Remus groaned.
"No Sirius, I am not going to dance!"
"Yessss Moony!" Sirius slurred, dragging his friend up from his seat. Remus winced as Sirius pulled him past the thumping stereo, and pushed him into a crowd of drunk, loud, giggling girls.
"Sorry, sorry, my friend there's being a dick…" as quickly as he could, Remus disentangled himself. This was not what he had expected when Sirius had said he wanted to catch up with some old friends. He doubted Sirius knew more than three people at this party, including himself. No, this was not Remus' scene. He didn't go to parties, and he didn't get drunk. At least, he tried not to. Why Sirius still insisted on taking him to these things, after all these years was a mystery to him.
Pushing through the crowd, he groaned again when he saw Sirius, tangled up in a chair with a pretty dark girl. He didn't look like he'd be finished for a while. This was going to be a long night… Sighing, Remus walked absentmindedly around the house, trying to find somewhere where it was quiet. He wasn't doing well- the thump of the music followed him everywhere he went.
"Remus? Has anyone seen my good friend? I've got a lovely bird to set him up with…" Sirius' loud, slurred voice carried down the hall.
Panicking, Remus pulled open the door to the nearest closet, and jumped in. breathing loudly, he listened as Sirius crashed past. He sighed, leaning against the dark wall.
"Um… I don't mean to sound rude or anything, but you're standing on my jacket."
Startled, Remus lit his wand, staring down at a blinking Tonks.
"Dora?"
"Yeah… now do you mind turning that down? And my jacket…"
"Oh right, sorry…" Remus stepped backwards, muttering "Nox." Slowly, he slid down so he was sitting opposite her.
"Didn't know this was your thing. Coming to parties and hiding in closets." Tonks said cheekily.
Remus rolled his eyes, even though she couldn't see. "Trust me, its not. Sirius told me we were visiting an old friend. I've only talked to him once the whole night."
"The old Friend or Sirius?"
"Both."
Tonks snorted into her bottle. "And now that he's pissed he's trying to set you up? Classy."
"Yeah, well, at least I'm hiding in the closet for a reason." Remus retorted.
Tonks kicked him as best she could in the small space. "I have my reasons." She took a swig from her bottle.
"Yeah? What?"
"Personal." Tonks replied. Remus could practically feel her smug smile through the darkness, while he waited for his eyes to adjust.
"It can't be much worse than Sirius trying to get you raped." Remus muttered darkly.
"Touché."
"So?"
Remus saw Tonks' outline shift uncomfortably. "Well, you know Sirius is a disgusting man whore when he's drunk. He tried to snog me."
"That's a new low, even for him…" Remus mused.
"I know. He's pretty hard to fend off too." Tonks snorted again. "My ex is out there with his new girlfriend as well." Remus saw Tonks scowl as his eyes adjusted.
"Well, I guess I can see why you're getting drunk in a closet, instead of showing him you can have a good time without him." Remus said sarcastically. Tonks kicked him again, but he didn't apologise. He was having a really bad night.
"To do that you kind of need to be having a good time." Tonks growled. "I'm not."
"I can tell. Hence the drinking in the closet."
"Hey, just because you're pissy doesn't mean you can take it out on me!" Tonks said loudly.
"Okay, i'm sorry, just keep it down!"
"Fine." Scowling, Tonks settled back against the wall, taking a deep swig from her bottle.
"What are you drinking anyway?" Remus asked.
She passed him the bottle. "Smirnoff. Good stuff."
"Isn't that Vodka?" Remus asked, sniffing the bottle. Tonks shrugged.
"Tastes better than that pissy beer they were passing round."
Remus took a sip. "Agreed."
They sat in silence for a while, passing the bottle between them. "We're going to have to go out to get another one." Remus muttered. "Nothing left now."
Tonks groaned. "No! Let's just stay here…" she pulled Remus' shirt as he made to stand, and he toppled over, landing on her.
"Oops…" she giggled.
"How much have you had to drink?" Remus asked critically.
Tonks shrugged, fiddling with Remus' tie.
"More or less than four?"
"More." She looked up, grinning.
"That's not good." Remus muttered, trying once again to pull himself to his feet, and failing again. Sighing he looked at Tonks, who wasn't even trying to keep a straight face.
"You're finding this very amusing, aren't you?"
She nodded, smirking. "You are quite funny when you're stuck, you know."
"Brilliant."
Tonks let go of him, sighing. "I really need another drink. If I'm going to be hung over tomorrow I might as well do it well." Remus struggled to his feet and pulled her up.
"You ready?"
"No. kind of just hoping we can get more without meeting anyone we know." Tonks opened the door, and Remus followed her down the hall.
"Remus, there you are!" a hand clapped on his shoulder. He turned to find Sirius behind him, with a girl on each arm; and neither was the one he'd seen him snogging before. "I got you a bird! Which one you want? 'Cause I'm having this one…" he indicated to the blonde on his left.
"Sorry Sirius, he's already taken care of." Tonks came up from behind Remus, smiling. "You can have both!" she quickly pulled Remus away. "Lucky I came back, yeah? Just think, you could have been shagging off into the sunset… how horrible!" she mock shuddered, laughing lightly.
"Yeah, well… I'm not that kind of guy."
"Sure sure." Tonks smirked as they walked down the stairs. Instinctively, Remus put a hand on her elbow in case she tripped. She sniggered at that. They turned into the kitchen. Almost immediately, Tonks paled and whipped back around.
"What?" Remus asked, confused.
"You know how I said my ex is here? He's in there eating that cows face off." Tonks hissed.
"Oh."
"Yeah. Oh."
"Well, you wait here, and ill go get some then."
Tonks smiled. "Thanks Remus."
Quickly, Remus walked into the Kitchen, looking around for the vodka bottles. Unfortunately, they were right behind a snogging couple he was guessing was Tonks' ex and his new girl.
"Excuse me…" he reached around and grabbed four bottles. He could see Tonks head poking around the door frame. He turned to leave.
"Tonks? Is that you?" Remus turned to see the snogging couple had detached themselves, and the tall, dark haired man was starring at Tonks, clearly amused.
Tonks stepped out from behind the door. "Oh… Hi David. We were just getting some drinks, so we'll let you get back to it…"
"We?" David asked, confused.
"Yeah. This is Remus. Now if you'll excuse us…" she grabbed two of the bottles, then slipped her hand into his free one.
"Are you her boyfriend?" David asked angrily.
"Yeah, I am." Remus answered calmly. This David seemed like a bit of a douche…
He spluttered at Tonks who smirked. "Bye David." Spinning on the spot, she marched out the door, pulling Remus with her. Just as they were out of the room, but still in plain sight, she turned again, and pressed her lips against his.
And even though he knew she was just getting back at that douche, he kissed her back. This party wasn't turning out to be so bad after all…
xxx
"Arrrgh…"
Remus rolled over in bed, yawning, to find Tonks pulling the blanket over her head. Ruffling her hair, he laughed.
"You have fun last night?
Tonks peeped out from under the covers, smirking. "Oh, last night was bloody brilliant… but todays not looking so flash."
Remus snorted. Right now, he was glad Sirius had dragged him to that stupid party. It had turned out a lot better than he'd expected.