fatal love

Chapter 68

The end of October meant it was Halloween, and that year it fell on a Friday. Of course, that meant Gryffindor would be having a party. Remus had a bottle of the muggle vodka he often brought from home, and when lessons were over, James and Sirius snuck into Hogsmeade, through the secret passage and with the Invisibility Cloak, buying some firewhiskey from the Hog's Head. Some of the Sixth Years had told them Aberforth didn't care if you were underage as long as you weren't twelve, and they took advantage of this new information, buying as many bottles as they could carry.

After the customary feast in the Great Hall, the whole of Gryffindor house rushed back up to the dorm, under the weary gaze of the teachers, who tended to turn a blind eye to the big parties if it was after a Quidditch game, or on Halloween. It didn't take long for people to get the music started, and James and Sirius produced the booze, to raucous applause.

Sirius couldn't resist. "Have a drink with me, Moony?" he asked hopefully.

"Obviously," Remus grinned, snatching up a bottle of firewhiskey and tilting his head back, drinking straight from the bottle, and causing Sirius' brain to short-circuit for a second at the sight.

Sirius couldn't help himself; he monopolised Remus that night. It wasn't hard to do, to be fair - Remus wasn't one to dance, or mingle with people he didn't know that well, and seemed more than happy to sit with Sirius on a sofa at the edge of the room for most of the night.

Getting a few drinks in Remus made him far more chatty than usual, and Sirius was very content just to listen to him and stare. His face was slightly flushed from the booze, and he kept having to lean closer so that Sirius could hear him over everyone else. And okay, maybe Sirius exaggerated just a bit when he said he couldn't hear Remus, and to come closer, but could anyone blame him?

"And it was fucking terrifying, Sirius, I swear to God," Remus was saying, telling him about some muggle film that had come out over summer. "Even though the shark looked kind of shit, they just made it so scary... I dunno, maybe it was the music, or the acting, but it was incredible! You'd have bloody loved it, I'll show it to you one day."

"I've never seen a muggle movie before," Sirius said.

"That's what I'm for, right?" Remus grinned. "I've been in charge of your muggle education since we were eleven. I'll show you all the most famous ones - Jaws, James Bond, The Godfather - oh my God, you'd love The Godfather."

Sirius smiled. "Tell me about that one, then."

"Yeah, alright, so it's a mafia film-" Remus stopped talking, his eyes moving away from Sirius to look at someone across the room. "You came!"

Sirius followed his gaze, and to his horror, saw Sadira walking towards them, towards Remus .

"Hey guys," she said, and Remus actually stood up to greet her, kissing her on the cheek. Sirius couldn't look away. Sadira turned to face him, and her eyes flicked down to the Black ring on his finger, as people's eyes often did when they first looked at him.

Sadira was a pureblood, but she wasn't Sacred 28. Using the only power he had over her, he scratched his face, showing off the ring obnoxiously. She was well aware what that ring meant.

Remus wasn't paying attention to him. He was playing with Sadira's hair drunkenly, his face flushed and smiling.

Sirius had to leave. "Nice to see you, Sadira," he said with detached politeness, "Let me go and find James, I don't want to third-wheel."

Remus laughed. "Thanks mate," he grinned, "I'll see you later, yeah?"

Sirius nodded, hurrying away. He didn't go and find James, he went straight to the drinks table, grabbing another bottle of firewhiskey and downing as much as he could in one go. Merlin, he had to get a grip. Remus was going to date girls, of course he was, there was nothing wrong with that, and Sirius couldn't freak out every time he saw it.