"Shhh…" James pulled Hermione under the cloak, and snuck her out of the common room and into the passage that led to the cellar below Honeydukes. "Stay down here until the rest come, then we'll be off." The plan was that they were going into Hogsmead as an end of holidays party.
She nodded in agreement, and stood in a darkened corner, taking a care not to ruin her carefully chosen-by-Lily outfit, which included a silky black skirt that floated around her knees and a shimmery black strappy vest with silver flowers, complimented with black beaded flats and silver clips in her curly hair.
"Maya?" A silky voice echoed across the cellar.
"Sirius?"
"The one and only. Where are you?" He asked, shuffling about.
"Lumos." A slight flicker of wand-light revealed her position, and Sirius looked her up and down with a devilish grin before coming to stand next to her.
"You're looking fine this evening, Maya." Hermione had to admit that Sirius didn't look that bad either, with his shoulder-length dark brown hair and black jeans with a plain white shirt opened to mid chest.
"Thank you. Nox." They stood in silence for a few minutes, and soon Lily followed down the passage.
"Hermione, I'm beginning to think this was a bad idea." She moaned.
"You were? I don't even want to be here! If we're caught we're going to be in so much trouble!"
"I know!" Lily fretted. "I can't believe James talked me into this… Lumos!" She lit the room with her wand, spying the pair at the other end of the cellar.
"I'm going to kill certain people for convincing me." Hermione death-glared at Sirius.
"Babe, relax!" Sirius laced his arm around Hermione's shoulder, grinning. "We're too good to get caught."
"That's debatable." Lily huffed.
Hermione heard the shifting of stones, and a flicker of light at the top of the room announced the arrival of James and Remus. She caught a glimpse of Remus in the wand beam, and bit her lip, smiling. A white t-shirt under a black open shirt and plain black trousers, his mop-like light brown hair shone for a moment as the beam passed over him. He looked every bit as gorgeous as she knew he would, in a rough-around-the-edges kind of way. He ran a hand through his hair, messing it up just a little bit more without realising… or maybe he did, Hermione thought with a smile.
"That's all of us, Padfoot, lead the way." James called towards the front.
Hermione dropped behind towards the back of the group, coming to stand next to Remus. He glanced at her, and then looked away towards the front of the group, making sure they weren't too far behind.
"You look beautiful." He told her honestly, and she was thankful for it being cold to blame her blush on.
"So do you." She replied, and then shivered as a gust of wind brushed over her bare skin. "I wish I'd at least brought some form of jacket, I'm cold!" She laughed, and felt a familiar jolt as Remus took her hand in his, trying to warm it.
"Your fingers are like ice." He laced their fingers together, and she smiled, ducking her head to look at the floor, biting her lip.
Remus gazed down at her, realising that compared to him, she was quite short, her head just coming to reach his shoulder. She looked beautiful, black and silver really were her colours. They didn't wash out her skin, but somehow enhanced the tan she carried that must be from foreign holidays. She glanced up at him, biting her lip as she met his eyes, but quickly turned to look at the floor. He looked at their entwined hands, and he felt a knot form in his stomach. Somehow, just this innocent act made his skin tingle ever so slightly, warmth spread up his arm; it felt right.
They entered the noisy pub, and Hermione was thankful for the heat. Sirius stopped the group, and asked for everyone's contribution to the drinks.
"Maya, what will you be having?" She blinked, frowning.
"I don't really drink wizarding alcohol, only muggle."
Lilly and Remus looked at each other, coming from muggle backgrounds, knew more on this subject. "You look like a spirits girl."
"Bacardi and coke, Smirnoff ice vodka mixes." She confirmed. "Or Stella."
"Stubbies?" Remus winced. "If that's what you like of course… Prefer Guinness myself."
"The black stuff? That's minging! Stella, at least drink beer that's worth drinking, please!"
Sirius simply stood looking confused, and cleared his throat. "So what am I getting you?"
Lily, realising that neither Remus nor Hermione were paying attention, answered for her. "Anything vodka based will do."
"Gocha. Usual for everyone else?" Everyone save Remus nodded. "I'll take it moony will have his usual as well."
The other four looked for a table, and found a small circular one at the back of the room, and had to fight through the people in the pub to get to it.
"Friday night…We had to do this on a Friday night!" Lily hissed to James. He nodded, but gave a shrug.
"Do you want to see them together? In a few mere days its obvious they're two halves of the same galleon." Lily bit her lip and looked at the pair who seemed having a heated debate over…
"Beer? That's really sad. They belong together if just for that reason."
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"How? There is only one place you can get a decent Guinness, and that moony, is in Ireland." Hermione snorted.
"Ah, but goddess of wisdom, I disagree." Remus sat down, leaning back in his chair, his legs stretching out under the table.
"No, you're just awkward." Hermione took the seat next to him in the corner. She pulled out the small bag she held, and out of instinct took a peek inside, as if looking for her mobile. All she saw was her make-up and money, both muggle and magic.
Lily and James took their seats next to the other pair, and they chattered whilst they waited for drinks.
"So, Hermione." James said. "Do you ever think you'll go home? To Scotland, I mean." She looked at Remus, and tears filled her eyes partially. She knew that she might not ever be able to go home, back to the future. (A/N funny film, people)
"N-no, I don't think so. My parents are… dead. I have no family left." It was true enough, and it was exactly how it felt.
"So you have nowhere to stay over summer?" Lily asked, and Hermione shook her head. "Well, I suppose my parents wouldn't mind if you came to stay with me for a while so you could get your money together to buy an apartment and get a job." She said.
Hermione smiled through the tears that threatened to fall. "You barely know me, Lily, and yet you would open up your home to me. I can't thank you enough." Lily reached over and took her hand.
"I know a good person when I see one. And you never know, you might not have to stay anyway." She winked at Hermione, with a shifty glance at Remus.
"Lily Evans, get your head out of the gutter!" Lily leaned back in her chair with a satisfied smirk, and James poked her in the ribs.
"See, you're enjoying yourself. Told you that you would." Lily stuck her tongue out, and there was a scrape of chairs as Sirius lifted the tray of drinks over the crowd.
He pulled up a chair, and placed the tray on the table. "OK, the butterbeer extra is for Lady Lily, the Vodka Fizz is for you, Maya. Moony, Prongs, lager, and this other is for me." He pulled off one large and a smaller bottle off the table and put the tray on the floor. He placed a shot glass in front of each person and the large bottle in the middle of the table.
Hermione sipped her drink through a straw, and smiled as she found it tasted just like Smirnoff Ice. Remus took a swig out of the green bottle, and then read the label of the big bottle out loud.
"Ogden's Old Fire whisky: Spin the bottle." He gave Sirius a look that said 'why'.
"Everyone drink up, and then we can start!" Sirius laughed, opening his own bottle and taking a gulp.
Hermione read the label of her own bottle, and was quite surprised to see that the alcohol content was much higher than that of muggle drinks, but continued to suck it through the straw.
Remus went for the next round of drinks, and James the third. Everyone was feeling a lot less caring, and laughed a lot more.
After buying a top-up round, Sirius poured each person a shot of whisky and removed the bottle, putting an empty one in its place.
"Now, the rules are simple: truth, dare or shot. If the person chooses shot, they must re-fill their shot glass and face a double dare the next go which cannot be escaped. A person may also take a shot if they do not wish to tell a truth or the set dare, but face the same consequence. Does everyone get it?" Each person nodded, and Sirius pointed to Hermione. "You get to spin first."
She reached over and spun the bottle. It was watched intently until it landed on Lily.
"Truth." She announced.
"Hermione thought for a moment, and then grinned."Are you a virgin?" Lily glared, but rolled her eyes.
"No." Sirius let out a whoop, making the table laugh.
"Jamesie finally got some!" this produced more laughs. "Lil, you spin." This time the bottle landed on Sirius.
"Dare."
"I dare you… to go snog Rosie, the barmaid." Sirius stood, smirking.
"With pleasure." The group turned round and everyone laughed as he pulled the young maid into a fiery kiss, and then he walked up to the table, head held high. Hermione began clapping, as did the rest, and he spun the bottle, watching as it landed on Remus.
"Truth."
"How many girlfriends have you had?" Remus went red and took a shot instead, causing oooohs to echo around the table. He spun the bottle and it landed on Hermione.
She took a sip of her vodka. "Truth."
"Have you ever been so blindingly drunk that you ended up snogging a random person and falling asleep at the toilet?"
She went bright red, making everyone laugh "Oh come on, it was only once and it was my 16th birthday! Shut up Padfoot, and you moony!"
She spun the bottle, and it landed on Remus, again.
"That's not fair, Hermione you aren't doing the dare!" James protested. "Ok, moony, you can't get out of this and you know it! I dare you to snog Hermione."
Remus grinned and pulled Hermione into his arms, and she leaned up to meet the distance between them. His tongue slipped between her lips and they danced for a good minute, and Hermione instinctively knew he was a wonderful kisser, and she felt heat spread through her stomach as she leaned closer, her head flooded with emotions and feelings. They wound their arms around each other before breaking apart, flushed and grinning.
"Padfoot, you're in shock." Remus teased
"That looked like some kiss, mate." James added, and Hermione flushed, but didn't move out of Remus's arms.
"Moony, you can let go of her now, you know." Lily stated through a giggle, and the pair separated.
The game continued for at least an hour, added with extra drinks and many shots of Firewhisky, each was verging on serious drunkenness.
"Falling down water." Hermione stated, looking at their drinks. "That's what this is. Falling down water."
"I agree. Does a funny thing to your head…makes you see turtles…" Lily giggled.
Hermione looked at her in horror "Not the rug munching turtles! And the purple cheese monkeys?"
"And the purple cheese monkeys!" She confirmed.
"At least we don't have to face the lime llamas." Hermione commented between gulps off what appeared to be the last of Remus's Beer.
"I think we ran out of drinks." Sirius stated, tipping his bottle upside down.
"I think we ran out of money." James said, looking at the empty money bags.
"Awwwww…" Hermione stroked the bottle of vodka fizz lovingly. "My baby. I love you."
Remus frowned. "What about me?" He asked, pulling the bottle out of her hands and downing what was left..
"I love you too." She said playfully, and leaned across to press her lips to his quickly. He pulled her out of her chair and into his lap, pulling her down to kiss her more intimately, his hands sliding under her shirt.
"I think… I think…" Lily paused between kissing James and finishing her drink. "You know, I dunno what I think!" And James growled before pulling her head back to his.
"Sirius says we stop and go to the kitchens to get some stuff off the house-elves… like wine…" The others stopped and nodded, trying to stand up, and wobbling a little as they made their way out of the pub.
Lily stumbled down the step, and James lowered her to the floor as she began to laugh. He helped her up, nearly falling himself, and the group somehow managed to make their way back to the school.
"Shhh… we must be quiet like little mouses!" Sirius advised. Hermione giggled as Remus somehow fell onto his knees, and sat on the floor next to him, both laughing.
"No, no, Shhh…" Remus said to her, helping her up. They stumbled towards the kitchens and managed to coax the house Elf's out of a fair few bottles of wine.
They sat in the common room drinking and laughing for no particular reason, but it suddenly became less amusing when Lily threw up after being helped to the bathroom by Hermione who promptly followed suit. The last thing she saw was Remus hanging half over the sink before she collapsed.
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I am not promoting drinking, but hey, its fun. RnR peeps