5
The rest of the night was pretty much a blur. He remembered leaving the closet and literally running straight into Barty, who had offered him a drink, then another, then another, and so on. By the time the party ended, around 3, Remus was laughing and dancing and having the time of his life.
By the time they all got back to the dorm, it was so late and he was so tired that he fell asleep immediately, still in his clothes.
They all slept right through breakfast, until about 1 pm, at which point Regulus (who had not gotten drunk because he wasn’t ‘some sort of numbskull’) woke them to go down to lunch.
They all headed down to the Great Hall quite slowly, still extremely hung over. No one commented on Remus and Evan’s new hickeys, though he could tell they all noticed and Dorcas was just itching to mention it.
No sooner had Remus sat down and served himself food than someone behind them practically yelled, “Remus John Lupin!”
They all jumped and turned around to see none other than Sirius Black standing there, looking quite pissed.
His eyes immediately locked with Remus’s as he spoke,
“Can I talk to you for a moment.”
“No.” Remus answered plainly, he didn’t have the energy to put up with Sirius, not when he was in this mood and Remus’s head was pounding the way it was.
“REMUS!” Sirius, once again, shouted.
“Fuck Lupin just go with him so he’ll shut up” Dorcas cut it, glaring at both Remus and Sirius.
“Fine,” Remus said, standing up, “but make it quick, I’m starved.”
He followed Sirius out of the Great Hall and down into an empty hallway.
“What the fuck do you want Sirius?” He asked, realizing this is the first time he’d been alone with Sirius since his ‘prank’
“I want to know what the fuck is going on in your life. What the fuck my brothers and his awful little friend have done to you?” Sirius said.
“I’ve not the slightest idea what you mean.” Remus said. He knew that pissing off Sirius further would only make this conversation take longer, but how could he not when it was so funny.
“Oh stop with that,” Sirius rolled his eyes, “you know what I mean! You don’t think James told me what happened, you don’t think he went straight to me and told me how you were practically fucking Barty Crouch in our dorm?! You have to know that at least fifteen different people have told me how they saw you and Evan Rosier disappearing into a closet together last night! And now look at you, you’re a mess, you’re covered in hickeys, I mean Merlin, Remus, what is going on?”
As Sirius stood there, eyebrows furrowed, mouth agape, breathing hard and looking pissed, it took everything in Remus not to laugh right in his face.
“Sirius,” Remus said, struggling to hide the amusement in his voice, “I think you may be over reacting just a touch.”
And if Sirius wasn’t mad before, he certainly was now. Looking at Remus with murderous eyes, his face grew even more red (if you can believe it), and now he was full on yelling.
“Remus do you think this is fucking funny? Have you lost your fucking mind? What the fuck is wrong with you?! You’re going around hanging with Regulus. Regulus, Remus! I mean what the fuck that’s my brother. The same brother that’s a perfect little mamas boy, the same brother that watched me suffer in that house for years! And his friends, his friends are even worse! His friends make fun of us, his friends are jerks, they’re Slytherins, they’re future fucking Death Eaters for Merlin’s sake! You can’t fucking hang out with them! It’s horrible, they’re horrible and you, Remus, you’re being-”
“What, Sirius, I’m being what?” Remus finally snapped, fed up with Sirius’s whole victim act, “Am I being a bad friend? Am I hurting your fucking feelings? Am I betraying you? Do you feel fucking betrayed? No you’re so right Sirius, I mean what kind of asshole would do that to his best friend? Bet you have to be a real dick, huh, to hurt someone who loved you and trusted you so much?! Guess I’m just a horrible person, aren’t I, Sirius?!”
Sirius blinked, hesitated for a moment, but if there’s one think Sirius Balck would never do, it’s admit he’s wrong.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it! It’s not just hanging out with Regulus, it’s everything. Why are you with his friends? Why have you completely abandoned your own house? Why are you going around, fucking them? You can’t do that Remus! You can’t fucking-”
“Oh, I CAN’T?! And tell me, why can’t I, Sirius?” Remus cut him off, shouting. He starred at Sirius, waiting. Watching. Because what could Sirius say? What could his reason possibly be except for because he was jealous? What other reason was there? What lie was he going to tell?
Sirius faltered, blinked and then said, “because.”
But then, that’s all he said. That was it. He stood there looking at Remus, and that look said more than anything. Remus knew why, they both did. They both knew that before all of this had happened, Sirius and Remus had been unofficially official. Just waiting to see who was going to break and confess first. And now, now Remus was past that, he didn’t want Sirius anymore. But Sirius was still caught up, still trying not to be the first to break.
They stood there in deafening silence. Each watching the other, waiting to see what the next move was. In the end it was Remus who spoke first.
“Not a good enough reason.” He murmured, then, without another word, he turned and walked back into the Great Hall.
The second he entered, he felt James’s eyes on him, tracking his movement as he went back to the Slytherin table. He sat down next to Regulus, who, without even turning to look at him asked,
“What did he say?”
“A lot. But also nothing.” Remus answered quietly.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Regulus glanced at him.
“Could you just insult him?” Remus asked, starring at the floor.
“He’s such a fucking prat.” Regulus stated. Remus snickered, and they continued to eat their food.