Tides of Fate | ᴍᴀʀᴀᴜᴅᴇʀs ᴇʀᴀ

22 | Inconvenient Truths

"Okay! Game of the night," Sirius announced excitedly, pulling a flask out of his coat. "Truth or dare!"

"I know you're all schoolchildren," Gideon rolled his eyes. "But really?"

"Ah ah ah," Sirius wagged his finger comically. "My handy concoction is dosed with diluted veritaserum. So it'll be your unfiltered truth no matter what the question! That ought to keep things interesting."

"Is that legal?" Remus asked suspiciously.

"If you all take it willingly, yes," Sirius argued.

"What the heck, I'm down!" James agreed. It had been a while since they'd let loose and just had good old-fashioned fun- immature as it may be. They needed a night off from adulting.

Within a minute, everyone had a glass of their preferred drink dosed with a healthy dash of Sirius's concoction. They agreed that they would sip before every truth. Gideon and Fabian agreed with faux reluctance, insisting they were much too old for this. Carina could tell they were really just having a blast. And as tough as they were on Frank, Sirius, and Alice, they also cared for them deeply. Sirius was practically in love with the Prewetts and idolized them in a way that made everyone else smile. James, Remus, and Peter weren't surprised by Sirius's plans- they'd been accustomed to their group shenanigans since the first year. And Alice insisted it would be a blast, giving Lily and Carina little choice but to join in.

The game didn't have a tame start- Sirius certainly saw to that.

Frank picked truth, and Sirius asked him to reveal a secret fantasy. The young man stumbled over his words trying to resist the veritaserum as he painted a very vivid picture of Alice and him somewhere in his family's classic English garden. There was more than one blushing face at the table by the time he'd finished, Alice's being the brightest of them all.

"You'll pay for that," she promised Sirius vengefully.

Remus wearily picked truth. "Merlin knows how much worse a dare would be," he tried to logic.

James grinned and asked him what the craziest prank he came up with at Hogwarts was. Remus sighed as he revealed an elaborate scheme that had rendered all the prefects with chipmunk voices for an entire week.

"I thought James and Sirius were behind that!" Lily cried in surprise. "I gave them 2 weeks of detention for it!"

"I know," James smirked. "Just setting the record straight."

"How many rules did you break?" Carina asked curiously. Remus didn't seem like the most trouble making out the lot of them. But he clearly had a devious streak.

Remus opened his mouth automatically from the lingering influence of the veritaserum before he clapped a hand over it. "Nope!" He said forcefully. "I've already taken my turn."

Peter was the first brave soul to take a dare. Alice dared him to go flirt with the girl at the bar who kept glancing at him. To all their surprise, their conversation kept going. A few turns later, Peter was striding out of the bar with the cheerful muggle as they chatted animatedly.

"Lucky sod," Sirius grumbled.

"You have a girlfriend at home," Remus reminded him.

"She's been traveling for a project," Sirius groaned.

Lily took a dare. Carina made Alice charm her hair into a mane of tight yellow-blonde curls in mullet style cut in the pub's bathroom. After all, it was the raging muggle fashion of the decade. When Lily walked out of the bathroom, her lack of signature ginger locks replaced with ramen hair left everyone in fits. Carina dared her to keep the style for the remainder of the night, and if anyone asked, she'd have to say she was trying out something new.