"Moony," Sirius whispered softly, his hands shaking Remus. "Wake up."

"It's very late, Sirius," he murmured in response, turning over onto his side. "Bother James and don't tell me about it in the morning so that I can plead ignorance when McGonagall asks about it."

Sirius's breath was warm in his ear. "Wake up, you mangy wolf."

Remus's eye cracked open and he rolled back onto his back. "I've been here less than a night and you're already using terms of endearment, are you?"

"Shut up, you git, and get out of bed."

"Why?"

"Does there need to be a reason?" Sirius pulled back and stood up, fully dressed. "Stop mucking about and get dressed."

"Because there's somewhere pressing I need to be at two o'clock in the morning, is there?" Remus asked, doing as Sirius said, despite his protest. He shucked his pajama top and searched for the one he'd worn earlier, settling the worn white shirt around his shoulders. Rubbing his eye, he watched Sirius watching him. "What?"

"Nothing. Just be quick about it."

Remus rolled his eyes and shed his bottoms, pulling on a pair of worn jeans. Sirius's jaw twitched. "There," Remus said after a long moment's silence. "Dressed, per your request."

"You can't wear that."

Remus sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. "Why not?"

"You'll freeze." Sirius headed for the closet and opened it, digging through until he found what he was looking for. He pulled out a lush gray cloak. "There. Put that on."

"I can't."

"No one's worn it in ages, Moony. No one'll care." He dug through Remus's battered suitcase and tossed his gloves, coat and scarf at him. "Ratty things as they are, they'll have to do until Christmas." He grinned. "Now, put them on, put the coat on, don't even think of protesting and come on."

"Where are we going, Sirius?"

Sirius smiled and shook his head, turning Remus and shoving him toward the window. Past the mottled glass, snow swirled like a dervish, flakes filling the air in a haze of white. "Outside."

"It's two in the morning, Sirius."

"All the more reason," he assured him. "If we wait any longer, someone else will come along and steal our virgin snow and we'll have nothing but normal snow with which to pelt my rancid family with. Now, come along, Mr. Moony. I won't take no for an answer." "Will you take 'you're more daft than I ever dreamed if you think I'm going out in that' as an answer?"

Sirius shoved the gray cloak at him. "No."

The snow came down with a vengeance around them, wind howling and swirling, battering them. "Gods," Sirius laughed, his eyes flashing, "this is incredible."

"You're insane."

"Fancy a flight?"

"If you think I'm getting near a broom, much less on one, in this weather, I'm taking you straight away to St. Mungos and having you committed."

"My family would thank you for it." He leaned down and scooped a handful of snow, hefting its weight in his gloved hand. He smiled dangerously. "Shall the battle begin?"

"I'm not going to…" Remus stopped, swallowing snow as Sirius's shot hit him square in the face. "You didn't just."

"I did." Red stained Sirius's cheeks, laughter lighting his entire being. "The question is, Moony, what are you going to do about it?" He pelted Remus again. "C'mon, Moony. Don't be a whinging ponce."

"Ponce, am I?" Remus flung a handful of snow back at Sirius.

Sirius hit him again as Remus darted to the nearest tree. "Definitely whinging." He started after Remus, ducking behind a different tree as Remus's projectile almost caught him. "No magic!"

"Not magic. It's just hard to miss your fat arse."

Sirius came out from behind the tree, his mouth open wide with insult. "Fat?"

Remus slammed a snowball directly into Sirius's face. He laughed. The sound turning into a shriek as Sirius grabbed his arms, wrestling him to the ground. Sirius stared down at Remus; his eyes alight with something other than amusement. Heat pooled in Remus's stomach, snaking lower. "Cold?"

He nearly groaned as Sirius lowered his body, his hard cock colliding with Remus's. "Freezing."

Sirius's body ground against his. "Me too." His breath stroked Remus's face with wisps of smoke. "Want to be inside?" Remus growled low in his throat. Sirius grinned. "Shall I take that as a yes, then?" He stood, stealing this heat away. He held out a hand and helped Remus to his feet. "Can't apparate into the glorious hall. Come on."

He led Remus through the trees, his thumb rubbing the back of Remus's hand through his threadbare glove. They reached the side of the house and Sirius pulled his wand free and muttered a spell. A segment of the wall opened and he pulled Remus through.

The wall closed behind them and the world went dark. Remus took a deep breath, inhaling the quiet as the storm disappeared. He opened his mouth to speak, staying silent as Sirius caught his arms and held him against the rough-hewn rock wall. "Still freezing?"

"Getting warmer," Remus admitted.

"I know how to warm you up."

"I'm well aware of that."

"You've a terribly dirty mind, Moony." Sirius bit Remus's lower lip, sucking gently. He released it and slid the hand holding Remus's wrist up, threading their fingers. "Fortunately for us, I don't." "You don't?" Remus scoffed.

"No," Sirius smiled. "And I'll thank you not to besmirch my name by spreading rumors to the contrary." He tugged Remus's hand and led him down the hallway. "Come on."

"I was perfectly content against the wall, you know."

"You're so easy, Remus. Really." Sirius shook his head. "However, I still intend to ply you with my father's best wine." He opened a large oaken door slowly, and slipped into the room, looking back at Remus with a smile. "Come on then. No Kreacher lurking about."

"We shouldn't be doing this."

"Moony, you have to think of it this way." He pulled a bottle of wine out of one of the many racks and surveyed it. "Not old enough." He put it back and moved on. "My parents simply cannot despise you more."

"I bet they could."

"So, aha!" He pulled another bottle free and opened it, grinning madly. "Best of the best." He took a long pull from the bottle then passed it to Remus. "Anyway, I have to do my best to catch up."

"This is a contest then?"

"No," Sirius watched Remus as he took a small sip. "This is me, being me, doing what I do best."

"Annoying people."

He grinned widely. "Precisely. So drink up like a good lad." He turned back and pulled another bottle free and opened it. "We'll leave carcasses of his best wine scattered about the room and he'll go apoplectic." Sirius sat down and leaned back against one of the racks. "It'll be the best Christmas present ever."

"You're demented."

Sirius's grin was sly. "Maybe so, but then what does it say about you, what with your rampant desire to shag me."

"I want no such thing."

"Mmm." Sirius nodded. "Right." He took another drink then set his bottle beside him. "Drink up. There's plenty more where that one came from."

They drank in silence for a moment, watching each other in the dim light. Remus shivered slightly and pulled off his gloves and hat before taking another drink. "I can feel my fingers again."

"Good." Sirius smiled again and licked his lips.

Remus shivered slightly, wondering if steam was rising off of him from the heat of Sirius's eyes. He shrugged his shoulders, letting the cape fall to the floor around him then picked up the wine bottle again. He took a long drink, conscious of Sirius's gaze burning over him. "It's very good wine."

Sirius finished off his bottle, never looking away from Remus. "Yes." He took off his cloak and gloves as well, his movements slow and deliberate. "Only the best for the Blacks." He got on his hands and knees and crept slowly toward Remus. "And from them, of course."

Remus swallowed hard. "Sirius…"

"You surrendered out there in the snow, Remus." He inched closer, straddling Remus's legs. "And again out there in the corridor." He stopped, his eyes even with Remus's, his breath warm on Remus's lips. "Mine to do with as I will."

Remus turned his head and took another long pull of wine, swallowing hard before turning back to Sirius. The gray eyes were flashing with heat, sparking with desire. "I am, am I?"

Sirius nodded then moved inestimably closer. "Yes."

"Well then." Sirius's lips curved into a smile just before they met Remus. "Well then."

The kiss was slow and languid, Sirius's tongue teasing over Remus's lips before pushing past them, running along the roof of Remus's mouth before gliding over his tongue then capturing it, sucking it into his mouth. Remus shivered and Sirius growled low in his throat, moving forward until Remus was lying on the ground beneath him.

Remus met Sirius's gaze as he pulled back, a smile tilting the corners of his mouth. "You're going to have your way with me here on the floor of the wine cellar, are you?"

"That was the plan," Sirius murmured, bending his head to nibble the length of Remus's throat.

"There's a perfectly serviceable bed just a few floors up."

"True," Sirius agreed, his fingers unbuttoning Remus's shirt as his lips grazed the skin he bared. "However, that would take time, energy and effort." He stopped and looked up, his eyes aflame. "And I, for one, would rather spend the time, energy and effort on, in no particular order, getting you naked, tasting every inch of you, shagging you senseless, making you come and, quite honestly, collapsing into a pile of spent flesh. You?"

"Well," Remus nodded, closing his eyes as Sirius bent back to the task of undressing him. "When you put it in those terms…"

"Makes all the difference, doesn't it?"

Remus could feel Sirius's smile against his skin, brushing the silver scars and ragged dark hairs on his stomach as Sirius's fingers unfastened his belt. "What if someone in the family has a sudden urge for fine wine?"

Sirius unzipped Remus's trousers and grasped them at the waist, tugging them down. "They will be treated to the glorious sight of your arse as you fuck me." He slipped the trousers off over Remus's shoes as his hips arched upward in response. "Unless, of course, I'm on top at the time."

Sirius sat up and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt then pulled it over his head, tossing it to the side. Remus licked his lips as Sirius leaned down, his chest brushing lightly against Remus's. "Your attempts at seduction have vastly improved since that time in the lower hall."

"The luxury of time," Sirius assured him, inching upward, his cock hard through his trousers, rubbing against Remus's naked flesh. "Can do it up right now that you're not due at Arithmancy in five minutes." He snaked a hand between them and trailed his fingers along Remus's cock. "What do you say, Moony? Am I doing it right?"

"With the exception of the fact that you're still vastly overdressed?" Remus wrapped his hand around the base of Sirius's neck and brought his mouth to his. "You're doing smashing."

Sirius moaned into the kiss, surrendering to Remus's plundering tongue. Remus's hands ran up and down the length of Sirius's bare back as their hips ground together. Sirius broke the kiss and gasped for air, rearing back enough to reach his own belt, fumbling with the leather as Remus's hands moved to his chest, trailing along over muscle and hair and flesh and the hard tips of Sirius's nipples. "Christ, Moony."

"I'll remind you, Mr. Padfoot." Remus caught the edge of Sirius's nipple with his nail, smiling at the quick inhalation of air and sound. "You started this."

Sirius moved off of Remus, wriggling out of his jeans and boots as Remus lazily divested himself of his socks. They stared at one another for a long moment then Remus smiled wickedly. "I've an overwhelming desire to howl at the moon."

"I'll make you howl," Sirius promised him, tumbling toward him and pinning him to the ground again. His hands held Remus against the ground, wrists captured in Sirius's grip. "Howl" -- Sirius kissed him quickly then pulled away. "Beg." He leaned in again, biting Remus's lip hard and fast. "Plead." He darted in again, his mouth opening in shock as Remus wrenched his hands from his grip and rolled them over, holding Sirius beneath him.

"One should always be careful about being cocky," Remus informed him in a slow drawl. "Lest one find himself at the mercy of his own words."

"Is that what I'm at the mercy of?"

Remus stretched, still holding Sirius's arms above his head then bent his head down to brush his tongue lazily over one of Sirius's nipples then the other. "Something like that," he murmured against the tight skin. "It's also advised"-- he looked up and met Sirius's eyes as he released him, waving his long fingers in a single graceful motion -- "to not find yourself trapped beneath someone who excels in wandless magic."

Sirius struggled slightly, his effort falling by the wayside as his movements brought his cock against Remus's, the rise and fall of his hips becoming slower and more sensual. "I'll make a note of that."

"Oh, do." Remus nodded vaguely, his muscles coiling with tension as Sirius writhed beneath him. "Very careful note." He lowered himself onto one elbow, sliding his other hand between them. His fingers skated over the smooth skin of Sirius's cock. "Now, what were you saying about fucking me, Mr. Padfoot?"

"Had we decided I was to be on top?" Sirius's light air was damaged by his harsh breaths. His neck was arched, his head thrown back as his body undulated in waves, crashing against Remus's thin, hard frame.

"I believe that was your notion," Remus licked the upturned edge of Sirius's jaw, tasting sweat and need. "Though I don't actually recall agreeing to it."

"Perhaps," Sirius moaned as Remus finally wrapped his hand around Sirius's cock; long, tapered fingers stroking the hard length of it. "I was just offering suggestions. Setting the mood." He wrapped a leg around Remus's waist, thrusting in earnest. "Although as I recall, I was quite a proponent of you fucking me. Your bare arse up in the air and all…oh, fuck, Moony, that."

Remus shuddered and stilled, breath rasping from his throat. He released Sirius's cock and reached back, easing his leg from around him. "Now, now, Padfoot. I recall you also mentioning something about the luxury of time."

Sirius looked at Remus with wide eyes, mischief sparking with the desire. "I may have."

"Indeed." Remus took a drink from the bottle of wine beside them then leaned in, letting his tongue slip out, slick and wine-coated. Small trickles of berry colored liquid painted Sirius's pale skin, staining it in a glistening spider web. He gasped and jerked, held by magic and more as Remus's tongue moved again, lapping the trails.

"Re…mus."

Remus pulled back again, this time tipping the bottle and letting the thin stream of liquid splash on Sirius's lower stomach, cool-warm drops splattering his upper thighs and the swollen thickness of his cock. Remus cocked an eyebrow and set the bottle aside, moving down Sirius's body until his head was at his waist, his tongue poised above Sirius's navel. "Yes?"

Sirius's hips bucked upward as Remus's mouth moved hotly over his flesh. The magic swirled around his wrists, giving him the freedom to react while keeping him relatively immobile. Low cries filled his throat as Remus's lips and tongue and teeth moved over his skin, licking and sucking the wine away. The rasp of the hair surrounding his groin moving against Remus's tongue sent a surge through Sirius and he arched high off the floor, the movement coinciding with Remus's tongue sliding the length of his cock before enveloping it in the pure liquid heat of his mouth.

"Fuck!" Sirius practically shouted, hips jerking, body tightening. Remus's hand cupped his balls, squeezing lightly. Sirius felt his muscles contract; his body turned to steel as he fought the need to come, fought the insistent pull of Remus's mouth and tongue on his flesh.

Remus released him and Sirius sank to the floor, a quivering mass of spent muscle. His cock shimmered in the pale light and he stared at Remus over it. Remus grasped Sirius's legs and spread them apart, easing his way between them. His own cock was rigid, erect to the point that it brushed his stomach, curved and long.

The underside of Sirius's thighs draped across Remus's thighs, Remus's cock brushing against his arse. His breathing was loud in the silent room, muffled by glass and dust. Remus's chest rose and fell with every harsh breath of his own, his hands rubbing in steady circles over Sirius's hips. Time slowed around them, murky and milky in its passing.

Remus removed his hands and picked up the bottle of wine, his eyes still on Sirius as he muttered another quiet spell. Sirius moaned as heat shivered and pooled around and inside him, the bottle of wine in Remus's hand spilling slick lotion into his hand and onto Sirius's flesh as it tumbled down.

Remus's fingers slid along Sirius's skin, tracing minute patterns in the cool liquid before finding the tight aperture and pressing inside it, sliding like silk past the resistant muscle. Sirius moaned again, his body roiling in a slow boil as Remus's fingers thrust full and slow, deeper with every thrust. His hands still trapped, Sirius's body became a mass of solid, coiled muscle, his hair splayed on the gray wool cloak as he pressed his head hard against the floor.

Remus's eyes were narrowed, almost closed as his body lifted, shifting Sirius's legs off his as he rose on his knees. Sirius gasped as Remus's fingers left him, inhaled sharply as the first brush of Remus's cock touched his overheated skin. "Remus," Sirius whispered the soft plea, the sound melting into a low exhalation of pleasure as Remus pushed forward, his cock buried slowly in Sirius's welcoming flesh.

Remus stilled, his eyes alive as he opened them and smiled down at Sirius. "The wine's a" -- he pulled back then thrust in again, slow and deep -- "particularly good year." He repeated the action, his whole body wired tight. "Don't you think?"

He leaned forward, not giving Sirius a chance, the breath to answer as he began moving in earnest, thrusting deeper with every stroke. His hips rocked against Sirius's body until he was panting, gasping. Both of their bodies were drenched with perspiration, slick with wine and lotion. Sirius gasped hard, his hands coming free of the floor. He wrenched up, grasping Remus's shoulders, pinning their bodies together as he came, his cock trapped between them.

Remus shuddered and gave a silent shout, his body convulsing. Sirius groaned, his muscles constricting tighter around Remus's cock as they sank to the floor together, still joined.

They parted in slow increments, loose-limbed and languid on the gray cloak. Sirius took a deep breath and nodded. "Remind me to ask my father to restock that particular vintage, would you?"

Remus laughed and buried his head against Sirius's shoulder. "You were correct, you know?"

"No doubt," Sirius agreed then paused. "About what?"

"The advantages of time."