parents after all

chapter 16

Chapter 16- More Drama

'Now, lads,' Moody said as he leaned on his wooden leg, looking genuinely irritated and tired. 'Care to explain what really happened here? I cannot possibly rush to your aid every single time you knock someone out, or vanish a bone–'

'I told you what happened, it's the truth,' argued Sirius. 'She threw herself at him, I stunned her, Snape made a fuss about a letter. That's it.'

'A letter?' Moody raised an eyebrow.

'Remus's love letter. He –'

'Someone wrote to me asking if we could meet,' Remus interjected, his cheeks growing red. 'Just a stupid letter, really, considering the night's almost over.'

'Then why did Snape take it?' Moody said, both his eyes rolling as he did some really quick calculation. 'What's a letter got to do with him?'

'He thought it was coded,' Sirius sneered. 'It's not like he's got a love letter himself before.'

Moody snorted. He pulled out a bottle and drank from it, before lowering himself onto the floor and muttered a spell. The girl on the floor stirred; she opened her eyes and looked up, addressing the three people around her with wide brown eyes which tears started to fill up.

'You got drunk and got into a fight with these gentlemen,' Moody said gruffly. 'Get up, get dressed properly and go back to your dormitory. You don't want your friends to know about it.'

She nodded and fled.

Moody stared at her leaving the room; for a moment or two no one spoke a word. Sirius looked at Moody, then at Remus, both of whom looking thoroughly shocked as though didn't know what to make of the situation. Finally, Moody snapped out of his brooding and turned to the two boys. He lowered his body, so that they were on eye levels.

'It was a peculiar incident,' he said hoarsely. 'Snape, if you haven't already known, were on the other side –' Sirius's eyes widened, ' –and I'm constantly feeling that he's up to something. He knows who you are, and with your vendetta, I would suggest that you don't goad him on again,' he looked at Sirius sternly, who nodded reluctantly.

After Moody limped out of the dark room, Sirius and Remus decided that they too, had had enough for a night and would like to retreat to the safety of their dormitory. Although the Ball would be closing in two hours, everyone seemed to be having the time of their lives that no one wanted to leave the hall before midnight. The corridors were deserted; even the portrait frames were empty save for the one at the very back where all the lords and ladies and knights congregated, having a very merry Christmas of their own.

They walked shoulder to shoulder, but neither spoke. Sirius supposed Remus was still recovering from the shock like himself; after all, being accused of sexual harassment was not a pleasant event on Christmas night.

'D'you want to talk about it?' asked Sirius at last.

'What?'

He could hear the guarded tone in Remus's response. Was he expecting this question all night long?

'Oi, relax,' Sirius tried to make the mood lighter as they rounded a corner into the garden, where a shortcut to their side of the seventh floor winded between bushes and marble statues. 'On the plus side, it looks like you're way more popular than you thought. It's a good thing to know. Maybe if you open up a bit – oh.'

Before them stood a woman in velvet blue robes. She was clutching a crocodile skin handbag, an acid green quill quivered on a notepad floated eerily in midair.