'Tis the Season by rian219
Title: 'Tis the Season
Author: rian219
Summary: Christmas at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius is happy, and Remus is glad to see it.
Rating: PG
Recipient: lyras
Notes: Thank you to my two lovely betas, who shall remain nameless at this stage lest they give me away. Merry Christmas, lyras! I hope you like your present.
***
'Tis the Season
When Remus walked through the door of 12 Grimmauld Place after a very, very long night, he was surprised to find it dead quiet. In itself that wasn't so surprising, but considering that the night before Arthur Weasley had been attacked by a giant snake while on duty for the Order, he'd expected Headquarters to be a little bit more lively. A little bit more full of Weasleys. Bill, he knew to be at St Mungo's already; it was possible that the others had already left to join him there. He hoped Molly had gotten at least a little sleep before she'd gone.
He hung up his coat and scarf in the hallway and walked through the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. He was desperate for a cup of tea, and while he could have had one while he was still out, he'd wanted to come home and see how Sirius was doing. He knew the children had been sent to him, and also that it couldn't have been easy dealing with them, at least until they'd gone to bed. Sirius was no doubt still asleep; Remus decided that he'd make Sirius tea as well and take it up to him once he'd relaxed a little bit himself. Maybe they could talk a little before he went back out again. They hadn't been doing all that much of that lately, what with all that was going on around them.
If he'd thought about it, Remus would have thought that given he'd just been thinking of Sirius as asleep, opening the door to the kitchen to see Sirius sitting at the table with his head in his hands would have surprised him. It didn't. What it did do was make him stop in the doorway.
"Hello," he said mildly.
Sirius looked up. He looked utterly exhausted. "Hello."
Remus walked into the room. "Long night?"
Sirius laughed and nodded, rubbing at his eyes. "You can say that again."
Remus reached Sirius' side and stopped, squeezing his shoulder gently. "I know." There was a plate in front of Sirius with the remains of breakfast on it; some eggs, a bit of bacon and a slice of buttered toast. The mug that sat next to it was empty, and Remus reached for it. "Let me make you tea."
Sirius sighed. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Remus cupped the back of Sirius' head briefly, then walked over to the sink. There was a pile of dishes in it, which at least indicated that the Weasleys and Harry had been there at some stage. He filled the kettle with water and tapped it with his wand to heat it, getting a fresh mug out of the cupboard for himself and spooning out tea leaves into a pot. "Have they gone to the hospital already?"
From the corner of his eye he saw Sirius shake his head. "No. They're upstairs asleep. They've not been up there long."
"Ah, right." Remus looked over at Sirius. "That's probably where you should be too, don't you think?"
"I will be soon," Sirius said, without a trace of irritation, which was not how it always was. "I just want to relax a minute."
Remus could relate to that. They didn't speak again until the tea was made and Remus had sat down in the chair next to Sirius, placing his tea in front of him and draining half of his own in about two seconds. He put his mug back down on the table with a satisfied sigh and watched Sirius not touch his.
"He's going to be all right, you know."
Sirius nodded, and didn't look at him. "I know. Harry saved his life, probably."
"Oh, undoubtedly," Remus said, drinking the last of his tea and filching a bit of cold bacon off Sirius' plate. "Thank Merlin for his dream."
"The kids…they're not ready for all this."
Now it was Remus' turn to nod. "I know. Neither were we."
Sirius smiled slightly, the expression not a happy one. "No, we certainly were not."
There was silence for a little while, then Remus sighed. "We can talk about this a little later. The children's things are being sent over from Hogwarts, and I've just got to go and supervise that, see that they're not tampered with. But I'll come back as soon as I can."
He stood up, his chair scraping along the floor, but that was about as far as he got. Lightning quick, Sirius had caught him around the waist and was holding him tightly, head pressed to his belly. Remus just stood there at first, a little bit shocked at Sirius' reaction, but after a few moments he brought his hand down to cup the back of Sirius' head again, stroking his hair gently.
"This one was close to home, I know," he said softly. "I'll be as careful as I can be, I promise. I'm not leaving you."
Sirius nodded and loosened his grip a little, laughing weakly before saying, "They're all staying for Christmas now, that's one good thing."
Remus kept his hand on Sirius' head. "Oh, God. Which Christmas carol am I going to be subjected to this year, hmm?" He looked around the room and spied in the corner of the room near the door the grotty, bloodstained bag that Sirius kept Buckbeak's rats in, mercifully empty right then. "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs?"
"Excuse me!" Sirius' tone was indignant, but Remus was glad to see that he was smiling. "I'll have you know that before I got old enough to know better I entertained my family for hours with my angelic voice!"
Remus laughed. "I'm sure you did, Padfoot, I'm sure you did." Remus stepped away a little so he could lean down and kiss the top of Sirius' head. He didn't miss the whiff of stale drink about him, but he also didn't blame him. It had been a rough night. "Go to bed. I'll see you soon."
Sirius nodded and hugged him one more time before letting him go. "Berk."
Remus laughed and leaned down to kiss Sirius' hair again, stealing the remaining slice of toast from Sirius' breakfast while he was at it. "You should talk. Tosser."
He left the room with Sirius chuckling over his tea, which was at least better than how he'd found him. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.
******
Sirius' mood brightened considerably after that, thrilled as he was with the idea of having company for Christmas. Remus was glad to see it, and helped out where he could when Sirius and the children set themselves the mammoth task of cleaning and decorating the house from top to bottom. He couldn't be there all the time, Order business carrying on despite the season; having to leave at least gave him a break from the carols (which he half-suspected Sirius was singing constantly just to needle him for his teasing that night in the kitchen), and let him appreciate the gradual, and beautiful, transformation the house was undergoing every time he came back.
He only really had one important mission that he absolutely needed to complete before Christmas, and he didn't end up managing it until Christmas Eve. When he walked through the door that afternoon, Sirius practically pounced on him.
"Did you get them?"
"Yes, I got them." Remus smiled. "Come upstairs with me, so I can show you."
He led the way up the stairs, Sirius practically bouncing up each step behind him. When they got into their room, Remus closed the door, then walked over to the bed where Sirius was waiting and laid his packages on the duvet. Sirius started ratting around in them eagerly until he found the one he wanted. Before he opened it, he said, "Are they as nice as they sounded in the catalogue?"
Remus nodded and sat down on the bed. "They're beautiful." He laughed a little. "I covet them, actually." He did, too; he'd spent ages in Flourish and Blotts looking through them, looking at all the pictures, until the staff had started glaring at him. He'd made things worse by putting down the ones he'd been reading and picking up another set that he hadn't been mauling before taking them to the cash register. They probably wouldn't ever let him through the door again.
Sirius laughed. "You would, Moony." He undid the plain brown wrapping of the package and drew what was inside out. A brand new set of Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts. For Harry, of course, the lucky sod. Remus would have killed for a set of books like that when he'd been at school. He'd have considered killing for them now. Even Sirius was looking vaguely covetous as he flicked through the first couple of volumes. Remus laughed.
"Quick, Padfoot, put them away or wrap them or something. He'll never get them in any sort of decent condition if we don't get them out of our sight."
Sirius laughed and put the book in his hands down. "All right, all right. I'll wrap them." He summoned the wrapping paper and ribbons, scissors and tape to the bed and started to wrap the books in bright red paper. Remus moved the rest of the parcels off the bed and lay down on his side, head resting on his hand as he watched Sirius wrap. A companionable silence descended on them, the only sound the snick of scissors and the rustling of paper and ribbon as Sirius wrapped. Once he'd finished he smoothed his hand over the bright, cheery paper, and got a look on his face that was so wistful Remus couldn't help but break the silence.
"Sickle for your thoughts."
"What?" Sirius looked up quickly, eyebrows raised, then his expression relaxed and he smiled a little. "Oh, it's…it's nothing really. I was just thinking about the last Christmas we spent with Harry, that's all."
Remus smiled slightly. He remembered that day well. It was probably their last truly happy time together, all of them. "It was certainly a long time ago," he said softly.
Sirius' nodded, still smoothing his fingers over Harry's present. "It was. It was a good day, though, wasn't it?"
"That it was." Remus was silent a minute, then laughed suddenly. "Although…what on earth were we thinking, getting him the present we did? I mean…a broom, Sirius. We got him a broom."
"What? It was a kid's broom!"
"Yes, but he was four months old! He couldn't even crawl, let alone fly on anything. He spent more time trying to eat the paper the bloody thing was wrapped in. We should have just gotten him some stationery." Remus laughed. "We were so utterly clueless. Even James was, what with him getting Harry a snitch, do you remember? I'm amazed Lily didn't beat us all senseless in frustration."
Sirius laughed. "I remember. And I think she wanted to, even if she didn't quite put it into action. Which was good for us, really. She might have thrown like a girl, but she punched like a boy." Sirius winced and rubbed his arm in remembrance. "I remember that pretty well, too."
Remus snorted with laughter. "She never punched me. She saved all that for you."
"Don't I know it." Sirius grinned and lay down on the bed, pushing Harry's books aside carefully so he could lie down next to Remus, facing him and still smiling slightly. "It was a good day, though. A good Christmas."
Remus reached out to tuck Sirius' unruly hair behind his ears, tracing a gentle finger over his eyebrows and cheekbones while he was at it, first one side, then the other. "This one will be too. The house looks beautiful."
"Mmm." Sirius' had closed his eyes, and was still a second, leaning his head into Remus' caresses before sighing deeply and opening his eyes again. "I know. It does. Speaking of which, it's probably time to get back to it. It's not all finished yet."
Now it was Remus' turn to sigh. It made him a selfish git, he knew, but all he wanted was five….no, ten; ten minutes of peace and quiet alone with Sirius. That was all. He let his head drop to the mattress. "Do we have to?"
"Yes. Come on. We've got things to do. The show must go on and all that." Sirius was up on his feet in a second. Remus sighed. There was no stopping him when he was like this. He sat up and got slowly off the bed. Sirius was halfway to the door when Remus put his hands in his pockets to make a show of trudging out the door amidst a storm of great personal sacrifice. When he did that he felt something else that he'd brought home, but forgotten about in the excitement of Harry's beautiful books. A sprig of mistletoe, that he'd nicked out of a larger arrangement hanging over the doorway of one of the many shops he'd been into on his shopping expedition. He'd intended it for use with Sirius, of course, but had thought that if no opportunity presented itself with his intended target, then he could always put it up somewhere to horrify the children. But it looked now like he wouldn't need to do that, since he had Sirius right where he wanted him. Almost.
"Oh, wait, I…hang on." Sirius was still heading for the door. "Sirius. Wait."
Sirius turned around, eyebrows raised in enquiry. "What for?"
Remus blushed. This was more embarrassing than he'd anticipated. He'd forgotten in all the Christmas cheer how crap he was at these things. "Just…come over here and give us a kiss, you old bastard."
Sirius' eyebrows were almost at his hairline now, and he laughed a little. "Well, Moony, it's not that I don't want to, but isn't that kind of a strange way to…"
"No, you have to, you see, because I've got…" Remus fumbled the plant out of his pocket, and tapped it with his wand, sending it up into the air to hang above his head, before smiling nervously at Sirius while wanting to just die of embarrassment and get it over with, "…mistletoe."
Sirius looked momentarily confused, then surprised again, then delighted. "Well, why didn't you say that in the first place, Remus!" he said as he crossed the floor in three strides.
"Just shut up," Remus said, pulling Sirius towards him and making sure he did just that, for quite a few minutes. When the kiss finally ended and he opened his eyes, he saw that Sirius was smiling at him. "Merry Christmas," he said shakily.
"Merry Christmas to you too," Sirius said softly. "Berk."
Remus was shocked into silence for a few seconds, then recovered himself and grinned. "You should talk. Tosser."
Sirius threw back his head and laughed long and loud, then hugged Remus to him tightly, kissing him once more before grabbing Remus' wrist and dragging him from the room, the mistletoe sailing through the air behind them.
***
Author: rian219
Summary: Christmas at 12 Grimmauld Place. Sirius is happy, and Remus is glad to see it.
Rating: PG
Recipient: lyras
Notes: Thank you to my two lovely betas, who shall remain nameless at this stage lest they give me away. Merry Christmas, lyras! I hope you like your present.
***
'Tis the Season
When Remus walked through the door of 12 Grimmauld Place after a very, very long night, he was surprised to find it dead quiet. In itself that wasn't so surprising, but considering that the night before Arthur Weasley had been attacked by a giant snake while on duty for the Order, he'd expected Headquarters to be a little bit more lively. A little bit more full of Weasleys. Bill, he knew to be at St Mungo's already; it was possible that the others had already left to join him there. He hoped Molly had gotten at least a little sleep before she'd gone.
He hung up his coat and scarf in the hallway and walked through the door and down the stairs to the kitchen. He was desperate for a cup of tea, and while he could have had one while he was still out, he'd wanted to come home and see how Sirius was doing. He knew the children had been sent to him, and also that it couldn't have been easy dealing with them, at least until they'd gone to bed. Sirius was no doubt still asleep; Remus decided that he'd make Sirius tea as well and take it up to him once he'd relaxed a little bit himself. Maybe they could talk a little before he went back out again. They hadn't been doing all that much of that lately, what with all that was going on around them.
If he'd thought about it, Remus would have thought that given he'd just been thinking of Sirius as asleep, opening the door to the kitchen to see Sirius sitting at the table with his head in his hands would have surprised him. It didn't. What it did do was make him stop in the doorway.
"Hello," he said mildly.
Sirius looked up. He looked utterly exhausted. "Hello."
Remus walked into the room. "Long night?"
Sirius laughed and nodded, rubbing at his eyes. "You can say that again."
Remus reached Sirius' side and stopped, squeezing his shoulder gently. "I know." There was a plate in front of Sirius with the remains of breakfast on it; some eggs, a bit of bacon and a slice of buttered toast. The mug that sat next to it was empty, and Remus reached for it. "Let me make you tea."
Sirius sighed. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Remus cupped the back of Sirius' head briefly, then walked over to the sink. There was a pile of dishes in it, which at least indicated that the Weasleys and Harry had been there at some stage. He filled the kettle with water and tapped it with his wand to heat it, getting a fresh mug out of the cupboard for himself and spooning out tea leaves into a pot. "Have they gone to the hospital already?"
From the corner of his eye he saw Sirius shake his head. "No. They're upstairs asleep. They've not been up there long."
"Ah, right." Remus looked over at Sirius. "That's probably where you should be too, don't you think?"
"I will be soon," Sirius said, without a trace of irritation, which was not how it always was. "I just want to relax a minute."
Remus could relate to that. They didn't speak again until the tea was made and Remus had sat down in the chair next to Sirius, placing his tea in front of him and draining half of his own in about two seconds. He put his mug back down on the table with a satisfied sigh and watched Sirius not touch his.
"He's going to be all right, you know."
Sirius nodded, and didn't look at him. "I know. Harry saved his life, probably."
"Oh, undoubtedly," Remus said, drinking the last of his tea and filching a bit of cold bacon off Sirius' plate. "Thank Merlin for his dream."
"The kids…they're not ready for all this."
Now it was Remus' turn to nod. "I know. Neither were we."
Sirius smiled slightly, the expression not a happy one. "No, we certainly were not."
There was silence for a little while, then Remus sighed. "We can talk about this a little later. The children's things are being sent over from Hogwarts, and I've just got to go and supervise that, see that they're not tampered with. But I'll come back as soon as I can."
He stood up, his chair scraping along the floor, but that was about as far as he got. Lightning quick, Sirius had caught him around the waist and was holding him tightly, head pressed to his belly. Remus just stood there at first, a little bit shocked at Sirius' reaction, but after a few moments he brought his hand down to cup the back of Sirius' head again, stroking his hair gently.
"This one was close to home, I know," he said softly. "I'll be as careful as I can be, I promise. I'm not leaving you."
Sirius nodded and loosened his grip a little, laughing weakly before saying, "They're all staying for Christmas now, that's one good thing."
Remus kept his hand on Sirius' head. "Oh, God. Which Christmas carol am I going to be subjected to this year, hmm?" He looked around the room and spied in the corner of the room near the door the grotty, bloodstained bag that Sirius kept Buckbeak's rats in, mercifully empty right then. "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs?"
"Excuse me!" Sirius' tone was indignant, but Remus was glad to see that he was smiling. "I'll have you know that before I got old enough to know better I entertained my family for hours with my angelic voice!"
Remus laughed. "I'm sure you did, Padfoot, I'm sure you did." Remus stepped away a little so he could lean down and kiss the top of Sirius' head. He didn't miss the whiff of stale drink about him, but he also didn't blame him. It had been a rough night. "Go to bed. I'll see you soon."
Sirius nodded and hugged him one more time before letting him go. "Berk."
Remus laughed and leaned down to kiss Sirius' hair again, stealing the remaining slice of toast from Sirius' breakfast while he was at it. "You should talk. Tosser."
He left the room with Sirius chuckling over his tea, which was at least better than how he'd found him. Maybe things weren't so bad after all.
******
Sirius' mood brightened considerably after that, thrilled as he was with the idea of having company for Christmas. Remus was glad to see it, and helped out where he could when Sirius and the children set themselves the mammoth task of cleaning and decorating the house from top to bottom. He couldn't be there all the time, Order business carrying on despite the season; having to leave at least gave him a break from the carols (which he half-suspected Sirius was singing constantly just to needle him for his teasing that night in the kitchen), and let him appreciate the gradual, and beautiful, transformation the house was undergoing every time he came back.
He only really had one important mission that he absolutely needed to complete before Christmas, and he didn't end up managing it until Christmas Eve. When he walked through the door that afternoon, Sirius practically pounced on him.
"Did you get them?"
"Yes, I got them." Remus smiled. "Come upstairs with me, so I can show you."
He led the way up the stairs, Sirius practically bouncing up each step behind him. When they got into their room, Remus closed the door, then walked over to the bed where Sirius was waiting and laid his packages on the duvet. Sirius started ratting around in them eagerly until he found the one he wanted. Before he opened it, he said, "Are they as nice as they sounded in the catalogue?"
Remus nodded and sat down on the bed. "They're beautiful." He laughed a little. "I covet them, actually." He did, too; he'd spent ages in Flourish and Blotts looking through them, looking at all the pictures, until the staff had started glaring at him. He'd made things worse by putting down the ones he'd been reading and picking up another set that he hadn't been mauling before taking them to the cash register. They probably wouldn't ever let him through the door again.
Sirius laughed. "You would, Moony." He undid the plain brown wrapping of the package and drew what was inside out. A brand new set of Practical Defensive Magic and its Use Against the Dark Arts. For Harry, of course, the lucky sod. Remus would have killed for a set of books like that when he'd been at school. He'd have considered killing for them now. Even Sirius was looking vaguely covetous as he flicked through the first couple of volumes. Remus laughed.
"Quick, Padfoot, put them away or wrap them or something. He'll never get them in any sort of decent condition if we don't get them out of our sight."
Sirius laughed and put the book in his hands down. "All right, all right. I'll wrap them." He summoned the wrapping paper and ribbons, scissors and tape to the bed and started to wrap the books in bright red paper. Remus moved the rest of the parcels off the bed and lay down on his side, head resting on his hand as he watched Sirius wrap. A companionable silence descended on them, the only sound the snick of scissors and the rustling of paper and ribbon as Sirius wrapped. Once he'd finished he smoothed his hand over the bright, cheery paper, and got a look on his face that was so wistful Remus couldn't help but break the silence.
"Sickle for your thoughts."
"What?" Sirius looked up quickly, eyebrows raised, then his expression relaxed and he smiled a little. "Oh, it's…it's nothing really. I was just thinking about the last Christmas we spent with Harry, that's all."
Remus smiled slightly. He remembered that day well. It was probably their last truly happy time together, all of them. "It was certainly a long time ago," he said softly.
Sirius' nodded, still smoothing his fingers over Harry's present. "It was. It was a good day, though, wasn't it?"
"That it was." Remus was silent a minute, then laughed suddenly. "Although…what on earth were we thinking, getting him the present we did? I mean…a broom, Sirius. We got him a broom."
"What? It was a kid's broom!"
"Yes, but he was four months old! He couldn't even crawl, let alone fly on anything. He spent more time trying to eat the paper the bloody thing was wrapped in. We should have just gotten him some stationery." Remus laughed. "We were so utterly clueless. Even James was, what with him getting Harry a snitch, do you remember? I'm amazed Lily didn't beat us all senseless in frustration."
Sirius laughed. "I remember. And I think she wanted to, even if she didn't quite put it into action. Which was good for us, really. She might have thrown like a girl, but she punched like a boy." Sirius winced and rubbed his arm in remembrance. "I remember that pretty well, too."
Remus snorted with laughter. "She never punched me. She saved all that for you."
"Don't I know it." Sirius grinned and lay down on the bed, pushing Harry's books aside carefully so he could lie down next to Remus, facing him and still smiling slightly. "It was a good day, though. A good Christmas."
Remus reached out to tuck Sirius' unruly hair behind his ears, tracing a gentle finger over his eyebrows and cheekbones while he was at it, first one side, then the other. "This one will be too. The house looks beautiful."
"Mmm." Sirius' had closed his eyes, and was still a second, leaning his head into Remus' caresses before sighing deeply and opening his eyes again. "I know. It does. Speaking of which, it's probably time to get back to it. It's not all finished yet."
Now it was Remus' turn to sigh. It made him a selfish git, he knew, but all he wanted was five….no, ten; ten minutes of peace and quiet alone with Sirius. That was all. He let his head drop to the mattress. "Do we have to?"
"Yes. Come on. We've got things to do. The show must go on and all that." Sirius was up on his feet in a second. Remus sighed. There was no stopping him when he was like this. He sat up and got slowly off the bed. Sirius was halfway to the door when Remus put his hands in his pockets to make a show of trudging out the door amidst a storm of great personal sacrifice. When he did that he felt something else that he'd brought home, but forgotten about in the excitement of Harry's beautiful books. A sprig of mistletoe, that he'd nicked out of a larger arrangement hanging over the doorway of one of the many shops he'd been into on his shopping expedition. He'd intended it for use with Sirius, of course, but had thought that if no opportunity presented itself with his intended target, then he could always put it up somewhere to horrify the children. But it looked now like he wouldn't need to do that, since he had Sirius right where he wanted him. Almost.
"Oh, wait, I…hang on." Sirius was still heading for the door. "Sirius. Wait."
Sirius turned around, eyebrows raised in enquiry. "What for?"
Remus blushed. This was more embarrassing than he'd anticipated. He'd forgotten in all the Christmas cheer how crap he was at these things. "Just…come over here and give us a kiss, you old bastard."
Sirius' eyebrows were almost at his hairline now, and he laughed a little. "Well, Moony, it's not that I don't want to, but isn't that kind of a strange way to…"
"No, you have to, you see, because I've got…" Remus fumbled the plant out of his pocket, and tapped it with his wand, sending it up into the air to hang above his head, before smiling nervously at Sirius while wanting to just die of embarrassment and get it over with, "…mistletoe."
Sirius looked momentarily confused, then surprised again, then delighted. "Well, why didn't you say that in the first place, Remus!" he said as he crossed the floor in three strides.
"Just shut up," Remus said, pulling Sirius towards him and making sure he did just that, for quite a few minutes. When the kiss finally ended and he opened his eyes, he saw that Sirius was smiling at him. "Merry Christmas," he said shakily.
"Merry Christmas to you too," Sirius said softly. "Berk."
Remus was shocked into silence for a few seconds, then recovered himself and grinned. "You should talk. Tosser."
Sirius threw back his head and laughed long and loud, then hugged Remus to him tightly, kissing him once more before grabbing Remus' wrist and dragging him from the room, the mistletoe sailing through the air behind them.
***