It was mid-afternoon at Hogwarts, students talked and laughed throughout the grounds as the Marauders sat under a large, overhanging tree.

Snow coated the rolling grass, white specks starting to fall just as Sirius made a joke about a prank they had pulled just moments ago.

Remus laughed, the sound bright and joyful, warm in the frosty air. James grinned at Peter as the boy stuck his tongue out to catch a snowflake, throwing his arms up in triumph when one landed on the tip.

It was nice, calm, but, of course, this is the Marauders we're talking about, and nothing's ever calm for long when it comes to them. Remus yelped as a snowball hit him square on the back of the head. He rounded on his attacker, Sirius, with playful revenge glinting in his eyes.

"Oh, you did not just do that! This means war, Sirius, war!" He scooped together a huge ball of snow in his hands, drenching his gloves, not that he cared, and threw it at Sirius. The black-haired boy cried out, turning tail and sprinting away as Remus chased him.

James shared a glance at Peter before James declared, "Sirius is with me!" Then took off into the fray, running next to Sirius, who was desperately trying to dodge his boyfriend's endless and surprisingly accurate onslaught of snowballs.

"Hey James! What's the difference between a snowman and a snowwoman?" Sirius asked as he dodged another throw from Remus.

"Snowballs!"

"Oh Sirius, you're awful!" Remus groaned.

"Awfully funny!" Sirius shot back, his silver eyes twinkling with humour.

Even as Remus sighed in exasperation, he couldn't help letting a grin grow on his face. Sirius may be an idiot, but he was his idiot.

The werewolf was jolted out of his thoughts as a snowball hit his back.

"Pete! We're on the same team!"

"Sorry! I thought you were James!" Peter yelled back, though his sheepish grin said otherwise.

The chaos raged on, snowballs flying back and forth, until the boys' laughter softened as they fell back into the snow, exhausted from their long battle. Sirius turned to Remus, the snow beneath his head crunching as he did so. "We totally won," his tone smug, but not without a hint of the softness that lay beneath his exuberant exterior.

"You did not," Remus protested, facing his boyfriend as he tried to hold back a grin. They turned back to the gloomy but festive sky, their fingers inches from touching as Remus sighed in contentment.

And for the few fleeting moments that allowed it, the world was perfect.

A/N
If you liked this, it'd mean the world to me if you checked out my other book 'Bound By Scales: A Dark Trio Story'