I don't normally reply to reviewers in the story proper, preferring e-mail, because it makes the part seem deceptively long, but I thought there were a couple things I should address. To make up for this deception, I've actually made this part slightly longer than usual, since it would be especially mean to have most of this part made up of author's notes instead of story.

Which brings me to point one. Chapter Length Right now, when I'm writing the new part, I aim to reach a thousand words before going over it to make minor corrections. Yes, I realize this is short. Mostly because I'm enjoying having these short; it feels like I'm accomplishing more for some reason. Plus, I can post faster with shorter chapters. Longer chapters means that I couldn't post more than once a week. However, when I reach the end of my current planned outline (two "letters" chapters from now) I'll stop and reconsider this position.

Which brings me to point two. Posting Schedule It was the May 24 weekend when all of a sudden I realized that despite the fact the weather didn't seem like it, summer was here. Which means that I have a bunch of other things I'm supposed to be doing/writing. Oops? Don't worry; that doesn't mean I'm abandoning this, just that I'll be writing/posting new parts roughly every four days until some of my other things clear up/get finished.

Which doesn't logically bring me to point three, but it's still a fun way to phrase things. Rating I've posted a note on this in the first chapter for future readers, actually, but I'll repeat it here. I chose the rating for a reason. I will continue to have the occasional character swearing, making references to sex, alcohol and other themes that might be considered more mature. It shouldn't get worse than it was in the previous chapter, though.

Lastly, Why is Lily a bitch? I'm not sure if people are wondering why Sirius keeps on calling her that (the answer is that Sirius is very protective of James and is unfairly rough on her) or whether she's actually coming across as a Grade A Bitch in my work. If it's the latter, I apologize and will try to work on that. It was never my intention to make her come off as a bitch, so I'll try to work harder at making her character more sympathetic in the future. (PS - Any comments you have on this point would be greatly appreciated.)

As always, if you have any questions you want to ask me directly, either sign your review or else send me an e-mail directly. sambucaqueen at hotmail

Chapter Six

Hangovers had different effects on different people. There was Remus, whose werewolf physiology allowed him to process alcohol faster than most humans could, and who therefore never suffered hangovers because he couldn't get drunk enough to do so. There was Peter, who could drink and drink and drink and never get so much as the morning after blahs, much to the disgust of everyone who knew him.

Then there were James and Sirius, who exchanged sleeping habits after they'd had a little too much to drink. James would toss and turn for a couple hours until he was forced to admit defeat. He was always out of the room at the crack of dawn on those days, forced to thud down to the kitchen to see if the house elves' offer of orange juice could do anything to help his violent stomach.

Sirius, on the other hand, passed out and couldn't be woken by the coming of Voldemort himself. The other boys speculated that he drank only so that he could get some sleep from time to time, normally being an incurable insomniac. He could take the Draught of Living Death and only nap for an hour or two, before waking up again, ready to run a marathon, or enter a Quidditch match, or just to generally annoy all others who needed more than an average of two hours sleep a night.

That's how it got to be that early the next morning, when Peter and Remus woke up at their normal time, a tad early for a Sunday morning but nothing too drastic, James was long gone and Sirius was currently trying to burrow a hole into his mattress on the mistaken belief that if he hid his head deep enough, the pain would go away. Or maybe it was just that his head would disappear and take the pain with it.

He hadn't thought the matter through completely. Thinking hurt.

So did noise, which was a pity because Peter and Remus were making an awful lot of it.

"Do you think James is actually going to give up on Evans?" Peter asked nervously, making sure to keep his voice down. A hungover Sirius was not a happy Sirius, and even a happy Sirius made him nervous sometimes.

"I don't know," Remus admitted. "He sounded very upset last night, more so than he ever has before."

"But he can't just give up on her!" Peter exclaimed.

"I have news for you, Wormtail," Sirius grumbled. "He did. Now can we stop talking and let me go back to bashing my brains out in peace?"

"I don't know why you drink so much," Remus said to Sirius, happy for the chance to get away from Peter's obsession on James getting together with Lily. "You know how you're going to feel in the morning."

Sirius poked his head out from under his covers in order to give Remus a dirty glare. "Because I'm an idiot. A daft idiot. There, are you happy? But not as daft or as idiotic as Wormtail here."

"What did I do?" Peter demanded.

"Will you not shut up!"

"Sirius, leave Peter alone," Remus said. "It's hardly his fault you aren't feeling well this morning." Sirius grumbled, but he didn't argue with Remus.

"And Peter?" Peter turned to look at Remus to see what he had to say. "Don't antagonize Sirius. Just leave him alone. You know he's always horrid the morning after."

Peter wasn't as willing to let things go. "But I didn't do anything!" he protested.

"Just let it go," Remus repeated, rubbing his forehead between his eyes, as if the conversation was invoking a headache in him as well. If Sirius had deigned to come up from under the covers (which he'd hid himself under again as soon as people stopped talking directly at him), he would have been oddly gratified to see Remus do that. He was of the firm opinion that misery loved company, at least when he was the misery in question.

"But what are we going to do about James?" Peter asked, not having forgotten about that part of the conversation, either.

"What's there to do?" Sirius asked, the words slightly muffled, but still fairly easy to understand. "Celebrate because he's finally come to his senses? Actually, that sounds like a good idea."

"I think you celebrated a little too hard last night," Remus said, a little sharply.

"And that's why I think I need to celebrate again today," Sirius said. "Hair of the dog. Wait, does that make sense? 'cuz I am a dog, and all that. Or am a dog sometimes. What bites dogs? Other than Moony, but that's just because he doesn't have any humans to snap at. Besides, hair of the werewolf just doesn't sound the same."

"It's not even nine o'clock in the morning!" Remus' sensibilities were shocked.

Sirius flipped up the covers, sitting up. He regretted the sudden movement immediately, slumping against the headboard. "I didn't say I was going to have a drink, just that it would be a great improvement on the way I'm feeling now. Especially since you two insist on going on about a problem that doesn't exist and keep me from sleeping."

"You keep us from sleeping all the time," Peter argued back.

"Do you ever shut up?" Sirius snapped.

"That isn't fair, Sirius," said Peter. "It's my room, too. I'm allowed to talk if you are."

"You're only allowed to talk if you say something sensible."

Before the argument could escalate any further, Remus broke in. He gently said, "If that were a rule, then no one would ever talk in this room. Not Peter, not yourself, Sirius. Not even James or myself."

Sirius folded his arms, grumpily, then changed the subject abruptly. "Is there any water? Where's a house elf when you need one?"

"You know they don't like being seen," Remus reminded him. "And no, there's no water. You'll have to go get some." He didn't offer to fetch some for Sirius, and neither did Peter, though he might have normally, because the shorter boy was still smarting from Sirius' unnecessarily harsh words.

Sirius got up. "I have to piss, anyway," he said crudely, still too hungover. Once he got some water into him and returned to the room, Remus was hoping that he would be feeling better and less snappish. In the meantime, he and Peter would be able to continue their conversation without interruption.

They waited for Sirius to leave before starting up again.

"I don't think there is anything we can do for James," Remus said, referring to Peter's worry over James' declaration the previous night.

"But we have to," Peter insisted. "We can't just let him throw it all away."

"Throw all what away?" Remus made a face. "As much as I hate to agree with Sirius on this point, it's not like Lily ever encouraged James' feelings in any way. Quite the opposite, in fact."

"That doesn't matter," Peter said, waving his hand as if to dismiss an insignificant fact. "What matters is that James has liked her for almost two years now. He can't just suddenly give up, not when he's so close?"

"You think he's close?" Remus asked.

Peter shrugged. "He has to be. Why wouldn't she want to go out with him?"

"She hasn't wanted to go out with him so far, what do you think will make her change her mind."

"I don't know," Peter admitted. "Why don't you ask her."

Remus was taken aback. "Me? You want me to what? Why me?"

"You know her best," Peter explained. "Sirius won't do it, and she won't talk to me. But she likes you."

"She doesn't hate me, but I'm not sure you can say that she likes me," Remus corrected.

"She calls you 'Remus' and you call her 'Lily' which is more than the rest of us can say," Peter said. "She'll listen to you."

"I don't know," Remus said reluctantly.

"I'm not asking you to ask her to go out on a date with James," Peter said. "I just want you to talk with her."

"Why?" Remus asked again. "What do you want me to say? What do you think it will accomplish?"

Peter opened his mouth, then closed it again. It was almost a minute before he answered, but Remus waited patiently for his response. "I don't know. Ask her what's so bad with James."

"You think simply asking her will make her realize she secretly loves him, only hasn't been able to figure it out despite the fact James has asked her probably a million times since fifth year?" Remus liked Peter, thought he was a good friend, but sometimes he couldn't understand the shorter boy. He was so naïve in some ways, so blind when it came to some things, particularly those things that related to James Potter.

"No, but…" Peter didn't finish the sentence, didn't seem to know how to finish the sentence. "Won't you just do it? Please, Remus? So we can figure out what to do next?"

Remus closed his eyes and wondered if he, too, wasn't suffering from the after affects of too much alcohol, or if he really just was that much of a pushover. "I'll do it. I'll talk to Lily."

In the next chapter:

Sirius ran into James after leaving the bathroom.

"Ugh," James said.

"Ugh," Sirius replied.

"I'm never doing that again," James swore.

"Me neither," Sirius vowed.

And they honoured their promise for ever and ever—or at least until the next Friday when Sirius discovered that Salacious Salamander, in part of their never-ending competition with their rivals, Ogden's Old, had come up with a new line of Firewhiskey, one that promised extra burn as it went down your throat—and real fires in your stomach!

The next Saturday, Sirius ran into James after leaving the bathroom.

"Ugh," James said.

"Ugh," Sirius replied.

"I'm never doing that again," James swore.

"Me neither," Sirius vowed.