Peaches and cigarettes

Disclaimer: Everything you might recognize from the Harry Potter world belong to JKR and her team.

Following a cypress-lined alleyway, they pulled up in front of a huge, Italian-style mansion. It was truly beautiful, all built out of white stones, with ceramic tiles placed in orderly patterns on the floor, and terracotta ones covering the roofs. Flowers of all colors, shapes, and types bloomed in the patio, and once could see a small plot of land dedicated to the growing of orange and lemon trees behind the main building. Riveting, bright pink, snowy white, and light purple, bougainvillea bloomed everywhere around the house, falling from the balconies and creeping up between the stones. James, Lily, Sirius, Peter, Marlene, Dorcas, Mary, Remus, and a couple of other friends got out of the car. They had been invited to a local party, hosted by their neighbours. The heavy wooden doors guarding the entrance opened, revealing a beautiful, tanned, young woman dressed in a white silk dress.

"È un piacere averti qui," she said in a soft, poised voice. "Come in."

The azure sky behind them was tinged with pink and orange streaks as the sun started to set, casting its last beams on the ocean and turning the deep blue waters golden.

The music resonated throughout the whole room, filled to the brim with people. The party had been going on for a couple of hours now. Remus felt very uncomfortable as he tried to make his way through the crowd, nodding to people he knew from Hogwarts left and right. The rest, he had never seen or heard of before. A skimpily dressed blonde girl, very obviously drunk, clung to his arm, slurring her words as she drawled on and on about some unknown subject. Gently untangling his arm from her weak grip, he tried to reach the buffet, but the mass of people only seemed to tighten. James and Lily were nowhere to be seen, Mary and Marlene stood on a table, singing their lungs out, Peter was chatting awkwardly with some random girl, and Sirius…well Sirius was someone he didn't want to think about right now. Destiny, fate, or whatever you call it, seemed to be hellbent on ruining his day though, he thought, as his gaze fell on Sirius, snogging a girl in the corner. It was as if the last thing holding him back, the last string keeping him together, just snapped violently at that moment. With no patience or energy left, he headed straight to the balcony, pushing aggressively everyone that got in his way. Opening the glass floor to ceiling windows leading to the terrace with a loud bang, he stumbled outside, tripping over his own feet and nearly falling face forward on the colourful marble tiles. Leaning over the metal railing, he whipped out a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it, and stuffing it between his lips.

It must have been the remnants of the last full moon, which had happened barely days ago, and had tied him out immensely, more so than usual. His senses were heightened, and everything just seemed too much, too loud, too bright, too colourful, too odourant, and so on. They had been staying at Sirius' beach house in Italy, left to him by his grandfather, with a couple of friends from Hogwarts. And for some absurd reason, Sirius and James had decided it would be a good idea to accept an invitation to a party from some unknown Muggle girl and spend the night with the entirety of the neighbouring Muggle towns' young population. And for some even absurder reason, everyone had agreed and found it fantastic, leaving Remus outnumbered and sulking. Looking down, he saw that his cigarette had died out with the light sea breeze. Automatically, he pulled out another one.

The sea was beautiful that night, of a dark, ink blue, covered in shimmering silver sparkles: the reflections of the stars above which shone brightly in the night sky.

Sighing, he followed the lantern-lit path, leading to the stairs crafted in the rock of the cliff, which granted access to the small private beach. Finally reaching the wet strip of sand, he sat down, letting the warm waves lap at his feet. Somewhere far up, the beat of the music still drifted out through the opened windows into the warm night air. He laid back, resting his head on the soft sand, looking up at the stars. It was a stunningly beautiful and peaceful sight, he could see several constellations, including the Canis Major constellation which Sirius showed him every time they were out and about at night. Breathing deeply in and out, he tried to calm himself. His inner restlessness had been ever-growing for a couple of weeks and tired him out more than ever. He had always lived with it, presumably yet another side-effect of being a werewolf, but it wasn't easy. Mood swings would often kick in at the most unfortunate of times, and his nervousness had been present during each moment of the day, exhausting him even further. His mind just seemed to never stop, constantly racing through thought after thought, overthinking and overanalysing every detail and action, not pausing for even a single second.

Suddenly, he heard giggles and hushed whispers not far from him. Sitting up, he saw a girl dressed in a white, revealing summer dress. Probably one of the Italian girls from the town. She was beautiful.

And behind her stood Sirius, with his bright eyes fixed on him. Her lipstick was smudged, he noted, and stains of the very same red shade covered Sirius' lips, cheeks, and neck.

"Fuck it," he mumbled under his breath, taking out ragingly yet another cigarette, bringing it to his lips, and breathing in the intoxicating smoke.

"Remus," said his friend.

"What, Pads?" His tone was harsh and cold, and he was very well aware of it.

"I…" started Sirius, but he left his sentence hanging.

Shaking his head, Remus turned away, and left him there with the girl, climbing up the stairs rapidly, accelerating with every step.

"Moony! Wait!"

He did not stop or waver in his stride, now running along the dark twisting paths of the gardens, getting lost between lemon and orange trees, whose branches hung low, heaving with bright citruses, ready to be plucked. Behind him, he could hear Sirius' feet hammering the ground, slowly but surely catching up to him. Remus looked around, scrutinising the shadows, trying to find some sort of hiding spot, but there was nothing, except for dozens of peach trees.

"Lupin!"

Remus whipped around, glaring at Sirius.

"What?" He asked flatly.

"What's all this?" Asked his friend, nearing him, and trapping him against the hedge, with no way out.

He cursed under his breath. It was as if all air had remained stuck in his lungs, as his green eyes met Sirius' gray-blue darkened gaze.

"S-Sirius," he stuttered. "I…"

The black-haired boy raised a questioning eyebrow, his eyes lowering briefly to Remus' lips, something which did not pass him unnoticed.

"Fuck it," said Sirius, and suddenly, his mouth crashed into Remus'.

He tasted of peaches, alcohol, and cigarettes, and his lips were soft and submissive under his demanding ones. A rush of adrenaline ran through their bodies, electrifying the air, as fingers tugged at hair and dug into hips, and tongues danced around each other. Merlin, he had wanted this for so long now, and it was finally happening, but Sirius was drunk. He was completely pissed. Reluctantly, Remus tore himself away, untangling his friend's long, thin fingers from his curls. Sirius whimpered, discontented.

"Pads, you're drunk," he whispered.

"Doesn't matter Moony, I want this, I've wanted it for so long already."

His voice was rough and dry.

"You're saying nonsense, you don't know what you're talking about," he replied.

"Shut up and kiss me, Remus."

author's note: and yet another wolfstar oneshot taken from my Instagram, marauderswriting

Read and review!

b-bye, daya