A/N: Hope you all enjoy! This is sort of a filler chapter...next update will be more plot heavy.
Dissyblack: Thank you for pointing that out! And that makes total sense. I've always been a bit confused about that. Will keep it in mind in my future writing. Some of the most useful writing advice I've received has come from actually, so no worries about coming across as nitpicky. I appreciate the feedback :)
Chapter Thirty One | In diem vivere
[To live for the day]
Sirius Black is annoyingly charming and has a recklessly spontaneous side that Vivian sometimes adores. She hasn't yet decided if this is one of those times.
"A little notice might've been nice," she grouses to him as he slings his arm around her waist and pulls her down the street.
She's never been one to appreciate surprises. It goes against the innate desire within her to always be two steps ahead. The strategic Slytherin side of her balks whenever someone tries to take her off guard. She supposes she can't really classify this as one of those times, seeing as Sirius had given her these tickets for Christmas, but still. With everyone else going on around her, she can't be blamed for completely forgetting about them, can she?
At her side, Sirius barks out a laugh and checks for oncoming cars before pulling her across the street. The unfamiliar city spans out around them, only making Vivian even more wary. At least she blends in with the muggles, tonight. Sirius had insisted that they both wear 'normal muggle things' to avoid garnering unwanted attention. Vivian hasn't yet decided if she appreciates that, either. She doesn't like muggle clothes. They're uncomfortable and scratchy.
"Where is this place, anyway?" Vivian asks as they step across the street. Sirius tucks her back into his side, maneuvering them around a group of muggle teenagers who are shouldering their way past. The street itself is fairly nondescript. It doesn't seem like a place a muggle rock band would frequent.
Sirius gestures up ahead at what looks like a pub at first glance, located down the street. It's bustling with people moving through the doors. There's a tall, muscled man standing at attention in the doorway, looking at the tickets that the muggles slip him. He seems to be the one in charge of letting people through.
Vivian sends Sirius a dubious look. As they move closer, she begins to hear the rumbling vibration of music in the air. It gets louder and more intense as they join the queue, which is long enough that it extends down the street.
"Are you sure it's okay to do this?" she asks Sirius, having to lift her voice a bit. Between the chatter of the others in the line and the vibration of music that she can now feel against her skin, it's too loud to speak in normal tones.
Sirius raises an eyebrow at her and wonders, "What do you mean?"
Her expression turns a shade doleful. Huddling closer to him, she reminds him, "We're skipping an Order meeting for this. What if Dumbledore had something important to tell us?"
Sirius sighs at her.
"We can't build our lives around the Order, Viv. We've got to remember to live, yeah?" he says, and turns his head so that his mouth lingers close to her ear. Then, with a smirk that she can feel against her temple, he adds, "Besides, I've never seen you drunk and I'm looking forward to it."
This little addition naturally makes Vivian snort beneath her breath, unable to feel at all surprised at his apparent desire to witness her drinking herself into a stupor. With an eyeroll, she snarks, "That's not true. Remember the time we snuck out of Hogwarts to drink at The Hog's Head?"
He shrugs and mutters, "That doesn't count. You were able to walk straight afterwards."
She turns to catch his eye and send him a speculative look. Sirius responds to it with a lift of his eyebrows, as if silently challenging her. Now, most Slytherins (with the exception of an uncommon few) happen to love a good challenge, and so Vivian obviously can't allow this one to go unchecked.
"Well maybe I can just hold my liquor better than you can, Black," Vivian smirks, summoning his surname to get her point across more efficiently.
It works, of course. Sirius immediately straightens up at the injustice of her remark and replies, "Oh, we're going back to the last names, huh? You'd better not turn tonight into one of your old detentions, Godric."
Her smirk promptly turns into an irritated frown at the usage of her much-hated nickname (recent administrations of it notwithstanding), and mutters, "If you keep calling me that, I might."
He snorts in amusement, but before he can respond, Vivian lifts her chin and smugly says, "Besides, we both know you liked those detentions a lot more than you're admitting."
Is it a slanderous thing to suggest that Sirius Black enjoys detentions? Not really. It is, after all, a well-known fact that the Marauders have had bets in the past to see who can rack up the most detentions each year. As the true and legitimate leader of the Marauders, Sirius naturally had taken the lead on this particular bet most years, which he happens to be rather proud of. For the sake of his dishonorable reputation, James had, of course, gone head to head with him for a while, but seeing as Lily Evans was not the type of bird to be impressed by such things, his efforts had slacked after a while. As a sidenote, this only makes Sirius more certain that he is the rightful leader of the Marauders. After all, one should always put their dishonorable reputation before everything else.
Anyway, Sirius Black has always viewed the accumulation of detentions as something to celebrate. This doesn't mean he's going to ever admit that he enjoyed the detentions that Vivian Blair had given him, though. Despite having accepted the fact that he's head over heels for her, she's still a Slytherin. It's the principle of it all, you know.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," Sirius sniffs.
Vivian's mouth pulls back into a Slytherin Smirk. The moment he sees it, he bites his tongue. In his experience, nothing good has ever come from such an expression.
"Please," she scoffs. "It was painfully obvious that you were trying to get me to give you detentions. You're a masochist."
The simple and almost overly direct way she says that last bit has Sirius's mouth parting. He immediately blusters, "Masochist? That's just – not true."
His denial falls so flat that he ends up grimacing and turning away from her, and Vivian only ends up snorting in amusement at his paltry attempt.
"You wanted my attention and figured the only way to get it was to annoy me to the point of giving you detentions, thus securing an entire evening with me," she shrugs, sounding as if she's got him entirely pegged.
For the record, he doesn't much appreciate it. He also can't really deny it, but he certainly makes an effort anyway.
"You're off your rocker," he mutters. "As if I'd ever beg you to give me a detention when there were so many other things I could've been doing."
"Oh? Like what?" she breezily wonders as they shuffle forward in line.
Sirius furrows his eyebrows and sends her a surreptitious glance. Scrambling to think of something, he clears his throat and mutters, "Like setting up one my infamously elaborate pranks, or – uh, making fun of James for bending over backwards for Lily – "
"Or locking yourself in broom closets with Hufflepuff girls," Vivian dryly inputs.
"Yeah, exactly," Sirius agrees, then realizes what she'd said and backtracks with a coughed, "Er…that was a one-time thing, yeah? Hufflepuff girls didn't really do it for me – um, anyway, I – "
"I don't know why you're so adamant about denying it," Vivian drawls, amused at his attempt to brush off the memory of the broom closet. She raises her eyebrows at him and purrs, "I enjoyed our detentions."
Her words make him pause. He glances over at her as if he's checking to see whether she's being sincere.
"You did not," he accuses, narrowing his eyes at her. "You spent most of them insulting me."
He realizes the trap he'd just walked into the moment directly after he says this, when Vivian smirks widely and nods, "Exactly. Very enjoyable."
With an eyeroll, Sirius scoffs at her beneath his breath and tugs her forward in line, muttering, "Slytherins…honestly…"
As he feels around his pocket to make sure the tickets are within reaching distance, Sirius shrugs, "I will admit to enjoying one detention, though." He sees the curious way she looks over at him, but he doesn't turn his head to meet her eyes when he smirks, "I thoroughly enjoyed washing those house banners in the Great Hall that one time."
Vivian immediately remembers the detention he's referring to. Her expression gets caught between a grimace and a smirk as the memory of it unfurls through her mind. She can't decide if it's a fond memory or not. At the time, she had been absolutely mortified at the way her shirt had gotten drenched, and even more mortified at having to wear Sirius's Gryffindor blazer…
She elbows him in lieu of a verbal response, which only makes him bark out a laugh as he pulls her closer into his side, his eyes gleaming with amusement.
"Oh shut up," Vivian mutters at him.
He doesn't shut up, naturally.
"What's wrong, Viv? Did you not enjoy that particular detention?" he smugly wonders, giving her a playful squeeze.
She would have elbowed him again, if she was able to. As it is, he's got her locked into his side now and she doesn't have the range of movement necessary to physically maim him, which, knowing him, is probably something he'd accounted for.
"Because I thought it was spectacular," he continues, his voice nostalgic. "Best detention I've ever had, even."
She grumbles beneath her breath for a moment before eyeing him and asking, "Better than the one we spent in the astronomy tower after ditching Filch?"
His mouth swings up.
"Mmm…I'll admit, that was a good one too," he concedes.
Just for the sake of it, Vivian snidely tells him, "My favorite was when I made you clean out the prefect bathtub with a moldy scrub brush."
If anything, this only makes Sirius's mouth swing up even higher, which is not the reaction she'd been going for.
"That was a rather malicious plan," he reminisces. "I'm sure you were very proud of it."
The almost patronizing way he says this has her narrowing her eyes at him.
"I was, actually."
"I enjoyed that detention as well," he suddenly says, much to her surprise. He smirks wider. "It was something of a turning point between us, don't you think?"
Vivian raises her eyebrows. "I seem to remember wanting to hex you throughout it, so no, I don't think so."
Sirius shakes his head and insists, "It was. I nearly got you to admit that you liked arguing with me, remember?"
"And you think that was a turning point?" she dryly wonders.
Merlin, of course he does. Why is she surprised by that? She sighs.
"Yeah, 'course," he nods. "That was pretty monumental."
It's her turn to shake her head. She glances up at him and murmurs, "Whatever. Point is, you liked our detentions."
The sudden return to her initial statement makes him pause. He looks like he's going to try to deny this again, so Vivian laughs at him and adds, "Sirius. Just admit it."
Their eyes lock. The line shuffles forward, but neither of them moves. Sirius is too busy trying to decide if he should allow himself to concede the rather obvious point she's making and Vivian is waiting to see whether he's going to continue being stubborn about it. The moment shatters when the man behind them prods Sirius's shoulder with a grumble about them holding up the line, and Sirius breaks their stare to shuffle forward.
"I'll admit it…but only if you end up getting sloshed by the end of night," Sirius decides.
This little ultimatum makes her roll her eyes at him.
"Why're you so obsessed about seeing me drunk?" she suspiciously demands. Their walk down memory lane brings it out of her. After all, back during their Hogwarts days, such at attempt would have most definitely been orchestrated with the intention of either pranking her or embarrassing her. He was such a prat back then…
Sirius grins at her. His response immediately has her suspicions fading away, only to be replaced with no shortage of exasperation.
With a shrug, he pulls out the tickets and cheekily says, "James has a theory, see, that when a Slytherin gets drunk, they start planning world domination. I want to see if it's true."
She stares at him for a long moment before saying, "Going by that logic, you could say that the Dark Lord is in a constant state of inebriation."
Sirius tilts his head thoughtfully and nods, "Huh. Hadn't thought of that."
Granted, it isn't really a laughing matter…though that naturally doesn't stop either of them from snickering at the mental picture it summons.
They're still snickering when they step up to the man at the door and Sirius holds out their tickets. After checking them over, the man moves aside to let them pass, and Sirius moves his hand from her waist to slot his fingers into hers. The moment he pulls her through the door, it's almost feels as if a wall of sound knocks right into them. Inside, it's much louder. Vivian can feel the vibrations of the music through the floor as they weave through the crowd. She looks around the room for the band, but doesn't see it.
Sirius leads them to the bar on the other side of the club and shouts something to the bartender. His words get lost in the music, but the man seems to know what he's asking for because he immediately pulls out two glasses and starts filling them with what looks like beer. Vivian moves closer to Sirius to ask over the racket, "Where's the band?"
Sirius's response to this is to silently point at the floor, which confuses Vivian for a moment until she remembers the stairway they'd passed when entering the room. There must be another level. She finds herself nodding in understanding as she reaches out to take the beer that the bartender slides across the counter at them.
Sirius shouts something else to the man that Vivian can hardly hear. She catches the word 'tab', though, and reckons that Sirius had been sincere about ensuring that she gets absolutely sloshed before the night is through. She nearly rolls her eyes at the thought of Potter's theory, but Sirius is already nudging her across the room again before she can think to say anything about it.
The lower level of the club is nothing like the main floor. In fact, it feels as if she's entering another world entirely. They make their way down the stairs, trying not to bump into the muggles around them. The stairwell is dark and, as they round the corner to move down a second set of stairs, it becomes more difficult to see. The walls are decorated with posters depicting strangely dressed people in heavy makeup and bizarre hairstyles. Many of them are autographed with names written in bold black ink.
Some of the people they pass along the stairway are similarly clad in strange garb. She sees one woman wearing an eccentric necklace made out of metal spikes, whose hair is standing up at odd angles as if by magic. Another man is clad in a leather jacket and jeans, his black shirt diving into a steep v-neck that drops nearly to his naval. His ears are studded with black earrings that glint in the dim light. In her black trousers and long-sleeved shirt, Vivian feels strangely underdressed all of the sudden, especially when they walk into the large room beneath the club.
It's like walking into a sea of bizarre creatures. This is decidedly not the same muggle world she is familiar with. These muggles are definitely not normal. She nearly stops and stares as they move through the doorway, her eyebrows jolting into her hairline at the sight she is met with. Never mind the fact that she's never seen a room filled to the brim with such weird muggles – she's never seen anyone dance like that, either. She thought Sirius had been exaggerating when he'd told her what to expect tonight, but the prim and proper dances she's attended in pureblood society cannot be compared to this.
Sirius hardly bats an eye, of course. He throws her an excited grin and pulls her into the crowd, hooking his arm around her waist once more so as not to get separated. She curls her fingers into his shirt as they bump into a few people on their way towards the stage, which is impossible not to notice from across the room. It's decked out with bright lights that beam through the darkness, lighting up the group of musicians that are currently playing a song that's so loud, Vivian can already tell that her eardrums are going to get thoroughly messed up in very short order.
I LEFT MY BABY AND IT FEELS SO BAD, I GUESS MY RACE IS RUN.
Sirius pulls her right to the front of the crowd, just off to the side of the stage. The noise is even more blaring this close. Her heartbeat mingles with the thrumming beat of the drums as Sirius takes a drink of his beer and then taps his knuckle against her glass to get her to follow suit. She doesn't argue and takes a generous gulp. At this point, with her hearing now being beat to death by the sheer noise around them, she reckons she might as well enjoy her drink, at least.
SHE'S THE BEST GIRL THAT I EVER HAD – I FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON –
I FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON,
I FOUGHT THE LAW AND THE LAW WON…
Suddenly, her drink is being pulled out of her hand and deposited on the edge of the stage. Vivian opens her mouth to complain (not that Sirius would be able to hear it), but she's being pulled into the throng of people before she can even attempt to speak. Sirius doesn't seem to mind that she's clumsy with this strange and bizarre dance that he pulls her into. He laughs and draws her into a spin. The room reels and she shoots him a glowering look as he pulls her back against him, but he's grinning so widely and his eyes are gleaming so brightly that she can't bring herself to tell him off for the unexpected move. She does decide rather quickly, however, that she isn't nearly drunk enough for this.
Sirius obviously agrees, because he soon falls into a routine of plying her with as many drinks as he can get his hands onto.
He's also proven wrong about that bit regarding Slytherins and world domination. He supposes he shouldn't too surprised by this, considering how Vivian Blair seems to constantly prove him wrong on all things Slytherin. Instead of falling into James's theory, the more she drinks, the less his theory holds any weight whatsoever. Sirius is in no way disappointed by this. In fact, as the band continues to play and the hour grows closer to midnight, he is enjoying himself greatly. The reason for this has nothing to do with the music, though.
Heaving a sigh, Vivian throws her arms around his neck and laughs, "Sirius, there are two of you."
Her words slur together just so. He grins.
"Really?" he humors her, and watches her take a large gulp of the latest concoction he'd handed her.
Vivian starts snickering to herself as if this is the most hilarious thing ever, which soon as Sirius grinning wider as he loops his arm around her waist and leads her over to the wall. Whatever graceful Vivian had once possessed is obviously lost to her now, because she nearly trips at least twice during the short trip. He briefly considers taking her drink away before she can get any more hammered than she already is, but when he tries to, Vivian sends him an evil look that gives him pause.
Right…drunk Slytherins are apparently a class all to themselves.
As they lean against the wall and watch the crowd of muggles, Vivian takes another sip. When she starts chugging it, Sirius decides to ignore the evil look in favor of taking the glass out of her hands after all, much to her dismay. Her eyes narrow at the injustice, until Sirius gathers her in his arms and chuckles, "You're drunk, Vivian."
She glares for all of two seconds before denying, "No I'm not."
"You are."
"I'm not."
"Okay, then how many fingers am I holding up?"
"…You're the one who keeps giving me drinks."
He smirks at the way she avoids his question and leans in to kiss her cheek. Then, moving his lips to her ear, he murmurs, "You know, I did enjoy some our detentions."
Through the haze of her thoughts and the loud music blaring through her ears, Vivian feels her mouth lift up. She hums and turns her head, brushing her mouth over his and hooking her arm around his neck. He grins before swooping closer to deliver a brief kiss to her lips. In their quiet corner of the room, no one notices.
Vivian laughs and pulls him back into the throng of bodies dancing wildly in the center of the room. Sirius lets her.
Vivian Blair has always considered herself to be relatively responsible. Her particular upbringing had instilled within her a certain propriety that she's never quite been able to shake. Wild parties in the Slytherin common rooms notwithstanding, she's never gotten so drunk that she can't remember specific details of the night before. Such as, for example, how she'd managed to get back to the cottage last night.
When she opens her eyes to see the bright afternoon sunlight streaming into the bedroom, she furrows her brow and groans, sitting up. A wave of nausea immediately hurtles into her. She cringes and falls back down onto the mattress with another pitiful groan, deciding that it would be better not to move for a minute or two. As she buries her face into the pillow, she tries to recall the events of last night with little success. The only thing that comes to mind is deafeningly loud music, bizarrely dressed muggles, and Sirius's grinning face lingering on the periphery of her vision. Speaking of Sirius…
"Finally awake, huh?" a voice wonders from the doorway.
Vivian doesn't lift her head, but still somehow manages to direct an intense glower at him from her cocoon of blankets.
"How're you feeling?" he cheerfully asks, stepping into the room. Much to her annoyance, he starts whistling as he strides over to the window and pulls the curtains open a little further, allowing more bright sunlight to pour into the room.
Vivian's glower turns into a petulant glare.
"Terrible," she croaks.
When Sirius grins at that, she decides to get him back for finding amusement in her suffering. Later. When she can stand up.
He nods and helpfully supplies, "Thought so. I think you might've drunk half the bar."
"Stop talking," is her growled response. She lifts a hand to rub at her temples.
Sirius bites back a laugh and murmurs, "Come here. I know a spell that'll fix you up."
He grabs his wand and gestures at her to sit up. She only eyes him suspiciously. She's never heard of a spell to cure hangovers. She supposes she shouldn't be surprised that Sirius knows one, though. She does vaguely recall Potter saying something about how Gryffindors throw the best parties. (He's clearly never been to a party thrown by a group of bored Slytherins.
Sirius laughs at her expression and insists, "What, you think I'm going to hex you or something? Sit up already."
With a grumble, Vivian gingerly does so, still eyeing him skeptically. When he waves his wand and murmurs the spell over her, though, she does have to admit that it makes her feel a bit better. The nausea clears and her headache lessens. She still feels like shit, but at least she doesn't feel like she's about to hurl up the contents of her stomach.
"Better?" he knowingly wonders, raising an eyebrow at her.
She runs a hand through the tangled mess of her hair and grumpily concedes, "A bit."
Her tone doesn't seem to put him off. Sirius Black happens to have become something of an expert when dealing with irritable Slytherins. He smirks and studies her, taking in the mussed up hair and bleary eyes. She looks more unkempt than he's ever seen her. He wonders how she'll react when she sees her reflection.
The thought makes him snicker. He tries to swallow it down, but Vivian catches it and furrows her brows at him. The action only makes her look even more unkempt, which is slightly adorable (though he'd never actually tell her that, she'd probably try to hex him in retribution).
"I don't remember apparating home," she says instead of remarking on his amusement.
Sirius hums, swallows back his laughter, and shrugs, "Probably just as well. Alcohol and apparating don't mix very well."
This slightly ominous comment has her pausing in the midst of rubbing her forehead. She turns to blink at him, frowning.
"…What's that supposed to mean?"
He clears his throat and wonders, "Do you really want to know?"
After a moment of consideration, Vivian sighs, "I really hope I didn't throw up on you or fall on my face."
Sirius grins and reassures, "You didn't throw up on me."
He makes no mention of her not falling. She narrows her eyes, immediately noticing. His grin widens.
"You also didn't start scheming ways to take over the world," he quickly adds, "so I guess James's theory is wrong. That's good, right?"
She closes her eyes and mutters, "Just wait until I get you so drunk that you blackout."
Sirius only barks out a laugh.
A/N: I went with an underground Liverpool music theme instead of a big outdoor concert for this. Seeing as The Clash formed in the mid 70s and the Cavern Club closed in 73, I'm fairly certain that The Clash didn't actually play there but for the purpose of this scene, I'm just going to pretend like they did. Anyway, the Cavern Club was where the Beatles played in their early days, as well as a ton of other bands like The Kinks, Black Sabbath, Queen, etc.