( chapter )
eight
JULIET DAWSON TURNED UP EMPTY handed to Sirius Black's seventeenth birthday party — well, not entirely. She showed up with a bottle of vodka and a packet of cigarettes but they weren't for the birthday boy.
His party was held in the Gryffindor common, which had the same set up as most of their parties. Tables filled with food and drink, sofas pushed to the walls to create space in the middle where people could dance and a record player blurting out loud music all night, this time it was constantly playing Queen and Fleetwood Mac as they were his favourite.
The Four marauders (excluding Sirius) had spent the better part of the day setting up the room so that it was ready for their best friends night. There were red banners hanging from wall to wall, most of them displaying the message Happy 17th Birthday! while others said Sirius' name with crude, stick drawings of him next to them; there was gold and red bunting hanging from wherever it could and confetti of the same colour covering surfaces; random photos of Sirius were placed around the room, ranging from random baby photos that nobody knew how James acquired them, to photos of him sleeping in his dorm room with dribble running down his cheek.
His birthday cake was situated in the middle of the table holding the food, it was a simple Victoria Sponge which James had asked his mum to make knowing just how much Sirius loved Euphemia's baking. It had candles on the top, some singular stick ones and ones that showed the number 17.
Juliet grinned at Remus as she walked into the Common Room, following after Marlene and Dorcas who instantly ran over to the drinks table and began pouring shots for all three of them.
She was wearing a pair of bell-bottom pants, a sunflower embroidered on the back pocket (she had made them over two summers ago and they still remained her favourite jeans of all time), as well as a yellow crochet halter top that matched the colour of her sunflower. And, like usual, she was also wearing her Doc Martens. Her hair cascaded down her back like a waterfall, the curls shaped perfectly.
She had mix-matched necklace's covering her neck, silver ones and gold ones, to ones made out of string and shells that she had bought from small shops on the seafront.
Remus couldn't help but let his gaze linger on her for a moment after she had passed. He swallowed harshly before looking away.
Unlike most of the Marauders other parties, this one had a guest list and anyone who wasn't on the list or was younger than fifth year were kicked out of the common room. Some of them complained while others scurried away when Remus asked them to leave.
She didn't find it that fair, but she also found it funny when they would run away without question or try to fight it before looking up at the taller boy and excepting defeat. Anyways, she knew that as they night went on the list would be discarded and they'd just let anyone in no matter who they were.
The party was already in full swing.
Students were holding cups that were filled with random mixes of alcohol, most of the liquid sloshing over the sides of the cups of those who were dancing vigorously to Bohemian Rhapsody. There were already empty paper plates left around the room, a lot of the food having being eaten not long into the party. And everyone was having a great time.
"Jules!" James greeted loudly, he wrapped one of his arms around Juliet's shoulders and pulled her tight into his chest. The bottle of Butter-beer in his hand was half empty and it looked as though he had began to toy with the edges of the label.
"James— I can't breath."
He kept her to his chest and made no means to let her go. It was only when she tapped his arm with her finger did he pull away.
The two conversed for a few minutes, only pausing so that Juliet could take the couple shots that Marlene kept handing to her, and it was when more people filled into the common room did she realise that she hadn't seen Sirius while she had been there.
She pressed her hand to James' bicep and stood on her tiptoes to get a better view of the room. She caught Lily and Alice's gaze and sent the two a wide smile and a wave, but didn't see the birthday boy.
"Where is he?" She asked, raising her voice so that it was audible over the music and returning so that she was flat on her feet, looking up at the bespectacled boy with a raised brow.
"Who?"
"Dumbledore." He was clueless to the exasperation in her tone. A smile tugged at the edges of her lips as he started to respond.
"We sent him an invite but he didn't RSVP so we didn't think he was coming— you meant Sirius, didn't you?" A look of realisation took over James' face and Juliet nodded slowly in a way that made it seem like she was dealing with a toddler, he shrugged.
"Yes." She moved out of the way when a couple dancing enthusiastically almost bumped into her, she smiled at them when one of the two boys began to apologise.
"He's in detention, won't be here till later."
"Why?"
"Something about giving Snape a tail."
Juliet let out a snort of laughter, raising her hand to cover her mouth when it left her lips.
James started to laugh but stopped and let out an offended noise when the girl took his beer from him and downed what was left in the bottle. While he was annoyed that she had taken it, he was always impressed with just how fast she could down any drink without any sudden repercussions.
"What did you get him?" She asked while dragging James away from where the two were standing and over to the drinks table so that they could both get one.
"Motorcycle, you?"
"Nothing."
He did a double take and stopped pouring the burgundy liquid from a pitcher into his red cup and placed both of them down on the table. His brows were furrowed and he hesitated for a second.
"Stop looking at me like that."
"You didn't get him anything?"
"Mhm." Juliet poured herself another shot and was quick to take it when she had finished speaking;
"What's he gonna do? Break up with me?"
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The lights cut out and the music abruptly stopped playing when the birthday boy finally walked into the common room. He was in the process of greeting someone when the room was submerged in darkness.
A confused mumble took over the room and everybody was looking around in uncertainty.
"Thank Godric they turned off the lights." Juliet muttered into the air — her words were slightly slurred and it was evident that she was already somewhat tipsy.
"Now I don't have to see Sirius' ugly mug."
She didn't know that Sirius was standing next to her until he spluttered and turned in the direction that he hoped she was in.
"At least. . . at least I don't look like a pile of poo."
"Good comeback, Sirius." Dorcas said from besides Juliet, her laugh making her words slightly airy.
"Yeah, real mature." Fabian added on from somewhere around them, followed by his twin saying: "Wish I came up with that."
"You lot shut up." He grumbled, turning to face forwards, his arms were folded over his chest and he was over-dramatically frowning — not that anyone could see. "It's my birthday, you're meant to be nice."
This only caused another round of laughs to come from those standing around him, and a noise of annoyance to come from Sirius.
The dark-haired boy opened his mouth to respond, but when three lights suddenly came on in the room, no noise came from his parted lips.
Three individual lights were pointing at three different places in the common room; the top of the stairs leading to the girls dormitories, where James was standing; the stairs leading to the boys dormitories, where Peter was standing and the path between both sets of stairs that led to the Gryffindor's balcony, where Remus was standing.
The three of them were all wearing the same outfit. It was a small, pleated skirt that reached the top of their thighs and only just hiding everything from view, the skirts all had a small, pink heart on the waist band, each with the initials S.B in them. Sparkly bra's covered their chests, the fabric hiding nothing but their nipples and only being kept together by what looked like a thin piece of string. On their feet were thigh-high boots with a heel that made them all seem half a foot taller, sparkling the same way as their tops did.
The only difference about their outfits, were that they were all different colours — James' was a hot pink, Peter's a vibrant orange and Remus' was a vivid yellow.
It was silent.
No-one knew what to say or do when they saw the three boys.
All three of them looked . . . Juliet didn't know what word would be best to describe it. Mental? Ridiculous? Ugly? — no. Definitely not ugly, they were all somehow pulling it off.
"So this is why James asked for my bra size." She whispered in understanding, attracting a confused look from the people around her and a bark of laughter from Sirius. "I thought he was just going to buy Lily some lingerie or something."
"What the fuck?" Came the red-heads reply.
Silence filled the room again. Three of the four Marauders continued to stand still in their places, not moving at all.
Remus caught Juliet's eye and sent her a wink. She rolled her eyes with a grin in response.
It was only moments later that music began to sound around the room, but this time it wasn't Sirius' usual taste in music like it had been all evening.
This time it was the recognisable tune of Dancing Queen by ABBA.
The three dressed up boys began to dance to the tune. All of them dancing in the same way and moving their bodies in a way that must've taken weeks of practice — they were swaying their hips from side to side which such rhythm; their hands and arms were in the right potions and not just being held in the air randomly as they moved; each of them moved their heads in a way that suggested that they were whipping the long hair that they didn't have back and forth.
When the lyrics to the song came, they began to sing along as loudly as they could; their voices being heard throughout the entire common room. Unlike their dance skills, none of the boys could sing that well and all of their voices merged together to resemble the noise that a dying opera singer would make.
One by one they started moving, weaving their way through the crowd of people and towards the birthday boy. They contrived to dance and sing as they did so, and the song was almost over by the time that they reached him.
James, Peter and Remus made their way past everyone next to Sirius, and then James forced him backwards so that he was standing with his back pressed against the wall of the common room.
He made flirty movements with the birthday boy while the other two continued to dance either side.
Everyone watched with raised brows and amused expressions on their faces. No-one was surprised that they had managed to coordinate something like this off (the skills of their dancing, that had definitely surprised people); some of the pranks they had pulled off had been much larger than this so it wasn't a shocker.
The song came to an end, all the candles being lit once again to bring the full light back into the room — the three performers panting slightly as they stood around the birthday boy and everyone else still in silence.
Juliet and Remus shared a look, the latter grinning at the look on her face and the former letting out a laugh in disbelief at the whole situation.
Sirius was the first person to make a move, he quickly engulfed his three best friends into a tight hug while letting out the loudest, most genuine laugh that had ever passed his lips.
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"I didn't get you anything as I kinda forgot."
The speed at which the look on Sirius' face went from one of confusion, to one of glee was comical.
"You absolute tosser." He grinned and shook his head, his raven locks moving.
"Thought you deserved a taste of your own medicine."
He wrapped his arm around Juliet's neck, bringing her in for a headlock — his closed fist rubbing at her scalp and messing up her hair. She screeched and tried to push him away, but to no avail.
Sirius held her tighter and loud laughs emitted from his parted lips. She continued to hit at him in an attempt to pry his arm from around her neck.
"Let me go you wanker."
"Ah ah ah." He replied, the grin on his face was evident in his tone. He was enjoying this way too much. "That's no way to speak to the birthday boy."
"It'll be your last birthday if you don't let me go." Juliet grumbled.
Sirius let out another boisterous laugh, running his knuckle over the top of the girls head one more time before pulling away — the smile on his face as broad as ever.
He didn't think he had ever felt so happy; so content with the way that his life was at that exact moment.
He didn't ever want this moment to pass.
"If only you were that rough in the bedroom." Juliet spoke up, he looked over at her with an unamused look on his features. "I would've stayed with you."
Maybe he did want the moment to pass.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
Remus couldn't take his eyes off Juliet — no matter how hard he tried, his eyes would always trail back to her only moments after he had moved them away.
He wasn't able to tear his attention away from her. The way that her hair bounced as she moved, making it look as if the curls were dancing too; the red blush that painted her cheeks, only becoming brighter the longer that she and Lily stayed on the dance floor; the way her hips moved as she swayed them from side to side; the way that her hands moved across her body, along her curves and through her hair when the beat of the music changed.
He was infatuated with her.
"Oi, Moons." Fingers were clicked in front of Remus' fact; it didn't take long for the people he was sitting with to realise that they no longer had his attention.
His gaze reluctantly moved away from Juliet, looking back at her for a moment before fully turning his attention back to his friends.
James was looking at him with a quizzical look, his eyebrows raised and he was looking at Remus very attentively. Peter looked at Remus with a shrug and a grin before going back to eating the cheese sandwiches that were on a paper plate in his lap.
Sirius, however, was trying to follow his view to see who or what had stolen his best friends attention away from him — and on his birthday of all days, it was out of order if you asked him (his gaze stopped over Juliet for a moment, his mouth running dry when she moved her hips in a seductive way).
"Why are you looking at the Prewett Twins as if you wanna have a threesome with them?" Peter asked, sending the lycanthrope a knowing look.
Remus was so busy looking at Juliet that he didn't even notice Fabian and Gideon, who were slow dancing with one another in front of her, despite the song being Killer Queen.
He was so grateful for Peter in that moment. He never would've thought of something that quickly; the alcohol in his system messing with his mind.
"I don't blame you Moons." Sirius spoke up, sending a nod in their direction and letting out a laugh when Gideon stood on Fabian's toes — or was it Fabian standing on Gideon's? He was too tipsy to tell.
"I'd definitely do it, only it seems a bit incesty."
"When has that ever stopped your family before?"
"That was uncalled for."
The comment from James caused laughter to erupt from Remus and Peter and a quarrel to break out between himself and Sirius.
Remus drowned out their squabbling and reverted his gaze back to Juliet. He was pleasantly surprised to see that she was looking back at him, a wide smile on her face and her eyes shining in the light.
She gestured, subtly, to him — she was then stopped by Lily saying something to her; Juliet threw her head back as laughed loudly, her eyes squinting and the smile that tugged at her lips only growing tenfold.
He didn't think he had ever seen someone so beautiful.
She wiped a few tears from under her eyes before catching Remus' eyes once again. She continued her gesture, motioning her hands in a way that made him understand she wanted to go upstairs.
He nodded once and it was his turn to let out a laugh when he saw the look of excitement take over her features. The other Marauders just took it that he was laughing along with them so didn't question anything.
"I'm gonna go the bathroom." Remus spoke up a few minutes after he had seen Juliet going up to his dorm, downing the rest of his bottle of butter-beer and placing it down on the table besides his friends.
"Don't be too long, lover boy." James said with a seductive wink, waving his fingers.
"Sirius may be up to letting you join in his little rendezvous with the Twins."
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Juliet's hands were in Remus' hair, she tugged gently at the roots, grinning into their kiss at the small moans that he let out at the feeling.
His hands were at her waist, fingers toying at the skin of her stomach, pinching gently at it while they made their way up to her bare breasts. Her top had been thrown on the floor minutes before, the yellow-fabric was long forgotten as they continued to kiss passionately.
"Rem—" She mumbled against his lips, slightly breathless, "just touch them, please."
The wait for Remus to finally touch her tits felt excruciating, her nipples were hard and the ache between her thighs only grew with every moment that he teased her.
"Don't whine." He responded, his tone firm, yet a whisper.
Juliet gulped and the boy smiled as he leant back into the kiss, his hands finally groping her breasts, her nipples were hard under his hands. Fingers pinched and rolled her nipples, occasionally giving her tits a firm squeeze; which inflicted a moan from between her lips every time.
Seconds passed into minutes and before they knew it they had been upstairs for much longer than they had anticipated— it didn't take long for the two of them to become lost in each others company, forgetting about the world around them and feeling as if it was only them.
They got caught up in the others presence when it was just them alone, and neither of them wanted to move.
The footsteps coming up the stairs, however, had other plans.
"Moons? You still up here?" It was James' voice that called out, his footsteps becoming louder as he stepped towards the dorm.
If anyone had been watching, it would've been hilarious how quickly Remus and Juliet pulled apart.
"I told you not to eat that chicken— it looked funny."
"Quickly." Remus whispered, pushing Juliet off the bed with a shove. "Get under the bed."
While she was annoyed that he had pushed her off the bed, she didn't have time to make any remarks as the door-handle of the door twisted and therefore the blonde quickly shuffled along the floor so that she was under the bed.
It was only when the door opened and James stepped in did she realise that her top was still on the floor, the yellow wool contrasting greatly with the dark floor.
She just hoped that James didn't notice.
"There you are!" The bespectacled boy exclaimed, Juliet held her breath as his feet walked closer to the bed; eyes darting between his shoes and the top that wasn't far away from them.
"You feeling okay? You've been up here like half an hour."
"I'm okay."
"You sure?" She didn't need to see James to know that he was leaning against one of the bedposts, his arms crossed and giving Remus the look that they had all dubbed the 'Effie Look' — he resembled his mother an uncanny amount when pulling that face.
"I'm fine, honestly. I just needed a lil air and didn't notice the time."
James hummed in content. Juliet's eyes widened as he stepped closer to Remus, his toes almost nudging her top.
"Sirius was getting jealous, thinking you really did sneak off with the twins."
Remus let out a laugh and she could imagine him rolling his eyes with a smile so wide that it showed most of his teeth.
"As if I'd do that without him, after hearing about his attraction for them I saw we need to tag-team it."
It was James' turn to laugh, the two of them diving into a conversation.
Juliet rolled her eyes. Here she was, half naked under a boys' bed while said boy converses with his best friend who could talk for Britain.
She shifted under the bed so that she could rest her head on her closed arms, however, just before she got comfy she felt something digging into her thigh. Carefully, she moved her hand down so that she could grab whatever it was and once her fingers had hooked around it, she pulled her arm up so that she could look at it.
It took everything she had not to gag.
Remus was meant to be the tidy one — why in the name of Godric's left ball sack did he have a stiff sock under his bed?
And she was still touching it.
Juliet dropped it and it was lucky that the boys were so loud because it covered the gag that left her lips.
Holy shit. I want to burn my fingers and my thigh.
All of it. Burn me.
A few minutes passed (the boys talking and Juliet wanting to throw up) before James seemed to realise why he had come to find Remus in the first place.
"You coming down now? We're doing the cake in a few."
"Yeah, give me a moment to actually go the bathroom and I'll be right down."
James seemed to have accepted his answer as he said a quick 'Don't fall in the loo.' before going to the door — just when Juliet thought that she could finally breathe, he turned around.
"You don't know where Jules is, do you?"
"Jules? Haven't a clue mate."
"Right." He hummed after hearing the taller boys answer. "See you in a few."
A few beats of silence passed after James closed the door behind him, when Juliet and Remus were sure that he wasn't going to burst back into the room the latter stuck his head over the edge of the bed and sent the girl a grin.
That grin fell when she threw the sock at him.
Remus, not realising what it was, threw it back at Juliet who let out a screech as she hit it back at him, climbing out from under the boys bed and jumping around as if it was still on her.
"I'm traumatised!"
"It's not mine!" He was quick to defend himself, pushing the sock off of his bed with the end of one of his quills. It made a noise when it hit the floor and the pair shuddered.
"Oh, isn't it? So you just have Peter's bloody cum sock under your bed?"
". . . Okay! So maybe it is mine! But it's old—"
"No shit Sherlock! Did you not hear the noise it made when it hit the floor?" She was gesturing with her arms like she always did, pointing at the sock before looking back up at him with an unreadable expression on her face.
Remus' couldn't help but let his eyes wander to her still bare tits as she spoke, her motions making her them move. What she was saying became almost inaudible as he stared at the curve of her tits and the hardness of her nipples.
"Oi! My eyes are up here you wanker."
"I know." He made no means so avert his gaze.
Juliet narrowed her eyes in a playful way, bending down and grabbing her top before pulling it over her head in one swift motion. His eyes moved up and he grinned at the look on her face.
The two of them stared at one another for a moment.
"Wanna finish this tomorrow? Prefects bathroom?"
"Sure."
Remus grinned looking down at her tits one more time, her nipples still evident under the layer of wool.
He jumped when the sock hit him in the face.
･・･☽✥☾･・･
Although she had dated his brother and had publicly flirted with him only a few weeks before, Juliet had never had a proper conversation with Regulus Black.
Obviously they'd had their fair share of banter on the Quidditch Pitch — he had threaded to strangle her half a dozen times, and she had responded 'What makes you think I'm not into that?' every-time. Several times she had dived just to see if he could pull out of it in time (he was managing around a 70:30 success rate at that moment.)
No matter her rivalry with someone, Juliet would always say if she thought they were a good Quidditch Player or not, and she had to admit, Regulus was one of the best at Hogwarts.
Not as good as her, of course, but good nonetheless.
Juliet didn't expect for her first proper encounter with Regulus to be in the Quidditch changing rooms hours past curfew and in the middle of November, but then again, she didn't imagine to have Remus inside of her every other night either.
She was only in a pair of leggings and her bra when the youngest Black walked in, his broom resting over his shoulder. She continued to change, not realising he was in the room until he coughed to alert her of his presence.
"Holy shit-!" She jumped, quickly picking up the closest item of clothing — which just so happened to be one of her dads old shirts with the Beatles on the front — and holding it over chest.
"Dawson, this is the boys changing room."
"I keep half of my crap in James locker as I lost the key for my own — and i didn't think anyone would be here this time of night."
Regulus didn't say anything else as he turned around, shoving his things into his locker. Juliet watched him for a moment before shrugging and turning back around to finish getting changed. She pulled a random top over her head, followed by one of her many Holyhead Harpies hoodies.
The two were in silence for a few minutes, both of them doing their own things as Regulus got ready to go onto the pitch and Juliet got ready to make the trek back up to the castle in the cold night air.
"How do people your height sleep at night?" The Gryffindor spoke up, turning to face the boy with a can of deodorant in one hand and bunch of tampons in the other.
Regulus turned around and looked at her as if she was off her head.
She had seen the same look on Sirius' face too many times, only his eyes usually held some form of admiration as he stared at her while she asked random questions (up until a few months before their breakup that is); his brother looked as if he would rather be anywhere else.
"What?"
"Like, you're freakishly tall, the blanket can't possibly cover all of you?"
"What the fuck?"
"You sound tired. Is it because of the blanket?"
Regulus looked and felt very confused. When Sirius had still lived at home, he had heard a lot about Juliet and her random questions, it was one of the many things about her that he would never shut up about — but now he was experiencing one of them first hand, he had no clue what to say.
"No? I just wear fluffy socks."
"Honestly, love that for you."
"Okay?"
"Is it the ones with the little brooms on them? With the mismatched toe pocket and heel thingy?"
The Slytherin looked as if he would rather be anywhere else and began tying the laces of his boots ever so slightly quicker.
"Yes. Do—do you watch me sleep or something?"
"No! That would be weird and I'm not weird."
Regulus went to say otherwise but bit his tongue so hard he could taste blood.
"I stole them from Sirius while we were dating.' Juliet continued, shoving the tampons into a random pocket in her bag. "I think I still have them to be honest, didn't burn them with the rest of his things."
He merely nodded while turning back to his locker.
They fell back into silence once again, Juliet continued to take things out of the locker and stuff them into her bag (the Slytherin was sure that half the of things she was taking were Potter's, or he'd actually have none of his own things in his own locker) and Regulus putting on a pair of dragon-hide gloves to keep his hands warm in the bitter weather.
It was a few minutes later when the girl finally zipped up her bag and placed it over her shoulder. She tugged a scarf around her neck and made for the exit while sending Regulus a small smile.
"Why did you and Sirius break up?" The younger boy asked just before she took a step outside.
Juliet shrugged. A part of Regulus was glad that she hadn't been annoyed by his question; he knew that it was a rather intrusive thing to ask, but his mouth had opened and spoke before his brain had had time to catch up.
He and his brother hadn't shared more than a few words in years. When Sirius moved out and pretended that his parents didn't exist, Regulus didn't think that he would pretend that his little brother didn't exist too.
He would always look up to his older brother (even if he was literally looking down on him due to the growth spurt he had hit in third year) and had basically watched him fall in love with the girl.
Regulus had first heard about Juliet Dawson when his brother came back to Twelve Grimmauld Place for Christmas during his first year at Hogwarts. He had sounded like a love-sick fool while he talked about how much he hated her and the way that she has 'accidentally' turned his hair green (Sirius was certain, even to this day, that she had done it on purpose — she had, but would never admit it.)
While his friends had instantly taken a liking to the blonde, all of them becoming some of her closest friends and she theirs, Sirius had continued to hate the girl up until the start of their third year, where she had taken the blame for prank that the boy had done.
Juliet wasn't going to originally — especially after how the boy had treated her for no reason — but after seeing the look on his face when McGonagall said that she was going to write to his parents about his behaviour, she knew that she had to.
That Christmas, Regulus had listened while Sirius once again talked about Juliet like a lovesick fool.
Regulus would fully say that she was one of the best things that had ever happened to her brother and was almost certain that Sirius would say the same.
So at the start of the year, when he had heard the news that Hogwarts' 'It Couple' had broken up, he was instantly confused.
"He was a prat." Juliet said with a roll of her eyes.
"Still is." Regulus mumbled and a small smile made its way onto his face at the laugh that the Gryffindor let out.
"So true."
She looked as if she wanted to say more, but it was with a shake of her head that she bid Regulus a good night and left the changing room.
The Slytherin stared for a moment longer before he too shook his head and continued to change, going out to the quidditch pitch with his broom in hand.
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hii!!
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i hope you liked this chapter! and that Sirius'
birthday celebrations were okay! i love them
all so much istg
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