RUB A DUB

Chapter 5

The party was going wild. It seemed like Lily was more popular they had thought. Or it was just because the marauders had invited literally every person they had talked to that week, and their parties were pretty famous anyway.

Around 11pm the girls escaped to their dorm.
"Is everything ready?" Marlene asked.
"Yeah quite. Just need to put this in the punch bowl." Lily said, pulling a bottle from underneath her bed.
"Are you sure it'll work?" Mary asked anxious.
"Mary, I'm the best of the year in potions after Severus."
"Of course it will work!" Marlene said jumping up of excitement.
"Okay, let's go then. You all know what you have to do."

They went down the stairs into the common room again.
"Hiya everyone!" Lily said, stepping on the nearest table. "I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone for coming. I'm honoured to see so many people here tonight and hope you've been enjoying the party. We're not gonna stop now, of course, but the younger ones are gonna go to sleep so we have to be careful about the noise we make. There's still pizza coming from the kitchen and plenty of punch, so enjoy!"
While she was making her speech and everyone had their back turned, Mary and Marlene emptied the bottle in the punch bowl, giggling. Lily got off the table and the party started again, people filling up their glasses with punch and drinking it, oblivious. A few minutes later she gathered her friends near the fireplace, saying she wanted to play a game. Truth or dare.
"But it's such a childish game!" Sirius complained.
"And we all know each other so well, it'll be boring." James added.
"I'm sure it won't be! And anyway it's my birthday, so I decide." She said, a smug grin on her face.
They sat down in circle, bringing their drinks with them.
"So, who wants to start?" Lily asked.
A few rounds in, Mary sat up straight and asked "Remus, do you have a crush on anyone?"
"Yes." He answered immediately, to his surprise.
Sirius, whose interest had been piqued rose from the floor where he was lying and asked "On who?"
"Only one question at a time Sirius." Marlene chastised.
Sirius gave her a sharp look but gave in.
"It's your turn Remus, ask someone a question." Alice added.
"um, well James, have you ever had a crush on someone else than Lily?"
"Yes I have." He answered steadily.
"Really?? How come you've never told me? James we've been best friends for years!"
"Sirius! Stop interrupting the game!" Mary scolded.
James looked at him warily, thankful for Mary's intervention.
"Okay, Mary, what is Sirius biggest default?"
"He's a drama queen who can't face his feelings." She said, looking at him pointedly. "My turn. Sirius, do you have a crush on anyone in this room, other than me?"
Sirius looked at her with big round eyes, feeling betrayed. He went to lie but what came out was "Yes it's been months. But it's much more than a crush, I would have got rid of it by now otherwise." He gasped, stopping as soon as he realised. He looked at her angry, hurt and confused.
Everyone else was looking uncomfortable, but not for the same reason. They still thought they were together somehow.
Sirius started talking again, and asked slowly "Mary, did you put something in my drink?". He was trying hard to contain his anger.
"What are you talking about? She's feet away from you mate, she couldn't have put something in your drink without us seeing."
"James. Try to lie."
"What? Why?"
"Just do it. Tell me who you had a crush on."
"Your brother." James blurted.
"What??"
"What???"
"Was that the lie?"
"No."
"WHAT?"
"Fuck. Mary. I'm gonna rip your head off."
Mary jumped to her feet running to her dorm. Marlene and Lily looked at each other, startled, stuck between a feeling of terror and dead laughing. That was a mess. James went to run after Mary when Sirius shouted "Wait a fucking second Potter!" and made to tackle James. Catching Mary suddenly became less important as James run for his life through the portrait hole.

They disappeared in the corridor while the others stayed on the floor near the fire place, stunned. Except Remus, who was staring at Lily. "So who made the veritaserum? Surely it's not Mary uh?"
Lily looked down at her feet, guiltily. "It was my idea." Marlene said gallantly.
Remus looked at her, then back at Lily. "Okay, but who made the potion?"
"It was me." Lily said, looking up.
"Why?"
"You know why."
A silence came. Then Remus got up and left without another word, going back to his dorm.

The boys got caught by McGonagall in the corridors. Which was foreseeable with all the noise they made. They came back with a few bruises and detention for a week, and that put an end to the party.
When Peter went to sleep, the dorm was quieter than ever, each boy turning their back to each other, curtain closed.

Remus was lying wide awake, too hurt to cry, even if it was the perfect occasion to do so. Lily had betrayed him. She was the person he trusted the most, the person he was the closest to, and she betrayed him. She must have had a reason right? She wouldn't just have exposed him like that? Just for fun? Lily was a good person. Or so he thought. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she didn't like him that much. Maybe he was just a boring boy she used to take in pity, but now she decided he didn't deserve that much of attention and decided to end it all with a good laugh. But she seemed so concerned when she had come to visit him in the hospital wing. And she had always been a good friend, had always been there for Remus. She had always been supportive of him, even when she discovered his little furry problem. Even when she discovered he was queer. Or was it the final straw? He remembered what she had told him while he was confessing. "If you're about to tell me 'that's a sin' and you're contaminated or whatever homophobic shit you're thinking about right now I'm gonna hit you in the face right there!" No, there's no way. She was as sportive as possible. Then what was it? Why had she tried to expose him in front of everyone? Then he thought about what Mary had said to Sirius. And Sirius' answer. So Sirius had feelings for someone else in their friend group. But it couldn't be him right? That night was only a month away. And he said it had been months. Oh god why did he have to over-think everything for god's sake. Once again, he couldn't sleep, and once again, it was because of Sirius Black.

Back in the girls dorm, they were undressing in silence when Marlene started speaking "Well, that was a big fail for a first prank."
"Ugh, Remus probably hates me now." Lily sighed, laying down in her bed.
"At least Sirius won't come at me with the whole jegulus situation now." Mary said.
"The what?"
"Jegulus. You know, James and Regulus."
"Oh yeah. That was unexpected. I mean, who knew James liked boys anyway?"
"Not Sirius, it seems."
"Shit, we'll have to apologise to him." Lily said. "He probably wasn't ready to say it to anybody. And now everybody knows about it."
The girls nodded, then Lily spoke up again. "I kind of feel like shit right now. I'm a shit friend. I knew how big of a deal it was for Remus and I didn't think twice about it."
"Yeah, and we didn't even succeed. It's gonna be worse than ever now." Mary added.
"Mhh, except if we get them to talk to each other, in private this time." Marlene said then.
"Oh yeah? And do you know how to do that?" Mary asked incredulous.
"Actually, I had an idea-"
"NO." They both shouted at the same time.
"Okay..."