Summer Kids

1977: Moshpit

The next thing Sirius knew, 'James' had taken hold of his closest arm with ironlike hands, twisted it over one shoulder, and ducked to throw a hip beneath his weight. In almost a perfect arc, Sirius flipped head over feet and landed heavily on his back in the grass, beer splattering and glass crashing around him.

Wind temporarily knocked out of his lungs, all Sirius could do was blink up at the person he had somehow mistaken for James. Staring wide-eyed at his assailant, Sirius suddenly wondered how the hell he could have thought that a spare woman with curling black hair just past her shoulders, terrifying ice-grey eyes, and fierce dark eyebrows amidst her stony face could have been his best mate. He concluded that he probably should have stopped drinking the free beer about an hour ago...and that, Merlin, he never would have made the same mistake if he had seen this girl front-on. From her black shirt that read 'EQUAL RIGHTS' to the stripes of rainbow paint down the sides of her temples, Sirius was instantly intrigued. Through the pain that now spread from his spine through his ribs with the return of his breath, he was either ashamed or enchanted.

Above him, the girl tilted her head and stared down at him with her hands on her hips. Sirius got the feeling she would pick him up and throw him again in a heartbeat if she wanted to. Over the continuing guitars issuing from the stage beyond, the girl shouted, "Keep your hands to yourself, creep!" Then she turned and stalked off into the crowd.

Sirius scrabbled to his feet, his honor injured by the idea that this girl thought he was a 'creep' and something in his chest telling him that it was very important that he make sure that she knew that he wasn't as he staggered around and through more crowds of concert-goers. "Oi!" He yelled after her, keeping his eyes on the back of her black shirt as he fought through the dancers. "Hold up a minute! What was that for?" 

To his disappointment, the girl didn't answer, instead breaking through the far edge of the crowd and picking up her pace. Sirius outright shoved a few people from his path and followed in hot pursuit. He cleared the edge of the crowd in short order and jogged towards the girl. "Hey!" he called again, loping along the lawn after her. He hoped he could just get her to talk to him before she joined what looked like a cluster of other women and men wearing shirts like hers, all standing around a yellow minibus in the distance. "Don't you think you owe me an apology?" Sirius called, trying a new tack. "Oi! You can't just go around slamming people into the ground!"

The girl suddenly whirled around, her arms up as if to take a swing at Sirius as he swayed to a stop in front of her. Her fierce brows down like a prowling animal, she spat, "I can do whatever I damn well need to do to get some space. You want me to show you again?"

Seizing his chance to clear his honor, Sirius held up a finger and corrected her, "Absolutely no need on my account, muppet. It was an honest mistake, I swear."

"Muppet?" The girl hissed, her eyebrows shooting up farther. "Do I look like Kermit to you?"

Now Sirius couldn't think of anything to say except, "Kermit?" Completely lost, he took a wild stab and asked, "What, is that some sort of American thing?"

It looked to him as if his question had, at least momentarily, disarmed the girl. Her eyebrows lowered a centimeter as she answered, "Kermit's a frog puppet. On a kids' show." After a beat, her eyes narrowed. "How d'you know I'm American?"

Sirius took his turn to drop his eyebrows unimpressedly at her and cross his arms. "Accent's a bit of a dead giveaway." Then, in a flash of devilish humor, he grinned and automatically added, "Muppet."

"God," the girl sniffed, rolling her eyes and relaxing her arms to cross her chest as well. "And now you're hitting on me. D'you know that this is really not a great introduction to British men? First some guy tries to pick me up at the airport, then no one can tell me why my accent's so damn hard to understand, then the crowd gets arrested mid-protest this afternoon, and now you..." the girl drew out the word, and Sirius thought he saw her give him a long once-over before finishing, "...are clearly drunk, and I just threw you over my shoulder. God." The girl suddenly pressed one hand to her forehead in what was clearly regret -- and strain. "God. Trust me when I say it's been a helluva long day. But a punch would probably just have done it, huh?"