"Selene, my love. Rise and shine." Remus lovingly whispered to my ear. I felt his lips brushing against my temple, and down the side of my neck.
"It's too early." I muttered, pressing my face against my pillow very hardly, trying my best to battle his efforts, but I lost.
I heard him chuckling gently against my skin. And peeling my eyes open, he kissed me very tenderly, and I wrapped my hands around his neck to pull him closer to me and deepen our kiss.
"You look very happy today." I remarked softly, running my fingers through his messy hair and staring at his dreamy eyes.
"I am," he smiled. "Today's a big day."
"Big day?"
He laughed. "My goodness, have you forgotten what day is it today?" He raised an eyebrow seductively at me, as I furrowed my eyebrows in utter confusion.
"December 20, five days before Christmas –" I began, then my eyes suddenly widened in realization and I let the corners of my lips rise.
December 20.
It had been two years since the day we first said I love you to each other, one of the best nights I've spent in my life with him. I still recalled that day very vividly, the contagious buzz of the holidays at Hogwarts, the Christmas ball, the dancing and the music.
"Oh."
"I was afraid you've forgotten about it completely." he grinned as his soft fingers stroked the chocolate brown curls of my hair.
"How could I, Rem? It was the day we first said I love you. And it's been two years." I said sweetly.
"Happy Anniversary, my love." he whispered.
"Happy Anniversary to you too."
"I've got quite a day planned for the two us." he said with a smile, dragging the two of us downstairs as I brushed the untidy strands of my hair away from my forehead.
"Is that so?" I cocked an eyebrow as he chuckled.
"Well, what what do you even think of me? Would you even think we'd celebrate our anniversary sitting on the couch with Sirius! Of course not!" he exclaimed.
I laughed.
"HAPPY ANNIVERSARY YOU TWO LOVEBIRDS!!"
My heart slightly jumped but my composure remained, I was snickering slightly as red sparks erupted from Sirius's wand.
"Wasn't that surprising at all, that was a fail. But thank you for your thoughtfulness." Remus mumbled sarcastically, patting Sirius's shoulder as he proceeded to the kitchen.
"Hey, I worked so hard on that!" Sirius hollered, furrowing his eyebrows.
"Thanks again, Pads." I chuckled, kissing his cheek, receiving a grin from him.
"But I did work hard on that, Moony!" Sirius yelled at Remus.
We had breakfast with the children, except for Hermione who, according to Ron, had spent the holidays with her muggle family and went skiing. Mr. Weasley was now getting better, as per Mrs. Weasley, he still looked quite pale but he was fine and showed no signs of weaknesses at all.
And I couldn't remember Sirius ever being in a such a really good mood since the two of us arrived here. I could hear him singing "God Rest Ye, Merry Hippogriffs" at the top of his lungs, to which Ana kept commenting that his singing was off-key.
"I'll be honest with you, Harry," Remus muttered to Harry, who sat opposite him with a slight grin. "When you were little your mother kept sending Sirius away from you in the nursery because he sounded like a drunk when he was singing and the songs contained lots of – swearing."
The whole table burst into laughter, Fred and George had choked on their goblets and Harry was grinning at a scarlet-faces Sirius.
"That's not true!" he insisted, slamming his fist against the table.
"Whatever, I'm going to shower," he simply shrugged and turned to me. "You coming?"
"Sorry?" I blinked, completely unsure if those were the words I heard from him as I heard small giggles from the table.
"Oh, I-um I- forgot that they were - never mind." he said quickly, his face burning red as he looked at Harry, Ron, Ginny and the twins who were simply looking at him with small smirks.
"Join him!" I heard George whisper teasingly, as he and Fred high-fived.
"Oh, fuck off you two," I muttered darkly, then glared at a cackling Sirius. "And you as well." He faked a dramatic gasp and placed his hand on his chest.
"See you tomorrow, Pads." I said to Sirius, kissing him on the cheek and sliding my bag over my shoulder.
"Oh, I'm going to miss you so, so much!" he exclaimed giddily, wrapping his arms around me as he lifted me off the ground.
"Oh, please! It's just a one night there, I'm not leaving you forever!" I hollered, pushing him away from me in a playful manner.
"Even so, be careful." he muttered, staring at Remus (who was standing by the door as he had a conversation with Harry) with a wary look whilst I just rolled my eyes.
"You ready?" Remus asked with a smile, walking towards the two of us as I nodded my head. He took my bag and swung it on his shoulder, taking my hand.
"See you." Sirius sighed, patting Remus's shoulder and waved his hand at the two of us. The two of us apparated to his cottage. The garden and orchards were now covered with thick layers of white, making it look like a winter wonderland. The muggle community nearby was filled with laughter and joy.
When we entered the cottage, I found myself shivering and clutched my robes tighter.
"It's quite cold here during winter, I apologize my love." Remus sighed.
"No, no, no, it's fine. Really." I waved my hand dismissively, kissing his cheek which made him blush.
"Make yourself at home, I'll be back in a few minutes." he said softly, kissing my forehead before going upstairs. He went back after a few moments, wearing a cream turtleneck.
He dragged me outside his snowy garden, the twinkling snowflakes landing softly on our hair and the fabric of our clothes.
"Rem, where in the bloody hell, are we?" I groaned, as I looked over my shoulder and noticed his house in the distance as we walked over the hill.
"Look." he simply said, pointing at the sight my eyes were not prepared to take a glimpse at.
A quite large pond, except it was frozen hard obviously. I chuckled to myself in amusement, the wind whistling about our ears when the two of us ran down the hill.
"You know I don't like the look of this." I grumbled.
"You're– you don't know how?" he asked.
"Skating's not really my thing," I shook my head. "Quite hypocritical for someone whose cousin's husband comes from a muggle family." He chuckled to himself, pointing at the ice skates he was wearing.
"No."
"Oh, yes."
"Rem, no."
"Hell yes."
He dragged anyways me in a playful manner, my protests being drowned by his laughter.
"You won't be doing it," he rolled his eyes with a small smirk gracing my lips. "On my back." He held me tightly, as I wrapped my arms around him.
"Don't let me fall!" I yelled as he stepped on the ice.
"I won't." he winked. He glided with the grace of a swan across the frozen pond which amused me and as his pace got faster, my grip around him tightened.
"Don't hold me that tight love, or I'll have to let you go." he joked as I glared at him.
For the following minutes, I was still on his back, admiring him as he glided and skated flawlessly. I released my other hand, raising it in the air as I let it catch the beauteous snowflakes that fell from the sky. We spent the rest of the day outside in the snow, walking through the garden hand in hand as laughter and giggles filled our conversation. He prepared us a romantic dinner that evening, so right after that, I pulled out a bottle of whiskey from one of the wooden cupboards.
"Happy Anniversary." he said softly.
"To us." I said, clinking our glasses and we kissed as he put on the record player. He pulled me closer to him, until I was fully enveloped in his arms when the bloody tune of andante andante started playing.
"You know I still remember the way you danced that night very well." Remus smiled as his fingers found mine and clasped our hands together.
My fingers were curling around his hair, I could feel his fingers threading through mine and his free hand on my waist. I loved being with him, close to him. I took satisfaction in the scent of old books and cinnamon that lingered on him.
Pure, intemperate perfectness.
I would dance with him whenever, wherever — the sitting room here, Grimmauld Place, the kitchen, it didn't really matter. What mattered was that he was with me, perfectly safe and sound.
The mellow, calming voice of Anni-Frid Lyngstad was slightly scratchy from the old, battered record player. Remus's chin on my hair as I heard him murmuring the words to my ear; I closed my eyes in content and giggled softly as he sang.
We danced the night away, still in each other's arms, making sure that we wouldn't let anything take this perfect moment away from us.
I loved him.
So much.
And nothing could ever change that.
A/N: hi, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.
I'm very sorry if taking time to publish is taking longer than usual. But I guarantee you all that more exciting chapters are coming!
Hope you all have a nice week!
- jxlvpin