Halloween
Clap for the Wolfman,
He gon' rate your record high.
(Yes baby, I your doctor love)
Clap for the Wolfman,
You gon' dig him 'til the day you die.
(Heh heh, everybody's talking about the Wolfman's "pompatous of love!")
Seventy-five, or eighty miles an hour,
She hollered, "Slow, slow, slow!"
Baby, I can stop right on a dime.
I said, "Hey baby, give me just one kiss?"
She said, "No, no, no."
But how was I to bide my time?
I said, "Hey babe, do you wanna coo, coo, coo?"
He said "Ah, ah, ah."
Said, "I'm about to overload!"
I said "You're what I been living for!"
She said "I don't know want to know..."
(Oh, you thought she was diggin' you but she was diggin' me!)
Clap for the Wolfman,
He gon' rate your record high!
(As long as you got the curves, baby, I got the angles!)
Clap for the Wolfman,
You gon' dig him 'til the day you die!
(It's all according to how your boogaloo situation stands, you understand?)
Halloween fell on a Sunday that year, (much to the teachers dismay and the students enthusiasm.) Monday would bring sugar crashes and hangovers, and, all in all, not much work would be getting done.
Though, Sunday night would be an extraordinary event, bringing excitement and festivities and all of the other things that were quickly beginning to grow on Sirius. (Well, he had to admit it eventually, right?) For one evening, the students would forget about sports performance and the rigorous routines they all adhered to, and instead would transform into real life teenagers like some monsters of the night.
It would be Sirius' first time engaging in any Halloween festivities, or even acknowledging it's existence at all, really. His mother was pretty much convinced it was the devil, or something.
Sirius was excited.
He hadn't had much time to prepare any sort of costume, (having had only three days to come up with one in the first place, and still needing to practice every day on top of that,) but he decided on one and got to work quickly.
He chose to play it safe and go as a vampire- his reasoning being that he wouldn't have to do much work; he already kind of had the looks for it, what with the long dark hair and annoyingly pale skin.
For whatever reason, the things Remus had said the other day to Sirius had seemed to snap him out of his stupor. He still practiced, of course, but he was no longer pushing himself to the brink of collapse each night. He was no longer avoiding his friends.
Friends, Sirius thought. It feels so easy to call them that, now. So natural.
Was it a good thing, or a bad thing?
A concern for another day, perhaps.
As of right then, he was focused on getting the rather uncomfortable fake pointed teeth to stick to his real teeth correctly while some girl James had hastily introduced them to was smearing black eyeliner on his waterline. To be honest, he'd already forgotten her name in all of the excitement.
Oh, if only his mother could see him now...
"Quit blinking!"
"I'm trying! It's rather hard when someone has their finger in your eye!"
"It's not in your eye. ugh, boys are so dramatic."
Sirius scoffed. "Oh, I sincerely apologize for my body's natural instincts."
Just then, James Potter himself came careening into the bathroom, dressed as a knight in shining armour and causing the girl to jump and smudge the eyeliner once again. "Damnit!" She cursed.
"Sirius!" James hollered, completely unperturbed by the commotion he had just caused, "Come on, hurry up! It's starting!"
"All right, all right!" he huffed, swiping his tongue over the strange long teeth now crowding his mouth.
The girl fixed his makeup with a flourish and a 'ta-da!' before declaring him good to go.
With that, he hurried to go join the rest of the growing crowd.
The common area of the dorm wing was decked out in decorations that were obviously hand made, and it was packed with students. More than Sirius had ever seen there before. The milieu was usually inhabited by a few groups of kids lounging about or talking, but here now, there was hardly room to move. The room itself wasn't small, but it wasn't all that large either- it was furnished with old couches, a dart board, a pool table, a normal table, a radio, and some workout equipment.
Already, there were cowboys and pirates and zombies showing off their weight-lifting abilities, or how many pull-ups they could do. Few of the girls seemed interested.
In one corner of the room, a chugging contest was being held, Sirius was uncertain if it was alcohol or water. In another, a couple was making out. Near the wall there was a rather intense card game taking place, he wasn't sure which one.
With an 'oof' James slammed into Sirius' back, waving his hands frantically as if there were a fire. "Hey! you made it!"
"Tosser. I was gone five minutes!"
"It was at least six," James countered with a huff, "but look- Moony's bringing out the record player!"
Sure enough, there Remus was, carrying in the turntable from their shared dorm room with difficulty. Sirius had not seen the boy's costume before now, and his jaw feel involuntarily at the sight. He was not expecting a werewolf.
Yet, there he stood, grey ears and a bushy tail, fingerless gloves covered with fur. He was clothed in a faded jean jacket with the arms ripped off, paired with tight pants. The old jean jacket was open, revealing not a shirt, but bare skin... Scars on full display. Clever.
He looked...
Sirius didn't finish the thought.
"Shit," James whistled, Slapping Sirius on the shoulder, "Moony's a total bad-boy now, you're gonna have competition for all the girls tonight."
Sirius should have shoved James back, or said some sort of witty remark at the comment, but instead he sort of just... Stared. He had thought Remus would have worn something tamer, perhaps a character from one of the many books he seemed to be constantly reading, or something classic, like Robin Hood.
A werewolf was a stretch to begin with, but he would have never imagined his friend to show up practically shirtless. Out of any of them, it would have made the most sense for James to do, as the boy was shirtless half of the time within their dorm anyway.
Once again, he'd been caught off guard. Remus continued to upend his expectations.
He forced his eyes away and back to the crowd. Anywhere, look anywhere else. "So, where are the drinks at?"
James grinned from ear to ear as the sound of a needle dropped onto a disc filled the busy room.
"All our times have come,
Here but now they're gone...
Seasons don't fear the reaper,
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain.
We can be like they are-
Come on, baby! (don't fear the reaper!)
Baby, take my hand, (don't fear the reaper!)
We'll be able to fly! (don't fear the reaper!)
Baby, I'm your man-!"
Cheers went up in the crowd as the song hit it's chorus and students sang along: "Laaa, la, la, la, la..."
Sirius downed a shot and then another.
He had only ever really had wine before, never much else beyond a sip or two. Vodka was different, it burned on the way down and something inside of him enjoyed the slight pain of it.
"Whoa, mate," James chuckled, "you should slow down. it'll all go straight to your head if you do it like that."
"Love of two is one,
Here but now they're gone.
Came the last night of sadness-
And it was clear she couldn't go on.
Then the door was open and the wind appeared,
The candles blew and then disappeared,
The curtains flew and then he appeared,
Saying don't be afraid..."
Sirius felt the graze of fingernails rake across his shoulder blade. It was Katya. "Join us," she purred, "I teach you a game from my country."
James seemed to have disappeared.
Sirius nodded and blindly followed her over to the wooden table where students were gathered around, they spoke with each other in Russian, they were so fast! He was only able to pick out little bits here and there. 'lets go' 'money' 'here' 'nice'. Conversational Russian was so much different than what he had studied.
They explained the game to him with some sort of broken English dialect and a lot of gestures, he wasn't exactly sure of the rules but followed along, taking money from his pocket and putting it on the table like the rest of them were doing. Taking shots and then diving beneath the table with them. Laughing and shouting. He was pretty sure he knocked his head against the wood at one point but he was having too much fun to be bothered.
The next time they all ducked beneath the table he flopped down onto his back, too dizzy to get back up again. The others laughed. He was vaguely aware of them calling him a lightweight. The world was spinning but it was colourful. His chest was burning but it was delightful. He closed his eyes for a moment.
When he awoke, it was to the sensation of being shook. The hands of a boxer...
How much time had passed?
He tried to speak, but his tongue was awkward and heavy, so instead he just made some sort of 'mmhg' noise.
Remus tisked, "I can't believe no one rolled you onto your side..." the other boy's face was close to his and Sirius could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Mh- huh?"
"The party is still going, but you need to sleep, Sirius. You've had too much." His words were firm, but his tone was gentle as he hauled him up to his feet.
Immediately, Sirius felt nauseous. He stumbled. "I- I think I'm going to be sick."
"Right, come on then."
Remus pulled him along quickly to the washroom by the waist, once there, Sirius promptly stumbled over and threw up in the toilet.
When he unsteadily got up, Remus was standing, leaning against the door. "Better?"
"Mhm..." Sirius half walked half fell forward and into Remus' chest. The boy stiffened and tried to push him gently away but Sirius stayed.
Sirius brushed his fingers over one of the lines on Remus' abdomen. "...How? How'd it really happen...?"
He was awkward and heavy on his feet but Remus was supporting some of his weight, now. The boy breathed out slowly. "I'll tell you... When you're sober, I'll tell you. If you ask again. I promise."
"Moony..." Sirius dragged his hand upward and cupped Remus' face.
Remus flinched away and shoved Sirius off. "Don't. I- Just please- please don't."
"Oh. Um. Okay."
The werewolf nodded. "Alright, let's get you to bed." He grabbed the vampire's wrist and hauled him off to their dorm.
When they got there, Sirius immediately collapsed onto his bed. Remus tugged off his shoes for him. He was falling asleep quickly but...
"Moony?"
"Yes, Padfoot?"
"You're pretty."
He would never find out what Remus' response was, however, because before he could say anything else, Sirius was already fast asleep. He would remember nothing the next day.
He would remember nothing, but the other boy would remember everything.
That night, Sirius dreamt he was running through the woods underneath the moon as a big black dog, chasing a wolf whom he somehow knew to be Remus. He wasn't sure how he knew, he just did. He also didn't know where they were going, or what they were chasing, either. He just knew they were happy.