6
The Lively Portkey:
" Come on," Sirius begged to all of them, " It will be fun".
They were all sitting in the Marauder's massive living rooms, all of them having just gotten off work a few hours ago. Doe was sharing an armchair with Remus, and listening to Sirius try to convince all of us them go with him to the wizard bar downtown.
" I don't know, I'm kind of tired" Lily said said from her comfortable spot against James.
Sirius gave her a knowing look and turned to the rest of them.
" You are all eighteen years old and acting like you are middle aged" he said breathlessly, obviously disapprovingly.
" Don't you want to have fun?" he asked incredulously.
" I do" Peter added quickly.
" See Wormtail wants to go" Sirius said quickly.
Doe sighed, she had spent all of today dueling with two other people and she was exhausted, but it would be fun to get out. She had spent all summer either in her apartment or theirs.
"It might be kind of fun" Remus said to her, thinking along the same lines.
" I'll go" she told Sirius.
" Me too" Remus added,
Sirius looked quickly to where James and Lily sat, " And the happy couple"
" I want to go" James said turning to Lily.
" Well if everyone else is going, I'll go" she said sounding slightly defeated.
" Alright let's go" Sirius said excitedly.
" You are far too excited for this Siri" Doe told him shaking her head as she got up from the chair.
" I have not committed my life to a series of perpetual boring events, I won't do it" Sirius said.
They all got up from their various spots around the room.
" Alright let's go" Sirius said and with a pop he disapparated. Slowly, they all followed him. Appearing on a well lit London street. It was lined with various muggle clubs and bars, all pouring light onto the otherwise dark city street.
In the middle of two of them was a small dark alley, with a door at the end.
" Muggles don't see the door, it's genius. Just like the leaky cauldron" Sirius said walking quickly through alley, with all of them at his heels.
As soon as he opened the door, they were met with a strange sight.
The entire bar was crowded with tons of young witches and wizards. None of them looked like they were anymore than 10 years out of Hogwarts. Doe saw many people she recognized from Hogwarts.
The bar was to their left and to their right was a collection of tables, a small dance floor, and a stage where a group of sweaty looking wizards were playing guitars.
" Isn't it great?" Sirius asked all of them.
" Definitely!" James agreed.
" It's wicked" Peter said looking around the room widely.
It was impressive, even Doe had to admit.
" Where did you find out about this?" Remus asked.
Sirius grinned, " This cute secretary from the Department of Mysteries. Moody had me bring something down there the other day and she told me all about it"
" You would find out about it from a girl" Lily said shaking her head.
Sirius grinned, " Women seem to love to impress me".
Lily and Doe shared a collective eyeroll, much to Sirius amusement.
" I'm going to get us all drinks" Sirius said going over to the bar, while they all sat down at one of the larger circular tables.
" I've got to admit it, " Lily said looking around the room, " Sirius does know how to pick places"
" It's like he's got a radar for this kind of thing" Remus agreed.
She looked around the room. In one of the corners was Amelia Bones standing with Benjy Flitwick. She caught her eye and waved happily.
Doe waved back, she had been one of her closest friends outside of Gryffindor, when she was younger.
" So I found out what the deal with Otto Bagman was" Remus said to her.
Doe turned to him, " Really what was wrong with him?" she asked.
The day before Remus had told her Otto Bagman had gotten into a very loud argument with his brother Ludo in the office that Remus worked in, but no one knew why. The Bagman brothers were extremely close and rarely fought.
" Well apparently," Remus began, " Ludo was offered a position on Puddlemore United, and Otto was quite angry because they had refused him the year before"
" Wow, " Doe said thinking about it, " that's unfortunate. I'm surprised he was so angry about it"
" It was very disappointing, they were always so close" Remus agreed.
Sirius walked back over to the table, conjuring drinks to everyone.
" Five firewhiskeys for the grown ups" Sirius said as everyone but Doe got a drink, " and a butterbeer for the kid" he said placing the butterbeer in front of her with a large grin.
" Har har" Doe said narrowing her eyes at him.
James, Lily, Remus, and Peter shared a collective chuckle.
Ever since the night when she humiliated herself by getting completely inebriated in front of everyone in Gryffindor tower, she avoided firewhiskey as much as possible.
" It's okay that you're a lightweight Meadowes, we love you anyway" Sirius assured her.
" I'm not a lightweight, I just can't drink as much as you" Doe pointed out.
" Care to test that theory?" Sirius asked holding out his firewhiskey.
" Nice try" she said shaking her head and taking a sip of her butterbeer.
" Let's not repeat seventh year, shall we?" Lily said with a large grin.
" Well if it isn't Hogwarts biggest egos and all at one table?" a drawling voice said behind them.
They turned around to see Lucius Malfoy, with Narcissa Black on his arm.
" Maybe our egos are large because we have a lot to be proud of" Sirius said with a slight smile,
" not really something you Slytherins can boast about huh?" James added
Lucius smiled a cold smile and looked directly at James, " Well at least I can say I don't disgrace my pureblood name by dirtying it with a mudblood" he said looking at James and Lily's interlocked hands.
Lily's eyes widened and James lips curled into an angry grimace.
Doe set her jaw together.
" You're right Lucius, it's not who you spend time with that disgraces your name, you do that all on your own with your complete incompetence with anything requiring wand" She snapped.
Lucius furrowed his eyebrows and looked at her, his expression changing into a wide smile,
" You know Dorcas, I would think you would know better than anyone what happens to purebloods who end up with muggles. Or have you already forgotten what happened to your dear old dad?" Lucius asked coldly.
Fury bubbled through her and her hand flew to her pocket where her wand was.
Remus stopped her, putting his hand over her arm.
" That was uncalled for Lucius," Remus said darkly, "you should leave now or I won't stop her next time".
Lucius smiled coldly, " You know it's actually entertaining how proudly you all brandish your tretery. I wonder what will become of you when it's no longer socially acceptable to behave as you do"
" Better be a blood traitor than be like you" Sirius snapped.
" Well you would think so" Narcissa said finally speaking up, " having already disgraced our family's name"
Sirius rolled his eyes, " Wow, Narcissa you're starting to sound more like Aunt Druella everyday"
" Some people actually listen to their parents, not like you would know" Narcissa snapped.
" If you had been smarter you would have followed Andromeda's lead instead of turning into an equally as repulsive creature as Bellatrix" Sirius said with a slight eye roll.
" How dare you talk about Bella like that" Narcissa said harshly, " You'll get yours, Sirius. And so will Andromeda for that matter"
" Come on, Lucius," she said tugging on his arm, " let's go find somewhere with more selective patrons".
He listened to her and they left the bar, leaving their entire group in angry frustration.
" They're the definition of evil" Lily said in frustration.
" That entire family is awful, she is just as bad as Bellatrix now" Doe said angrily.
She turned to Sirius realizing what she had just said, " Sorry, Sirius, I didn't realize-"
He cut her off, " They're awful, I know. They're not my family anymore"
Doe threw him a soft smile. She knew that despite how much he hated his entire family, it couldn't be easy to condemn blood.
" God Lucius is foul" James said, " you know his dad was just as bad" and James launched into a conversation about the time that the Potter's had been invited to a barbeque at the Malfoy's.
Doe sat back only half listening.
" So, are you angry or sad? I can't tell" Remus asked looking at her with concern.
" I don't know, both maybe?" Doe said slightly confused and ran her hand through her hair.
Remus grabbed her hand and held it tightly, " Well either way, you're justified"
" Thank you for stopping me" Doe told him, " I don't even know what I was going to do".
Remus shook his head, " I didn't want you to get hurt".
Dpe reached over and kissed him on the cheek.
He smiled and took another sip of his firewhiskey.
".. Moony, do you remember what Year was it when we went out on the full moon and Prongs almost got bit by a snake?" Sirius asked.
Remus sighed, " That was fifth year".
Doe had almost forgotten that Remus had told James to tell Lily, she was so used to keeping it such a secret. She had reacted exactly as Doe told Remus she would, it didn't bother her in the slightest.
" Yes, before Christmas" James remembered, " and it hurt really bad, the little bastard got me right in the calf….."
They launched into another Marauder story that had even Lily and Doe doubled over in laughter.