minute warning bell just went off.
Sirius stood up and waited for her then they walked to Sirius’s classroom because it was on the way to Lily’s class.
---
Sirius went to the rink after supper. As much as he wanted to leave and eat at the arena and talk to the boys before they had to get ready, Walburga made him stay and eat. Sirius had been out for supper and out too late afterwards too many times recently, according to her.
He walked up into the stands about five minutes before the ice was ready to be played on.
Scanning the area he spotted a couple of unoccupied seats and claimed them. Sirius had brought the blanket with him, knowing that Lily would be cold when she showed up and it never hurts to bring it in case he gets cold too.
Soon after he got settled both teams went out onto the ice. A coach dumped out a bucket of pucks and the players started claiming them and skating around between their end of the ice and the red line in the middle.
The goalie on James and Remus’s team was making snow in the crease then the players started taking shots on the net as warm up.
Sirius sat and watched the first two periods by himself, trying to figure out which player was Remus. He figured he must be number 10, the one with ‘Lupin’ on the back of his jersey as he was the only defenceman on their team that played left handed.
The home team was in the lead 3-2 going into the third period, which was when Lily showed up.
Sirius was focused on watching the game and only saw her when she slid into the seat next to him and whispered to ask how it was going.
“Good, they're winning, I think Remus is number 10” he whispered back. “Nice, want some popcorn in exchange for some blanket?” Lily asked.
Sirius turned to face her and sure enough, she had a medium sized popcorn bucket in her hands.
Sirius gave her half the blanket and held onto the popcorn while she got settled then they shared it.
---
The score stayed the same until the end of the game, there were some interesting plays and tense moments though.
Someone on the visiting team had a breakaway and just barely missed the net before the goalie sent the puck down the ice, away from him.
One of James and Remus’s teammates shot the puck in the direction on the top right corner of the net but the goalie caught it right before it could go in.
The guy on the right forward side of the opposing team lost his stick somehow. It just fell out of his hand at some point but he picked it up right after and continued playing as if nothing happened.
Lily and Sirius were back in the lobby, finishing off what was left of the popcorn before throwing the container out.
This time the whole team came out in one big group, high fiving and talking to each other.
James and Remus managed to pry themselves away from the rest of them and joined Sirius and Lily.
“Hey guys” James said, a few awkward ‘hi’s went around while they were being interrupted by teammates high fiving and having brief exchanges on their way out.
One of them told James and Remus ‘good luck’ even though the game was over.
“Lets go” Remus said, “yeah, this bag is heavy to carry” James said and followed Remus out, gesturing for Sirius and Lily to follow.
This time they had all parked closer together by accident, except for Lily because she came in later.
“Where did you park?” Remus asked Sirius, he gestured to about five cars down from where James’s car was. “Alright, we’ll drop off our stuff and meet you there and then we’ll walk to the café again together” Remus explained, “ok” and Sirius broke apart from the group to get to his car.
Once everyone had dropped everything off, they began to walk to the café.
The walk was mostly in silence, it was snowing and there were some comments about that, James bent down to scoop up some snow to throw at Remus when they passed by a park.
Lily sneaked down to pick up some snow and threw it at James’s back. He spun around and said “now you're asking for it, snowball fight!” and kneeled to pick up more snow.
Lily didn't need any more warning than that, as soon as James had said it she took off running. Sirius and Remus exchanged a quick glance before James halfheartedly threw a snowball at Sirius.
Everyone ran.
There wasn't a ton of snow but there was enough to be able to easily grab some snow as they ran. It was packing snow, due to the sun having come out in the afternoon, or at least good enough snow to make snowballs, definitely not good enough to make snowmen though.
Sirius was chasing after Remus, snowball in hand, he threw it and it just barely missed his arm.
Remus turned around and hit Sirius straight in the chest with a snowball. Sirius feigned injury just to be dramatic, Lily took her chance and hit him with another snowball.
Remus and Lily high fived and laughed, James ran in from somewhere behind them and pelted all three of them with snowballs that he was carrying in the crook of his arm.
Lily covered her head and neck and shrieked in surprise, she ran after him once he ran out of ammo.
A woman was walking her dog as Lily and James were running and it tried to run after them, luckily she got the dog under control and walked away before the dog tried again.
Remus came up to Sirius as he watched them run off, “truce?” he asked, “truce” Sirius said followed by “lets get them”. Remus nodded and they stood making snowballs in preparation for when Lily and James would inevitably come back around.
Some other teenagers walked by while they were playing.
They probably think this is stupid but this is too fun to care what they think
Lily was still chasing James so James led them towards the boys who were ready, snowballs in hand.
James threw the one he had at Sirius then both Sirius and Remus started throwing snowballs at Lily and James while running.
Sirius was running after them, he was out of snowballs so he slid on the snow covered grass to try and take one of them out by sliding into their legs.
It didn't work, but it was fun.
Remus helped him up and gave Sirius a few freshly made snowballs and they were back on the hunt for the ginger and the guy with glasses.
As they were running side by side, Sirius was trying to ignore the beating in his chest of having just held Remus’s hand. Even if it was just for a moment, through gloves, it still counted.
Process this later, right now we have a snowball fight to win Sirius thought, he shook his head and kept running as if nothing had happened.
A couple more rounds of snowballs are thrown before Lily shouts “hey no fair! They teamed up!” James said there was no way and Lily pointed out the fact that Sirius and Remus hadn’t thrown any snowballs at each other since they came back.
“Ok if they get to be a team, then we also get to be a team” James concluded, they fist bumped on it and the game resumed.
The game continued for another five minutes before everyone was in some form of discomfort.
Remus had gotten a snowball to the face, James got a few to the back of the neck that subsequently went down the back of his shirt. Lily’s gloves were completely soaked, and Sirius’s pants and shoes were so wet from sliding and falling in the snow, that it looked like he had been wading in a pond.
They called it a day and walked the last little ways to the café.
The same waitress was there as last time, she gave the group a once over then came to take their orders once they went to the booth.
Before James sat down he was still trying to shake what was left of the unmelted snow out of his shirt by jumping up and down on the spot.
“James, if you take your coat off it might be easier” Lily said, “it's more fun to watch him try and figure it out on his own though” Remus complained.
James took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack attached to the booth, shimmied a little more, then sat down.
Lily had taken her gloves off and placed them so they were laying perfectly on the heater next to the window.
They were all waiting and warming up. There were a few older people enjoying pastries in the café who gave the group some confused but happy glances.
Sirius shifted a few times in his seat, trying to sit in a way so that he was sitting on the least wet parts of his pants. He sat down normally in defeat because all of his pants were soaked so it didn't make a difference
“I feel your pain Sirius” James said, one hand trying to get the snow out of his hood.
Lily held both of her hands between her legs in an attempt to warm them up.
The waitress came back with warm drinks and informed them that their food would be out soon too.
Instinctively, everyone held their hands around their mugs for heat.
Sirius picked up his mug and raised it as if to toast and said “to winning” Lily was confused but James and Remus understood and did the same “to winning” then Lily caught on and copied.
Everyone went to take a sip and flinched because they burned their tongues, giggles went around the table.
“I honestly almost forgot you guys had played an entire hockey game before the snowball fight” Lily laughed.
“Yeah, I mean I’m kinda tired but still running off adrenaline so it won't hit me until later” James said.
“Remus what number are you?” Sirius asked as casually as he could, “ten” he said. Lily gave Sirius a congratulatory thumbs up on his knee under the table so the others couldn't tell.
“So do you guys have some sort of skating thing we can come watch? Not that practice isn't interesting or anything but watching you guys skate in actual competition outfits or whatever they're called would be cool” James asked
“We have a showcase type thing a few weeks into December, the second Sunday?” Sirius looked at Lily for confirmation.
“Yeah second Sunday of December, so three weeks from now” she said, Remus and James nodded.
“What kinds of things do you guys actually wear for competitions cause I’m sure it's not anything like in movies” Remus said.
“That reminds me I actually have to go buy a dress for this year, my old one doesn't quite fit me or my music this year” Lily commented.
Sirius looked at everyones mugs so he didn't have to make eye contact with Remus.
“I mostly just wear what I wear to practice, all black pants and black long sleeve shirt” Sirius explained, “oh Sirius do you remember a couple years ago when you had that black shirt with rainbow sequins and tassels all over it?” Lily asked. It was a rhetorical question, but he went along with it.
“Yeah, it was whatever” he said, “no it was epic, you were so excited that you finally got to wear something sparkly and colourful” Lily explained.
Remus looked like he was trying to play off his interest by taking sips from his drink, James on the other hand, was very interested.
“Wait, that's why there's glitter all over the dressing room floors?” he asked. Just as Sirius was about to answer, the waitress came back with plates.
They thanked her and had the first few bites, Remus brought up the sequins again.
“They just kinda fall off of our outfits a lot, glitter more than actual sequins but it happens” Lily said.
Sirius hoped that the sidetracked question about glitter on the floor would make James and Remus forget about the rainbow of sequins he once wore.
He loved that top, it made him feel like he was an actual figure skater. Sirius always got jealous of the dresses the girls wore and how fancy they looked, all he ever wore was black with the occasional strip of silver glitter. The year he found the rainbow sequin top was one of his favourites, he was happy that it also matched the music he was skating to.
“Sirius, earth to Sirius” it was Lily, he shook his head “what's up?” he asked.
“Can I try some of your apple pie before it's all gone?” she asked, “yeah sure” Sirius slid the plate a bit closer to her so she could take some with a spare fork. There was only a couple forkfuls left.
“So why don't you guys wear sequins on your jerseys every now and then just to change it up” Sirius asked, “I think it's impractical and would take forever to get the sequins on them” Remus said, “not that we wouldn't want to try and wear them sometime, I think they look neat” James added.
By now the cafe was empty, except for the waitress, who was cleaning the counter.
James looked at the time, 9:04.
Everyone took the hint and started gathering their stuff, the waitress came over and they paid.
It was a very uncomfortable experience when Sirius stood up, his pants were no drier than when he walked in.
As Lily was shuffling out of the booth she looked at where Sirius had been sitting “Sirius it looks like you wet yourself” she said.
“Well I didn't, the snow did that for me, I couldn't help it” he defended, “oh yeah, you couldn't help but slide tackle James for hitting Remus in the face with a snowball” she laughed and bumped him playfully with her shoulder while she walked by.
Sirius did his best to hide his shocked face because Lily said it so obviously that James or Remus could figure out why he did it.
“And the other six or seven times you did it for no reason” she added, opening the door.
Remus stood halfway between where Lily had the door open and Sirius who was waiting for James to put his coat on. If Sirius looked hard enough, Remus was blushing slightly, either that or it was the cold outside air coming in that was making his cheeks go slightly pink.
He pretended not to notice “James, does it always take you this long to put a coat on?” he joked, “hey it's not so easy when half of it is wet” he responded “yeah, try being the one with soaked skinny jeans, they're gonna freeze to my legs the second I walk outside” Sirius said.
That was gonna be a real issue in about ten seconds from now that he hadn't thought too hard about yet.
It's gonna take ages to get them off too.
Seems like Sirius has been doomed to be stuck in his frozen black skinny jeans forever now.
Lily and Remus were giggling about something while they walked out the door before James and Sirius.
They tried to walk back to the arena in a line but Sirius would have to step off the sidewalk sometimes, and James kept walking on people’s yards.
They opted for Remus and Lily to walk in front and James and Sirius behind them.
When they got to the parking lot there were still a bunch of cars due to the teams that practice later at night.
“So I guess we’ll uh see you guys later?” James said once they reached Sirius’s car, “yeah, just text us at some point if you guys wanna hang out again” Sirius answered.
“Of course we do, we’ll sort something out” he said and for a second everyone went silent. As much as they all wanted to hug, they didn't.
James and Remus started walking off and they waved.
“Where’d you park?” Sirius asked Lily, who was still watching the boys walk away. “On the street near the park,” she said.
“Hop in, I’ll take you there” he said and unlocked the car, Lily got in the passenger seat and Sirius started the car.
He drove until he saw Lily’s car near the park, “I thought I saw it when we walked by earlier!” Sirius exclaimed “I figured you might but I wanted to keep talking to them, and I didn’t want to break the flow of conversation so I didn't say anything. It's not like they would have known anyway” Lily said as Sirius pulled over in front of her car.
“Thanks Si” Lily said as she got out, “hey Lily” Sirius called before she closed the door. “What were you and Remus talking about?” he asked, Lily broke out into a smile but held a finger up to her lips “I’m not telling, I promised I wouldn't. See ya!” “I swear if you told him!-” Sirius didn't get to finish the sentence as Lily had shut the car door, Sirius could tell she was laughing while walking to her car.
Sirius waited until Lily got into her own car before driving home.
Sirius’s phone screen turned on when he got a notification.
Remus: so a rainbow sequin skating shirt hun?