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After an incredible Gryffindor-style win, ending with a certain Potter catching the Golden Snitch, there was a party in Gryffindor Tower. Filled to the brim with 6th and 7th years from every house, the common room was a loud, sweaty mess. Music blasted with a slight echo off the walls due to the thick layers of silencing charms.
Remus Lupin sat in his bed debating his options.
On the one hand, he could stay up here, protected by charms to keep the noise out. Maybe cuddle up in his favorite sweater and warmest socks and read a nice book. Perhaps even with a cup of tea.
The second option was to go downstairs for a little, avoid the Firewhiskey and have a little fun. The problem was Sirius Black. If Sirius was down there alone it would be fine. If Sirius was down there with another girl or even worse, another boy, it would be awful. There would be no point in even trying to have fun without getting smashingly drunk.
Or the third and final option. Go downstairs and get absolutely sloshed. Remus has gone through the possibilities and it's definitely a good option. Tonight is a new moon and Sirius wouldn’t be as much of an obstacle (depending on how drunk he got but Remus was famously good at holding his liquor)
After a long excruciating debate with a few sets of pacing the floor, Remus decided on a plan. He would go downstairs. He would celebrate with his friends, maybe drink a little here and there. If Sirius happened to disappear or if he caught a glimpse of a snogging session Remus would probably go back to his dorm and proceed with option one. (or if it was really bad, he would proceed with option three)
And so, Remus braced himself for the cacophony of teenagers, music, magic, and alcohol.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Immediately Lily found him at the foot of the stairs and handed him a cup of... something. He gave it a sniff and decided it was probably edible.
“Finally came out of your hiding spot huh?” asked Lily with a knowing smile.
“I just knew you’d miss me too much if I didn’t,” Remus responded with a grin.
“Eh, I guess that’s fair.” She said with a shrug. “There are too few brain cells out here for me to survive on my own. Speaking of too few brain cells, where’s your other three parts?”
Remus gave a look around the room but even with his height he couldn’t catch of glimpse of unruly curls, straw-colored blonde locks, or even a black messy bun. He gave her an unimpressed look, “You should know better than I do. You’ve been out here longer than I have.”
“Hey, I have no idea how you manage to keep track of those three. They’re like wild animals.”
“More than you know,” he mumbled under his breath, thinking of a certain rat, black dog, and stag.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Nothing. I just said it's an art form!” He tried to yell over the newly blasting song. Her only response was a suspicious eye squint as she walked off. Probably searching for Mary.
He should probably find James or Peter, maybe Sirius, he thought as he gulped down the mystery pink drink from Lily.
Wandering through the crowd he finally found James on a table chugging a bottle of Firewhiskey. The people around him chanted to encourage him. Finishing off the bottle he wiped his lips with the back of his hand and let out a truly horrendous burp. Jumping off the table with a wide grin and a slight stagger James landed in front of him.
Remus grabbed onto him for fear he’d fall over. James just grinned and slapped him on the back, “Where’ve you been Moony!? You nearly missed out on all the fun! Sirius has been sulking without you. We ought to go find him before he...” Remus couldn’t catch the last bit because the group of girls next to them let out a burst of giggles.
“Before he what?” asked Remus curiously, but James had already turned away as he looked around the room.
“There he is! Sirius get your mangy hind over here!” James called out, waving his hands in a bizarre gesture of James-speak.
Finally, Remus caught a glimpse of Sirius and his heart sunk. He was pushing a girl, that he had obviously been snogging, off his chest as he walked over swaying slightly. Remus could shake off the fact that Sirius’ lips were a little too pink to be natural, it was obviously that girl’s lipstick.
Before Sirius reached them Remus shrugged James’ arm off his shoulder, “I’m going to get a drink!” He shouted loud enough so hopefully Sirius would hear and not follow him.
He was going to proceed with option three. Get so sloshed he hopefully wouldn’t remember any of this tomorrow.
He snatched up a bottle of Firewhiskey and took a gulp as he headed to the makeshift dancefloor in the center of the room. Seeing a flash of blonde hair he followed it to Marlene. Pushed towards her by the shifting bodies around he let loose and began to sway his hips to the music, taking the occasional (constant) sip (gulp) of his drink. Dorcas leveled him with a knowing look, “Boy troubles?”
He only responded with a solemn nod and passed her the bottle. After about the third song she drifted off with Marlene.
“Feeling lonely? You usually don’t drink like this,” Remus whipped his head around, only slightly delayed by the alcohol, to see Gideon Prewett’s sharp grin and knowing eyes.
“Just a bad week,” Remus shouted back, leaning into the space between their bodies so Gideon could hear him. It was mostly true anyway. This week wasn’t the best, which was why he strongly considered skipping this party altogether.
He and Gideon danced together if you could call it that, for a while. But Remus was growing bored and tired of the feeling of gross sweaty bodies and dry-humping teenagers so close to him. So, he took his nearly empty bottle back from Gideon and finished it off as he walked away from the dance floor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Now Remus was beginning to feel the effects of the alcohol as he traveled to the couches, stumbling a bit along the way. Someone ran into his side and just as he was about to shout a sorry and continue on his way, he looked down to see Sirius looking up.
“I’ve hardly seen you all night,” Sirius shouted at him, but Remus was too distracted by the absence of pink lipstick on his mouth.
“Sorry about that, I could hardly find anyone with all these people,” Remus shouted after a few moments of silence.
“Yeah, I think this is the biggest party we’ve thrown yet. Really shows you what Prongs thinks of himself, huh?” Sirius responded with a fond little smile.
Remus just smiled back and walked toward the couch with Sirius following. They flopped down together, Remus sitting with Sirius’ feet on his lap, as was their routine.
“I’m exhausted from dancing,” Remus sighed, laying his hand over his eyes.
With an overly dramatic gasp, Sirius shifted closer to him. “Remus Lupin dancing?! I don’t believe you. I’d have to see it with my own eyes.”
Remus lifted his hand to shoot him a sharp glare, which did absolutely nothing because Sirius just tilted his head back and let out a laugh. A stupid, warm, lovely laugh that did horrific things to Remus's insides.
They spent quite a bit of their night like that, sitting on that squishy couch shifting around so that they were lying side by side, exchanging light barbs and laughter. Somewhere along the way they acquired a bottle to pass back and forth occasionally with their conversation.
Eventually, when Sirius went to take a drink only a few drops spilled out, missing his mouth and landing on his lips. Remus couldn’t help but stare. Sirius was propped up on his elbow leaning slightly over Remus, his head was tilted back, and his neck was stretched out showcasing his Adam’s apple. His misty eyes were slightly closed and his lips were shiny with the last of the Firewhiskey. As Sirius tilted his head back down to tell Remus it was empty, they locked eyes. They stayed like that for quite a while, eyes locked and barely blinking, just waiting for the other to make the first move.
“Who wants to play Spin the Bottle? If you want to play, come gather by the dancefloor!” James shouted across the room to the shrinking group of partyers. It was loud enough to break Sirius and Remus out of their odd stalemate. They both awkwardly looked around the room trying to hide their blushes.
“Come on, we better go support Prongs’ new attempt at Lily,” Sirius said, tugging Remus up off the couch and towards the floor.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Remus hadn’t realized but the party had dwindled a lot while he was on the couch. Now the only people left were mostly Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs with the occasional Slytherin and Ravenclaw. Almost everyone left was gathered around in a large circle with an empty bottle in the center.
Lily was going over the rules, (Remus and Sirius exchanged surprised looks at the fact that this wasn’t just James’ idea.)
“Once it's your turn you simply just spin the bottle and you have to kiss whoever it lands on. Boy or girl. If you don’t, James and I have a little mystery punishment planned.” She said with a conspiratory grin in James’ direction.
Remus and Sirius exchanged another look from opposite sides of the slightly misshapen circle. Whatever the punishment was it wasn't going to be nice and since when did James and Lily conspire together?
Dorcas volunteered to go first and gave Emmeline Vance a dramatic, but light, kiss on the lips, with a sorry look in Marlene’s direction. Next up was Benjy Fenwick who ended up kissing Fabian Prewett quite enthusiastically, Remus is pretty sure he saw some tongue. Then a few awkward kisses which ended up with less awkward laughter afterwards.
Then it was James’ turn. Which meant Remus was next. Fuck. James gave the bottle a sharp spin and anxiously waited for it to land on someone. Once it stopped, he looked up to see Lily, genuine surprise and timid hopefulness written plainly across his face.
She gave him a shy smile back and that was all he needed. He gently leaned in and they kissed. Every Gryffindor in the circle cheered as they deepened the kiss. Remus could hear Sirius wolf-whistle and shout, “Attaboy Prongs!”
Remus's head pounded from all the shouting, maybe he was drunker than he thought.
Once they broke apart, Remus remembered it was his turn. The room quieted down and James and Lily exchanged sweet, tipsy, smiles.
With sweaty hands, he took a sip of James’ drink for courage and leaned in to spin the bottle hard. Time seemed to slow down as it went round and round. Remus looked up to see Sirius watching him.
Hazy grey met warm brown.
The only thing registering in his foggy mind was that Sirius wasn’t his. But he should be.
Before he knew what he was doing, he reached down and violently grabbed the bottle, stopping its rotation.
With breaking eye contact, he pointed it directly at Sirius and went for his stupidly plump and soft-looking lips.
As they made contact Sirius stayed as still as a statue. His heart began to sink and he realized this was oh so incredibly stupid of him, he misread all the signs and now he was 100% fucked.
His stream of self-deprecating thoughts was quickly brushed aside as Sirius began kissing him back and...Oh. Oh.
Maybe it was the alcohol talking but nothing would ever compare to this moment.
Sirius gripped the collar of Remus’s shirt and Remus crawled on top of him, never breaking the kiss. All Remus could feel was Sirius, Sirius, Sirius. There was nothing else in the room but the feel of Sirius’ steady smooth hand climbing up his neck, the other slipped down to his side squeezing and resting there. The warmth sunk through Remus’s clothes.
The hot, wet feeling of Sirius’ mouth began to pull away and Remus couldn’t help but follow it, he was entranced. He needed more.
As Remus blinked and opened his eyes, he could vaguely hear the room cheering and wolf-whistling at him. The only thing he could focus on was Sirius, Sirius, and his blown pupils. The black had nearly swallowed all the warm blue-grey of his eyes. His lips were dark and shiny from the saliva.
Remus felt something carnal and possessive stir deep inside his chest. Which was just plain stupid over nothing but a simple (although heated) kiss.
Finally, Remus broke out of his trance and looked around the room. Some of the people had left the circle and a few were locked into conversation, but the rest of the room was staring at him and Sirius.
Looking down he realized they were in quite a compromising situation, and he felt his face flush. What did Sirius think of him now? Did he hate him? Did he only kiss him back out of drunken want? Terrified, he raised his head to look at Sirius.
His feelings of worry were easily washed away by the bright and genuine smile spread across his lips. That smile gave him the courage to stand up take Sirius by the hand and lead him to the stairs.
They climbed the stairs exchanging smiles all the way. But before they reached the door Sirius stopped and waited for Remus to turn and face him.
Still grinning he said, “Took you long enough Moons.”