Chapter Twenty-Three;

Sirius kicked Remus' door open, after giving the password of course; he was no break and enterer! He looked around the chambers and quirked his eyebrow as he didn't see Remus. He decided to look in the bedroom, so he strolled through the door and raising his eyebrow when he walked in on Remus wrapped in a towel. Remus looked up from his drawer and glared "Sirius. Get out," Remus calmly said, turning his attention back to finding a robe.

"Oi. It's not like we haven't seen each other naked before. We /did/ live in the same dormitory for seven years and then live with each other until we were Twenty," Sirius said, nonchalantly walking over to Remus' bed and taking a seat. "Now, you need to entertain me until we go to the Three Broomsticks."

Remus listened and rolled his eyes as he pulled out a scarlet colored robe "I need to what? I'm not going to entertain you; you have a boyfriend, go play lovey dovey."

"He's making potions, entertain meee!" Sirius whined, knowing it would annoy Remus.

"Ugh, Sirius, grow up" Remus said as he walked into the bathroom to change.

Sirius lay back on the bed, thinking on what he was going to wear. "Oi! Let me borrow a robe."

Remus emerged, sighing. "Why can't you wear one of your own?"

"Because that would require me to walk all the way to my chambers…." Sirius said in a tone that would make anything he said sound serious.

Remus sighed and went over to his drawers and pulled out a navy colored robe, tossing it to Sirius. "It's not charmed, Sirius, so no turning into an animagus in it or else you'll end up-"

"I know, Moony, I know" Sirius interrupted, rolling his eyes.

"I just want my robe back not ripped to shreds, Sirius," Remus said as he walked out of the bedroom for Sirius to change.

After Sirius was changed, they spent the afternoon sipping Firewhiskey and playing rounds of chess, each game lasting a good hour as they were both evenly matched. By the time they looked up at the clock, dinner was already over and they were late for where the staff was meeting to head to Hogsmeade together. Sirius and Remus both rushed out the door, both blaming one another for being late on the way to the spot. When they came to the ground, everyone nodded and began walking, Sirius noticed not only was every Professor, with the exception of Hagrid, in the group but members of the Order, including Molly and Arthur, as well as Kingsley and Moody, oh and Tonks who had attached herself to Remus' arm. Sirius frowned when he didn't see Severus amongst the group.

"Oh, Sirius, dear" Molly said as her and Arthur fell back to where he was trailing behind the ground next to Remus and Tonks.

"Yes?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, Albus made this joke, dear. He was saying you and Severus are dating," she told him.

"Yes, he spoke of it yesterday when we visited, we all had quite the chuckle, hell, even Moody," Kingsley continued on.

Sirius glared at them all, he was about to turn into a dog and maul their faces when he felt the calming gesture of Remus placing his hand on his shoulder. Sirius rolled his eyes, "No. It's true. We're dating. Have been for a little over three months."

The four were shocked into silence, and stayed that way until they reached Hogsmeade and the door of the Three Broomsticks, Molly was the only one to speak up. "Oh, well… you two go quite well together. Balance each other out, I'm happy for you dear," she said, patting his back and shuffling into the Three Broomsticks with the rest of the group.

They sat at a morphed together table to fit them all and the multiple conversations began, everyone had ordered a butterbeer or firewhiskey - firewhiskey for most, and some snacks to munch on. Rosmerta had music playing and people in the inn were dancing, including some of the professors who got up to dance. Sirius chatted with Remus a bit, occasionally glancing at the door hoping to see Severus walk through it. It had been an hour and a half the group had been there before a girl had walked up to him and tapped his shoulder.

"Yes?" he asked as he turned to the girl.

She smiled coyly "I was curious if you wanted to dance?" she asked, he gazed at her, she was a bit shorter than him, blond hair down to her back and bright blue eyes.

Sirius gave a shrug, "One dance can't hurt," he said as he stood up, gazing at the door from the corner of his eyes and rolling them when once again he didn't see Severus walk through. Remus gave the back of his head a glare as he walked off with the girl to where everyone was dancing.

"Remus, I thought Sirius was dating Severus, or is that a big joke?" Molly asked as her and Arthur took their seats.

"No, it was no joke. He really is dating Severus, it's a serious relationship," Remus stated.

"Then why…" Molly paused, unsure if she should say it.

"-Why is he dancing with… /that/?" Minerva continued Molly's sentence, sending glares at the blond girl as she seemed to have been dancing rather closely to Sirius.

"That's a nice way of putting it. Bloody hell, if the girl got any closer I'd fear her getting pregnant with Sirius' child," Stan Searle, the new Muggles Studies professor said, quirking his eyebrow at the two.

Remus was quiet for a moment as he watched the two dancing. "Yes… well, I doubt it means anything to Sirius…"

"That doesn't mean anything, and you know it, Remus. You shouldn't defend him, he's way to close to that girl, and you know he is," Molly said in a harsh tone, sipping at her gillywater.

Remus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, "Yes. I know…"

It was that moment, when the girl wrapped her arms around Sirius' neck and Sirius placed his hands on her hips to dance that Severus walked into the Three Broomsticks. He immediately saw Sirius on the dancefloor with the girl, and twitched his left eye in annoyance. "Oh dear…" Minerva said, giving a sigh and waving her arm to signal Severus, who was focused on Sirius.

Severus snapped out of it when he saw motion from the corner of his eye, nodding to Minerva and walking over to her and taking a seat. "Hello, Minerva. Everyone," Severus said with a curt nod, taking the chair next to Minerva and Sirius' empty chair.

"Where've you been? We've been here almost two hours," Albus asked as he took his seat from going up to the bar to speak with Rosmerta.

"I got caught up in a potion, I didn't time one right and it took longer than anticipated" Severus said as he took the glass of Firewhiskey Rosmerta had placed in front of him and sipped it, watching Sirius from over his glass.

Everyone began chatting with Severus, and Severus answered, but his gaze was never taken off Sirius, who hadn't even acknowledged his arrival for the past three songs, instead consumed in dancing with the girl. Severus quickly sipped through two glasses of Firewhiskey, drumming his fingers on the table in annoyance. "M'boy, are you alright?" Albus asked as he frowned.

Severus turned his gaze to Albus and quirked his eyebrow as everyone at the table was now staring at him. "I'm fine, Albus, why ask such a question?" Severus asked dryly.

Albus nodded his head and didn't push the issue, but Minerva would be damned if the boy she looked at as a son was going to sit by and watch his lover dance with someone else. "Why don't you get up and dance with Sirius, Severus?"

Severus sat flabbergasted, "Dance, Minerva?" he asked, shaking his head and finishing off his third glass of Firewhiskey.

"Yes, dance. I know you know how, I taught you – like I did the rest of the Hogwarts students during the Yule Ball time," she said, sipping at her butterbeer.

"Minerva, from the looks of it…" Severus began, gazing at the pack of people dancing. "They're not doing the traditional waltz or anything of the sort…"

"It's not /that/ hard to grind on someone when dancing" Stan said.

With that comment, everyone who was sipping began coughing. "Stanley!" Minerva gasped.

"Well? It's true," Stan said.

Severus blinked, this conversation was not happening, he was drunk. "N- No…" he said.

"Come on, I'll teach you," Stan said as he stood up and grabbed Severus' arm, who was pulled out of his chair and hit by a wave of dizziness from the alcohol he had consumed, closing his eyes to clear his head and before he knew it, Stan had dragged him out onto the dancing area on the opposite side of the crowd as Sirius was with the blond girl.

Severus sent a look at Minerva and Albus, either one to help him. They all frowned and gave a shrug. "This isn't going to end well…." Minerva said.

"No, I reckon not…" Albus continued.

"I never knew Stanley was the type to be assertive…" Vector commented.

"He's a bit drunk" Remus said, looking down at Stan's seat and seeing the five empty glasses that once contained Firewhiskey.

"Obviously!" Molly said.

"Alright, look at me…" Stan said, slurring his words just a bit.

Severus looked at him, quirking his eyebrow. "What? I'm not dancing."

"You're dancing."

"I'm /not/ dancing…"

"Oooh, you are."

"I most certainly will not!" Severus said firmly, he would pull away from Stan's grip on his arm, but he was slightly afraid if he did, he would fall over from the amount of Firewhiskey he had.

"We'll see!" Stan said back, putting his hands on Severus' hips and pulling his body against him.

Severus widened his eyes and turned a light shade of pink, glaring at Stan, who was the same height as him. "Unhand me, Searle…"

In response, Stan began to sway their bodies side to side.

Sirius waved the girl off, walking over and taking his seat next to Remus, "That was fun."

"Sirius…" Remus began before Sirius noticed Severus' robe leaning on the back of his chair.

"Severus is here?" he asked aloud, smiling. "Oh great! Where is he?" he asked, looking back and forth from Remus to Minerva.

"He's…." Remus paused.

"Grinding with Searle," Hooch said, giggling.

"Grin- what?" Sirius said, looking up at the dance floor to see Severus swaying back and forth with Stan, and Stan's hands on Severus' hips. "What the hell?"

"Sirius, it's no-" Remus began but was interrupted by Sirius standing up and walking to the dance floor and to where Severus and Stan were dancing.

"Oi! What the hell is this?" Sirius asked in an angry tone.

Severus looked over at Sirius, his vision a bit blurred. "Huh?"

"We're dancing, sod off" Stan said.

"Sod-" Sirius paused in his sentence, clenching his fists. "Unhand my boyfriend," Sirius said, practically growled.

"Boyfriend? One would reckon you were straight, Black, with what you were doing with that pretty little blond," Stan said, smiling smugly at Sirius.

"Wha- Shut your mouth. I wasn't doing anything, but dancing," Sirius said.

"And now I'm dancing with Severus, wait your turn you disgusting mutt," Stan said in a harsh tone.

"Disgusting what? Severus! You're just letting him say these things?" Sirius asked, glaring over at Severus, who was still following Stan's movements as his head was swimming.

"I… I don't know, what, Black?" Severus asked, trying his best not to slur his words.

"Black? We're back to surnames, are we? Why? Because you're as Hooch put it "grinding" with Searle?" Sirius asked.

"Black, for the last time, sod o-" Stan began but was interrupted by Sirius' fist connecting to his face.

Everyone gasped from the table, as they watched Sirius punch Stan. Stanley stumbled back, barely keeping himself from falling before he was tackled by Sirius to the ground. They then began to roll around, fighting for dominance and once they got settled at the top of the other they would begin frantically punching into the other ones face. Remus and Kingsley shot up from the table to separate the table after Rosmerta had called for them to stop the fight.

Severus watched the two rolling on the ground, not able to distinguish which one was which as they both had long dark hair and he was too drunk. Remus looked up at him, "Severus! Call Sirius off!" he called out as he tried to grab keep Sirius from Stan, but not being able to as the moment he got a grip on him, Sirius would struggle out of his arms and charge at Stan again.

"What? Oh…" Severus said as he wiped his eyes out and got his vision back to normal enough to at least be able to tell who was who. He walked over to Remus and Sirius and thwacked Sirius' head. "Stop this nonsense, mutt…" he said, sighing.

Sirius tried to get his arms free from Remus, nudging his elbow into Remus' side and swinging his fist up to hit Severus into the jaw. Severus never saw it coming, stumbling back and falling on his arse, a small drop of blood falling from the side of his mouth. Sirius struggled a bit more before he realized who he had hit. He stopped struggling, looking over at Severus, panting from being out of breath from all his struggling, one arm still in Remus' grip.

"Oh, fuck… Sev-" Sirius began, pulling out of Remus' grip and pushing himself to his feet. "I didn't no-"

Sirius was interrupted by Severus pushing himself to his feet, swaying a bit to keep his balance before turning and walking straight out the door without saying a word.