The Party
“Maybe we should try to enjoy the party.”
“Clearly, it is not like either of us to stay sit on a sofa like that.”
“Maybe if we get pissed?”
“Probably.”
Sirius and Marlene were staring at the crowd of people dancing, chatting, drinking and kissing in the Gryffindor common room from the same sofa they were sat in earlier that night, when Sirius cried because of his fight with Remus. Usually, they would be dancing, chatting, drinking and kissing too but, right now, neither of them feel like getting up. Sirius glares at a girl talking with Remus and if a look could kill, she would be dead, buried, resurrected and dead again. Sirius knows that even if this girl is hitting on Remus, her chances that anything happens are close to zero. Not because Remus is obviously enamoured with Sirius (even if neither Sirius, nor Remus seem know), but because Remus expressly prefers men.
“We should be ashamed.” Says Marlene after a long moment of them not speaking and just glaring at anyone near, jealous of their ability to enjoy the night.
“We should.”
“We are party Sirius. How do we dare only sitting here?”
“This party is boring.”
“Because we are not a part of it yet. What about the ‘drink until we pass away’ part of our plan? We haven’t got a single drink.”
“We are a disgrace to our reputation, Marlene. How did we let this party turn this way?”
“Sirius.”
“What?”
“I just thought the most concerning thing ever.”
“What?” Sirius repeats, a worried look on his face.
“Our mothers would be proud.”
Sirius gasps, bringing his hand to his heart, “They would.”
“They so would!”
“We cannot accept that.”
“Definitely not!” With that, Sirius jumps on his feet and holds out his hand to Marlene who takes it and stand up.
They start by looking for a drink. They drink in fact a lot before they decide to do anything else.
“I want to play piano.” Sirius screams above the loud music.
“Oh my God, yes!” Marlene screams in return, clapping.
Sirius walks to the piano and sits. Marlene watches him, a big smile on her mouth. With his wand, Sirius stops the music currently playing, demanding, this way, everyone’s attention. As usual, people are not upset, everyone know Sirius’ skills on a piano.
He plays a while alone before Regulus appears on the crowd around him, “My baby brother!” He yelps, “Come play a four hand with me!”
If there is something better than earring Sirius play piano, it is both Black brothers playing piano together. After a bit of encouragement, Regulus rolls his eyes and joins his brother. After a moment of the two of them playing, the party restarts but this time with better music, whoever was in charge before bequeathed their place to someone with better music taste.
Marlene and Sirius drink, dance, sing. They live up to their names, began once again the disappointment of their mother. Then they have the misfortune to separate. Marlene does not really know how but she finds herself alone. On the dance floor, she sees Mary and Lily dancing. In a sofa, she sees Peter snogging some Ravenclaw girl. In a corner, she sees Regulus, James, Remus and two other Regulus’ friends chatting. But she cannot find Sirius. Who she finds, ironically, is Dorcas, standing right in front of her, a drink in her hand, staring at her. Marlene steps forward so she is only one meter from Dorcas.
“McKinnon.”
“Meadowes.”
They look at each other in silence for a long moment, the bass beating in their ears, or at least, in Marlene’s. She makes another step forward and Dorcas meets her in the middle. Suddenly they’re kissing, full on the mouth. Marlene violently pushes Dorcas away and they look at each other in bewilderment for a moment. Then they suddenly kiss again, deeper than the first time.
“What the fuck?” Marlene hisses pushing Dorcas away one more time. Her head is turning.
“What the hell are you doing McKinnon?” Dorcas asks like if she didn’t just kiss her too.
“What are you doing?”
“What?”
“What?”
They cannot hear each other anymore, the sound of the party now too loud. Maybe it is how they found themselves in that dark room. Marlene honestly cannot remember how they got there nor where it is. But here they are, sitting in silence in a dark room.
“Where are we?” She whispers.
“You don’t know?” Dorcas asks.
“No!” Marlene says. “You neither?”
“No!” Marlene bursts out laughing and soon, Dorcas joins her. Drunk people kind of laugh.
“Where the hell are we?” Marlene asks once more, not able to stop laughing.
“I have no idea.” Dorcas answers in the same state of hysteria. They laugh like that for a long moment before they settle down, a wide smile remaining on both of their faces.
“Meadowes.” Marlene calls.
“McKinnon.” Dorcas answers.
“Did we kiss?”
“I don’t know.” Dorcas says, still smiling.
“You don’t know?”
“No.”
“Should we kiss? You know, to check.”
“We should.”
And here they are, kissing again and, damn, all of them were right, there is a Dorcas thing.
***
Marlene awakens with a headache and no memory of the night before on the floor of the common room, her head resting on Remus’ thigh.
“Hello.” He says gently once she’s seated.
“Hello.” She answers. “What time is it?”
“Almost eleven.” He answers.
“What happened last night?”
“I don’t know. Didn’t see you.”
“Really? How did I end up there?”
“You came in crying at like, five, and you fell asleep on my leg.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t worry, I fell asleep literally two minutes later.”
Marlene smiles and passes a hand on her face. Then, she looks around her, trying to go slowly for the sake of her head. What the hell happened last night? She continues to look around, trying to find Sirius. Eventually, she resolves to ask Remus.
“Didn’t see him,” he grumbles.
“Angry at him?”
Remus shrugs his shoulders and look away.
“What is going on, Remus?” Marlene asks.
Remus let himself fall on his back and stares at the ceiling for a while. “Someone put cheese on the ceiling.”
“What?” Asks Marlene imitating Remus’ gesture. “Oh. Lily will fix that.”
“She always does.”
They stay silent for a while, staring at the cheese stick to the ceiling, laying on their back. Marlene has no memory of the party after Sirius and Regulus’ piano show. Why was she even crying at five in the morning? When did she lost Sirius? Where is he now? She resolves that she cannot have answers to these questions now and that, maybe, the best she can do for the moment is help her best friend to figure things out with the man he loves. “I don’t know what is going on between you and Sirius, I don’t know why you two had a fight yesterday and I won’t force you to give me answers but this has to stop.”
“Marlene-”
“Let me talk.” Marlene interrupts. “I know it looks like it is none of my businesses but it is. Sirius is my best friend. And you are one of my closest friends too, Remus. You have to talk to him. You two have got to talk for real, a real conversation. The whole school know there is something going on except you!”
Remus doesn’t answer. He stays silent for a while, still staring at the ceiling. “I am not angry at him. I’m just upset.”
“About what?” Marlene asks softly.
“I don’t really know.” He starts, stopping on each words, “I just… he just get on my nerves. He always acts so…”
“So much like him?” Marlene proposes.
Remus shakes his head, “He’s such a flirt. And maybe I’m a bit jealous, I’ll admit, but the worst is when he acts like yesterday. When he said to everyone that I am his boyfriend, just as a joke! He knows what I feel and, still, he always makes those kind of jokes.”
Marlene lets Remus’ words float in the air for a moment. “He doesn’t know, Remus. That’s why you two should talk. You are not a joke to him.”
“I so am.”
“No! You are not. That, I can assure you.”
“You know something I don’t.”
“And you know something I don’t.” They look at each other and finally, Remus breaks a smile. “Promise me you’ll try to talk to him.”
“I promise.”
“Thanks Remus.”
“My pleasure.”
***
If there is someone in this world who doesn’t know what a hangover is, it is definitely James Potter, so when he enters the common room singing to everyone to wake up, no one is surprised, but everyone is pissed.
“Shut it, Prongs.” Remus yelps, throwing a pillow at him.
“Come on, Moony! It’s time to wake up!”
“I am awake! That’s not a reason for you to be so loud!”
The rest of the people laying here and there grumble in approval. James rolls his eyes and start whistling while he cleans the room with his wand’s help.
“Merlin, when does he stops!” Someone cries from the other side of the room.
“Have you seen Sirius, James?” Marlene asks, pushing herself on her feet, “I must have lost him during the night.”
“Sirius?” James says, thinking, “Yeah, he is upstairs, couldn’t wake him up.”
“Cheers, James.”
James winks and go back to his whistling. Marlene climbs the stairs and go right to the boys’ dorm.
She knock, “I’m coming!”
She opens the doors and catches a glimpse of Peter and someone under the covers then she turns her head to Sirius bed where a piece of black hair exceeds. She push the blankets and slides next to Sirius, “Wake up, sleepy head.” She whispers, “I have questions.”
Sirius grumbles, turn his back to her then eventually turns back and opens an eye, “Marlene!”
“Hello.”
“Hello.”
“What happened to the ‘we stick together’ part of our plan?”
“A failure.”
“Obviously. I ended up crying and sleeping on Remus’ thigh.”
“I want to sleep on Remus’ thigh, too!” He yelps, “I want to sleep with Remus’ thigh, actually.”
“I don’t want to know that.”
“Why were you crying?” Sirius asks, softly.
“No idea. I don’t remember the party after you and Regulus played piano. What happened?”
“Well, we drank and we danced and we sang for a while then I lost sight of you and didn’t find you again.”
“Did you, at least, look for me?”
“Of course I did Marlene! Who do you think I am?” From the other side of the dorm, Peter shush them which makes Sirius laugh, “Sorry Wormtail! Go back to sleep.” Then he turns his attention back on Marlene, “I have no idea what you did after we parted. Maybe the girls?”
“Maybe, yes.” Marlene says, “I’m not sure I really want to know.”
“Why?” “I don’t know. Bad feeling. I’ll stay in denial.”
“That seems responsible to me.” Sirius says, nodding. “Come on, I’m starving, it’s almost lunch hour.”