#and accurate hannukah dates because i am pedantic

[up-to-some-good]

Traditions (9/9)

Happy New Year! Do me a favour and pretend this was posted yesterday 😂

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25 December 1981

The flat was a mess. There were dishes stacked in the kitchen, waiting for someone to wash them, and someone needed to clear the table and pack everything away. Leftovers needed to be put in containers and the gingerbread house needed to be deconstructed and put in the cookie jar.

At the very least, the living room wasn't a disaster. James had been in charge of collecting wrapping paper, and had made sure to get every scrap in a garbage bag, which he had set by the door. The Potters had left with their gifts, so it was only their own stacks remaining to be packed away.

Remus would add the books to the pile next to his bed to be read later. His new sweater would go in the closet and stolen by Sirius before the new year. The star pendant from Sirius was already hanging around his neck, and would not be moving as long as he lived.

Sirius had already put his records in the correct place on the shelf, and his new healing book was lying open on the coffee table.

Remus hadn't given him the ring yet, had planned to catch him under the mistletoe and surprise him, but Sirius had been focused on cooking lunch all day, then on his godson's first real Christmas, so he hadn't had his chance. He'd do it later, when the flat was clean and everything was packed away.

The war had ended in October that year. For the first time, they could celebrate the holidays as a family without worrying about their safety. They had agreed that they would host Christmas for everyone, and the Potter family would take Hanukkah, and that would be their new tradition.

Christmas had been more than they expected and Remus was tired just from watching Sirius work. Sirius had taken on the task of cooking the meal, working for two straight days from Effie's recipe book. He had tried to help, but was summarily banned from the kitchen after only an hour of trying to assist, instead cleaning up the flat and setting the table.

Sirius was now fast asleep, lying on top of Remus on the couch. His face was buried in his boyfriend's chest, and he was snoring gently. Something was digging into Remus's back on the couch, and his leg was starting to go dead from the position it was pinned in, but he wasn't moving. He hadn't seen Sirius sleep this deeply in months, maybe even years, and he wasn't going to ruin it for anything. So they'd be late for that night's Hanukkah celebrations, and he'd be limping when he stood up later, and the flat would remain a mess for a while, and maybe he'd propose on Boxing Day, instead of Christmas like he planned. But Sirius was safe, and he was asleep, and that was all that mattered. Remus wasn't moving. Not until Sirius did first.

#wolfstar #sirius black #remus lupin #wolfstar fic #christmas fic #christmas fluff #happy endings only in this house #everybody lives au #Harry grows up with his mom and his dad and his gay godfathers and is happy #and accurate hannukah dates because i am pedantic

[up-to-some-good]

Traditions (3/9)

Happy Hannukah! I know I'm a little late, but as it's the last night of Hannukah, I wanted to post this. I am not Jewish, but I have tried my absolute best with this fic. If you're Jewish and you see something I should change, please comment or send me a message!

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20 December 1973

Remus was sick and, for the first time in a while, it had nothing to do with the lunar calendar. Hogwarts had been overrun with Dragon Pox, the virus spreading amongst the student population like wildfire. Only those who had had it before - and a few lucky ones with natural immunity - were safe. Christmas break was set to start tomorrow, but classes had mostly been cancelled for the past week due to the volume of sick students.

Sirius was sulking. He knew that he was being selfish, that Remus was too sick to do things like baking gingerbread and reading poetry, but he was going home in two days and had been looking forward to having some holiday fun beforehand. So he was sulking. James and Peter were outside, having fun on the snowy grounds, whole Sirius lay upside down in an armchair in the common room, alone.

Green eyes and freckles appeared in his eyeline, pulling him out of his thoughts. Lily had sat down on the floor in front of him and was staring at him imploringly.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's selfish."

"Naturally. What's wrong?"

The pair had managed to develop a tentative friendship over the past year, something James was supremely jealous of. They both knew what it was like to be an outsider in their own home and a bond had slowly formed over late nights sipping tea by the fire, complaining about their respective siblings.

Sirius sighed and abruptly sat up so he could join Lily on the floor, the blood rushing to his head and making him dizzy after being upside down for so long. He leaned against his chair as he spoke, stretching his legs out beside her.

"Remus is sick," he started. "And I'm worried for him, don't get me wrong, but I'm also upset that we won't get to do our Christmas traditions this year."

"Your Christmas traditions?" Lily prompted.

"We make a gingerbread house every year. And then last year he read me a poem his mom always read to him. It's become a thing between us. Every year, he introduces me to something new. Something fun."

"Christmas not normally fun for you?" Lily asked, somewhat knowingly.

"Blacks don't have fun."

Lily sighed and leaned back for a moment, staring imploringly at her friend. She then stood up abruptly and reached out towards him.

"Well, it's not Christmas," she said. "But it is the first night of Hanukkah, and it's about time to light the candles."

She looked out the window at the sun, which was just about starting to set.

"I'll show you something new this year."

On the stairs up to the girls dorm (which strangely let Sirius up despite turning into a slide for any of his dormmates), Lily told him about Hanukkah. She told him about the Maccabean revolt and the miracle of the candle which burned for 8 days, and the traditions of the holiday.

Upstairs, he watched silently as she set up the menorah near her bed and lit the first candle. He listened to her melodic voice reciting the blessings and sat with her in silence when she was finished, waiting for her to initiate the conversation.

"At home, it's a bit of a bigger event," she said quietly. "My mom makes latkes and sufganiyot, and my gran comes over every night for dinner. Back when Tuney still spoke to me, we'd play all the games together, sometimes with our cousins when they were visiting. It's always a bit hard, being at Hogwarts. They don't observe Jewish holidays, so I've had to miss exams and assignments sometimes for the high holidays. The December break doesn't always line up with Hannukah either, so I've always had to celebrate alone. I don't know if there are other students doing the same, I've never asked, but it's quite peaceful, so I don't mind so much."

"It's beautiful, Lily," Sirius said. "Thank you for sharing it with me."

#sirius black #lily evans #marauders fic #lily/sirius friendship #they have my heart #hannukah #and accurate hannukah dates because I am pedantic