Remus remembered very clearly the first time he drank firewhisky.

He also remembers very well that he's sworn not to drink it again except in the comforting confines of his own home.

It was Christmas their sixth year- Sirius and James had managed to obtain a bottle of fine aged firewhisky from Hog's Head their last trip to Hogsmeade. Remus learned not to question it when they pulled that sort of thing off; he figured they either charmed one of the women working there or used the map to sneak in and snag a bottle without paying. Either way, they'd gotten one.

"C'mon, James! You first!"

It was two in the morning. The common room had been clear for hours- everyone either gone to their parents for the vacation or up to their rooms to sleep. Four people remained, the fire crackling softly nearby and casting a soft light on them.

James Potter sat in one of the over stuffed arm chairs, a grin on his face and his glasses slightly skewed from his best friend shoving him around. The best friend in question, Sirius Black, had claimed a side table to sit on, having shoved the book (Hogwarts, A History) resting on it to the floor. Peter Pettigrew had sat almost too close to James' feet by the chair, his legs crossed, a silly grin spread across his round face as he looked at his idol. Remus Lupin sat on the floor as well, leaning against the stone wall next to the fireplace, the light making his scars eerily prominent.

"Yeah, you grabbed it! Drink!" Peter encouraged. Driven by the eager chorus of Black and Pettigrew, the Quidditch champ ripped off the wax sealing the firewhisky and took a huge mouthful directly from the spout, grinning and fighting back a cough as he passed it off to Sirius.

With a lopsided, cocky grin, Sirius downed another shot of firewhisky, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand afterward. Remus watched quietly in the corner, a little smile across his lips as his friends jostled and clamored for the firewhisky, seeming loud in the otherwise quiet room. Finally, Peter had managed to finagle his way into getting his hands on the drink, much like a rat, and he sputtered and coughed after he choked down his first mouthful.

James snagged the firewhisky back from him for another shot, bringing the bottle to half full. The bottle went around several more times, and Remus watched in subtle amusement as his friends gradually became more and more sloshed. The bottle was down to a quarter full when Sirius clued in.

"Oi! Moony's not had any!" he stated as if it were the most shocking thing in the world.

A sharp, over dramatic gasp left James at the realization, his hand flying to press to his forehead as he mock fainted into the chair. "Merlin's beard! Moony, how could you?"

His dramatic endeavors drew a nasally cackle from Peter, whereas Remus simply sighed and shook his head. "It's not a big deal, mates. I don't really-"

A soft groan cut off his words as Sirius stumbled off the table and shoved the bottle into his friend's hand, triggering a slight flush of color across Remus's cheeks. "Drink. Jus' one big ol' gulp," he commanded with a grin, winking as he sat back on the floor right in front of the brunette.

Scowling, Remus glanced between his friends, as if hoping one of them would speak up and tell him he didn't have to. James, though, was grinning and gesturing for him to do it, and Peter never spoke out against his endearing idol, so he would get no help from him. With a heavy sigh, he resigned himself to his fate, casting a dirty look at Sirius before pressing the bottle to his mouth and tilting it up, swallowing a mouthful. It burned as it went down, and he was about to push it back into Sirius's hands before he felt those very hands grab the back of his neck and the bottle and tilt them both, making him swallow two more times before he sputtered and shoved him away.

"Merlin, Pads! Were you trying to drown me?" Remus managed between coughing fits, wiping his mouth and scowling in distaste. The other three were practically howling of laughter, and for several minutes he debated getting up and going to their room to sleep off what had just been forced into him.

At the thought of standing, though, Remus felt very queasy and dizzy. Instead, he simply slumped back against the warm stone, watching as James and Sirius passed the remaining firewhisky back between them and finished it off. They were cracking jokes that weren't even funny and dying of laughter from them- but Peter had already fallen asleep on the carpet at James's feet, unsurprisingly.

James prodded him a few times with his food, drawing forth a disgruntled snore. "He sounds like a pig," he slurred, sniggering as if from an inside joke.

"I have an idea!" Sirius announced out of nowhere, startling both James and Remus, who turned to look at him curiously. "Le's play truth 'r dare." A grin slowly spread across his lips. "Prongs, truth 'r dare?"

"Dare," he replied with a cocky grin.

"I dare y' to... strip down t' yer knickers and go an' ask Lilli t' go t' Hogsmeade with ya on the next trip!"

"Psh, tha's easy."

Remus watched as Prongs stood and began to strip down, tossing his clothes around the common room absentmindedly. Even he joined Sirius in sniggering as their friend stumbled his way over to the girl's staircase and made his way up. Sirius leaned forward and covered Remus's snickering mouth as he went silent, straining his ears to try and hear.

They heard a loud, slurred call of 'Lilly, open up!' and then a brief knocking, before some more words were exchanged. Moments later, a loud shriek reached their ears and both Sirius and Remus burst out laughing as James came barreling down the stairs, his arms over his head as he was pecked by a swarm of angry canaries. They finally disappeared in a poof of yellow feathers when he dove behind the overstuffed armchair.

"That was a new one," Remus commented with a laugh, shoving Sirius's hand away from his mouth with a grin.

"Alright, alright, quit laughing ya gits," James muttered, sitting up and crossing his arms over his chest, not bothering to put his clothes back on. "My turn. Moony, truth or dare?"

"Truth. I'm not trusting you with any dares," he mumbled, shaking his head and trying not to slurr.

James and Sirius exchanged an exasperated look, having not really expecting anything else. "Alright, then... What would ya do if ya got t' snog anyone y' wanted to in 'ogwarts? And who would ya snog?"

Remus felt his stomach drop. This was quite the loaded question... and yet he didn't care. In a sudden drunken urge, a grin spread across his lips. "This," he answered, before throwing himself forward and smashing his lips against Sirius's.

It was hardly a perfect kiss, and he'd been off balance so his nose had sort of squished against Sirius's, but it got the point across. By the time he'd pulled himself off of the other male, he'd shocked James into silence, and Sirius was looking at him with a dumbfounded look. "Does that answer it...?" he asked as he settled back, drawing his knees to his chest. He felt a bit awkward, now that the moment was over.

"I'd say it did," came from a sleepy sounding Peter, who was yawning and rubbing his eye.

The next morning, Remus felt even more mortified about his not-so confession. James, it seemed, had forgotten it entirely in his Christmas hangover, but he noticed the way that Sirius would look over at the scarred boy occasionally throughout the day. After the Christmas feast, Remus had pulled Sirius away to apologize about the kiss, trying to blame it on the firewhisky.

"Don't apologize," Sirius told him with a cocky grin. "I never said I didn't like it, did I? Although I am going to remember how you get with firewhisky, now."

Remus never quite did forget that night, nor the following evening, when which Sirius's words had been sealed with a soft, not as sloppy kiss. While he reminisced on their silent confessions, he took an oath never to drink firewhisky around the fellow Marauders again.