The Party
Chapter 4 - The Party
And so came the night of the party. While Remus had wanted it to be more of a quiet ordeal, it was all James and Sirius had been talking about for the last few days. Peter had joined in somewhat as well; as he saw this as his opportunity to get on with Emma, the Ravenclaw in their year. In fact, people from all houses had somehow been invited. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were fine, but a few Slytherins had somehow made the guest list through some acquaintances. Now, Sirius had certainly been correct regarding the event taking his mind off Lily and Severus. Remus believed that James had actively used it as a distraction for himself; which would explain why it had become such a big deal.
The Marauders were obviously in charge of everything (with some help from Marlene and Dorcas) and had decided it would take place on a Friday. The reasoning behind this was that James had Quidditch practice on Sunday morning. While this bloke could easily get by an evening of drinking and not feel like complete crap the following morning he argued that he “should be in tip-top shape, for the Slytherin match coming up”. As for the rest of the Gryffindors, it didn’t really matter. The full moon was not due until Monday, so they had plenty of time.
However, per usual Remus found himself struggling with his emotions before the full moon as the wolf inside of him was getting ready. Madame Pomfrey had given him some medicine to help combat it all, but it just barely kept it at bay. This mainly resulted in him snapping at his friends (who had gotten used to it by now), which made Remus feel even worse. So, to some extent, even he felt excited to be able to blow off some steam at a party.
The Marauders and some other Gryffindor folks had spent the afternoon setting the place up. This mainly revolved around getting as much stuff away from the common room as possible to make space for the people, and Gryffindors placing spells on their bedroom doors to avoid guests having a shag in their bed. Remus had been put on placing spells throughout the room and in the hallway. This was mainly silencing and light spells to make sure the teachers wouldn’t get a hold of what they were doing. Sirius had been put on getting “supplies” for the party, which included firewhiskey and some “greens”. Remus hadn’t really questioned how he came in inhibition of this, but he assumed there was a reason as to why Regulus Black was on the guestlist.
Peter had been put in charge of music and more proper supplies. The reasoning behind the music was because he was the only one that could be in charge without people beginning to fight. This had been the case at a party about a year ago when Sirius almost got into a fistfight trying to defend the music he was playing. Peter was also surprisingly technical, and could easily work the sound systems. Finally, James and his charm had been put on bribing the prefects and some of the portraits. The prefects could usually be trusted with a bribe, but the portraits really didn’t give a shit when most people asked. But they all seemed to be quite fond of James (with the exception of one of the old headmasters that were hanging by the Apparation classroom) and it usually tended to work out with him.
Around 7 people started dropping in. This was mainly Gryffindors coming down from their bedrooms (where James’ eyes were on Lily walking down the stairs for a bit longer than he would like to admit), and some Hufflepuffs who went to speak with Peter almost immediately. Seeing James kind of ticked him off and so he appointed himself to go stand by the door and greet everyone arriving. Sirius and Remus were hanging by the fireplace with Dorcas and talking about the night ahead. Remus had his doubts, which Dorcas simply laughed off and Sirius said “My dearest Remus, a party is nothing but a place of opportunity”.
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Remus was not sure what this “opportunity” thing was supposed to be, seeing as he now found himself in the bathroom; staring at his own reflection. There was a clear element of “Jesus, I am horribly drunk oh no we’re not going to throw up whydoinotrememberanyspellsforthis” as well as it taking a huge amount of focus to bring up the things that have happened so far into his mind.
While Remus absolutely cannot find how the images in his head are linked together, or what happened in between; he isn’t too drunk to not have any recollection of certain events. Lily did at some point go to talk with James, following a conversation she had with Remus in the corner of the room. At this point, she was already fairly tipsy and spoke about how
“Awwww, I really DO like James but he’s so” she sighed before continuing. “I don’t I just, I don’t think he really likes ME”.
To which Remus laughed out loud and asked “Lily, are you serious right now?”
“No, he is!” she exclaimed and pointed at Sirius. Remus just rolled his eyes and Lily said “Anywaaaaays, I’m going to talk to Mr Quidditch now. Actually, I think I’m going to have another shot first”.
At some point, Lily did drag James into a room. Remus noticed this because Regulus looked fairly upset at Lily. Wait, why was Regulus with James? He had come in a bit late and looked uncomfortable. So, James said something about “the brother of my brother” to Sirius and decided to talk to him. Following this, they had stuck together for most of the evening - or at least until Evans interrupted them. Remus just remembers an image of James being slightly leaned over Regulus by a window.
Remus himself had ended up in a drinking game, which resulted in the right state he was in right now. Peter had been the host of the game and had used his wand as a microphone. The contestants were Sirius, Remus, Dorcas, Marlene, a Hufflepuff by the name of Eliza, and two Ravenclaws - Alexander and Norah. Emma, the Ravenclaw, was leaning on Peter’s shoulders as he stood by the table they were all sitting around. Remus supposed this meant that Peter had been fairly successful in his mission. The game was fairly simple, it was sort of based on Never Have I Ever, except if you haven’t done it - you will be challenged to do it. If you don’t accept the challenge - you have to take 2 shots. If more than one person hasn’t done it; the group takes a vote on who gets challenged. As usual, if you had done it - you had to take a shot as well. The game was basically just a way to get everyone hammered fast.
“Alright, ladies and gentlemen,” Peter said in a game show host voice “We’re starting off easy, never have I ever kissed someone”.
Everyone drank, except Remus and Norah.
“Ooh, can we please challenge them to kiss one another? Two stones, one bird” Marlene exclaims.
“Hun, I believe you mean “Two birds, one stone”, but I get your point. Everyone for?” Dorcas asks.
Sirius gave Remus a smirk, while Remus just looked apologetically at Norah. Norah, in turn, just laughed and kissed him. So, Remus had his first kiss. As he sat back, he could feel Sirius adjusting in the seat next to him and scratching his nose.
“Eventful!” Peter commented. He looked slightly insane as he looked around his “crowd”, and Emma whispered something in his ear.
“Never Have I Ever cheated on an exam,” Peter says with a smile.
Surprisingly enough, only Eliza doesn’t touch her drink.
“Seriously? Thought you Ravenclaws would find it went against your “moral principles” or something.” Sirius says while making his quotation marks slightly offbeat.
“Nah, there’s a lot more to us than you think,” Alexander says and winks at Sirius from right across the table. Now it is Remus’ turn to shift in his seat. Alexander is fairly attractive, with a very defined jaw and short hair, he thinks to himself.
“You’re not challenging me to this” Eliza says and takes a shot.
“We wouldn’t dare,” Marlene says and briefly places a hand on Eliza’s lap.
“Alright, Never Have I Ever smoked weed?” Peter asks and eyes Sirius.
Marlene stays put through this one. Remus realises that Peter probably didn’t think this question through, as Sirius has now grabbed a joint from his cigarette box.
“Want me to start it for you?” Sirius asks Marlene, who at this point looks terrified and grabs Dorcas by the hand. Dorcas whispers something in her ear and Marlene seems to relax a bit as she says “Sure”.
Remus watches as Sirius places the joint between his lips, which truly defines the bone structure his unfortunate family tree gave him. He looks down with a furrowed brow as he grabs a lighter from his pocket and lights it. Sirius then sucks in, this time defining his cheekbones before exhaling with a laugh. He passes the joint to Marlene with a smile, who takes a small inhale before coughing. Remus laughs and gives her some water as he says “We’ve all been there”. Marlene passes it to Eliza, who passes it to Norah, who passes it to Remus. Remus takes two hits and feels a familiar buzz go through him. It passes through Sirius, through Emma, through Alexander, to Dorcas who then passes it back to Sirius.
“Never Have I Ever Done 7 minutes in heaven,” Peter says from the chair he has somehow found, and Emma takes a seat in his lap.
Neither Remus nor Sirius drinks.
“Oh come on! Basically everyone did this at Sirius’ birthday party last year” Dorcas says.
“Not those two, at that point they were both throwing up in the bathroom” Peter replies.
“Ugh, come on Moony! I personally don’t appreciate being bullied here” Sirius stands and reaches out the hand that isn’t holding the joint towards Remus. Remus takes it and replies “Fine, but I’m bringing this” and grabs his bottle of firewhiskey.
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Per the rules, they were alone in the bathroom with the lights turned off. The only glow came from the joint they re-lit and were now smoking in the bathtub. This was interfaced by the swigs of firewhiskey they took as they passed the bottle between one another.
“So, you and Norah - huh?” Sirius asked.
At first, Remus didn’t say anything. This led to them both bursting out in laughter, as they were most probably a bit high.
“Yeah, that was interesting,” Remus said and chuckled.
“Was she any good?”
“She was… nice, I guess”
“Oh come on, nice? What the hell does that mean?” Sirius said and took a swig.
“It’s not like I have that much to compare it with”
“Fair enough. But did you feel any, like, sparks or something?”
“Nah,” Remus said and thought back to the electric current he had felt with Sirius before. In fact, as they were quieting it down; he began to feel it once more.
“Hey man, you’ve almost smoked up my weed!” Sirius exclaims.
“I helped you fund this!” Remus responds.
“Oh just barely, give it here!” Sirius says. He places the bottle of firewhiskey on the floor and reaches for the joint. As Remus is a bit taller than Sirius, he has no problem holding in over Sirius’ head as he says “No way!”.
This leads to Sirius going in for an attack to get it. Remus felt himself being pushed down. Now, either the bathtub was too slippery, or he simply didn’t want to fight it. But he ends up below Sirius, sitting on top of him. Remus’ amber eyes meet the blue of Sirius’. He seems to be studying the features of Remus’ face, in the same way that Remus is studying his. However, Remus keeps getting stuck on his lips. Remus takes the joint and places it at Sirius’ lips, and he inhales. Remus throws the stump onto the bathroom floor. Sirius exhales the smoke and bends down his face to meet Remus’. Sirius carefully places his lips on Remus’ and gently kisses him. Remus thinks he tastes of smoke and whiskey. Remus adjusts himself so he’s sitting more upright and Sirius slightly pulls back. Before Sirius has the chance to say anything, Remus kisses Sirius with more force. Their arms find their way to each other's back as their tongues meet. With every kiss, there is more want, more lust, and the electric current has been amplified to the point where Remus thinks he’s going to implode. His hands go up the inside of Sirius shirt, feeling the heat of his body. He’s trembling ever so slightly, and Remus believes he is too.
Just then, there’s a knock at the door as Peter says, “Come out now, you lovebirds”.
Sirius smiles into Remus’ lips, and Remus does the same as they kiss one more time, before getting out of the bathtub. Remus takes a swig of the whiskey before passing the bottle to Sirius and saying “Take this, I’ll be out in just a minute”.
Sirius takes the bottle and smirks at him before leaving. Remus turns on the lights and begins to stare at himself in the mirror.
Shit.