The celebration for Gryffindors victory was in full swing. The younger students had been sent up to bed early with the promise that sweets would be brought up. The 4 marauders were happy out. They had a bottle of fire whiskey between the four of them. Remus knew that it wouldn't be enough for them but wanted to limit how drunk his mates would get. Or at least that was the plan. While the friends were drinking, James had left to go flirt with Lily, and Remus swore he saw her facial features soften just for a moment. However, her stony exterior quickly reappeared. "Do you think Prongs will ever give up?" Peter asked, knocking back a shot, spilling a little on himself. "Wormtail, this is Prongs we're talking about. He has full intentions to marry Lily." Sirius replied, with Remus nodding in agreement. Remus passed Sirius the bottle of fire whiskey, and he took a swig of it. "Speaking of women, what about you, Moony?" Remus choked on his drink. The burn was 10 times worse when you were choking on it. Peter smacked him on his back, "What?" he wiped the spit from around his mouth.

"Look. We saw the way you looked at Liz. She defended your honour Moony, you can't say that you don't want to give it a go, right?" Remus gave Sirius a long hard stare, "Like I said before, I'm happy to just be friends." Sirius raised his eyebrow at him but chose not to press further; an angry Moony was a scary Moony. Remus shook his head at his friends; he took the bottle from Sirius's hands and decided to leave his babbling friends. Remus made his way over to James, who was now deep in conversation with Marlene. The two had grown close, and it had surprised him a little. They'd always banter from time to time, but he's never seen the two spend this much time together. "What are you two talking about?" Merlene lifted her head and gave Remus a big smile, "Guess?" Remus laughed and took a seat, "Quidditch?". "Bingo." James shot his best mate some finger guns caused all three to start laughing. The three of them casually chatted about the game. James expressed some frustrations that they could've played better. Still, he was overall happy with how the team played and 100% pleased with the results.

Out of the corner of their eyes, both James and Remus saw a drunk Peter approaching. His sights were set on Marlene. "Heads up, Marlene, Peter is making his way over." Marlene slumped over the table, "Fuck.", she sighed, knocking back a shot that looked like muggle tequila. "Why don't you tell him?" James asked. Marlene looked between the two boys, "I'm not ready to tell everyone I'm gay; not everyone is as accepting as you guys, Sirius, Liz and Lily…. I'm just not ready. I will, eventually, but not now. I'm scared that if I tell everyone, I'll be putting a target on my back." Marlene quickly left, legging it up towards the girl's dorm. Remus understood how she felt. Their situations weren't exactly the same, but he knew how she must feel. If he told people about his lycanthropy, he'd have a big target on his back too.

Remus remembered the day he realized that Marlene was gay. Sirius had his eyes set on her; he liked the challenge that she posed. She hadn't even looked at him. Her eyes had been following a pretty Ravenclaw that was walking by. Remus saw Sirius's eyes go wide as he watched her. Marlene had caught the look on Sirius's face. She panicked until he smiled at her, ruffling her hair. Sirius never told anyone, and neither did Remus. "Man, I really wanted to talk to Marlene." Peter sighed, throwing himself into the newly vacant seat. About half an hour after Marlene disappeared upstairs, she came back down with Elizabeth. A fresh bottle of fire whiskey in their hands. Remus was transfixed on Elizabeth as she walked down the stairs. He knew that he shouldn't do that, but he couldn't help himself. They were just friends. He was happy being just friends, or at least that was what he was telling himself.

Elizabeth and Marlene made their way over, singing their hearts out to whatever song played on the radio. Elizabeth sat down on the edge of the table and ruffled James' hair, "You were fantastic today, James, truly fantastic." Remus could've sworn he saw James blush, but he was also drunk, so he was just generally flushed. "Mate, you were bloody fantastic, scary but fantastic," James replied; he pulled the bottle out of her hands, taking a swig from the bottle. "Where's Sirius?" Elizabeth looked around the room. "He went off with some 6th year. He's probably banging her." Elizabeth was taken aback by Remus comment and accidentally spit out some fire whiskey, "I didn't want to hear that." The 5 of them all laughed.

After a few shots together, James somehow convinced everyone to dance, some more reluctantly than others. Remus wasn't a fan of dancing, but the fire whiskey did help to ease his reservations about it. Everyone was drunk, so nobody would be staring at him. Remus couldn't lie; he was having a lot of fun. He found himself bopping and swaying to the music. He watched as his friends did the same, some more passionately than the others. Suddenly James had pulled him towards him, and for a brief second, he thought he was going to attempt to slow dance. He was wrong, though, as James threw his arm over his shoulder. The two of them jumped up and down, laughing like madmen.

While he and James were dancing, Elizabeth had made her way over to them. She grabbed his hand and started dancing. He felt the blush creeping upon his face and the little nudge that James gave him. She was laughing brightly and danced. His heart was beating like crazy. Suddenly, Moony took over, and he found himself pulling her close to him; she stumbled, knocking into him, "Sorry." He, he rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed by what he'd done. She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek, "No problem. Now let's dance." She spun around, throwing her hands around his waist and the two of them swayed together. As they were dancing, Remus caught James' eye. Both James and Marlene had big shit-eating grins on their faces. James gave him a thumbs up, to which he threw back a middle finger, causing Marlene to burst out laughing at the fake shocked look that James did.

The two were interrupted by Sirius, who'd finally reappeared after going off with the 6th year. He danced away with them, and Remus used this opportunity to get away as he was knackered out. He made his way over to one of the tables in the common room, falling into the chair. That was enough dancing for him. One by one, the others all joined him. Cramming around the table, "I'm knackered. I hate dancing." Peter sighed; he wiped at the thin layer of sweat that was forming on his face. Remus hummed in agreement, "Me too." James smirked at him before muttering under his breath, "You sure about that, Moony? You looked like you were in cloud nine.", causing Remus to elbow him in the ribs.

Everyone chatted away as Marlene and Lizzie introduced everyone to tequila; it surprised him just how much he liked the taste of it. Unlike Remus, James wasn't entirely sold on it. He did, however, choose to go back to his whiskey. Remus sat back quietly, observing his friends. Sirius, Peter, and Marlene talked away about Sirius's latest conquest while Elizabeth and James were deep in quidditch. Remus had heard Lizzies offer James some free tickets to one of her dad's quidditch games during the summer. He was pretty sure he saw tears of joy fall from James' eyes.

Remus attention was quickly drawn to Sirius, who'd conjured up some shot glasses. "How about a game of truth or dare?" everyone nodded in agreement, and Remus poured everyone a shot. They were deep into the game. Sirius and Marlene had swapped clothes. Peter had drunk out of his shoe, and everyone was having fun. "Alright, Moony, truth or dare?" Peter asked. He contemplated what to pick, deciding on a dare. "Dare.". Peter gave him a mischievous look on his face, and he knew that'd he'd made a mistake, "I dare you to kiss the girl you like.". All eyes were on him, and he felt like he was going to die. He looked around the table. His eyes locked on Lizzies, and she smiled at him. He was going to kill Peter later. As he was about to get up, George Murphy made his way towards the group. He came up to Elizabeth and whispered in her ear. She excused herself and followed Murphy over to a couch. Remus heard the two of them laughing; the dare was wholly forgotten. He found himself staring at them.

"Liz, you know Lupin is staring at us, right?" George asked, leaning in close to her. Liz turned around to see that Remus was indeed looked over. However, he quickly turned away. "Are you and Lupin together?". Elizabeth looked a little taken aback, he heart thumped loudly in her chest. "What do you mean?". George gave her a knowing look. "Yesterday at practice, you were ready to beat someone with a bat for him. I guess I thought that you two were together.". Elizabeth again turned to look at Remus, the two of them locked eyes, and she smiled at him.

"No, we're not together." George's face lit up, determination flashed across his face. "In that case, would you be interested in going to Hogsmeade with me next week? On a date.". Elizabeth was shocked. She didn't think that he was interested. "Oh…I wasn't expecting that." she let out an awkward chuckle. George looked a little hurt, "Just think about it, ok? Let me know by Friday." Elizabeth nodded, and George placed a hand on her cheek before going off to meet his friends. Elizabeth bolted from the chair, grabbing both Marlene and Lily's hands and dragging them upstairs to their room. The two girls were surprised. "What the…you ok Liz?" Lily placed her drink on the nightstand. "George Murphy asked me out." Lily squealed and hugged her tightly while Marlene stood there looking shocked. "Like George Murphy as in hot 6th year George Murphy," Lily said excitedly. Marlene snorted, "Well, there's no other George Murphy." Lily swatted at Marlene, causing Marlene to slap her right back. "So, what did you say? Did you say yes?" Marlene asked. The look on her face was utterly different to that of Lily's. While Lily looked giddy, Marlene looked more concerned. Her mind was on a certain tall, broody Gryffindor prefect.

Elizabeth sat down on her bed. "I didn't answer. Murphy told me to give him my answer by Friday." Relief washed over Marlene's face, whereas Lily gave a little pout, "Why didn't you answer him then. Like he's a great guy…or are you waiting on Remus?". Elizabeth shook her head. Sure there was a part of her that was apprehensive about answering because of Remus, but for the most part, she'd never seen George that way. "It's not that, it's just,

I've never really looked at George in that way. I'll think about it. He's a great guy, and he's easy on the eyes. Don't look at me like that. Seriously, guys, I'll think about it." For the next 10 minutes or so, they talked about Murphy. Elizabeth was really starting to think that date couldn't do much harm. They did have a lot in common. She still felt that it wouldn't be fair to George, and he'd get his hopes up only for her to shoot him down.

After the girls had rushed off, the 4 Marauders just sat there surprised at the scene that had unfolded before them. James, Sirius and Peter were all sharing concerned glances between themselves. Remus quickly pulled his gaze from the entrance to the dorms to where George Murphy sat laughing with his mates. Sirius handed the bottle of fire whiskey to Remus, who took a massive swig of it. Now he really wanted to get drunk. Remus turned to his friends, plastering a smile on his face, "Anyone up for a card game?" His friends smiled, and James got a pack of cards. Remus wasn't winning any of the games. His head wasn't totally in the game. "Mate, you ok?". Sirius asked. "Yeah, I'm fine… It's getting late. We should head to bed soon." Peter and James hummed in agreement. It was approaching 12:30, and Remus really was tired. All the drinking had made him sleepy. They played one more round before they made the decision to head to bed. As Remus walked up the stairs, he saw that Sirius wasn't following, "Padfoot, you coming?" Sirius shook his head. "Not yet, I'll be up in an hour or so. You guys head to bed." With that, Remus, James and Peter headed to bed.

Sirius sat on the sofa. The number of students had dwindled down significantly, with the remaining students being from 7th year. The common room was a state. Food and bottles littered the floor and tables. He was sure he'd even seen some clothes. He was deep in thought when he saw a PJ clad Elizabeth make her way down the stairs. She was picking up the bottles from the floor, "Liz." He waved her over. She placed all the bottles she'd collected on one of the tables before making her way over to him. "Why aren't you asleep?" She shrugged at him, "When I drink alcohol, I find it difficult to sleep. I wanted to clean up just in case we have a visit from Professor McGonagall. I doubt she will, though. She probably did some celebrating of her own." She ushered him to follow her. He got up and followed her to one of the alcoves, as a couple started getting very handsy on the chair opposite him.

Now was the perfect chance for Sirius to ask her about what happened with her and Murphy. He had a pretty good idea it was. "What was that with Murphy earlier?" He asked; he threw his legs over her lap, only to have them pushed off. "He asked me out." He knew it. Sirius wanted to look surprised, but he'd seen the way Murphy looked at her; it was almost the same way Remus did. She was a gorgeous girl. "I'm guessing by the tone of your voice you rejected him." Elizabeth's expression fell to one that looked like guilt. "I didn't exactly say no. I just didn't answer him. He's waiting for me to answer.". Sirius could tell that she felt conflicted. He knew she'd probably wait till the last moment to answer George.

Sirius wanted to know more, and he knew that Remus would probably hate him for what he was about to do. "Why not accept? What's the worst that could happen? Either you guys have chemistry and start dating, or nothing happens." Elizabeth looked at Sirius in complete shock; she hadn't been expecting him to say that. "He's not really my type at all. Sure, he's a great guy, but he's just not…you know? Anyway, I'm not interested in dating." Sirius knew that Remus was into her, but he hoped that if she accepted George, Remus might finally do something. Remus was always so selfless. He always put others before himself, and for once, Sirius wanted him to be selfish. To go for what he wants.

The two chatted for another half an hour until they were the last 2 awake. Sirius helped her clean up the last of the stuff before both of them went to bed. "Thank you, Sirius." He walked over to her and gave her a hug, "Anytime. I know you've got the girls and James, but if you ever want to just talk without all the pressure, you can come to me." She hugged him even tighter. She was grateful for that. The two of them let go, and she gave him a kiss on the cheek. Elizabeth went up to bed first, with Sirius following a bit behind.