The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

My Brother Gave it to Me

"JINGLE BELLS, MOLDY SMELLS, REMUS COOKED SOME EGGS... MARLENE'S PASSED OUT ON THE COUCH AND IT'S REEEGULUUUSS'S BIRTHDAY!"

Regulus jumped in surprise as Sirius came up behind him and shoved a package under his nose. He took it and looked up as his brother stepped up behind Remus, who was still cooking, so that their bodies pressed against one another, and he turned his head 'round the side of Remus's shoulder. Sirius's nose touched Remus's cheek. "Happy Christmas my Moony," he said, and he kissed Remus's jawbone. Remus shivered then lifted up a piece of bacon and put it in Sirius's mouth. 

"Happy Christmas." 

Sirius turned about, grinning around the bacon in his mouth, and looked at Regulus. "Happy Birthday you little bleeder."

"You remembered my birthday?" Regulus sounded surprised.

Sirius barked a laugh, "Of course I did. Mighty hard to forget when you share it with the Big Man in the Sky isn't it?" He threw himself into one of the chairs and stuck his legs up on the sink counter as he leaned back into the chair. "Don't be so surprised, little brother."

"Nobody ever remembers my birthday," Regulus muttered.

Remus turned around and put bacon on Regulus's plate and put a plate down in front of Sirius, who grabbed a second piece of bacon. Sirius drew his wand, but before he could accio it, Remus had put the jar of ketchup on the table in front of Sirius, who grinned. "You know me so well." He poured a large gob of it onto the eggs, and said, "I may not have celebrated it before since you were too busy being a fucking toerag to bother with, but I never forgot it."

Regulus looked at the present in his hands.

"Are you going to open the bleedin' thing? I spent good record money on that."

Regulus smiled, then tore open the wrapping and opened the box inside. It was a watch. Not a terribly impressive watch, the sort of like someone in the Black family might be used to, but it was a watch just the same. 

"It's digital," Sirius said. "Have a look. It says the time straight out rather than all those dials and knobs and what have yous."

Regulus was already fitting it onto his wrist. 

"Like James Bond," Remus pointed out.

"Yes! Just like James Bond. You're the coolest kid on the block," Sirius said.

Regulus smiled at it. "It's excellent. I shall wear it always. Thank you." 

"Of course. That's the traditional gift. The untraditional one you get later." 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Sirius sat normal in his chair, then, and started wolfing down his meal as Remus finished cooking and sat, too, with his own plate, leaving the rest to stay warm for the others when they awoke. 

Regulus ate, too, checking the time every few bites. He looked rather like a businessman with somewhere to be the way he kept checking it, and his eyes would crinkle with a smile each time he turned his wrist to have a look at it. Sirius grinned and kicked Remus under the table to look at Regulus admiring the watch and Remus smiled and looked back down at his eggs.

Peter joined them a few minutes later. "Marlene's awake," he murmured, "And she's right foul." 

"Foul?" Sirius asked, then he grinned. "Not a morning person is she?"

"No, not a bit." Peter piled up a plate and set himself down beside Regulus at the table. He glanced at Regulus, and saw the wrapping paper on the table. "Are we opening presents already?" he asked.