fatal love

Chapter 36

The next week, Sirius kept an eye on Snape. James had been right; at some point since Christmas, the other Slytherins seemed to have accepted him into their fold. That made Sirius feel uneasy, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Besides, the full was on Friday, so by the end of the week, he was too preoccupied by Remus to bother keeping tabs on Snape.

Saturday was obviously spent in the Hospital Wing, keeping Remus company while he healed. He was bandaged more than usual this month, and Madam Pomfrey was checking on him anxiously every fifteen minutes, but at least he was awake, and talking. Still, the mood was sombre, until James broke the tension.

"Fourteen tomorrow, Moony," he grinned. "How should we celebrate?"

"Ugh, by doing nothing," Remus grumbled. "Sorry, James, but if Poppy lets me out of here tomorrow, I'm still not gonna be up to doing much."

"Well that's okay," Sirius said instantly, "we don't have to do anything big. We'll all hang out in the dorm, just the Marauders."

"You sure you won't be seeing Becky, Sirius?" Peter teased. Becky was the latest girl Sirius had been chatting with, but he had to admit, he didn't have a lot of interest in her. But she liked him, and he was still going through his process of elimination to find a girl he actually liked the way he was supposed to.

"Nah," he sighed, "think I'm over her now."

"You go through girls too quickly," Remus smirked. "You'll run out before you're sixteen."

Sirius stuck his tongue out at Remus. "You all can criticize my attitude with girls once any of you have any success. The whole lot of you are bloody terrified by them, it's embarrassing."

"Okay, back to Moony," James said, rolling his eyes. "Is that the plan for tomorrow, then? Us four, the dorm, nice quiet day?"

"Sounds great," smiled Remus.

So that was how they spent Remus' birthday. It was peaceful, and the four of them were never bored when they were together. The sun was just setting when a sly look appeared on Remus' face.

"So," he said, "my parents sent me a birthday present that I thought we might all enjoy."

"What've you got for us, Moony?" Sirius grinned.

Remus rummaged through his trunk for a second, before producing a large glass bottle, filled with clear liquid. "It's vodka," he said, "it's a muggle alcohol. Do you lot want to get plastered?"

"Absolutely we do!" exclaimed James, snatching the bottle excitedly. "Let's try some of this, then."

That night, Sirius learnt that vodka tasted even worse than firewhiskey - it burned his mouth, and his throat. Of course, Remus seemed completely unaffected by the taste when he took his own drink.

An hour later, they had all lost their mental faculties, and were giggling at everything. Remus had that usual flush he got whenever he drank, and Pete had fallen asleep on the floor. As Sirius' laughter died down, he watched Remus. He was still laughing at whatever story James was telling, his head thrown back.

Remus wasn't carefree like this often. It always seemed like he was considering his every word, every action. But this version of Remus - pure, unadulterated happiness - was Sirius' favourite version. Remus looked beautiful like this.

His heart skipped a beat. That was a weird thing to think. He stared at the bottle in his hands; he'd definitely had too much to drink.

"I, um, I think I'm going to go to bed," he said quickly.

"What? Are you sure?" James asked, looking at him with concern.

"Yeah, yeah," Sirius chuckled nervously. "Think I overdid it."