Chapter 5

He was feeling mellow from an already ample amount of adult beverages. Who knew what "get a drink" meant? Did it mean they were going to get a drink, or did it mean a thousand other things? Though he thought about it, none of the thoughts seemed to make him concerned.

"Sure," he replied.

As they walked together to say goodbye to Hestia and to tell her to pass on their birthday wishes to Bernie, Remus contemplated for a split second what his friends would think of him leaving with Nina. But upon seeing them in the kitchen (Hestia had just fallen on the floor), he knew they were far too intoxicated to care.

As they walked down the lane, Nina asked, "So are we off to the Leaky Cauldron? Or do you know a better place?"

"Perhaps we could visit the Otter's Belly. I think you'll like it."

They chatted merrily all along the way, Nina tripping over her own feet twice, and they mainly talked about all of the characters Nina had met that evening. Remus couldn't help but ask what Algie Radner wanted with her. She reluctantly revealed that he had asked her to get a drink somewhere. This lifted Remus's spirits to a new height.

"So you decided you'd rather go to a pub with me?" he asked her.

"Well, Algie seemed okay," she said, grimacing, "but he's not really my style."

"Good. I had hoped your standards were higher."

"I have exceptionally high standards," she said loftily, but giggled after a second, and tripped yet again. He offered to carry her.

They arrived in the quaint little pub fifteen minutes later. It wasn't too crowded, especially for a Friday night, and Remus and Nina were able to find two stools next to each other at the bar.

Not sure if it was a date or not, and at this point being too drunk to care, Remus risked buying her a drink. She accepted it and thanked him, giving him the feeling that it was indeed a date.

He felt very peaceful, even among the raucous patrons, when he thought of his situation here with Nina.

"I'm not going to lie," she said, and bit her lip, "I've got a good buzz going."

Remus chuckled softly. "Same."

And though it would have been wiser to quit while they were ahead, both Nina and Remus had a few more, so that within half an hour's time, they were laughing as if it were the funniest thing in the world when Nina mentioned that she should have brought Ollivander along. They had a good go at imagining the old man within the confines of the pub, or even among people at all.

When they decided it was time to leave, Remus was quite adamant in walking her safely to her new flat. As he pointed out, neither one of them was in any state to be walking anywhere alone.

They reached Nina's door, and she insisted that he come inside and see her possessions, and sober up so that he could Apparate home.

She started leading him down the hallway. It seemed right that he should grab her hand, and so he did. She stopped in front of the kitchen counter, and pulled Remus closer to her.

He felt lightheaded….She let go of his hand and put her hands on his chest, and he automatically placed his hands on her waist. Ever so slowly, he drifted his head toward hers, so that their lips lingered mere millimeters from each other. He could feel electricity between them; he could feel her breathing and how she held tightly to collar of his robes. He kissed her so softly on the cheek.

"Sorry," he whispered so that his lips traced the kiss, but she didn't move away.

"Don't be sorry," she whispered back.

"I know…but I shouldn't…" But he didn't take his advice as he placed another kiss on her forehead. She was smiling with her eyes closed as she rested her head on his chest.

He wanted to say a lot of things right then, but his mouth was incapable of forming words, and regardless, his brain was failing to supply them. He had a general idea that what he wanted to say involved how much he liked her…how much he was attracted to her, but how high his respect was for her, as well….

He also wanted to kiss her again, but was able to get a hold of himself.

"Tea?" she whispered, and he nodded.

She extracted herself from him and boiled the water in about a second. She handed him a flower-patterned porcelain cup and ushered him to the couch.

Sitting down gingerly, she patted the spot immediately beside her, though there were ample other spaces for him to choose from.

He obliged, but was a little less graceful and managed to spill a little on his lap. They were inebriated, after all.

She laughed at him, then used a clever little spell to clean it. He was pleased that after she put her wand down, she leaned in close to him so that their legs were up against each other.

He looked out over his cup to glance at the room. He registered that there were a lot of books, which gave him a pleasant little twinge, and lots of pictures of people from back home. He was only certain they were from Florida because of the abundant amount of beach scenes, which if he looked closer would probably contain Nina in a small bikini.

It took a total of thirty seconds before they had had enough of the tea and looking around to set their cups on the coffee table. He couldn't keep his hand off of her leg. She didn't seem to mind, though, since she put her hand on top of his in order to keep it there.

And though he did nothing to change it, he said in a low voice, "We probably shouldn't be doing this after we've had so much to drink."

"I think you're wrong." She was very close to him again. "I think the drinking is what gave us the courage."

He was smiling as he put his other hand in her hair, and drew her in for an unhurried kiss on her lovely lips.

It took Remus every ounce of self-control to let go of her a few moments later so that he could say, "I had better go."

"Okay."

They helped each other off of the couch and walked hand in hand to the doorway.

"Won't you come back again sometime soon?" she asked him as they reached the door.

"Only if you want me to," he said.

"Oh, I think I would like that."

He placed one last kiss on her forehead and said, "Until then."