fatal love

chapter 137

There's a place in the world for the angry young man

With his working class ties and his radical plans

He refuses to bend, he refuses to crawl

He's always at home with his back to the wall

And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost

And he struggles and bleeds as he hangs on the cross

And he likes to be known as the angry young man

Sirius watched Remus as he swayed to the song from across the Common Room. For once, Remus was allowing himself to be the centre of attention - it was his birthday, and he'd been convinced that he should have a party, through a joint effort by both Evans and Sirius himself.

People had been coming up to Remus all night, wishing him a happy birthday, talking to him about any number of things. And Remus actually seemed quite happy with how the night was going; he was dancing, albeit with all his normal awkwardness, with Evans, and even if he wasn't singing out loud, he was mouthing the words to the song along with Billy Joel.

James walked over to Sirius, bottle of firewhiskey in one hand and Lily's cardigan in the other.

"Not often we're the ones watching them, ay?"

Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Seems like we're normally the ones causing a spectacle," James said in explanation.

Sirius watched Remus spin Lily around, almost knocking a poor Third Year to the floor. "Dunno," he hummed, "I don't mind it.

James smiled softly. "Yeah, me neither."

They stood together in silence for a while, simply watching their respective partners. Remus had his tell-tale flush that he got whenever he drank, and Lily's emotions weren't understated like they normally were, she was beaming and laughing loudly, as the two of them danced together slightly unsteadily.

"Right then," Sirius said eventually, "I think your girlfriend's taken up enough of Moony's time now. I'm going to go and make him pay attention to me."

"Go ahead," James laughed.

Sirius walked over to the middle of the room, forcibly elbowing his way through all the drunk teenagers, and tugged at the sleeve of Remus' jumper like a child.

"Alright, Pads?" Remus smirked, glancing down.

"I'm good," Sirius said quietly. "Are you having fun?"

"Mhm. More fun now you're here."

Sirius smiled proudly. "You heard him, Evans," he said in satisfaction. "Piss off."

"Christ," Lily said, rolling her eyes, "you're ridiculous."

"You don't have to go," Remus said quickly.

"Nah, it's alright, I'll go and find Potter."

She left, and Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "That was rude," he admonished.

"Don't care," Sirius replied flippantly. "You spend too much time with other people, and not enough with me."

Remus looked down at him, his eyes glittering. "I see," he said slowly, "so it's my birthday, but all my focus should be on you ?"

"See, I knew you'd get it."

"Fine," Remus snorted, "well, you've got what you wanted, so I hope you're happy."

"Perhaps," Sirius said mildly, "I'd be happier if you came upstairs with me for a minute."

"What? But the party's here!"