“That's the ugliest thing I've ever seen!”
“Excuse you, Prongs, it's artistry, not that you'd know,”
Holding it up with the proudest expression on his face, Sirius revealed the jumper he’d been working on. It was a frankly alarming shade of red, with green Christmas trees scattered at random. The sleeves and collars were a bright shade of green- the same as the Christmas trees.
James thought it was hideous.
Sirius thought it was the greatest jumper in all of history.
“I’m sure you wouldn’t mind wearing this artistry down to lunch then, would you, Pads?”
“As a matter of fact,” said Sirius, looking James directly in the eye with a smug grin, as he pulled the jumper over his neck. “I think I will.”
The bright red and green clashed heavily with the faded eyeliner that rimmed his eyes and messy black hair, but Sirius’s ear to ear grin was more than contagious enough to distract.
“Hey Pads? Do you still have-” started Remus from the staircase, voice abruptly stopping the second he spotted Sirius. “What the fuck has Prongs done this time?”
“Why Moony, how could you say such a thing about my newest piece of fashion? It’s simply-” he flipped his hair exaggeratedly, before continuing, “fabulous!”
“An effort was made,” deadpanned Remus.
“And you could do better?”
“Why Padfoot,” imitated Remus in a very close voice. “Of course I could!”
“Go on then,” challenged Sirius. “I dare you.”
“What do I get in return?”
“Hmmm... I’ll buy your chocolate stash for a month! Oh, and wear it for the next week straight!”
Remus’s avid smile was more than enough answer.
~~~
“So would you prefer a Christmas jumper, or a normal one?”
Looking up from his textbook, Sirius turned to meet Remus’s eyes. “What d’you mean?”
“The jumper I’m making. For the bet?”
“Oh. Oh, Moony, there’s no need. I’ll always buy your chocolate stash for a month, you don’t need to do all that.”
“But I want to. So tell me, Christmas or-”
“Could you two gentlemen please pay attention? Or do you have better things to talk about? In which case, I invite you two to share it with the entire class.”
Professor McGonagall seemed very irate, and Sirius’s hand jerked away in surprise from where it’d been holding Remus’s under the table.
About to mutter a “sorry professor,” Remus got interrupted by Sirius saying loudly “Oh professor, nothing could be better than your classes, I mean, transfiguration is my favourite subject for a reason, and it definitely isn’t all the homework.”
“As flattering as that was, we both know that wasn’t true, Sirius, so if you could kindly pay attention, that would be lovely.”
Turning back to the board, McGonagall continued whatever she was focusing on. But Remus felt a note put in his hand as Sirius held it below the table.
Opening it up, it said in Sirius’s familiar scrawl “christmas will do just fine, but you won’t be able to beat the sheer beauty mine radiates.”
Grinning, Remus silently waited ‘til he could get his hands on some wool.
~~~
If the feast two days before Christmas was so magnificent, there were high expectations for when the festival actually arrived. With turkey and rich gravy, heaps of mashed potatoes and way too much dessert, everyone lingered in the great hall much longer than usual. Everyone except Remus.
“Why are you heading up so early?” Asked Sirius in complete and utter surprise when Remus mentioned it. “Have you seen the feast today? They even have chocolate fudge!”
“I know,” said Remus, looking torn between the table and the door. “But I have other things to do.”
“More important than this?”
“Sadly.”
“Finee,” drawled James, dragging the word out. “We’ll save you some fudge!”
“I owe you!”
As Remus climbed up the stairs, he brushed back a strand of hair and mentally made a note of the designs he could weave into the jumper. Grabbing the red wool from his drawer, he slumped down onto the bed to start.
Intertwining the wool between the needles, Remus’s head buzzed with ideas to make this jumper better than the others. Maybe he lost track of time, because before he knew it, James and Sirius’s telltale steps and sleepy chatter became louder as they headed to the dorm.
“-but the best thing about him has to be his beard. Imagine how much he’d have to comb it!”
“His clothes are much better, Prongs, haven’t you seen the way he matches his hats to his robes?”
“But it wouldn’t look the same without the beard would it?”
“You know, you may have a point-”
“I don’t know, maybe the greatest part of Dumbledore- the greatest wizard, well, ever- is his magic?” Added Peter dryly.
“Not really,” hummed Sirius at the same time James went “Nah.”
“Moony! What do you-”
“I have to agree with James,” started Remus, exchanging a grin with him. “His beard is simply iconic.”
“See! Moony agrees!”
“But you said you liked his hat better! Remember? When we were late to transfiguration?” Asked Sirius accusatorily, swinging his arms about lazily.
“I did?”
Remus looked confused- the type that wasn’t fake.
“Agree to disagree? I’m too sleepy to argue anym-” James trailed off into a yawn, caught by the rest of them.
“Just this once, Prongs,” mumbled Sirius trying not to yawn again.
As the three of them turned away, Remus reached below his pillow for the half finished jumper, and picked up his wand before muttering spells.
It was a simple charm he was trying to do, and shouldn’t have taken as long as it did. But with no way to test it himself, Remus was left hoping it would work the next day.
~~~
Rubbing his eyes, Remus woke up feeling a bit groggy, before he remembered the jumper he was ready to give. Waving his wand, he watched as the jumper wrapped itself in red wrapping paper and neatly finished off with a gold ribbon.
Climbing softly into Sirius’s bed, he gently brushed a strand of hair away from Sirius’s face. “Pads?”
Stirring slightly, Sirius mumbled something incoherent before snuggling into Remus’s chest, making him smile.
“Pads, I’ve got something for you.”
“Too early,” mumbled Sirius, burying his head deeper into Remus’s chest and pulling closer.
“It’s only-” Remus checked his watch. “Eight in the morning!”
“And that’s too early to watch Prongs practice quidditch, huh?”
“Well,” started Remus, trying to come up with something. “Just- wake up!”
“Mkay, okay, I’m waking up,” yawned Sirius, slowly opening his eyes and pushing himself up. His eyes were still barely open, as he pushed the hair out of his face. “What is it?”
“Remember when you dared me to make a jumper?”
“You actually did it?” Asked Sirius, grinning and suddenly a bit more awake.
Passing over the box, Remus grinned almost shyly. “Consider it an early Christmas gift. Seeing that you will be wearing it for the next week straight.”
Sirius’s eyes widened. “I said that?”
“Yes, you did,” said Remus, his grin growing wider.
“I did, didn’t I? Well,” said Sirius, a bit brighter, all the sleepiness gone from his voice. “Let’s see if you live up to your word.”
Messily unwrapping the ribbon, Sirius bit his lip in anticipation and tore the wrapping paper.
Holding it up, the widest, most earnest smile spread across Sirius’s lips. Beautifully detailed snowflakes were charmed to slowly flutter in a non existent breeze, over a red background, confined by horizontal stripes. Another layer of stripes had reindeers that seemed to be following each other in pounce, and Sirius chuckled softly when he noticed.
“Thank you- I- this... really is amazing, Moons, where’d you learn it?”
“You haven’t seen the best part yet,” said Remus, with anticipation. “Put it on.”
Pulling his shirt over his head, Sirius shrugged into the jumper. It seemed to fit absolutely perfectly, the sleeves falling barely an inch over his wrists.
“Now transform into Padfoot,” said Remus, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
“What?”
“Turn into Padfoot,” repeated Remus with a grin.
Looking wary, Sirius transformed and was replaced with Padfoot- only, he was still wearing the same Christmas jumper, simply adjusted. When realisation hit him, Sirius transformed back with the biggest grin on his face looking impressed.
“You- you actually did that? How?”
“Magic.”
Sirius rolled his eyes but his smile was more than happy. “I'd wear this for much more than one week straight.”
“Would you buy my chocolate for more than a month?”
“Of course,” chuckled Sirius, moving in for a gentle kiss and bringing a hand through Remus’s hair. “Merry Christmas in advance- it’s tomorrow,” he whispered excitedly.
“It is, and it’s going to be awesome.”
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Small snowflakes fell on Sirius’s eyelashes.
Blinking them away, Sirius’ pulled his knees closer and let out a warm breath into his hands and watched smoke melt away in the wind. His fingers were freezing numb, yet here he was, hiding from whatever fucking feelings that seemed to have followed him home.
The winter was always colder back at Grimmauld Place. Everything was, really.
“It’s colder there,” he’d confessed. Maybe it was the drinks speaking, but somewhere deep down, he knew telling Remus would be a good idea. “I don’t know why, but it’s so much colder there.”
“Is it because you’re there, or we aren’t?”
Fuck, that had stumped him.
“Both.”
“Pads,” whispered Remus shakily. “You can always write to us, yeah? You can always write to me.”
“What’s the difference?”
“Wh- what?”
“What’s the difference between writing to all of you, and- well- just you?”
Remus’s eyes had widened, and he took a painful step back. “I- I don’t know.”
But with Sirius’s silence, he continued, moving just a little closer. “Why don’t you find out?”
So here Sirius was, on the roof of a building he’d rather burn to feel the warmth, with a piece of paper and quill. And a frostbite numbing his fingertips.
“Dear Moony” was the only thing it said. The only thing that Sirius had written in hours now. In a few more, the sun would be rising and his mother would be screaming louder than any metaphorical rooster that’d dared come near their house.
“Fuck, Prongs, this would’ve been so much easier with you.”
“I know,” replied James, hugging Sirius tightly. “But it’s just going to be a few weeks, yeah? Just a few weeks there, and then you’re back here,” he said, waving his hand around.
Looking up at the cloudy ceiling of the great hall Sirius tried to take all of it in for the last time til January’s term. The excited bustle of kids that looked just like he used to, the decorations that were just starting to form the beauty of Hogwarts during Christmas, the warm sort of feeling that always grew inside him every time he stepped in this hall.
Seems that warm feeling wasn’t going to last.
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