I don't really know where this one came from, actually... There's a touch of shonen ai at the end, but that's not the main focus.
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"Well, I'm off to glue my eye to a telescope for three hours."
Remus waved good bye to James as the bespectacled boy groaned and left the Common Room for Astronomy. The complaints were good natured though; despite the late hour, James actually enjoyed astronomy, which explained why he was taking the advanced class. Thank Merlin the professor had the common sense to schedule the class on a Friday evening, not that it really helped James, considering Saturday Quidditch. But if he wanted to kill himself over stars, then that was his business and Remus wouldn't interfere. Sirius thought the whole matter was rather funny and had loudly woken James one morning as a joke—he didn't expect the explosive reaction brought on by a combination of two hours' sleep and severe irritation. He left James alone Saturday mornings after that.
Scanning the Common Room, said boy was nowhere to be seen. Remus stifled a yawn and packed up the essay he had been off-handedly working on, heading for the dorms, his footsteps near silent on the stone stairs. As he opened the door to the room, the only occupant he saw was a figure crouched near a dresser, half hidden by a bed.
"Sirius?"
The boy jumped and whirled about. "Oh, Remus; it's just you."
Remus walked over and dumped his work into his trunk, watching his friend. He recognized that tone. "What are you up to?"
Sirius gave that mischievous half grin that appeared only when he'd been caught doing something he really ought not to have been doing. He shifted to the side, allowing Remus to see what he'd been hiding. Remus walked over and knelt down next to him.
"What is that?" he asked, staring at the spoons and the little cups, although he had a sneaking suspicion it might have something to do with—
"Absinthe."
—alcohol. Oh dear. This couldn't end well.
"Absinthe?" Remus repeated, watching as Sirius produced a dark glass bottle for his inspection. There was a stylized women on the label—faerie, Remus realized, noting the gossamer wings and pointed ears—whose skin was a pale shade of green. "Where did you get this?" The only place he could think of would be the Three Broomsticks and Sirius wasn't of age until next year.
"Snitched it from my brother," Sirius answered, popping open a tin of… were those sugar cubes?
"Regulus? But he's a year younger than you. How did he get this?" Remus didn't bother asking how Sirius had gotten into the Slytherin dorms; Padfoot knew the secret passageways of this school as well as he did.
"Oh, you know him. 'I have my ways,'" Sirius muttered darkly, taking back the bottle. He uncorked it and held up a small reservoir glass to the light, pouring out the apple green liquid until it filled the bulbous part of the glass. "Do you want one?" he asked, glancing at Remus.
He eyed the glass warily. "Isn't absinthe made from wormwood?"
"Yeah."
"That's a hallucinogen," Remus pointed out. Sirius shook his head.
"Absinthe doesn't do that. Although it'd be wicked if it did," he added, grinning.
Remus rolled his eyes and considered the bottle a moment more, then double-checked to make sure the room was empty. He sighed. "I'll have a glass."
"Excellent." Sirius brought out an antique-looking wooden box and Remus got a glimpse of plush velvet lining before it was shut and shoved back under the bed; another subtle reminder of Sirius's affluent background. The young aristocrat poured another glass and placed two slotted silver spoons over the top before swearing and removing a spoon.
"What?" Remus asked as Sirius dug around the nightstand drawer. He turned back with a different spoon in hand.
"The spoons from the set are sterling silver." Remus winced involuntarily; Sirius nodded. "I figured you'd feel that way."
He put the replacement spoon over the top of the glass and placed a sugar cube on each, then took a pitcher of iced water (if the condensation on the pitcher's side was any indication) and poured a slow stream over the sugar cubes, dissolving them into the drinks and turning them a cloudy white color.
"How do you know how do this?" Remus asked as Sirius put the pitcher aside.
Sirius offered him a glass, which Remus took but didn't drink. "My mother likes the stuff. High class and all that. Plus it's green." Remus snorted and Sirius rolled his eyes. "I know, right?" He washed his drink back in a smooth, practiced motion. "Yeah; I got my first taste of the stuff when I was five. I didn't like it then, but it's not so bad now."
Remus hmmed and took a sip of his; he choked and coughed a little. "Sirius, what's the proof of absinthe?" he gasped, surprised.
"Er, maybe ninety-two, ninety-three percent?" Sirius said sheepishly, ducking his head a tad.
"Merlin! And you were going to drink this by yourself, alone?" Sirius didn't normally drink, and when he did it was almost always for social reasons.
Sirius scowled. "Yeah, well, I figured I give my troubles over to the Green Fairy for the night," he muttered.
"Drowning your sorrows? That's not like you," Remus said, brow furrowed. "What's wrong?"
"Are you going to finish that?" Sirius asked, gesturing towards the partially full glass.
Remus downed it before Sirius could take it and shuddered; it was strong, but thankfully not bitter. "Don't dodge the question. What's the matter?"
"Eh, just this and that," Sirius said, pouring another glass and setting up the spoon.
"This and that? Sirius, you know you can talk to me," Remus insisted, concerned.
Sirius was quiet, plucking out another sugar cube and dissolving it; Remus could sense him struggling with the desire to tell and the desire to keep secret. He watched Sirius knock back the second glass before sighing and turning a mournful look towards his friend.
"My brother's a Death Eater now," he mumbled, miserable.
"Oh…"
"Yeah, 'oh'." Sirius took back Remus's glass and fixed him another. "I can't believe my fucking family," he said suddenly, venomously. "They're all bloody insane. 'Well, of course Lord Voldemort's right; just look at the wizarding world! Do you know how hard it will be to find you a proper wife?'" Sirius mimicked his mother, making a face. "Ha! Like I want to marry some pure-blood bitch," he spat angrily, handing Remus back the glass and prepping another for himself. "Lucky you don't have to listen to her. We should just kick all the mud bloods out of the wizarding world, you see, because they're obviously the cause of all our problems. We'll just keep intermarrying the pure blood families until we're so fucking crazy we just kill each other off. Then all our problems will be solved!" He polished off another round of absinthe and immediately made another. Remus drank his second glass as Sirius finished his fourth. He should probably take that bottle away soon… He accepted another glass, if only to keep it away from Sirius.
Remus listened quietly as Sirius ranted and raged, keeping track of how many shots Sirius had taken thus far and recounting the purging spell he had learned the last time James and Sirius had gotten completely trashed. The volume steadily climbed and Remus cast a quick silencing charm after getting Sirius to sit on the bed, curtains drawn, for more privacy; the jabs and insults towards the Black family worsened as Sirius' alcohol consumption continued.
"I bet you they're so damn proud that at least one of their sons turned out right, considerin' that Im'ma total failure apparently, since I don't think mud bloods are complete trash and ought to be kicked outta the wizarding world. And!" he brandished an absinthe glass towards Remus, who felt rather warm from his three glasses and wondered how Sirius was still this coherent after seven. "You don't even want to know what they think 'bout everyone else! They talk about Muggles as if they're deaf, dumb, and blind, like they're perpetual children or something!" Sirius spilt a bit of the green liquid on the sheets and swore. "I once overheard them talking about how centaurs shouldn't be classified as beings because even though they're smart they're not people, you know?"
Remus suddenly felt vaguely uneasy and took another shot himself.
"And they were all for the new code saying that werewolves should only by classified as beasts, which is completely fucking unfair because you're one of the best people I know, certainly better then my fucking family—pure bloods all and therefore nearly bloody royalty—and just because you have your little once a month doesn't mean a damned thing and they're fucking stupid for saying otherwise-"
Oh yes; he was not nearly drunk enough for this conversation. Remus held out his glass wordless and Sirius refilled it, not even bothering to combat the drink's inherent bitterness with the sugar cubes anymore. The green liquid glinted oddly and Remus grinned wryly, drinking. It was just so Slytherin.
"Well, I'm glad you can fucking snicker about that, because I was right pissed!" Sirius exclaimed before downing another glass.
"Right pissed," Remus chuckled. "Funny, considering how right pissed you are now."
"What?" The comment threw Sirius enough to derail his thoughts.
"You're totally drunk, Padfoot. Give me that bottle; I'm cutting you off," Remus said, grinning. He leaned forward and reached for the bottle but Sirius yanked it back. Remus, also drunk at this point, toppled onto Sirius.
"It's my absinthe bo'le; I stole it fair and square," Sirius said to Remus's face (he could smell the alcohol clearly), holding the bottle above his head. Remus couldn't quite reach it and suddenly getting a hold of the silly thing was the last thing on his mind as Sirius kissed him. He made a quiet noise of surprise as Sirius held him tightly, kissing deeper, and Remus remembered pleasantly that there were other ways to stop Sirius from drinking.
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Well, how was my first HP fic? Tell me in a review!