What Happened That Night At The Leaky Cauldron
"You really think this is going to work?" James asked his best friend as they walked into the Leaky Cauldron. It was dim and smoky, but still everyone seemed to notice their entrance. They nodded at the yelled greetings, and made their way to the bar.
"You really think this isn't going to work?" Sirius replied, taking note of the cute, young bartender. "When have I ever failed to woo?" He batted his eyelashes at James, who rolled his eyes. "Forget I said anything. You're a sure-fire wooer."
"You're right. I am a great wooer. My wooing skills are top-notch. I can woo like no other. Wooing is like second nature to me. I-"
"I get the picture. If you say 'woo' one more time, I'm setting a hippogriff on you."
They approached the bartender, and she glanced up, smiling when she saw the two gorgeous men standing in front of her. "What can I do for you boys?"
James nearly choked on his own saliva to stop himself from laughing at her pitiful attempt at an alluring voice. "One firewhiskey please."
"Make that two."
"And are you boys of age?" She asked, again aiming for sexiness, flipping her long, blonde hair behind her shoulder.
Sirius leaned forward, elbows on the bar, slid a galleon toward her, and said in a low voice, "does age matter to you, baby?"
James turned around, unable to control himself now, but trying to make his fits of laughter sound like a cough attack. He actually had very much respect for Sirius' skills with the ladies, but this was flat-out sad.
The girl, not taking her eyes off of Sirius', expertly poured the drink into two glasses.
Sirius winked, still leaning forward. "Thanks. You know where to find m—OOF!"
Anna, who had just arrived, had taken a running leap onto his back, her momentum accidentally causing his chest to shove into the counter, and now, perched on his back, she squeezed her arms around his neck and kissed him over and over on the top of his head.
The bartender narrowed her eyes and pushed the glasses toward the boys, and turned and walked away.
Sirius straightened out abruptly, causing Anna to fall off his back, because she had released his neck to hug James' head, and yell "Pooter!"
Now on the floor, Anna held out one hand expectantly toward Sirius, but he just stood there looking sullen. It was James that helped her up. She huffed at Sirius. "I thought you'd be happy to see me."
"You cramped my style. Slowed my roll. I could practically feel her undressing me with her eyes." Sirius whined.
A new voice piped up behind them. "No, that was Peter."
They turned around to see their other two cohorts.
Sirius' eyes lit up. "Moony! Wormy!" He gathered them into a group hug.
"You are so embarrassing," Remus muttered. In response, Sirius slid his hand lower, past Remus' back.
Remus jumped back. "That is so inappropriate."
Sirius smiled a crazed smile. "Since when can't a man give his best werewolf bud a love pat on the rump?"
"First of all, I never want to hear that sentence ever again in my life, and secondly, because this is probably the first situation of its kind, I'm going to guess since always."
"There's a first time for everything," Sirius stated profoundly.
"There's also a reason this is probably the first time," a dark shadow passed over Remus' face.
"Oh, no. None of that. Now is not the time to get into your mopey 'I'm a werewolf' act. Now is the time to flirt with girls, drink a bit of a drink, and make fools of ourselves! Let's go find a table!"
"Sounds dignifying."
In their conversation, they hadn't noticed James and Anna had already wandered off to find a table, chatting animatedly like they hadn't seen each other in years. They spotted them, and soon, all the friends sat around the table together, arguing over whether reunition was a word.
"Well…when you reunite, what is it called? A reunition!" Sirius argued, slamming his fist on the table.
"Maybe, but that just doesn't sound right," Peter mused.
Remus, who had stayed quiet until this point, finally spoke up. "That's because the word is reunion. We are having a reunion."
"Who are you? Webster?" Sirius was miffed.
"And who are you?" Anna asked quietly, catching the eyes of a stranger a few tables over.
"Oh, no no," James said, shielding her eyes like a horse with blinders. "Don't you think there are enough casualties that have been left in your path of male destruction?"
She took another sip of Firewhiskey, and one of Butterbeer to wash it down, stood up, and walked deliberately up to the guy.
"He's way too old for her," Sirius muttered, watching the man's eyes grow as the beautiful Anna approached him, clearly interested in whatever she was offering. He saw her lips pout while she listened to him, and when she threw her head back in laughter at something he had said, Sirius stood angrily.
"Don't get mad," James called out, laughing, "I'm sure she didn't mind having a half-naked man standing in her front yard, serenading her!"
Sirius barely took this in, just as he hadn't realized they were talking about him. He had a more important task at hand.
He marched right up behind Anna and addressed the man she was flirting with, who now had his hand on her leg. "Excuse me. Hi. Yeah, if you don't take your hand off of her, I will see to it that you are painfully dismembered, preferably by something that takes a long time to gnaw off each limb. Like a Niffler."
"And you are…?"
"Your worst nightmare. Unless you have the one about the pigeons that I have, then I'm probably your second worst nightmare."
The guy stared at Sirius dumbfounded.
Sirius grabbed Anna's arm and said "let's go."
"I'm quite comfortable here, thanks."
James had appeared behind Sirius, and said calmly, before Sirius could get too worked up, "leave it alone."
Sirius breathed deeply, and turned around without another word.
He returned to Remus and Peter having a conversation about the probability of there being a secret love between Professors Sprout and Flitwick.
James and Sirius had just sat down when the door opened and everyone in the pub fell silent.
Sirius let out his best high-pitched scream, and grabbed on to James' arm so hard he left a bruise. It was George Atkins. Seeker for Puddlemere United. Their hero.
George, looking around the room, made eye contact with the two of them and smiled.
James' face turned white, and Sirius' jaw dropped. They watched him in awe as he moved to the bar, ordering a drink, and making their way toward their table, chatting a few people up on his way.
"Is he coming over here?" James asked, voice quivering.
"This is what I dream about," Sirius added.
"Padfoot? Hold me. I think I'm going to faint."
"I think I'm going to wee."
Remus and Peter snickered.
George came to their table and asked if he could have a seat. The only noise that came out of Sirius' mouth was "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa…" and James just stared as if he were stupefied, so Remus said, "sure! It's great to meet you!"
He held out his hand and said "George Atkins. Pleased to meet you." Remus shook it first, then he turned to the other two.
His hand lingered in the air for a minute while they sat still as statues, until Sirius slowly, shakily lifted James' arm that he had been grabbing, put it in George's, and shook it up and down for him.
The famous Quidditch player laughed at the two. "Good to see you boys are so eloquent." He waited another beat to see if they would say something.
"You're on the Gryffindor team at Hogwarts, aren't you boys?"
They nodded, once again speechless.
Remus took the liberty to speak for them. "This is James Potter, and Sirius Black. They're chaser and beater. I'm Remus Lupin, the commentator," he threw in hopefully.
He looked straight into James' eyes. "I saw one of your games last year. I was impressed. Contact me when you're finished with school this spring." He held out a piece of paper with an address written on it, but when nobody took it, he laid it on the table.
As he turned around to walk away, Sirius blurted out, "I have a man crush on you!"
"I'm flattered," George laughed once more and disappeared.
"Bloody hell," James marveled.
"I can check that one off my 'Things To Do Before I Need Adult Nappies' list," Sirius agreed.
"What?" Peter asked, "stand there and look stupid while George Atkins talks to you?"
"Exactly. Hey! Where's Anna?" He asked, realizing that both she and the man had vacated their table.
"They left a few minutes ago. Went upstairs I think," Peter responded.
"WHAT?" Sirius' mind raced. What if he was too late to stop her from doing something she regretted while she wasn't capable of making good decisions? The thought flitted across his mind that he was doing this more for himself than for her, but he justified it. He'd take being selfish over letting Anna do something stupid.
He ran off right away, following the path that would take him to Anna. He stopped on his way in an empty closet and transformed into his animagus.
He banged into Anna's room's door with his giant black head, and stepped back. That was stupid, he thought as he shook his head painfully. She came to the door, opening it just a crack and peeking out. He slipped in by her feet, and charged at the scared-looking man in his tighty whities. Sirius barked viciously, and the man dropped the bottle and ran, screaming, as fast as his legs could carry him, down the stairs and away from the big dog.
He turned around, looking at Anna, and noticed that she was standing in just her bra and skirt. He sighed, padding toward her. Anna, looking confused, pointed at the dog. "Bad boy! Why did you scare away my friend?" She stumbled onto the bed, groaned, and lay down, her head spinning. He transformed back into his human form, and leaned over her. "Are you all right?" He asked.
"Oh. It's you," her voice was growing quieter and quieter, and her eyes were slipping closed. "I was hoping you'd make it."
He laughed, tucked a blanket around her, and lay down by her side. "I'm always here when you need me." He had planned to be angry with her, but it was all dissolving, seeing her so vulnerable.
"I know. You're the best. I…" He thought she had fallen asleep, but her eyes popped back open a second later.
She reached up to kiss him. It was dark, but he knew every feature on her face and her body so well that he could tell how she felt. He knew it was what they both wanted, but he couldn't let her right now. Not in this compromised state. She wouldn't remember in the morning, anyway, and that would hurt. It took all of his strength to gently push her away, but it was just in time, because she promptly vomited.
He took out his wand. "Evanesco."
She mumbled her thanks.
"You go to sleep," he told her, rubbing her back. "I'll be here."
"I know. I love you," she whispered.
"I know. I love you too."
He kicked off his shoes and waited for sleep to clear his mind. What a night.