No one could deny that Gracie enjoyed parties. She also enjoyed setting
people up, so many people gathered around a common alcohol source provided
her with the ideal ammunition for her hobby. Willing to couple or
otherwise, it mattered not.
Her latest project might prove to be the trickiest one yet. He was placid, reserved and rather clever, but as far as she understood had never had a girlfriend. All the more attractive a challenge! The girls had bets on the reason behind his bachelor status, so to test one of them she just couldn't resist leaning over and whispering something in her target's ear while swapping his empty glass for a full one.
She watched as her target, mumbled, turned very red and suddenly found examining the glass he was holding very, very interesting indeed. Gracie couldn't help giggling as she cast a glance back at the girls – she had been right.
"Aw, bless you Remus, sweetie!" she gushed out. "Don't worry, I tell you what, I've got this lovely, lovely friend of mine – just like you, sweet. She's twenty, but had a home tutor – never went to wizard school as she had to care for her mum you see. She got two NEWTS though! Lives in a gorgeous town in Sussex now. Now - if you like..."
Remus listened patiently as ever as Gracie attempted to "set him up" with yet another person. She had done this before at the leaver's ball at Hogwarts, but there she was likely far too drunk to remember it. As before, it wouldn't work. Unless the girl she described was also a lycanthrope - of course. Otherwise there would be simply no way he would ever risk a relationship. All it took was one bite or a careless scratch...
Remus sighed. The more he attempted to drown Gracie's voice out, the more he noticed that a certain smell was tickling his nostrils. A faint tang of – what - exactly?
His eyes moved down to his glass, which he still held stiffly in his hand. Remus swirled the glass around and waited for the smell to waft up again. What in Merlin had Gracie given him? It looked like sherry – but it didn't smell quite like it. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more paranoid he became that she had added something to it...
"– I mean, she really is lovely Remus. If you like I can drop a few hints (wink, wink) I for a fact know what she'd like is if you could take her for a walk around the Weald, or go to the Downs -"
"-only if it was on four legs and around the full moon," thought Remus dully to himself. But that smell - Godric's beard it was driving him to distraction! Was he really getting as paranoid as Snape, thinking that everyone is out to poison him? Maybe it was just a different version of a Muggle drink, or a Lily special –
Snape! That's who he was looking for before he got sidetracked! Clearing his throat, Remus used the combo excuse of needing the loo/I've eaten too much prawn cocktail, (one of Sirius's tried and tested) but only got as far as a hand on the door handle before the lights flickered and failed.
The girls had a mixed reaction to this – "Oooh!" noises coming from the startled, "Whoo-oohh!" calls from the more mischievous, and nothing at all from the utterly pissed (Except for maybe half a grunt, or a snore.)
Remus blinked as the pitch-blackness floated before his eyes. He had always thought it typical of his luck – why was it he was stuck with the mighty power of smelling people's feet across the room, but when it came to something more useful like seeing in the dark – he get bog standard human eyesight? With all the monthly problems he had to deal with, couldn't he have at least been blessed with that little help?
"Oh, dear," he sighed.
"What's happened Remus?" enquired one of the more nervous girls.
"Well, it might be a fuse blown. The trip switch has switched the lights off. But I expect Lily will see to it."
"And what's a fuse Reamie dear? Oh, he's so knowledgeable!" replied Gracie, (somewhat admiringly – to Remus's dismay.)
Remus sighed.
"To do with Muggle electricity. Fuses prevent power surges damaging electrical equipment by breaking the circuit – and a trip switch -"
"Trip? Did you just say trip, or trick, Remus? Isn't that a funny word?!" butted in a more-than-tipsy voice. "Oh, this Muggle stuff is so bizarre! Wheres that Lily got to? We can't sit in the dark playing trivia without some sort of alcohol!"
Remus thought that the occasion of being rudely interrupted was a fair moment to slip out unnoticed – which he did, leaving the girls voices to complain and exclaim when they knocked over bowls of dip in the dark.
"I vote we conjure some light. Can't be doing with these 'trick switches' playing tricks on us," quipped one.
"No – wait for Lily – it's her house! Tell you what – shall we play something we haven't for years. A little school Common Room fun?"
"Oh, I hope it's not paper butterfly racing," whined another voice, "mine always lost!"
"In the dark? Don't be silly! No - " whispered the girl. She giggled, "Remember – Wizard Mass Murder?"
"The tasteless dorm game that McGonagall used to disapprove of? We can't do that – Lily's anti hex is still up!"
"Oh, is it now?" spoke up an innocent reply. "And who said it was Lily's anti hex?"
There was a small popping sound, and in the place of a packet of cheesy nibbles appeared a single lit candle in a holder.
The golden glow of light revealed a circle of rather shocked looking female faces. There were a few seconds of silence.
"Er - h-how long has the shield been down?" stammered Paula faintly.
The owner of the 'innocent voice' smiled knowingly. "Only about fifteen minutes - when I went to the toilet last – that's where the charmed stone was hidden."
There was a sudden outbreak of nervous mutterings as the girls all looked at each other. "Oh my God Elaine, " complained Sarah. "The men were bad enough hexing each other sober. They'll kill each other now thanks to you!"
Pauline nodded, as did several others near her.
"Oh rubbish!" retorted back Elaine. "We didn't have any such charm overseeing our last party and it was absolutely fine!"
"-Well its obvious that would go fine from the start - because you only invited Ravenclaws!" shot back Sarah haughtily. "This place has three – no four houses represented – and if anything happens to my Ben – I'll personally-"
"Girls, girls!" cut in Ruth just as Elaine opened her mouth to retort back. "For the sake of Merlin - calm down! I'm sure the boys will be just fine. Look - there are some of the Ministry's best male Aurors in this house for goodness sakes – I'm sure we can trust them to keep order!"
Sarah tossed her fine curls aside and glared at Ruth with narrowed grey eyes. "A house with the Marauder gang in it, keep order?" she exclaimed incredulously. "Are you sure you're not under the confundus charm, woman?"
Ruth looked a little abashed, but came back with a strong enough reply.
"Well then, we'll just have to not tell them the charm's disabled," she reasoned slowly. "As long as they think it is still active, they won't try anything silly - will they?"
The candlelight flickered across the circle of youthful faces. Though a few nodded, others still didn't look entirely convinced...
Suddenly Gracie frowned. "Where'd Remus go?"
"Oh dear. Looks like I won my bet, you lost yours," smirked Elaine.
"Not so much a bet, rather a certainty," teased Ruth. "Everyone's heard the rumour about Remus Lupin."
"Pure and unsullied as freshly laid snow," murmured Gracie dreamily as some girls giggled. "Poor sweetie. Good job I have a plan..."
Lupin was once more in the Potters' hallway. He now took this opportunity to raise his glass to his nose to sniff the contents properly.
It was just as well that he didn't have any more super-senses than his heightened sense of smell. If he had, and overheard the frank way the girls were discussing his "deficiencies" on the other side of the closed door, it would have scared him half to death.
Remus swirled the contents of the glass again. Now if only he could place that smell! It reminded him of the Potters' garden. Somehow like...peach. Like peach, but it wasn't peach...
Remus's eyes widened. That was it! Finally! Pansies – the smell reminded him of pansies!
Now what would Grace be playing at putting something like that in his drink? Snape would know, he was sure.
If he could find him...
Suddenly, there was a series of loud thuds and various grunts from the staircase. For a second Remus was hopeful that it was the Slytherin. But it was only Ben and Sirius.
"Hiya," he replied cheerily.
"Alright Moony," replied Sirius, finding his friend's shoulder in the dark and patting it. "Toilet's free now – if you can find your way up in the pitch black!"
"No problem," said Lupin lightly.
"You coming in the kitchen, Remus?" enquired the voice of Ben Perks.
"Nah. I'm just waiting for Lily to come out of the dining room – see if I can lend a hand with the electrics," replied Lupin carefully. Good excuse!
"See you a bit later then mate, if you're going to be awkward," growled Sirius, in a slightly irked tone. "But make sure you get drunk for when I next see you. I can't even smell alcohol on your breath yet!"
The kitchen door clicked shut. Remus sighed. If only he could find the enthusiasm to enjoy the things his friends liked to do...but try as he did, it just wasn't there...
Her latest project might prove to be the trickiest one yet. He was placid, reserved and rather clever, but as far as she understood had never had a girlfriend. All the more attractive a challenge! The girls had bets on the reason behind his bachelor status, so to test one of them she just couldn't resist leaning over and whispering something in her target's ear while swapping his empty glass for a full one.
She watched as her target, mumbled, turned very red and suddenly found examining the glass he was holding very, very interesting indeed. Gracie couldn't help giggling as she cast a glance back at the girls – she had been right.
"Aw, bless you Remus, sweetie!" she gushed out. "Don't worry, I tell you what, I've got this lovely, lovely friend of mine – just like you, sweet. She's twenty, but had a home tutor – never went to wizard school as she had to care for her mum you see. She got two NEWTS though! Lives in a gorgeous town in Sussex now. Now - if you like..."
Remus listened patiently as ever as Gracie attempted to "set him up" with yet another person. She had done this before at the leaver's ball at Hogwarts, but there she was likely far too drunk to remember it. As before, it wouldn't work. Unless the girl she described was also a lycanthrope - of course. Otherwise there would be simply no way he would ever risk a relationship. All it took was one bite or a careless scratch...
Remus sighed. The more he attempted to drown Gracie's voice out, the more he noticed that a certain smell was tickling his nostrils. A faint tang of – what - exactly?
His eyes moved down to his glass, which he still held stiffly in his hand. Remus swirled the glass around and waited for the smell to waft up again. What in Merlin had Gracie given him? It looked like sherry – but it didn't smell quite like it. In fact, the more he thought about it, the more paranoid he became that she had added something to it...
"– I mean, she really is lovely Remus. If you like I can drop a few hints (wink, wink) I for a fact know what she'd like is if you could take her for a walk around the Weald, or go to the Downs -"
"-only if it was on four legs and around the full moon," thought Remus dully to himself. But that smell - Godric's beard it was driving him to distraction! Was he really getting as paranoid as Snape, thinking that everyone is out to poison him? Maybe it was just a different version of a Muggle drink, or a Lily special –
Snape! That's who he was looking for before he got sidetracked! Clearing his throat, Remus used the combo excuse of needing the loo/I've eaten too much prawn cocktail, (one of Sirius's tried and tested) but only got as far as a hand on the door handle before the lights flickered and failed.
The girls had a mixed reaction to this – "Oooh!" noises coming from the startled, "Whoo-oohh!" calls from the more mischievous, and nothing at all from the utterly pissed (Except for maybe half a grunt, or a snore.)
Remus blinked as the pitch-blackness floated before his eyes. He had always thought it typical of his luck – why was it he was stuck with the mighty power of smelling people's feet across the room, but when it came to something more useful like seeing in the dark – he get bog standard human eyesight? With all the monthly problems he had to deal with, couldn't he have at least been blessed with that little help?
"Oh, dear," he sighed.
"What's happened Remus?" enquired one of the more nervous girls.
"Well, it might be a fuse blown. The trip switch has switched the lights off. But I expect Lily will see to it."
"And what's a fuse Reamie dear? Oh, he's so knowledgeable!" replied Gracie, (somewhat admiringly – to Remus's dismay.)
Remus sighed.
"To do with Muggle electricity. Fuses prevent power surges damaging electrical equipment by breaking the circuit – and a trip switch -"
"Trip? Did you just say trip, or trick, Remus? Isn't that a funny word?!" butted in a more-than-tipsy voice. "Oh, this Muggle stuff is so bizarre! Wheres that Lily got to? We can't sit in the dark playing trivia without some sort of alcohol!"
Remus thought that the occasion of being rudely interrupted was a fair moment to slip out unnoticed – which he did, leaving the girls voices to complain and exclaim when they knocked over bowls of dip in the dark.
"I vote we conjure some light. Can't be doing with these 'trick switches' playing tricks on us," quipped one.
"No – wait for Lily – it's her house! Tell you what – shall we play something we haven't for years. A little school Common Room fun?"
"Oh, I hope it's not paper butterfly racing," whined another voice, "mine always lost!"
"In the dark? Don't be silly! No - " whispered the girl. She giggled, "Remember – Wizard Mass Murder?"
"The tasteless dorm game that McGonagall used to disapprove of? We can't do that – Lily's anti hex is still up!"
"Oh, is it now?" spoke up an innocent reply. "And who said it was Lily's anti hex?"
There was a small popping sound, and in the place of a packet of cheesy nibbles appeared a single lit candle in a holder.
The golden glow of light revealed a circle of rather shocked looking female faces. There were a few seconds of silence.
"Er - h-how long has the shield been down?" stammered Paula faintly.
The owner of the 'innocent voice' smiled knowingly. "Only about fifteen minutes - when I went to the toilet last – that's where the charmed stone was hidden."
There was a sudden outbreak of nervous mutterings as the girls all looked at each other. "Oh my God Elaine, " complained Sarah. "The men were bad enough hexing each other sober. They'll kill each other now thanks to you!"
Pauline nodded, as did several others near her.
"Oh rubbish!" retorted back Elaine. "We didn't have any such charm overseeing our last party and it was absolutely fine!"
"-Well its obvious that would go fine from the start - because you only invited Ravenclaws!" shot back Sarah haughtily. "This place has three – no four houses represented – and if anything happens to my Ben – I'll personally-"
"Girls, girls!" cut in Ruth just as Elaine opened her mouth to retort back. "For the sake of Merlin - calm down! I'm sure the boys will be just fine. Look - there are some of the Ministry's best male Aurors in this house for goodness sakes – I'm sure we can trust them to keep order!"
Sarah tossed her fine curls aside and glared at Ruth with narrowed grey eyes. "A house with the Marauder gang in it, keep order?" she exclaimed incredulously. "Are you sure you're not under the confundus charm, woman?"
Ruth looked a little abashed, but came back with a strong enough reply.
"Well then, we'll just have to not tell them the charm's disabled," she reasoned slowly. "As long as they think it is still active, they won't try anything silly - will they?"
The candlelight flickered across the circle of youthful faces. Though a few nodded, others still didn't look entirely convinced...
Suddenly Gracie frowned. "Where'd Remus go?"
"Oh dear. Looks like I won my bet, you lost yours," smirked Elaine.
"Not so much a bet, rather a certainty," teased Ruth. "Everyone's heard the rumour about Remus Lupin."
"Pure and unsullied as freshly laid snow," murmured Gracie dreamily as some girls giggled. "Poor sweetie. Good job I have a plan..."
Lupin was once more in the Potters' hallway. He now took this opportunity to raise his glass to his nose to sniff the contents properly.
It was just as well that he didn't have any more super-senses than his heightened sense of smell. If he had, and overheard the frank way the girls were discussing his "deficiencies" on the other side of the closed door, it would have scared him half to death.
Remus swirled the contents of the glass again. Now if only he could place that smell! It reminded him of the Potters' garden. Somehow like...peach. Like peach, but it wasn't peach...
Remus's eyes widened. That was it! Finally! Pansies – the smell reminded him of pansies!
Now what would Grace be playing at putting something like that in his drink? Snape would know, he was sure.
If he could find him...
Suddenly, there was a series of loud thuds and various grunts from the staircase. For a second Remus was hopeful that it was the Slytherin. But it was only Ben and Sirius.
"Hiya," he replied cheerily.
"Alright Moony," replied Sirius, finding his friend's shoulder in the dark and patting it. "Toilet's free now – if you can find your way up in the pitch black!"
"No problem," said Lupin lightly.
"You coming in the kitchen, Remus?" enquired the voice of Ben Perks.
"Nah. I'm just waiting for Lily to come out of the dining room – see if I can lend a hand with the electrics," replied Lupin carefully. Good excuse!
"See you a bit later then mate, if you're going to be awkward," growled Sirius, in a slightly irked tone. "But make sure you get drunk for when I next see you. I can't even smell alcohol on your breath yet!"
The kitchen door clicked shut. Remus sighed. If only he could find the enthusiasm to enjoy the things his friends liked to do...but try as he did, it just wasn't there...