Sirius was trudging through the snow, a grimace on his face. His hands were cold, his teeth were chattering and he couldn’t feel his nose. For the most part, he was miserable. He hated winter and everything that came with it “ the early nights, the cold and especially the snow.
He looked over at the short girl who walked beside him. Her blonde hair was tucked up under a hat and she was wrapped in many layers. Catherine must have felt his gaze on her, for she looked up at him and smiled. Her round cheeks were red from the cold air and her blue eyes sparkled.
“Don’t you just love the snow?” she asked, bending over and scooping up some in her mitten-clad hand.
“Oh, yeah. It’s just bloody fabulous,” Sirius growled, pulling his robes tighter around him.
“Sirius, don’t be like that! It’s Christmas Eve!” Catherine laughed and aimed a snowball at him “ he only just managed to duck in time “ and then ran towards the great caste doors as though she was scared he would retaliate.
She needn’t have worried. Sirius hurried after her, not caring about anything other than getting away eager to get away from the cold hell that was winter.
Sirius sat on his bed looking out of his window. Little white snowflakes were falling as they had done all afternoon, the white grounds shining in the moonlight. It was almost eleven, and he had no plans for sleeping. It wasn’t that he was excited for Christmas “ he hadn’t truly been excited since his fourth year “ it was that he didn’t want the day to end.
Besides being out in the snow, he had spent all day with Catherine, which for him counted as a good day. The other Marauders had gone home for break, but he didn’t feel like bothering the Potters.
Sighing, Sirius got up from his bed and made his way down the stairs. The common room was decorated in red and gold just as it had always been, only this time instead of house pride, it celebrated Christmas.
Glancing over at the old grandfather clock, Sirius saw that it was only eleven thirty. Walking closer to the warm fireplace he noticed that there was a person curled up on the sofa.
“Hello?” he asked as he gently shook them. As the girl stirred her blonde hair fell away from her face, and he recognized her. “Catherine, what are you doing down here?” Sirius asked, walking around the sofa and sitting down next to his friend.
“Waiting for Father Christmas, of course,” she replied, twinkle in her eye.
Sirius had heard about Father Christmas from the Muggle-born children. Truthfully, he didn’t see anything thrilling about an overly fat man breaking into your house to give you presents and eat all your sweets.
“I believe that the house-elves are the ones that give the gifts. Not Father Christmas.”
“Oh, but they are just his helpers. With so many people in the school, he couldn’t possibly get to them all.”
“So he can get around the world in one night, but he can’t get around a school with about three-hundred people in it? Lazy bloke.” Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and slouched back.
Catherine laughed. “Lighten up. It’s almost Christmas.” Her eyes flashed to the clock which now read eleven forty. “Only twenty more minutes!” she practically squealed.
“Well, what do you want to do to pass the time?” Sirius asked, sitting up a bit straighter.
“We could go outside,” Catherine suggested, and Sirius grimaced. “We could sing Christmas carols.”
“I don’t sing unless I am in the shower. If you would like to hear my wonderful singing voice, then you are more than welcome to join me sometime.”
Catherine giggled and shook her head. “Ah, Sirius, you’ve got a wicked sense of humour.”
“It's a gift. But really, what do you want to do?”
Catherine turned to face Sirius and smiled sweetly. “Let's just talk.”
Sirius grinned. “Isn't that what we're doing?” he asked.
Catherine stopped smiling and was quiet for a minute. “Tell me about your favourite Christmas.”
“My favourite? Oh, but there are just so many to choose from. I think it would have to be my first Christmas at Hogwarts. It was my first one away from my family. James, Remus, Peter and I stayed up all night to catch the house-elves in the act of bringing us our presents.”
“Did you ever catch them?” Catherine asked softly.
“No. One by one we all fell asleep. When we woke up in the morning, there was a pile of presents on each of our beds.”
“That's a nice memory. Too bad they all went home for Christmas.”
“Yeah. They really are some great guys. What about you? What's your favourite?”
Catherine took a deep breath before talking. “This one, I think.”
A puzzled look came across Sirius' face. “Why this one?”
“Because I'm with you, and you're being genuine. You're not trying to impress anybody or be funny; you're just being you. Plus, I'm at my favourite place ever and it's warm and cheery.”
Sirius yawned, a sudden wave of sleepiness falling over him. “That's nice. Are you tired?”
“A bit.”
He stood up and held his hand out to his friend. Catherine took it and he pulled her up to her feet. “Let's go to bed,” Sirius suggested, yawning again.
The two walked over to the staircase that led to the girls' dormitory, before Catherine stopped. “There's mistletoe,” she stated pointing up above their heads.
“So there is,” Sirius whispered looking down at her.
“Aren't you going to do something?” she asked, her voice only a murmur.
“Do what?”
“Aren't you going to kiss me?”
Sirius smirked and brushed Catherine's hair away from her face. “Do you want me to?”
Catherine's round face turned a bright red as she slowly nodded.
Sirius's hand cupped her chin and he pulled her closer to him with his other hand. Their lips met briefly, as soft as a butterfly. Sirius pulled back and smiled, Catherine returning it. They kissed again, only this one was earthshaking. Catherine's head swam and she was glad that Sirius' arm was around her waist. A loud bell chimed from the grandfather clock, signalling that it was now Christmas morning.
They pulled away and smiled at each other.
“Happy Christmas, Catherine.”
“Happy Christmas, Sirius.”
Warming a Cold Heart by Sagen
Story Notes:
I really, really hope you like this Becca! Merry Christmas
Chapter Notes: I'm not JKR, I don't own this.