Four To The End (prev Shifting Lines) Book Three (Marauders Era)

Chapter One Hundred-Seven - Just A Bit Of Fun

Author's note: CW references with emetophobia

-x-

"It's called 'Would You Rather'. You offer two choices to someone, and they have to decide which they'd rather do. Both choices need to have something awful about them. It's a lot of fun to see what you'd choose, really, and also fun coming up with situations."

The Marauders, Lily, Alice, and Cassie were gathered in a circle in the common room, as far from everyone else as they could get for imagined privacy. Everyone wanted to play some sort of game again. Except for Remus. He just wanted to go lie down and pretend he didn't need to exist for a while. But he forced himself to sit with them, feet up on the couch, arms around his knees. It was Saturday evening, long after everyone returned from the Hogsmeade visit and also well after James and Sirius had fetched their stashed Zonko's haul from the end of the mirror passage.

Since none of them really was in the mood for Truth or Dare (thankfully), Lily decided to tell them about another game she knew about.

"What sort of choices?" Alice asked.

"Oh, I don't know." Lily began chewing on some of her hair. "Would you rather sing whenever you talked to your crush, or dance whenever you talked to them?"

Alice smiled. "I don't fancy anyone at all, so that's a moot question."

"Well, if you did, which would you?" Cassie asked.

"I—I don't know, they both seem very silly and ridiculous..."

Lily giggled. "That's the point!"

"Well." Alice adjusted her glasses. "I suppose... oh, I don't know!" Now she began giggling. "Dance."

"Do we all answer the question?" Peter asked, looking embarrassed.

"If you like," Lily said. "We could do it as direct questions, or a group question."

"I'd sing," James said, running his fingers through his hair until it stood on end more than usual. "And dance!"

"Not both—" Lily began.

"I choose both."

"You can't choose both."

"Says who?"

"Says—says the rules! They're supposed to make you choose!"

James grinned. "You should have chosen something less fun, then. I'd do both."

"How about we do direct questions?" Peter asked, going red. "I—I wouldn't want to do either!"

"I'd sing," Sirius said, yawning as he stretched out his legs.

"I'd dance," Cassie said, almost in a challenging way. Remus looked between the two of them, realizing then they weren't sitting together. Sirius was between him and Peter, while Cassie was between Lily and Alice.

"Fine, would you rather eat a bucket of flobberworms, or a bucket of flobberworm mucus?" James asked Peter, who went green now instead of red.

"That's disgusting!" Lily shrieked while James cackled.

"I wouldn't want to drink flobberworm mucus," Peter moaned, clutching his stomach.

"Either way, you'd be consuming flobberworm mucus," Remus pointed out, enjoying this more than he thought he would; it was nice to have so much goofy fun after everything he experienced during the week. "It just depends on how much you'd rather consume, as well as if you'd want flobberworm flesh along with it."

Pete looked like he was ready to empty his cauldron. "I'd eat the bugs, then. Uuugh. What about you?" he demanded of James who put his hands in the air and reminded Peter that he wanted direct questions, not group ones.