James woke up bright and early that morning, after all, it was Halloween. He shook Peter awake, aggressively yet still aware he was just waking up. He was in high spirits because they would be able to miss the next day for school, which meant, in James’ eyes, a perfect opportunity for a party. He leapt on Sirius, who, as a result, bounced off of the bed. He fell on the floor with a THUMP, which, as a chain reaction, awoke Remus. “Why are you up? It’s 6am on a Sunday.” Remus groaned and climbed out of bed, carefully avoiding stepping on Sirius, who was now lying on the floor.
“Correction,” James snickered, and raised an eyebrow at Remus’ unimpressed expression, “It’s 6am on Halloween.” This got Sirius up, he hopped onto his feet, smirking sinisterly. Peter yawned and stretched obnoxiously, before slowly approaching to the bathroom. They had been planning their big Halloween prank all year, so it was no surprise to any of them how eager James was to get started immediately. They all got ready and headed downstairs to eat breakfast in the Great Hall.
As they walked down the steps from their dormitory into the common room, Sirius and James wouldn’t stop chuckling at the exhilarating prank they had planned. “It’s the best one yet!” Sirius excitedly exclaimed, his arm interlocked with James’. When they were in the common room, a certain red-headed, freckled girl caught James’ eye. Lily Evans had fair, long, orange hair which reached her lower-back. She was pale, with freckles dotted nearly across her slightly pink face, and as she bore her teeth in her smile, James couldn’t help but admire her beauty.
“Stop gawking, you lover boy.” Sirius nudged James playfully, who in turn nuzzled Sirius’ hair. Sirius giggled at first before touching the top of his head, and exclaiming, “My gorgeous hair!” He practically pounced on James, and they began pretend wrestling in the middle of the common room, for all to see. Apparently, this ruckus caught Lily and her friends’ attention. Marlene McKinnon was tanned, had short, blonde hair and jade, green eyes. She had freckles as well, but they were darker than Lily’s. Marlene was also more confident, and she had an empowering energy to her. Mary was dark-skinned, she had dark, curly, hair and Cupid-bow lips which fit perfectly on her face. The boys in their year offen described her as having the best figure in their year. Her curves were immaculate, but they were nothing compared to her warm, loving smile.
“Honestly,” Lily stood up, placing her hands on her hips and slowly shaking her head in disapproval, “you boys are always mucking about.” She tutted like a disappointed mother, and pulled Sirius off of James. However, James just smirked at her from the ground, it wasn’t very charming, though. His glasses were crooked and slightly cracked, leaning unevenly on his ethnic nose. He was mixed race and brunette, curly hair along with a faded scar on his cheek, which looked more like a dent now that it had worn out. He had gotten it in first year, in defence against the dark arts when Remus’ magic had gone a bit out of control, causing James’ delicate face to scrape against the splinters in the floorboards.
They all made their way downstairs, Peter, James and Sirius lead the way with Lily, Mary and Marlene following closely behind. Whereas Remus, was trailing far behind. The next full moon was a week away, but that wasn’t what was troubling him. Remus felt very out of place. He was sensitive to sounds, so he didn’t enjoy buzzing parties. He wasn’t skilled at flying at all, so he never joined the boys to quidditch games. Remus was more of an introverted, nerdy cliche. He had tanned, fair, skin which was decorated perfectly with silver scars all over his body. He had hazel, syrup eyes that reflected the sunset so perfectly it was ethereal and he had fluffy, curly, brunette hair which bounced as he walked. Remus was overall stunning, but he had never felt romantic feelings for girls like all his other friends had, well, except for Peter and Lily.
When they were at the Great Hall, Remus decided to sit slightly far away from his group, as his head was pulsing, and it felt like there was a heartbeat in his head. Remus placed his head on the table, and covered his ears. He knew he was different, he just didn’t understand why. Meanwhile, Sirius was staring at Remus from the other side of the table. The way his cheeks had a pink tint to them, the way his eyes squinted when he felt tired or agitated, and the way his presence gave Sirius a warm, welcoming feeling in his chest. Sirius rested his head on his hand, and he didn’t even notice that he was staring. James clicked his fingers, snapping Sirius out of the state he was in. “Oi, lovebird.” Sirius flipped him off, and listened to James’ plan for that night. “A massive party! Every house is invited, what do you think?” Sirius pondered the idea for a second, but an odd feeling lingered in his mind. Empathy.
Sirius shook his head, disapprovingly. He lowered his voice, and leaned in closer to James, just so Remus wouldn’t be able to hear from the distance he was away from them. “Moony doesn’t like loud noises.” James slapped himself in the face, feeling daft for even floating the idea. They all averted their gaze to Remus, who was now sleeping with his head rested on the table. He didn’t snore, he just lay there, breathing softly. “How about a small get together then? Just the girls and the marauders, Marlene can invite her Slytherin friend if she wants.” Marlene perked up at that, and she glanced over to the Slytherin table, waving shyly to a girl sat there.
Afterwards, everyone began packing their things and leaving, the girls were headed to the courtyard and the marauders were to quidditch practice. Sirius volunteered himself to wake Remus, and walk him back to the common room. James reluctantly agreed, feeling a tinge of guilt for leaving Remus there. After they had left, and the Great hall was basically empty, (except for a few sixth year Hufflepuffs, whom had buried their head in parchment and books), Sirius lightly shook Remus awake. Remus jolted awake, looking awfully pale and shocked. Like he’d just witnessed a murder. “You fell asleep, wanna go back to the dorm?” Remus nodded his head slowly, looking dazed and confused. Sirius held out his hand, and Remus took it, allowing himself to be lead up the staircase, through the hallways and towards the portrait hole until they reached the common room.
Remus collapsed by the fireplace, sighing heavily. There was only a few second years there, whom were too busy chatting by the windowsill to take any notice to Remus and Sirius. They both sat down on the sofa, letting the heat of the fire warm up their shivering bodies. Remus inevitably fell asleep again, only this time his head fell onto Sirius’ shoulder. Sirius jumped slightly at first, but he didn’t shove Remus off. Instead, he looked down at him, with pride, and smirked.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and a chuckling James ran inside, arm and arm with a snickering Peter. Sirius hurriedly shushed then, and gestures to Remus, signifying not to wake him. James mouthed, “Sorry.” And took a seat on the sofa next to Sirius’, smiling softly at how comfortable the two boys looked, and how hard Sirius was blushing at this scenario. Remus woke up in time for lunch, and studied in the library until dinner, where he sat a good distance away from his friends again. He wasn’t angry, he just preferred small groups of people. The noise in the great hall was overwhelming alone, he didn’t need the added sound of James screaming about broomsticks on top of that.
When dessert was served, the marauders all exchanged a mischievous glance, knowing the prank was about to go underway. They, however, didn’t include Remus in this. He knew the prank that he had put months of effort into was about to occur, but he didn’t care. Remus knew when he wasn’t welcome somewhere. He brushed past his friends, trying to be non conspicuous. The marauders all darted their heads around, and immediately got up to follow Remus’ sudden escape. Lily, Marlene and Mary attempted to get up too but Sirius snapped. “Stop! You're not involved in this, he’s been avoiding us because of you!” He didn’t mean to raise his voice, but Sirius couldn’t help it when he was pushed to the brink of his temper. The girls froze in their tracks, but the boys continued, they had completely forgotten about the prank at this point, they only had one focus. To reassure their friend.
Remus was sat in the common room, reading a book by the fireplace. This time, it was completely deserted. Remus fought back the urge to ball like a baby, and as his eyes welled up with tears, he inhaled sharply through his nose, attempting to suck them back into his eyes. After about a minute of tranquility, the door burst open, and his three friends entered, looking concerned. “Moony!” James exclaimed as he rushed over to Remus’ side. Remus sat there, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. Confusion overwhelmed him like a tidal wave.
“Why are you here?” Remus turned around sharply when the realisation hit him, “You’re missing the prank!” Sirius chuckled softly, and Remus noticed how gorgeous he really was. His long, black hair complimented his watercolour eyes, which had the glisten and shimmer of hope in them. Sirius had a defined jawline, and perfect, red lips. He also had some piercings which he had made himself on his face, earlobe and belly button. “Hello? Earth to Sirius?” Remus waved his hand in front of Sirius’ face and he blinked hardly, as if forcing himself back to reality.
“We don’t care about the prank, Moony.” Remus stared up at him, confused. His innocent gaze made him look like a golden retriever. “We’re gonna have a get together in the common room later anyway, just the girls and us.” Remus slowly nodded, not to show he was following along, or that he agreed, it was more of a muscle reflex. Peter flopped next to Remus on the sofa, and put a comforting hand on his shoulder, and Remus smiled softly as he looked around at his friends, but when he met eyes with Sirius, his gaze softened.
They spent the afternoon hanging out in the common room, and eventually the girls came up as well. Lily and Sirius apologised to each other, and they were reassured that there were no hard feelings. At eight pm, the prefect went upstairs to his room, and so the party started. Sirius and Marlene both ran up to their separate rooms, Sirius returned with Vodka whilst Marlene had red wine. A few minutes later, two more people joined the party, one of which they would’ve never expected to come. Dorcas and Regulus snuck into the common room, Marlene leapt up and hugged Dorcas, whilst Sirius looked stunned at the sight of Regulus. “Reggie finally wants to hang out with me?” Sirius pretended to faint in James’ arms, and they both chuckled. Regulus rolled his eyes, and sat on the floor in front of the fireplace.
They just drank for a while, and everybody was having a good time, including Remus and Regulus. After they had finished the bottle, Peter came up with the idea to play spin the bottle with the empty glass, and (almost) everybody agreed. “Ew, I don’t want to have to kiss you guys!” Regulus complained, but Sirius just swung an overly-friendly arm around his shoulder, before kissing him teasingly on the cheek. “Siri stop!” Everybody erupted into laughter, Remus winced at the noise, but he tried hard not to show it.
They all sat in a circle, after convincing Regulus to join in, and James took the first spin. The bottle made an uncomfortable noise as it moved, clinking against the wood. The bottle ended up pointed to Peter, and everybody chuckled wholeheartedly. James placed two hands on Peters cheeks, and pulled him in for a three second kiss on the lips. Peter immediately spat afterwards, trying to get rid of the taste as James snickered. The next person to spin the bottle was Mary, and it landed eventually on Lily. They both giggled softly, and Mary leaned over the middle, reaching out to the other side of the circle. She brushed Lily’s hair out of her face, and passionately kissed her. When they pulled away, everybody was silent, their mouths open. “Oh shut up, it’s the game!” They all giggled and Marlene jokingly raised her eyebrow before bursting out into fits of laughter.
Marlene spun next, and she had to kiss Dorcas for a little while. She even bit her lip afterwards, and everybody laughed at her cheerily. The next person to spin the bottle was Regulus, and he reluctantly flicked his wrist, causing the bottle to uncontrollably spin in circles. It ended up pointing to James, and he groaned angrily. “Shit!” James let slip out, and he looked at Sirius for permission, who just shrugged.
“I’m very drunk right now, don’t look at me” Sirius sniggered and stuck his tongue out. Regulus leant over the circle as well, his black, curly hair falling in front of his face. His defined cheek bones caught James’ attention, and James decided to take off his glasses. When he did, Regulus noticed how deep and alluring James’ gaze was when met. He firmly pressed his lips against James’ and caressed his neck slowly, grazing his thumb slowly over his pale skin. After he pulled away, they both stared at each other in confusion. Before returning to their original seats. Regulus covered his face with his hand, feeling his whole body heating up.
Sirius as shocked as James and they both pointed at each other, before playfully slapping each other. After screaming at James for a bit, and saying vulgar names such as “Brother-fucker”, “snake” and “mango muncher” James passed Sirius the bottle and insisted he have his turn. “Whoever it lands on, you can’t fall in love with me.” Sirius winked playfully at the circle, and a few of them burst out in laughter. Sirius spun the bottle wildly, and it clanked against the carpet. Finally, the bottle came to a halt, facing directly north, where Remus was sat uncomfortably.
Remus pursed his lips, and everybody stared, shocked. Sirius’ face was flushed, and he glanced around nervously, “We don’t have to if you don’t-“ but his sentence was cut short, by his lips abruptly meeting Remus’. Sirius accepted his, and he closed his eyes shut and kissed him back, passionately. Remus cupped his face in his hands, and that moment felt like an electric shock, in the form of tension. When they finally released, Marlene swung her arm around Sirius and began cheering, and they all burst into uncontrollable laughter. After a few more rounds, the game was finished, and they all got up and began releasing their energy, in the form of dancing to records.
Even Regulus got into the party in the end, and he stood on a table, confidentially singing at the top of his lungs. “There’s a star maaaan!” He was using Mary’s hairbrush as a microphone, and had his tie loosely around his neck. They all partied until they couldn’t anymore, and although it was a blur for them, there was a few memories they couldn’t forget. At the end of the night, Remus invited Sirius upstairs, and he led him onto the bed.
“What are we doing?” Sirius nervously asked, not in an upset way but more in an excited and adrenaline-rush-spur-of-energy way. Finally, the tension was too much to resist, Remus untied his tie and threw it across the room, and began removing Sirius’ as well. He pushed him down onto his bed, and ran his hands across his chest, making his way upwards, running his hands through his hair, and inhaling his delectable scent. Their lips connected and they could feel the heat between them. When Remus was drunk, he was honest and had a newfound sense of confidence. Sirius finally pushed away, “We shouldn’t do this.” He said.
“Then tell me to stop.” Remus confidently replied, still inches away from Sirius’ warm breath.
“I can’t.” Sirius chuckled softly before wrapping his arms around Remus’ back, and pulling him in tightly, before licking his lips and unbuttoning his shirt.
Meanwhile, on the sofa downstairs, Dorcas and Marlene were also making out, their blouses undone and their hair tied up in ponytails. After ten minutes, they pulled away and glanced around the common room, questionably. “Where’d everybody go?” Marlene chuckled lightly, biting the inside of her cheek as she did so until the tissue inside of her mouth bled. Dorcas lightly patted her cheek and smiled.
“Don’t do that,” Marlene stopped immediately and her gaze softened as she looked into Dorcas’ eyes. “they’re probably just doing what we’re doing.” Dorcas winked at her, before pushing Marlene down onto the sofa again, and their lips met.
The next day, they were all extremely hungover and felt extremely sick. Everybody else wanted to stay in and not attend class, everyone except for James and Sirius. Sirius boasted excitedly to James about what he and Remus did last night, and they both tiredly yawned and chuckled. They were so drained and hungover, that Sirius didn’t even notice the one thing that may change their friendship dynamic forever. “Where did you go last night?” Sirius nudged James, whilst raising his eyebrows suggestively. James just chuckled lightly and stuck his tongue out as they walked into transfiguration.
They walked in and settled in their seats, hoping Mcgonagall didn’t notice that they were late. She hung her head low as she did paperwork, but the chair scraping against the floor made her dart her head up. “Mr. Potter you really should come to me about house changes.” The whole class turned to face James, and his face immediately turned pink. James looked down, and ripped off his tie, which was now an emerald green. Sirius picked up a slab of wood which was resting on his desk, ready to transfigure, and held it up above his head.
“James you brother fucker!” He roared on top of the murmurs of class, and James stood up and darted outside of the classroom.