Chapter 21 Chapter 21

Then next month flew by in a very entertaining whir. It began with a game of celebratory truth or dare. What we were celebrating, I still am unsure of…

"Ooh! Can we play truth or dare?" Shay asked excitedly one evening.

I groaned. "Shay, I hate that game and you know it!"

"Please!" She begged me. The others were already contemplating it and so far the only people who resisted were Remus and I. Alice wasn't fond of the idea, but was swayed to in less than a minute.

"You don't have a choice, Remmy!" Sirius declared. "You are a marauder and marauders never back out of truth or dare!"

So I was the only resister. "Lily, it'll be fun!"

"Come on now, flower!"

"Aw, Lils, don't ruin Shay's fun!"

"Just do it already!"

My friends were all immensely irritating at the moment. "Fine!" I screamed, a bit louder than necessary. Shay squealed in delight and I glared at the circle of friends. James, whom was sitting beside me, tightened his arm around my waist.

"It won't be that bad, I promise." He assured me. I nodded with a sense of loss as the game began…

It started out simple. A spell to make you not tell lies. It wasn't strong, but I doubt any of us could get out of it. 'I dare you to do a strip dance' was a bit out there, but Sirius did it none-the-less. Even when we begged him to stop.

By eleven o'clock there was a bottle of fire whiskey going around. Shay had already streaked through the hallways, I had snogged Remus (something James wasn't too keen on allowing), and Peter had attempted to snog a Ravenclaw girl, which resulted in him having a very silly looking slap mark across his cheek.

The truths were hardly even existent in this game. Sirius would mock anyone who chose truth until they switched to dare. The few truths that were told were insignificant and made the game boring. After finding out Peter wears briefs and Sirius fantasizes about Shay wearing a thong, the truths faded away into nothingness and the dares that followed were worse.

As the game went on into the night, and the players were consuming the fire whiskey and the dares got considerably less appropriate and even verged on the impossible.

"Pete, truth or dare!" Sirius called across our circle.

"Dare…" The word was barely out of his mouth before Sirius shouted his dare at him.

"I dare you to kiss the giant squid!"

Peter looked perplexed. "How am I supposed to manage that?" He asked Sirius, whom had probably consumed the majority of the fire whiskey bottle that was going around.

"If I make it possible, you gotta do it. 'Kay?" Peter nodded. "Eeexxelent." Sirius said in a sinister tone of voice. "Truth or dare James!"

"Sirius, it's not your…" Remus tried to tell the boy that it was Peter's turn, but Sirius shushed him and looked at James.

James sighed. "Dare."

"I dare you to propose to McGonagall!"

James laughed. "When?" He asked. He didn't seem at all shocked by his best friend's dare for him.

"Breakfast. Hold on…" Sirius said as he walked over to his four-poster. We were in the boy's common room for another reason that was unknown to me. I supposed that it was Sirius' idea, he being the one with the fire whiskey under his bed.

"Here!" Sirius called as he threw something at James' head. James' reflexes were fast and he caught it before it collided with his nose. It was a small silk box. James opened it to reveal a ring that looked like a golden smiley face.

"You want me to propose with this?" James asked him with one eyebrow raised.

Sirius nodded. "Yup! Say something cheesy too like… You're class overwhelms me with joy, you're smile makes me happy, will you marry me? Be creative!" Sirius ordered.

James chuckled. "'Kay."

"Remus! Truth or dare." Remus had his nose in a book and he sighed in regret as he muttered 'dare' back to Sirius who was grinning wickedly.

"I dare you, at the first quidditch game of the season, to dress up as a cheerleader and cheer on Gryffindor!"

"By cheerleader, you mean…" Remus looked horrified.

Sirius was still grinning from ear to ear. He took out his wand and went over by his bed, changing pillows and such into an outfit. He held up a red and gold miniskirt with a matching tank top.

"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius…" James scoffed. "Here, allow me to help you…" James made a few alterations, adding a large letter 'G' to the front of the tank top and the word 'Gryffindor' along the back of the skirt. He also added a pair of strappy, two-inch heels to the mix.

"Thank you, my friend!" Sirius exclaimed when the two boys were finished. Remus was pale just looking at the outfit his friends had created. Peter was rolling with laughter and Shay was cracking up on a rug on the floor. Even Alice and I couldn't help but stifle our giggles as we looked at the very feminine outfit.

"S-Sirius, you… you won't… I… you won't…" Remus mumbled.

Sirius smiled back at the boy. "Oh yes, I will make you wear this because you said dare. You should've seen this coming, Moony."

I was abruptly brought back to reality. "Sirius! Truth or dare?" I barked at him.

He seemed taken aback. "Dare," He said cockily.

"Tell me what your nicknames mean," I told him. All of the boys stopped laughing and grinning.

"Lily, we can't tell you that…" James began, but the truth spell was too much for Sirius.

"It's because Remus is a…"

"No!" James slapped his hand over Sirius' mouth. Lucky timing, I thought bitterly.

"You have to tell me! It's in the rules of this game!" I called at them, all of them.

"Lily, this isn't Sirius' secret to tell. Don't force this on any of us, and don't expect an answer because… because…"

Remus interjected. "James." James stopped speaking. "I… Lily, I will tell you. But only you. Sorry," He added to Shay and Alice.

"Aw! But…" Shay began

"It's okay, it's your choice, Remus." Alice said.

Remus took a deep breath. "Thanks," he said to them. He turned to me. "Do you mind if it's not right now?"

I shook my head. I regretted yelling at James and Sirius. This was obviously something that Remus was uncomfortable with. Maybe I pushed it…

"Take your time." I said quietly.

"Truth or dare!" Sirius nearly sang.

"Sirius, I'm kinda getting tired. Could we please stop?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, me too," I confessed.

"No!" Sirius screeched.

"Goodnight, Sirius," Shay said as she pecked him lightly on the cheek. James followed Shay, Alice and I out of the room.

"Goodnight," I told the two girls who went up to the girl's dormitory.

"'Night," They both responded.

James and I walked back to our common room quietly. "Sorry about… About the… I didn't mean to make anyone uncomfortable! But nobody has ever told me and I have asked before and I wanted to know but I felt bad about making Remus feel awkward and you and Sirius and Peter all looked uncomfortable."

"It's okay, Lily. You'll understand when Remus tells you. It's just not something we're… comfortable talking about," James explained.

"Well I'm a shmuck… Here I am bringing the whole thing up again," I muttered darkly, staring at my feet.

"Lily," James stopped and pulled my face up so that he could look me in my eyes. "It's all going to be fine. It's not your fault that you're curious." He smiled crookedly at me and I think that (if I were trying to breathe) all of the air had left from my lungs into an unknown passageway.

I gasped in a gulp of air as I flew back into reality, but luckily James didn't notice. I smiled back at him and we continued to walk to the Head's common room.

"Goodnight," I told him, leaning up to brush my lips against his earlobe. I swear that he shivered and I smirked as I decided to leave him at that. I turned and walked to my bedroom.

I though I heard James mutter something under his breath that sounded like 'tease' and smiled to myself. I dressed and went to bed only to wake up far too early.

I sighed as I sat up. I showered for as long as I could manage and got dressed slowly. Why couldn't I just sleep? I asked myself wearily.

I trudged into the common room and out the door. I hadn't made it ten paces when I voice caught up with me.

"Hey, Lily." I spun around to see Remus standing before me. I exhaled deeply.

"Hi, Remus," I said as I began to walk again.

"So… is now a good time… you know, to tell you about the… er… nicknames?" He asked me. I stopped as I suddenly remembered.

"Oh, yes! This is fine!" I said.

Remus looked uncomfortable. "Well, and you promise not to blame the others?" He asked suddenly.

"Blame them for what?"

"You won't take anything out on them, right?"

"Remus, what are you talking about?" I asked.

He sighed. "My nickname is Moony. I… I come out at the full moon. I'm a… a werewolf." Remus' voice was hardly a whisper. I felt my face go white…

So, that's for giving me 3 reviews last chapter. I was really sad about that. I checked every day! (Seriously, ask EmpressesPenguinOfTheUniverse, I was at her house)

NOTE: new story out by Penguin and me, The Snog of Deadly Misery, under the penname mismatchedsocktwins. Please check it out. I garuntee you a good laugh!

Review! And OME! What'd you think of Breaking Dawn, Twilighters?