A/N- W00t. I am so proud that I am still going here. I must say, 54 chapters is muy impressive. So, keep the reviews coming, cuz I just love seeing an inbox full of them. And on with the chappie!
"The Astronomy Tower? Oh Albus!" Professor McGonagall said, sounding half-scandalized, half-pleased, "I hardly think it's appropriate, as role models for the students, and…" She trailed off as the Headmaster put a finger to her lips to silence her. He had always thought the Gryffindor Head of House put a little too much emphasis on rules. She was nowhere near as bad as Professor Snape, but once in a while, she could afford to loosen up a bit.
Sherbet lemons seemed to do just that, and what Professor Dumbledore wanted at the moment was a satisfactorily loose Minerva McGonagall (as well as several more sherbet lemons). So Dumbledore simply had to convince her to join him for a leisurely hour in the Astronomy Tower. Besides, maybe that would deter other students from using the room as the love nest it had earned its fame as.
"Well, as a role model for students, Minerva, I think we could set a good example by using the Astronomy Tower for its intended purpose of viewing the heavens," he said seriously, but McGonagall was sure that she saw him wink at her underneath his half-moon spectacles. She was unable to stop herself from blushing at the twinkle in his eye.
Just as she was about to allow herself to get carried away and follow Dumbledore out of the Great Hall, a familiar, yet most unusually revealed, figure caught her eye from across the hall. "Oh my goodness, is that Sirius Black in his undergarments?" she asked incredulously, looking to Dumbledore to make sure that she wasn't hallucinating.
Dumbledore looked over calmly. Upon seeing the dancing figure in the red silk boxers, he said, "Yes, Minerva, I believe it is. And unless my eyes fail me, which they have yet to do, that is Remus Lupin accompanying him in the navy blue boxers. Hmmm. Perhaps we should put a stop to this before we leave the room?"
Now, though, Professor McGonagall seemed to want to skirt her duty. "Well, yes," she agreed, "But if you attempt to stop them, it's probably only going to turn into more trouble. And I do think we should set an example by erm, viewing the heavens, I think you said?" Shaking his head at her inability to be subtle, Dumbledore laughed.
"I'll just be a moment, Professor," he said, and with that he rushed off across the hall to Sirius and Lupin. Oblivious to the approaching Professor Dumbledore, Sirius and Lupin continued to dance shamelessly. By the time Professor Dumbledore managed to get all the way across the hall to them, a crowd of considerable size had gathered around the two old Marauders.
"Excuse me, pardon me," Dumbledore murmured, slipping through a hole between a group of excited-looking third and fourth year girls until he was right in front of Sirius and Remus. It took a moment for them to notice the Headmaster standing right in front of them, but after a moment both wore identical looks of shock, which didn't much make up for their lack of other clothing.
Lupin flushed with embarrassment at their being discovered dancing in their boxers by probably the single most important wizard ever, but Sirius took it in stride. "Professor, care to dance?" he asked over the music, boogying over to Dumbledore, and offering him a hand. Dumbledore brushed it aside, looking amused.
"Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. Somehow, I am not as surprised as I should be," he said, giving them time to stop their energetic dancing before he continued talking, "Would you care to explain yourselves?"
Sirius nodded breathlessly once he saw that Lupin clearly wasn't going to do the talking. "We were just feeling the music, Dumbledore. And it was so damn hot in here, and my wand was gone so we couldn't conjure up some sprinklers, so I suggested we strip, and well, here we are!" he said, thinking this to be sufficient explanation.
"And Remus, you as a Professor at Hogwarts, allowed this to occur, and saw fit to take part in it yourself?" Dumbledore asked, trying not to let his amusement show through. Typically, laughing at this kind of thing made it harder to control, as Dumbledore had learned well from when these two pranksters had been at school.
Lupin, having a low tolerance for alcohol as well as not having had it for awhile, was not quite prepared to answer any question, no less one of this nature from Dumbledore. "Er…I'm going to have to agree with Sirius about the feeling the music," he said, managing to keep a slur out of his words, but still not fooling anyone into thinking that he was sober.
"Well then," said Professor Dumbledore seriously, but he was smiling as he said it, "Let me say, Sirius and Remus, that as entertaining as it may be, this sort of behavior is really not suitable for the Great Hall. Especially not since you are supposed to be adults, and as such acting as models for the students here at Hogwarts."
"Well we are, Dumbledore," Sirius said, gesturing to the crowd that was still watching them intently, "We're demonstrating the proper to kick back and party!"
"So I surmised," Dumbledore laughed good-naturedly, "But I am afraid I must ask you to leave the Great Hall. You are welcome to continue this, for lack of better words, show, elsewhere in the castle. It is just that, I am sorry to say, boxers are inappropriate attire for such a large and public area. I'm sure, though, that you will find that the castle provides excellently for such things in other places."
Lupin nodded, smirking a little as he picked up his clothes to leave the Great Hall. Sirius grinned widely as he did the same. "Good advice, Headmaster, good advice," he said, winking at his old teacher before following Lupin out of the Great Hall, happily aware of the hundreds of eyes on them as they left the room, most of them awestruck teenage girls.
"Where to, mate?" Sirius asked when they had gotten a few feet from the Great Hall and realized that they had no destination. Lupin smiled evilly, a look that was unmistakably interpreted as a brilliant plan. "Let's go hang out in the Astronomy Tower!" he exclaimed, very pleased with his idea.
Sirius was very pleased with it too. Immediately, he grabbed Lupin's hand and started pulling him towards the staircase that would lead them to the tall, roomy tower. "Oooh!" exclaimed Peeves, who had been hanging around the stairs just waiting for an opportunity to sing loudly and be generally as annoying as possible.
"Peevsie, my man!" Sirius greeted the poltergeist, unfazed by his presence, unlike most of the student body of Hogwarts would have been. Peeves laughed raucously when he saw the Sirius was still clutching Remmie's hand in his attempt to get him to the Astronomy Tower fast.
"Oooh!" he exclaimed again, this time following up with a song, "Black and Lupin sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love, then comes s-" That was all he managed to get out before Sirius went to draw his wand from his pocket. Peeves looked nervous for a moment, but went right back to his obnoxious singing when he realized that Sirius was, of course, wandless for the night.
"So should I go announce your coming up in the Hogwart's Lurve Shack?" Peeves asked, over-exaggerating the words as they poured unstoppably from his mouth, "Cuz you know, people might want to clear out if you two are doing the nasty, right-o?"
Lupin sniggered at this figure of speech, but was just about tired of Peeves' butting in. "Is that the Bloody Baron?" he asked, pointing to a transparent figure that conveniently enough happened to be passing by not too far away, the only one Peeves tended to listen to. "Ah shoot, ruin my fun," Peeves said, heading in the other direction from the Slytherin ghost, "Well, play nice, kiddies!"
"Ah, Peeves," Sirius said, never one to miss an opportunity to reminisce about his golden years at Hogwarts. He was having a blast now too, of course, but nothing would ever top him, James, Remus, and Peter, in top form as the greatest pranksters known to the wizarding world. Nothing could beat the Marauders. "Well, the Astronomy Tower waits, Remmie!"
"Then let's not keep it waiting," Lupin answered, and they continued their run up the stairs. Finally, out of breath and almost panting, Sirius and Lupin reached the top of the stairs and emerged in front of the famed Astronomy Tower. "To another memorable night!" Sirius said drunkenly, raising an imaginary toast. Lupin echoed his words, and then pushed back the curtain that obscured the otherwise open archway to the tower.
"AHHH!" Katie Bell shrieked from the hay-covered floor, where she and Oliver lay, robes half-hanging off and (up until that point) looking very relaxed and romanced. Oliver got up from the floor and tried to make his hair lay flat before turning to face the two intruders. "What the…?" he trailed off, catching sight of his old Professor and Harry's godfather, breathless and in only their boxers, blue with white hearts for the former and red silk for the latter.
"Oh my…" Katie also seemed to lose her voice after uttering the first two words that came to her mind when she got up and found herself face to face with Sirius and Lupin, "Are we… interrupting something?"
There was a moment of tense silence, and then Sirius and Lupin burst into laughter. "We were just dancing!" Sirius tried to explain, but Oliver and Katie looked doubtful. "No, seriously!" Lupin added, seeing their looks of doubt and managing to respond amid laughs, "And Dumbledore kicked us out of the Great Hall because we were in our boxers because we were too hot, so we came up here to continue the party!"
"But the real question is, what were you two doing, hmm?" Sirius asked, making one of his famous subject changes and causing the couple before them to blush profusely. Katie tried to say something, but again, no words would come out. "Quidditch," Oliver said seriously, causing Sirius and Lupin to break into fresh gales of laughter. "Aw, so cute, innit Remmie?" Sirius couldn't resist commenting.
"You two can totally continue on one side, and we'll stick to the other," Lupin suggested agreeably. Katie looked a little anxious about this, but Oliver couldn't resist. "Sounds like a plan," he said, smiling at the two men before leading Katie across the room and sitting down against a bale of hay that could serve as a bench to stargazers and putting his arm around her.
"I'm waiting, Sirius Black," Lupin said jokingly, putting his arm around his best friend in a perfect imitation of Oliver and Katie, "After all that champagne, the least you can do is-" But what the least Sirius could do was, he didn't find out. Before Lupin could get the words out, Sirius clapped a hand over Remus' mouth and listened hard.
"That laugh, I know I know that laugh," he contemplated as he heard a high-pitched giggle from down the hall, followed by a low, cold voice. Lupin listened hard in the direction Sirius was pointing. "Cissa and Lucius, it's gotta be," he said triumphantly, remembering dimly having heard that same high-pitched giggle earlier in the night, when he had had no choice but to be less than five feet away from his 'soul-mate.'
"Oh man, a Malfoy affair in the Astronomy Tower," Sirius said gleefully, "Just like old times. What say we freak 'em out, pull a Truth or Dare?" Lupin laughed, unable to refuse his best friend's idea. It was all for the good of freaking out the Malfoys, right?
When they could hear the steps of Cissa and Lucius drawing closer, Lupin and Sirius embraced and, for the second time that night, started to snog. As usual, they had to ham it up almost immediately, with moving hands and little moans. Fred and George would have been proud to see their display of the magnificent effects of their prank.
Unfortunately, it was Cissa and Lucius who were going to be the recipients of the prank's effects, not the Weasley twins. "What the hell?" Lucius snapped, looking from Cissa to Lupin and Sirius and back, horrified. Sirius and Lupin broke apart at the exclamation, very pleased with themselves for getting a reaction out of the cold blonde.
"Oh, hey Lucius, Cissa. Nice night, innit?" Lupin said good-naturedly. Cissa arched an eyebrow. "Well it was, until…" she trailed off, hoping her husband would finish the thought for her. He could surely express it much more effectively than she. "Until we walked in here ready to have a good time and came across you two in your boxers, snogging up a storm and ruining the atmosphere!" Lucius supplied, shaking his long blonde locks in disgust.
Sirius grinned, infuriating Mr. Malfoy even more. "It's what we do best," he said proudly, leaving it to the Malfoys to determine if he meant ruining the atmosphere or snogging. After seven years at Hogwarts with the Marauders, Lucius decided it was most likely the latter that he had meant.
"Yeah, thanks for that Dare earlier, Lucius, you turned us on to a new trend," Lupin added, knowing it would make Lucius even angrier if he knew that the Dare had not affected them at all, or worse, affected them positively. "Not a problem," he responded through gritted teeth.
"Ugh, and to think I kissed him," Cissa commented, looking at Lupin with distaste, "After where that tongue's been, Lupin, you're going to have a job getting anyone to snog you again." Lupin didn't seem at all disgruntled by her comment, but whether it was because of the alcohol or because he simply didn't care what she said was anyone's guess.
"Ah, don't worry Cissa, I'll do it," Sirius said, giving Lupin another quick snog for good measure. Lupin, though surprised by this ad lib, did not look displeased. In fact, he decided that he really ought to drink champagne more often, because he found he was really enjoying himself in whatever he did.
"I'll never think of the Astronomy Tower in the same way again," Lucius said with the same horrified expression he had worn upon first entering. "Same here," Cissa echoed, sounding very discontented that this was the case.
"But you know, Lucius," she said in a low, lust-filled voice, "I don't think we should let them ruin our evening. It's just Black and Lupin, after all. Let them go at it like dogs on the far side of the room, we can be mature lovers right here." Luckily for them, both Sirius and Lupin managed to hold their sniggers at Cissa's attempt to seduce her husband. But they didn't have such good self-control when it worked.
"Quite right, Cissy," Lucius said, causing the two Marauders to struggle with their breathing when they heard Mrs. Malfoy's nickname from Lucius' mouth. He pointed to the far corner of the Astronomy Tower, opposite the corner Oliver and Katie were now occupying, and said with his usual sneer, "We'll be over there."
"Have a ball," Sirius said pleasantly, giving Cissa a big wink. "Same to you," she said to her cousin, looking pointedly from him to Lupin and smirking. "Oh I will," Sirius promised her, wishing he had his wand to conjure up a ball to prove his point. Unfortunately, he had to content himself with another wink.
With one last flip of his hair, Lucius glared at Sirius and Lupin and, putting his arm around his wife's waist, led her over to the corner he had just pointed out. Judging by the way his hand slid down his wife's back and a bit lower, he was all but over the snogging episode he had just witnessed.
"Well that was fun," Lupin said, getting his balance back after almost staggering to the ground. "I say we do it again, freak out anyone else who decides to come to this shindig," Sirius suggested, a sparkle of mischief in his eyes, "This could be our fabulous prank of the night, yeah? The official welcoming committee to the Astronomy Tower, all boxers and snogging. Whaddya say, Moony my man?"
"I say," Lupin said, pausing to listen to the sound of footsteps that was once again approaching, "that that sounds like a fabulous plan, Padfoot. And while we're at it, let's see if anyone has any more champagne!"
Sirius nodded his complete agreement. "Well, I'm waiting," he said, opening his arms to embrace Lupin. Sniggering, Lupin returned the hug and started the snogging. "Mmm, yeah," Sirius feigned a moan, running his hands through Lupin's hair.
"What the hell? Sirius Black and Professor Lupin," the cool voice of Draco Malfoy drawled, as he and Pansy Parkinson entered the room. "Yes, what the hell? Draco Malfoy," Sirius echoed, breaking apart from Lupin and catching sight of Pansy's definitely indecent, barely there minidress and the look of horror on Draco's face that seemed so familiar to that of Lucius.
"Yes, what the hell, Draco Malfoy?" a voice so similar to the cool voice of the young Slytherin came from a corner where hay seemed to be flying up as if of its own accord, "What the hell are you doing up in the Astronomy Tower, at this hour, with the Parkinson girl?" Lucius Malfoy stood up from where he had just been otherwise occupied on the floor and glared at his son.
"Father?" Draco asked incredulously, the look of horror on his face turning from simply shock at seeing his Professor and the godfather of his worst enemy engaged in a breathless snog to revulsion at the thought of his parents intruding on his area, and worse, the thought of his parents doing the dirty.
"Well Draco, I'm waiting," Lucius spoke quietly, which was scarier that if he had started yelling, "Because I do not enjoy being interrupted. Well? What the hell are you doing?"
Draco, not so quick on his feet when it was his father he was dealing with, was taking his time to think of answer. "I think," Sirius supplied when it was clear that Draco couldn't think of anything to say, "I think, Lucius, that he was planning on doing the same thing you and my dear cousin Cissa are doing. That whole 'mature lovers' thing was what you said, right Cissa?"
Draco was only more irritated by this when he felt his cheeks twinge pink as Sirius said it. "Is this true, Draco?" Cissa asked, prompting him to answer before Lucius forced him to. Draco nodded, then, emboldened by this admittance, added, "Yeah, Pansy and I are perfectly old enough to enjoy full rights to the Astronomy Tower ourselves. And we're going to. You can't stop us."
Lucius' face turned almost crimson, a startling contrast against his normal pale skin. For a moment, everyone involved thought he was going to explode. Sirius was just waiting for the yelling to begin so he could laugh. But they were all shocked, when the first words out of Lucius' mouth were, "Congratulations, Draco! I always knew my brilliant son would be just like his father. You go for it, Draco. I'm so proud! Just like your mother and me, always at it, always defiant."
He paused for breath, giving Sirius opportunity to burst into laughter, leaving Lupin to try to stop him from choking. Draco, meanwhile, was smiling tentatively, torn between happiness that he didn't seem to be in trouble, and again, disgust at the thought of his parents doing it.
"Yes, Draco, I am extremely proud," Lucius continued after Sirius had quieted down slightly, "However. If I ever catch you up here when I am up here again, you will regret the day you were born." Raising his eyebrows questioningly, Draco couldn't help asking, "Why? What are you going to do? Make me snog Black? Because that would just be wrong, you know."
Lucius shook his head regally. "Oh no," he said, the pleasure he took in what he was about to say clearly audible in his voice, "Your mother and I will make you stay and watch us in action." And with that, he pulled Cissa into a kiss and they fell back on the floor, giving Draco a show that he would be hard-pressed to forget.
"I'm out of here," Draco said, his voice a mixture of forced calm and horror as he grabbed Pansy's hand and dashed for the door, much to the drunken delight of Lupin and Sirius.
