Hello hello, my darlings!

I've been trying to write this chapter pretty much since I posted the last one, but it simply wasn't co-operating. I've slowly been chipping away at it when inspiration strikes, and now I can finally close the doc (it's been open for weeks).

This chapter is rather long, so I'm sorry for that, there's also a great deal of it in Peter's POV. The only person who doesn't have a POV in this chapter actually is Sirius. I really hope you all like this, and I am shell shocked by the fact that there's almost 600 reviews on this story. I never thought I'd get anywhere near that number of reviews on anything. Just thank you.

Please leave a review and let me know what you think ;)

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Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, and only the story line and any OC's belong to me.

This chapter is for Henny and Jules, thank you both for being constant lights in my life xxx

Previously…

The girl stood up, her warm brown eyes twinkling away and she smiled gratefully at Hermione before running to catch up to a group of girls that was heading the same way.

"Are you okay?" Draco whispered in her ear, his slender fingers moving to hold onto Hermione's upper arm.

Hermione tipped her mouth to his ear and said, still slightly wigged out, "I think I just met my Mother."

The loud purr of an engine on the street beside them snapped Hermione out of her daze, and she found her gaze falling on Sirius. The raven haired boy was a few feet in front of her, and he was staring at the motorcycle that was slowly driving past them-Hermione glanced to her left, saw that the rider's entire head was covered with their black helmet, and that the visor was down.

The rider glanced out at the street in front of them on their right, and saw that there were no oncoming cars, and easily slid out of the line of traffic in front of them, speeding off into the distance.

"I think I just came a little," Sirius murmured and Hermione snorted loudly in response. Sirius was ridiculous. She gave it a day tops before he was hounding the Muggleborns for information on motorcycles, how he could obtain one, and how to use it. Lily would probably be the first to suffer the barrage of questions bound to spring forth from him.

"Well, what now? Where do we go?" James asked loud enough so that they could all hear, and instinctively they all moved in closer in order to discuss things better.

"F-Follow the others?" Peter suggested, pointing at all of the teenagers that were walking along the pavement on their right-the Marauders were facing out onto the street at the moment. The other teenagers all looked a little older, and Hermione had half a mind to transfigure all their features to add a few years onto them, but with their costumes she didn't think it necessary.

Hermione gnawed on her bottom lip in as she contemplated Peter's suggestion, running through all of the different scenarios and how this could play out. They had come out to have fun, she just wasn't sure it was the best idea to go to a massive party. She glanced around at her companions, saw that they were all patiently waiting on her. Hermione thought about it for a moment more and then shrugged. Fuck it.

"Let's go," Hermione said whilst nodding, lacing her fingers through Remus's. Answering cheers and bright smiles ensued immediately, and Sirius and James smoothly led the charge, throwing their arms around each other's shoulders, whilst Peter and Draco took the middle-both talking about the various costumes that they saw-and Hermione snuggled into her wizard's side.

Thankfully they didn't have to walk too far before they turned off the main road and followed everyone into a nice neighbourhood, closer to the outskirts of London really-around Southend and Brentwood from what she could see. Though she could be wrong. There was a distant hum of music that got louder and louder with every step.

It really did have some nice townhouses, with nice, neat brickwork, well kept front yards, not to mention that the sense of community was in the air. How a party was being held in a place like this she didn't know, but most of the house's windows were also dark, so perhaps they were all at the party themselves.

At the end of the road was a vast house, with music powerfully pouring out of all of the open windows and front door-which was wide open and an sea of people were moving through it every moment.

Hermione stared at the house before her, the booming music was a touch harsher on her heightened hearing than she had expected, and she wondered how it was for the others. She took a sweeping glance at all of them, but they all seemed unaffected. Remus also seemed to be doing just fine, but she squeezed his hand nonetheless. Even in the darkness his eyes shone as they moved to meet hers; they were alight with awe, and she merely smiled and happily shook her head.

Even though the air outside was crisp, as soon as they got inside, warmth spread across Hermione's skin instantly-some of her curls became damp with sweat and clung to her nape.

Hermione stood on her tiptoes, trying to see better, but all she could see was the wall of people moving in front of her. There was a closed door a few feet in front of the front door, to the left was a flight of stairs that were packed with people standing or sitting, most of them surrounded by thick smoke. Hermione could taste it from here, and she scrunched up her nose. Where's the liquor?

A corridor veered off to the right, and Hermione tightened her grip on Remus's hand before tugging him after her.

Flashing lights. Yellow. Green. Blue. Purple. Red. Pink. It was magical how the lights danced across the thrumming, tightly packed bodies.

She saw lots of bottles, and some pints being shared about, she also caught sight of some of the hard stuff. She was sure they'd be able to find some drinks somehow.

Part of her-the animalistic part-wanted nothing more than to flee. There were too many people, it was deafening, and on top of it all the air itself was sticky and hot.

The other part, a bigger part, wanted nothing more than to just dive in and let go. To not worry about anything for once.

Hermione inhaled deeply, and peered over her shoulder at Remus before pulling him into the crowd with her. His eyes snapped wide open, and he looked slightly uncertain.

Hermione grinned crookedly, letting go of his hand and linking her hands behind his neck, pressing herself up against him, and then she let the music move her. Remus's eyes only widened further as her hips swayed and as she started grinding on him, but to his credit, it didn't take him too long before his hands were on her arse and he was trying to move with her.

Hermione glanced to her right to find the others, saw James getting pulled down into a kiss by some random girl, and could only shake her head. Let them enjoy themselves, they deserve it, Hermione thought before she swivelled back to face her wizard, and she snaked her fingers into his short hair before leaning up and claiming his mouth.

James watched as Hermione and Remus went straight for the crowd, and he swallowed thickly. He could do this, he'd just need to find a girl that looked nice and he could go from there. It was a brilliant plan.

James stepped forward in an effort to execute said plan, when a petite, brown haired girl bumped into him.

What she was dressed as, he had no idea, all he knew was that it was short and tight. He'd thought Hermione's had been bad. The girl's dark brown hair was in two high pigtails, and she narrowed her eyes at him for a moment.

The girl then reached up and pushed his mask up, and a lazy smile grew on her face as she did. "You're cute," she said airily, reaching up to grab either side of his face with her small hands and short, thick fingers. Before he could process what was happening, her lips were on his, and her tongue was in his mouth.

Fuck. Where do I put my hands? Where? Is there a right position, or somewhere that's universally acceptable. Shit. Why were hands invented? Useless pieces of meat.

He didn't get a chance to figure it out since she pulled back sharply, the same lazy smile still printed on her face. The girl let out a soft giggle, wobbly stepping to the side and patting his cheek.

"My first kiss," James mumbled to himself as she sauntered away, slight horror painted his features as the last few moments sunk in. He'd just been forcefully kissed, it felt a little like he'd been violated. With a shudder, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

It felt strange to kiss someone that smelt and tasted like alcohol, not consenting to said kiss, and then not being sure if she did either since she had stumbled sideways as she turned to leave. He hadn't kissed anyone prior to this...interaction, so he didn't have a point of reference to what it was like to kiss a sober person, but he definitely didn't know how to feel about it. It just didn't feel right.

James glanced around him, and he noticed that Sirius was already being hounded by females, Peter and Draco had moved off to the side and were gesturing into the crowd. James was about to join them, when he heard a loud shout and his name. He angled his head back at Sirius, who was watching him expectantly and beckoning him to come. Sirius tucked his shoulder length hair behind his ears, and grinned when one of the girls grabbed onto his arm.

His first kiss may not have been anything like what he would have wanted, but he was here to enjoy himself. So enjoy himself he would. Maybe he'd find a girl to talk to-if one could talk in such a place-and have a proper kiss, that both parties had agreed to. He nodded his head, that sounded like a good plan, better than the first.

With that in mind-and a watchful eye for any other inebriated females-he strode towards Sirius intending on doing just that.

It was all so loud, so very, very loud. He suddenly felt terribly small, and part of him wanted to shift to get out of here. To sneak away whilst everyone else was preoccupied.

He shook his head, no, he was here to have a good time and to be with his friends. Speaking of my friends, where are they? Peter thought as he properly looked around him. A boy bumped into him-which startled Peter, and he was grateful for how loud it was in that moment, since he let out a soft squeak upon impact. The tall boy glanced over his shoulder long enough to say something, or mouth something, Peter wasn't sure what it was, but it looked an awful lot like sorry, mate. So he simply smiled in reply.

Gathering his wits, he wiped his hands down the front of his costume. Remus and Hermione were snogging and dancing-which didn't surprise him in the least. His mocha brown eyes, peppered with a dash of cinnamon coloured flecks slowly panned to the right, and he spotted Sirius chatting up two birds, and James was shaking his head-as if trying to rid himself of some inner turmoil-as he strode towards Sirius. Peter also noted that his mask was gone. Weird. He had it a second ago.

Peter's brow puckered. Hermione, Remus, Sirius, James. Where was Draco? Surely he'd gone off to mingle as well, though perhaps he hadn't since Marlene isn't here. Maybe he went to go find a drink. Or a girl was hitting on him already, and he was trying to steer her away. Peter was so lost in his own thoughts and theories, that when a deep voice spoke loudly close to his right ear-in order for him to hear them over the blasting bass of the...what were they called, dammit, um, speakers!-he flinched severely.

"You want to go find something to drink?"

Peter's gaze swung to see who was talking to him, and his eyes widened as he took in the dark, unruly locks, grey eyes and familiar face of one of his best mates. Why was Draco still here?

Peter noticed that Draco's eyebrow was cocked as he patiently waited for an answer, and Peter rushed to say, "yea!" Nodding earnestly.

Draco angled his head back at the crowd, narrowing his eyes. There were a few moments that lapsed with no movement on the Potter's part, and then like lightning, a crooked grin lit up his face.

Draco turned back to Peter and leaned in, speaking loud enough so that Peter could hear him-though it took all of Peter's concentration, "I spotted our guy, follow me!"

The urge to escape hadn't left yet, nor had the urge to make himself smaller, more inconspicuous, less noticeable. Which is why he began to chew on his bottom lip, his hand falling to his pocket where his wand was stashed, and he slid his hand inside, if only to feel the comfort of the short and slightly curved piece of wood.

Peter merely nodded, withdrew his hand from his pocket, and hugged his arms to his sides as he followed closely behind Draco-who was parting the crowd with what looked like elegant ease. Perhaps it's because Draco was so attractive, everyone wanted to look at him. Draco's focus however, didn't waver, not even when a redhead tried to plant herself firmly in the road and attempted poorly to get Draco's attention.

Draco glanced down at her, snorted, and then pushed her out of the way with the length of his devil's trident. The corners of Peter's lips twitched upwards at that, and he didn't feel as uncomfortable for a moment. Not only had Draco managed to keep the stupid trident from the time they left Hogwarts, he'd just used it to push a girl away; which sent a clear message that he definitely didn't want to touch her.

The lights flashed red as Draco started them back on his path, and Peter couldn't help but think that Draco did look demonic in the light-a little like the beasts and monsters his Father used to tell him about when he was younger to make sure he behaved.

They finally emerged on the other side of the crowd, and Draco stopped in front of a long table, with a dude pouring a clear liquid out of one of the larger bottles-it caught the light as it fell through the air into the plastic cups, and Peter found himself mesmerized.

His tongue darted out his mouth to wet his dry lips, and whilst Draco leaned across the table and spoke to the dude-who frankly looked a bit scary with all the tattoos that lined his left arm and the fact that fake blood was covering his face-he glanced around him, and saw Hermione and Remus emerge from the crowd in the distance, from the far left side of the room.

Peter was about to wave them over, when a voice in his ear said, "don't." Peter saw that it was Draco out of his peripherals, and he also spotted the vague outline of his clenched jaw. Peter scrunched up his nose and understanding dawned on him as he saw Remus and Hermione laugh and duck down a dark corridor.

They're probably going to snog, and do...other stuff, Peter mused, but the thought was gone as quickly as it had come, since Draco tapped his shoulder with the side of the blue plastic cup.

Peter nodded in gratitude since it was easier than trying to shout his thanks, and accepted the cup. He took a whiff-his lip puckered, his nose scrunched up as the strong taste made its way through his sensory system.

He couldn't imagine that it tasted any good, if that's how it smelled.

Peter took a small breath, and then raised the cup to his lips, closing his eyes as he tilted the cup up and the clear liquid ran into his mouth and then slid down his throat. It burned. It scorched a path inside of him as it travelled through his system, but it wasn't as bad as the Firewhisky that Sirius kept on hand. It didn't taste nearly as horrible as it smelt either.

Peter opened his eyes, taking another sip of the drink as he met Draco's gaze over the rim of the cup-that had blurred in its proximity to his face.

Draco looked completely at ease. The next few minutes languidly passed as Draco downed the rest of his drink, whereas Peter was only halfway done his.

As Draco turned back to the guy to get more liquor, a girl purposefully bumped into him, eyes wide, lips pouting as she leaned forward and showed off her scantily clad breasts.

"I'm so sorry!" Peter heard her say clearly, she was obviously pissed already, or unnaturally loud. His face twisted in annoyance. "I reckon I should get you a drink as an apology!"

Draco coldly gave her a once over, his lips pursed, "I reckon you should go away."

Peter almost choked on his drink, but managed to take a deep breath and he turned to his right and saw a girl looking worriedly at the one Draco had just rejected.

Draco's eyes moved to see where Peter was looking, and it was understanding struck him violently. He blinked a few times before he mouthed, "go for it."

Peter tried to swallow, but his mouth suddenly felt too dry. Go talk to her? Peter pondered, no way. She's way too pretty.

The girl was a few feet shorter than Peter, with bright, sparkly red shoes, her brown hair was parted down the middle and tied into two ponytails-her hair itself looked as if it had been curled-and a sky blue dress worn over a short sleeved white blouse.

She had a small but attractive shaped mouth that was currently pursed in worry, bright red lipstick painted across it. Dark brown eyes-or at least that's what it looked like in the light, though, everything is a touch darker in here, and she had a cute round face.

Apparently his brain hadn't gotten the memo, and his feet began to move of their own accord. He was no longer in his body, it was if his mouth was no longer his to control. Before he knew it, he was right beside the girl and he said (loud enough that it caught her attention, and that she could hear), "do you want to dance?"

The girl looked startled for a second, eyes growing exponentially wider by the second, her cheeks dusted red, "I-I have to stay with my friend-"

"Gosh Elizabeth, just dance with him already. I'm fine," her friend said dismissively, waving Elizabeth away as she recommenced her lustful glances at Draco and trying to get some sort of reaction.

Peter shared a quick look with Draco, who rolled his eyes and subtlety waved him away. Translation, he can handle the crazy girl.

Peter quickly put down his cup, and then wiped his slightly clammy hands on his pants before taking her small hand in his.

It didn't feel real as he led her onto the dance floor. Confidence was bursting, oozing and pouring out of him.

It didn't feel real when she pushed back his mask as they danced.

It didn't feel real as she batted her long eyelashes at him, and smiled easily.

It didn't feel real when she slanted her lips across his, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing herself against him. He hugged her close to him, as they slowed down to a gentle sway.

It didn't feel real when she dragged him off the dance floor to the sidelines, to a couch. Pushing him onto it, and then hiking her skirt up as she climbed into his lap, one leg on either side of him.

It didn't feel real as he saw stars, and snogged a lovely girl.

It didn't feel real, surely this was James or Sirius's thing. Maybe even Draco's. Never him. He wasn't the guy that girls snogged heavily on a couch, at some rich Muggle kid's party.

It didn't feel real, but oh did it feel so good.

Good. I'm glad he's enjoying himself, Draco grinned proudly as he watched the girl surge forward and plant her lips on Peter's.

The moment was ruined however when he heard the grating voice of the girl-Elizabeth's- friend droning on as she tried to shove her voluminous breast as close to his face as she could. He'd been dutifully ignoring her, and you would have thought that she'd get the picture and leave.

Draco merely glanced down at her with a cruel sneer.

She let out a soft peep, and then a large, seductive-he assumed that's what she was trying to do-grin spread across her face. Oh. She's one of those types.

Figuring that the only way out of this was to make his presence scarce, he asked the dude for another drink, and did just that.

Holding his drink slightly above his head to avoid knocking it into anyone, he decided to brave the crowd once more.

The girl called out for him, and tried to follow him through the thick crowd, but the blaring music eventually drowned out her voice as he got farther away.

Draco emerged on the other side of the room, and found an empty space not too far from the door. He sagged against against the wall, one arm lazily rested on top of his trident as he leaned it against him, the other holding the drink that he was slowly nursing.

"You alone?" A deep, robust voice asked on his left, and Draco flinched lightly. The itch to grab his wand and leave flared up momentarily, but then he peered at the source of the sound and relaxed. It was just a an friendly Muggle, but a Muggle nonetheless. Sudden noises and movements still set him on edge, even after all these years.

The Muggle wasn't dressed up, or it didn't look like it. He was wearing some close fit black trousers, black italian leather-Draco could always tell-dress shoes, and a white button down shirt with the top two buttons undone. Now what does he want?

"Or?" The guy said slowly, thick, bushy brown eyebrows disappearing into the messy mocha brown curls on his head. Bright blue eyes were staring at him in interest.

"I'm with my friends, but they've...all gone off somewhere," Draco said, and then realised how pathetic that sounded, so he added on, "I kind of wanted a moment alone."

"Ah. Well I came alone, hoping to find a cute guy or two...but that has been failing miserably," the guy shrugged cavalierly.

A guy or two...the thought rolled around in his head, trying to find a place to put itself. Trying to fit in, to click, and thus make sense. It took Draco a few seconds longer than it should have, shamefully long.

When Draco met the other guy's eyes again, he saw the amusement dancing in them.

"Don't worry pretty boy. I can tell you don't play for my team," the guy laughed. Draco found himself moving closer, if only to hear him better.

"Then...if you don't mind me asking, why are are you over here?" Draco asked, but it wasn't meant in a nasty or rude way, more like curious and perplexed way.

It must have shown on Draco's face, since the guy only said, "you looked like better company than the rest of these sorry sods."

For the first time since coming to the party, Draco found himself laughing. A pure, hearty laugh.

"I'm Draco," Draco said with a grin, holding his trident in the crook of his elbow as he held out his hand.

The guy took it with a warm smile, and firmly pumped it twice, "I'm Jackson."

It may not have been how he envisioned his night going, but Jackson was funny and good company. Time flew by, and before he knew it he spotted Hermione and Remus emerging from the crowd-both looking mussed and irritatingly happy with themselves.

Jackson followed Draco's line of sight, "she the girl you fancy? Who's that bloke with her?"

Draco laughed, shaking his head. Fuck, if Jackson only had any idea about the history Hermione and he had. "Nah. That's my sister, and her boyfriend, he's also one of my best mates.

Jackson raised an eyebrow, "am I allowed to say that he's fucking fit, and that if your sister and him ever break up...I'd definitely be his rebound."

"What makes you think he wouldn't break it off? That makes it sound a little like he'll be the one that gets dumped...or maybe just like you'd wanna take him for a spin."

"I didn't even mean that, but now that you mention it...yea, I can see that. She's fucking devastating mate, she looks like a storm, like she would rip you to shreds if you piss her off," Jackson cocked an eyebrow.

"If that isn't the truth, I don't know what is," Draco chuckled dryly.

"I would have sex and cuddle him so hard though, just y'know, to clarify," Jackson smirked.

"I didn't have any doubts," Draco smiled. Internally, however, his mind was already drifting away as he watched Hermione get sandwiched between Remus and Sirius. A storm, huh. That she is. That she is.

Remus didn't know how many drinks he had, but his head was spinning. He also didn't know how drinking affected Moony, but the wolf currently seemed to be completely silent, dormant, sleeping.

The flashing lights began to dance and everything except for Hermione and Sirius blurred out of focus.

How the witch ended up between the both of them, with both wizards grinding on her, he would never know.

Hermione had one hand reaching behind her head and grasped onto his nape-her fingers threaded through the short hair there, and the other was thrown over Sirius's shoulder.

Everything else from there was a blur of motion, sounds, and smells.

In the future when he tried to think about what happened after that, everything was hazy, as if a layer of film was covering it from view. Some parts were clearer than others. Grabbing Peter, supporting James's drunken arse, Sirius's rambunctious laughter as he raised the flask he had tucked into the inside pocket of his jacket whilst he toasted the stars. Hermione's soothing voice and vanilla kisses. Draco's snark as he practically carried all of James's weight on his own-he had stopped to say goodbye to some bloke whose face was way too smudged, and if Remus ever saw him again, he wouldn't recognize him at all.

What he did remember was what happened when they got back to the Castle.

How they got back, he wasn't entirely sure. He did know there was a lot of walking involved, and he could have sworn they just waltzed in through the front doors, into the Entrance Hall and past the Great Hall. He couldn't be sure though.

Frank woke up as they all tumbled into their dorm noisily. How they didn't get caught on their way there is a miracle in itself. He groggily asked them how their night went, and Sirius declared that it was amazing, and bloody brilliant, mate. Frank smiled broadly and said sleepily, "maybe next time I'll come...and we can bring the others, like Alice and Lily."

Remus doesn't recall if anyone said anything after that, only that James passed out cold as soon as his body hit his bed, and he mumbled Lily's name in his sleep.

Remus crawled into bed, and Hermione immediately followed suit, settling herself under the sheets with him. He fell asleep that night with Hermione in his arms, warm and exhausted.

He wasn't asleep for long before he was jolted awake by loud chatter. Hermione roused beside him, throwing the Invisibility Cloak that she had held onto on, and her warmth left him in a flurry of flustered motion.

Everyone else may not have been able to hear her soft footsteps as she crept out, but he did.

He peeked his head through the curtains, blinking blearily as a warm yellow light caught his eye. It was radiating from a black oil lamp, and Remus's eyes travelled upwards to see its owner. McGonagall.

Wait. Did she know they snuck out? If she did then she would have waited until the morning, and then publicly scolded them at breakfast. In the classy way that only she could.

The voices sounded distressed, what the fuck was going on?

He raised a hand to rub the sleep and exhaustion out of his eyes, trying to lean on the curtain, and immediately falling sideways through the soft fabric barrier; his arms flailing out to grab onto something, anything. Remus's fingers closed around the cotton curtains.

A sharp ripping sound ensued, and next he knew, he was lying on the cold ground holding his head, bits of his curtain strewn across him.

McGonagall made a noise-one whose meaning he couldn't discern-and her cold, slender and slightly wrinkled hands were on his arm as she bent down beside him.

"What happened?" Remus mumbled, grimacing as he sat up.

His vision finally cleared, and he noticed that he was much closer to McGonagall than he originally thought. Her features were twisted into severe lines of concern.

"I'm afraid to say Mister Lupin...there's been an incident at the Ministry."

"An incident?" Remus asked in confusion, the gears in his head turning far slower than usual, as if they were moving through thick sludge.

"I need to take you lot to St. Mungo's."