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J A M E S
The night carried on smoothly afterwards, as if the incident didn't happen in the first place. After Lily recovered from her panic attack, Irene covered her with blankets and gave her multiple glasses of water, even when she protested she was fine. Remus lent her one of his chocolate bars, which was saying something. He wasn't the type of person to share his precious chocolate so generously. Sirius made a dramatic comment along the lines of, "Do I have to pretend to drown to get some chocolate too?"
When it came to cruising the yacht, James and Remus took turns on the wheel. James encouraged Lily to give it a shot, but it quickly became clear that she wasn't comfortable maneuvering a boat of that size, so she gave up. Down in the cabin, Sirius and Irene set the table for Peter's birthday dinner after Lily insisted she took charge of the DJ controller-much to Sirius' misfortune. Peter was more than happy to help, but Irene told him to sit back and relax, which he didn't object.
They spent the rest of the night cruising the waters of the still sea with good music in the background and each other's jokes to laugh along at. The night sky was clear, with just a hint of a breeze to offset the summer heat, and a brilliant full moon that James couldn't stop snapping pictures of. He would miss a scenery such as this when he returned to the perpetually cloudy and humid London atmosphere.
He struggled to remain sober throughout dinner. Mostly because more beer and champagne was going around than actual food to eat, and what food they'd brought was primarily snacks-crisps, cupcakes, popcorn and biscuits.
The chef of the hotel restaurant had been kind enough to prepare them appetizers when he found out it was Peter's birthday, such as fish fingers and pigs in a blanket. But Remus wisely suggested that any bigger meals would get messy, so they decided not to order pizza. The last thing any of them wanted was to accidentally stain the white leather seats of the expensive yacht.
James had taken a cab to the city supermarket to buy snacks and some wine, but had forgotten his ID in his lodge, so the cashier wouldn't let him purchase the wine. Even though he tried to tell her he was twenty one, she demanded an ID, so he reluctantly returned the wine, bought the snacks and left.
As a result, Sirius handled the alcohol, which, James knew, was never good news. The bartender at the lobby bar let Sirius borrow a six-pack of beer and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne (he said it was because they were on good terms, but James knew that by "good terms" he probably meant he'd slept with her at some point). For counterbalance, he also got some bottles of Butterbeer from the Three Broomsticks. He knew Remus and Lily probably wouldn't fancy getting drunk.
James didn't turn down a glass of champagne that night, which ended up having a stronger taste than he'd expected. Three glasses later, his head was dizzy and he found himself laughing a little too loud at Sirius' lame jokes, which was a sign he needed to slow down with the drinking. Luckily, Remus made sure not to take a sip of liquor, as expected, so he was in a good condition to drive the yacht back to the harbour.
