fatal love

chapter 128

"Fuck," Sirius groaned, when he woke up the day after his birthday. His head was pounding, his mouth was dry, and he felt vaguely like he might have to throw up. "Think we overindulged."

Remus just moaned incoherently next to him.

Sirius rolled over and ran his hand through Remus' hair absentmindedly. "I'll get us some water. You're gonna have to get out of bed though, Moons, we've got lessons." He stood up, and conjured two goblets, filling them with water. He glugged his down, and left the other on the bedside table, going to have a shower.

He ended up vomiting while brushing his teeth, but he actually felt a bit better once he got it out. When he went back in the dorm, Remus was still comatose, as was Pete, but James was up and getting dressed.

"Feeling chipper?" James grinned.

"Fuck off."

"You and Moony got back so late last night. And both of you were so loud, and so wasted, I think you probably woke up half of Gryffindor."

"Don't remember."

James snorted. "Not surprised. I'm glad you had fun though."

Sirius smiled tiredly. "Yeah, it was great. But I think we're paying the price today."

"Don't worry," James said proudly, "I figured you'd end up plastered, I got Evans to make you each a Hangover Potion." He reached into his pocket and withdrew two vials, shaking them tantalisingly.

"Merlin, Potter," Sirius said, grabbing one eagerly and chucking it down his throat, "you're a bloody saviour."

James just laughed at him. "You're welcome. Give Moony his and then you and I can go down to breakfast, yeah? The other two can join us when they decide to get out of bed."

Sirius took the other potion and slipped back through the curtains of Remus' bed. "Hey Moony," he said softly. "I've got a Hangover Potion here for you, thanks to Evans, I'm leaving it next to the water. Skip breakfast if you want, but you've only got about half an hour or so till classes."

Remus rolled over and looked up at Sirius gratefully. "Thank you," he murmured, cracking his eyes open slightly.

Sirius leant over and kissed his forehead. "No problem. Take your potion, git."

With that, he and James went down to the Great Hall together. All three of the girls were already down there, but that wasn't too surprising, considering it was so much later than Sirius normally got up.

Marlene took one look at him and snorted. "Hungover, Black?"

"Bite me, McKinnon."

He sat next to James, and avoided coffee this morning, pouring himself a mug of very milky tea instead. He listened to the others talk around him for the next fifteen minutes, for once more than happy to fade into the background and deal with his killer headache.

"Alright, Sirius," Marlene said after a while, "we should head off, if we don't want to be late."

Sirius shrugged and stood up, ready to accompany her to Muggle Studies. But as soon as they had left the Great Hall, she stopped walking, turning to him and twisting her hands together nervously.

"You wanna ditch?" she asked.

"I could think of nothing better," Sirius answered honestly.

"Right then," Marlene nodded, "uh... Great Lake?"

"That works."

They walked out of the castle in quiet, Sirius wincing when the sun hit his eyes. "So..." he said slowly, "is there a reason we're skipping? Or do you just pity me at the moment?"