Fic: These Winter Serenades for brighty18

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Title: These Winter Serenades
Author:leafyaki
Written for:brighty18
Rating: PG
Prompt: 2. Gift giving/deliberations over presents
Summary: A tale of Christmases through the years
Any other notes, warnings, etc.: Thanks muchly and lots of love for my beta,fullmoon_dreams, for the quick work and lovely encouragment <3brighty18, I really hope you like it! *nervous* What else...not too much angst so I hope you enjoy (: Title inspired by Robbie William's Eternity, a hopelessly sappy song which I nonetheless love. I edited the actual line for the title though :]

 

 

In their first year at Hogwarts, when everyone was still scared and uncertain and getting used to boarding school, Christmas came upon them suddenly and startlingly after the flurry of homework and lessons.

Sirius, excited to be celebrating Christmas away from Grimmauld Place for the first time, and with people other than his family, tried to persuade his dorm mates to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays. He did not know them very well, but in Sirius’s mind he imagined that maybe they would get to know each other a little better over snowball fights and mugs of hot chocolate. It was going to be his best Christmas ever.

James, wary about the Black family’s reputation, hesitated at first. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to spend Christmas with one of the Black family members, even though Sirius did not really seem that evil. But he caved in under Peter’s relentless persuasion. Peter did not want to travel home for the short Christmas break and wanted to experience the Hogwarts atmosphere. James and Peter, having formed a bond with each other, decided to stay and maybe try and sneak into Hogsmeade.

Of all of them, Remus was the one who longed to stay in Hogwarts even more than Sirius did. Home was comforting and his parents would always welcome him back, but Hogwarts was where he felt happy for the first time in many years, surrounded by ancient history, books and even the occasional awkward silences in his dormitory. There was always a lot of learning to be done there, be it about his dorm mates or the lessons. The silences in the dorm were always worth it, because he learnt the most then.

In their first year, Remus thought carefully and gave Sirius a ballpoint pen. He relished the look of curiosity on Sirius’s face, then the look of utter joy when he found out that it was not a quill, and that it already had ink inside, and that it was muggle-made. It was the first time Sirius smiled so brightly at him.

“Brilliant, what muggles can do!” Sirius exclaimed while turning his ballpoint pen over and over, taking it apart and intently examining the bits that made it up. “Thank you, Remus!”

It did not matter that all Remus got were chocolate frogs. He knew that Sirius was a terrible gift-giver, and he would be content with whatever he got.

-

Second year Christmas sent Sirius into a frenzy.

Remus had been avoiding all of them for the past few weeks, ever since they had found out he was a werewolf. They pleaded with and cajoled and threatened him, but Remus refused to accept the fact that somehow, they did not care that he was a werewolf. Something to do with his inferiority complex, James said solemnly to the other two and Peter bit his lip in anxiety. Sirius stared out of one of the large windows in their dormitory and frowned.

Christmas rolled around and Remus, to their surprise, considering how he had been avoiding them for such a long time, still decided to stay.

Sirius took the opportunity one afternoon to steal James away from Peter. They found themselves in an empty classroom and began scratching out gift ideas on a piece of parchment.

“Sweets?” James offered half-heartedly. He was already itching to get back and read his Quidditch magazine and was slightly offended at the fact that Sirius found this more important than Quidditch. James huffed.

“Did that last year. James, the reason I got you here,” Sirius said imperiously, “is because I have no clue what to get. You know as well as I do that I can’t give good presents. I just bloody can’t.” James snorted into his mug.

“Anyway,” Sirius continued, glaring at the sniggering James and wondering what was so funny, “you have to help me. It’s imperative.” Sirius sniffed primly.

James continued sniggering. He privately thought that Sirius was acting like a bit of a girl, worrying about presents and the like, because boys just don’t do that, according to his wonderful twelve year old logic. Sirius scowled at him briefly and waited impatiently for him to stop, staring hard at his crumpled piece of parchment.

When James saw Sirius looking at his ballpoint pen miserably, he calmed down and started throwing out all sorts of ridiculous ideas for presents, dungbombs and fertilisers and anything else he could come up with off the top of his head. They did agree though, that fertilisers wouldn’t go any way to making Remus happy, and he hated dungbombs. Flowers were just too girly, and who would like them anyway? Though Sirius marked it down as a prank present for Lily Evans, and James enthusiastically offered to put sneezing powder in the flowers.

In the end, they decided on a packet of sugar quills because Sirius had given chocolate frogs the year before and they were trying for something different this year. They figured that no one would dislike sweets, especially since Remus had liked the chocolate frogs. But Sirius wasn’t happy.

“I want to give him something great, James,” Sirius said stubbornly, “not just something anyone would like. I want to convince him we’re still friends.” James awkwardly patted him on the shoulder and said he wouldn’t know either. Unable to come up with anything good, Sirius went to bed on Christmas Eve with a heavy heart.

Remus surprised him in the morning by shaking him awake with a smile, clutching onto a crumpled piece of parchment.

“Hey, Sirius. Um. Sorry I was such an arse the last few weeks,” Remus whispered in the early dawn light, his face turning red with embarrassment. “Um, well, thank you for the gift, I suppose,” Remus paused and shuffled his feet while Sirius struggled to a sitting position, rubbing at his bleary eyes.

“Merry Christmas, mate,” Remus finished quickly and, before Sirius had the chance to say anything, he ducked out of the red curtains, still with a furiously embarrassed blush on his face.

Sirius, sleepy and confused, wondered what was so familiar about the parchment. He decided to ignore it in favour of remembering that Remus had stopped avoiding them, or at least, stopped avoiding him, and they would be able to have their first proper snowball fight in weeks.

He smiled and jumped out of bed, cursing violently and loudly at the first touch of cold stone on sleep-warmed feet. James threw a pillow at him and ordered him to shut up. Sirius, too happy to take offence, jumped into James’s bed with a war cry (“You’re dead, Potter!”) and a pillow fight ensued.

It was only later that he realised he couldn’t find his parchment of gift ideas. He dismissed it when he remembered that Peter was a notorious neat-freak and had probably thrown it away when he found it on the floor.

-

Sirius was determined in 1973.

He marched towards the dormitory with a grim face. Pushing open the door he spied Remus reading serenely on his bed and let loose a full, demonic grin.

“Moony, there you are,” Sirius sang innocently. He leapt onto Remus’s bed and proceeded to bounce on it.

Remus frowned suspiciously. “What do you want, Sirius?” He asked slowly, all the while glaring at Sirius bouncing on his bed. Sirius bouncing was never a good thing, it usually meant he had a grand, prank-related idea.

“Well,” Sirius said happily, collapsing on the bed in a pile of gangly limbs, “I have decided that since I’m such a terrible gift giver – don’t snort, Moony! – you shall tell me what you want for Christmas, and everyone will be happy!”

Remus sighed and had to hide a fond smile. Sirius really did try so hard. Sirius was now looking at him with a childish grin that lit up his whole face.

“Oh, Sirius,” Remus said with a smile. “It’s all about you, choosing a gift for someone else, which makes it special, see.” He flicked his quill at Sirius’s nose and grinned when he sneezed explosively.

Sirius rubbed at his nose and grabbed the offending quill out of Remus’s hand. He glared at Remus playfully. “But Moony! You know how horrible I am, I just don’t know what to get! You have to tell me,” Sirius paused for a while. “Please?”

Remus glanced up at the suddenly piteous tone Sirius took. Sirius, in the soft glow of the candlelight, looked vulnerable and awkward as he twisted the quill incessantly in his fingers. Remus examined Sirius’s face, usually so confident (even with embarrassing adolescent pimples starting to show). Remus sighed and put down his book. Sirius looked up eagerly.

“Sirius,” Remus’s voice cracked. He cleared his throat and tried again, grinning at the slight smile that appeared on Sirius’s face when his voice cracked. “Don’t laugh, yours is breaking too. Anyway, I promise you, I won’t dislike anything you get me, alright?”

Remus put up a hand when he saw Sirius open his mouth to argue. Sirius sputtered, looked like he was about to say something, then flopped down onto the bed in defeat. Remus picked up his book and resumed reading while Sirius quietly fiddled with Remus’s quilt, robes and quill, thinking long and hard into the night.

That year, Remus got a crudely drawn card with some squiggles that might just possibly pass off as smilies and a crooked Christmas tree drawn on it. It was squashed beneath a packet of fizzing whizbees. Remus could just make out a “Happy Christmas, Moony, sorry I can’t draw. Hogsmeade?” on the card.

Remus laughed and carefully placed the card in his journal, before heading down to the Common Room where he was sure an excited Sirius was waiting for him.

-

For the first time in four years, Remus did not know what to get for Sirius.

Sirius was a little depressed lately, apparently over some familial issues that he refused to share with the others. Remus was slightly hurt by this (shouldn’t he have earned Sirius’s trust, by now?) but let it slide, offering as much comfort as he could. The rest tried to help, too. Peter secretly slid more bacon onto Sirius’s plate at breakfast (and Remus knew just how much Peter loved bacon); James even stopped stalking Lily Evans in favour of discussing Quidditch tactics with Sirius.

Remus poured out his feelings to Peter during their study sessions. It was the week before Christmas, in the library, where Peter had long since given up trying to explain the finer aspects of Runes to Remus and had settled for talking with him instead.

“I don’t know, Peter,” Remus said tiredly. “It’s just…it’s not even that he’s just sad, it’s that he refuses to talk to us about it, you know?”

Peter nodded sadly. “I know. The other day, I tried to talk to him about it too, but he just smiled and said nothing’s wrong. Then he went on about his latest prank idea but…” Peter frowned. “He’s just…acting so weird.” Remus nodded in agreement.

“You think it’s to do with his brother?” Remus asked. Regulus had only entered Hogwarts two years previously. While Sirius had professed disappointment that his baby brother was not in Gryffindor with him, there didn’t seem to have been any conflicts between them lately.

“I don’t think so. It’s more likely that it’s to do with his parents? You’ve seen how protective Sirius is over Regulus, and Regulus seems to care for Sirius, too. Regulus is worried as well, he came up to me the other way, unwilling though he was with. You know how those Slytherins keep a close watch over him…” Peter said with a sigh.

Remus was understandably startled. “You mean, Regulus doesn’t know either?”

Peter sighed. “I think their parents haven’t told him, whatever it was they’ve said to Sirius.”

“What if…” Remus started tentatively. He swallowed nervously. “What if we’ve got this all wrong, and Sirius is worrying about…something else?”

Peter paused and hesitated, a flush appearing on his face. “You mean, erm, girls?” The last word was said in practically a whisper. Peter and Remus blushed and turned away quickly, refusing to meet each other’s eyes.

“W-well,” Remus picked up a quill and started fiddling with it. “It could be, I don’t know, some girl not returning his feelings.”

Peter looked awed. “Then he must really like this girl, or he wouldn’t be so worried over it. But that’s weird, too. Who would reject him?” Sirius was, after all, considered one of the more handsome boys in Hogwarts, if not the most.

Remus chuckled. “Sometimes we forget, Peter, that there are some girls like Lily Evans who can refuse the advances of our esteemed friends. Obnoxious gits, they call them.” Remus and Peter stifled their giggles lest Madam Pince heard them and threw them out.

When Remus calmed down, he took up a spare piece of parchment and started scribbling on it. Peter raised an eyebrow. “You’re doing your list thing again, aren’t you?”

Remus nodded. “Might as well try and figure out what to get for Sirius, even if I can’t figure out what’s wrong with him.”

Peter laughed. “Alright, after you’re done with that, be sure you explain Scourgify to me again. Can’t get it right, no matter how hard I try.”

Remus nodded absently. “You’ll get it after a bit of practice.”

There was a long silence before Remus realised what he had unknowingly admitted to. Remus’s blush reached the tips of his ears and he refused to raise his eyes from the parchment. Peter coughed loudly, stored that little bit of information away, and decided that later he would inform their friends that Remus was a normal, growing boy after all.

---

On Christmas morning, Remus woke up early and jumped out of bed. Running quickly and lightly across the stone floor, he dove into the enclosure of Sirius’s curtains and scrambled under his blankets.

“What the...” Sirius mumbled fuzzily, voice thick with sleep. Remus wrinkled his nose at the morning breath.

“Moony? Whatcha doing here?” Sirius asked. He gave a great jaw-cracking yawn that made Remus wince.

“Merry Christmas, Sirius,” Remus said quietly. He shuffled around and eventually settled against Sirius’s side, sighing happily at the warmth emanating from his friend’s body.

“Mmm, Merry Christmas to you, too,” Sirius said lazily. Sirius moved closer and swung his arm around Remus’s middle. It weighed awkwardly on his ribs and made Remus wriggle to try to get a little more comfortable. More or less settled, he took a deep breath.

“It’s about time you tell me what’s been happening to you, Sirius,” Remus whispered.

Sirius stiffened, and for a moment Remus panicked and wondered if it had been such a good idea after all. He turned, trapped Sirius’s arm just as he was about to move it away, and peered into Sirius’s alert eyes. Remus had never seen so much uncertainty in his friend’s eyes before. Making up his mind in that moment, Remus smiled sadly and moved to embrace Sirius’s stiff body.

Sirius stayed still for quite a while longer, eyes staring unseeingly into Remus’s shoulder. He burrowed against that strong shoulder, nose pressed into the reassuring warmth of his friend. Remus merely shifted and turned onto his back, so that Sirius was lying against his side.

The wait, in Remus’s opinion, had been worth it. He lay there, listening to the pain and confusion of a teenager who had been rejected by his parents, denied their love, and forbidden to continue contact with his younger brother. All at the same time as he was dealing with the stresses of learning about a seemingly foreign body and the attention that came along with it. And part of Remus’s pleasure, he realised guiltily, came from the fact that he, and not Sirius’s declared brother-in-arms James, was the first to be able to hear about and coax all this information from Sirius.

When Sirius was done, exhausted with unloading his heavy heart to his friend, Remus pulled him into a tighter embrace and hummed him to sleep. Christmas could wait a little longer.

-

Remus was struck by the most horrifying epiphany at the start of his fifth year. The long and short of it all was that he rather fancied Sirius Black.

On the train to Hogwarts, Remus carefully and fully considered the implications of his rather fancying Sirius and the actions he could take with the help of a mental list.

1. He could continue the way he used to be with Sirius, and Sirius hopefully wouldn’t suspect anything.
2. He could admit his feelings for Sirius and:

a. Sirius would accept them and might even return them.

b. Sirius would reject him but continue to be his friend, albeit being slightly awkward a while.

c. Sirius would reject him and stop being friends with him.

3. He could avoid Sirius until the feelings went away, and maybe attempt to find a girl to be with, with the added incentive that it would get James off his back.
4. He could, first of all, push a snoozing Sirius off his shoulder and hope to be able to hide his embarrassing physical reaction.

Unfortunately, Sirius continued to be asleep well into the trip, with the result that Remus had a cramped right shoulder and a very apologetic Sirius on his hands at the end of the journey. Sirius stuck close to him and chattered all the way in the carriage ride up to the castle in the mistaken notion that that would make it up to Remus. Remus wanted nothing more than to run to the bathroom and take care of his problem.

Remus noticed that James was eyeing him weirdly the whole day and wasn’t surprised when he cornered him in the bathroom that night.

“Shit, Remus, you fancy Sirius, don’t you?” James whispered urgently.

Remus’s eyes widened comically and James almost laughed at the look of fear on his face.

“You know, I expected you would find it out some day, not…five hours into our first night of term,” Remus sighed wearily. “What gave it away?”

“Your, erm…” James gestured significantly at the lower half of their bodies. Remus wanted to obliviate him there and then. He stared at the floor and counted the seconds until his mortification would be over.

James sighed. “I won’t pretend it’s not weird, but you’d better talk to Sirius soon. He looked quite confused when you pushed him away after dinner.”

Remus nodded. After James twiddled his thumbs a little more, he dashed out of the bathroom and headed for bed, muttering a quick goodnight to the other two boys of their group.

Remus wondered how he would survive the coming year, when the first night had already gone disastrously wrong.

The mirror gave a little sigh. “It’s just your luck, boy,” it muttered breezily and Remus splashed water at it in retaliation.

---

Sirius was not sure how he had offended Remus, but he knew that his Christmas present this year was the best ever, and surely Remus couldn’t avoid him after Sirius had given it to him?

James and Peter still could not achieve their animagus forms, though James seemed further along than Peter. Sirius encouraged them during their weekly meetings when Remus was out patrolling, convincing them that they would be able to do it, hopefully sooner rather than later. Both of them would squint their eyes in determination and Sirius always felt a surge of pride in his friends.

Of course, November was, strictly speaking, not yet Christmas, but Sirius felt that it would be ridiculous to let his friend go through one more night of pain when he already had his Animagus form down pat. Bidding a hasty farewell to James and Peter, both of whom were still desperately trying to achieve their forms, Sirius headed down to the Whomping Willow at sunset.

He picked up the long stick that Madam Pomfrey and Remus used to stop the Whomping Willow’s trashes and prodded carefully at the knot. Sliding down into the secret tunnel while the trashes stopped temporarily, Sirius transformed into his dog form and trotted briskly towards the Shrieking Shack. His body shook as he heard the screams, previously inaudible outside the Willow. For Remus, Sirius thought fervently, for Remus. Having reached the end of the tunnel, he had no choice but to transform back in order to unlock the trapdoor, before sliding smoothly into animal form again and nosing the door open, closing it carefully with paws and teeth once he was through.

Sirius pricked up his ears and carefully made his way to where the pants were dying down. He was startled when he came snout to snout with a tawny werewolf almost immediately upon entering the room.

Moony is angry, was Sirius’s first panicky thought when he heard the growls the wolf was emitting. Heart beating furiously, Sirius forced himself to stay still and allow the wolf to circle him predatorily. The wolf growled menacingly all the time, eyes flicking towards the dog’s front from time to time to ensure that he was being obedient. Through all this, Sirius’s thoughts switched rapidly between Moony is angry and Moony is such a pretty, pretty wolf. The latter thought would certainly not be appreciated by the growling animal prowling around him, Sirius thought absently.

Apparently satisfied, the wolf finally stopped circling Sirius and nosed his snout instead, accepting him as pack mate. Sirius’s tail immediately started wagging, his thoughts immediately fixated itself upon the prettiness of Moony, and their play ensued. Most of which, really, just involved barking and jumping around the house, destroying various bits of furniture and chasing each other’s tails. Sirius had quite a bit of coordinating to do with his clumsy, overlarge paws, which Moony often used to his advantage to topple the dog over and wrestle him down.

An hour or two before moonset, Moony settled contentedly down next to Sirius. Sirius gave a doggy grin and rested his head upon Moony’s pretty, pretty neck.

Best present ever, Sirius thought happily and proceeded into snooze land with the fully contented wolf.

---

Sirius panicked briefly when Remus started the painful transformation back to boy, before he calmed himself down and, whimpering, settled in the corner to give him space to transform. Sirius never thought he’d heard a sound worse than his mother’s screeches until he heard bones snapping back into place and the hoarse screams of a brave, tired boy.

When Remus finished, Sirius quickly ran over to him and nosed his cheek, licking him in an effort to comfort.

“Hey,” Remus said in a scratchy voice. Sirius whimpered again and settled his body against Remus’s, allowing the warmth and softness of his doggy form to soothe him. Remus smiled and wrapped his arm around the dog’s middle.

“Hey, boy. Good boy,” Remus said softly, rubbing the fur on the dog’s stomach. Sirius gave a little whine at how good that felt and settled himself closer to Remus. “How did you get in here, boy?” Remus asked curiously.

Sirius, in a haze of comfort with the tummy rubs, suddenly wanted to smack his own head at the stupidity of not revealing himself to Remus earlier.

He transformed back, smiling at Remus’s stunned face when he held a boy in his arms instead of the black dog.

“Heya, Remus,” Sirius said happily, squirming to get his arm under the injured boy so he could hug him more effectively.

“Sirius? But…what…?” Remus stammered in confusion.

Sirius grinned. “Do you like it, Remus? Did it help? Did it hurt less? Because, you know, if we went through all that and it didn’t help, I’m gonna be really pissed.” Sirius tweaked Remus’s nose and laughed when Remus wrinkled his nose automatically.

“An Animagus,” Remus breathed out, with so much surprise in his eyes that Sirius chuckled again and hugged him tighter.

“Yup, your very own big black dog,” Sirius said cheerfully. “You can even name him too, if you want. ‘Cause we named you and all, Moo-ny.”

Remus felt that he could not breathe. He choked up and lunged forward into Sirius’s chest, clinging onto the warmth of his friend. Later, he would be embarrassed at how he was crying like a girl, and how utterly naked he was. But for now, he would allow himself to lose control in Sirius’s arms.

Sirius hummed and stroked his back slowly. For all his tears, Sirius knew Remus was overjoyed, and for that Sirius could not be any happier himself.

-

Sirius felt he did not deserve Christmas after The Prank.

Remus was silent and cold around him now, although always talking to him politely, oh so politely. James and Peter were tired of the two of them dancing around each other. They were especially tired too since they were the ones who had to go between the two, keeping the friendship going, at least on the surface. They did not need more gossiping amongst the preternaturally curious Hogwarts students.

Remus did not hug him anymore, Sirius reflected and he nearly cried at that thought. He pulled himself together with fierce thoughts of boys do not cry, and reminded himself that Remus would find him even more pathetic than he already was if he cried in front of him.

Amazingly, unbelievably, life went on after October, even though Sirius felt like time had stopped forever from the moment he had seen Remus in the Hospital Wing bed, looking like he was torn to pieces. His breath had caught in that moment and he couldn’t move. James had had to guide him gently out of the Hospital Wing to sit him down somewhere quiet until he could breathe again.

James pitied him greatly. He knew Sirius, bone-headed as he was, loved and cared for Remus greatly, and would never intentionally hurt him. But for all his sympathy, the two boys never began to heal properly.

Christmas did come, eventually. A gloomy one, to be sure, but it came.

That year, Sirius found a small wrapped present on his bed. In it was a simple brown necklace with a paw-print pendant hanging from it. It was light for its appearance, Sirius thought dazedly, turning the pendant over and over in his hands. The paw-print caught the light coming in from the slits in his curtains and shone.

Sirius pushed open his curtains and looked at Remus, not daring to hope.

Remus looked at him and smiled slowly, nodding his head briefly. He looked so tired, face lined with exhaustion, but so full of warmth and care and love for the boy he was looking at that Sirius felt he did not, could not, ever deserve Remus again.

In one moment, Sirius flew from his bed onto Remus’s, shaking in relief and beaming for the first time in months.

-

In their three month anniversary of being slightly more than just best friends, Sirius nosed Remus’s cheek in the privacy of Remus’s bed.

“Hey, Remus, you wanna tell me what you want for Christmas then?” Sirius said lazily.

“Hmm?” Remus smirked, “Are you expecting me to tell you that I have everything I want already?”

“Well,” Sirius drawled. “It would be nice to hear that, girly as it is.” Remus punched his arm and Sirius laughed. “But no, really, what do you want?”

“Really what I want?” Remus whispered, touching noses with Sirius. Sirius grinned and nodded, feeling, not for the first time, awed at how comfortable they were just touching each other like this. Fingers twined around each other’s. Noses brushing cheeks. Foreheads touching…sometimes they didn’t even need to kiss, to feel like the world was spinning just that bit faster.

“What I want…” Remus raised his hand and trailed his hand along Sirius’s cheek. Sirius hummed in expectation. Remus’s palm was warm against his cheek and Sirius figured if he was Padfoot, his tail would be wagging.

“You’ll have to find it out yourself,” Remus grinned wickedly, moving away from Sirius. Sirius gaped at the contentedly reclined boy, who was still smirking at Sirius’s expression.

“You wanker!” Sirius shouted and he pounced on top of Remus, tickling and wrestling him, feeling the laughter and warmth of the boy rushing through him, knowing that even with NEWTs coming up and the dark world looming around them once they graduated, they were going to enjoy their best Christmas ever.
 

Comments

[remuslives23.livejournal.com]

Love, love, loved it! I adored reading about each Christmas and watching their feelings grow. Heartwarming, a little painful and very sweet. Lovely. :)

[minnow-53.livejournal.com]

What an enjoyable fic! I really like the way you use each successive Christmas to show their relationship developing.

[secretsolitaire.livejournal.com]

So lovely!

[mysecretashes.livejournal.com]

Oh, that was wonderful! I love the progression of their relationship as shown through the series of Christmases. I love it!

[spacefragments.livejournal.com]

aww, adorable boys. :D

[laroseminuit.livejournal.com]

I like Peter being not dumb and not evil. I loved the bit about scourgify -- that was hilarious, as was James's finding out Remus's attraction to Sirius, five hours into the term. I also liked Remus's lists, a lovely quirk.

[brighty18.livejournal.com]

Like it?!?!?! I LOVE IT!!!!

Siriusly, this was wonderfully sweet and even better than I expected with the prompt. There was so much to love... (in no particular order)

- the ballpoint pen
- Sirius' card
- Peter giving Sirius his bacon
- Peter "getting it"
- James figuring it out
- how Padfoot thought Moony was "pretty" (that really got me, btw)
- and so much more...

But the best part was how cuddly and physical they were with each other. That feels very "right" to me, because (at least the movie version of) Sirius is very, very physical. That scene when Remus finally gets Sirius to speak about his family and gives him comfort was fantastic!

And this was lovely: “Really what I want?” Remus whispered, touching noses with Sirius. Sirius grinned and nodded, feeling, not for the first time, awed at how comfortable they were just touching each other like this. Fingers twined around each other’s. Noses brushing cheeks. Foreheads touching…sometimes they didn’t even need to kiss, to feel like the world was spinning just that bit faster.

This is SO going in my memories!!!

THANK YOU!!

[starkdependant]

This was so cute!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I was aiming for that feelings growing through each Christmas, so I'm very happy you liked that :D

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! I'm really glad you liked it X)

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much :D

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! I adore your fics, so it means a lot to me that you like this (:

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

:D Was aiming for adorable, so glad you liked it!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm glad you liked the scourgify bit X) I've always imagined that Remus makes lists, and after seeing others writing that out decided to try it myself (: Ahh, I'm glad you liked Peter and James's observations too! Thank you for that lovely comment!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D Am glad you liked!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Ohhh, thank YOU, dear! I'm so glad you liked it! :D And all the bits you picked out, too!

I'm so happy you quoted that particular line, because I really enjoyed writing that part too. Especially the world spinning faster bit X) Oooh, and "pretty" Moony!

I was so nervous writing this, cause you're an awesome awesome writer, so it means a lot to me that you love this! And ohhh, memories, too? *happy puppy tail wag* Thank you! Am glad you enjoyed it! :D

[fullmoon-dreams.livejournal.com]

Well, you already know what I like best about this fic, but I'll repeat it here anyway...

"Pretty Moony"

That first full moon with Padfoot has got to be one of my favourite scenes ever and makes me smile stupidly every time I read it.

[mysecretashes.livejournal.com]

Aw, thank you!

*blushes*

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

:D It makes me smile everytime you mention that, thank you! For the help and the lovely comment too X)

[brighty18.livejournal.com]

LOVED it!

And thank you for the compliments~

I am also very much a dog person, so I apprecaited all the literal puppy stuff.

[remeciel.livejournal.com]

This was so lovely! I particularly like the moment Remus realized Sirius is an Animagus. :D

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D I'm glad you liked that part! X)

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed seeing their relationship develop through each Christmas and their gifts to each other. (And for some reason I just loved that ballpoint pen!) Very sweet fic.

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

:D Thank you! I love the ballpoint pen too X)

[lotrwariorgodss.livejournal.com]

Nawww, so sweet, even with the angst of the Prank year. Loved the description of Sirius's first Padfoot scene - so adorable between the two of them. Nice entry!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :D I'm glad you liked the Padfoot scene! X)

[werewolfsfan.livejournal.com]

I can't even chose a favorite. I love the progression of their relationship and the wonderful boyishness that seems to be rare. You fleshed out the personality of each lad with so few words, it's amazing! And so heartwarming a tale, even with the angst of 4th and 6th years, you show how their love overcomes. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Oh my, thank you so much! I'm beaming very hard because of your lovely comment! :D I'm so glad you liked the personality development bit through the years! X)

Thank you!

[leafyaki.livejournal.com]

Ack, sorry, I forgot to log out of my writing journal! That was me as well :] Again, thank you very much! :D