𝕿𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖗 - ʳᵉᵍᵘˡᵘˢ ᵇˡᵃᶜᵏ

Chapter 19: Grumpy Snowman

[ December 20th, 1977 ]

     IT WAS a warm day for late December. The powder snow glittered in the sunlight, the trees stilled in windless air. Theona had always liked winter, even though she hated the cold. She loved hot cocoa and reading by the fireplace, wearing cozy sweaters and ice skating. Most of all, she loved building snowmen.

     That's what she'd decided to spend her Monday afternoon doing. She had made three already; one with glasses and an asymmetrical, stick-made smile, one with pine sprig hair down to its middle snowball and carved abs (as per request of its model), and another that was quite a bit shorter, with pinecones to representing cropped blonde hair. Snow-James, Snow-Sirius, and Snow-Peter were only missing one member to their Snowauders.

     It was the tallest of all her creations, of course, so Theona had to stand on her tip toes as she indented scars onto its grumpy face.

     Remus was in one of his moods, so she decided to reflect that on his snowman counterpart.

     Theona had first noticed his 'moods' in October. Shortly before her Slug Club debut, he'd started getting snappy with everyone. At the time, she'd assumed he was upset because Sirius was going to the party with her, given her suspicions that they were together. However, come November, he had a similar little episode. It was during the spurt where she was spending most of her days with Evan, but she couldn't help but notice the tension that surrounded him. Everything was back to normal when they shared a cigarette and had their heart to heart on the quidditch pitch, so she'd brushed it off.

     Now, she was starting to get suspicious.

     Christmas was nearing, something that had the other boys giddy with excitement, but he was still stony-faced and brooding. Euphemia made him his favourite toast (four-quadrants with jam, marmalade, butter, and lemon curd) and he shot her the briefest of smiles before returning to his moping. Even Theona's masterpieces hadn't cheered him up, while the rest of their friends were thoroughly amused.

     In short, he was being a Debby-downer.

     "Ta-da!" She sang, stepping back from the towering snowman.

     "You captured his essence perfectly, Theona," Sirius clapped from his spot draped across a patio chair.

     "You're only saying that cause she gave you abs," Peter snickered.

     "I wanted to ensure accuracy," Sirius grinned, leaning over to poke his boyfriend's shoulder. Remus edged away from his touch.

     "I think mine's perfect," James approved, sporting the exact smile she'd recreated with twigs.

     "Mine's close, but you got my hair wrong," Peter teased.

     "I had limited materials," she shrugged, kicking her leftover pile of pinecones.

     James reached across and ruffled Peter's hair, "there, now they're identical."

     "See? James is the only one who understands my vision," Theona claimed, crossing her arms.

     All the boys laughed. Well, all the boys except one.