Growing Up

Part 44.

The first thing Remus was overtaken with was the smell. The three broomsticks had a sickly sweet cinnamon smell to it, coupled with the sticky notes of moving bodies and old wood. Each turn was a new memory etching itself into his reality. He needed a few drinks to ease the feeling deep in his gut. A strained smile spread across his face to conceal his true feeling. Glancing over to Sirius, he looked the same.

"Well, since you know me so well, what am I drinking?"  Sirius grinned and nodded to the bartender to followed his instruction lifelessly, standing stone faced as Remus pondered his answer.

Sirius lifted his eyebrow, tilting his head like a dog begging for a steak on the counter.

"Gin, tequila and lime for him."

The bartender nodded and walked off to make their drinks. It brought him back to late nights in that very bar. Celebrating birthdays, schoolyard promotions, or just a Saturday night. The night Remus became a prefect was the night he remembered the least. It was a night of true celebration. A marauder becoming a prefect was the impossible task that Remus had somehow mastered. Protecting a Potter was instinct, becoming a prefect was no more than a white lie,
Remus turned his head and grabbed his shot glass, Sirius doing the same.

"Cheers to reliving memories, Snuffles."

"Snuffles? Damn!"

Sirius clipped the bottom of his class on the bar and shot it, Remus taking half of his highball glass in one gulp. The burning sensation gave him a familiar, calming chill.

Sirius immediately shook his head violently, his tongue out. His black hair swung, his face turning sour as he blew out in disgust. Remus watched him tilt back and laugh.

"I'll take another, stranger,"

"As long as we split the bill."

***
Remus watched his feet move one after the other, doing his best not to stumble over them and trip. He was quiet, listening to Sirius hum a tune quietly, content with the distant hum of intoxication buzzing in their ears. Remus had drank Sirius under the table, beating him by about four shots and a beer. Sirius gravitated towards wine at the end of the night, and sank into a more blissful, peaceful drunk. At the end of his thought, Sirius broke out into the chorus of his song, whistling the words.

He grasped at Sirius' hand and twisted it, spinning him in a circle. Grinning, Remus hummed the harmony to "Seasons in the sun" By Terry Jacks. It was the song playing on the record after Sirius had told him the truth. The night he discovered Regulus inevitably joined the Deatheaters.

"He's done it." Sirius choked back a grueling sob, grasping at his throat slightly, then forcing his hand down. Tears streaked his face and his cheeks turned a dismal pink.

"I'm sorry."

He took a leaping step forward and hung his arms around Remus' neck, weeping soundlessly into his shoulder. Sirius' knees buckled weightlessly, bringing Remus and his bad hip down to the bare floor. They spent long time that way. After the crying, and then the anger, then the nervous pacing, eventually the only noise was the static coming from the record player. Remus leaned against the bed as Sirius curled up sideways against him, letting his arms fall over Remus' as his head rested against his shoulder. Startling both of them, the record player clicked and reset to the beginning of the record. The song played for a moment before Sirius spoke, unmoving.

"I love you, and I'm sorry I haven't said it sooner."

"What are you thinking about? I thought we agreed on no thinking." Sirius' words slurred as they fell out of his mouth, walking backward carelessly as if he was confident he wouldn't trip. Remus noticed he had stopped humming.

As intoxicated as he was, he moved beautifully. He separated from Remus, his loose hold on his hand releasing. Sirius began to sing at a soft voice, humming the parts he couldn't think of on the spot. His smile stayed on his face, still dancing.

"You're bloody drunk," Remus murmured, taken aback at his leisure tone.

"Mhm? No." Sirius said, finally stopping. "I'm Sirius."

In that same established way, Sirius wrapped his arms lazily around his neck, leaning back and pulling Remus back with him. With a stumble and hushed laughing, they wandered down the dim lit streets of Hogsmeade.

***

Harry had fallen asleep in Kreacher's quarters upstairs, snuggled up in the circle, ottoman-like chair three times his size. Kreacher had covered him with a blanket and left a glass of water on the coffee table in front of it, then returning to his normal routine.

The two staggered into the parlor, Sirius accidentally slamming the keys on the counter and giggling, shushing Remus nonsensically. He wandered to the couch and collapsed into it, his eyes closing as soon as his head met the cushion. Sirius crawled up next to him, their legs entangled and Sirius' head nestled in the crook of his arm.

"Do you remember when we fell asleep on the common room couch like this?" Sirius asked, tracing the crown molding of the cloning with his eyes.

"How could I forget? It was mortifying."

The morning after a long night of studying, a handful of other students found the two sixth years in a similar fashion. Remus asleep with a hand in Sirius' hair, and Sirius' arm lying protectively over Remus' chest. An exam book rose and fell with each breath Remus took. James, noticing early in the morning, went quickly downstairs to wake them up, chuckling.

"I tried so hard that night to let you sleep a few minutes more."

"Sleeping, so inconvenient." He stretched out on the wide couch, sighing comfortably.

"My point in case." Remus nodded. "Where was the invisibility cloak? Why hadn't we used that?"

"That invisibility cloak had seen enough, that's why."

They were quiet, taking in the childless bliss and the soothing comfort of the other's presence. It had been ages since it was just them. Sirius skin was cool with his coat off and hanging on the rack by the door. Remus, who felt like a furnace with liquor in his system, pulled Sirius back closer to him.

Remus' eyes were almost closed in weary relief, the odd, alcohol induced vertigo almost faded out before Sirius' soft voice faded in.

"aussi infini que les étoiles"
word count: 1078