Part Two

Sirius grumbled incoherently as light that was much too bright to be considered polite filtered through the curtains. His head was pounding as though a pixie was doing a tap dance on his brain and his stomach was threatening to erupt if he so much as moved, but he rolled onto his face anyway and pulled his pillow over his head, which only encouraged a rolling bout of nausea. He groaned loudly, the sound vibrating in his own head.

"Padfoot, if you don't shut up I'll throw up on you." Remus snapped from the next bed. Sirius lifted his head a little off the mattress to give him a smart arse reply that was bound to get him some nasty hexing later, but his mouth snapped shut quickly as the other boy's voice stirred certain memories from the night before.

"Oh god…" Sirius grumbled, smashing his face back into the bed. Someone on the other side of the dorm decided that chucking a shoe at him would shut him up, but only resulted in him turning an unattractive shade of green when he sat up and demanded, "WHO THREW THAT?", so he scrambled to his feet and dashed to the bathroom to empty his gut into the bath (the nearest thing that wasn't the floor) and forget momentarily about Remus.

"BLACK."

Three hours after the breaking of dawn, Sirius flinched from where he sat on his bed, combing his hair before a hand held mirror he had stolen from his cousin Narcissa when the other boys complained years ago about the amount of time for which hogged the bathroom.

"Dead." Frank stated frankly as he pulled on what he believed to be Alice's favourite jumper.

"What have you done to Moony now?" James asked with as much amusement as one who had just been sick in his sock drawer could muster. Sirius shrugged non committedly, privately panicking that Remus had remembered last night after all and somehow known how Sirius had privately reacted and was about to come back from the bathroom to murder him with a toothbrush. None of the others remembered much about the party and none but Sirius himself remembered James daring Remus and him to kiss – so, naturally, he said nothing of The Unknown and Horrifyingly Embarrassing Incident and went about his morning routine like normal, as though he hadn't gotten an erection over one of his best friends.

At that point, Remus stormed back into the dormitory in his boxers and a white wife beater – something that he always wore to bed and strolled around the dormitory in, so why couldn't Sirius keep his eyes on his face? – brandishing a toothbrush and making a beeline to Sirius' bed with homicidal intent gleaming in his eyes.

"Yes, Moony?" Sirius asked innocently, continuing to comb his hair casually.

"Why in god's name, would you throw up in the bath?" Remus demanded, jabbing Sirius in the chest with the toothbrush and leaving a small blob of paste there.

"I thought it would have been funny," Sirius answered sarcastically, lowering his mirror and comb to cock an eyebrow at Remus, "It was either that, or being violently ill all over the floor. The loo was too far away."

"Use fucking scourgify next time."

"I didn't have my wand." Sirius shrugged, "You do it now, or I could."

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose and breathed slowly and deliberately, before turning away to chuck his toothbrush into the bathroom, probably smearing toothpaste everywhere, before pulling on some crumpled jeans and stomping out of the dormitory, muttering that he would shower in the prefect's bathroom instead.

"Should know better than to come between Lupin and his morning shower by now, Black." Gideon said wisely. Fabian nodded sympathetically before he left with his brother. Sirius pushed himself to his feet to go clean the bath himself and wash the toothpaste from his nipple, where he was starting to experience a peculiar cooling sensation.

"Could have just scourgifyed it." he grumbled.

"How am I supposed to play in this state?" James moaned into his toast miserably. The four Marauders had successfully made it down to breakfast without anyone else emptying their stomachs and were attempting to fill them up again with food. James and Peter were prodding at toast, still a slight shade of green, Sirius had managed half a plate of scrambled eggs, devoid of his usual ravenous appetite as he tried and failed to focus on the fact that Remus was sitting beside him, who was wolfing down – for want of a better word – sausages and bacon, never one to miss out on a meal, cheerful and spritely after his mandatory hot shower and full English breakfast.

"I could charm your broom for you." Remus suggested, taking a generous gulp of pumpkin juice. Sirius raised his eyebrows, not bothering to remind him that such things were illegal and brooms were difficult to manipulate, as the prefect already knew that.

"No amount of cheating can stop me from feeling like I'll throw up my own intestines." James lamented gloomily, "You sure we haven't got any Evanesco Hangover potion?"

"Ran out last month." Sirius said sympathetically, "Blame Wormtail – it's his job to restock."

James glowered sideways at Peter, who didn't notice the death glare, being too engrossed with frowning at his toast and jam. Sirius grimaced; it looked far too much like he was actively trying to stop himself from bringing up chunks.

"Right." James said decidedly, "I'm going down to the pitch. Wish me luck, men."

The others nodded and watched him swaying precariously as he left the Great Hall, others from the Gryffindor team hurrying to catch up to him and clapping him on the back. Sirius watched with pity as his best friend swallowed painfully and solidered on, out of sight.

"Poor git." he said with a grin. Peter balked suddenly and jumped up, hands over his mouth, and hurried from the Hall. Sirius raised his brows, glancing down the table where Gideon, Fabian and Frank were sitting with Alice, all three looking just as worse for wear.

"Guess it's only us who can handle our alcohol." he said proudly. Remus eyed him, pausing in devouring one of his cooked tomatoes.

"No, I'm the only one." Remus corrected, "You defaced the bath, remember?"

"Yeah, well, I get it out of my system early, then I'm mostly fine."

Remus just snorted, turning back to his breakfast.

"Why don't you get hangovers?"

"Benefits of being a werewolf." Remus grinned toothily, pushing his empty plate away and leaning his elbows on the table. Sirius watched his plate disappear and tried to think of something else to say to distract himself from the strange churning sensation in his stomach when he looked at the back of Remus' head.

"Prongs should've just gone to Pomfrey to get some hangover stuff."

"Couldn't have." Remus shrugged, smiling and lifting two fingers in a small salute at Evans and her friends as they passed, being the only Marauder on good terms with the girl. Sirius frowned, about to ask why but didn't have to when the answer was given anyway, "He'll get detention for drinking and he has to come to Hogsmead tomorrow. Sweetie's in the village tomorrow."

"Ah." Sirius smiled – meeting Sweetie was always a good thing. It meant that they could continue business; the Marauders ran a school wide business called Wolf Wares selling this and that, things that students – and sometimes teachers – had trouble purchasing in the village, all in aid for a pair of two way mirrors James had spotted during a sneaky visit down Knockturn Alley that he knew would be invaluable during late night wanderings and pranks. Sweetie was Remus' 'contact' and stocked them up for a minimal fee; it was all very dignified and well put together – except for Sweetie, of course, who had a crush the size of a dragon's left ball on Remus Lupin.

"Ah indeed." Remus smiled, standing up and stretching. Sirius forced himself to not look at his friend's tanned navel in front of his face and got to his feet too.

"Let's go," Sirius grunted, nodding his head towards the doors, "I need a smoke before the match."

They headed outside, wrapping their cloaks around themselves against the still-cool April air and made their way down to the greenhouses, their usual haunt for a cigarette or two. Remus pulled a pack from inside his robes and offered one to Sirius, lighting his own and then leaning his face close to light Sirius' with his cigarette. Sirius averted his eyes downwards, feeling a flush creeping across his face and planned to blame it on the cold wind, but there was no need to. Remus had leant back against the greenhouse wall beside him and was gazing up at the clouds, blowing out a steady stream of smoke.

Sirius took a drag of his own cigarette, telling himself that he wasn't noticing the way the other boy's cheeks hollowed with every intake of smoke. The silence dragged on and on, Remus refusing to meet his eyes, until Sirius suspected that perhaps he remembered more of the party than he was letting on, for a silence that usually would have been companionable to be so uncomfortable between them.

"Remus, I—" Sirius started hesitantly, but Remus dropped his cigarette on the ground and stubbed it out with his shoe, saying that they should get going. Sirius looked at his smile, disconcerted, and nodded, stubbing his own cigarette out and following him towards the pitch.

"Looks like the Prewetts have got their books open again." Sirius chuckled, pointing towards the forest, where a number of students were making bets on the match. "I don't know why they're bothering, Gryffindor are playing Hufflepuff."

"Who cares? Easy money." Remus smirked, giving the twins one of his two fingered salutes as they waved at the two of them as they passed.

The match, in Sirius' opinion, was hilarious. James had dipped and dived around the pitch unsteadily, having to pause in mid-air more than once to clutch at his stomach. Gryffindor had won, obviously, the seeker having caught the snitch quickly to prevent their best chaser from falling off his broom, but that meant they hadn't scored sufficient points to put them ahead of Slytherin for the Cup. The rest of Gryffindor – not to mention McGonagall – was not as amused. The Head of House could be heard later swearing that 'if that idiot Potter costs us the House Cup, I will personally make sure he fails the end of year exams.'

"It wasn't that bad, mate." Sirius assured James as they sat by the fire in the common room that evening as the rest of Gryffindor celebrated the victory, happy to have an excuse for a party, lead or no lead.

"Really?" James asked hopefully.

"No." Peter grimaced, nursing a butterbeer as he watched a group of fifth year girls across the common room.

"You were awful." Remus agreed, "Especially when you tried to pass the quaffle to Andy Spinnet. Hit one of our own beaters right in the ear."

"I'm never drinking again." James moaned.

"Drinking?"

The four boys cringed at the voice and turned, slowly, as one. Lily Evans stood with her hands on her hips, red hair falling over her shoulders, green eyes blazing. She looked magnificent as always – and always did when angry, Sirius observed with amusement and bewilderment – which must have been killing James.

"Ah, my Lily flower." James smiled weakly, a hand automatically reaching up to mess his hair up even more.

"Shut up, Potter." Evans snapped, "So that dreadful performance was because you were drunk?"

"No, he was hungover." Sirius corrected helpfully. James jabbed him in the ribs, making him yelp in a rather unmanly fashion. Evans' eyes narrowed and, seemingly unable to find anything bitchy enough to say, turned and flounced away to join her cronies. James made a sound similar to a sob.

"Don't worry, Prongs." Remus sighed, "There are plenty of other girls here who appreciate your bigheadedness and inability to play Quidditch under the threat of vomit."

And so James stood resolutely and marched off with his jaw set in determination and approached the nearest attractive girl to immediately ask her to Hogsmead the next day. Sirius glanced at Remus, who was watching James and looking thoroughly entertained, and did exactly the same thing. Nothing like an easy fifth year girl to assure a man of his manly manliness.