Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It owns me

Chapter 4: Party time

If you're alone and you need a friend
Someone to make you forget your problems
Just come along baby
Take my hand
I'll be your lover tonight
-Vengaboys

"Okay mates," Sirius jittered excitedly on the night of August 25th, "It is quarter to nine and people will probably be fashionably late for the nine o'clock start. Let's get this place partied up!"

Remus raised his eyebrows at his ridiculously cute, party-happy friend before turning to look at the expressions on his equally bemused friends' faces. James was rolling his eyes, apparently at Sirius' slaughter of the English language, and trying to fix his hair which seemed even more messed up than usual (he probably used some product). Peter clearly hadn't been listening too carefully; he was fidgeting with the collar of his shirt and glancing around.

"This shouldn't be too hard," Peter said, trying to cover up his nervousness with nonchalant observations. "This rocky beach is pretty damn beautiful."

"Yeah, I like the trees; they make a nice border and give privacy if necessary," Sirius piped in, mischief in his eyes. The marauders all laughed. They knew, only too well, exactly what type of privacy Sirius was hinting at. He continued, "Anyways, we need balloons! And a table for the food! And a keg. And streamers. I'm thinking Red and Gold?"

"Well, yeah," Peter nodded. "But we only have 10 minutes!"

"I told you we should've started at 6 like we planned, but no," Remus lectured, " James had to fix his hair for half an hour and then Sirius insisted on eating before the party in case we were too busy… which, by the way, I don't quite understand; eating is an important part of the whole party experience!"

"Well, actually," James started with a cough, "Mum said that she'd look the other way while we used magic to set up. We're close enough to the residence for it not to be detected as underage wizardry."

Remus coughed and gave the bespectacled boy a pointed look.

"What?" James asked, putting on an innocent expression that would've fooled any non marauder.

"That's illegal," Remus stated bluntly.

"So is running around as animagus with a werewolf every month!" Sirius barked with humour.

"It's all about helping a friend," James continued, putting his arms around Remus' and Peter's shoulders.

"Now," said Sirius, "Let's show this beach what a Marauder party looks like!"

Several minutes later the sandless beach looked over the top amazing. Half a dozen tables were lined up parallel to the water and several chairs were placed in a circle around an already blazing bonfire. Twinkling lights floated above their heads to illuminate the surroundings. On the opposite end of the area, near the tree line, was a table covered with cakes, crisps, biscuits and a wide variety of sliced veggies. Next to the table sat a keg of butterbeer as well as coolers filled with pop and juice. There was also a bar supplied with firewhiskey and other harder liquors.

"Upper classmen only!" Remus had said in reference to the bar, thinking about how he didn't want any drunken soon-to-be-5th years running around. Sirius nodded and put a jinx on the harder liquor so that only those above 16 years of age would be able to drink without breaking out in awful hives. Under Remus' instructions he also put a sign on the bar warning the younger guests of the consequences of underage drinking.

"The guests will be arriving any time now," James said, checking his watch, "we should go take our positions near the fireplaces to greet them upon their arrivals." Peter, Remus and Sirius nodded and followed James up the lighted path to the house, "Wormtail and I will cover the library entrance. Prongs and Moony, you can wait for people in the living room."

"What's goin' on, Moony?" Sirius asked, as he and Remus made their way towards the living room.

"I'm with you, waiting for guests for Peter's party." Remus laughed at the obvious question.

"Peter's party; it's alliteration!" Sirius exclaimed. Remus nodded and smiled, wishing he had something clever to say. Since when was it nerve wracking to talk with Sirius? It was something he'd done nearly every day for the past five years. Why did he suddenly find himself intimidated? Remus was searching for something witty to say when flames erupted in the fireplace. Josh Mason, the captain and seeker for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team appeared, followed by two of his chasers. Sirius jumped up to high five them all and give detailed directions on how to follow the path down to the beach.

"Sirius," Remus commented after the Ravenclaws left, "I think they can find their way to the beach without help. It is just down the path, right next to the ocean. Besides, they're Ravenclaws, full of wit and all."

"I guess I never really thought Ravenclaws were all they were built up to be," Sirius smirked. "I mean, the three smartest guys in the school are in Gryffindor!"

"I'm not sure you guys are the smartest," Remus laughed. Sirius looked pensive for a moment then shook his dark hair.

"Well, you're definitely the smartest, and you're in Gryffindor!"

Remus tried to contradict his friend but was cut off by flame erupting once more from the fireplace. Soon the boys didn't have much time to talk as more and more people started showing up.

***

"How many people did you invite to this party?" Peter asked James during a lull after ten seventh years had left the library to make their way down to the beach, "do all these people even know who I am?"

"Of course they do Wormtail," James assured his short friend, "you're a marauder. Everybody knows us!" Peter smiled weakly and began to respond when flames erupted once again in the fireplace, but James was no longer paying attention. Lily Evans had just appeared in the fireplace, followed shortly by Maia Regarne, Allie Korets and Kate Brown.

"Hey Lily," James said with a cocky smile towards the redhead.

"Where's the party, Potter?" Lily responded in an annoyed tone. James just continued to smile his cocky smile and take in her presence. Lily's red hair fell in soft waves to just below her collarbone. Her forest green camisole accented her emerald green eyes. There was no doubt that the 16 year old looked absolutely stunning. The other girls, in Peter's opinion at any rate, looked just as nice in their muggle style clothing. Maia, a spunky, friendly girl, with short brown hair accented strongly with chunks of red and blonde, wore a strapless black shirt with a huge peace sign, a denim mini skirt and black combat boots. Between Maia and Lily, and standing almost a head shorter, was Remus' girlfriend, Allie. Her straight dark brown hair was held out of her face with two barrettes precisely the same colour as her sundress. On Lily's other side stood Kate whose dark hair was in a low ponytail. She looked sporty in blue and green Quidditch tank top and baggy guy shorts.

"Potter," Lily snapped again, "where can we go to escape your presence?"

"Aw, Evans," James retorted, "be nice to your host." But he pointed them towards the door that lead out to the path.

"Where's Remus?" Allie asked quietly. Her friends rolled their eyes at her shyness. They knew that, although she was shy around people she wasn't good friends with, once you really got to know her she never shut up.

"In the room down the hall," Peter answered kindly, "the one full of books with people leaving it." Allie smiled her appreciation and hurried out to greet her boyfriend.

"C'mon guys," Lily said, "I'm sick of being in this house."

"Aw, don't be like that, Evans," Maia said in a good imitation of James. The girls and Peter laughed. James looked a bit taken aback but quickly covered it up by returning once more to his cocky grin. The three Gryffindor 6th years followed Allie out of the room, Kate and Maia with a wave at the boys, Lily with a severely disgruntled expression on her face.

"Lily loves me," James said, mostly to himself, as he watched the girls leave the room.

"Yeah," Peter chuckled, "just keep telling yourself that, Prongs." Just then, two girls that Peter had never talked to before, but had seen several times in the Gryffindor common room, appeared in the fireplace. The first one, Kristi Alith, was tall and lanky with freckles curly beach blonde hair. However, it was the second girl who real caught Peter's eye.

Heather White had definitely grown up some in the two months since she'd completed her fourth year at Hogwarts. She had rosy cheeks and layered sandy blonde hair with wispy bangs which fell right above her baby blue eyes. The short girl wore a fitted cerulean vest over a white short sleeved button down and embroidered dark wash jeans.

"Hey," she said softly, biting her lower lip and looking at Peter, "I'm Heather."

"Yeah, I know," he answered stupidly, "I'm Peter."

"Yeah, I know." The short blonde giggled. James looked back and forth between his friend and the fifth year. He was quite unused to Peter talking to girls.

"So, where's the party?" Kristi asked with an exasperated expression towards her friend.

"Here," Peter said, "I'll show you. Follow me." He led the two girls out of the room leaving a slightly jaded James to greet the rest of the party guests.

***

"Remus?" Allie called as she wandered into the library.

"Hey, love," Remus responded, turning away from his conversation with Sirius and walking over to give his girlfriend a hug. Allie smiled at him and planted a light kiss on his lips, which he returned. Sirius watched them with a strange look on his face.

"Hi Allie!" he interrupted the couple in a slightly too loud voice, "Do you need directions to the party?"

"No, thanks. I just came by to say hello to Remus. James pointed me in the right direction."

"I see," Sirius answered, "well, you don't want to miss any of the party. Bye!"

"I'll see you down there in a bit?" she asked Remus, giving Sirius a strange look. Remus nodded and gave her another kiss before she left to catch up with her friends.

"Sirius," Remus started annoyed, "what was that?"

"What was what?"

"You basically just kicked Allie out!" Sirius shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"I just didn't want her to get lost, y'know. This house can be pretty big."

"Seriously, Sirius?"

"Seriously." The two stared at each other for a moment. Remus, not knowing how to respond, just shook his head.

"Moony? Padfoot?" James had entered the room, breaking up the awkward staring contest, "I'm fairly certain that most of the guests have arrived. I'll have Tinkey point the way to any latecomers." They nodded and followed James out the door and down the path to join the party.

***

This had to be the best birthday Peter had ever had. The stony beach was full of teenaged witches and wizards dancing, talking, eating and just in general having a good time. Remus was sitting with Allie looking out over the sea. James was busy talking to several admiring girls, though he kept stealing glances at Lily who was busy talking to Maia, Kate and her 6th year Hufflepuff boyfriend, Caleb Hannings near the bar where Sirius stood serving shots and chatting up boys and girls alike. Peter laughed and turned his attention back to the girl he was dancing with.

"Thanks for inviting me to you party, Peter," Heather said with a smile, "I'm really having a good time."

"Well," Peter answered without thinking, "I didn't really have any say in the guest list. That was all James and Sirius."

"Oh…" the girl's face fell and Peter realized his mistake.

"But I'm really glad they invited you." Heather and Peter smiled at each other and continued to dance. Sirius smiled as he watched his friend with the Gryffindor 5th year. Peter had never had much luck with girls but he'd grown a couple inches over the summer, causing him to be less chubby. He turned his eyes to Remus, who was still talking quietly with Allie near the water. Sirius tore his eyes away from the couple, forcing his attention to Kate, Maia, Lily and Caleb.

"Good party, Sirius," Caleb said.

"Of course it's good," Sirius said with a smile, "I'm here." They all laughed, even Lily.

"James is staring at you, Lils," Maia told her friend.

"Of course he is, the prat," Lily retorted, scrunching her freckled nose up in distaste.

"You know," Kate said, "he really isn't all that bad. He's quite possibly the most eligible bachelor at this party!" Caleb and Sirius both coughed. Kate continued, "Well, Caleb is taken. By me."

"And Sirius, you're gay," Maia piped in, "So don't complain about not having any girls. Fair many hearts were broken when you came out last year."

"Well, James can be eligible for somebody else," Lily said, disgust in her voice.

"And yet," Kate teased, "he has eyes only for you." Lily shot her a glowering look.

"Oh, Lils," Maia laughed, "lighten up. It's a party. Here, have some butterbeer." Lily took it, still glowering at her friends.

"I like this song," Kate said, changing the topic as a Catchlove song began to play.

"Would you like to dance, love?" Caleb asked.

"I'd love to," Kate answered and pulled her boyfriend off to the dancing area.

"Us few, us single few," Sirius said with a laugh as he watched the couple leave, "I never thought the day would come when Peter and some Hufflepuff bloke would be off dancing while I stood at the bar and served drinks."

"You know," Maia answered, "you always have me. And all the other girls who would just love to straighten you up."

"As you wish, babe," Sirius laughed, pulling her into a one-armed hug, "but I don't know how long I could stay straight for." Lily sighed and continued to drink her butterbeer silently.

"Lily," Maia turned to her friend, "any guy here would love to dance with you. Go have fun. Make James jealous."

"Fine, I will," she answered, "but not to make Potter jealous, never to make Potter jealous." And with that she set her butterbeer down on a table and walked towards a group of 7th year boys.

"Well, I guess it's just you and me now," Sirius said with a wink. Maia rolled her eyes.

"Actually," she said, as a tall, unfamiliar boy walked by, "he's cute. So I'll ditch you now. Sorry." She ran off, leaving Sirius alone. His eyes wandered once more to the whispering couple on the shore.

"Excuse me," he said to the crowd of people at the bar as he grabbed a bottle of firewhiskey and went to stand closer to Remus and Allie. He was almost close enough to make out what they were saying when Josh Mason approached Allie and Remus from the other side.

"Excuse me, Remus," he asked politely, tapping him on the shoulder, "would you mind if I borrowed Allie for one dance?"

"If she doesn't mind, I don't," Remus answered. Allie smiled at him, kissed his cheek and followed Josh to the dancing area. Sirius took a drink of firewhiskey straight from the bottle and went to sit down by his friend.

"Your girl left you, I see," Sirius said, handing Remus the bottle.

"Yeah, well she's spent the entire night so far with me. She's allowed to have some fun as well."

"Time with you isn't fun?" Remus shrugged and took a drink from the bottle. Sirius looked at his friend for a second before continuing, "Well, I think it's fun. Let's play a game."

"What kind of game?" Remus asked apprehensively.

"A drinking game. Shoot, shag or marry. Drinking style."

"How do you play that drinking style?"

"Drink every time you choose." Remus looked at his friend. He'd known him for five years, yet the dark haired Black still managed to surprise him.

"You know, Padfoot, that's not really a game. That's just drinking while playing a game."

"Shut up. You go first."

"Okay," Remus mulled it over for a second, "James, Peter and me." Sirius stared.

Half an hour later Allie was off dancing with her girlfriends, Peter had left to go on a walk with Heather and James was sitting on the side of the dance floor, a butterbeer in his hands, looking severely depressed. Nobody was paying attention to the two drinking marauders. Remus and Sirius had moved off to the side of the clearing, next to the water, and were way past tipsy.

"Okay," Sirius slurred, taking yet another swig of firewhiskey and handing it to Remus, "my turn. Shoot, shag or marry? Allie Korets, Lily Evans or the most dashingly handsome Sirius Black? Wow, I sounded like Prongs right there! Though, I must say, I am rather dashingly handsome."

"Okay. I will marry Allie, because she's my girlfriend. And that's what you do with them. I'd shag Lily… but Prongs would kill me. So that would not be good. So I guess that means I have to shag you."

"Would you want to shag me?" Sirius asked quietly. Remus blushed but didn't answer. Instead he just leaned forward, barely an inch away from his friend. Sirius continued, in a whispering voice, "because I don't know really that I'd wanna shag you. Prongs might not approve."

"Prongs can turn into a deer," Remus whispered back, as he looked into his friends' grey eyes. Their legs brushed against each others as Sirius breath became hot on Remus face.

"Yes, he can. So, are you gonna shag me or what?" Again, Remus didn't answer, but just leaned in even closer towards his friend. Sirius closed the remaining space between them as their lips met. Remus grabbed Sirius' hand, intertwining their fingers. With his free hand, Sirius tugged Remus' shirt closer to his chest. Remus parted his lips, deepening the kiss. Just then a bang sounded from across the clearing. Remus and Sirius jumped apart and looked up, spilling the firewhiskey on the rocks. Somebody had let off a firework which was now bouncing, like a skipping stone, out to sea.

"Bugger," Sirius muttered.

"No," Remus said, standing, "no, that did not just happen." And he set off without another word. Sirius stared at the broken bottle, wishing he could have more to drink.