Sirius was right.
Those are three words I literally hate with every fiber of my being, and yet, it didn't make them any less true.
Stepping into the Gudgeon household was like that one weird cartoon Disney movie where the blonde kid falls down a well or something and learns the consequences of taking various types of illegal drugs... and how awful cats are.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. After unceremoniously swinging the door open and shoving me past a trio of red-eyed loiterers engulfed in some foul-smelling smoke, Sirius steered me right toward the beating center of the party.
I don't really know what I was expecting. I only really wanted to go to this party because I wanted friends... or at the very least to have some acquaintances besides the mad man that drove me there on his death machine. In all the movies Matty and I had watched, they make parties look like this magical blur of people being swept away in their inhibitions, having the time of their life. In reality I kept dodging mystery liquids on the floor, it smelled like stale beer, sweat, and skunks, and people just sort of bumbled around and into each other to bad disco music, knocking things over like Mrs. Hernandez's blind llama, Ramon.
Sirius led me by the elbow past a smoke hazed couch, my eyes burned. "It's not too late for me to take you home, you know."
"We just got here," I said through my coughs. "Besides, I want to at least say hi to Lily and them."
"One trip to the loo and suddenly you're best mates," Sirius muttered grumpily under his breath and walked into the kitchen past a couple making out by the screen door to the backyard. The air was clearer and the incandescent kitchen lights were on, buzzing with a few wayward moths. On the counter was a smattering of every sort of cup and random junk food you could imagine, and at the center of it all was a big bowl of what I assumed was punch.
Sirius saw me eyeing it. "Don't even think about drinking that poison... you're what? Seven stone? It'll put you out faster than a Diricawl zap."
"I have no idea what you just said."
He rolled his eyes. "You little. Drink strong."
"Okay, look, I may be dumb, but I'm not dumb enough to drink some random unattended party potion—"
"PADFOOT!" Came a booming voice. Suddenly I found myself pushed nearly into said party potion as James, of course, barreled through, lopping an arm over Sirius's shoulders. "Come on I want to jump in the pool! Do that one spell with the- the-" James was snapping, hair more askew than ever, glasses lopsided. "The spin! The spin spell!"
"I don't really feel like it, James—"
"Oh come on! Stop being such a— Higgs?"
And just like that I had been spotted. I prayed he wouldn't ask me to do any spells. Unfortunately, my tutor hadn't gotten to any charms yet... or anything else for that matter...
James's mouth broke out into a crooked grin. "Didn't think you were coming? Lily said you'd gone home."
I frowned. "She did?"
Sirius heaved a great sigh. "Come on James, let's get you some water—"
"The pool can wait," said James swatting his friend away.
"That's not what I—"
"I'm thinking we should do something else..." a perfectly wicked smile broke out upon the stupid Potter's face. "Davey! Remus! Frank!" He hollered out the kitchen door. "Round up the girls! We're playing truth or dare!"
***
I, surprisingly, had played truth or dare before.
Once.
A few kids my third year, invited Matty and me to hang out with them one evening before spring break. We were so young and naive. We thought they wanted to be our friends.
It stated harmless; dares (go tell a 7th year in the common room they're cute, steal ice cream from the kitchens), sharing who we had a crush on in our first year. But when Hattie Parkinson dared Millicent Tugwood to go kiss Matty in the broom cupboard... that was the final straw.
Matty said no, obviously (Millicent was as fowl as a troll) but then all the other kids started to say nasty things... call Matty names. Said if he didn't want to kiss her, he must not like any girls. Then, they assumed I must actually have been a boy— and well, truth or dare lost its appeal that day.
And now, here I was with some brand new schoolmates in the upstairs guest room of the most rancid smelling home one could imagine, sitting on a lumpy couch beside stupid Sirius Black as Marlene spun an enchanted lava lamp on the floor, glaring at me like an angry chimera.
"Sirius... this isn't exactly what I was imagining..." I whispered. Screw my pride at this point. I wanted out.
"You're not saying you want to go home now, are you?" he smirked. "Weren't you just complaining that we just got here."
"Look, you don't need to rub it in."
"Oh, I absolutely do."
"Sirius, please, can you just take me—"
"James!" Marlene exclaimed. "Truth or dare!"
"Dare," he said, laughing and elbowing Davey beside him. "And make it a good one Marls!"
She rolled her eyes and flipped her blonde hair back. "Go downstairs and steal three half used cigs."
"Oh, come on— That's the best you can do?" James laughed rising to his feet. "Piece of cake."
"Should have dared him to admit he's an idiot..." Lily said not-so-slyly when he was safely out of the room. "Would have been more entertaining."
Marlene rolled her eyes. "No, I should have dared him to snog you agai—"
Alice clapped her hands together, forcing a smile. "SO! Paisley, we're so glad you ended up coming!"
Lily turned the color of her hair, arms crossed, suddenly quite enthralled with the stain on the rug.
"Uh... yeah. Of course. I uh... love parties."
Sirius snorted.
Alice ignored him, turning to a girl to her left with rather impressive dreadlocks. "Dorcas, have you met Paisley? She's from America. She's transferring to Hogwarts next year!"
"Wicked!" Dorcas smiled. "You'll love it. Hogwarts is the best."
The door swung open and a lanky boy holding three smoldering cigarettes walked in. "Like I said! Piece of cake!"
"Well done, James." Remus vanished the cigarettes out of his hand with a flick of his wand, much to James' displeasure.
Around and around the enchanted lava lamp spun. Everyone had their own style when it came to truth or dare, I realized. Some were more bold— the Davey and James' of the world— others played it safe like Alice and Dorcus merely making people do silly dances and tell how long they had ever gone without brushing their teeth.
And then there was Marlene.
She had been uncommonly generous to James... but when the lava lamp landed on Sirius she looked much too pleased.
"Truth or dare, Sirius."
Sirius sighed haughtily. "Truth, I suppose."
"That's no fun!" she complained.
He shrugged. "I'm lazy."
Marlene flipped her hair again, eyes flashing. Lily looked as if she was trying to communicate telepathically, but what she was to trying say, I had no idea.
"How many people in this room have you snogged?"
I felt Sirius tense beside me.
There was that word again... snog. what did Sirius say it meant again? Flashes of memory came to me, the smell of his cologne, the feeling of his breath moving the baby hairs around my face, his hand in mine...
And then I remembered.
"One." he said.
"Who?" Marlene practically yelped.
"That wasn't the question," Sirius replied without meeting her eyes. He reached forward and spun the lava lamp, either unaware or unbothered by the faces of genuine confusion in the room. Myself included. Truthfully, I thought the number would have been higher... he could be a flirt after all. Not that I cared.
The lava lamp rounded to a stop on, of course, me.
If I was the type to curse, I would have dropped some mighty fine vocabulary in that moment. It would be just my luck that—
"Truth or dare."
Both were potentially life-endingly embarrassing options. Could he just dare me to disappear out of thin air? But this was Sirius. As annoying as he was, he knew I was a wimp. Hopefully he would go easy on me considering.
"I'm going to pick for you if you don't hurry up, Higgs," he sighed, leaning back.
"Dare."
There was a wicked glint in his grey eyes.
He leaned in close, his hair tickling my cheek, breath in my ear, then whispered, "I dare you to go to the phone in the next room and call your boyfriend, Matty."
As I shoved him off and huffily proclaimed "Why are you so annoying?" the rest of the group was in an uproar.
"You can't do that!" shouted Davey.
"It's against the rules!" James proclaimed.
"You have to say it for everyone to hear!" Marlene demanded.
"Yeah!" Dorcus agreed.
Sirius just laughed at their outrage, much to Marlene's severe displeasure. She looked about ready to break something... or someone.
"So are you going to do it or not?" he asked me, loud enough for our audience to hear this time.
"No! Not here!" If I was going to talk to Matty, it surely wasn't going to be at some gross party when I was already an anxious mess.
I got some strange looks from my words, Lily even blushed. But I couldn't understand why...
Sirius started to stand, holding a hand for me as well, pretending to be some chivalrous knight. "Well then I say we go some place else where you feel a bit more... comfortable."
Look, I know I'm stupid, and I should have realized at this point that to the others all this sounded much much grosser than it really was, but I was just so excited to leave that godforsaken place that I was all too eager to follow him out.
"I'll see you around, Lily," I said with a little wave, even though I actually didn't know if I would see her around.
She just kind of waved back with a confused look on her face.