Our Endless Numbered Days
Chapter 4-The Charming Side of Drunk
Dylan's basement had been the hang out place for Matt and Josie's friends for as long as she could remember. When they were little, the whole gang used to play pretend in the basement; Josie was always a princess, Matt her knight in shining armor coming to rescue her from the villains and dragons, played by their friends. Those were the days, she thought. Those were the days before she was screwed up, before she was flawed and broken and empty inside. Those were the days when right and wrong were as clear as black and white; the days when everything seemed perfect, simple, and understandable.
Things had changed so much since then. Friends had come and gone. Josie had grown up, gone to boarding school, lost her innocence, and was in a constant search for something fulfilling. She didn't even know most of the people here anymore. The children she had grown up with were strangers to her now, having spent most of her time away from London, but even those familiar faces were few and far between; just Matt, Dylan, and Dylan's sister, Annie. Everyone else in the room was unfamiliar. Josie had never really noticed it before, as Lisa, Donna, and Mary had always served as her buffer.
"Josie, love, everything alright?" Matt whispered into her ear. They were sitting on the black leather couch that was shoved in the corner. The rest of the gang was sitting on the white shag carpet that covered the ground, playing truth or dare, spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven, or some other completely inane game. Music was playing softly in the background, an old record playing the MASH theme song—Suicide is Painless—and for an absurd second Josie wondered what the hell she was doing here. "Josie?" Matt questioned again.
"Yeah?" She replied breathlessly.
"You okay? You're off in your own little world."
"I'm fine."
"You don't seem like it. Does this have something to do with what you said before? About there being a threat made on your family?" Josie shook her head.
"Why the fuck would you think that?" Matt sighed angrily.
"I don't know, perhaps it's 'cause you've been sitting here sulking all night and I can't for the life of me figure out why? Did I do something Josie? Because I've been wracking my brain all night wondering what I could've done to make you this cold." Josie's face softened at Matt's rant.
"It's not you Matt," she murmured. "It's never you."
"Then what's wrong?" Matt questioned exasperatedly, his voice rising.
"I can't tell you."
"Why the hell not?" Matt all but yelled. Josie didn't answer. All the talking in the room stopped as everyone on the floor turned to look at Matt and Josie. Matt scoffed. "I don't know why I was expecting you to tell me anything. You never do." Matt's weight on the couch shifted as he stood up and walked away. Suicide is Painless was still playing in the background; Josie would have given anything to shut the damn song off. Instead, she downed the rest of her beer—her third? Fourth? Of the night—and finally faced everyone sitting on the floor. A lot of the girls in the group had begun to whisper amongst themselves and the guys were looking anywhere but at her, like that somehow proved that they weren't eavesdropping and hadn't just heard her fight with Matt.
"Dylan?" She croaked and grimaced at how hoarse and unused her voice sounded.
"Yeah?" The brown haired boy said, his gaze still firmly fixed on the wall next to her. Josie cleared her throat.
"Do you have anything stronger?" The boy nodded.
"It's uh, upstairs. I'll just go and get it, then." As soon as Dylan moved, the talking began again full force. Someone changed the record and the dulcet tones of ABBA were now what faded into the background. Sinking back into the couch, Josie wondered what Sirius Black was doing.
"Oh Mattie, don't be mad at me," Josie pleaded, her words slightly slurred as the car came to a halt once more outside number ten Downing Street. "I didn't mean it. I'll tell you what you want to know, I really will!" Matt's face remained as cold as stone.
"Whatever, Josie, as long as you get out of the car when you're finished."
"Matt, why are you so mean to me? You're shupposed to be my best friend. Best friends aren't mean to one another."
"Josie I love you, I really do, but right now, you need to get out of the car and sober up." Matt sounded exhausted and for a moment he rested his head on his hands, which were still placed firmly on the steering wheel. "You're shitfaced," he murmured, but Josie didn't hear.
"Fine, if you won't be nice to me than I won't tell you the secret about Sirish Black."
"Who the hell is Sirius Black?"
"Siriush Black," Josie whispered loudly, "is a witch!"
"A witch?" Matt asked her puzzled. "You know what, it doesn't matter. You're making no sense because you're drunk off your ass."
"Fine," Josie huffed. She reached to her left and struggled with the door latch, finally managing to open it and stumble out onto the pavement, struggling to walk. Matt sighed and got out of the car.
"Here, let me help." He placed a hand on her arm to help guide, but Josie tore her arm away from him.
"I'll be fine. Walking is trixshy," she informed him, holding her index finger in front of her face, "but I can do it."
"Whatever, Jose. I'm outta here." Matt turned on his heel and clambered back into the car.
"Mattie, don't go," Josie whimpered, but Matt either ignored her or didn't hear her, because the car started and was gone the next moment. Josie, groaning, began to slowly climb the few stairs that led up to the door. Fumbling with the key that was in her back pocket, it took her a full five minutes to open the door. The thought occurred to her that maybe Matt was right—she had had too much, and that thought was immediately followed by a wave of nausea which stopped her in her tracks. The urge was so strong that all Josie could do was fall to the floor and hope that lying down would make the desire to vomit go away. Not looking where she laid down, she bumped into a table, sending a vase filled with flowers toppling towards the floor. With a crash, glass and water went flying everywhere. Josie paid it no mind, still laying down, among the shards of glass on the floor. One sharp piece pierced her arm and a small amount of blood began to pool on her skin.
Fortunately, the crash had woken two people in the house. And even luckier, for Josie, those two people were not Mr. and Mrs. Flanders. Mrs. Pierce, upon hearing the shattering of glass knew exactly what to expect when she got out of her bed and put on her slippers and bathrobe. She had been doing this for quite a while—and was used to this occurrence and annoyance in the middle of the night. Sirius on the other hand, jolted awake at the sound. He reached for his wand and, not even pausing to put on a shirt, ran out the door to inspect.
Mrs. Pierce reached the scene first and sighed, seeing Josie all but asleep on the floor amongst the mess she made.
"Oh child, when are you going to stop making extra work for me?"
"Mmmm," Josie responded. Slowly, Mrs. Pierce leaned down and took hold of Josie's hands, trying to pick her up off the floor. But being as old as she was, Mrs. Pierce could hardly lift Josie. Sirius arrived on the scene a moment and sighed with relief seeing that it was just Josie and not Death Eaters.
"Merlin, what the hell did she do?" He questioned, causing Mrs. Pierce to jump slightly.
"I didn't see you there, Mr. Black." Sirius shrugged.
"S'okay. I just got here. What happened?"
"I'm assuming this one knocked the vase over when coming in. As for why she's on the floor, well, that's pretty obvious if you ask me. She reeks of alcohol; probably couldn't walk on her own anymore at this point."
"Here, let me," Sirius said, waving his wand. "Reparo." Immediately, the vase reconstructed itself, water, flowers and all, and sat itself back on the tiny table in the foyer. Then, with a swish and flick, "Wingardium Leviosa."
"Oh god, I think I'm gonna be sick," Josie murmured as her body floated into the air.
"No, you won't," Sirius cautioned.
"S'not like I can help it," Josie groaned. Sirius ignored her, moving towards the stairs. Josie's body floated along after him and Mrs. Pierce followed behind him. "God, this is like one really bad trip."
"What?" Sirius questioned, unfamiliar with her slang.
"Nevermind, I—"Josie stopped midsentence, gagging.
"Okay, you focus on not barfing all over the place. I'll worry about your strange, Muggle phrases later." They arrived at Josie's room and, opening the door, Sirius levitated Josie to her bed. Finally still, Josie sighed.
"That's better," she murmured, her nausea subsiding slightly. Sirius turned to Mrs. Pierce.
"Does this happen often?" Mrs. Pierce nodded.
"Not so much lately. I was hoping things might change this summer, however it seems to be restarting old, unhealthy habits already."
"You can go to bed. I'll keep an eye on her, make sure she doesn't choke on her own vomit or something," Sirius said. Mrs. Pierce nodded and left, leaving Sirius alone in the room with a mostly asleep Josie.
"I did something bad," Josie whispered.
"Yeah, I'm sure your liver hates you right now. The rest of your body is gonna hate you in the morning." Josie groaned at the thought.
"No, not that. I told Mattie about you. I wasn't shupposed to. Daddy said not to." Sirius shrugged.
"It's not a big deal if the kid knows I exist."
"No, I told him about you," Josie stressed. "I told him you were a witch." Sirius snorted.
"I'm not a witch, I'm a wizard. And you're so drunk, no one is gonna take you seriously. No harm done. You should get some rest."
"I'm sorry," Josie said, tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I didn't mean to. Don't hate me."
"I'm not going to hate you," Sirius replied, used to the drunken mood swings of intoxicated people. Back at school, when James would get absolutely smashed after Lily rejected him more cruelly and heartlessly than the time before, he would go from being crazy hyper and excited, to destructive, to wallowing hopelessly in his own, delusional misery. Sirius was glad that Lily finally accepted, that things had worked out, and he'd never have to listen to another "she secretly loves me, she just hasn't realized it yet, when is she going to realize it, why does she hate me, I love her, doesn't she know that?" rant again in his life.
"You don't know that. You don't know me. I'm a horrible person. You're better off if you hate me." Sirius shrugged.
"You're right, I don't know you, so I'm going to withhold all judgment, including hatred until I do. Now c'mon, get some rest. You'll feel better if you do." Josie seemed to finally listen to Sirius, relaxing a bit and snuggling into the bed. She rolled over onto her arm, which had been cut earlier and hissed.
"Owie. It hurts."
"What does?" Josie rolled back over and, sitting up slightly, presented Sirius with her arm. The cut wasn't deep, but it was certainly present. In the dim light of the room, Sirius could make out a sliver of glass in the wound.
"Merlin," he muttered. "Accio glass." The bloody sliver flew out from the cut and landed in his hand.
"Ow, that hurt," Josie murmured, her eyes fixed on Sirius, slightly unfocused. Sirius was silent for a second, his face contemplative, as if he was wondering what he should do next.
"Episkey," he said, making his decision. The cut disappeared. "Just so you know, this is the only time I'm doing this. Next time you get yourself so drunk you can't walk and manage to hurt yourself, you're on your own."
"S'okay," Josie whispered, now sitting up and inspecting her healed arm. "I managed nefore bow…I'm still really drunk…" She burst into giggles. Sirius allowed himself a small smile.
"Yes, you are which is why you should sleep it off." Josie nodded.
"You're the boss." More giggling ensued and Sirius rolled his eyes. "You're really pretty, ya know?" Josie remarked.
"Er, thank you?" Sirius responded, his eyebrows knit in confusion as to the appropriate reply to that statement.
"You're welcome." Josie was too drunk to pick up on his confusion. She lay back down, yawned and closed her eyes. "G'night." Sleep came quickly to the drunk girl, but not to Sirius. No longer in the mood to sleep, he pulled a chair that was in the room closer to Josie's bed. He watched her sleep, his mind wandering from thoughts of his placement at number ten Downing Street, the friends whose lives had already been lost, Lily and James, Peter and Remus. When his thoughts were finally spent, and he could no longer put together a coherent sentence in his mind, Sirius Black closed his eyes and went to sleep, still sitting in the chair in Josephine Flanders' room.
A/N: School is over! I've only got 2 weeks of papers, packing, and partying left until I start summer!
Anyways, thanks for all the support I've been getting on this story!
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