halloween
Remus regretted agreeing to this stupid party.
He regretted it the entire day leading up to the party, when Sirius kept shooting excited glances his way throughout their entire class. He regretted it an hour before the party, when Peter kept chirping on excitedly about how happy he was to finally be invited to a party after all this time. He regretted it ten minutes before the party, when Lily showed up at their room, dressed as some muggle model he’d never heard of, to take Peter into the common room with her. He regretted it when Lily insisted that even if Remus didn’t walk in with them, Sirius was sure to notice his absence and come looking for him eventually.
And he regretted it an hour after that, when a knock sounded against his door and Remus knew, before even opening it, that it was Sirius. He had to mentally prepare before opening it, double-checking himself in the mirror, taking a deep breath, and reassuring himself that no matter how terrible this party was, he could always come back to his room if it got too bad. He’d agreed to this, and whatever followed in the next few hours had been entirely self-inflicted.
He opened the door to find Sirius leaning on his door frame, clad only in his signature leather jacket and a pair of washed out blue jeans. A rather boring ensemble for a Halloween costume, Remus observed. It was only when Sirius looked up to meet his gaze that Remus noticed the core- and only- aspect of the costume: a bright, red and blue lightning bolt painted across his face.
“Er- wow,” Remus said before he could stop himself.
It was too light and shimmery to be actual face paint; more likely some girl’s crushed up eyeshadow. He hadn’t bothered with the white face makeup that David Bowie wore on the cover, likely not having access to any of it. However, Remus had to admit… it looked alright. Pretty good, actually. If not because of the drawing itself, then simply because it was without a doubt going to be the coolest costume at this party.
“So? You like it?” Sirius asked. It was only when he leaned back that Remus did notice something else out of the ordinary in his outfit- he wasn’t wearing a shirt underneath his jacket, the bare skin on his chest looking impossibly pale next to the black leather. Not much of his chest was visible, only his collarbones and the little dip of his sternum. He wore only one piece of jewelry, a rather cheap-looking silver star pendant dangling off of what looked like a strip of black yarn. Remus had noticed the necklace before- he wore it every day- but it stuck out in particular now that it was the only one he had on. Sirius’s abdomen was lean as Remus’s gaze travelled down from his sternum, his jeans sitting rather low on his hips. Sirius rested his back against the door frame, hands in his jean pockets, looking like he’d be more at home leaning against some cool car with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.
Remus resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He knew he looked good.
“You’re not wearing a shirt,” he observed flatly.
“Did Aladdin Sane wear a shirt?” Sirius said.
“Well, no, but Aladdin Sane didn’t wear a leather jacket either.”
“If you’d like me to take my jacket off, Remus, all you have to do is say so,” Sirius said cooly.
“Merlin, please don’t,” said Remus. “I’m afraid your paleness will blind me.”
The comment had the desired effect, as Sirius’s cool confidence was immediately replaced with incredulousness. “Hey! I’m not that pale!”
“If you get any paler, Dumbledore’s going to burst through the door with garlic and a crucifix.”
“Merlin, you are so mean to me,” Sirius whined. “I know you think I look good.”
Remus shrugged. “I suppose you look alright.”
Sirius’s face split into a grin. “Of course I do,” he said smugly.
Remus rolled his eyes.
Sirius had to practically drag Remus from the room- only after double-checking that Remus was sure he didn’t want to dress up- and the moment Remus entered the hallway, the dread truly settled in. He could hear it from here, the laughter, the loud chatter, the sounds of bottles smashing and things falling down. It was going to be a long night.
The common room was a mess of absurdly dressed, drunk teenagers, food and wrappers scattered about the floor, half-finished bottles and glasses of alcohol on nearly every flat surface. Merlin, how were they going to clean this up tomorrow morning?
Remus’s eyes immediately sought refuge and settled on one couch, to the right of the common room’s fireplace and miraculously absent from food residue or students snogging. He made a beeline to it, Sirius at his heels.
“You don’t want to go find James and Peter?” Sirius asked, standing in front of the couch and staring down at Remus with a bewildered expression.
“I’m good here,” Remus said flatly.
“But-”
“Don’t push it, Sirius.”
Sirius smiled brightly, unphased by Remus’s foul mood. “I think you need a drink,” he said, patting Remus’s knee and turning back to the party, seemingly to go find one.
Ten minutes later found Remus sitting on the couch, staring down at the carpet and pondering when would be an acceptable time to leave. Sirius had gotten him a glass of something alcoholic, then scampered off to hang out with James and their other friends. He had already taken two shots since he’d left Remus’s side. If he wasn’t pissed before, he certainly was now. He wouldn’t even notice, Remus thought, if he just slipped out right now.
He glanced up. The route to his room was blocked by multiple obstacles, the most concerning being an entire group of drunk, dressed-up students crowded around the entrance to the hallway that led to it. Dammit , he thought. The only thing worse than sitting on this couch right now would be pushing through that crowd to get to his room. Merlin forbid he have to take a piss once he got there. He’d have to leave the room and push through the crowd again just to get to the bathroom. Better off staying here. He thought perhaps if he sat on the couch long enough, he could become a part of it, blending in just like he was one of the cushions. No one would talk to him and he could just sit there and exist.
Shit, maybe this would be better if he was drunk. He took a tentative sip. It burned unpleasantly on the way down. Why did people like this shit?
“Remus!” Lily cried, suddenly plopping down on the couch beside him. So much for blending in. She looked beautiful, as usual, but her costume stood out as distinctly muggle- a short, tight dress and tall glossy boots with thick, heavy-looking heels on them. She’d flattened her hair out and done her eyeliner in some dramatic style, emphasizing her lower lashes. Her cheeks were flushed, grin just a little too sloppy. She was tipsy, but not thoroughly drunk like much of the rest of the students.
“Remus!” She repeated. “Did you see James’s costume?”
Remus had seen James’s costume, a hippie-ish all-white ensemble of a suit jacket and pants that were a few sizes too big on him. He’d straightened his hair, too, and it hung flatly around his ears in a rather awkward setup. The lack of curls really highlighted how uneven it was; Remus wondered if James cut it himself.
“Yeah,” Remus said. “What’s he supposed to be, one of the Bee Gees or something?”
“I think he’s John Lennon .”
“He’s what?” Remus was eternally grateful that he hadn’t taken a sip of his drink, as he most certainly would have spat it out.
“That’s his Abbey Road look, see, with the white suit and the glasses and the long hair. Well, long-ish, I guess.”
Remus followed her gaze to James, who stood in a group of Gryffindors Remus didn’t recognize, excitedly entertaining them with some sort of story, waving his arms widely.
“Do you think he really knows the Beatles?” Lily asked.
Hell no , Remus thought, glancing at her. She hadn’t taken her gaze off of James.
“Er- you’ll have to ask him,” he said weakly. There was absolutely no way James’s extremely limited Beatles knowledge was going to withstand Lily’s intense questioning.
“He does rather look like him, though, doesn’t he?” Lily said, tilting her head. Her eyes still hadn’t left James.
“Merlin help me,” Remus groaned quietly. “Just snog already.”
“Hey!” Lily’s gaze finally darted over to him. She whacked his arm loosely. “As if! He’s disgusting!”
“Whatever you say,” said Remus.
“Ugh, you’re as bad as Peter!” Lily said, rolling her eyes. She stood up and skipped back into the crowd, hair bouncing behind her in crimson waves, leaving Remus to wonder how in Merlin’s name she managed that sort of dexterity in those heavy-looking boots, especially in her current level of inebriation.
Some unspecified amount of time later- everything was blending together on that couch- it was James himself who was coming over to sit next to him. “She complimented my costume!” he exclaimed excitedly.
Remus raised an eyebrow. “Does she know you don’t know shit about the Beatles?”
“Of course not, how would she?”
Remus was beginning to regret helping James out. He hadn’t known it was going too place him in the middle of all this bullshit. “James. She’s going to ask you about them.”
“What? Why?”
“Because she loves the Beatles and now she thinks you know them.” Remus explained carefully.
“But-”
“You better learn some Beatles songs, and quick,” Remus said.
Remus’s attempt to be rid of James worked like a charm. “Right!” James said, springing to his feet. “Thanks, Remus!”
Remus enjoyed some peace and quiet- well, peace, at least- for a long while after James rejoined the fold. It was rather relaxing, he found, taking small, idle sips of his drink and watching nearly the entire Gryffindor class’s lives play out before his eyes. He saw about five couples sneak off to go snog in their rooms. He watched a few dozen students get too pissed and have to be escorted out by their friends. He saw students crying, a few running off to throw up, a few laughing uncontrollably. It was quite fun to watch, actually, when he had no investment in any of these people’s lives.
Sirius was the next to approach the couch, which he wouldn’t have minded, if it weren’t for the blonde girl who was practically hanging onto his arm. Marlene. She had curled and puffed her hair out so it formed a large halo of frizzy curls around her face head, and was wearing what looked like some kind of maid outfit with a large white collar. Both of them were stumbling along and giggling drunkenly at every misstep.
So they’d made up, then? Remus would need to be truly drunk to survive this interaction. He lifted the glass to his mouth only to find it empty.
“Remus!” Sirius said, grinning. “Meet my friend!”
He shoved Marlene forward. She stumbled, stopping her fall only with hand against the cushion, right beside where Remus sat. He grimaced, scooching away from where she nearly fell.
“Merlin, you’re clumsy,” said Sirius.
“You shoved me!”
“Ugh, get over it.”
Marlene sat down on the couch cushion beside Remus and turned to face him. “I’m Marlene,” she said.
She was very pretty, Remus observed rather bitterly, even beneath the white face paint and heavy eye makeup.
“Remus,” he said.
“Oh, I know,” she said, grinning. “Sirius talks about you all the time. Like, alllllllllllll the time. He’s practically-”
Abruptly, Sirius plopped down onto the couch with them. Or, more accurately, on top of him, half on Remus and half on Marlene. He and Marlene both let out pained groans at the sudden weight.
“Sirius!” Marlene cried. “Why would you sit on us?”
“I was trying to sit between you!” he whined. “Not my fault you’re sitting so close.”
“Shut up,” Marlene said.
“You shut up,” Sirius said. “Fuck you. I’m moving to Remus’s lap. He’s prettier anyway.”
He shifted his weight mostly onto Remus’s right thigh, his head shifting over so that his stiff black curls were in Remus’s face, Remus’s nostrils assaulted by hairspray, cheap cologne, and cigarette smoke.
“Er-” Remus said, flustered.
“Ignore him, Remus,” said Marlene. “He’s a slutty drunk.”
“So I gathered.”
“Marlene!” another voice entered the fold, and Remus had to push Sirius’s hair aside to see James. “I’ve been looking- oh, hey Remus- I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
“What for?”
“I need you to tell me some Beatles songs!”
“Oh, Merlin, this again?” Marlene groaned. “I dunno, James. Abbey Road ’s the only one I have. I’m not really a fan.”
James threw himself onto the couch beside Marlene. Remus was beginning to feel that the entire party was moving to this single couch.
“Come on, please?” James said, and although Remus couldn’t see his face, he was fairly certain that he was looking up at Marlene with a pathetically pleading expression.
“Uhhh… ‘Hey Jude,’” Marlene said.
“I’m James.”
“That’s the name of the song, idiot.”
“Ohhhh.”
“Fuck, there’s something in my eye,” Sirius said, out of nowhere. He hopped off of Remus’s leg to settle onto the carpet and look up at the three of them on the couch. “Is my eye all red?”
Remus, Marlene, and James exchanged awkward looks. “Er- looks normal to me, Pads,” James said.
“It’s fucking itching,” Sirius said, and raised a hand to rub his eye before any of them could stop him.
James opened his mouth, protest dying on his lips. Marlene clapped a hand over her mouth, widened her eyes and looked to Remus, who returned her amused gaze.
“What?” Sirius asked innocently.
“You just smeared your makeup all over your face,” Marlene said, through laughter.
Remus couldn’t resist laughing along. She had a contagious laugh, sort of snort-y.
“Oh. Fuck,” Sirius said. “My costume!”
“Nobody really knew it anyway,” James supplied, something which was likely meant to be comforting but only set Sirius off.
“Everybody knows David Bowie!”
“Nobody here!”
“Remus knew!” Sirius said. “‘Cause he’s actually cool!”
“Hey!” Marlene cried incredulously. “Who introduced you to David Bowie in the first place?”
“Well, of course you know, Marls. That goes without saying!”
“Sure, yeah,” Marlene grumbled, though her tone was teasing. “Everything’s all ‘Remus this, Remus that’ these days.”
“Marlene!” Sirius cried. His face- the parts that weren’t already covered in red makeup- flushed red.
Remus watched their interaction with some confusion. Surely Sirius didn’t really talk about him that much. He hoped not, at least. What was there to say?
“I didn’t really get the costume, anyway. I mean, it’s literally just the face,” said James.
“Well, you see, when some people dress up as musicians, they actually choose people whose songs they know,” said Marlene.
“Hey, at least some people recognized me! I don’t even know what you’re supposed to be!”
“I’m Magenta! From Rocky Horror!”
“Some weirdo muggle movie that only you and Sirius have watched.”
“Only the greatest movie ever ,” Marlene said, while Sirius, seemingly out of nowhere, sang, “Let’s do the time warp again!”
“Not our fault you’re lame,” Marlene continued.
“Let’s do the time warp again!”
James and Remus exchanged a look of confusion.
“I’m sorry, time warp?” Remus said.
Sirius and Marlene smiled at each other.
“You gonna tell us about it or just look at each other?” James asked.
Remus was rather relieved by the annoyance in his tone- at least he wasn’t the only one fed up with Marlene and Sirius’s ridiculous flirting.
Marlene grinned. “Oh, we’re not gonna tell you. We’ll show you!”
She hopped of the couch and over to where Sirius sat on the floor, grabbing both of his hands and heaving him to his feet. Sirius kept clutching her hands even as he stood, grinning at her. What followed was a frankly horrific display of some sort of song and dance, which the pair of them could hardly get through without collapsing into giggles, leaning onto each other for support, and declaring that they were going to go back and start over. When they were finished- thank Merlin- they took dramatic bows to absolutely no applause, high-fiving and complimenting each other’s performances. Sirius plopped down on the couch beside Remus again, rather uncomfortably close, the side of his leather jacket pressed up against Remus’s knit jumper.
“What did you think?” he asked, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the exercise.
“It was certainly something,” said Remus.
“It was amazing!” Marlene cut in. She had sat down on the carpet with her back leaning against the front of the couch and her head leaned all the way back onto the cushion, so she could look at Sirius upside down.
“We really need to find some way to play music out here,” Sirius said. “Parties are so boring without it.”
Remus hummed noncommittally.
Sirius gasped, like he’d had a genius revelation. “We should steal Professor Keating’s record player!” he said.
“Yeah, I think you’ve stolen enough from Professor Keating,” said Remus.
“Booo,” Sirius groaned. “Spoilsport.”
He raised a hand as if to smack Remus, but didn’t turn to face him. The hand ended up brushing rather awkwardly against Remus’s hair with very little aggression before flopping back down into his lap.
“Awww, look at you two, all cuddled up!” came a brand-new voice.
Remus looked up to find Lily standing in front of the couch with her hands on her hips, pink-cheeked, grinning down at them. Mary and Peter were with her, though Peter had already moved over to sit by James on the carpet. James’s face had turned bright red, no doubt noticing the way the tight black dress clung to Lily’s curves.
“Remus is the only one who truly appreciates my costume,” Sirius informed her.
“Awww,” Lily cooed, grinning at Remus. He refused to meet her eye, glancing instead behind her to take in the state of the party. He was surprised to find the rest of the room mostly empty. It was a mess, of course, candy wrappers, food, and empty bottles all over the place, puddles of liquor seeping into the carpet, pillows everywhere but the couches, but there was hardly anybody in the Gryffindor common room but the little group they’d formed around his couch.
“Where is everybody?” he asked, rather stupidly.
“Er, bed?” Mary said, frowning. “It’s late. Party’s sort of winding down.”
“Thank Merlin ,” Remus sighed.
“Hey!” Sirius protested. “You had fun, right?”
“Er-”
“Sirius, he sat on this couch literally all night,” James said.
“Yeah, and he had fun, right?”
Remus found Sirius looking right into his eyes, expecting an answer. “Er- sure. Yeah,” he said weakly.
“Yayyyy,” Sirius slurred, eliciting laughs from Marlene and James, likely at his expense. He was completely pissed.
“You’ve got a little something on your face, Sirius,” Mary said, looking at him with an amused smile.
“I do? Fuck,” Sirius said, and before they could stop him he was raising a hand to rub at it again.
“No!” Marlene cried in protest before bursting into a fit of snorting giggles. Remus found himself laughing along.
“Oh, fuck,” said Sirius. “Did I fuck it up again?”
Remus nodded while Marlene only covered her face with her hands to mask more of her laughter.
“How bad is it?” He sat up and turned to face Remus, who couldn’t help but snort at the sight of him. A large smudge of sparkly red and blue eyeshadow was smeared down the right side of his face and across the bridge of his nose in what no longer bore any resemblance to a lightning bolt. At Sirius’s wide-eyed, puppy-like expression, Remus clapped a hand over his mouth and shook his head, trying to stifle further laughter. “Remus, how bad is it?”
“Oof,” James said, suddenly cutting in with an amused look at Sirius’s face. “Looks like you just got into a fight, mate.”
“Ughhhh,” Sirius groaned, and seemingly without even thinking about it, ran a hand down his face again, causing the entire group to burst into giggles.
“Sirius, you did it again!” Marlene cried.
“Fucking whatever,” Sirius grumbled bitterly. “It’s already all messed up anyways.”
He flopped back onto the couch cushions, even closer to Remus this time, practically leaning all the way against him. He could feel his sharp jawbone pressed against his shoulder, his hairspray-crunchy waves brushing against Remus’s face and obscuring his vision. Remus stiffened awkwardly, trying not to acknowledge the abrasive presence. Sirius was a very touchy-feely drunk, he was beginning to gather. When he wasn’t puking his guts out in the bathroom, that is.
“So, James,” said Lily, who had at some point switched to laying down on the carpet, red hair fanned out around her head, one of her boot-clad legs intertwined with Mary’s, who had laid down next to her. “Do you really know the Beatles?” She was smiling wryly at the ceiling.
“Sure do!” James chirped. Remus had to admire his confidence.
“Okay, so what’s your favorite song?”
“‘Hey Jude,’” James said, throwing an extremely conspicuous wink in Marlene’s direction. She scoffed and shook her head at it.
Lily’s green eyes were directed at the ceiling and thus did not notice the interaction, though her eyebrows did raise skeptically. “‘Hey, Jude’?” Really?”
James frowned. “What’s wrong with it?”
“That’s like, everyone’s favorite song.”
“Yeah, ‘cause it’s good. A classic,” said James.
Lily turned her head to exchange a look with Mary, who seemed equally skeptical. Eyes glinting, Lily pushed herself up onto her elbows so she could look at James properly. “Sing it,” she said.
“I- huh?” James asked, blushing.
“If it’s your favorite song, then sing it.”
“Er-” James cast a helpless look at Marlene, who was grinning with amusement at the entire interaction and didn’t even bother to acknowledge it.
“Heyyyyy Judeeee…” he sang, in what was decidedly not the melody of “Hey Jude.”
Lily had no initial reaction but to stare with half-lidded, unimpressed eyes. Finally, she said flatly, “Yeah, you don’t know shit about the Beatles,” before flopping back down to stare at the ceiling while the entire group exploded into laughter.
James opened his mouth and took a breath, as if to push the subject, but stopped abruptly. Instead, he turned to Peter, who sat beside him, and took the bottle of firewhiskey from his hands. He took a long, painful-looking sip, to further laughter from the rest of the group. “This is the worst Halloween ever ,” he groaned.
Lily giggled. “It is a cool costume, if it makes you feel any better,” she said. “It would just be cooler if you, y’know, actually knew the person you were dressing up as.”
“You think it’s cool?” James said, stiffening against the back of the couch, eyes alight with hope.
Lily scoffed, rolling her eyes at his near-Pavlovian response. “God, Potter, it’s like every time I say something nice to you you look at me like I’ve just agreed to marry you!”
“ Will you marry me?”
“I’d rather die, Potter.”
“Awww,” James groaned.
“Hey, worth a try,” Peter supplied helpfully.
“Hey!” Lily cried. “Whose side are you on, Pettigrew?”
Peter shrank back guiltily.
Remus was surprised, honestly, that Sirius hadn’t stepped in to defend his friend at this point. A brief glance at him provided the answer.
His eyes were shut, cheek pressed up against Remus’s jumper, soft, wheezy breaths passing through his parted lips.
Sirius Black was asleep on his shoulder.
What the hell.
Lily was the first to notice, shooting up into a seated position with a loud “Awwwww!” and drawing the attention of the rest of their friends. Mary and Marlene broke out into similar coos while Peter and James burst into laughter. Remus desperately wanted to get up and run back to his room, but couldn't bring himself to move. It would have felt excessively cruel to wake him up.
“That is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen,” Marlene said, grinning widely at them.
“Hold on a second, hold on,” Mary said, jumping up from the carpet and running back into the hallway towards her and Lily’s room.
“You guys look so cute,” Lily continued.
Remus groaned, acutely aware of how hard his cheeks were burning. “I did not sign up for this shit,” he mumbled.
Mary emerged from her room, bounding right up to the couch to stand in front of them, and before Remus could identify what was happening, there was a loud click and a flash of light.
Sirius stirred beside him, pushing away from Remus with one hand and rubbing his eyes lazily with the other. “What the fuck?” he grumbled, voice slurred with sleep and liquor.
It took a moment for Remus’s eyes to adjust back to the darkness. Mary and Lily were both standing now, huddled around some little box. A camera , Remus realized, when his eyesight returned. This was going to be blackmail material for the rest of his life.
Sirius was sort of sitting up now, though one hand still remained on Remus’s arm, clutching the jumper as if to steady himself. His eyes were unfocused, hair a wild mane, cheek red where it had been pressed up against the knit fabric. It was rather endearing. He looked at Remus, blinking rapidly. “Was I asleep on you?”
“Er- yeah,” Remus said, flustered.
“Oh,” Sirius said, showing no signs of embarrassment. Either he was too tired, too drunk, or it just wasn't in his nature to care. Probably the last one. His grip tightened around Remus’s jumper sleeve again. “Your sweater’s comfy,” he said blearily. “Now I see why you wear these things all the time.”
“Er, yeah,” Remus said again.
“Alright,” Marlene huffed, pushing herself to her feet. “I think it’s time for bed. We have class tomorrow.”
“Nooooo,” Sirius groaned.
“Mate, you were literally just asleep,” James said.
Sirius let out a long–winded sigh, but allowed Marlene to pull him up to his feet from the couch. He kept his grip on her even once he was on his feet, leaning against her arm in much the way he’d been leaning on Remus just moments ago, smiling at her goofily. “You are so pretty,” he told her.
Remus resisted the urge to roll his eyes as Marlene looked at Sirius fondly. “Sirius Black,” she said. “You are such a flirt when you’re drunk.”
“Only when he’s drunk?” James said.
“Okay, especially when he’s drunk,” Marlene said. “Come on, that means you too, lover boy. Stop eyeing Yoko over there and let’s go to bed.”
“Who’s Yoko?” asked James, standing up.
“Oh, God, don’t get me started on Yoko!” Lily cried. Peter groaned, throwing his head back to plunk against the carpet. He and Remus had heard Lily’s whole spiel about Yoko Ono countless times and neither were keen to repeat it.
“Yeah, that’s our cue to go,” Marlene said, one hand wrapped around James’s arm, Sirius practically attached to her other side. “Goodnight, guys!”
“Night, Remus,” Sirius called over his shoulder. “See you at the shack!”
Marlene disappeared down the hallway with James and Sirius, and Remus found himself hoping that she was going back to her own bed. Not that it was any business who she chose to spend the night with.
Lily frowned, exchanging a look with Mary, feud with Yoko Ono seemingly forgotten. “What’s the Shack?” she asked.
“Er,” Remus looked at Peter.
“Inside joke,” Peter supplied.
“Huh,” said Lily. She pushed herself to her feet, unsteady on her chunky heels, stumbling a few times and raising a hand to rub her eyes. Mary stood up beside her to steady her. “God, I am kinda drunk, aren’t I?”
“Can’t be as bad as Sirius,” Mary said. “I think it’s best we go to bed, too,” she told Peter and Remus. “This was fun, though.”
“It was!” Lily said. “See, Remus? You did have fun, right?”
Remus smiled slightly. Perhaps he had had some fun, if only in the last few minutes. Of course, he wouldn’t admit it after all his grumbling about how much fun he wasn’t going to have. “Meh,” he said, shrugging. “It was alright.”
Lily smiled knowingly. “I think you had fun.”
Damn her , Remus thought. She was way too good at reading him.
As Lily said her goodnights to Peter and began walking towards their room, Mary took a few steps towards Remus and held something out to him. “Here,” she said.
Remus took it tentatively, staring at it in confusion. It was a stiff rectangle of glossy paper, white with a black square in the middle. “Er, what is it?”
“Ugh, you wizards,” Mary said, shaking her head. “It’s a polaroid.”
Remus had no clue what that meant. “Gee, thanks,” he said.
“Just leave it on your dresser, it’ll take some time to develop,” Mary said. “Check it out tomorrow morning. It’ll be cute, I promise.”
“Er, okay,” Remus said.
When Mary and Lily had disappeared down the hallway, he cast an uncertain look at Peter, who shrugged. “Don’t look at me,” he said. “You’re supposed to know muggle stuff, not me.”
When he and Peter had settled into their beds a few minutes later, and Remus was staring up at the darkened ceiling, Peter suddenly spoke up. “That was kinda fun, huh?” he said.
Remus didn’t reply. Let him think he’d fallen asleep, he thought. He’d admitted to enough fun that night.
It wasn’t until he woke up the next morning with a slight headache and sensitivity to light- he had been slightly tipsy last night, he supposed- that Remus recalled the flash of light and click of a camera that Mary had directed his and Sirius’s way. He stumbled out of bed and picked up the polaroid where he’d left it on his dresser the night before.
The picture was slightly blurry and crooked. Remus and Sirius sat side by side on the couch, Sirius leaned all the way against him, eyes shut and head against his shoulder. Remus was sitting rather awkwardly and looking over at Sirius in bewilderment. The lighting was absolutely horrible, the flash so intense that Sirius’s skin was practically stark white and Remus’s not much better, unfortunately highlighting the scars against the skin of his face. However, for the first time ever, he found himself… not hating them. They didn’t look so bad, at least not placed right beside Sirius’s face and the red and blue glittery eyeshadow smeared across his lax features. Scratches and eyeshadow, blonde hair and black hair, leather jacket and ugly jumper… Remus had to admit, seeing he and Sirius next to each other like that, he could understand now why Lily had taken such a particular interest in their friendship. They looked weird next to each other. Weird, but also good, somehow.
Remus found a smile tugging at his lips despite himself. It was sort of cute.