Chapter 13
12 March 1977
After Remus and Sirius’ fight, Remus snuck out to see Regulus. He didn’t mention it, he just let himself forget about any drama whilst talking to Regulus. It was nice.
The morning afterwards, Sirius apologised, saying he didn’t know why he got so upset and promising he wouldn’t do it again. Remus forgave him, it was becoming very easy to forgive Sirius Black, Remus was finding.
On the Friday after his birthday, Remus didn’t have too much to worry about. He had decided to have as much fun at his party as possible.
All four Marauders were talking about it, but Sirius especially, he was planning every last detail, with pure and utter dedication. Remus didn’t know if he just really wanted a party, or if it was some lingering guilt that forced him to do this, but he wasn’t complaining.
At around 6 that night, everything seemed to begin. Remus wore his favourite jumper, and some old jeans that were particularly comfortable. Okay, so he didn’t really go for style, but it was his birthday party, he could wear what he wanted.
Peter seemed to go for a similar look to Remus, but it was a nicer jumper. James wore a simple t-shirt with corduroy trousers. But Sirius? He wore his leather jacket - obviously - with flared jeans that were definitely too tight, and so much jewellery that it looked like he could be sent flying if there was a particularly strong magnet in the room.
Remus wondered how he was going to survive the night. He laid one eye on Sirius and immediately took a large swig of firewhiskey.
He danced for a while, mainly with Lily, who was having the time of her life. It was fun, it let him not think about Sirius too much, something he was doing far too often.
He was in the middle of another drink, when he heard a large cheer coming from the entranceway that sounded very upset.
“No! Why are you here?” Sirius cried.
Remus went over to see what was happening. What he saw was Barty Crouch Jr with a massive grin on his face, followed by Evan, Pandora and Dorcas.
“Come on! We wanna have fun!” Evan cried.
“What’s going on?” Remus said, partially slurred from the alcohol.
“It’s fine, Moons, I’m handling it,” Sirius replied, sounding far too sober.
“Come on, brother, we brought booze,” A familiar voice came from the door.
“Regulus?!” Sirius sounded incredulous, “Why are you here?”
“Oh, can’t I have some fun?” Regulus replied, with a smirk on his face, he shared a quick look with Remus, “I thought you’d be happy to see me, brother,”
“But, you don’t like parties? Or people!” Sirius cried, “And I thought it was you who didn’t want to see me!”
“Let them in Sirius, they brought drinks,” Remus smiled, “And Marlene would be happy to see Dorcas,”
Sirius looked at him, surprised, before muttering something and moving away from the door. The Slytherins cheered before marching into the common room, looking triumphant.
“Seriously, Moony?”
“Why not? These lot aren’t that bad, Barty is a bit insane, but that’s it.”
“Yeah, but - “ Sirius looked over at Regulus, who was talking with Barty, “What the hell? Who even is he?”
“Beats me,” Remus replied, smiling, “Come on let’s dance.”
He grabbed Sirius’ hand, who instantly forgot any problems he may have, and dragged him to the main area.
After a song or two, he ran over to the corner that Regulus was sitting in.
“Why the hell are you here?”
“I had to make sure you'd be okay. And that you didn’t forget about me.”
“I could never!” Remus held an offended hand to his chest.
“Oh, you're drunk!” Regulus laughed.
“How come you're not? Come on, you've got to catch up.” Remus said, grabbing Regulus’ hand.
“No! You know how I get when I'm drunk!
“Yeah and I love it, come on Reg! It's my birthday!”
“Your birthday was 2 days ago, but fine!” Regulus rolled his eyes and followed Remus to the drinks table.
He wasn't doing anything overly friendly with Regulus, and nobody nearby would be able to hear their conversations over the music, so Remus hoped that no one would find it weird that he was talking to Regulus, if they even noticed.
Half an hour later, both of them were very drunk.
They hadn't spent all of that time together, but they were always within a couple meters of each other. Sirius had been demanding Remus to dance with him for most of the party by now.
The rest of the night was fun, it involved mostly dancing, and drinking. Regulus and his friends? (Remus wasn’t sure how close they were) didn’t disrupt things too much, in fact Barty seemed to bring on the party spirit even further.
At one point The Prettiest Star came on, and a very drunk Remus decided to sing it, very loudly, to Regulus.
Cold fire, you've got everything but cold fire
You will be my rest and peace child
I moved up to take a place
Near you
Regulus rolled his eyes, but took Remus’ hand and danced with him. It wasn’t an intimate dance, just one between friends, but it would look weird if it were done between two strangers.
So tired, it's the sky that makes you feel tried
It's a trick to make you see wide
It can all but break your heart
In pieces
Regulus was giggling, and swaying with the music. He was having fun, it broke Remus’ heart to know that he never really got to have experiences like this, but it made him happy to watch him be a teenager.
Staying back in your memory
Are the movies in the past
How you moved is all it takes
To sing a song of when I loved
The prettiest star
Regulus sang the next verse, almost perfectly, which would have annoyed Remus if he wasn’t so drunk. At some point Barty and Evan cheered for him and began singing as well. The song wasn’t exactly dancing music, at least not for a loud party, but they made it work. Most people were dancing with them, except for a few people getting drinks, or people snogging in the corners. Sirius wasn’t dancing either, Remus saw him sulking in the corner. He’d worry about that in the morning.
Regulus had been dragged off by Pandora, and Lily filled his place. She had a wide smile on her face and was forcing Remus to dance with her. A new song came on that was much more fast paced, so she took his hands and jumped along with the music.
—
After a little while of dancing, Remus took a break to get another drink. He saw Sirius making out with a Ravenclaw. Regulus suddenly appeared next to him, also looking at Sirius.
“I can go hex him if you want?”
“No, Reg, he can kiss whoever he wants, we’re not together.” Remus laughed, a slight bitterness in his voice.
“He’s an idiot, Gibbous,” Regulus patted his arm.
“I need another drink,”
“Come on then,” Regulus pulled on his sleeve.
13 March 1977
Remus woke with a massive headache. He always seemed to get really bad hangovers. Remus also woke up with someone next to him. Shit.
“Regulus?” he whispered. The younger boy stirred.
“Hmph?”
“Wake up,” Remus continued to whisper-shout.
“Huh? Oh shit.”
“What happened last night?” Remus said quietly, panicked.
“I don’t know! We’ve still got our clothes on, I imagine I just didn’t want to go back to my dorm.”
“Okay,” Remus paused for a second, “Okay, I think everyone is still asleep, you’ve got to sneak out,”
“I’m too hungover for this.”
“I think you’d rather sneak out than face your brother.”
“Good point.”
Regulus carefully pulled open one of the curtains, and crept through the room. Once he reached the door, he gave Remus a slight wave and rushed out. Remus let out a breath of relief.
He got a bit more sleep after that, once he woke again the dorm was empty. He was the last to arrive at breakfast, but luckily he wasn’t late.
“Morning” He raised a hand tiredly.
He received varying levels of acknowledgement, James gave him a smile and an enthusiastic wave, Sirius didn’t look up at all.
“Crazy night,” Peter exclaimed.
“Yeah, that’s one way of putting it.”
Sirius finally looked at him then, eyes narrowing, “You were dancing with my brother.”
Remus suddenly remembers exactly what he was referring to, “Oh yeah, weird”
Sirius only seemed more angry at the response, “What the hell, Remus?! Why were you dancing with my brother?!”
“It was a party,” Remus shrugged, hoping he seemed casual.
“You sang to him!”
“His name is a star,” Remus said, over a mouthful of eggs, “It fits.”
“My name is also a star!”
“He was more nearby” Remus was becoming defensive, “It was just dancing, it didn’t mean anything. Why do you care so much anyway?”
“I- It was just weird,” Sirius cried.
“I was drunk, I was being dumb, that’s all!”
“Didn’t I see him sneaking through the common room in the morning?” Mary asked, innocently.
Sirius looked at him again, eyes burning.
“I wouldn’t know about that! He might have just fallen asleep in there!”
“Yeah, Barty also fell asleep down there. I think Regulus just sneaked away earlier.” Peter piped up. Remus was so grateful to Peter at that moment.
“Fine,” Sirius’ voice was cold, “Guess that explains it then.”
“Didn’t I see you snogging someone last night Pads?” James spoke up, desperate to change the subject. Remus’ voice suddenly went very dry.
“Yeah.” Sirius replied, sounding somewhat solemn.
“Well? Tell me about her!”
“Not much to tell, really”
“Oh, okay.”
The table came to an awkward silence, all of them very hungover - except for James. Memories kept coming back from last night, it had been fun. Remus remembers the feeling of seeing Sirius with someone else and shoves it down, trying to just remember the good parts.
On the other side of the hall, Regulus was sitting with his little crew, he looked very tired but when Remus caught his eye, he smiled, it was a nice thing to see.