AN: Hey all, sorry it's been ages. I didn't mean to leave you hanging…
Now, before you start throwing stuff at me, I made you an extra long chappie!
But first, a big THANK YOU goes to all of my reviewers. I live off of those things, let me tell you. And I would especially like to thank KidFlash14, who has given me multiple reviews. SO REVIEW, PLEASE!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and never will. Come on, you should know that by now. However, I took the quotes Sirius says below from Pink Floyd's song Nobody Home and distorted them slightly.
Without further ado, let us proceed!
Remus, usually quite good at Transfiguration, could not, for the life of him, turn his parrot into a quill.
Because he was too busy worrying about Sirius.
After Sirius had gotten his letter and ran off, the Marauders immediately had to go to their classes and Remus was doomed to stay there until lunch. He had not been able to find his friend during lunch due to the fact that he had been talking with Professor Flitwick for half of the period and the other half failing dismally in his attempt to find Sirius in the Gryffindor Common Room or dormitories. Then he had had to go back to classes, and despite James' idea of a "distraction prank" so they could all skip school and look for Sirius, there was never enough time to plan or do it. Transfiguration, his last class of the day, was proving no better than all the others.
Truth be told, Remus was rather anxious.
When McGonagall dismissed the class, she told him to stay behind. A bit uneasy, he waved his friends away and approached his teacher.
"Mr Lupin, it has come to my attention that Sirius has skipped all of his classes as well as Transfiguration. Do you know why and where he is?"
Remus stared at her. "Er… He left the Great Hall during breakfast. I don't know where he went."
"Why did he leave during breakfast?" McGonagall frowned, looking slightly worried.
Remus swallowed. Should he lie? "He, um, he got...upset."
"Upset?" She pursed her lips.
"He got a letter and then he ran away. I haven't seen him since."
McGonagall frowned. "Thank you, Mr Lupin. You may go. If you find him, please tell me."
Even more uneasy now, Remus ran to find his friends. They agreed to look for Sirius and so, without further ado, he set off.
oOo
Sirius looked up at the stars, murmuring their names under his breath, tracing the constellations with his eyes. He always found it peaceful, calming. He leaned his head against a pillar, and when he closed his eyes, stars danced in his vision, breaking the mirrors of darkness with glittering pinpricks of light.
"Sirius?"
Biting his lip, he opened his eyes. Didn't anyone get he just wanted to be alone?
"You skipped all of your classes. What happened?" Remus asked softly.
Sirius shook his head. Despite being a werewolf, Remus wouldn't understand; his parents loved him, furry little problem and all.
Silence enveloped the two, night wrapping around them in a heavy blanket of dusky evening.
Swallowing, Sirius handed Remus the letter. He won't know why I got so worked up over it.
He looked back up at stars, finding his own namesake. It might have been his imagination, but Sirius thought the star glowed a little less brighter.
oOo
"Sirius, you have got to stop smoking."
The teenager, who was currently lounging on his bed, arms folded beneath his head and legs crossed languidly, ignored him. "You want one, Moony?"
"I'd rather keep my lungs intact," Remus said with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, mates! We got the firewhiskey!" James yelled as he burst into the dorm, Peter trailing behind him, both of their arms loaded with the alcohol. His solution to Sirius' despondency was to drink away the problems until they passed out, and the black-haired teenager had readily agreed.
Remus sat up. "Prongs, you're going to get a hangover."
Sirius smirked. "Not if I can help it." Without further ado, he silently summoned a bottle with an elegant twitch of his wand and corked it open, raised one eyebrow daringly, and drowned half of the firewhiskey in one gulp. The cigarette was left in a dangling hand.
"Whoa, Pads, if you keep going at that rate you'll be dead drunk," James replied, looking slightly worried.
"Shut up, mate, and get Moony one; he looks like he's going to kill me," Sirius laughed.
Despite Remus' protests, he ended up with a bottle in his hand, slightly glad that the alcohol took the edge off of things.
"What are you idiots doing now!?"
Sirius laughed again. "Getting drunk, Lils." He had had by far the most drink, with James right behind him, but Sirius could hold his alcohol surprisingly well.
Lily crossed her arms over her chest as Remus looked over to see her standing in the doorway of the dormitory. "Well, stop throwing the bottles against the wall! The whole tower can hear you!"
"Sorry," Remus apologized. After all, he was still on his first bottle. "Prongs wants to start a Quidditch match and Padfoot's getting a bit mad."
"Like hell I am!" Sirius roared, hurling his now-empty firewhiskey across the room, where it hit the wall with a mighty shattering.
"Sirius Orion Black scores!" James yelled, grinning madly. "James Potter coming up with the Quaffle!" He aimed his bottle at the same wall and threw it.
"Don't call me that, you twisted fucker!" his friend nearly screamed, face contorted into fury. James ignored him and threw the enraged Padfoot another bottle.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Remus interrupted, going over to Sirius, who looked, quite literally, out of his mind; a few strands of his black hair were stuck to his forehead, and his grey eyes were wild, like a storm nearing its peak. "Calm down, Pads. You look like a storm ready to blow."
And suddenly he was crossing his arms, pouting. "I don't like thunder."
"I know," Remus soothed. "C'mon, Padfoot, what's wrong?"
"What's wrong is that I have to go back to that fucking hellhole!" Sirius exploded, startling the other sixteen-year-old. "Why is she here?" he asked suddenly.
"Lily? Good question." He turned to the fiery redhead who was staring at the situation with a mixture of exasperation and pity. "Hey, Lily, why are you here?"
"We'll share our drinks!" Sirius called, smirk back in place.
"I told you that you bastards are making a racket! Now quiet down or I'll jinx you into oblivion!" she threatened, pulling out her wand.
James was staring dreamily at her, Peter squeaked something unintelligible, and Remus opened his mouth to reassure her, but Sirius got there first.
"Try me, then!" Remus had no idea how Sirius would defend himself against Lily's jinx in this half-drunken state - no, change that to drunken state - but he didn't offer any advice as he watched Lily aim her wand at him steadily.
"C--"
And suddenly Remus saw Sirius' eyes widen, and his hands shake, and the inebriated teenager curled into himself, crying, "Not Crucio! Anything but that, please!"
Lily stopped, surprised and somewhat worried, lowering her wand cautiously. "I wasn't going to do that! That's an unforgivable spell, Black!"
"Sirius, Sirius," Remus whispered, sitting on the bad and pulling the teenager to him, embracing Padfoot, who was muttering incoherently, no doubt an effect of the alcohol. "Shh, Pads. Who did that to you?"
Despite her worried expression, he thought he saw a knowing smile grace Lily's features.
When Sirius looked up, his grey eyes were blank, and he scrambled backwards, away from Remus' hands. His face was a porcelain mask of indifference, but pale pink enhanced his hollow cheeks like water stains.
"No one."
Remus fixed him with a stare. "Are you lying?" But he could tell Sirius was drifting away.
"Prop up my mortal remains…nowhere to fly to…still nobody home," he muttered, voice soft and rough at the same time, eyes closing.
"Okay," his friend whispered gently, then turned to Lily. "Sorry about the bottles. Sirius is practically dead now so I don't think there'll be any more noise. James looks like he just passed out too." Remus rubbed his eyes. "They'll have a killer hangover tomorrow."
Lily nodded. "It's fine. They never learn." And with that, she left.
Remus collapsed on Sirius' bed and fell asleep.
oOo
The first thing James noticed was his headache.
"Ow ow ow," he whined, draping his arm over his tightly shut eyes; the sun was too bright.
A hoarse whisper came from across the room, and then a clear voice cut through it. No need to be so loud, James thought irritably.
"Here, mate." Someone was handing him something - a goblet. Groaning, James sat up and opened his eyes a crack, drowning whatever was in that goblet. "Hangover potion."
"…Can't remember anything," James mumbled.
"Apparently Sirius holds his alcohol better than you. At least he remembers Lily," Remus teased.
"What? Lily?" Suddenly James was wide awake. She had come?
"Just to inform us that we were making a racket," his friend reported.
"Tell McGonagall I'm out," James said, leaning back against his pillow once again.
"No, you are not," Remus said firmly, pulling James to his feet. "It's the last day of classes before the holidays. Besides, Sirius can't miss another day of school."
"Can we at least sleep through the first classes until lunch?" James asked. "Then go to the rest?"
Remus allowed that, but soon enough, their rest time was over and James woke Sirius, who quickly brushed his hair before following him down to Transfiguration.
oOo
"Potter, Black, wake up!"
James opened his eyes blearily and lifted his head. "Wha?"
Beside him, Sirius groaned. "We were sleeping, professor."
"I'm aware, Black. And what makes you think that falling asleep in my class is correct?"
"I drank like four bottles of firewhiskey last night," Sirius said. "Wait, I dunno. How many did I drink, Rem?"
"Five," Remus corrected with a glare.
"Right, five." He looked back up at McGonagall with a smirk.
"Mr Black, I cannot permit you to come to my class half drunk--"
"But I'm not!" he protested. "I was sleeping off a killer hangover until you kindly interrupted."
That was it for James. He burst out laughing, but that only increased his headache, which somehow increased his laughing. Remus glared at both of them.
"I really need to sleep this off," Sirius muttered to himself out loud and got up from his chair swiftly, walking out the classroom with a "thanks, professor!"
There we go, my friends! Hope you liked it! May I remind you to review? *grins sheepishly*