Chapter 11 – Last Dates
Sirius had managed to snatch an almost-full bottle of mead from the table in Slughorn's office. He'd planned to share his spoils with James and Lily, but since they'd managed to run their date into the ground, he only grabbed glasses for himself and Mary from a passing waiter and topped them up with the dark amber liquid.
"Poor Prongs," he reflected, passing Mary a glass and quickly draining then refilling his own. "It's not his fault that Snape's a massive prick."
Mary peered at her glass dubiously before drinking half of it in one sip. "Yeah, I don't blame Potter for hitting him; Snape probably deserved it. Not really the best way to impress a girl, though."
"Apparently not," Sirius said with a small grin, "you don't go in for all that macho tough guy stuff? I thought girls liked that sort of thing."
"Clearly you haven't dated many girls," Mary replied, raising her eyebrows. "The whole knight in shining armour thing doesn't really work. We're not all damsels in distress." She held out her empty glass and Sirius obligingly refilled it.
"Honestly, I think I'm more of a damsel in distress than you," he shrugged. "Since you did me a favour by agreeing to come tonight and that." He smirked, perfectly aware of how corny he sounded. Unsurprisingly, Mary pulled a face at him, and took the bottle of mead out of his hand.
"You're terrible," she said, "come on, let's go and sit down before someone catches us with this."
Shrugging, Sirius followed her back to the sofa they'd been lounging on earlier; it was partially hidden from view by the net curtains surrounding it and was therefore the perfect spot.
Almost an hour later, the bottle of mead was significantly diminished and Mary found herself laughing far too hard at one of Sirius' jokes. She pressed her lips together until she'd stifled her giggles and leant her head against his shoulder, grinning up at him. "I think we might be getting a teeny tiny bit drunk."
"You clearly cannot handle your alcohol," Sirius announced, staggering to his feet so suddenly that Mary's head slipped off his shoulder and she fell sideways onto the sofa. "I on the other hand am completely sober, and think we should leave." He glanced around him – more than two thirds of the party-goers had already left; the only ones remaining were a couple of seventh years caught in a conversation with Slughorn and a few couples who were still too wrapped up in each other to notice the thinning crowds. Sirius spotted Frank and Alice kissing a few feet away, completely oblivious to anyone else around them.
"Let's go exploring!" he suggested, "I know all the best passages and stuff around the castle."
"Sounds great," Mary said as Sirius grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. She staggered a little, putting her hands against his chest to steady herself. "Thank god I didn't wear heels tonight. Alright, let's get out of here. Lead the way for our secret mission, 007."
He looked at her blankly. "007?"
"Yeah, you know, James Bond? The secret agent guy?" Sirius shrugged and she rolled her eyes. "You purebloods are really missing out on some great action films."
"I went to the cinema with James a couple of times," Sirius said, "but I didn't hear about any secret agents – that actually sounds better than what we watched. It was something about a really big monkey."
"Don't speak ill of King Kong or I will have to jinx you," Mary laughed.
They exited the party and emerged into the cool hallways, where Sirius stopped and looked around, trying to get his bearings – maybe he was just a little bit tipsy, and a lot of the candles in the halls had already been snuffed out, making it darker than usual.
He wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to show Mary; nothing in particular really, he just knew that he was having a good time and didn't particularly want to go to bed just yet since it wasn't too late. It had been a little awkward at first, talking to her, but once he'd realised she was actually an interesting person and not just a girl, the conversation had flowed much more freely.
"We should go this way," he decided randomly, thinking about the tapestry down on the 5th floor that was well lit and led directly to the kitchens. He was a little peckish come to think of it, and could easily go for something to eat.
They walked a little way in companionable silence. Sirius practical forgot that they were holding hands at all, until they came to a stop in front of the tapestry and Mary squeezed his hand expectantly.
"What's down here?" she whispered, feeling like she should keep her voice low seeing as she wasn't entirely sure they were allowed to be wandering the corridors this late at night.
"It leads to the kitchens," he replied, pulling back the tapestry to reveal a dark, narrow passageway behind it.
"Oh," Mary said, surprised. "You really want to go there? Because I can think of one or two things we could do that are more fun than a midnight snack."
She felt a little nervous as she said it, but Sirius let the tapestry fall back in place and looked at her curiously. "Like what?"
Smiling, she tugged him towards a classroom on the other side of the corridor, standing on her tiptoes to peer through the glass pane in the door. "I think this is the music room," she said, reaching for the handle. The door clicked open and she led Sirius inside before closing it behind them.
Sirius peered around at all the music stands set up in rows and the instruments standing against the wall. "What's so good about a music classroom?" he asked, bewildered.
"This," Mary said softly, letting go of his hand so she could slip her arms around his neck and kiss him.
Sirius blinked. He wobbled slightly on his feet where Mary was leaning against him, then attempted to steady himself by reaching out behind him for the wall.
Finally, his brain caught up to what was happening, just as Mary pulled away and looked at him curiously.
"Um," she said awkwardly, "if you don't want to-"
"No!" Sirius said immediately, "I mean yes, I do." He laughed quietly and put his hands on Mary's waist, pushing her back gently until they came up against a nearby desk. Then he bent down and kissed her, letting one of his hands wander down her back when she responded eagerly.
Mary pulled him closer to her so their bodies were pressed tightly together, their kisses gradually becoming faster and less coordinated. As she untangled her fingers from Sirius' hair and ran her hands along his shoulders and chest, she felt the buttons of his waistcoat and slowly began to undo them, pausing to look up and him and check that this was okay.
He smiled and shrugged off the waistcoat, allowing it to fall carelessly to the floor and guiding her hands to the buttons of his shirt. It soon joined the waistcoat at their feet and then she was trailing her fingers across his bare chest, feeling his rapid pulse.
Breathing heavily, Sirius' brain was still a little bit behind his actions – still in the realm of all things nice and fun. The buzzing in his ears from the alcohol stopped any more coherent thoughts from getting through, so when Mary trailed her fingers lower, towards the button on his trousers, he didn't complain.
She was making quiet gasping noises against his cheek as he hitched up her dress, running one hand along the inside of her thighs while the other stayed firmly on her back. Sirius had done a fair few things with girls before, but usually it was nothing more than copping a feel in the corner of the common room after a Quidditch party, or kissing a Valentine's date goodbye at the end of the night.
"Are you sure-" Sirius began, but it became very clear how sure Mary was when she finally managed to get his button undone and slid her hand unabashedly below the waistband of his underwear.
Sirius drew in a sharp breath, his fingers inching further up her thighs, but when he leaned in to kiss her again she hesitated, biting her lip. "Do you know a protection spell?" she asked, blushing faintly.
"Oh. Um, yeah," he said, reaching towards his back pocket and resisting the temptation to say any of the wand innuendos that popped into his head. As he cast the spell he'd accidentally come across in a charms book a year ago, he thought how unexpected it was that tonight was the first time he would need to use it.
Mary wasn't talking. Instead, she was darting around the room, hastily gathering her things and throwing them into her bag. Sirius wasn't entirely sure what had gone wrong, but he had a strange weight in his chest now that he was slightly more sober. It had all been over very quickly, and there didn't seem to be anything left to say. He watched in a detached sort of way as Mary shoved her bra into the bag with her other belongings and forced it closed.
"Um-" she said, already half way to the door when she turned to him, "I'm going to go and clean up, see you."
"Bye," Sirius sighed as the door clicked shut behind her. He was still half undressed, with his shirt thrown over a nearby chair and his trousers loose and unfastened. He was fairly sure that he was supposed to feel pleased, triumphant even; James always talked about sex as if it would be magical, but if this was anything to go by, Sirius had some seriously bad news for him.
Picking up his shirt and re-buttoning it, Sirius attempted to make himself look more presentable before stepping into the hallway, hoping that he wouldn't run into any teachers on his way back to the common room.
It was even darker now, and the faint music from Slughorn's party on the floor above them had faded into silence, leaving Sirius to creep along with no idea of how close he was to being caught. He almost had a heart attack when, after only walking along for a few minutes, a horrific yowling laugh fell upon him.
Looking up, Sirius saw Peeves floating nearby.
"Peevesy sees what you've been up to with Mary quite contrary. Should tell Professor Sluggy I should!" he said, resolutely following Sirius as he headed up the stairs towards the Gryffindor Tower.
"Sod off will you," Sirius snapped eventually, but all this did was encourage the poltergeist, who grabbed an empty candle holder from the wall and swung it enthusiastically at his head.
Ducking, Sirius jogged the rest of the way to the common room, eventually leaving an irritated Peeves behind him. Finally slipping through the portrait hole, he took a moment to compose himself, closing his eyes against the sudden exhaustion that seemed to have settled itself firmly on his shoulders. When none of his friends immediately accosted him, Sirius opened his eyes again - it must have gotten late, since the only people still downstairs were a couple of 5th years who were paying him no attention. Thinking hopefully of sleeping off the booze, Sirius headed up the stairs to the dormitory.
Of the four beds in the dorm, Remus' and Peter's remained empty: both boys were sitting at the bottom of James' four-poster, looking a mixture of frustrated and concerned. James himself was lying on his pillow, staring forlornly at the ceiling. He'd changed out of the robes he'd worn to the party and taken off his glasses, but his eyebrows were pulled tightly together and his lips were turned down in a frown, so he didn't look anywhere close to falling asleep. Sirius had almost forgotten about his and Lily's fight, but of course James was still thinking about it.
Closing the door softly behind him, Sirius collapsed onto his bed, wanting nothing more than to go straight to sleep. He turned towards James instead. "Didn't expect you lot to still be up," he said honestly, "you alright Prongs?"
"Been better," James replied. "How was the rest of the party? You were there ages."
"Yeah, crazy night," Sirius sighed. He wasn't entirely sure whether or not he wanted to tell them what had happened. Although a small part of him did want to gloat, it was vastly overwhelmed by how awkward and embarrassing everything had turned out to be.
James didn't reply immediately, just continued to stare up at the ceiling, then Peter said "What did you get up to then?" and he figured at the very least, telling them how he'd made a fool of himself might cheer James up and take his mind of Lily.
"Mary and I sort of slept together," he said, watching James carefully to gage his reaction.
It seemed to take a minute for this to sink in, but it was Remus who spoke first, catching Sirius' attention as he spluttered, "You did what now?"
"You heard me," he sighed, getting up from his bed and crossing the room to cram himself into the small space left on James'.
"It just sort of happened, one minute we were going to the kitchens and the next we were in an empty classroom."
James' eyebrows shot up. "Wow. Didn't know she liked you that much." At the look on Sirius' face, James grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "Nice one though, Pads. How was it? You really did it in a classroom?"
"Yeah," Sirius said, then slunk down onto the bed, resting his head against James' pillow and almost pushing Peter off altogether. He could feel the beginnings of a headache coming on from the alcohol still left in his system. "It started off great, we were kissing and touching and all that but the actual sex was... Well. It wasn't up to much and then she kind of left."
"I didn't think things worked all that well down there when you're pissed anyway," Remus told him, looking tired and like he was trying his hardest to be supportive. "It's not the end of the world." Sirius blinked at him, and thought that at that moment, he would very much like Remus to be asleep instead of staring at him.
He just shrugged in response and James shifted beside him. "Don't stress about it, mate. You didn't want to date her or anything, right?"
"I guess not. I don't even really know her that well."
"Then no harm done. Just think of it as practice, yeah? Now you know better than the rest of us and you get to act like you're all experienced." He nudged Sirius in the side. "Come on, I bet by morning it won't seem to matter so much."
Sirius snorted. "Is that what you're telling yourself about Evans?"
"Basically," James said, pulling a face. "At least unlike you I won't have a massive hangover." He managed to roll over onto his side. "Now will you all bugger off to your own bloody beds. If I look like I've been up all night when we get to the station tomorrow Mum will have a right go."
"Oh now he needs sleep," Peter said as he slid of the edge of James' bed and crossed the room, "ten minutes ago it was 'hold me Wormtail, I'll never be the same again.'"
"No appreciation," Remus agreed solemnly.
Sirius didn't want to move, so James had to use his blanket as a weapon to wrap him up and shove him onto the floor, and by the time they were in their own beds, all four of them were trying not to laugh.
"At least we don't have to show our faces until after Christmas, eh Padfoot?"
Pulling his quilt up to his shoulders and closing his eyes, Sirius replied sleepily, "Yeah, maybe they'll have forgotten all about tonight by then."
"Almost certainly," James laughed, burying his head under his duvet and leaving Sirius to fall asleep to the sound of Peter's snores, and the ruffling of sheets as Remus tossed and turned in the bed next to him.